A lot of users rely on keyboard shortcuts to carry out tasks on their PCs. One of the most common keyboard shortcuts used is the Ctrl + Shift + Esc which opens the Task Manager. As you can see, the Shift key is not just used to capitalize a text as it can also be used for other functions and plays an essential role in operating a computer. However, if you suddenly find it not working, read on as this post will help you fix the problem. If your Shift key is not working, there are several potential fixes you can check out to fix it. These are the different ways to get rid of the Shift key not working issue on Windows 10:

1. Physically clean the key and keyboard
2. Disable Sticky Keys.
3. Update, Reinstall, or Rollback Keyboard driver.
4. Test the keyboard on another system.
5. Check your connections
6. Run the Hardware troubleshooter
7. Troubleshoot in Clean Boot State.

Option 1 – Clean the keyboard keys physically

Your keyboard might not be working properly due to some dirt or other corrosion. Thus, you need to clean your keyboard, especially the Shift key. First, you need to shut down your computer and then unplug the keyboard if you are using a desktop computer and then prepare it for cleaning. After that, use a small cotton ear cleaning tool to get between the creases and clean them. You can dip it slightly in alcohol to make it more efficient in cleaning dust and dirt. And if you can, you have the option to pull apart the keyboard completely and then wipe away all the corrosion from the inside. Once you’re done, put the keyboard back together and then plug it back into your PC. Now turn your PC on and check if the Shift key is now working.

Option 2 – Try to disable the Sticky keys

Another thing you can try is to disable the Stick keys. How? Refer to these steps:

• Tap the Win + I keys to open the Settings app.
• After that, navigate to the Ease of Access section, and here, select Keyboard.
• Next, make sure that the option for Press one key at a time under the Sticky Keys is toggled off.

Option 3 – Reinstall, update or rollback your keyboard driver

Once you’ve determined that the problem is in the software part of the keyboard, it is now time to try to reinstall, update or roll back your keyboard drivers. To reinstall the driver for your keyboard, refer to these steps:

• From the WinX Menu, open the Device Manager.
• In the Device Manager, you should find your laptop’s keyboard under the “Keyboards” option. Right-click on it and select the “Uninstall” option.

Note: If you’re not quite certain about your laptop’s keyboard, you can uninstall all the keyboards if there’s more than one.

• After that, restart your PC and see if the keyboard driver is installing automatically. If not, open the Device Manager again and right-click on Keyboards, and select the option “Scan for hardware changes” to install it.

Once the keyboard driver is installed again, check if your keyboard is now working properly or not.

Option 4 – Try connecting the keyboard to a different USB port or another computer

The problem might have something to do with the USB port that’s currently in use by your keyboard. It could be that it’s not working so it makes sense to unplug it and attach it to another USB port. You can also clean the USB port on both ends to ensure that they are not affected by corrosion. In addition, you can also try connecting the keyboard to a different computer and see if the Shift key works there or not.

Option 5 – Try to check your connections

You can also try checking if the connection mode you are using for your keyboard is functioning properly. For instance, if you are using a Surface 2-in-device, you can clean the connection pins and see if it resolves the problem.

Option 6 – Run the Hardware and Devices Troubleshooters

• The first thing you need to do is click on Start and then on the gear-like icon to pull up the window for Settings.
• After opening Settings, look for the Update and Security option and select it.
• From there, go to the Troubleshoot option located on the left-hand side of the list.
• Next, select Hardware and Devices from the list and open the Troubleshooter and run it. Once it is doing its job, wait for it to complete the process and then restart the system.
• After the system restarts, check if the problem’s now fixed. If not, refer to the next option given below.

Option 7 – Put your PC in a Clean Boot State

You might also want to put your computer in a Clean Boot State to fix the problem with the Shift key. It could be that there is a third-party program that’s preventing the Shift key from functioning. To isolate this possibility, you need to put your computer in a Clean Boot State.

