Table of Contents Table of Contents General Windows tips and tricks Create a Account for Children in Windows 7 Creating and Configuring A Child User Account in Windows 8.1 Disk Defragmentation - How to Speed Up your System How Do I Reserve My Free Windows 10 Upgrade? How to Fix Missing Reset and Refresh Options in Windows 8 How to Free up Space on Your Hard Drive and Improve Performance I am Running NetIntelligence and Want to Upgrade to Windows 10. Will this Work? Making Content Appear Bigger in Windows 8 Making Web Pages Easier to Read in Internet Explorer 11 My Windows Password Keeps Expiring, How do I Stop this from Happening? Using the Windows Store to Install an App What Should I do Before Trying to Upgrade to Windows 10? When and How to Use System Restore Where Can I get Windows 7 Media or CDs / DVDs from? Where Can I get Recovery Media? Where is my Windows 8 Product Key or COA? 1 2 3 7 11 14 17 18 20 21 22 23 26 30 33 39 42 General Windows tips and tricks 1
General Windows tips and tricks General Windows tips and tricks 2
Create a Account for Children in Windows 7 User Accounts It is better to have separate Windows accounts for adults and children so that children cannot make changes that will affect everyone who uses the computer, such as deleting files that are required for the computer to work. We recommend that the children's accounts are Standard Accounts. They can still do almost anything the adult's administrator account can do apart from such things like installing software or changing security settings. How To Create a Standard User Account 1. Click on the start button, this is the small round button the lower left corner of your screen 2. Click on the Control Panel menu option, shown by the red arrow in the picture below. Fig 1. Start Menu 3. When the Control Panel opens you will see a screen similar to the one below. Fig 2. Control Panel 4. Click on Add or remove user Accounts shown by the red arrow in the picture above. 5. You will now be in 'Manage Accounts' as shown in the picture below. To create a new account select Create new User account as shown by the red arrow. General Windows tips and tricks 3
Fig 3.Manage Accounts 6. In the New account name field enter the name of the new account that you would like to create. This could be a person's first name, full name, nickname or anything. Make sure that the 'Standard User' option is selected and then select Create Account. Fig 4. Account Name 7. Your new account will have been created and you will see it listed in the 'Manage Accounts' screen similar to the one shown below. General Windows tips and tricks 4
Fig 5. Kids Account. 8. It is recommended to have a password on the Administrator account, to create a password you click on your account icon and select create a password in the screen that appears. Fig 6. Create a password 9. Enter the password you want to use into the new password box and also in the Confirm new password box, you can also enter a password hint if you wish, then click on Create Password. Your Administrator account is now password protected. You can repeat this process on the children's account if needed. Fig 7. Administrator Password General Windows tips and tricks 5
10. Now when you start Windows 7, you will see the new account Icon in the logon screen alongside your own. To access your account click on your account icon and enter your password in the box that appears. It is the same process with any other accounts. Applies to: All Stone PC's and notebooks running Windows 7. General Windows tips and tricks 6
Creating and Configuring A Child User Account in Windows 8.1 Creating and Configuring A Child User Account in Windows 8.1 If you have kids that use a PC, notebook or tablet running Windows 8.1, it is a good idea to create a separate account for them so the adults accounts can have unrestricted web access and the kids accounts can be configured with any parental controls you want to enforce. How to Create a New Account 1. Select "Search"from the Windows 8 charms bar as shown below (to access the charms bar, move the mouse cursor to the top right hand corner of the screen). 2. Enter "users" into the search box and then select "Add, delete, and manage other user accounts". 3. Select "Other accounts" and then select "Add an account". 4. The next screen asks for an email address associated with a Microsoft Account, as this is a child's account you can use a local account. (A local account is one that exists only on the computer itself). General Windows tips and tricks 7
Select "Sign in without a Microsoft account"and then click on "Next". 5. Select "Local account". 6. Complete the form and click Next. General Windows tips and tricks 8
7. The Account is now set up and you should see the box below. As it is for a child tick the box for "Is this a child's account?turn on Family Safety to get reports of their PC use". 8. This will take you back to accounts screen, showing that the new account has been set up. 9. To check and configure "Family Safety", go to the search box on the charms bar and type in "Family Safety",then click "Family Safety" which General Windows tips and tricks 9
