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I use the same laptop for work and at home. I have created different user accounts for work and for home. There are a lot of things that I can customized based on different user accounts according to my work environment. For example, I usually use Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop and other heavy on memory software at work while at home, I prefer a host of multimedia apps to cycle through my favorite movies and music.
There is one problem if I am using the same computer for different types of work. If I want to play a game, I would probably need to configure my computer such that a maximum amount of resources are available when I’m playing a game. Unfortunately, Windows does not offer any customization at a user account level.
But Windows includes a hardware startup profile feature that many of us are not familiar about. A hardware profile is a set of instructions which tell the computer which devices to load under that profile. So we can easily select our desired hardware to be loaded under each hardware profile.
Windows always starts up with with the default hardware profile which is created when Windows is installed. While it’s quite cumbersome to create different hardware profiles especially in Windows 8, we can use simple utilities like StartupSelector to create different profiles for ourselves.
StartupSelector is small program which does only one of two things, either save the current profile or load a saved profile. This can be extremely useful if we can create different profiles for work, home and gaming. I have specified these as an example only. You can create a profile for any purpose you want.
Although the StartupSelector product page specifies that it is a portable app, I had to actually install it after downloading. First of all, let us get familiar with the interface. Although it is quite simple, it can be confusing.
There is one text field name “Configuration Name”, one drop down list, a Close button and an OK button. You can enter the name of your configuration in the “Configuration Name” field. If you want to load an already saved profile, you can do so by selecting it from the drop down menu.
The close button should actually be named as Cancel as it functions like a cancel button. It will exit StartupSelector app without saving any data. The OK button should have been named as Save. Whenever you save or load a new profile, you will need to press the OK button for changes to take effect.
Now go to the Startup tab. If you are using Windows 8, you will have to go to the task manager in order to manager startup items. Disable all the items because we will not need any of the startup items during gaming.
These are the two most resource extensive items that we have disabled. You can also tweak other Windows settings like animation and Aero effects to free up more resources for your gaming needs. I was able to free up about 700 MB of memory disabling the non-system services and startup items.
Next, we will need to open StartupSelector again and save a new profile with the name Gaming or whatever you may like to call it. Now when you want to play a game, just load the gaming startup configuration from StartupSelector, restart your computer and all the resources will be available for your games.
Similarly, you can create different startup configuration for work, home, Internet, multimedia etc.
Usman Khurshid
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3 Ways To Fix Slow Startup In Windows 10 – Webnots
In our previous article, we have explained how to speed up your Windows 10 PC. Besides general slowness, you’ve probably encountered agonizingly slow moments when powering on your Windows 10 PC. This is especially annoying when you have some urgent work to finish up or deliver, leading to wastage of lots of precious time. Often, the main culprit for slow boot up speed is startup applications which have high impact on the CPU.
Why Slow Startup?The Windows startup process is very complex needing different software elements from drivers, registry, services and boot configuration. The hardware elements like your hard disk and RAM also plays a vital role.
Over period of time, as you install more desktop programs on your Windows PC, the computer boot or startup speed slows down. Some of the programs get added to the startup process and heavily impact the startup speed by hogging the RAM and CPU resources each time the system is powered on. Also the corrupted registry entries and driver files could also slow down the speedup process.
3 Ways to Fix Slow Startup in Windows 10Use the following tips to fix slow startup issue:
Analyze startup apps using startup manager
Upgrade to SSD
Enable fast startup
1. Analyze Startup Apps Using Startup ManagerThe startup manager gives you an overview of applications, status and impact of each application on the startup process. Startup impact can either be Low, Medium, High or Not measured. When an application has a ‘Not measured’ status, this means that it’s a recently installed application and Windows hasn’t get a chance to assess it startup impact. Restarting of your PC will do the trick and you will see the impact afterwards. You can analyze the apps that have high impact on the startup time and decide whether you need that app on startup.
Disabling High Impact AppsSome applications like OneDrive and Drobox may require some consideration before they are disabled from Startup. This is mainly because they are actively involved in automatic synchronization of files to the cloud. If disabled, then automatic synchronization of files in the background will fail unless the applications are launched. Chatting Apps like Skype are also recommended to start on boot so that users can instantly get logged in and receive pending messages and chats.
2. Upgrade to SSDAnother way you can significantly improve the boot up speed of your Windows 10 PC is to upgrade to a Solid State Drive or SSD. Apart from drastically improving on boot up speed, it will make running of applications, saving and retrieval of files much faster. This is because an SSD does not have the mechanical components like the traditional Hard Disk which has spinning disks, mechanical arms and actuators.
