Web & Technology Articles

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Enable Developer Mode on Android Phones

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This article will show you how to easily enable Developer Mode on Android phones which will provide you with access to the Developer options menu. Let’s get started!

 

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Convert PC to VM on Hyper-V

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This article will show you how to easily convert a working physical computer into a Hyper-V virtual machine (VM). Let’s get started!

 

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Endurtech Disabled Windows Services

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This article covers the various Windows Services that I have disabled on my personal computer using the Services App. This article is intended for my personal use only as a reminder of what services I altered to improve system performance. If you use this article and alter any of the listed services on your computer it may render your Windows Operating System unstable.

 

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Connecting a Drive to a VM in Hyper-V

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This article covers how to connect an existing internal drive or external USB drive to a virtual machine (VM) in Windows Hyper-V.

 

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Fix Microsoft 365 Office Error 0x426-0x0

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In an attempt to optimize and debloat my Windows 11 PC I began disabling various Windows Services. In so doing I had disabled the Microsoft Office Click-to-Run Service which caused my Microsoft 365 programs to fail to open and display error code 0x426-0x0. See screenshot of Microsoft error code 0x426-0x0 below which appeared, for example, when attempting to open Word:


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Disable BitLocker Software Encryption Windows 11 Pro

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In some Windows 11 Pro installation instances, which I won’t cover here to keep this article short, Windows 11 Pro will automatically enable BitLocker software based encryption on your solid state drive (SSD). Not sure if this auto-enabling occurs on traditional mechanical hard drives, let me know in the comments section.

The particular Windows 11 Pro installation on my Intel NUC 12 fell within the Microsoft threshold of auto-enabling the BitLocker software encryption. This was without my knowledge nor was I allowed to configure the encryption password or separately store the encryption key. My initial inspection leads me to believe that Microsoft simply uses your Microsoft Account password as the BitLocker encryption key but I have not confirmed this. Let me know in the comments section.

Also, when I originally setup my Windows 11 Pro installation, I used a local account instead of a Microsoft Account. I assume that when I accessed my Microsoft Account to connect my Microsoft 365 software (such as Word and OneDrive) Windows configured BitLocker at that time. I could be completely wrong, but the fact that BitLocker was enabled without my knowledge is a fact in my particular case.

It wasn’t until I discovered an article on Tom’s Hardware regarding “Windows Software BitLocker Slows Performance” that I became aware of a potential performance implication. In that article is covers how the BitLocker software encryption feature can slow an SSD by up to 45%.

This article will cover what I did in order to disable BitLocker software encryption on my SSD since I prefer daily maximum performance over the (in my opinion, false) sense of security provided by encrypting the data on my drive. Encrypting my data may also make data recovery more difficult should the need arise, but I may be incorrect there as well.

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Restore Default Folder Location After a Move in Windows

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Upon installing Windows, the default directory of a users personal folders (Desktop, Documents, Pictures, etc.) is within the C:\Users directory. However, a user may choose to Move these folders to another location or external drive, for example if they are running low on storage space.

In some cases, I have noticed that after moving one of the personal folder locations (changing the default storage location) I receive an error which prevents me from restoring the default location.

In this article, I will show you how to restore the default location of, for example, the Documents folder on a Windows 11 PC without errors. But this should work for any personal folder. Read my article on restoring the default Screenshots folder location.

 

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Save Screenshots to Different Folder Windows 11

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If you’re like me and you take many screenshots, this article will show you how to capture, optimize and customize taking screenshots on a Windows 11 PC.

You may want to also read my article on restoring the default Documents folder location.

 

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Remove Search Bar from Word, Excel, PowerPoint

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The location of the search bar in Microsoft 365 Word, Excel and PowerPoint often makes simply clicking and dragging the application windows difficult, at least for me. Many times I end up click within the search field instead of the tiny space between for the drag and drop operation.

This article will show you what setting to adjust to hide the Search Bar from the Word, Excel and PowerPoint title bar. Note, this will not actually remove the Search bar. Rather, it will simply shrink or collapse it down to just a magnifying glass icon. You can also press Alt+Q to bring up the full search bar or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+F to navigate and search through your document.

Regarding Outlook 365; As of this post (2023 October), it is not possible to collapse or shrink the search box (which is used to search email) in Outlook 365, Outlook and Word are two different applications and some features are not the same.

 

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Disable Search Bar Search Highlights on Windows 10

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Microsoft introduced a taskbar search bar with search highlights to feature social justice causes and other “trending” searches. As if hard working, freedom loving, family focused, productive Americans actually have time to give such hollow gestures a moments thought. On top of that it tends to slow down the already sluggish Windows search feature.

In this article, I will show you how to quickly disable search highlights in Windows 10. The steps are similar to Windows 11, but here is my article on disabling search highlights on Windows 11.

 

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