Recently, several Windows 10 users have reported an issue with the Windows folder sizes in their PCs. If you are one of these affected users, read on as this post will walk you through fixing this issue.
For instance, if you have a folder with 100 GB worth of data and when checking its size using its properties, you see the wrong size instead of 100GB. The size displayed will most likely be a random number which can either be bigger or smaller than the real size of the folder. This incorrect folder size issue does not happen to any specific drive or certain kinds of folders as any folder can be affected by this incorrect folder size issue. When you try to rename the affected folder, the size will change but its size still remains to be incorrect.
The root cause of this particular issue is in Windows 10 itself. It is a known bug that came along with one of the latest Windows Updates which prevents the File Explorer to accurately read the metadata of a certain folder or file and leads to displaying incorrect and unexpected file sizes and the reason why you might also notice that your drive is also not correct. Since this is brought upon by one of the recent or latest Windows Updates the good thing is that Microsoft will most likely release a fix on its next upcoming updates but until then, you will be left with no choice but to deal with an incorrect folder or file size. To remedy that, here are some suggestions you can try that might fix the problem.
Option 1 – Try using the System File Checker
The 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 causing the incorrect folder or file size in Windows 10. To run the SFC command, follow the steps given below.
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.
Option 2 – Try resetting Windows 10
To fix the folder and file size issue, you can try resetting Windows 10. Doing so won’t get rid of any file in your system – instead of erasing all your media files and documents, this reset option resets all the system settings and files. That way, you won’t have to deal with inaccurate folders or file sizes as you browse and use your files.
Option 3 – Wait for the Windows Update
As mentioned, this is already a known issue and a lot of Windows 10 users have already complained about it to Microsoft so a bug fix will be soon released in the latest Windows Updates.
As you know, each one of the applications that you use in your Windows 10 computer has its own set of permissions by default. These applications either allows or denies the interactions between a few other applications, depending on their own needs. This is why you might suddenly encounter a message that says,
“This app wants to access your pictures”or“This app wants to access your account info”
both of which are followed by two buttons that will ask you to Allow or Deny the action. You can always click on any of the given options. This will determine the permission of the application.
Users in Windows 10 are given the option to either allow or deny applications in accessing their account information like name, picture and other account information. Thus, in this post, you will be guided on how you can change the Privacy settings of these apps to allow or deny them permission to access not just your account info but for all users, as well as specific apps in Windows 10.
The user account information is part of the Privacy data in Windows 10 that you can control easily using the Settings app. In fact, you can revoke or grant access permission for your account information, all the users and specific applications to do that, follow each one of the instructions provided below carefully.
Allow or deny apps permission to account info for yourself:
Step_1: The first thing you have to do is open Settings. From there, select Privacy.
Step_2: After that, scroll and look for Account info and select it.
Step_3: Now turn off the toggle button for the “Allow apps to access your account info” option if you want to deny apps permission to your account info. But if you want to allow them access, simply turn the toggle button on. Keep in mind that when you allow access or permission, you can select which apps can access your picture, name, and other account info by simply using the settings on the page you’re currently in.
Now if you want to allow or deny apps to access your account info for all the users, here’s what you have to do:
Step_1: First, open Settings and click on the icon for Privacy.
Step_2: Next, scroll down until you see the Account info located on the left side and then click on it.
Step_3: After that, click on the Change button under the “Allow access to account info on this device” section. If you want to deny account info access for all other users, then turn the toggle button off. Doing so will automatically disable not just the account info access for all users but also for all the apps as well.
On the other hand, if you want to allow or deny account info access to specific apps, you can do so by following these steps:
Step_1: As you did earlier, go to Settings and click on the Privacy icon.
Step_2: After that, scroll down and select Account info located on the left side.
Step_3: Now turn on or off the toggle button under the “Choose which apps can access your account info” section if you want to deny or allow specific apps permission to access Account Info. If you’ve turned on the toggle button under the “Allow apps to access your account info”, all the apps get access permissions by default.
