Microsoft Windows Archives - Page 4 of 32

7 ways to make your Windows PC boot up faster

Posted on October 12, 2023

One of the most irritating things about using a Windows PC is having to wait for it to boot up into a usable state after we turn it on.

To their credit, Microsoft has tweaked newer versions of Windows to reduce average boot times, but in my opinion it still takes longer for them to start up than it should.

Luckily, there are several things you can do to make your own PC boot up a lot faster than it does right now, even if your computer is brand new. Do as many or as few of them as you wish, then enjoy the fruits of your labor. [Read more…]

Q&A: Is System Restore adequate for backing up Windows?

Posted on September 28, 2023

Rick’s Tech Tips Newsletter

Question from Mike: I install lots of free software and I always create a new System Restore Point before installing a program just in case something goes wrong.

I think Windows is great, but as you know, things do go wrong sometimes.

My boss told me that relying on System Restore for my backups isn’t good enough. He said I need to create regular backups too, but I think that’s overkill.

What’s your opinion on this? [Read more…]

How (and when) to boot Windows into ‘Safe Mode’

Posted on September 21, 2023

Rick’s Tech Tips Newsletter

If you use a Windows PC there will likely come a time when you need to start up Windows in Safe Mode for trouble-shooting purposes.

Which brings up a question you might be asking…

What is Safe Mode?

When you boot up Windows into Safe Mode only the bare essentials of the operating system are loaded.

Only the system’s basic hardware drivers are loaded, and no programs listed in the Startup folder are allowed to load and run.

In a nutshell, Safe Mode makes it much easier to troubleshoot and fix software problems such as bad drivers, corrupted Windows files, really viruses and a lot more.

How to boot Windows into Safe Mode [Read more…]

Q&A: How can I get my ‘Recycle Bin’ icon back?

Posted on September 17, 2023

Question from Uneva: I have somehow deleted the icon for the Recycle Bin from my desktop. How can I get it back?

My computer is an HP All-In-One with Windows on it.

Thanks for your help in advance. I really appreciate it. [Read more…]

How to take complete control over your PC’s startup process

Posted on September 7, 2023

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Microsoft provides a utility called MSCONFIG that allows us to determine and control which programs Windows loads at Startup, but unfortunately it is woefully lacking.

MSCONFIG does list the major applications that start up automatically, but it doesn’t provide anywhere near a full list of all the independent processes that load into memory with every boot-up and consume precious CPU clock cycles.

Luckily, there is a better much better Windows Startup manager, and it is available as a free download. [Read more…]