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Add Scan with Windows Defender to Explorer right click context menu in Windows 8.1

Windows 8.1 comes with a built-in antivirus protection software called Windows Defender. It provides basic protection and according to Microsoft, it is good enough for many users. If you need to check some file or folder, for example, files on a removable drive, you should launch the Windows Defender app using the Control Panel and customize the scan options. This is not handy and takes too many clicks. In this article we will see how to add it directly to the File Explorer right click context menu, so you will be able to scan for files with just a right click.

How to disable UI animations in Windows 8.1

Animations in Windows are meant to give you a fast and smooth UI perception however many users prefer a UI that responds instantly without any animation. In this article, we will look at how to improve the responsiveness of Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 by disabling unnecessary animations. With animations disabled, the user interface will feel more faster and responsive.

FIX: Windows plays no sound for tray balloon tips (notifications)

Windows has played sounds for various events for a long time now. Windows 8 also introduced some new sound events such as Metro toast notifications. But in Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows Vista, no sound is played for desktop notifications it shows in the system tray area. In Windows XP, it played a popup sound for balloon tips in the notification area so that even if you were away from the PC or the display was turned off, you would come to know that the system was notifying you about something via balloon tips. In modern versions of Windows, balloon tips are displayed silently. Well, luckily this can be fixed quite easily.

How to manage wireless networks in Windows 8.1 and Windows 8 using Classic Shell

Previously, we wrote about how to manage wireless networks in Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 from the command prompt. However, the command prompt and netsh are a very cumbersome way to change their priority, delete network profiles or rename them. Instead, you can manage wireless networks from the GUI if you use the Classic Shell Start Menu. Let's see how.

Turn on Xmouse active window tracking (focus follows mouse pointer) feature in Windows 8.1, Windows 8 and Windows 7

Ever since Windows 95, the operating system has had a feature called Xmouse where the focus of windows can follow the mouse pointer, meaning, as you move the mouse pointer around, the window which is under the mouse pointer becomes the active window. This feature is disabled by default. Let us see how it can be turned on.

Download Winaero XMouse Tuner

Winaero XMouse Tuner.

Allows you to control the hidden options of XMouse behavior in Windows 8 and 7.
You can change the following options:

  • enable or disable window activation option by mouse hover.
  • change the window activation timeout when the mouse pointer hovers it.
  • enable or disable window raising when it is hovered.

This app has been superseded by Winaero Tweaker and is no longer being maintained. Use the following options from Winaero Tweaker:

You can download Winaero Tweaker here: Download Winaero Tweaker.

Avoid accidental and automatic shut down or restart with ShutdownGuard

Microsoft has always allowed applications to shut down or restart Windows programmatically. Installers of various desktop apps, or the apps themselves as well as various Windows components such as Windows Update can automatically shut down or restart your PC on demand or on a schedule.  If you do not like this behavior, thankfully, Windows has a way to avoid it. Using a simple, third party tool called ShutdownGuard, we can stop automatic shutdown, restart, and logoff without affecting manual ways to do it.

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