• Log onto your PC as an administrator.
• Type in MSConfig in the Start Search to open the System Configuration utility.
• From there, go to the General tab and click “Selective startup”.
• Clear the “Load Startup items” check box and make sure that the “Load System Services” and “Use Original boot configuration” options are checked.
• Next, click the Services tab and select the “Hide All Microsoft Services” check box.
• Click Disable all.
• Click on Apply/OK and restart your PC. (This will put your PC into a Clean Boot State. And configure Windows to use the usual startup, just simply undo the changes.)
• Now try to connect the external devices and check if the error is now gone.

What is BuzzDock?

Buzzdock is a browser extension. Buzzdock will be automatically enabled on IE and Chrome following installation, and you may begin using Buzzdock with no further action required. If you elect to optimize Buzzdock performance, the settings preferences of your browser may be adjusted after installation. This browser extension changes your default search provider to Buzzdock.com custom search. It displays additional unwanted ads, banners & sponsored links on web pages that you visit, and it hijacks your browser home page. This browser extension has been flagged as malware by many anti-virus scanning programs.

About Browser Hijackers

Browser hijackers (sometimes called hijackware) are a type of malicious software that modifies web browser configuration settings without the user’s knowledge or consent. These hijacks are rising at an alarming rate worldwide, and it could be actually nefarious and sometimes dangerous too. They’re created to interfere with web browser programs for many different reasons. In most cases, hijackers are made for the benefit of online hackers often through income generation from forced ad clicks and site visits. Nonetheless, it’s not that harmless. Your online safety is jeopardized and it is extremely irritating. They not only screw up your browsers, but browser hijackers can even modify the computer registry, leaving your PC susceptible to other attacks.

Symptoms of browser hijacker malware

There are several signs that indicate the web browser is hijacked: 1. the home page of your browser is changed unexpectedly 2. you find new unwanted bookmarks or favorites added, typically directed to ad-filled or porn sites 3. The default search page of your web browser is changed 4. you see unsolicited new toolbars added 5. you notice a lot of pop-ups on your computer screen 6. your web browser gets slow, buggy crashes frequently 7. you are prohibited access to specific web pages, including the site of an anti-malware software firm like SafeBytes. Exactly how browser hijacker finds its way onto your computer system Browser hijackers infect computer systems in numerous ways, including through a file-share, a drive-by download, or an infected email. They are usually included with toolbars, BHO, add-ons, plug-ins, or browser extensions. Browser hijackers sneak to your computer along with free software downloads also that you unknowingly install alongside the original. Some of the most well-known hijackers are BuzzDock, Babylon Toolbar, Conduit Search, Sweet Page, OneWebSearch, and CoolWebSearch. Browser hijacking can cause severe privacy problems and even identity theft, affect your web browsing experience by taking command over outbound traffic, substantially slows down your computer by consuming lots of resources, and result in system instability as well.

The best ways to get rid of browser hijackers

Certain browser hijacking can be quite easily corrected by discovering and removing the corresponding malware application from your control panel. However, most hijackers are hard to remove manually. No matter how much you try to get rid of it, it may keep returning over and over again. You should consider doing manual fixes only if you’re a tech-savvy person because there are potential risks associated with fiddling around with the system registry and HOSTS file. Browser hijackers could be effectively removed by installing and running anti-malware software on the affected PC. Safebytes Anti-Malware can counter relentless browser hijackers and provide you proactive computer protection against all kinds of malware. Together with anti-malware, a system optimizer program, similar to Safebytes Anti-Malware, can help you correct registry errors, remove unwanted toolbars, secure online privacy, and enhance overall system performance.

Find Out How to Get rid of Malware that is Blocking Websites or Preventing Downloads

Malware could cause all sorts of damage when they invade your computer, starting from stealing your personal information to erasing files on your PC. Some malware sits in between the computer and the internet connection and blocks a few or all internet sites which you want to visit. It might also block you from adding anything to your system, especially anti-malware applications. So what should you do when malicious software prevents you from downloading or installing Safebytes Anti-Malware? There are a few fixes you can attempt to get around with this problem.

