How to Restrict Windows 7, 8.1, or 10 Usage for a Specific Time

If you think that your kids are spending too much time on the computer, don't get off the computer and warning are not working anymore. It's a bit hard to set parental controls to local accounts and you can't let your kids mess up with your works by giving them the administrator account, with restrictions. You can use this simple trick to set a time frame that restrict to access Windows 7, 8.1 or 10 user account using the Command Prompt (CMD). 

How to Restrict Windows 7, 8.1, or 10 Usage for a Specific Time

Click on Start menu, type run and search for Command Prompt (CMD) and run as "Administrator". In the Command Prompt, type net user username / times: day, time

Replace username with the username of the account that you'd like to restrict the usage. Replace the day with the days that the user will be able to access his/her account, for this you can use initials like M, T, W, Th, F, Sa and Su. Replace the time with the time in which the user will be able to access Windows user account. 

For example : net user rahul /time: M-Sa, 8pm-9pm

You can also set a different time for different days by separating them using a semicolon.

net user rahul /time: M-W, 6pm-7pm; Th-Fr, 7pm-8pm; Sa-Su, 10am-12pm

Note : While setting time in 24-hour format, make sure that it should be in full hours (11:00 or 12:00). Half an hour (11:30 or 12:30) won’t work.

To give complete access to the user then type the following command

net user rahul /time:all

If you've any question, drop a line in comment box!

How to Block Any Website on PC, Phone, Browser or Network

There are many websites that might be spreading viruses, malware, try to steal your personal data or contain explicit content not suitable for children. You need to block, these websites for the safety of your device and family members. 

Here's step by step guide to restrict access of these websites. 

How to Block a Website in Android Device

Download and install ES File Explorer from Google Play Store. Open ES File Explorer, tap the '/' button at the top > System > etc. 

You'll see the host file, click on it and open it in ES note editor. Now click the three dots button in the top right and tap edit. 

Start a new line and type "127.0.0.1 www.blockawebsite.com", just replace blockawebsite with the website name you want to block. Reboot your Android device to save changes. 

How to Block a Website in iOS Device

Go to Settings > General > Restrictions, click on enable restrictions and set a passcode. After the passcode is set, scroll down and tap websites. Here you can either choose to limit adult content or allow access to specific websites only. 

If you try to access a blocked website, you see a message displaying it is restricted. Tap the Allow Website and key in the Restrictions passcode to open that website.

How to Block a Website in Windows PC

Open Windows Explorer and navigate to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc. Double click on hosts file and open it in Notepad. Place the cursor at the end of the last line and press Enter to create a new line. 

Type "127.0.0.1 www.facebook.com", just replace facebook with the website name you want to block and click file, save to commit to your changes.

How to Block a Website in Mac

Open Terminal (/Applications/Utilities/Terminal), type sudo nano/etc/hosts and press enter. This will open the hosts file in text editor, type the website name you want to block in this format "127.0.0.1 www.facebook.com", press Ctrl + X and then Y to save changes.  

How to Block a Website in Browser

In Firefox or Google Chrome, install an addon BlockSite. Press Ctrl + Shift + A and click extension on the left, click options under BlockSite. In the pop-up, click add and type the name of the website you want blocked, click 'OK'.

In Internet Explorer, go to tools > Internet Options. Click security tab and then tap the red restricted sites icon, click the site button below the icon. Now in the pop-up, manually type the website you want to block one by one, click 'OK'. 

How to Block a Website on Your Network

Open any browser and type any 192.168.1.1, in the address bar, press enter. Some router use a different address, so if this doesn't work, check your documentation provided by your ISP. Enter the username and password, navigate to Access Management > Filter > URL Filter and typed the website you want to blocked, hit save. 

You can create 16 lists of blocked websites, each containing 16 websites, using this method, letting you block up to 256 websites. Again, this will vary from router or router.

21 Tricks in Google Chrome, You don't know

Google's Chrome browser is full of shortcuts, hidden features, and tweaks that can save your time and improve your workflow. 

Here's a collection of 21 most useful tips and tricks for Google Chrome that will help you work faster and do more with your favorite web browser and You don't have to install any extension. 

