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2 Ways to Reset Chrome to Default Settings without Reinstall

April 25th, 2017 by Admin

Have you messed up with your Chrome profile settings? Chrome is running slow and you have adware or pop-up ads problems? In this tutorial we’ll show you 2 ways to reset your Google Chrome settings and data to default without reinstall.

Method 1: Reset Chrome to default from Chrome settings

This will reset your homepage, new tab pages, and search engine, disable your extensions and unpin all tabs. It will also clear other temporary and cached data, such as cookies, content and site data. However, your saved bookmarks and passwords will not be cleared or changed.

  1. Open your Chrome browser, and then click the More icon (with three lines or dots) in the upper-right corner and select Settings.

    chrome-menu

  2. Chrome’s Settings should now be displayed in a new tab. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the Show advanced settings link.

    chrome-settings

  3. Scroll down to the Reset settings section, as shown in the screenshot below. Click on the Reset settings button.

    reset-chrome-settings

  4. A pop-up window will come up and ask for confirmation the restoration process.

    confirm-resetting-chrome

    Once you click Reset, you will get clean and default Google Chrome.

Method 2: Reset Chrome to default by deleting the user profile

Another way of resetting Chrome to default settings is to delete your Chrome profile. This will completely reset all Chrome settings to default and delete your browser profiles, themes, extensions, bookmarks, history, cache, passwords, cookies, and web form auto-fill information. Here’s how:

  1. Open your Chrome browser, and then click the More icon (with three lines or dots) in the upper-right corner and select Settings.
  2. In the People section of the Settings page, select your current profile and click the Remove button underneath. After deleting, Chrome will automatically set up a new profile with default settings.

    delete-chrome-profile

  3. All of your chrome user data, bookmarks, history, cookies and cache will be cleared, and you will get fresh Google Chrome running on your computer.

If you want to remove data and settings for all Chrome profiles, just open Windows Explorer and go to the directory C:\Users\user_name\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data, delete all files in it. That’s it!

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How to Restore Missing Command Prompt to Win+X Menu in Window 10

April 21st, 2017 by Admin

If you’ve installed Windows 10 Creators Update (build 1703), you may find that Command Prompt is missing from the context menu when you press WIN + X shortcut keys. Microsoft has replaced it with PowerShell, which is a bit annoying if you are a fan of Command Prompt. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to replace PowerShell with Command Prompt in Windows 10, so you can access Command Prompt in the Win + X menu again.

windows-10-replace-cmd-with-powershell

How to Restore Missing Command Prompt to Win+X Menu in Windows 10?

Right-click on any empty space on the taskbar, select Taskbar settings (or “Settings” for earlier build of Windows 10) from the context menu.

windows-10-taskbar-settings

The Settings app will be opened directly at the Taskbar page. Turn the “Replace Command Prompt with Windows PowerShell in the menu when I right-click the Start button or press Windows key+X” option to Off.

replace-cmd-with-powershell

This change will take effect immediately. When you right-click the Start button, or hit the Windows + X keyboard shortcut, the Power User Menu will pop up as usual but the PowerShell will be replaced with Command Prompt. That’s it!

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Posted in Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 10

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How to Pause the Windows Update Download in Progress

April 19th, 2017 by Admin

Is there a way to pause the downloading update without having to turn off completely the Windows updates? Sometimes Windows will force you to start downloading the critical updates, even when you use a mobile internet with slow and strict traffic limits. In this tutorial we’ll show you a simple way to pause a Windows Update download while in progress, so you can resume it later.

How to Pause the Windows Update Download in Progress?

This method works by stopping all the Windows update services temporarily, and you can then resume them when you’re ready to download the updates. Here’s how:

  1. To start, you need to open the Command Prompt as administrator. To do so, press the Windows key + X on your keyboard and select Command Prompt (Admin). Click Yes when you see the UAC prompt.
  2. The first thing we need to do is stop the Windows Update service. Execute the below command:
    net stop wuauserv
  3. Next, stop the Background Intelligent Transfer service and for that execute the below command:
    net stop bits
  4. Now, stop the Delivery Optimization service. Just execute the below command:
    net stop dosvc

    pause-windows-updates

  5. You’ve now successfully paused all the Windows update downloads.
  6. Whenever you want to resume the download, simply execute the below commands one by one, press Enter after each.
    net start wuauserv
    net start bits
    net start dosvc

    resume-windows-updates

You can also turn on the Metered Connection feature in Windows 10 to stop automatic updates. However, this command line method is the most direct way to pause and resume Windows Update downloads while in progress.

