It is officially confirmed, Windows 11 release date is October 5th. Windows 11 will be released as a free upgrade to all registered Windows 10 users that have supported hardware for it.
The rest of the users will be able to install it via ISO file as a clean installation if their computer supports Windows 10 hardware requirements. The official price for the license for Windows 11 has not yet been set but I assume after release it will be set.
Priority for W11 will have users who are upgrading from W10 as stated by Microsoft.
Also, it was officially confirmed that Android apps will not be running natively in this first release of Windows 11, that feature will come in a future update, official statement below:
"We look forward to continuing our journey to bring Android apps to Windows 11 and the Microsoft Store through our collaboration with Amazon and Intel; this will start with a preview for Windows Insiders over the coming months,"
The rest of the features will be all included inside Windows 11 on launch.
It is officially confirmed, Windows 11 release date is October 5th. Windows 11 will be released as a free upgrade to all registered Windows 10 users that have supported hardware for it.
The rest of the users will be able to install it via ISO file as a clean installation if their computer supports Windows 10 hardware requirements. The official price for the license for Windows 11 has not yet been set but I assume after release it will be set.
Priority for W11 will have users who are upgrading from W10 as stated by Microsoft.
Also, it was officially confirmed that Android apps will not be running natively in this first release of Windows 11, that feature will come in a future update, official statement below:
"We look forward to continuing our journey to bring Android apps to Windows 11 and the Microsoft Store through our collaboration with Amazon and Intel; this will start with a preview for Windows Insiders over the coming months,"
The rest of the features will be all included inside Windows 11 on launch.
As you know, “JPEG” is one of the commonly used formats for image files which is a compression of digital images. It is one of the topmost used file formats by mobile phones and digital cameras and usually achieves a 10:1 compression with little visible loss in the quality of the image.
There are tons of cases as of late, most particularly after the latest Windows 10 update where users were not able to open JPEG files on their PCs. Every time they try to open any JPEG file, they either get an error or nothing happens at all. This issue could be due to the default handler application for JPEG applications not being set or there could be some third-party image viewer not working properly. To fix this issue with JPEG files, refer to the troubleshooting options below.
Option 1 – Try to change the file type association
You need to check if the file type association of the JPEG files are correctly set or not since there are tons of third party programs that change the file type association automatically to themselves without your permission the instant they are installed and so if any of these third-party programs are broken, then naturally, your JPEG files won’t really open. That’s why you can try changing the setting to the default photo viewer instead of the third-party one. To do so, follow the steps below.
Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
Then type in “control panel” in the field and hit Enter to open the Control Panel.
After opening Control Panel, click on the Programs category and select the “Default Programs” option from the menu.
Next, select the second option “Associate a file type or protocol with a program” and then select the “Choose default apps by file type” option.
After that, click on the .jpg file extension and choose the option from the pop-up.
Now restart your PC to refresh all your programs and then see if it has fixed the problem or not.
Option 2 – Try to update your computer
Microsoft frequently releases updates to target bugs and improve users’ experience. And this particular error where JPEG files won’t open is already acknowledged by Microsoft so you need to make sure that your Windows 10 PC is updated to the latest released update and that there are no pending updates.
Tap the Win + S keys to open Search and then type in “update” in the field and open the system setting from the search results.
After that, check for updates and then download and install them if needed.
Now restart your PC once the update is done and check if you can now open JPEG files.
Option 3 – Try to reset the Photos app via Settings
Resetting the Photos app could also help you in fixing the problem. Note that this option will reset all the configurations and your data associated with your Photos and makes the application go into a state when you first started using it and that this option will fix any discrepancies that your application might be experiencing right now.
Tap the Win + S keys to open the search bar.
Then type in “settings” in the field to open the Settings application.
After opening Settings, click the “Apps” category.
From there, a list of applications installed on your computer will appear.
Navigate through these applications until you find the Photos app and then click on the Advanced options.
Afterward, click the Reset button that appears on the next screen. Then a new pop-up comes up and will warn you that all the preferences, as well as sign-in information, will be lost. Click on “Reset” anyway to proceed in resetting the Photos app.
Restart your PC once the reset is done.
Option 4 – Try to reinstall the Photos app
Before you start using other third-party image viewers just yet, you can try to reinstall the Photos app first. Thus, if there is something wrong with it, it will instantly get fixed right after it reinstalls. Just take note that this option requires administrative privileges so you need to be logged in as an administrator.
The first thing you have to do is tap the Windows + S keys and type in “PowerShell”.
Next, right-click on the file and click on the “Run as administrator” option from the context menu.
