Ciprian Adrian Rusen

Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-05-2022

Windows 10 comes jam-packed with features. Here are shortcuts and tips for using the keyboard, mouse, and Ribbon to get fast access to the most commonly used commands. You'll be commanding Windows 10 in no time!

Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-03-2022

Adjusting to a new operating system, whether you're upgrading from an old version of Windows to Windows 11 or you've purchased a new machine running Windows 11, isn't an easy thing to do. In this cheat sheet, you find out what has changed in Windows 11, what you should and shouldn’t do when you start using Windows 11. It also includes how to navigate Windows 11 using keyboard shortcuts, and how to perform touchscreen gestures and commands.

Article / Updated 10-19-2021

Network discovery is an underrated and often misunderstood feature that allows Windows 10 to find other computers and devices on a network. This feature is automatically turned on when you’re connected to private networks like the one in your home or workplace but turned off when you’re connected to public networks that shouldn’t be trusted and when you don’t allow your PC to be discoverable on those networks. Enable network discovery If your Windows 10 computer or device can’t view other computers on the network, two things are probably at fault: You either assigned the incorrect network profile (public instead or private), or network discovery is turned off for some reason. Here’s how to activate network discovery in Windows 10 for your active network profile: Open Settings. The Settings window appears. Click Network & Internet. Your network and Internet related settings are shown. In the panel on the left, click either Wi-Fi (if you’re connected to a wireless network) or Ethernet (if you’re connected to a network using a network cable). A window with settings for your network appears. Find the Related setting section on the right, then click Change Advanced Sharing Settings. The Advanced Sharing Settings window appears. Expand the network profile currently assigned to your network connection. It is marked with the words “current profile” on the right side of its name. In the Network discover section, select “Turn on network discovery.” Also, check the box that says “Turn on automatic setup of network connected devices.” Turning on network discovery. Click Save Changes. Close the Settings window. You don’t ever want to enable network discovery when you’re connected to public networks. So, if you’re connected to a public network like those in airports and cafes, be sure to set the profile to Public. Enable file and printer sharing When you’re connected to private networks, Windows 10 automatically turns on the File and Printer Sharing setting. In this way, you can easily share folders, files, and printers with other computers and devices in your network. However, if your network administrator adjusts this setting, you may need to manually turn it on or off, depending on your needs. Here’s how to activate the File and Printer Sharing setting in Windows 10 for your active network connection: Open Settings. The Settings window appears. Click Network & Internet. Your network and Internet-related settings are shown. In the panel on the left, click either Wi-Fi (if you’re connected to a wireless network) or Ethernet (if you’re connected to a network using a network cable). A window with settings for your network appears. Find the Related setting section on the right, then click Change Advanced Sharing Settings. The Advanced Sharing Settings window appears. Accessing advanced sharing settings in Windows 10. Expand the network profile currently assigned to your network connection. It’s identified as “current profile.” In the File and Printer Sharing section, select Turn On File and Printer Sharing. Click Save Changes. Close the Settings window. If you’re connected to a public network like those in airports and cafes, be sure to assign Public as the profile for that connection. Also, don’t enable the File and Printer Sharing setting when you’re connected to public networks. Enable public folder sharing The Public folder is located on your hard drive in C:UsersPublic. All user accounts registered in Windows have access to it. That’s why it’s named Public. Any file and folder found in C:UsersPublic is completely accessible to all users on the computer. Depending on your network sharing settings, this folder and its contents can also be accessed by all other computers and devices that are part of the same network. To turn on Public Folder Sharing, follow these steps: Open Settings. The Settings window appears. Click Network & Internet. Your network and Internet-related settings are shown. In the panel on the left, click either Wi-Fi (if you’re connected to a wireless network) or Ethernet (if you’re connected to a network using a network cable). A window with settings for your network appears. Find the Related setting section on the right and click Change Advanced Sharing Settings. The Advanced Sharing Settings window appears. Scroll down and expand the All Networks category of settings. In the Public Folder Sharing section, select Turn On Sharing So Anyone with Network Access Can Read and Write Files in the Public Folders. Turning on Public Folder Sharing. Click Save Changes. Close the Settings window. Enable password protected sharing When Password Protected Sharing is turned on, only people who have a user account and password on your computer or network domain (in the case of business networks) can access shared files and printers attached to your Windows 10 computer or device, as well as your public folders. It’s a good idea to avoid disabling Password Protected Sharing, but you may need to do that in some situations, such as when you want to give other people access. To turn on Password Protected Sharing, follow these steps: Open Settings. The Settings window appears. Click Network & Internet. Your network and Internet-related settings are shown. In the panel on the left, click either Wi-Fi (if you’re connected to a wireless network) or Ethernet (if you’re connected to a network using a network cable). A window with settings for your network appears. Find the Related setting section on the right and click Change Advanced Sharing Settings. The Advanced Sharing Settings window appears. Scroll down and expand the All Networks category of settings. In the Password Protected Sharing section, select Turn On Password Protected Sharing. Turning On password protected sharing. Click Save Changes. Close the Settings window.