Boot Windows in Safe Mode

The Windows OS includes a special mode called “Safe Mode” where only the minimum required programs and services are loaded. In the event, the malicious software is set to load automatically when the computer starts, shifting to this mode may well prevent it from doing so. To get into Safe Mode or Safe Mode with Networking, press the F8 key while the computer is booting up or run MSCONFIG and find the “Safe Boot” options in the “Boot” tab. After you restart the PC into Safe Mode with Networking, you could download, install, as well as update anti-malware software from there. Right after installation, run the malware scanner to eliminate standard infections.

Use an alternate internet browser to download the anti-malware application

Malicious program code might exploit vulnerabilities in a specific browser and block access to all antivirus software sites. In case you suspect that your Internet Explorer has been hijacked by malware or otherwise compromised by online hackers, the best plan of action would be to switch to an alternate internet browser like Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, or Apple Safari to download your favorite computer security program – Safebytes Anti-Malware.

Create a portable USB antivirus for removing malware

Another way is to download and transfer an anti-malware program from a clean PC to run a scan on the affected computer. Adopt these measures to run the antivirus on the affected computer. 1) Download Safebytes Anti-Malware or Windows Defender Offline onto a clean computer. 2) Plug the Thumb drive into the uninfected computer. 3) Double-click the executable file to run the installation wizard. 4) Pick a USB flash drive as the location when the wizard asks you where you intend to install the software. Follow the directions to finish the installation process. 5) Transfer the thumb drive from the uninfected computer to the infected PC. 6) Run the Safebytes Anti-malware directly from the pen drive by double-clicking the icon. 7) Run Full System Scan to identify and clean-up up all types of malware.

A Look at the Best AntiMalware Program

If you’re looking to download an anti-malware application for your PC, there are various tools out there to consider however, you just cannot trust blindly anyone, irrespective of whether it is free or paid software. Some of them are excellent, some are ok types, and some will harm your PC themselves! You need to pick a tool that has gained a good reputation and detects not just computer viruses but other types of malware as well. Amongst few good programs, SafeBytes Anti-Malware is the highly recommended program for the security-conscious individual. SafeBytes anti-malware is a trustworthy tool that not only secures your PC completely but is also quite user-friendly for people of all skill levels. This software could easily detect, remove, and protect your computer from the latest malware threats including spyware, adware, trojan horses, ransomware, worms, PUPs, along with other possibly damaging software programs. There are numerous great features you will get with this security product. The following are some of the great features included in the software. Robust Anti-malware Protection: With its advanced and sophisticated algorithm, this malware removal tool can find and eliminate the malware threats hiding within your PC effectively. Live Protection: SafeBytes gives real-time active monitoring and protection against all known computer viruses and malware. This software will continuously monitor your PC for any suspicious activity and updates itself regularly to keep current with the constantly changing threat landscape. Website Filtering: Safebytes assigns all websites a unique safety score that helps you to get an idea of whether the webpage you are going to visit is safe to view or known to be a phishing site. Low CPU and Memory Usage: SafeBytes is really a lightweight application. It consumes an extremely small amount of processing power as it runs in the background so you’re free to use your Windows-based PC the way you really want. 24/7 Online Tech Support: For any technical issues or product support, you could get 24/7 expert assistance through chat and email. To sum it up, SafeBytes Anti-Malware offers great protection combined with an acceptable low system resources usage with both great malware detection and prevention. You now may understand that this particular software does more than just scan and delete threats from your PC. For optimum protection and the best value for your money, you can’t get better than SafeBytes Anti-Malware.

Technical Details and Manual Removal (Advanced Users)

If you wish to manually remove BuzzDock without the use of an automated tool, it may be possible to do so by removing the program from the Windows Add/Remove Programs menu, or in cases of browser extensions, going to the browsers AddOn/Extension manager and removing it. You will likely also want to reset your browser. To ensure the complete removal, manually check your hard drive and registry for all of the following and remove or reset the values accordingly. Please note that this is for advanced users only and may be difficult, with incorrect file removal causing additional PC errors. In addition, some malware is capable of replicating or preventing deletion. Doing this in Safe Mode is advised. The following files, folders, and registry entries are created or modified by BuzzDock