Strangely enough, Windows 11 does not feature any typical icon on its desktop when installed. No My PC, no Recycle Bin, nothing, just plain and clean wallpaper. Personally, I like this clean look and feel but of course, there are a lot of users that are used to have some system-related icons on their desktop for easy access.
Do not sweat, we will turn them back on with ease. The best part is that you can choose which one would you like. So let’s dive right into it and get the icons back for the old Windows feel and look.
Showing selected Icons desktop
Right-click on Desktop and select Personalize
Select Themes from the list of personalization items
Inside themes scroll down and click on Desktop Icon Settings
Desktop Icon Settings will open and inside it, place checkmarks beside icons that you would like to appear on the desktop and click OK
Close settings
As always settings and choices will be automatically applied and icons will appear right away on the desktop.
If you got an error message saying, “Windows could not start the Windows Update service on Local Computer, Error 87. The parameter is incorrect” while you were trying to start the Windows update service on your computer, then this post could help you resolve the problem. Along with this error, you might also get any of these error codes such as 0x80240034, 0x80244019, 0x80070643, and so on. Aside from these error codes, you will also notice that the Windows Update service has been stopped.
To fix this issue, here are a couple of suggestions that might help but before you go on, you need to create a System Restore point first.
Option 1 – Try checking Services Dependencies
Dependencies of a Windows Service in Windows 10 are when windows services depend on other services. Such is the case with the Windows Update service – it also depends on three different services such as the Remote Procedure Call or RPC service, DCOM Server Process Launcher, and the RPC Endpoint Mapper. Meaning to say, if two of these services are not working as expected, then the dependant service will also be affected. This could be the reason why the Windows Update service could not start.
Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
Next, type “services.msc” in the field and hit Enter to open Windows Services.
From the list of Services, look for the following services:
Remote Procedure Call (RPC) Service
DCOM Server Process Launcher
RPC Endpoint Mapper
After you find these services, double click on each one of them and check whether the Startup type for all is set to Automatic and the Service status is set to Running or not.
If the service status is not running, then click the Start button. Afterward, check if you can now run the Windows Update service.
Option 2 – Check the Background Intelligent Service and the Cryptographic Service
Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
Next, type “services.msc” in the field and hit Enter or click OK to open Services.
From the list of Services, look for the following services and make sure that their Startup type is as follows:
Background Intelligent Transfer Service – Manual
Cryptographic Service – Automatic
After that, check if the Service status of the listed services above is set to Running. If they’re not, click on the Start button to start these services and then check if you can now enable the Windows Update service or not.
Option 3 – Reset Windows Update components
If the first two options did not work then you might want to reset the Windows Update components manually. Follow the steps below to reset them.
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.
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.
Option 4 – Run the Windows Update Troubleshooter
If resetting the Windows Update components didn’t work, you could also try running the Windows Update Troubleshooter as it could also help in fixing any issues related to Windows Update including this one. 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 5 – Try removing a value from the Windows Registry
If running the Windows Update troubleshooter didn’t help and you receive a message instead saying, “Service Registration is Missing or Corrupt”, you can try to remove a value from the Windows Registry.
Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
Then type “Regedit” in the field and hit Enter to open the Windows Registry.
Next, navigate to this path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsSelfHostApplicability
From this path, look for a value named “ThresholdOptedIn” and if you find it, delete it.
Exit the Registry Editor and see if you can now enable the Windows Update service.
Back in the mid-'90s, when the US Navy was looking into ways to securely communicate sensitive intelligence information, a mathematician and two computer scientists emerged from the Naval Research Lab with something called "onion routing." It was a new kind of technology that would protect your internet traffic with layers of privacy. By 2003, The Onion Routing project, acronym Tor, was in the hands of the public, where its vast network of users the engine enabling Tor has since continued to grow.
Today, thousands of volunteers all over the world are connecting their computers to the internet to create the Tor network by becoming "nodes" or "relays" for your internet traffic.
