How to Tell If Your Computer is Overheating and What to Do About It

How to Tell If Your Computer is Overheating and What to Do About It

Heat is a computer’s enemy. Computers are designed with heat dispersion and ventilation in mind so they don’t overheat. If too much heat builds up, your computer may become unstable or suddenly shut down.

The CPU and graphics card produce much more heat when running demanding applications. If there’s a problem with your computer’s cooling system, an excess of heat could even physically damage its components.

Is Your Computer Overheating?

When using a typical computer in a typical way, you shouldn’t have to worry about overheating at all. However, if you’re encountering system instability issues like abrupt shut downs, blue screens, and freezes — especially while doing something demanding like playing PC games or encoding video — your computer may be overheating.

This can happen for several reasons. Your computer’s case may be full of dust, a fan may have failed, something may be blocking your computer’s vents, or you may have a compact laptop that was never designed to run at maximum performance for hours on end.

Monitoring Your Computer’s Temperature

First, bear in mind that different CPUs and GPUs (graphics cards) have different optimal temperature ranges. Before getting too worried about a temperature, be sure to check your computer’s documentation — or its CPU or graphics card specifications — and ensure you know the temperature ranges your hardware can handle.

You can monitor your computer’s temperatures in a variety of different ways. First, you may have a way to monitor temperature that is already built into your system. You can often view temperature values in your computer’s BIOS or UEFI settings screen. This allows you to quickly see your computer’s temperature if Windows freezes or blue screens on you — just boot the computer, enter the BIOS or UEFI screen, and check the temperatures displayed there. Note that not all BIOSes or UEFI screens will display this information, but it is very common.

There are also programs that will display your computer’s temperature. Such programs just read the sensors inside your computer and show you the temperature value they report, so there are a wide variety of tools you can use for this, from the simple Speccy system information utility to an advanced tool like SpeedFan. HWMonitor also offer this feature, displaying a wide variety of sensor information.

Be sure to look at your CPU and graphics card temperatures. You can also find other temperatures, such as the temperature of your hard drive, but these components will generally only overheat if it becomes extremely hot in the computer’s case. They shouldn’t generate too much heat on their own.

If you think your computer may be overheating, don’t just glance as these sensors once and ignore them. Do something demanding with your computer, such as running a CPU burn-in test with Prime 95, playing a PC game, or running a graphical benchmark. Monitor the computer’s temperature while you do this, even checking a few hours later — does any component overheat after you push it hard for a while?

Preventing Your Computer From Overheating

If your computer is overheating, here are some things you can do about it:

• Dust Out Your Computer’s Case: Dust accumulates in desktop PC cases and even laptops over time, clogging fans and blocking air flow. This dust can cause ventilation problems, trapping heat and preventing your PC from cooling itself properly. Be sure to clean your computer’s case occasionally to prevent dust build-up. Unfortunately, it’s often more difficult to dust out overheating laptops.
• Ensure Proper Ventilation: Put the computer in a location where it can properly ventilate itself. If it’s a desktop, don’t push the case up against a wall so that the computer’s vents become blocked or leave it near a radiator or heating vent. If it’s a laptop, be careful to not block its air vents, particularly when doing something demanding. For example, putting a laptop down on a mattress, allowing it to sink in, and leaving it there can lead to overheating — especially if the laptop is doing something demanding and generating heat it can’t get rid of.
• Check if Fans Are Running: If you’re not sure why your computer started overheating, open its case and check that all the fans are running. It’s possible that a CPU, graphics card, or case fan failed or became unplugged, reducing air flow.
• Tune Up Heat Sinks: If your CPU is overheating, its heat sink may not be seated correctly or its thermal paste may be old. You may need to remove the heat sink and re-apply new thermal paste before reseating the heat sink properly. This tip applies more to tweakers, overclockers, and people who build their own PCs, especially if they may have made a mistake when originally applying the thermal paste.

This is often much more difficult when it comes to laptops, which generally aren’t designed to be user-serviceable. That can lead to trouble if the laptop becomes filled with dust and needs to be cleaned out, especially if the laptop was never designed to be opened by users at all. Consultour guide to diagnosing and fixing an overheating laptop for help with cooling down a hot laptop.

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Overheating is a definite danger when overclocking your CPU or graphics card. Overclocking will cause your components to run hotter, and the additional heat will cause problems unless you can properly cool your components. If you’ve overclocked your hardware and it has started to overheat — well, throttle back the overclock!

What is the System Reserved Partition and Can You Delete It?

What is the System Reserved Partition and Can You Delete It?

Windows 7 and 8 create a special “System Reserved” partition when you install them on a clean disk. Windows doesn’t assign a drive letter to these partitions, so you’ll only see them when you use Disk Management or similar utility.

The System Reserved Partition was introduced with Windows 7, so you won’t find it on previous versions of Windows. The partition is also created on Windows Serer 2008 R2 and newer Server versions of Windows.

What Does the System Reserved Partition Do?

