Tricia says her computer was upgraded to Windows 11. Can she go back to Windows 10?
We seem to have been upgraded to Windows 11 and wish to convert back to Windows 10.

Our answer
Hi Tricia. If it's been more than 10 days you cannot go back to Windows 10. To see what version of Windows you're running, right-click on the Start button, and click on Run. In the Run box type WINVER and press Enter.

If it has been less than 10 days since you were upgraded to Windows 11, you can go back to Windows 10 by following these steps:

1. Go to Settings > Update & Security > Recovery.
2. Under Go back to Windows 10, click Get Started.
3. Click Yes, I'm sure.
4. Windows will start the process of reverting to Windows 10. This may take some time, so be patient.
5. Once the process is complete, your computer will be back to Windows 10. You may need to reinstall some of your applications, but your personal files should be preserved.

We hope this helps you, Tricia.

Help Us During our Fall Donation Drive

When you support us with a small gift, you help us continue our mission to keep you informed, separate the truth from the hyperbole, and help you stay safer online. Plus, our computer tips make your computer easier to use.

Did you know that we provide support to thousands of people? Every week we help dozens of people via email at no charge. The questions and answers you see in our newsletters are from the email answers and help we provide to everyone free of charge.

Thanks to your gifts, we do a lot more than provide this free newsletter. We help you recognize online threats, fight for your online privacy, provide you with the knowledge you need to navigate the Web safely, provide you with suggestions for safe, free software and websites, and help you get more out of your PC.

Please Help us keep up the good fight with a small gift.

Interested in helping us with a monthly gift? Visit this page. Help us keep helping you... and helping you to stay safe on the Web.

Jim's not a big fan of the Settings Banner in Windows 11
I am not a big fan of the new home screen Windows 11 gave us.

Is there any way to get rid of it?

Our answer
Hi Jim. That's called the Settings banner and in Windows 11 there is no way to get rid of it that I know of, I'm sorry to say.  There is a way for those using Windows 10 who have the settings banner to get rid of it (see our article here) but Windows 11 users, so far, are stuck with it.

How to Open the Snipping Tool with a Single Key Stroke
Windows 10 / Windows 11

If you are using Windows 10 or Windows 11 and you don’t have a 3rd-party screenshot tool installed, you should know about Windows Snipping Tool. Snipping Tool is a very capable screenshot tool that keeps getting better and better. And it’s installed on every Windows 10 or Windows 11 computer.

Today, we’re going to show you how to open the Snipping Tool with a single keystroke.

How to Open the Snipping Tool with a Single Keystroke on Windows 10

Hold down the Windows key and tap the U key to open Ease of Access. In Ease of Access click on Keyboard and under “Print Screen shortcut” “Use the PrtScr button to open screen snipping”, slide the button to the on position.

How to Open the Snipping Tool with a Single Keystroke on Windows 11

Press and hold down the Windows key and tap the “U” key to open Windows 10 “Accessibility”. In “Accessibility” under “Interaction” click on “Keyboard”. Slide the button next to “Use the print screen key to open Snipping Tool” to the on position.

You can now start the Snipping Tool with the PrtScr key.

When you press the PrtScr key, you’ll see the Snipping Tool toolbar appear at the top of your screen.  From the toolbar, you can select whether you want to capture the entire screen, cut out a section using the free from tool, or capture the current window. 

Once you’ve captured the screenshot you want with the Snipping Tool, the image is placed on the Windows clipboard. From there you can paste the screenshot into Microsoft Paint — which is included with every Windows 10 and Windows 11 computer — or paste the image into the Windows Photos app, Irfanview, FastStone Image Viewer, Photoshop, or the image editor of your choice.

Another quick tip.

You can open Microsoft Paint by typing PAINT into the taskbar search on Windows 10 or Windows 11 and pressing Enter. Once Paint is open, you can then paste the screenshot you took with the Snipping Tool into MS Paint by using the CTRL+V shortcut.

You can also paste the Snipping Tool screenshot into the image editor of your choice by using the CTRL+ V shortcut. 

An Easy Way to Sort Files in Folders
Windows 10 / Windows 11

In all versions of Windows, you can sort files in folders by date, name, type, and so on.

Here’s the easy way to sort folders in just about any way you like if you're using Windows 10 or Windows 11.

Open any folder and right-click on a blank space in the folder.