Browsing the internet doesn’t always go smoothly, you might encounter ads, pop-ups, viruses, malware, and even errors. In this post, we’ll walk you through how you can fix the 502 Bad Gateway error that you might encounter in browsing the internet. This kind of error suggests the server which is the one that’s acting as a gateway to facilitate in taking your request to the server and bring some response back has received an invalid response or even no response at all. It could be that the connection is broken or that there is an issue on the server-side that returns an invalid response. Even though the 502 Bad Gateway error is a server-related error, there are still a few things you can try that might help resolve it, if tapping the Ctrl + F5 keys does not resolve the problem. Keep in mind that it doesn’t matter what website you open as this error can appear on any website. To resolve the problem, you need to follow the options prepared below.

Option 1 – Check the network cable connections and restart your router

As with other connection problems, this is the most basic thing to do before you try other troubleshooting options because the root cause of the problem might be as simple as a cable not connected properly or a router that just needs to be restarted. Thus, checking the network cable connection to see if there is anything out of order can help as well as restarting your router.

Option 2 – Reset Winsock, TCP/IP & Flush DNS

Resetting Winsock, TCP/IP, and flushing DNS might help you resolve the issue. To do so, follow these steps:

• Right-click on the Start button and click on Command Prompt (administrator) so you can pull up an elevated Command Prompt.
• After that, execute each one of the commands listed below. And after you typed in one after the other, you have to hit Enter.

1. netsh winsock reset – type in this command to reset Winsock
2. netsh int ip reset resettcpip.txt – type in this command to reset TCP/IP
3. ipconfig /flushdns– type in this command to flush the DNS cache

• Next, restart your PC and check if the problem’s fixed.

Option 3 – Change the DNS

Changing the DNS server for your network can also help you fix the 502 Bad Gateway error. You can use a public DNS like the Google Public DNS, Open DNS, Yandex DNS, Comodo Secure DNS, and many more. All you have to do is to override the default DNS settings on your PC so that you can specify which DNS server is used as well as which IP address should be used for a specific domain.

Option 4 – Try updating the Network Adapter Driver

Follow the steps below to update your Network Adapter Driver:

• Tap the Win + R keys to launch the Run window and then type in the “devmgmt.msc” command and hit Enter to open the Device Manager window.
• From there, expand the list of all the network drives and update each one of them.

Note: If updating the network drivers didn’t help in fixing the problem, you can also try to uninstall the very same drivers and restart your Windows 10 PC. After that, the system itself will reinstall the drivers you just uninstalled. Alternatively, you can also download and install the drivers from the manufacturer’s website directly.

Option 5 – Try a Network Reset

When all else fails, you might have to consider resetting your entire network settings. Simply follow the steps below to do so.

• Click on the Start button and then click on the gear-like icon for Settings to open it.
• Next, select Network and Internet.
• Then scroll down and look for “Network Reset” – click on it and then click on the Reset now button.

Many Windows 10 users often change the IP addresses of their computers’ network adapter in order to connect to the internet or network they belong to in times when there is no automatic connection for their computers. In most cases, access to modifying this setting is restricted for some odd reason even if you are an administrator. So if you are one of the users whose Windows 10 VPN IPv4 Properties are not working, this post can help you remedy that so that you can open and edit the IPv4 Properties on your Windows 10 PC. The common way to change IP settings is by going to Settings > Network and then to Internet > Change adapter options > Select Network adapter > right click and open Properties. From there, you can select TCP/IP 4 and modify it. If you aren’t able to do this, refer to the instructions laid out below to troubleshoot the problem in accessing the IPv4 Properties.

Option 1 – Try using PowerShell to manually set the IPv4 properties

As you are not able to set it using the interface, you can do so using PowerShell instead. Note that this option will only work for you if you run PowerShell with administrator privileges. After opening PowerShell, according to many users, you have to run the this command – set-DnsClientServerAddress -InterfaceAlias “Ethernet” -ServerAddresses xxx.xx.xxx.xxx,x.x.x.x,xxx.xx.xxx.xxx,x.x.x.x Usually, Ethernet is the name of your network adapter which is set by default. If you want to see the actual name of your network adapter, you can just type this command and tap Enter after doing so – Get-NetAdapter -physical | where status -eq 'up' After entering the given command, you will see a list of active Ethernet adapter in your computer as you can see on the image above. Note that the 4 sets of X like the one on the image below should match with the sequence:

Option 2 – Try editing the rasphone.pbk files

The rasphone.pbk files stores property for the connections and since you are not able to access the IPv4 properties, it is most likely that it has been disabled here. The good thing is that you can open these files and edit them using Notepad. Refer to the steps below to do so.

