To enable the new Run dialog on Windows 11, use ViveTool to activate the hidden feature code manually. Open Command Prompt as administrator, navigate to the ViveTool folder, and run the vivetool /enable /id:58381341,58527096,57156807,57259990 command. On Windows 11 , the Run dialog is getting a new design treatment after more than three decades, and you can enable the early preview of the new updated version of the feature, and in this guide, I’ll show you how to complete this configuration....

Google Chrome is gaining a new security feature known as “Password Leak Detection,” and as the name implies, it’s a feature designed to alert you the password you’re using has been found in a data breach. If the browser detects that the password you’re trying to use is in the database of compromised passwords, it’ll advise you to change it to a different one. The new feature should sound familiar because Google already has a Password Checkup extension that offers the same functionality....

On Windows 11 build 22624.1610 (and higher releases) , you can enable the “Presence Sensing” feature to control how apps can determine whether you are near the device, and in this guide, you will learn how. Presence Sensing refers to the features that can use specific sensors on the device that can help determine whether you are near the computer. The new page in the Settings app will allow controlling whether apps can access the sensors to detect your presence....

On Windows 10, you can enable Remote Desktop to allow remote access to a computer using the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). Usually, you would use this feature to offer assistance or control a device or server without being physically present at the location using the modern “Remote Desktop” or legacy “Remote Desktop Connection” app. The ability to allow external access to a device has been available for many years, but it was a feature you have to configure using the Control Panel....

To block online trackers on Microsoft Edge, open Settings > Privacy, search, and services, turn on “Tracking prevention” and choose “Basic,” “Balanced,” or “Strict.” To tracking prevention on Microsoft Edge, open Settings > Privacy, search, and services, and turn off “Tracking prevention.” In this guide , I will explain how to manage the tracking prevention feature in Microsoft Edge for Windows 11 , 10, and other platforms where supported....

You can now wake up your Surface remotely on Windows 10. Wake-On-Lan (WOL) is nothing new, it’s a feature included on many network adapters that allows you to send a “magic packet” to turn on a computer remotely in the same local network. Wake-On-Lan has been a great feature for IT administrators, as it allows them to quickly connect to remote machines without needing to be physically present at the location to switch on the power button and perform management or maintenance tasks....

Microsoft continues with the plan to release the new Xbox One experience based on Windows 10 later in November, and to prepare the operating system for such massive release, the company first began offering selected Xbox One Preview users the opportunity to decide their participation in the new preview program back in September. However, exactly a month after opening the doors for the New Xbox One Experience Preview, and only a few weeks before the big launch, Microsoft has announced that all Xbox Preview members, who enrolled their console to test Windows 10 on Xbox One will soon get the chance to try the new preview....

On Windows 11 , you have two easy ways to insert symbols when writing a document, email, text message, or social media post, and in this guide, you will learn how. If you ever wrote anything on your computer, you probably had to use the “ALT” key plus code or search online to insert a symbol (for example, em dash, more than and less than, arrows, and many others), which is very inconvenient for something so simple....

UPDATED 9/23/2023: Although Windows 11 23H2 is not due for release until September 26, 2023 , it’s possible to install the new version before it becomes available to everyone to get early hands on the new features and changes. If you want to upgrade early to the Windows 11 2023 Update, you have to enroll the computer in the Release Preview Channel (or Beta Channel) to download and install the feature update through Windows Update....

To move the Taskbar to the left on Windows 11, open Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar behaviors , and choose “Left” in the “Taskbar alignment” setting. To change the Taskbar alignment from the Registry, open the “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced” path, create a “TaskbarAl” DWORD, and set it to “0.” UPDATED 12/16/2025: On Windows 11, you can move the Taskbar to the left to restore the original alignment as in previous versions, and in this guide, I’ll outline the steps to complete this configuration....

