FIX: Acrobat failed to connect to a DDE server

Posted on by Matthew Adams

The Adobe Acrobat PDF (Portable Document Format) software throws out this error message for some users:

Acrobat failed to connect to a DDE server

That error message can pop up when users try to open PDFs or merge documents within Adobe Acrobat.

Consequently, users can’t open a PDF or merge documents in Acrobat when the issue arises. This is how users can fix the Acrobat failed to connect to a DDE server error in Windows 10.

How can I fix Acrobat’s DDE server error?

1. Update the Acrobat software

  1. Right-click the Start menu and select Run.
  2. Enter appwiz.cpl in the text box and click OK.
  3. Select Adobe Acrobat and click Uninstall.
  4. Click the Yes button to confirm.
  5. Restart Windows after uninstalling Adobe Acrobat.
  6. Download Adobe Acrobat from the official page

The DDE server error will more likely arise for older versions of Adobe Acrobat. Adobe might have released an update that fixes the DDE server issue. Thus, updating Acrobat to the latest version might fix the issue for some users.

Users can update the software by clicking Help > Check for Updates in Acrobat. That will open the Updater window that installs updates.

2. Turn off antivirus software

Some third-party antivirus utilities might flag Adobe Acrobat when users try to merge PDFs. So, turning off antivirus software is another potential resolution for the DDE error.

Users can usually select to temporarily disable antivirus software by right-clicking their system tray icons and selecting a disable, exit, pause, or turn off the option.

If there isn’t a disable option on the software’s context menu, open the utility’s primary window and look for a turn off option on its settings tab.

3. Edit the Registry

  1. First, press the Windows key + X hotkey.
  2. Select Run to open that accessory.
  3. Input regedit in the text box and press Enter to open the Registry Editor.
  4. Enter this registry path in the address bar:
    • ComputerHKEY_CLASSES_ROOTacrobatshellopenddeexecapplication.
  5. Select the application key on the left of the Registry Editor’s window.
  6. Double-click Default to open the Edit String window shown directly below.
  7. Then delete the current AcroviewA18 or AcroviewA19 text in the Value data box.
  8. Enter AcroviewR18 in the Value data box if the original value was AcroviewA18.
    1. Note that the A and R values depend on the version installed, so some users might need to enter AcroviewR19.
  9. Then click the OK button.
  10. Restart Windows after editing the registry.

If you can’t edit your Windows 10’s registry, read this handy guide and find the easiest solutions to the issue. This registry edit is one of Adobe’s official resolutions for the DDE error. The edit requires that users modify an application key for Acrobat.

4. Repair Acrobat

  1. Some users have fixed the DDE server error by repairing Acrobat’s installation. To do that, open Run.
  2. Enter appwiz.cpl in Run and press Return.
  3. Select the Adobe Acrobat software.
  4. Press the Change button to open the window in the image directly below.
  5. Select the Repair installation errors in the program option.
  6. Press the Next button.
  7. Click Finish when the repair installation process is done.

5. Turn off Protected Mode at startup

Click Edit > Preferences in Acrobat to open the window in the shot directly below.

  1. Click Security (Enhanced) on the left of that window to open the options shown below.
  2. Deselect the Enable Protected Mode at Startup option.
  3. Deselect the Enable Enhanced Security option.
  4. Close the Preferences window and Adobe Acrobat.
  5. Thereafter, open Adobe to see if that resolution has fixed the DDE server error.

Deselecting the Protected Mode at startup and Enhanced Security settings is another resolution that has fixed the DDE server error some Acrobat users.

Those are resolutions that have fixed the DDE server error for Adobe Acrobat users. So, they’ll probably resolve the error. If further fixes are still needed, however, Acrobat users can log in to adobe.com to open a support case.

If you have any more suggestions or questions, don’t hesitate to leave them in the comments below and will surely take a look.

Microsoft keeps the bad guys away, purchases Corp domain name

Posted on by Radu Tyrsina

Today, security expert Brian Krebs posted on this blog that Microsoft has apparently purchased the domain corp.com.  The domain went up for auction at a starting price of $1.7 million when it was listed by its Wisconsin native, Mike O’Connor, who has owned the domain for 26 years. Microsoft’s goal in purchasing the domain was to keep the domain out of the hands of nefarious actors and based on the previous owner’s statement it seems like Microsoft had good reason to take this action. Mike O’Conner indicated that “hundreds of thousands of Windows PCs are trying to share sensitive data with corp.com,”

The domain could have created potential security issues for the company’s Windows clients where admins used the generic domain name when setting up Active Directory, also known as namespace collision. For years, experts have suggested that whoever would gain access to corp.com would also potentially get access to sensitive data from hundreds of thousands of Windows systems around the world.

While we all laud Microsoft for its efforts around security including their purchase for TLS 1.2 that doesn’t mean the issue is resolved. Microsoft’s purchase helps safeguard companies that have built Active Directory infrastructures on top of “corp” or “corp.com,” however any company that has tied their internal Active Directory network to a domain they do not control is still opening itself to a similar potential security nightmare.

Fix: Application.exe has Stopped Working Error

Posted on by Ivan Jenic

One of the most common problems that occur on Windows PCs is an application crash. This issue has been present over the years.

The symptoms have changed, the configurations have changed, but the problem is still there just to break your nerves from time to time.

We can assure you that Windows 10 isn’t an exception. The well-known application.exe has stopped working message is still making an appearance in Microsoft’s OS.

For that purpose, we conducted a thorough search to provide you with the solutions to the problem at hand. So, if you have experienced sudden crashes, you should consider these workarounds:

How can I fix application.exe crashes in Windows 10?

1. Restart the troubled program

The first thing you should do is close the dialog app crash report and try starting the program again. This may be a one-time error due to some unexpected corruption or just a temporary lack of system resources.

So make sure to close the program properly before you start it again. Namely, even though you close the dialog box, there’s a chance its respective processes are still running in the background.

Because of that, make sure to navigate to Task Manager, kill the process, and start the application again. On the other hand, if the program doesn’t start with the system, you can also restart your PC and try running it again.

If you’re not sure how to do it, follow the instructions below closely:

  1. Close the dialog message that informs you of the crash.
  2. Right-click on the taskbar and open Task Manager.
  3. Make sure to kill the main and related processes related to a crashed app.
  4. Now, try starting the app again and look for changes.

That’s just the thing with the software: it’s not always as stable as one would expect. And, if the problem is still there, make sure to check the other steps in the list.

Can’t open Task Manager? Don’t worry, we’ve got the right solution for you.

Windows won’t end a task in Task Manager? Check out this amazing guide to fix the issue in no time.

2. Change compatibility settings

Another thing you can do, especially if we’re talking about older software, is to change the compatibility settings. Some older programs you may have used with ease on older OS versions might provoke issues in Windows 10.

That occurs due to compatibility issues, especially if the program we’re referring to is as old as time. Luckily, you can change the compatibility mode and set the compatibility to some older Windows version.

If Windows 10 is unable to run the program seamlessly, you can switch to, let’s say, Windows 7, and have an easy time running the program. Additionally, that way you’ll probably get rid of the further crashes.

If you’re not sure how to do it, you’ll find these instructions helpful:

  1. Navigate to the installation folder of the troubled app.
  2. Locate the .exe file, right-click and open Properties.
  3. Under the Compatibility tab, check the box beside ”Run this program in compatibility mode for”.run the application in the compatibility mode
  4. Choose the preferred Windows version and click OK to confirm changes.

That should address some of the possible stops caused by the system’s inability to read the program as intended.

3. Run the program as administrator

Besides the Compatibility mode, some programs thrive (read: work properly) only with the Administrative permission. It’s not unusual for certain applications to make some system changes that are only permitted to an administrator.

Moreover, the User Account Control prompts that occur once the program tries to make changes, can stall the execution of the program and thus, cause the crash.

We won’t advise you to disable those completely because of the security risks, but you can at least disable them for the individual program that has a problem.

So, besides the compatibility, we have another common tweak, and the instructions are below:

  1. Navigate to the installation folder of the troubled app.
  2. Locate the .exe file, right-click, and open Properties.run application as administrator
  3. In the Compatibility tab, check the box beside the ”Run as Administrator” box.
  4. Click OK.

With that, you should resolve certain issues. However, if the problem is going deeper, make sure to turn to other steps.

Learn everything there is to know about the administrator account and how you can enable/disable it right here!

Nothing happens when you click on Run as administrator? Don’t worry, we’ve got the right fix for you.

4. Scan for malware

Another reason for sudden crashes can be the malware infection. Those pesky viruses can certainly cause a lot of issues, and the disrupted use of certain applications is firmly at the top of the list.

What they tend to do, and that’s an awfully common occurrence, is to infect the installation files and corrupt the program. There are various reasons why the virus may attack a certain application, but you can be sure it’s up to no good.

So, make sure your PC is clean before we get to some other, slightly complicated workarounds. Sometimes viruses pass through the real-time protection, so it’s advisable to scan your hard disk from time to time.

The procedure is different for 3rd-party solutions, but we offer you an insight into how to perform a deep scan with Windows’ native security solution, Windows Defender. The instructions are below:

  1. Open the Windows Defender icon from the notification area and choose Advanced Scans.
  2. Save everything to prevent data loss because your PC will restart after the next step.
  3. Locate Windows Defender Offline and click Scan Offline.advanced scans windows defender
  4. Your PC will restart and the scanning procedure will last for approximately 15-20 minutes.

If you need additional info on how to perform a full system scan with Windows Defender, read this dedicated article.

However, if Windows Defender cannot provide maximum security for your PC, you can rely on dedicated antivirus programs as it has powerful engines against all types of cyber threats.

⇒ Get TotalAV

Do you want to check if your firewall is blocking a certain program? Follow the simple steps from this guide to find out.

5. Clean Registry values

There’s a great chance that you’ve installed one program for more than a few times. Now, that’s just a usual thing and it shouldn’t cause any problems.

But it’s not always the case. Namely, once you uninstall the program within the Add/Remove Programs section of the Control Panel, some files remain on your PC.

Remove software leftovers in just a couple of simple steps! Check out this handy guide to find out how you can do it.

And in the Registry, which is of greater importance. So, for some applications, it’s wise to clear your registry of the remaining values and reinstall your program.

Moreover, we advise you to delete all the remaining files from the installation folder which is, most of the time, placed in the C: partition. The additional folder you should check out is the App Data folder.

To access it, just type %appdata% in the Windows Search bar. For cleanup purposes, you can use CCleaner or some similar 3rd-party solution. However, keep in mind that the Registry is dangerous ground, so back it up before the cleansing begins.

Clean your registry like an expert with the help of this amazing guide written by…you guessed it: experts!

6. Clean temporary files

Temporary files are a necessity for some time, but then they become redundant and can create problems within the system. We highly recommend cleaning them up from time to time.

For that purpose, you can use a large variety of 3rd-party tools, including  CCleaner. However, don’t take system tools for granted. You can delete temporary files with system tools, as well.

Follow these instructions to perform a disk cleanup and get rid of the system’s temporary files:

  1. Open This PC.
  2. Right-click the system partition and open Properties.
  3. Choose Disk Cleanup.
  4. Check the boxes beside Temporary files.temporary files disk cleanup
  5. Confirm the selection and clean temporary files.

After that, it should be easier to run some of the programs. However, if the program is still crashing unexpectedly, there are some other things you can do.

Can’t delete the temporary files? After following these easy steps, you’ll delete them like a pro.

Problems deleting all your junk files? Follow this guide to solve Disk Cleanup issues and save your drive.

7. Run SFC and DISM

For some system-related programs, the problem might lie in the corrupted or incomplete system files. It’s not an unusual occurrence, especially since frequent updates or malware can easily inflict these errors.

For that purpose, it’s safest to turn to the elevated Command Prompt and one essential tool that should scan and resolve common issues with system files. The SFC tool is the first obvious choice, even though you can try DISM for more advanced scanning.

If you’re unsure how to run the SFC tool through the elevated Command Prompt, follow the instructions below:

  1. Right-click the Start menu and open Command Prompt (Admin).
  2. In the command line type the following command and press Enter:
    • sfc/scannowcmd sfc
  3. After the procedure is finished, restart your PC.

As we already mentioned, the SFC scan is the first troubleshooting step when you want to check the system files’ integrity.

Scannow command has stopped before the process finished? Don’t worry, we’ve got an easy fix for you.

However, if SFC fails, you can always turn to DISM. Deployment Image Servicing and Management is a great tool that should help you resolve issues with system files by restoring them to their original state.

If you’re unsure how to run DISM, follow these instructions:

  1. Right-click on Start and open Command Prompt (Admin).
  2. In the command line type the following command:
    • DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth
  3. The process should scan and resolve possible file corruption and fix related issues.

There is more than one way to use DISM, and for additional information, you can check this article for a thorough explanation.

If you’re having trouble accessing Command Prompt as an admin, then you better take a closer look at this guide.

Executing the DISM command to restore your Windows system image can also help you fix the Pbid.exe Application Error; read this guide to learn about other solutions.

Does it seem that everything is lost when DISM fails on Windows? Check out this quick guide and get rid of the worries.

8. Change Permissions

Another thing that’s worth checking is Data Execution Prevention. Most of the programs are initially blocked before the first use.

But, as you start an application, and provide it with the permission to change the system settings, DEP won’t bother you. Of course, not most of the time.

Sadly, due to frequent updates, especially major updates, the given permissions can be revoked. And that may just block your application and cause sudden crashes from time to time.

For that purpose, you should navigate deep into System Properties and create an exception for the troubled app. Follow the steps below to do so:

  1. Open This PC and click on System Properties.
  2. Under the Advanced tab > Performance, click on Settings.
  3. Click on the Data Execution Prevention tab.
  4. Choose ”Turn on DEP for all programs and services except those I select”.
  5. Click Add and browse to the installation folder of the troubled app and locate the .exe file.
  6. Set an exception and confirm changes.

That should resolve some of the problems, but it still may not be enough to get you out of the slump.

9. Check drivers

This, of course, primarily affects games. If your game is crashing suddenly, you should check these two things first:

  • If additional programs and versions are present(like DirectX, redistributables, NET Framework or some 3rd-party clients)
  • GPU drivers.

Once you’re certain that everything the game requires is installed, you should tend to drivers. Drivers are essential and they may as well be the reason for crashes in the first place.

