Fix 100% CPU Utilization in Windows 10/11

While using Windows OS, there are several processes which keep running in the background which use system resources, such as CPU and Memory. These processes cause system slowdown issues if not optimized properly. Usually Windows is smart enough to prioritize critical system processes to make sure that the OS is utilizing the hardware on an optimum level, but sometimes, due to 3rd party applications (such as antiviruses) and malware, some processes start utilizing the CPU at the maximum level and CPU utilization reaches 100% which slows down the overall system performance. In some cases, if the system is overheating or there is any hardware fault in CPU or system Fan, then also this kind of issue appears. I am sharing some of the steps which you can use to fix the issue.

1. Scan and restore corrupted system files using "System File Checker" utility

Before running this utility, make sure to run Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) tool by running this command in elevated cmd window: DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth

DISM uses Windows Update to provide the files that are required to fix corruptions. But if the OS is already broken and most of the components are not working in Windows, this command would not be so helpful.

After running the DISM command, in the same elevated command prompt window, run the following command sfc /scannow and press enter key. This command will scan all protected system files, and replace corrupted files with a cached copy that is located in a compressed folder at C:\Windows\System32\dllcache.

2. Set the process priority to low, if it is utilizing too much CPU resource

Open task manager and check which process is using more CPU. Right click on the process and click on "Go to details" and then it would show up the actual exe file which is creating that process. Simply right click on the exe file name, then click on "Set Priority" and click "Low". This step would ensure that the process would be restricted from using maximum CPU resources.

3. Install all pending Windows updates

Click on Start and then click on Settings. From there, open Windows updates and check for all the available updates (cumulative, feature updates and other optional updates) and install them. Once the updates are installed, restart the system and check for the CPU utilization.

4. Install all system drivers (including BIOS and Intel Turbo Boost Driver)

Open your system manufacturer's website and check for the downloads section. From the downloads section, download all the latest drivers for your system. Drivers include BIOS, VGA, Audio, Chipset, Dynamic Tuning Driver, Intel Turbo Boost driver etc. If your manufacturer provides any tool for auto update of drivers (such as HP Support Assistant, Dell Support Assistant, Lenovo Vantage etc), then use the tool to auto update the drivers to the latest version.
But I would personally recommend using IObit Driver Booster tool which checks for the best performing drivers for your device and auto downloads and installs them. I am personally using it and trust me, it is awesome.
Once the drivers are updated, restart the system and check the system performance. Make sure not to miss updating the BIOS to the latest version, because BIOS would usually require manual updation from manufacturer's website.

5. Create a high performance power plan

Most of the times, due to balanced power plan of the OS, processor is not utilized properly by the system processes which cause malfunction with the processor and system processes. This causes incorrect CPU utilization. So it is recommended to create a high performance power plan and set it as default so that system could run with its maximum potential. To create a high performance power plan, follow the steps below:
> Open control panel and in the search bar, type power, and then click on "Choose a power plan" and set the power plan to "High Performance". If it is not available in your system, then click on "Create a Power Plan". Now select "High Performance" and type the name of your power plan (you may use any name, I used High Performance) and then click on Next and finish. Once you are done with creating the power plan, use it in power options. It should bring back the CPU utilization to normal.

6. Modify settings in registry

Before doing modifications in registry, make sure to take a backup of registry. Once you are done with the registry backup, navigate to this location in registry: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>SYSTEM>CurrentControlSet>Control>Session Manager>Memory Management and double click on "Clear Page File Shutdown" and change the value data to 1 and click OK. Then restart the system and check if the issue still persists.

7. Disable P2P Share for Windows Updates

To disable P2P share for Windows update, click on Start, then go to settings and open windows updates. Then click on "Advanced Options", then click on "Delivery Optimization" and then turn off "Allow downloads from other PCs".

8. Uninstall Sophos client or update it to the latest version

It has been observed that Sophos Endpoint client and other Sophos products are also causing 100% CPU utilization issue with several systems. If your system too has any Sophos client installed, try to remove it or update it the latest version and check if it helps. It is a known issue with Sophos and they are expected to fix it with their future updates.

