PC repair company? One of the quickest ways to free up space is to sort through your Downloads folder and delete anything that you don’t need anymore. This could include old installers for programs, downloaded music and videos, and large documents. Deleting programs you don’t use anymore can also free up a lot of space. This is especially true with some video games, which can take 30 GB or more of your hard disk space. For information on deleting programs in Windows, click here. For Mac, click here. The Disk Cleanup tool in Windows will scan for files that you no longer use. It can free up a large amount of space. Click here for details on running it.

With the recent Equifax breach, it’s more important than ever for consumers to safeguard their online accounts and monitor their credit reports. A credit freeze is the most effective way for you to protect your personal credit information from cyber criminals right now. Essentially, it allows you to lock your credit and use a personal identification number (PIN) that only you will know. You can then use this PIN when you need to apply for credit. Hacking, phishing, and malware incidents are becoming the number one cause of security breaches today. But, what’s more troubling, these hacking attempts are the result of human errors in some way. Education and awareness are critically important in the fight against cybercriminal activity and preventing security breaches.

Data backups ensure that if there is any data loss or theft, files can be recovered. You should always backup your data in a different location so hackers cannot access both areas and you should also backup your data regularly. Firewalls are designed to prevent unauthorized access from a private network. You can create a set of rules on your firewall so that it knows what to allow in and what to block out. A good firewall should monitor incoming and outgoing data.

If you usually have to use Safe Mode, you can now sign into your account with a PIN while in Safe mode. In the past, you’re required to use a password to sign in, even if you use a PIN to login into your account in normal mode. Also, in the sign-in experience, Windows 10 version 2004 ships with several improvements, including a new feature to help investigate problems with the sign-in screen. If you’re having problems signing in, you can now use the Windows key + Ctrl + Shift + L keyboard shortcut to start a recording, reproduce the issue, and then use the shortcut again to produce a reference number that you can share when reporting the problem to Microsoft. See additional information on Computer repair service.

Usefully, Microsoft is making the option to restart apps you were running before you restarted Windows easier to find (previously this option was tied to the “Use my sign-in info to automatically finish setting up my device” option under Sign-in options in accounts settings). It’s now off by default, including for UWP apps, which start minimized and suspended. Under Settings > Accounts > Sign-in options, turn on “Automatically save my restartable apps when I sign out and restart them after I sign in.” under “Restart apps” to change this behaviour.

As mentioned in the last entry, a lot of programs install side processes that run every time you start your PC, and some of them are not things you need running on your system all the time. Compared with Windows 7, in which you had to run the MSCONFIG utility, Windows 10 (and Windows 8.x before it) gives you an easier way to limit what runs at startup—from the updated Task Manager. The easiest way to invoke the Task Manager is by pressing Ctrl-Shift-Esc. Switch to the Startup tab, and you’ll see all the programs that load at Windows startup. The dialog box even has a column that shows you the Startup impact for each. The Status column shows whether the program is enabled to run at startup or not. You can right-click on any entry to change this status. It’s usually fairly easy to see things you don’t want to run. For example, if you never use iTunes, you probably don’t need iTunesHelper running all the time. Discover more details at Laptop repairs.