If you’re unsure how to install or update GPU drivers, the instructions below should work in your favor:

  1. Right-click Start and open Device Manager.
  2. Navigate to Display drivers, right-click on your GPU and Update Driver.update gpu drivers
  3. Also, you can navigate to the OEM’s site and download the official drivers since some cards have specific software support.

It’s paramount to install appropriate drivers provided by the OEM for many reasons. Don’t download suspicious drivers.

Want the latest GPU drivers? Bookmark this page and always stay updated with the latest and greatest.

That should do it. In case you have any questions or suggestions, we advise you to post them in the comments below. We’ll be glad to help.

Xbox Game Bar for Windows 10 is becoming much more versatile with new widgets from Razer, XSplit, and Intel

Posted on by Radu Tyrsina

Microsoft has just announced a pretty big update for its Xbox Game Bar for Windows 10. The company’s gaming overlay, which can be accessed by pressing Win + G, can already be used for various tasks including Game DVR, changing audio settings, accessing Xbox Live chats, or controlling Spotify playback. However, it’s about to become much more customizable thanks to a new widget store.

Exciting additions include a Razer Cortex widget to boost gaming performance, as well as an XSplit Gamecaster widget that is set to replace the now-deprecated built-in Mixer streaming feature. The Razer Cortex widget is available in beta today, and it will act as an extension of the Windows 10 Game Mode with options to end unnecessary processes running in the background. The widget will also feature PC game deals, with Razer’s Gold & Silver virtual currencies for gamers being front and center.

The new XSplit widget is also available from the Microsoft Store today, and it will also come pre-bundled with the Gamecaster desktop app. “XSplit’s integration with Game Bar provides access to critical Gamecaster tools without having to tab between apps or leave your gaming session. Start and stop your broadcast, interact with chat, check out recent events and stats to help increase viewer interaction, and optimize encoding settings to ensure the highest quality stream – all from the Gamecaster widget,” the Xbox team explained today.

Intel’s Graphics Command Center will also be available as an Xbox Game Bar widget later this spring, and it will also support game streaming and capture features in addition to display settings and power profiles. Microsoft said today that these new Xbox Game Bar widgets are only available for Windows Insiders for now, or Windows 10 users who joined the Game Bar Flight in the Xbox Insider Hub. The company is also releasing today the Game Bar SDK to allow any developers to create widgets for the Xbox Game Bar.

Journey to the Savage Planet, Alvastia Chronicles and more are coming to Xbox Game Pass in April

Posted on by Radu Tyrsina

Microsoft has just announced a couple of new games coming soon to Xbox Game Pass in April during today’s Inside Xbox episode. The adventure game Journey to the Savage Planet is coming to Xbox Game Pass for Console soon, along with the J-RPG Alvastia Chronicles.

Xbox Game Pass for PC members will get four new games this month including the aforementioned Alvastia Chronicles, Football Manager 2020, Stranger Things 3: The Game, and the dungeon crawler Mistover. Yakuza Kiwami was also announced as coming soon to Xbox Game Pass for PC today.

In other Xbox Game Pass-related news, Xbox Game Pass for Console, Xbox Game Pass for PC, and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate will also launch in Japan and South Korea next week on April 13. These are not countries where the Xbox brand is particularly strong, but it really makes sense for Microsoft to finally bring its gaming subscription service to these huge gaming markets.

ESA cancels plans for digital-only E3 2020 after IGN announced ambitious Summer of Gaming online event

Posted on by Radu Tyrsina

After the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) cancelled E3 2020 last month amid concerns about the coronavirus pandemic, the organization said that it would try to work with developers and game publishers to hold an online-only event in June. Well, the ESA has now cancelled its plans for an online E3 2020 event entirely, though the association said in a new statement that it plans to promote gaming announcements in the coming months ahead of a “reimagined E3” next year.

“Given the disruption brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, we will not be presenting an online E3 2020 event in June,” the ESA said in a statement provided to IGN. “Instead, we will be working with exhibitors to promote and showcase individual company announcements, including on www.E3expo.com, in the coming months. We look forward to bringing our industry and community together in 2021 to present a reimagined E3 that will highlight new offerings and thrill our audiences.”

It’s worth noting that the ESA’s plans for a digital E3 this year may have been jeopardized by IGN’s freshly-announced Summer of Gaming online event, which will be held in June. IGN remains one of the biggest video games websites on the Internet these days, and the company certainly has big plans for its online event that appears to be pretty much what the ESA was planning to do with its digital E3 this year.

“IGN will be collaborating with the likes of 2K, Square Enix, SEGA, and more to bring you publisher presentations with IGN pre- and post-discussions, remote developer interviews, hands-on demos and preview impressions, gameplay, and news segments recapping the biggest announcements,” IGN said today. This announcement didn’t mention Microsoft, which also plan to do its own Xbox digital event in June.

FIX: Connection is not private on Safari

Posted on by Milan Stanojevic

Many Mac users reported getting This connection is not private message in Safari. This message will prevent you from accessing certain websites, so today we’ll show you how to bypass it.

What to do if the connection is not private in Safari?

1. Select the visit website option

This is just a warning message and you can bypass it by doing the following:

  1. When the warning message appears, click on Show details.
  2. Now choose Visit the website on the bottom of the page.
  3. A pop up will now appear. Select Visit website.

Some users reported that opening the website in a Private window and repeating the process fixed it permanently, so you might want to try that as well.

2. Delete the certificate

One way to fix this problem is to find and delete the certificate. To do that, follow these steps:

  1. Check the certificate details from the page.
  2. Go to the Keychain Access.
  3. Find the certificate and delete it.
  4. Refresh the website and choose the option to access it anyway.

After doing that, the correct certificate should be installed and the issue will be resolved.

3. Set the certificate to Always trust

Changing the certificate options can help you fix Connection is not private message in Safari. This might not be the safest method, so use it only for websites that you trust:

  1. Open the Keychain Access.
  2. Find the certificate and choose Get Info.
  3. Expand Trust and set When using this certificate to Always Trust.

4. Make sure that the time is correct

If your clock isn’t correct, that can lead to issues with Connection is not private error. To fix it, do the following:

  1. Go to Apple Menu > System Preferences > Date & Time.
  2. Check your date and time and make sure it’s correct.
  3. Also, you can check Set Date and time automatically

Now check if the problem is resolved.

5. Clear the browser cache

Corrupted cache can cause this problem, so it’s advised to clear it. To do that, just follow these steps:

  1. In Safari, go to Preferences > Privacy.
  2. Click on Manage Website Data button and click on Remove.
  3. Optional: Go to History and choose Clear History.

This message will prevent you from accessing certain websites in Safari, but we hope that you managed to fix it with our solutions.

PowerToys for Windows 10 get minor improvements and bug fixes

Posted on by Radu Tyrsina

It’s been a week since Microsoft released PowerToys v0.16 with 4 exciting utilities that are already favorites here at OnMSFT, and the company is following up this week with PowerToys v0.16.1 with some improvements and bug fixes including enabling new features to be turned on by default for upgrades. For anyone who tried the recently released utilities, all the new features were disabled by default and it seems Microsoft is continuing to listen to their users and improve the user experience.

This patch release includes the following fixes:

  • New utilities are turned on by default for upgrades – (#1878)
  • Correct localization bug – (#1795)
  • RDP bug in FancyZones – (#1821)
  • Focus bug in Window Walker – (#1800)
  • Added telem to actually know if Window Walker was enabled (#1925)
  • Make user aware of dual MSIX and MSI install issue, partial solution (#1920)
  • fixed FancyZone crash with Unity (#1873)

To see the latest features of PowerToys, check out our hands-on review of PowerToys recently released utilities. You can also check out PowerToys GitHub page for an overview and installation instructions.

Microsoft announces new changes to SharePoint and OneDrive Files On-Demand to cope with higher usage

Posted on by Radu Tyrsina

Due to higher usage of Office 365 services since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, Microsoft announced two weeks ago some restrictions to prioritize the company’s cloud capacity to critical activities. The software giant is following up this week by informing users of more minor changes on the Office 365 service portal (via ZDNet).

In this latest development, Microsoft is changing how OneDrive Files on Demand works on Windows 10 and macOS to remove thumbnails for certain files, and the company also added more details to its SharePoint changes announced two weeks ago. You can read the full details below:

OneDrive: Customers who use OneDrive Files On-Demand and choose to “display items by using large thumbnails” in Windows Explorer or Mac Finder will see generic icons instead of thumbnails for a subset of file types, such as PDF and video files. Photo file thumbnails (jpeg, jpg, png, etc) are not affected by this change.

SharePoint: Updated (in bold) to provide additional clarity: We are rescheduling specific backend operations to regional evening and weekend business hours. Impacted capabilities include migration, DLP, apps that scan the service, and delays in file management after uploading a new file, video or image.

Among the service changes that Microsoft announced earlier, the company has already reduced video resolution for Microsoft Teams meetings and reduced frequency of Presence checking. Additionally, the meeting recording video resolution in Microsoft Stream has also been adjusted to 720, while the download size and sync frequency of file attachments in OneNote has also been changed. The company says that it will continue to monitor the usage of its Office 365/Microsoft 365 services, and more changes could happen as usage continues to rise.

How to assign tasks when working remotely using Microsoft Planner

Posted on by Radu Tyrsina

With whole offices now adapting to working remotely, it can be difficult to figure out an effective way to assign and delegate tasks. While there’s no direct alternative to the daily whiteboard session or team stand-up meeting, Microsoft Planner can help ensure everyone’s aware of what’s going on.

Screenshot of assignees in Microsoft Planner

If you’re new to Planner, you might want to read our overview guide first before moving forwards. Planner gives you a Kanban-style task board, where tasks are arranged as vertical lists of cards in horizontal “buckets.” The buckets are used to group tasks by category or completion state.

Tasks can be “assigned” to Planner users. Click any task on the board and then click the “+ Assign” button beneath its title.

Screenshot of assignees in Microsoft Planner

Use the dropdown menu which appears to select the user you’d like to assign the task to. Back on the board, the assignee will appear on the task’s card, letting everyone see that there’s now somebody tackling the problem.

To get the most from task assignments, users should enable Planner notifications. Click the Settings cog icon in the top-right corner, followed by “Notifications” under the first heading (“Planner”). (Note: Confusingly, there is a separate “Notifications” heading further down the settings pane, which lets you turn all Planner alerts on or off with a single click.)

The Notifications popup dialog lets you choose how you should be notified when you’re assigned a new task. When enabled, you’ll get an email, push notification and Microsoft Teams alert whenever you become a task’s assignee. You can also choose to get email alerts when a task is approaching its deadline or has become overdue.

Screenshot of assignees in Microsoft Planner

By assigning tasks to users, you get more visibility into what’s being worked on. You can also check in on the workload of individual team members. Click the “Charts” tab at the top of the Planner screen to see a breakdown of the tasks assigned to each user. If somebody’s got a lot of tasks outstanding, you might want to offer them a hand to help them through their day.

How to use MyAnalytics in Office 365 to better manage your time when working remotely

Posted on by Radu Tyrsina

Working from home can be challenging, especially when the whole household is around. Effective time management is critical if you’re to get through your day while maintaining a reasonable work-life balance.

Microsoft’s MyAnalytics is a lesser-known member of the Office 365 family. MyAnalytics can provide insights which help you to understand how you’re spending your time. It tracks your activity and engagements within other Office 365 apps and then analyses how you can improve your focus, wellbeing, networking and collaboration.

Screenshot of Microsoft Analytics

MyAnalytics isn’t available on all Office 365 plans and may be disabled by an administrator. If it’s available, it will show up in the app launcher at Office.com (you may need to click “All apps” first).

The MyAnalytics homepage breaks down your current statistics across the app’s four main sections: Focus, Wellbeing, Network and Collaboration. By maximising your effectiveness across all four areas, you can increase your chance of working productively while still being able to relax and unwind at the end of the day.

Focus

The Focus section assesses how much focus time you’re getting during your day. Focus time refers to distraction-free time in which you’re working deeply and at maximum productivity.

Screenshot of Microsoft Analytics

MyAnalytics identifies your focus time periods by looking at how much calendar time you had, minus your “Collaboration” periods. A collaboration is counted as any call you make, email you send or meeting you participate in. Events on your calendar with no attendees aren’t considered to be a collaboration.

MyAnalytics displays a bar graph showing how much focus time you’ve had over the past month. If the green bars aren’t tall enough, you may be spending excess time dealing with distractions. MyAnalytics can help by automatically scheduling a 1-2 hour focus slot onto your calendar, ensuring you’ve got the space you need to get work done.

Wellbeing

Wellbeing considers your life outside of work. Real-time notifications are one of the distinguishing features of the digital age, yet they can also be one of the greatest threats to free time.

Screenshot of Microsoft Analytics

MyAnalytics shows how often you drop into overtime or respond to a work email out of hours. Completing any “significant activity” after work or over the weekend will cause you to lose one of your “quiet days”.

Regularly working overtime or checking your work alerts can be a major contributor to stress and burnout. MyAnalytics can help you visualise the amount of extra time you’re putting in, which might give you a clearer picture of how your work-life balance is holding up.

Network

The Network screen shows how you interact with other people, whether inside your organisation or externally. You can see your relationship to contacts, how much time you spend collaborating with them and how many people are active within your network.

Screenshot of Microsoft Analytics

This is especially useful to salespeople, where network size can directly correspond to sales success. More broadly, it helps you identify who you’re speaking to, which is particularly important if you’re a team leader. If a team member hasn’t been active in your network lately, it may be time to drop a friendly message to see how they’re progressing.

Collaboration

Collaboration is the final section. It enables you to see how much time you spend in meetings, on the phone or responding to emails.

Screenshot of Microsoft Analytics

MyAnalytics looks at the number of calls, emails and messages you’ve participated in over the past month. You can then use these insights to gauge how much of your day is spent collaborating with others.

The implications of these stats are likely to depend on your role within your organisation. A salesperson or executive may well spend much of their time collaborating with other individuals, whereas a writer, designer or developer might be expected to utilise more focus time. Always remember that “ideal” values for one individual might look radically different for another.

Analysing your working patterns

If you’re struggling with remote working, start by thinking about how you spend your day. Then login to MyAnalytics and look at its reports. You might find that a few little changes, such as limiting the time you spend in emails, make all the difference in increasing the amount of work you get done.