9. Perform clean boot and run a complete virus scan using Malwarebytes anti malware utility

Malware and viruses are also a major reason of the 100% CPU utilization issue. If a computer is affected by any malware, sometimes it exploits the ntoskrnl.exe file, which is Windows NT Kernel and System file. Its process is visible in task manager with the name "System" and it uses maximum amount of CPU. Although, this file is exploited by some 3rd party applications as well which may be installed in the computer. So first of all, try running the system in clean boot mode and check if the issue is resolved. If it is not resolved, run a complete system scan with a good antivirus, such as Malwarebytes antimalware tool. It should fix the issue.

To perform clean boot, open msconfig.exe and then click on "Services". Then click on "Hide all Microsoft services" and then uncheck all the services except LAN, WLAN and Audio services, otherwise your internet would be disconnected and system audio will stop working. Then click on OK and restart your system.

10. Factory Reset the OS/Reinstall Windows

If none of the above options worked, reinstall the OS or factory reset the OS and check if it fixes the problem. If it works, then update all the drivers and then install your applications one by one and check if the issue reappears after installing any specific driver or application. If the issue reappears after installing any specific application or driver, that would be the culprit. Uninstall it immediately.

11. Contact system manufacturer for hardware tests and part replacement

If the issue is not resolved even after OS reinstallation, then either system processor or the system fan is faulty which is causing overheating or processor malfunction. In some cases, I have observed that hard drive and memory also caused similar issues due to memory leak. So contact your system manufacturer and ask them to run hardware tests and replace motherboard along with the processor and fan. This would resolve the issue for sure.

Note: In some cases, it is observed that some systems using some specific models of TP Link routers also caused this issue and this was a known issue which is resolved. So if you find any user who has TP Link router which is very old and firmware is outdated, ask them to disconnect from the router and observe if the issue still remains the same.
Additionally, you can use tuneup utilities such as IObit Advanced System Care utility or any other good tuneup utility to optimize your system performance.

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SwifDoo PDF - An all in one tool to manage your PDF files

PDF format is one of the most popular format to send documents over emails and the best thing about a PDF file is that is doesn't lose its formatting, no matter on which device you are opening it. But sometimes we need to make some corrections and edit the document which is easier for Word documents, but not for PDF documents because PDF documents are non editable. To edit these documents, you need special tools which cost a lot.

In these situations, SwifDoo PDF comes in handy. This tiny software can do all the tasks, such as editing PDF, splitting a PDF in multiple files, merging PDF, applying watermarks, encrypting and signing the document etc.

Let's know a brief about the features of SwifDoo PDF:

1. View PDF File: SwifDoo PDF can be used as a PDF viewer. It is lightweight and supports all kinds of PDF files. You can make it your default PDF viewer and use it with ease.

2. Add annotation: You can add annotation in your PDF files, highlight text, do text formatting, insert shapes, add stamps and erase the modifications made in the document.

3. Edit PDF files: Want to make some corrections in an existing PDF file or want to add your own text in the same font and color of an exiting file? You can do it easily with SwifDoo PDF. You can insert images, add or delete text, add hyperlinks, change or delete images and use several other editing features.

4. Extract text from a PDF using OCR: SwifDoo PDF has OCR feature in built which can extract text from any scanned PDF to be used later in a text editor.

5. Convert PDF to other formats: You can convert a PDF into Word, Excel, Text, HTML, CAD, Image etc files with a single click.

6. Page management: You can add, merge, delete, extract and split pages within a PDF document with SwifDoo PDF.

7. Security Features: In SwifDoo PDF, you can find the options to E-Sign a PDF, encrypt a PDF for enhanced security, add watermark, compress it and convert the document to scanned document.

All these features are very handy and are very useful for a person who has to deal with files and edit them frequently.

To know more and buy SwifDoo PDF, you can visit https://www.swifdoo.com/

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How to upgrade to Windows 11 on unsupported hardware without data loss

Windows 11 has been rolled out officially for all the users as a stable release on 5th Oct 2021. But many users are disappointed because Microsoft is not allowing them to upgrade to Windows 11 if their machines are not with latest hardware. To be able to use Windows 11, the machine should have 8th Gen or above processor, TPM 2.0 and secure boot enabled. Without these requirements, you would not be able to upgrade to Windows 11.

