Uninstall Applications That You Don’t Use

This tip may seem obvious, but it’s a good place to start. Many apps that you install add startup programs or background system services that make your PC take longer to boot and that use resources in the background. Some programs clutter File Explorer’s context menus with options. Others—especially PC games—can just use a lot of disk space.

That’s fine if you use these applications and find them beneficial, but it’s easy to install a large number of applications and find yourself not using them at all. To clean things up, uninstall the applications that you don’t use.

On Windows 10, you can head to Settings > Apps > Apps & Features to see a list of applications that you can uninstall. You can also access the traditional “Uninstall or change a program” pane in the classic Control Panel.

As you’re going through the list, remember that certain programs in it are “dependencies” that other programs need. For example, there’s a good chance that you’ll see a number of “Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable” items here. You’ll want to leave those installed.

If you don’t know what a program is or what it does, perform a web search for it. You might find that the program is a necessary and useful utility for your PC’s hardware, for example.

Remove Browser Extensions That You Don’t Need

Browser extensions are similar to apps. It’s easy to install a bunch and find yourself not using them. However, browser extensions can slow down your web browsing, and most of them have access to everything you do in your browser. This makes them a security and privacy risk, especially if they’re created by a company or individual you don’t trust.

If you’ve installed the official browser extension made by the password manager company that you already trust, that’s one thing. But if you’ve installed a small extension that provides an occasionally useful function, and it’s been made by some unknown individual—well, maybe you’re better off without it installed.

Go through your web browser’s installed extensions and remove ones that you don’t use—or trust.  In Google Chrome, for example, click menu > More Tools > Extensions to find them. In Mozilla Firefox, click menu > Add-ons. In Microsoft Edge, click menu > Extensions.

Tweak Your Startup Programs

We recommend uninstalling programs that you don’t need and aren’t using. But you may sometimes want to leave a program installed while preventing it from launching at startup. Then you can launch the program only when you need it. This can speed up your boot process and clean up your system tray or notification area.

To find the Startup Program controls on Windows 10, right-click your taskbar and select “Task Manager” (or press Ctrl+Shift+Esc). Click the “Startup” tab—and if you don’t see it, click “more Details” first. (You can also find a similar tool at Settings > Apps > Startup.)

Disable any programs that you don’t want running at boot. Many of them will not be necessary. Bear in mind that this may impact functionality—for example, if you choose not to run Microsoft OneDrive or Dropbox at boot, then they won’t launch and synchronize your files automatically. You will have to open them after your computer’s startup process is complete for that to happen.

Organize Your Desktop and Files

Spring cleaning isn’t just about making your PC run faster. It’s also about making you faster at using it. Having a properly organized file structure will make it easier for you to find the files that you need without the files you don’t need getting in the way.

Cleaning up your messy desktop is a big part of that. And if you don’t want to clean up your desktop, consider just hiding your desktop icons, which you can do easily by right-clicking your desktop and unchecking View > Show desktop icons.

Beyond that, consider opening File Explorer and organizing your personal files and folders. There’s a good chance that your Downloads folder, in particular, needs a cleanup—or just some quick deleting of old downloads that you no longer need. Whichever folders you use frequently, consider pinning them to the Quick Access sidebar in File Explorer for easier access to your stuff.

Clean up Your Taskbar and Start Menu

While you’re at it, consider pruning or reorganizing your taskbar icons. If your taskbar is full of icons for applications that you don’t need, unpin them by right-clicking them and selecting “Unpin from Taskbar.” Rearrange them with drag-and-drop to reposition them wherever you like on the taskbar.

Take a look at customizing your Start menu, too. Windows 10’s default Start menu is packed with shortcut tiles that you probably don’t use. If you’ve never customized it, now is a good time to ensure that only the programs you actually use are pinned to its tiles area.

And while you’re at it, you might have a variety of programs running in the background that have a system tray icon. You can hide notification area icons with a quick drag-and-drop, leaving the program running while getting the icon off your taskbar.

Tidy up Your Browser and Its Bookmarks

You probably spend a lot of time in your computer’s web browser. If you use its bookmarks feature, consider taking some time to reorganize your bookmarks in a way that makes sense.

It’s easiest to do this from your browser’s bookmarks manager rather than fiddling with the bookmarks toolbar. In Google Chrome, click menu > Bookmarks > Bookmark Manager to launch it. Consider backing up your bookmarks before continuing, in case you want them again in the future. We’ve got a lot of tips for decluttering your bookmarks.

