Yaj Computers

In the olden days, the only way to run OS X (now called macOS) on a non-Apple puter was to hack it. In those days, this was a big no-no.
Fast-forward to today, and things have changed.
Well, sort of.
It still may not be entirely legal to run macOS on your PC, but suddenly it’s very easy to set up. It’s also interesting that despite the very public guides on how to do this, Apple doesn’t seem to care.
So, how do you run a virtual Mac on your Windows or Linux PC?
Easy! You use VirtualBox or VMware. Personally, I switched back to VirtualBox since I seem to have fewer problems with that one, although I was a VMware fan for a short while.
If you’re not familiar with virtualization, here’s a crash course.

What is virtualization?

You have 2 basic options if you want to run more than 1 OS on your puter:
Dual-boot or multi-boot:
You set aside a chunk of hard drive space for each OS, and usually you will use GRUB2 to boot into either Windows, or Linux, or whatever. This is relatively complex to set up for newbies, and if things go wrong you will be crying…
Virtual Machines:
This is where you run a program like VirtualBox or VMware in your host OS. So, if you run Windows 7, you just download and install the free VirtualBox for Windows program. When you run it, it allows you to set aside a chunk of your hard drive as a virtual disk. You then use installation media (like a DVD or image file) for your second OS and “virtually install” the guest OS inside Windows – so to speak.
The idea here is that with VirtualBox or VMware, you can run Windows (for example) normally. Inside Windows, you simply run VirtualBox/VMware, and then start your Linux or macOS. You can think of it as running Linux or macOS contained in a window inside Windows itself. If anything goes wrong, you just delete the virtual machine and start over! No dual-boot, no screwing up of Windows, and it’s fairly fast.
With a virtual machine, you can run an entire operating system (including programs on that OS) in the same way that you’d run Chrome or MS Word. Simple! The whole guest OS and all its programs run inside your host OS. Thus, you can run any OS whenever you want, and all you need is a bit of hard drive space. If you need more speedy storage space, check out Samsung’s 850 EVO SSDs!
Best of all, it’s all free.

How do I install macOS as a virtual puter?

Piece of cake. You just head on over to YouTube and check out Tech Review’s channel. The latest video shows how to install macOS 10.12 Sierra in VirtualBox:

Or in VMware:

Note that you’ll want to click over to YouTube since you’ll need to download the images/files required. The OS images are about 5GB. The links to these files are in the descriptions of the videos.

But, but… Is it legal?

Not really, but yes.
For Windows, you’ll need a product key to run even a virtual copy. Linux is generally free to use as you see fit. For macOS, we enter a bit of a grey area…
You can read the macOS license here. It’s pretty clear that you’re only supposed to install macOS on Apple devices.
However, all that’s required to get the macOS image is a Mac – and the Apple Store. Anybody can download it, and there are several publicly-available tools out there for making a bootable USB stick or image that will work anywhere.
Furthermore, if sites like MacWorld are telling you how to install macOS directly on a PC, and Apple doesn’t sue their pants off, then you’re probably safe using a virtual copy… unless you’re afraid that the ghost of Steve Jobs and his army of zombie lawyers are gonna come after you!
And let’s face it: With an estimated 8.5% market share in the OS wars, Apple is playing second fiddle to Windows. It can only benefit Apple to NOT go after people who do this, because maybe they’ll decide it’s worth getting a Mac when they’ve had enough of Windows 10.
And for people like me, it’s very handy to have real macOS running real Safari to test web sites and such!

If you’ve ever installed multiple operating systems on your computer, you know what a severe pain it can be when something goes wrong. Even removing one of your multiple OSes can be a hassle when bootloaders get all screwed up.
For me, the answer to these problems  is VirtualBox. VirtualBox is a simple, cross-platform virtualization solution that lets you set aside a chunk of hard disk space, give it a name, and then you just tell it, “I want to install linux here”, pop in your install disc (or whatever), and VirtualBox takes care of the rest. Voila, linux running in a window – inside Windows itself. It’s really handy!
Only one problem: Sometimes when VirtualBox is installed (but not even running), your Windows networking may get REEEEALLY slow. You may not even be able to see other machines on your local network.
Fortunately, there is a very quick and easy way to fix it!
Without further ado:

1. Open the Network and Sharing Center
2. Click Change adapter settings on the left.
3. You’ll see your Local Area Connection or WiFi connection listed, along with another adapter called VirtualBox Host-Only Network. Right click this VirtualBox adapter, and choose Disable

You’re done.
It turns out that on every computer I’ve installed VirtualBox on, the “virtual ethernet adapter” is NOT required for VirtualBox to establish network connectivity in my virtual OS installs.
Disabling VirtualBox’s virtual adapter has no effect whatsoever… except that networking in my Windows 7 host OS starts working normally again.
I spent about a week trying to figure out what was wrong with my LAN settings. Hopefully now you won’t have to!
Note that VirtualBox is totally free, and it’s available for Windows, OS X, Linux, and Solaris. Best of all, the performance of a virtual OS install is almost as fast as a native install. It really is zippy! So, give it a try. Don’t worry, there is an online VirtualBox user manual. It’s a piece of cake to set up.
Oh, and Happy Hallowen!

So you get Windows 10. You share your media libraries so other users on your network can see and play your music from Windows Media Player on their own puters.
Unfortunately, when they try to browse your music, WMP connects but quickly declares that your media library is empty!
You double-check the sharing settings, blah blah blah…
Nothing!
What’s going on?

You’re gonna love this…
At least in the November update for Windows 10 (version 1511), you need to either create a new HomeGroup or join an existing one on your local network.
I know, I know, you’re not using a HomeGroup! You’ve got a multi-OS local environment, so you’re just using regular old “Samba” sharing.
Still, if you enable the HomeGroup nonsense, your media sharing will start working normally again.
Note that you (in Windows 10) will not have a problem playing other puters’ media via Windows Media Player. But they won’t be able see or play yours, whether they’re running Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 10.
Here are the simple steps you need to follow:

1. Click Start
2. Type: homegroup
3. In the search results, click: HomeGroup
4. If it says, “You’ve been invited to join a HomeGroup”, then click the Join now button. You’ll need to get the password from whoever set up the HomeGroup on your network. Otherwise, follow the prompts to create a new HomeGroup, and set a password yourself.
5. You’re done.

