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by Matthew Skelly Matthew Skelly No Comments

Keyboard shortcuts

 

It never ceases to amaze me how many of these keyboard shortcuts I use almost daily – and yet they still remain largely unknown to most people. Here’s a handy infographic to make all of our lives easier!

 

by Matthew Skelly Matthew Skelly No Comments

Disable Windows Updates in Windows 10 and 11

Problem:

Updates keep messing up the PC.
Look, I’ve never been a big fan of Windows Updates, especially the automatic ones. They kick in at exactly the wrong time, forcing you to wait to restart or going in badly pushing you into an inescapable boot loop. And it’s even worse since Windows 8, where you can no longer just disable them. However I’ve run across a solution that sometimes works…

Solution:

Try adding the following key to the registry:

  1. Use the Windows key + R keyboard shortcut to open the Run command.
  2. Type regedit, and click OK to open the Registry.
  3. Browse the following path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows
  4. Right-click the Windows (folder) key, select New, and then click Key.
  5. Name the new key WindowsUpdate and press Enter.
  6. Right-click the newly created key, select new, and click Key.
  7. Name the new key AU and press Enter.
  8. Inside the newly created key, right-click on the right side, select New, and click on DWORD (32-bit) Value.
  9. Name the new key AUOptions and press Enter.
  10. Double-click the newly created key and change its value to 2. It’s for “Notify for download and notify for install”. Click OK.
  11. Close the Registry to complete the task.
by Matthew Skelly Matthew Skelly No Comments

Outlook will not load

 

Problem:

When trying to start Outlook, you recieve the error :

“Cannot start Microsoft Office Outlook. Cannot open the Outlook window”

This error shows up because something has redirected or courrupted your user profile.

Solution:

Go to the Start menu. Hit run..then type the following;  Outlook.exe /resetnavpane
This clears and regenerates the Navigation Pane for the current profile

by Matthew Skelly Matthew Skelly No Comments

Outlook slow switching between folders

 

Problem:

A delay between switching folders in inbox, which is als present when switching back to inbox from other places such as Calander and Contacts. This can be fixed by disabling hardware accelleration.

Solution:

There may be a control for this in file/options/advanced under “Graphics” or “Display”. If not, you’ll have to edit the registry.

Step 1 – open your registry. Press the windows key and type “Regedit” then press enter or click the Regedit icon, windows 7 users you can type Regedit in your start bar.

Step 2 – Browse to: COMPUTER HKEY_CURRENT_USER Software Microsoft Office 15.0 Common Graphics. If you don not have a “Graphics” right click on “Common” and choose “New” then “Key” and create “Graphics” (no quotes)

Step 3 – Once on the Graphics “folder” right click it and choose new DWORD (32-bit) Value

Step 4 – Give the new DWORD a Value name: DisableHardwareAcceleration and give it a Value of 1 – Click OK to save it.

by Matthew Skelly Matthew Skelly No Comments

NO USB mouse or keyboard

 

Problem:

You start up and can’t log in or do anything. Many times customers will think thier PC has frozen, but in actuallity it’s just not loading the USB mouse and keyboard drivers on boot (finds new devices but fails the driver install). You can tell this if you see ascreen saver come on or new messages still popping up in the corner.

Solution:

If it’s not finding the driver, quick solution is to point the search to the WindowsInf folder (browse my computer for drivers). This should at least get you functionality.

Setup searches a predefined path on the drive, looking in .inf files to find the best match for the Plug and Play ID of the device. This path is defined in the following registry location and is set to %SystemRoot%Inf by default:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionDevicePath: REG_EXPAND_SZ:%SystemRoot%Inf

Adding an entry with the actuall path may solve the problem her. Don’t delete the current path thoguh, add a ; and then type the path
; C:windowsinf

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