Windows Tools, Help & Guides

Recently, we encouraged you to set (or change) a password for your Windows account. If you lose your password, you face the reality of losing access to your files and settings. In this guide, we show you how to create a password reset disk for your PC so, in a bind, you have an easy backdoor into your PC.

Note: you can also crack the password; however, a little preparation will save you the hassle of doing this.

Before you begin this guide, you’ll need the following:

• A USB drive (does not have to be empty)
• A current password set for your account (how to)

Read the rest of this entry »

While it may be relatively easy to crack a Windows account password, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use one. If your PC is mobile, you have even more reason to use this basic level of protection. This guide will show you how to set a Windows password or change your current password.
Read the rest of this entry »

If you use online banking, you may have noticed when you get your password wrong that the error in response is pretty generic i.e. “Wrong user name or password.” These error messages are pretty unhelpful; however, this is by design. If someone tries to compromise your account, do you really want them knowing they got the user name right and now just need to tackle the password? Probably not. The harder we make it to get in to our accounts, the less chance we have of opportunists getting to places we don’t want them to be. With that said, this guide will show you how to disable user name display on the Windows logon screen, for additional security.

Read the rest of this entry »

If there’s a piece of equipment that works hard in your PC, it’s your hard disk drive (HDD.) HDDs operate at anywhere between 4200 and 15000 RPM (perhaps higher) while in use. In other words, these things spin anywhere between 70 and 250 times a second—sometimes for days on end! While the information in this guide mostly applies to both HDDs and Solid State Drives (SSD), SSDs have no moving parts so some of the information will not apply.

With high speeds and enormous data transfers on a daily basis hard drive file systems, used to store and access all your data, are prone to corruption and failure. Thankfully, all versions of Windows come with a nifty, free tool called “Check Disk” (chkdsk.) In this guide, we’ll show you how to use Check Disk and explain a little about common errors to which hard drives are prone.

Read the rest of this entry »

We’re no strangers to App Stores. Headed by Apple, companies are adding their own stores to their platforms and Microsoft is following suit.

As always, we at Windows Guides take a topic (not well-known, difficult to understand/get facts, commonly explained wrongly) and do our best to explain it to you. Here’s what I’ve gathered thus far by answering the questions I have on the Windows Store.

Read the rest of this entry »

Due to a project at work I had to download the Windows 8 Developer Build the other day. Due to the fact that it’s a very early edition of the OS, running it as the main OS on a computer isn’t the best solution. But seeing as I didn’t want to run a VM I decided to set up a Dual Boot on my Dell Latitude. This Computer has Touch Screen and therefor the perfect computer to test the new Windows 8 Environment.

Windows 8 was installed on a separate partition and I expected it to show up in the OS Boot Menu. It didn’t. Instead the computer booted directly into Windows 8. No Boot menu.

The solution

Read the rest of this entry »