Solid State Drive is made up of integrated circuits which make it more robust, less susceptible to mechanical failure and lasts longer than the ordinary mechanical drives. With an SSD drive, it takes just about 15 seconds to boot up your PC compared to 60 seconds for a traditional hard drive. Remember, all Apple MacBook products uses SSD storage for high speed and performance.
3. Turn on Fast StartupAnother setting you can adjust to improve on your start up time is the ‘Turn on Fast startup’. To accomplish this,
Open ‘Control Panel’.
Select ‘Power Options’.
ConclusionIt’s recommended that users keep track of applications running on startup and ensure that they have minimal impact on the time and performance. We hope the ways will help to speedup the startup time in your Windows 10 PC. In addition, keep your PC always clean and try to avoid installing unnecessary applications to improve the speed.
How To Use Windows Snipping Tool Shortcuts In Windows 10
Using keyboard shortcuts with either the Snipping Tool or Snip and Sketch just makes life easier. Both Snipping Tool and Snip & Sketch, which can be used to take screenshots of the computer screen, are already part of your Windows 10.
We can also take screenshots using OneNote, if we have it. Keep in mind that these two tools might not be ideal for every situation. Check out our ultimate guide to taking screenshots for more information.
Table of Contents
What Is The Windows Snipping Tool?For a Windows utility that’s been around for 17 years, lots of people still don’t know it exists. It’s a simple, easy to use, screenshot utility. You can use it to capture an entire window, a rectangular part of your screen, or use the freeform tool to draw around things and capture just that uniquely shaped part of the screen.
You can take the capture and make notes or draw on it to really highlight what you want to show. From there, sharing it is easy too. You can copy and paste it into a document or email, or just email it to someone directly from the Snipping Tool.
What Is Windows Snip and Sketch? Windows Snipping Tools ShortcutsFor these shortcuts to work, Snipping Tools must be open and be the app that has the focus. It can’t be open and behind anything, or the shortcuts do not work. There is no keyboard shortcut to open Windows Snipping Tools. We could make a keyboard shortcut to open Snipping Tools, though.
In the list of shortcuts below, Alt + N means to press the Alt key and the N key at the same time. If it says Alt + T then P that means press the Alt key and the T key at the same time and release, then press P.
Keyboard ShortcutWhat it DoesAlt + N or Ctrl + N Starts a new screen captureAlt + M Set the screen capture mode. Use ↑ and ↓ arrow keys to choose from: Free-form snip, Rectangular tool, Window snip, Full-screen snip. Then press Enter to commit the chúng tôi + D Set the delay for starting the capture. Use ↑ and ↓ arrow keys to choose from: No delay, 1 Second, 2 Seconds, 3 Seconds, 4 Seconds, 5 Seconds. Then press Enter to commit the chúng tôi + S Save the screen captureCtrl + C Copy the screen captureCtrl + E Edit in Paint 3D Ctrl + PPrint the screen capture Alt + FAccess File menuAlt + F then T then E Send as an e-mail. Requires Outlook chúng tôi + F then T then A Send as an attachment in an e-mail. Requires Outlook chúng tôi + T then P Select Pen toolAlt + T then P then R Red Pen Alt + T then P then B Blue PenAlt + T then P then L Black PenAlt + T then P then P Custom PenAlt + T then P then C Customize PenAlt + T then H Select Highlighter toolAlt + T then E Select Eraser toolAlt + T then OSet Snipping Tool OptionsF1Snipping Tool HelpEscWhen in the middle of getting a screen capture, Esc cancels it out, by escaping.
Snip and Sketch Keyboard ShortcutsSnip and Sketch can be opened using a keyboard shortcut, which makes it very handy to use. Make note of that. Unfortunately, there aren’t Windows snipping tool shortcuts to choose the delay time or type of snipping tool to use.
Once we’re in a tool, like the Highlighter tool, use the keyboard shortcut combination again to access the tools options. We can navigate through options using the arrow and Tab keys, and use Enter to make selections.
Keyboard ShortcutWhat it DoesShift + Windows Key + S Opens Snip and Sketch screen capture bar. This only allows for taking the screen chúng tôi does not open the full Snip and Sketch app for chúng tôi + N or Alt + N New screen capture Ctrl + O or Alt + O Open a file for editingCtrl + P Print screen capture Ctrl + Z Undo edit Ctrl + Y Redo edit Ctrl + T or Alt + T Toggle Touch Writing on and off. For use with touch chúng tôi + B or Alt + B Ballpoint pen tool Ctrl + C or Alt + I Pencil tool Ctrl + H or Alt + H Highlighter tool Ctrl + E or Alt + E Eraser tool Ctrl + R or Alt + R Crop tool Ctrl + Z or Alt + Z Zoom toolCtrl + S or Alt + S Save captureCtrl + C or Alt + C Copy capture Ctrl + A or Alt + A Share captureCtrl + M or Alt + M Opens See more menu EscWhen in the middle of getting a screen capture, Esc cancels it out, by escaping.
