Using a free network monitoring tool such as WireShark we can see that several discrete and background connections are made without our request when simply accessing our computers.
In this article I provide a few simple hosts file entries to help increase our privacy.
To ensure that a file has not been tempered with or was corrupted during a transfer or download we can verify the checksums with tools built into Windows.
This is a crucially important for security purposes, especially if you install software from a source other than an official site. If the file has been changed it could contain malware that spies on you or takes your data hostage, for instance.
The checksum verification tool you use is also important which is why I recommend using the built in Windows PowerShell and certutil tools.
In this article I provide simple and quick Windows commands to verify MD5 and SHA256 checksums.
![Microsoft Outlook 365 Error Something Went Wrong [1001]](https://endurtech.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Microsoft-Outlook-365-Error-Something-Went-Wrong-1001-180x180.png)
Recently had a client who would receive a generic Microsoft Error message: “Something went wrong. [1001]“
Despite it be obviousness that an error occurred, what specifically occurred (in typical Microsoft fashion) is not. In most cases it seems that the error is related to a simple login caching error.
In this article I provide a simple set of instructions which may assist you with resolving this Outlook 365 Something Went Wrong [1001] error.
![Microsoft Outlook 365 Error Something Went Wrong [1001]](https://endurtech.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Microsoft-Outlook-365-Error-Something-Went-Wrong-1001.png)
Right clicking on your desktop will give you a drop down context menu with a few new file creation shortcuts. The “New” context menu will allow you to quickly and easily create a new folder, shortcut, blank document, and many others.
In this article I will show you how to remove many of these “New” file shortcut items from your Windows 10 desktop context menu. Alternatively, you can watch a short video or just get the various context menu links if you know what you’re doing.
Despite disabling hibernate mode within the Power & sleep settings of Windows I discovered a hidden hiberfil.sys file which was consuming several gigabytes worth of storage.
In this article I provide a simple Windows command which will really disable hibernate mode and remove the hiberfil.sys file in Windows.
Both the PowerShell and Command Prompt tools may be used to configure various system settings or access various apps. However, most Windows users will never need to use these tools directly. But because they exist and are accessible, it is often recommend to disable them to help prevent a malicious actor from utilizing these dormant tools against said users.
To help increase your cybersecurity it is recommend to toggle off the Command Prompt on your Windows based PC. You can then toggle the Command Prompt back on as needed.
Within this article I will show you how to disable (and re-enable) the Command Prompt on your Windows PC. You may also be interested in my other article on how to disable PowerShell on Windows.
Both the PowerShell and Command Prompt tools may be used to configure various system settings or access various apps. However, most Windows users will never need to use these tools directly. But because they exist and are accessible, it is often recommend to disable them to help prevent a malicious actor from utilizing these dormant tools against said users.
To help increase your cybersecurity it is recommend to toggle off PowerShell on your Windows based PC. You can then toggle PowerShell back on as needed.
Within this article I will show you how to disable (and re-enable) PowerShell on your Windows PC. You may also be interested in my other article on how to disable the Command Prompt on Windows.
With the release of the new Microsoft Defender, available to Microsoft 365 Subscribers, yet another icon was added to the taskbar at the bottom right.
The old Windows Security (white shield icon) is no longer needed as the new Microsoft Defender (blue shield icon) will be taking over, eventually.
To remove the (to be replaced) Windows Security (white shield) icon from the Windows Taskbar simply open Windows Task Manager by right mouse clicking in a blank area on the Taskbar.
Select the “Startup” tab from the top or left side of the Task Manager window. Right click on “Windows Security notification icon” and select “Disable” from the drop down list.
Note that you can also “Disable” the new Microsoft Defender but I don’t recommend it as I am not sure if you will receive notifications should it discover a security threat.
If you wanted to uninstall and remove Microsoft Defender completely, then simply go to your Start menu. Locate the new Microsoft Defender app and right mouse click it to reveal a menu with the option to “Uninstall“.
I hope this article has helped you reduce the number of taskbar icons. I welcome your thoughts, questions or suggestions regarding this article.
You may support my work and future improvements by sending me a tip using your Brave browser or by sending me a one time donation using your credit card.
Let me know if you found any errors within my article or if I may further assist you by answering any additional questions you may have.
Recently used my Microsoft Authenticator to access an email address on my mobile phone which I only needed temporary access to. After which I removed the email account from Outlook on my phone only to have it remain (greyed out) within Microsoft Authenticator.
To remove the greyed out account from Microsoft Authenticator I had to go to my phones’ “Settings” then “Accounts and backup” followed by “Manage accounts“. To my surprise, even though I deleted the email address from Outlook, the email account was still there. Once I removed the email address and reloaded Microsoft Authenticator the greyed out account was gone.
I hope sharing my experience on how I successfully removed an unwanted, greyed out account from Microsoft Authenticator has helped you.
You may support my work by sending me a tip using your Brave browser or by sending me a one time donation using your credit card.
Let me know if you found any errors within my article or if I may further assist you by answering any additional questions you may have.
If you log into your Windows 11 PC using a local account and password you must first click or swipe on the lock screen to reveal the password input prompt. This extra step is not really necessary and can be removed using the following registry edit within this article.
This way, upon boot up, you may simply begin typing your password without first having to click or swipe away your lock screen.