This partition contains two important things:

• The Boot Manager and Boot Configuration Data : When your computer boots, the Windows Boot Manager starts up and reads the boot data from the Boot Configuration Data (BCD) Store. Your computer boots the boot loader off the System Reserved partition, and it boots Windows from your system drive.
• The startup files used for BitLocker Drive Encryption: If you ever decide to encrypt your hard drive with BitLocker drive encryption, the System Reserved partition contains the necessary files for starting your computer. Your computer boots the unencrypted System Reserved partition, and it will decrypt the main encrypted drive and boot the encrypted Windows system.

The System Reserved partition is essential if you want to use BitLocker drive encryption, which can’t function otherwise. Important boot files are also stored here by default, although you could store them on the main Windows partition if you preferred.

When Windows Creates the System Reserved Partition

The System Reserved partition consumes 100 MB of space on Windows 7 and 350 MB of space on Windows 8. It’s created during the Windows installation process when you partition your drives.

When you use the graphical partition manager in the Windows installer to create your Windows partition in unallocated space on a drive, you’ll receive a message saying, “To ensure that all Windows features work correctly, Windows might create additional partitions for system files.” Windows will usually create a System Reserved partition in the unallocated space before the main system partition.

Can You Delete the System Reserved Partition?

You probably shouldn’t mess with this partition — it’s easiest to just leave it be. Windows hides it by default instead of creating a drive letter for it. Most people will never notice they have a System Reserved partition, and Windows will only show it to you when you use disk-partitioning software. This partition is mandatory if you use BitLocker or want to use BitLocker in the future. On Windows Vista, a drive had to be specially set up with such a partition after the installation process — now every drive is made ready for BitLocker while installing Windows.

If you don’t want this partition on your drive, the ideal thing to do is prevent it from being created in the first place. Rather than create a new partition in unallocated space from within the Windows installer, you can create a new partition consuming all the unallocated space with another disk-partitioning tool. Point the Windows installer at the partition you created and Windows will happily continue — it won’t attempt to resize your partition and create a System Reserved partition. The Windows installer will accept that there’s no room for System Reserved partition and install Windows onto a single partition. Bear in mind that you’re not saving an entire 100 MB or 350 MB by doing this, as the boot files will instead be installed on the main system partition.

To do this, you’ll need to use any disk-partitioning software except the graphical one in the Windows installer. However, you can actually do this from within the Windows installer. Just follow the following steps:

• Press Shift+F10 while installing Windows to open a Command Prompt window.
• Type diskpart into the Command Prompt window and press Enter.
• Create a new partition in the unallocated space using the diskpart tool. For example, if you have a single drive in the computer and it’s completely empty, you can just type select disk 0 and then create partition primary to select the first disk and create a new partition using the entire amount of unallocated space on the drive.
• Continue the setup process. Select the partition you created earlier when you’re asked to create a partition.

It may be possible to remove a System Reserved partition after installing Windows. You can’t just delete the System Reserved partition. Because the boot loader files are stored on it, Windows won’t boot properly if you delete this partition. To delete the System Reserved partition, you’d first have to move the boot files from the System Reserved partition onto the main Windows system drive.

This is harder than it sounds. It will involve messing with the registry, copying various files between drives, updating the BCD store, and making the main system drive the active partition. On Windows 8, it will also involve disabling and then re-enabling the Windows recovery environment. You’ll then have to remove the System Reserved partition and enlarge your drive.

This may be possible, and you’ll find some guides walking you through the process on the web. However, it’s not officially supported by Microsoft and we don’t recommend it. You’ll gain a very tiny bit of space — less than the 100 MB or 350 MB used by the System Reserved partition — at the cost of potentially messing up your operating system and losing the ability to use BitLocker drive encryption.

For reference, here’s why you shouldn’t just delete the System Reserved partition. We used the GParted partition editor on an Ubuntu live CD to delete the System Reserved partition and made the main Windows 8.1 partition bootable with no attempt at copying the boot files. We saw a message saying our Boot Configuration Data was missing, and that we’d have to repair our computer with Windows installation media.

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This partition may look like it’s cluttering your drive and wasting space, but it performs important functions and removing it will free up almost no space. You should learn to ignore the partition — if you really don’t want it, you should prevent it from being created while installing Windows.

Why PC Games Struggle With Alt+Tab and How to Fix it

Why PC Games Struggle With Alt+Tab and How to Fix it

You’re playing a game and you Alt+Tab to use another program, but there’s a problem. The Alt+Tab process may be extremely slow, the game may crash or freeze, or you may see graphical corruption.

If you’ve played games on Windows, this is probably familiar. Even when Alt+Tab works properly, it may take several seconds to move back and forth — something which can be frustrating if you want to quickly switch between applications.

Why is Alt+Tabbing Out of a Full-Screen Game So Problematic?

It’s not just pressing Alt+Tab that’s a problem — pressing the Windows key may do the same thing, as it takes you out of the game and back to the Windows desktop. This isn’t a problem when you play a game in windowed mode, where you can Alt+Tab easily. But full-screen mode seems to be different — full-screen games can’t be Alt+Tabbed out of as easily.

The real question here is why games run in this full-screen mode in the first place, if the full-screen mode itself is a problem.