But there is a script that you can use to bypass the system check and easily upgrade to Windows 11 using the official ISO file of Windows 11. Make sure to disable windows defender before running the script otherwise it might not let the script run. Also, there is no harm in running the script and I already have personally tested it. Follow the steps given below to initiate the upgrade process:

1. Download Windows 11 ISO File from Microsoft's website. (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows11)
2. After downloading the ISO file, download the system check bypass script from this link: Bypass Script Link
3. After downloading the zip file, extract it and run the Skip_TPM_Check_on_Dynamic_Update_v2.cmd file as admin.
4. Once the script is done with the registry modification, open the Windows 10 ISO and run the setup. You would see that it would allow you to install Windows 11, however it would ask you to accept the risks that may state that the system might not get security updates on unsupported hardware. You may click on accept and forget about it, all the updates would be delivered to the device without any issues.
5. Now proceed towards the installation and choose the upgrade option. Windows 11 installation would begin and once it is done, your system would restart and you will be able to login to Windows 11 and use it without any problems.

For more tips, keep visiting PC Tricks Guru.

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How to turn a website into Windows app

There are so many websites which we visit frequently using our computers and think that if there could be a Windows application for that website, it would have been great. Usually we bookmark the sites in the browser and use them to open the sites but what if I tell you that you can easily turn any website into a Windows application and can access the app right from your start menu or a desktop shortcut? It would really be easy to access your favorite websites without searching them in the bookmarks because you would be able to open them as an app using their own app icon in your start meu.

Following are the steps to do in just in seconds:

1. Open Edge browser in your Windows 10 computer and open the website which you want to convert into an application.
2. Now from the top right corner, you need to click on the three dots or press Alt+F keys together to open the browser menu.
3. Now click on "Apps" in the menu and then click on "Install this site as an app".
4. A prompt will pop-up on the screen asking you to name the app, just type the name of the app and then press enter.
5. That's it, you can now access the website as an app from your start menu.

Below is the video demonstration for the whole procedure.

Keep visiting for more tips and tricks.

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Brave Browser : The Best Browser

In our day to day life, web browsers play a very important role which we don't even realize. From surfing internet to watching youtube videos, we use web browsers. Google chrome is the most popular web browser and majority of the internet users use this browser. But you might have heard a lot of complaints that Google Chrome uses maximum resources of the computer and if you open multiple tabs in it, is gets frozen or makes the PC very slow.

To overcome this problem, some companies tried to use the source code of Google Chrome and developed several Chromium based web browsers but they all couldn't do well. Even Microsoft used Chromium source code and enhanced its Edge browser which improved its performance a lot. But still it could not beat the best browser of all time, which is "Brave" browser.

Brave browser is made using chromium source code and in terms of speed and features, it is the best among all browsers. Not only this, you can earn BAT crypto tokens which you can transfer to your crypto wallets and sell it and cash it out. Isn't it cool getting free crypto tokens just by using your web browser for your in your day to day internet usage?

>>>DOWNLOAD BRAVE BROWSER FROM HERE<<<

Following are some of the features of the brave browser:

• In built adblocker which is very powerful in blocking youtube ads, web ads, search result ads and any kind of ads which may interrupt your web browsing experience.
• As compared with the other browsers, Brave is 40% faster and it doesn't consume much amount of RAM even if you open multiple tabs.
• It has very strict privacy features which protect you from being tracked and from malicious cookies.
• For browsing websites, it rewards you with BAT crypto tokens.
• You can use all chrome extensions in Brave browser.

I would definitely suggest you to install Brave browser and use it as I am personally using it from long time and it is surprisingly good. With the time, Brave browser keeps getting better and better, thanks to the amazing developer team.

>>>DOWNLOAD BRAVE BROWSER FROM THIS LINK<<<

For more tips and tricks, keep visiting pctricksguru.com

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Cannot connect to the virtual machine, try to connect again : Fix error with HyperV

If you are a network engineer or an instructor who uses Virtual machine to run several ISOs, you might face issues in creating virtual machine using HyperV in Windows 10. You may get the error "Cannot connect to the virtual machine. Try to connect again. If the problem persists, contact your system administrator. Would you like to try connecting again?"

There are so many suggestions available online which suggest to change the date and time of the system, reinstall HyperV, delete the existing virtual machine and re-setup it, clear the DNS cache of the system etc but none of the would work. This issue is actually because of an old bug in Windows 10 and just a minor change can fix the issue easily. Let me guide you through the steps to easily resolve the problem:

1. Open cmd with admin and run the command netstat -ano | find "2179" and check if the virtual machine management service is listening to this port, I'm sure you would not get any result after running the command.
   