Screenshot of Microsoft Analytics

MyAnalytics’ sections are inherently interlinked and it’s important to find a balance between them. To maximise Focus’ stats, you’re likely to need a reduction in Collaboration; however, it’s unrealistic to cut Collaboration out entirely.

Instead, try to consider – with MyAnalytics’ help – how much of your collaboration time is necessary. One easy fix may be to allocate some “edge hours” (such as before or after lunch) to responding to emails, giving you a greater stretch of time to block off for productivity in the morning or afternoon.

Top 5 ways to customize Microsoft Teams to make it your own

Posted on by Radu Tyrsina

Sometimes, you just want to make the apps and programs you use every day a bit more personal. With Microsoft Teams, this is something you can do, too.

Be it a dark theme, read receipts, apps, and more, there are a couple of different ways to customize it. Here’s a look at the top 5 ways you can tweak Teams to your own liking.

Dark theme

The first way you can customize Teams to your liking is with a dark theme. Unlike Slack, Teams doesn’t support custom themes, but you can switch the Teams app over to a dark theme if you’re looking for something different. The process is the same across MacOS and Windows.

To get started, just tap your profile picture in the top right corner of the screen. After that, click Settings. You’ll then need to click the General tab if it isn’t already open. Then, you can choose Dark from the Theme option. Once you select Dark Teams will automatically switch over to the dark theme. There’s no need to restart the app. The dark theme works just as you expect. It turns the background in Teams from white to a dark color. If you’re using the dark theme in your operating system like we are, this makes for a cleaner and more concise look.

Read receipts

Read receipts are turned on by default in Microsoft Teams. As the name suggests, you’ll get a checkmark on your messages in a 1:1 or group chat to show that it was sent. Then, when the message was read, it will shift to an eye icon. Your IT admin has full control over this feature and can turn it on or off for all users, but if it has been allowed by IT, you also can turn it on or off on your own, too.

To configure read receipts, tap your profile icon on the top right corner of the screen. You’ll then want to click Settings and then choose Privacy. You should then see a switch for read receipts. If your admin has allowed it, you’ll be able to toggle the switch to off. Keep in mind, though, that if you send a chat to someone who has read receipts turned off, but you still have the feature turned on, you won’t see read receipts at all from that person.

Add some apps

Third on our list are apps. If your IT administrator has allowed it, you’ll be able to install apps in Teams. We’ve covered a few picks for our favorite apps before. These range from Trello, YouTube, Wikipedia, and Microsft Flow. There is a catalog of over 200+ applications that you can download, however.

There are three specific ways you can add apps to Teams. First off, you can choose Apps from the left side of Teams, and then search for your app to add it there. You’ll then see the app appear in the sidebar.

Secondly, you can add apps to a tab in a channel of chat. To do this, you’ll want to go to the channel, group chat, or one-on-one conversation and click Add a tab. It shows up as a + icon. You can then search for or select the tab that you want.

Finally, you can add apps from the messaging area as a Bot. These apps in the messaging area allow you to insert content directly into your Teams messages. You can do this by selecting the … at the bottom of the box where you normally type your message and then choose your app.  You also can try to type out @ and then click Get bots to find some more apps.

Tweak your notifications

Our fourth pick relates to notifications. On this front, you’ll be able to customize which notifications you receive, to help you clean up your activity area in Teams. There’s quite a bit you can control, be it mentions, messages, highlights, and more. You can see all the options for this by heading to your profile icon, clicking the Settings option, then clicking Notifications.

For mentions such as personal mentions, channel mentions, or team mentions, you have a few options. These include banner and email notifications, banner, and only show in feed. For messages, replies, likes, followed channels, and Trending, you’ll have the same options for mentions, with the additional abilities to turn the notifications off altogether.

If you want, you also can create notifications for a specific person by clicking the Manage notifications button at the bottom of the settings page. This will let you follow a person’s status and get notified when they appear Available or Offline. It might be useful for tracking when someone comes online for a shift at a job.

Set a status message

Our final choice for customizing Teams is using a status message. With a status message, you can let your colleagues know what you’ll be doing. This can be set for a few hours, days, weeks, or on a daily basis. It’s separate from your online presence, and you can add additional information to it of up to 280 characters, including emojis, and more.

To set a status message, you’ll want to tap your profile icon. You can then click the Set status message button. A box will then appear and you can enter your custom text and choose. Keep in mind, you can also tick the box that says show when people message me. This will allow people to see your status message as they compose a message,  or @mention you.  For further customization, you can set a custom time for the status message to clear, on an hourly, weekly, or specific basis.

How do you customize Teams?

This is just a wide-angle look at how you can customize Microsoft Teams. As a bonus, we also suggest trying out Snapchat Camera with Microsoft Teams for spicing up your calls with your friends. You also might want to check out how you can blur your background in Teams as well, if you’re looking for some privacy during your video conferences.

But that’s just the start. There’s much more that you can do with Teams, and we invite you to check out our dedicated news hub for more guides and how-tos relating to Teams. Also, feel free to let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

To learn more about Teams, check our latest guide on the best whiteboard apps for Microsoft Teams.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps gets performance improvements and more on Xbox One and Windows

Posted on by davew

The latest patch for Ori and The Will of the Wisps is out with performance updates and bug fixes on Xbox One and Windows 10. Developed by Moon Studios, it’s getting rave reviews for its gameplay.

As noted in a post on the Moon Studios blog, the patch is full of bug fixes and performance updates. Ori and The Will of the Wisps has earned great reviews online, but most of the negative criticism has been based primarily on the game’s bugs.

Ori and The Will of the Wisps is available for purchase in the Microsoft Store or you can play the game for free for those with an Xbox Game Pass subscription. The game is free to play with Xbox Game Pass for Console and Windows 10 PC. If you purchase Ori and The Will of the Wisps from the Microsoft Store, the game supports Xbox Play Anywhere, which means that you can play it on both Xbox One and Windows 10 and your progress will be saved in the cloud.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Download
QR-Code

Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Developer:
Xbox Game Studios
Price:
Free


Xbox Game Pass Ultimate
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate
Download
QR-Code

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate
Developer:
Microsoft Corporation
Price:
$1.00

Windows 10 People app gets a new Fluent Design icon

Posted on by Radu Tyrsina

Microsoft has started rolling out a new icon for its People app on Windows 10. The new icon inspired by Fluent Design previously shipped to Windows Insiders, as did other new icons from Microsoft’s inbox apps such as Photos, Weather, Alarms & Clock and Mail and Calendar.

You can see the old and new People app icons side by side below. Just like other app icons refreshed recently, the new People app icon uses a blue background color by default, and it doesn’t respect your choice of accent color in the Windows 10 Settings app.

.
Microsoft isn’t done yet refreshing all of its app icons on Windows 10, and icons for Calculator, Camera, Feedback Hub, Maps, Messaging, and even the Microsoft Store will likely get a fresh coat of paint sooner or later. Do you like this new icon for the People, or did you prefer the old one? Sound off in the comments below.

Runtime Error Repair Tool for Windows: We’ve Ranked 5 Best

Posted on by Radu Tyrsina

If you are always getting runtime errors, the best thing that you can do is cleaning and repairing the Windows database. The database includes lots of important info on your PC and if any of this data or the files in Windows database become corrupted, this can trigger lots of errors. However, you can fix these runtime errors in Windows 10 with the tools suggested.

Other times, runtime errors can be triggered by a file that you’re trying to open or that is no longer in the directory. Even if the program or app that produced the file that you are trying to run is no longer on your computer, it is still able to cause errors.

These runtime errors can cause your system to run slower and you may also notice that files and programs that you usually open effortlessly and now slower or they may not run at all. Fortunately, there are a few solutions to fix runtime errors and we chose some of the best.

Some general guidelines when trying to fix Windows 10 runtime errors are to check if you have enough storage space available and sufficient memory to run the application.

Best tools to fix runtime errors that you can use today

SpeedyPC Pro Software

SpeedyPC is a tool that can fix Runtime Error 429. This originates in the Windows database, and it is caused by the fact that every time you install or uninstall software, a signature of the program is registered in the Windows database.

Considering the vast amount of records and combinations that are there, especially wrong installations, you will find out that the database may be full of corrupted entries. Your best bet is to open a database cleaner such as SpeedyPC and fix any files in the database that could be causing this error. Check out the best features and advantages that are packed in SpeedyPC Pro Software:

  • This is an innovative software that scans your computer, searching ActiveX and Windows registry errors, dangerous malware, process performance problems, junk files and privacy files.
  • Once it finds the problems, the software eliminates them.
  • Using SpeedyPC Pro, you won’t have to deal with a slow computer anymore or with clutter, error messages, freezing, crashes or all kinds of erratic performance.
  • The scan will take care of common issues such as registry errors that usually make the computer perform poorly and slowly.
  • SpeedyPC Pro also comes with lots of advanced features and tools that will improve startup time, find the best program to open file extensions, defragment your computer memory and also eject unwanted browser add-ons.

This amazing piece of software will eliminate runtime errors, clean registry errors, wipe away privacy files to protect your data, optimize memory, manage restore points and more. You can find out more details about the software’s functions by heading over to the official website and downloading this handy tool.

⇒ Get SpeedyPC Pro’s

Primasoft’s Error Scan and Fix

Primasoft’s Error Scan and Fix is a really advanced registry cleaner that is compatible with Windows and allows you to safely scan, clean and repair various registry issues with just a few mouse clicks. Windows Registry issues are a common cause of Windows crashes and error messages.

By making use of PC tune-up utilities such as registry cleaners every once in a while, you will help your system to become more stable, your software will run quicker and your operating system, in this case, Windows, will boot much faster than before. Check out the best features and functionalities that are included in this handy tool:

  • Primasoft’s Error Scan and Fix helps you scan and repair errors in your Windows Registry.
  • The program’s interface is effortless to use, and even beginners will be able to understand it.
  • The functions that are included in this tool are well identified, and the options are simply set.
  • Operating the software is easy, and all you have to do is click on the areas that you want to scan and press the Scan Now button.
  • The program begins scanning your system and fixes issues in Windows Registry.

The simple command set makes this a user-friendly tool that is worth checking out to see how it works on your computer.

⇒ Get PrimaSoft PC Software

Fix Runtime Error 1.2

windows 10 fix runtime error 1.2

This is another useful solution for fixing runtime errors that pop up on your computer. Fix Runtime Error is a next-generation registry cleaner that allows you to scan, repair and compact Windows registry with just a few clicks of the mouse. Take a look at other handy features that are packed in this tool:

  • Fix Runtime Error will scan the entire registry in order to find any problems and it will repair them quickly.
  • Using this tool on a regular basis will make your system more stable, and it will help it boot faster.
  • Fix Runtime Error is safe to use, and you will get the ability to undo any change made by the program if there is a problem with it.

It’s important to note that over time, any Windows registry accumulates old and incorrect records that will trigger system errors and slower performance. This software will help you fix all this and we recommend that you try out this tool because it works successfully.

⇒ Get Fix Runtime Error

Wondershare’s 1-Click PC Care

1-Click PC Care is a registry cleaner tool that will scan, clean and fix all kinds of errors. This tool automatically scans and repairs runtime errors on your system, so it’s definitely worth checking out. Take a look at the best features that are included in this tool below:

  • This is a professional registry cleaner tool that can diagnose your registry and clean up registry trash, remove registry redundancy and repair your registry-related issues and other errors in order to speed up your system’s performance.
  • This tool also helps create a backup for all the changes that it makes on your system for any potential restoration.
  • The software is effortlessly used by both beginners and more professional users as well.
  • 1-Click PC Care deeps scans your Windows system health, and it generated a detailed diagnostic report that presents the potential risks.

After using this handy tool, you will notice that your system becomes more stable. Head over to Wondershare’s official website and get the 1-Click PC Care to try it out on your system running Windows.

⇒ Get 1-Click PC Care

SpyHunter

Sometimes, runtime errors can be caused by SpyHunter. If you are trying to run or upgrade SpyHunter and you are experiencing a runtime error, the only thing that you can do is perform a re-installation of this tool.

It’s important to remember that most runtime errors can easily be fixed just by uninstalling and reinstalling SpyHunter. The three steps required by this operation include uninstalling the current version of SpyHunter, deleting the folder and reinstalling SpyHunter. Here’s how you do all this:

  • After uninstalling SpyHunter, make sure that all its icons from the desktop have been deleted, and delete any remaining icon related to it.
  • The next step is to find and delete the SpyHunter folder and after that, reboot the computer before downloading and installing the software again.
  • Now, all you have to do is download SpyHunter again and install it, but make sure that you don’t re-use any remaining installation files, but re-download the installation file once more.

You can find SpyHunter on Enigma Software’s official website. This is a convenient tool that detects and removes the latest Trojans, spyware, rootkits, keyloggers, ransomware and more types of malicious software.

⇒ Get SpyHunter  

These are the best ways and tools that will help you get rid of the annoying runtime errors and make your system more reliable, while also speeding up its performance at the same time.

FIX: PC uses less RAM than is physically installed

Posted on by Aleksandar Ognjanovic

Nowadays, RAM comes in abundance since the hardware needs to closely follow the software requirements. And adding more RAM is probably the best way to get your PC go the extra mile.

However, even though some Windows 10 versions support up to 512 GB of RAM (yes, you read that right), your RAM is of no use if it’s not fully employed in the system processing. Some users reported that the difference between the installed and used RAM is enormous.

This is a grave problem and we’ll make sure to help you address it with a few workarounds. In addition, we make an effort to explain the background of this peculiar issue. If your PC runs 6GB of RAM instead of the installed 8GB, make sure to check the solutions below.

How do I use my full RAM on my Windows 10 PC?

  1. Explanation
  2. Check boot settings
  3. Check and update BIOS

Explanation

There are so many reasons why your installed and physical RAM are 2 different values in the system configuration. Some of the most common reasons for such occurrence are:

  • Onboard integrated GPU takes some RAM and uses it as a VRAM.
    • Integrated GPU’s mostly come with 256 MB of VRAM or so, and therefore it’s obvious for them to take some of that RAM plenitude in order to work in a seamless manner.
  • Motherboard and BIOS are optimized for a certain RAM amount.
    • If you add more RAM than it’s initially supported, your system won’t be able to ‘see’ it.
  • Certain Windows versions support only limited RAM.
    • Windows 10, with the 32-bit architecture, can read only up to 4GB of RAM.

