Stop Windows 10 auto upgrade in Windows 7/8.1

Microsoft has already pushed it's Windows 10 upgrade to the users of Windows 7/8.1 and if we take a look in the microsoft community sites, users are upset about it because whether you want it or not, microsoft wants to you install this upgrade in your computer by forcefully pushing it through windows updates. Several users have reported that their PC crashed after installing this update and they have lost their files because they had to do a clean install of their Windows OS.
Later on, Microsoft said that the upgrade was pushed by mistake and they are working on it to make sure that it doesn't get installed automatically in the PCs of users. But now it seems that they are not leaving any option for the user, it's like "Get it now or you'll get it tonight". Now the question is that what will the people do whose computer is not compatible with windows 10 and what if they don't want to use windows 10 or don't want to buy a new computer?
Well, just for those who don't want to get windows 10, I'm sharing a tool which can stop the upgrade to windows 10 and can get rid of that Get Windows 10 icon also. If you don't want to use a third party tool, then there is one more way to disable this upgrade using a registry tweak but the registry tweak might not stop this upgrade for long time so it will be better if you use the tool "GWX Control Panel".

1. Disable windows 10 auto upgrade and remove GWX icon from taskbar using registry tweak:

• Open run by pressing windows and R keys together.
• Type regedit and click OK.
• Registry editor will be opened. Now navigate to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Gwx"
• Now right click in the white area in the right side and create a new REG_DWORD and name it DisableGwx and set it's value to 1 by double clicking on the name of the dword.
• That's it. Exit from the windows registry and restart the computer.

Remember that it's not the permanent solution because microsoft will undo this change of windows registry by installing some other updates.

2. Disable windows 10 auto upgrade and remove GWX icon from taskbar using GWX Control Panel tool:

The GWX Control Panel tool is developed by Ultimate Outsider. This this can be very helpful if you want to permanently stop windows 10 auto upgrade and get rid of Get Windows 10 icon. You can download this tool from here: Download GWX Control Panel

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Fix for error code 0X8004FC12 while office 2016 activation

If you are using Microsoft Office 2016 and getting the error code 0X8004FC12 at the time of activation, then here is a solution to fix this issue. In most of the cases, I tried uninstalling office completely and reinstalled it in administrator account and it fixed this issue but if you still face this error code and want to resolve it, then use the following methods:

1. Temporarily disable your antivirus and disable your windows firewall and try activating office, it should get activated.
2. If the above option didn't work, then reset your TCP/IP by running the official fixit tool by Microsoft. Download the fixit from this link and run it. Now try to activate your office program.
3. If you still face activation issue, then open the command prompt with administrative rights and run the following commands:

net localgroup Administrators localservice /add
fsutil resource setautoreset true C:\
netsh int ip reset resetlog.txt

Now restart the computer and then try reactivating office again. It should be activated and you should not see any error messages.
4. If the issue is still not resolved, then follow these steps to enable TLS 1.2:
> Open RUN by pressing Windows key + R
> In the run box, type inetcpl.cpl and click OK.
> It will open Internet Properties, click Advanced tab.

> In the list of the available options, scroll down tillthe end and enable Use TLS 1.2 if it is unchecked.
> Now click Apply then OK.

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

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Fix: Error code 0xc004e016 in Windows 10 activation

Windows 10 activation error code 0xc004e016 is being reported by so many users who upgraded their previous OS to Windows 10. Generally Windows 10 gets activated automatically if you are using a genuine product key in your previous OS but if your upgraded copy of windows 10 is not activated and is giving the error code 0xc004e016 at the time of activation, then you may try to activate your windows 10 using this simple method:

1. Open command prompt with administrative rights. (Press win+X keys and then press A key from keyboard)
2. Now in command prompt, type slmgr /ipk W269N-WFGWX-YVC9B-4J6C9-T83GX and press enter. It will give you a popup that says that the key is installed.
3. Now type slmgr /skms kms.xspace.in and press enter and wait for the activation message box.
4. Now type slmgr /ato and it should activate your windows 10 copy.

If you are performing a clean installation on a machine that is reserved for free Windows 10 upgrade and you don't know the product key which was installed in your computer, you can use the generic keys provided by Microsoft to install windows 10. Using these keys is not illegal and these keys are genuine.
Windows 10 Home Key: TX9XD-98N7V-6WMQ6-BX7FG-H8Q99
Windows 10 Pro Key: VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T
Windows 10 Enterprise Key: NPPR9-FWDCX-D2C8J-H872K-2YT43

Keep visiting for more tips and tricks.