Run Disk Cleanup to Free up Space

If you want to clean up some temporary files and free up some disk space, try using the Disk Cleanup tool built into Windows. On Windows 10, open the Start menu, search for “Disk Cleanup” using the search box, and click “Disk Cleanup” to launch it. Click the “Clean up system files” button to ensure that you’re cleaning up both your Windows user account’s files and system-wide files.

Depending on how long it’s been since you last ran this tool, you may be able to free up gigabytes of unnecessary files—for example, files related to old Windows Updates. Look carefully through the list of things that Disk Cleanup plans to delete to ensure that the tool doesn’t delete anything you want to keep.

Dust out Your PC

If you have a desktop PC, you should be opening it regularly and giving it a quick dust. (Be sure to turn the PC off first!) Dusting your laptop may also be necessary.

Dust often builds up in your PC’s fans and in other components, reducing their cooling effectiveness. As a result, your PC may run hotter, or at least, the fan will have to work harder to provide the same amount of cooling.

While you don’t have to go crazy in thoroughly cleaning every part of your PC, we do recommend powering off your PC and cleaning it with compressed air (like Falcon Dust-Off or a similar brand). Never use a vacuum for this!

Clean Your Dirty Keyboard, Monitor, and More

Dust on the inside of your PC can affect performance and cooling. But there’s probably dust elsewhere, too: on the screen of your computer’s monitor, in between the keys on your keyboard, and more.

Spring cleaning is a great time to do a nice, deep clean. To clean your monitor, all you really need is a standard microfiber cloth, the same kind you’d use to wipe a pair of eyeglasses.

To deep-clean your keyboard, you can generally remove the keys and use compressed air or a vacuum to clear out the accumulated debris.

We’ve got tips for cleaning all your other PC peripherals, too. You can buy a wide variety of different products that promise to help speed up the cleaning process.

Optional: Consider “Resetting” Windows 10

Let’s end with a geeky tip: If you feel like you want to start off with a fresh, clean Windows installation, consider resetting Windows 10. Don’t confuse this with rebooting your PC—it’s more like a factory reset on other devices.

In Windows 10, “resetting” Windows is similar to reinstalling it. You’ll get a factory-default environment, without the programs you’ve installed and the settings you’ve changed. You can then start fresh. (You can choose to keep your personal files while going through the reset process.)

While resetting Windows, you can choose to perform a “Fresh Start,” which will actually erase any manufacturer-installed bloatware and give you a fresh, straight-from-Microsoft Windows 10 system. If your PC came with a lot of manufacturer-installed junk, this is a great option to try.

Warning: If you try this, you should be aware that afterward, you’ll have to spend time reinstalling your software and configuring Windows 10 the way you like it. Also, we recommend backing up your files before going through this process, just in case: The reset process can keep your files if you select the correct options, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. It’s always best to have an up-to-date backup at all times.

Don’t want a fresh Windows installation? Skip this step! If you followed our other tips, your PC should be spruced up already.

Now your PC is tidied up and ready to go. 

Credit to: How To Geek - Chris Hoffman

You can have multiple profiles for everyone in your home on Google TV devices. The Kids profiles have a bunch of extra controls, including bedtimes, viewing limits, app monitoring, and more.

Creating a Kids profile will add them as a member to your Google Family. It’s not the same as creating a Kids profile from scratch, as you won’t be assigning them a Gmail address. Let’s get started.

On the Google TV home screen, select your profile icon in the top-right corner.

From the menu, select your account.

Now, choose “Add a Kid” to proceed.

Next, you’ll be greeted with a friendly introduction screen. Select “Get Started.”

If you previously added a Kids account to your Google Family, you’ll see them listed here. You can select them, “Add Another Kid,” or “Add a Kid.”

The next screen will ask for your child’s name. You could also put a generic “Kids” label here if you want this to be a shared profile. Select “Next” when you’re done.

Now it will ask for your child’s age. Again, you don’t have to be specific here if you don’t want to be. Select “Next” when you’re done.

You’ll now see some Terms of Service and Parental Consent information from Google. Select “Agree” after you’ve looked everything over and accepted it.

The last step for creating the profile is “Parental Verification.” Choose a phone number for the verification code to be sent to, then select “Send.”

