Category: Utilities » Page 4

Find the Total Execution Time of a Command or Program in Windows

Last Updated on: August 5, 2023 by Ramesh

measure total execution time of a command or program

You may sometimes want to to find the total execution time of a command or program you run. To optimize a script or program, it’s essential to know how long does it take for it to complete execution. This helps you compare the total run time of Program A vs. Program B and optimize your code, especially if you’re a professional software developer, analyst, or software tester.

Measuring the total execution time of a script or process is one of the most critical aspects of performance optimization. This article discusses various methods to find the total execution time of a program, script, or command in Windows.

How to Resize or Change the Resolution of a Video File (MP4, MKV, AVI, MPG)

Last Updated on: August 5, 2023 by Ramesh

resize or change resolution of videos in windows - handbrake

Image or video dimensions are quoted as width × height, with the units in pixels: for example, 1920 × 1080 means the width is 1920 pixels and the height is 1080 pixels. 1080p is 1920 × 1080 Full HD resolution. The higher the resolution, the higher the video file size. Often times, you may want … Read more

How to Convert MP4 or Any Video to MP3 (Extract Audio from Video)

Last Updated on: August 5, 2023 by Ramesh

convert mp4 to mp3 offline - extract audio from video - audacity

If you want to extract audio from your video files such as MP4, MPG, MPEG, there are many free tools to do that. Extracting audio is from video files is what most people refer to as converting from MP4 to MP3. This article explains different methods (using freeware tools) to extract audio from your video files.Read more

Red X icon overlay appears on all drives in Windows [Dropbox]

Last Updated on: August 2, 2023 by Ramesh

After installing Dropbox, all your drives in This PC show up with a red x overlay icon. This problem is seen for local drives, removable drives, as well as optical drives. Dropbox support team is aware of this issue, and they say that the problem is seen only if you install the latest beta 77.3.125. Exiting Dropbox clears those overlay icons and the drives appear normal.

Macrium Reflect is busy. A Backup or Restore operation is currently running

Last Updated on: July 31, 2023 by Ramesh

After postponing a scheduled backup job using the Macrium Reflect imaging utility, when you attempt to create a new image backup manually via Macrium Reflect user interface, the following message appears: Reflect is busy. A Backup or Restore operation is currently running. Macrium Reflect doesn’t seem to allow you to create a backup manually after … Read more

Error 0x80070422 in Windows Update and Store

Last Updated on: November 6, 2023 by Ramesh

When you open Settings and check for updates on your Windows 10 or 11 computer, the error 0x80070422 appears. Here is the entire error message:

There were some problems installing updates, but we'll try again later. If you keep seeing this and want to search the web or contact support for information, this may help: (0x80070422)

How to Assign the Same Drive Letter for USB Drive in Windows

Last Updated on: August 2, 2023 by Ramesh

When you insert a USB flash drive, external hard disk, or an SD card, Windows allots the first available drive letter. If drives C, D, E are already used, when you insert an external drive, it allocates drive letter F: for the external drive.

If you’re wondering how to assign the same drive letter for an external drive, then this article has the info you need.Read more

Fix: Can’t delete Avast Software Registry Key in Windows

Last Updated on: August 2, 2023 by Ramesh

Last week when I installed CCleaner on my system, it also installed Avast antivirus software stealthily, in the background. After I uninstalled Avast, a registry key named AVAST Software still remained in the registry, but it couldn’t be opened. When the AVAST Software branch was selected, it threw the following error:

Error Opening Key
AVAST Software cannot be opened.
An error is preventing this key from being opened.
Details: The system cannot find the file specified.

When I opened the Properties of the AVAST Software key, the Security tab was blank, showing the message: The requested security information is either unavailable or can’t be displayed.

I tried running Sysinternals RegDelNull to nuke the keys, but that didn’t help.

The same error can occur for AVG antivirus users.

Error Opening Key
AVG cannot be opened.
An error is preventing this key from being opened.
Details: The system cannot find the file specified.

Registry Reparse Point

Later I realized that the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\AVAST Software is a reparse point or registry link that links to the following key on Windows 64-bit systems:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\WOW6432Node\AVAST Software

But, since the Avast uninstaller had wiped out the above key, the reparse point still remains but is orphaned.

On Windows 32-bit systems, the reparse point and the target key paths are reversed.

However, once I knew it’s only a reparse point, the fix turned out to be very simple; you don’t need to tinker with the registry key permissions or ownership.Read more

How to Auto Logoff Idle Users in Windows 10

Last Updated on: August 8, 2023 by Ramesh

winexit logoff screensaver in windows 10

You may be wondering if Windows 10 can be configured to logoff users (instead of locking the workstation) after inactivity with the help of a screen saver. Screen savers kick in after the user remains idle or inactive for the specified time. When you resume from screen saver, you’re prompted for credentials to get back to your desktop.

The Windows 2003 Resource Kit Tools has a screen saver file winexit.scr, known as Windows Exit Screen saver or Logoff screen saver that does exactly that. However, the WinExit.scr screen saver throws the following error when you try to run it on Windows Vista and higher, including Windows 10.

Error encountered while creating registry section.

How to make a program which was developed 16 years back, work on Windows 10? This article tells you how to use the winexit.scr screen saver to log off a user account after the idle timeout in Windows 10.Read more

Insert Date/Time in Any Program Using Keyboard Hotkey

Last Updated on: August 2, 2023 by Ramesh

When you’re writing content such as technical content, news articles, etc., you may sometimes want to insert the current date or timestamp in a program or editor you’re using. In Notepad, you can add the timestamp by pressing the F5 key.

Microsoft Office Word, OneNote allows the Alt + Shift + D and Alt + Shift + T hotkey combinations to insert the current date and current time respectively.

Similarly, WordPad has the Date and time toolbar button that lets you insert the date or timestamp in your preferred format from the list of 13 choices.

But, if you’re using a program which doesn’t have a built-in feature to insert current date and time, you may need a third-party macro or automation tool for that purpose. With automation tools, you also have the advantage of using a single hotkey combination to insert the date or timestamp in any program.Read more