How to Turn Wi-Fi On or Off With a Keyboard or Desktop Shortcut in Windows

Some laptops come with “Wi-Fi” function keys or switches that can quickly enable or disable your Wi-Fi. If your PC doesn’t have one of these, though, you can make one with the tools built into Windows.

You’ll need to start by creating a desktop or start menu shortcut. Once you’ve done that, you can invoke it with a keyboard shortcut, if you like.

How to Turn Your Windows PC Into a Wi-Fi Hotspot

Windows can turn your PC into a wireless hotspot, allowing it to share its wired or wireless Internet connection with other wireless devices. But how you set it up that depends on what version of Windows you’re running. Here’s how it all works.

Encrypt Your PC, Phone, and Tablet Now. You’ll Regret It Later If You Don’t

Imagine you go on your dream vacation and all your things are stolen after your hotel room is burgled or your car is broken into. Clothes and toothbrushes are easy to replace, but your devices are a potential treasure trove for thieves to exploit.
Unfortunately, this story is all too real–in fact, it happened to one of my friends just last month.

How to Prevent Windows from Automatically Updating Specific Drivers

Windows–especially Windows 10–has a bad habit of installing new updates for hardware drivers whether you want them or not. You could go big and simply prevent Windows from downloading updates altogether, or you might have luck blocking or hiding updates. But if you’ve got the Pro or Enterprise version of Windows, you can tailor your actions a little better by using Group Policy Editor to prevent the installation or updating of specific devices.

How to Create a Master Installation Flash Drive with Multiple Versions of Windows

You’ve got your collection of Windows ISOs and maybe you’ve burned installation DVDs or flash drives for them. But why not make yourself a master installation drive that you can use to install any version of Windows?

How to Change the Display Language in Windows 10

Windows 10 supports changing the default language. You no longer need to be concerned about the default language when you buy a computer — if you prefer to use a different language, you can change it at any time.

How to Add a PIN to Your Account in Windows 10

With each new version of Windows, new and innovative features are improving the total user experience in different ways. Windows 10 is quickly growing in popularity due in part to its innovative security features, and among these security options are new sign in options like the PIN code.

5 Different Two-Step Authentication Methods to Secure Your Online Accounts

Many online services offer two-step verification or two-factor authentication. Enable this for an account and it’ll require more than just your password to sign in. You’ll also need something else — and there are many different types of additional authentication methods you can use.

Different services offer different two-step verification methods. But, when you set up two-step verification, you’ll often be able to choose between a few different methods. Here’s how they work and how they differ.

How to Test Your Internet Connection Speed or Cellular Data Speed

How fast is your Internet connection? Sure, your Internet service provider has given you some numbers, and your cellular provider probably says you get blazing fast 4G LTE. But how fast is it, actually?
There’s a good chance you’re not getting the Internet connection speed you’re paying for, but maybe you are. Here’s how to find out.

How to Clean Install Windows 10

The Windows 10 upgrade process drags old files, settings, and programs from your previous Windows system to your new one. Microsoft allows you to get an entirely fresh system by performing a clean install, but the activation process can be a bit confusing.

This is also useful if you’ve purchased a new Windows 10 PC and it includes manufacturer-installed bloatware you don’t want. Or, you may need to perform a clean install on a computer without an existing Windows system after installing a new hard drive.

Password Protect & Encrypt Files or Folders in Windows: Free

With hackers becoming more and more sophisticated, most users are worried about the safety of their personal data. There are many options available to protect the user’s data but none comes close to encryption in terms of safety offered. This article contains some of the best and easy to use methods and tools that allow you to password protect and encrypt important files and folders in Windows without costing you anything.

Enable the Hidden Administrator Account on Windows 7, 8, 8.1 & 10

Windows automatically creates an Administrator account with elevated privileges during the installation process. We mostly need to access it to perform tasks limited only to system Administrators. These are tasks performing which result in the UAC asking for confirmation even if you are using an account with administrative privileges. The elevated Administrator account is disabled by default in Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 and Windows Vista.

How to Improve Battery Life with Windows 10’s New Power Settings

While Windows 10 is getting a lot of press for its “new” Start menu, beyond that there’s still a lot of stuff most users who skipped Windows 8 probably don’t know about. Today we want to talk about Windows 10’s power and battery settings.

The quickest way to access the settings is to open the Action Center and click “All settings”.

How to Set Up and Configure User Accounts on Windows 10

Windows 8 introduced Microsoft accounts, which are essentially roaming accounts that allow you to sync settings and files from computer to computer. Today we want to discuss what Windows 10 brings to user account management, and the options available to you.

In the old PC settings on Windows 8.1, you were limited to three options, but in Windows 10, those options have been expanded to five and things have been rounded out quite a bit.

How (and Why) to Change Your MAC Address on Windows, Linux, and Mac

Each network interface on your computer or any other networked device has a unique MAC address. These MAC addresses are assigned in the factory, but you can change, or “spoof,” MAC addresses in software.

MAC stands for “media access control.” MAC addresses are also commonly referred to as physical addresses or hardware addresses, because they correspond to a hardware adapter.

How to Detect if Someone's Stealing Your WiFi

 

It may be hard to imagine, but just a mere 20 years ago, the Internet was nothing more than a novelty -- a way for incredibly smart college professors and researchers to share information, and for a few people to network across the newly developed World Wide Web. E-mail was nothing like it is today. The primitive e-mail systems found at universities or even through accounts offered with the first Internet service providers (ISPs) such as Prodigy and America Online were often difficult to use.

View Saved Wi-Fi (WPA, WEP) Passwords on OS X

Just about everybody who has a laptop has probably connected to several different wireless networks over the course of time. I tend to travel a lot and take my laptop with me everywhere I go, so I literally have over a hundred wireless networks stored on my Mac. This is great because I can easily connect to those wireless networks whenever I’m in range again, even if it’s 6 months later.

5 Easy Ways to Speed Up a Slow Windows 7 Computer

In terms of optimizing your computer,  99 Ways to Make Your Computer Blazingly Fast is tough to top; but if you don’t have the time to initiate all of those helpful fixes in one session, there are some quick and easy steps that you can take to rejuvenate a slow computer, all in under an hour.

Check out the top 5 ways to speed up a slow Windows 7 PC. Most of these fixes and maintenance procedures are common practice for a computer geek, but may be a gold mine for a beginner PC user looking to make their computer fast again.

How to Easily View Recently Modified Files in Windows

To find just about anything in Windows, type something describing the file in the search box. Windows will then quickly search all your files, and present a list of matches according to your search criteria. Today we’ll show you how to find files you’ve recently modified.

Restrict Access to Programs with AppLocker in Windows

If you share a computer and don’t want other users accessing certain applications, there is a new feature in Windows 7 that allows you to block them. Today we take a quick look at restricting what programs other users can access using AppLocker.

Note: AppLocker is only available in Ultimate and Enterprise versions of Windows 7.

Using AppLocker