#1. Enable Guest Browsing 

Someone wants to borrow your laptop, but you're not keen on him or her messing around with your Facebook account or seeing the URLs that come up as suggestions in the omnibox (URLs address). To enable Guest browsing, go to Settings > People > Enable Guest browsing. To switch to the guest account, click on your username (top right) then choose switch person and browse as Guest.

#2. Chrome Omnibox a Hidden Calculator 

You can perform quick calculations and even unit conversion right from the address bar (Omnibox), no Google search required. Type out a simple bit of math like "26 inches to feet" and hit Enter, to see answer. Temperature, distances and weights should all work natively just as they do from Google searches. 

#3. Save web pages as PDFs 

Open any web page, press Ctrl + P on Windows (or Cmd + P on Mac) and choose "Save as PDF" from the list of available printers to download the page as a PDF file. 

#4. Get Word definitions 

You can double click on a word inside Chrome, right mouse click and select "Search google for" to get a definition in a pop-up window.

#5. Assign Custom Keyboard shortcuts 

Google Chrome supports a variety of keyboard shortcuts but you can also assign your own custom shortcuts to launch various extension and Chrome apps. Type chrome://extensions in the browser's address bar to open the Extension page, scroll down to the bottom and click the link that says Keyboard Shortcuts. 


#6. Quick fix for slow Chrome

Go to More toos > Task Manager, it shows you a list of all the open tabs and the background processes running in the browser at the moment, along with the amount of system resources they're using up. Sort the list by Memory, select the websites and extensions that are consuming more memory and click End Process. 

#7. Switch to Google Cache 

When you're on a page, click the address bar, type cache: before the URL and hit Enter. You'll be redirect straight to the Google Cache, if there's one. 

#8. Remove embarrassing URLs 

When you type in the Chrome's address bar, the browser will suggest matching URLs from your web history. If there's any particular URL that you would not like to appear in the list of suggestions, you can easily remove it by clearing the history or from the address bar itself. Highlight any auto-complete URL in the drop-down list and press Shift+Delete to remove it permanently.

#9. Change Search Engine in the Omnibar 

Type amazon in the address bar and press tab, which will change the address bar to search amazon.com and type any keyword to seach in amazon website

#10. Open mobile website on slow Internet 

If you're on a slow Internet connection, you can pretend to be a mobile device and most websites will serve you mobile friendly versions that are often light in size. Open chrome developer tools, switch to Emulation tab and choose either Android or iOS as the User Agent. Make sure Screen and Device emulation is off.

#11. Use Chrome as a Media Player 

You can drag and drop files, videos, images, text files and PDF documents from your desktop into the Chrome tab and view them without opening a dedicated viewer application. 

#12. Text editor inside Chrome 

Open a new tab and paste  data:text/html,<html contenteditable> into the address bar. Click anywhere inside the tab and start typing. 

For larger font with more padding, use this code 

data:text/html, <body contenteditable style="font: 2rem/1.5 monospace;max-width:60rem;margin:0 auto;padding:4rem;">

#13. Send emails from the address bar 

Go to browser's address bar and type the mail to command like mailto:recipient@domain.com. This will open the Gmail compose window and auto-fill the address in the To field.

#14. Reveal all your Hidden Passwords 

Go to Developer tools, visually select the password field on the page and change the input type from password to text. You can also find your saved password under chrome://settings/passwords. 

#15. Fake your current location 

Go to tools > Developer Tools and press the Esc key to open the console, here switch to the Emulation tab and enter any value for latitude and longitude. 

#16. Install unapproved Chrome extensions 

Open the extension page of Chrome, turn on the Developer mode and drag-drop the extension (.crx file) into your Chrome. 

#17. Autofill Address 

Go to Settings > Options > Personal stuff > click on the check box "Enable autofill to fill out web forms in a single click > Click on Manager autofill settings > Click on 'Add new address' and enter the information. 

#18. Google Cloud Print 

Go to Settings > Options > Under the Hood > click on sign into “Google Cloud Print”.

Once you setup your printer using Google cloud print, you can print to it from anywhere. i.e You can print to it from your mobile, other PC at work, or any other system that is connected to the internet.

