Archive for the ‘Free Software’ category

Easy Way to Disable Incognito Mode in Chrome on Windows 11 / 10

July 26th, 2022 by Admin

How can I stop my son from using Chrome’s Incognito mode? Incognito mode allows users to browse web privately without leaving a trace on the local disk of a computer. If you want to keep an eye on your child’s online activities and browsing history, you can turn off Incognito mode. In this tutorial we’ll walk you through the steps to disable Incognito mode in Chrome on Windows 11 / 10.

How to Disable Incognito Mode in Chrome on Windows 11 / 10

  1. Open Registry Editor and browse to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies. Right-click the Policies key on the left pane, and choose New -> Key.

  2. Rename the newly-created key to Google.

  3. Right-click Google and select New -> Key, then rename it to Chrome.

  4. While the Chrome key is selected, right-click the blank area on the right pane and choose New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value.

  5. Rename this DWORD as IncognitoModeAvailability, and then double-click it and change its value data to 1.

  6. Close Registry Editor. When you relaunch Chrome, you will notice that the option “New Incognito window” is greyed out and unclickable. You’re also unable to start Chrome in Incognito mode by default.

Whenever you need to enable Incognito mode again, just open Registry Editor and navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Google\Chrome, right-click the IncognitoModeAvailability value on the right pane and choose Delete.

That’s it!

2 Ways to Start Google Chrome in Incognito Mode on Windows 11 / 10

July 24th, 2022 by Admin

If you want to browse web without leaving history, cookies, site data, or any information you type in forms, you can start Chrome in Incognito mode. In this tutorial we’ll show you 2 methods to open Google Chrome in Incognito mode on Windows 11 / 10.

Method 1: Start Google Chrome in Incognito Mode via Three-dot Menu

  1. When using Google Chrome, click the three-dot menu icon in the browser’s upper-right corner and then select “New Incognito window“.

  2. It will immediately open a new Incognito window. You’ll see the Incognito icon at the right of the address bar, which indicates you’re browsing privately.

Another way of opening a Incognito window is to press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + N.

Method 2: Make Google Chrome Always Start in Incognito Mode

  1. Right-click the “Google Chrome” shortcut on your desktop and then select Properties.

  2. It will open the Properties window. In the Shortcut tab, append -incognito to the end of the Target text box.

  3. Click Apply and then OK.
  4. Every time you double-click the Google Chrome shortcut and it will open in Incognito mode by default.

That’s it!

How to Block Chrome from Popping up Notifications in Windows 10 Taskbar

September 15th, 2021 by Admin

How can I stop Chrome from popping up annoying notifications in the lower right-hand corner of my screen? When visiting a new website, you may receive a pop-up saying “this website wants to show notifications“.

If you click on Allow unintentionally, that website’s ads or news will automatically pop up in Windows 10 notification area.

In this tutorial we’ll walk you through the steps to block Chrome from popping up notifications in Windows 10 taskbar.

How to Block Chrome from Popping up Notifications in Windows 10 Taskbar

  1. Open your Chrome browser, type chrome://settings/privacy in the address bar and hit Enter. Next, click Site Settings under the Privacy and security section.

  2. Click Notifications under the Permissions section.

  3. In order to prevent websites from asking permission to send you notifications, change the default behavior from “Sites can ask to send notifications” to “Don’t allow sites to send notifications“.

  4. Scroll down to the “Customized behaviors” section, you can remove any specific website from allowed list. Just click the more icon (three vertical dots) next to your target website, and select Remove from the pop-up menu.

That’s it!

How to Reset Forgotten WordPress Password from phpMyAdmin

June 3rd, 2021 by Admin

Forgot the admin password of your WordPress blog? If you are locked out of your WordPress dashboard and couldn’t log back in, here is a simple way to reset forgotten WordPress password from phpMyAdmin. It works with all versions of WordPress.

How to Reset Forgotten WordPress Password from phpMyAdmin

  1. Before getting started, you need to login to cPanel of your WordPress hosting account. Click on the phpMyAdmin icon under the Databases section.