What is Tor?
At a basic level, Tor is a type of internet-connected network with its own internet browser. Once you connect to the internet with the Tor browser, your internet traffic is stripped of its first layer of identifying information as it enters the Tor network and is then sent bouncing through those relay nodes, which serve to encrypt and privatize your data, layer by layer like an onion. Finally, your traffic hits an exit node and leaves the Tor network for the open web.
Once you're in the Tor network, it's nearly impossible for others to track your traffic's manic pinballing path across the globe. And once you leave the Tor network via an exit node, the website you view (assuming it has HTTPS in front of its address) isn't sure which part of the world you're hailing from, offering you more privacy and protection.
Because Tor is a volunteer-run network, speed can often be an issue. As your traffic moves from node to node, you're likely to notice more speed loss than you would, for instance, with most commercial virtual private networks. This becomes particularly noticeable if you try to watch streaming Netflix content over Tor or make voice-over-IP phone calls or video calls with an app like Zoom. Tor technology isn't necessarily built to provide seamless audio-video experiences.
Tor and plugins
Speaking of videos, there are also limits to the amount of privacy Tor can offer you if you enable certain browser media plugins like Flash. Likewise, your browser's JavaScript plug-in which enables you to view a lot of websites' embedded media can still leak your IP address information. Torrenting files with Tor also exposes you to privacy risks. Because of these risks, Tor's privacy settings have these kinds of plug-ins disabled by default.
If you're just looking to do general, daily internet perusal using a browser that will better hide your traffic from spying eyes, Tor probably isn't the best choice due to its slow speeds and incompatibility with most embedded media. But if you're concerned enough about privacy around a particular topic of internet research (and you don't have a VPN), Tor is probably the best choice for you.
If you would like to read more helpful articles and tips about various software and hardware visit errortools.com daily.
If you are browsing the web but suddenly encountered the ERR_BLOCKED_BY_CLIENT error on your Chrome browser in Windows 10, read on as this post will guide you in fixing this problem. This kind of error has already been reported by a number of Chrome users and it seems that the problem has something to do with a plugin or extension. Here’s the exact content of the error:
“This webpage was blocked by an extension (ERR_BLOCKED_BY_CLIENT)”
This kind of error, as pointed out, could be caused by an extension or plugin on Chrome that is blocking the web page. It is also possible that the version of Chrome is obsolete or that there could be more than 100 bookmarks in the Bookmark Manager. Before you troubleshoot the problem, make sure that you download the latest version of Google Chrome and see if it fixes the error. If it didn’t, then you can try opening a web page in Incognito Mode or disable and remove the extension that’s causing the problem. You could also try to remove any surplus bookmarks.
Option 1 – Try to open the web page in Incognito Mode
The first thing you can do to fix the problem is to try opening the web page in Incognito Mode. When your browser is in this mode, it will work without extensions. This would help in fixing the problem especially if it was caused by some extension or toolbar in your browser. All you have to do is open any web page in Chrome and tap the Ctrl + Shift + N key combination to open a window in Incognito Mode.
Option 2 – Try to disable and get rid of the problematic extension
After you’ve isolated the problem and have determined that an extension is the one that’s causing it, then the next thing you have to do is to disable or get rid of that extension.
Open Chrome and press Alt + F keys.
Go to More tools and click Extensions to look for any suspicious browser extensions or toolbars.
Click the Recycle bin and select Remove.
Restart Chrome and press Alt + F keys again.
Proceed to On Startup and mark Open a specific page or set of pages.
To check if the browser hijacker is still active, click Set pages, if it is active, overwrite the URL.
Note: If removing the browser extensions or toolbars didn’t work, you can also try to reset your Google Chrome browser.
Open Google Chrome, then tap the Alt + F keys.
After that, click on Settings.
Next, scroll down until you see the Advanced option, once you see it, click on it.
