For PC users that are blind or have low vision, the Narrator accessibility feature in Windows 10, lets you use your PC without a display or mouse to complete common tasks – it reads and interacts with things on the screen, like text and buttons. The narrator can be used to read and write an email, browse the internet, and work with documents.
In Windows 10, there are a lot of options for Narrator that you can customize. You can change its keyboard shortcuts, personalize Narrator’s voice, enable Caps Lock warnings, and more. You can choose the voice for the Narrator, adjust the speaking rate, pitch, and volume.
To change the default audio output device used to play the voice of the Narrator in Windows 10:
Press the ⊞ WINDOWS + I
From the Settings menu, click Ease of Access.
Click Narrator on the left pane.
In the Narrator window, on the right pane, toggle the button to On to enable Narrator if required.
Scroll down to the Personalize Narrator’s voice section.
For the Select where you hear Narrator’s voice option, click the drop-down and select the audio output device you want from the list. Please know that you will not be able to choose if you do not have multiple audio output devices connected to your Windows 10 computer.
Exit Settings when done.
If you would like to read more helpful articles and tips about various software and hardware visit errortools.com daily.
To make the Windows 10 operating system a lot more user-friendly, Microsoft introduced the Tablet Mode for Windows 10 devices, especially the 2-in-1 devices like Surface Pro and Surface Book. Despite the Tablet Mode’s efficiency, it also encounters some errors from time to time. One of the issues users reported about tablet mode is that they can’t turn off or exit tablet mode. If you are one of these users, read on as this post will guide you in what you can do to fix the issue.
To fix the problem with Tablet Mode, there are several suggestions you can check out. You can try to check the full-screen setting, or perform a full shutdown or perform two buttons to restart the Surface devices. You could also disable Tablet Mode via Registry Editor or perform System Restore or change the settings in the System tab or the Action Center.
Option 1 – Try to check the full-screen setting
Tap the Win + I keys to open the Windows Settings app.
Then navigate to this path, Personalization > Start.
Next, scroll down to toggle off the “Use Start Full Screen” option.
After that, restart your computer and see if the problem is fixed.
Option 2 – Perform a full shutdown
Open Command Prompt with admin privileges first.
Next, execute this command to perform a full shutdown: shutdown /s /f /t 0
The command you entered will shut down your computer and once it’s turned off, wait for a couple of minutes and then turn it back on.
Option 3 – Try to perform a two-button restart on your Surface device
Tap and hold the power button for about 30 seconds.
Then release them after 30 seconds.
After that, tap and hold the volume up + the power button for 20 seconds. This will cause the display to flash a few times but you have to keep those buttons pressed until your Surface device is turned off.
Wait for a couple of minutes and your Surface will turn back on. This should resolve the problem.
Option 4 – Try to disable the Tablet Mode via Registry Editor
In the Start Search, type “registry editor” and right-click on the Registry Editor from the results, and then select the Run as administrator option. This will open the Registry Editor with admin privileges.
Next, navigate to this registry key: ComputerHKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionImmersiveShell
From there, look for the DWORD named “SignInMode” and double click on it.
Set its value to “1” and its base as hexadecimal.
After that, click on OK to save the changes made. This will make sure that you are signed in to the desktop mode when you log into your account.
Now look for the DWORD named “TabletMode” and double click on it and set its value data to “0” and it's base as hexadecimal.
Click on OK to save the changes made and then restart your computer.
Option 5 – Run System Restore
Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
After that, type in “sysdm.cpl” in the field and tap Enter.
Next, go to the System Protection tab then click the System Restore button. This will open a new window where you have to select your preferred System Restore point.
After that, follow the on-screen instructions to finish the process and then restart your computer and check if the problem is fixed or not.
Option 6 – Try changing the settings in the System tab or the Action Center
Go to Settings and navigate to System > Tablet Mode.
After that, scroll down to set the “Use desktop mode” from the drop-down menu under the “When I sign in” section.
Now restart your computer and see if the issue is fixed.
Microsoft is trying to make Windows into a personalized OS, more and more features and parts can be customized to user liking. From larger things to smaller ones nowadays you can almost personalize every detail of Windows itself. In this article, we will tackle how to bring back the names of running applications on the taskbar.
