Windows ImageAcquisition High CPU & Disk usage

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.

Virtual Reality is slowly becoming standard in gaming. More and more affordable headsets are coming out lowering entry prices and making them affordable for all. But in a sea of new VR headsets, it is important to at least purchase a decent one that will perform nicely and hopefully last longer. Therefore in today’s article, we will address some of the best options currently available on the market,

Oculus Quest 2

With its Rift model, Oculus set itself as a big player in VR. Now the company is slowly bowing out of the dedicated, tethered VR headset with its latest Quest 2 designed to primarily be a standalone headset. In case you do not know, tethered headset means that the headset itself is connected to your PC and is using its power to drive your VR experience. Now technical specifications of Quest 2 are pretty OK and it can drive stuff pretty decently and if you want you can purchase the dedicated cable to connect it to your PC for the full experience of games requiring more capable hardware. Oculus Quest 2 is the cheapest headset on this list and with its stable performance, is highly recommended.

Valve Index VR

Although the headset itself is nothing revolutionary or special its controllers are. They can track individual finger movements, making games (that take advantage of them) much more immersive than the standard trigger grips on other controllers. The Index's higher refresh rate makes for smoother action, as well, which is another nice bonus. If you already have an HTC Vive or Vive Cosmos Elite, and their base stations (not the regular Cosmos), you can buy only the controllers.

Sony PlayStation VR

The PlayStation VR is compelling thanks to Sony backing its development, plus the PlayStation 4's affordability and availability compared with gaming PCs. All you need is the headset, a PlayStation 4, and a PlayStation Camera (now included with most PlayStation VR bundles). Not really the best of the bunch but still one of the top ones for console gaming. Sony is working on a new PlayStation VR system for the PlayStation 5, with redesigned controllers. The new headset hasn't been revealed yet, but the company has released a preview of the new controllers.

HP Reverb G2 VR

HP headset is one which you get if you want the best image quality in VR headset, sadly controllers did not follow the same quality of headset itself. But this is still a pretty decent headset overall and worth the purchase.

HTC Vive Cosmos

HTC's Vive Cosmos is the upgraded version of the Vive. It features a higher resolution and replaces the external base stations with outward-facing cameras for motion tracking. It's a comprehensive package for whole-room VR. HTC recently released the Vive Pro 2, a high-end VR headset targeting both enterprise users and consumers. This new headset features a 2,448-by-2,448 resolution display for each eye, making it the highest-resolution headset currently available. It's also more expensive than the Cosmos Elite. Sadly one thing that is bringing this headset down is the price.

If you suddenly find the Windows Recovery Environment not working and you see an error message saying, “Could not find the recovery environment”, then you’ve come to the right place as this post will guide you on how you can fix it. In times when you can’t boot into the Windows Recovery Environment, there could be several reasons behind it. However, have you ever wondered where exactly the Windows Recovery Environment is in your computer? Windows initially places the Windows RE Image file in the installation partition during Windows Setup so if you have installed Windows in the C drive, you can find the Windows RE at the C:/Windows/System32/Recovery or C:/Recovery folder. Keep in mind that this folder is hidden and later on, the system copies the image file into the recovery tools partition to make sure that one can boot into recovery if there are any issues with the drive partition. The “Could not find the recovery environment” error mostly occurs if the Windows Recovery Environment is disabled or if the “Winre.wim” file is corrupted. Thus, to fix this error, you need to refer to the given suggestions below.

Option 1 – Try to enable Windows Recovery Environment

• In the Windows Start Search, type “PowerShell” and from the search results that appear, right-click on Windows PowerShell and then select the “Run as administrator” option to open it with admin privileges.
• Next, type the “reagentc /info” command and tap Enter to execute it.
• After that, if the output states that Status is enabled, then you’re all set.
• Now type the “reagentc /enable” command and tap Enter to enable the Windows Recovery Environment. You will see a success message at the end signifying that Windows RE is available.

Option 2 – Try to fix the corrupted or missing “Winre.wim” file

If the Winre.wim file is either corrupted or missing, you need to get a new copy of this file from another computer where the Windows RE is working. Once you’re able to get a new copy of the Winre.wim file, you have to set the image path to a new location. For more details, refer to these steps:

• First, type “Powershell” in Windows Start Search and right-click on Windows PowerShell from the results, and select Run as administrator.
• Next, execute the given command below to change the path of the WIM file to the new location. Note that the steps should be used when the file path of the Windows Recovery Environment is different from the usual spot.