Now try accessing your media library from another puter on your local network. You should be able to see your music and other files from someone else’s Windows Media Player.
Don’t ask me what’s going on here, but it works!

The Startup folder contains shortcuts to programs that run when you start up Windows.
Back in the olden days of Windows 7, you could easily find the Startup folder. All you had to do was click Start, and type “Startup”.
Wasn’t that easy?
Enter Windows 8, and now Windows 10…
Try the same trick to locate the Startup folder, and you get… nothing!
SIGH.
So, where did the Startup folder go??

You’re going to love this – really.
To find the Startup folder, the quickest way is to do the following:

1. Hold down the Windows key, and type R
2. Type: shell:startup
3. Click OK

That will show you the following folder, which is the Startup folder where some of your startup programs are launched automagically:

This folder is where you add or remove shortcuts to programs to make them run (or not run) at startup.
Note the path to the Startup folder. Kind of a pain to remember, right?
There are two easy ways to “bookmark” this folder.
The first is to use the Pin to Quick Access button:

Ta-DA!
Now you have a Quick Access link to the Startup folder.
If you’d rather have a link on the Start Menu, first you need to go up one folder level. You can do this either by clicking on “Programs” in the address bar, or by clicking the up arrow to the left of the address bar.
Then, right-click the Startup folder, and choose Pin to Start:

This will give you a lovely tile on your Start Menu, like so:

That was easy.
Note also that there is actually a second Startup folder. The Startup folder above is for your user account only.
The second Startup folder is for programs that run at startup for all users on the puter. To find that Startup folder, we have to modify our Win-R trick slightly:

This will display the “All Users” Startup folder, which is in a totally different location.

The same Quick Access and Start Menu tricks mentioned above apply to the All Users Startup folder.
That’s all there is to it.
If the program you’re seeing at startup isn’t in either of the Startup folders, try uninstalling the program itself. Many programs run when Windows starts, but they are launched via other more complicated methods.
In any case, now you know the Top Secret shell commands to make the Startup folders appear.
Just don’t ask me why Microsoft thought it was a good idea to make them so hard to find!

One of the most common problems I’ve seen is missing or “disappeared” network icons in Windows 7.
This problem can take a few different forms.
For example, you may be able to connect to the internet just fine, but your ethernet/WiFi icon in the system tray always claims you are disconnected.
Or, you open up the Network and Sharing Center, click the “Change adapter settings” link, and no network adapters show up – it’s just blank.
But in both cases, everything still works!
There is one fix I have found that actually works, time and time again…

To start with, let’s go over the symptoms real quick just for clarity’s sake. The first problem is the Constantly Disconnected Network icon in the system tray. In short, you see this all the time:

Okay, so this one is lots of fun! No matter what you do, it always shows you are disconnected… but everything works!
The second problem looks like this:
In this case, you go to Network and Sharing Center and then click Change adapter settings which opens the Network Connections dialog.
Instead of seeing your ethernet or WiFi adapters, you see nothing. This makes it kind of hard to change any settings…
In many cases, both problems will occur at the same time.
So, how to fix it? Piece of cake!

1. Click Start
2. Type: regedt32
3. Press enter
4. Using the left pane, navigate to:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Network
5. Once in the above folder, right-click on Config and choose Delete
6. Close Registry Editor
7. Reboot!!

A view of the key you need to delete in Registry Editor:

Note that if you just open the Network Connections screen again, or look at your system tray icon, it will appear that things still aren’t working. Most of the time, you must reboot for the changes to take effect.
Once you do, your system tray network icon will be fine again, and your Network Connections will once again look something like this:
And that’s it.
I will note that many people recommend completely uninstalling and re-installing your ethernet and Wifi drivers… You can try, but that has never worked for me on any computer that had this problem.
But, the above fix works like a charm!

If you speak more than one language, then you probably also write in more than one language.
In that case, you’re probably using Windows’ Language Bar.
In Windows 10, it appears in the system tray (lower-right corner of the taskbar by the time and date) as a 3-letter abbreviation, such as: ENG
There is a common problem that’s been around for awhile, and it’s back with a vengeance in Windows 10: Windows automatically applies some updates, and after your puter reboots, POOF!
No more Language Bar!
How do you get your Language Bar back? Read on!

Now, the actual solution for this problem involves a bit of Registry hacking. So, before we go there, let’s make sure your Language Bar settings haven’t been screwed up.

Check your Language Bar settings

First, click Start and type: language
Then click on: Language (Control Panel)

On the Control Panel window that pops up, click Advanced settings:

On the next screen, you’ll need to do 2 things.
First, make sure that Use the desktop language bar when it’s available is CHECKED.

Second, click the Options link on the right:

Make sure that either Floating on Desktop or Docked in the taskbar is selected. Click OK, and then click Save back in the Advanced settings window.
If you still don’t see the Language Bar, carry on!

Hack your registry to restore the Language Bar

Don’t worry, this really isn’t that difficult or dangerous!
First, click Start and type: regedit
Click the regedit search result to run the Registry Editor.
In the left pane, you need to navigate to:
So far, so good!
In the right-hand pane, Right-click in the empty white space somewhere and choose New -> String Value:

You should have a new value appear called: New Value #1
Right-click this new value, and choose Modify…

In the little box that pops up, paste in the following text for the Value data field:

Click OK, close the Registry Editor, and reboot!
Your Language Bar should re-appear now in the system tray.

