Install Windows 11 on any computer officially

Microsoft’s initial Windows 11 hardware requirements were not really well received by users and they were not really clearly represented from the start making a lot of potential customers slowly drift away from the hype. It seems that Microsoft has acknowledged this since they have changed their tune about system hardware requirements for the upcoming Windows 11. It seems that Windows 11 will be able to be officially installed on unsupported computers but with a little inconvenience.

What is a catch?

Windows 11 will still have the same hardware requirements and if the PC meets them, that computer will be officially supported, other ones (any that can run Windows 10) that do not meet system requirements can still run Windows 11 but the system will have to be clean installed. So no upgrade option for old computer users, just a clean install. This means of course that you will need to download the ISO image and make a bootable USB in order to install it. Also since you will be doing a clean install do a backup of the hard drive since it will need to be formatted. Also, Microsoft has stated that with unofficially supported PC some driver updates might not be delivered leaving you with either older driver versions or relying on your hardware manufacturer on them. This is still not confirmed by Microsoft, just stated as an option. We will see how it goes.

Conclusion

It is very good that Microsoft has reconsidered its system requirements and will not stubbornly push its initiatives over the top requirements allowing even older computers to install new OS. I am sure over time lot of users will upgrade their hardware and drive into officially supported waters, but it is good that they will be able to use new OS on their current hardware.

MSI.chm error is a common Windows Error code that occurs when the Windows OS becomes overloaded with invalid system references.

Solution

Error Causes

The MSI.chm error is normally triggered by the following causes:

• Poor PC maintenance

You may experience the MSI.chm error if you don’t pay attention to its maintenance. This usually happens when you don’t run antivirus software or update programs and drivers frequently.

• Registry files get corrupt and damaged

This error may also occur when the registry files of your PC get corrupt and damaged. This normally happens due to continuous writing, editing and deleting of information from your PCs registry over time as programs are installed, modified and deleted. Other causes include: malware and system conflicts.

Further Information and Manual Repair

When you come across the MSI.chm error on your PC, it is advisable to repair it immediately without any delays. If you procrastinate in repairing this error, your PC is likely to be exposed to risks like:

• Slow PC performance
• System failure and crashes

Nonetheless, to resolve this error you don’t have to get the assistance of an IT professional. The MSI.chm is easy to repair and you can resolve it in no time even if you aren’t technically adept. Here are some of the best ways to repair the MSI.chm error on your PC successfully in the shortest time:-

Cause: Corrupt and Damaged Registry Files

Quick Fix: If you think the MSI.chm Windows error on your system is related to Windows registry issues, then the best way to resolve this error is to download and install a Registry cleaner tool.  A word of advice here is to always download such tools from a reliable and a trusted website. Once you download the Restoro, run it on your PC to scan for errors. The scanning will usually take a couple of minutes. So, it is advisable to be patient. After the scanning is complete, you will see a detailed scanning report highlighting the registry errors on your PC. Now to resolve the MSI.chm error that has occurred on your PC due to registry issues, click on the ‘Repair’ button to fix the error. Once the repairing process is complete, restart your PC. Restoro helps you not only fix the MSI.chm error but it also helps improve the speed of your PC, and protects it from failure and crashes.

Cause: Poor PC Maintenance

Quick Fix: If the cause of the MSI.chm error is poor PC maintenance, then the best way to resolve the error is to update the drivers. You can do this by installing the latest drivers for the devices that you think are now old and need to be updated. Here’s what you need to do: First find which devices don’t have drivers installed. For this go to the start menu and then click on the Control Panel. Now open the Device Manager. The Device Manager will list down all the devices that don’t have drivers installed with yellow exclamation point icons next to the device name. As for the updates, the general rule of thumb if the driver does not support the program you are trying to run, then this means that you probably need to update the driver to ensure compatibility. For example your video card driver does not support a newly launched game, then you definitely need a driver update to play the game on your PC. To install or update drivers on your PC, you can either get CDs from the market or you can download updated versions of the drivers from the main manufacturer’s website for free. You can also use automated solution for all of your driver issues: So, next time when you or your friends encounter this problem, try these quick fixes to repair the error without any hassle.

