Yellow triangle with exclamation on Battery

There are a lot of home users that often get a computer that comes installed with the Windows 10 Home. And since Windows 10 Pro offers more features and utilities compared to Windows 10 Home, a lot of users also prefer to upgrade their Windows 10 Home computers to Windows 10 Pro. However, while doing so, a number of users reported that they encountered error 0xc03f6506 and they were not able to proceed with the upgrade. If you are one of these users, when you encounter error 0xc03f6506, you will see the following error message on your screen:

“The last product key you entered can’t be used on this copy of Windows (0xc03f6506).”

This particular error tends to occur when you go on to activate Windows 10 although it can also appear during the upgrade process. In such cases, you will see the following error message:

“Unable to upgrade your edition, We can’t upgrade your edition of Windows. Try upgrading your edition of Windows again. (0xc03f6506).”

To fix the Activation Error Code 0xc03f6506 in Windows 10, use the options provided below as references but before you proceed, make sure that you create a System Restore point first.

Option 1 – Try to use the Registry Editor

If you have already upgraded from Windows 10 Home to Windows 10 Pro and you’re having trouble with its Activation, then you might want to apply some registry tweaks to fix the problem. How? Refer to these steps:

• Tap the Win + R key combination to open the Run dialog box.
• Then type “Regedit” in the field and click OK or tap Enter to open the Registry Editor.
• Next, navigate to this registry key: ComputerHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersion
• From there, look for a DWORD named “EditionID” and once you found it, double click on it and change its Value data to Windows 10 Professional.
• After that, look for another DWORD named “ProductName” and double click on it to change its Value data to Windows 10 Professional.
• Once you’re done, restart your computer to apply the changes made successfully.

Option 2 – Try to use Command Prompt

If the registry tweaks you applied didn’t fix the Activation error, then you can try using Command Prompt instead. Note that you can use this option in both scenarios pointed out above.

• First, you have to insert a bootable drive of the Windows10 installer.
• Next, tap the Win + X keys and select Command Prompt (Admin) from the menu.
• After opening Command Prompt as admin, navigate to the root location of the bootable drive inside the Command Prompt command line.
• Once you’re already there, type the following command and tap Enter:

setup.exe /auto upgrade /pkey <YOUR WINDOWS 10 PRO EDITION PRODUCT KEY>

After entering the command, check if it was able to fix the Windows Upgrade or Activation error 0xc03f6506. If not, refer to the next given option below.

Option 3 – Try to disable the Network Adapter

Just like the second option, you can also use this option for both the given scenarios above.

• Tap the Win + X keys and select Network Connections from the menu.
• This will open the settings for your network and on the left side panel, click on the “Change adapter settings” link. This will open Control Panel.
• From there, click on the network your computer is connected to, and then right-click on the Network Adapter that you are using and select Disable.
• After disabling the Network Adapter, try to switch to the edition of your copy of Windows 10 again and see if the problem is now fixed and don’t forget to double click on the disabled Network Adapter to get back on the Network.

Windows 11 has been officially presented during Microsoft’s virtual event on June 24^th. Since presentation internet has been pretty live and busy with a discussion about it, some discussions are positive, some not so much but that is expected and it happens always when a new product is presented. One of information that we have about Windows 11 is tied to the home edition of this OS, Windows 11 home edition will require an internet connection at setup, and a Microsoft account in order to be installed and used. Previous versions of Windows could be installed and used with local accounts but it seems Microsoft has abandoned that idea for its new OS. OS will be delivered mostly as updates or via internet download so internet and online requirement make sense but why it cannot use the local account and must have a Microsoft one is beyond me.

Today most users have an SSD drive, times have changed and SSD has become your typical computer equipment. A lot of time has passed from the first SSD hard drives up to today and technology has evolved and improved but still, there are some cool tricks and tips to speed up and extend the lifespan of your SSD hard drive. That being said let us dive right into what I would like to call the essentials of having an SSD hard drive.

1. Keep your SSD firmware up to date.

   This one really is a no-brainer, keeping your firmware updated at all times will ensure longer life and SSD stability. The trick here is that each SSD manufacturer has its own ways of updating firmware so this is not something universal, you will have to go to the official website of your SSD manufacturer and get firmware updates and instructions from them directly.