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How to fix flickering screen issue in Windows 10

Hey guys! Windows 10 has really been a hit among all the operating systems by Microsoft. Microsoft is providing Windows 10 to all of its genuine users of Its previous operating systems (Windows 7/8/8.1) free of cost. Although it seems that all the users who got their free upgrades are happy with their new OS but most of the users are reporting so many problems with their upgrade. Among all the emerging issues, the most common issue among them is "Screen flickering issue". Users are complaining that after upgrading their computers to windows 10, screen is flickering and they are not able to do anything with their OS. Manufacturers are suggesting them for a clean install of their old OS and after waiting for hours in call queue, customers are not getting any satisfactory solution from Microsoft support team also.
After handling lots of cases related to screen flickering issue, I noticed that this issue is common among the users who have AMD or NVIDIA GeForce graphics cards installed in their computers. So most of the times, updating the drivers for these graphics cards resolved the issue. But I was looking for a solid way to fix this issue that works with all the computers which has screen flickering issue. So I did some researches and explored the windows services and found an idea that if I disable the service that reports errors in windows, will I be able to resolve this issue? And surprisingly it worked for about 80% of the tests. In 20% of the tests, the issue was with some non compatible drivers which were fixed by uninstalling the driver or disabling the device from device manager. So, I'm explaining the method to fix this problem for almost any computer:

This is the method which worked for me most of the times. Follow the steps:
1. Just turn on your computer and when you login to the computer, press ctrl+shift+esc keys together to open task manager.
2. Now click File and then click Run new task option.
3. Run the task msconfig.
4. Now click Services tab and uncheck "Problem Reports and Solutions Control Panel Support" and "Windows Error Reporting Service" services.
5. Click Apply and then OK.
6. Computer will prompt to restart, simply allow it to restart the computer.
7. Now your computer will be rebooted and after restarting the computer, you will see that screen flickering error has gone.

UPDATE 1:
Finally, I have got the exact reason for the flickering screen issue.The culprit is, NORTON ANTIVIRUS. Yes, if you are using Norton Antivirus in your computer and you are going to upgrade your computer to Windows 10, you will face this screen flickering issue. So, before upgrading your computer to Windows 10, uninstall Norton Antivirus and then upgrade.

UPDATE 2:
So many users have reported that they are unable to type "msconfig" at the flickering screen. After typing M, they are unable to type rest of the characters. So here is the easiest solution for you:
1. Press ctrl+alt+delete keys OR windows+L keys together to go to the lockscreen.
2. Now press and hold the shift key and while holding the shift key, click on the power icon in the right bottom corner of the screen and click RESTART.
3. Now you should see a new menu that has Continue and Troubleshoot options. After getting this menu, release the shift key and click TROUBLESHOOT option.
4. Now click Advanced Options
5. Now click STARTUP SETTINGS and RESTART.
6. Your computer should restart now, and on the next screen you should see some startup settings options. Press key 5 from the keyboard to boot into safe mode with networking.
7. When computer is turned on in safe mode, open msconfig and disable the services as mentioned in the main article and restart your computer. It will fix the flashing screen issue.

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Unable to sign in to Windows 10: Fix, Recover the password

Hi guys, here is a cool trick to reset or change the admin password of Windows OS without using any third party application. Most of the times, it happens that we forget our administrator password and the final solution which we get from the support team is to reset or reinstall the computer which causes data loss. But you know, if you are unable to sign in to your computer, a small trick can save your data and can reset your administrator or any user account password. Let's see how to reset the administrator password without signing in to your computer.

