Windows 10 Fast Startup
Windows 10

First, if you clean installed Windows 10, bought a new computer with Windows 10 on it, or upgraded from Windows 8x, Fast Startup should be enabled by default. So, you shouldn't have to turn it on. But if you upgraded from Windows 7, Fast Startup may not be turned on, and that's OK we're going to show you how to turn it on.

What is Windows 10 Fast Startup? It works like hybrid combination of Windows shut down, sleep mode and its hibernation feature. Fast Restart saves the system state at the time of shutdown to a hibernation file. Using this files, Windows will startup faster. And when your computer is started Windows does not have to reload everything (drivers, system state, operating system) from scratch. It just refreshes your RAM and loads the "System image" from the hibernation file,  allows your computer to start much more quickly.

Windows Fast Startup works only when you shut down your computer, it does not work when you restart. If you choose "Restart", Windows will perform a full cold Windows shutdown and complete restart of your system. If Fast Restart is enabled, you will have to use a Restart instead of a shutdown to install Windows updates.

Check to see if Fast Startup is turned on:

It's likely that Windows Fast Startup is already enabled on your PC, however you may want to check and see if it is. If it's not enabled, you can enable it. Here's how:

Right-click on the Windows 10 Start button (Or press Windows Key + X )

Click on Power Options.

In the Power Options window, click on "Choose what the power option buttons do" on the left-side menu (see screen shot below):

In the next window, you will notice a lot of options at the bottom are "grayed" out so you can't change them. You'll need to click on "Change settings that are currently unavailable" (see below) to be able to change them.

In the next window (see below) you'll find that those options are no longer grayed out and you can change them.  If you don't see a checkmark next to "Turn on fast startup", tick the box to select it, then click "Save changes" at the bottom of the window to save your changes.

If you don't see the option to turn on Fast Startup, it means hibernation is not enabled on your PC. So the only shutdown options you'll see are Sleep and Lock.

In order to see "Turn on fast startup (recommended)" you'll need to enable hibernation on your computer. The easiest way to do this is:

Right-click on the Windows 10 Start button (or press Windows Key + X)  and click on Command Prompt (Admin). At the prompt The quickest way to enable hibernation is to close the power settings window and then hit Windows+X and open Command Prompt (Admin). At the Command Prompt, type the command:

powercfg /hibernate on

And press "Enter".

Make sure you leave the spaces as shown above.

After you enable hibernate, reopen Power Options and you should be able to turn Fast Startup on.

You can easily turn off Fast Startup if you find it causes you any problems.

 How to prevent a Problematic Windows Update From Reinstalling in Windows 10
Windows 10

In Windows 10, your PC or device is always kept up to date with the latest features and fixes. This means, for most of us who use Windows 10 Home, we have no control over installing updates. Windows Updates are installed automatically, and you have no choice to select which updates you want or don't want.

We are all aware by now that sometimes a Windows 10  update can cause problems with your PC. In this case, you'll need a way to prevent the problematic update from reinstalling automatically the next time Windows Updates are installed.

If an update is causing system crashes, problems or instability on your PC, you can follow the instructions below, to prevent the unwanted update from being installed:

In the taskbar search/Cortana, type “View Installed Updates” (without the quotes).and then click on View Installed Updates -- Control Panel when it appears in the Search results. To uninstall the unwanted update, select it from the list and then click Uninstall.

Now, you're all set until next time Windows updates, and reinstalls the update you just uninstalled. So, you have more to do, if you want to prevent Windows from reinstalling that trouble-causing update.

So... If you want to prevent that update from being reinstalled, keep on readying.

To prevent the update from being reinstalled, a troubleshooter is available from Microsoft, that provides a user interface for hiding and showing Windows Updates for Windows 10. You can obtain and run the "Show or hide updates" troubleshooter by downloading it from the Microsoft Download Center:

Download the "Show or hide updates" troubleshooter package now.

When you click on the download link, you will be prompted to open or save wushowhide.diagcab. Save it to your PC, and click to run it.

Opening wushowhide.diagcab will launch the troubleshooter. Then click Next to proceed and follow the instructions provided by the troubleshooter to hide the problematic driver or update.

When the program starts to run, you'll see it scanning your computer for updates. When it's done you'll see a window like this one.

Click on "Hide updates"

Windows will display all pending updates:

You'll see a list of available updates. Select the update or updates that are causing you problems. Windows will not reinstall the items you select.

Do You Have 32-bit or 64-bit Windows?
Windows 7, 8.1 & Windows 10

If you're not sure if you're running 64-bit or 32-bit Windows, here's a really quick way to find out:

Press & hold down the Windows Key and tap the Pause/Break key This brings up system properties - and your System type is right there. See?

There's always more than one way to do things in Windows. Here are more ways to find out if you're using 32-bit or 64-bit Windows.

If you can't find the Pause/Break key, it's usually on the top row of the keyboard right next to the Print Screen (Prt Scrn, Prt sc) key.