   
2. Open HyperV and right click on your virtual machine and click on Turn Off.
3. Now open registry editor by running regedit command in RUN and then navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Virtualization and look for the DWORD "ListenerPort".
4. Double click on "ListenerPort" and click on "Decimal" and change the value to 21791 and click OK.
   
   
5. Now close registry editor and open PowerShell as administrator.
6. Type the following commands in powershell to stop and start vmmc service:
   Stop-Service vmms
   Start-Service vmms
7. Now close powershell and open cmd with admin and run the following command again: netstat -ano | find "21791" and this time, you would see that vmmc is listening to the port number 21791.
   
   
8. Now close cmd and then try connecting to your virtual machine through HyperV, it would get connected and you would be able to run your virtual machine without any errors.
   
   

That's all for today. Keep visiting PC Tricks Guru for more tips and tricks.

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How to remove password from Word and Excel files

In our daily work routine, we all use Word and Excel files and most of the people spend their time working on these files. But sometimes, we are provided with some files which are password protected or restricted and making any modifications in those files is not possible without the password. But what if you have created any file and password protected it but later you forgot what was the password to allow editing the file? For these scenarios, I am going to tell you the easiest and fastest way to remove passwords and restrictions from any Word or Excel file. Follow the steps below:

1. At first, make sure that you have turned off your antivirus software or windows defender.
2. Now download any office password remover from this link : Download Link 1 OR Download Link 2 (Make sure to click SKIP AD to be redirected to the download site)
3. Now install the software and once the installation is completed, run registration.reg file to register the program.
4. After the program is registered, open the software and click "Add Files" and select the password protected file which you want to crack.
5. Now click on "Start" and the unprotected file would be ready at the same source just in a few seconds.
6. That's it, you can remove restrictions from any Word/Excel file using the software.

The method is demonstrated in the video given below. You may watch it for further clarity.

Keep visiting PC Tricks Guru for more tips and tricks.

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How to uninstall Cortana from Windows 10 May 2020 Update (v2004)

Cortana is Microsoft's virtual digital assistant and most of the Windows 10 users don't like it. The popularity of Cortana is very low if we compare it with Siri, Alexa or Google. Microsoft has not given the users to uninstall Cortana and the non-techy users have no option other than to live with Cortana installed on their computer.

With the rollout of Windows 10 May 2020 update, Microsoft has separated Cortana as a completely separate app but again, there is no option to uninstall it. But no need to worry, if you want to uninstall it from your computer, I am sharing the easiest and quickest way to uninstall Cortana from Windows 10 May 2020 update. Follow the steps given below:

1. Click on the start button and search for Windows PowerShell and open it as administrator.

2. Now copy and paste the following command in PowerShell and press enter key.

Get-AppxPackage -allusers Microsoft.549981C3F5F10 | Remove-AppxPackage

3. That's it, you would see that Cortana would be uninstalled from your device in a few seconds.

4. You can now use your Windows without Cortana.

I have created a short video to demonstrate this method, you may check it below:

Keep visiting for more tips and tricks.

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Download Offline Installer for Microsoft Edge Chromium

Microsoft has recently introduced the faster and better Edge browser which is based on Google's chromium source code. The new Edge browser supports all the extensions downloaded through Google store and it is very smooth and fast, even better than Google's own Chrome browser because the new Edge consumes fewer resources than the Google Chrome browser.
To install Edge, you can download the click to run the installer for the edge but if you don't want to perform an online installation and want to use the complete standalone installer instead, I'll guide you the steps to download the complete installation package of Edge Chromium browser.

1. Open this link: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/edge/business/download
2. Now select the Channel/Build (select the most recent stable build), select the system architecture and then click on the "Download" option.

3. Now accept the license agreement and your download would begin.
4. Once the download gets completed, run the setup to install the Edge Chromium browser and enjoy the best web browser by Microsoft.

