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..
* * *
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.
>> 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 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.
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.
Questions Answered plus You Might Want To Know
For today’s Grab Bag, I am going to answer some reader questions, and point out a couple of items of interest.
|
||||
| Samsung E2420L 23.6″ LCD Monitor – 70,000:1, 5ms, 1920X1080, VGA/DVI | ||||
|
||||
| *When you use Promo Code 51D1AAE for $20.00 off |
First up: we all know bigger is better (in tech, anyway). And nowhere in your “computing experience” is that more evident than the size of your monitor. There are three ways to really improve (aka “upgrade”) your computing:
1) buy fastest Internet (aka “speed”, aka “bandwidth”) and,
2) have a big, bright monitor and,
3) add RAM.
I spotted a deal today that makes upgrading to a 24″ monitor hard to resist (VGA, DVI).
Reader Questions Answered:
Q: “Can you recommend some cooking games for girls?”
A: I am sorry, Dear Reader, but I cannot help you out with that question. Perhaps people in the audience can help us out with some suggestions.
Q: “How can I get more wifi than my roommate?”
A: Well, short of planting limiting software on their machine, you really can’t (short of bringing in your own Internet line..). But there are some ‘tweaks’ you can make to your router which can help you get as much as is possible. (See, How To Limit Your Roommate’s Bandwidth)
Q: “How can I attract all the bandwidth to my Xbox via a laptop?”
A: That really isn’t how networking works. If you really want the fastest online experience, whatever the Internet-connected device, you want to use wires (aka “Ethernet cables”). If you’re using Wi Fi, you want the fewest devices accessing the ‘net as possible.. so turn off your laptop’s wifi when Xbox-ing. Unless .. you are “tethering” your Xbox to the laptop to gain a Internet connection, for some reason.. which is the worst way to do it and will have serious lag. (See, Wired or Wireless?*)
Q: “Does Gigabit router multiply megabit Internet speeds?”
A: Again, that isn’t how networking works, so no, it doesn’t. Purchasing a higher service level from your ISP is the only real way to increase your Internet speed. (See, Gigabit Ethernet Didn’t Make Internet Faster)
Q: “Can you put more than one virus protection on a tablet?”
A: Well, you could.. but you do not want to. Antiviruses most often do not play well together. (And spend more time fighting each other than protecting you.)
|
Q: “Is there any way to look at logs of what website my kids visited through a linksys router???”
A: I know you can blacklist (block) websites but, I have not looked that deep into Linksys router config’s since, basically, when Wireless N came out (i.e. all the Linksys models I own, and support, are older) so I’d have to look up “DNS lookup logging” or “domains accessed logging” to answer that specifically. (If you set your DNS server to OpenDNS, they do free DNS logging.) You can look for a “Logs” tab in your (router’s) Control Panel. Generally speaking, I doubt your router creates logs that you could easily see where they visited.
But, if your child has erased their browser’s History, my (technician’s) advice is to install parental control/monitoring software; such as the excellent and free K9 Web Protection or Norton’s Family Protection services (Norton Family is free).
And finally.. Not a bad price on a higher-end 7″ Tablet..
That’s all I have time for today.
Today’s quote: “At sixty, I know little more about wisdom than I did at thirty, but I know a great deal more about folly.” ~ Mason Cooley
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.
Christmas, two years ago..*
I hope you will enjoy this T4E “flashback” (and forgive the sloppy writing..)
Today marks the beginning of the long holiday weekend and many of you will be traveling to be with your loved ones, and I hope your travels will be safe ones. Go forth and spread joy and ease pain, and enjoy the blessings of life during this special time of year. We here at Tech–for Everyone Headquarters (that is to say, me, myself, and I) wish you the very best of Holidays.
And now, how’s about I answer a few reader-submitted questions?
Q: How do I copy a picture from a webpage? I want to paste it into my document, but Ctrl+C doesn’t work.
A: This method will not work because of the way webpages are actually displayed (the way HTML works). Images (and certain other elements) are stored separately on the webserver and must be downloaded to your browser. And there’s code in the webpage that ‘points’ to that image, and ‘place-holder’ code to tell your browser where the image is supposed to go. When you open a webpage that contains images, your browser follows these pointers and downloads the image from the server for display. If you’ve ever had had a slow Internet connection, you have witnessed this process: first the text appears, and then the banner image, and then the first image, and so on, as each element downloads.
When you find an image on the Internet that you would like a copy of, you must tell your computer to download a copy to your machine, and not your browser. To do so, right-click on the image to open the context menu.
