Top Tips for Hidden Windows 10 features
(Including “GodMode”!)
Folks, here’s an article you “Power Users” who’ve got the new Windows 10 will want to read…
* GodMode and More: Top Hidden Win 10 Tricks
“Here’s what you need to know to amp up your Windows 10 install and get the most from the latest Windows version.” Read more..
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Today’s quote: “I believe that if life gives you lemons, you should make lemonade… And try to find somebody whose life has given them vodka, and have a party.” ~ Ron White
Copyright 2007-2015 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.
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All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.
How To Boost Windows Ten’s Performance
Those of you who have ‘upgraded’ to Windows 10, and like to ‘tweak’ their machines for best performance, may want to read the following article —
* 10 Tips to Speed Up Windows 10
“Windows 10 is faster than the previous versions of Microsoft’s OS, but you can still speed up your PC with our tricks.” Read more…
[ Those of you ‘Power Users’ who have been using Windows for years probably won’t find anything really new here.. ]
Today’s quote: “Have courage for the great sorrows of life and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace.” ~ Victor Hugo
Copyright 2007-2015 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.
>> Folks, don’t miss an article! To get Tech – for Everyone articles delivered to your e-mail Inbox, click here, or to subscribe in your RSS reader, click here. <<
All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.
How To: Troubleshooting and repairing Windows 10
For those folks who declined to follow my advice, (to hold off at least 3 months) and already have ‘upgraded’ to Microsoft’s latest operating system.
* Troubleshooting and repairing Windows 10
“Windows 10 has been in wide release for only a few months so far, and as with any version 1.0 release some early adopters are experiencing issues. Here’s Ed Bott’s guide to some time-tested troubleshooting tools and techniques.” Read more..
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Today’s quote: “No matter what you’re going through, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel and it may seem hard to get to it but you can do it and just keep working towards it and you’ll find the positive side of things.” ~ Demi Lovato
Copyright 2007-2015 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.
>> Folks, don’t miss an article! To get Tech – for Everyone articles delivered to your e-mail Inbox, click here, or to subscribe in your RSS reader, click here. <<
All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.
How To Remove A Stuck CD (and a software giveaway)
Troubleshooting a slot drive
I still fiddle with my iMac, and the other day I came across a problem which has spawned today’s “how to” topic — namely, the DVD I was had been watching would not eject out of the ‘slot’. And, the iMac doesn’t have the paperclip hole to forcibly eject a disc from the “superdrive”.
image source: bindapple
The official Apple methods for getting a disc to eject go like this:
- Press and hold the Eject key on your keyboard.
- Right-click (control-click) on the disks icon on the Desktop and select “Eject” from the contextual menu
- Drag the disks icon to the Trash bin within the Dock
- Select the disc’s icon and hit “Command-E”
More advanced Mac stuck disk eject methods
- Launch Disk Utility and select the CD/DVD from the sidebar. Click the Eject icon at the top of the Disk Utility screen.
- Launch the Terminal and type following command:
drutil eject, and hit the Return key. - If those fail, try restarting your Mac and hold down the mouse button (or trackpad button if you have a laptop) as the system “boots”. Keep holding it down until the system fully restarts (or the disc pops out, whichever comes first).
None of those worked for me, so I had to resort to a manual method. The first thing to try is to tip the machine so the disc drive is vertical to the horizon (slot down), so that gravity can assist, while trying one of the eject methods above.. maybe giving a little shake as well. Hopefully, your disc will “fall out”.
Gravity (and shaking) didn’t help me, so it was time to reach in there with something. Tempting though it is, tweezers are not the tool of choice (as they can/will scratch the disc). I used a stiff business card (though a credit card can work too) with a length of double-sided tape pressed on. Insert the card at the “top” (long side closest to the screen/disc’s ‘label side’) of the slot, with the sticky tape toward the back of the machine (the bottom of the disc drive) and then “fish” the disc out by a slight to-the-back (away)-and-out motion.
If it simply will not come out (even with tweezers), you probably will require disassembly, and probably will need to visit a tech.
Software giveaway: I noticed a decent limited-time software giveaway on BitsDuJour.. which seems to be experiencing some technical difficulties, but you may want to sign up anywho.
Wise Care 365 PRO for PC – Coming Soon
100% Off
$54.00
= $0“Wise Care 365 PRO is a comprehensive PC tune-up utility that promises to keep your Windows PC secure and running at peak performance.” more
Unrelated: where did this week go?