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Activate Windows 10 For Free Using KMS Client Keys

Windows 10 is the latest and final Windows OS by Microsoft. Microsoft offered a free upgrade to Windows 10 for one year after its launch but luckily if you are using the genuine license of Windows 7 or 8.1, you can still upgrade to Windows 10 for free without paying a single penny (Using Windows media creation tool). But if you don't have a genuine Windows 7/8.1 license and you still want to use Windows 10 or if your device came with Linux and if you want to use Windows 10 then you can activate your copy of Windows 10 just by using a few commands. Microsoft offers KMS Client keys to install Windows OS as a volume license to try it and using the same keys, you can keep your copy of Windows activated forever. Following is the list of Windows 10 KMS Client keys which you can use with your machine:

• Windows 10 Home: TX9XD-98N7V-6WMQ6-BX7FG-H8Q99
• Windows 10 Home N: 3KHY7-WNT83-DGQKR-F7HPR-844BM
• Windows 10 Home Single Language: 7HNRX-D7KGG-3K4RQ-4WPJ4-YTDFH
• Windows 10 Home Country Specific: PVMJN-6DFY6-9CCP6-7BKTT-D3WVR
• Windows 10 Professional: W269N-WFGWX-YVC9B-4J6C9-T83GX
• Windows 10 Professional N: MH37W-N47XK-V7XM9-C7227-GCQG9
• Windows 10 Education: NW6C2-QMPVW-D7KKK-3GKT6-VCFB2
• Windows 10 Education N: 2WH4N-8QGBV-H22JP-CT43Q-MDWWJ
• Windows 10 Enterprise: NPPR9-FWDCX-D2C8J-H872K-2YT43
• Windows 10 Enterprise N: DPH2V-TTNVB-4X9Q3-TJR4H-KHJW4

Note: These keys are not pirated or stolen keys. They are officially shared by Microsoft in the KMS Client Setup documentation which can be accessed from this link.

Now let's see how can you activate your Windows 10 copy using these keys for free. First of all, you need to check which Windows version have you installed. In this article, I'll take an example of Windows 10 Home. So now as we know we have installed Windows 10 Home, we would need to install the KMS Client key for Windows 10 Home in our machine. To do so, follow the steps below:

1. Open command prompt in elevated mode (Search for cmd in Start and right-click over it and click on Run As Administrator)

2. Now run the following command as per your Windows edition to install the KMS Client Key:
slmgr /ipk TX9XD-98N7V-6WMQ6-BX7FG-H8Q99

Note: I have assumed we are using Windows 10 Home so I used the key for Windows 10 Home. You may use the key as per your Windows edition. Running this command will install Windows key in your machine.
3. Now we need to connect to KMS server. If you already have set-up your own KMS Server, you may use your own url for KMS Server. If you don't have it, then use the following command to connect to KMS Server provided by msguides:
slmgr /skms kms8.msguides.com

4. After running this command, we need to activate Windows. To do so, run the following command:
slmgr /ato

5. That's it. Your Windows 10 copy is now activated and you can use it without any issues.

Keep visiting for more tips and tricks.

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Fix the error: "Computer policy could not be updated successfully, The processing of Group Policy failed"

In Windows, we can use gpupdate.exe command to forcefully update the group policy changes. While using this command, if you are getting the error message "Computer policy could not be updated successfully, The processing of Group Policy failed", then to fix this issue, you would need to follow some simple steps as mentioned below:

1. Exit out of command prompt and close any opened files and folders.
2. Now navigate to the following path: C:\Windows\System32\GroupPolicy\Machine
3. In the Machine folder, you would find a file named "Registry.pol", just rename this file to "Registry.bak".
4. Now restart your computer and then try to run the gpudate.exe command in the elevated window of the command prompt, the issue won't appear now.

That's it. This was how to fix the error: "Computer policy could not be updated successfully, The processing of Group Policy failed". Keep visiting for more tips and tricks.

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Why do we need an Antivirus software for our PCs?