Reagentc /setreimage /path C:RecoveryWindowsRE

• As mentioned, if the file is corrupted, you just have to get a new copy from another PC but before you do that, make sure that the WINRE on that computer is disabled (just enable it later on) and then place it in the C:/Recovery path and then set its path again using the command given above and then verify its path by executing the following command.

reagentc /info command

Note: Since the Recovery folder is hidden as well as the WINRE folder in it and you won’t be able to access them using the Windows File Explorer, you need to use the Windows PowerShell or Command Prompt so that you can access them.

Option 3 – Try checking and fixing the WinRE Reference in the Windows Boot Loader

The Windows Boot Loader is the one that determines if it has to load the Windows Recovery Environment. It could be that the boot loader is pointing to an incorrect location which is why you’re getting the error. To resolve it, you have to check and fix the WinRE Reference in the boot loader. How? Follow these steps:

• In the Windows Start Search, type “PowerShell” and from the search results that appear, right-click on Windows PowerShell and then select the “Run as administrator” option to open it with admin privileges.
• After that, execute the “bcdedit /enum all” command.
• Next, look for an entry in the Windows Boot Loader identifier set as Current and look for “recoverysequence” in that section and take note of the GUID.
• Ensure that the device and the osdevice items show the path for the Winre.wim file and that they are the same. If not, you need to point the current identifier to the one which has the same.
• Once you’ve found the new GUID, execute this command: bcdedit /set {current} recoverysequence {GUID_which_has_same_path_of_device_and_device}
• Now check if the error in the Recovery Environment is fixed or not.

Option 4 – Try creating a Recovery Media

You could also try creating a Recovery Media to resolve the error in the Windows RE. All you have to do is download the Windows 10 ISO file using the Media Creation tool and then create a recovery drive. Once you’re done, check if it fixes the problem or not.

If you’re having some problem browsing multiple websites on the Firefox browser on your Windows 10 computer, then this post might be of help. One of the most common problems you could encounter in Firefox is mostly related to HTTPS and one of them is the MOZILLA PKIX ERROR MITM DETECTED or ERROR SELF SIGNED CERT or SEC ERROR UNKNOWN ISSUER error which means that Firefox was unable to trust certificates issued on secured websites. If you encounter the MOZILLA_PKIX_ERROR_MITM_DETECTED error in Firefox, this indicates that something in your network or system is interrupting your connection and injecting certificates and when that happens, Firefox won’t trust it. In such cases, one of the culprits is malware. Malware will try to replace a legitimate certificate with its certificate. Another cause is security software where it keeps a tab on a secure connection and creates a false positive, for instance:

“In Microsoft Windows accounts protected by Family Safety settings, secure connections on popular websites like Google, Facebook and YouTube might be intercepted and their certificates replaced by a certificate issued by Microsoft in order to filter and record search activity.”

And if you are connected to a corporate network, there might be a monitoring/filtering product that could be replacing certificates. Moreover, there are also users who reported getting this issue when they use the Nightly version of Firefox. And if that’s the case, you have to try accessing secure websites using only the stable build especially when it comes to payments. However, if you are not doing that, then here are some options you need to check out.

Option 1 – Try turning off HTTPS Scanning on your security and antivirus programs

Each security-based software has a security option that allows you to turn off the HTTPS scanning functionality. They may be available under different names such as HTTPS Scanning, Scan SSL, Show safe result, Do not scan encrypted connections, etc. Find what is applicable for your security or antivirus software and then try turning it off temporarily and see if it helps in fixing the MOZILLA_PKIX_ERROR_MITM_DETECTED error in Firefox.

Option 2 – Try to disable security.enterprise_roots.enabled

The next thing you can do if the first option didn’t work is to disable security.enterprise_roots.enabled which is an HTTPS certificate check on Firefox. Note that this is not recommended but you have to at least try in order to fix the error.

• Open Firefox and then type “about: config” in the Firefox address bar and hit Enter.
• After that, if an info message appears, confirm it.
• Next, search for the security.enterprise_roots.enabled preference and once you found it, double click on it.
• Then change its value to true and restart the Firefox browser once. This will import all the custom certificates from the other security software into Firefox. As a result, it will make sure to mark those sources as trusted and you won’t get the MOZILLA_PKIX_ERROR_MITM_DETECTED error.

