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7 Ways to Open Command Prompt in Windows 10

May 24th, 2016 by Admin

Command Prompt is a nice feature of Windows that geeks and IT professionals used most. In this tutorial we’ll show you 7 ways to open Command Prompt as administrator or non-administrator in Windows 10.

Method 1: Open Command Prompt from the Run box

This should be the most common way to open a non-elevated Command Prompt. Just press the Windows key + R to open the Run box. Type cmd and press Enter. This opens the Command Prompt without administrator rights.

run-cmd

Method 2: Open Command Prompt from WinX Menu

This should be the simplest & quickest way to launch Command Prompt in Windows 10. Starting with Windows 8, Microsoft has implemented the WinX menu, which contains many useful items like Command Prompt, Control Panel, Network Connections and so on.

Press the Windows key + X to bring up the WinX menu. From the pop-up menu, you can select “Command Prompt” to open Command Prompt as non-administrator mode, or select “Command Prompt (Admin)” to open it in administrator mode.

winx-menu

Note: Since Windows 10 Creators Update, you may notice that Command Prompt is replaced with PowerShell on the WinX menu. PowerShell can run any command prompt commands as well. But you can also easily add the Command Prompt back to WinX menu.

Method 3: Open Command Prompt Using Cortana Search

Click the Cortana Search box in the taskbar, and then type cmd. Click Command Prompt from the search result to launch a non-elevated Command Prompt.

run-cmd-from-cortana-search

If you want to open an elevated Command Prompt, right-click on Command Prompt from the search result, and then select “Run as administrator“.

Method 4: Open Command Window Here in File Explorer

This method allows you to open a non-elevated Command Prompt from any folder in Windows Explorer.

To start off, open the folder in the File Explorer from where you want to open the Command Prompt. While press and hold down the Shift key, right-click on a folder or empty space in File Explorer. From the context menu, select “Open command window here“. The prompt takes the path of the folder from where it is opened.

open-command-window

Method 5: Open Command Prompt from File Explorer’s Menu

Open File Explorer, browse to the folder where you want to open the Command Prompt from. Click on the File menu, and select “Open command prompt“. You’ll have two options to launch Command Prompt:

  • Open command prompt — Open a Command Prompt within the currently selected folder with standard permissions.
  • Open command prompt as administrator — Open a Command Prompt within the currently selected folder with administrator permissions.

open-command-prompt

Method 6: Open Command Prompt from Start Menu

Click on the Start button, and then click All apps at the bottom of the Start Menu.

start-men-all-apps

Scroll down and expand the Windows System folder, you’ll see the Command Prompt shortcut. You can click on it to launch Command Prompt in normal mode, or right-click on it and select “Run as administrator” to launch Command Prompt in administrator mode.

start-menu-cmd

Method 7: Open Command Prompt from Task Manager

Open Task Manager with more details. Click on the File and then select Run new task.

task-manager

Type cmd in the Open box, and click OK to open up a regular Command Prompt. You can also check the “Create this task with administrative privileges” box to open the Command Prompt as administrator.

create-cmd-task

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How to Change Taskbar & Desktop Icon Size in Windows 10 / 8 / 7

May 23rd, 2016 by Admin

Desktop icons are too big or too small? How can I resize the desktop icon size? In this tutorial we’ll show you how you can simply change the taskbar & desktop icon size in Windows 10, 8 and 7.

resize-desktop-icons

Part 1: Change Desktop Icon Size

To change the size of desktop icons, right-click on an empty space on the desktop, and then click on View, and then select the size of the icons, either Large, Medium or Small icons. The default is Medium icons.

view-medium-icon

But what if you want to make the desktop icons smaller than the default small icon, or larger than the default large icon? Using the mouse wheel button you can set the icon size to any size you want:

To get started, make sure the desktop has the focus, this can be done by just clicking any empty space of the desktop. Press and hold down the Ctrl key on your keyboard, and then using your mouse wheel, roll it upward to make the icons size larger, or downward to set the icon size smaller.

ctrl-mouse-wheel

Part 2: Change Taskbar Icon Size

The taskbar icons are really small? How can I make them appear larger? To do this, right-click on an empty space in the taskbar and then select Properties.

right-click-taskbar

On the Taskbar tab, uncheck the “Use small taskbar buttons” box in Windows 10/8. If you’re running Windows 7, uncheck the “Use small icons” box. Click OK.

small-taskbar-buttons

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7 Ways to Access Event Viewer in Windows 10

May 23rd, 2016 by Admin

Event Viewer can be extremely helpful for system administrator to troubleshoot problems or errors. From there, you can find important information about logon events, policy changes, system and application events. In this article we’ll show you 7 ways to access Event Viewer in Windows 10.