Putting It All TogetherScreen captures are a great way to tell a story. Whether it’s for helping someone else out, asking for help, or just sharing something interesting or funny, screen captures are great.
Take the time to try all of the key combinations and you’ll find that you can do almost anything you want with these tools without touching your mouse. That’s faster and easier on the hands.
How To Select A Startup Disk In Os X
There may be cases in which you need to boot to a secondary hard drive on your Mac, either to recover a drive, install a new OS or restore some software. Either way, the easiest way to do this on Apple computers is to hold down the “Option” key while booting up your system; however, there may be some constraints.
Selecting a Startup Disk on Macs That Use a Bluetooth KeyboardOn portable Macs, you can start up or reboot your Mac, and simply hold the “Option” key once the screen goes black so that when it reboots it will show you the boot menu. However, this process is a little more specific on Macs that use a Bluetooth keyboard.
If you hold down the key before the Bluetooth keyboard and your Mac boots, your system will prevent it from recognizing the key as pressed. Bluetooth keyboards only start up once the boot chimes sound. To ensure that your Mac goes to the boot menu, only press and hold the “Option” key immediately after hearing your Mac boot sound, not before.
When you’ve opened the boot menu properly, a gray screen will display that will show the available boot volumes, similar to the one above.
If your system is running OS X 10.7 Lion or later, you’ll see the default Macintosh HD partition alongside a Recovery HD volume. However, for systems running 10.6 or earlier, you’ll only see the main boot volume. If you want to boot using a different drive, you can simply attach an external hard drive, flash drive, or an optical disk that contains valid operating systems and when recognized they should appear alongside the current boot options.
Booting from Optical DrivesAdditionally, if your Mac shipped with an optical drive, you can simply boot to a disk in the drive by holding down the “C” key at startup. This “C” key method works both for Macs with CD drives as well as for Macs with DVD drives included. And if you want to use an external USB DVD drive to insert a boot DVD and run it, simply connect it via USB, and the drive should appear in the standard boot menu for access.
Directly Accessing OS X’s Recovery DiskIf your system runs OS X 10.7 or later, you can also boot directly to the recovery drive by holding “Command + R” on startup. Also, most systems shipped after 2010 support Internet Recovery. This can be invoked by holding “Option + Command + R”. The Internet Recovery method will require an Internet connection through which it will download a 650MB recovery image file from Apple.
Note: You should know that selecting an alternative boot disk will only be set for the current boot session. If you want to permanently select a different startup disk in OS X, use the Startup Disk settings that are available in System Preferences.
Shujaa Imran
Shujaa Imran is MakeTechEasier’s resident Mac tutorial writer. He’s currently training to follow his other passion become a commercial pilot. You can check his content out on Youtube
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How To Check For Ports In Use In Windows 10
At any one time, there’s a whole bunch of information being sent between your Windows 10 PC and the endless void of the Internet. This is done using a process whereby network-dependent processes seek out TCP and UDP ports, which they use to communicate with the Internet. First, your data gets sent to remote ports at the destination or website your processes are trying to connect to, then it gets received at local ports back on your PC.
Most of the time, Windows 10 knows how to manage ports and ensure that traffic is being directed through the right ports so that those processes can connect with what they need to. But sometimes two processes may be assigned to one port, or maybe you just want to get a better picture of your network traffic and what’s going in and out.
That’s why wrote this guide that shows you how to check open ports on Windows and see which applications are using which ports.
Check Port Usage With Nirsoft CurrPortsNirSoft is one of the best indie software developers, giving us great utilities, like PassView and WirelessKeyView. While some people will prefer checking their ports without installing third-party software (in which case, scroll down to the CMD method), CurrPorts is easily the fastest and most convenient way to check port status on Windows.
Hit OK when you’re ready, and the list will filter down to your queries.
List Open Ports Using the Command PromptThe integrated – though not necessarily the simplest – way to check open ports is to use the trusty command prompt.
Once you’re in the elevated command prompt, enter the following command:
netstat-
abThis will steadily bring up a list of open ports that is probably quite long, along with the Windows processes that are using them. (You can press Ctrl + A , then Ctrl + C to copy all information to the clipboard.) On the average PC, there will be two main local IP addresses that contain ports on your PC.
The first, in our case, is “127.0.0.1.” This IP address is otherwise known as “localhost” or a “loopback address,” and any process listening to ports here is communicating internally on your local network without using any network interface. The actual port is the number you see after the colon. (See image below.)
