From the settings screen, choose Personalization.
Under personalization options click on START.
And then on the right part click on the button under Use Start full screen to turn it ON
That's it, your start menu is now full screen. 
Have you been feeling anxious in the digital space? Feeling like you have a million eyes on you each time you visit a website? It can definitely make you uneasy. Luckily there’s an easy fix, and it’s called a VPN.
In this article we’ll take you through the basics of what a VPN does and some of the biggest benefits you can reap from buying one.
VPN stands for Virtual Private Network, so its name already says a lot about what it does.
A VPN is specialized software that keeps your browsing private and secure. Essentially it hides your identity, preventing possible cyberattacks and data theft. This is especially important in cases of public network use, where you’re highly exposed to potential threats.
To be more specific, this software encrypts your Internet Protocol (IP) address by filtering it through a server hosted by the VPN provider first. That way, it prevents your Internet service provider, third parties and lurking online thieves from tracking the actual you.
Credit: FLY:D on Unsplash
Some providers, such as Surfshark VPN with its IP Rotator feature, even make it a habit to frequently change your IP address to further protect your identity. With most VPN providers, you can also appear to be in a completely different country, adding to your disguise.
There are tons of advantages you can look forward to if you decide to use a VPN. Take a look at some of the crucial ones.
When choosing a VPN, you can find both free and paid options. We recommend you go with the paid ones, since they have stronger security, encryption and data protection, as well as more advanced features. Free VPNs come with limitations and risk of malicious attacks on the software itself.
You can choose to buy a singular VPN service or opt for antivirus software that has a VPN built in, for example Bitdefender’s Ultimate Security plan. That depends on what you use your computer for and how much.
When you pick one, here’s what it can do for you.
When we said you could change your location, we meant it. Say you’re using a streaming service and a show you desperately want to watch isn’t available in your country. You can use your VPN to make it look like you’re browsing from a country where it’s unlocked.
This option is also convenient for gamers who want to access maps, skins and other in-game items unavailable in their location.
Surfshark VPN (Credit: Dan Nelson on Unsplash)
In addition, you can use this powerful feature when you’re traveling to a region where some of your favorite content may not be accessible.
Do keep in mind that you need to read the Terms and Conditions (yeah, we know - who does that?) of your games and services before doing this, since you could end up getting a penalty. It’s also important to remember that there are entire countries that have strict regulations or even bans on VPNs, for example Belarus, Russia and China. So make sure to be very cautious with your VPN use, friends.
VPNs shield your browsing habits from prying eyes on the web. Those can be malicious hackers or just third-party cookies tracking your every move to later bombard you with targeted ads. For example, Surfshark VPN features a Cookie blocker that blocks all cookie-related pop-ups and lets you browse in peace (and secret). It works even when the VPN is turned off, which is also pretty neat.
In addition, their CleanWeb 2.0 technology makes sure ads and especially malware don’t stand a chance at all, since they’re blocked before they can even load.
The inability of sites to track your browsing means they can’t collect and analyze any of your data. So, your personal information - or your company’s information in case that’s what you’re using your computer for - is entirely hidden and secure.
It’s well-known that the prices of certain items and services vary based on your location, browsing time, age and many other factors. This most commonly goes for airline tickets and hotel stays.
You can use your VPN to avoid high prices and surcharges. Clear all cookies, turn on your VPN and visit an online shopping site to check out their prices. Then compare your findings with the offers you see when your VPN is off, when you spend a long time on the site or have an active account with the company.
Sometimes this can really help you find the best deals and avoid breaking the bank. But again, check the Terms and Conditions before you purchase something using a VPN.
The more smart devices you have connected to your network, the more exposed you are to potential cyberattacks. Phones and computers are generally designed to be decently secure even without a VPN or antivirus, but smart home devices leave a lot to be desired in that regard.
Protecting your home network with a VPN software means all devices connected to it are secure, be it an air purifier or Alexa.
Your ISP can intentionally slow down your internet speed based on how much data you’ve consumed (data throttling) or your activities online (bandwidth throttling).
But with a VPN, what kind of data you send and receive and how much is entirely hidden. Therefore, if your ISP can’t see you, they can’t control you and they can’t throttle down your speed.
You can never be too safe online. So definitely think about getting yourself a solid VPN to pump up your privacy and security as much as you can. And if you have any questions or need help choosing the perfect software for you, feel free to reach out to us.
From the settings screen, choose Personalization.
Under personalization options click on START.
And then on the right part click on the button under Use Start full screen to turn it ON
That's it, your start menu is now full screen. CHKDSK [volume [[path] filename]] [/F] [/V] [/R] [/X] [/C] [: size]]Note: In the command given above, “[/F]” will try to fix the system errors while “[/R]” will be the one to fix the bad sectors.
Hello all the wonderful people and welcome to our new article where we take a little different turn than usual and discuss why keeping old electronics around the house is not such a good idea. We all have some drawer or in some bag around the house and in the end of the day if that electronic has battery inside it is probably not the smart thing to keep it.