Method 1: Access Event Viewer in Computer Management

  1. Right-click on This PC icon on your desktop. Select Manage from the drop-down menu.

    manage-this-pc

  2. In the Computer Management window, expand the System Tools and then select Event Viewer to display the event logs.

    event-viewer

Method 2: Access Event Viewer via Run

  1. Press the Windows key + R to open the Run box.
  2. Type eventvwr and hit Enter. This will open the Event Viewer immediately.

    open-event-via-run

Method 3: Access Event Viewer via Cortana Search Box

  1. Click the Cortana search box (right beside the Start button) located in the taskbar.
  2. Type event in the search box and click Event Viewer from the search results.

    cortana-search-event

Method 4: Access Event Viewer via Control Panel

  1. Open the Control Panel. There is a search box in the top right-hand corner of the Control Panel window. Type event and press Enter.
  2. Click the View event logs link from the search result.

    search-event-in-control-panel

Method 5: Access Event Viewer via Settings Charm

  1. Press the Windows key + I to open the Settings charm, or click on Start button and select Settings.
  2. Type event in the search box at the top right corner of the Settings screen.
  3. Click View event logs from the search result.

    search-event-in-settings

Method 6: Access Event Viewer via Command Prompt

  1. Open the Command Prompt in Windows 10.
  2. Type eventvwr and press Enter.

    open-event-via-cmd

Method 7: Access Event Viewer via PowerShell

  1. Open the PowerShell in Windows 10.
  2. Type eventvwr and press Enter.

    open-event-in-powershell

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7 Ways to Restart or Shut down Windows 10

May 22nd, 2016 by Admin

How to quickly shut down or restart Windows 10 computer? It’s not as straightforward as you might think. In this article we’ll show you 7 simple ways to restart or shut down Windows 10 computers.

Method 1: Restart or Shut Down Using the Start Menu

This should be the simplest way of restarting or shutting down Windows 10 computer. Follow these steps:

  1. Open the Start Menu by clicking the Start button in the bottom left corner of the screen.
  2. Click on the Power button from the Start Menu, and then select Shut down or Restart.

    start-menu

Method 2: Restart or Shut Down Using the WinX Menu

  1. Press the Windows key + X to open the Quick Access menu (also known as Power User menu, WinX menu).
  2. Select Shut down or sign out, and then select Shut down or Restart on the pop-up menu.

    win-x

Method 3: Restart or Shut Down Using Alt + F4

  1. Click on your desktop to make it the current focused (active) window, and press the Alt+F4 keys. This will open the Shut Down Windows dialog.
  2. Select Shut down or Restart from the drop-down menu, and then click OK.

    alt-f4

Method 4: Restart or Shut Down from Command Prompt

  1. Press the Windows key + X to open the WinX menu, and then select “Command Prompt“.
  2. If you want to shut down your PC, type shutdown -s at the Command Prompt and press Enter.

    command-prompt

    If you want to restart your PC, type shutdown -r instead.

  3. You’ll get a popup stating that “You’re about to be signed out. Windows will shut down in less than a minute“.

    pc-will-shutdown

  4. Click Close or leave the popup open. The computer will automatically perform a shutdown soon.

Method 5: Restart or Shut Down Using the Run box

If you don’t like the Command Prompt interface, you can issue the shutdown command from the Run box. Follow these steps:

  1. Press the Windows key + R to open the Run box.
  2. At the Run box, type the shutdown -s command and press Enter to shut down your computer. Or type shutdown -r and press Enter to restart your PC.

    run-box

Method 6: Restart or Shut Down from Windows Login Screen

  1. Just sign out your current account and Windows will take you to the login screen. You can also access Windows login screen by pressing the Windows key + L, or press Ctrl + Alt + Del key combinations.
  2. At the login screen, click the Power icon at the bottom right corner. You can then select Shut down or Restart from the pop-up menu.

    login-screen

Method 7: Physical Shut down or Restart

Every Windows 10 computer comes with a Power button on your computer case or the edge of your laptop. Press the Power button once and wait for the computer to shut down. Press the Power button again to turn the computer back on. If your computer is frozen, press and hold the power button for five seconds to shut the computer off.