When it comes to Windows 10, these are the supported RAM values for different iterations:

  • Home 64 bit: 128 GB.
  • Pro 32-bit: 4 GB.
  • Pro 64-bit: 512 GB.
  • Enterprise 32-bit: 4 GB

In addition, make sure to check your RAM placement. Remove your RAM card from the dedicated socket, try another socket, and check for changes.

On the other hand, if you’re positive about the RAM compatibility and its physical placement on the motherboard, two steps we presented below are essential for retaining your full RAM values.

1. Check boot settings

Here’s how to do it in a few easy steps:

  1. In the Windows Search bar, type System config and open System Configuration.less ram usable than installed
  2. Open the Boot tab.
  3. Choose Advanced options.less ram usable than installed
  4. Uncheck the Maximum memory box and click OK.less ram usable than installed
  5. Restart your PC for changes to take effect.
  6. In the Windows Search bar, type System info and open System Information.
  7. Under the System Summary, navigate to RAM section below and look for Installed and Physical memory.
    • A normal value for 8GB of Installed RAM is 7.92 of Physical RAM, as you can see for yourself.less ram usable than installed

Firstly, let’s check your boot system settings. In order to speed up the Windows startup and fully utilize the Fast Boot function, your system will use RAM extensively. And that would be just fine except the system tends to take more RAM than it’s needed.

That will, of course, affect the size of available RAM later on, when the system starts. By default, the system will take as much RAM as available. So, what we’ll need to do is to restrain the startup process and don’t let it eat on our RAM, which should resolve your problem.

On the other hand, if you still stuck with the substantial difference between the two, make sure to check the alternative solution below.

2. Check and update BIOS

  1. Press Windows key + I to summon the Settings app.
  2. Open Update & security section.less ram usable than installed
  3. Select Recovery from the left pane.
  4. Under the Advanced startup, click on the Restart Now button.less ram usable than installed
  5. In the Advanced startup menu, select Troubleshoot.
  6. Choose Advanced options.
  7. Select UEFI Firmware settings.
  8. Click Restart and your PC should boot into BIOS settings.
  9. Here, you should search for the following settings and set them as below:
    • iGPU, Internal Graphics. or Onboard Graphics > Disabled
    • Memory Map Feature > Enabled
    • Render Standby > Enabled
    • iGPU Memory  > Auto
    • Multimonitor > Disabled
  10. Save changes and exit the BIOS settings menu.

Even if your motherboard supports a vast amount of RAM, some UEFI/BIOS settings might limit the installed RAM to a greater or lesser extent. So, you’ll need to navigate to BIOS settings and, if needed, make some changes.

Additionally, since Windows 10 packs that Fast Boot, the boot sequence will just run past the settings and repetitive pressing of the key won’t do you any good. So, bear with us and follow the instructions closely.

Furthermore, older motherboards with the outdated firmware won’t support large amounts of RAM that are quite common nowadays.

So, it’s recommended to update your BIOS and check for the resolution. However, since this is quite a risky procedure, we advise you to take a look at this article and look for the thorough explanation before you move to updating your BIOS.

We also have a guide that explains how to make sure RAM is running at full speed, so don’t miss it.

With that, we can conclude this article. We hope that you’ll take all of your RAM with the solutions we provided above. In any case, don’t forget to share your questions or alternative solutions with us. We look forward to hearing from you.

Xbox One’s April Update to get a revamped Guide and improved Mixer experience

Posted on by Radu Tyrsina

Microsoft’s Xbox One console is due to get its next big update later this month with a variety of features that the company has been testing with its Xbox Insider testers recently.

These changes include a bit of a revamp of the Guide menus, some improvements to the My Games and Apps section, and some added functionality to the native Mixer experience.

The new Guide moves the main Xbox icon to the left side and reorganizes several links. Here’s the official list of changes:

  • The new default tab order opens Guide with tabs in a left-to-right configuration, the order of which can continue to be customized from the “Profile & system” tab.
  • Party, messaging, and invites have been combined in the new “Parties & chats” tab, providing one single location to communicate with other players.
  • Settings, audio, and power options are now located in the “Profile & system” tab on the left side of Guide, as identified by your gamerpic.
  • Looking for Group can be found in the “People” tab next to the “Find someone” option.
  • App & system notifications are now grouped under the bell icon with other alerts.

The My Games and Apps section will add a new Surprise Me! button which will select a game for the user to play when they can’t make up their mind.

Here’s a pic of it from Xbox Wire:

Xbox One Surprise button
Xbox One Surprise button

Finally, the relatively new native Mixer experience will finally gain support for subscriber badges, emotes, and Ember messages while having video options more easily accessible via the controller’s Menu button as opposed to the rather confusing current menu which auto-hides.

While these additions to the Mixer experience are good to see, the soon-to-be-removed Xbox One Mixer app, which is essentially a web wrapper of the Mixer website is still much easier to use, looks better, and offers more features for viewers such as XP and channel rank tracking and significantly better search screens for finding channels to watch.

Hopefully updates to the Mixer console experience will be pushed out at a faster rate going forward.

What do you think of these changes coming to Xbox One consoles this month? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below and then follow us on Pinterest and Facebook for more Xbox gaming content.

Microsoft announces expansion of Project xCloud in 11 new countries amid COVID-19 pandemic

Posted on by Radu Tyrsina

Microsoft today announced that they are now beginning to expand the preview of their Project xCloud video game streaming platform to 11 new countries.

The countries being added to the xCloud preview are Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and Sweden. Those located within any of these 11 countries who are interested in trying out this new service are encouraged to sign up via this web page. Note that only Android users are being accepted as of this moment. iOS devices will likely be added at a later date as was done in existing test regions.

This expansion of the cloud streaming service is a bit surprising as most of Europe, like many other regions, has restricted internet services due to the global COVID-19 pandemic which has forced the majority of the popular to stay at home.

“With that in mind, we continue to evaluate the COVID-19 situation and will begin rolling out the Project xCloud preview across 11 Western European countries when we are confident it is sensible to do so,” a blog post on Mirosoft’s Xbox Wire website says of the situation. “We will take a measured approach to help conserve internet access, beginning the preview in each market with a limited number of people and adding more participants over time.”

Microsoft has continually been testing and improving its Project xCloud service adding new games and regions on a regular basis over the past several months. Just last week, the new Bleeding Edge video game was added to the xCloud library.

Are you excited for Project xCloud and have you had a chance to try it yet? Share your thoughts with the community in the comments below and then follow us on Pinterest and Twitter for more Xbox gaming news.

Epic Games Launcher error Something went wrong [Fixed]

Posted on by Madalina Dinita

We’re all familiar with Epic Games and their game client called the Epic Games Launcher, but some users have experienced the Something went wrong with Epic games.

The cause of this issue can vary from permission, network connection, or the game client being corrupted. But luckily, we have a few solutions for you.

How can I fix Something went wrong Epic Games error?

1. Log out and log in

log out Something Went Wrong Epic Games
  1. This solution involves you exiting whichever game you’re playing and logging out of the Epic Game Launcher.
  2. Wait for a couple of moments, and log back into the launcher.

2. Firewall permission

  1. From your Start Menu select Control Panel.
  2. Select Windows Firewall, and click on Allow an app or feature through Windows Firewall.
    allow apps to communicate firewall Something Went Wrong Epic Games
  3. The Allowed App windows will open. Click on the Change Settings
  4. Check Private and Public checkboxes next to Epic Games Launcher. If the application isn’t on the list, you’ll have to add it manually.
  5. Click OK to save your new settings.

If you are facing other issues like Install Failed error code: II-E1003 while downloading game files on Epic Launcher, we suggest you check out this guide for easy solutions.

3. Uninstall and reinstall Epic Games Launcher

  1. Start Control Panel.
  2. Now click on Uninstall a Program.
    uninstall a program control panel Something Went Wrong Epic Games
  3. Select Epic Games Launcher and uninstall it.
  4. Afterward, proceed to download Epic Games Launcher from its official website.
  5. Open the file and reinstall the program with the onscreen instructions.

Alternatively, you can use helpful uninstaller software to completely remove Epic Games Launcher and all of its related files.

It will save you a lot of time cleaning up games leftover from a standard uninstall by going from folder to folder.

Reinstalling the game can also help fix other similar issues like Invalid Drive error. You can also follow this guide on fixing the Epic Games Launcher setup ended prematurely error for additional installation troubleshooting steps.

4. Update your network drivers

  1. From the Start Menu select your Device Manager.
    device manager start menu Something Went Wrong Epic Games
  2. Now expand the category with the hardware you want to update.
  3. Right-click on the device, and select Update Driver.
    update driver device manager Something Went Wrong Epic Games
  4. Click the Search automatically for updated driver software.

If the solution above is not working or you need an alternative method, we’re here to offer the most suitable answer.

More exactly, a driver update application is the most suited way to manage all drivers from your Windows OS due to its automatic technology that will scan and update obsolete drivers one by one.

⇒ Get Fortect Driver Updater

5. Remove left-over files

  1. From your Start Menu, select Run and click on it.
  2. You’re going to type %appdata% in the box and press Enter.
    appdata run window Something Went Wrong Epic Games
  3. Search for the Epic Games folder and delete it.

6. Change launcher properties

  1. Find the Launcher shortcut on your desktop.
  2. Right-click on the Epic Games Launcher and now select Properties.
  3. From the Target field, add the –OpenGL line.
    epic games properties opengl Something Went Wrong Epic Games
  4. Click on Apply and then OK.

7. Malware scan

  1. Perform a full scan on your machine with a good antivirus program.
  2. After you’ve performed the scan, restart your machine for the changes to take effect.

If you don’t have a reliable antivirus, you might consider trying out a gaming-compatible third-party security software that includes malware scans and detection.

A gaming-friendly antivirus solution even has a dedicated mode for playing games when alerts and other distractions are silenced so that the game is not disrupted.

If your computer is powerful enough to run the game, it should be able to manage the antivirus software that is running alongside it. The antivirus should detect and prevent malware infection if it’s a proper one installed, so make sure.

We hope that these solutions were of help to you. In the meantime, let us know in the comment section down below what other issues have you stumbled upon when running the Epic Games Launcher.

C:/Users/[Your Username]/AppData/Local/EpicGamesLauncher/Saved/webcache

  • How do I reinstall my Epic game launcher?
  1. Go to Control Panel
  2. Open Programs and Features
  3. Find the Epic Launcher
  4. Click Uninstall

Another way to do this is:

  1. Click on Start
  2. Type Apps and Features
  3. Search for Epic
  4. Uninstall

Once you uninstall the Epic launcher, go to the official website and download and run the installer.

  • How do you fix the glitch on the Epic Games launcher?

Close the Epic Games launcher from Task Manager, then delete your web cache folder. If that does not work, then reinstall the launcher.

If you have encountered the error code 502 while launching Epic Games Launcher, you need to force close the app and then restart it; read more to learn other solutions.

Skype’s ‘Meet Now’ feature is arguably the experience Zoom users crave

Posted on by Kareem Anderson

Despite being among the top-considered teleconferencing solutions in the market, the Skype team is finding itself having to promote its more casual friendly solutions in the wake of new competition.

Begun the video conferencing wars have.

While Zoom seems to be on the lips of most people as the go-to service for hosting everything from business meetings to weddings, there is an equally growing concern about its privacy and security handling of user data; and to that end, the Skype team is looking to regain mindshare by positioning itself as the safer Zoom alternative.

Late in 2019, Skype began testing its Meet Now feature that functionally gave the platform the same hassle-free experience being touted by Zoom users daily.

Meet Now appears as a new button in the new Skype Insider build, and clicking it will open a window where you can see a call link you can share with others. Again, the nice thing is that even users without a Skype account will be able to participate to the group call, but “Meet Now” also creates a regular group chat where you can send messages to other participants.

However, Meet Now was rolled out to only Insiders and given no public air to showcase a solution to arguably the biggest hurdle casual users have with the platform, regarding the need for a Microsoft account for use.

In addition to lowering the barrier to entry by removing the asinine need of a Microsoft account ID with Meet Now, Skype is already a more secure platform than Zoom at the moment and is offering more features for free.

Along with Meet Now, users will also get the customary ability to utilize picture-in-picture when navigating away from the app in progress, split-view mode as well as the ability to record meetings and have those recordings stored for up to 30 days.

Skype Insider update brings back Split View mode on Windows, Mac, and Linux

It remains to be seen how well Skype markets Meet Now and when it will make it a full-fledged part of the platform, but as Zoom continues to take fire for its handling of user data and security flaws, it would serve Microsoft well to rush out a bunch of ads promoting its latest features to stem the loss of mindshare it is currently experiencing.

Microsoft Office Picture Manager is not working? Try this

Posted on by Tashreef Shareef

At times, when you try to launch Microsoft Office Picture Manager, the app may stop responding. This is a common problem and many users have reported similar issues in the Microsoft Community forums:

When I try to start Microsoft Office Picture Manager, a window appears with the message: Microsoft Office 2010 has stopped working. 

This error can occur due to corrupted Picture Manager files or if a third-party app is creating issues with the app’s functionality.

In this article, we have listed a couple of troubleshooting tips to help you repair the Picture Manager app if it’s not working issue in Windows 10.

What to do if Microsoft Office Picture Manager is not responding?

1. Repair the Office application

Microsoft Office Picture Manager not working
  1. Press Windows Key + R to open Run.
  2. Type control and click OK to open the Control Panel.
  3. Go to Programs > Programs and Features.
  4. From the list of app, select the Microsoft Office app.
  5. Click on Change.
  6. In the Office Repair tool you will see two options:
    Quick Repair – First select this option and click Repair. The troubleshooter will scan and fix any software related issues.
    Online Repair – Select this option if Quick Repair did not resolve the issue. This option might take longer and requires an active internet connection.
  7. Follow the on-screen instructions suggested by the tool to apply fixes.

The Microsoft Office repair tool should fix any issues with the Picture Manager. However, for this to work, you must have Office 2010 or earlier versions installed. If you have installed Picture Manager separately, try other steps in this article.