After you receive it, enter the code on the next screen and select “Next.”

The profile will now be created on your Google TV device, which should only take a couple of minutes. Once that’s finished, the first thing you’ll be asked to do is Select Apps. Click “Next” to proceed.

You’ll be presented with a row of suggested kids apps and a row of apps from your account. Select any apps that you want to have on the profile, and then click “Install & Continue.”

Next, Google TV will ask whether you’d like to set up any of the other parental controls. There are several things that you can do here:

• Screen Time: Set daily time limits for viewing or add a bedtime.
• Profile Lock: Lock the Kids profile so that they can’t leave it.
• Family Library: Select ratings for TV shows and movies that can be shared from your purchases.
• Theme: Choose a fun theme for the Kids profile.

After you’ve explored these options, select “Finish Setup.”

Lastly, you’ll see a reminder to set up the home screen and sign in to any apps that may need it. Select “Let’s Go.”

Now you’re looking at the Kids profile home screen! It’s a lot more simple than the regular profiles and lacks all the content recommendations.

This is a great way to give your kids a little more freedom without giving them the full reigns to all the content on the internet. Now you can feel a little better about them using the TV with a Kids profile.

Credit to: How To Geek - Joe Fedewa

How to Hide Menu Items in Adobe Photoshop

You can hide any option in Photoshop’s menus, which means that you can even remove some frequently used options like New and Open.

To begin, launch Adobe Photoshop on your computer.

When the app opens, click the “Edit” menu at the top and select “Menus.”

You’ll see a list of all your Photoshop menus. Click the menu that you want to remove an item from.

The menu will expand so that you can now see all its options. To hide an option, click the eye icon next to the option name. This removes the eye icon from the white box, which means that the item is now hidden.

Click “OK” in the top-right corner to save your changes. The menu option is now hidden.

How to Unhide a Menu Item in Adobe Photoshop

If you need a menu option back, you can restore it, and it will reappear in your menus like it never left.

To do this, launch Photoshop and click Edit > Menus, just like you did when hiding the menu item in the first place. You’ll see a list of menus—select the menu that you want to unhide an option for.

Click the white box next to the option that you want to unhide. This will add an eye icon to the box. Then click “OK.”

Bonus: Make Frequently Used Menu Items Easy to Find

If your menus are cluttered, you don’t necessarily have to hide other options to make your favorite menu options stand out. You can assign custom colors to your frequently used menu options, making them easier to find.

To do this, open Photoshop and click Edit > Menus.

Select the menu item that you’d like to assign a color to, click “None” next to the item in the “Color” column, and choose a color for your item.

Your menu item will now look completely different from the other items in that menu. Now you don’t necessarily have to hide menu options to find the ones you need.

Photoshop lets you perform quite a few actions on your photos, and it’s worth learning some Photoshop tricks and tips so that you can make the most of this app.

Credit to: How To Geek - Mahesh Makvana

How to Check iCloud Storage Space on iPhone or iPad

Checking your available iCloud storage space is easy on an iPhone or iPad. First, open the Settings app. In Settings, tap your Apple account avatar or name.

On your account screen, scroll down and tap “iCloud.”

On the iCloud summary page, you’ll see a bar graph that depicts how much of your iCloud storage space is in use. To figure out how much is left, subtract the amount used from the total amount of space available.

In this example, we have 5GB total and 2.4GB in use. 5 – 2.4 = 2.6, so we have 2.6GB available in our iCloud account.

If you want to get more details about how your iCloud space is being used, tap “Manage Storage” just below the graph. On that screen, you’ll have the option to clear iCloud storage used by certain apps.

How to Check iCloud Storage Space on Mac

To check your free iCloud storage space on a Mac, open System Preferences. Next, sign in to iCloud if you haven’t done so already. Then click “Apple ID.”

On the “Apple ID” screen, click “iCloud” in the sidebar. You’ll see your available storage listed in a bar graph at the bottom of the app list.

To get more details about how much space each iCloud-enabled app is using, click the “Manage” button beside the storage bar graph.

What to Do If You’re Running Low on iCloud Space

If you’re running out of available space on iCloud, it’s easy to upgrade your storage plan for a monthly subscription fee. To increase your storage on an iPhone or iPad, launch Settings and tap your Apple account avatar icon. Then tap iCloud > Manage Storage > Change Storage Plan.

