user account

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 Sam G. writes: " Dear Dennis, I get emails from hackers a few times a week saying that they have cracked my email account. As proof, they have supplied me with the correct password for the account. The message goes on to say that ... they have planted a Trojan on my computer which allows them to spy on me. Here's where it gets interesting. The hackers say I have been visiting websites of people in the buff. They are demanding I pay them bitcoin (worth $831) to keep this quiet, otherwise they will send images from the purported site I've visited and also a picture of me on my ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Sam R. writes: " Dear Dennis, I am running Windows 10 and I have installed RDP Wrapper (per your previous article). This allows more than one person to use the same Windows computer via remote desktop - this is very convenient if ... you have a 'server' computer and want to use it for multiple purposes. I have a question: I would like to be able to hide the remote desktop user accounts I want to use on the server from being displayed on the Windows 10 login screen. Do you know how I can do this? " My response: It is possible to hide user accounts from the Windows 7, 8 and 10 ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Sam R. writes: " Dear Dennis, The other day I wanted to connect to my wife's PC using Remote Desktop, but the Remote Desktop settings are missing. I've right clicked 'This PC', then selected Properties, then clicked on the 'Remote ... Desktop' link, but all I see is an option for 'Remote assistance' - there is no option for 'Remote Desktop' as there is on my machine. She is running Windows 10 Home. What gives? " My response: Unfortunately, there is no way to manage the Remote Desktop service using Windows Home versions; you need the "Pro" version of Windows to be able to use ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Sammy G. writes: " Dear Dennis, I just upgraded to Windows 10 following your advice. Everything looks great, however, my Windows 10 clock is missing - it's just up and gone - completely disappeared! I don't understand how or why ... the windows 10 clock went missing, but I'd like to get it back. Can you help? " My response: Based on my experience, the Windows 10 clock can disappear in one of two ways: either by a misplaced (or corrupt) system setting, or if your user account - or Windows itself - is corrupt. How to Fix: Windows 10 Clock Missing Adjusting Task Bar Settings ... (view more)

How to Fix: 'Your Power Plan Information isn't Available' Infopackets Reader Cindy G. writes: " Dear Dennis, I am running Windows 7 Pro and I'm trying to defrag my hard drive. I'm using Piriform Defraggler and it says that it will take over a day to ... complete. That's fine - however, every time I shut my monitor off and leave the computer to do its work, it keeps going to sleep. I have gone to the Power Options in the Windows Control Panel, but all I see is a message stating that 'Your power plan information isn't available'. I am completely perplexed by this as I have a Windows 7 laptop and my ... (view more)

" Dear Dennis, I work in an office on a desktop PC. If I am away from the PC, anyone in the office can hop onto my computer and access my emails because the 'offline access' to my emails feature is enabled. I have no idea how to turn it off! How can ... I prevent others from accessing my emails while I'm away? " My response: The quick and short answer is that disabling offline access to emails depends on the application or service you're using - most likely somewhere in your user account settings if you're using something like Gmail, or possibly in the "Tools -> Options" menu if you're using ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Gerry O. writes: " Dear Dennis, I am running windows 8.1 and have a program that reports an ntdll.dll failure. Will an upgrade to Windows 10 (not clean install) create a new ntdll.dll file, would I need to do a clean install of ... windows 10? Is there another way of getting a clean ntdll.dll file without upgrading? " My response: The file ntdll.dll is typically located in c:\windows\system32, and in very old versions of Windows (such as Windows XP), in the c:\i386 directory. The ntdll.dll file is a legitimate dynamic link library file (DLL) and is referred to as the "NT Layer ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Sheila P. writes: " Dear Dennis, How do I disable my Windows 10 password so I can log into Windows 10 automatically? Ever since I upgraded to Windows 10 I have to enter in my email address and then a password. Before using Windows ... 10, I was using Windows 7 and the system booted straight into the desktop. I want to do the same thing with Windows 10. Can you help? " My response: It is possible to login to Windows 10 without a password, but doing so is a very poor security policy. If someone were to gain access to your device (whether it was by remote or locally), they could ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Craig D. writes: " Dear Dennis, In the past I've used the msconfig utility many times to clear items from the Windows Startup. However, recently I tried to run msconfig and Windows reports that msconfig has stopped responding and ... my PC freezes. This is very frustrating! Any ideas why my msconfig stopped working? " My response: This is a very common problem, though you didn't say which Windows operating system you're using. As such, I'll provide solutions for Window XP and onward because most likely other users are having the same problem. Here are ... (view more)