Every computer has to have a graphic card, it is one of the essential components in order for the computer to work. If you have a second-hand computer, got one as a gift, or similar, there is a high chance that you do not really know which components are inside. Luckily finding out which graphic card you have inside is quite easy.
Right-click the taskbar and select Task Manager
Click the Performance tab at the top of the window, if you don’t see the tabs, click “More Info.” Select “GPU 0” in the sidebar. The GPU’s manufacturer and model names are displayed at the top right corner of the window.
You’ll also see other information, such as the amount of dedicated memory on your GPU, in this window. Windows 10’s Task Manager displays your GPU usage here, and you can also view GPU usage by application.
If your system has multiple GPUs, you’ll also see “GPU 1” and so on here. Each represents a different physical GPU.
NVIDIA is undeniably the market leader as a Graphics Card manufacturer. Recently, NVIDIA came about a feature known as NVIDIA Share. This feature allows users to carry out a number of tasks such as streaming, recording, and sharing their gameplay with other users. NVIDIA Share allows users to take multiple snapshots of the gameplay which brings in capabilities to get the memories of the moments that happen during an awesome game. However, as of late, there were reports that NVIDIA Share is not working or responding. So if you are one of the users who are currently facing this issue, then read on as this post will guide you in resolving it. Make sure to follow the options given below carefully for a successful result.
Option 1 – Try to update the drivers from the official site of NVIDIA
The first thing you can do is to update the drivers from the official site of NVIDIA. And in case you don’t know the type of Nvidia graphics card that your computer is on, follow the steps below:
Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
Next type in “dxdiag” in the field and click OK or hit Enter to open the DirectX Diagnostic Tool.
From there, you can see what type of Nvidia graphics card that your system is on.
Take note of your graphics card information and then look for the best drivers for your operating system. Once you’ve downloaded and installed the file, restart your PC.
Option 2 – Try to roll back the driver to the previous version
If the first option didn’t work for you, then it’s time to roll back the device drivers. It is most likely that after you updated your Windows computer that your driver also needs a refresh.
Tap the Win + R keys to launch the Run window and then type in the “msc” command and hit Enter to open the Device Manager window.
Under the Device Manager, you will see a list of drivers. From there, look for the NVIDIA Drivers and expand them.
Next, select the driver entries that are labeled appropriately.
Then select each one of them and double click to open a new mini window.
After that, make sure that you’re on the Driver tab and if you are not, just navigate to it then click the Roll Back Driver button to switch back to the previous version of the NVIDIA Drivers.
Now restart your computer to successfully apply the changes made.
Option 3 – Try disabling NVIDIA Share
If the first two options given above didn’t work then you might want to try disabling NVIDIA Share. In case you didn’t make any modifications to the driver, chances are either your driver is out of date or there are some issues with the installation of the drivers. For you to find out, you need to first check if your NVIDIA drivers are really up to date. Once you’ve confirmed it, you can now disable the NVIDIA Share feature. Just refer to the steps below to do that.
Search for the NVIDIA GeForce Experience in the search box and then click on the appropriate result to open it.
After you open the NVIDIA GeForce Experience, go to the General tab.
Next, scroll down to the NVIDIA Share section and then select the toggle to turn off this feature.
Now restart your computer and try to check if there are any updates available for the NVIDIA Graphics card and install them again if there are any.
Recently, a number of Windows 10 users getting an error on their computers that state, “Windows can’t find one of the files in this theme”. According to the affected users, this error occurs at random times even when they didn’t make any changes to their computer’s theme prior to getting the error. If you are one of these users, read on as this post will help you resolve this problem.
If you click on the Yes button of the dialog box where the error is displayed, it won’t fix the problem as you will still get the same error from time to time. This kind of error could be caused by the executable file named “SettingSyncHost.exe”. It is possible that this executable file is unable to sync your theme all over your computer. On the other hand, it could also be due to some problems with the active theme. To resolve this issue, you can try to change the active theme, or disable the custom screensaver or disable theme syncing on your computer, as well as run a System File Checker or run the DISM tool. For more instructions, follow the options given below.
Option 1 – Try to change the active theme
The first thing you can do to fix the error is to change the active theme of your computer since the SettingSyncHost.exe file might not be able to properly sync the theme on the computer.
Go to Settings and click on Personalization.
Next, click on Themes and scroll down to apply a theme, and change the theme of the operating system.
After that, tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box and type “%windir%ResourcesThemes” in the field, and then tap Enter to open the folder where the theme files are located.
