Windows Tips

Infopackets Reader Tina J. writes: " Dear Dennis, I recently did a clean install of Windows 10 May 2019 Update (version 1903) on my main PC. My C drive is an SSD and only has 120GB of available space. As such, I have modified my the location of my ... Documents, Pictures, Music, and Video so that it points to the D drive which has 2TB of available space. In the past this hasn't been an issue, but since the Windows 10 May 2019 update, I cannot redirect my Pictures or Documents folder to the D drive - though both the Music and Videos folders had no problems changing locations. When I try to move ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Sammy G. writes: " Dear Dennis, I have a very strange problem. A few days ago my system upgraded to Firefox 67 . Now every time I click on an external link, a new Firefox window opens up instead of the link opening up in my ... existing Firefox window . Also, the new Firefox window doesn't have any of my addons enabled, which is strange. Before Firefox upgraded, all links opened up in my existing Firefox window. I have tried fixing the problem by setting Firefox as my default browser. I have also tried resetting my Windows 10 Default Programs browser to Edge, then back to ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Antonio S. writes: " Dear Dennis, I use torrents to download files on the Internet. To hide my IP address while torrenting, I use a VPN service. The problem is that sometimes I lose connection to my VPN service, and then my ... torrent client exposes my IP address to the rest of the world. This is a big problem because I wish to remain anonymous when torrenting. Can you tell me if there is a way to stop the torrent when VPN disconnects ? " My response: I spent some time researching this issue. The best way to prevent your real IP from being seen if your VPN disconnects is to ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Carol G. writes: " Dear Dennis, Since last week, my Windows 10 computer keeps showing a constant spinning blue circle instead of a white pointer. The spinning blue circle will appear for minutes at a time, then switch back to the ... white pointer for a brief second, then back to the spinning blue circle. Most of the time I can't click the Start button (or anything, for that matter) because the spinning blue circle won't let me click on anything. Even if the white pointer appears, if I click on something it takes 5 minutes for anything to happen. It's maddening! I've tried ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Tony G. writes: " Dear Dennis, Thanks for your previous article regarding RDP Wrapper , which allows me to connect to my media PC using more than one RDP (remote desktop protocol) session. This is incredibly convenient because the ... kids can be watching a movie on the media PC, I can still login to it through remote desktop without interrupting anything. The issue I'm having today is that Windows 10 recently updated to 10.0.17763.316 , and now RDP Wrapper is broken . I have gone to the RDP Wrapper website and found other users complaining of the same problem. Many forum posts ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Joe P. writes: " Dear Dennis, I understand that Microsoft has started releasing the Windows 10 May 2019 update. These updates align with the twice-a-year large updates and require the computer to restart several times during the ... update process. I have had problems with Windows 10 feature updates in the past and want to block the Windows 10 May update from installing on my machine in case there are major issues being reported. What do I need to do to block the Windows 10 May update? " My response: Generally speaking I don't advise blocking any Windows Updates (even feature ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Jerry B. writes: " Dear Dennis, With Windows 7 reaching end of life in January 2020, I decided to upgrade my machine to Windows 10. Everything went fine without a hitch, except for one small issue. The Windows 10 task bar is very ... difficult to read - especially the clock and any running tasks. I have another Windows 10 machine that I use daily and I can clearly see the writing on the task bar. I have searched Google for ' windows 10 taskbar unreadable ' and 'windows 10 task bar font black' and 'windows 10 task bar text too dark', and similar searches, but I can seem to nail ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Bill H. writes: " Dear Dennis, I was on Amazon.com and suddenly a warning message appeared, stating that my PC was infected with a virus and to call 1-866-666-1917 to fix the problem. There was no way to close the window. I called ... the number and spoke to a fellow at Smart PC Experts ( smartpcexperts.com ), who had a very thick Indian accent . They convinced me that my PC was infected with the Zeus Trojan and it needed to be fixed. I allowed them remote access to my machine and they installed some software. After that, they demanded $499 as payment for their services. I was ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Cindee T. writes: " Dear Dennis, The other day I was using my web browser and suddenly received a message that my computer was infected and to call 855-551-7666 to have it fixed. There was no way to close the warning screen - I ... was scared and didn't know what to do! I called the number and spoke to ' Right PC Experts ' ( rightpcexperts.com ). The person I spoke to had a very thick Indian accent . To fix the virus warning, he remotely logged into my computer and installed a bunch of security programs, by the names of 'Anti hacking', 'Email Security', 'Network Firewall' and ' ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader 'JustRosy' writes: " Dear Dennis, I have a laptop that I use daily, and for security reasons I want my WiFi permanently disabled in Windows 10 . Unfortunately my Windows 10 laptop WiFi does not have an 'on / off' switch which ... would disable my WiFi permanently. Instead, I have been using Windows 10 "airplane mode" to disable the WiFi, but this doesn't work 100% of the time because my WiFi seems to activate spontaneously. I am super paranoid about having a WiFi connection because I don't believe there is a 100% secure WiFi, and therefore I don't ever want to use WiFi on my ... (view more)