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2 Ways to Recover Firefox Password on Mac OS X

May 20th, 2016 by Admin

Is there any way to retrieve saved passwords from a non-working Firefox? Where are Firefox passwords stored on Mac OS X? In this tutorial we’ll show you 2 ways to recover forgotten Firefox password on Mac OS X.

firefox-remember-password

Method 1: Recover Password Using Firefox’s Built-in Option

If you can still access the Firefox browser, it’s quite easy to view the saved website passwords by following these steps:

  1. Click the hamburger button (three horozontal lines) in the top-right corner of your Firefox browser, then select Preferences.

    firefox-preferences

  2. In the Preferences window, click on the Security tab and then click the Saved Logins button.

    firefox-security-tab

  3. Now you will see list of website and username which has been saved in Firefox browser. Passwords are hidden for security reasons, you can click the Show Passwords button to reveal the saved passwords.

    firefox-saved-logins

Method 2: Recover Firefox Password Using Password Recovery Tool

If your Firefox browse stops working or you need to recover passwords from an old hard drive, you can use the Firefox Password Recovery program. Here’s how to recover passwords from Firefox profile on Mac OS X:

  1. From the OS X desktop or a Finder window, simply press Command(⌘) + Shift + G to bring up the Go to Folder dialog. Type the following path and press Enter.
    ~/Library/Application Support/Firefox

    go-to-folder

  2. It will open your specified folder in the Finder window. From there you can see the Profiles folder which is used by Firefox to stored passwords and bookmarks.

    mac-firefox-profile

    As the Firefox Password Recovery program can run in Windows only, you need to copy the whole profile folder to a USB flash drive, and then transfer it to a Windows-based computer.

  3. Now download and install the Firefox Password Recovery program on your Windows-based computer. After installing, launch the program and click on the Recover From File button.

    firefox-password-recovery

  4. In the pop-up dialog box, click on Browse button to select the Firefox profile folder stored in your USB flash drive. Once it’s done, click OK.

    select-firefox-profile

  5. The program will quickly decrypt the Firefox profile and display the login URLs, usernames and passwords for all saved login credentials.

    recover-firefox-password

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Prevent Other Users from Accessing Windows Apps with AppLocker

May 9th, 2016 by Admin

AppLocker is a Window’s built-in application that gives the administrator a very granular control over which applications are allowed to execute and which are blocked for a Windows account. This feature is really useful if you share a computer and don’t want other users accessing certain applications.

Today we’ll walk you through how to create rules in AppLocker to prevent other users from accessing certain applications in Windows 10, 8 and 7.

How to Restrict Access to Programs with Windows AppLocker?

  1. Press Windows key + R to open the Run dialog box. Type gpedit.msc and press Enter.

    gpedit

  2. Under Local Group Policy Editor, navigate to:
    Computer Configuration -> Windows Settings -> Security Settings -> Application Control Policies -> AppLocker -> Executable Rules
  3. Right-click on Executable Rules in the left pane, and then select Create New Rule.

    applocker

  4. Click Next to bypass the Before You Begin screen. On the Permissions page, select Deny (Click Allow if you want to restrict what programs other users can access only).

    permissions-page

    Click on the Select button to choose the user or groups you want the rule to apply. When it’s done, click Next to reach the Conditions page.

  5. AppLocker rules can identify programs using the following conditions: Publisher, Path and File hash. Publisher condition relies on the digital signature of the executable file.

    conditions-page

    Here we’ll choose File hash because AppLocker can still identify the program even if it’s renamed or moved.

  6. On the File Hash page, click Browse Files and find the executable file for the application to which you want this rule to apply, or click Browse Folders if you want the system to calculate a hash for all of the executable files in a folder. Click Next.

    file-hash-page

  7. Type a name for the rule that will make it easy for you to remember what it is, and then click on Create.

    name-and-description

  8. When prompted to create the default rules, make sure you click Yes. This is to ensure that the rules you created don’t block operating system files from running.

    create-default-rules

  9. Now you will see three default rules and the new one you created.

    applocker-rules

    Restart your computer for the AppLocker rules to come into effect. When you try to run the blocked application, you’ll receive an error: “This app has been blocked by group policy. For more information, please contact your system administrator.”

    app-blocked-by-group-policy

AppLocker Doesn’t Work?

AppLocker doesn’t work under either an admin account or a standard account? AppLocker not blocking application even if you set up the executable rule correctly? AppLocker relies on the built-in Application Identity service, which is normally set to manual startup type by default. Administrators should configure the service to start automatically.

