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Now with Windows 8, Microsoft introduced a new menu called the Start Screen, which in my personal opinion is great, all the live tiles with useful information about each individual application, the ability to group set of applications together (for example, for work, entertainment, reading, etc.), and much more. While the Start Screen is set to replace the Start menu users will expect to at least have available some old options, such as the links to Computer, Documents, Devices and Printers, Network, etc....

The only caveat is that every time you start an Android app on Windows 11, the system also has to spin the virtual machine, adding extra time to get to the application. However, if you have the resources to spare, there’s an option to allow the subsystem to stay always running in the background to speed up the app start process. In this guide, you will learn the easy steps to allow WSA to run continuously on Windows 11....

The only caveat with this app is that every time you upgrade to a new phone or reset your device, you always have to re-enter all your accounts information. However, the app has received an update, which introduces the ability to backup your settings to the cloud to quickly recovery. In this guide, you’ll learn the steps to backup and recover your accounts using the Microsoft Authentication app. How to enable account backup for Microsoft Authenticator How to disable account backup for Microsoft Authenticator How to recover accounts on Microsoft Authenticator...

Although it’s perhaps the best launcher a Windows 10 user can use, there is one problem. Eventually, you’ll need to reset your phone or temporarily uninstall the launcher, and if you don’t do a backup of your configuration, you’ll have to go through all the setup and customization again. Thankfully, the launcher includes an option to backup and restore all your settings and customization options. In this guide, you’ll learn the steps to quickly backup and restore your Microsoft Launcher settings from your Android phone....

The new tap features Google’s daily doodle, search box, and a list of the most visited websites. Although, this new change aims to make the search experience a little better, for what I’m hearing the new renovation is more annoying than helpful. As such, I want to share a simple tip that will bring back the old “New Tab Page”, which only features the last eight web pages you frequently visit....

If the DNS servers offered by your ISP are slow and not reliable or don’t trust their resolvers, you can change the DNS addresses on Windows 10 in at least four different ways using Command Prompt, PowerShell, Settings, and Control Panel. In this guide, you’ll learn how to change the DNS addresses to use a more reliable and secure resolution service on your Windows 10 device. Best DNS servers for Windows 10 Change DNS servers on Windows 10 using Command Prompt Change DNS servers on Windows 10 using PowerShell Change DNS servers on Windows 10 using Settings Change DNS servers on Windows 10 using Control Panel...

Although using a static IP address is recommended for devices that provide services to network users, as its configuration never changes, it may come a time when you may no longer need this configuration, and a dynamically assigned network configuration will be more suited. If you use a static IP address and need to switch to a dynamic configuration, it’s possible to perform this task in several ways, including using the Settings app, Control Panel, Command Prompt, and even PowerShell....

Although the app is pretty basic, you can customize various aspects of the experience, including the background image that appears when no email is selected. If you want to refresh the app look and feel, the Windows 10 Mail app ships with several background images, themes with specific backgrounds and colors, and you can even set a custom wallpaper or disable the feature. In this guide, you will learn the steps to personalize the Mail app on Windows 10 with one of the pre-defined wallpapers and colors or custom background images....

However, in order to use these new headsets, you’ll need a computer that is powerful enough to support the mixed reality experience. Thankfully, Microsoft has the Windows Mixed Reality PC check that allows you to quickly see if your Windows 10 device supports the new experience. That way you don’t end up spending a lot of money on a headset that probably won’t even work on your device. You can download the Windows Mixed Reality PC check app from the Windows Store, and once installed, you only need to open the app to run the check and quickly find out if your computer supports mixed reality....

Of course, you can delete the devices you do not need using the Settings app. However, you may not know that deleting a printer doesn’t delete its driver from Windows 10. They will stay stored in a local inventory if you need them again. Although it’s a good approach for reinstalling printers quickly, if you won’t need the driver anymore, you can keep things organized, free up some space, and prevent (possible) printer driver problems by deleting the driver completely from Windows 10 or older versions....