The Local Security Authority Subsystem Service or LSASS.exe is a process in the Windows operating system that is valuable as it enforces the security policy on the computer. Every time you log in to the Windows Server, the LSASS.exe is the one that handles the password changes and creates the access tokens while updating the security log. However, it is also frequently targeted by malware and is often imitated. The original location of this file is at “C:/Windows/System32” so if you open the Task Manager and notice that a process with a similar name has a different location then it is definitely a threat and is exploiting the security of your computer. To resolve issues related to LSASS.exe, here are some fixes that could help.

Option 1 – Use the Performance Monitor’s Active Directory Data Collector

Note that this option will only work on the recent Windows server versions. Refer to the steps below to use the Performance Monitor’s Active Directory Data Collector set on your computer.

• Tap the WINKEY + R button to open the Run dialog box.
• Then type “Perfmon.msc” in the field and hit Enter to open the Performance Monitor and from there open the Server Manager.
• Next, navigate to Diagnostics > Reliability and Performance > Data Collector Sets > System from the left side of the navigation bar.
• Then right-click on “Active Directory Diagnostics” and select Start from the context menu. This will take about 5 minutes or 300 seconds depending on the performance capabilities of your hardware to gather the data required and then take some more time to compile a report from the gathered data. Note that these timings are dependent on one another.
• After the report is compiled, you can find it under Diagnostics > Reliability and Performance > Reports > System > Active Directory Diagnostics. The report will contain all the information as well as conclusions. However, it does not mean that it will also contain the exact cause of the problem with LSASS.exe. Nevertheless, it should help you in fixing the problem.

Option 2 – Try to 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 the LSASS.exe file is having some issues. 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:

1. Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.
2. Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired them.
3. 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.

Option 3 – Put your computer in a Clean Boot State

If none of the options given above helped, you can try putting your computer in a Clean Boot State as this can help you in finding any incompatible programs that’s causing the problem.

• Log onto your PC as an administrator.
• Type in MSConfig in the Start Search to open the System Configuration utility.
• From there, go to the General tab and click “Selective startup”.
• Clear the “Load Startup items” check box and make sure that the “Load System Services” and “Use Original boot configuration” options are checked.
• Next, click the Services tab and select the “Hide All Microsoft Services” check box.
• Click Disable all.
• Click on Apply/OK and restart your PC. (This will put your PC into a Clean Boot State. And configure Windows to use the usual startup, just simply undo the changes.)
• From there, start to isolate the problem by checking which one of the programs you installed recently is the root cause of the problem.

Once you’ve found any incompatible programs, you need to uninstall them. Refer to the steps below to do so.

• In the search box, type in “control” and then click on Control Panel (desktop app) among the search results.
• After that, select Programs and Features from the list which will give you a list of all the programs installed on your computer.
• From there, look for the concerned program and select it and then uninstall it.

Note: If you have downloaded the app from the Windows Store, you can simply right-click on it from the application list and then uninstall it.

A lot of Windows 10 users prefer the black theme on their computers and when you see anything but black it can get quite annoying. Such as is the case of the Taskbar which, as you know, is usually dark, however, when you take a look at the Cortana search bar, instead of seeing black, you’ll see that it has turned white. To fix this issue, read on as we will provide you some options you can try to set the Cortana search bar back to black. Before you proceed, take note that the options provided below will change all white search boxes to black and that one of these options needs administrative privileges.

Option 1 – Try changing the default App mode

As you know, Windows 10 has two modes, namely the Light and the Dark. Thus, you can switch to the Dark mode so that your Cortana search bar will be black as well. However, remember that it will completely change everything into dark mode so there will be no more Light mode elsewhere.

• First, you need to click on the Start button and then click on the cog icon to open the Windows 10 Settings.
• Next, from the Settings Menu, select Personalization and then select Colours from the left pane.
• Then scroll down until you see the “Choose your default app mode” option and select “Dark”.

After you apply the changes, it will change the Cortana search bar into black instantly. Aside from that, you will also see the User Interface changing into dark mode.

Option 2 – Try changing the Registry value

If you are well-versed in editing registry keys, then you need to try this option. But before you go over the steps below, make sure that you create a System Restore point first so that if anything goes wrong, you can always go back to how it was before the changes were applied.

• Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run prompt.
• Then in the field, type in “regedit” and hit Enter to open the Registry Editor. If a User Account Control prompt appears, just click Yes.
• Now that you’ve opened the Registry Editor, navigate to the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionSearchFlightingWhiteSearchBox

• After that, double-click on the “Value” key located on the right pane and set the value to “0” instead of “1” and then click Ok to save the changes made. You should now see a black or grey text box color instead of white.