You can also find your system type by pressing the Windows Key+R , typing MSINFO32 , and pressing Enter.

Another way to find it, is to Open Control panel, change the view to "Large icons" and click on "System".

Also, if your computer has C: \ Program Files and C: \ Program Files(X86) it's 64-bit; it just has Program Files, it's 32-bit.

Anyway, with all these ways, you're sure to find out if you have 32-bit or 64-bit Windows.

How to Back Up the Windows Registry
Windows 7, Windows 8x and Windows 10

We try to stress the importance of keeping your computer backed up. It's the only way to protect your precious data and irreplaceable personal files. As most of you know there are dozens of ways your data is at risk. So, we know you're all keeping good backups, right?

Today, though, we're going to talk about something we don't harp on.. and that is: Backing up the Windows Registry. You've probably noticed that whenever we feature a tip that that includes editing the registry we always tell you to back up your registry first(or create a restore point). But, we have not shown you how to back up the registry. So, today we're going to show you how easy it is to back up your registry -- and how easy it is to restore your registry from your registry backup if that should ever become necessary.

Let's backup your Windows Registry

Press the Windows Key + R

Type REGEDIT in the run box and press Enter

When the Registry Editor opens, make sure "Computer" is highlighted.

Now click "File" "Export"

Choose a location to save your backup. HINT: Use a flash drive or an external drive to save your registry backup;  saving it to your Windows drive is not a good idea -if Windows goes belly up, so does your backup.

Save it with a name like reg-backup29JAN2017 ...  a file name that tells you what it is and when it was created, at a glance.

If you should ever need to restore your registry using your backup, it's easy.

Just locate your registry backup file, right-click on it, and choose Merge. Be careful -only do this when you've made changes to the registry (or some program or malware program did) that caused problems.

You can see by the screen shot above, how easy it is to create "filters" (message rules) in Thunderbird. You can organize your mail quickly and easily by using Thunderbird's filters.

Donations help us continue our mission to keep you informed, separate the truth from the hyperbole, and help you stay safer online. We provide support to thousands of people. Every week we help dozens of people via email at no charge. Thanks to donations, we do a lot more than provide this free newsletter. We help you recognize online threats, fight for your online privacy, and provide you with the knowledge you need to navigate the Web safely, and help you get more out of your PC. Help us keep up the good fight with a small donation.

It's the beginning of a new year, and we really need your support.  We hope you'll take a few minutes today and help us with a small donation. 

After you donate, you will receive info on how you can become a Cloudeight Booster.

Help us keep up the good fight with a small donation. 

We would really appreciate it.

Are You Happy With Windows 10?

A Cloudeight Poll

Windows 10 has been available for about 18 months. By now, many of you have either upgraded to Windows 10 or have purchased a PC with Windows 10 pre-installed.

Most of you know that Windows 10 will be the last named / numbered version of Windows. From now on, updated versions of Windows will be distributed via Windows Update. So far in 18 months there’s been one major update, often referred to as the Anniversary Update. In years past the Anniversary Update would have been considered a major service pack.

Soon, Microsoft will announce its next major Windows (10) update, commonly referred to as the “Creators Edition”. It will bring with it many changes and new features to Windows 10 (which you can read about here ).

If you’re using Windows 10... please tell us what you think by voting in this week's Cloudeight InfoAve Poll.

Down on the Farm Revisited

These are the dog days of winter and there is not much to do in my pathetic, little town. I suppose it’s all relative. Some folks find plenty to do indoors. I saw a bunch of people the other day standing around in Walmart watching them tearing down Santa Claus and putting up Cupid - this was on Christmas Eve!

There will also, no doubt, be a big crowd gathered in Walmart on February 15. They'll be watching Walmart “associates” tear down those big, red hearts and toss old boxes of unsold, out-of-date chocolates into the “reduced” bin.

I guess to some this can be an exciting thing. Watching Walmart associates work is exciting... sometimes. Did you ever watch one of them try to avoid the misters in the produce section? And by MISTERS, I don't mean men

I don’t know for sure. but I imagine, these same people who get their kicks watching stuff being dumped into the 50% off Valentine’s bin, will enjoy the erection of St. Patrick statues and green hats with greener shamrocks. St. Pat's is not a big candy season though, so Walmart will stick the St. Patrick stuff over by the stationery and party supplies.

All the while other associates will jamming the candy aisle full of Easter candy, bunnies, and toy bunnies with pink ears.

This year, Easter comes later than usual, so there's a big gap between St. Patrick's Day and Easter. It's a really good thing Easter is not known for partying or else in the years when Easter comes in March, there would be a huge territorial battle in the beer aisle. Luckily, Easter is not a party holiday, and this year it doesn't matter anyway, because Easter is in mid-April. I bet the food & drinks stores will be hurrying out the eggs and candy this year.

And let's not forget the fun of watching the Super Bowl displays go up, replete with health food goodies like Tostitos, Frito's, Lay's Potato Chips, Pepsi, Coke and best of all, beer.