Also unrelated: 7 Things Your Body Language Is Telling Your Boss
“From the way you sit in your chair to the color of your tie, nonverbal communication can have a big impact on your professional life. Here’s some advice.” Read more..
Looking back..: Junk mail looks just like it did back in 1997.. doesn’t it?
Because, why change a good thing, right?
Today’s quote: “We are, perhaps, uniquely among the earth’s creatures, the worrying animal. We worry away our lives.” ~ Lewis Thomas
Copyright 2007-2013 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.
>> Folks, don’t miss an article! To get Tech – for Everyone articles delivered to your e-mail Inbox, click here, or to subscribe in your RSS reader, click here. <<
All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.
CD drive won’t read discs
Folks, here is a question I received that I think is of ‘general benefit’ to all to know.
Q: Hi Tech Paul.
The disc player in my Dell Optiplex has started to ignore cds and dvds that I burned myself but still can play those that I purchased or rent. What’s going on? Do I need a new codec?
A: Dear Reader,
No, you do not need a new “codec“. I suspect that your “reading” trouble is due simply to dust/dirt on the laser’s lens. Blowing on it with compressed air (such as from a can of the venerable Dust Off) should resolve your problem. (If you cannot see the little lens unit, open the tray, and blow around in there as best you can.)
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Today’s quote: “The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.” ~ Isaac Asimov
Copyright 2007-2013 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.
>> Folks, don’t miss an article! To get Tech – for Everyone articles delivered to your e-mail Inbox, click here, or to subscribe in your RSS reader, click here. <<
All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.
A couple of software reco’s
It’s kind of odd.. but since I went into semi-Retirement, I’ve been busier than ever.
I have been reminded recently that a couple of free software utilities I use, well, I cannot recall if I’ve ever mentioned them to you guys… as they are rather Geeky (aka not “for everyone”).
* First up is a file copy/transfer utility. TeraCopy isn’t anything fancy, it just makes Windows work like it should, when working with big copy/transfer jobs. It’s free for personal use.
“One of the most common complaints about newer versions of Windows is the slow copying speed, especially when transferring lots of files over the network. If you want to speed up your copying or if you regularly transfer large amounts of data and have to stop the process to perform some other disk-intensive task, this program may be just what you need.” Check it out here.
* Next up is a “boot disc”. Now, most of you will not ever have call for a boot disc, or need to know how to use one, but if you know what they are, and don’t know about UBCD4Win, well I suggest you take a look.
“UBCD4Win is a bootable recovery CD that contains software used for repairing, restoring, or diagnosing almost any computer problem. Our goal is to be the most complete and easy to use free computer diagnostic tool.” Check it out here.
One of the things I use the UBCD4Win most often is to make “images” (backups/”clones”) of a hard drive using DriveImageXML, but you do not need to use a boot disc to take advantage of this free disk imaging/archiving tool. (It is a ‘standalone’ app that’s been bundled onto UBCD.)
“DriveImage XML is an easy to use and reliable program for imaging and backing up partitions and logical drives. Image creation uses Microsoft’s Volume Shadow Services (VSS), allowing you to create safe “hot images” even from drives currently in use. Images are stored in XML files, allowing you to process them with 3rd party tools. Never again be stuck with a useless backup! Restore images to drives without having to reboot. DriveImage XML is now faster than ever, offering two different compression levels. ” Check it out here.
Today’s quote: “Everybody ought to do at least two things each day that he hates to do, just for practice.” ~ William James
Copyright 2007-2013 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.
>> Folks, don’t miss an article! To get Tech – for Everyone articles delivered to your e-mail Inbox, click here, or to subscribe in your RSS reader, click here. <<
All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.
• About Tech Paul
I am a Retired computer & network technician. I used to think the machines were pretty cool. Now I don’t.
They’re anything but.
I regularly posted how-to’s and tricks & tips and general computing advice here starting in 2007. (Use the Search tool to find answers. But be aware, many are rather dated.) Sometimes I answered (your) specific questions in an article if I believed the answer was generally helpful to “everyone”. All the writing you see was my own, typos and all. There always is/was an implied “IMHO” in what you see here.
Note: You are responsible for using this blog and its content. I am in no way liable for any losses caused by user error, viruses and/or other malware, hardware or software failure, or any other conceivable reason.
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