#19. Google Chrome browser shortcuts

Alt+F – Open chrome settings menu
Ctrl+J – Go to downloads window
Ctrl+H – Go to history window 
Ctrl+Tab – Navigate Tabs
Alt+Home – Go to home page
Ctrl+U – View source code of the current page
Ctrl+K – To search quickly in the address bar
Ctrl+L – Highlights the URL in the address bar (use this to copy/paste the URL quickly)
Ctrl+N – Open a new Chrome browser window
Ctrl+Shift+N – Open a new incognito window (for private browsing)
Ctrl+Shift+B – Toggle bookmark display
Ctrl+W – Close the current Tab
Alt+Left Arrow – Go to the previous page from your history
Alt+Right Arrow – Go to the next page from your history
Space bar – Scroll down the current web page
 
#20. Generate new password on sign up pages 

Type "about:flags" into the browser's address bar, find the option "Enable password generation" select enable and restart the Chrome. 

#21. Activate Flash on demand
 
If you want to improve stability of the browser, go to the browser’s Advanced Settings (chrome://settings/content) and choose the “Click to Play” option under Plugins. This disables Flash Player. Should you need to run the plug-in you can activated it on demand.

5 Ways to Speed Up Windows 7, 8, or 10 Folder Loading Time

Are you tired of the slow loading time, every time you open a folder in Windows 7, 8 or 10. The loading time is usually slow, if you have a folder with large collection of music, video, documents or photos. Windows 7, 8, or 10 folders are optimized default for pictures and tries to generate thumbnails for all the files in folder, even if the folder doesn't contain any pictures. 

How to Speed Up Windows Folder Loading Time

#1. Disable Thumbnail Preview : Generating preview of your files takes processing cycles and slow down your Windows Explorer. To disable this feature, open my computer or this PC > tap on "Organize" from the menu bar > Folder and Search Options > View and enable the "Always show icons, never thumbnails" checkbox. 

#2. Optimize Folders : Right click on any folder and choose its properties > Customize tab > check General items from the drop down menu and apply the setting to sub folders as well. Now tap on apply and click Ok to save changes. 

#3. Rebuild the Index : The indexing of files and folder can get huge over time with the addition and deletion of data. To speed up folder loading time, you can build index manually. 

Click on Start menu and type index, select Indexing Option > Advanced and enter the administrator password, if prompted to do so. In the Advanced Options dialog box, click the Index setting tab and the click Rebuild. Indexing may take long time to complete, some views and search results may be incomplete till then. 

#4. Add or Remove Columns : Open folder > click view from the menu bar > details. After this you can add new columns, click view from the menu bar and tap on choose details..at the bottom, you find add columns. Enable the checkboxes for the columns you want and disable the columns you dont' want. 

#5. Use third party Windows Explorer : Clover is an extension of the Windows explorer, to add multi-tab functionality similar to Google Chrome browser. The tabs lets you view multiple folders using a single window, which can be great for freeing up clutter and improving efficiency. 

Note : You can also use QTTabBar, BetterExplorer, and Tab Explorerto add tabbed browsing to Windows Explorer.

How to Rotate a Video 90 Degree on Android, iOS and Windows

When you captured a video with your smartphone or camcorder and try to play it in your computer or laptop, you find that it's rotated 90 degrees. If you find your video sideways or upside down then you know how frustrating it can be to watch it later. Luckily, rotating your video is a snap, and there are many free ways to do it. 

How to Rotate a Video 90 degree on Windows or Mac 

#1. Windows Live Move Maker : Click on Start button and search for Movie Maker, if you don't find Movie Maker in Windows, download it from Microsoft Website. 

Open the app, click on the "Add Videos and Photo" icon and locate the video that you want to rotate, double click the file. Now locate the rotate video icons in the Editing section and click the "Rotate left" or "Rotate right" button to rotate the video in 90 degree increments. Save the changes you've made by clicking the "Save Movie" button in the Home tab and choose the desired format. 

#2. VLC :  Open your video in VLC and open the Tools menu > select "Effects and Filters' or press Ctrl + E. Click on the "Video Effects" tab, and then check "Transform" to rotate the video 90 degree. 