Placing names beside icons on the taskbar is a pretty simple and straightforward task easily done.
First, right-click the Taskbar and select Taskbar settings.
In Taskbar settings, click the menu labeled Combine taskbar buttons.
Select Never.
That's it, now all of your running applications have a name beside them.
If you change your mind, you can always undo it by selecting Always hide labels in the Combine taskbar buttons menu.
When upgrading to Microsoft Windows 10, some users may encounter Error Code 8024402C. This error, while attempting to update, is a result of five possible issues. The error code itself is not a critical concern, yet while the error is occurring, users will not be able to upgrade their Windows software. As with any Microsoft error code, even if it is not critical, it is recommended that the error be addressed sooner rather than later. An insignificant error now could lead to a larger, more catastrophic error later on.
Common symptoms include:
A dialog box appears with the Error Code 8024402C when attempting to upgrade to Microsoft Windows 10.
Your current version of Windows is unable to recognize the need for an update to Microsoft Windows 10.
Solution
Error Causes
As previously stated, there are five major reasons why error code 8024402C occurs.
An erroneous character in the proxy override settings
A wrongly configured firewall is preventing the update from taking place.
Attempting to access the Windows 10 update through a VPN (Virtual Private Network) connection.
Workstations that operate behind a corporate ISA server.
A corporate network system that does not have auto proxy enabled.
The sooner these known causes are addressed, the sooner you will be able to successfully upgrade to Microsoft Windows 10.
Further Information and Manual Repair
Microsoft Support posits four different resolutions to these known error code 8024402C issues. Some of these methods will be more comfortable for at-home users than others. If you are experiencing this issue in a corporate or business setting, it may be better to have your IT tech or department attempt the methods.
Method 1: When your firewall is causing the issue.
Access your firewall software.
Specifically, look into the settings associated with your firewall.
Make sure that the following three websites are listed as exceptions to your firewall or proxy.
https://*.windowsupdate.microsoft.com
http://download.windowsupdate.com
http://*.windowsupdate.microsoft.com
If any of these websites are missing from your firewall list, add them to the list.
Restart your Microsoft Windows 10 update.
Method 2: For an erroneous character in the proxy override settings.
Open internet explorer, if you use another program to access the internet, you will still need to use internet explorer for this solution.
Open your internet explorer tools window.
Click on internet options.
Choose the connections tab.
Select LAN settings.
Choose the Advanced option.
Delete anything that appears in the exceptions section.
Closeout of internet explorer.
Click on your start button.
Select RUN and type CMD into the field, press ENTER.
This will access the command prompt screen. Type “proxycfg -d” and press ENTER.
Type the command “net stop wuauserv” and press ENTER.
Finally, type “net start wuauserv” and press ENTER.
Now you have cleared your proxy cache. Access the Microsoft Windows 10 update again to download.
Method 3: If a VPN connection is causing error code 8024402C.
Disconnect from your VPN connection, thus connecting directly to the internet without a proxy or network.
Retry the Microsoft Windows 10 update.
After the update is successful, reconnect to the VPN network.
Method 4: Use this is an ISA server is in place at your networked business site.
Access the ISA firewall client option. From here your goal is to initiate the ISA server automatic detection feature.
From the control panel, select the firewall client option.
Choose the configure option.
Check the box next to “automatically detect firewall server”.
Select the “update now” button.
Click the OK button.
Restart your Microsoft Windows 10 update.
Again, not all of these methods are meant for computer users who do not usually explore and change software settings of this nature. If you do not feel comfortable with any of these methods, you can opt to download and install a powerful automated tool to repair Windows error code 8024402C.
In case you don’t know, Windows 10 now allows users to check the Bluetooth battery level of devices. More often than not, the accessories or peripherals users use for their Windows 10 devices are connected to it using Bluetooth technology. This high-speed low-powered wireless technology is designed to link mobile devices, computers, and other network devices over a short distance wirelessly.
Monitoring the battery level of a device where Bluetooth is enabled isn’t an easy task as most of these devices do not support the Bluetooth battery monitor or the battery level display. And even when on devices that do, you still have to install additional software to find it. However, Windows 10 eliminates this requirement and all you have to do is add a Bluetooth device and connect that Bluetooth device. How? Follow the instructions provided below.