One of the hardest issues you can encounter on your Windows computer is the Blue Screen of Death error. There are various kinds of BSOD or Stop errors and one of them is the “Memory Management Error 0x0000001A” error. This kind of Stop error might signify a hardware problem in your computer and is most likely caused by an issue with RAM or hard disk or even malware that takes up all your computer’s memory, thus, making it crash and display a BSOD error like the Memory Management Error 0x0000001A. Moreover, this kind of Stop error can also occur during the Windows upgrading process. So in this post, we’ll show you what you can do to fix the Memory Management error on your Windows 10 PC.

Option 1 – Run the Blue Screen Troubleshooter

The Blue Screen troubleshooter is a built-in tool in Windows 10 that can be found on the Settings Troubleshooters page. To use it, refer to these steps:

• Tap the Win + I keys to open the Settings panel.
• Then go to Update & Security > Troubleshoot.
• From there, look for the option called “Blue Screen” on your right-hand side and then click the “Run the troubleshooter” button to run the Blue Screen Troubleshooter and then follow the next on-screen options. Note that you might have to boot your PC into Safe Mode.

Option 2 – Update the device drivers

• Tap the Win + R keys to launch Run.
• Type in devmgmt.msc into the box and tap Enter or click OK to open the Device Manager.
• After that, a list of device drivers will be displayed. Look for the device driver you and then select either “Update driver” or “Uninstall device”. And if you find any “Unknown device”, you need to update it as well.
• Select the “Search automatically for updated driver software” option and then follow the instructions to complete the process.
• If you have chosen to uninstall the driver, follow the screen options to complete the process and then restart your PC.
• Connect the device and Scan for hardware changes – you can see this option under Device Manager > Action.

Option 3 – Run the Windows Memory Diagnostics Tool to test RAM

Since the issue concerns the memory of your computer, you can also try running the Windows Memory Diagnostics Tool to find out if the RAM module of your computer has become corrupted. To run this tool, follow these steps:

• Tap the Win + S keys to open Search.
• Then type “Windows Memory Diagnostics Tool” in the field and hit Enter to open the Windows Memory Diagnostics Tool.
• After that select any of the following option from the prompt that appears:
  • “Restart now and check for problems (recommended)”
  • “Check for problems the next time I start my computer”
• After that, if you find that your RAM is corrupted, you might have to purchase a new one or change the motherboard of your computer.

Option 4 – Run the DISM tool

There are cases when the Memory Management Error 0x0000001A error is caused by the Windows System Image so you need to repair it using the DISM or Deployment Imaging and Servicing Management tool. The DISM tool is another command-line tool in the Windows operating system that could help users fix various corrupted system files. To use it, follow these steps:

• Open the Command Prompt as admin.
• Then type in this command: Dism /Online /CheckHealth
• Do not close the window if the process takes a while as it will probably take a few minutes to finish.

Option 5 – Run the SFC scan

• 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:

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.

Option 6 – Try using System Restore

You can also try to perform a System Restore as it can also help you fix the BSOD error. You can do this option either by booting into Safe Mode or in System Restore. If you are already in the Advanced Startup Options, just directly select System Restore and proceed with the next steps. And if you have just booted your PC into Safe Mode, refer to the steps below.

• Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
• After that, type in “sysdm.cpl” in the field and tap Enter.
• Next, go to the System Protection tab then click the System Restore button. This will open a new window where you have to select your preferred System Restore point.
• After that, follow the on-screen instructions to finish the process and then restart your computer and check if the problem is fixed or not.

The use of Biometrics is supported by Windows 10. Aside from that, it also supports PIN, password, picture password on all computers and if your computer has the proper hardware, Windows 10 also supports facial scanning, iris scanning, and even fingerprint scanning. You can see all these exciting features inside Settings > Accounts > Sign In Options. On the other hand, you can’t really expect to make use of all the above-mentioned features since it depends if the hardware is available to support them. One of the most interesting features is the use of Biometrics which is really useful in workplaces and so this post will show you how you can enable or disable the Domain Users Sign In on Windows 10 using Biometrics via Registry Editor or Group Policy Editor. But before you go on, you need to create a System Restore Point first since the modifications you’re about to do might affect the functioning of your computer. So in case something went wrong, you can always undo the changes you’ve made.