After clicking the Advanced option, go to the “Restore and clean up option and click on the “Restore settings to their original defaults” option to reset Google Chrome.
Now restart Google Chrome.
Option 3 – Try removing surplus bookmarks
If your Chrome browser is already supporting more than 100 bookmarks, you might want to consider deleting them as it could also be one of the reasons why you’re getting the ERR_BLOCKED_BY_CLIENT error. To remove these bookmarks, just open the bookmark library by typing this address “chrome://bookmarks/” in the address bar of Chrome and tap Enter and press Shift and then select the surplus bookmarks by using the arrow keys. After that, click Delete to get rid of them.
Option 4 – Try clearing browser data
There are times when some data in the browser is conflicting with the loading of the website and triggers errors like ERR_BLOCKED_BY_CLIENT. And so you can try to clear your browser’s data. This might be a very basic solution but oftentimes it works in fixing this kind of error in Google Chrome. Follow the steps below to clear the data in your browser.
Open your Google Chrome browser.
After that, tap the Ctrl + H keys. Doing so will open a new panel that allows you to delete the browsing history and other data in your browser.
Now select every checkbox that you see and click on the Clear browsing data button.
Then restart your Chrome browser and check if you can now open any website or not.
Skinning of applications is not new to PC users, but did you knew you could skin Steam?
With skin, you can customize the UI and style of the client to what you want making it more personal and to your liking. First thing is to find the skin that you would like to install. There are a lot of sites where you could find custom made Steam skins but we would recommend steamskins.org
The site itself is organized in tabs with different sections, once you click on the tab you will get a list of skins available for chosen section. If you click on the skin you will be taken to skin page detail where you can find what skin is aiming for, its legibility, a record of how the skin has been altered over time, or some mix of these aspects.
Note that some skins might have issues like some buttons might be missing from big picture mode but so far none of the skins has any kind of client breaking feature, only functionality one.
Downloading skin
Once you have chosen desired skin and while on the skin details page, scroll to the middle of the page just above the Related Skins sections with two options: Direct Download and External Download. Now usually I would recommend Direct download but in this case, I would advise going with External Download for the simple reason that the External link will send you to the developer's website where there is a higher chance to get the latest updated skin.
Installing it in Steam
Once the skin is downloaded you will first need to create a skin folder inside your Steam installation location. Navigate to your Steam installation folder (default: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam) and create a new folder inside it. Give new folder name Skins and confirm.
Extract the skin zip file in the newly made folder. Once the file is extracted you can delete the ZIP file if you wish.
Go to your Steam client and go to Steam>Settings. In settings select Interface on the left bar and on the right part then click the Select the skin you wish Steam to use the drop-down menu and select the skin that you wish to use. Confirm and restart your Steam client
Reverting to old skin
If you found skin unappealing or, unfortunately, has some functions missing you can always choose another skin or revert back to default Steam skin.
Default Steam skin is named in the drop-down menu as < default skin >.
Hello and welcome to another great tutorial from errortools.com. Today we will be making Windows START menu full screen.
First introduced in Windows 8.1, the start menu has been shifted from full screen to gadget like in Windows 10 but if you prefer to have it over the entire screen with all of its glory and large icons you can do so and we will be happy to show you how.
Press ⊞ WINDOWS and choose settings.
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.
Started as an internal network and has slowly expanded since 1960 internet has taken over the world. In the beginning, it was a means of information change but in the modern age you can run applications and virtual machines over the internet, you can stream video and audio, and you can communicate in real-time with someone on the other side of Earth.
With the internet growing so fast in such a small amount of time it is only logical and wise to take a step back and take a good look at what it offers now, what are great things about it and what are some of the worst.
Good sides of the internet
Information
There are a lot of advantages of the internet, first and foremost is information. Internet was made as an information exchange service and even today you can find a lot of various information about various topics that interest you. A site like Wikipedia is a completely free online encyclopedia and a lot of news companies have their own internet sites where you can find free information and news.
