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Rich's Archive

Rich is the owner and creator of Windows Guides; he spends his time breaking things on his PC so he can write how-to guides to fix them.

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CPU Priority: Realtime, High and Normal Explained

Posted by Rich On December - 1 - 2018Comments Off on CPU Priority: Realtime, High and Normal Explained

In this post, Ajinkya from DevsJournal shares details on what different CPU priority settings in Windows mean.

Users are often curious about optimizing the speed of their PCs to personally match their needs. Is it possible? The short answer is yes! But it can be done to a certain limit. Exceeding the predetermined performance threshold of the PC can potentially crash all running programs.

In every Windows version, the apps run on a normal priority level with a defined speed to deliver the user a smooth processing speed for all applications. This means the execution of the processes will be considered normal, and the CPU performs at its usual speed. Modern windows allegedly share your personal computer’s CPU resources between running apps. The higher the priority level to prefer foreground applications, the more resources are allocated to the user processes.

There are essentially six priority levels available to processes in Windows:

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Update Your Windows Installation Now

Posted by Rich On May - 12 - 2017Comments Off on Update Your Windows Installation Now

Some nasty ransomware—WannaCry—is making its way around vulnerable windows machines today.

If you’re reading this, update all of your Windows PCs now. If you have automatic updates turned on, you should be secure; however, Microsoft only recently patched this vulnerability so it doesn’t hurt to check.

How to update Windows

What you need to know about the WannaCry ransomware

Enable Windows 10 Dark Theme

Posted by Rich On June - 10 - 2016Comments Off on Enable Windows 10 Dark Theme

If you prefer the look of apps that use a Dark Theme, Windows comes with one that’s almost complete but isn’t 100%. If you’re okay living that close to the edge, you can enable it now.

You can either download the registry entry and merge it, or make the edit yourself.

Before you start, review this guide if you’re unfamiliar with editing the Windows registry.

windows-10-dark-theme01

To make the edit yourself:

  1. Open the registry editor and navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes
  2. Create a new key named Personalize
  3. Within the key, create a new DWORD (32-bit) value named AppsUseLightTheme with a value of 0windows-10-dark-theme02
  4. Navigate to:
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes
  5. If it doesn’t already exist, create a new key named Personalize
  6. Create the same DWORD (32-bit) value named AppsUseLightTheme with a value of 0
  7. Sign out of Windows and sign back in

To switch back to the light theme, delete the registry entries and sign out and back in. If you’d like to enable this for multiple users, sign in as that user and make the same change under HKCU (read more about the registry root keys.)

Want to customize Windows 10 further? See this tip and others like it here: Unlock secret settings in Windows 10

What’s Next with Windows 10?

Posted by Rich On November - 24 - 2014Comments Off on What’s Next with Windows 10?

In this guest post, Abby Perkins from Software Providers shares her insight into what’s coming with Windows 10 and how it will function for users of desktops, laptops, and mobile devices.

Microsoft is a large company (the sixth biggest in the world by market cap), and its customer base reflects the company’s size. Unlike Apple’s customers, Microsoft’s tend to display less brand loyalty across products. The product that unifies all of Microsoft is the Windows operating system. Microsoft’s challenge with the upcoming release of Windows 10 is holding its large family of customers together. Here is how the tech giant plans on meeting everyone’s demands.

One operating system for all devices

Windows 10 will be designed to run on all devices. Microsoft believes its operating system is simple enough to run on the most basic smartphone yet sophisticated enough to keep businesses’ most demanding servers running smoothly. It has also designed the newest version of Windows to run on every size screen, from 4 inches to 80 inches.

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Last chance to win a Jabra Speak 510 bluetooth speaker

Posted by Rich On August - 17 - 2013Comments Off on Last chance to win a Jabra Speak 510 bluetooth speaker

Boot Straight to Desktop in Windows 8.1 [Quick Tip]

Posted by Rich On July - 27 - 2013Comments Off on Boot Straight to Desktop in Windows 8.1 [Quick Tip]

Windows DesktopIf you’ve not yet upgraded to Windows 8.1, you can instructions to do so here.

The source of many complaints about Windows 8 manifests itself each time you start your computer: starting with the live tiled interface by default. From my observations, most people utilize this interface mainly to click the “Desktop” icon to return to “normal” Windows. Well, Microsoft heard our cry and have provided a way to boot directly to the desktop in Windows 8.1. To boot to the desktop:

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