So naturally, the question comes why it is a bad idea to have old electronics with batteries in them? Well unlike a battery failure with, say, some AA batteries jammed in the back of an old toy, the risk with a lithium-ion battery failing isn’t just some leaking and corrosion in the battery compartment, it’s a potential fire as the battery swells up and the gases (combined with the stored energy) turn the battery into a potential fire hazard.
Good thing is that the battery will not explode just like that, it will swallow over time and get bigger and bigger until the breaking point is reached and all the fire breaks lose. So if by any chance you have some old gadgets lying around you can check up on them and see if has swelling process started, if yes, dispose properly of that piece of the old device immediately.
If you’re not ready to get rid of the gadget then it’s best to charge it properly for storage. Proper charging keeps the battery cells and circuits in optimum health.
While recommendations vary by manufacturer and application, the general consensus is that lithium-ion batteries should be charged to approximately 40%. (Some manufacturers recommend charging 50% or 60% instead.)
Really, the important part here isn’t the exact percentage. What’s important is ensuring that the battery is charged to roughly half capacity and not stored with a completely discharged or completely full battery.
Discharge rates on lithium-ion batteries in completely powered-off devices are very slow, but you should still plan to top off the charge every 12-18 months or so to keep it around 50%.
If you wanted to go above and beyond, a metal storage container with a snug lid on a basement shelf with a desiccant pack inside to control the moisture would offer optimum conditions.
Each time when you press WINDOWS + PrtScn key on your keyboard a screenshot is taken and saved on your Hard drive, to be more precise, it is saved in a specific folder which is in c:\Users\Your user name\Pictures\Screenshots. Now, this specific location is not anything that's bad but it is a little deep and not so user-friendly for quick access.
Luckily this default location can be changed into any folder that you like.
First thing is to open File Explorer and then navigate to your PC. Once you go to your PC, go to Pictures, and inside right-click on the Screenshots folder. If there is no screenshots folder inside, this means that since Windows was installed no screenshots were taken with WINDOWS + PrtScn key combination. Please note that just by pressing PrtScn you will create a screenshot but you will place it inside the clipboard ready to be pasted somewhere, with WINDOWS + PrtScn you are saving the screenshot directly in a file on your hard drive.
So once you clicked on the Screenshots folder, go to the bottom and click on properties. Inside properties go to the Location tab. In the location, tab clicks on MOVE and browse to your new location where you would like screenshots to be saved. Once you select the folder for screenshots, click on the Select Folder button and confirm with OK. After this, Windows will ask you would you like to move existing screenshots into the chosen folder. Click YES or NO, depending on your preference.
After this easy setup, all of your new screenshots will be placed now inside the chosen folder.
Thank you for reading and I hope to see you tomorrow. Take care.
DuckDuckGo has risen in the public eye as a private search engine offering searches without tracking. A less known fact about DuckDuckGo is that they have their own browser, well they have it for the Android platform and it was stated that it is coming for desktops soon.
People were excited for this new browser for a few reasons, one of them being privacy and another that it is built from scratch, not using existing chromium runtime that assured users that privacy is the main focus. Still, lately, things got a little out of control. Duckduckgo is under fire from users since a security researcher has discovered that there is an exception for Microsoft trackers inside Browser.
The main feature of their browser is that it blocks tracking scripts and most online advertising with the goal of preventing servers from collecting data about your online behavior. Of course, tracking protection is never 100% effective since it requires a lot of manual labor from people to add sites and links to blocklists but it was discovered that DuckDuckGo has a defined exception in the browser for Microsoft owned ad networks and tracking scripts giving them free pass even when they are related to privacy compromisation.
Zach Edwards first pointed out the exception in a series of tweets, after noticing DuckDuckGo on iPhone and Android wasn’t blocking LinkedIn and Bing advertisements on Facebook’s Workplace site.
You can capture data within the DuckDuckGo so-called private browser on a website like Facebook's https://t.co/u8W44qvsqF and you'll see that DDG does NOT stop data flows to Microsoft's Linkedin domains or their Bing advertising domains.
iOS + Android proof:
👀🫥😮💨🤡⛈️⚖️💸💸💸 pic.twitter.com/u3Q30KIs7e— ℨ𝔞𝔠𝔥 𝔈𝔡𝔴𝔞𝔯𝔡𝔰 (@thezedwards) May 23, 2022
DuckDuckGo’s CEO and founder, Gabriel Weinberg, replied with his own series of tweets.
Most of our other protections also apply to MSFT-owned properties as well. This is just about non-DuckDuckGo and non-Microsoft sites, where our search syndication agreement prevents us from stopping Microsoft-owned scripts from loading, though we can still apply protections post-load (like 3rd party cookie blocking). We are also working to change that.
DuckDuckGo says it uses over 400 sources for search engine results, including the company’s own web crawler, but typical link results are sourced most commonly from Bing. According to Weinberg, DuckDuckGo’s ability to use Bing search results depends on a carved-out exception for Microsoft’s ads in the mobile browser. A representative from DuckDuckGo told that third-party cookies from Microsoft services are still blocked.