There are many things to love about Windows 7. It truly is “Vista done right”, sad as that may be. But it ain’t perfect.
One of the most common problems, as I recently discovered, is that you tell Win 7 to share only your Public directories, but it doesn’t quite listen. Due to some apparent bug that is at least present in the Release Candidate build of Win 7, sometimes the OS will share your entire Users directory, which includes your Public files/folders. That means ALL your files are shown to the whole world on your LAN – not just the your public folders.
Fortunately, it’s pretty easy to fix this little problem once you know a few little bits of information…

I know, I know – you shouldn’t have to dig into the guts of file sharing and permissions. It should “just work”. Well, don’t feel bad. Try sharing some directories with the whole world on a Mac or Linux box without a password, and you will quickly find yourself delving into the horrors of Samba config files. At least Win 7 doesn’t make you do that sort of frustrating crapola. Count your blessings.
Anyhow, here’s how Windows 7 shares stuff: There is a Users directory, typically C:\Users. Under this Users directory is the directory for your user account, which we’ll say is C:\Users\Scottie. Then there is also another subfolder for publicly-shared directories: C:\Users\Public. Pretty easy, right?
Normally, yes. But sometimes, when you use the Win 7 GUI – the “Network and Sharing Center” – your C:\Users\Public folder is shared, AND your entire C:\Users\Scottie folder (“Scottie” will be different in your case) will also be shared, much to your dismay. Nevertheless, Windows will still tell you via the GUI that only your Public folders are shared. Oops.
You might think that you can simply right-click the Users folder, look at the Sharing tab, and just sort things out quickly and easily. Unfortunately, it isn’t quite so simple. In Windows 7, file sharing depends on two things: the file sharing settings, and the folder’s permissions.
So, if you want to keep your Public shared, but hide the files under your personal Users directory, here’s how to do it…
Step 1 is to hide the entire C:\Users directory:

1. Open Explorer and right-click on the C:\Users folder and select Properties.
2. Click the Sharing tab, and then click the Advanced Sharing button (NOT the “Share…” button!!)
3. Click the Permissions button, select “Everyone”, and then clear the checkboxes for “Full Control”, “Change”, and “Read”.
4. Click OK, and then clear the “Share this folder” check box in the Advanced Sharing window.
5. Click OK, and then close the Properties window

At this point, you will have successfully unshared the entire Users directory, including the Public dir and all its subdirectories. You can verify this by connecting to your computer from another machine on the LAN.
Okeydokey. Now, if you want to make your Public dir show up again, just do the following:

1. Open Explorer and go to C:\Users.
2. Right-click on the Public folder and select Properties.
3. Click the Sharing tab, and then click the Advanced Sharing button (again, NOT the “Share…” button!)
4. Click “Share this folder” and give it a Share Name of “Public”
5. Click the Permissions button, select “Everyone”, and then make sure to check the boxes for “Full Control”, “Change”, and “Read”. If you only want people to be able to read the files in your Public dirs, just check “Read”.
6. Click OK, OK, and the close the Properties window.

You’re done! Note that when you share/unshare folders, you’ll probably have to wait a moment or two while the permissions on all the files and folders are changed. In any case, you can now go once again to another computer on your local network and verify that only your Public folder is shared.
This little trick is also useful if you’d like to set up file sharing the way it worked in Vista. In Vista, when only your public was shared, it would show up on the network as: \\Scottie\Public
In Windows 7, Microsoft for some reason decided it would be more fun to confuse everyone by changing the network path to: \\Scottie\Users\Public
Because, ya know, confusing changes like that always help everyone!
But, no worries – you can now make 7 work like Vista, and anyone on your LAN with your drives mapped will actually see your files again instead of an error when you upgrade from Vista to 7.

Have fun!

This is one of those Windows tricks that you probably didn’t even know existed.
Usually, the Explorer icon is visible on the Taskbar.
That’s great for opening Explorer and navigating to whatever folder you need.
But what if you want to maintain a list of commonly-used folders without clogging up your desktop with a bunch of shortcuts?
It turns out there’s a quick and easy solution for this very problem.

Now, you should have Explorer on your taskbar, like so:

If you don’t have it there, adding the Explorer icon to the taskbar is pretty easy: Just drag any folder onto the taskbar.
POOF! You’ve got Explorer on your taskbar now.
One little problem: No matter what folder you drag onto the taskbar, Windows will always turn it into a shortcut to Explorer itself – not to the folder you dragged onto the taskbar.
So, here’s the trick.
Once you’ve got Explorer on the taskbar, drag any other folder you’d like to have a link to onto the taskbar. Before you let go of the mouse button, you’ll notice a little “tooltip” appears that says: Pin to Explorer
Let go, and up will pop the Explorer Jumplist. You’ll notice that your new folder is listed at the top of the jumplist as “Pinned”.
Now, if you want to open Explorer, click the Explorer icon as usual.
But, if you want to open one of your pinned folders, right-click the Explorer icon on the taskbar, et voila!
Your pinned folders appear, like so:

Okay, but what if you want to remove a pinned folder? Piece of cake.
Right-click Explorer on the taskbar, and then hover your mouse over the Pinned folder you’d like to remove. You’ll see a pushpin, and if you click it, it will “unpin”  the folder from the Explorer jumplist.

You can pin a bunch of folders to Explorer on the taskbar, free up desktop space, and your favorite folders will always be 2 simple clicks away.
When you think about it, this is pretty nice. If the folders were on your desktop, you’d have to double-click to open them anyway. Double-clicking is obviously quicker than right-click + normal click, but still… Fewer shortcuts on the desktop is never a bad thing!
Finally, now that you know about Jumplists, try right-clicking the other programs on your taskbar. Most programs have all kinds of handy things in their jumplists.
For example, try right-clicking your Firefox or Chrome icon on the taskbar. BOOYAH! Quick access, and less clicking…

Enjoy!