Article / Updated 10-15-2021

A proxy server is an intermediary between your Windows 10 PC or device and the Internet. This server makes requests to websites, servers, and services on the Internet for you. For example, say that you use a web browser to visit www.wiley.com and your browser is set to use a proxy server. After you type www.wiley.com, the request is sent to the proxy server. The server then sends the request to the server where the website is hosted. The homepage of the Wiley website is returned to the proxy server which, in turn, returns the homepage to you. One reason companies use proxy servers is that doing so helps them save precious bandwidth. Proxy servers can compress traffic, cache files and web pages from the Internet, and even strip ads from websites before they reach your computer. This allows companies to save bandwidth, especially when they have hundreds or thousands of employees accessing mostly the same popular websites (such as CNN or The New York Times). Other benefits include improved security and privacy. Set up a proxy using an automatic configuration script By default, Windows 10 is set to automatically detect proxy settings. However, this may not work when you’re connected to your company’s business network. One way to set up a proxy is to specify a script address that is given to you by the network administrator or by the company’s IT department. When using a configuration script for a proxy server, note that its address is similar to a URL (the address of a website), such as http://my.proxy.server:8000/. To set a proxy using an automatic configuration script, follow these steps: Open Settings. Click Network & Internet. The list of network- and Internet-related settings appears. Click Proxy. The list of available proxy settings appears. In the Automatic Proxy Setup section, set the Use Setup Script switch to On. Enter the script address as it was given to you; then click Save. Close Settings. Setting up an automatic proxy configuration script. To disable the proxy, follow the same steps and, at Step 4, set the Use Setup Script switch to Off. Set up a proxy manually Another way to set a proxy is to manually enter its IP address and port number. The address of a proxy server is similar to that of any computer on the network, and it could be something like 192.168.1.211. The port can be any combination of up to four figures. It can be any combination of digits, including 80 or 8080, depending on how its administrator(s) set it. The IP address and port of your company’s proxy server are given to you by the network administrator or by the company’s IT department. Here’s how to set a proxy manually in Windows 10: Open Settings. Click Network & Internet. The list of network- and Internet-related settings appears. Click Proxy. The list of available proxy settings appears. In the Manual Proxy Setup section, set the Use a Proxy Server switch to On. In the Address field, type the IP address. In the Port field, type the port. Click Save; then close the Settings window. Setting up a proxy server manually. To disable the proxy, follow the same steps; at Step 4, set the Use a Proxy Server switch to Off.