When a game runs in full-screen mode, it can gain exclusive access to your graphics hardware — this is known as running in “Exclusive Mode.” Windows won’t render your desktop in the background, which saves on hardware resources. This means you can squeeze the most gaming performance out of your graphics hardware by running the game in full-screen mode, and that’s why games run in full-screen mode by default.

Windows doesn’t just have to switch from one window to another when you press Alt+Tab. It has to minimize the game and start rendering the desktop again. When you switch back to the game, the game has to restore itself and take control away from Windows. For a variety of reasons — especially problems with the way some games are coded — the game may encounter a problem while doing this.

You can see this in action when you have a game running in full-screen, exclusive mode. If you Alt+Tab out of it, you can hover over the game’s taskbar icon or press Alt+Tab again. You won’t see a preview of the game’s display area like you would for other windows. The game running in full-screen exclusive mode doesn’t redirect its output through the desktop’s display manager, so the desktop display manager can’t display a preview.

How to Quickly and Safely Alt+Tab Out of a Game

Let’s say you want to play a game but you also want to Alt+Tab and use other windows without the risk of crashes or delays while switching. There are several ways you can make this happen:

• Play in Windowed Mode: Games often have a windowed mode, where they render themselves in a window on your desktop. Games running in a window won’t have exclusive access to your graphics hardware, so they won’t perform quite as well as they would in full-screen mode. However, you can more easily switch between windows. A windowed game probably runs at a lower resolution than a full-screen game, so you’re gaining some more performance there — at the cost of a smaller game screen with less graphical quality, of course.
• Use Full-Screen Windowed Mode: Full-screen windowed mode, also referred to as “Full screen (Windowed)” or “Windowed (Fullscreen)” mode, compromises between the two. When you select this mode, the game will take up your entire screen, making it appear as if you were using Full-screen mode. However, the game is actually being rendered as a window — without title bars and above your task bar, but a window nonetheless. This means that Alt+Tabbing out of the game will be very quick — you can even have other desktop windows appear above the game. The game will run a bit slower as it doesn’t have exclusive access to your hardware, but this setting is often ideal if you have enough graphics power and want to easily Alt+Tab.

• Disable Windows Key and Alt+Tab: You can also disable the Windows key so you won’t accidentally press it while playing a game. If you find yourself pressing Alt+Tab accidentally while playing a game, you may want to try changing the game’s hotkeys or even consider disabling the Alt+Tab keyboard shortcut.

Recovering From a Crash

If you ever find yourself staring at a frozen game or an empty black screen after pressing Alt+Tab or the Windows key, don’t panic! Pressing Alt+Tab or the Windows key again may not help you if the game is misbehaving. Instead, press Ctrl+Alt+Delete — this keyboard shortcut is special, and Windows will respond to it even if other keyboard shortcuts aren’t working. Click Start Task Manager when the menu screen appears, select the frozen application in the Applications list, and end it. If this doesn’t work, visit the Processes tab, locate the game’s running .exe file, and end the process.

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Full-screen windowed mode offers a great compromise and is often the ideal setting if your hardware is fast enough and you want the freedom to Alt+Tab. Not every game offers full-screen windowed mode — it’s more common on newer games, so older games especially may not offer it.

6 Great Windows 10 Features You Can Get Today on Windows 7 or 8

6 Great Windows 10 Features You Can Get Today on Windows 7 or 8

Windows 10 contains some great new features. if you’re a Windows 8 user, you may be tempted to upgrade just to have your desktop work better. But you can get many of Windows 10′s features without upgrading.

Why not just upgrade? Well, Windows 10 is early in development and unstable. Even if it works for you today, an upgrade in a month could break it. Windows 10 needs more time in the oven.

A Start Menu

You Windows 7 users are already part of the future — you have a Start menu on your desktop and everything! Windows 8 and 8.1 users aren’t yet in luck. After saying they’d add a Start menu in Windows 8.1 Update 2, Microsoft backed off and Windows 8 users will never get an official start menu — not unless they upgrade to Windows 10. That will hopefully be a free upgrade, but Microsoft refuses to confirm that rumor.

You don’t have to wait — install a third-party Start menu today and you’ll never have to see that full-screen interface. Stardock’s Start8 even provides a “Windows 8 style” Start menu that will let you see live tiles in a floating pop-up Start menu, just like the one on Windows 10. If you don’t need that feature, any one of the other Windows 7-style Start menus will work for you. We likeClassic Shell, but be sure not to install Classic Explorer or Classic IE while installing it — you probably don’t want those.

“Universal Apps” in Desktop Windows

Metro apps, modern apps, immersive UI apps, Windows 8-style apps, Store apps, and now “universal apps” — whatever Microsoft is calling them this week, they’re inconvenient to use on desktop PCs. As Microsoft put it, there’s a “duality” of competing interfaces here. That will be fixed in Windows 10, where those apps can run in Windows on the desktop. But you can install ModernMix today and get those apps in floating windows on Windows 8.

At $4.99, this is the only feature here that will cost you. But you can install the trial and take it on a test drive for 30 days, if you like.

Virtual Desktops

Virtual desktops have been a part of Linux and Mac desktops for many, many years. Now they’re officially coming to Windows. But you can already get virtual desktops today with one of many virtual desktop utilities.