  2. When the phpMyAdmin app opens, expand your WordPress database on the left side, and then click on the wp_users table.

  3. On the right side, you’ll see a list of registered users on your WordPress site. Click on the Edit button next to your WordPress admin user.

  4. Look for the user_pass row. Remove the old password hash from the Value column and then type a new password (in plain text). Select MD5 from the “Function” drop down menu.

  5. Click on the Go button to save your changes. You can then log in to your WordPress dashboard with the new password. Upon your first successful login, WordPress will use the most up-to-date method instead of MD5 to encrypt your password again, and the hashed password stored in the database will update as well.

That’s it!

How to Disable, Enable and Use Reading List in Chrome

March 18th, 2021 by Admin

Reading List is a new feature in the most recent version of Chrome, which allows you to save webpages for reading later. It functions far more like a to-do list than a standard bookmark.

In this tutorial we’ll show you how to disable/enable, and use the Reading List feature in Chrome.

Part 1: Disable or Enable Reading List in Chrome

  1. Open up Google Chrome browser, type the following in the address bar and press Enter.
    chrome://flags/#read-later
  2. Click the drop-down list next to the “Reading List” option. You can select Enabled to enable Reading List, or choose Disabled to remove it.

  3. Relaunch Chrome to apply the changes. Make sure you enable “Show bookmarks bar” so you can check if Reading List is activated or removed.

Part 2: Use Reading List in Chrome

If you come across a webpage and want to read it later, just click the bookmark icon (​far right side of the address bar). When a menu appears, click on the “Add to reading list” option.

Click the “Reading list” icon and you will see a menu containing all your saved webpages. Just click any webpage and Chrome will immediately open it in a new tab, and then automatically mark it as read.

When you move your cursor over a webpage shown in the Reading list menu, it will display two icons at the right side. You can click the circle icon to manually mark the webpage as read (or unread), or click the ‘X‘ icon to remove it from the list.

Conclusion

Reading List in Chrome is a handy feature that lets you manage your reading plan more effectively. When you come across a great article or news, you can simply save the webpage to read it later.

How to Encrypt Your Hard Disk or USB Drive Using VeraCrypt

November 11th, 2020 by Admin

What is the best way to protect sensitive data from being stolen? Can’t enable BitLocker without TPM? VeraCrypt is a good alternative to BitLocker, which lets you create a virtual disk image for securing your sensitive files with password. In this tutorial we’ll walk you through the steps of encrypting files on your hard disk or USB drive in Windows 10 using VeraCrypt.

Part 1: Download VeraCrypt

VeraCrypt is a free open source software for real-time disk encryption, which is available for Windows, Mac OSX and Linux. Just download VeraCrypt (about 34.5Mb) from its official website. The installation is as easy as clicking Next a bunch of times.

Part 2: Create a Protected Virtual Disk Image

  1. When you open up VeraCrypt, you’ll see a listing of unused drive letters. To start, we need to create a protected virtual disk image (aka “encrypted file container”). Click on the Create Volume button.

  2. Choose “Create an encrypted file container” and click on Next.

  3. VeraCrypt supports two different types of encrypted volumes. Here we select “Standard VeraCrypt volume“.

  4. Next, use the “Select File” button to pick a name and location for the virtual disk image you wish to create. This image can be stored on a local drive or an external USB drive.

  5. Choose your encryption options. The default settings of AES and SHA-512 are good enough for most purposes.

  6. Enter your volume size. It must be large enough to hold your sensitive files.

  7. Enter a volume password which will be later used for mounting this virtual disk image.

  8. Select what file system you want to use. It is recommended to choose NTFS so you will be able to use files bigger than 4GB. In order to generate strong encryption keys, simply move your mouse randomly until the blue bar reaches the end. Click on Format.