Of course, the main aim and campaign of DUckDuckGo's rise was private search and private browsing so this kind of news did not go well among long supporters. The latest statement from them is as follows:
We have always been extremely careful to never promise anonymity when browsing, because that frankly isn’t possible given how quickly trackers change how they work to evade protections and the tools we currently offer. When most other browsers on the market talk about tracking protection, they are usually referring to 3rd-party cookie protection and fingerprinting protection, and our browsers for iOS, Android, and our new Mac beta, impose these restrictions on third-party tracking scripts, including those from Microsoft.
What we’re talking about here is an above-and-beyond protection that most browsers don’t even attempt to do — that is, blocking third-party tracking scripts before they load on 3rd party websites. Because we’re doing this where we can, users are still getting significantly more privacy protection with DuckDuckGo than they would using Safari, Firefox and other browsers. This blog post we published gets into the real benefits users enjoy from this approach, like faster load times (46% average decrease) and less data transferred (34% average decrease). Our goal has always been to provide the most privacy we can in one download, by default without any complicated settings.
Windows 10 error code 0x80072EE2 usually occurs as a result of a disruption during the upgrade process when users attempt to upgrade their operating system using Windows Update. The disruption may be caused by a loss of Internet connection. Error code 0x80072EE2 may also occur due to problems related to one’s firewall. Common symptoms of this error code include the following:
Error CausesUpgrade error codes like error code 0x80072EE2 usually occur when disruptions or problems related to system files, or third-party apps prevent Windows Update from completing an upgrade. In the case of error code 0x80072EE2, the most likely cause is a bad Internet connection.
Windows 10 error codes are numerous and so are the solutions to fixing these problems. In most cases, Windows users have access to several manual repair solutions depending on the error code present on their device. These manual repair methods are usually easy to implement, with the exception of a few solutions that require technical knowledge and skills. In such cases, you may need to consider using an effective automated tool or you may contact a Windows repair technician to assist you.
In terms of error code 0x80072EE2, however, no technical skills are required. Manual repair solutions for this error code involve checking and troubleshoot network problems if your connection was disrupted. Also, you may need to check your firewall settings and disable it temporarily to verify whether or not your firewall is preventing you from accessing the upgrade. Further details are provided below.
If for whatever reason you lost Internet connection while attempting to upgrade your operating system via Windows Update, your upgrade will time out and error code 0x80072EE2 in Windows 10 may occur. For this reason, it is important for you to check your connection once you notice the presence of error code 0x80072EE2 on your device.
There are many ways you can verify your Internet connection but one of the simplest ways is to first open your preferred Internet browser and type the web address of a site you normally visit. Once you are able to access the website, you will know for sure that your connection is not an issue. Simply restart your PC and reattempt the upgrade.
If you are unable to complete the upgrade process, however, this simply means that there is another issue causing error code 0x80072EE2 to occur. Proceed to the next manual repair method. This method may also apply if you were unable to connect to the Internet.
Though you may be able to access a website or open your Internet browser, there may be other issues affecting your network that are causing the error code to occur. To verify for certain whether or not the issue causing error code 0x80072EE2 in Windows 10 is related to your network, troubleshoot your network using the Network Troubleshooter tool found on your PC.
Once the issue has been resolved, it is time to verify if the error code is fixed. Open Windows Update then select the option which enables you to access the latest upgrades to your machine. Wait to see if the error code reoccurs or if you can now access the upgrade to your operating system. If the error code reoccurs, move to the next manual repair method.
Another issue that may be causing an error code to occur is your firewall. To verify if your firewall is preventing you from accessing the upgrade, disable your firewall. If you are using third-party security software, simply open the security app and check its firewall settings. Select disable or turn off the firewall.
Restart your computer, then open Windows Update to reattempt to upgrade your device. If this proves successful, you will be able to access the upgrade. Error code 0x80072EE2 in Windows 10 will no longer be present.
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.
“The application failed to initialize properly (0xc0000005). Click on OK to close the application.”This kind of application error can occur due to several reasons which include damaged installation of the application or system files may have gotten corrupted or damaged. It could also be caused by a malware infection. There are a couple of suggestions provided in this post to help you resolve the error. You can try to run both a System File Checker scan and the DISM tool or reinstall the problematic application or repair-install Windows 10 as well as run a malware scan. Note that the options provided below do not have to be followed in sequence.
For many people that are playing online games, this is not such a big deal since they always must have the latest version in order to play their games but for other ones, this has arrived as a bit of a problem. Many people preferred older game versions since often updates can change certain mechanics inside the game making it different as an experience or introduce some elements that not everyone likes.
So far, people could use the steamDB site to find depo of the game versions you would like to play and download it but if this beta code goes live that will not be an option anymore. Now, playing old games without updates could also be used for nostalgic reasons and these people have also been cut off with this update.
It is important to point that update is still in beta client only but users have already started to voice their opinions asking Valve not to place it live. In the end, it will all depend on Valve’s decision will they listen to their customers or decide to push updates on live service. 