Once PowerShell is opened, execute this command: get-appxpackage *Microsoft.Windows.Photos* | remove-appxpackage
The command you just entered will remove the Photos app. After the process is done, go to the Microsoft Store and look for Microsoft Photos then download and install it again.
As you know, networks that are domain-based are common in organizations and companies. These domain-based networks require multiple computers to be controlled through a single node known as a server. And the one that sets certain policies and restrictions on every system that is joined to the domain is the server administrator.
So if you want to add your computer to a domain, you need to have the following information available:
The domain name
A user account name that’s registered in the active directory associated with the server
Windows Enterprise, Pro, or education version
In this post, you will be guided on how you can join or remove a domain. To get started, follow the given instructions below.
Option 1 – Joining a domain
First, you need to connect your computer to the network associated with the server since your computer and the server have to be on the same network.
Next, click the Start button and then click on the gear-like icon for Settings to open it.
After that, navigate to this path: Accounts > Access work or school.
Then click on Connect. This will open a new dialog box and from there, select the “Join this device to a local Active Directory domain” option.
Afterward, you will be asked to enter the username and password of your domain account.
Now select your Account type and when you proceed, you have to restart your computer. Your domain account should now be created.
Option 2 – Removing a domain
You need to open the Windows 10 Settings app.
And from there, go to this path: Accounts > Access work and school.
Next, select the account you want to remove from the domain and then click on Disconnect.
A prompt will then appear that says, “Are you sure you want to remove this account? This will remove your access to resources like email, apps, network, and all content associated with it. Your organization might also remove some data stored on this device”. Just click on Yes.
This will give you a Disconnect from the organization prompt.
Now click on Disconnect and select Restart now to restart your computer. This will complete the removal process of the domain.
One of the smoother things that Microsoft did with the Windows 10 operating system is to separate Cortana from Search. This means that Cortana is strictly now a voice assistant and many users have seen it coming since not everyone uses Cortana. In addition, it also paved the way for other virtual assistants like Alexa to get on board with Windows 10. And now in the newly released Windows 10 v1903, Windows has brought the Voice Activation under Privacy. In this post, you will be guided on how to perform the Voice Activation troubleshooting on your Windows 10 computer.
To use Voice Activation in Windows 10, follow, in the Start Search, type “voice activation” and click on “Voice activation privacy settings” listed in the search results. And from there, you can choose to allow apps to use Microphone, like listen in the background as well as select which app can access it. Each time enabled voice assistants continue to listen via microphone for the voice keyword, the app will activate itself for the keyword and will react depending on what you ask it. So if you are using a voice assistant and it didn’t respond when you speak the keyword, just go to Settings > Privacy > Voice Activation and follow these steps:
Option 1: Check the App permission to use the voice activation feature.
You have to make sure that the toggle button for the Voice activation feature is turned on globally. It can be found under the “Allow apps to use voice activation” section. You also have to ensure that the microphone is available for apps that use this feature.
Option 2: Voice activation is not working under the lock screen.
If you tend to use the voice assistant even when your computer is locked, Microsoft has a specific setting that you have to turn on. You need to make sure that the toggle button for the “Allow apps to use voice activation when this device is locked” option is turned on. However, keep in mind that the voice assistants are not locked to only recognize your voice as they also answer to anyone who will use the voice keyword.
Option 3: Check the individual permissions of apps.
If the voice assistant is not working, you have to check each one of the apps’ permissions for voice keyword, and the option to work under locked condition works.
Option 4: Run the Microphone troubleshooter.
If you’ve verified that the settings are in place, then you have to run the Microphone troubleshooter by simply going to Settings > Privacy > Microphone. From there, make sure that the toggle button for the following options is turned on:
Allow apps to access your microphone
Enable microphone access for the voice assistant
And if it’s a desktop app, you have to enable the toggle on at the end.
In case you don’t know, Microsoft Office uses a separate mechanism than the Windows operating system for specific purposes such as Updates and Activation which brings in the content dependencies of this mechanism on different services and processes. Thus, in such cases, you could encounter errors like the error code 0x80070426. When you get this error, you will see the following error message on your screen:
“An unexpected error has occurred. Your request cannot be processed at this time. Please try again later. (0x80070426)”
This kind of error is caused by various supporting processes and services that are not working or are not being triggered as they were supposed to. If you are currently facing this issue, worry not for this post will guide you in fixing it. There are two potential fixes you can try – you can either check the responsible services or manually run the Activation Script. For more details refer to the given options below.
Option 1 – Try checking the responsible Services
In the Start search, type “services.msc” in the field and tap Enter or click OK to open the Windows Services Manager.