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Posted in Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 10

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2 Ways to Hide Certain or All Settings Pages in Windows 10

April 17th, 2017 by Admin

In Windows 10, most Control Panel features have been moved to the Settings app, and Settings will eventually replace the Control Panel. Starting with Windows 10 Creators Update (build 1703), there is a new feature that allows you to hide certain pages of the Settings app. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to use group policy or registry editor to hide certain or all pages of the Settings app in Windows 10.

Method 1: Hide Settings Pages in Windows 10 Using Group Policy

  1. Press Windows + R keys together on your keyboard, then type gpedit.msc and press Enter.

    gpedit

  2. When the Local Group Policy Editor opens, navigate to: Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Control Panel. In the right pane, you will find the option named Settings Page Visibility. It is a new policy in Windows 10 Creators Update.

    settings-page-visibility

  3. Double-click the Settings Page Visibility policy. Set it to Enabled. In the text box, you can specify a list of settings pages to show or hide. For example, if you want to hide the “Sign-in options” page from the Settings app, then type:
    hide:signinoptions

    hide-sign-in-options-page

    Note: signinoptions is the URI of the Sign-in options page. To look up URIs for every pages of the Settings app, please check this article.

    For example, to hide the the Bluetooth page and the Display page, type the value:
    hide:bluetooth;display

    If you want to specify that only About and Bluetooth pages should be shown and all other pages hidden:
    showonly:about;bluetooth

    If you want to hide all settings pages, type:
    showonly:

  4. Next click Apply and then OK. Re-open the Settings app to check if it takes effects. In my case, the Sign-in options page is disappeared.

    sign-in-options-page-hidden

    If you’ve configured the policy to hide all settings pages, you’ll see nothing after launching the Settings app:

    hide-all-settings-pages

Method 2: Hide Settings Pages in Windows 10 Using Registry Editor

  1. Press Windows + R keys together on your keyboard, then type regedit and press Enter.

    regedit

  2. When the Registry Editor opens, navigate to the following key:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

    If you don’t see the Explorer key, then just create it yourself.

  3. Right-click on the Explorer key in the left pane, and then select New > String Value. Name the value as SettingsPageVisibility.

    create-string-registry-value

  4. Double-click on SettingsPageVisibility. In the Edit String window, if you want to hide certain pages in the Settings app, use the code:
    hide:pageURI;pageURI;pageURI

    SettingsPageVisibility

  5. Close Registry Editor and relaunch the Settings app to see the changes.

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Posted in Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 10

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Stop Windows from Adding “- Shortcut” Text When Creating Shortcuts

April 6th, 2017 by Admin

In Windows 10/8/7, you can create a shortcut by right-clicking on an existing folder or file, and then selecting “Send To” -> “Desktop (Create shortcut)“. But this will automatically append the “- Shortcut” text to the end of the shortcut’s filename. If you want to keep the filename short, here’s a registry trick to stop Windows from adding “-Shortcut” text when creating shortcuts.

new-shortcut-with-shortcut-text

Tips: If you want to remove shortcut icon from your desktop shortcuts, please check out this tutorial: How to Remove Shortcut Arrow from Desktop Icons in Windows 10 / 8 /7.

How to Stop Windows from Adding “- Shortcut” Text When Creating Shortcuts?

  1. To get started, press the Windows key + R at the same time to open the Run dialog box. Type regedit and press Enter.

    regedit

  2. Once the Registry Editor loads, navigate to the following location in the left pane:
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
  3. On the right-hand side, double-click on the link value to modify. If you don’t see that value, right-click on empty space and select New -> Binary Value, then name the new value link.

    explorer-link-registry

  4. In the Value data box, replace the current value with 00 00 00 00 and click OK. Note that the current value you see will vary based on the specific version of Windows you’re running.

    edit-binary-value

  5. Close Registry Editor and restart your computer (a logoff is not sufficient to make the registry changes take effect). This time, you’ll see that your new shortcut is created without the “-Shortcut” text appended to the end.

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Posted in Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8

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How to Auto Hide Windows 11 / 10 / 8 / 7 Taskbar with Ease

April 4th, 2017 by Admin

Windows Taskbar has an auto-hide feature that can hide the taskbar when not in use. When this feature is turned on, the taskbar disappears whenever you click elsewhere, or whenever your cursor moves away from it. To make the taskbar appear again, you have to move your cursor to the bottom of the screen or press Windows + T keyboard shortcut. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to automatically hide the taskbar in Windows 11, 10, 8 and 7.

hide-windows-taskbar

Part 1: Auto Hide Taskbar in Windows 11

Right-click the empty space on the taskbar and select Taskbar settings.