Option 1 – via Registry Editor

• Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
• Next, type “Regedit” in the field and hit Enter to open the Registry Editor.
• After that, navigate to the following registry path:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftBiometricsCredential Provider

• From there, right-click on the right-side panel and click on New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.
• And then set the name of the newly created DWORD as “Domain Accounts”.
• Afterward, click on “Domain Accounts” and set its value to “1”. This will allow the domain users to sign in to Windows 10 using Biometrics. While the value of 0 will disable the domain users sign in to Windows 10 using Biometrics.
• Exit the Registry Editor and restart your computer for the changes to take effect.

Option 2 – via Group Policy Editor

• Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
• Next, type “gpedit.msc” in the field and hit Enter to open the Group Policy Editor.
• After that, navigate to the following setting:

Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Biometrics

• Then double click on the following entries located on the right-side panel and set the radio button to Enabled on all of them.
  • Allow the use of Biometrics.
  • Allow users to log on using Biometrics.
  • Allow domain users to log on using biometrics.
• Now exit the Group Policy Editor and restart your computer to apply the changes made properly.

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.

Things have stirred lately with Chinas ban on crypto mining and many used GPUs will flow the market probably. But should you buy a used GPU? Short answer: NO, long answer: keep on reading to find out why.

GPU shortage and its cause

As you all know by now, we live sadly in a world struck by a global Pandemic. Due to this awful disease and measures taken against it, many people are either working from home or are at home making the manufacturing of new chips problematic while demand on the market has raised. Throw into that mix crypto mining which has raised in popularity and you have, well today's market where we have GPU shortage. Now with the latest news that China has banned the mining of cryptocurrency, there is to be expected that at some point in time mining cards used there will fit the market in the whole world. Sadly even with a large quantity of GPUs that will become available, the overall price of cards will not be much lowered I am afraid since demand is still very high and many people would not want to purchase used mining cards and neither should you.

Be prepared for the worst scenario

Although this sounds very pessimistic and in most cases, it will not turn out to be true, you should always prepare yourself mentally that you might be in that lower percentage that will end up with a really bad GPU. What has come up to be absolutely true when considering GPU that were mining is that if anything at all can be done to GPU in order to increase performance, it has been done. Miners want to optimize and almost every GPU if could be overclocked, it was overclocked. Extensive mining also means that thermal paste has been dried and it is pretty useless at this point and there is a very high chance that fans and heat sinks will need much cleaning or even replacement raising the price of the card itself for mentioned paste, fans, and heat sinks. There's no way to tell what the previous owner might have done with a graphics card when you're shopping online, so our advice is to assume the worst. Don't trust the seller to give truthful information. Any listing that says it was "never used for mining" at this point is probably a lie.

Age of the GPU matters

Date when GPU itself has manufactured really matters. Newer cards even if used extensively have been used for a much shorter period of time and are not so damaged were ones produced a few years ago have seen a lot of action. Let’s say that you get RTX 3060, In the worst-case scenario it has been mining since late February of 2021 and basically, it is still under warranty so it should behave OK and put some good work in gaming even in that state. On another hand, if we take for example GTX 1080Ti which is 4 years old GPU things start to change drastically. 4 years GPU could be worn out even if it was used just for extensive gaming sessions let alone for mining.

No return policy and seller rating

Most of the time you will run into a product that cannot be returned or no refunds policy. This should bring a red flag right away and deter you from purchase. Sellers with the highest ratings are more trustworthy since many of them will not want to destroy their reputation but these will probably not even have these kinds of merchandise in their store. Buying with a poor rating seller and no return policy on a product is just asking for trouble. And although some stores do have arbitration and will stand on the customer side there is no guarantee for that and it will take too much time to process.

If you really must buy a second-hand GPU

Of course in these troubled times sometimes due to malfunction or any other reason, there would not be another choice than to buy a second-hand GPU. In this case, if there is no other option consider sellers with many positive ratings. If you can buy locally that would even be better or the best-case scenario would be if you could visually see and inspect GPU itself in order to see in what state it is. Look for warranty stickers to see if they are thorn and the card has been tampered with. Also take a good look at screws, if they have scratches card has been opened, probably to replace fan or heating sinks which means that it has worked a lot.

Conclusion

It is very difficult to give the best possible advice on this situation since of GPU shortage, but I would much prefer a new GPU with lower performance than a hi-performance one which was mining.