appears in the search results. 10. Double click on the child account you have just created. 11. Here you can configure time restrictions, web access, game access and app access. Tip: More information on Windows Family Safety can be foundhere. Applies to: Windows 8.1 General Windows tips and tricks 10
Disk Defragmentation - How to Speed Up your System As files and programs are opened and closed on your system they can become 'fragmented' or split up and over time it can slow down your PC or notebook. Windows has a built in disk defragmenter program which puts the files and programs back in order and helps speed up your PC / notebook. Please Note: Solid State Drives (SSD) do not need to be defragmented. Doing do may shorten their lifespan, so disk defragmentation on SSD drives is not recommended. Windows 7 - Disk Defragmenter 1. Click on the Start button and enter disk defragment in the search box at the bottom. 'Disk Defragmenter' should appear at the top of the search results as shown below. Click on Disk Defragmenter. 1. Win 7 Search 2. The main Defragmentation screen, similar to the one shown below should appear. General Windows tips and tricks 11
2. Main Screen Tip: Depending on your system you might only have one drive letter showing, such as C: 3. Select the disk you want to defrag (it will now be highlighted) and click on the 'Analyse disk' button (this will analyse the selected disk to see how fragmented it is), if it is above 10% you should defragment the disk as shown below. 4. Select 'Defragment disk', the program will now start checking the selected disk (see picture below). This process can take a while to run, but the PC / notebook can still be used during this process. You can stop it at any time by clicking on the 'Stop Operation' button. 3. Defragging 5. Carry out the above process for each disk (if required) and when finished click on 'Close'. Windows 8 / 8.1 - Optimise Drives 6. In Windows 8 /8.1 Disk defragmenting has been called 'Optimise Drives'. To optimise the drive select 'search' from the windows 8 charms bar (to access the charms bar move the mouse cursor to the top right hand corner of the screen) as shown below. General Windows tips and tricks 12
4. Win 8 search 7. Enter Optimise into the search box, select settings and then select 'Defragment and optimise your drives'. 5. Win 8 search results 8. Follow instructions from step 3 above. Note: You might want to run a 'Disk cleanup' before defragmenting the disk to remove unwanted junk / files. This will speed up the defragmentation process and will ensure your system runs as fast as possible. Applies to: Windows 7 Windows 8/8.1 General Windows tips and tricks 13
How Do I Reserve My Free Windows 10 Upgrade? Free Upgrade Customers with eligible copies of Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 will see an upgrade message in the system taskbar, near the clock. This message will have a small Windows icon that you can click on. If you hover over the icon you will see 'Get Windows 10' shown and clicking it will display a box that allows you to register to receive the upgrade and also give a little information about Windows 10. You can check basic Windows 10 compatibility by clicking on the three bars icon in the top left corner of the window and clicking 'Check your PC'. This will check both hardware and software for compatibility and return its findings as below. General Windows tips and tricks 14
If you would like to continue with reserving the upgrade to Windows 10 you can click on the 'Reserve' button which will take you to the following window where you can enter your email address to receive confirmation. Clicking the 'Send confirmation' button completes the reservation process. You can skip this step if you wish by clicking on 'Skip email confirmation'. Once successfully completed the customer will see this message: General Windows tips and tricks 15
Applies to: Customers Running Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 Operating Systems General Windows tips and tricks 16
How to Fix Missing Reset and Refresh Options in Windows 8 Problem if you attempt to either factory reset or refresh a machine with Windows 8, in some situations you may find that the options are missing, or you may be prompted for installation media. Cause This is a software problem where the recovery storage area is marked as disabled. Normally, installation media should not be required to perform a factory reset or refresh as the files are stored in the recovery area of the hard drive. Resolution If the refresh and reset options are missing, you may be able to restore them by following these steps: Open a command prompt as Administrator Type in: ReAgentc /info This will then show the following or similar: Windows Recovery Environment (RE) and system reset configuration Information: Windows RE status: Disabled Windows RE location: \\?\GLOBALROOT\device\harddisk0\partition5\Recovery\WindowsRE Boot Configuration Data (BCD) identifier: cc8ad4e1-dd86-11e1-b32d-0090f5a96a55 Recovery image location: Recovery image index: 1 Custom image location: Custom image index: 0 If the Windows RE Status shows as Disabled, type ReAgentc /enable to enable it. REGAENTC.EXE: Operation Successful Applies to: If this reports successfull you should now be able to use the refresh and reset options. Systems running Windows 8.x except those that boot WIM images, such as the Stone Classmate 3. General Windows tips and tricks 17
