Is your PC running slowly? It could be because of all the digital clutter it has to deal with. Clutter can impede your computer’s performance and eat away at its memory. To have your computer performing at top speed again, you need to get rid of these five types of clutter. Here’s how to do Learn More “Get rid of these 5 types of PC clutter”
Microsoft only supports each version of Window for a certain period and the end of its support for a software product can be a significant challenge for businesses. Currently, Windows 7 is on “extended support” until January 14, 2020. What does it mean when Microsoft terminates support of your Windows version? Let’s have a closer Learn More “When Microsoft stops supporting Windows”
You’ll find Cortana, Microsoft’s voice-activated personal assistant, extremely helpful for daily tasks, like rescheduling meetings, drafting an email, or dealing with several other time-consuming work. Learn how to use the following Cortana commands to make life so much easier for you. Hey, Cortana Before asking her to do anything, we need to get Cortana’s attention Learn More “4 handy Cortana commands for you”
Although Windows 10 is packed with wonderful new features, it’s far from perfect. Users have complained about storage, connectivity, and update issues, among other things. If you’ve encountered any of these issues, no need to panic. We have listed down five simple fixes to the most common Windows 10 problems. 1. Less storage space When Learn More “Fix these five problems in Windows 10 now”
Windows 10 is developed as a service, and regularly receives patches and bug fixes. It also gets feature updates at least twice a year, and 2018 is no different. This October, Microsoft unveiled the October 2018 update, also known as Redstone 5, which comes with some amazing new features. Your Phone Windows 10 is getting Learn More “Cool new Windows 10 features are coming!”
Microsoft has equipped Windows 10 users with a comprehensive set of tools to get their action center settings under control. Unfortunately, most desktops come with an abundance of software and features that result in more notifications. If you’ve reached the point of oversaturation, these three tips can help you better manage your action center. Overarching Learn More “3 Tips on managing Windows 10 notifications”
Whether you want to have a darker color scheme, run several apps at the same time, or display multiple desktops, Windows 10 gives you many options to personalize your PC. And while some customization options are less obvious than others, it is worth the effort to get your Windows 10 to look and function the Learn More “7 Ways to personalize your Windows 10”
If your Windows 10 computer is starting to slow down after some time, there are ways to make it run faster without breaking the bank. The following tips will improve your computer’s performance without the need for more hardware. Prevent programs from launching at startup Windows loads several programs at startup so they’re quickly available. Learn More “4 tips to speed up your Windows 10 computer for free”
Speculation has been circulating that Windows 10 gathers more info than it should. Whether or not you think privacy lines have been breached, here are some tips to protect your privacy in a matter of clicks.
Thanks to location tracking, nearby restaurants and future weather predictions are at your fingertips. While some might not mind this feature, there are others who wish to enjoy some privacy from their smartphones every once in a while.
To turn it off, launch the Settings app, tap Privacy, and disable the Location tab. If you wish to share your location with certain apps, scroll down and activate the ‘Choose apps that can use your location’ tab and choose your desired apps.
Every time you surf the net, you leave a trail of breadcrumbs that lead directly to your online profile. This problem is easily solved by deactivating ad tracking. Windows 10, however, goes a tad further by using an advertising ID, which gathers information based on web browsing usage and whenever you use Windows 10 apps.
To take care of that, launch the Settings app, go to General, look for “Change privacy options,” then move the slider from on to off. If you want to make sure you have no virtual stalkers, head to choice.microsoft.com/en-us/opt-out and disable the “Personalized ads whenever I use my Microsoft account” tab.
This feature is designed to let you easily share Wi-Fi connections with specific users, but hackers can misuse it to log on to your network without your permission. To disable it, launch the Setting app, go to Network & Internet > Wi-Fi > and click on Wi-Fi Sense. From there, deactivate two bars: “Connect to suggested open hotspots” and “Connect to networks shared my contacts”.
Albeit helpful, the digital assistant Cortana requires access to your personal information. But you can stop her from collecting data by logging in to your Microsoft account and clearing all the information Cortana and other Microsoft services (ex. Bing maps) have gathered.
You can also clear the information in your interests section or head over to the “interest manager” tab to edit the interests you want Cortana to track.
All of these tips are easy to follow and will take only five to ten minutes to implement, but if you like to make very detailed adjustments to your system’s privacy setup, launch the Settings app and go to Privacy.
We hope you find these five privacy protection tips helpful. If you need more help protecting your information or securing your network, give us a call.
How many times have you wanted to search the internet for something you didn’t know the name of? It’s a common problem that Microsoft helps solve with AI features included in its search engine, Bing. Visual Search allows users to replace text queries with images for more nuanced results and it’s now available on your smartphone.
Bing has indexed billions of images posted on the internet and most of them have text descriptions of some sort. This has made it possible for Microsoft to create programs that look for similarities in image contents and labels to create computer-generated definitions of everyday objects. So if you were to take a photo of the White House and upload it to Bing, the search engine could tell you what it is without any human input.
Although it may seem like little more than a novelty, Visual Search makes it much easier for eCommerce shoppers to find niche products. Bing can help people identify hard-to-name items and suggest stores that sell them, such as “slip joint pliers” at a local hardware shop or “gaucho pants” at an online clothing retailer.
In June, Microsoft announced that Visual Search is now available within Bing’s iOS and Android apps, as well as Android’s Microsoft Launcher. Just open the app, tap the camera button and take a photo from your phone or choose an image from the gallery. If you’d like to narrow your search, tap the magnifying glass button and crop your image to highlight specific objects within the photo.
In the near future, Visual Search will be added to Microsoft’s Edge browser and Bing.com. It’s a useful feature for finding what you need and helping customers do the same. For insight and support related to any of Microsoft’s products, give our experts a call today.