Article / Updated 09-30-2021

When you start File Explorer in Windows 10, it displays Quick Access, where you see a list of the folders you browse most frequently and the files that you recently accessed. This list changes over time as you use different folders. Pin folders to Quick Access You can always pin the folders and libraries that you want to access as quickly as possible to Quick Access. Here’s how to do so: Open File Explorer (folder icon on the taskbar). Navigate to the folder that you want to pin to Quick Access. Select that folder by clicking on it. Click the Home tab on the Ribbon. The Home tab is shown. In the Clipboard section, click the Pin to Quick Access button. The selected folder is now listed in Quick Access. The Pin to Quick Access button in File Explorer You can also pin a folder by right-clicking it and selecting Pin to Quick Access in the right-click menu. Unpin folders from Quick Access To unpin a folder from the Quick Access section, open File Explorer and follow these steps: Click the Quick Access section. Right-click the folder that you want to unpin. The right-click menu appears. In the right-click menu, click Unpin from Quick Access. The selected folder is no longer listed in Quick Access. The Unpin from Quick Access option in the pop-up menu Change the position of the Quick Access Toolbar The Quick Access Toolbar is located at the top-left corner of the File Explorer window. You can see it highlighted below. The Quick Access Toolbar By default, this toolbar contains only three buttons: one for accessing the properties of the selected file or folder, one for creating a new folder, and a down-pointing arrow that opens a menu that you can use to configure the Quick Access Toolbar. One of the menu’s options is to change the Quick Access Toolbar’s position so that it’s below the Ribbon rather than above it. Here’s how: Open File Explorer. In the Quick Access Toolbar, click the down-pointing arrow. The Customize Quick Access Toolbar menu appears. In the menu that appears, click Show Below the Ribbon. The Quick Access Toolbar is now below the Ribbon. The menu for the Quick Access Toolbar To place the Quick Access Toolbar back at the top of the Ribbon, follow the preceding steps and, at Step 3, click Show Above the Ribbon. Add buttons to the Quick Access Toolbar You can make the Quick Access Toolbar more useful by adding more buttons to it; for example, the Undo, Redo, Delete, and Rename buttons. In File Explorer, follow these steps for each new button that you want to add: In the Quick Access Toolbar, click the down-pointing arrow. The Customize Quick Access Toolbar menu appears. In the menu that appears, click the function you want to add to the Quick Access Toolbar (such as Undo, Redo, or Delete). Adding buttons to the Quick Access Toolbar

Article / Updated 09-15-2021

Windows stores all of your user files and folders in C:Users, followed by your username. There, you see folders such as Desktop, Downloads, Documents, Music, and Pictures. In Windows 10, these folders also appear in File Explorer under This PC and Quick Access. If your computer has multiple partitions, you may want to change the location of one or more of your user folders. For example, you might move the Downloads folder to another partition so that enough room is left on your Windows system drive. Doing so helps to ensure that your user folders and their contents are safe if Windows 10 fails and you need to reinstall it. If you have a solid-state storage device (SSD) with little space available, moving your user folders to another drive makes even more sense. This way, you can use the valuable space on the SSD for apps and games that benefit from the speed and performance of an SSD. Steps for moving a user folder Here’s how to move a user folder, such as Downloads, to another location: Open File Explorer. Click Quick Access if it isn’t open. Click the user folder that you want to change to select it. Click the Home tab on the Ribbon. The Home tab is displayed. In the Open section, click Properties. In the Folder Properties window, click the Location tab. The Location tab of the Folder Properties window Click Move. Browse to the new location you want to use for this folder. Click Select Folder. Click OK. You’re asked to confirm that you want to move all files from the old location to the new location. Click Yes and wait for the files to be moved to the new location. The Move Folder confirmation window Close File Explorer. The next time you start File Explorer, the user folder will appear in the new location.