Let’s say you’ve got Windows 7, and you install a second hard drive. Perhaps you have an SSD as your primary drive, and you want to store your GB’s of MP3s, videos, and documents on your second data drive.
Well, you could just copy the data into a new folder the old fashioned way. Doing this tends to break Windows 7’s “libraries” feature, and suddenly you have to tell Windows where to find all your files. That’s kind of annoying.
Fortunately, there is a built-in feature for moving your My Documents, My Music, My Videos, My Pictures, and even your Downloads folder automagically – and Windows will still keep track of everything for you!
Here’s how you do it:

1. Open Explorer (Win-E if you like keyboard shortcuts)
2. Find your way to C:\Users\[YOUR ACCOUNT NAME]
3. Right click on the folder you want to move (such as “My Music”) and choose Properties
4. Select the Location tab
5. Click the Move button
6. Select a new location for your goodies. You can put the folder anywhere, and even create new folders and subfolders on any drive to store your loot
7. Click Yes when prompted about whether or not you want to actually move all the files over to the new location

That’s it! You can repeat the process for the rest of your “My” folders. Windows apps like Media Player will still know where to find your music and other files.
So, that’s great. But what if, say, you have a custom folder with a bunch of huge files on your C:, and you want to move those to your secondary drive as well?
Maybe you have a folder C:\Junk, and you’ve stored a bunch of files that some of your applications now expect to live in C:\Junk – but you’d rather have them off your boot drive and store them instead on your secondary drive. If you just move the folder to your second hard drive, all those apps will complain.
Enter mklink.
mklink is a seriously handy command line utility in Windows 7 and Vista that let’s you make your own fancy “virtual folders”, otherwise known as “symbolic links” and “hard links”  in Linux Land.
To move a folder C:\Junk onto E:\Junk and have your apps still believe that the actual contents in Junk still reside at C:\Junk, do this:

1. Move your Junk folder onto E: the old fashioned way
2. Click Start and type cmd (but don’t press enter)
3. Right click on cmd.exe in the Start Menu and choose Run as administrator
4. In the command prompt window, type: mklink /h /j c:\Junk e:\Junk

(For details of what the command is doing, just type help mklink in a command prompt window.)
Voila! Now you have a C:\Junk and an E:\Junk. The only difference is that your files actually live in E:\Junk, but C:\Junk is hardlinked to E:\Junk. So, if an application tries to access C:\Junk, it is fooled into reading the contents of E:\Junk, even though it still calls the directory “C:\Junk”.

Handy, yes?

At some point, you’ll probably run into a problem that doesn’t seem to have an easy solution: one of your default User folders in Windows 7 (My Documents, My Pictures, My Music, My Videos, Downloads, and Desktop) will suddenly disappear.
Try as you might, you won’t be able to restore these user folders, because they are actually “special”. Windows treats them differently than a normal folder you might create yourself, and they even have pretty icons, like so:

There is a lot of info out there on how to fix these built-in Windows 7 folders, but it’s all rather complicated.
So, here’s the boiled-down, anybody-can-do-it version on how to restore your missing User folders – or so I hope!

First, a few bits of info you’ll need to keep in mind. The default locations for the User folders in Windows 7 are:

• C:\Users\USERNAME\Desktop
• C:\Users\USERNAME\Documents
• C:\Users\USERNAME\Downloads
• C:\Users\USERNAME\Music
• C:\Users\USERNAME\Pictures
• C:\Users\USERNAME\Videos

Just replace USERNAME with your Windows account login, which in my case is “Scottie”. So, my Desktop folder is:

• C:\Users\Scottie\Desktop

These are the actual names of the folders as stored on your hard drive, but since we’re talking about special User folders, they are magically turned into “My ___” folders with the special icon.
So, that’s that. Next, we’re gonna repair your folders. The process will go like this:

1. Create/rename the User folders
2. Edit the Registry to reset The Magic
3. Run some command-prompt stuff to finish The Magic
4. Reboot

Don’t worry, it’s all very simple!

Create/Rename the User Folders

So, open Explorer (Win-E, or double-click the Computer icon) and navigate to: C:\Users\USERNAME
Here, you’re going to need to decide which folder(s) are screwed up.
Even though the PATH to the User folder doesn’t contain the word “My”, the version you see in Explorer should look like so:

• Desktop
• My Documents
• Downloads
• My Music
• My Pictures
• My Videos

Note that “Desktop” and “Downloads” do NOT have “My” in front of them in Explorer, but they DO have Magic Folder Icons, which look like so:

If a “magic folder” icon is not there, and it just looks like a regular folder icon, you just need to check the folder name and change it if necessary. If a folder is completely missing, you’ll need to create a new one. Again, the following is the list of folders you may need to create/rename:

• C:\Users\USERNAME\Desktop
• C:\Users\USERNAME\Documents
• C:\Users\USERNAME\Downloads
• C:\Users\USERNAME\Music
• C:\Users\USERNAME\Pictures
• C:\Users\USERNAME\Videos

For example,  if you see “My Documents” and it’s a magic icon, you do not need to do anything.
If you see a normal yellow folder called “Documents”, do nothing.
If there is no “My Documents” or “Documents”, then create a new folder C:\Users\USERNAME\Documents.
There are two steps here:

1. Check for the Magic Folder Icon
2. Check that non-Magic Folders have the proper name, which prepares us for the next step

Maybe only your Downloads folder is screwed up, and all the other folders are okay (Desktop, My Documents, My Music, My Pictures, My Videos). In that case, make sure there is a folder “Downloads”. If there is, go to the next step. If there isn’t, create it first.

Reset the Registry User Folder Settings

This part might seem scary, but it’s really easy.