Shortcuts are links that point to a specific location or file for faster access, saving you time and clicks. Usually, you would create shortcuts (commonly on the desktop) to things or places to use frequently. Windows 11 offers two types of shortcuts, including the traditional shortcuts, which are files you can copy and paste on any location, and then there are pins that you can only place in the Taskbar or Start menu....

If you need to restrict access to a user temporarily, Windows 11 includes multiple ways to disable an account using Command Prompt, PowerShell, and Computer Management. You can also use the Settings app, but you can only disable members created using the Family settings. This guide will teach you the different ways to disable an account on Windows 11. Disable user account on Windows 11 from Command Prompt Disable user account on Windows 11 from PowerShell Disable user account on Windows 11 from Computer Management Disable user account on Windows 11 from Settings...

The feature includes an option to normalize the audio output, which will come in handy to prevent commercials from playing louder than the actual content you are listening to or watching. You can turn stereo speakers into a surround experience, correct the audio in a room, and boost the bass of the speakers. This guide will teach you the steps to enhance the audio experience on Windows 11. Enable enhance audio on Windows 11 To enable and configure “Enhance audio” on Windows 11, use these steps: Once you complete the steps, the settings will apply to enhance the audio experience on your Windows 11 computer....

Developer Mode is a policy that allows you to lift the original system restrictions to install certain apps on Windows 11. Usually, this is a feature reserved for developers and advanced users since it let you install apps in development to test your code or install specific apps outside of the Microsoft Store. For example, a modified version of the Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA) to run Android apps from the Google Play Store....

Through the OneDrive website, you can get access to all the files on every drive connected to that particular PC, including USB drives, secondary hard drives, and network locations, if they are included in the Windows Libraries or they mapped drives. You can even stream videos and load slideshows. It’s a complete remote files access solution for home users that overcomes the space limitations in the cloud storage service. While accessing files remotely is a feature included on OneDrive for Windows 7, Microsoft removed the feature for Windows 8....

Chrome refers to the new feature as “Tab Hover Cards,” and it’s enabled automatically starting with version 78, but the default behavior only shows the title of the page. If you also want to see the screenshot of the page in the preview, you must enable this feature separately. In this guide, you’ll learn the steps to enable the Tab Hover Cards (tab previews) in the Chrome web browser....

Tab Search on Chrome offers a search box to quickly find open tabs in the current window. In addition, the experience also exposes a list of all the pages eliminating the dependency of the tab information to move between tabs. The feature is expected to become part of Google Chrome, but at the time of this writing, you need to enable the feature manually using the flags option if you are using the Canary version of the browser, or editing the target shortcut in the stable version of the browser....

While the ability to create virtual desktops to better organize and group your tasks has been around for years, even on Windows 10, each desktop still uses generic names like “Desktop 1” and “Desktop 2,” making it confusing to distinguish between each virtual space. However, it appears that this is going to change as Twitter user Albacore found out that the next version of the OS will include an option to rename virtual desktops....

Originally, the dark theme was only available for Windows Phone users, then during the pre-release phase of Windows 10, the dark theme appeared for the first time as a hidden feature and it required to modify the Windows registry to make it work, which wasn’t an ideal solution. However, in time the software giant finally integrated the dark theme in the final release of Windows 10. Enabling the new dark theme in Windows 10 is pretty straightforward, the only thing you have to do is to open the Settings app (you can use the Windows + I keyboard shortcut), then navigate to Personalization, and the go to Colors....

For those unfamiliar with these products, VirtualBox is a free and open source project owned by Oracle, and it’s a piece of software that allows you to install an operating system, in this case Windows Technical Preview, inside your current system in a virtual environment, without having to modify anything and avoiding errors, crashes, and possibly data lose. VMware Workstation works the same way, with the difference that this is a paid software (though, you can try it for free), but you get additional features and support from the VMware....