Your daily dose of practical, easy to follow tech tips!
Microsoft completely changed the look and feel of the Windows operating system with the release of Windows 8, and it became apparent almost immediately that most seasoned Windows users hated it.
Well, Microsoft eventually took all the criticism to heart and released Windows 8.1 in an attempt to regain some of the good will they had lost, and for the most part I think they succeeded because 8.1 is a vast improvement over Windows 8. [Read more…]
Windows 8.1 still includes the colorful Start Screen that Microsoft introduced as the focal point of Windows 8.
And depending on who you ask, the Start Screen is either the best thing since the discovery of fire or a scourge on all humanity.
Many users – myself included – have discovered that the ‘All Apps’ screen is a lot more useful than the Start Screen since it lists every app that’s installed on your computer instead of just the ones that Microsoft thinks are important. [Read more…]
If your PC is running Windows 8.1, your hard drive probably has a hidden recovery partition that you can use to restore your Windows installation if something ever goes wrong and Windows becomes corrupted.
But what if your hard drive fails or the recovery partition itself becomes corrupted and no longer usable? It happens, and when it does it can cause all kinds of heartache for those who don’t have a backup of some sort to restore from.
Luckily, Windows 8.1 users have a very easy way to prepare for such an emergency. All you need to do is create a USB Flash Recovery Drive. Here’s how: [Read more…]
Question from Howard L.: Rick, I’m hoping you can help me out. After Microsoft stopped supporting Windows XP I decided to install Windows 8.1 on my HP Pavilion dv4000 CTO laptop. I really love this computer and I hate to give it up!
Since this PC is so old I didn’t know how well it would work with Windows 8.1, but I was very pleasantly surprised. It actually seems to run faster than it did with XP. But there’s one problem. [Read more…]
By default, Microsoft Windows hides certain system files and folders from the user’s view in order to keep us from accidentally altering, moving or deleting a file and end up crippling our PCs.
But there are times when it’s necessary to be able to see the hidden files and folders (such as while we’re troubleshooting Windows problems and removing malware).
It has always been possible to temporarily turn off the “Hidden Files an Folders” setting, but the way we do so has changed in Windows 8.1 (and in Windows 8 which preceded it). Follow these steps to display hidden files and folders in Windows 8 and 8.1: [Read more…]