1. Click Start
2. Type: regedt32
3. Click the program regedt32.exe to run the Registry Editor
4. In the left pane, navigate to:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

You should see this:
I’ve highlighted the fields you’ll need to look at. You can see that there is one entry for Downloads, one for Desktop, one for My Music, etc. For each folder you need to fix, you’ll want to do 2 things:

1. Make sure the Name field is correct (far left, in pink)
2. Make sure the Data field is correct (far right, in pink)

Now, in Windows 7, the path C:\Users\USERNAME\ is often written as %USERPROFILE% internally in Windows. This is just a variable that points to your Users directory. Simple, yes? It’s also quite handy.
So, in the Registry Editor, make sure you’re using the default values, like so (Name –> Data):

• {374DE290-123F-4565-9164-39C4925E467B}  –>  %USERPROFILE%\Downloads
  
• Desktop  –>  %USERPROFILE%\Desktop
• My Music  –>  %USERPROFILE%\Music
• My Pictures  –>  %USERPROFILE%\Pictures
• My Video  –>  %USERPROFILE%\Videos
• Personal  –>  %USERPROFILE%\Documents
  

Don’t ask me why the Name for Downloads is that wonky string, or why the Name for Documents is “Personal”… It’s Microsoft.
To correct the Name field, right-click the Name and select “Rename”:

To change the Data field (the folder path), double-click the name field, and enter the new path from the list above:

In my example, I don’t want My Documents pointing to E:\Users\Scottie\Documents, because I don’t have E: any more! Oops.
First, I made C:\Users\Scottie\Documents in the steps above.
Now in the Registry Editor, I would not change the Name of “Personal”, since that’s okay according to the list above. But I would double-click it, and change the Data to %USERPROFILE%\Documents
Do the same for any other User folders you need to fix. When you’re done editing, just close the Registry Editor (it saves automatically).

Last crazy step

Now you’re going to complete The Magic. Do this:

1. Click Start
2. Type: cmd
3. Right-click cmd.exe and choose Run as administrator
4. For each folder you need to fix or recreate, run the following command(s):

• Downloads:
  attrib +r -s -h %USERPROFILE%\Downloads /S /D
• Desktop:
  attrib +r -s -h %USERPROFILE%\Desktop /S /D
• My Documents:
  attrib +r -s -h %USERPROFILE%\Documents /S /D
• My Music:
  attrib +r -s -h %USERPROFILE%\Music /S /D
• My Pictures:
  attrib +r -s -h %USERPROFILE%\Pictures /S /D
• My Videos:
  attrib +r -s -h %USERPROFILE%\Videos /S /D

Highlight each “attrib” command you need above, and copy it (Ctrl-C, or right-click and pick Copy). Then, in the Command Prompt window, click the C:\ icon in the upper-left corner and choose Edit -> Paste:

Less typing = good!

Reboot

That’s it. You’ve made sure your missing folder(s) exist, you’ve done some Registry hacking to reset the Magic Folders, and you’ve set the proper attributes on your new folders.
All that’s left is to reboot! When you log back in, you should see your User folders restored to mint, magical condition.

Final Notes

Hopefully, this has been fairly easy to follow. For other User folders (Contacts) or for Windows 8, check out Seven Forums tutorial on this very topic.

I found their explanation rather difficult to follow, but it does have more information – and even some .REG files you can download and run to avoid doing any registry editing yourself. Check it out!

This tutorial will help you in finding which services are unnecessary in Windows 10 and you'll be able to set them to manual start so that those services don't start with Windows and don't take your valuable system resources. 

STEP 1:

First of all we'll need to open Services Manager to configure Windows 10 services. You can open Services Manager using several ways as given following:

1.a. Press WIN+X keys together to show quick access menu and then select "Computer Management" option. It'll open a new window. Now click on "Services and Applications -> Services" in left-side pane.

1.b. Same thing can be done by clicking on "Computer -> Manage" in "This PC" ribbon toolbar.

1.c. You can also right-click on "This PC" icon on Desktop and select "Manage" option.

1.d. Or press WIN+R keys together to launch RUN dialog box and type services.msc and press Enter. It'll directly open Services Manager.

STEP 2:

Now we'll configure Windows 10 services in Services Manager program. Services Manager shows a huge list of all Windows services along with their status and startup type.

The Status section shows whether a service is currently running in background or not. Startup Type section tells you whether a service is set to automatically start with Windows or not.

We'll set some unnecessary services startup type to MANUAL so that they don't start automatically with Windows and thus don't consume system resources.

Following are some services which can be safely set to MANUAL:

• Connected User Experiences and Telemetry
• Diagnostic Policy Service
• Diagnostic Tracking Service
• Distributed Link Tracking Client (If your computer is not connected to any network)
• dmwappushsvc (To turn off Telemetry and Data Collection)
• Downloaded Maps Manager (If you don't use Maps app)
• IP Helper (If you don't use IPv6 connection)
• Program Compatibility Assistant Service
• Print Spooler (If you don't have a printer)
• Remote Registry (You can set it to DISABLED for Security purposes)
• Secondary Logon
• Security Center
• TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper (If you are not in a workgroup network)
• Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Panel Service (If you don't want to use touch keyboard and handwriting features)
• Windows Defender Service (If you don't use Windows Defender program)
• Windows Error Reporting Service
• Windows Image Acquisition (WIA) (If you don't have a scanner)
• Windows Search (If you don't use Windows Search feature frequently)

Apart from the above mentioned services, You can also set a few other services startup type to MANUAL such as services installed by your graphics card driver (Intel, nVidia, AMD, etc), your sound card driver (Realtek, Creative, etc).

STEP 3:
That's it. After configuring services startup type, close Services Manager and restart your computer to take effect.

After reboot, you'll notice a lot of improvement in your Windows 10 computer performance. By any chance if you face any issue with any software program, you can restore the services startup type to Automatic again using Services Manager to fix the issue.

Happy Tweaking 

NetSupport Manager - Remote Control

21 years development + 8,500,000 PC install base = the most stable, feature rich and secure Remote Control Solution available.

The latest evolution in Remote PC support and desktop management. Monitor multiple systems in a single action, deliver hands-on remote support or interactive training. Gather real-time inventory and system data. NetSupport Manager provides the ability to support Windows, Mac, Linux and mobile devices all from a single console.
Designed to operate over your network, via mobile communications or the internet, securely and without the need for firewall configuration, NetSupport Manager provides a single solution for remote support. Adding to traditional Remote Control capabilities, NetSupport Manager also provides a range of supporting tools to aid in support, including dynamic Hardware and Software Inventory reports, Systems Management tools, full Audio support and even the ability to show an Operator's screen in real-time to any number of connected systems as an integrated training tool. NetSupport Manager includes full support for 32bit and 64bit Vista and Windows 7 systems.

