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Windows 10 Best Tips and Tricks

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Below are some of the best trips and tricks for users of Windows 10:

New keyboard shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts reduce your dependency on the mouse and also help save time. Here are some new keyboard shortcuts in Windows 10:

  • Create new virtual desktop – Windows key + Ctrl + D
  • Switch virtual desktop – Windows key + Ctrl + Left or Right
  • Close current virtual desktop – Windows key + Ctrl + F4
  • Snapping Window – Windows key + Left or Right
  • Switch to recent window – Alt + Tab
  • Task view – Windows + Tab

Customization

Windows 10 offers GodMode which gives you access to 262 ‘god-like’ powers.  It allows you to access some additional features and tools to tweak your Windows experience. Here are some tips to use the GodMode in Windows 10:

Activate GodMode

  1. Create a new folder anywhere. We suggest you create a folder on desktop so that it is easily accessible to you
  2. Rename the folder as “GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}“. Once you rename the folder, the folder icon will change to a control panel icon
  3. Open the folder to check your customization options

The customization options don’t end at GodMode. Windows 10 offers a host of customization options that give you control over the color of your Start Menu, Taskbar, and Search bar.

  1. Open Start Menu
  2. Right-click in any empty space and select Personalize
  3. The Color and Appearance dialog shows up and you can select any color from the palette

Tablet Mode

If you are having a hybrid laptop, here’s how you can turn the Tablet mode on and off.

  1. Open Settings
  2. Go to System Group
  3. Under Make Windows more touch-friendly, tap on On/Off to enter or leave Tablet Mode
  4. You can configure your device to determine what to do when it switches to Tablet Mode. For example, you may want all your app icons to show or hide in Tablet mode.

Stop annoying Office ads

If the pop-up ads that appear frequently on the screen are annoying, there is a way to stop them. You can go ahead and uninstall the Get Office app that is installed by default or you can stop the ads by following the steps below:

  1. Go to Settings > System > Notifications & actions
  2. Click on “Disable notifications from Get Office”

The above tips will help you customize your Windows experience while the keyboard shortcuts will help improve the speed and efficiency of your work.

Tips to fix external hard drive issues in Windows 10

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Many Windows 10 users have reported experiencing this problem. Whenever they connect an external hard drive to a USB 3.0 port, the computer fails to read it.  Nothing happens and no new drive is displayed in the File Explorer window.

Below is the solution for external hard drive not recognized by Windows 10.

Steps to uninstall and reconnect external hard drive

  1. Click the Start button on the desktop
  2. Type device manager in the search box
  3. Click on Device Manager that appears in the list of results
  4. In the Device Manager window, click on Disk Drives
  5. Click on “>” to expand the hardware list
  6. Right-click the external hard drive with the issue and click Uninstall
  7. After uninstalling, unplug the external hard drive from your computer
  8. Wait for a minute and plug the external hard drive again into one of the USB ports
  9. Windows will load new device drivers for the external hard drive
  10. You should see the external hard drive in Windows Explorer

If the above step do not solve the problem, you need to reinstall USB controllers. This solution works especially when the loaded USB driver has become unstable or corrupted. Follow the steps given below to reinstall USB controllers.

Steps to Reinstall USB controllers

  1. Open the Device Manager
  2. Go to Universal Serial Bus Controllers in the list
  3. Click on “>” to expand the list
  4. Right click on a device, select Uninstall. Repeat the procedure for all devices in the list
  5. Once done, restart the computer
  6. Windows 10 will automatically install USB Controllers upon restart

If you are still experiencing the external hard drive issue, you need to disable USB selective setting in your computer.

Steps to disable USB selective setting

  1. Click the battery icon in the task-bar of your computer
  2. Beside your currently selected Power plan, look for the ‘Change Plan Settings’ link and click it
  3. Select the “Change advanced power settings” option
  4. Click the “+” beside USB Settings to expand options
  5. Click on “+” to expand USB selective suspend settings
  6. Click the link adjacent to Plugged in option
  7. From the drop-down menu select disabled option
  8. If you are using a laptop, click on Battery option
  9. Click the drop down menu and select Disabled
  10. Click Apply
  11. Click OK

To be on safe side, always make a point of creating a restore point, so that you can revert to your original settings if any of the above solutions do not work for you.

If none of the solutions work and you need to download Driver Updates, you can use a reliable driver update tool.

Need to enhance sound on your computer?

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People are increasingly using their laptop and desktop computers to listen to music as well as other audio files. It seems strange therefore that the most used operating systems don’t have a built in option to enhance sound. If you are one of the majority who plays music through their computer, then you have probably been frustrated by the lack of this feature.

Some programs such as YouTube and iTunes have a built in equalizer that enables you to improve the sound by adjusting the treble, bass, and more but most programs don’t have this feature.

EqualizerPro is a program that was designed to address this gap. It is a piece of software that works off your operating system and lets you enhance the audio on your PC, regardless of what program you are using. It works well with any program that produces sound – both music and voice. This way you know you’ll always get the best quality sound whether you’re watching a movie, listening to music, or Skyping a friend or business colleague.

How many times have you found yourself in a situation where you’re watching a movie on YouTube, Vimeo or even a Facebook video with no option to adjust the sound? Once you have EqualizerPro installed on your computer it doesn’t matter where the sound is generated from (your browser, your favorite music software, etc.) it’s now adjustable.

EqualizerPro is not limited only to music. The next time you’re on a Skype call, open EqualizerPro and adjust the bands until you find the best and clearest sound. All you have to do is then save those settings as a new preset. From then on, with each Skype call simply select that preset, enabling you to experience far superior sound levels. You can also try the ‘Spoken Word’ preset that comes pre-programmed, specifically created for spoken conversations.

When it comes to the user experience, EqualizerPro tries to bring a clean and simple user interface. It has a sleek, minimalist look-and-feel that is very user friendly. The navigation is simple and lots of the functionality can be accessed by a simple mouse click. You can manually adjust the bands as you’re listening, use one of the 20+ preset programmes, or create custom presets for each of your audio needs. You’ll get so used to a great listening experience that you’ll forget EqualizerPro is there but if it’s turned off, you’ll immediately notice the difference!

EqualizerPro is not free but it is affordable, with a price tag of $14.95 for 1 PC and $34.95 for 3 PCs – well worth the investment if you need better sound quality for music or any audio functions on your computer.