Now click on “Save Picture As”. This will open a Save As dialogue, and you will choose where to save it, give it a name, and so on, just as you would do any other Save.
Once the image file is downloaded to your computer, you can do with it what you will… such as Insert it into your document.
I would like to remind you, Dear Reader, that creative property, like photography, is the property of the creator; and that publishing their work without their permission is a violation of the law– it doesn’t matter if you’re making money from their property or not. So please exercise restraint and follow the law when grabbing images off of the Web.
Generally speaking, using an image for purely personal use, such as using it as a screensaver, is okay. But when presenting the image for others to see, you must search out a “royalty free” or “public domain” image, such as this, season appropriate image.
Q: My Internet is slow. How can I speed it up?
A: There are many “tweaks” that people say improve the speed of your Internet connection. And there are programs, called “speedboosters” that claim to increase your Internet speed by up to 600%.
You may have noticed — from my choice of language — that I am not overly enthusiastic about these, and that’s correct. I’m not.
These “speedbooster” programs do, in fact, use a different method for fetching information from the Web — a method similar to how a Download Manager program works — and using one may occasionally appear to make your connection faster, but by and large I consider them to be.. well.. not worth the money. I do recommend using a free download manager if you frequently download programs or/and large files, but I do not recommend a “speedbooster”.
The only real way to have a faster Internet connection is to purchase more bandwidth– described as bits-per-second. This can be done by moving to a faster connection type, such as moving from dial-up to DSL, or paying for a higher level of service. The availabilty of type and service-level is often controlled by your geographical location.
Today’s free link: To locate and identify what types of Internet service is available where you live, a service locator is the way to go: such as the one at the very useful website, DSL Reports. (No. It is not just for DSL.)
If upgrading to faster type of connection simply is not possible where you live, you may be able to “tweak” your TCP/IP Settings for slightly better performance. This involves changing things in the Windows Registry, and so I recommend that you use a safe tool to try this (if you try it at all), and the best of these can be found on the “Tools” page at DSL Reports. Use the tools there to determine if there are any problems with your settings, and follow the recommendations (particularly, “Tweak Test”). Then download Dr. TCP and make the adjustments recommended by the Tweak Test tool to “optimize” your connection. Run another speed test or two (or three). If there’s no improvement, use Dr. TCP to revert to your previous settings.
* Orig post: 12/21/08
Copyright 2007-2010 © “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. <<
| Share this post : |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Reader Question: Slow downloads problem
Q: Hello, my normal internet speed is 50kb/s. But Now when I download programs, It’s always very slow from 3kb/s- 9kb/s. How can I fix this problem?
~ Mitchell 
A: Mitchell,
I have to assume you really do mean to use a little “b” (“bits”; a “B” is “bytes”) which tells me that you are on a dial-up Internet connection.
I also have to assume you only get this slow down when actually downloading files.
Okay. My answer is two parts.
1) If it is at all possible, get off of dial-up. Dial-up technology was fine for the era when it was used (1985-1998) – teletype, e-mail, and text-only websites. Look to http://www.broadbandreports.com/search to find a ‘high speed’ (aka “Broadband”) provider in your area. Or, maybe, look at satellite. (Frankly, I would not use dial-up, except to send an SOS.) 3kbps, even 3KBps, is ridiculously slow… slow to the point of un-usability.
2) There are two factors which determine speed: your ability to receive, and the server’s ability to send. File servers are (almost) always set to use a low speed.. “low” meaning 300KB’s or so (800 x’s faster than your getting) as well as use a different protocol (FTP). If upgrading your service is simply not doable, for some reason, about the only thing you can do is use a download manager program to break up the file into several parts, and establish multiple ‘requests’ to download those parts simultaneously. (Firefox does this automatically) I have not used a download manager in over a decade, so I am unfamiliar with the current crop, and don’t have any personal recommendation, but CNet Editors give this one, Internet Download Manager, five stars.
Related: This article has some good tips for dial-up users: Browse the Web Faster on a Slow Internet Connection
To see what your bits-per-second are, click here, http://www.speedtest.net, and then click “Begin test”.
Quote of the week: “The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right time, but also to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.”
Reading reco: NEW Online Photo Sharing Service that is Drag and Drop Easy
“There are numerous ways to post and share photos (or pictures) on the internet; however, the processes to share your photos can be quite confusing.
If you are looking for an online service that makes photo sharing fast, fun and easy, then take a look at.. (more)”
Copyright 2007-2010 © “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. <<
| Share this post : | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Brief Lesson In Networking: Gigabit Ethernet*
Reader asks why upgrading to Gigabit Ethernet didn’t improve their Web surfing speed.