Once you’re done, right-click and select delete for the active theme to remove the theme and its resources. This should fix the root cause of the problem. If not you can try to create a new Windows 10 theme and save it.
Option 2 – Try to disable the custom screensaver
The custom screensaver is a part of the mechanism of the lock screen. Although they were needed in the earlier Windows versions to prevent the discoloration of CRT monitor screens, they are no longer needed in the current version of Windows. Thus, you can try to disable it as it could be the one that’s causing the problem.
Click on the Start button and go to Settings > Personalization > Lock screen.
Here, scroll down and click on the Screen Saver settings.
After that, select the “Screen saver to (None)” option from the drop-down menu. This will disable the custom screensaver.
Option 3 – Try to disable theme syncing on your computer
You could also try to disable the theme sync feature to fix the problem. This has worked out for some users. To do so, follow these steps:
Click on the Start button and go to Settings > Account > Sync your settings.
From there, toggle off Themes in the individual sync settings column. This will disable the Theme syncing.
Restart your computer and see if the problem is now fixed.
Option 4 – Run the DISM tool
The next thing you can do is run the DISM tool. This tool is known to repair potentially corrupted files in your system as having them could also system issues like the “Windows can’t find one of the files in this theme” error. To repair these corrupted system files, you can run the DISM commands:
Tap the Win + X keys and click on the “Command Prompt (Admin)” option.
After that, input each one of the commands listed below sequentially to execute them:
Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth
Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth
Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
Once you’ve executed the commands given above, restart your computer and check if the problem is now fixed.
Option 5 – Run the System File Checker
System File Checker or SFC is a built-in command utility that helps in restoring corrupted files as well as missing files. It replaces bad and corrupted system files to good system files that might be the cause why you’re getting the “Windows can’t find one of the files in this theme” error. To run the SFC command, follow the steps given below.
Type “cmd” in the Start search and then right-click on the appropriate search result.
Next, select “Run as administrator” to open Command Prompt with admin privileges.
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.
Now restart your computer and see if the problem is fixed or not.
Some Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1 users are having a hard time upgrading to Windows 10 as they are being prompted for a product key. By default, the Windows 10 operating system does not require a product key and users should not be prompted for one, given you upgraded your computer from an activated Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1 license or from the Windows 10 Preview build. However, there are some users encountering this problem and there are several reasons for this.
Solution
Error Causes
There are a few reasons why some users are being prompted for a product key when upgrading to Windows 10:
Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1 license is not activated.
You’re upgrading to Windows 10 final release from a preview build.
There are broken operating system files.
Activation servers get overwhelmed due to the high volume of upgrades.
The Windows 10 copy you downloaded does not correspond with the current Windows system you are upgrading from.
Further Information and Manual Repair
Before you can fix this problem, you need to know why you’re being prompted for a product key. Some things you should know about Windows 10 product key activation are the following:
You cannot activate Windows 10 using your Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1 product key. Windows 10 has a unique product key.
Error codes such as 0x8007232b, 0XC004E003, 0x8007007B, or 0x8007000D might pop up during system upgrade especially when the activation servers get overwhelmed with the high volume of upgrades.
You don’t really need to know your Windows 10 product key.
Now, if ever you’re prompted for a product key when you’re upgrading to Windows 10, you can apply the following methods:
Method One: Give It A Few Days
If you’ve been prompted for a product key upon upgrading to Windows 10, you should click on the “Do this later” option. Wait for a few days then Windows 10 will get activated automatically.
Method Two: Download A Copy of Windows 10 Corresponding Your Current System
One of the reasons Windows users are being prompted for a product key when upgrading to Windows 10 is that they have downloaded a wrong edition of Windows 10 and do not correspond with your current system.
Users of Home Basic, Home Premium, Windows 7 Starter, Windows 8.0 Core, and Windows 8.1 Core should download Windows 10 Home ISO.
Users of Windows 7 Ultimate, Windows 7 Professional, Windows 8.0 Pro, and Windows 8.1 Pro should download Windows 10 Pro ISO.
NOTE: Users of Windows 7 Enterprise, Windows 8.0 Enterprise, and Windows 8.1 Enterprise are not eligible for the free upgrade offer.
Method Three: Ensure Windows Is Activated
If your Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1 is not genuine or activated, you will get prompted for a product key. You need to make sure first your current system is activated.
Click on Start then right-click Computer. For Windows 8 and up users, you can simply press on Windows key + X then select Choose Properties.