NetSupport Manager: Overview
Networks continue to evolve, growing in capability and complexity. A diverse range of platforms, protocols and physical assets provides PC Management and Remote Control Software solutions with the continuous challenge of being able to offer support to a variety of configurations and to ensure that critical IT infrastructure is available when needed most.

Sample Screenshots: 

Historically, Remote Control and PC Management software focused on removing the need for support staff to physically visit a remote users PC to resolve technical issues. Consequently, users receive a quicker response, resulting in less down time of critical applications. However, organisations now require multi-tasking solutions that offer effective economies of scale and that can perform a broad range of functions, which traditionally would have required multiple applications to have been used. Emphasis is now placed not just on providing more efficient technical support but also in simplifying management tasks and in offering secure remote and mobile working possibilities.

NetSupport Manager combines powerful PC remote control with advanced desktop management functionality leading to one of the fastest levels of ROI available on the market today, specifically in improving user productivity, customer satisfaction and organisational flexibility. With over 8,500,000 systems worldwide supported by NetSupport technology and over 21 years development, NetSupport Manager is a proven solution for any environment.

Award winning software from an award winning company...









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This page provides an overview of some of the key features included in NetSupport Manager. Please refer to the individual platform "tabs" above for a full list of functionality available within the product.

Remote Control of a PC

Watch, Share or Control the screen, keyboard and mouse of a workstation irrespective of colour depth, resolution, network protocol or operating system. Use the Audio functions on multimedia capable PCs' to talk to your users while providing support. NetSupport Manager is consistently recognized in comparative reviews as offering the fastest remote control performance available.





The Monitor Mode feature allows a Control to display a "Thumbnail" view of all connected Client workstations simultaneously. Thumbnail size can be adjusted on the fly, as can the update interval. In addition, the Control users can mouseover 
a specific thumbnail for an expanded view of the selected PC. This provides a unique feature within Remote Control solutions to allow an IT manager to keep a constant eye over critical systems and immediately identify if systems need intervention. The View also provides key information such as OS type , network address, the current logged on user and the computer name for easy identification.

If the client is running multiple monitors, the Control can switch between desktops.
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Auto-Grouping of Remote Systems

The Control Tree View provides an instant overview of your IT infrastructure by grouping the remote systems based on pre-defined criteria such as Platform and Operating System. For example, you can easily identify machines running a particular Windows OS or Linux Distribution. This is particularly helpful when planning upgrades or the rollout of new technology. 
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Support for Intel vPro Technology

NetSupport Manager can browse for and locate PCs that have Intel® vPro™ capability enabling you to perform a variety of remote tasks even where a NetSupport Manager Client isn’t installed.
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Hardware and Software Inventories

Obtain a real-time view of the hardware and software installed on the target workstation at the click of a button, without ever needing to leave the NetSupport Control program to gather this information. NetSupport Manager collects over 80 items of information, specifically about the hardware or environment of the Client PC. A full inventory of current installed applications is also provides as well as installed hotfixes. To aid in remote support and diagnostics, you can also remotely view, and security permitting control, applications in memory, processes running and installed services.
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File Transfer and Distribution

File Transfer:
Transfer and manipulate files between workstations using a simple "drag & drop" interface, even drop a file directly onto the desktop when viewing a remote machine. Synchronise directories on two workstations or edit files and attributes directly. NetSupport Manager utilises intelligent "Delta File Transfer" to reduce data transfer times when overwriting files that already exist by checking individual blocks of data within a file and only transferring changed data. This feature is enabled by default and applies to all file types. The performance benefits are most noticeable on slower connections.

File Distribution:
Distribute files and data from a central NetSupport workstation to multiple Client workstations simultaneously and with a minimum of keystrokes and effort. Using this feature, you are able to Distribute files to:

* All connected Clients;
* Selected Clients;
* A pre-defined Group of Clients.
* Quick & easy transfer of files direct to the Client 'Desktop' or 'My Documents' folder
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Explorer Desktop Integration

When a NetSupport Manager control is installed onto a PC, it integrates directly with explorer, allowing you to launch key functionality direct from your system without needing to first start NetSupport.

A typical example would be within Network places, where on viewing a list of PCs on the network, by selecting the PC icon and using right mouse click, NetSupport Remote Control, Chat and Inventory options are available to launch.
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Remote Desktop (RDP) Support

NetSupport Manager co-exists with RDP by detecting if there is an active RDP session. The user is provided with the option to either continue in screen scrape mode or disconnect the RDP session for full remote control capability.
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Remote Deployment
The NSD utility (NetSupport Deploy) provides Network Administrators with the facility to install and configure NetSupport Manager on multiple workstations from a central site without the need to visit the machines individually.
With NSD, you can:

* Remotely Install a NetSupport package on multiple workstations simultaneously.
* Create and download specific Client Configurations to multiple workstations.
* Remotely update NetSupport License details on multiple workstations.
* Remotely Uninstall a NetSupport package from multiple workstations simultaneously.
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Show Function
Use the powerful Show function to conduct computer-based training without the need for overhead projectors, video splitters or any additional hardware. Show your Screen, a selected monitor or just a selected application to any number of connected computers in real-time. Utilise a range of on screen annotation to tools to aid in your presentation or training.
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Scripting and Scheduling
NetSupport includes a powerful Scripting Language and Scheduler that allows you to automate the tasks you would normally perform repetitively in the NetSupport Control and run them at a time when most convenient to you. Scripting contains a wealth of Desktop Management functions including the ability to interrogate Clients and retrieve information such as free disk space; what operating system they are running.