This change isn't permanent, to save the video in its new orientation, you've to open Tools > Preferences and at the bottom of the preferences windows, enable "All" settings. Now find the heading call "Sout stream" (under Stream Output) then click on "Transcode" and choose "Rotate video filter" from the selections to the right and finally click "Save".

Click open VLC's Media menu > Convert/Save, click Add and choose the file we just rotated. Click on the "Convert/Save" button at the bottom of this dialog and then "Convert" (Alt+O). Select a destination and file name to which you want to save your new file. Go ahead and click "Start" and the file will be converted and saved.

#3. Download iMovie which is available at Mac App Store and open iMovie, click the file menu, select import and select video. Open the Crop Menu by selecting your video and press "C" on your keyboard or by clicking the crop button in the middle toolbar. You'll see the Rotate buttons appear at the top of the viewer and click the Left or Right rotation buttons to rotate the image in 90 degree increments, click done. 

Note : Use the "Fit" option to ensure that you don't lose any of the edges of your video when it's rotated.

How to Rotate a Video 90 degree on Android or iPhone

There are a variety of free and paid apps available for both iOS, Android Phones and tablets. Some popular apps include, Video Rotate Free, Video Rotate and Flip for iOS and mVideoCut, Video Toolbox for Android. 

Once you've installed the app, open it and select your video file. You can start rotating it, your options will depend on the app you're using, but almost all allow for basic 90 degree increments.

Bonus Tips : You can also use, online video rotating site like RotateMyVideo.net. Click the "Pick Video" button in the middle of the page and select the video on your computer or mobile device. The video is uploading and can take a few seconds or even a few minutes, depending of your connection and size of your video. Click the buttons in the Rotation section (Left or Right arrows) until the video is fixed. Click the "Download" link to download the rotated video.

How to Create Recovery Drive or System Repair Disc in Windows 8 or 10

Windows 8 or 10 allows you to create recovery drive (USB) or system repair disc (CD or DVD) that can be used to troubleshoot problems like startup repair, file system problems, system restore and resetting your PC. Each type of recovery media gives you access to Windows advanced startup options. 

Note : you cannot use Refresh or Reset Your PC features if Windows is installed on a drive with GPT (not MBR) partition table until you force "UEFI only" boot setting in BIOS/EFI. Windows 8 and 10 will not detect GPT partition alignment correctly if BIOS booting is enabled.

How to Create a Recovery Drive (USB flash drive)

To create a bootable USB recovery drive, you need USB flash drive with space at least 256 MB for Windows 8, 4 GB for Windows 10 32bit and 8 GB for Windows 10 64bit.

To open the recovery drive creation tool, press the Windows key and type "create a recovery drive". Click the Setting category and launch the create a recovery drive application.

The Recovery Media Creator opens on your desktop. If your computer came with a recovery partition, you can copy it to the recovery drive, check the box says "copy the recovery partition from the PC to the recovery drive in Windows 8 or Backup system files to the recovery drive in Windows 10", otherwise click next. This will increase Recovery Drive space requirements from the default 256 megabytes to about 4 gigabytes in Windows 8.

You'll be prompted to select a connected USB drive and click the create button to copy files into USB drive. 

Windows will warn you that all contents of the selected drive will be deleted. To continue, click create. The drive formatting and file copying process might takes several minutes, depending on the speed of your USB drive, after the drive is ready, click finish. 

How to Create System Repair Disc (CD or DVD)

Open the disc creation tool by pressing Windows key and type recdisc, hit enter. The disc creator will open on the desktop, select the disc burner drive with a writable CD or DVD in it and click the create disc button to create recovery disc. 

Creating the System Repair Disc might take several minutes and after the process is complete, label the disc as instructed.

6 Ways to Boot into Safe Mode in Windows 8 or 10

Safe Mode is one of the most important features of Windows operating system that is present in all recent versions. Safe Mode starts Windows with only a limited sets of files and drivers so you can figure out what's wrong with your PC. 
 

In Windows 7, accessing Safe Mode options was very straight forward. You just need to press F8 key or Shift + F8 after powering the computer. However, the procedure to boot Windows into Safe Mode is little complicated in Windows 8 and Windows 10. Here are 5 different ways to enable Safe Mode in Window 8 or Windows 10.