When the Properties window appears, check if the Windows you’re running is activated.
Method Three: Reset License Status
Press on Windows key + X.
Select Command Prompt (Admin).
Once the command prompt window appears, type vbs –rearm then press Enter.
Exit Command Prompt then restart your PC.
Input the product key by following the instructions given.
Method Four: Force Activation
Press on Windows key + X
Select Command Prompt (Admin).
Once the command prompt window appears, type vbs –ato then press Enter.
Exit Command Prompt then restart your PC.
Method Five: Run System File Checker
Another thing you can try doing is to run the system file checker utility to scan if there are any broken operating system files. In doing so, you’ll be able to detect problems that might be preventing the product activation of your Windows 10 upgrade.
Method Six: Contact Microsoft Activation Center
If in case you’ve exhausted all your resources and you are still being prompted for a product key when upgrading to Windows 10, you can try contacting the Microsoft Activation Center for further details.Check herefor the appropriate telephone numbers to contact.
Method Seven: Download An Automated Tool
If you still experience the error after doing the methods above, you might want to try a powerful and trusted automated tool to fix the job.
Computer voice control has moved a long way from its beginning routes and in today's age controlling your PC with voice is truly a reality and fully possible. Voice control is taking up the steam in everyday life, from simple commands in cars, Alexa, smartphones, TVs, etc. to modern computers.
Windows 10 has introduced voice control into PC with Cortana even during the installation process but a lot has changed from having a virtual assistant in begging days and in today's modern Windows 11 OS. You can now freely open apps, move, copy delete files, and even dictate in order to create a word document.
However, in order to take this advantage, you will need to turn it off first since it is disabled by default. Of course, you will need a microphone and some spare time to train Windows in understanding you properly.
Setting up Voice Control
Just like in Windows 10, in Windows 11 voice control is also in accessibility options and the first step is to turn ON Windows Speech Recognition.
Click on the Start button and type Settings into the search bar, click on Open, or press ENTER. On the left side of the settings, window locate and click on Accessibility. On the right part once Accessibility is selected scroll down and find a section titled Interaction and click on Speech. Turn on the switch next to Windows Speech Recognition.
A pop-up will appear that will lead you through the rest of the setup and that's it.
Improving Voice Control
In order to make your voice control better, if you are not satisfied with the results, you can sample more of your voice into the algorithm to tune it more to your liking. Sadly this option is still deep in Control Panel.
Click the Start button and type in Speech recognition into the search bar, look for the search result with Control Panel displayed under it, and click on Open. Click on Train Your Computer to Better Understand You and follow the instructions.
The process will probably take a few minutes. The more data you provide to the speech recognition model, the more accurate it will be when interpreting your instructions. You can train the model multiple times, and each time you do, it should improve the accuracy.
There are times when you install a Windows update to your Windows 10 computer but you only got an error message saying, “The update isn’t applicable to your computer”. This is unusual as Windows was the one that downloaded them in the first place. To understand the reason behind this error, read on as this post will also give you a couple of suggestions you can try to fix the problem.
One of the main reasons why this error occurs is that your computer might not have the required installed updates and many more. Other reasons include:
The update might be replaced. There are instances when a newer Windows version is already available on the computer and that the version you are trying to manually install is an older version which is why the Windows update failed.
The update might already be installed. There are times when the update process is still in progress and the earlier payload might have already been installed.
It could also be that it’s a wrong update for architecture. As you know, updates are designed accordingly based on the architecture of the computer so if the update you are trying to install does not match the architecture of your CPU then it’s no wonder you’re getting an error message.
Your computer might be missing a prerequisite update. There are Windows updates that depend on other updates so if you missed one and you’re installing another one, it could be the reason why you’re getting the error.
To fix the problem, here are some suggestions that might help.
Option 1 – Try verifying the package and the Processor Architecture
As pointed out earlier, updates are made according to the Windows versions. Thus, if one of the updates failed to install, you need to check if it’s applicable or not. The best way to do that is by searching the Windows update name on the official website of Windows.
It could be that the Processor Architecture is not compatible with the Windows Update you are trying to install. If you have an X86-based processor, you can’t install x64-based installations of Windows and vice-versa. This usually happens when you’ve downloaded the update manually and then tried installing it.
Option 2 – Try checking if the update is old
The issue might be because you are trying to install an old Windows update which is why it didn’t work. To check, go to Settings > Update and Security > View Update history. From there, you can look for the update.