2. Enable ACHI.

   Advanced controller host interface or short ACHI is a feature that will ensure that your Windows will support all of the features that come with running SSD on your computer. It controls the TRIM feature which is crucial in helping Windows itself in its garbage collection on your hard drive. In order to enable ACHI, you will have to do it from your BIOS and it would be very good if the feature is enabled before Windows itself is installed so it can take full advantage of it.

3. Enable TRIM.

   TRIM feature is vital in extending your SSD lifespan and it should be enabled by default in Windows but you can never be too cautious and double-check and enable if needed. To make sure it is enabled, open your command prompt and type in: fsutil behavior set disabledeletenotify 0

4. Make sure your system restore is enabled.

   In the first SSD days, system restore was really a feature that you wanted to be disabled in order to prevent and extend the life span of your SSD drive, but we came a long way from there and today there is no reason to keep this feature turned off since it can be helping many ways with both your system and SSD.

5. Disable Indexing in Windows.

   A large portion of the speed of your SSD drive is used for indexing files in Windows. Of course, the indexing feature is great if you store everything on your SSD drive but if by any chance you have another drive for your backup, pictures, music, etc. it would be highly beneficial for you to turn it off on your SSD. To turn indexing off click on your start menu, click on the computer. Right-click on your SSD and then click on properties. De-select box that says: Allow files to have contents indexed in addition to file properties and click OK. Once you do this the operating system will apply this to all the files and folders on the drive. If you see a dialog telling you that it couldn’t remove a file from the index, click Ignore All.

6. Keep Windows defrag ON.

   This also was the option in early SSD days which was better to be OFF, but as said before since technology has been making progress and Windows has been improved and made aware of SSD drives, defrag has evolved as well, and now it is more of optimization tool then defragmenter which was once.

7. Disable Prefetch and Superfetch.

   Windows is placing information in both physical and virtual memory for applications that you are not currently using but they are used often in order to speed their response time. If you are running low on space or having struggles with virtual memory it would be best to turn them both off. Go to registry manager and find: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters, there you have 2 values: EnablePrefetcher and EnableSuperfetch, set both values to 0.

8. Disable Search and Superfetch services.

   Disabling Superfetch in the registry is not all work, Press WINDOWS + R to bring run dialog, type in it services.msc, Find both Search and Superfetch and disable them.

9. Configure Write Caching.

   Write caching can be enabled and disabled in the device manager by expanding disk drives, right-clicking on SSD, then click properties, select the policies tab. In the tab, there is the option to Enable write caching on the device. Now trick in this is that you will need to try and benchmark your SSD with both options turned ON and OFF since different manufacturers have different performances with this option being ON or OFF.

10. Disable CleanPageFileAtShutdown and LargeSystemCache.

    Page file and a large cache of page files are not something that we longer need, since SSD writes with great speed in its flash memory both of these options can be disabled and you will both speed up shut down the process of your system and save some SSD life since page files will not be written. Find both options in the registry under the key: Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management set both to 0

11. Set high performance in Power options.

    This option in power management will prevent your SSD from constantly shutting down and bringing it up increasing speed without sacrificing its life span.

These are tips and tricks for having great and longer life as well as speed for your SSD drive. We hope that you have found them useful and that you will come again to check new articles published daily for easier IT life.

If you are a kid or in your teenage years you maybe will be not familiar with Commodore 64 but we are welcoming you anyway to go with us on this journey through time and find out about one of the most influential and beloved home computer of all time.