Option 3 – Try changing the Region

In some forums, a lot of users stated that changing the Region also worked out for them in changing the white Cortana search bar to white. Thus, you need to change the region settings of your computer temporarily. To do so, follow the steps below.

• Type in “Regional Settings” in the box and then click it as soon as it appears from the search results.
• Next, make sure to select a region where Cortana is not available.
• Then select apply to that region. After that, it will change the Cortana search bar color to black.
• Now sign out and sign back in and revert to the original settings. But the changes you made earlier in Cortana will still remain.

FullTab is a Browser Extension for Google Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer. When installed this extension hijacks your home page, and changes your default search engine to http://search.fulltabsearch.com. This extension usually comes bundled with other freeware software, and while installed it monitors your internet browsing activity, visited links, clicked pages, and other private information that it later uses to distribute targeted unwanted ads in your search results.

While this extension is installed, you will see modified search results, injected ads, sponsored links, web page redirects, and sometimes even pop-up ads. Several anti-virus scanners have detected this extension as a Browser Hijacker, and due to the information it is gathering from your computer it is not recommended to keep.

About Browser Hijackers

Browser hijackers (sometimes called hijackware) are a kind of malicious software that modifies web browser configuration settings without the user’s knowledge or consent. These hijacks appear to be increasing at an alarming rate globally, and they can be truly nefarious and sometimes harmful too. Browser hijackers are capable of doing more than just changing home pages. Usually, browser hijacking is utilized for earning advertising revenue that comes from forced ad clicks and website visits. Most people believe that such websites are legitimate and harmless but that is not the case. Almost every browser hijacker poses an actual threat to your online safety and it is necessary to categorize them under privacy risks. Browser hijackers can also let other vicious programs without your knowledge further damage your personal computer.

Browser hijacking signs and symptoms

There are numerous signs that indicate the web browser is hijacked: 1. your browser’s home page is suddenly different 2. you find redirected to internet sites you never meant to visit 3. the default web browser settings are modified and/or your default web engine is altered 4. you find unsolicited new toolbars added 5. unstoppable flurries of pop-up advertisements appear on your personal computer screen 6. webpages load slowly and sometimes incomplete 7. you can’t navigate to specific web pages, like computer security software-related sites.

Precisely how browser hijacker infects computers

There are many ways your PC can get infected with a browser hijacker. They usually arrive through spam e-mail, via file-sharing networks, or by a drive-by download. They are usually included with toolbars, BHO, add-ons, plug-ins, or browser extensions. Browser hijackers sneak to your pc in addition to free software application downloads also that you unintentionally install along with the original. Examples of popular browser hijackers include Fireball, GoSave, Ask Toolbar, CoolWebSearch, RocketTab, and Babylon Toolbar. The presence of any browser hijacker on your system can considerably diminish the web browsing experience, record your internet activities that lead to troublesome privacy concerns, diminish overall computer performance and cause application instability as well.

Removal

Some browser hijacking can be quite easily corrected by identifying and removing the corresponding malware software through your control panel. However, most hijackers are very tenacious and require specialized tools to remove them. And there’s no denying the very fact that the manual fixes and removal methods can certainly be a difficult job for a rookie PC user. Additionally, there are many risks associated with tinkering around with the pc registry files.

Virus Blocking Access To Safebytes Website And Anti-Malware Downloads - What You Should Do?

All malware is inherently dangerous, but certain types of malicious software do much more damage to your computer than others. Some malware is meant to interfere with or block things that you’d like to do on your computer. It may not allow you to download anything from the net or prevent you from accessing a few or all sites, especially antivirus websites. If you are reading this article now, you have probably recognized that a malware infection is a reason behind your blocked internet traffic. So how to proceed if you want to install an antivirus program such as Safebytes? There are some actions you can take to get around this problem.

Start Windows in Safe Mode

Safe Mode is actually a special, basic version of Microsoft Windows where just minimal services are loaded to counteract viruses and other troublesome programs from loading. If the malware is blocking the internet connection and affecting your PC, running it in Safe Mode will let you download anti-malware and run a scan while limiting possible damage. In order to enter into Safe Mode or Safe Mode with Networking, press F8 while the computer is booting up or run MSCONFIG and look for the “Safe Boot” options under the “Boot” tab. After you restart into Safe Mode with Networking, you can download, install, as well as update the anti-malware program from there. Right after installation, run the malware scanner to eliminate most standard infections.

Utilize an alternate internet browser to download an antivirus program

Malicious program code could exploit vulnerabilities on a specific web browser and block access to all anti-virus software websites. If you appear to have a virus attached to Internet Explorer, then switch over to a different browser with built-in safety features, such as Firefox or Chrome, to download your preferred antivirus program – Safebytes.