You can even use NetSupport Scripting to distribute applications by using a combination of File Transfer, Remotely Execute Applications and edit the Registry. In simple terms, anything you can do manually with NetSupport Manager, you can do automatically with NetSupport Scripting.
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Power Management
If your workstation hardware and software supports "Wake on Lan", you can use NetSupport to Power on / off your workstations over the LAN. Ideal if needing to copy data to a machine that is turned off.
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Printer Redirection
The latest release includes improvements to capturing client print output including support for Network and USB printers. NetSupport Manager now also uses the WMI service (available on XP and above) to create a ""Standard TCP/IP Port"" which it uses to provide print capture support. The Implementation on Window 2000 clients is similar but as the WMI Service is not available as standard the registry is updated by Manager to add the ""Standard TCP/IP Port.
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64Bit Support
NetSupport Manager supports remote control of all x64 (AMD / Intel) platforms, including Windows XP64 and Windows 2003
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Chat and Audio Support
Conduct a two way chat session between selected multiple users in either text or full audio mode.

Should the Chat member not respond, you can send an audible beep to each workstation by selecting "Send Beep". Use the "Invite" function to add Clients when the Chat session is in progress and send a copy of the Chat progress by using the Send discussion history option. The contents of a Chat session can be stored for future reference.
NetSupport Manager also offers Bi-Directional Audio - extended audio support allowing one way talk, listen and full bi-directional audio conversations outside of a remote control session as well as seamless streaming of the remote PCs audible application sounds. Audio support is available over all LAN/WAN and Internet based communications.
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Interactive Whiteboard
To both aid training and the effectiveness of support, a Whiteboard feature is now available from within a chat / multi-chat session. Similar to Annotate, the Control is able to use a range of screen highlighting tools to visually support their text chat with invited users.
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Launch Applications
NetSupport Manager includes the Launch Application feature that allows you to remotely start applications on a remote PC, start installer routines and much more.

This feature combined with File Distribution, provides a quick and effective means of providing remote updates.
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Messaging
Send a NetSupport text message to one or more chosen PC's, or even broadcast to all PCs on the network. Ideal for alerting your users of an impending server shutdown or similar.
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Help Requests
Enable your NetSupport users to send help requests directly to your helpdesk when they need assistance. The help request can either be sent to all available Operators, or directed to specific operators based on user defined accounts. 
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Windows


NetSupport Manager offers comprehensive multi-platform support for Windows, Linux, MAC, CE, Pocket PC and Windows Mobile systems, providing complete compatibility to match today's business environment. In addition NetSupport Manager now offers support for 64 bit Intel and AMD platforms, including Windows XP 64 and Windows 2003 64. The support is available for x64-based systems.

For Microsoft based systems NetSupport Manager supports : Dos, Windows 95, 98, ME, NT 4.0, 2000, 2003, XP, Vista (32bit and 64bit), 2008 and Windows 7.

NetSupport Manager offers full integration with Thin & Zero Client environments as well as compatibility with MultiPoint, MultiSeat and virtual desktop environments from WYSE Technologies, Microsoft, HP, NComputing (X-series & L-series), MiniFrame (SoftXpand) and many others.

The design of NetSupport Manager’s user interface from version 11 has been specifically tailored to provide compatibility with Windows 7, including Touch support.

Also from version 11, remote control of Windows 7, Vista and Server 2008 based machines will show a marked improvement in operability and performance aided by added support for handling User Account Controls.

Support for Intel vPro technology is also provided as standard.

Features available for all Windows devices include: 

Environment

* Browse, locate and connect to all systems across your LAN or WAN.
* Fully intergrated remote deployment utility.
* Connect over TCP/IP, IPX/SPX, NETBIOS, NETBEUI or HTTP protocols.
* Communicate over LAN, WAN, Internet, PSTN, ISDN, CAPI/TAPI, GSM, GPRS, 3G or Wireless connections.
* Support for 64 bit Intel and AMD processors.
* Communicate seamlessly between systems that are all located behind different firewalls using the included NetSupport Internet Gateway component.

Remote Control

* Watch, Share or Control the screen, keyboard and mouse of a workstation irrespective of colour resolution, network protocol or operating system.
* Optimize the Remote Control colour quality when managing systems over very slow connections.
* Monitor the screens of all connected systems with real time thumbnails of each connected system. Mouse over a selected PC to Zoom your view.
* Scan multiple systems, Cycle through one or multiple workstations' displaying their screens on your control console.
* Show your screen, a selected Monitor or just a selected application to any number of connected computers for real-time instruction.
* Annotate your screen with a range of drawing tools during a Remote Control session or Show session.
* Full Text Chat and Messaging between two or multiple systems.
* Full Audio Chat during a Remote Control session.
* To both aid training and the effectiveness of support, a Whiteboard feature is also provided from within a chat session.

Support Tools

* Gather a full Hardware and Software inventory from the client PC to aid in remote support.
* Gather details of all hotfixes installed on the client PC.
* View and Control Applications, Processes and services running on the client.
* Remotely edit the registry of a Remote system.
* Launch a local Command Prompt from the Remote System on your PC.
* Remotely Power On / Off, Log On/ Off or Reboot a client PC.
* Request Help - users can create help requests that can be direct to all or specific Control systems based on custom criteria.

Move Information

* Transfer Files between the Control and Client computer, syncronise folders and more.
* File Distribution - Drag and drop files from the Control PC to any number of connected systems in a single action.
* Remotely launch applications on remote computers.
* Capture and redirect the remote computers Print Queue to the Control PC.
* Powerful Scripting and Scheduling suite to automate frequent tasks.

Flexibility

Seamless desktop integration with explorer allowing you to launch key functionality direct from your system without needing to first start NetSupport.

Security

* Full data encryption options from 56bit DES to 256bit AES encryption.
* User acknowledgements and encrypted passwords.
* Security keys to make your copy of NetSupport unique and incompatible with other copies.
* Integrate directly with NT administration and authenticate connections directly.
* Active Directory Integration and AD templates provided for enterprise wide policy management.
* Profiled functionality allowing different features to be disabled depending on which User is attempting to connect to a selected PC.
* Full event and history logs including integration with OS event logs.

