Windows

How to start Microsoft Edge with blank page

September 2, 2015 By Ravi Shankar 8 Comments

Microsoft Edge is the new Internet browser that has replaced Internet Explorer in Windows 10. When you start Microsoft Edge, by default it starts with Top sites.

Listed below are the steps to start Microsoft Edge with Blank Web page.

Step 1: Start Microsoft Edge and click More actions option available at the Top left hand corner.

Step 2: Select Settings from the drop down list.

Step 3: In the Open with radio option, select New tab page option.

Step 4: Navigate to Open new tabs with section and click the drop down.

Step 5: Select A blank page from the list of available option.

Now when you restart Microsoft Edge, it should start with a blank page.

Change the default location of documents folder in Windows 10

August 29, 2015 By Ravi Shankar 2 Comments

The default location of documents folder in Windows 10 is C drive. But Windows 10 users can change the default location of documents, pictures, music and videos to other drives using option available as part of Storage settings. This is an useful when you are running out of disk space on C drive and want to change the default location. Listed below are steps to change the path for documents in Windows 10.

Step 1: Click Start button or Windows icon and select Settings from the list.

Step 2: In the Settings screen, click System settings.

Step 3: Navigate Storage option under System Settings.

This should display the storage information about the drives in Windows 10 system.

Step 4: Now to change the location of documents, click the drop down available below “New documents will save to” and choose the desired drive location.

Similarly you can change the location of documents, music, pictures and videos.

Prevent Apps from using camera in Windows 10

August 27, 2015 By Ravi Shankar Leave a Comment

Apps installed on Windows 10 will by default have access to system camera. Windows 10 users have the option to turn off the camera for all apps or specific apps. Listed below are the steps to control the camera usage of apps in Windows 10

Step 1: Click Windows or Start button and select Settings from the menu list.

Step 2: In the Settings screen, click Privacy option.

Step 3: Navigate to Camera section under Privacy settings.

Now to prevent all apps from using the Camera, turn off the switch with label as “Let apps use my camera”. And to prevent specific app from using the camera, choose the apps under “Choose apps that can use your camera” section and turn off the switch.

How to find out App size in Windows 10

August 26, 2015 By Ravi Shankar Leave a Comment

When you are running out disk space on windows 10 system, you can clean up unwanted apps in Windows 10 to free some space. Listed below are the steps to View the App Size in Windows 10

Step 1: Click Windows icon or Start button in Windows 10

Step 2: Select Settings from the menu list.

Step 3: In the Settings screen, select System option.

Step 4: Click the App & features section in System Settings. The system might take some time to list down the apps with their size. You can use the filter option to sort app based on size, name and installation date.

To remove any app, click Uninstall button which gets displayed when you select any app.

By following the above steps, you can find the size and uninstall an app in any Windows 10.

How to see the system details in Windows 10

August 19, 2015 By Ravi Shankar Leave a Comment

Windows 10 users can find out system details such processor, installed RAM, system type etc. using the Option available as part of Settings. This option will also provide users to change name of the PC or join a new domain.

Step 1: Click Windows 10 Start button or Windows icon

Step 2: Select the Settings from the menu list.

Step 3: In the Setting screen, click System option.

Step 4: Navigate to About tab under System setting screen. This should list all details about Windows 10 system.

How to downgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 8.1

August 18, 2015 By Ravi Shankar Leave a Comment

Having used Windows 10 for a week, I do not see a reason to downgrade it to Windows 8.1 But in case you want to Switch back to Windows 8.1 then follow the steps below.

Step 1: Click the Windows icon / Start button.

Step 2: Select Settings from the menu list

Step 3: In the Settings screen, select Update & security option.

Step 4: Navigate to Recovery tab in Update & Security screen. Then click Get started button under Go back to Windows 8.1

Please note that this downgrade option is available only for a month after you have upgraded to Window 10. Another alternative is to use the Advanced start-up option to restore the system to Windows 8.1 using backup (If you had taken a backup of Windows 8.1 system image.)

Auto launch Outlook at Windows Startup

July 19, 2015 By Ravi Shankar 3 Comments

Lot of office users would like to start their day by reading their emails. Configuring Outlook 2013 and Outlook 2010 to automatically launch at Windows startup would definitely benefit these users. This can be done by adding Outlook to the Startup option available as part of the Start Menu.

This requires the following two steps

Creating a Outlook application shortcut. For creating Outlook 2013 and Outlook 2010 shortcut check out the article on Windows Desktop shortcut for Office 2010 application.

Copying Outlook shortcut to Windows startup folder.

Right click on the Start button and select Explore from the menu list.

Expand the Start Menu folder in the explorer window then navigate to the Startup folder and copy Outlook 2010 shortcut file to Startup folder.

Now this would start Outlook 2010 during Windows Startup.Demo Video – Auto launch Outlook 2010 on Windows Shortcut

How to hide windows updates on Windows 8.1

June 21, 2014 By Ravi Shankar 3 Comments

In this short tutorial, we are going cover the steps required to hide and restore windows updates on Windows 8.1.

Why do you want to hide windows updates?

It is recommended to install all the major updates or patches released for Operating Systems. But if there are any Important or Optional updates for some built-in application which your are using then you hide those updates. For example, you are using Google Chrome instead of Internet Explorer then you can skip all the updates delivered for Internet Explorer. When you hide those updates, Windows will keep you prompting about the available updates.

Listed below are the steps to hide Windows Updates on Windows 8.1

Step 1: Right click on Windows icon and select Control Panel from the list.

Step 2: In the Control Panel window, select System and Security option.

Step 3: In the System and Security window, click Windows Update link

Step 4: Select the updates listed under Windows Update screen.

Let us say you want to hide all the optional updates, Click Optional updates under the listed updates.

Step 5: In the “Select the updates you want to install” screen, select the updates that you want hide (not the check box selection) then right click and choose Hide updates.

This should disable all the checkboxes and prevent users from selecting those updates.

How to unhide or restore hidden updates on Windows 8.1

If you later decide to change your mind and want to install the hidden updates then you can restore using the “Restore hidden updates” option under Windows Update screen.

In the Restore Updates screen, select the updates and click the Restore button available at the bottom of the screen. This should make the updates available for installing on your Windows 8.1.

Also See: Checking whether your Windows 8 PC is up to date?