2. Check for third-party issues

microsoft office picture manager not working
  1. Press Windows Key + R to open Run.
  2. Type msconfig and click OK to open System Configuration.
  3. Open the Boot tab.
  4. Under Boot Options, check the Safe boot box and click Apply.
  5. When prompted to restart the computer, click on Restart.
  6. After the computer restarts, start Picture Manager and check if the issue is resolved.
  7. If everything works fine in Safe boot mode, you may have a third-party app installed on your computer creating issues.
  8. Make sure you disable Safe boot by unchecking the Safe boot option in the System Configuration window to restore all the functionality.

The best way to find the conflicting program is to open Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features.

Start by uninstalling the most recently installed app and check if that resolves the issue. You may also want to scan your system for malware and virus.

Safe mode is not working? Don’t panic, this guide will help you get past the booting problems.

3. Other solutions to try

Run as administrator

  1. Right-click on the Microsoft Office Picture Manager icon in the Dekstop.
  2. Select Run as Administrator from the context menu.
  3. If prompted by UAC, click Yes.

Does nothing happen when you click on Run as administrator? Don’t worry, we’ve got the right fix for you.

Run from the source

  1. Open File Explorer and navigate to the following location where the Picture Manager is installed:
    C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft OfficeOffice14
  2. Double-click on OIS.exe and check for any improvements.

4. Use a third-party software

Even though it was a standards-defining tool a while ago, an ill-functioning Picture Manager might just be an indicator that it is time to upgrade to more modern software, better equipped for viewing and organizing your photos.

Lightroom is a cutting-edge, cloud-based service that gives you everything you need to edit, organize, store, and share your photos across any device.

Let’s quickly look at its key features:

  • Capture, edit, and share your photos all from one place
  • Cross-platform functionality
  • Cloud storage starting at 1TB
  • Machine learning-based photo management with unlimited capacity
  • Interactive, in-app tutorials
  • Photo library for inspiration

⇒ Get Adobe Lightroom

We know that Microsoft Office Picture Manager has been replaced by the Photos app in Windows for quite a while now.

However, for those who are still running the Picture Manager and having issues with it, the steps described in this article might be useful.

If you have any other questions or suggestions, leave them in the comments section below and we’ll be sure to check them out.

Eager to discover more similar solutions? Check out our Photo Software page.

Match your cutting-edge software with an impeccably-functioning operating system thanks to our Windows 10 Troubleshooting Hub.

Putty Fatal Network Error: Connection Refused [Fix]

Posted on by Tashreef Shareef

PuTTy is a free and open-source terminal application that allows the system administrator to log in to a remote server over SSH. This small yet highly stable application is also used to transfer files securely via SCP and SFTP.

If you work in IT or have your own set of servers that need to be connected, PuTTy is not an alien concept to you. However, what can be an alien concept is the Putty Fatal error.

The fatal error “Network error: connection refused” in Windows 10 is one of the common PuTTY-related errors that you may face while working with Putty. The error pops up when you try to connect to a remote server for the first time or the 100th time.

I have had my fair share of problems with PuTTy, but most of the time, the errors are caused by small but not-so-obvious issues.

If you are one of those trying to diagnose a connection refused error, this article will help you to resolve the error.

In this article, I have listed all the possible solutions to the PuTTy connection refused error. Make sure you try each one of them a try until the issue is resolved.

What causes Network error: Connection Refused errors?

The error can occur due to several reasons. Some of them are listed below.

  • If the application tries to access the services not offered/supported by the server
  • If the application tries to connect to a telnet server not supported by the server.
  • Users may encounter a Putty Fatal Network error: connection refused.
  • If your router blocks the connection due to security reasons.
  • If the server does not support the default port used by the system administrator on PuTTy.

These are some of the common reasons for network error: connection refused error in PuTTy. Below are some common solutions that you can try to fix the issue.

How do I fix a connection refused error in PuTTY?

1. Contact the system/network administrator

If you are not a system administrator, it is a better idea to start by contacting your system administrator.

System Administrators may change some permissions in the router if they notice any unknown device trying to connect or for other security reasons from time to time.

If that’s the case, you can easily resolve the issue by contacting the system admin before trying to resolve the issue on your end. While you are at it, you can also tell him about how NetCrunch Tools could help with their daily tasks.

2. Check if the SSH connection is enabled

Depending on the device you are trying to connect, the network error – connection refused error may appear if the device settings have SSH disabled.

For example, if you are using Raspberry Pi to connect through your PC, make sure SSH is enabled in the configuration. Here is how to do it.

In Raspberry Pi, go to Configuration > Interfaces > ssh. Enable the service and try again.

The settings may change depending on the device you are using, but the end result should be a working network connection through PuTTy.

3. Check if your domain records point to the server

If you are working with a new server and a fresh domain, the error can occur due to an incorrect DNS server address in the domain settings. All the domain registrar allows you to point your domain to you any third-party hosting provider using the name server.

If you have only installed a server and did not change the name server, you might end up with a network error: connection refused error.

To fix the problem, log in to your domain name provider and check the name server settings to see if the name servers are pointing to your hosting provider.

4. Check for Blacklisted and Whitelisted IP Addresses in the server

For security reasons, system administrator may allow connection from only computers with a known IP address that is already whitelisted in the configuration file.

If your ISP IP address has changed or if you are new to the job, you probably need to ask the network admin to make an exception.

The same can also happen if your IP address is blacklisted by the network admin accidentally.

So, check with your network admin for both scenarios and see if that can help you resolve the issue.

5. Disable Firewall

5.1 Disable Firewall in Windows Security

  1. Click on Start and select Settings.
  2. Open Update and Security, and click on Windows Security.
    Windows Fire Settings
  3. Open Firewall and network protection.
    Windows Defender Firewall Off
  4. Select the preferred network type (Public, Private or  Domain Network) and disable Windows Defender Firewall.

If you are using Windows, your anti-virus or the default Windows Security firewall and network protection feature may block incoming connections resulting in a connection refused error.

Try disabling the firewall temporarily to see if that can resolve the connection refused error. If it does, you may need to tweak the firewall setting to fix the error completely.

5.2 Disable Anti-virus Firewall

If you have a third-party anti-virus program running, you may also need to disable the firewall offered by the application. You can disable the firewall from the anti-virus settings option.

Try to connect using PuTTy now. If the connection goes through, you need to tweak Firewall settings to fix the problem.

Even so, having a compatible antivirus solution installed on your PC keeps you safe and protected all the time without interfering with your tasks or activities.

Therefore, we strongly recommend choosing the best antivirus for your PC, even though right now, as a temporary workaround, you can disable the Firewall and fix this issue. It is not recommendable to be vulnerable to dangerous attacks throughout the network.

Other Fixes

If none of the fixes worked, you could try to restart the SSH server or reboot the servers.

If your server was set up by someone else, the possibility is that they may have moved the default port as per their convenience. Contact and ask for the configuration nodes to get a better idea of the ports.

If you are using a fully managed server, contact support. If the issue is from the hosting provider’s end, the system administrator will fix the issue.

Last but not the least, start using other alternatives to Putty, such as other SH terminals, in case you encounter an error that is specific to PuTTY.

The Putty Fatal error “Network error: connection refused error can occur due to several reasons, and we have tried to list the most common problems and solutions for the same.

However, if the fixes listed in this article don’t work for you, you may ask in forums related to your device or OS on which the error is appearing.

Do let us know if any of the fixes worked for you or if you have a solution that is not listed in the article in the comments below.

FIX: Microsoft Internet Games not working

Posted on by Vladimir Popescu

Is Microsoft Internet Games not working? A number of users have reported that for some reason they can’t play games on the Internet while using Internet Explorer.

Users have encountered errors indifferent to the location of the games on the web. The issues with playing games were seen on websites like Facebook, MSN, Yahoo, and others.

Trying to play games using Internet Explorer can lead you to different issues. Here are some of the most common:

  • Games not starting.
  • Not loading the game data completely.
  • You might be disconnected from the website while playing.
  • The game freezes randomly.

This issue can become frustrating over time, as you will not be able to play online games comfortably using IE.

The most common reasons for your Microsoft Internet Games not working:

  • Missing or outdated add-on.
  • Windows not updated to the latest version.
  • Not having the latest version of Internet Explorer installed.

For this reason, in this article, we will discuss what to do to fix this issue. Please follow the steps carefully to avoid any issues.

What to do if Microsoft Internet Games server is down?

Microsoft Internet Games part of Windows 7 will not be playable starting from the date of 22 January 2020. If you’re reading this article before that date, please follow the next methods to solve the issue.

1. Update your Internet Explorer to the latest version

  1. Download the latest Internet Explorer version.
  2. Install it on your PCs hard-drive by following the on-screen instructions.
  3. Check to see if the issue persists.

2. Try a different browser

Sometimes switching to a different web browser can help. You can use any browser that you want, but if you’re looking for a reliable and safe web browser, we would have to recommend Opera One.

Using this refreshed browser you assure helpful features, such as built-in AI or increased security with native VPN and Ad blocker. More so, you can even use a dedicated gaming browser for more possibilities.

⇒ Get Opera One

3. Update Silverlight to the latest release


Of course, this method only applies to online games that require Silverlight to run. It is recommended that you update your version of this software to avoid any other issues.

Follow these steps to finish this process:

  1. Download and install the latest version of Silverlight.
  2. Enable Silverlight in Internet Explorer by opening the Options menu.

4. Update your Java version

  1. Download and install the latest Java version.
  2. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the setup.
  3. After the installation process is completed, restart your browser, and check to see if the issue persists.

5. Update your Adobe Flash driver to the latest version

  1. Download and install the last released Adobe Flash driver.
  2. Follow the instructions found on the screen to completely finish the installation process.

6. Enable all the required add-ons inside Internet Explorer

Follow these steps to make sure that your browser is fully configured to play games online:

  1. Open Internet Explorer -> click the Tools button -> select Internet Options.Internet options IE - microsoft internet games not working
  2. Inside the Programs Tab -> click the Manage add-ons button.
  3. Click on the Show drop-down selection -> choose Run without permissions.

Conclusion

In today’s article, we explored how to make Microsoft Internet games work on Internet Explorer. In order to do so, we concluded that you need to make sure you have all the updated tools required to do so.

Please feel free to let us know if this guide helped you in any way, by using the comment section found below.

  1. Launch the Microsoft Store app and log in to your Microsoft account
  2. Go to the gaming section and browse the collection of games
  3. Select the game you want to download and hit the download button.

Monitor Color Calibration Software: 5 Best To Use in 2026

Posted on by Radu Tyrsina

If your display looks a bit off, not necessarily too bright or too dim, but maybe with some colors not as accurate as they should be, then you can adjust it yourself with the right display color calibration software.

You can calibrate your display with a colorimeter as well.

This device is also called a color calibrator, and you have to stick in it front of your screen in order to calibrate colors.

But if you don’t own such a machine, you can efficiently use a color calibration tool, and we picked up five of the best tools for calibrating the colors of your display.

Top 5 display color calibration tools to use today

Calibrize

Calibrize won’t do anything for your other display settings, but it will be able to calibrate the colors of your system’s monitor.

This is free software that adjusts the colors of your monitor in three very simple steps. It is able to give your system a reliable color profile, and it also maintains color fidelity throughout your system.

Check out the best features that are included in this program:

  • Works quickly, reliably and efficiently even if you don’t know anything about calibrating your screen.
  • This will work really well for CRT monitors, LCD monitors, and beamers as well.
  • This tool is able to read out the color data from the monitor.
  • Calibrize produces an ICC monitor profile.
  • It installs the profile into the appropriate system folder.
  • This tool is able to load a set of adjusted values into the lookup table of your video card.
  • Calibrize also provides background information about the whole process.
  • It can cooperate flawlessly with other graphical software.

⇒ Get Calibrize

QuickGamma

QuickGamma is a small utility program that is able to calibrate a monitor without having to buy all kinds of expensive hardware tools.

You can check out the best features included in this tool below:

  • QuickGamma is free for personal use, and it’s compatible with Windows 7 and beyond.
  • When you download the program, you will get QuickGamma.exe, the help file called QuickGamma.chm and the printable help file as well called QuickGamma .pdf.
  • These are free of charge for private use.

Windows 7 includes a visual calibration wizard that can be used for display calibration, but the images that are used for the optical calibration are not ideally suited for the job.

This is where QuickGamma comes into the picture.

This tool comes with Norman Koren’s excellent gamma images, and now it creates a monitor profile with a vcgt tag that includes LUT data.

The profile is installed automatically, and the Windows 7 Display Calibration feature is automatically enabled.

⇒ Get QuickGamma

W4ZT

With the help of W4ZT, you will be able to check your monitor’s response and change the adjustments in order to obtain perfect calibration. You have to make your screen wide enough to see both the arrows on the line that is featured on the first page of this program.

Take a look at the most important features included in this color calibration tool:

  • You will get a few options to calibrate the colors from your monitor.
  • The minimum number of colors that are accepted should be 256.
  • You will also be able to adjust your monitor’s gamma, brightness, and contrast as well.
  • The Monitor Adjustment Target can be used to judge whether your monitor is adjusted for the best viewing or not.

The Monitor Adjustment target was designed in order to allow computer users to adjust the contrast and the brightness of their computer monitor so that the graphic images, such as photographs and scans, maps, text docs will look their best.

⇒ Get W4ZT

CalMAN ColorMatch

CalMAN ColorMatch is a free color calibration tool that is able to provide a quick and easy pass or fail test for any monitor or display that comes with a range of commonly used colorspace and gamma standards.

This color calibration software will require a colorimeter to run all of its tests correctly.

Check out the best features of this software:

  • You will be able to benefit from an average and maximum grayscale/white balance error.
  • CalMAN ColorMatch is able to plot all the data on one single comprehensive page, and it will only take about three to five minutes.
  • During the process, more than 100 pattern changes are made by the program automatically, and hundreds of critical color values are sampled with just a push of one button.

CalMAN ColorMatch is SpectraCal’s free program for testing monitor accuracy, and it will provide you a simple five-minute pass or fail the test of a reference monitor’s color performance informing users when and if their monitors need to be calibrated.

⇒ Get ColorMatch

Lagom LCD monitor

The Lagom LCD monitor test tool provides test images online that you can use to easily adjust the settings of your monitor in order to get the best picture quality.

There are also some additional test images that will be able to help you judge the image quality of a monitor.