Computers are very common these days and you would hardly be able to do your work without computers. Whether you are a student or a working professional, you would definitely require a computer to complete your assignments or manage your day to day tasks. But today, there are a lot of threats everywhere which would infect your computer and it could cause a serious problem, like data loss and OS corruptions, etc. Imagine you are a very busy businessman and you have several important meetings and appointments scheduled in Outlook and suddenly one day, all your appointments are deleted from Outlook and all your emails are gone. That would definitely be a nightmare! Just a single virus program can do this to you and you would be helpless once the damage is done. This is why we should always keep our PCs protected with any good antivirus software. Following are a few more points to explain why antivirus programs are required for our computers:

1. Keep your computer free from adware

You might have seen in some computers that after launching the web browser, some strange pop-ups start opening automatically which show ads related to random downloads, dating, and some adult stuff, etc. These are actually generated by adware which infects the web browser and installs unwanted extensions in your browser and changes the default search engine to any malicious webpage. The default Windows Defender antivirus can’t stop these adware and that’s why we need any other good antivirus program installed in our machine to protect it from adware.

2. Keep your data safe

Hackers can easily install ransomware in your machine and encrypt all your data. The recent wannacry attack was the best example of it. The ransomware changes the extension of all your files and locks the computer with a message on the screen which asks you to pay money to the attacker through cryptocurrency. There is no assurance that your files will be back again even after paying the amount. Suppose you become a victim of this type of attack and lose all your data, doesn’t it sound horrible? This is another reason why do we need to install a good antivirus software with ransomware protection enabled. Not only this kind of attack takes place on the internet. For ransomware to take over your PC, you have to download it first and open the file that contains it. As many may not know, there's a huge importance of security of the browser itself and the protections that each website that we visit has. There are many different online businesses that fall under heavy attacks of hackers. There are clear statistics that show a steady increase in the number of attacks. Among the targets you will find: E-commerce sites, Banks, Pharmacies, private companies, online casinos and many more. The user MUST first check the website. Some of the checks are user reviews, SSL, payment methods and more. Casinos are often a target if they are not secured correctly. The casino might do everything right, but if it has a lack of security, the transactions that are made may be exposed to third parties. A very popular game is online pokies, which gained popularity thanks to its low stacks and fast gameplay. That's why users are often doing many transactions that include deposits and withdraws. Some of these might be "sniped" by a third party and both the user and the casino will lose the money. That is why it's very important to check the website background, the same as you would do in a regular restaurant or business.

3. Avoid system slowdowns

Several malware run in the computer as background processes which impacts the performance of your machine. The RAM and Processor are utilized a lot by these malware which causes system slowdowns and system crashes. These malware gets linked with the important system processes and it becomes almost impossible to remove them from PC once they infect the machine. So to avoid these malware from getting installed in the machine, a good antivirus software is required to be installed on the computer.

4. Prevent automatic restarts and blue screen of death errors

Some viruses create several unwanted shortcuts in the machine and they come back automatically even if you delete those shortcuts. If you click on these shortcuts, either they create more copies of them or they restart the machine and sometimes it results in a blue screen of death error. It becomes really frustrating to distinguish between the original shortcut icon and the malware. So, these viruses fill your hard drive with multiple junk files and slow down the machine which impacts your productivity. This is also a good reason we need a good antivirus to prevent these viruses from getting installed in the machine.

5. Prevent keyloggers and screen capturing malware

This is a very serious issue which you could face if you don’t have any good antivirus installed on your machine. If any keylogger gets installed in your machine through any malicious email or through any infected USB drive, whatever you do in your computer would get recorded and would be sent automatically to the attacker. If any keylogger is installed in the machine, it would secretly capture the keystrokes and screenshots and would send them to the attacker remotely. All your user IDs, passwords, screenshots of your online activities and everything you do would be sent to the attacker which would compromise your privacy and would put you in a serious risk. The attacker would be able to login to your bank websites, he would have your card details etc which can be misused. This kind of data is already being sold by hackers on the dark web. So, it is always smart to keep a good antivirus installed on your machine to avoid these kinds of problems.

So, the overall idea of this article is, that if you want to be safe online and offline, you MUST use a good antivirus in your PC. Without any antivirus, you are prone to cyber-attacks and once you become a victim of it, there would be very fewer chances to recover from it. So, I would recommend using any of these antiviruses as your primary antivirus: AVG Internet Security, Quick Heal Antivirus, Norton Security, Kaspersky Internet Security, and McAfee Total Protection.

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Outlook keeps asking for Gmail password: Easy Fix

Recently several users who are using Gmail email addresses in Outlook reported that they are facing issues with Outlook. After launching Outlook, the login prompt for Gmail pops up and even after entering the correct password, the prompt keeps popping up and doesn't disappear. Because of this error, Outlook users are not able to send and receive emails.
This issue is actually not an Outlook issue and it is being caused by Gmail itself. I will guide you on how to fix this issue by making a few changes in Gmail settings. Follow the steps mentioned below if you are also facing a similar issue.