On Windows 11, you probably notice that the audio plays at different levels for videos or music on your device. You may also have experienced commercials playing louder than the stream you are watching. Usually, you would adjust the volume manually for each content, but this can quickly become annoying. However, suppose you are dealing with different sound levels in videos or any other type of content with audio. In that case, you can quickly normalize the audio on Windows 11 to have a consistent sound volume level across applications and web browsers....

The Files app by Google includes a feature known as Safe folder designed specifically to protect certain files from prying eyes using a password on your Android device. The feature is similar to Personal Vault available for OneDrive, but the difference is that Safe folder in Files protects files locally stored on the device (not files in the cloud), you can add as many files as you want, and it doesn’t use multi-factor authentication....

On Windows 10, Microsoft To Do is a task management system, which you can use to create, organize, and keep track of all your tasks. Alongside all the useful features , the app also makes it easy to stay on top of your tasks and quickly jump to a particular list with the ability to pin one or multiple lists to the Windows 10’s Start menu. In this guide , you’ll learn the steps to quickly pin your favorite Microsoft To Do lists to the Start menu on Windows 10 ....

The “Respect Device Power Mode Settings” feature on Windows 10 helps minimize high processor and hard drive usage as the system index the contents on your device, and these are the steps to enable it. On Windows 10, the indexer is an essential feature designed to search and index all the contents (metadata, text, filename, extension, etc.) stored on your computer on a special database to make the Windows Search experience faster when you type anything on the search box available in the Start menu, taskbar, or File Explorer....

On Windows 10, a theme is a package that contains desktop wallpapers as well as a set of pre-configured settings, such as color scheme, sounds, cursor, and more to quickly change the look and feel of the desktop. However, as you download more and more themes from Microsoft, these themes will pile up in the Settings app to the point that they will be unmanageable because the Themes page lacks of basic features, such as option to search, sort, and delete multiple themes at the same time (you can only delete one at a time)....

To uninstall Cortana on Windows 10, open Settings > Apps > Apps & features , and click the “Uninstall” button for Cortana. You can also open Command Prompt (admin) and run the “winget uninstall cortana” command, or in PowerShell (admin) , you can run the “Get-appxpackage -allusers Microsoft.549981C3F5F10 | Remove-AppxPackage” command to remove Cortana. On Windows 10 , you can now easily uninstall Cortana, and in this guide, I’ll show you the steps to complete this process....

Windows Terminal uses a unified dark theme by default across all profiles, but you can restore the legacy PowerShell colors. Changes can be made using the Settings UI or the settings.json file, and selecting the “Campbell PowerShell” scheme restores the familiar blue background. On Windows 11 , Windows Terminal ships with a unified set of default visual settings, including a dark background applied across all command-line profiles. This design choice helps create a consistent experience when switching between Command Prompt, PowerShell, and other shells inside the same window....

To add multiple share names to the same folder on Windows 11 (or 10), open the shared folder “Properties” settings, click “Advanced Sharing,” configure share permission for the original folder name, click “Add,” confirm the new name for share, continue configuring permissions, and apply the settings. On Windows 11 and 10, you can share files on your computer or server with network users. Although it is possible to share the same data with different permissions for different users, you can also share the same folder with multiple names and custom settings....

On Windows 10, you can combine multiple drives to create one big logical storage using a “RAID 5” configuration to improve performance and protect your files from a single drive failure. While there are many RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) levels that you can use , when using the striped volume with parity (RAID 5), the data is spread across three or more drives using parity. In the event of a hardware failure, you can replace the drive, and the data will be regenerated from the data on the remaining drives....

On Windows 10, “Find my device” is a feature that when enabled allows you to track down your devices anywhere in the world if you ever misplace them or get stolen. This feature works thanks to your Microsoft Account. Once you enable the feature, you will allow Microsoft to periodically (every few hours) track the physical location a device. Of course, it’s not an exact location, it’s actually an approximation, but it’s good enough to find you device if every get lost or stolen....