Microsoft actually built in multiple desktop support into Windows, but there’s no interface around it. The Desktops 2.0 utility, offered by Microsoft themselves, allows you to use that virtual desktop support. Third-party applications like Dexpot also provide virtual desktops and work a little differently.

Task View (aka Exposé)

Exposé was a feature added to Mac OS X, and a similar feature showed up on Linux desktops thanks to Compiz. But Microsoft refused to copy Expose — until now, with Windows 10′s Task View — and instead added the clunky, slow Flip 3D feature to Windows Vista and 7. Microsoft finally came to their senses and just copied Exposé like they originally should have.

There are many applications that do this on Windows. We like Switcher 2.0. It was designed for Windows Vista, it still works on Windows 7 and 8.  It was created by Bao Nguyen, a Microsoft employee — although it was written as a hobby project in his spare time.

A Voice Assistant and Notification Center

Windows 10 will bring Cortana to desktop users — eventually. Right now, the feature that will become Cortana is just a redundant search box that tells you topics like “Never chew your hair” are “Trending now” if you make the mistake of clicking it.

You can get a voice assistant and notification center today by installing Google Chrome. Open Chrome and click the microphone icon to perform a voice search. On Google.com, you’ll be able to enable the “Okay Google” voice hot word so you can talk to your PC — just click the microphone on Google.com in Chrome and click the “Enable Ok Google” button. (This feature specifically requires Google.com, the US version of Google — not other Google domains, even English ones like Google.ca or Google.co.uk.)

Chrome also offers a notification center with the kind of smart notifications Cortana will offer, thanks to Google Now. Access Google Now functionality by clicking the Chrome notification center that appears in your system tray. From what we’ve seen so far, the Windows 10 notification center will just be a pop-up that appears from the system tray, too.

A Better Command Prompt

Want a better Command Prompt with Ctrl and Shift key shortcuts? You can get one on Windows 7 or 8 with a third-party Command Prompt replacement. These add features like Ctrl+V to paste, Shift to select text, and transparency to make your Command Prompt look better. They also add other powerful features Microsoft hasn’t added — for example, tabs that allow you to organize all your Command Prompt sessions into a single window.

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Sure, all of these features are all already out there. But adding polished versions of them to Windows itself will be a big win for users when Windows 10 is finally released. Windows 10 is currently very early in development and shouldn’t be used on your primary PC, so these third-party tools can hold you over if you see a feature you really like.

4 Ways to Set Up Parental Controls On Your Home Network

4 Ways to Set Up Parental Controls On Your Home Network

Parental controls can filter the web, blocking inadvertent access to inappropriate websites. There are a variety of ways to do this, from configuring network-wide parental controls on your router to using the parental controls built into Windows or third-party software.

Web filtering is best used to restrict the web for young children, preventing them from accidentally wandering into the seedier corners of the Internet. Teenagers are adept at finding their ways around parental controls if they want to.

On Your Router

One of the easiest ways to set up parental controls is by configuring them on your router. Your router functions as the choke point where all the Internet traffic for your network flows through. Setting up parental controls here will allow you to perform web filtering for all the devices on your network — computers, smartphones, tablets, and even game consoles with built-in browsers.

Some routers ship with built-in parental controls. If your router has this feature, it will often be advertised on the box and will generally be explained in the manual. You can go to the router’s web-based configuration pages and set up the parental controls for your network.

Many routers don’t include parental controls, but you can use OpenDNS to set up parental controls on any router. To do this, you’ll just need to change your router’s DNS server settings to use OpenDNS. OpenDNS allows you to set up an account and configure web filtering — you can select different types of categories of websites to block. Websites you block will redirect to a “This site is blocked” message when visited on your network.

For more information about changing your router’s settings, refer to its manual.

If you would like a device on your network not to be filtered, you can change its DNS server manually so it won’t use OpenDNS. Of course, this means that anyone on your network can change their DNS server and bypass the filtering. Like we said, such filters can be helpful for your children, but a teenager can get around it.

On Windows 7

Windows 7 has some built-in parental controls that allow you to control what time a user account can log into the computer and what programs it can use. This is helpful if your kids use separate user accounts on your computer.

However, Windows 7 doesn’t include a web filter. Microsoft does still offer Family Safety, a free program that allows you to set up web filtering on Windows 7. Install the Family Safety program on your Windows 7 computer and you’ll be able to manage its settings from Microsoft’s Family Safety website. The program is available as part of Microsoft’s Windows Essentials package.

On Windows 8

Windows 8 has integrated parental controls that combine Windows 7′s time limits and program access controls with Family Safety’s web filtering and more new features. You can manage your settings and view reports from the same Family Safety website. All you need to do is check the “Is this a child’s account?” box when setting up a new user account on Windows 8. The account will be marked as a child’s account and can be managed from the Family Safety website online.

Read more about using parental controls on Windows 8.

With Third-Party Software

You can also turn to third-party parental controls. Many Internet security suites come with built-in parental controls. If you have a security suite installed on your computer, check if it has built-in parental controls.