Outlook keeps asking for Gmail password: Easy Fix
1. Close Outlook and login to Gmail.com using your Gmail email address.
2. After logging into Gmail, click on your photo on the top right corner and then click "Google Account" option. It would open the Google account settings page.

3. Now click on the "Security" option from the Google account settings page and scroll down. You would find "Less secure app access" which would be turned off by default. Just turn it on and then refresh the webpage and make sure the option remains turned on.

4. Now try launching Outlook and check if the error is still there. If the error is still there, then go to Gmail inbox and check if you received an email with the subject "Critical Security Alert". If you would open this email, you would find that Google blocked the sign in attempt made by Outlook. So in this email, you have to click on "Check Activity" button.

5. After clicking on the Check Activity button, another page would open which would inform you that Google blocked a sign-in attempt from a suspicious app. That suspicious app was actually Outlook and it is a Microsoft product so Google blocked it's sign in attempt as it won't allow any non google app to sign into Gmail account directly. On that page, click on "Yes, it was me" so that Google would recognize that the sign in attempt was made by you.

6. Now come back to Gmail and click on the gear icon from the top right side of the page as shown in the image below and click on "Settings".

7. Now from the settings page, click on "Forwarding and POP/IMAP" and enable POP and enable IMAP and then save the settings as shown in the image below.

8. Now open control panel in the PC and search for the mail app from the control panel and launch it.

9. In the mail app, double click on the default profile and it would open the dialog box to see the emails and data files. Click on the Email Accounts button to list the configured emails in Outlook.

10. Now the list of the configured emails would open. Double click on the Gmail email which is creating problems with Outlook.

11. Now the email settings would open. Change the IMAP settings to imap.googlemail.com and smtp.googlemail.com and then test the account settings.

12. Now if you click Next, the email would be configured properly and the tests would give positive results.

13. That's it, you may launch Outlook now and it would be back to normal.

NOTE: If you have enabled two-step verification in your Gmail account, you need to generate an app password and update the generated password in the Outlook settings in step 11. To generate app password for Gmail, click This Link.

Keep visiting PC Tricks Guru for more tips and tricks.

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Fix wrong clock time in Windows 10

If your Windows clock is showing the wrong time in the taskbar, you may fix the wrong clock time by using the following methods.

1. Change date and time settings
Click on the start button and click on the gear icon to open settings. After "Settings" is opened, click "Time and Language" and then "Date and Time". Now turn on the "Set time automatically" and "Set time zone automatically" options and check if this fixes your issue. If it doesn't, turn off both the options and set the time and time zone manually.

2. Start the Windows time service
Press Windows and R keys together to open RUN. Now in the RUN box, type services.msc and it would open the list of Windows services. Now look for "Windows time" and double click on it. After double-clicking on it, Windows time properties would open. Set the startup type to Automatic and then click on Start to start the service, then click Apply and then click OK.

3. Change internet time server
To change the internet time server, open control panel. Now click on "Clock and Region > Set the time and date > Internet Time > Change Settings". Now change the time server to time.nist.gov and click "Update Now" and then click OK and OK.

4. Re-register Windows time dll file
To re-register windows time dll file, open command prompt as admin and run the following command:
regsvr32 w32time.dll

5. Re-register Windows time process
To re-register windows time process, open command prompt as admin and run the following commands one by one:
net stop w32time
w32tm /unregister
w32tm /register

6. Force windows to sync time through the command prompt
To force windows to sync time through cmd, open command prompt as admin and run the following commands one by one:
net stop w32time
w32tm /unregister
w32tm /register
net start w32time
w32tm /resync
After running these commands, restart your computer and check if it helps.

7. Change the CMOS Battery
If none of the above methods work, consider replacing your motherboard's CMOS battery. After replacing the CMOS battery, the date and time should function normally. To get the battery replaced, you may visit any local repair shop or if you have the knowledge of CMOS battery replacement, you may buy a CMOS battery and replace it with your motherboard's battery.

For more tips and tricks, keep visiting PC Tricks Guru.

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