Back up your third-party hardware drivers in Windows 10
Tracking down drivers and control software for internal and external hardware devices after a clean reinstall of your Windows 10 Operating System doesn't have to be a tedious job. The secret is to back up the driver file repository that Windows 10 kindly maintains for you. Windows 10 includes a full library of class drivers […]
How to show the taskbar on only one display in Windows 10
Windows 10 has some nice features for multi-monitor setups. One of which is the ability to display the taskbar on only one monitor. Changing this setting really comes down to your own personal preferences as there are clearly some good reasons to keep the taskbar on both monitors. For example, since the Anniversary Update the […]
How to find out what's slowing down your Windows PC
The Windows Resource Monitor can help you to track down the resource hog’s that are slowing down your Windows computer. If your using Windows 7 click Start, and then Run and type ‘resmon’. For Windows 10 users fire up Cortana's 'Ask Me Anything' Box and type ‘resmon’. Now hit Enter and click on resmon.exe in […]
How to change Windows 10's default web browser
When you upgrade to Windows 10 from another version of Windows the 'express installation' option sets your default web browser to Microsoft’s Edge, even if you chose to use Chrome, Firefox, Opera, or another web browser, in Windows 7 or 8. And Microsoft’s Edge has a nasty habit of resetting itself as the default browser […]
How to remove Cortana from Windows 10
If you have Windows 10 Professional or Enterprise you will be able to shut down Cortana by simply typing gpedit.msc in the search box to open the Group Policy Editor. Navigate to Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Search. Double-click on the policy named Allow Cortana. When the […]
How to turn off forced restarts when Windows 10 Updates
In the past you may have been used to setting up Windows Updates so that they wouldn't install automatically. Even though Windows 10 handles post-update reboots pretty well, you may still like to have some control over these updates from the outset. There is a simple workaround for users running Windows 10 Professional. From the […]
How to shut down Windows 10 OneDrive completely
OneDrive and Windows 10 are joined at the hip. So tightly, in fact, that OneDrive gets its own quick access link in File Explorer and its sync client runs automatically when you start up your PC. Of course you don't have to use OneDrive's cloud storage. You may prefer a cloud service from another provider […]
How do you open Safe Mode in Windows 10?
Nothing gets you out of trouble like Windows Safe Mode. This was always easy to open by simply pressing the F8 or Shift+F8 keys as a PC started up. In Windows 10 you can no longer enter Safe Mode by pressing F8 or Shift+F8 at boot. Although it is still available you have to boot […]
How to make Windows 10 notifications last a bit longer
One of the best features of Windows 10 is the newly revamped Action Center and the new notifications system. Notifications slide out from the bottom-right corner of the screen. For some Windows 10 users these notifications might seem to come and go far too quickly. By default, Microsoft sets Windows 10 notifications to pop out […]
Should you upgrade to Windows 10?
The great thing about Windows 10 is that it just works. There's not really a learning curve as there was with Windows 8 or 8.1. Even if you don't get to grips with features like the task-bar, search or Task View, it won't actually take anything away from your experience of Windows 10. And there […]