To bring AppLocker back to work, follow these steps to start the Application Identity service:

  1. Press Windows key + R to open the Run dialog box. Type services.msc and press Enter.

    services-msc

  2. Right-click on the Application Identity service, and select Properties.

    services

  3. Set the Startup type to Automatic and click on the Start button to run the service.

    application-identity-service

  4. Click on Apply and then OK.

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How to Block An Application from Running in Windows 10

May 9th, 2016 by Admin

Whether you’re sharing a computer with other family members or friends at home, or securing computers in a corporate environment, there may be some situations where you need to block a user account from running a certain application.

In previous post we’ve explained a way to prevent a program from running using Group Policy. Here’s another way to block a certain application from running in Windows 10, by using a registry hack. This method works with all editions of Windows 10, 8 and 7.

How to Block An Application from Running in Windows 10?

  1. Hold down the Windows Key and press R to bring up the Run dialog box. Type regedit and press Enter.
  2. In the Registry Editor, navigate to the following key:
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies
  3. In the left pane, right-click on Policies, and then select New -> Key, type in Explorer and press Enter. If the Explorer key already exists, just skip this step.

    new-explorer-key

  4. Select the Explorer key on the left pane. Right-click a blank area on the right side, select New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value.

    new-disallowrun-value

  5. Rename the newly-created entry to DisallowRun, and set its value to 1.

    disallowrun-value

  6. Right-click on the Explorer key on the left pane, and then select New -> Key, type in DisallowRun and press Enter.

    new-disallowrun-key

  7. Select the DisallowRun key on the left pane. Right-click on an empty space and select New -> String Value.

    new-string-value

  8. Name the new entry with the number 1 and set its value to the name of the application(.exe) that you want to block. If you want to restrict more programs, simply create more String entries with names 2, 3 and so on and set their values to the program’s exe file.

    list-of-disallowed-apps

  9. Restart your computer and try to run the blocked applications and you’ll get the error message “This operation has been cancelled due to restrictions in effect on this computer. Please contact your system administrator.”

    block-app-from-running

I should mention that if the user is smart enough to rename the program file, they will be able to run the program again. If this method does not meet your needs, you can use the Protect My Folders to deny access (read/modify/run/rename/copy/delete) to any application in Windows 10.

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2 Ways to Configure Windows Firewall to Allow SQL Server Access

May 2nd, 2016 by Admin

By default, Windows Firewall doesn’t allow inbound / outbound requests for SQL Server. If you try to connect to a SQL Server instance from network, you might get the error saying “The server was not found or was not accessible”. In this tutorial we’ll show you 2 ways to configure Windows Firewall to allow SQL Server access.

Method 1: Allow SQL Server Access Through Control Panel

  1. Open Control Panel in Large icons or Small icons view, click on Windows Firewall.

    windows-firewall

  2. Click the link “Allow a program or feature through Windows Firewall” on the left of window.

    allow-app-through-firewall

  3. You will now see a list with all the apps which are allowed to communicate through the Windows Firewall. To change the rules, you need to click the Change Settings button. The list of rules will no longer be gray and you will be able to edit it.

    change-firewall-settings

  4. Click the “Allow another program…” button.

    add-another-program

  5. From the “Add a Program” window, click the Browse button.

    browse-program

  6. Navigate to the installation path for your SQL Server instance and select sqlservr.exe, and click Open. In my example, the location is C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10.SQLEXPRESS\MSSQL\Binn\sqlservr.exe.

    sqlserv

  7. You’ll back to the “Add a Program” window and see SQL Server is added to the list. Click the Add button.

    add-sql-server

  8. SQL Server now appears in the list of Allowed programs and features. You can check any of the location types: private or public. When done, press OK.

    allowed-program

Method 2: Allow SQL Server Access Through Command Prompt

  1. Open an elevated Command Prompt.
  2. You can run the Netsh advfirewall command to open all ports for SQL Server connections. Assuming the path of your SQL Server service is C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10.SQLEXPRESS\MSSQL\Binn\sqlservr.exe, copy / and paste the following commands in the Command Prompt, press Enter after each.

    netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="SQL Server TCP" protocol=tcp dir=in action=allow program="C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10.SQLEXPRESS\MSSQL\Binn\sqlservr.exe" enable=yes profile=any localip=any localport=any remoteip=any remoteport=any

    netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="SQL Server UDP" protocol=udp dir=in action=allow program="C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10.SQLEXPRESS\MSSQL\Binn\sqlservr.exe" enable=yes profile=any localip=any localport=any remoteip=any remoteport=any

    advfirewall

  3. When it’s done, you’ve successfully opened up all ports to allow SQL Server access through Windows Firewall.

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How To Shrink & Expand Partition in Windows 10 / 8 / 7

April 25th, 2016 by Admin

Keep getting low disk space on C:\ drive even if you’ve deleted all files you can delete? There is no spare partition for another operating system? In this tutorial we’ll show you how to use the built-in Disk Management to shrink & expand partition in Windows 10, 8 and 7.