• Open the Windows Explorer and then enable the show hidden files option.
• After that, look for the files at this location – C:Users <username>AppDataRoamingMicrosoftNetworkConnectionsPbk_hiddenPbkrasphone.pbk
• Then right-click on it and select the “Open with” option and choose the Notepad app.
• After opening the file, look for “IpPrioritizeRemote” from the long list.
• Once you found it, set its value from “1” to “0”.
• After that, look for “IPInterfaceMetric” and set its value to “1” and tap Ctrl + S to save the changes you’ve made, and then exit and try accessing the IPv4 properties again. It should work, but if you’re still unable to access it, try the next option below.

Option 3 – Enable the Split Tunneling if you use VPN

All data goes back and forth when you are using a VPN service on your computer. And since you are using VPN, it could be that it disables the IPv4 interface. If that’s the case, you need to stay connected with both the local network and VPN and to do so, you have to enable Split Tunneling. How? Follow these steps:

• Open PowerShell with administrator privileges.
• Next, type in “Get-VpnConnection” and tap Enter. After doing so, it will give you the exact name of your VPN.
• After that, type in “Set-VpnConnection -Name “yourVPNName” -SplitTunneling $True” and tap Enter. Once you enter the command, it will free your IPv5 settings so that you can change it to connect with your local network if you prefer it to.

Error Code 0x80244019 - What is it?

Error Code 0x80244019 is a basic error that occurs during the Windows Update process in Windows 10 and previous versions of the software dating back to the release of Windows XP. It can cause updates to fail, which can often be frustrating for Windows users who are attempting to keep their devices up to speed.

Common symptoms include:

• Failure of updates for the Windows operating system to complete or download
• The appearance of an error message that references the number 0x80244019

While an error during the Update process can be frustrating to encounter, there are a few simple solutions that can be employed to try to address the problem at hand. At least one of the methods for resolution does require some familiarity with the command prompt and other advanced tools, so if you are not completely confident in your ability to follow the steps mentioned below, you may want to get in touch with a qualified repair technician who can assist you in resolving the error code.

Solution

Error Causes

In some cases, the error in the Update process can be caused by a conflict between the operating system and the antivirus software running on your computer. In other cases, there may be a portion of the file missing or corrupted that needs to be fixed before the Update process can be run through to completion.

Further Information and Manual Repair

For users who are experiencing the appearance of Error Code 0x80244019 on their devices, there are a few methods that can be used to attempt to resolve the issue. While at least one of these methods is fairly simple to complete, even for basic users, the other does require some comfort in using the command prompt to input a series of commands. If you do not feel comfortable in following the steps listed below, contact a computer repair professional who is familiar with Windows 10 to assist you.

Here are the top methods for dealing with Error Code 0x80244019 on a Windows machine:

Method One:  Use the Windows Update Troubleshooting Tool to Resolve the Issue

When an error arises during the Windows Update process on Windows 10, the best solution is often to use the built-in tool provided by Microsoft, the Windows Update Troubleshooter. An option to open this tool often appears when the error message itself appears.

By running this tool, your system will attempt to scan the files involved in the Update process to try to determine where the conflict or error may be occurring. If one of the system files needs to be repaired or downloaded again, this tool can often resolve the issue on its own.

If the Troubleshooter tool successfully fixes the error, be sure to restart your computer before attempting to run the Update process again so that you can fully apply any changes that have been made.

In some cases, however, the Troubleshooter tool will not be able to find the problem or will be able to identify what the issue is, but not able to fix it. If this happens, it may be time to turn to Method Two.

