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Category: Windows

Microsoft Windows Operating Systems

Enable USB Quick Removal

In order to safely remove USB in Windows you can enable the Quick Removal feature in Device Manager

  1. For example in Windows 10 right-click the Start button (Windows Logo) and select Device Manager.
  2. Double-click Disk drives to expand it to see list of disk drives including your currently usb drive
  3. Right-click the usb drive and select Properties
  4. Click Policies tab and select “Quick removal (default)” radio button to enable it and click OK to save changes

This disables write caching to allow it to be remove without having to use “Safely Remove Hardware”

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Windows 10 Quick Assist

Run Windows 10 ‘Quick Assist’ to remotely assist someone with their PC.

‘Quick Assist’ , available from version 20H2 onwards, requires a Microsoft account.

  1. Right-click the Start button
  2. Click Search
  3. Type Quick Assist and hit Enter on your keyboard
  4. Ask remote user to do the same
  5. On your PC, click Assist another person
  6. Select your Microsoft account and login
  7. Give the six-digit code (see screenshot above) to the remote user to enter into the ‘Code from assistant’ box
  8. Remote user then clicks Share screen
  9. Assistant then chooses either Take full control of their PC or View only their desktop
  10. Remote user then clicks  Allow

Once connected,

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Windows 10 Edge New Tab Redirect

Google “Edge New Tab Redirect” to find Microsoft page to install extension

Edge New Tab Redirect Overview
Allows a user to provide the URL of the page that loads in a new tab.

Allows you to change the new tab page to the New Tab Redirect app page, or a custom URL of your choice!

Choose from chrome’s about pages, *NewTab, Extensions, Downloads, History*, a few popular URLs, or provide your own. Your custom tab can also be a local file,

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Blacklist or Whitelist WiFi Network Names

Windows terminal commands to Blacklist WiFi names (SSID’s) from view or Whitelist your own name (SSID) and block all others from view

Blacklist method

Block WiFi name:

netsh wlan add filter permission=block ssid="name" networktype=infrastructure

Unblock WiFi name:

netsh wlan delete filter permission=block ssid="name" networktype=infrastructure

Show all the Filters:

netsh wlan show filters

Whitelist method

Allow your own WiFi:

netsh wlan add filter permission=allow ssid="name" networktype=infrastructure

Deny all other WiFi:

netsh wlan add filter permission=denyall networktype=infrastructure

Delete deny all other WiFi filter:

netsh wlan delete filter permission=denyall networktype=infrastructure

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Chrome Remote Desktop Client Set Up

  1. On client PC open Chrome (or New Edge) and log into client Google account
  2. Browse to Chrome Remote Desktop Set-up page URL below:
    https://remotedesktop.google.com
  3. In section titled Set up remote access and click download icon
  4. In Chrome Web Store click Add to Chrome to add extension
  5. In Add “Chrome Remote Desktop” dialog click Add extension
  6. Close “Chrome Remote Desktop has been added”

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Change Google’s Glaring White Home Page Background

In Chrome and New Edge install Custom Style Script add-on to override Google’s home page background colour

In Custom Style Script select Open options Page and add the following URL and CSS

URL: https://www.google.com/ or country of choice, e.g. google.co.uk, google.de
CSS: body { background-color: lightgray !important; } or colour of choice

In Firefox Install the Stylus extension

Go to the Google home page, click the toolbar icon and choose Manage >

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Windows 10 Shortcuts

Keyboard shortcut Action
Ctrl + A Select all content.
Ctrl + C (or Ctrl + Insert) Copy selected items to clipboard.
Ctrl + X Cut selected items to clipboard.
Ctrl + V (or Shift + Insert) Paste content from clipboard.
Ctrl + Z Undo an action, including undelete files (limited).

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Fix Windows 10 Update Failures, e.g. Error 0x800f081f

Try running DISM and SFC commands to repair Windows system files. Once complete reboot and try running the update again.

DISM /Online /Cleanup-image /RestoreHealth

The above DISM command typically completes without issues, but if there are problems replacing the damaged files, you will need to provide another image using the Source option to complete the task. You can use an “install.wim” or “install.esd” file from another computer, bootable install media, or Windows 10 iso file. Make sure that the files match the version,

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Change Windows 10 Users Folder Name

  1. Run ‘command prompt’ as administrator” and enter following
  2. net user Administrator /active:yes
  3. Sign out
  4. Log in with “Administrator” account. If newly activated wait up until Windows sets up the account
  5. From Start Menu right-click on Start Menu icon and select ‘Computer Management’
  6. If “Local users and groups” not listed run steps below to install Local User and Group Management (lusrmgr.exe) Console for Windows 10 Home
  7. Click on “Local users and groups”
  8. Click ‘Users’.

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Add .wps and .xlr Works associations to Office 2010 Starter Edition

Do the following (with Admin account) to associate .wps (Works document) and .xlr (Works spreadsheet) file types to Word and Excel.

  1. Create Restore point to roll-back in case you make a mistake editing the Registry
  2. Run Regedit
  3. Locate HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ .doc
  4. Right-click .doc key and select Export and save to Desktop file as, e.g. docassoc.reg. The contents should look like the sample below.
  5. Repeat steps 3-4 for .xls
  6. Exit regedit
  7. In file File Explorer Copy &

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