If a User Account Control or UAC prompt appears, just click on Yes to proceed to the Windows Services Manager utility window.
After that, look for the “Software Licensing Service” service entry from the given list of services inside the window.
Then right-click on it and select Properties and from there, make sure that its Startup Type is set to Automatic.
Once done, click on the Start button to start the service and then exit the Services Manager.
Next, tap the Win + R keys to open the Run utility and then type “cmd” in the field and tap Enter to open an elevated Command Prompt.
After that, type and enter each command below one after the other.
net start slsvc
sc qc slsvc
sc queryex slsvc
sc qprivs slsvc
sc qsidtype slsvc
sc sdshow slsvc
Now check if the problem is fixed or not.
Option 2 – Try to manually run the Activation Script
In the Start search, type “cmd” and right-click on Command Prompt from the given search results and then select the “Run as administrator” option to open Command Prompt with admin privileges.
Next, navigate to the following location inside the Command Prompt command-line utility if you are using Office 16.
Although it’s easy to set up wired printers in most cases and they have their charm, you don’t have to be around the printer if you are connected to the same network. So in this post, you will be guided on how you can install and set up a wireless printer on your Windows 10 computer.
The idea here is to ensure that your Wi-Fi printer and your Windows 10 computer are connected on the same network and to do that, you need to carry out the following steps:
You have to connect the printer to the Wi-Fi network.
You have to add the printer or scanner to Windows 10.
You have to install the printer software.
You have to change the default printer.
And troubleshoot the printer.
For more details, follow the instructions below.
Step 1: Connect your printer to the Wi-Fi network.
In this step, you need to turn on your printer and look for the option to connect to a Wi-Fi network. Note that the step to connect to the Wi-Fi network depends on what kind of printer you use as well as its OEM since there will be a user interface or a Wi-Fi button that will get the job done for you. Once your printer is connected to the Wi-Fi network, you need to keep it turned on until the setup is completed.
Step 2: Next, add a printer or scanner to Windows 10
Since you’re already connected to the Wi-Fi network, you now have to go to Settings > Devices > Printers & scanners.
From there, click on the Add a printer or scanner option.
After that, the scanning process will begin as Windows 10 looks for the printer and once it finds it, it will display the printer in the result.
Choose the Wi-Fi printer from the results and click on the Add device option. Once you click this option, Windows will install the drivers via Windows 10 update. Note that this process will apply to all the printers – connected, wireless, and so on.
Step 3: You have to install a printer software
In this step, you need to use the driver software from the OEM even though the default printer software works since in most cases, the driver software from OEM works better compared to the default ones and offers much better functionality like ink-saving modes, and many more.
Step 4: You now have to change the default printer
After installing the printer software, you now have to set or change the default printer in your computer. If you have not installed any printer, the default printer in Windows is the one that saves the files. Now since you have already installed your printer, all that’s left for you to do is to change the default printer of Windows 10 to the one you installed earlier. To do that, follow these sub-steps:
Go to Settings and navigate to Devices > Printers & scanners.
From there, check the checkbox labeled, “Let Windows manage my default printer” if there are many printers. This will recommend you to use the most used printer. But if you don’t want to switch to the most used printer, then uncheck the checkbox.
Once done, click on the printer you want to set as the default one and go to Manage, and then click on the Set as default button.
Step 5: If you have any issues with your newly installed printer, then you need to troubleshoot it
One of the first basic troubleshooting you can perform to resolve the printer issue is running the Printer Troubleshooter. This built-in troubleshooter can detect and automatically fix the problem for you. To use it, follow these steps:
Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
Next, type “exe /id PrinterDiagnostic” in the field and click OK or hit Enter to open the Printer Troubleshooter.
Then click the Next button and follow the next on-screen instructions to fix the issue with the printer.
As you know, Windows programs depend on several operations to get executed and at the same time, there are also numerous parameters that have to be fulfilled for a program to get executed. However, based on some reports, there was an error when some users tried to run a program. This error says, “The application was unable to start correctly (0xc00007b)”.
There could be various reasons why this error occurs but the main one is most likely due to an x86 application that is not compatible with the x64-based operating system. To fix this problem, you can run the Check Disk utility or reinstall the application or the Microsoft .NET Framework. You can also try reinstalling DirectX or replace the corrupted DLL file(s). For more details, refer to the given options below.
Option 1 – Try running the Check Disk utility
In the Windows Search box, type “command prompt” and from the search results, right-click on Command Prompt and select “Run as administrator”.
