Windows 2000, XP, Vista, 7, Windows 8 and more How Tos
Google Earth desktop is going away; it is being replaced with Google Earth Web App. That should not be a big surprise in this connected world. For more details, read THIS. However, Google is still producing new builds of Google Earth as the Web App version still has serious limitations. Google has also changed the way that you can deploy Google Earth and removed the old copy the .MSI from %temp% trick. In fact,…
There are only a few things about Windows 10 1803 (build from Spring 2018) I do not like and one of them is that Microsoft removed FILE EXPLORER but added PHOTOS and DOCUMENTS to the START menu, even on the Pro and Enterprise versions. While that is great for home users, most companies have their staff keep files on network shares so they will want the old FILE EXPLORER shortcut back. Fortunately, adding FILE EXPLORER…
Windows Timeline is a new feature in the just released Windows 10 Spring 2018 (1803) build that lets you easily see and resume your activities from the last 30 days: What Windows Timeline Includes: Windows Timeline will only display apps that support Timeline and today that includes primarily Microsoft Office, “modern apps” (like the Calculator, News, Weather, Maps…) and the Edge browser. It will also have a “basic card” for any program you start through…
If you are in a corporate setting, so called “alerts” can be quite annoying to your users and you will likely want to disable them. Unfortunately there are no native GPO’s to disable the various notifications. Fortunately there are two very easy ways to disable notifications using GPO’s. Download an addtional ADMX template from this Technet Article . If you do this be aware of the warning the author writes just above the end of the…
If you have a new Windows Server 2016 or Windows 10 installation, you will find that when you right click on the START button, you will see COMMAND PROMPT as an option. For standard users this is fine, but for administrators, you will likely want the more powerful POWERSHELL option. Fortunately this is easy to change. To change COMMAND PROMPT to POWERSHELL on the START menu: Right click on the TASK BAR and select SETTINGS…
Crytojacking may sound like a method of extorting money by encrypting files against someones will and then charging them for the decryption key. However it is not. Cryptojacking is using unsuspecting peoples devices to cyrptomine (compute solutions to make new cryptocurrency), like Bitcoin. Can Cells and Tablets be CryptoJacked? When we say devices, we mean all devices with a processor, including low power devices like tablets and cell phones. If you know anything about cryptomining…
If you want to protect your data or have access to any from anywhere in the world, and you have an Office365 account, you can use OneDrive For Business without additional cost. Install and configure the NEW OneDrive software. Open a FILE EXPLORER / MY COMPUTER / COMPUTER / EXPLORER window Scroll the left menu to the very top until you see QUICK ACCESS Right click on DESKTOP and select PROPERTIES Click the LOCATION TAB…
If you are running Windows 10, you already have the latest OneDrive for Business client. If you are really confused and just want to start again the easiest thing to do is to “uninstall OneDrive” and then reinstall it. To do this simply: Right Click on your START button and select APPS & FEATURES Find and click on MICROSOFT ONEDRIVE in the list of programs Click the UNINSTALL button and note that it will take…
If you are being prompted to enter the library URL in a Which Library Do You Want To Sync popup, like you see below, then you are using the old OneDrive client. Microsoft has merged the OneDrive “Personal” and OneDrive “For Business” software into a single client cleverly named “OneDrive For Windows” or but the program is titled “MICROSOFT ONEDRIVE”. This new client software brings new and useful features. The only drawback of note we…
If you receive, The Referenced Assembly Could Not Be Found. Error: 0x80073701 while trying to install a Windows Feature, the problem is likely region / language related. I have seen this error while installing serious features like Multipath IO and small features like Telnet. The solution for most is to reinstall the operating system. You can perform an ‘in-place upgrade’ which means putting in a DVD or USB stick that contains Windows installation and running…
The page file (aka. swap file) is the place Windows stores active data that it cannot fit into RAM. In days of yore, the simple rule was to put the page file on a disk separate from the operating system and to make that file 1.5 times the size of the memory you have in the computer. In the world of 2018, servers have vast amounts of memory that are running clustered Virtual Machines from shared…
Windows Server 2016 and Windows 10 have a new debugging feature named ACTIVE MEMORY DUMP which tracks only important memory information and ignores the rest. Most notably, if your computer is a HyperV host, it’s memory will contain the memory of your Virtual Machines, which is of little to no use in diagnosing the host server’s problems. Using ACTIVE MEMORY DUMP makes diagnosing blue screen crash dumps much easier. To enable ACTIVE MEMORY DUMP, go to SYSTEM > ADVANCED…
A typical Windows cursor is a single pixel wide but it is possible to have a cursor that is much wider. In my case, I found a cursor that looked like it was two characters wide: This wide cursor does not cause any technical issues, but does make it difficult to see the next character and is just not user friendly. Fortunately the solution is quite easy. Correct your ACCESSIBILITY SETTINGS: Click START and type…
If you find your Windows 10 Start Menu is functional but typing text in the search bar is very slow or sluggish, there is a very easy fix. NOTES: If icons are missing or clicking on START menu items does nothing, the fix for that is HERE You will still be able to search from the START button after this easy change Disabling Cortana though the Start Menu GUI, does not resolve the issue VIDEO: FIX…
If you have a spinning disk and want to make it run much faster you can add in a small Solid State Disk and combine them using Intel Rapid Storage Technology (RST). RST will then add the SSD to the spinning disk and copy whatever you frequently use to the SSD so it can be accessed MUCH faster. The benchmark from shown in the image to the right is from Puget Systems, but our…