Step 1: Adding a Bluetooth Device
The easiest way to get your Bluetooth device battery to be displayed on your Windows 10 screen is to simply add a Bluetooth device. To do so, follow these sub-steps:
First, turn on the Bluetooth mode on your device.
Next, go to Windows Settings > Devices > Bluetooth & other devices.
From there, click on the “+” button next to the ‘Add Bluetooth or other devices” option and select the type of device you want to add.
Step 2: Connecting the Bluetooth Device
Once you’ve added the device, it will be visible under the “Add a device” screen.
Now select the newly added Bluetooth device and click the “Done” button.
After that, it will now be connected. Go back to the “Bluetooth & other devices” window and scroll down to the section of “Mouse, Keyboard, and Pen”.
From there, move the cursor alongside the connected device to display its battery level.
Keep in mind that there are several ways in which you can display the battery information of the Bluetooth device. However, Windows 10 understands only one of them per se. So if your device is not a Bluetooth Low Energy device, Windows 10 won’t be able to show its battery information and won’t display its battery level.
Resize icons on desktop in Windows 10 in a matter of seconds!
Hello everyone and welcome to today's quick tip. If you have ever been dissatisfied with icon size on your desktop and any of the default sizes like small, medium large, etc have not been appropriate know that there is a quick way to resize icons on your desktop in between sizes.
All that you have to do in order to use this built-in feature is:
Press and hold CTRL and scroll with the mouse. That's it! Find your appropriate size for icons and enjoy.
Keyboard shortcuts are undeniably one of the most utilized ways and are helpful in maximizing productivity through the various applications at top speed in Windows 10. It offers the option to create custom keyboard shortcuts that allow users to launch apps, and even websites, instantly. There are already tons of keyboard shortcuts that are built-in in Windows 10 but in case you don’t know, you can actually create new ones. Doing so is not a difficult task and in this post, you will be guided on how you can exactly create custom keyboard shortcuts in your Windows 10 computer.
Most users would create desktop shortcuts or pin the apps in the taskbar to speed up the process of working on their computers. It is an easy task to do since you can easily do it by dragging an app from the Start Menu to the desktop or by simply right-clicking on the executable app and selecting the “Create Shortcut” option. However, doing so would take physical effort and there are times when you have to minimize all the apps to get to the desktop so you can click the shortcut and this is where the Custom Keyboard Shortcuts come in handy.
You can create Custom Keyboard Shortcuts in Windows 10 for various programs – from the traditional desktop apps to the new universal apps – you can fling in a shortcut so that you can instantly open them faster compared to when doing it manually and besides this also wouldn’t affect any of the ongoing system activity. To get started, you need to follow the steps provided below carefully.
To add Custom Keyboard hotkeys to a program and website desktop shortcuts, here’s what you have to do:
Step 1: First, you have to right-click on the app or website and select Properties.
Step 2: After that, go to the Shortcut tab and from there, you will see the “Shortcut key” textbox which allows you to enter a new or custom keyboard shortcut for the app or website.
Step 3: In the textbox field, input your preferred letters to set up the new hotkey. Keep in mind that this custom shortcut has to be combined with the Ctrl + Alt keys which means that if you want to select “N”, you have to tap the Ctrl + Alt + N keys.
Step 4: Once done, click on the Apply and OK buttons to save the changes made and then close the window.
Step 5: After that, tap the newly created keyboard shortcut, Ctrl + Alt + N keys again to open the app or website you’ve set up earlier.
To add Custom Keyboard hotkeys to a desktop app or an independent program that can be installed using direct download, here’s what you have to do:
Step 1: First, open the Start Menu and look for the icon/tile of the required app in the menu. However, if you are not able to find the desired app, then just click on the All Apps option to navigate through all the apps that are installed on your PC.
Step 2: Once you find the app, just right-click on it and select More and then click on the “Open file location” option.
Step 3: This will open a new window with the shortcut icon. Right-click on the app’s shortcut icon and select Properties.
