Windows Acting Like It Needs to Install Again
Windows ten is probably the best edition of Microsoft's venerable operating organization. But Redmond has never fabricated an entirely perfect Os. As much as we similar Windows ten—and we actually do like it a lot—information technology's got problems. Just check the comments below to run into how much our readers hate the tracking and lack of privacy. (For that, read How to Protect Your Privacy in Windows 10.)
Thankfully, many of the Os's issues are hands corrected. Here are the steps you can take, so version ten doesn't drive yous upward the Windows wallpaper.
End Auto Reboots
Windows 10 updates are regular and seemingly never-ending, and pretty much out of the user's control (unless you turn off updates birthday, which is a bad idea). What's worse: if you don't reboot your PC after an update, Windows ten eventually takes information technology upon itself to reboot for you. That's a proficient way to lose data in open apps.
Have advantage of a characteristic called Active Hours, which lets y'all schedule a fourth dimension for updates and reboots. Navigate to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > Change agile hours. To select your own timeframe, click Change and choose a start and end time.
Starting with the May 2019 Update (version 1903), meanwhile, you tin besides opt to have Windows automatically adjust agile hours based on your device's activity. Navigate to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > Alter active hours and toggle on the pick for Automatically adjust active hours for this device based on activity.
Prevent Viscous Keys
If you hit the Shift key five times in a row in Windows, you activate Sticky Keys, a Windows characteristic that allows for keyboard shortcuts where y'all hitting one key at a time instead of simultaneously (and so information technology works with whatsoever combo that includes the Shift, Ctrl, Alt, or Windows keys).
If you actuate it without knowing—by striking "yep" in a dialog box without thinking, for example—it can exist seriously abrasive. Forestall it from ever happening by hitting the Shift five times rapidly to bring up that very dialog box. Click the Disable this keyboard shortcut in Ease of Admission Keyboard Settings and uncheck the box next to Turn on Sticky Keys when SHIFT is pressed five times.
Calm the UAC Down
Ever since Windows Vista, User Account Control (UAC) has been in that location to protect users so they can quickly grant administrative rights to software programs that need it—specifically when installing or uninstalling software. In the quondam days, when y'all went to do an install, the screen would of a sudden dim and everything seemed to come up to a halt, causing several (anecdotal, probably fictional) heart attacks amid the populace. UAC is however there in Windows and will notwithstanding dim the desktop, just you have the pick to plough it off, or at least prevent the screen dimming.
Type UAC into the Windows 10 search box to get Modify User Business relationship Control Settings. The screen presents a slider with four levels of security, from never notify (bad) to always notify (annoying—it'll warn you when you brand your own changes). Pick one of the heart options; the second from the bottom notifies you without the dimming scare tactic. With that pick, yous'll still get a dialog box confirmation with a yes/no option when you install things.
Delete Unused Apps
Did you lot know you lot have a programme in Windows 10 called Groove Music? Probably not, because the world uses other services. Thankfully, a few pre-installed Windows apps can finally be deleted. Navigate toSettings > Apps > Apps & Features, where yous can ditch Mail and Agenda, Groove Music, Weather, and Maps.
If your uninstall option is grayed out, you could go the DOS road, merely it gets a little complicated and you lot should exist 100% sure of what you're doing.
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Blazon PowerShell in the Windows search box—when you lot see it, right-click and launch it via Run as Administrator.
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Type in "Get-AppxPackage –AllUsers" without the quotes. A giant list of all the stuff you've got installed that came from Microsoft's Store, plus another stuff, volition appear.
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It's hard to find those apps in in that location, just the concluding one will probably clearly read Microsoft.ZuneMusic—that'south actually Groove Music. Copy everything it says on the line next to PackageFullName.
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You'll and then blazon in a control and paste that line, so it reads something like "remove-AppxPackage Microsoft.ZuneMusicten.16122.10271.0x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe" (yours volition be different after the first underscore grapheme).
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Execute it with a stroke of the return primal. If yous don't get any errors, the Groove Music app should be gone. Be conscientious using this on other apps—be sure you've picked the right one.
Apply a Local Account
Microsoft really wants you to sign in to Windows x with your Microsoft account—the one attached to all things Microsoft, be it your Xbox, Office 365, or OneDrive account, ownership apps or music or video in the Windows Store, even talking on Skype, to proper name only a few. When y'all set upward Windows, Microsoft specifically asks you to sign in using that account.