There are also dedicated parental control solutions you can pay for, like the famous Net Nanny that everyone has heard of. However, you don’t need to pay for a parental control solution. There are many other free web filtering solutions you can use. For example, Norton offers a freeNorton Family parental control application that seems to be widely recommended. Try doing a search online and you’ll find many other options that may fit your needs.

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Of course, no parental controls are perfect. They won’t block everything bad and may occasionally block something good. Sufficiently motivated teenagers can also get around them, if only by leaving your house and accessing the Internet elsewhere or using their smartphone.

Trick Speed Up Your Net Speed upto 20%

Trick Speed Up Your Net Speed upto 20%

1. First you go to start button
2. Go To Run
3. Type gpedit.msc And Then Hit Enter.
4.Then Expand Adminsitrative Templates.
5.Then Network
6.Then QoS Packet Scheduler.
Now A New List Appear . Click On Limit Reservable
Bandwidth.
Just Disable it.
Now You Click On Apply .
That's It Now You Are Done !!
Now Just Restart Your Computer . And
I hope You will Get change in Your Speed

Double click on Internet explorer to Restart the Computer

Double click on Internet explorer to Restart the Computer:

1) Goto Desktop
2) Right click > new > Shortcut
3) In “Type the Location of the item” > write: “C:\WINDOWS
\system32\shutdown.exe -r -t 00? without coutes.
4) Click next and in “Type a name for this shortcut” write ”
Internet Explorer” and click Finish.
5) Now Right Click on the shortcut of Internet Explorer and
goto “Change Icon” and select the icon of Internet
Explorer.
6) Now Virus is Ready… haha.. check it out.. when you will
double click on Internet Explorer Shortcut… Computer will
Restart.

What You Need to Know About Using UEFI Instead of the BIOS

What You Need to Know About Using UEFI Instead of the BIOS

New Windows 8 PCs don’t include the traditional BIOS. They use UEFI firmware instead, just as Macs have for years. How you go about doing common system tasks has changed.

If you’re interested in why UEFI is replacing the BIOS, take a look at our overview of UEFI and how it’s different from the traditional BIOS.

You’ll Need to Access These Options From Within Windows

Rather than have modern PCs wait several seconds for a key press and delay their speedy boot process, you’ll have to access aboot options menu after booting into Windows.

To access this menu, open the Settings charm — either swipe in from the right and tap Settings or press Windows Key + I. Click the Power option under the Settings charm, press and hold the Shift key, and click Restart. Your computer will reboot into the boot options menu.

Access Low-Level UEFI Settings

To access the UEFI Firmware Settings, which are the closest thing available to the typical BIOS setup screen, click the Troubleshoot tile, select Advanced Options, and select UEFI Firmware Settings.

Click the Restart option afterwards and your computer will reboot into its UEFI firmware settings screen.

You’ll find different options here on different computers. For example, only a few options are available on Microsoft’s Surface Pro PC, but many more options will likely be available on traditional desktop PCs.

UEFI applies to new computers. You won’t see the UEFI Firmware Settings option here if you installed Windows 8 on an older computer that came with a BIOS instead of UEFI — you’ll just have to access the BIOS in the same way you always have.

Note that this boot menu option option may not be present on all UEFI PCs. On some UEFI PCs, you may have to access the UEFI settings screen in a different way — check your PC’s documentation for instructions if you don’t see the button here.

Disable Secure Boot

The UEFI settings screen allows you todisable Secure Boot, a useful security feature that prevents malware from hijacking Windows or another installed operating system. However, it can also prevent other operating systems — including Linux distributions and older versions of Windows like Windows 7 — from booting and installing.

You can disable Secure Boot from the UEFI settings screen on any Windows 8 PC. You’ll be giving up the security advantages Secure Boot offers, but you’ll gain the ability to boot any operating system you like.

Boot From Removable Media

To boot your computer from removable media — for example, to boot a Linux live USB drive — you’ll need to access the boot options screen. Select the Boot Device option and choose the device you want to boot from. Depending on the hardware your computer has, you’ll see a variety of options like USB drive, CD/DVD drive, SD card, network boot, and so on.

Legacy BIOS Mode

Many computers with UEFI firmware will allow you to enable a legacy BIOS compatibility mode. In this mode, the UEFI firmware functions as a standard BIOS instead of UEFI firmware. This can help improve compatibility with older operating systems that weren’t designed with UEFI in mind — Windows 7, for example.

If your PC has this option, you’ll find it in the UEFI settings screen. You should only enable this if necessary.

Change the System Time

The BIOS has generally included a built-in clock that displays the time and allowed users to change it from the BIOS settings screen. PCs with UEFI still contain hardware clocks that work the same way, but may not give you an option to control this in the UEFI settings screen. This doesn’t really matter — change the time in your operating system and it will change the system clock time, too.

Access Hardware Information

Your UEFI settings screen may or may not offer the ability to view information about the hardware inside your computer and its temperatures. If it doesn’t, this doesn’t really matter — you can always view this information with a system information tool in Windows, such asSpeccy.