History of Commodore

Firstly shown to the world in January of 1982, at the Consumer Electronics Show, C64 caught attention right away with its low price of only $595. Although it had some issues like limited functionality in some fields and a non-wide range of use by 1984 its price dropped below $200 and it cemented itself as an affordable home computer for the middle class. In as same year Apple has released their Apple II computer with far superior capabilities, commodore 64 remains a middle-class favorite due to its price. Also, the company has decided to distribute its homemade computer via some other means including not only just electronics stores specialized in that kind of equipment but in general shops and big department stores, through toy stores and book shops as well as through specialized dealers. This has given C64 a more competitive edge and mixed with the affordable price it soon became a staple of home computing. With sales booming and the early reliability issues with the hardware addressed, software for the C64 began to grow in size and ambition during 1984. This growth shifted to the primary focus of most US game developers. The two holdouts were Sierra, who largely skipped over the C64 in favor of Apple and PC compatible machines, and Broderbund, who was heavily invested in educational software and developed primarily around the Apple II. In the North American market, the disk format had become nearly universal while cassette and cartridge-based software all but disappeared. So most US-developed games by this point grew large enough to require multi-loading. At a mid-1984 conference of game developers and experts at Origins Game Fair, Dan Bunten, Sid Meier, and a representative of Avalon Hill said that they were developing games for the C64 first as the most promising market. By 1985, games were an estimated 60 to 70% of Commodore 64 software. Over 35% of SSI's 1986 sales were for the C64, ten points higher than for the Apple II. Everything was great for Commodore but the industry was moving forward and by the year 1988, PC compatible computers were stated to be the largest and fastest-growing home entertainment systems pushing C64 on to second place. Also, Nintendo’s gaming system has started to take hold in the world with amazing 7 million systems sold in 1988 only. By the year 1991, many developers exited the gaming market for Commodore 64 home computer system and its popularity started to fall due to lack of software and not so many hardware changes. Commodore announced that the C64 would be finally discontinued in 1995. However, only one month later in April 1994, the company filed for bankruptcy. When Commodore went bankrupt, all production on their inventory, including the C64, was discontinued, thus ending the C64's 11 and a half year production.

Legendary titles

The history of Commodore 64 is interesting ones and I believe that it has done much for computers in general, yes it ran 11 years and that seems like a small-time, but remember that it was 11 years of C64 alone, there were other computers released by the company but none except arguably AMIGA 500 has not reached that much popularity as Commodore 64. That being said the system has left some of the great titles in its catalog that are great to be played even today and have been classic games on other platforms, even on PC itself. That being said I am giving you the top 100 games for Commodore 64:

1. Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders
2. Pirates!
3. Maniac Mansion
4. IK+
5. Bubble Booble
6. Turrican II: The Final Fight
7. Last Ninja 2
8. Space Rogue
9. Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar
10. Archon: The Light and the Dark
11. Turrican
12. Wasteland
13. Defender of the Crown
14. Elite
15. Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny
16. Laser Squad
17. Prince of Persia
18. Impossible Mission
19. U.L.E.
20. Pool of Radiance
21. Bruce Lee
22. Paradroid
23. Project Stealth Fighter
24. Curse of the Azure Bonds
25. Ultima III: Exodus
26. Legacy of the Ancients
27. Winter Games
28. Leaderboard Golf
29. Supremacy
30. Airborne Ranger
31. Exile
32. Last Ninja, The
33. World Class Leader Board
34. MicroProse Soccer
35. Project Firestart
36. Boulder Dash
37. Summer Games 2
38. Great Giana Sisters, The
39. Neuromancer
40. Mad Doctor
41. Mail Order Monsters
42. Zork I: The Great Underground Empire
43. Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday
44. Katakis
45. Bard's Tale, The: Tales of the Unknown
46. WIzball
47. Times of Lore
48. Emlyn Hughes International Soccer
49. Ultimate Wizard
50. Alternate Reality: The Dungeon
51. World Games
52. Leaderboard Executive
53. California Games
54. Samurai Warrior: The Battles of Usagi Yojimbo
55. Summer Games
56. Creatures 2: Torture Trouble
57. Gunship
58. Space Taxi
59. International Karate
60. Silent Service
61. Bard's Tale III, The: Thief of Fate
62. Seven Cities of Gold
63. Armalyte
64. Raid on Bungeling Bay
65. Alter Ego: Male Version
66. Enforcer: Fullmetal Megablaster
67. Detective Game, The
68. Creatures
69. Skate or Die!
70. Heart of Africa
71. E.R.O. - Helicopter Emergency Rescue Operation
72. Way of the Exploding Fist, The
73. Stunt Car Racer
74. Wizard of Wor
75. Bard's Tale II, The: The Destiny Knight
76. Mayhem in Monsterland
77. Train, The: Escape to Normandy
78. Jumpman
79. Champions of Krynn
80. Pitstop II
81. Barry McGuigan World Championship Boxing
82. Montezuma's Revenge
83. Boulder Dash II: Rockford's Revenge
84. Spy vs Spy
85. Mercenary: Escape from Targ
86. Midnight Resistance
87. Lords of Midnight
88. Lode Runner
89. Castles of Doctor Creep, The
90. Boulder Dash Construction Kit
91. Buggy Boy
92. Racing Destruction Set
93. Dino Eggs
94. Realm of Impossibility
95. Rainbow Islands
96. Beach-Head II: The Dictator Strikes Back
97. Barbarian: The Ultimate Warrior
98. Grand Prix Circuit
99. Head Over Heels
100. Sentinel, The

