Over time Applications change, some for the better some for worse. Some of them even stop receiving updates and are old and vulnerable. Sometimes standards change and some file types are not used anymore. Software evolves along with technology and that is good.
Keeping old and useless applications inside your Windows is not so good. From various exploits to simply taking up space, maybe even slowing down OS it is always wise and good to clean your Windows from unwanted old applications.
In this article, we will be mentioning some relics of old and providing you with an explanation of why you should remove them from your system if by any chance you still have them on it.
Silverlight was meant to be a competitor for Adobe Flash, it is a WEB framework that enables rich media content inside your WEB browser. The issue is that it is not developed anymore and today's browsers do not support it.
The only browser that actually can support it is internet explorer which itself is not supported and how there is practically 0 content on today's modern WEB that will require Silverlight, it is safe and recommended to remove it.
Speaking of Adobe Flash, you should remove it as well. Flash has stopped receiving support as of January 2021 and browsers have dropped support for it and even blocked it due to security issues.
However, there still might be some local installation of Flash itself inside Windows along with the old Shockwave player that stopped receiving support in 2019. You should remove them both.
Now this one is tricky, by itself JAVA does not present any security issues since browsers do not support it anymore and the desktop version is not really slowing down your computer. This one has simply put just another media runtime that is not used and simply takes up space and resources.
However if you have some applications that you do use that rely on it (I can really just think of JAVA Minecraft at this point) leave it of course but in any other case, it is just purely not needed.
While we are at media runtime and stuff that just simply is not needed, Quicktime is one of them. Now this Apple Video player and codec is still pretty developed and active in Apple’s iOS environment, Windows version has not been updated since 2016 and it was discovered that it contains some critical vulnerabilities.
Uninstall it and if you need a player that could play MOV files, just use a VLC player that can play them without any separately installed codec.
This one, the same as CCleaner was once a good application, as a matter of fact, it was the best torrenting application. Sadly it has fallen from its grace very low, from getting tons of ads in its interface to findings in 2015 that code of torrent client was packed with a crypto miner that used system resources of an installed computer to mine crypto without user’s awareness.
You should uninstall this torrent client if you would like to get your PC back and not provide it for cryptocurrency mining for the company that developed it. Use qBittorrent or TIxati, open-source and free ones that have everything needed for any torrenting needs.
There are a lot of toolbars for browsers and extensions that are malicious in nature or simply not updated providing security issues. It is very advisable to remove this as soon as possible.
WinRAR has gained its large popularity solely for the reason that you could download it from the official site like shareware and use it forever. The license never expired and you could use it indefinitely. Sadly not much has been improved in the application itself and it is slowly falling out in its range of what it can do.
There are better open source and free options today like 7zip, PeaZip, ZIPvare, and more that are working the same as WinRAR if not even better.
Yes, applications that come bundled with Windows and with some laptops that include manufacturers made software for different tasks like its own specific media players, calculators, etc.
It is known that these applications are not better than their open-source rivals and there are too many of them including some that you will probably never use. It is the same as buying a new phone bundled with tons of applications that you do not need, did not ask for, and do not use. Delete all of them.
Considering Windows there are also some Store application like Candy Crush Saga demo and other are safe to remove if not needed.
That’s it, our advice for old and not needed applications so you can keep your PC safe and fast.

New Microsoft store“Your PC ran into a problem that it couldn’t handle, and now it needs to restart. If you’d like to know more, you can search online later for this error: DRIVER_VERIFIER_DMA_VIOLATION”There are several ways you can fix this error. You can try to disable the Driver Verifier or run the Hardware troubleshooter. You could also try to update, roll back or uninstall the drivers on your computer. For more details, refer to each one of the options provided below.
This is a common Device Manager Error Code that users encounter. It is commonly found on all Windows 2000 and later versions of Windows operating systems. Error Code 36 is usually prompted by the following message:
"This device is requesting a PCI interrupt but is configured for an ISA interrupt (or vice versa). Please use the computer's system setup program to reconfigure the interrupt for this device. (Code 36)"
Error CausesError Code 36 occurs when there is a failure in IRQ translation due to your Windows operating system getting corrupted. This is caused due to a number of triggers, such as:
When programs are removed excessively, some programs are not removed completely and create problems in your computer’s registry.
Also, due to the presence of malware and spyware and other causes mentioned above, your computer registry builds up errors with the time that leads to slowing your PC, time lags, and even result in crashes and freezes.
Error Code 36 can cause internal and external components to malfunction or experience time lags such as DVD drive or printer and hence can severely affect your entire PC.