Take a look at more impressive features that are packed in this tool for monitor calibration:

  • You can take a look at the images that are presented on the webpage and you can also place them on a USB stick to try them on your computer.
  • The test pages are more revealing regarding monitor shortcomings than ordinary photographs.
  • With the first images, you will be able to calibrate your monitor by adjusting the contrast, brightness, sharpness, and gamma settings for your monitor.

If you have any kind of color management system active in your OS or video-card driver, it is recommended that you disable it first before using this tool.

You will have to first make adjustments to the monitor settings to let your display behave as close to the ideal picture that you have in mind.

Only then, it’s recommended to use the color management tool to compensate for any small issues.

⇒ Get Lagom LCD monitor

Conclusion

These are five of the best tools for color calibration of your monitor that you can find online these days. Calibrating your monitor is a step that usually people forget to take or they even ignore.

Calibrating your monitor will make sure that your colors are displayed correctly and accurately and that they are also set consistently across every display and even when you are printing them.

Color calibrating tools for your monitor are really important because they will get your display as close to the real thing as possible.

Check out all these five tools and head to their official websites where you can see and analyze all their sets of features and after that, make sure to choose the one that is the best for your color calibration needs.

Need to help friends and family with Windows, but remotely? Check out Quick Assist

Posted on by Radu Tyrsina

Microsoft’s newest “Simply Windows” video provides a showcase for Microsoft’s easy to use Quick Assist app in Windows 10 and the timing couldn’t be better.

If you haven’t tried it already, Quick Assist lets two people share a computer over a remote connection letting one user assume control of the device to troubleshoot and fix a problem. This can be especially helpful right now while we are all working from home and need to help out a family member, friend, or grandparent who may have run into a technical issue.  The Windows Blog team has made it easy for anyone to start using Quick Assist with a simple walkthrough .

What is Quick Assist?

Quick Assist is a native Windows 10 app that lets two people share a device over a remote connection and includes various tools and functionality like chat.  Once connected, the remote user can help fix problems, check drivers, connect a printer or set up a second monitor.

Can I use Quick Assist?

Anyone with Windows 10 device that is connected to the internet can use Quick Assist. Note, if the technical issue includes the device not powering on then Quick Assist won’t be able to help you.

A simple walkthrough using Quick Assist

It’s easy to get started with Quick Assist.  You can find the app in Windows Accessories, or just type Quick Assist into the Windows search box on the taskbar and select it to open.

Quick Assist in Windows 10
create remote connections between two people with Quick Assist in Windows 10

Once you have opened the app, you will see two different options, Get assistance and Give assistance, and you can use the one that applies to you.

Windows 10 Quick Assist
Get assistance, or give assistant with Quick Assist in Windows 10

Now, if you are the one giving assistance select the option to “Assist another person.”  Note, if you aren’t already signed in, log in with your Windows account and on the next screen, you will receive your security code to share with the other person.

Give assistance with Quick Assist

Have your friend enter the code and they will see the following confirmation screen.   At this point, the person receiving the request can decide if you want to share their screen or cancel it.  Note, be sure to never allow requests from people you don’t know.

Once confirmed, you will see two options to either take “full control” or simply “share screen.”

 

Quick Assist take Control

 

Quick Assist is now running and your screen will look like the following example.  In this case, we have Quick Assist enabled with full controls and you have the ability to check settings, add devices, update drivers and more.

While Quick assist is running will see some options at the top including screen pause,  resize window and a chat option.  If audio is an issue this can be especially helpful letting you type messages back and forth similar to the example below.

After you have resolved the technical issue you can stop the session by selecting the “x” on the right-hand corner.  At this point, you will see the “Close Quick Assist dialogue box.

You can confirm the session has ended when you see the following message.

With Windows 10, help is just a family member away with Quick Assist.  It’s easy, and it’s free.  Next time a loved one, or a friend needs help, give Quick Assist a try to avoid costly support or long wait times at your local electronic store.  What’s your preferred way to help a friend or family member fix a Windows 10 issue?

Microsoft announces Inside Xbox livestream tomorrow at 2PM PT

Posted on by Radu Tyrsina

Microsoft’s Inside Xbox series of live streams is coming back tomorrow at April 7, at 2 p.m. PT / 5 p.m. ET. This first episode of 2020 won’t have any new info about Xbox Series X, but Director of Program Management for Xbox Series X Jason Ronald will be here to discuss all of the console’s specs Microsoft revealed last month.

In addition to some chit chat about Xbox Series X, Microsoft also promises to deliver “the latest news on Grounded, Gears Tactics, Sea of Thieves, Xbox Game Pass, some surprises from our ID@Xbox team and more.” For those unfamiliar, Grounded is the new first-person survival game announced by Obsidian Entertainment back at X019 last year, and a first gameplay reveal will follow tomorrow’s Inside Xbox episode.

It will also be interesting to get more information about Gears Tactics, which made a good first impression in the first previews published last month. The turn-based strategy game is the next big title coming from Xbox Game Studios on April 28, ahead of the launch of the much-anticipated Minecraft Dungeons in May.

As usual, tomorrow’s episode will be live-streamed on Mixer, Twitch, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. This episode should be pretty special due to the coronavirus outbreak, and Xbox’s Major Nelson joked on Twitter that this would be the “at home edition” of Inside Xbox.

Gears 5 is free to play with Xbox Live Gold through April 12th

Posted on by davew

As noted in a post on Xbox Wire, Gears 5: Operation 3 Gridiron is available to play free for Xbox Live Gold subscribers on Xbox One and Windows 10. Starting today until April 12, 2020, Xbox Live Gold subscribers can play Operation 3 Gridiron for free as part of a special edition of Free Play Days. Gears 5 is already available for free as part of an Xbox Game Pass subscription.

Operation 3 Gridiron is a free upgrade for those who already own Gears 5 on Xbox One, Windows 10, and Steam. Operation 3 Gridiron is a no-holds-barred version of capture-the-flag in the Gears 5 universe. Players on teams (5v5) have a single life to grab the flag and run it into the opponents’ end zone. Each round is two-minutes and the first team to score 13 points wins. As an added bonus, if you play now through April 20, 2020, you will receive the Batista Bomb execution and Batista skin.

In addition, Xbox One players can earn up to 500 Microsoft Rewards points for watching the new Operation 3 Gridiron trailer, earning any of the Xbox achievements added for Operation 3, and by watching Gears 5 on Mixer. If you are not an Xbox Live Gold or Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscriber, you can sign up today using the links below.

Xbox Game Pass Core
Xbox Game Pass Core
Download
QR-Code

Xbox Game Pass Core
Developer:
Microsoft Corporation
Price:
$9.99


Xbox Game Pass Ultimate
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate
Download
QR-Code

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate
Developer:
Microsoft Corporation
Price:
$1.00

You can buy Gears 5 right now for 50% off at $29.99 in the Microsoft Store. For a limited time, if you buy Gears 5 from the Microsoft Store, you will receive 15% off Gears 5 Tactics, which is slated to be released on April 28, 2020. It is important to note that Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers will be able to play Gears 5 Tactics free at launch.

Gears 5
Gears 5
Download
QR-Code

Gears 5
Developer:
Xbox Game Studios
Price:
Free


Gears Tactics Pre-Order
Gears Tactics Pre-Order
Download
QR-Code

Gears Tactics Pre-Order
Developer:
Xbox Game Studios
Price:
Free

Do you play Gears 5 Operation 3 Gridiron? Let us know what you think of the game in the comments.

Why Has Microsoft Edge Disappeared & How to Get It Back

Posted on by Madalina Dinita

Windows 10 was basically a new chance for Microsoft to unify the desktop as well as mobile ecosystem using Windows.

Microsoft’s vision of having one single operating system for both mobile devices as well as desktops has become true to a huge extent with Windows 10.

Features like Continuum allow users to use their Windows 10 system on any type of device in its best form i.e.

Windows 10 automatically detects the type of device it is being used on and then adapts as per the device and so if you are using it on a touch-based device, then Windows 10 will automatically adapt the UI which is best suited for touch-based interfaces.

Anyway, one of the many new things on Windows 10 was Microsoft Edge which is a totally new browser that Microsoft has developed in order to provide a better Internet browsing experience to users.

But as you know Windows 10 has many bugs and sometimes people do run into some of these annoying bugs.

One of the bugs is Microsoft Edge disappearing totally from the system and only appears when you open some news on Cortana.

In this post, we will go ahead and fix the issue of Microsoft Edge disappearing so let’s get started!

The following solutions have proven to be useful in the following scenarios as well:

  • Microsoft Edge disappeared
  • Edge missing Windows 10
  • Microsoft Edge disappeared from Windows 10
  • Edge disappeared
  • Microsoft Edge missing from Windows 10

What do I do if Microsoft Edge disappears in Windows 10?

Table of contents:

  1. Consider using a different browser
  2. Search for it
  3. Try System File Checker
  4. Use Windows Powershell to fix it
  5. Turn off Firewall
  6. Disable antivirus
  7. Run the Troubleshooter
  8. Install the latest updates
  9. Uninstall the latest update
  10. Change the security permission

1. Consider using a different browser

If you follow all the troubleshooting steps and notice that Microsoft Edge still doesn’t appear, then maybe you should consider using an alternative tool. For example, if you chose because of the Chromium engine, we recommend you give Opera One a shot.

It is built using the same architecture, but it is more reliable and stable, and therefore less prone to bugs and issues.

It is incredibly lightweight, can be heavily customized, features built-in Ad blocker, VPN and AI. It also has social media and messaging app integration for the most popular platforms.

Opera One

This web browser will captivate you with how light and modern it feels, and it may end up being your default browser in no time.
Free Download Visit website

2. Disable antivirus

The same goes for your third-party antivirus. Although it’s supposed to keep Edge secure, your antivirus can also prevent it from working.

So, the solution is to disable your antivirus for a couple of minutes and see if Edge works with the antivirus off. If the browser works, you can add it to the antivirus whitelist, to prevent further interference.

Alternatively, you could try using an antivirus tool that interferes less with your system processes. The antivirus market has plenty of good alternatives that may be more stable than your current antivirus.

Just make sure that your antivirus of choice provides all the security requirements you need. First and foremost, a good threat database is a must, as well as a strong firewall.

Good online privacy features are also important. Many Windows 10 compatible antiviruses include built-in VPNs to make sure your identity and browsing activity are private.

Another thing to look for is multi-layered protection. If your antivirus comes with multiple security features that can block various types of threats, there is a higher chance that there are no weak points anywhere in your system.

3. Search for it

  1. Open Start Menu and type Edge.
  2. You will notice that Microsoft Edge pops up in results.
  3. Right click on the result and click on Pin to taskbar.
  4. There is also an option to Pin/Unpin from Start which means you can either pin or unpin the icon from Start Menu.
  5. After you pin it back, you will be able to use Microsoft Edge properly without issues.

4. Try System File Checker

  1. Press Windows + X keys on your keyboard and then click command prompt(admin).
  2. Now you need to type in the following command in command prompt and press Enter.
    • sfc /scannow

  3. This should fix the issue of disappeared Microsoft Edge on Windows 10. But if it hasn’t, move on to the next method.

5. Use Windows Powershell to fix it

  1. Open Start Menu and type PowerShell.
  2. You will notice that two results will pop up. Choose the one that just reads Windows PowerShell.
  3. Now enter the command given below.
    • Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers| Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register “$($_.InstallLocation)AppXManifest.xml”}

  4. You might see some error but no not worry about it.
  5. After the command is executed, restart your PC.

6. Turn of firewall

  1. Go to Search, type firewall, and open Windows Defender Firewall.
  2. Select Turn Windows Defender Firewall on or off.
  3. Disable Windows Firewall for both private and public networks.
  4. Confirm the selection and try updating again.

7. Run the troubleshooter

  1. Go to Settings.
  2. Head over to Updates & Security > Troubleshoot. 
  3. Select Windows Store Apps, and go to Run the Troubleshooter.
  4. Follow further on-screen instructions and let the process finish.
  5. Restart your computer.

8. Install the latest updates

As Microsoft Edge is a part of the Windows 10 OS, it regularly receives updates through Windows Update. If your problem with Edge is well-known, Microsoft is probably already working on the fix, which will be delivered through Windows Update.

So, just keep your system up to date. To check for new updates, go to Settings > Updates & Security, and check for updates.

9. Uninstall the latest update

  1. Go to Settings.
  2. Head over to Updates & Security > Windows Update.
  3. Go to Update history > Uninstall updates.
  4. Now, find the latest update installed on your computer (you can sort updates by date), right-click it, and go to Uninstall.
  5. Restart your computer.

10. Change the security permission

  1. Go to Search and enter %localappdata%. Open the AppDataLocal folder.
  2. Go to the MicrosoftWindows folder. Locate WER folder, right click it and choose Properties.
  3. Go to Security tab and click the Edit button.
  4. Select APPLICATION PACKAGES user and check Read & execute, List folder contents and Read options in Allow column.
  5. Click Apply and OK to save changes.

These are three methods that should definitely fix this error of Microsoft Edge disappearing for some odd reason.

Fix: Another Installation Is in Progress Office 365

Posted on by Matthew Adams

Are you getting error code 0-1018 0 when installing Office 365? That states:We’re sorry but we could not start your Office installation. Another installation is in progress.

This is usually due to another Office installation or update process in the background or older MS Office installation files that have not been thoroughly removed from Windows.

Here are a few ways you can fix it and get Office 365 up and running.

How do I fix the Another installation is in progress error?

Another installation is in progress message can prevent you from installing Office 365 on your PC. This can be a big problem, and speaking of installation problems, here are some issues that users reported:

  • Microsoft Office error code 0-1018 (0)
    • This problem can occur if your system files are corrupted, but to fix the problem, you need to repair your installation by performing an SFC and DISM scans.
  • Office 365 error code 0
    • This error can sometimes appear due to your antivirus, and in order to fix the problem, you need to disable your antivirus and check if that helps temporarily.
  • Couldn’t start Office installation error code 0-1018 (0)
    • Another cause for this issue can be your firewall, and if you can’t install Office, be sure to disable Windows Firewall temporarily and check if that helps.
  • Error 1500 another installation is in progress Microsoft Office
    • If you encounter this error message, be sure to disable any other installations that might be running in the background. You can do that with ease by using Task Manager.