Article / Updated 10-16-2019

An archive is a file containing one or more files along with their data. You use archives in Windows 10 to copy multiple files into a single file for easier portability and storage, or simply to compress files to use less storage space. Archives are also useful when you want to send multiple files to someone by email. Instead of attaching several large files, archive them into one file. That file takes less space than sending all the files separately, and it’s easier to attach and send by email. The most popular format for archiving files is .zip and Windows 10 can automatically work with this type of archive without having to install third-party apps. To archive several files and folders into a .zip file, open File Explorer and follow these steps: Select the files and folders that you want to archive. Click the Share tab on the Ribbon. The Share tab is displayed. In the Send section, click the Zip button. An archive is automatically created in the same folder as the files and folders that you selected. You can edit the name of the archive. Type the name that you want for the archive file. Press Enter or click somewhere else in the File Explorer window. You can now use the newly created .zip archive and send it by email or store it where you want on your computer. The Zip button in File Explorer. If you want to save space on your hard disk, it’s a good idea to delete the files and folders that you placed in an archive, as you can always extract them from the archive.

Step by Step / Updated 03-27-2016

Work Folders is a feature in Windows 10 that enables you to access your work files from your personal computer or device. With Work Folders, you can keep copies of your work files on your personal devices and have them automatically synchronized to your company’s datacenter. Here’s an example of how an information worker (Let’s call her Alice) might use Work Folders to separate her work data from her personal data, while having the ability to work from any device: Alice saves a document in the Work Folders directory on her computer at work. The document is synced to a file server controlled by her company’s IT department. When Alice returns home that evening, she picks up her Microsoft Surface Pro 3 device, where the document is already synced because she previously set up Work Folders on that device. She takes her Microsoft Surface Pro 3 on a trip, and she doesn’t have any Internet access while travelling. She works on the document offline, and when she returns home and an Internet connection is available, the document automatically is synced back with the file server from her company. The next day, she returns to her office and opens the document. All the changes that she made the previous evening are in her Work Folders directory on her work computer. To set up Work Folders on your Windows 10 computer or device, follow these steps:

Step by Step / Updated 03-27-2016

Encrypting the Windows 10 operating system drive with BitLocker (or any other encryption software) takes significant time and involves setting a password to use before starting Windows and using an encrypted drive. It’s important to remember this password. Without it, you can’t access the encrypted drive. To prevent you from completely losing access to the encrypted drive, the encryption process includes a step to save a backup recovery key. You can use the recovery key if you forget your password and need to recover the encrypted data. You can save the recovery key automatically to your Microsoft account, to a file on a USB memory stick, or on a different drive. Before the encryption process begins, you’re asked whether you want to encrypt only the used disk space or the entire drive: If you have a newer computer with a fresh installation of Windows, it’s recommended that you only encrypt the used disk space. If your computer is a long-serving veteran, you will likely want to encrypt the entire drive, which takes longer. Here’s how to encrypt the operating system drive with BitLocker:

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

On tablets and 2-in-1 devices with touchscreens, you have fingertip control of Windows 10 using touch gestures. The following actions control your device with touch commands. Action Purpose Tap Tap once on an item to open, select, or activate it. This is similar to left-clicking with a mouse. Press and hold Press and hold your finger on an item for a second, and Windows shows information to help you find out more about the item or opens a menu specific to what you're doing. This is similar to right-clicking with a mouse. Pinch or stretch Touch the screen or an item with two or more fingers and then move the fingers toward each other (pinch) or away from each other (stretch) to make Windows visually zoom in and out, respectively. Slide You can drag your finger on the screen to the left, right, top, or bottom to scroll and move through a screen. Drag To move an item, press and briefly drag it in the direction opposite the way the page scrolls; then move the item wherever you want. Release the item after you move it to the new location. Swipe When you swipe an item with a short, quick movement in the direction opposite the way the page scrolls, you select it, and depending on the app, app commands may appear. Swipe from the edge When you swipe your finger quickly, without lifting it, from the right side of the screen to the left, the Notifications Center opens. If you swipe your finger quickly, without lifting it, from the left side of the screen to the right, a list with all the desktops and apps that are open appear. Rotate When you put two or more fingers on an item and then turn your hand, you rotate the item in the direction you turn your hand.