Method Two:  Manually Perform a Reset on Windows Update Assets

To manually reset the assets associated with the Windows Update tool, follow these steps:

• Step One: Open up the command prompt from the start menu and select the option to run it as an administrator.
• Step Two: Run the following commands, hitting the enter key after each is put in:
  • Net stop wuauserv
  • Net stop cryptSvc
  • Net stop bits
  • Net stop msiserver
  • Ren C:\Windows\Software\Distribution Software\Distribution.old
  • Ren c:\Windows\System32\catroot2\Catroot2.old
  • Net start wuauserv
  • Net start cryptSvc
  • Net start bits
  • Net start msiserver
• Step Three: Type in the word “exit” to quit out from the Command Prompt.

Once these steps are done, you can try to use the Windows Update tool again to see if the problem has successfully been resolved.

Method Three: Use An Automated Tool

If you wish to always have at your disposal a utility tool to fix these Windows 10 and other related issues when they do arise, download and install a powerful automated tool.

Every now and then, the Windows Installer can also encounter some problems or glitches. One of these problems is where the Windows Update Standalone Installer, Windows Defender as well as Windows Firewall throws an error message that says, “The specified service does not exist as an installed service, 0x80070424”. This type of error can actually affect various applications on your computer so you have to fix it as soon as you can. Although there is no clear reason for what really causes this error, there are various suggestions you can try to fix it.

Option 1 – Try to run the Windows Update troubleshooter

Windows 10 have various troubleshooters that can help you resolve many system issues. So if you’re dealing with errors “The specified service does not exist as an installed service, 0x80070424”, you can run the Windows Update troubleshooter to resolve it. To run it, go to Settings and then select Troubleshoot from the options. From there, click on Windows Update and then click the “Run the troubleshooter” button. After that, follow the next on-screen instructions and you should be good to go.

Option 2 – Try to reconfigure the Windows Time Service

• In the Start Search, type “command prompt” and right-click on Command Prompt from the search results.
• Then click on the “Run as administrator” option to open Command Prompt with admin privileges.
• Now execute each one of the given commands sequentially and hit Enter right after you type each one of them.
  • net stop W32time
  • exe /unregister
  • exe /register
  • net start W32time
• After executing the given commands above, wait until it says, “W32Time successfully registered”.

Option 3 – Try to restart related Windows services

• First, type “command prompt” in the Start Search and right-click on Command Prompt from the search results.
• Then click on the “Run as administrator” option to open Command Prompt with admin privileges.
• Now execute each one of the given commands sequentially and hit Enter right after you type each one of them.
  • SC config wuauserv start= auto
  • SC config bits start= auto
  • SC config cryptsvc start= auto
  • SC config trustedinstaller start= auto

Note: The commands you’ve just executed will make sure that the required Windows services are available.

Option 4 – Try to download and install the Windows Update Agent

You might also want to download and install the latest Windows Update Agent as it could also help you resolve the “The specified service does not exist as an installed service, 0x80070424” error.

Option 5 – Try to reset the Windows Update components

If by any chance that the second option didn’t work, resetting the Windows Update components could also help you resolve the problem. How? Refer to the following steps:

• Open Command Prompt with admin privileges.
• After that, type each one of the following commands and hit Enter after you key in one after the other.
  • net stop wuauserv
  • net stop cryptsvc
  • net stop bits
  • net stop msiserver

Note: The commands you entered will stop the Windows Update components such as Windows Update service, Cryptographic services, BITS, and MSI Installer.

• After disabling WU components, you need to rename both the SoftwareDistribution and Catroot2 folders. To do that, type each one of the following commands below, and don’t forget to hit Enter after you type one command after the other.
  • ren C:WindowsSoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old
  • ren C:WindowsSystem32catroot2 Catroot2.old
• Next, restart the services you’ve stopped by entering another series of commands. Don’t forget to hit Enter after you key in one command after the other.
  • net start wuauserv
  • net start cryptsvc
  • net start bits
  • net start msiserver
• Close Command Prompt and reboot your PC and then check for updates on your computer and see if the error is resolved.