Just you lot don't take to. During setup, only clickSkip this footstep. If y'all already signed in with the Microsoft account, become toSettings > Accounts > Your info. ClickSign in with a local account instead. Enter a local account proper name and new password (with a hint for when you forget it).
The downside is that when y'all stop up on a service or site that requires Microsoft credentials, you'll have to enter your Microsoft login each time; it won't automatically sign you in as it does if you log into Windows with a Microsoft account.
Use a PIN, Not a Password
If you're okay using the Microsoft business relationship, but hate how long information technology takes to type in your super secure countersign, reset it to a short personal identification number (PIN) used only on the PC. The Pivot, which is only numerals—no mixed case letters or special characters—might not sound secure. But it's PC-only, hopefully you're the merely user, and it doesn't compromise the security of your Microsoft account anywhere else. Plus, the Pivot can be every bit many digits as you desire.
Go toSettings > Accounts > Sign-in options, and click the Add button under PIN. Enter the PIN y'all want and restart to try information technology. If you've already got a Pivot, you'll meet options to change it, remove information technology, or click "I forgot my PIN" to recover it.
Skip the Password Login
Are you the only person who ever—and I mean always—uses your PC? Then y'all can probably skip the countersign login screen that appears after every reboot or sometimes even when you come up back from the screensaver.
Go to the User Accounts command panel by typing "netplwiz" in the search bar. Select the account, uncheck the box next to Users must enter a username and password to use this figurer. You'll become a confirmation box that asks you lot to enter that very countersign—twice. Click okay. Reboot the PC, and it should curl smoothly into the desktop without requesting a password. Don't do this if it's shared PC. Remember, you'll all the same need to know the password if yous're logging into the PC remotely. (Or, yous could employ TeamViewer.)
Refresh Instead of Reset
Windows 10 has a fantastic feature that lets you substantially reinstall Windows 10 on your computer from the footing upwards, similar new—with the option to non delete any of your data (though you lot will take to reinstall software and drivers). When your PC is beyond repair, yous access it atSettings > Update & Security > Recovery. Click Get Started underReset this PC, choice settings similar "Keep My Files" or "Remove Everything," and let it rip. You lot don't need any separate media, like a copy of Windows x on a disc or USB flash drive.
Even so, that can be overkill. Sometimes, Windows just needs a reset that doesnon eradicate your software and drivers. This is also easy to practise, merely itdoes require a copy of Windows ten on divide media. Don't have the media? Go it here. Run information technology and install the included ISO file onto a 4GB or larger USB drive to apply in the reset now and in the future. Or yous can just mount information technology as a virtual bulldoze in Windows 10.
Double-click the setup on that media/drive'southward Setup option, ask to download updates and check Proceed personal files and apps when it appears. After a few more prompts and waiting, your Windows x system will go the refresh it needs.
Master Principal would never let this happen. Windows 10 took out the switch to turn off Cortana, Microsoft'south answer to Siri and Alexa. Simply Cortana searches more than your computer; information technology searches the entire internet. You can still turn her off, withal.
Offset, at that place is the option tohide Cortana: only right-click the Taskbar and selectBear witness Cortana Button. The Cortana halo ring disappears. She'south still active and hands accessible, notwithstanding: tap the Windows key on your keyboard and start typing.
If you want to really accept her out, so all searches are local, you need to edit the registry. Don't do this if you're not feeling like a Windows expert. Make a organisation restore point before y'all practise information technology, only in case. This merely applies to Windows 10 Home version.
Open up the Registry Editor: Type +R, then blazon regedit and hit Enter. In Windows 10 Domicile, navigate to HKEYLOCALCar\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search. If it's not there, create it. Right-click it to create a DWORD value and call it AllowCortana . Ready that value to 0 (zero). One time you lot sign out and come up back, the search box will now read "Search Windows." Y'all can put Cortana back by doing all this once more and setting the value to 1 (i).
If you have Windows ten Pro or Enterprise, you can utilise the Group Policy Editor to turn her off, just for that, yous should offset bank check with your IT admin. Type Windows Cardinal+R, type in gpedit.msc to bring up the Grouping Policy Editor, and so navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Search. Double-click on Allow Cortana, cheque the button next to Disabled. Close the window and restart Windows 10.