How to Free up Space on Your Hard Drive and Improve Performance Freeing Up Space on Your Hard Drive After a while your hard disk can become cluttered up with unwanted 'junk' files and this can affect the performance of your PC or notebook. One of the best ways to clean up the hard drive is to run the Windows "Disk Cleanup". Steps Click on the "Start" button and select "Computer" ("My Computer" in Windows XP). Click on the hard drive you want to clean up (you might only have the one hard drive C:) and select Properties. In the general tab click on "Disk Cleanup".Windows will then scan the hard drive to see what files can safely be deleted. In the next screen (shown below) tick all the boxes for the items you want cleanedand click "OK" General Windows tips and tricks 18
In the confirmation window that appears click "Yes" (Windows XP) or "Delete files" ( Windows Vista, 7, 8, 8.1). The Disk Cleanup utility will now start removing the selected files - this may take some time depending how cluttered the hard drive is. Click "OK" to exit. Repeat the process if you have more than one hard drive. This task should be carried out every month or so to free up space on the hard drive Tip:If you regularly defragment your hard drive to improve the system performance, or if you use the defragmenter on a schedule, try running the disk cleanup before defragmenting. This will reduce the amount of time that the defragmenter needs to complete the job and give you the fastest system. Applies to: Systems running Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7 General Windows tips and tricks 19
I am Running NetIntelligence and Want to Upgrade to Windows 10. Will this Work? NetIntelligence and Windows 10 NetIntelligence is not yet compatible with Windows 10. If you upgrade to Windows 10 you will find that the internet filtering stops working. Recommendation:If you have NetIntelligence installed we recommend that you wait on upgrading to Windows 10. This article will be updated when there is a version of NetIntelligence that solves this problem. Applies to: All systems running NetIntelligence web filtering. General Windows tips and tricks 20
Making Content Appear Bigger in Windows 8 If you find the screen difficult to read in Windows 8 you can increase the size of content to make it easier. To do this follow these steps: 1. Go to the desktop by clicking the 'Desktop' tile on the start screen 2. Right-click on an empty part of the desktop 3. Click on 'Screen resolution' 4. Click on 'Make text and other items larger or smaller' near the bottom of the window 5. Move the slider towards 'Larger' to increase the size of items within Windows 8 6. Click 'Apply' at the bottom of the window The changes are applied after signing out and then back into your account. For example, originally the top of Internet Explorer looks like this: and after increasing the sizing it looks like this: Applies to: All systems running Microsoft Windows 8.x General Windows tips and tricks 21
Making Web Pages Easier to Read in Internet Explorer 11 If you find web pages difficult to read in Internet Explorer 11 you can use the zoom control to make the page appear bigger. To do this either: 1. Click the cog in the top right corner, hover over 'Zoom', then select a zoom level over 100% for the web page to appear bigger. 2. Use the keyboard shortcut [Control] plus [+]. 3. Hold down the [Control] key and use the wheel on your mouse, scrolling upwards to increase the zoom level and downwards to decrease. To reset the zoom level back to standard size (100%) you can select the 100% level from within the Zoom selection described in point 1 above, or use the keyboard shortcut [Control] + [0]. The screenshot below shows the zoom selection within Internet Explorer 11. This only increases the size of the content of a web page. If you would like the address bar and other Windows controls to appear bigger follow the instructions in the related article below. Applies to: All systems running Microsoft Windows with Internet Explorer General Windows tips and tricks 22
