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Showing posts from June, 2021

How to change the Windows 11 taskbar size

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The current development version of Microsoft’s Windows 11 operating system has changed the taskbar and the provided customization options significantly. If you prefer a smaller taskbar size, you may have noticed that the option to use small taskbar buttons that exists in Windows 10 is no longer present. It looks as if you are stuck with the default taskbar size, just like you are stuck with the bottom taskbar position. Microsoft may add the option in future builds to the Settings app, but for now, there is no option to change the taskbar size using it. That does not mean that you cannot set a different taskbar size in Windows 11, quite the contrary. Windows 11 supports the three taskbar sizes small, medium and large. The default taskbar size is medium. Here are screenshots that visualize the different taskbar levels (from small over medium to large): Changing the taskbar size in Windows 11 manually You need to edit the Registry if you want to change the size of the taskbar in Mi

We take a tour of what’s new in Windows 11: Start Menu, Explorer, Notifications Panel, Quick Toggles, and more

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Microsoft announced its new Windows 11 operating system last week , and the first Windows 11 Insider Preview was released yesterday. We’re going to take a tour of the changes it brings. Centered Taskbar and Start Menu This is the elephant in the room. Some people may like it, but I think many people don’t. It is clear why Microsoft went with a centered taskbar, it’s easier to use on touchscreen devices. Don’t worry, you can switch to the good old left-aligned icons, from the Taskbar settings, but there is no option anymore to set the taskbar to the side or top. Bottom is the only location. The Windows 11 Start Menu is clean, and though it lacks tiles, you can pin shortcuts for quick access. I’ve already read dozens of complaints about tiles missing in Windows 11. Remember when the Windows 10 Start Menu was criticized for being bloated, and the tiles were ugly? I’d say the we’ve come full circle. Right-clicking the Start button displays a fly out similar to Windows 10’s menu, bu

Ghacks Deals: Build a Bundle: The 2021 Ultimate Learn to Code Training

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Build a Bundle: The 2021 Ultimate Learn to Code Training is a special kind of deal, as you may pick between three and 25 different coding related courses and pay between $0 and $15 for these. The free bundle includes three courses that teach you HTML, JavaScript and CSS. The five course bundle includes courses that focus on Unity and creating games in Unity and using Blender. The ten courses bundle, available for $8, offers a wide range of courses, from learning Java and Python to creating 20 websites and 7 apps from scratch. The fifteen courses bundle, available for $10, adds more courses to the ten, and the 25 courses bundle, available for $15, includes all of the courses. The bundles offer a good way of getting started, exploring different coding languages and tools, or digging deeper into a particular language that you are already familiar with. Click here to open the 2021 Ultimate Learn to Code Training on Ghacks Deals Not for you? You find hundreds of other deals with new

Firefox 91: download behavior when opening files with apps changes

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Firefox users have two main options when it comes to file downloads on the Internet. They may download files to the local system or select an application that they want the file to be opened with. Files need to be downloaded in both cases, but how they are handled is different currently. A torrent file can be linked to qBittorrent or another torrent application to load it directly in the program, a spreadsheet in Excel or LibreOffice Calc, or a video in a dedicated video player. One issue that Firefox users may have experienced in the past is that files that are opened in applications directly are not put into the download folder. Instead, these files are placed in the temporary folder. The downloaded file gets removed automatically from the temp directory when the session is closed. Means in worst case: users may run searches on their systems to find the downloaded file but won’t find it. They need to redownload it before they may access it again. Firefox 91 will change that. The

Win11SysCheck and WhyNotWin11 tell you why your PC is incompatible with Windows 11

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Microsoft released a tool this week, called PC Health Check, that may be run on Windows devices to determine if these are compatible with Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 11 operating system. The first iteration of the tool returned Yes or No, basically. While that is okay if a device is compatible, not revealing why the device is not compatible is a problem. Even recent computer systems may not be compatible with Windows 11; most of the laptops and PCs that Microsoft sells under its Surface line are not compatible. You had to check each component that is tested manually. For the CPU, you had to find out the make and model on the device, and then search for it on Microsoft’s listing of compatible processors by AMD, Intel and ARM. Microsoft has updated the tool in the meantime to highlight why a device is not compatible. Win11SysCheck Win11SysCheck is an open source tool that tells you if a PC is compatible with Windows 11, and gives you the reason if it is not. It is more detailed tha

Fluent Search is a customizable desktop search engine program

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If there’s one thing that Windows is bad at, it has to be the Search tool. I never use it, because it crawls at a snail’s pace, and I’d rather use Voidtools’ Everything search program . Fluent Search is a similar desktop search engine that offers various customizations. The application runs in the background, and can be accessed using the hotkey Ctrl + Alt, or by double-clicking the tray icon. Use the hotkey Ctrl + Alt to bring Fluent Search’s interface which looks nice. Type your query in the box at the top, and the program will list all results. The search occurs in real-time. Navigate the list using the up and down arrow keys. Pressing the right arrow key switches the focus from the sidebar to the pane on the right. Each item in the search result has a number of actions that you can execute, this varies based on the file type. You can execute the actions using keyboard shortcuts. Fluent Search can be used to find files, programs installed on the computer, and also to find conte

Avira Prime Review and Exclusive Deal

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Our team is always looking for things we think our readers will value. We have received compensation for publishing this article. Avira Prime is a powerful security suite that protects all of your devices from security and privacy threats, and includes system maintenance tools on top of all that. Most Internet users access the Internet on a variety of devices, mobiles, tablets, desktop systems or laptops. All of these require good protection. Avira Prime delivers that, and more. You can install and run the program on Windows and Mac devices, as well as devices that run Android or iOS. Instead of using different apps on your devices, you use a best-in-class security solution that you are familiar with on all of them. Avira Prime Features Avira Prime features fall into the three main groups security, privacy, and system maintenance. All of these work well together to provide users with a complete package. The company received the highest award level at AV Comparatives latest ma

Microsoft Edge now lets you send tabs to your other devices

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Many desktop browsers allow you to sync tabs between your devices using their built-in protocol. Sending a tab from one computer to another manually, is slightly different. It’s sort of like sharing a link with your friend in a chat. Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox both support sending tabs to other devices, and Microsoft’s browser is the latest to join the fray. The latest stable version, Microsoft Edge 91.0.864.54, has introduced support for Tab Sharing. It’s quite convenient to How to use Tab Sharing in Microsoft Edge 1. Open a webpage in Edge browser. 2. Mouse over the icon that has a computer and phone, in the address bar. This is the “Send this page” button. Or, right-click anywhere on the page and select “Send page to devices” from the context-menu. 3. Click it and choose the device that you want to share the tab with. If your device isn’t listed,  check if you’re signed in to your account on  both devices. You may have to restart the browser to get it working. The p