After opening Command Prompt, type this command and tap Enter: chkdsk <Partition Letter>: /f
The command you entered will start to check for errors and fix them automatically. Else, it will throw an error message saying, “Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another process. Would you like the schedule this volume to be checked the next time the system restarts? (Y/N)”.
Tap the Y key to schedule Disk Check the next time your computer restarts.
Option 2 – Re-enable the Microsoft .NET Framework
You could also try to disable the Microsoft .NET Framework then enable the latest version of the .NET Framework on your PC and check if the error is fixed
Option 3 – Try to reinstall the program
There are times when some supporting module for your application under the hood could have messed up the application where you get the error. To fix this, you have to uninstall the program and then download its latest version from its official site and then install it again. Once you’re done, run the application and see if the error is fixed.
Option 4 – Run System File Checker scan
If reinstalling the program didn’t work, you can also try running the System File Checker or SFC scan to fix the error. System File Checker is a command utility built into your computer that helps restore corrupted files and missing files. Refer to the following steps to run it:
Hit the Win + R keys to launch Run.
Type in cmd in the field and tap Enter.
After opening Command Prompt, type in sfc /scannow
The command will start a system scan which will take a few whiles before it finishes. Once it’s done, you could get the following results:
Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.
Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired them.
Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them.
Reboot your computer.
Option 5 – Try running the DirectX Diagnostic Tool
Since the error has something to do with the DirectX Graphics APIs, you can run the DirectX Diagnostic tool to resolve the problem.
Option 6 – Try updating or re-installing DirectX
If the DirectX Diagnostic tool didn’t work, you can try to update or reinstall DirectX instead. This can help in fixing the problem because when you reinstall or update DirectX, it will replace the incompatible or corrupted components of DirectX from your computer.
As you know, all computer mouse devices are designed ergonomically for users who are right-handed. Although that’s mostly the case, there are also other mouse devices that are designed specifically for left-handed users or the ones that can be used by either the right or left hand. But before you look for these kinds of mouse devices, there is actually an option you can try so that your mouse device can work with either the left or right hand. All you have to do is configure your mouse device. Aside from setting the device to work on either hand, you can also switch mouse buttons, from left to right, using only a couple of simple steps.
As mentioned earlier, most mouse devices are created for right-handed users. Meaning to say, these mouse devices are configured to be right-handed with their primary button on the left and the second one on the right. The primary button is used for certain functions such as selecting and dragging. Now you can configure your mouse to be left-handed by swapping its predefined functionality. How? Refer to each one of the given instructions below.
Option 1 – via Control Panel
First, go to the Start Menu and search for “control panel” in the Start search.
Once you see it from the search results, click on it to open it and then go to the Hardware and Sound section.
From there, click on Mouse under the Device and Printers section. This will open the window for Mouse Properties.
Now you have to check the Switch primary and secondary buttons box.
Then click on OK to save the changes made. After that, your primary select button on your mouse device is your right button while the secondary button, also known as right-click, is now the left button.
Option 2 – via Windows 10 Settings
This is the second option you can check out to change the configuration of your mouse from being right-handed to being left-handed.
First, right-click on the Windows icon and select Search.
Next, type “mouse” and from the search results that appear, click on Mouse Settings.
After that, select “Right” from the “Select your primary button” drop-down menu. This should set the mouse device from being right-handed to being left-handed.
In today's IT world, if you want a computer for typical day-to-day actions and gaming, there are 3 primary ways you can go. An Apple computer with its proprietary hardware and operating system or a typical machine with Windows or Linux operating system.
Each system has both advantages and disadvantages and picking the right one might be difficult for some users. From hardware differences to specific software and operating system, each system is aimed at a different type of work, and in this article, we will explore each one and help you in choosing the right one for you.
Apple ecosystem
Apple has managed to create a unique ecosystem of its own devices, from its iMac desktop computers to more professional MAC studio and power MAC and all the way to tablet iPad and iPhone are powered by Apple's own operating system that connects all of these devices into one large system. So if you really need one singular ecosystem this is a huge advantage.
The ecosystem on the side, MAC computer systems are great, some would argue best for coding, design, video work, and sound editing. MAC M2 chip is optimized for all of these tasks and a specially tailored operating system is just the icing on the cake. Specific Apple-made software like a logic pro or final cut also helps a lot to position MAC systems on top of the line.
Reading all of this you might think hey this is the computer for me, it does everything! Sadly the truth is not like that. The first thing that is difficult on MAC systems and a maybe big reason that it is not so adopted outside professional working environment is lack of games. If you are a gamer or plan on using MAC for gaming, well I have some bad news. The second big turn-off is that MAC systems tend to be more expensive than PC systems, yes components are of higher quality but rest assured that you will pay for also for branding.