No Extra Cost

* All features in NetSupport Manager are included as standard.
* Internet Gateway included as standard.
* NetSupport School - Instruction and Training suite provided F.O.C.

* The 'Control' is the PC that views/takes over a PC.
* The 'Client' is the PC that is being viewed or taken over.

Mac


NetSupport Manager provides full remote control capabilities for Apple Mac systems. The NetSupport Manager Mac client supports OS 10.39 to 10.5.x and provided as full Mac universal binaries including support for all new Intel based systems. 

Key Features when connecting to a Apple Mac system include: 

* Browse and Discover systems across your network
* Full Remote Control of the MAC System.
* Scan Multiple client systems, allowing you to monitor multiple systems (max 16) at a time.
* Two way Chat between the Control and Client Systems.
* Send Messages to one, selected or all Client Systems.
* An easy to use Client Configurator.
* Remotely Power On or Off a MAC System.
* Remotely Reboot a System.
* View realtime thumbnails of all connected systems.
* Dynamically gather a full "real-time" Hardware and Software inventory from any MAC to aid in problem resolution.
* Connectivity via TCP/IP or HTTP via the included NetSupport Internet Gateway.
* Configurable Data encryption from 56 bit DES to 256 bit AES.
* Restict Connections by IP Address, User Names and Passwords.
* Fully configurable security allowing all features to be enabled or disabled.
* A powerful diagnostics tool providing all system information needed should support be required.

* The 'Control' is the PC that views/takes over a PC.
* The 'Client' is the PC that is being viewed or taken over. 


Linux

NetSupport Manager provides full Remote Control capabilities for Linux systems. The NetSupport Manager Linux client supports SuSE 9 and later, Ubuntu, Debian, Red Hat 9 / Enterprise and Fedora distributions.



Key Features when connecting to a Linux system include: 

* Browse and Discover systems across your network.
* Full Remote Control of the Linux System.
* Scan Multiple clients, allowing you to monitor multiple systems (max 16) at a time.
* Two way Chat between the Control and Client Systems.
* Send Messages to one, selected or all Client Systems.
* An easy to use Client Configurator.
* Remotely Power On or Off a Linux System.
* Remotely Reboot a System.
* View realtime thumbnails of all connected systems.
* Dynamically gather a full "real-time" Hardware and Software inventory from any Linux system to aid in problem resolution.
* Connectivity via TCP/IP or HTTP via the included NetSupport Internet Gateway.
* Configurable Data encryption from 56 bit DES to 256 bit AES.
* Restict Connections by IP Address, User Names and Passwords.
* Fully configurable security allowing all features to be enabled or disabled.
* A powerful diagnostics tool providing all system information needed should support be required. 

* The 'Control' is the PC that views/takes over a PC.
* The 'Client' is the PC that is being viewed or taken over.

The NetSupport Manger Linux Client requires gtk+ 2 and glade 2 be installed which are included in standard installations of the distributions mentioned above.

Mobile


NetSupport Manager provides full Remote Control capabilities for Windows CE (4.2 and later), Pocket PC (2003 and later) and Windows Mobile (5.0 and later) devices. The latest mobile platform support provides a wealth of new uses :

* Connect back to the office server from your PDA and perform an update or restart.
* Access information directly on your office PC while on the road.
* Provide a seamless way of managing your Pocket PC, CE and Windows Mobile devices from a central location.
* Deliver updates or changes to your salesforces smartphones.
* Deliver remote support of your POS or inventory gathering devices.


Key Features when connecting to a Windows CE or Pocket PC device include:

* Browse and Discover systems across your network.
* Full Remote Control of the device.
* Automatically scale the remote screen.
* Downsample color depth transmission for optimised performance.
* Scan Multiple clients, allowing you to monitor multiple systems (max 16) at a time.
* Two way Chat between the Control and Client Systems.
* Send Messages to one, selected or all Client Systems.
* Full Two-way File Transfer.
* An easy to use Client Configurator.
* Remotely Power On or Off a CE device.
* Gather a dynamic Inventory of the connected device.
* Monitor remote Battery Life and Signal strength.
* View realtime thumbnails of all connected systems.
* Connectivity via TCP/IP or HTTP via the included NetSupport Internet Gateway.
* Access over LAN, WAN, Internet, Wireless, GSM, GPRS or 3G connections.
* Connect directly via Active-Sync connection.
* Configurable Data encryption from 56 bit DES to 256 bit AES.
* Apply security keys to make your version of NetSupport Manager unique to your organisation.
* Restrict Connections by IP Address, User Names and Passwords.
* Fully configurable security allowing all features to be enabled or disabled. 

Key Features when connecting from a Pocket PC device include:

* Browse and Discover systems across your network.
* Full Remote Control of the remote system (any supported platform).
* Two way Chat between the Control and Client Systems.
* Send Messages to one, selected or all Client Systems.
* Send Ctrl+Alt+Del to remote system.
* Remotely Power On or Off a remote system.
* Remotely Reboot a remote system.
* Scale remote screen to fit on mobile device.
* Apply security keys to make your version of NetSupport Manager unique to your organisation.
* Connectivity via TCP/IP or HTTP via the included NetSupport Internet Gateway.
* Access over LAN, WAN, Internet, Wireless, GSM, GPRS or 3G connections. 

* The 'Control' is the PC that views/takes over a PC.
* The 'Client' is the PC that is being viewed or taken over. 

 
Systems Requirements:
Pocket PC 2003 or Windows Mobile 5.0 and above
Strong ARM processors
ActiveSync / WiFi wireless LAN capabilities
Device RAM: 32Mb (64Mb Recommended)
Storage: Minimum 2Mb, full Install 10Mb required.

Windows CE 4.2 and later
Processor: Strong ARM processors, X86 Compatible
Operating System: Windows CE 4.2 or above
ActiveSync capabilities
Device RAM: 32Mb (64Mb Recommended)
Storage: 5Mb free space required

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