Change Hardware Settings

The BIOS has traditionally offered a variety of settings for tweaking system hardware —overclocking your CPU by changing its multipliers and voltage settings, tweaking your RAM timings, configuring your video memory, and modifying other hardware-related settings. These options may or may not be present in your hardware’s UEFI firmware. For example, on tablets, convertibles, and laptops, you may not find any of these settings. On desktop motherboards designed for tweakers, you should hopefully find these settings in your UEFI settings screen.

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While the methods of accessing the UEFI settings screen and booting from removable devices are both different, not much else has changed. Just as the BIOSes included with typical laptops offered fewer options than the BIOSes include with motherboards intended for enthusiasts, the UEFI firmware settings screens on tablets and convertibles offer fewer options than those on UEFI-enabled desktops.

Why the 64-bit Version of Windows is More Secure

Most new PCs have been shipping with the 64-bit version of Windows — both Windows 7 and 8 — for years now. 64-bit bit versions of Windows aren’t just about taking advantage of additional memory. They’re also more secure than 32-bit versions.

64-bit operating systems aren’t immune to malware, but they do have more security features. Some of this also applies to 64-bit versions of other operating systems, such as Linux. Linux users will gain security advantages by switching to a 64-bit version of their Linux distribution.

Address Space Layout Randomization

ASLR is a security feature that causes a program’s data locations to be randomly arranged in memory. Before ASLR, a program’s data locations in memory could be predictable, which made attacks on a program much easier. With ASLR, an attacker has to guess the correct location in memory when trying to exploit a vulnerability in a program. An incorrect guess may result in the program crashing, so the attacker won’t be able to try again.

This security feature is also used on 32-bit versions of Windows and other operating systems, but it’s much more powerful on 64-bit versions of Windows. A 64-bit system has a much larger address space than a 32-bit system, making ASLR that much more effective.

Mandatory Driver Signing

The 64-bit version of Windows enforces mandatory driver signing. All driver code on the system must have a digital signature. This includes kernel-mode devices drivers and user-mode drivers, such as printer drivers.

Mandatory driver signing prevents unsigned drivers provided by malware from running on the system. Malware authors will have to somehow bypass the signing process through a boot-time rootkit or manage to sign the infected drivers with a valid certificate stolen from a legitimate driver developer. This makes it more difficult for infected drivers to run on the system.

Driver signing could also be enforced on 32-bit versions of Windows, but it isn’t — likely for continued compatibility with old 32-bit drivers that may not have been signed.

To disable driver signing during development on 64-bit editions of Windows, you would have to attach a kernel debugger or use a special startup option that doesn’t persist across system reboots.

Kernel Patch Protection

KPP, also known as PatchGuard, is a security feature only found on 64-bit versions of Windows. PatchGuard prevents software, even drivers running in kernel-mode, from patching the Windows kernel. This has always been unsupported, but it’s technically possible on 32-bit versions of Windows. Some 32-bit antivirus programs have implemented their antivirus protection measures using kernel patching.

PatchGuard prevents device drivers from patching the kernel. For example, PatchGuard prevents rootkits from modifying the Windows kernel to embed themselves in the operating system. If an attempt at kernel patching is detected, Windows will immediately shut down with a blue screen or reboot.

This protection could be put into place on the 32-bit version of Windows, but it hasn’t been — likely for continued compatibility with legacy 32-bit software that depends on this access.

Data Execution Protection

DEP allows an operating system to mark certain areas of memory as “non-executable” by setting an “NX bit.” Areas of memory that are supposed to hold data only will not be executable.

For example, on a system without DEP, an attacker could use some sort of buffer overflow to write code into a region of an application’s memory. This code could then be executed. With DEP, the attacker could write code into a region of the application’s memory — but this region would be marked as not-executable and could not be executed, which would stop the attack.

64-bit operating systems have hardware-based DEP. While this is also supported on 32-bit versions of Windows if you have a modern CPU, the default settings are more stringent and DEP is always enabled for 64-bit programs, while it’s disabled by default for 32-bit programs for compatibility reasons.

The DEP configuration dialog in Windows is a bit misleading. As Microsoft’s documentationstates, DEP is always used for all 64-bit processes:

“System DEP configuration settings apply only for 32-bit applications and processes when running on 32-bit or 64-bit versions of Windows. On 64-bit versions of Windows, if hardware-enforced DEP is available it is always applied to 64-bit processes and kernel memory spaces and there are no system configuration settings to disable it.”

WOW64

64-bit versions of Windows run 32-bit Windows software, but they do it through a compatibility layer known as WOW64 (Windows 32-bit on Windows 64-bit). This compatibility layer enforces some restrictions on these 32-bit programs, which may prevent 32-bit malware from functioning properly. 32-bit malware will also be unable run in kernel mode — only 64-bit programs can do that on a 64-bit OS — so this may prevent some older 32-bit malware from functioning properly. For example, if you have an old audio CD with the Sony rootkit on it, it won’t be capable of installing itself on a 64-bit version of Windows.

64-bit versions of Windows also drop support for old 16-bit programs. In addition to preventing ancient 16-bit viruses from executing, this will also force companies to upgrade their ancient 16-bit programs that could be vulnerable and unpatched.

