Windows Tips

Infopackets Bill P. writes: " Dear Dennis, I am using Windows 10 and Firefox. Recently I went to sign onto my banking website and entered in the wrong user name during the sign on. A few days later I went to sign onto the bank again and it seems ... that Firefox saved the incorrect user name to that field (note - I am not using the Firefox password manager to fill my fields, I am doing it manually). Normally when I visit my bank website, I enter in a few characters for my user name and then Firefox usually presents me with the correct user name as part of the field - sort of the same autocomplete ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Barb J. writes: " Dear Dennis, I just upgraded to Windows 10. When I click on 'This PC' from the Start menu, my drive letters are missing from Windows explorer. Previously, I was using Windows 7, and when I clicked on My Computer ... it would show the C drive (my hard drive), and D, E, and F drive which are memory card slots. Why are my drive letters missing from explorer in Windows 10? Is this a feature I can change? " My response: Sometimes when you do a major upgrade from one operating system to another, settings from the previous operating system get misconstrued and weird ... (view more)

How to Fix: Disable Airplane Mode in Windows 10 Infopackets Reader Eric H. writes: " Dear Dennis, When I used my computer last night (after returning home from work), I was immediately told that there was no Internet connection - none of my web ... browsers would work. I tried to reset my router by unplugging it, waiting a few seconds, and plugging it back in, but that did not help. With that said, I did notice that when I moved the mouse over the network icon in the system tray bar, a dialogue box says I have Airplane Mode turned on. I should mention this is a desktop PC. I managed to go to the ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader James R. writes: " Dear Dennis, I just upgraded to Windows 10 and something strange has happened to my Task Manager. When I press CTRL + ALT + DEL on the keyboard, then click on the 'Task Manager' option, it brings up the Task ... Manager window - but the top menu of Task Manager is missing. Normally I would see 'File', 'Options', 'View' menus, plus the tabs (such as Processes, Performance, Details, etc) but neither of those are present. What gives? " My response: According to Microsoft Knowledge Base Article #193050, what you are describing is Task Manager that is operating in ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader "Sue" writes: " Dear Dennis, I've recently upgraded to Windows 10 and now the 'My Computer' icon is missing from my desktop. Now I don't know how to get to my files! I am completely lost and also very frustrated. Can you help? " ... My response: If memory serves correct, the "My Computer" icon was removed from the desktop starting with Windows 8, and is now called "This PC". Personally, I have always used "My Computer" as a starting point whenever I need to access a file or folder located somewhere on my hard drive, so I am not really sure why Microsoft decided to stop placing ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader "Ainsley" writes: " Dear Dennis, I'm using Windows 10. My screen has two big black bars on either side of it taking up approximately 2 inches on each side, shrinking my available screen. I have tried updating the video driver and ... restarting. This did not help. I have googled the issue and found your article ' How to Fix: Windows 10 Black Border (Shrinking Screen) ', but I don't see the windows registry entry that starts with 'DALR6 DFPI'. Please advise. Thank you. " My response: This is one of the most frequently asked questions I receive, having written 5 articles on the ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader "Ivar" writes: " Dear Dennis, I just upgraded to Windows 10 and am using a monitor with 60hz and 1600x900 resolution. Since the upgrade, I have encountered problems with my screen shifting whenever I play some games. When this ... happens, my screen shifts to the left, leaving a black bar of about 4 centimeters on the right side. This only seems to happen when the games change resolution to 1024x768 - however, in Windows 7, changing resolutions worked flawlessly. I came across your article on how to calibrate your screen , and looked for the 'auto calibration' button you ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Elijah N. writes: " Dear Dennis, I have an HP laptop with Windows 10. Yesterday the laptop was working perfectly fine, but this morning I tried to turn it on and all I get is a black screen. The power light turns on, and the ... screen appears to be on (the screen backlight is on), but the screen is black and it won't boot into Windows 10. Nothing happens. What can I do to get my laptop working? " My response: This is a fairly common issue, and is either a hardware problem or a Windows boot problem. Some possibilities include: the laptop motherboard or display may have died, or ... (view more)

Infopackets Shelly R. writes: " Dear Dennis, Every once in a while, when I try and delete a folder on my network share, Windows tells me that 'This action can't be completed because the folder or file in it is open in another program'. I click the ... 'Try again' button multiple times but that rarely ever works. Can you please tell me why this keeps happening and what I can do to delete the file / folder? " My response: The reason why you receive the 'File in use' error (or 'Folder in use' error) is exactly that - the file or folder is in use by some other program, however, Windows isn't saying ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Jane T. writes: " Dear Dennis, I recently upgraded to Windows 10 and have been using the Edge browser fairly extensively. One thing that really bothers me is that when I first start Edge, it displays a bunch of photos on the ... screen, including: My News feed, News, Entertainment, Sports, Money, Lifestyle, and Autos. Is there any way to disable these permanently so that only Edge shows up? I really don't care to read any of those items - in fact, I'd much rather just have Google as my home page. Can you help? " My response: By default Edge will display the items you mention, ... (view more)