(Folks, I am networking a new office today and do not have time to write a new article. This article demonstrates some fundamental concepts of “networking” computers together, as well as “Internet speed”.)
Q: “I recently purchased a Linksys WRT 310 wireless router that has four Gigabit ports. My Dell desktop is a XPS which I was told was “Top of the Line” has a built-in gigabit port. I even purchased new cables to make sure my network was going to be “gigabit”. I hooked it all up and I don’t see any improvement in my internet. The salesman told me that “gigabit” was the fastest.. so how come I’m not surfing faster? Did I do something wrong or do I need to buy a different brand? Thanx.”
A: No, you (most likely) didn’t do anything “wrong”, and you don’t need to buy a different router.
Let me, first of all, cover a few “basics” (see also, Wired or Wireless?*)
Kilo = 1,000 = thousand
Mega = 1,000,000 = million
Giga = 1,000,000,000 = billion
And then let me ask you to look at a simple network diagram.
In this diagram, the Internet is represented by the “cloud” (thus.. “cloud computing”) and I made it appropriately dark and stormy. The Internet connection is represented as the yellow zigzag — this can be a phone line (dial-up, DSL, IDSN) or cable, or satellite, or WiFi.
The blue arrows are the Ethernet cabling of your network (aka “LAN”) which is now Gigabit.
For sake of argument, I made the Internet connection a cable High-speed connection, and I made the download speed a Premium-grade 12 Mbps .. 12 “megabits” per second. Note that I said “download speed”. Unless you order a special line into your home/office, your “Internet speed” is always your download speed. And, your “upload” speeds are always significantly slower.. as represented by the 486 kilobits per second.
The lines (cables) you changed are the blue arrow lines. And so, yes, you have billion-bit lines there (Gigabit). You have multiplied by a thousand the theoretical rate at which computers A, B, and C can “talk” to the router and to each other. You did not change how the modem and the cloud are talking. That is still 12 Megabits down/point 486 (.486) Megabytes up.
Your Internet speed is controlled by two things: one, your service “level” (3 Mbps is more expensive than 1.5, and 6 Mbps is even more expensive, etc.) and two, the technology that can come into your home — dial-up, DSL, ISDN, Satellite, cable, wireless, and fibre-optic.
Because your desktop can “talk” to the router at a higher rate of bits, you might notice a very slight improvement in surfing speed.. but, if you want faster Internet, you have to upgrade either your service level, or/and the method it comes in on (change the yellow zigzag) .. For example, upgrading from dial-up to cable.
The advantage to Gigabit Ethernet comes in when transferring data across the LAN.. say, from computer A to computer B. Such as if you are backing up the files on A over to B, or “streaming” videos from C to A and B.
The Linksys is a good router (though I read that it runs hot, so you want to keep it in an open, well-ventilated area) and all-Gigabit on your LAN is a “good thing”.
I think you were simply expecting the wrong results from your upgrade.
Today’s free link: Curious as to what speed your ISP is really providing? Click here, and pick the “server location” nearest to you. You’ll see both your upload and download speeds. Flash required.
Orig post: 3/8/09
** 3 Chances To Win A Valuable Prize! **
1) The folks at Eset have generously donated ten licenses for NOD32 Antivirus 4, to award to my readers. You might not have heard of Eset or NOD32, but it has quietly been around, and winning awards, since the early 90′s (the days of DOS).
To enter the drawing, please see: Software License Giveaway: NOD32 Antivirus 4 Enter my current giveaway and (possibly) win!
2) For those of you who missed out on winning a business-use license for LAlarm, you have another chance as Gizmos For Geeks is currently running a drawing contest for 30 licenses (yes, 30!). To go there and enter, click here. (The site is certainly worth a visit even if you aren’t interested in this contest, so check it out.)
3) PC World’s $25K Dream Come True Sweepstakes. (prizes awarded daily)
Copyright 2007-2010 © Tech Paul. All Rights Reserved. 
post to jaanix.
>> 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. <<
| Share this post : | |
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
• 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.
-
Say "thank you!" Buy Tech Paul a cup of coffee (and keep T4E ad free).
-
-
McAfee® Cybersafety Resource Portal, an online help center designed to assist victims of computer crime and provide information on how to avoid becoming a victim.
-
Subscribe to Tech--for Everyone by EmailRecent Comments
-
-
-
-
Also:
-
-
Tech - for Everyone 