How to Boot Into Safe Mode in Windows 8 or 10

#1. Use the System Configuration Tool : This is the easiest method to enable Safe Mode in Windows with the help of System Configuration tool. Click on search and find Run desktop app or press Win + R key combination and type msconfig in the run box, hit enter. 

Go to Boot tab, check the box that says "Safe boot". You can also choose the type of Safe Mode you want to boot into:

• Minimal is normal safe mode.

• Alternate Shell is safe mode with command prompt

• Network is safe mode with networking.

Once you've chosen your option click the OK button and restart your machine. Your PC will be booted into Safe Mode automatically.

Note : To exit from Safe Mode, open msconfig again and uncheck the Safe Boot option, then tap OK button.

#2. Use Shift + Restart : Hold Shift and press the Power button at the Windows login screen or in the Settings. Windows will ask you to choose an option, Press Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > Startup Settings and press "Restart".

Once your PC restarted, it displays options like enable debugging, enable boot logging, enable low resolution video, enable Safe Mode, enable safe mode with Command Prompt, disable driver signature enforcement, disable early launch anti-malware protection and disable automatic restart after failure. You need to press number key or function key from F1 to F9, to choose options.

#3. Boot from System Recovery DVD  : Insert the System recovery DVD into DVD ROM and press any key to boot from it. Choose your keyboard layout and click on Troubleshoot. The other steps are identical shown in method 2. 

#4. Boot from a System Recovery Memory Stick : You can use the Recovery Media Creator to create a system recovery drive on a USB flash drive. Boot from the USB flash drive and follow the same instructions as in Method 3.

#5. Use F8 or Shift + F8 : When you turn on a Windows 8 or 10 PC, there's no enough time to detect keystrokes like F2 or F8, much less time to read a message such as "Press F2 for Setup". If you have modern PC with a UEFI BIOS and a fast SSD drive, there's no way, you can interrupt the boot procedure with F8 key or Shift + F8.  On older PCs, with a classic BIOS and no SSD drive, pressing these keys might still work though.

#6. Add Safe Mode to Boot Menu : Open the Command Prompt and type the any of the command given below, hit enter.

bcdedit /copy {current} /d "Windows 10 Safe Mode"

Tap on Start, type msconfig and then select System Configuration. Now click on the Boot tab, you'll see the default OS, and the new entries you created. 

Click the new entry you created for Windows 10 Safe Mode (or whatever you named it). Enable the “Safe boot” check box and make sure that the Minimal option is selected underneath it. Enable the “Make all boot settings permanent” option if it isn’t already. You can also delay the boot time by entering the timeout values from 0 to 9999 seconds. To see the Boot Menu until you pick an OS, set the value to -1. 

You'll be asked to confirm the changes with a Scary warning about everything you've done being permanent. Go ahead and click Yes and restart your computer.

How to Turn Any Browser Window into a Notepad

When you're browsing the web, Notepads are awesome to jot down a quick one or two line note that doesn't need to be saved. You can turn any modern browser window into a text notepad and save the contents. It can even works on mobile browsers. 

Here are some different ways to type text in notepad.

#1. Type this into your browser's location bar and hit enter. 

data:text/html, <html contenteditable>

Now click on the blank page below and type away. If you save the page, you'll get an HTML file that will open right back up in your browser with the text you had written.

Also See :  41 Tricks in PC/Internet, You didn't Know




#2. You can use a5.gg and start typing right away. Leave it to the website to save your content for your content for you. 

#3. Litewrite.net also makes a great note taking app and it's open source and work offline. 

Recommended : How to Use Google's Password Manager to Save Login Credentials



#4. Install Papier extension in your Google Chrome and type whatever on your mind in a new tab. Papier is clean, distraction free, and backs up anything you type in it to chrome.  It allows you to use keyboard shortcuts for emphasizing, underlining, italicizing, and striking through text.

Do you know any other extensions or websites to take notes in a browser tab? Let us know about them in the comments.

6 Ways to Disable or Turn Off Automatic Updates in Windows 10

Microsoft has set the Windows 10 operating system to automatically check for updates and install new updates by default. The latest version of Windows 10 does not offer disabling or turning off Windows updates. 