My Windows Password Keeps Expiring, How do I Stop this from Happening? Why Does Windows Request a New Password Occasionally? Depending on how your Windows User Account was created, Windows may ask you to change your login password occassionally, sometimes every 42 days. This is a security feature aimed at businesses. If you are a home user, this password request feature may not be helpful. How Can I Stop This from Happening? Follow the instructions below to download a program to correct this problem. You will either need to be logged on as an Administator, or have the Administrator's password. Steps 1. Click on the ZIP File attached to this article.? 2. When prompted, click on Open to automatically open it when it has downloaded.? 3. When it has downloaded, another box will appear. 4. Double click on "Stone_User_password_Policy_Unlimited.exe". 5. After double clicking, you might get one or two security prompts. Click on Run, or OK, to accept the warnings. General Windows tips and tricks 23
6. If you are prompted for your password, enter your Administrator username and password. If you don't get prompted for your password, just accept any security warnings or click on Run. 7. The Stone User Password Policy Update Program will appear. 8. Click on OK to confirm that you would like the change to be made. 9. A message will then come back confirming that the change has been completed. More Information For more technical users, these changes can also be made from an Administrative command prompt. To disable passwords being reset every 42 days: net accounts /maxpwage:unlimited To put the default setting of 42 days back: net accounts /maxpwage:42 To see what the current setting is: net accounts General Windows tips and tricks 24
The NET Accounts method above, as well as the attached utility, change the setting for all users of the PC, as it is a global setting and not just for the user that is logged on at the time. Tip for creating new user accounts: If you ever create a new user account with a password, use the Control Panel "User Accounts" option for doing this, to prevent accounts being created that automatically have passwords that expire. Applies to: All systems running Windows 7 General Windows tips and tricks 25
Using the Windows Store to Install an App Using the Windows Store to Install an App With the release of Windows 8, you now have access to the Windows Store to download and install apps for your computer. There are many useful learning apps and games that can be downloaded to pass the time and help as a learning tool. Some apps have a small fee that will need to be paid in order to download them - however there are also a wide range of free apps to choose from. Downloading an App The first thing you need to do is to navigate to the Windows Store. So bring up the Start Screen by pressing the Windows Key on the keyboard or place the mouse at the very bottom left corner of the screen and click start. You will then need to click on the Windows Store Tile (see image below with red arrows. It will have a shopping bag symbol with the Windows logo in the centre titled "Store") Once you have opened the Windows Store, you will then need to search through the wide range of Apps available. Windows 8 For Windows 8, you will need to open the Charms Bar to search. You can either press the Windows Key + 'C' Key or hover the mouse into the top right corner of the screen. Once the Charms Bar has appeared click 'Search' at the top then you will be able to enter your desired key words into the search box, such as "Learning" or "School" and press Enter. This will then show you a list of Apps to choose from based on your search. Windows 8.1 With Windows 8.1, it is slightly different. The search bar is actually included within the Windows Store. You can see in the image below that the search bar is located at the top right. The same applies with the keywords, simply enter your keywords (such as "learning" etc.) and press enter. A list of apps related to the keywords will then appear. General Windows tips and tricks 26
Once you have located the app you wish to download, simply click the app to take you to the details of the app. Once you have clicked into the app, you will see the Install button - simply click the install button to start the install. Also notice in the image below that this app is free. Once the app is installed, it will notify you on the screen. General Windows tips and tricks 27
Once you have the app installed, you can then open it and use it. To do this simply go back to the Start screen (by pressing the Windows Key on the Keyboard) then simply start to type the name of your newly installed program and it will search for you automatically (so start to type "ABC.." and you will notice the search results will display the app. Or alternatively bring up the All Apps Screen and it will be in the list of installed apps. Simply click on your newly installed app and enjoy! General Windows tips and tricks 28
Applies to: Windows App Store on Windows 8.x General Windows tips and tricks 29
