Aiiieeee!

Ever had those moments when life attacks you? *Whomph!* Well, this is in a good way I suppose. Work was getting a little quiet around here with all the staff on summer vacation. Now their back. My desk is a mess, my office is swamped with hardware, and my email inbox looks like a street after the 4th of July! Ah well, *job security* everyone says. In my opinion, that phrase is a bit overused at this point. I hear it about 5 times a week. You know, thats 20 times a month. :P

Anywho, I am determined to not fall behind on my blog posts, but you may see the odd rant here and there without a lot of learning or new ideas behind it. I'll try to make up for these with lengthy over-researched posts when I have more time (like last week's rant).

Cheers,
Sheepdog

An exhausting (but not exhaustive) list of how to fix Windows 10 when you upgrade from 7, 8 or 8.1

Have Fun!!! 

An Introduction to Windows 10 (Home Edition)

Remove OneDrive:

If you use OneDrive, all is well and good. If you don’t want it cluttering up everything, here is how to remove it:

1.      Open CMD (as an admin)

2.      Terminate OneDrive: taskkill /f /im OneDrive.exe

3.      Uninstall (32 Bit): %SystemRoot%\System32\OneDriveSetup.exe /uninstall

4.      Uninstall (64 Bit): %SystemRoot%\SysW0W64\OneDriveSetup.exe /uninstall

Next, you will need to remove OneDrive from File Explorer:

5.      Open Regedit

6.      Modify the System.IsPinnedToNameSpaceTree DWORD value under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{018D5C66-4533-4307-9B53-224DE2ED1FE6}\ to 0, from its default of 1.

7.      On 64-bit editions of Windows, it also changes the System.IsPinnedToNameSpaceTree DWORD value under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{018D5C66-4533-4307-9B53-224DE2ED1FE6\. To undo the change, set the same settings back to the original value of 1

Change Default Apps:

You may notice many of your default programs (media player, firefox, etc.) have been changed to a new set of default apps put into place by Windows 10. Here is how to change/revert them:

1.      Open the Start menu > Click on Settings in the lower left > Click System > Click Default Apps.

2.      Scroll through the list, and change them to your preference.

Remove Windows Apps:

Speaking of which, you may wish to click through and remove many of the windows apps that have suddenly taken over:

1.      Open the Start menu > Click on Settings in the lower left > Click System > Click Apps and Features.

2.      Scroll through the list, click on one you wish to remove, and click Uninstall (Be careful not to remove one that is actually a full program!).

3.      You may notice some of the apps have a greyed out uninstall button. To remove those, you will have to open a powershell session:

a.       Start > PowerShell > right click, run as admin

b.      Type in the appropriate code from the list below:

3D	Get-AppxPackage *3d* | Remove-AppxPackage
Camera	Get-AppxPackage *camera* | Remove-AppxPackage
Mail and Calendar	Get-AppxPackage *communi* | Remove-AppxPackage
Money, Sports, News and Weather	Get-AppxPackage *bing* | Remove-AppxPackage
Groove Music, Film, and TV	Get-AppxPackage *zune* | Remove-AppxPackage
People	Get-AppxPackage *people* | Remove-AppxPackage
Phone Companion	Get-AppxPackage *phone* | Remove-AppxPackage
Photos	Get-AppxPackage *photo* | Remove-AppxPackage
Solitare	Get-AppxPackage *solit* | Remove-AppxPackage
Voice	Get-AppxPackage *soundrec* | Remove-AppxPackage
xbox	Get-AppxPackage *xbox* | Remove-AppxPackage Ack! Did you notice all the red warnings? It’s okay, it actually installed just fine, but Windows 10 didn’t like it.

WifiSense

A lot of people are making a big deal about Windows 10 sharing wifi passwords automatically. While it is a security issue, it’s fairly easy to remedy this:

1.      Click on the Start Menu, then Click on Settings in the lower left hand corner.

2.      Click on Network and Internet, then click on Wi-Fi.

3.      On the right pane, click on manage wifi settings.

4.      Make sure both connect to hotspots, and connect to networks are both turned off. As an added security measure, look through your saved wifi networks, and remove any you no longer need / use.

Automatic Updates

Unfortunately for any users who don’t have Windows 10 Pro, updates aren’t an option. Windows will update them whenever the feel like it. However, we do have a little control over random restarts.

1.      Click on the Start menu, then Click on Settings, then Click on Update and Security.

2.      Under Windows Update, Click on Advanced Options.

3.      Change the top setting from automatic to notify to schedule restart.

4.      Pro-Tip, you may also want to change a hidden setting: Update from more than one place.

a.       On the same page, Click on Choose How Updates are Delivered.

b.      Turning this setting off can help your computer refrain from downloading updates from multiple sources.