Part 1: Open Disk Management

To access Windows build-in Disk Management tool, just press the Windows key + R to open the Run box. Type diskmgmt.msc and hit Enter. This will open the Windows Disk Management utility. From there you can resize (shrink or expand) your hard drive partition without data loss.

disk-management

Part 2: Shrink Partition

Need to create a new partition but you don’t have unallocated space? Just shrink an existing partition to free up space from which you can create a new partition. Here’s how to shrink a partition:

  1. Right-click the partition you want to shrink (C: in our example) and select Shrink Volume.

    shrink-volume

  2. Windows will take a moment to query the volume for available shrink space. Enter the amount of space you want to shrink. For example if want to free up 15GB space, enter 15000 Mb (1000 MB = 1 GB) in the text box. Next click Shrink.

    space-to-shrink

  3. When the process is complete, you will see a new unallocated partition right next to your shrinked partition.

Part 3: Expand Partition

Run out of space on one of your Windows partitions? You can also expand disk partitions, as long as there is free (unpartitioned) space available only after the partition you’re trying to expand. Here’s how to expand a partition:

  1. Right-click the partition you want to expand (C: in our example) and select Extend Volume. Note that the Extend Volume option might be greyed out when there is no unallocated space right after your selected partition.

    extend-volume

  2. Now when the Extend Volume Wizard opens, click Next.

    extend-volume-wizard

  3. It will select the maximum number of unallocated space itself. But you can set any amount yourself too, keep in mind that it is calculated in MB not GB. After you are done here, click Next.

    select-disk-to-extend

  4. You’ll see a brief summary of the changes. Click Finish to apply them. Now you’ll see your partition is larger and the unallocated partition has been merged.

    complete-extend-wizard

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How to Disable Caps Lock Key in Windows and Mac

April 14th, 2016 by Admin

“Whenever I type, my baby finger hits the Caps Lock key and all my typing ends up in caps. I want to disable it completely and just use the Shift key for capitals. How do I disable the Caps Loks key in Windows 10? Please help!”

Without the Caps Lock key, you can still type the letter you want to capitalize by holding down the Shift key. Pressing the Shift key once is much more efficient than pressing the Caps Lock key twice. If you don’t need to use the Caps Lock key, you can disable it permanently. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to disable Caps Lock key in Windows 10/8/7/Vista/XP and Mac OS X.

Part 1: Disable Caps Lock in Windows 10/8/7/Vista/XP

There is no built-in settings available in Windows that allow you to disable Caps Lock key, so we have to use a registry hack to map the Caps Lock key to doing nothing. Follow these steps:

  1. Press the Windows key + R to open the Run box. Type notepad and press Enter.
  2. Copy the lines below and then paste them into the NotePad:
    Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout]
    "Scancode Map"=hex:00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,00,00,3a,00,00,00,00,00

    notepad

  3. Click the File menu and select Save as. Select “All Files” from the “Save as type” drop-down box. Type the file name as Disable_Caps_Lock.reg. Click Save.

    save-as

  4. Double-click the .reg file, or right-click on it and select “Open with” -> “Registry Editor“. If prompted by UAC, click on Yes.

    open-with-registry-editor

  5. Registry Editor will confirm if you want to import the registry settings in your .reg file, click Yes.

    import-into-registry

    Now log out (and back in) or reboot to make this registry trick to take effect.

If you want to enable the Caps Lock key again, open the Registry Editor and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout, then delete the Scancode Map entry entirely.

enable-caps-lock

Part 2: Disable Caps Lock in Mac OS X

It’s pretty easy to actually turn the Caps Lock key off if you’re using a Mac. Here’s how:

  1. Click the Apple icon in the top-left corner of your desktop, then select System Preferences from the drop-down menu.

    system-preferences

  2. Click on the Keyboard icon to launch the preferences pane.

    keyboard-utility

  3. Click the Modifier Keys button in the bottom-right corner.

    modifier-keys

  4. A new window will slide down with a setting for the Caps Lock key at the top. click on the drop-down menu next to the Caps Lock Key title, and choose No Action.

    disable-mac-caps-lock

  5. Click OK. Now, whenever you hit the Caps Lock key by mistake, nothing will happen.

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

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