The Settings app will launch to the related page. Click Taskbar behaviors to expand the settings.

Check the “Automatically hide the taskbar” option.

Part 2: Auto Hide Taskbar in Windows 10

Right-click a blank spot on the taskbar, and then click Settings from the context menu.

open-settings-from-taskbar-menu

This will open the Taskbar panel in the Settings app. You’ll see two options: Automatically hide the taskbar in desktop mode, and Automatically hide the taskbar in tablet mode. Toggle one or both of these options.

hide-taskbar-in-desktop-tablet-mode

Part 3: Auto Hide Taskbar in Windows 8 and Windows 7

Right-click a blank spot on the taskbar, and then select Properties in the context menu.

taskbar-properties

This will open the “Taskbar and Start Menu Properties” window. Under the Taskbar tab, check the “Auto-hide the taskbar” option and click Apply.

auto-hide-the-taskbar

That’s it!

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Posted in Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 10, Windows 11, Windows 7, Windows 8

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How to Change, Disable or Move Pagefile in Windows 10

March 30th, 2017 by Admin

How can I move the pagefile to another drive when the C:\ drive runs out of space? Should I disable the pagefile if I have a large amount of RAM? In this tutorial we’ll show you how to change pagefile size, disable pagefile or move it to another disk drive in Windows 10.

What is Pagefile?

Windows uses a page file to store memory data that can’t be held by the RAM. When you run a program that needs more RAM than you have available, the system will move the least used memory data out to a hidden file named pagefile.sys to free up more RAM for the program you’re actually using.

windows-pagefile-location

The page file, also known as the swap file, pagefile, or paging file, is a system file that is located at the root path of your drive, but you won’t see it unless you set Windows Explorer to show hidden files and protected operating system files.

show-protected-operating-system-file

In order to change, disable or move pagefile in Windows 10, you have to access the Virtual Memory settings. Follow these steps:

  1. Right-click on This PC icon on your desktop, and then select Properties.
  2. Once you get to the window as shown below, click on the “Advanced system settings” link on the left.

    advanced-system-settings

  3. In the System Properties window, select the Advanced tab, and then click the Settings button under the Performance section.

    system-properties

  4. Select the Advanced tab and then click the Change button under the Virtual memory section.

    change-virtual-memory

  5. Now you’ll see the Virtual Memory settings as shown below. By default, the Automatically manage paging file size for all drives box is checked. You need to uncheck this box if you want to configure page file for every drive individually.

    automatically-mange-paging-filesize

Option 1: Change Pagefile Size

Select a drive you want to change pagefile size for, click the Custom size option. Enter the initial size and maximum size for your pagefile and click the Set button to save the changes.

change-pagefile-size

Option 2: Disable Pagefile

Select a drive you want to disable pagefile for, click the No paging file option and click the Set button.

disable-paging-file

When programs start to use up all your available memory, they’ll start crashing instead of being swapped out of the RAM into your pagefile. While Windows can run without a pagefile if you have a large amount of RAM, there’s no performance benefit to disabling the pagefile.

Option 3: Move Pagefile to Another Drive

By default, the C: drive has a system managed paging set for itself. The pagefile can occupy as much as 8 GB of space at times and it is best to move this file out of the C: drive to save valuable space. Follow these steps to move pagefile from C: to another drive:

  1. Select the default paging file drive. Choose the No paging file option and click on Set.

    disable-paging-file

  2. Now specify a new page file on another drive you have. To do that, select the desired drive from the list and choose the System managed size option. Click Set to apply your changes.

    move-pagefile-to-another-drive

  3. Close all the windows and restart your computer. Windows will automatically delete C:\pagefile.sys, and then create a new pagefile on your desired partition. Now you have successfully changed Windows pagefile location.

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How to Prevent Users from Changing Screen Saver in Windows 10 / 8 / 7

March 29th, 2017 by Admin

Is there a way to lock the screen saver settings so they cannot be changed by others? If you share your computer with other family members or friends, you might want to lock out your favorite screensaver so that nobody will be able to change it. In this tutorial we’ll show you 2 simple ways to prevent users from changing screen saver in Windows 10 / 8 / 7.

Note: Preventing users from changing screen saver doesn’t turn off or prevent the current screen saver from running. If you want to prevent screen saver changes for an individual user, just log on as that user and perform the following instructions.

