If a program stops working or responding, Windows can automatically report the problem and check for a solution. By default, Windows 8.1, Windows 7 and Vista collect information that describes the problem, called a problem report. Report details can include the name of the program that has stopped working, the date and time when the problem occurred, and the version of the program that has encountered the problem. Sending a problem report allows Windows to notify you if a solution is available. In this article, we will look how to quickly check if solutions are available for problem reports.
How to force Windows 8.1 to check for updates
Windows Update allows you to keep the OS up-to-date by installing the latest patches which include new features and security fixes. From Control Panel, you can set Windows Update to download and install updates automatically or only download them but notify you before installation. You can also check for updates manually and disable automatic updates fully. If you wish to directly start checking for updates, there is a secret hidden switch you can use to launch this.
How to end a process quickly with Task Manager in Windows 8
In Windows 8, the Task Manager received an overhaul and saw the addition of several useful features. It can manage startup apps now and calculate their impact on startup performance. You can also see app history and copy process details quickly with it. In the "More details" mode, Task Manager has two tabs, Processes and Details, to control running apps. Today, I would like to share with you a very simple trick to kill a running app quickly.
How to use IE pinned sites on Taskbar without disabling addons
Internet Explorer 9 introduced a nifty feature to pin a website by dragging it from the address bar and dropping it onto the Taskbar. It is present in IE10 and IE11 too. While the Quick Launch also allowed creating shortcuts to websites, pinning allowed users to use a large icon for the site shortcut. However, the problem with pinned sites is that all IE addons are disabled when you open a pinned site. If this is a deal-breaker for you, you will be pleased to know that there is a way to pin websites to the Taskbar without disabling addons.
Fix: YouTube and Google Drive are broken in Firefox Nightly
I always use the Firefox Nightly build as I have mentioned in the past in order to stay abreast of the latest developments. If you use the Firefox Nightly too like me, you may have noticed that YouTube videos no longer work after the latest update to the Nightly branch. Also Google Drive does not work correctly. Additionally, some Russian sites stopped working properly for me, mostly those that use modern client-side JavaScript libraries. If you faced this issue, here's how to fix it.
Download the full offline installer for Dropbox
Like many products have started doing, Dropbox now offers a web-based installer for its Windows desktop client and also for Mac. When you click the download link, you get a small installer stub instead of the full-sized installer. That web installer will download the full version of Dropbox to your PC and install it. This is not an issue for users who want to install Dropbox on just one PC, but, if you want to download it once and then install it on multiple PCs, it makes no sense to download it individually on every PC.
How to reset Opera browser settings to their defaults
After we published how to reset Chrome, Internet Explorer and Firefox settings, our reader Phil asked how to reset the Opera browser. Although new versions of Opera are based on Chromium and mostly similar to Google Chrome, its developers have made several changes to Opera's core settings so the process isn't exactly the same. Compared to Chrome, Opera has a very simplified options UI. It almost seems as if Opera want to alienate their power users and loyal fans which loved the once feature-rich browser that it used to be. But let's stay on topic. The Opera browser does not come with any built-in Reset feature, so you need to reset it manually as described below.
How to see services related to a process in Windows 8
When your Windows PC starts, many programs open at startup. Some long-running processes, which mostly do system functions are called Services. Service processes usually have no user interface and don't interact with the user. The most famous service process, is svchost.exe which always has multiple instances running and is responsible for many Windows services, e.g. Windows Update or Action Center notifications. You can easily check which services are running from its process. Follow these simple instructions to learn how.
How to start Firefox in safe mode quickly
The safe mode in Mozilla Firefox is a really useful way to troubleshoot issues related to stability and performance. Safe Mode is a special mode where important browser settings are temporarily reverted back to their defaults and all add-ons are disabled. It is easy to figure out what might be causing problems by comparing Firefox behavior in normal mode to its behavior in Safe Mode.
FIX: Modern apps do not show in the App history tab of Task Manager in Windows 8
The App history tab, which is part of the new Task Manager in Windows 8, is designed to show statistics for Modern apps that you use. It shows the CPU time of apps (which apps keep the CPU busy for the most amount of time), the amount of data each app has downloaded or uploaded, or consumed for showing live tiles, including the data consumption over a metered network and a non-metered one. However, sometimes the App history stops working and you may not figure out why. If you are not able to see your app usage history in the Windows 8 Task Manager, then you can try the fix described below.