Step 4: This will open the Properties window where you can add the shortcut combination. Keep in mind that just like the previous method, the custom shortcut has to be combined with the Ctrl + Alt keys. For instance, if you select E, then you also have to set a keyboard shortcut that includes Ctrl + Alt, so it will be, Ctrl + Alt + E.
Step 5: Once you’re done, click on the Apply and OK buttons to save the changes made. You should now be able to use the custom shortcut key you’ve set.
The New and upcoming HAF 700 Evo from Coller master is a beast of a case, but so is its price. The case itself is still not released but as sources say it will be soon, well at least we hope so. The price will be around $500 which is a little on the expensive side of things but the features it is bringing are very impressive.
HAF 700 EVO Size and its advantages
HAF stands for High Airflow and with this case, you are going to get it but first let us talk about other characteristics of the case. Firstly case is ATX full tower, pretty big going 24.64 x 11.45. x 26.22 inches in size but like all full tower cases it can hold all motherboard types including Mini-ITX, Micro-ATX, ATX, E-ATX. The large case size also lets you place a pretty big GPU, going to 19.29 inches (490 mm) in its length covering currently all available Graphic cards on market.
Being a very big computer case is not just placing motherboard and big GPU, there are other great advantages of it, firstly that you can go wild with your CPU cooler, going all the way to 6.5 inches in cooler height will satisfy all users and having 12x 2.5 or 3.5-inch internal bays will. And if even that is not enough you have 8 expansion slots available.
Inside HAF 700 EVO
Inside the casing you will also find 2 front fans with 200mm diameter, 2 rear fans sized 120mm, and 1 bottom fan of 120mm. You can also manually mount standard 120mm fans on top of the case for maximum airflow.
Front panel and outsides
The front side is filled with 4x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A (5 Gbps), 1X USB Type-C (up to 10Gbps), 3.5mm both headphone and audio jack along with a reset switch. Also, the circle in the very front is a hi-resolution LCD customizable display, you know, just to add more flavor and personal touch to the case. Fron is also filled with glass panels emitting RGB light.
Of course, you must also have a Tempered Glass Side Panel and well weight of 53.57 pounds (24.3 kg), yup you read that correctly, beside its hefty price tag this cooler master beast also is pretty heavy. Granted all of the weight comes from the glass front panel it is still a little hard on moving and taking out of the box.
This is also the case where you will not need a single screwdriver, everything is made to be assembled with your hands alone pushing easy assembly into the front row.
Conclusion
So in the end what are my thoughts about this expensive and heavy PC case? Would I recommend it? The answer to that question could depend really on your budget, let us be really honest here if you can afford it, YES, wholeheartedly I would recommend the case, it is great, it feels great, it looks great and the airflow is amazing. However, if you are tight on a budget, there are other great cases with excellent airflow and you might want to skip this one.
Nvidia announced the third generation of GeForce RTX GPUs called Ada Lovelace. New technology is bringing 76 billion transistors with 18,000 CUDA cores along with new gen ray tracing cores and improved Tensor cores as well. The new lineup also comes with DLSS 3 which is vastly improved from its previous version pushing a 4 times increase in frame rates over native rendering.
RTX 4090, a better model of GPU will come with 16,384 CUDA cores and a boost clock speed of 2.52 GHz. Also, it is packed with stunning 24 GB of GDDR6V VRAM. In Nvidia's words, its performance is twice faster than the 3090 Ti in games like Flight simulator, three times faster on Portal RTX, and four times faster on RacerX.
RTX 4080 comes in two modes, one with 12GB VRAM and a stronger one with 16GB VRAM but differences do not end here. The lower model is packing 7,680 CUDA cores while the stronger one is going to 9,728 CUDA cores. We will wait to see how will these cores count impact real-world performance in games.
As for prices, the flagship model RTX 4090 will be $1,600 USD and it will hit the market on October 12th. RTX 4080 12GB model will be $900 USD and the model with 16GB VRAM will go up to $1,200 USD. This, of course, is the price for Founders Edition cards, OEM cards from third parties like ASUS, MSI, Gigatech, etc will cost more.
