Tutorials

How to Uninstall Drivers in Windows 7 and Windows 8 After a device is installed, it might be necessary to uninstall a device or a driver package. For example, you might decide to replace the associated device, or the driver package might have to be uninstalled when a driver is updated. The driver store is a protected area of the computer that contains device driver packages that have been approved for installation on the computer. After the driver package has been removed from the driver store, it is no longer available to be installed on a device. This tutorial will show you how to uninstall a driver for a device in Windows 7 and Windows 8. You must be signed in to Windows as an administrator to be able to uninstall drivers. To...

How to Set a Default Folder View for All Folders in Windows 8 This tutorial will show you how to set a default folder view to be applied to all folders in Windows 8. This will only affect your user account, and not all users on the PC. This will not affect the folder view settings in libraries. All included folders in a library share the same folder view, so you can easily manually set a default folder view per library. When you open an added folder in a library, you get the view set in that library. When you open a folder directly (not in library), say from a shortcut or in File Explorer, you get the view set for that folder from the location it was opened from. This will not affect the folder view settings in the small...

How to Set a Default Input Method or Keyboard Layout Language in Windows 8 and 8.1 By default, the default input method for typing is the first added language in your language list unless set by you to use another listed language as the default input method instead. Whenever you sign out, restart, or shut down the computer, the input method will automatically reset back to what you have set as the default language. This tutorial will show you how to set a default input method or keyboard layout language from your language list to type in by default for your user account in Windows 8, Windows RT, Windows 8.1, and Windows RT 8.1. Here's How: 1. Do step 2, 3, or 4 below for how you would like to open Language settings. 2. Click/tap...

How to Turn "Password Protected Sharing" On or Off in Windows 8 and 8.1 This tutorial will show you how to turn "password protected sharing" on or off in Windows 8, Windows RT, Windows 8.1, and Windows RT 8.1. When password protected sharing is on, people locally or on the network must sign into a user account with a password on your Windows 8 PC to be able to access shared files and printers and Public folders on your PC. When password protected sharing is off, people on the network will be able to access shared files and printers and Public folders on your Windows 8 PC without having to sign in to your PC, and local user accounts on your computer will not require having a password. You must be signed in as an administrator to be...

How to Use Windows Update Cleanup in Windows 8 and 8.1 Windows Update Cleanup is an option in Disk Cleanup that you can use to have Windows automatically delete Windows updates that you no longer need to free up hard drive space. This tutorial will show you how to use Windows Update Cleanup to delete outdated Windows updates from the WinSxS folder (component store) to free up hard drive space in Windows 8 and 8.1. You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to do the steps in this tutorial. The Windows Update Cleanup option is available only when the Disk Cleanup wizard detects Windows updates that you do not need on the computer. To let you roll back to previous updates, updates are stored in the WinSxS store even after...

How to Change Background Color of Default Sign-in Screen in Windows 8 and 8.1 In Windows 8, there are two sign-in screens, and each has their own background color. The first is the user's sign-in screen that only shows that user to enter their password. The second is the default sign-in screen that shows all user accounts like in the example screenshot below. . This tutorial will show you how to change the background color of the "default" sign-in screen that displays all user accounts in Windows 8, Windows RT, Window 8.1, and Windows RT 8.1. You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to do the steps in this tutorial. EXAMPLE: Default Sign in Screen in Windows 8 and 8.1 To Change Background Color of Default...

How to Hide or Show Windows 8 Edition and Build Version Watermark on Desktop This tutorial will show you how to hide or show a watermark displaying the Windows edition, build version, and Windows folder location on the desktop at the bottom right corned above the taskbar notification area for all users in Windows 8 and 8.1. You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to do the steps in this tutorial. Windows must be activated for this to work. This watermark is not the same as the watermark below indicating that Windows is not activated. Notice the non-activated watermark does not include displaying the Windows folder location. EXAMPLE: Windows 8 Edition, Build Version, and Windows Folder Location Watermark...

How to Fix "User Profile Service service failed the sign-in. User Profile cannot be loaded." Error in Windows 8 and 8.1 This is for when you try to sign in to a user account using a temporary profile, you get the error message below instead of your user account starting. When you click/tap on OK, you are taken back to the sign in screen. A user profile is a collection of settings that make the computer look and work the way you want it to for a user account. It contains the account's settings for desktop backgrounds, screen savers, pointer preferences, sound settings, and other features. User profiles ensure that your personal preferences are used whenever you sign in to Windows. A user profile is different from a user account...

How to Create a Shortcut to Run an Application with a Specific CPU Priority in Windows Windows shares the processor time between all running processes based upon their priority level. If a process has a higher priority, it gets more processor time compared to a process having a lower priority. This tutorial will show you how to create a shortcut that will always run an application with a specific CPU priority by default in XP, Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8. You should not set processes to have a realtime priority since it could easily slow your system to a crawl by causing lower priority processes to not have the resources they need. Here's How: 1. Right click or press and hold on an empty area of your desktop, and click/tap...

How to Reduce the Startup Delay Time for Desktop Apps in Windows 8 and 8.1 When Windows 8 starts up and/or you sign in, any desktop apps that have been set to run at startup are delayed by a few (5-10) seconds by default now. Previous Windows did not have this delay for startup programs. While you cannot completely eliminate this startup delay, you can adjust to either reduce or increase the delay. This tutorial will show you how to change the startup delay time of your desktop apps that run at startup to what you want instead in Windows 8, Windows RT, Windows 8.1, and Windows RT 8.1. To Set Startup Delay Time to Zero using a REG File 1. Click/tap on the Download button below to download the .reg file below. NOTE: This .reg file...

How to Auto-mount a VHD at Startup in Windows 8 This tutorial will help show you how to have a VHD auto-mount as a drive at startup in Windows 8. You must be signed in as an administrator to complete these steps. If you like, you could also use Bitlocker to encrypt the VHD drive. Here's how... 1. To start with, create a VHD file, using the drive letter you want to use for this VHD. NOTE: For example, I've created a VHD file called 'MySecureStuff.vhd' in the 'C:\MyVHDs' folder, and I want it to be mounted as drive H. 2. Open Notepad, and copy the text below into it. (Note I have struck out the third line as I believe it was incorrect and shouldn't be entered.) select vdisk file="C:\MyVHDs\MySecureStuff.vhd" attach vdisk...

How to Change Connection Priority of Wireless Networks in Windows 8 and 8.1 A network connection is a set of information that enables your computer to connect to the Internet, a network, or another computer. When you install a network adapter in your computer, Windows creates a connection for it in the Network Connections folder. A local area connection is created for an Ethernet network adapter. A wireless network connection is created for a wireless network adapter. This tutorial will show you how to change the connection priority order of your wireless network profiles to how you like for all users in Windows 8, Windows RT, Windows 8.1, and Windows RT 8.1. Windows usually connects to networks in this priority order: Ethernet...