You’ll see a menu appear. Click on “Sort by, " and another menu appears.

Above: Sorting files in folders in Windows 10.

Below: Sorting files in folders in Windows 11. Note that Windows 11's File Explorer has a "Sort" icon at the top. You can also right-click in the folder and get the sort menu, just like you did in Windows 10.

From that menu, you’ll be able to sort all the files in that folder by Name, Date, Type, Size, Tags, and more. You’ll also see that you can sort them in ascending or descending order.

Let’s sort a folder by name. If we choose ascending order, files will be alphabetically sorted from A to Z. If we choose "descending order", files will be alphabetically sorted from Z to A. See?

Above: Files sorted by name in ascending order.

Below: Files sorted by name in descending order.

You can use this method to sort files in any folder and organize them any way you want. 

Your Mouse Can Do More Than You Think!
Windows 10 / Windows 11

Did you know your mouse wheel is good for more than just scrolling?

Did you know you can use your mouse wheel as a button?

Pressing down on the wheel will act like a third mouse button. You can open a link in a new tab by clicking the wheel on any link. You can close any browser tab by clicking the wheel on any open tab.

Zoom in and out on a web page, word document, excel spreadsheet, and more

Hold down the Ctrl key and move the mouse wheel away from you (up)to zoom in and enlarge the text and content on web pages and most emails, Word documents, and Excel spreadsheets. Conversely, more the mouse wheel toward you (down) to zoom out and make text and content smaller.

Resize your desktop icons

And, if you want to make your desktop icons really big, go to your desktop, click on an empty area of your desktop, hold down the Ctrl key, and move your mouse wheel away from you to enlarge the icons or move the mouse wheel toward you to make them smaller. Really easy!

Open new instances of programs or apps

Opening more than one program window or app is called opening a new instance.  OK, for instance, 🙂  if you want to open two Notepad windows, with one Notepad window open, click on the Notepad icon in the taskbar using your mouse wheel as a button and a second Notepad window will open…click with your mouse wheel again and a third Notepad window will open, and so on.

You can open as many new program windows as you like. Most, but not all programs/apps, allow you to open more than one instance of the program/app. 

Some mouse wheels can do even more…

Did you know that some mouse wheels can be pushed left or right to move backward and forward on a web page?

Don’t overlook your mouse wheel. It can do a lot more than you think.

Go do some wheelies! 

Want more tips, tricks, and information?

We have thousands of Windows tips, tricks, and more on our InfoAve website.

Subscribe to our free InfoAve Daily newsletter.

Now available: Reg Organizer 9.30

If you purchased or renewed Reg Organizer through Cloudeight within the last 12 months, you're entitled to a free version upgrade to Reg Organizer 9.30. Works great with Windows 10 and Windows 11!

Save $14 on Reg Organizer right now!

Reg Organizer - A Swiss Army Knife of Windows Tools - Works Great on Windows 10 and Windows 11!

If you Haven’t Tried Microsoft PowerToys Yet, You’re Missing Out on Some Great Windows Utilities

We have featured Microsoft PowerToys previously but it keeps improving and adding more Power Toys than many of you will really like. So, we are featuring it again.

PowerToys was once a collection of toys created for power users, but PowerToys now has many great features that most users will find very useful. Ans more good points – it’s from Microsoft, it works on Windows 10 (all currently supported versions) and Windows 11 (all versions) and it’s free.

First, what is Microsoft PowerToys?

Microsoft PowerToys is a free and open-source suite of utilities for Windows that can be used to customize and extend the operating system. It includes a variety of tools, such as:

• Always on Top: Enables you to pin windows above other windows with a quick key shortcut  Windows key + Ctrl +T).
• Power Toys Awake:  PowerToys Awake is designed to keep a computer awake without having to manage its power & sleep settings. This behavior can be helpful when running time-consuming tasks, ensuring that the computer does not go to sleep or turn off its displays.
• PowerRename: A smart renaming tool that can rename multiple files with complex expressions at once.
• Image Resizer: A tool for quickly resizing batches of images.
• Keyboard Manager: A tool for remapping keyboard keys and creating custom keyboard shortcuts.
• PowerToys Run: A utility for launching apps and files quickly and easily.
• File Explorer Add-ons: A collection of add-ons for the Windows File Explorer, such as a preview pane for RAW images and a file search history.
• ColorPicker: A color picker tool that can quickly select colors from any screen.
• Crop And Lock: A utility that creates a new window that’s a crop or a thumbnail of another window.
• Shortcut Guide: A tool that displays a list of keyboard shortcuts for the current app.
• File Locksmith: A tool for seeing what process is preventing you from accessing or modifying a file.
• Hosts File Editor: A tool for editing the Windows hosts file.
• Paste as Plain Text: A tool for pasting text without any formatting.
• Peek: Peek allows you to preview file content without the need to open multiple applications or interrupt your workflow. Simply select the file and use the shortcut (Ctrl+Space).
• Quick Accent:  Quick Accent is an alternative way to type accented characters, useful for when a keyboard doesn’t support that specific accent with a quick key combo.
• Screen Ruler: Screen Ruler allows you to quickly measure pixels on your screen based on image edge detection. To activate, use the shortcut Windows key +  Shift + M.
• Text Extractor: Text Extractor is a convenient way to copy text from anywhere on your screen. To activate, use the shortcut Windows key + Shift + T.
• Mouse utilities: Mouse utilities add functionality to enhance your mouse and cursor. With Find My Mouse, quickly locate your mouse’s position with a spotlight that focuses on your cursor. Mouse Highlighter displays visual indicators when the left or right mouse buttons are clicked. Mouse Jump allows a quick jump on large displays. Mouse Pointer Crosshairs draws crosshairs centered on the mouse pointer.

PowerToys is still (and always) under development. While it once was a popular tool for power users, many new features have been added to make Power Toys a must-have for every Windows 10 and Windows 11 user.

PowerToys is easy to use

Best of all it’s easy to use. When you start PowerToys its shortcut resides in the notification area (the area of the taskbar nearest the clock).  Simply click on its icon to access any of the PowerToys.

Above the main PowerToys window. To see more PowerToys click “More” at the top…

You can learn more about PowerToys from this page. You can also download PowerToys from that page but the four options make downloading more difficult than it should be. Here’s the download page we recommend that you use. And here is the direct link to the download for the current version of PowerToys.

We know you’ll find many of the PowerToys useful. We use “Stay on Top”, “Image Resizer”, “PowerToys Awake”, “Color Picker” and “Peek” a lot, but you’ll probably have your own favorite PowerToys after you you’ve used it a while. 

THE ONLY CLOUDEIGHT-ENDORSED EMAIL PROGRAM

OE Classic is the only Cloudeight Endorsed Email Program - Very Similar to Windows Mail & Outlook Express!

If you're looking for an email program that feels familiar and works much like Windows Mail & Outlook Express, OE Classic might be exactly what you've been looking for!

Read more about OE Classic here!

In the Blink of an Eye

Time. Does anyone understand it? Does it even exist? I’m an old man and still, I can’t exactly explain what it is. Scientists say time and space are intertwined. Maybe they are the same. How long is a moment? How long is the blink of an eye?

I was taking my daily walk yesterday. It’s October. And here in the Great Lakes region, it’s been unseasonably warm. Uncomfortably hot. Yet, the slant of the sun and the shortening of the days has told the trees and the plants that summer is over and it’s time to go to sleep. The tomato plants are brown, the flowers bedraggled, and the trees are starting to dress in their autumn colors. And if I really think about it, it seems all of these things happened in the blink of an eye.

It seems just yesterday I was planting tender tomato plants and nascent flowering plants in the cool, wet ground in the springtime. It seems just a moment ago I was mowing the lawn for the first time, and here, in the blink of an eye, I’m only going to be mowing for another couple of weeks. Spring came and went. Summer came and went and autumn arrived in the blink of an eye.

All this got me thinking about how our lives can change

Read the rest of this essay here.

We gladly help everyone who writes every day by answering their questions and helping to solve their computer problems. Please help us continue to do that!

Make a small donation and help us help you!

If you don't need any of our products or services right now, please help us with a donation. Even the smallest gift is appreciated. Every donation helps us to provide useful information that helps you with your computer as well as helps us to keep you safe on the Internet. We offer free help to thousands of people every year... and we offer an honest and inexpensive computer repair service too. We do everything we can to help you with your computer and keep you safe too.

So if you don't need any of our products or services right now, please help us by making a donation right now.