1. Create a bootable flash drive or DVD of Windows 10 using media creation tool on any other computer.
2. Now plug in the usb to your computer and boot it with USB.
3. After booting your computer with flash drive, you will see the installation window. Select the language as english and click NEXT.
4. Now on the next screen, click "Repair Your Computer" option.
5. Now you will enter into recovery mode. Select "Troubleshoot" option.
6. Now select "Advanced Options".
7. Now select "Command Prompt" option and command prompt will be popped up.
8. In command prompt, check for the drive in which windows is installed. Use the following command to check the folders inside the drive:
dir X: <press enter> [here, X is the drive letter which is C, D, E... and so on.]
9. If you get the drive which contains "Windows" folder in it, switch to that drive using the following command. For example, suppose your C: drive contains the Windows files, in command prompt, type C: and press enter.
10: Now type the following command to go to system32 folder.
cd windows/system32 <press enter>
11. After selecting the system32 folder in command prompt, type the following commands:
ren sethc.exe setbak.exe <press enter>
ren cmd.exe sethc.exe <press enter>
12. Now exit from the command prompt and restart the computer.
13. After restarting the computer, you will be at the login screen. Now press shift keys continuously for the 5 times.
14. You will see that command prompt is opened on the login screen. Type the following command to check the number of user accounts in your computer:
net user <press enter>
15. Now you will see your username in the available user account list. For example, my user account is Ashutosh, so I'll reset the password for my user account by running the following command:
net user ashutosh 12345 <press enter> [you can replace your username instead of Ashutosh]
16. Now exit from the command prompt and login using the new password 12345.
17. You will see that you are logged in successfully in your computer and you can use it now.
18. If you are logged in using a microsoft account but don't know the password, then you can log in by creating a new user account with administrative rights. To create new user account, use the following commands in command prompt (step 15)
net user /add test 12345
net localgroup administrators test /add
19. Now restart the computer and on login screen, you will get a new user, "test". Just sign in to that account using the password 12345 and you will be signed in.
20. After recovering your account, again repeat the steps 1 to 10 and type the following command in command prompt:
ren sethc.exe cmd.exe <press enter>
ren setbak.exe sethc.exe <press enter>
21. Now restart the computer and use your computer.

Keep visiting for more tips and tricks.

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How to find Product Key of Windows and MS Office in any computer

Product keys are very important for the installation and activation of Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office products. Generally, every paid software comes with a product key which is used to activate the product. For OEM computers, customers do not know where the product key is located and it gets applied automatically in the case of system reset or refresh. But if something goes wrong and you need to perform a clean installation of OS, you just get stuck with the activation issue because for the activation of your product you require the product key. So in this post, I'll tell you how to get product keys from your computer if OS is installed and is in working condition.

1. Download ProduKey tool from the link given here: DOWNLOAD LINK
2. Extract the zip file and run ProduKey.exe file.
3. It will show you your Windows and MS Office product key.
4. Make a note of your product keys and keep them safe for future use.
5. You may use AdvisorInstaller tool (already provided in the downloaded zip file) also to get your product keys extracted from your computer.

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Fix: Something Happened error while installing Windows 10

Windows 10 is getting famous among the users and for most of the users, Windows 10 free upgrade is working fine. But there are still so many users who are facing problems while installing windows 10 and I have provided solutions to most of the common windows 10 problems in my blog. The error "Something Happened" is the funniest error in the history of Microsoft and on twitter, people are trolling with this error. This error is funny because it never tells you what happened? Just something happened, lol. We get the error and we already know that something happened but what the f**k, what happened? I didn't get any error message or any information, just something happened, ROFL.

Well let me tell you what actually happened. This error is because of the wrong language settings in control panel. Fixing this error is very easy and here is the method to fix it:
1. Open control panel and from the search bar, search for Region.
2. Now change the region to United states.
3. From administrative tab, change the system locale as United States and change the language to English (US).
3. Click apply and OK and restart your computer.
4. Now start the installation, you should not get the error again.

Note: After changing the language and system locale, if you still get the same error, open C:/Windows/Software Distribution/Download and delete everything from it. Then start upgrading your computer again. You must not get the error again.
If you are still getting the same error, then try upgrading your computer using Windows 10 Media Creation Tool : Download Link

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Fix: Start menu, Cortana and other apps not working in Windows 10

After upgrading to Windows 10, some users are reporting that they are unable to open start menu, cortana and other apps in their computer. Most of them got the resolution for their problems by contacting Microsoft Support but due to the long wait time and call disconnection issue, lots of users are trying to search the web for resolution. If you search query made you open this page, then I'm sure you're gonna find the solution for your problem  here. Just read the possible solutions below and you might get your issue fixed in minutes. :-)

Solution 1: Using windows PowerShell
1. Open command prompt with admin rights (press Win+X keys and then press A key) and then type the command sfc /ScanNow and wait for the scan to complete.
2. Now type powershell and press enter in the command prompt window. It will bring Windows PowerShell terminal in command prompt.
3. Now copy and paste the following command and press enter key:

Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}

4. You will see that the command is being processed (if you see some red colored error messages, ignore them and wait for the command to get executed completely)
5. Once the command execution gets completed, exit from command prompt window and then try opening start menu. It should open now (if now, try to restart computer and then open start menu)
6. If the issue is still not resolved, try to run the following command in Windows PowerShell with admin rights:
Get-appxprovisionedpackage –online | where-object {$_.packagename –like "*windowscommunicationsapps*"} | remove-appxprovisionedpackage –online

Solution 2: End windows explorer task and re-run it
1. Open task manager by pressing ctrl+shift+ESC keys.
2. Click "Details" tab and select "Explorer.exe" process.
3. Now click "End Task" button.
4. From task manager, click "File" and then "Run New Task" option and then type "explorer.exe" and hit enter key.
5. Your start menu should work now.