On the other hand, there are also websites like udemy, edx, Coursera, and many others that will offer you the education, some for free, some for money but you can get a glimpse and part of university quality education for just a fraction of price.
Online shopping
Sites like Amazon have used the internet and launched themselves as today's multi-billion companies. In today's world, there is not a single thing you can not buy online. Many sites today are going from the large online marketplace where you can find everything to small niche specialized ones. Also every major brand in the world today has its own online store.
Other shops will offer you music, movies, games, etc. Services like steam, xbox pass, sony pass etc, will let you buy games online, other music, movies, and many more.
Streaming services
Days, when you had to buy movies in order to watch them at home, are gone, thanks to the internet we have plenty of streaming services for movies and tv shows as well as ones for music. If you do not want to spend money on actually purchasing things then a good idea is to have a streaming plan set up when you want it.
Email and messaging
Communication is a great thing and since the dawn of mankind people have been talking and sharing with each other, the internet has made it possible to send mail electronically and instantly and modern chat communication is everywhere. We can not just talk with our friends and family that can be on the other side of the world, we can also talk in real-time with the sales representative, with technical service, or attend online classes with a group of people.
Cloud storage services
Saving your pictures in this digital media age on the hard drive can be risky but thanks to modern technologies you can save most of your precious files on cloud servers for safekeeping. From pictures to documents and even other files that you need and want to save. There are some of them that will offer you a free amount and some basic free plans as well.
Bad sides of the internet
Malware, viruses, and phishing
We could not talk about the bad side of the internet if we do not mention its greatest threat. Bad sites, infected software, phishing emails, and many more malicious threats. Problem is that these kinds of tricks and attacks have become more and more sophisticated and harder to detect and avoid.
Pornography
Pornography is bad, having it freely available to children is even worse. Sadly the only way to regulate this is on a computer-by-computer basis by turning on parent control on each one. There are many studies that go into detail about why this is bad, sadly currently there are no effective ways to isolate this content.
No privacy
When we say there is no privacy we do not mean by using social media and not setting your privacy settings altho that also fits in this point, what we are talking about is data mining of your habits and things you do. It is well known that today lot of websites are using some form of AI recommender system in order to tailor your internet experience to suit your needs better. Most of these AI systems are trained by mining your data and analyzing your habits.
If you have 2 google accounts there is a high probability chance that for the same query you will get different results, depending on your so far browsing habits. The same goes for other services as well.
Dark webshops
There are some great things in dark and deep WEB-like sites with true news and information. Even some legit libraries where you can find and download rare books. Sadly as goes with the internet dark and deep WEB also has its well, dark sides, from disturbing content to shops that sell stolen items to straight stealing your money by parading as legit shops but only to steal your money.
Dating sites
We all try to find someone that is perfectly matched with us but using the online dating site has many proven bad effects on psychology. It also devaluates interaction between people and can lower self-esteem.
Bad habits
Since the internet has become wildly available and popular on various devices like tablets and mobile phones more and more people are spending an unhealthy amount of time on it. Harvesting the benefits of the internet is great but find some time for other people as well.
This is a typical MS Outlook error code. This error message may prevent you from sending and receiving emails via your Outlook account. The error message is displayed in the following format:
"An unknown error has occurred. 0x80040600"
If this is the primary source of your communication in the office, then this error can cause you a great deal of inconvenience as it may prevent you from running important business errands via your Outlook account efficiently.
Therefore, when you experience the 0x80040600 error on your PC, it is advisable to fix it immediately.
Solution
Error Causes
This error code is triggered due to multiple reasons. These include but are not limited to:
PST (Personal Storage Table) file reaches its file size limit
PST file corruption
Viral infection
Incorrect Windows registry settings
Improper shutdown of Outlook
This error code can lower your office productivity as you may be unable to send and receive emails on your Outlook account. Also, you may get locked out of your account and be unable to view your calendar entries and open email attachments saved previously in your account.