Commodore 64 emulator and game ROMs

Commodore 64 might be in the past but its legacy still lives on even today through emulators and ROMs for emulators. You can even purchase one in working condition if you want and relive the full experience as it once was. If you are not keen on spending money for reliving and checking games or software of C64 here are some links to help you to at least experience part of it completely free. Commodore 64 Emulator C64 Game ROMs

Conclusion

It is without a doubt that the C64 home system has made a great mark on home computers echoing even today and I am very grateful that I have been part of it as a kid. Sometimes today I will still spin some old classic via emulator just for nostalgia and enjoy its simplicity. Thank you for reading the article and I hope to see you soon again.

There are instances when you open a picture or an image in the Windows Photo Viewer and instead of displaying the image, it displays nothing and you’ll see an error message instead that says, “Windows Photo Viewer can’t display this picture because there might not be enough memory available on your computer”. Although this may look like a clear-cut issue of less storage space or low RAM in your computer, that’s not always the case. Security experts noticed that even when your computer has enough resources and disk space, this kind of problem could still occur. So if you experience the same thing, you need to check the Color Profile of your screen. For more information, refer to the detailed instructions provided below but before you proceed, make sure that you close some processes in the Task Manager or restart your computer and see if it helps in fixing the problem. You can also try using the Disk Cleanup tool. To use it, refer to these steps:

• Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box and then type “cleanmgr” in the field and hit Enter to open the Disk Cleanup window.
• After that, select the drive you want to clean.
• Now click OK to clean the disk and restart your computer.

If the Disk Cleanup tool didn’t help in resolving the issue, refer to the instructions below. Step 1: In the search box, type “color management” and then select the “Change advanced color management settings for display” option from the search results. Or you could simply go to Settings > System > Display, Advanced display settings, and from there, select display and click on the Display adapter properties of Display. Step 2: Next, switch to the Color Management tab and click on the Color Management button. Step 3: Select the monitor where you’re getting the “Windows Photo Viewer can’t display this picture because there might not be enough memory available on your computer” error in the next window. And if you have two displays, make sure that you select the primary display. You also have an option to identify the monitor. Step 4: Once confirmed, select the “Use my settings for this device” checkbox. Step 5: After that, select the Profile listed under the “Profiles associated with this device” option and then click on Remove. Step 6: Next, go to the Advanced tab and make sure that all settings are set to System default which includes a device profile, perceptual images, rendering intent, Relative Colorimetric, and many more. Step 7: Once you’re done, you have to restart your computer and then try to open the same image you were trying to open earlier and then check if you can now open it instead of seeing the error.

Are you trying to update your Windows 11 OS and are receiving a 0x800f0905 error? Do not sweat and do not worry we have a couple of solutions that you can try in order to fix this issue. How this error is tied to various things like misconfigured settings, corrupt system files, and more there is no way to present one simple solution that will solve everything in one click.

Therefore we are presenting a couple of solutions that will fix your issue, it is advisable to follow them as presented since they will go from the most common to the more complex one.

Run the troubleshooter

The most common fix and one that will actually repair things most of the time is simply running the Windows Update troubleshooter.

1. Press ⊞ WINDOWS + I to open the Settings app
2. Click on System on the left
3. Click on Troubleshoot in the right part
4. Click on Other Troubleshooters
5. Find the Windows Update section and click on Run
6. Let troubleshooter finish

Reset Windows update components

If the previous solution did not work we will need to do things manually. Follow the steps as presented in order to reset Windows update components.