The bulk of your processes will probably be listening to ports prefixed with “192.168.xxxxxx,” which is your IP address. This means the processes you see listed here are listening for communications from remote Internet locations (such as websites). Again, the port number is the number after the colon.
Install TCPView to Check Open PortsIf you don’t mind installing a third-party app and want to have more control over what’s going on with all your ports, you can use a lightweight app called TCPView. This immediately brings up a list of processes and their associated ports.
If you’re having some trouble in Windows 10, then see whether a Windows update may be causing it. We also have a handy guide for managing the health of your hard drive in Windows 10.
Robert Zak
Content Manager at Make Tech Easier. Enjoys Android, Windows, and tinkering with retro console emulation to breaking point.
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7 Ways To Clean Up Windows Startup Programs
One of the most frustrating experiences when using Windows is that it runs like a tortoise during the startup. Some of the programs installed in the computer, such as anti-malware, productivity and third-party apps and other system services, run automatically during the process, which can bog down our CPU and memory. This guide shows how to clean up your Windows Startup programs so that it can run fast on startup.
Tip: check out this list of programs that you should remove from your startup list.
1. Spring-Cleaning the Startup FolderWindows apps often automatically start during system boot-up, and some even add themselves to the Startup folder. It’s recommended to check this folder for any unwanted apps.
To disable these apps that start automatically with Windows, remove their shortcuts from the Startup folder:
Open the “Start menu,” type “Run” in the search bar, then select the top result to launch the app.
In the “Run” app, type the command shell:startup and press “OK.”
Select the apps you want to disable and press Delete on your keyboard.
This tweak deletes the shortcut but not the program itself. Restart the system and see how the PC responds.
2. Halt Them Using Task ManagerIf you want to control which programs run when your computer starts up, use the Task Manager by following these steps:
Repeat the last step for any other apps that are causing performance issues during startup.
Once you have completed these steps, the selected programs will no longer launch automatically when you start your computer.
It’s best to disable one at a time to avoid system problems and restart it each time you disable one. If you’re unsure of the program or service’s function during the startup, select “Search online.”
3. Using the Windows SettingsYou can also manage your startup apps in Windows 11 by accessing the startup manager through the Settings app. Follow these steps to disable startup apps in Windows 11 using the Settings app:
To disable an app, toggle the switch next to it. You can also check the “Status impact” to see how each app affects your system’s performance when disabled.
By following these steps, you can stop unwanted apps from launching in Windows at startup, and this can help speed up your device’s boot time.
4. Modify RegistryOnce you’ve deleted the shortcuts in the Startup folder and tweaked the Task Manager’s Startup tab, you can apply another hack to halt the programs and services using the Registry Editor.
Note: you may want to back up your registry before you proceed.
If you want to disable programs at Startup from the Registry Editor, follow the instructions below:
Navigate to the path below:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER_SoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionRunIf you have several accounts in your system, go to the following path and apply the same process when deleting the programs.
5. Modify ServicesAnother way to halt the programs and services on startup is to run the “Services Computer Management Console” snap-in. It provides all the descriptions of services you wish to disable and allows you to pause or test a particular service to check the computer’s performance when you halt it. To run this tweak, follow the steps below:
Go to the “Start menu,” type “services,” and select it.
6. Using the System ConfigurationIf your computer is still slow after disabling startup programs, you may need to disable some startup services that run in the background. To do this, follow these steps:
Open the “Run” prompt by pressing Windows + R.
Type msconfig and hit “OK.”
Restart your PC to apply the changes.
7. Activate Fast StartupAnother way to increase the startup time is to activate the Fast Startup mode. Follow the steps below to enable Fast Startup on your computer:
Under “Power Options,” tap “Choose what the power button does.”
Under the “Shutdown settings” section, check “Turn on fast startup.”
Frequently Asked Questions Is it safe to disable all Startup programs on Windows 11?It is not recommended to disable all startup programs, as some of them are necessary for the proper functioning of your system. You should only disable the programs that you don’t need or that are causing performance issues.
What should I do if disabling Startup apps doesn’t speed up my Windows 11 computer?If disabling startup apps doesn’t improve performance, you can try disabling startup services or tweaking other system settings. You may also want to consider performing a system cleanup or upgrading your hardware.
Farhad Pashaei
As a technophile, Farhad has spent the last decade getting hands-on experience with a variety of electronic devices, including smartphones, laptops, accessories, wearables, printers, and so on. When he isn’t writing, you can bet he’s devouring information on products making their market foray, demonstrating his unquenchable thirst for technology.
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