Option 3 – Try checking if the update is already installed
To verify the update, just go to the Windows Update history once more as you did in option 2, and then see if the update is already installed or not.
Option 4 – Try checking the prerequisites
AS mentioned earlier, there are some updates that depend on other updates before they get installed on your computer. The best way to verify is by checking the Microsoft Knowledge Base (KB). And to verify if the prerequisite updates are installed or not, just run the command below in PowerShell:
get-hotfix KB1111111, KB2222222, KB3333333
Note: In the command given above, you need to replace “KB1111111, KB2222222, KB3333333” with the actual update KB numbers.
Option 5 – Try running the Windows Update Troubleshooter
As you know, Windows 10 has various auto-repair built-in tools to help users fix small issues which used to get fixed manually. And in this case, you will need the Windows Update Troubleshooter to fix the issue.
Go to Settings and click on Update and Security.
From there, click Troubleshoot and click on Windows Update and then click the “Run the troubleshooter” option.
After that, it will try to detect and automatically fix common issues in the Windows Updates which can be resolved by Windows itself. Note that the process may take several minutes before it completes so you need to wait until it’s done. Once it’s done, in case you have some pending update that wasn’t realized by the system early on, it will apply the fix right away and restart the Windows Update service.
As previously announced by Google feature to quickly delete the last 15min of browsing history via one button is rolling out now.
For now, only Apple users will be available to use this feature but the Android update is scheduled for later this year, a strange move by Google but it is what it is.
For anyone who is unfamiliar with this feature, basically, Google wants a quick way to remove the last 15min of browsing history as a supposedly stated request to make deleting browsing history much easier.
Google came up with this idea so you can keep the previous history intact but remove just 15min time frame, no additional explanation was given on why 15 but I presume it is some round number that came up as the middle one with research, read telemetry info.
Using quick delete requires being signed into Search with a Google account. Users can access the option by simply tapping on the avatar icon to access the settings then choosing "Delete last 15 minutes."
TPM, also known as Trusted Platform Module, is a specialized chip used for security as well as encryption of users’ private data like Fingerprint, Facial data, and many more. TPM also comes with a Management Console and if you are not able to load the Management Console and you got the “Cannot load Management Console” error instead, read on as this post will guide you in fixing the problem. This type of issue usually happens when you clear or disable the TPM using the settings in the BIOS and so when you run the Trusted Platform Module Management console, you encounter the error.
To fix the “Cannot load Management Console” error in your Windows 10 computer, here are some options you should check out.
Option 1 – If TPM is cleared in the BIOS:
If the Trusted Platform Module is cleared in the settings of the BIOS, you have to close and restart the TPM Management console or TPM.msc once again. It could be that the TPM Management has to reload the changes again after you’ve made them which is why you encounter the “Cannot load management console” error.
Option 2 – If TPM is disabled in the BIOS:
If you opted to disable TPM using the BIOS settings or you have turned it off by accident, then you have to enable it back and you have two options to do that – you can either enable TPM from the BIOS or using the Windows PowerShell. For more details, refer to the instructions below.
Enabling TPM from the BIOS:
You need to first reboot your PC and then go to the BIOS.
From there, look for TPM under the security options and in case the TPM management option has been disabled or greyed out, refer to the sub-steps given below to make it active again
Enable the Admin password in the BIOS.
Then go back to the TPM settings and check if the TPM management is already available.
After that, you should now be able to enable TPM. Remember that it’s always a good idea to have an ADMIN password for your BIOS as it makes sure that no one can change the settings in your computer BIOS and Security level options.
Enable TPM via Windows PowerShell:
This second option is a lot easier compared to the first one if you have admin privileges. So once you’ve opened the Windows PowerShell with admin privileges, you need to run the following command:
Every computer has to have a graphic card, it is one of the essential components in order for the computer to work. If you have a second-hand computer, got one as a gift, or similar, there is a high chance that you do not really know which components are inside. Luckily finding out which graphic card you have inside is quite easy.
Right-click the taskbar and select Task Manager
Click the Performance tab at the top of the window, if you don’t see the tabs, click “More Info.” Select “GPU 0” in the sidebar. The GPU’s manufacturer and model names are displayed at the top right corner of the window.
You’ll also see other information, such as the amount of dedicated memory on your GPU, in this window. Windows 10’s Task Manager displays your GPU usage here, and you can also view GPU usage by application.
If your system has multiple GPUs, you’ll also see “GPU 1” and so on here. Each represents a different physical GPU.
