This tutorial will show you how to check the current health, SMART status, temperature, and estimated remaining life of drives in Windows 11.
S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology; often written as SMART) is a monitoring system included in computer hard disk drives (HDDs), solid-state drives (SSDs), and eMMC drives. Its primary function is to detect and report various indicators of drive reliability with the intent of anticipating imminent hardware failures.
Reference:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-US/Windows/Experience/Storage-FileManagement/what-to-do-about-a-critical-warning-for-a-storage-device
Option One: Check Health and SMART Status of NVMe SSD Drives in Settings
Option Two: Check Health and...
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How to Perform a Point-in-time Restore of Windows 11
This tutorial will show you how to use the point-in-time restore feature to restore your Windows 11 PC to the exact state it was at an earlier point in time.- Brink
- Replies: 12
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Enable or Disable "Show more options" context menu
This tutorial will show you how to add or remove "Show more options" on the context menu, or enable or disable having to click on "Show more options" to see the full classic context menu in Windows 11.- Brink
- Replies: 195
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Customize Context Menu in File Explorer on Windows 11
This tutorial will show you how to customize what appears in the context menu in File Explorer for your account in Windows 11.- Brink
- Replies: 1
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Cloud Rebuild Windows 11
This tutorial will show you how to use Cloud rebuild to perform a full clean reinstall of Windows 11 from WinRE without USB media, custom image, or depending on the health of the currently installed OS.- Brink
- Replies: 9
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Disable Automatic Windows Updates in Windows 11
This tutorial will show you how to disable Windows Update from automatically downloading and installing updates in Windows 10 and Windows 11.- Brink
- Replies: 41
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Enable or Disable Hidden Feature Flags in Windows 11
This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable hidden experimental feature flags in Windows 11.- Brink
- Replies: 53
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Create Windows 11 Bootable USB Installation Media
This tutorial will show you how to create a bootable USB flash drive used to install Windows 11 with UEFI support.- Brink
- Replies: 171
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Download Official Windows 11 ISO file from Microsoft
This tutorial will show you how to download an official Windows Server ISO or Windows 11 64-bit or ARM64 ISO file from Microsoft.- Brink
- Replies: 815
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Repair Install Windows 11 with an In-place Upgrade
This tutorial will show you how to do a repair install of Windows 11 by performing an in-place upgrade without losing anything.- Brink
- Replies: 393
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Clean Install Windows 11
This tutorial will show you step by step on how to clean install Windows 11 at boot on your PC with or without an Internet connection and setup with a local account or Microsoft account.- Brink
- Replies: 305
Tutorials
Windows 11 tutorials, tricks, tips, and guides.
This tutorial will show you how to see what the startup impact is for your startup apps on your Windows 11 PC.
Startup apps are the apps that start automatically when you sign in to Windows 11.
You can have any app, shortcut, folder, drive, file, script, etc.. items automatically open or run at startup.
Windows 11 includes functionality to ensure you are always in control of the apps that run on your systems. Settings and Task Manager shows a list of startup apps, along with controls that allow users to disable startup apps. To help users determine what to disable, Settings and Task Manager displays a measure of each startup app’s impact. Impact is assessed based on an app’s CPU and disk usage at startup.
Reference...
This tutorial will show you how to calibrate a HDR display using the Windows HDR Calibration app for your account in Windows 11.
HDR content offers better brightness and color capabilities compared to traditional content (sometimes called standard dynamic range [SDR] content). Traditional content typically shows details in a bright part of a scene or a darker part of a scene but not in both parts at the same time. For example, if the shot focuses on a bright window in the scene, details in the shadow are lost.
You can use the Windows HDR Calibration app to calibrate your HDR (high dynamic range) display for a better experience with HDR content on your Windows 11 PC. The Windows HDR Calibration app helps you improve color accuracy and...
This tutorial will show you how to download and install the Media Feature Pack for N editions of Windows 11.
N editions of Windows include the same functionality as other editions of Windows, except for media-related technologies, Windows Media Player, and certain preinstalled media apps (Groove, Movies & TV, Voice Recorder, and Skype). The Media Feature Pack provides a way for you to restore these excluded technologies.
If you don't have an N edition of Windows, then the the Media Feature Pack will not be available since the features in the Media Feature Pack are already included.
These technologies include, but are not limited to, the following features:
Windows Media Player application: Enables Windows Media Player features...