Interested in making a monthly gift? Visit this page. Help us keep helping you!

Thank you so much for your support!

It doesn't get any more basic than this...

What's the first thing you should do if you start having computer problems?

A. Reset your computer.
B. Download some one-click computer fixer
C. Restart your computer.
D. Go on a one-hour search mission to find a solution.
E. All of the above.

All of you who answered "C" get a big star! Restarting your computer is the first thing you should do if you start having computer problems. The next thing you should do, if rebooting doesn't work, is to turn off your computer completely - so now power lights are on - wait five minutes and then power on your computer.

This little tip will be a time-saver for you - just wait and see! 

Sales of the following products and services help support our newsletters, websites, and free computer help services we provide.

Cloudeight Direct Computer Care: Single Keys, SeniorPass, or Season Tickets - always a great deal. Cloudeight Direct Computer Care is like having PC insurance. Get more information here.

Emsisoft Anti-Malware:  Emsisoft is the only Cloudeight-endorsed and recommended Windows security program. It provides users with a complete antivirus, antimalware, anti-ransomware, and anti-PUPs solution. We offer single Emsisoft licenses and multi-computer licenses at discount prices. Also, we offer our exclusive Emsisoft with Cloudeight installation & setup. Get more information here.

Reg Organizer: Reg Organizer is the Swiss Army Knife of Windows tools. It's far more than just a registry optimizer and cleaner - it's a Windows all-in-one toolkit. Reg Organizer helps you keep your computer in tip-top shape and helps you solve annoying Windows problems. Reg Organizer works great with Windows 10 and Windows 11! Get more information about Reg Organizer (and get our special discount prices) here.

SeniorPass - One year of Cloudeight Direct Computer Care - unlimited sessions! Get more information here.

Windows 10 Customization: Make Windows 10 look and work the way you want it to. Learn more.

MORE IMPORTANT STUFF!

Your InfoAve Weekly Members' Home Page is located here.

Print our Cloudeight Direct Computer Care Flyer and spread the word about our Cloudeight Direct Computer Care repair services.  Get our ready-to-print flyer here.

Help us Grow! Forward this email newsletter to a friend or family member - and have them sign up for InfoAve Weekly here!

Get our free daily newsletter! Each evening we send a short newsletter with a tip or trick or a computer-related article - it's short and sweet - and free. Sign up right now.

We have thousands of Windows tips and tricks and computer articles posted on our Cloudeight InfoAve website. Our site has a great search engine to help you find what you're looking for too! Please visit us today!

Help us by using our Start Page.  It costs nothing, and it helps us a lot.

Print our Cloudeight Direct Flyer and spread the word about our computer repair service! If you want to help us by telling your friends about our Cloudeight Direct Computer Care service, you can download a printable flyer you can hand out or post on bulletin boards, etc. Get the printable PDF Cloudeight Direct Computer Care flyer here.

We'd love to hear from you!

If you have comments, questions, a tip, a trick, a freeware pick, or just want to tell us off for something, let us know.

If you need to change your newsletter subscription address, please see "Manage your subscription" at the very bottom of your newsletter.

We received hundreds of questions for possible use in IA news. Please keep in mind we cannot answer all general computer questions. We try to personally answer as many as we can. We can only use a few in each week's newsletter, so keep this in mind. If you have a support question about a service or product we sell, please contact us here.

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter! Get computer tips & tricks every night. Our daily newsletter features a computer tip/trick or two every day. We send it out every night around 9 PM Eastern Time (USA). It's short and sweet, easy to read, and FREE. Subscribe to our Cloudeight InfoAve Daily Newsletter


We hope you have enjoyed this issue of Cloudeight InfoAve Weekly. Thanks so much for your support and for being an InfoAve Weekly subscriber.

Have a great weekend... be safe!

Darcy and TC
Cloudeight InfoAve Weekly - Issue #1043
Volume 20 Number 49
October 6, 2023 

Not a subscriber? Subscribe to our FREE Cloudeight InfoAve Weekly Newsletter here.



"Cloudeight InfoAve Weekly" newsletter is published by:

Cloudeight Internet LLC
PO Box 73
Middleville, Michigan USA 49333-0073

Read our disclaimer about the tips, tricks, answers, site picks, and freeware picks featured in this newsletter.

Copyright ©2023 by Cloudeight Internet