Privacy

Just like with any new update, Windows 10 would like to announce to the world what you’re doing, where, when, and who. Here is how to lock your PC down a little:

1.      Click on the Start Menu, then Click on Settings, then Click on Privacy.

2.      I will let you peruse through these at your leisure, but I would like to point out one in particular. Computers are now using locations to send you location based ads, collect survey info, and more. Click on Location on the left pane, and turn this one off. Unless you travel a lot or are worried about your computer being stolen, you probably don’t need this one.

File Explorer

First, you may notice File Explorer is back! Then, when you open it, you are greeted with recent files, OneDrive Shortcuts, and a pinnable Quick Access bar on the left. Here’s how to make it look a little closer to windows 7:

1.      Open File Explorer, and Click File > Change Folder and Search Options.

2.      At the top, change the pulldown setting from Quick Access to This PC, and Click Apply. This will change the default look when you Open File Explorer.

3.      Also Uncheck “Show frequently used folders in Quick Access” under General>Privacy. This will get rid of most of the shortcuts on the left pane except the one’s your used to (My Computer, etc).

4.      Finally, if you wish to remove the OneDrive shortcuts, follow my regedit instructions under OneDrive.

Windows 10 Eats RAM!?

We squawked when Windows xp ate 256mb of ram. We squawked when Windows 7 used 1gig of ram. Well, Windows 10 is using about 2gig of ram when nothing is open. Why is that? Windows 10 is claiming this is on purpose. Anything you have open, or were working on gets compressed into Ram instead of being stored under the page file in your hard drive. This basically means Windows is keeping more things partially open so they can be accessed faster. The downside is if your computer only has 4gig of ram, this doesn’t end so well for you. The upside is, if you have way more ram than you need, windows has opted to utilize some of it rather than let it go to waste. My thoughts? It’s a nice gesture, but it can still be a pain. L

Other Thoughts:

Don’t forget to customize your start menu, its basically the new metro interface, although if you have a tablet or want a larger start menu, you can click and drag from the top of the menu to resize it. You can also pin / unpin items, resize items, turn off live tile updates, change color, and more.

http://www.howtogeek.com/197836/8-ways-to-customize-the-windows-10-start-menu/

You may also want to play with Cortana a bit, I haven’t spent any time with that yet.  

Fall is Coming! Quick! Get the Hot Chocolate!

August 18^th

I’m so excited for the fall! Fall is when a blanket envelopes the world, the weather turns colder, the leaves crunch under your paws, and the world seems quiet, taking a long break from the warm spring and summer months. September comes sweeping in after August, adding clouds and rain to the mix. It’s a time most students dislike, but being a dog, I have grown fond of September. Sep. hands the baton off to October, which begins rustling the leaves with a chill wind and changing the colors of the leaves to bright orange, yellow, and red. November then sweeps the canvas clean, letting the leaves fall to make way for the white of the cold winter months and snow. Fall is a magical time of the year, it’s no wonder NaNo takes place in November. There is nothing like curling up with a good book, a hot cup of cider (or cocoa) either with a book filled with adventures, or a blank book that you’re writing, busily filling up the pages. Lately, September’s have seemed to be a continuation of the hot August weather, but I have hopes that this year the weather will turn colder sooner. It rather depends on the weather patterns, if we get a strong el nino, or a weak el nino. I’m not much of a weather dog, so I’ll leave that up to the experts. One thing is for sure, fall is coming…get the hot chocolate!

***Also, after falling behind, I posted 7 blog entries today, be sure to read them all!***

Haha, friends? What are those?

August 11^th

You know, I still find it crazy that we have lived in our town for 3 years, and have managed to make only one acquaintance/friend. And that was almost by accident! Finding people to hang out with and meet new people is hard after college! We still hang out with family quite often (which is fantastic, don't get me wrong), but other than that, I can count on one paw how many other people we hang out with. However, lately we’ve been getting involved in our local library. It’s a great place to meet people, and socialize, and libraries are always running events for various age groups. We have been attending a board game night which has been fabulous! That’s where we met our acquaintance from actually. We’ve managed to have a couple of hangouts during the summer which has been nice. Our church has moved further away, making it harder to attend, and while I like our church, it may be time to try out a few smaller churches to see if we can meet anyone. On the plus side, with libraries, there are friends on every shelf, so even if we don’t meet anyone, we still can check one out and take it home with us. J An added bonus, if you meet someone in the library, you know you already have one thing in common!

Any thoughts / ideas for meeting new people?