What Should I do Before Trying to Upgrade to Windows 10? Support For Windows 10 Windows 10 has just been released and many customers are looking to try out the new features. We've written a short list of things to do below to help it go smoothly. Reserve Your Copy Use the Compatibility Checker See which Version of Windows 10 you will be Upgraded to Check the Stone Knowledgebase for any known issues with your Stone Product and Windows 10 Make a Backup of Important Documents and other files Check for Updated Drivers and Applications Please contact Support if you have any questions about this process. Reserve Your Copy Reserve your copy of Windows 10 by following these instructions here. If you don't have the little Windows 10 upgrade icon in the system tray, you might need to install this update if you are running Windows 7 or Windows 8.1. The update should appear as an important update to Windows, in the list of Windows Updates. If you are running Windows 8 (not 8.1) you will need to upgrade to Windows 8.1 first. Note: If you are running Windows 7 Enterprise or Windows 8.1 Enterprise, you will not get the Windows 10 upgrade icon in the system tray. Please speak to your IT administrator or your Stone account manager regarding Windows enterprise upgrades. Upgrades to Windows 10 are not currently available for Windows RT users. Use the Compatibility Checker When going through the reservation process, use the Check your PC option to check your PC for compatibility. This doesn't 100% guarantee that your system can run Windows 10, but it should point out any major issues. Or alternatively, right hand click on the Windows 10 upgrade icon, and then click on Check compatibility status. Then click on the Menu button on the top left. General Windows tips and tricks 30
Then finally click on Check my PC. See which Version of Windows 10 you will be Upgraded to Windows 10 has a revised number of editions. We recommend you see which version you will be upgraded to. Most customers will be upgraded to a version with more features than their previous edition.have a look at the chart below, or see here. General Windows tips and tricks 31
Make a Backup Windows 10 should be able to upgrade Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 and leave all of your documents, music, pictures and videos etc. in place. However, it is always a good idea to have a full backup of anything important before making major changes to your system. We recommend that you backup your files to a network location, to a USB pen drive / external hard drive, or the cloud. Note: We don't recommend the use of Windows Backup as the program to make backups before upgrading to Windows 10, as you will not be easily able to restore the files in Windows 10, if at all. Check the Stone Knowledgebase As we become aware of any compatibility issues we will post them in our new Windows 10 section of the Stone Knowledgebase,here. Check for Updated Drivers and Applications Most drivers will be automatically available, either as part of Windows 10, or from Windows update. Some Stone specific applications though will not be available from Microsoft, so werecommend that you check the Stone Driver Finder for Windows 10 support for your model or serial number. Applies to: Download Windows 10 versions of Stone specific applications, such as the NT310 Hotkey utility,before attempting the upgrade by using the Stone Driver Finder. See more advice here. Check that your peripherals - especially printers, scanners and cameras - are compatibile with Windows 10. Uninstall Windows 7 specific Stone software such as thehotkey utility, before attempting the upgrade. Check that your anti-virus or internet security software is compatible with Windows 10. If in doubt, uninstall if before attempting the upgrade, and reinstall it afterwards. Always run Windows Update and check for Optional updates too after doing the upgrade, to update the main drivers. Install new versions of the Hotkey software once the upgrade is complete. All Systems running Windows 7 non-enterpriseor Windows 8.1 non-enterprise. General Windows tips and tricks 32
When and How to Use System Restore When to Use System Restore System restore allows you to undo recent changes to the software of your Windows system. For example, you may have installed a new program or software driver and the system is now unreliable. You could use System Restore to roll back changes to an earlier point in time without losing your personal files, such as those stored in your Documents folder. How to Use System Restore Open System Restore by clicking the Start button Restore.. In the search box, type System Restore, and then, in the list of results, click System Fig 1. Start Menu. The next screen will show a Recommended restore point - choose this if the date is before you made the changes you want to reverse. Or, alternatively, for example if you want to go further back in time, then click "Choose a different restore point" then click on Next. Fig 2. Recommended restore point General Windows tips and tricks 33