1. Press ⊞ WINDOWS + S to open search
2. Type in Terminal
3. Select Run as administrator
4. Click on Yes on the User account control (UAC) pop up
5. Press CTRL + SHIFT + 2 to open Command prompt
6. Inside command prompt type each line of a command followed by ENTER after each line:
   net stop bits
   net stop wuauserv
   Del “%ALLUSERSPROFILE%Application DataMicrosoftNetworkDownloaderqmgr*.dat”
   Ren %Systemroot%\SoftwareDistribution\DataStore DataStore.bak
   Ren %Systemroot%\SoftwareDistribution\Download Download.bak
   Ren %Systemroot%\System32\catroot2 catroot2.bak
   exe sdset bits D:(A;;CCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRRC;;;SY)(A;;CCDCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRSDRCWDWO;;;BA)(A;;CCLCSWLOCRRC;;;AU)(A;;CCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRRC;;;PU)
   sc.exe sdset wuauserv D:(A;;CCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRRC;;;SY)(A;;CCDCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRSDRCWDWO;;;BA)(A;;CCLCSWLOCRRC;;;AU)(A;;CCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRRC;;;PU)
   cd /d %windir%\system32
   regsvr32.exe atl.dll
   regsvr32.exe urlmon.dll
   regsvr32.exe mshtml.dll
   regsvr32.exe shdocvw.dll
   regsvr32.exe browseui.dll
   regsvr32.exe jscript.dll
   regsvr32.exe vbscript.dll
   regsvr32.exe scrrun.dll
   regsvr32.exe msxml.dll
   regsvr32.exe msxml3.dll
   regsvr32.exe msxml6.dll
   regsvr32.exe actxprxy.dll
   regsvr32.exe softpub.dll
   regsvr32.exe wintrust.dll
   regsvr32.exe dssenh.dll
   regsvr32.exe rsaenh.dll
   regsvr32.exe gpkcsp.dll
   regsvr32.exe sccbase.dll
   regsvr32.exe slbcsp.dll
   regsvr32.exe cryptdlg.dll
   regsvr32.exe oleaut32.dll
   regsvr32.exe ole32.dll
   regsvr32.exe shell32.dll
   regsvr32.exe initpki.dll
   regsvr32.exe wuapi.dll
   regsvr32.exe wuaueng.dll
   regsvr32.exe wuaueng1.dll
   regsvr32.exe wucltui.dll
   regsvr32.exe wups.dll
   regsvr32.exe wups2.dll
   regsvr32.exe wuweb.dll
   regsvr32.exe qmgr.dll
   regsvr32.exe qmgrprxy.dll
   regsvr32.exe wucltux.dll
   regsvr32.exe muweb.dll
   regsvr32.exe wuwebv.dll
   netsh winsock reset
   net start bits
   net start wuauserv

Well, that was a lot of typing or copy and pasting line by line followed by ENTER after each one but hopefully, your issue is solved. These provided solutions fixed most users' issues with this error but if for some reason this is not the case for you, move to the next step.

Run the SFC scan

If you are still having 0x800f0905 error after previous attempts do the following:

1. Press ⊞ WINDOWS + S to open search
2. Type in Terminal
3. Select Run as administrator
4. Click on Yes on the User account control (UAC) pop up
5. Press CTRL + SHIFT + 2 to open Command prompt
6. Type in sfc /scannow and press ENTER
7. Wait for the scan to finish
8. Reboot the computer

Perform a system restore

If for any reason previous solutions have not provided you with the solution we will try to fix the issue by performing system restore.

1. Press ⊞ WINDOWS + S to open search
2. In the text box type in Create a restore point
3. Click on the closest match in search results, should be Create a restore point
4. Click on System Restore or on Next if there are no points created
5. Choose to restore a point from the list and click on next
6. Review settings and click on Finish
7. Wait for the process to finish and for the computer to restart

Manually install update

If for any reason Windows still cannot install the update, try installing it manually.

1. Go to Windows 11 update history and find the Knowledge base (KB) number for the latest version
2. Go to the official Microsoft Update Catalog
3. Paste the KB number in the search box and press ENTER
4. Click on DOWNLOAD
5. Double click on the downloaded file to launch the installer
6. Follow on-screen instructions and install the update

Perform Windows 11 reset

If nothing worked, reset your Windows 11 to its factory settings to fully repair and reset the whole operating system.