Make a bootable USB anti-virus drive

Another solution is to store and run an antivirus program completely from a Thumb drive. Do these simple measures to clean up your affected computer using portable anti-malware. 1) On a virus-free computer, download and install Safebytes Anti-Malware. 2) Put the pen drive into the uninfected PC. 3) Double-click on the downloaded file to run the installation wizard. 4) When asked, select the location of the pen drive as the place where you would like to store the software files. Do as instructed on the screen to finish up the installation process. 5) Now, insert the USB drive into the corrupted PC. 6) Run the Safebytes Anti-malware directly from the pen drive by double-clicking the icon. 7) Hit the “Scan Now” button to start the virus scan.

Ensure the Safety of Your PC by Using SafeBytes Anti-Malware Software

Do you want to install the best anti-malware application for your laptop? There are many applications available in the market that comes in free and paid versions for Windows systems. Some of them are great, some are decent, and some will affect your PC themselves! You need to go with a tool that has obtained a good reputation and detects not only computer viruses but other types of malware too. While thinking about trustworthy applications, Safebytes Anti-Malware is certainly the highly recommended one. SafeBytes anti-malware is a powerful, very effective protection application designed to assist users of all levels of IT literacy in finding and removing malicious threats from their personal computers. After you have installed this program, SafeBytes sophisticated protection system will make sure that absolutely no viruses or malicious software can seep through your computer. SafeBytes has outstanding features when compared to various other anti-malware programs. A few of them are given as below: Real-time Threat Response: SafeBytes provides round-the-clock protection for your personal computer restricting malware intrusions instantly. They’re extremely effective in screening and eliminating different threats because they’re regularly improved with new updates and safety measures. World-class AntiMalware Protection: With its advanced and sophisticated algorithm, this malware removal tool can detect and get rid of the malware threats hiding within your PC effectively. Quick Multithreaded Scanning: SafeBytes’s high-speed malware scanning engine cuts down scanning times and extends battery life. Simultaneously, it will effectively detect and eliminate infected computer files or any internet threat. Web Security: Through its unique safety rating, SafeBytes alerts you whether a site is safe or not to access it. This will make sure that you’re always certain of your safety when browsing the world wide web. Lightweight: This tool is not “heavy” on the computer’s resources, so you’ll not see any overall performance difficulties when SafeBytes is operating in the background. 24/7 Live Professional Support: You can obtain high levels of support round the clock if you’re using their paid software.

Technical Details and Manual Removal (Advanced Users)

To eliminate FullTab manually, navigate to the Add/Remove programs list in the Windows Control Panel and select the program you want to get rid of. For internet browser extensions, go to your web browser’s Addon/Extension manager and select the add-on you want to disable or remove. You’ll probably also want to reset your browser. To ensure the complete removal, find the following Windows registry entries on your system and remove them or reset the values accordingly. However, this is a challenging task and only computer professionals could carry it out safely. Moreover, certain malware keeps replicating which makes it difficult to eliminate. You are advised to do this process in Safe Mode.

DuckGoGo a popular private search engine is releasing its first browser soon that is focused on privacy like its search engine. From the recent blog, Gabriel Weinberg, CEO of DuckDuckGo, has stated:

“Like we’ve done on mobile, DuckDuckGo for desktop will redefine user expectations of everyday online privacy,”

From everything that we have learned so far, the browser will be focused on making privacy super easy and simple, eliminating tons of different settings about privacy, and making the whole environment robust privacy protection all set by default. Settings will be applied in all fields, across search, browsing, email, and more. Gabriel also said that aim of the browser is not just a privacy browser, it is meant to be built and used as your everyday browser, for everyday use that protects your privacy as a bonus. One interesting thing that was stated is that browser itself is built upon OS-provided rendering engines instead of typical Chromium. DuckDuckGo says this approach will strip away a lot of the unnecessary cruft and clutter that's accumulated over the years in major browsers. Also, the company stated that when compared to Chrome, the DuckDuckGo app desktop is cleaner, way more private and that early tests have found out that it is significantly faster as well. Is this just corporate advertising or reality? We will see once the browser is released, or once it is released for public testing. Until then take care and happy holidays.

