To reset Windows 11 to factory default settings while keeping your files, open Settings > Recovery, click “Reset PC,” select “ Keep my files ,” and choose “Local reinstall.” Or open Settings > Recovery, click “Reset PC,” select “Keep my files,” and “Cloud download.” Or Start Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE), then go to Troubleshoot > Reset this PC , and select “Keep my files” and “Local reinstall.” UPDATED 12/30/2025: When your computer experiences performance issues, such as sluggishness, battery problems, or application errors, resetting Windows 11 to its factory default settings can effectively resolve these challenges....

When upgrading to a new version of Windows 10, such as version 2004 or any other feature update, you may get error code 0x80070070 – 0x50011, 0x50012, or 0x60000 using Windows Update, Media Creation Tool, or the Update Assistant. Any of the 0x80070070 error messages are known upgrade problems with Windows 10 . However, these aren’t significant issues, if you get any of the three error messages (0x80070070 – 0x50011, 0x80070070 – 0x50012, 0x80070070 – 0x60000), then it means that your computer doesn’t have enough space to successfully complete the upgrade....

Recent bugs on Windows 10 (build 9879) caused frequent Explorer.exe crashes, on an attempt to fix the problem Microsoft issued the update KB3020114. However, many Windows Insiders discovered that there was an issue causing the install to fail . Microsoft reports that 12% of PCs are experiencing the installation problem. According to the company the issue is result of two bugs: In build 9879, we introduced some new System Compression code that systems with SSDs can take advantage of to reduce disk usage by the OS....

To install Windows 10 without a Microsoft account, launch setup with USB media and proceed with the “Custom” option. While in the OOBE, choose the “Set up for an organization” option, and setup will allow you to create a local account. To install Windows 10 Home with a local account, launch setup with USB media and proceed with the “Custom” option. While in the OOBE, choose the “Offline account” option, and setup will allow you to create a local account....

To lock your Windows 10 PC automatically after inactivity, configure the Screen Saver settings by selecting a screen saver, setting a wait time, and enabling the option to show the logon screen on resume. Alternatively, you can use Group Policy or the Registry Editor to set an inactivity timeout that locks the device after a specific period. Windows 10 does not include a direct option in the Settings app unless you use Dynamic Lock with a Bluetooth device....

Google has overhauled Chrome’s interface with its new Material Design language, which the company has been implementing throughout its apps and services. Although, the new visual design framework aims to make elements look better on a screen, you probably noticed that the interface now takes more real estate on your screen than before. The issue is that Chrome by default tries to automatically adapt the user interface to better suit the environment....

The Start menu has been through many transformations over the years, and with Windows 10, Microsoft has introduced yet another design that combines a list of all the available apps installed in the system along with a section of app tiles in the right side. However, if you do not like the default view, you can use the Start settings page to hide the all apps list from the menu for a more compact and personal design....

On Windows 10, Cortana is your digital assistant that can help you to stay on top of your tasks and get things done, and starting with the Fall Creators Update , the assistant is picking up one more useful skill. The ability to shutdown, restart, lock, and sign out of your account. Microsoft revealed the new skill in the past, but it’s not until this update that it’s fully implemented into the OS....

On Windows 10, feature updates are just updates, but unlike those quality updates that you get every month, these are automatic updates that deliver new features and significant improvements to enhance the user experience and security. The problem with feature updates (new versions of Windows 10) is that they require a complete reinstallation of the operating system, and sometimes they bring new issues negatively affecting your experience. However, if something happens during or after the upgrade, and you can’t access the desktop, or your device won’t boot correctly, you can use the Advanced startup environment to uninstall the latest feature update to fix the problem....

Windows 10 version 1803 (April 2018 Update) will be gradually rolling out to compatible devices on April 30, 2018, but if you can’t wait until the feature update downloads and installs automatically, you can upgrade when it becomes available, and this video tutorial will walk you through the steps to jump to version 1803 skipping the queue. Although the easiest way to install the new version is to use Windows Update, there are various ways to get the Windows 10 April 2018 Update , including using the Media Creation Tool to do an in-place upgrade....