So for some this can be a season of excitement, but not for me. I don't like watching Walmart associates doing anything. I don't think it's if fun...okay, maybe watching the produce lady dodge the misters is a little bit fun.

For the most part, though, winter is taking its toll on me. These bitter, cloudy, winter days seem to run together in an endless trail of torture this time of year. Nature’s way of exacting a toll on someone foolish enough to live where I do?

...When you live in some god-forsaken place like this, stuck in the middle of nowhere, you learn to be resourceful, or you just get grumpy...

Read the rest of this essay here.

Reg Organizer - A Swiss Army Knife of Windows Utilities and Tools

Reg Organizer works on Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10. The newest version of Reg Organizer has newly added special tweaks for Windows 10 - including a Windows 10 Start menu fix.

Get more information and or order Reg Organizer today and SAVE!

 NotepadTabs

Once in a while, I escape the clutches of EB and venture into the wild where, sometimes, serendipity leads me to a freeware find of such quality and usefulness, I must pontificate about it, and therefore, you must read my pontification. Rarely, my friends, do we feature a freeware pick these day, because, frankly, we've featured most of the good freeware out there, and the new mantra of freeware developers seems to be: "Serve it to them and see if they'll eat it". Kinda of like having a free fish fry and serving rotten fish, I tells ya.

So, when we feature a freeware program in this day an age of malware bundles and rotten fish, you know it has to be something that made our eyes bug out in disbelief.

We do a lot of text editing. May of the wonderful articles and tips you feast your eyes upon weekly - or daily - were born in a humble text editor like MetaPad or Notepad. It was not until serendipity prevailed this fine day and let me to a text editor, wherein we could edit multiple files and switch back and forth between them simply by using tabs.

"Oh, sure", you say, "Tabs! Now there's something new. Ha! TC & EB are just a couple of old humps!" You may think what you want, but we've been around the block and we've never seen a tabbed text editor like our freeware pick this week. To wit, I say, feast your eyes on this:

As you can see (look up!), I am working on several versions of a letter I'm going to send EB. Which one will I send? Only the Shadow knows!

By this time in the article, you're either reaching for an ibuprofen, you've closed your browser or email program and headed off for a martini, or you want something profound from the developer his or herself. Unfortunately, to those who long for long, windy, fluff-filled descriptive prose from the developer, we must tell you: Sorry. This developer has little to say. But if you insist, we hereby give you words from the developer:

NotepadTabs

Tabbed view of multiple text files. View multiple text files in a single Notepad. Easily switch from one file to another and allowing you to make a group of text files to work on large projects.

 If you work with text files like we work with text files, of if you're contemplating writing a book, or doing outlines, or just messing around with text, you'll find no better way to work on multiple text files at once, than NotepadTabs.

NotepadTabs is not rife with features, but then again neither is notepad. It's not meant to be a word processor, we tells you. But it is a very nice text editor with autosave - and it allows you to work on multiple text files at once - all in one view. If you want a word processor, go use Word or one of it's clones. But you can compose in NotepadTabs and pasted your text in your favorite word processor for final editing and finishing flourishes.

This article was composed in NotepadTabs and pasted into an HTML editor for final polishing and publishing.

Surely you can find a use for NotepadTabs. You can read more about it and / or download it from the developer's page. There's no button games on his/her page, no malware in program, and it works in Windows 10, though the author only mentions Windows 8, Windows 7, and older version of Windows. But we used it on Windows 10, and it worked great.

The program is distributed as a zip file. Unzip it and if you're using Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 10, click on the Windows installer file called NotepadTabsSetup to install it.

Donations help us continue our mission to keep you informed, separate the truth from the hyperbole, and help you stay safer online. We provide support to thousands of people. Every week we help dozens of people via email at no charge. Thanks to donations, we do a lot more than provide this free newsletter. We help you recognize online threats, fight for your online privacy, and provide you with the knowledge you need to navigate the Web safely, and help you get more out of your PC. Help us keep up the good fight with a small donation.

It's the beginning of a new year, and we really need your support.  We hope you'll take a few minutes today and help us with a small donation. 

After you donate, you will receive info on how you can become a Cloudeight Booster.

Help us keep up the good fight with a small donation. 

We would really appreciate it.

Look at your download folder!

Yes, folks, we all have download folder, the folder where we keep all the files we've downloaded from the Web. But, there comes a time when you need to clean up that download folder...

We see tons of exe files in people's download folder - mostly program set-up files. But here's the rub - once you've installed the program you don't need the installation set-up file. And if someday, you ever need to reinstall it the program again, you don't want to use a version you've been saving for months or years; you can download the current version from the program's web site. Removing the installation set-up file does not remove the program you installed. There are only a couple of good reasons why you may need to hang on to a program's installation file:

1. You totally dislike the newer versions of the program and the old program works fine for you

2. The program is no longer available on the web - or it is no longer available for free.

So, this weekend, make it a point to do some early spring cleaning (or some early fall cleaning if you live south of the equator), and start deleting all those old set-up files in your download folder. You don't need them, we tells ya!