Recommended Restore If you selected the Recommended Restore point you will see a screen similar to the one below. Click on Finish. Fig 3. Recommended Restore Point You will now be asked to confirm if you want system restore to run. Select 'Yes' to confirm or if you do not want to proceed select 'No'. Fig 4. Yes or No System restore will now run. This can take a few minutes and the PC / notebook will restart. You will receive a confirmation message if the restoration was successful. Fig 5. Reboot. Using A Different Restore Point If you selected "Choose a different restore point" earlier then you will see a screen similar to the one below. General Windows tips and tricks 34
Fig 6. More restore points. Click on the date you want to restore to - you can check if there are any programs that will be affected by clicking on Scan for affected programs. When you are finished reviewing the programs (if any) please close the box. Fig 7. Affected programs. Either click on Next to run the System restore or to select another date tick Show more restore points and then click Next. Select the required date and click Next. General Windows tips and tricks 35
Fig 8 Show more points. What If System Restore is Turned Off? If you have no restore points or System Restore is turned off you will receive the following screen: Fig 10 Restore off. If System Restore is turned off you will not be able to restore to an earlier time. However you can turn on System Restore to track future changes to the machine and have the ability to undo these. How to turn on System Restore Open the Start Menu, then right click on the Computer button and click on Properties. Click on the System Protection link as shown below. General Windows tips and tricks 36
Fig 11. System Protection. Click on the available drive or partition that you want to turn System Restore on, to select it. (Normally the C: System drive) and then click on Configure. Fig 12. Configure Restore. Select Restore system settings and previous versions of files. Click Apply and then OK. General Windows tips and tricks 37
Fig 13. Apply restore You should now see the screen below showing Protection turned on. Click OK to finish. Fig 14. Restore On. Applies to: All systems running Windows 7 General Windows tips and tricks 38
Where Can I get Windows 7 Media or CDs / DVDs from? Where Can I get Recovery Media? Recovery Media If you need recovery media for Windows 7, this can be downloaded directly from Microsoft. The download will give you an ISO file that can be burnt to DVD, or you can use an additional tool to copy the ISO file to a USB pen drive. To get started you will need your Windows 7 Product Key from your machine. How to Download Follow the link to the Microsoft Software Recovery Site. Make sure you use Internet Explorer. Scroll down to the "Enter product key" section and type in your Windows 7 Product Key. General Windows tips and tricks 39
Click on Next - your product key will then be verified and you will be prompted to Save the ISO file. If the system that you need to recover is equipped with a DVD drive, burn the ISO file to a DVD disk. What if the System I Need to Recover Doesn't have a DVD Drive? In this situation you will need to create a bootable USB pen drive from the ISO file. You will need a USB pen drive that is at least 4GB, or sometimes 8GB, depending on the size of file. There are several tools which you can use to make the pen drive from the ISO. Bear in mind that anything already on the pen drive will be erased as part of this process. Windows USB/DVD Download Tool - http://wudt.codeplex.com/ The Windows USB/DVD Download tool allows you to create a copy of your Windows 7/8 ISO file on a USB flash drive or a DVD. To create a bootable DVD or USB flash drive, download the ISO file and then run the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool. Once this is done, you can install Windows 7 or Windows 8 directly from the USB flash drive or DVD. Rufus - https://rufus.akeo.ie/ This allows you to create bootable USB pen drives from ISO files. What If I have Lost or Destroyed my Windows 7 Product Key? General Windows tips and tricks 40
Either contact your Stone account manager for replacement key options, or alternatively you can buy keys directly from Microsoft, here. Applies to: All Stone Products Suppled with Windows 7 General Windows tips and tricks 41
Where is my Windows 8 Product Key or COA? Where is the Product Key? Microsoft made an improvement to its activation process in Windows 8 meaning all machines built with this operating system installed no longer have a COA label affixed to them. A digital key is incorporated into the BIOS of the machine by Stone Computers in the factory. You can still see that your machine is licensed for Windows 8 by the small logo label, usually affixed underneath your machine if your machine is a notebook. Apples to: All systems shipped with Windows 8.x General Windows tips and tricks 42
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