There has been recently discovered in the field of malware targeting Android devices. Affecting more than 10 million users of Android phones, the malware GriftHorse is doing its attacks via phishing and premium services scams. A lot of applications have been discovered that are hosts for this malware and many of them are inside the Google store and available for download. According to Zimperium zLabs, this malware that was recently detected has been doing its scams and attacks even in November of 2020 and has thus far accumulated hundreds of thousands of dollars in its scam. On the surface it looks very harmless, asking for typical permissions like internet access, calls, and other related needed functions, and then it waits. After few months the real attack happens when users get charged with premium service they never subscribed to in the first place.

List of Infected Applications that Carry GriftHorse Trojan

Zimperium zLabs listed out some of the apps with this malware. Users are advised to avoid installing them.

•     Amazing Video Editor
•     Bag X-Ray 100% Scanner
•     Bus – Metrolis 2021
•     Call Recoder Pro
•     Call Blocker-Spam Call Blocker
•     Cinema Hall: Free HD Movies
•     Coupons & Gifts: InstaShop
•     GPS Phone Tracker – Family Locator
•     Fingerprint Changer
•     Fitness Point
•     Free Calls WorldWide
•     Geospot: GPS Location Tracker
•     GPS Phone Tracker – Family Locator
•     Handy Translator Pro
•     Horoscope : Fortune
•     iCare – Find Location
•     iConnected Tracker
•     Instant Speech Translation
•     Lifeel – scan and test
•     My Chat Translator
•     My Locator Plus
•     Plant Camera Identifier
•     Racers Car Driver
•     Safe Lock
•     Screen Mirroring TV Cast
•     Slime Simulator
•     Smart Spot Locator

These are only some of the many infected apps available on the internet. Zimperium zLabs also warned that GriftHorse Trojan exists in over 70 countries worldwide. The infected app quickly changes the language and displays content depending on the user’s IP address.

Booting Windows 10 in safe mode can solve many issues with your computer since Windows will boot just in its basic core and you can safely maintain it, find a solution for issues, etc. Before, entering safe mode was easy and pretty straightforward, during Windows evolution, entering safe mode was somewhat complicated and not being made so directly like once it was but do not worry. Starting Windows in safe mode today is even maybe easier than it was before, it is just not so obvious as it once was. In this article, we will go through several ways how you can boot up Windows in safe mode in order to solve whatever issue is troubling you.

1. Start safe mode from settings

   Open Settings by pressing the ⊞ WINDOWS + I or by just clicking on the Start button and clicking Settings. Go to Update & Security, then Recovery. In Advanced startup, click Restart now. Once your PC reboots, click Troubleshoot, then Advanced options. Select Startup Settings then Restart.

2. Go to safe screen from Sign-in screen

   Click the Shift on your keyboard while clicking on the Power button on the bottom right corner of the screen. Once your PC restarts, click on Troubleshoot, then Advanced options. Select Startup Settings then Restart. After the reboot, select 4 or the F4 on your keyboard to run in Safe Mode. If you choose to use Safe Mode with Networking, select 5 or F5.

3. Start Windows recovery Environment

   Go to the Windows Recovery Environment by doing the following steps: Press on the power button to turn off your device. Press on the button again to turn it on. Once Windows starts, press the power button again for 10 seconds to turn it off. Then press it on again. Upon the reboot, hold on to the power button for 10 seconds to turn it off, then turn it on again. Because you've repeatedly turned on and off your PC, you will be redirected to Windows Recovery Environment. On the pop-up window, click on Troubleshoot, then Advanced options. Select Startup Settings, then Restart. After the reboot, select 4 or the F4 on your keyboard to run in Safe Mode. If you choose to use Safe Mode with Networking, select 5 or F5.

4. Hold SHIFT while pressing RESTART on the start menu

   On the Windows 10 sign-in screen, hold on the SHIFT on your keyboard. While pressing on the key, click on the Power button, then choose Restart on the pop-up menu. Once your PC restarts, click on Troubleshoot, then Advanced options. Select Startup Settings then Restart. After the reboot, select 4 or the F4 on your keyboard to run in Safe Mode. If you choose to use Safe Mode with Networking, select 5 or F5

5. Boot from installation media and choose it in the command prompt

   Create a Windows 10 bootable installation media on any external storage media. Once you do this step, wait for the installation to load. Select your preferred language and click on Next. Click on Repair your computer at the bottom left of the menu. Click on Troubleshoot, then Advanced options. Select Command Prompt - Use the Command Prompt for advanced troubleshooting options. Type in the following command on the prompt: bcdedit /set {default} safeboot minimal Hit Enter and wait for it to tell you that "The operation completed successfully". Exit Command Prompt and click on Continue.