Error Code 36 is a severe PC error and any attempt at fixing the error must be approached with extreme caution for your PC to start functioning properly again. Here are two methods to fixing your PC.
Changing the IRQ reservation settings is the best way you can rely on to fix the error code. You can do this by changing the BIOS settings of your PC.
The BIOS stands for ‘Basic Input/Output System’ and is the program of your PC’s microprocessor that allows your PC to boot after you switch it on.
Caution needs to be exercised before changing the BIOS settings of your PC. This is because every PC’s BIOS version differs from another and any wrong attempt to change the settings may make matters worse.
It is therefore recommended to refer to hardware documentation that you received with your PC or motherboard and check for the model number and details of your PC’s motherboard.
Only after you have checked and confirmed all the details, should you use the specific BIOS settings required to configure your IRQ reservations?
Error Code 36 isn’t an easy error to remove.
While changing the BIOS settings can work to restore your PC, it may create a whole lot of inconvenience for finding the time and effort to check the hardware documentation details and attempting to change the specific settings and especially, if your PC does not support the options to change IRQ reservations.
Given the high risks of fixing such an error, you can also install software that enables you to fix your slow PC at the click of a few buttons.
Programs such as DriverFIX can enable you to download and replace your outdated drivers with new updated ones without you having to look for them. It will detect which drivers to download based on your PC’s motherboard version from the program’s database and can get rid of error code 36.
Click here to download DriverFIX and remove error code 36 and any other type of Device Manager error from your PC.
This error is very frustrating and it annoys pretty much anyone who encountered it but do not worry we have a solution for you.
First thing is to confirm the error prompt, Click on the OK button and then on X to exit Windows 10 installation wizard. Click on yes to confirm that you want to exit the setup.
You will find yourself in original installation windows.
On that screen choose and click on Repair your computer. Choose an option screen that will pop up, click on Troubleshoot. In the advanced options, click on the command prompt.
Once you are in command prompts type DISKPART and hit ENTER
In the diskpart prompt type LIST DISK and hit ENTER again.
type SELECT DISK #, where # is listed disk number where you would like to install Windows.
type LIST VOLUME in order to list volumes in the selected disk and hit ENTER
You need to select the volume on which you would like to place your WINDOWS, to do this type in SELECT VOLUME #, where # is the listed number of the volume
Finally, type FORMAT FS=NTFS and hit ENTER
You have successfully formated a given volume, you can now exit DISKPART and return to setup, to exit DISKPART simply type exit and hit ENTER.
Leave command prompt as well by again typing exit and hitting ENTER
You will be returned to Choose an option screen, click on Turn off your PC.
Your drive has been successfully formatted and it is ready for clean Windows installation, you can now restart your Windows 10 installation and the process will complete without errors. Get-AppXPackage -Name Microsoft.Windows.Cortana | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)AppXManifest.xml"}
In order to make a keyboard shortcut for the desired folder know that it is available only when you have a shortcut of the desired folder, it cannot be done on the folder itself, only on its shortcut. Now folder shortcut does not need to reside on desktop, you can place it anywhere you like, but it must be a shortcut.
So the first step is of course to make a shortcut of the folder that you wish to have access via keyboard key combination and place it where you wish.
Once you have done this step, right-click on it and choose properties. Inside properties at the top click on the Shortcut tab and then inside Shortcut Key, press the key combination that you wish to associate with this folder. Confirm with OK and start using fast folder access with your desired key combination.
Bad or good news, depending on your view comes from RIOT for their game Valorant. It seems that Riot has decided to enforce Windows 11 TPM 2.0 feature into Valorant running on Windows 11 and there is a rumor that it will be de facto standard and that it will move to Valorant in general no matter on which system it runs.
Furthermore, there is a rumor circling around that other developers are also talking about implementing TPM 2.0 requirements so they can harvest advanced security features of Windows 11 in order to prevent hacks and other cheats in their games.
This is an interesting point to stand on, on one side, sure, advanced features that will prevent cheating and hacking is a great thing. On other hand denying access to many computers that do not support TPM 2.0 and removing them from the game can be a permanent loss of customers and therefore loss of money. It is a risk to be sure and I am not really sure that alienating gamers is a good choice for long-term income, especially when you will be able to install Windows 11 on an unsupported PC as stated by Microsoft.
We will all see how this Riot decision will reflect on their business, as not a big Valorant player myself I am not impacted too much with this decision, but it will be interesting to see if others will indeed go with this trend or they will decide to wait a while until much more PC’s are upgraded.
Error Causes