Option 6 – Try running the Windows Firewall troubleshooter

You could also try to run the Windows Firewall troubleshooter as it might also help you fix the problem. This could help in repairing and fixing Windows Firewall issues automatically. Check if it’s available for your Windows.

SmartScreen is a cloud-based anti-phishing and anti-malware component that’s come packed in all Windows 8 (8.1) and Windows 10 versions. This security component is also used in several browsers and programs like Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge and Outlook.com. Although this program is quite useful, there’ve been reports that SmartScreen is apparently blocking Microsoft’s own apps from opening. According to some users, they only get the “Windows SmartScreen can’t be reached right now” error message every time they try to open apps from the built-in Windows suite like Photos, Mail, Alarms, Maps, etc. Whenever Windows SmartScreen is either down or unreachable on an end-user PC, your computer won’t be able to download anything in both official and unofficial channels. This error might be due to a corrupted Windows account, or it could be that SmartScreen is disabled from the Windows Defender Security Center or it might be down due to an MS issue. In addition, the error might also be caused by a proxy entry.

Option 1 – Make sure that SmartScreen is enabled

Before anything else, the first thing you must do is to check if SmartScreen is even enabled as it might be the reason why you’re getting the error. You can verify this by simply going to the Windows Defender Security Center. To do so, follow the steps below.

• Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
• Next, type “ms-settings:windowsdefender” in the field and hit Enter to open the Windows Defender Security Center.
• After that, click on the Open Windows Defender Security Center button located under Windows Security.
• Then click on App & browser control.
• From there, make sure that the Check apps and files toggle is set to Warn and then check the same thing for Microsoft Edge and SmartScreen for Microsoft Store apps.
• If it turns out that SmartScreen is indeed disabled, you have to restart your computer after making some changes and then check if the issue is fixed upon the next startup.

Option 2 – Check if SmartScreen is down for maintenance

Another possible reason why SmartScreen is not working is that it might be scheduled for maintenance. When SmartScreen is scheduled for maintenance, it will become unreachable for a lot of users at the same time and so before you go over unnecessary troubleshooting steps, you need to verify if SmartScreen is down for maintenance or not.

Option 3 – Try to disable the proxy server

If applicable, you can try to disable the proxy server to fix SmartScreen. There are some users who reported that they’ve fixed the problem after they’ve disabled the use of a proxy server using the built-in way. In some instances, certain proxy servers can interfere with the SmartScreen component and cause it to become unusable. However, if you are not using a proxy server, just skip this option and proceed to the next one, otherwise, follow the steps below to disable the proxy server.

• Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
• Next, type “ms-settings:network-proxy” in the field and hit Enter to open the Proxy tab under Settings.
• After that, scroll down to the Manual proxy setup and make sure that the toggle button of the “Use a proxy server” option is turned off.
• Now restart your PC and check if the problem is fixed upon the next startup.

Option 4 – Try to create a new Windows user account

There are some users who were able to fix the problem by simply creating a new Windows user account. Although this solution will make you lose a couple of settings enforced through your user account, it’s actually effective in circumventing the “Windows SmartScreen can’t be reached right now” error. To create a new Windows user account, here’s what you have to do:

• Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
• And then type “ms-settings:otherusers” in the field and hit Enter to open the Family & other people tab under the Accounts menu.
• After that, click on the “Add someone else to this PC” option and then click on “I don’t have this person’s sign-in information.
• Next, insert the user credentials like emails, password, birth date, etc., and then click Next. Take note that if you want to create a new local user account, just click on Add a user without a Microsoft account.
• After you’re done creating the new Windows user account, click the start icon and then click the account icon and choose to Sign out.
• After you’re logged in, check if SmartScreen now works properly or not.

When we get ourselves a new USB stick, new hard drive, or any storage device not including optical drives they are usually preformatted and ready to be used out of the box. However, reformating them has several benefits and while we are reformatting we can choose in which file system format we want the memory to be formatted. In this article, we will compare and explore 3 typical and standard format options you can get while formating a new media in Windows 10.