6. Use system configuration tool

   In the Search bar, type in msconfig. Select the Boot tab and under the Boot options, put a check beside Safe boot. Click OK. Reboot PC

7. Press SHIFT + F8

   Press SHIFT + F8 when turning on Windows. This redirects you to Advanced Boot Options Window, then choose to run Windows on Safe Mode

There you have it, 7 different ways to enter safe mode in Windows 10, we hope that any of these tips proved helpful and that you managed to enter the safe mode and fix your Windows issues.

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.

Both the DISKPART utility and the Disk Management are useful tools in Windows 10 that manage the disk space allocation, and so on. But these tools are not without errors as you could also encounter some when you run them. Recently, some users reported getting an error that says, “The selected disk is not a fixed MBR disk when trying to use the DISKPART utility”. Here’s the exact message of the error:

“The selected disk is not a fixed MBR disk. The ACTIVE command can only be used on fixed MBR disks.”

This kind of error only occurs when you try to activate a disk partition on a UEFI system partition. However, the command works only if your computer is based on BIOS/MBR. The UEFI method has no concept of the active partition and since you have a UEFI system, the disk type is GPT instead of MBR. To simply put it, your BIOS needs the MBR disk type while the UEFI needs the GPT disk type. To fix the “The selected disk is not a fixed MBR disk when trying to use the DISKPART utility” error, there are various potential fixes you can try. You might have to disable Secure Boot, convert the disk to MBR or fix the Boot Manager. For more instructions, follow the options provided below.

Option 1 – Disable the Secure Boot in the BIOS

Disabling the Secure Boot in the BIOS settings is definitely recommended to resolve the issue. To disable Secure Boot, here’s what you have to do:

• First, boot your computer into Windows 10.
• Next, go to Settings > Windows Update. From there, check if there is anything that you have to download and install if you see any available updates. Usually, OEMs send and update the list of trusted hardware, drivers, and operating systems for your computer.
• After that, go to the BIOS of your computer.
• Then go to Settings > Update & Security > Advanced Startup options. If you click on Restart Now, it will restart your computer and give you all the advanced options.
• Next, select Troubleshoot > Advanced Options. As you can see, this screen offers you further options including System restore, Startup repair, Go back to the previous version, Command Prompt, System Image Recovery, and UEFI Firmware Settings.
• Select the UEFI Firmware Settings which will take you to the BIOS.
• From there, go to the Security > Boot > Authentication tab where you should see Secure Boot. Note that every OEM has its own way of implementing the options so it varies.
• Next, set Secure Boot to Disabled and set Legacy Support to On or Enabled.
• Save the changes made and exit. Afterward, your computer will reboot.

Option 2 – Try converting the disk to MBR

You can try to change the File System of the drive from GPT to MBR but before you do so, make sure that you create a backup copy of your data to an external drive. Once you have that covered, follow the steps below.

• Create a bootable Windows 10 media and boot your computer from it.
• Next, click on the “Repair your computer” option on the first Windows 10 installation setup window.
• Afterward, select the operating system partition from the given options and click on Next.
• Now select Command Prompt within the System Recovery options box and execute this command to initiate the Diskpart utility: diskpart
• Then type either one of these commands to view the list of all the Disk connects or the partitions on those disks formed: list disk or list volume
• After that, execute another one of these commands depending on the command you previously entered to select the disk or partition you want to select: select disk # or select volume #
• Now execute this command to clean your drive: clean
• Finally, execute this last command to convert the selected disk or partition as MBR: Convert MBR
• Restart your computer and check if the error is fixed.

Option 3 – Try to fix the Boot Manager

• You can start by booting into the installation environment for Windows 10 from an installation media.
• After that, click on Repair your computer and on the blue screen, select Troubleshoot and then select the Advanced options menu.
• From there, select Command Prompt and once you open it, enter each one of the commands given below by sequence.
  • bootrec /FixMbr
  • bootrec /FixBoot
  • bootrec /RebuildBcd
• Once you’re done executing the commands given above, type “exit” to close the Command Prompt window and then restart your computer and see if it fixed error code 0xc000014c.