Method 1: Prevent Users from Changing Screen Saver Using Group Policy

  1. Press the Windows key + R at the same time to open the Run command box. Type gpedit.msc and hit Enter.
  2. This will open the Local Group Policy Editor. Navigate to: User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Control Panel > Personalization, and then double-click on the Prevent changing screen saver setting on the right pane.

    prevent-changing-screen-saver

  3. In the properties window that opens, choose the Enabled option and then click OK. This change will take effect immediately, so you don’t need to restart your computer.

    lock-screen-saver-settings

  4. Now, if you try to change the screen saver settings, you’ll see an error message that says “Your System Administrator has disabled launching of the the Display Settings Control Panel“.

    unable-change-screen-saver

Method 2: Prevent Users from Changing Screen Saver Using Registry Hack

If you have the Home edition of Windows 10/8/7, Local Group Policy Editor is not available and you have to use the following registry hack to prevent users from changing screen saver.

  1. Press the Windows key + R at the same time to open the Run command box. Type regedit and hit Enter.
  2. In the left pane of Registry Editor, navigate to the following key:
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

    If the System key doesn’t exist, you’ll need to create one. Right-click the Policies key and choose New -> Key. Name the new key System.

    create-system-key

  3. Once the System key is selected in the left pane, right-click the empty space in the right pane and select New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value.

    new-dword-value

  4. Name the new value NoDispScrSavPage.

    NoDispScrSavPage

  5. Double-click on NoDispScrSavPage. In the properties window that opens, change the value from 0 to 1 in the “Value data” box and then click OK.

    edit-dword-value

  6. Close Registry Editor. The next time other users try to change the screen saver, the action will be denied by the system. To reverse the change later, just simply delete the NoDispScrSavPage value and you’re done.

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Posted in Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 10, Windows 7, Windows 8

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How to Remove “Show Desktop” Button from Windows 10 Taskbar

March 28th, 2017 by Admin

The “Show Desktop” button is actually a small rectangular icon at the far right side of the taskbar in Windows 10. If you click it, it will minimize all open windows and take you to the desktop. I never use it because I just press the WIN + D keyboard shortcut instead. In this tutorial we’ll show you a simple way to hide / remove the “Show Desktop” button from Windows 10 taskbar.

windows-10-show-desktop-button

How to Remove “Show Desktop” Button from Windows 10 Taskbar?

7+ Taskbar Tweaker is a tiny freeware to completely tweak and customize the taskbar in Windows 10/8/7. Here’s how to use it to remove “Show Desktop” button from Windows 10 taskbar:

  1. Download the freeware 7+ Taskbar Tweaker (about 1.2Mb) and save it to your Windows 10 computer.
  2. After the download is complete, double-click the setup file to install it locally. When you get to the step of completing the installation, make sure you uncheck the box “Set 7+ Taskbar Tweaker to run at startup“, because there is no need to run the program each time you turn on the computer.

    install-taskbar-tweaker

  3. Once launching the program, you should see an checkbox called Hide the “Show desktop” button at the bottom-right corner under the Other section.

    hide-the-show-desktop-button

    Select this checkbox, and you’ll see the “Show Desktop” button is removed from the taskbar in Windows 10. (Deselect that box and the “Show Desktop” button will be back again.)

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5 Ways to Open the Sound Settings in Windows 10

March 20th, 2017 by Admin

Sometimes you might have problem with your PC’s audio playback, or wonder why the sound is recording at too low volume. To adjust or customize the sound scheme, you have to access the Sound settings. In this tutorial we’ll show you 5 simple ways to open the Sound settings in Windows 10.

windows-sound-settings

Method 1: Open Windows 10 Sound Settings via Cortana Search

Click the Cortana Search box from the taskbar, type the word sound and then click on the Sound app in the result.

open-sound-via-cortana

Method 2: Open Windows 10 Sound Settings via Run or Command Prompt

Press the Windows + R key combination to open the Run box, or open the Command Prompt. Type control mmsys.cpl sounds and press Enter.

open-sound-via-run-command

Method 3: Open Windows 10 Sound Settings by Right-clicking Volume button

Right-click on the Volume system icon in the notification area at the bottom right corner area of the taskbar, click on Sounds from the list.

open-sounds-from-taskbar

Method 4: Open Windows 10 Sound Settings via Settings app

Open the Settings app in Windows 10, go to Personalization and then select Themes in the left menu. Click the Advanced sound settings link on the right side of the window.

advanced-sound-settings

Method 5: Open Windows 10 Sound Settings from Control Panel

Open the Control Panel in Windows 10. Set the View by option to Large icons, and then click Sound.

access-sound-from-control-panel

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Posted in Others, Tips & Tricks, Windows 10

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