What is Windows ImageAcquisition High CPU & Disk usage? The Windows Image Acquisition is the driver model in charge of the communication between the graphics hardware and the operating system. There are times when it causes high disk and CPU usage in Windows 10 systems which results in slow performance of the computer. To fix this issue, read on as this post will help you in addressing the problem.
The cause of this problem might have something to do with the hardware or the drivers. And so if your computer becomes slow because of the Windows Image Acquisition process, here are some suggestions that might be of help. You can try to restart the Windows Image Acquisition service, run a System File Checker Scan, disconnect & reconnect imaging hardware as well as update and reinstall the drivers and updating the graphics drivers.
For a complete set of instructions, follow the given options below.
Option 1 – Try restarting the Windows Image Acquisition Service
Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
Then type “services.msc” in the field and hit Enter to open the Windows Services Manager.
From there, look for the Windows Image Acquisition Service and check on its service Status.
If the Service Status is blank, right-click on it and select Start. And if the service Status is Running right-click on it and select Restart. After that, check if your computer’s performance is now back to normal.
Option 2 – Try running a System File Checker scan
As you know, running a System File Checker scan can help in replacing missing files as well as repair the corrupted ones which might be the reason behind the problem.
Tap Win + R to launch Run.
Type in cmd in the field and tap Enter.
After opening Command Prompt, type in sfc /scannow
The command will start a system scan which will take a few whiles before it finishes. Once it’s done, you could get the following results:
Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.
Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired them.
Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them.
Restart your computer after the scan is completed.
Option 3 – Try disconnecting and reconnecting the imaging hardware and then update and reinstall its drivers
It could be that the hardware that calls for the Windows Image Acquisition service has some issues which are why disconnecting and reconnecting the imaging hardware like scanners, printers, cameras can help in fixing the problem. In addition, you can also boot your computer in a Clean Boot State so that you can find the problematic hardware by hit and trial method. Refer to the steps below to do so:
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.)
Option 4 – Try updating the Graphics drivers
First, boot your computer into Safe Mode.
After that, tap the Win + R keys to launch Run.
Type in devmgmt.msc into the box and tap Enter or click OK to open the Device Manager.
After that, a list of device drivers will be displayed. From there, look for the Display Adapters and click on them.
After that, right-click on each entry under the Display Adapters and select the “Uninstall Device” option from the menu.
Now restart your computer.
After restarting your computer, go to the Settings app and Check for Updates in the Windows Update section.
Note: You also have the option to go directly to the website of your graphics card manufacturers like NVIDIA, Intel, or AMD and go to the section called Drivers then check if there’s a new available update – if there is, download and install it.
If you encounter an error saying, “Invalid file handle” when you try to rename, copy, delete a file or other operations in your Windows 10 computer, then read on as this post will guide you in what you can do to fix it. This kind of error pops up when the operating system tries to carry out an operation on a folder or file using the following words:
When you rename or create a folder or file using the reserved words given above, you could encounter an error that says, “The specified device name is invalid”. This occurs since these words are Windows system reserved words that you can’t use, unlike any other words. Thus, if you have a folder or file which contains any of the reserved words on another computer that runs a non-Windows operating system and you try to copy or rename it Windows, then it’s no wonder why you’re getting this error message.
In such cases, you can always click on the Skip button to stop the operation. However, if there are various folders or files, you can just use the Command Prompt to carry out the task. All it takes is a simple command that will get rid of the folder as well as the files in it. How? Refer to the instructions given below.
Step 1: Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run utility.
Step 2: Next, type “cmd” in the field and then tap Enter to open Command Prompt.
Step 3: After opening Command Prompt, execute the following command:
rd \.file-folder-path /S /Q
Note: The “rd” command will remove the directory or the folder while the “\.” command will select the current computer. The “/S” command, on the other hand, helps you in removing all the sub-directories and the files that are in the CON folder. The “/Q” command is not really mandatory since it helps you remove everything silently without any confirmation message. For example, if you have a folder named “CON” located on your Desktop, the path will be like this “C:/Users/<username>/Desktop/CON”. In this case, the command should be like this:
rd \.C:Users<username>DesktopCON /S /Q
However, if the error pops up for a whole different reason, you could use the following command instead to remove the reparse point extended functionality. Once you’ve entered the given command below, you should now be able to delete the file.