Professional, Enterprise, and Education editions of Windows 10 have access to group policy and registry settings for this, but even Home editions of Windows 10 give you a way to stop updates from automatically downloading. 

How to Disable or Turn Off Automatic Updates in Windows 10

1. Using Group Policy Editor : This feature will not work in Home editions of Windows 10 as it lacks Group Policy Editor. To open Group Policy Editor, open the run command (Win Key + R) and type gpedit.msc and press enter. This opens the editor and navigate to Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Windows Update.

Double click on the option “Configure Automatic Updates” and in the options enable it. Now, change the Configure Automatic Updates setting to ‘2 – Notify for download and notify for install’

This will prevent automatic download of updates, but it will notify you of new updates.

2. Stopping Windows Update Service : Windows 10 has a service for checking the updates and you can try disabling it. Open the Run command (Win + R) and type services.msc and press enter. In the services list, find the Windows Update Service. Open the service and in the ‘Startup Type’ (under the ‘General’ tab) change it to ‘Disabled’.

3. Using Metered Connection : When you set a connection as "Metered", Windows 10 won't automatically download updates on it. To set this option, open the Settings app, select Network & Internet, scroll down, and select “Advanced options” below the list of Wi-Fi networks. Enable the “Set as metered connection” option. By marking a connection as metered, you’ve tricked Windows into thinking it’s a mobile data connection.

 4. Using Registry Editor : Open the Run command (Win + R) and type regedit and press enter. In the registry editor navigate to the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU. You might have to create the last couple of keys there as it might not exist. Under AU, create a ‘32-bit DWORD’ value called AuOptions and under ‘Value Data’ type 2 and click ‘OK’.

Alternatively you can also create a new DWORD called NoAutoUpdate and value as 2, which is disable automatic updates. Before you edit this, it is advisable to take a backup of the registry on Windows.

5. DoNotSpy App : It  is a free app which allows you to disable certain functions in Windows 10, such as automatic system updates, biometrics or the Lock Screen Camera function and more. DoNotSpy10 provides you with the opportunity to easily manage what you want to share and what not. The app lists all the services which can be prevented and you can check the box against them to disable it. You can disable automatic updates for system, Windows store, disable Windows defender and more.

6. Using Microsoft's Tool : Download the "Show or Hide updates" tool from Microsoft and run it. The tool will automatically search for available updates and allow them to be hidden. This essentially prevents Windows updates from downloading updates for that package in the future. By using this tool, you're enable to find the Windows Update or driver update that causing problem to your system. 

Bonus Tips : You can stop Windows updates from automatically rebooting your computer by Go to Settings app > Update & Security > Advanced Options > Notify to Schedule Restart. 

How to Remove Ads from Windows 10 Lock Screen

If you've upgraded your older version of Windows to new Windows 10 then you may have noticed ads appearing on your desktop or laptop's lock screen over the past couple of days. Windows 10 new feature Spotlight shows you clean and beautiful images and fun facts on your lock screen, but now started displaying ads to over 200 million devices running Windows 10. 

Some Windows 10 users have reported seeing ads for Square Enix's Rise of the Tomb Raider with links to Windows Store from where users can purchase the video game. Most people probably don't want to be hit in the face with a full screen advertisement for a video game before they even unlock their computer.  

How to Remove Ads from Windows 10 Lock Screen

Windows 10 that makes the Operating System unappealing to some users though it's not as annoying as the Windows 10 upgrade ads that appeared before the update, or the privacy concerns related to the way Microsoft collects personal data with Windows 10.

To remove Windows 10 lock screen ads, click on your Start menu > Settings > Personalization settings > Lock Screen tab. 

Now find the field that reads "Windows Spotlight" and click on the box, you can switch to display either a "Picture" or "Slideshow" depend on your personal preference. This will disable Microsoft from automatically pushing ads to your login screen without your permission. 

Note : Make sure you turn off the "Get the facts, tips, tricks, and more on your lock screen".

If you like the ads on Windows 10 lock screen, you can tell Microsoft shows relevant ads by clicking the icon in the top right corner of your lock screen. Tick any of the two options "I want More" and "Not a Fan". 

Have you seen ads on your lock screen, what were the ads for? Did this solve the issue, lets us know in the comment box below!