1. Check for Another Installation Process

  1. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to start Task Manager.
  2. When Task Manager opens, locate the installation that is running in the background.
    • Office installation processes are usually IntergratedOffice.exe and Microsoft Click-to-Run.
  3. Right-click the installation process and choose End Task from the menu.
    Couldn't start Office installation error code 0-1018 (0)

Sometimes you might have another installation running in the background, and that might give you Another installation is in progress message while installing Office 365.

To fix this problem, you need to stop the installation on your own or use the Task Manager to end the installation process.

It’s also worth mentioning that Windows Installer and msiexec processes can cause this problem to appear, so if you see them running, be sure to disable them. After closing the problematic process, try to install Office again.

2. Fix Error 0-1018 0 With the System File Checker

  1. Press Windows Key + X to open Win + X menu.
    • Alternatively, you can right-click the Start Menu button.
    • Choose Command Prompt (Admin) or PowerShell (Admin).
      Microsoft Office error code 0-1018 (0)
  2. After Command Prompt starts, enter sfc /scannow and press Enter to run it.
    Microsoft Office error code 0-1018 (0)
  3. The SFC should now start.
    • It’s worth mentioning that the scan can take around 15 minutes, so don’t interfere with it.

In some cases, your installation can become corrupted, and that can cause Another installation is in progress to appear. If you encounter this issue while trying to install Office 365, you might be able to solve the issue by performing an SFC scan.

Once the SFC scan is finished, check if the problem is resolved. Several users reported that the issue can persist even after you run an SFC scan. If that’s the case, you need to run DISM scan by doing the following:

  1. Start Command Prompt as administrator.
  2. Enter DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth command and press Enter to run it.
    Office 365 error code 0
  3. Keep in mind that DISM scan can take about 20 minutes, so don’t interfere with it.

After the DISM scan is finished, check if the problem is still there. If the problem is still there, or if you weren’t able to perform an SFC scan before, be sure to run the SFC scan again.

3. Check your antivirus

In some cases, Another installation is in progress error can appear due to your antivirus. Third-party antivirus can often interfere with your system and cause this and other problems.

To fix the problem, it’s advised to disable certain antivirus features or your antivirus altogether temporarily. If that doesn’t work, your next step is to remove the third-party antivirus from your PC.

Windows 10 comes with Windows Defender, which works as a default antivirus, so even if you remove a third-party antivirus, you should remain protected. If removing the antivirus solves the issue, you should consider switching to a new antivirus solution, such as TotalAV, as it offers maximum protection and won’t interfere with your system.

4. Register Office 365 DLL Dependencies

  1. Press the Win key + R hotkey to open Run.
  2. Then input regsvr32 office start.dll into the Run text box as shown below.
    Couldn't start Office installation error code 0-1018 (0)
  3. Now you can press the OK button or Enter to register the DLL dependencies.

Office 365 might be missing some DLLs (dynamic link library files) required to launch.

5. Uninstall Other Office Versions

Sometimes previous versions of Office can interfere with your current installation and cause Another installation is in progress error to appear. If that’s the case, you need to find and remove all Office installations from your PC.

You can do that using the regular method, but this method can sometimes leave certain files and registry entries behind. These leftover files can interfere with future Office installations, therefore it’s always recommended to use uninstaller software to remove applications from your PC.

If you’re unfamiliar with it, uninstaller software is a unique application that can remove any application from your PC, but it will also remove all files and registry entries associated with that application.

Once you remove all previous versions of Office from your PC, the problem should be completely resolved.

6. Run the Office 365 FIXIT Tool

  1. There’s also an Office 365 FIXIT tool that will completely remove MS Office installation files.
    • You can open that by pressing the Download button on this page.
  2. Then open the folder you saved the Office 365 FIXIT tool to, and select 015-ctrremove.diagcab to open the window below.
    Error 1500 another installation is in progress Microsoft Office
  3. Click Advanced and select the Apply repairs automatically check box.
  4. Now press the Next button on the window.
  5. Then you can select an Apply this fix option.
    • The troubleshooter will then erase existing MS Office files, which might take up to 30 minutes.
  6. When the troubleshooter has finished, press Next and Close.
  7. Press the Start menu button and restart Windows.

7. Disable Windows Firewall

  1. Press Windows Key + S and enter firewall.
  2. Select Windows Defender Firewall from the list.
    Error 1500 another installation is in progress Microsoft Office
  3. Windows Defender Firewall window will now open.
  4. Select Turn Windows Defender Firewall on or off from the menu on the left.
    Microsoft Office error code 0-1018 (0)
  5. Now select Turn off Windows Defender Firewall (not recommended) for both Private and Public networks.
  6. Once you’re done, click the OK button to save changes.
    Office 365 error code 0

Sometimes Another installation is in progress error can appear due to Windows Firewall. Office 365 installations need to download specific files from the Internet, and if your firewall is blocking it, you might encounter certain error messages.

To fix this problem, you are advised to temporarily disable your firewall.  After you disable Windows Firewall, try to install Office 365 again and check if the issue reappears. Once you manage to install Office 365, turn back on your firewall.

8. Install the latest updates

  1. Open the Settings app.
    • You can do that instantly by using Windows Key + I shortcut.
  2. When Settings app opens, you need to navigate to Update & Security section.
    Error 1500 another installation is in progress Microsoft Office
  3. Click Check for updates button.
    Office 365 error code 0

Sometimes this error message can appear due to certain glitches on your system. However, Microsoft is working hard to fix these problems, and the best way to fix them is to install the latest updates.

For the most part, Windows 10 installs the missing updates automatically, but sometimes you might skip an update or two.

Windows will now check for available updates. If any updates are available, they will be downloaded automatically in the background and installed as soon as you restart your PC. Once your system is updated, check if the problem is still there.

Now, you should be able to install Office 365 on Windows 10 with those fixes. The Microsoft Support and Recovery Assistant tool for Office 365 and Outlook, which this Windows Report post provides further details for, might also come in handy for fixing errors 0-1018 0 and other things.

In case your device is controlled by your organization, the best way is to use a configuration file created with the help of the Office Customization Tool to control Office installation and updates.

FIX: Surface Pen won’t work with Surface Pro 4

Posted on by Milan Stanojevic

The Surface pen delivers the ultimate modern writing experience, as you write, draw, or mark up your documents, take notes, and capture your thoughts quickly.

This tool instantly converts these to text for ease of search and sharing – digitally.

Under normal circumstances, the Pen will interact with the screen of your Surface Pro, but if you have a Surface Pen not working with Surface Pro 4, check out some solutions to resolve the issue.

  1. Surface Pen won’t ink
  2. Surface Pen light blinks red or won’t turn on
  3. Update Surface Pen driver
  4. Buttons don’t work/writing is inaccurate or jagged
  5. Surface Pen isn’t connected with Surface Pro 4
  6. Surface Pen won’t pair with Surface Pro 4 or open apps
  7. Clicking or double-clicking doesn’t work
  8. Pen tip broke, got lost or is worn out
  9. Reboot your tablet to clear corruption issues

FIX: Surface pen not working with Surface Pro 4

1. Surface Pen won’t ink

If the Surface Pen won’t ink, make sure to test the LED functionality, if it doesn’t come on, then the problem is a power issue.

Another thing you can do is to run Windows Updates or the Surface Diagnostic Toolkit.

Making sure that the battery is charged and working is another thing you’ll have to check as well.

2. Surface Pen light blinks red or won’t turn on

This means your AAAA battery is low and needs replacement. To replace it, do this:

  • For Surface pen with no clip, pull the top end out from the bottom, replace the battery and push the parts of the pen back together
  • For Surface pen with a single long button, turn the cap or the end of the eraser in a counter-clockwise manner to the body until it clicks. Pull the cap from the body and replace the AAAA battery with the negative end pointing toward the writing tip. Replace the cap by lining up the metal guide bump on the cap with the half-circle cutaway on the body, and slide the cap back into its place. Turn it a little to align the flat edges.
  • For Surface Pen with two buttons on the side: unscrew the top of the pen from the bottom, replace the battery with the positive end pointing toward the tip, then screw the top back on

3. Update Surface Pen driver

If you’re using the wrong driver, you may not be able to use your Surface Pen, but you can update the Surface Pen driver manually, or use a driver detector.

In that matter, we suggest you use Fortect Driver Updater so you can easily get rid of the problem instantly.

All you need to do is download it and then proceed with scanning your system for any damaged, outdated, or missing drivers.

Once the scan is completed, Fortect Driver Updater will automatically fix them. Due to its included library, it will find the latest versions to install. Just make sure you are connected to the Internet.

You can therefore update drivers easily by just pressing a button, and resolving any problems associated with drivers really fast with Fortect Driver Updater.

4. Buttons don’t work/writing is inaccurate or jagged

  1. Go to Start, and select Settings.
  2. From Devices go to Bluetooth and turn it on.
  3. Select Surface Pen from the list and remove it.
  4. Select Pair when the pen appears on the list.

5. Surface Pen isn’t connected with Surface Pro 4

  1. On the Surface Pen, press and hold the button at the top until the LED light blinks to make the pen discoverable.
  2. Select Start then choose Settings and go to Devices.
  3. Select Bluetooth & other devices on your PC.
  4. Ensure Bluetooth is on and select Add Bluetooth.
  5. Choose Surface Pen from the list of devices then select Done.

6. Surface Pen won’t pair with Surface Pro 4 or open apps

  1. Press and hold the top button for about five seconds then let go.
  2. If the LED light blinks continuously, the pen is receiving power and is trying to pair with the device, so follow the pairing steps.
  3. If this doesn’t help, restart your Surface Pro 4 and try pairing again.
  4. If the LED light blinks for about 3 seconds, then the Pen is paired to another Surface device nearby so find it and remove the pen.
  5. Once you remove the pairing, go back to your own Surface Pro 4 and pair it again with the pen.

7. Clicking or double-clicking doesn’t work

  1. Go to the taskbar, select Windows Ink Workspace.
  2. Select Pen & Windows Ink settings.
  3. Go to Pen shortcuts.
  4. Choose Windows Ink Workspaceor the app you want to open for each pen shortcut.

8. Surface Pen tip broke, got lost or is worn out

If your Surface pen has no clip or has a single long button on a flat edge, get a pen tip kit at the Microsoft Store or online.

The tip kits differ from one pen to another, so ensure you get one that matches your pen model.

Your Surface needs to be registered to order pen tips, plus you have to log in with your Microsoft account.

9. Reboot your tablet to clear corruption issues

  1. Press and hold the power button on your Surface Pro 4 for thirty seconds, then release it
  2. Press and hold the power button and volume up (+) button at the same time for 15 seconds. If the logo displays, don’t let go of the buttons
  3. Wait for a little over 10 seconds and then start the Surface Pro 4 again, and see if the Surface Pen works

Did any of these solutions help? Let us know by leaving a comment in the section below.

Make sure to check out our Peripherals section to find more handy fixes for any issue that you might encounter.

In our dedicated Troubleshooting Hub, you can find more useful guides and articles so check it out!

Windows 10 Photo Viewer won’t print

Posted on by Radu Tyrsina

While the Photo Viewer is somehow a thing of the past now, it was a big deal back in the Windows 7 and 8 days, used by millions across the world.

It did not make the leap in Windows 10 whose built-in photo viewer is now called simply: the Photos app.

Nevertheless, if you upgraded from Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, you might still have it and it might be worth knowing that other nostalgic users have been reporting printing problems with the Windows Photo Viewer application.

Especially users with XPS drivers claim that Windows 10 imported Photo Viewer won’t print or that it won’t print in color.

Our recommendation? Install a better-performing third-party app from the Microsoft Store or desktop programs like IrfanView, XnView, or Adobe Photoshop that are more feature-rich than the basic default tool.

Speaking about improvements in the photo viewers department, your best bet is definitely Adobe Photoshop if you want to always print crisp-looking images with perfect colors.

How do I change Windows Photo Viewer?

Install Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop

When it comes to photo editing and photo viewers, you simply cannot beat the world’s best imaging and graphic design software.

With Photoshop you can crop, remove objects, process, retouch, combine photos, integrate color, effects, and achieve stunning print-ready images every time.

Photoshop can send your images to a wide range of devices to be printed onto paper directly or converted to a positive or negative image on film.

Simple images use one color in one level of gray while photographs require various color tones that must be printed on separate master plates, one for each color. Photoshop even allows you to adjust how the various plates are generated.

Let’s quickly review its impressive printing focused key features:

  • Position and scale images
  • Print part of an image
  • Print vector data
  • Color management feature (to reproduce screen colors accurately on the printed page)
  • Color separation feature

⇒ Download Adobe Photoshop free here

Now you know that the Photo Viewer is not the only app that can help you open different types of image files. Though it is free, there are other software that can do a better job.

While we’re at it, check out this article for a complete list of free photo viewers. Is your favorite one in there? Let us know in the comments section below.

[wl_navigator]

ID@Xbox Spotlight launches to showcase indie games

Posted on by Radu Tyrsina

The ID@Xbox team announced ID@Xbox Spotlight, a new initiative to highlight new indie games coming soon to Xbox One. With several industry events like GDC and E3 being either postponed or cancelled this year, Chris Charla, Sr. Director, ID@Xbox explained that this new format will also allow indie devs to discuss their upcoming games with the Xbox audience.

“With these videos, you’ll hear from the developers themselves as they walk you through some of the exciting titles coming to Xbox – including some brand new announcements like Mischief’s Adios, Strange Scaffold’s An Airport for Aliens Currently Run by Dogs, Goblinz Studio’s Legend of Keepers, Sector D2’s Project Wingman, Mighty Yell’s The Big Con and Vanimals’ Undying,” said Carla.

Five videos have been published on the ID@Xbox YouTube channel today, showing just a small part of the 1,600 ID@XBOX games currently in development. You can watch the first one below.

In recent years, the ID@Xbox program gave Xbox gamers some pretty great games including the puzzle platformers Limbo and Inside, the run and gun game Cuphead, or the cooperative cooking simulation game Overcooked 2. Two years ago, Carla announced that 1,000 ID@Xbox games had been released on Xbox One since the launch of the program.

Microsoft’s new Edge browser inches up in popularity, now 2nd most popular browser

Posted on by Radu Tyrsina

Just a year ago, Microsoft was not in a position to compete against Mozilla Firefox in terms of market share. Interestingly, now it seems like the new Microsoft Edge has turned out to be a winning card for the Redmond giant. NetMarketShare released its monthly report for March 2020 which shows that the new Microsoft Edge browser is now the second most popular desktop browser (via TechRadar). It’s surprising to see that the browser has finally surpassed Mozilla Firefox to secure the second position worldwide.