This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable secure sign-in to require users to press Ctrl + Alt + Delete on the lock screen before signing in to Windows 11.
The lock screen (aka: welcome screen) is the screen you see at startup and when you lock (Win+L) the PC. You will need to dismiss the lock screen to to see the sign-in screen and sign in to Windows.
For added security, you can enable secure sign-in to require users to press Ctrl + Alt + Delete on the lock screen before signing in. This guarantees that the authentic Windows sign-in screen appears, protecting the system from programs that mimic a sign-in to retrieve password info.
Note...
This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable the ability to lock the computer for all users in Windows 10 and Windows 11.
When you lock the computer, it protects the computer from unauthorized use when you need to step away from the PC, and don't want to sign out or shut down causing everything open to be closed.
When you lock the computer, you will be taken to the lock screen by default to dismiss and sign in when ready to continue where you left off. Other users can still sign in to their accounts from the sign-in screen.
If you prefer, you can completely disable the ability to lock the computer using any method forcing users to either sign out or shut down instead. If you disable lock computer, Lock will be removed from...
This tutorial will show you how to find the IPv4 and IPv6 DNS servers used on your Windows 11 device.
A DNS (Domain Name System) server is the service that makes it possible for you to open a web browser, type a domain name and load your favorite websites.
DNS over HTTPS (DoH) is a protocol for performing remote Domain Name System resolution via the HTTPS protocol. A goal of the method is to increase user privacy and security by preventing eavesdropping and manipulation of DNS data by man-in-the-middle attacks by using the HTTPS protocol to encrypt the data between the DoH client and the DoH-based DNS resolver.
You will have separate IPv4 DNS servers and IPv6 DNS servers assigned or set to the network adapter on your Windows 11...
This tutorial will show you how to expand and collapse the widgets board view for your account in Windows 11.
Widgets can no longer be expanded to full screen view.
Widgets are small cards that display dynamic content from your favorite apps and services on your Windows desktop. They appear on the widgets board, where you can discover, pin, unpin, arrange, resize, and customize widgets to reflect your interests. Your widgets board is optimized to show relevant widgets and personalized content based on your usage.
Open the widgets board from the left corner of your taskbar where you see the live weather icon. Widgets help you stay on top of what’s important to you by bringing together personalized content from your favorite apps and...
This tutorial will show you how to quickly check if your Windows 11 device has eSIM support.
Some Windows 11 devices support a SIM card and/or eSIM that lets you connect to a cellular data network (ex: 5G), so you can get online in more places by using a cellular signal.
An eSIM lets you connect to the Internet over a cellular data connection. With an eSIM, you don't need to get a SIM card from your mobile operator, and you can quickly switch between mobile operators and data plans.
Reference:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-US/Windows/Experience/Connectivity-Networking/use-an-esim-to-get-a-cellular-data-connection-on-your-windows-pc...
This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable Apps for Websites for your account or all users in Windows 11.
Apps for Websites is a feature that uses web-to-app linking to associates an app with a website so that when someone opens a link to a website, the app is launched instead of opening the browser. If the app is not installed, the website opens in the browser as usual.
Users can turn off apps for websites, preventing websites that are registered with their associated app from directly launching the app instead of opening in the browser.
You can also disable web-to-app linking to disable Apps for Websites for all users on the computer.
References...
This tutorial will show you how to clear the location last accessed history by apps for your account in Windows 11.
Microsoft operates a location service that helps determine the precise geographic location of your Windows device. The precise location of your device allows apps to give you directions, show shops and restaurants that are near you, and more.
When one or more apps are currently using your device location through the Windows location service, you’ll see the location icon in the notification area of your taskbar. Hover over the icon to see the name of the app or apps using location.
You can also look in Settings > Privacy & security > Location to see which apps are currently using your location or have recently or...
This tutorial will show you how to create a live kernel dump file in Windows 11.
A live kernel dump creates a consistent snapshot of kernel memory and saves it to a dump file without having to restart the computer.
The goal of kernel live dump is to gather data to trouble shoot an abnormal situation, but allow the OS to continue operation. This reduces downtime when compared to a bug check for “non-fatal” but high-impact failures and hangs. Kernel live dumps are used when it is possible to recover the OS to a known good state.
Starting with Windows 11 build 22621.1928, Microsoft added a set of new developer-focused features in Task Manager to aid the collection of live kernel memory dumps (LKDs). This is in addition to the existing...
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