Solution 3: Create a new local user account
1. Open command prompt with admin rights.
2. Now run the following command to create a test account:
net user /add test 000000
Here, "test" is the username and "000000" is the password.
3. Now run this command also to add the test account in the group of local administrators.
net localgroup administrators test /add
4. Now logout from the current account and login to the test account and check whether issue is resolved.

[If you don't want to use command prompt, you may open run and then type compmgmt.msc and then click OK. This will open computer management. Now click "Local users and groups". Now open "Users". Now you will see the list of available users in the computer. To create a new user, just right click in the empty area under the user names and then click "New User". In the user creation box, just enter the username and password details and click "Create". Your new user account will be created.]

Solution 4: Fix AppLocker in windows 10
1. Press Win+X keys and then press A key to open command prompt with admin rights.
2. Now copy and paste the following command in command prompt and hit enter key.
ren %windir%\System32\AppLocker\Plugin*.* *.bak
3. Restart your computer. Issue should be fixed.

Solution 5: Starting the Application Identity service.
1. Open run by pressing Win+R keys.
2. Now type services.msc and click OK.
3. Search for the service Application Identity and right click on it and click Start.
4. Restart your computer.

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Fix Windows 10 Setting and Store apps doesn't launch error

After upgrading the current OS to windows 10, some users are reporting that they are unable to launch settings and store apps. Microsoft is also aware of this issue and the team is investigating to get a solid resolution for this issue. Microsoft has categorized this issue as Emerging Issue 67758 and has provided a resolution for this issue which is working for most of the users. If you are also facing the same issue and didn't get any resolution for you, then I'm providing you the fix for this issue.

Solution 1:
1. Download the Fixit for Emerging Issue 67758 from this official microsoft link (tinyurl link: http://tinyurl.com/win10fixsettings). If you face any server issue with the official download link, download it from this mirror link.
2. Run the downloaded fixit and it will check for the error in your Windows 10 computer.
3. If error is found, click Next and it will repair the error automatically.
4. Now open command prompt with admin rights (press Win+X keys and then press A key) and run the sfc /ScanNow command.
5. Let the scan finished and if any error will be found in the scan, it will fix it automatically.
6. Now restart your computer and your settings and windows store apps should work fine.

Solution 2:
Delete all files and folders from C:\Users\user_name\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.WindowsStore_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache where user_name is the user name of your current windows account.

Solution 3: Change the DNS address. Follow the steps given below-
1. Open Control Panel and from the top right search box, search for Network and from the search results, click View Network Connections.

2. It will open your network connections. Select your current network connection and right click on it and click PROPERTIES.

3. Select Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and click PROPERTIES.

4. Now change the DNS settings as shown in the image below and click OK.

5. It should resolve your issue. If you notice any changes in your internet connection, you may disable the custom DNS settings.

Solution 3: Run the powershell command.
Open command prompt with admin rights and then type powershell and press enter to open powershell. Now run the following command in powershell:
Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register “$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml”}

These methods should fix the problem. Keep visiting for more tips and tricks.

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Fix Windows 10 Unable to activate Error 0xc004f034

Microsoft has provided free windows 10 upgrade for the genuine users of Windows 7/8.1 but some of the users have complained that they were the genuine users of Windows but after upgrading to windows 10 using the Windows 10 reservation app, the windows got deactivated and while trying to activate their copy of windows 10, they are getting the error code "0xc004f034". After contacting Microsoft support team, they got the resolution that wait for about one week, your windows will be activated automatically once microsoft servers verify your hardware ID. Most of the users found this resolution perfect and their Windows 10 got activated automatically but still there are some users who are getting the same issue. So, I have a solution for those users, who are still facing the activation issue with their genuine operating system.
Activation error code 0xc004f034 can be easily resolved by running a small batch file and the code for the batch file is given below. Open notepad and copy and paste the following code:

@echo off
:loop
cscript /nologo slmgr.vbs /ato
if errorlevel 0 goto end
goto loop
:end
echo Activation was successful. Press any key to close this window.
pause>nul
exit 

Now save the notepad file as activation.bat on your desktop and run it with administrative rights. After running this file, you will see that your windows 10 is activated and you don't have to wait for the auto activation.
Keep visiting my site for more tweaks about Windows 10. Good Day ahead!

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