Your daily dose of practical, easy to follow tech tips!
Question from Cora E.: After much deliberation I took the plunge and installed Windows 10 on my computer before the free upgrade offer expired in July.
Everything went fine until the upgrade was finished, but ever since then my screen has been so dark I can barely read the text on it.
How can I brighten up my screen? I’ve tried everything and I’m at a total loss.
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
Question from Austin B.: Hello Rick. Love your site! I’m hoping you can help me get rid of a major frustration.
Ever since I installed Windows 10 I’ve been getting an annoying “Get Office” message at the bottom of my screen at random times.
I use Libre Office and I don’t have any intention of buying Microsoft Office. Is there any way to tell Windows to stop asking me to buy it?
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
Question from Jacinda P.: The other night I was typing away when the File Explorer window popped into view. I closed it and thought nothing of it at the time.
The problem is I must have hit something to make the Ribbon disappear in File Explorer because it’s been gone ever since that night. I feel like such a dummy!
I use the ribbon a lot and I really miss it. Can you tell me how to get it back? My computer is an Acer All-In-One with Windows 10.
Rick’s answer: [Read more…]
Question from John G.: I’ve been reading your blog posts for a long time Rick, and several of them discuss the difference between retail versions of Windows and OEM versions.
Thanks to you, I now know the difference between the two. What I’m not sure about is whether the Windows 10 on my own computer is retail or OEM.
I know it used to be OEM because Windows 8 came pre-installed when I bought the computer. But I recently installed the free Windows 10 update and I was told that updating to Windows 10 automatically converts your Windows installation to a retail version. Is that correct? [Read more…]
Update: Windows 10 no longer allows you to opt out of including web results in your local searches so this post is now moot.
Original post continues below…
By default, the search box in Windows 10 will return search results for your query from both your local computer and the Internet.
As is typically the case, some folks love the integrated search feature, and others hate it.
Personally, I prefer to use the Windows search box just to search for items on my computer. For web searches, I prefer to use Google.
If you would prefer to keep your local and online searches separate as well, you can easily disable the Web Search feature in Windows 10. Here’s how: [Read more…]