As you know, the Windows 10 Action Center has a stack of all the notifications that come from different applications on your computer. So each time an app displays notifications, it will be displayed for about 5 seconds and then it disappears right away. Although the allotted time for the notifications to be displayed is quite enough to catch your attention and help you get a glance at the message, there are times when you might miss it and you hoped it could’ve been displayed a lot longer. So in this post, you will be guided on how you can increase or decrease the display time of the notification in Windows 10.
The best way you can view the missed notification is to click on the Action Center. From there, you will see all the notifications that are grouped by the applications. This means that if you have a lot of notifications, it would be hard for you to find what you are looking for. Thus, in such cases, the best way you can do is to increase the display time for which notification to stay on the screen.
To get started, refer to the instructions given below.
Step 1: Tap the Win + I keys to open Settings.
Step 2: Next, navigate to Home > Ease of Access > Display.
Step 3: After that, scroll down to the end until you see the dropdown to change the notifications where you should see the “Show notifications for”.
Step 4: Then you can change the time from the default 5 seconds to 7, 15, 30, and so on.
Step 5: Once done, the display time of the notifications should stay longer but keep in mind that you must choose the length wisely so if you have notifications from a lot of apps, then the screen will also be filled with multiple notification cards.
One of the most useful tools in the Windows 10 operating system is the Windows Media Creation tool. This tool is used to download and install the latest version of Windows 10. However, there are times when you might encounter some issues while using this tool. One of these issues is the Error code 0x80072F76 – 0x20016. If you encounter this error, you will see the following error message during setup:
“We’re not sure what happened, but we’re unable to run this tool on your PC. If you continue experiencing problems, reference the error code when contacting customer support – Error code: 0x80072F76 – 0x20016.”
This kind of error in the Media Creation tool could be due to an interrupted download or unstable internet connection, and many more. To fix it, you can run the Windows Update troubleshooter or try using another browser to download the tool to another location. You can also try changing the DNS or the ISP connection or use the Windows 10 Update Assistant as well as delete the $Windows.~BT & $Windows.~WS folders.
Check out the given suggestions below to fix the Media Creation Tool Error code 0x80072F76 – 0x20016 in your Windows 10 computer.
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 Windows Update errors like Error Code 0x80072f76 – 0x20016, you can run the Windows Update troubleshooter to resolve it.
To run the Windows Update troubleshooter, 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 using a different browser to download the tool to another location
You could also use another browser in downloading the tool and place it in a different location on your computer but if you do not have another browser, you can just install one and then download the same tool to another location like the Desktop.
Option 3 – Try to change the DNS
Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
Then type “inetcpl.cpl” in the field and hit Enter to pull up the Internet Properties.
After that, go to the Connections tab and select the LAN settings.
From there. Uncheck the “Use a Proxy Server” option for your LAN and then make sure that the “Automatically detect settings” option is checked.
Now click the OK and the Apply buttons.
Restart your PC and then check if the Media Creation tool error is fixed.
Note: If you are using a third-party proxy service, you have to disable it.
Option 4 – Try to change the ISP connection
There are times when the connection to the Microsoft servers is interrupted due to some glitch or it could also be blocked by your Internet Service Provider or ISP. To rule out this possibility, you can try to change your computer’s internet connection and then see if it fixes the problem.
Option 5 – Try to use the Windows 10 Update Assistant
There’s another tool you can use as an alternative to the Media Creation tool. It is called the Windows 10 Update Assistant. This tool can also help you download and install Windows updates seamlessly.
Option 6 – Try to delete the $Windows.~BT and $Windows.~WS folders
From time to time, the Windows Update files also get corrupted which can cause some problems and conflicts when downloading and installing a Windows Update. To fix this, you need to delete the $Windows.~BT & $Windows.~WS folders in your computer.
As previously announced by Google feature to quickly delete the last 15min of browsing history via one button is rolling out now.
For now, only Apple users will be available to use this feature but the Android update is scheduled for later this year, a strange move by Google but it is what it is.
For anyone who is unfamiliar with this feature, basically, Google wants a quick way to remove the last 15min of browsing history as a supposedly stated request to make deleting browsing history much easier.
Google came up with this idea so you can keep the previous history intact but remove just 15min time frame, no additional explanation was given on why 15 but I presume it is some round number that came up as the middle one with research, read telemetry info.
Using quick delete requires being signed into Search with a Google account. Users can access the option by simply tapping on the avatar icon to access the settings then choosing "Delete last 15 minutes." 