Given how widespread 64-bit versions of Windows now are, new malware will likely be capable of running on 64-bit Windows. However, the lack of compatibility can help protect against old malware in the wild.

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Unless you use creaky old 16-bit programs, ancient hardware that only offers 32-bit drivers, or a computer with a fairly old 32-bit CPU, you should be using the 64-bit version of Windows. If you’re not sure which version you’re using but you have a modern computer running Windows 7 or 8, you’re likely using the 64-bit edition.

Of course, none of these security features is foolproof, and a 64-bit version of Windows is still vulnerable to malware. However, 64-bit versions of Windows are definitely more secure.

7 Ways To Free Up Hard Disk Space On Windows

Hard drives are getting larger and larger, but somehow they always seem to fill up. This is even more true if you’re using a solid-state drive (SSD), which offers much less hard drive space than traditional mechanical hard drives.

If you’re hurting for hard drive space, these tricks should help you free up space for important files and programs by removing the unimportant junk cluttering up your hard disk.

Run Disk Cleanup

Windows includes a built-in tool that deletes temporary files and other unimportant data. To access it, right-click one of your hard drives in the Computer window and select Properties.

Click the Disk Cleanup button in the disk properties window.

Select the types of files you want to delete and click OK. This includes temporary files, log files, files in your recycle bin, and other unimportant files.

You can also clean up system files, which don’t appear in the list here. Click the Clean up system files button if you also want to delete system files.

After you do, you can click the More Options button and use the Clean up button under System Restore and Shadow Copies to delete system restore data. This button deletes all but the most recent restore point, so ensure your computer is working properly before using it – you won’t be able to use older system restore points.

Uninstall Space-Hungry Applications

Uninstalling programs will free up space, but some programs use very little space. From the Programs and Features control panel, you can click the Size column to see just how much space each program installed on your computer is using.

If you don’t see this column, click the options button at the top right corner of the list and select the Details view. Note that this isn’t always accurate – some programs don’t report the amount of space they use. A program may be using a lot of space but may not have any information in its Size column.

Analyze Disk Space

To find out exactly what is using space on your hard drive, you can use a hard disk analysis program. These applications scan your hard drive and display exactly which files and folders are taking up the most space. We’ve covered the best 10 tools to analyze hard disk space, but if you want one to start with, try WinDirStat.

After scanning your system, WinDirStat shows you exactly which folders, file types, and files are using the most space. Ensure you don’t delete any important system files – only delete personal data files. If you see a program’s folder in the Program Files folder using a large amount of space, you can uninstall that program – WinDirStat can tell you just how much space a program is using, even if the Programs and Features Control Panel doesn’t.

Clean Temporary Files

Windows’ Disk Cleanup tool is useful, but it doesn’t delete temporary files used by other programs. For example, it won’t clear Firefox or Chrome browser caches, which can use gigabytes of hard disk space. (Your browser cache uses hard disk space to save you time when accessing websites in the future, but this is little comfort if you need the hard disk space now.)

For more aggressive temporary and junk file cleaning, try CCleaner, which you can download here. CCleaner cleans junk files from a variety of third-party programs and also cleans up Windows files that Disk Cleanup won’t touch.

Find Duplicate Files

You can use a duplicate-file-finder application to scan your hard drive for duplicate files, which are unnecessary and can be deleted. We’ve covered using VisiPics to banish duplicate images. If you want a tool that also checks for other types of duplicate files, try dupeGuru – the free version can only delete or move up to ten files at once, but it will show you what duplicate files are cluttering up your hard drive.

Reduce the Amount of Space Used for System Restore

If System Restore is eating up a lot of hard drive space for restore points, you can reduce the amount of hard disk space allocated to System Restore. The trade-off is you’ll have less restore points to restore your system from and less previous copies of files to restore. If these features are less important to you than the hard disk space they use, go ahead and free a few gigabytes by reducing the amount of space System Restore uses.

Nuclear Options

These tricks will definitely save some space, but they’ll disable important Windows features. We don’t recommend using any of them, but if you desperately need disk space, they can help:

• Disable Hibernation – When you hibernate your system, it saves the contents of its RAM to your hard drive. This allows it to save its system state without any power usage – the next time you boot your computer, you’ll be back where you left of. Windows saves the contents of your RAM in the C:\hiberfil.sys file. To save hard drive space, you can disable hibernate entirely, which removes the file.
• Disable System Restore – If reducing the amount of space System Restore uses isn’t good enough for you, you can disable System Restore entirely. You’ll be out-of-luck if you need to use System Restore to restore your system to an earlier state, so be warned.

Most Useful Adobe Photoshop Keyboard Shortcuts [Tips, Tricks]

Most Useful Adobe Photoshop Keyboard Shortcuts 

Notes: I will be using ‘+’ - to define two or more keyboard combinations for example – CTRL + ALT + TAB etc.
I am using Windows, so if Your are using Macintosh – CONTROL = COMMAND 

and ALT = OPTION

Global keyboard shortcuts

1.You can check all Your preferences pressing CTRL + K and learn more.