On Windows 10, BitLocker is a security feature that encrypts the entire drive to protect your data against unauthorized access. The drawback using BitLocker is that usually prevents a successful upgrade to a new version of Windows 10. However, to avoid this problem, the Windows 10 setup suspends the encryption and adds a decrypt key in clear text to allow the system access to the partition to complete the upgrade process....

To install Android apps on Windows 11, set up the “Amazon Appstore” and “WSA,” and then open and sign in to the Appstore, select the Android app, and click “Install.” Alternatively, you can also sideload Android apps, and to do this, download and install the “ADB Installer,” enable WSA developer mode, and use the “adb install” command from Command Prompt to install Android apps using any “.apk” package. The only caveat about the Android apps on Windows 11 is that you cannot use any of the applications from Google, such as Gmail, Maps, and others, because they require the Google Play Store services connection, which is not supported on Windows 11....

After several months of beta testings and two years after the last big update, Microsoft finally releases the final version of Office 2010 Service Pack 2 (SP2) and for SharePoint products. The latest Microsoft update fixes security, stability, and performance in Office and SharePoint products. SP2 also includes all the previous updates releases since Service Pack 1, and resolves compatibility issues in Windows 8, Office 2013, and SharePoint 2013. For the first 90 days, Microsoft is offering the update as an optional download....

Microsoft continues its marketing campaign to get Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users to upgrade by offering Windows 10 as a “recommended” update through Windows Update. In October, the company explained that the “reservation” phase, where users have to manually reserve their free upgrade to Windows 10, has concluded. During the next phase, Microsoft changed its delivery mechanism and began offering Windows 10 as an “optional” update through Windows Update for qualifying machines running Windows 8....

Windows 11 has been showing unwanted malware-like pop-ups on the desktop, trying to lure users into switching from Google to Bing as their default search engine. According to a report from The Verge , the pop-up suddenly showed up above the game when Chrome was running in the background. The notification wasn’t friendly either since it appeared in the bottom-left corner of the screen and didn’t resemble anything Windows 11 shows to users....

Today, January 13, Microsoft is pushing out its first Patch Tuesday of 2015. January Patch Tuesday, brings eight security updates: one of the rated as Critical and the remaining seven updates are rated as Important to address eight vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows. All updates released in January affect all major versions of Windows, including Windows 8.x, Windows RT 8.x, Windows 7 and Windows Server. Five of the updates resolve elevation of privilege that could allow exploiting the vulnerability to affect the operating system....

Last time the Extreme Windows Blog demoed a Windows 8 gaming PC that featured three 4K resolution Sharp PN-K321 displays. The company is back demoing four 4K monitor setups for 16K resolution experience. This goes beyond a gamer’s dream. In this new experiment pushing Windows 8 and hardware to their limits, Microsoft went for one more display and created an impressive 10-foot-wide experience like no other. The multi-monitor setup still uses Sharp’s PN-K321 displays, which, when combined, are equivalent to sixteen 1920 x 1080 monitors with a total resolution of 15360 x 2160 or 33,117,600 pixels....

Microsoft has a new task management app, it’s called Microsoft To-Do, and it’s available now as a preview for Windows 10 users, as well as on Android , iOS, and on the web . To-Do is a modern, intuitive, and straightforward app that allows you to create, organize, and keep track of all your tasks. It doesn’t matter the type of task, you can use To-Do to create a list of anything, grocery shopping list, home projects, work related tasks, etc....

Good news! For those still running Outlook 2013 RT Preview, you’ll be happy to know that Microsoft just released the final version of Outlook 2013 RT for Windows RT 8.1. If you still using the preview, you should update to the latest version from the Windows Store ASAP as the current license is set to expire before January 2014. If you’re using Outlook 2013 RT in your Surface or any Windows RT 8....

In this “productive Windows 7 shortcuts” article I am going to detail several ways to help you get the most out of your Windows experience, with keyboard shortcuts that can be applied in Windows 7 and some in previous versions of the operating system as well. If there is one good thing about Windows is that there is not just one way to do one specific task. For example, you could select some text from a document, right-click on it, select Copy , then in another document, you could just right-click and select Paste , or alternatively you could select the same text use the Ctrl+C Windows shortcut, and then in the other document, you could just use Ctrl+V to paste....