According to the report, Microsoft’s Chromium powered Edge has finally managed to move ahead of Firefox with a 7.59 % market share. Notably, Firefox stands at the third position with its 7.19 % share. As for Google Chrome, it is still one of the most popular web browsers amongst desktop users which still remains ahead of all, as its market share is now close to the 70 % mark.

Netmarketshare Edge surpasses Firefox
Netmarketshare March 2020

However, it remains to be seen how many people have actually switched to the new Microsoft Edge from Firefox because we still don’t know the exact figure. But at the same time, it would be interesting to see if the gap between the two decreases within the next few months as Microsoft is constantly improving its default browser by releasing new features.

Do you think that Microsoft would be successful in its efforts? Let us know in the comments section below.

Gears 5 errors on PC and Xbox [COMPLETE GUIDE]

Posted on by Radu Tyrsina

You may experience dozens of bugs while playing Gears 5 on your Windows machine. Most of them are displayed in the form of error codes like Gears 5 error gw502, error 0x00000c46, Gears 5 fatal error, to name just a few.

Normally, gamers often don’t understand what an error code means and many ignore them completely.

Please keep in mind that the solutions of many issues are hidden in the error codes themselves. You just need to figure out what each error code indicates.

Fortunately, Gears 5’s developers posted a list of error codes that generally appear while playing the game.

How do I fix Gear 5 errors on PC / Xbox?

1. Fix Gears 5 error GW500/GW504

If you get the error code GW500 or GW504, this means that your device does not meet the minimum requirements to play Gears 5.

You should upgrade your graphics card to play Gears 5 on your device. You can try one of the following cards to get optimal performance while playing Gears 5.

  1. AMD Radeon RX 570 or AMD Radeon RX 5700
  2. NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti

2. Fix Gears 5 error GW501

You may get error code GW501 or GW502 when you try to play the game on your Windows PC. This is a known issue and it is triggered when your graphics card has some compatibility problems.

Contact your graphics card manufacturer to check for the latest driver updates.

This is how you can update outdated drivers in just two minutes.

3. Fix Gears 5 error GW502/GW503

The error code GW502 means that your video card has stopped responding on your Windows device. The error code GW503 appears when your system fails to detect your graphics card.

The issue is caused due to the unstable state of your graphics card. You should reboot your machine to resolve it.

If the problem persists, check for latest driver updates by contacting your graphics card manufacturer. If you are already running an updated version, reduce visual settings.

4. Fix Gears 5 error GW510

The error code GW510 means that your graphics card does not meet the minimum VRAM requirements to play the game. Your graphics card should have at least 2GB of video memory.

You can play the game at less video memory, but it will affect the performance and quality of the game. The optimal performance can be achieved by upgrading your graphics card

If you fixed the GW511 error but still face connection problems, check our guide on Gears of War Reloaded multiplayer not working to troubleshoot online issues.

Still getting Gears 5 issues? Maybe you need a new graphics card. Here are some of the best options.

5. Fix Gears 5 error GW511

If you get the error code GW511 it means that your Windows system has less than 6GB of system memory.

You should upgrade your system with at least 6GB of system memory (RAM). It is the minimum requirement to play Gears 5.

You need to carefully follow the instructions to resolve these errors on your machine. Some of them would be resolved in no time.

[wl_navigator]

Toshiba webcam not working

Posted on by Aleksandar Ognjanovic

Toshiba laptops are very reliable devices, but still, their users are not without issues. One commonly reported issue concerns the webcam which isn’t always working on Windows 10.

There are so many reasons why this may occur, so we’ll cover all approach angles in order to help you. If you need to fix the Toshiba webcam, check the steps below.

What can I do if Toshiba webcam is not working

  1. Check drivers
  2. Scan for malware
  3. Run Windows Troubleshooter
  4. Use OEM’s camera software
  5. Check BIOS
  6. Tweak Registry
  7. Check hardware

1. Check drivers

  1. Right-click Start and open Device Manager.
  2. Navigate to Imaging devices.device manager
  3. Right-click on your webcam and choose Update driver.
  4. Restart your PC and look for changes.

Now, if this wasn’t enough, you should navigate to Toshiba’s official site and download proper drivers from there.

  1. Navigate to Toshiba’s official site by clicking on this link.
  2. Open the Drivers & Software section.
  3. In the Search bar, type your device model and press Enter.toshiba support drivers & software
  4. That way, you should be able to locate proper and updated camera drivers.
  5. Download, install drivers and restart your PC.

In 90% of reported issues, the problem was driver-related. As you might know, drivers are the essential part of the Windows shell, and, consequently, without proper drivers, you won’t be able to run a single piece of hardware. That includes a built-in camera.

So, for all intents and purposes, you’ll need to check your drivers firstly before we move to additional steps. When it comes to Toshiba webcam drivers, most of the time, those are provided by Windows Update. Now, this might work for some users, while for others, the generic driver won’t suffice.

Automatically update drivers (third-party tool suggested)

We also strongly recommend a third-party driver updater tool that uses advanced updating technology to will help you update your drivers in order to avoid permanent damage to your computer by manually downloading the wrong driver versions.

2. Scan for malware

Some users tried every known workaround but succeeded in resolving camera issues only after dealing with viruses. It seems that certain malicious software affects laptop cameras rendering them unusable. Namely, it seems that it automatically disables the camera, and users are left with the black screen.

Now, for in order to address this concern, you’re going to need either third-party antivirus or up-to-date Windows Defender.

If you’re not sure how to perform a deep scan with Windows Defender make sure to check the instructions we presented below.

  1. Double-click on Windows Defender icon in the notification area to open the dashboard Security Center.
  2. Open Virus & threat protection.
  3. Choose Advanced scan.
  4. Select Windows Defender offline scan.Windows Defender Offline Scan

3. Run Windows Troubleshooter

This might seem like an extremely generic solution, but, when in doubt — try every given option. Windows’ native troubleshooting tools changed a lot on the latest few system iterations, but they remained useful for minor issues troubleshooting and fixing. If nothing else, they can give you a better insight into the cause of the problem.

  1. Press Windows key + I to open the Settings app.
  2. Choose Update & security.
  3. Select Troubleshooting from the left pane.
  4. Run Hardware and Devices troubleshooter.run the hardware troubleshooter

4. Use OEM’s camera software

Occasionally, it doesn’t matter if your camera drivers are properly installed. It all falls down to the individual program that’s responsible for the camera. In Windows 10, once you install the system, the default Camera app will take over the camera device. And, as we already said in one of the previous articles, this app can misbehave occasionally.

For that purpose, we advise you to try original OEM’s software or some other third-party camera app and look for changes.

Just make sure not to download the untrusted applications and you should be good to go. A detailed explanation of the best-suited apps for the job can be found in this article.

5. Check BIOS

We all know that UEFI and BIOS settings on laptops are fairly limited option-wise. However, some users reported that their Toshiba laptops have an option to enable or disable the built-in camera in BIOS settings. We can’t say with certainty what models have this option, but it will cost you nothing to go and check out on your own.

If you have this option, there’s a chance that this mistakenly led to disabling your web camera. In order to do so, follow the instructions below:

  1. Restart your PC and, while booting, press repeatedly the Delete button.
  2. Once you’re in the Boot Settings menu, choose the Advanced tab. It may differ on various Toshiba laptops.
  3. Choose System Configuration.
  4. Select Web Camera and make sure to Enable it.
  5. Save changes and exit BIOS settings.

6. Tweak Registry

Due to differences in the encoding standard, webcams available on older devices start misbehaving in Windows 10. If your Toshiba laptop falls into this category, you might need to turn to a subtle Registry trick in order to use your camera like before the problem emerged.

This might come as a surprise, but there’s a registry entry that fixes the problem completely. However, act with caution. We don’t want to make rush moves while in the Registry Editor.

So, in order to avoid additional issues and to resolve the camera problem, follow closely the instructions below:

  1. In the Search bar, type Regedit.
  2. Right-click the Registry Editor and run it as an administrator.
  3. Click on File, choose Export, and backup your registry. This is a security measure in case something goes wrong.backup registry
  4. Follow this path:
    • For 32-bit system: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWARE
      MicrosoftWindows media foundationPlatform 
    • For 64-bit system: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWARE
      WOW6432NodeMicrosoftWindows media foundationPlatform
  5. Right-click in the right window and choose New > DWORD (32) Value.
  6. Rename this value and name it EnableFrameServerMode.EnableFrameServerMode set value to 0 in registry
  7. Right-click and choose to Modify this newly created registry value.
  8. Set its value to 0 (zero) and save changes.
  9. Restart your PC.

7. Check hardware

Finally, if none of the previous software-related workarounds helped you, there’s a chance that the hardware is malfunctioning. There are some things you can do in this department, too, but we advise you to rather take your PC for a repair.

If you’re inexperienced, it’s always better to let the professionals take care of your laptop. And, as we’re aware, the camera sensor replacement isn’t too pricey. On the other hand, if you’re an experienced user, you can try googling for hardware troubleshooting and perform minor repairs on your own.

Either way, that should conclude it. We certainly hope you were able to resolve the issues with your Toshiba webcam in Windows 10 by following the aforementioned steps.

In addition, don’t forget to share with us your webcam issues in detail. You can do it in the comments section below.

  • How do I turn off the camera on my Toshiba laptop?

In the search bar type Device Manager and select. Click the dropdown arrow next to Imaging devices/Camera. Right-click Integrated Camera and select Disable device. If your Toshiba webcam not working, this guide will help.

Fix Windows 10 Troubleshooter error code 0x803c0103

Posted on by Aleksandar Ognjanovic

Windows 10 Updates are occasionally quite troublesome. There are dozens of different update-related errors plaguing users from day one.

And, since updates are mandatory in Windows 10, chances are you’ll run into one of the errors sooner or later. After the error occurs, most users will reach for the built-in troubleshooter.

However, there seems to be an error with the Update Troubleshooter itself and it goes by the 0x803c0103 code.

If this or similar errors bother you while running the Update Troubleshooter, make sure to try the steps below in order to resolve it.

How can I fix update error 0x803c0103?

1. Run SFC and DISM

Let’s start with the usual solution whenever any system tool fails to deliver. If some of the essential Windows files are corrupted, chances are that certain built-in features will get broken.

This isn’t uncommon for Windows Update for Windows 10, which tends to break PCs left and right. Users who experienced the update error and then tried running the troubleshooter, have tasted this first hand.

When something like this happens, we need to check the system for corruption. Whether the last unoptimized update brought this upon you, or it’s something else at hand – it doesn’t matter.

What matters is that you have all the tools you need to fix it right there. The first tool is the System File Checker, which scans and resolves system corruption.

The other one takes the same task to another level and it’s called Deployment Image Servicing and Management or DISM. They work best when combined.

Here’s how to run SFC and DISM on your PC:

  1. In the Windows Search bar, type cmd. Right-click click on Command Prompt and run it as admin.
  2. In the command-line, type sfc/scannow and press Enter.windows 10 update troubleshooter error 0x803c0103
  3. After its done, type the following command and press Enter after each:
    • DISM /online /Cleanup-Image / ScanHealth
    • DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealthwindows 10 update troubleshooter error 0x803c0103
  4. When the procedure ends, restart your PC.

Alternatively, you can rely on third-party optimizing tools that can restore your PC from crashes or errors like the one here.

Plus, you have the benefits of optimizing your PC processes and repairing various system or program malfunctions.

2. Reset Update services

If we avoid the premise that the update in itself is badly administered, we are left with some internal issues you should check up.

Namely, maybe the update files stored on your PC are corrupted or the associated services won’t start when needed.

If that’s the case, we suggest resetting the said services and redownloading the update files stored in the SoftwareDistribution folder. Here’s what you need to do:

  1. In the Windows Search bar, type cmd.
  2. Right-click the Command Prompt and run it as an administrator.
  3. In the command-line, type the following commands and press Enter after each:
  • net stop wuauserv
  • net stop bits
  • net stop cryptsvc
  • ren C:WindowsSoftwareDistribution SoftwareDistribution.old
  • ren C:WindowsSystem32catroot2 Catroot2.old
  • net start wuauserv
  • net start bits
  • net start cryptsvc

After that, check for updates again.

3. Use a downloadable troubleshooter

If the built-in Update Troubleshooter won’t work, we suggest using a downloadable alternative provided by Microsoft. This tool should, in theory, completely fill in for the built-in Update Troubleshooter.

It doesn’t require installation and you can run it as soon as it’s downloaded. It should scan for update-related errors and fix them accordingly.

If you’re not sure where to get it and how to run it, here’s the whole step-by-step explanation:

  1. Download Windows Update Troubleshooter from here.
  2. Right-click on the tool and run it as administrator.windows 10 update troubleshooter error 0x803c0103
  3. Follow the instructions and restart your PC after the fix is applied.

4. Reset this PC

Finally, if none of the previous steps helped you resolve the error at hand, we suggest resetting your PC to factory values.

I’ve done it myself multiple times after an insider update that completely ruined my system or made some of the key features inaccessible.

After the reset, everything worked just fine. And, most importantly, you get to keep your files and settings. Errors like the 0x803c0103 usually affect users who upgraded over Windows 7/8.1.

So a clean reinstallation is another option you might consider.

Here’s how to reset your PC to factory settings:

  1. Press Windows key + I to summon the Settings app.
  2. Open the Update & Security section.
  3. Select Recovery from the left pane.
  4. Under Reset this PC, click Get started.windows 10 update troubleshooter error 0x803c0103
  5. Keep your files and start the restoration process.

With that said, we can conclude this article. Hopefully, one of the enlisted steps helped you address the troubleshooter error 0x803c0103.

In case you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to tell us in the comments section below.

If completely removing it from your PC is required, be sure to use the best uninstaller software of the moment.

  • How do I run Windows Troubleshooter?

To do so, follow this path Start > Settings > Update & Security > Troubleshoot. If you can’t open the Setting app, take a look at this article to solve opening Settings issues.

  • Is Windows 10 repair tool safe?

Microsoft developed a troubleshooter program and a repair tool specifically to help you with all sorts of problems. The Windows 10 repair tool is safe, so don’t hesitate to try it out.