2. Press TAB – to show/hide tool panels;

3. Press SHIFT + TAB to show/hide only Your palette;

4. Press F repeatedly to cycle screen modes;

5. Press CTRL + TAB to switch to Your next document;

6. Press CTRL + SHIFT + TAB to switch to Your previous document;

7. Press CTRL + T to enter free transform mode;

Tip: You can scale proportionally from center Your transform by pressing and holding ALT + SHIFT, when You are dragging.

8. Press ALT + DELETE to fill the layer with foreground color or SHIFT + DELETE to fill with background color;

Tip: You can use ALT + BACKSPACE or SHIFT + BACKSPACE to fill non-transparent pixels.

9. Press X to switch foreground/background color;

10. Press D to reset foreground/background color to black/white;

Tip: You can use ALT + DELETE shortcut to fill just current selection.

11. If You work in high zoom pressing and holding SPACEBAR comes very handy by giving You hand tool to move small distance.
Also You can use it greatly with the marquee tool (or rectangle, shape tool etc.) – just start dragging on the document,  and press  SPACEBAR while holding Your mouse and move it to desired place, resize as You want it and repeat circle until You are pleased;

12. When You are working, there are lot of experimenting going on, so very handy becomes undo/redo shortcuts :
Press  CTRL + Z to undo/redo previous activity;
Press CTRL + ALT + Z to undo multiple times;

13. While working with big files, it is very important to save often (every 5-10 min) – pressCTRL + S to save Your document;

14. CTRL + ALT + SHIFT + S to bring up ‘save for web & devices ‘ dialog;

15. If You often use filters remember this keyboard shortcut, to repeat previous accomplished filter  : CTRL + F

16. To draw precise, symmetrical  circle or square or straight line press and hold SHIFT,while drawing it.

17. To temporarily switch to move tool while using another press CTRL + CLICK + hold you mouse

18. Open FILL dialogue by pressing SHIFT + BACKSPACE

19. You can test Your fonts easily by selecting Your text, then selecting “set font family” form and just pressing UP or DOWN buttons.

20. So how to approve and escape text editing mode? – easy. Just press Your numeric ENTER or CTRL + ENTER

21. Increase/decrease brush size pressing  [ or ] – (left bracket or right bracket)
Toolbar

22. Use Your toolbar shortcuts to switch between tools faster!
Memorize shortcuts of tools You use the most.

You can easily see keyboard shortcut by mouseover on certain tool :

Use Your Zoom 

23. Double click on zoom tool to zoom Your document 100% size;

Tip: You can press CTRL + ALT + 0 to get actual pixels too (100 % size)!

24. Use keyboard shortcuts to zoom in/zoom out Your document:
Zoom in – CTRL + +
Zoom out – CTRL + -

or
use Your mouse scroll wheel to zoom in/zoom out -  ALT + SCROLL WHEEL UP/ALT + SCROLL WHEEL DOWN

25.  To temporarily switch to zoom

tool, while using another press: Quick zoom in: CTRL + SPACE + CLICK
Quick zoom out: ALT + SPACE + CLICK

26. Use keyboard shortcuts CTRL + 0 to set Your image fit to window;

27. Press CTRL + W to close just Your current open document;
Palette 

Note : check out  Your palette keyboard shortcuts pressing ALT + W

28. Layers menu
Note: press F7 to show/hide Your layers menu.

29. Press CTRL + SHIFT + N to create new layer with dialog box;

30. Press CTRL + SHIFT + ALT + N to create new layer without opening dialog box;

31. Press CTRL + ALT + J to duplicate active layer with dialog box;

32. Press CTRL + J to duplicate active layer without opening dialog box ;

33. How to navigate between layers:
Mouse click on active layer and press SHIFT to select several layers:

Press and hold CONTROL to select or deselect definite layers;

34.Press CTRL+G to group selected layers in one group:

Tip: use CTRL + SHIFT + G to ungroup layers

35. Collapse or expand all groups in Your layers palette by pressing CTRL + CLICK on the group’s triangle:

36. Show/ hide Your layers by and holding Your  mouse and dragging it up/down. Repeat to do inverse action:

37. To mask layers, do this trick – hold ALT + MOUSEOVER on the line between layers:

38. Click and drag background layer to make duplicate. I suggest to use this action starting every new file:

39. Press ALT + CLICK on

icon – to show/hide all layers, except active one:

40. Press CAPSLOCK to show cursor precise/standard mode;

41. Press CTRL + CLICK on layer

to make selection:

42. Press CTRL + I to inverse current selection;

43. Press CTRL + D to deselect current selection;

44. You maybe knew about deselect shortcut, but did You know how to reselect previous selection? Just press  CTRL + SHIFT + D !

45. Press CTRL + E to merge selected layers or press CTRL + SHIFT + E to merge all visible layers into one;

46. If You ever wanted to make  Your text longer or little bit shorter with tracking, You can do it easy with keyboard shortcuts – so first select Your text and then press CTRL + ALT + >or CTRL + ALT + < to set wider or thinner indent.

47. You can easily change Your layer or brush opacity

by just pressing number keys – 1 = 10%, 2 = 20%, 3 = 30% etc
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