Get MAC as your workstation for serious work and for good tech support, if you need a plain home computer keep reading.
Windows PC machine
There is no better feeling than assembling your own computer, tweaking hardware to make a monster and despite haters hating, Windows is the best all-around operating system on the market. It is supporting the largest variety of hardware and the largest variety of software.
The best platform for serious gaming and streaming Windows machine has cemented itself as a multimedia powerhouse. But, this kind of computer is not alien to being also a professional machine, you can practically do everything that you can do on Apple or Linux machine inside Windows, yes some things might require extra steps or will be slightly slower but in the end, being able to do anything is the greatest strength of Windows machine.
Of course, every system has its flaws and Windows is not immune to that. One of the biggest is being the operating system for every hardware ever made and every software as well while keeping legacy support for old software and hardware, basically, its biggest strength is in the same time its biggest weakness leading to sometimes stability issues. Also being able to place any kind of hardware can also lead to the same stability issues. Executing something a little slower than other systems and having some extra steps can also be looked upon as weaknesses.
Linux system
First and perhaps for some people, the biggest advantage of the Linux operating system is its price, it is completely free! Other advantages include the great server and networking included in the OS itself, the large amount of customization, and unmatched stability. The ability to write scripts inside the OS terminal is also a great thing and coding is much more streamlined and friendlier than on other machines.
The power of Linux is the ability to change anything, even on the system layer, no other operating system will let you change the basic functionality of the OS itself while Linux will let you do this. It is also the only operating system you can fully use by booting it up from a USB stick and having the same experience as it was installed on a local hard drive. Among other OS mentioned earlier, Linux is by far the lightest one, taking the smallest amount of memory among the three.
The bad side of the Linux machine is the steep learning curve, among the three mentioned operating systems rest assured Linux is the most difficult to learn and be comfortable in it. The operating system will require you to know the hardware and how computers work in order to fully use its potential. Other things that place it behind are not so wide hardware support compared to Windows and the somewhat confusing distro model.
Linux versions come in form of different distro packages and first-time users will face many of them being left in awe of which one to choose. Also installing drivers and software via a package system can also be a tedious task as well, often being that some version of the driver will not work on the newer version of the Linux distro.
Get a Linux machine if you are well versed in computer technology, if you want great customization of the OS itself or if you do not want to spend money on OS and software since almost entire Linux software is open source.
The Windows 10 operating system utilizes a variety of measures in order to track your app launches so that it can boost both your start and search results. It can personalize the start menu based on the apps that you use the most on the Start menu as well as the search results. This way, the App Launch Tracking is definitely useful especially when you want to access your favorite and frequently used apps quickly in the Start menu and search results on your Windows 10 computer.
On the other hand, Windows 10 provides users with the ability to control their privacy settings in order to protect the privacy of users. Windows 10 users can either opt to enable the app launch tracking to improve the start menu and search menu or opt to disable the app launch tracking in order to prevent the Windows operating system from tracking that you open if you really value your privacy that much. Whichever setting you prefer, you need to change the privacy control settings as well as make some tweaks in the Windows Registry in order to turn on or turn off the app launch tracking feature.
Option 1 – Turn off or turn on app launch tracking via Settings
Go to Settings and click on Privacy.
After that, toggle On the “Let Windows track app launches to improve Start and search results” option on the right side of the page under the General Settings to enable the app launch tracking feature.
And of course, if you wish to disable the app launch tracking feature, simply toggle Off the “Let Windows track app launches to improve Start and search results” option on the very same page under General Settings.
After that, close the Settings window.
Note: Keep in mind that when you disable the app launch tracking feature, the “Show most used app” setting will either be grayed out or labeled as “Disable” on your Windows 10 computer. Thus, if you want to keep viewing the most used apps, just re-enable the app launch tracking feature if you have disabled it.
Option 2 – Turn off or turn on app launch tracking via Windows Registry
Before you proceed, make sure to create a System Restore point
Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
Then type “Regedit” in the field and hit Enter or click OK to open the Registry Editor.
It is officially confirmed, Windows 11 release date is October 5th. Windows 11 will be released as a free upgrade to all registered Windows 10 users that have supported hardware for it.
The rest of the users will be able to install it via ISO file as a clean installation if their computer supports Windows 10 hardware requirements. The official price for the license for Windows 11 has not yet been set but I assume after release it will be set.
Priority for W11 will have users who are upgrading from W10 as stated by Microsoft.
Also, it was officially confirmed that Android apps will not be running natively in this first release of Windows 11, that feature will come in a future update, official statement below:
