You can use group policy objects (GPO) to configure policy settings for Microsoft Edge on all versions of Windows. To configure Microsoft Edge with group policy objects, you install administrative templates that add rules and settings for Microsoft Edge to the Policy Definition template folder on individual computers. Get Edge … Read more
In Firefox v88, some context menu options have been removed. One of the most useful options that is removed is the “View Image” context menu. It’s now replaced by “Open Image in New Tab,” which opens the image in a new tab (or a new window if the Shift key is pressed) instead of the same tab.
If you’re wondering how to get back the View Image menu option back in Firefox, a simple Firefox extension is available.Read more
When you change the desktop wallpaper, Windows remembers the file name and path of the last four wallpapers. The Personalize page (“Choose your picture”) displays the thumbnail image of five wallpapers; first thumbnail image is usually the current background, followed by thumbnails of previous four background images. This post tells you how to clear the wallpaper history using Registry Editor.Read more
Microsoft has moved most of the Control Panel features into the Settings UI in Windows 10, and at some point the classic Control Panel may be removed altogether. The Settings panel has different categories: System, Devices, Phone, Network & Internet, Personalization, Apps, Accounts, Time & language, Gaming, Ease of Access, Cortana, Privacy, Update & security, and Mixed reality.Read more
There are many tools to extract the Product Key from a live system or from the registry hive of an offline computer. Additionally, here is a neat little Vbscript that gets the Product Key of your current Windows installation–no third-party program required. The script works on Windows 7, 8 and Windows 10.Read more
Windows 8 and Windows 10 lets you pin folders to the Start screen, but pinning data files and folders to the taskbar is not allowed. The context menu entry Pin to Taskbar never exists for data files and folders. However, here is a neat little trick that lets you pin any file or folder (directory) to the taskbar.Read more
If you’re looking at how to replace Notepad with Notepad++ or any third-party editor, this post explains how to do it. Notepad++ is a free source code editor and Notepad replacement that supports several languages. Let’s see how you can replace Notepad with Notepad++ without replacing any system files.
Notepad is a lightweight program suitable for users who need only very minimal text editing features. For additional features and functionalities, third-party editors like Notepad++ and Sublime Text are awesome with many features built-in.
After installing a Feature Update like Fall Creators Update, you may face yet another weird issue. Whenever the computer is restarted, the first screen that may show up even before the login screen is: “The username or password is incorrect. Try again.“Read more
After clean installing Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, some users face a problem where the State Repository Service consumes high CPU usage (anywhere between 20% to 100%) when an external link is clicked in Microsoft Edge. The system may stall for 20-30 seconds and then the link is opened.Read more
Windows 10 includes a feature where you can quickly reset a store app without having to uninstall and reinstall it. Universal Apps store their settings in per-app registry hives and resetting the app is probably the only way you can clear the settings.Read more
Over time, many invalid or obsolete taskbar notification icons may show up in the “Customize notifications” or the “Select which icons appear on the Taskbar” page with invalid or missing icons.
Customize Notifications Dialog with obsolete entries
This article describes how to clear the past and current items list in the Customize Notifications dialog in Windows. Information and the script here apply to all versions of Windows, including Windows 10.Read more
When you attempt to start the Print Spooler service (via services.msc), one of the following error messages may appear and the Print Spooler service fails to start:
Could not start the Print Spooler service on Local Computer.
Error 1075: The dependency service does not exist or has been marked for deletion.
Could not start the Print Spooler service on Local Computer.
Error 1068: The dependency service or group failed to start.
The event log may display the following messages:Read more
UTF-8 is preferred if you want to use Unicode characters like Č, Ć, Š, ä, ö, ü, ß in your text file. Some of these accented characters will be lost if you save the file as ANSI. Notepad also warns you when you do so:
This file contains characters in Unicode format which will be lost if you save this file as an ANSI encoded text file. To keep the Unicode information, click Cancel below and then select one of the Unicode options from the Encoding drop down list. Continue?
Some users need ANSI to be the default
There are users who want to change Notepad’s default encoding from UTF-8 to ANSI. For example, VBS/WSH script coders may want ANSI as the default – because CScript.exe or WScript.exe can’t run UTF-8 encoded .vbs files.
Let’s see how to change Notepad’s default encoding to ANSI or another encoding in Windows 10. Read more
Since Windows 10 version 20H2, Internet Explorer redirects users to Microsoft Edge (Chromium) when they visit websites that don’t support Internet Explorer. Microsoft Edge Chromium version 84 and higher have this feature. Many modern websites have designs that are incompatible with Internet Explorer. When the Internet Explorer user visits an … Read more
Your Windows 7 computer may hang or get stuck when checking for updates, and consume high CPU time, thus bringing the system to a halt. This happens even though you have the Windows 7 SP1 installed.
This post tells you how to fix the problem.Read more
After upgrading to Windows 10 version 1903 (Codenamed “19H1”), the Disk Management window may show an additional drive named PortableBaseLayer of size 8191 MB (8 GB) When the PortableBaseLayer drive is right-clicked, all the options (except Properties) are grayed out. PortableBaseLayer also shows up in the defragmenter (“Optimize drives”) window … Read more
Microsoft decided to discontinue its EdgeHTML proprietary browser engine which was used in the Edge web browser. In December 2018, Microsoft announced that Edge was being rebuilt as a Chromium-based browser, which means using the Blink engine and terminating EdgeHTML. Let’s call the new Edge browser “Edge Chromium” or Chromium-based Edge.
This article focuses on how to install themes and extensions in Edge Chromium from the Chrome Web Store or other third-party sources.Read more