Windows 11 has been rolling out for a while now so many PC users ask the question is it wise and good to upgrade your Operating System to the latest Microsoft incarnation. No Thank you for reading, cya tomorrow in next article. Jokes aside, I truly believe that choosing to upgrade your System to Windows 11 at this point in time is a bad decision and I will explain why I do believe it.

Reasons to upgrade to the new OS

First of all, let me say what is good in Windows 11 and provide reasons why you should upgrade your computer.

1. The new fancy look made for modern computers. New Windows new look, Microsoft has tried their best to bring a new modern look to its flagship operating system and I must say that they have managed it. I could argue that it is a little bit late since Apple had this kind of look in years but hey, better late than never I guess.
2. Increased security This point is very valid but it will play a role only if you have all system requirements including TPM 2.0. If that is the case new security features of OS are really well done and are perhaps one thing that might nudge some people in installing W11 on their system.
3. New settings app The New and redesigned settings app inside Windows 11 is really great and it provides a great workflow and easy management of system settings. This is not some radical change but it will save time and make life much easier.
4. It is better suited to the newest hardware Windows 11 was made with the newest hardware in mind and its performances on it are great so if you are punching the latest tech this reason is sufficient to make a switch, however, if you are still on an older system you will not gain much by switching.

Reasons to avoid Windows 11 for now

1. Almost just a visual update to Windows 10 Some features of Windows 11 are great but they are not plenty of them to justify a new number and new version of OS. Considering what we really got new under the hood Windows 11 could have been just a patch and update to Windows 10 since the architecture is the same.
2. Bugs Each day there are new bugs reporting for Windows 11, most of them are at the moment unsolvable and are caused because hardware manufacturers' drivers and software overall is not W11 ready. This hinders the stability of some systems and introduces headaches to others.
3. Runs poorly on unsupported hardware Strange behavior has been reported on some older systems, granted systems are not officially supported but the point is OS is simply not working at the top of its game on older hardware.
4. No updates on non supported systems Officially stated if you install Windows 11 on non-supported hardware you will not get any security updated on in. This is a deal-breaker as far as I am concerned.
5. It is still under development When Windows 11 was released, Android native apps were not working on it, it later came with an update, this is just one example but there are more features that were promised but are not delivered on release and constant updates are fixing these things. It is obvious that Windows 11 is still under active development and not the final product that was promised.
6. Microsoft’s edge pushing And not just edge, some other things as well but most notably is edge pushing to borders they are risking lawsuit similar as they did in the past pushing and disabling any other browser except internet explorer.

Conclusion

Firstly I want to point that this is my personal opinion but going through facts and taking into account the current state of Windows 11, at this point, it is not worth making a switch. I am sure that in time it will become a system that will be worth upgrading to but until that time comes, my advice would be to stay with Windows 10.

Computer upgrades are the most common and most efficient ones. RAM upgrade is one of the easiest ones you can do and the most common ones but even as simple an upgrade as this one can cause certain issues. If you are experiencing error 0164, memory size decreased after RAM upgrade we are offering you solutions on how to fix this particular error and get your computer back in working order.

1. Change BIOS settings

   Enter your motherboard BIOS (usually by pressing the del key on startup) Load BIOS defaults Save changes and exit If the Error 0164: Memory size decreased issue persists even after loading setup defaults, then it must be configured manually inside the BIOS.

2. Clear CMOS

   Follow the instructions precisely:
   • Turn off all peripheral devices connected to the computer.
   • Disconnect the power cord from the AC power source.
   • Remove the computer cover.
   • Find the battery on the board. The battery may be in a horizontal or vertical battery holder or connected to an onboard header with a wire.
   If the battery is in a holder, note the orientation of the + and – on the battery. With a medium flat-blade screwdriver, gently pry the battery-free from its connector. If the battery is connected to an onboard header with a wire, disconnect the wire from the onboard header.
   • Wait one hour, then reconnect the battery.
   • Put the computer cover back on.
   • Plug the computer and all devices back in.
   • Power on the computer.

So, you have finished with work, game, movie, music, email, or whatever on your PC, you look at the clock, it is late, you decide to go to sleep or outside, you click on the power button and choose shutdown. Now when a PC is shut down you feel good and go with your business but the next time you power it up you get the same error like the computer never really shut down in the first place. You wonder why and reboot it, just in case and all of the sudden error is gone.