Further Information and Manual Repair
To resolve the error on your PC, you don’t have to wait for the network personnel to fix it or be a computer expert. Here is a list of easy and effective DIY methods to help you fix this error code right away.
Method 1: Download a PST File Repair
If the error occurs because your PST file has reached it maximum limit which is normally 2 GB or because of PST file corruption, then it is advisable to download a PST file repair tool. After downloading it, simply run it on your PC. This tool will immediately fix the damaged PST file and file the issue.
Method 2: Download an Antivirus
Deadly viruses like Trojans and spyware can penetrate into your PC if through downloads and opening phishing emails. Therefore, to remove such viruses it is important to install an antivirus and scan your entire PC.
Method 3: Install Restoro.
If the problem is associated with incorrect Windows registry settings or viral infection, it is advisable to download Restoro.
This software is multi-functional deployed with 6 different and powerful utilities including an antivirus, a registry cleaner, and a system optimizer to name a few.
The registry cleaner repairs the registry corrects the settings and fixes the damaged files.
The antivirus on the other hand simultaneously removes all types of viruses including Trojans, spyware, malware, and adware on the system. While the system optimizer feature ensures the PC performance and speed are not compromised during the scanning and cleanup process.
This software is safe, efficient, and compatible with all Windows versions. It has a user-friendly interface and simple navigations which makes it quite easy for all levels of users including novice and intermediate to operate.
Click here to download Restoro and resolve the 0x80040600 error code on your PC today!
ActiveX Controls are plugins you may constantly come across when working with Internet Explorer. An illustration of these kinds of control is the MICROSOFT IE Flash Player. They frequently result into significant problems for the Computer, yet they're vital for IE to operate correctly.
You shouldn't ever overlook that after you install Active Controls in your Personal Computer, you effectively provide them with access to other areas of your PC. The ActiveX Controls not only tracks your search routines, but in addition puts malicious software, which might possibly be hazardous to your Computer.
Solution
Error Causes
ActiveX Controls make your Internet Explorer work as required and are usually great and beneficial to your own Computer. Yet, they can function as a source of problems because of the following factors.
You should stop installing ActiveX Controls from Un Trustworthy Resources
In the event they are installed by you from un trustworthy resources new threats are likely introduced by ActiveX Controls to your PC. One of the more regular types of ActiveX Controls worth necessary for installation is Flash Player. Yet, never be in a hurry to install these Controls from resources that you don't trust.
Limit The Number of ActiveX Controls You Install on your PC
Prevent installing java/oracle ActiveX controls, because of its weak security measures which could make your Personal Computer and any additional information there in, open to attacks.
Limit to the variety of ActiveX Controls that you install on your PC as these could increase the vulnerability canvas on your computer.
Further Information and Manual Repair
You can manually fix any malfunction that springs up from ActiveX Controls. Yet, more than mending the harm, produce the setting that ensures you never have troubles from them to start with. Just how do you do that?
a) Stop installing or downloading ActiveX Controls from Un Trustworthy Sources
This has been mentioned above, but it's worth repeating because it's the most common reason behind ActiveX Controls malfunctions. You might anticipate that for this kind of obvious reason for ActiveX Controls malfunctions, PC consumers would be extra cautious, however that is never true.
b) Limit ActiveX Controls Softwares
You can restrict ActiveX controls from running automatically on your PC. To limit them, head to Tools in Internet Explorer, and choose Internet Options. Proceed to the Security tab, and select Customs level
Browse completely down before you get to the area designated "ActiveX". Subsequently, mark "Prompt" under every choice that you encounter. But don't mark the choice indicated "Run ActiveX Controls and Plug-Ins", together with, "Script ActiveX Controls Marked Safe for Scripting".
By performing the measures emphasized above, you happen to be in substance stating that, you will not permit any installation of ActiveX Controls, without express authorization by you.
In this manner, you have better control over different forms of ActiveX Controls you permit to be installed, therefore reducing potential threats to your PC.