On a Mac, open System Preferences and click “Apple ID.” Then click “iCloud” in the sidebar and select “Manage…” in the lower corner of the Window. When a new window pops up, click “Buy More Storage” and you can select a new iCloud storage plan.

Alternately, you can also free up iCloud storage by deleting older device backups or potentially storing your photos and videos somewhere else (but be careful that you don’t delete anything you don’t have backed up). Good luck!

Credit to: How To Geek - Benj Edwards

Restore Deleted Notes in OneNote on Windows

OneNote has two versions for Windows: OneNote (formerly called OneNote 2016) and OneNote for Windows 10.

The steps to recover deleted notes aren’t the same for both versions, so you’ll need to find out what version of OneNote you’re using first.

To do this, open the “Start” menu and search for “OneNote.” Notice the name of the app that you usually click to access your notes. Compare that name with the names listed above to find out your version of OneNote.

Then, depending on the version you use, follow the steps in one of the sections below to recover your deleted notes in OneNote.

Get Back Deleted Notes in OneNote (formerly OneNote 2016)

OneNote automatically creates backups of your notes by default. This means that if you ever delete a note, you can restore it later from these OneNote backups.

To start the process of recovering your lost notes, open the “Start” menu, search for “OneNote,” and click the app in the results.

When the OneNote window opens, click “File” in the top-left corner of the window.

Here, select “Info” from the left sidebar, then click “Open Backups” on the right.

A window will open showing your notebooks (as folders) that were backed up. Double-click the notebook folder that you want to restore notes from, then select the notes section and click “Open.”

The selected note will open on your screen. Here, right-click the note’s section or page name at the top and select “Move or Copy.” This will help restore your note into your existing notebooks.

In the window that opens, select the notebook that you want to restore the deleted notes into and hit “Copy” at the bottom.

Your selected notes are now available in your existing notebook.

If you don’t prefer local backups, you can sync OneNote with your Microsoft account. This keeps a copy of all your notes in the cloud, and you can access them from any of your compatible devices.

Recover Deleted Notes in OneNote for Windows 10

If you use OneNote for Windows 10, you don’t need to open a backup file to restore notes. There’s a built-in option in this app that helps you view and recover your removed notes.

This option retrieves your notes from your Microsoft account’s cloud storage—which is where your notes are originally stored.

To begin the recovery process, access your “Start” menu, search for “OneNote for Windows 10,” and click the app in the results.

In the OneNote window, click “View” in the top menu bar.

Under the View menu, click the “Deleted Notes” option.

You can now see all your deleted notes and sections. Find the note that you want to recover, then right-click it and select “Restore To.”

OneNote will ask where to restore your notes. Select the existing notebook that you want to add these deleted notes into and click “Restore.”

Recover Deleted Notes in OneNote on Mac

OneNote for Mac also doesn’t require you to open a backup file to restore notes. You can use a built-in option in the app to find and recover your deleted notes.

To begin, open Spotlight by pressing Command+Spacebar, type in “OneNote,” and select the app in the search results.

Click “View” in the OneNote window.

Select “Deleted Notes” in the View menu.

OneNote will now display all your deleted notes. To restore a note, right-click it and select “Restore To.”

On the next screen, choose the existing notebook to add these recovered notes into and click “Restore.”

Without further prompts, your selected notes will be recovered.

Recover Deleted Notes in OneNote on the Web

OneNote for web works pretty much the same as OneNote for Windows 10. It syncs your notes to your OneDrive account and lets you recover your notes from within the app.

Head over to OneNote on the web and log in to your account to start notes recovery. Then, click the View > Deleted Notes option to view your lost notes.

Right-click the note that you want to recover and select “Restore.” Choose your existing notebook to add this note into and hit “OK.”

If you’ve deleted an entire notebook, you’ll need to restore it in OneDrive first before using it in OneNote for web. This notebook can be recovered from OneDrive’s recycle bin as long as it hasn’t already been 30 days since you deleted it.

To recover your full notebook, open the OneDrive site in your browser and log in to your account.

When OneDrive loads, click “Recycle bin” in the left-hand sidebar.

Here, click the notebook that you want to recover on the right pane. Then, click “Restore” at the top to put your notebook into its original location.

Go to that original location in OneDrive (which is usually the Documents folder) and click the notebook to open it with OneNote for web.

Credit to: How To Geek - Mahesh Makvana