If something similar has happened to you or you had the feeling that after shutting down your computer has not really felt like shutting it down, do not seek professional help, everything is OK with you because when you click on shut down, your computer does not really shut down!

Truth is that Microsoft has changed how to shut down works and how rebooting works in Windows with an update but has not publicly said anything about it so some users may experience this feeling of not shutdown phenomenon and might even think there is something wrong with their PC.

Why this change?

A few years ago shutdown button and option in Windows were really shutting down OS, but things changed when Microsoft wanted to increase boot-up speed. Now when that decision was made shutdown option was changed. So, what was changed? Well in order to increase Windows booting time, the shutdown will now turn off power to PC components and it will look like everything is indeed shutdown but the Windows kernel will actually be saved to a hard drive with all settings and just awaken once the PC is turned back ON. This will result in all errors and other stuff being just still present same as they were once the system was instructed to be turned off.

Rebooting your PC will now clear kernel and file from the hard drive and you will get a clean system startup without any issues tied with the kernel itself.

Workaround

Now that we know why and what change has been made to Windows logical question is can we shut down our PC at all properly? Luckily for us, the answer is yes and we will not need any external application to do it, we can still do it inside Windows itself and it is quite quick and easy.

Bringing back the old shutdown

In order to bring the old shutdown functionality of your PC please follow the instructions but be aware that by doing this your PC will boot a little bit slower since it will have to load the kernel from scratch each time computer is turned ON.

First thing is to go to settings and go to System

Then once you are inside the system, navigate to the power and sleep and click on it to select it. Once you have it selected to all the way to the right and click on additional power settings.

When you click on advanced power settings you should be led to the control panel's power options. Inside this panel click on top left link where it says Choose what the power button does.

Inside options, you will need to untick the box next to Turn on fast startup (recommended), this option has been ticked ON by the Windows update and probably without notifying you. Option means exactly what was described, it will save kernel state on the hard drive for faster boot time but sadly it can cause some issues since it will never be reloaded from 0.

If you are unable to uncheck the box click on the text beside the shield icon that says: Change settings that are currently unavailable (you will have to be logged in as administrator).

Conclusion

Altho turning off fast startup and shutting down the PC completely will for sure extend your bootup time I still believe that it is the right choice since sometimes a lot of clutter and bad things accumulate over time inside the OS and can cause a vast variety of problems in a long run. So stay safe and shut down that PC as it used to be in the past.

A command is not recognized Error, what it is? If you are constantly using programs like CMD or DISM directly from the Run prompt, you might have wondered how they launched instantly and how is it that the Windows operating system is able to find them right away. For instance, when you create a shortcut of a program, the shortcut knows where exactly the program is located and launches it quickly. The Windows operating system keeps a list of paths where the most common system programs are located so when you use the Run prompt, it opens easily. The list kept by Windows is called the Windows Environment Variables. If something goes wrong with this list, the programs won’t work. So in this guide, you will be guided on how you can troubleshoot the problem where any command you use is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program, or batch file. Before you start troubleshooting the problem, you need to make sure that the program you are trying to run really exists. In fact, this can also happen to the Run program which is pulled up using the Win + R shortcut. To check, go to C:\Windows\System32 and there, check if the program exists or not or you can also try searching for the EXE in the System 32 folder. After making sure that the program exists, refer to the instructions given below.

Modify the Windows Environment Variables:

• Step 1: Tap the Win + X keys and then select System. After that, it will open the section where you can see all the properties on your computer.
• Step 2: Next, select the Advanced system setting located on the left pane and click on the Environment Variables.
• Step 3: After that, locate Path under the System Variables and select EDIT.
• Step 4: Before you edit, you need to copy the entire string and paste it into the Notepad app so that in case something went wrong, you can paste it back.
• Step 5: Next, look for the directory path, “C:\Windows\System32”. If you can’t find it, try adding a semi-colon at the end.
• Step 6: Afterwards, click OK to save the changes made and then exit.
• Step 7: Now restart your computer as all the paths are picked up when your computer restarts.

Note: Now all you have to do is to try executing the programs once again – the ones where you got the error, “ is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file” every time you open them and then see if you can now open these programs or not.