  9. Once the volume has been successfully created, click on Exit.

  10. Your volume is actually a disk image file which you can view from File Explorer.

Part 3: Mount the Virtual Disk Image

  1. Open up VeraCrypt again, select an unused drive letter and click on “Select File” to locate your protected virtual disk image, and click on Mount.

  2. Enter your password and click OK.

  3. Your protected virtual disk image will be mounted as a new drive. Open File Explorer and you can move your sensitive files onto that drive.

Part 4: Dismount the Volume

Don’t forget to dismount the VeraCrypt volume when you no longer need to work with it. From within the VeraCrypt interface, select the drive letter of your mounted volume and click on Dismount.

Your VeraCrypt volume will be automatically dismounted after you restart or shut down your computer, so your sensitive files will remain protected.

That’s it!

How to Update Extensions (add-ons) for Microsoft Edge

August 31st, 2020 by Admin

Just like other web browsers, Microsoft Edge also supports extensions (add-ons) and you can install your favorite extensions directly from Microsoft Store. In this tutorial we’ll show you the easy way to update all existing extensions for Microsoft Edge at once.

How to Update Extensions (add-ons) for Microsoft Edge

  1. Open Microsoft Edge. Click the More Options button (three dots) in upper right corner, and then select Extensions from the drop-down menu.

  2. Turn on the Developer mode option at the bottom of the left panel.

  3. After you toggle it on, you’ll see three buttons appear next to “Installed extensions”. Just click the Update button and Microsoft Edge will immediately check and install any updates available for all installed extensions.

  4. When it’s done, you’ll get a pop-up message saying “extensions updated”.

You can use the similar method to update extensions for Chrome or other Chromium-based browsers. I would expect Microsoft Edge to give me a notification when a new update is available.

How to Change Default Font Size for Chrome Browser

August 9th, 2020 by Admin

The size of text in Chrome is too small or too large? Improper font size can make the text on the web pages hard to read. In this tutorial we’ll show you 2 easy methods to change default font size for Chrome browser.

Method 1: Change Font Size for Chrome Using Zoom Mode

Zoom mode allows you to quickly change the size for both text and images of any web site. You can set different zoom levels for each website. Here’s how:

  1. Open the Chrome browser and go to the web page for which you want to change the font size. Click on the Menu button (three vertical dots) to the right of the URL bar.
  2. In the menu that pops up, look for the “Zoom” option. The default value of Zoom is 100%. You can click + to make everything on that page bigger, or click to make things smaller.

Method 2: Change Default Font Size for Chrome via Settings

This method lets you change Chrome’s default text size for every website at once, but it won’t affect the size of images. Here’s how:

  1. Open Google Chrome on your PC, click on the Menu button (three vertical dots) on the top-right corner and then select Settings.

  2. Scroll down to the Appearance section. Click the Font Size drop-down list and you can choose the new font size for web pages: Very large, Large, Medium, Small or Very small.

  3. If you still can’t get the fonts to the proper size, just click on Customize fonts.

    You can move the slider to change the default font size to any value between 9 and 72.

That’s all there is to it!

How to Mute a Tab in Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Firefox

July 10th, 2020 by Admin

When you’re surfing the web with multiple tabs open, an ad may pop up suddenly on another tab and it starts playing sound automatically. This could put yourself into embarrassing situation if you’re in public. In this tutorial we’ll show you easy ways to mute a tab in Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Firefox.

Mute a Tab in Chrome

To mute a website in Chrome, right-click on a tab that is playing sound, and then select “Mute site” from the drop-down menu.

That tab will get muted immediately.

Mute a Tab in Microsoft Edge and Firefox

Just like Chrome, both Microsoft Edge and Firefox also offer a similar method to mute tabs individually. If you wish to mute a tab, right-click it and select the “Mute tab” option from the popup menu.

The easiest way of muting a tab is to click the small speaker icon that appears on a tab that is playing audio. Clicking the speaker icon once again will unmute the tab.

Conclusion

If you have tons of tabs opened in your Chrome, Microsoft Edge or Firefox browser, just look for the speaker icon on every tab and you can easily find which tab is playing background audio.