If you're killing Cortana for privacy reasons, don't forget to visit your Microsoft account online and delete everything Cortana collected most you. Under Cortana'south Notebook, click the Articulate Cortana Data push button.
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Send OneDrive to the Grave
Like Cortana, OneDrive—Microsoft's reply to Dropbox or Google Drive—is integrated into Windows 10. Tightly. Maybe as well tightly. You lot can try to ignore it, only it comes up a lot.
Your commencement option: unlink it. Right-click the OneDrive cloud icon in the taskbar and selectSettings. Under theAccount tab, clickUnlink this PC. If that's non enough, nether theSettings tab, uncheck all the boxes. Then get dorsum toAccount > Choose Folders, and uncheck all the folders it was syncing. Go to Windows Explorer, right-click OneDrive and select Properties; in the General tab, by Attributes, check the box next to Hidden. Then on the Taskbar, correct-click OneDrive again and select Close OneDrive.
Really desire to uninstall OneDrive? Do it via the usual App & features uninstall in Settings. Yous'll find it nether "Microsoft OneDrive."
Access Special Symbols Quick
Just using 26 letters and 10 numerals and a few pieces of punctuation—that's so old-school. We live in the emoji world at present. So how practise you lot put those fun niggling icons into your text when typing in Windows 10? The pop-up keyboard. It'due south typically meant for utilise when Windows is in tablet mode, but it's easy to access fifty-fifty when you're using Windows with a regular keyboard.
Right-click the Taskbar in a blank area, and selectShow touch keyboard button. An icon of a little keyboard volition appear next to the clock in the taskbar. Tap it anytime with the mouse cursor to bring upwardly the on-screen keyboard; tap any key on your IRL keyboard to dismiss information technology from the screen. Click the extra keyboard icon at the top left to access diverse layout options, including a separate keyboard and a stylus pad.
You now accept admission non only to emoji just also special characters like the em dash or degrees symbol (°). If you tin can't find them, that's because y'all first take to hitting the &123 key to switch to symbols. Then, similar on a smartphone, hold down your cursor on the chief central to go some special symbols—hold down the hyphen to go em dash and en nuance; concur down on equals (=) to get non-equals (≠), etc. Same goes for the letters to get variations, such as accent symbols over the letters. Voilà!
Click the Smiley key to admission the total suite of standard smartphone-style emoji, rendered in Microsoft's extra-colorful design, equally pictured above. You lot can scroll left/right to see even more in each category.
This on-screen keyboard also offers quick access to the Windows ten clipboard, which holds multiple items yous've cut or copied, and speech-to-text typing (or you can but type Windows Key+V to get the scrollable).
No More than Notifications
You either love notifications or detest the distraction. The noise, the popup, information technology's also much when your phone is probable displaying near of the same info. Go intoSettings > System > Notifications & Actions. Turn off all the toggle switches for individual apps, especially the ones yous notice well-nigh annoying. Or click on the app name in the list for even more granular command—get notifications from one app on the lock screen, for example, only nowhere else. Or turn off sounds for all only one notifier. Play with the settings to go it just right.
Cool Your Diagnostics
Like many other large-name companies, Microsoft likes to get Os feedback about things like crashes. But when y'all do a setup and Windows ten asks to Transport full fault and diagnostic information to Microsoft, Redmond'south getting more you think. InSettings > Privacy > Diagnostics & Feedback, you can set things to protect some privacy. Only let Required diagnostic information, not Optional data; plow off the "Ameliorate inking and typing" option; and even delete all the diagnostic information currently on your PC—but that doesn't prevent previous or future data from going to Microsoft.
Get Off the Edge
Don't like Microsoft's latest browser? Just no affair what browser you choose, y'all need to go far the default, so someday you open a link, it goes to the browser you want. Get toSettings > Apps > Default Apps, roll down and clickWeb browser. A list will display all your installed browsers—pick your favorite. You can ever get back to any Redmond thinks best later past clicking the Reset push button under Reset to Microsoft Recommended defaults.
If you get problems with certain links, ensure the file type (like .htm versus .html) or even protocols (like http:// versus https://) are all set to your browser of choice as well. ClickChoose default apps by file blazonorChoose default apps by protocol on the same screen.
Most new browsers volition endeavor to take dorsum the default position when you launch them the start fourth dimension, and then if you speed through a setup, you may need to revisit these settings to go back to your original, preferred spider web browser.
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Source: https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-fix-the-most-annoying-things-in-windows-10
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