FAT32

The oldest one on the list, coming all the way from DOS days. Great for devices that need to be plugged in different operating systems and for USB flash drives. Its advantages are compatibility with all major operating systems and little memory usage comparing to other ones. However, the file system is limited to file sizes of the maximum capacity of 4GB and partitions can not exceed more than 32GB.

NTFS

First introduced in Windows NT this file system offered slower performance than FAT32 and somewhat limited usability but the main advantages were more stability and fewer errors. Its main advantages are support for files larger than 4GB and partitions larger than 32GB along with the ability for on the file encryption, main disadvantage would be limited operating system usage, NTFS can not be used on systems that work on FAT32 like MS-DOS for example or older versions of Windows. The best usage for this file system is in internal hard disk drives and system drives.

exFAT

New kid on the block, well at least from the perspective of the previous 2. exFAT offers unlimited file sizes and unlimited partition sizes but at a price that is even more limiting than NTFS. Some Linux distributions will require a driver to be installed in order to see the exFAT partition. The best use is in storage, in external hard drives. That's it, 3 major file systems, we hope that you have managed to learn something new today, and remember to drop by tomorrow for more articles about advice, tips, tricks, and troubleshooting.

Dynamic Wallpapers introduced with Mojave Update in macOS are pretty cool. Dynamic Desktop is a feature introduced in macOS Mojave (10.14), in which the desktop background changes according to the time of Mac's current location. If Location Services are turned off the Privacy pane of the System Preferences, then the time zone specified in the Date & Time preferences will be used. To apply macOS Dynamic Wallpaper on Windows 10 we need to download & use WinDynamicDesktop, a free application that lets you apply macOS Dynamic Wallpaper. After the installation, you will be asked to Configure the Schedule. While doing that you need to make sure that you enter your location correctly. You can even set specific sunrise and sunset timing by selecting “Use specific sunrise and sunset times” and changing the Sunrise and Sunset times manually. Now, you will be greeted with some of the coolest dynamic wallpapers in the market. Select a theme of your choice, click on the Download button (file size can range between 20-200 MB), and click Apply to enjoy macOS Dynamic Wallpaper on Windows 10. If for some reason you want to go back to the default Windows theme but not necessarily delete the application then right-click on the WinDynamicWallpaper icon from the taskbar, click Select Theme, select None (from the theme section) and click Apply.

Sometimes, some applications after they are installed will put their shortcut in the context menu (right-click on desktop) for easy access, most of the time these are some system tied applications like AMD and Nvidia control panels or archives like WinRAR or 7ZIP but it can happen even for some usual application to do this.

There are some applications that you use frequently and they could be worth putting in the context menu, if you want to avoid clutter on the desktop or in the taskbar this is the third place that you should consider placing shortcuts.

Doing this will require some playing and tweaking in the Windows registry editor so be careful when editing the registry since bad entries can lead to system crash or instability. Follow step-by-step instructions.

Adding apps to the context menu in the registry

Creating entry

Open the registry editor by searching Regedit and pressing enter than inside of the registry editor search for the next key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\Background\shell

Select shell and right-click on it, hover over New and in the submenu click on Key. In the next step, you need to name a key, this name will be the thing that will be shown in the context menu when you right-click on a desktop so type in the name that you would like or the name of the application that you wish to add to the menu.

If you wish you can even add a keyboard shortcut to launch this specific application. To do this select entry that you have created and edit the default value, inside the edit string in the Value data field type first & and after that key that you would like as a shortcut. Now after right click if you hit your shortcut key app will be launched right away.

Adding command

The next task is to create a command key that will actually hold the command to launch the application. Right-click on the entry that you have created, hover over New, and click on Key.

Next, you’ll need to create the command key that will actually hold the command used to launch the application. Right-click on the new Notepad key, and then choose New \ Key from the menu. Name this key 'command', all in lower case and without hyphens.

Now in order to finish setting the launcher, you need the full path of the file that you would like to run. Locate your file in file explorer or in another tool and copy its path by SHIFT + right-clicking on the file itself and choosing copy as path option.

Now click on the command key and double click on the default key on right to edit it, inside the field value data paste your path to executable. close and save the registry and you are done.