scripts

How to Use Windows Spotlight as Desktop Wallpaper Slideshow

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The Windows Spotlight brings fresh wallpaper images for your lock screen daily. The wallpapers are stored in the Assets folder wherein the older wallpaper images will be purged automatically as the new set of images get downloaded. We saw how to save the lock screen wallpapers using various methods, including a scripting method. This post … Read more

How to Find and Remove Empty Folders in Windows

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remove empty folders in windows

Over time, hundreds of empty folders and junk files may take up your hard disk. While the junk files occupy disk space and can be cleaned up using Disk Cleanup or Storage settings, the empty directories remain.

The empty folders don’t take up disk space, but to organize your data better, you may want to prune them every once in a while.

This article discusses different methods to find and remove empty folders on your computer.Read more

Enable or Disable Windows Defender Using Shortcut or Command-line

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Windows Defender, the built-in anti-virus program in Windows, has useful features such as cloud-based protection, offline scanning, limited periodic scanning, tamper protection, controlled folder access, etc.

Almost every aspect of Windows Defender can be managed or automated using the MpCmdrun.exe command-line tool and PowerShell cmdlets. There are times when you need to temporarily disable your Windows Defender real-time protection on your test (non-production) systems and switch it back on after a few minutes.

You may prefer a single-click shortcut or script solution because of the following reasons:

  1. It takes several mouse clicks to turn off/on the Windows Defender real-time protection through the user interface.
  2. The Turn off Microsoft Defender Antivirus Group Policy setting or its equivalent registry setting DisableAntiSpyware = 1 would require rebooting the computer.
  3. Microsoft has discontinued the DisableAntiSpyware policy/registry setting in Microsoft Defender Antimalware platform versions 4.18.2007.8 and higher. DisableAntiSpyware no longer works!

hand point iconThis post explains how to enable or disable Windows Defender in a single click using desktop shortcuts or command-line without requiring a restart.

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How to Delete Files Older than N Days Automatically in Windows

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windows 10 storage settings cleanup options

Windows 10 has built-in features to free up space by deleting old files in the %temp% directory and Downloads folder. Windows 10 Settings has an option (“Storage”) which automatically clears temporary files your apps are not using, files in the Downloads that haven’t been modified in the last x days, or files lying in the Recycle Bin for x days.Read more

Open Cortana Web Search Results in Google and Default Browser

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Clicking on a web search result in Cortana would always launch Microsoft Edge regardless of your default browser. However, you can configure Cortana web search links to open with your default web browser. Additionally, you can automatically redirect the search query to Google search instead of Bing.

In April 2018, Microsoft announced that Edge would be the browser that would launch when searching from Cortana, no matter what your default web browser or https protocol association setting is.

While the user interface doesn’t have an option to change the search engine or browser, there is still a way to make Cortana search using Google instead of Bing, using the new microsoft-edge: URL protocol.Read more