BIOS is software that is running in a chip located on your motherboard, you can enter BIOS usually by hitting DEL once the computer is turned ON but this sometimes varies and it depends solely on the motherboard manufacturer. Inside BIOS you can configure your computer components and set up some other important things including passwords for BIOS itself or for the entire system. Password itself is meant to protect access to BIOS from other non-technical users or to prevent access to the system from other people if for example computer is in one household and you would like to be the only one having access to it. However, passwords can be forgotten, and sometimes you can even purchase a second-hand computer with a password on it. In this guide, we will lead you through ways on how to remove your BIOS password so you can regain access to your BIOS settings.

1. Use Manufacturers master password

   Most motherboard manufacturers have built-in a couple of master passwords for BIOS access. If your motherboard has one you can easily find it on the manufacturer's website. Use the master password and remove other passwords inside BIOS, save and exit.

2. Remove CMOS battery

   If you could not find the manufacturer's master password or your motherboard model does not have one remove the CMOS battery to reset BIOS. Note that this method will reset the whole BIOS not only the password. Open on side of your computer casing and locate the round battery on it, do not worry, there is only one battery so you can not make mistake. Remove the battery and leave it outside for around 20 to 30 minutes then place it back as it was, CMOS is reset now and you can access BIOS.

3. Reset BIOS via jumper

   If you want to remove only the password and do not touch other BIOS setting you can locate the BIOS password reset jumper. How the location of this jumper and position is different from the motherboard to motherboard we can not cover them all here and it is advisable to read the manual or find information on the official manufacturer's website.

If you would like to read more helpful articles and tips about various software and hardware visit errortools.com daily.

It has been reported that there are systems out there with Windows 11 operating systems that do not use the whole RAM memory installed in the system. If by any chance you are one of the unfortunate users that has encountered this issue, fear not, we have a solution for you.

Run the Windows Memory Diagnostic tool

1. Press ⊞ WINDOWS + S to open the search menu
2. Type in Windows Memory Diagnostic tool
3. Click on the found app
4. Select Restart now and check for problems
5. Wait for the tool to finish

Memory Diagnostic tool is a built-in tool in Windows, it was designed to automatically find and repair memory issues and should be your first step toward resolving this issue.

Check page file

1. Press ⊞ WINDOWS + S to open the search menu
2. Type in View advanced system settings
3. Click on the search result
4. Click on settings under performance
5. Click on the Advanced tab
6. Click on Change under Virtual memory
7. Uncheck the box for Automatically manage paging file size for all drives
8. Then select the drive and check the No paging file option
9. Click on Set
10. Repeat for all drives on the system
11. Reboot the system for changes to take effect

If after reboot system still does not see and use whole available RAM, repeat this process and turn back ON paging. After you are done move to the next solution.

Modify usable RAM

1. Press ⊞ WINDOWS + S to open the search menu
2. Type in System configuration
3. Click on the search result
4. Go to the Boot tab and click on Advanced options
5. Check the box for Maximum memory
6. Enter the installed RAM on your system in the field box and click on OK
7. Confirm once again on the OK and close the System configuration window
8. Restart the system

If the provided solution has not worked, uncheck the Maximum memory checkbox and save the changes. Move to the next solution.

Change and modify the registry

1. Press ⊞ WINDOWS + R to open the run menu
2. Type in Regedit and press the OK button or hit ENTER
3. Click on YES if prompted by UAC
4. Locate the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory
5. On the right side find and double click on the ClearPageFileAtShutdown DWORD
6. Enter 1 under Value data and click on OK to save the changes
7. Close the registry and reboot the system

Enable memory remapping inside BIOS

In order to do this fix, you will need to enter BIOS on your system. How entering BIOS is different from system to system depending on your manufacturer, especially if it is a laptop this step you will have to do alone. Go to your motherboard manufacturer or laptop manufacturer and see how to enter BIOS.

1. Enter BIOS (80% of the time this can be done by pressing DEL or F12 while the system is turned ON)
2. Locate System Agent Configuration option
3. Select Memory Remap Feature and Enable it

Your BIOS might be different from ours and you might not have the System Agent Configuration option, in this case, go through the setting and try to locate Memory Remap Feature. If this feature is missing as well move to the next step.

Rearrange RAM modules on the motherboard

Sometimes RAM memory cannot be slotted properly or just purely switching them in slots can solve the issue. Take RAM out, clean memory slots, clean motherboard connectors for them, and place them back in a different order. If by any chance none of the methods worked, then the issue might be in the hardware itself, either memory banks themselves, motherboard, power supply, etc. If this is sadly the case, you will have to locate the issue and replace the faulty part. If you are not technical enough for this adventure, the best solution is to take a PC to a computer repair shop.