Articles in Category: Ask Leo! Tip of the Day – Public

Tips originally published as The Ask Leo! Tip of the Day for paying supporters. (Tips are made public roughly two to three years after their initial publication.)

My customized start menu

Tip of the Day: Add to the Start Menu in Windows 10

Double-High Taskbar

Tip of the Day: Make the Taskbar Bigger

My Mother

Tip of the Day: Back Up

Edit Comment

Tip of the Day: Edit Your Facebook Comments

Don’t reply to yourself to make a correction — edit your Facebook comment instead!

Tip of the Day: Let Yourself be Seen and Heard

Tip of the Day: Let Yourself be Seen and Heard

With social distancing comes isolation. Don’t let your fear of a camera stop you from connecting with your friends and family, or allowing them to connect with you.

Power and Sleep Options

Tip of the Day: Leave Your Laptop Running When Plugged In

Sleep, while more reliable than in the past, can still be a problem if you expect your machine to stay on when plugged in.

Router Password Change Dialog

Tip of the Day: Change Your Router’s Password

If I could tell you only one thing about securing your home network, this is at the top of my list.

Comparison of Customized CMD

Tip of the Day: Customize the Command Prompt

If you spend any significant time in the Command Prompt, you may want to customize its appearance to be a little more to your liking.

Right Click

Tip of the Day: The Power of Right-click

Right-clicking is a shortcut to a wide variety of functions appropriate for whatever you’ve selected.

Keyboard

Tip of the Day: Two Keystrokes I Use Constantly

I use two Windows Key combinations constantly, and I think you’ll find them useful as well.

A Vague Search

Tip of the Day: Be Both General and Specific When You Search

When searching the internet, be both general and specific, and not too much of either.

Cut, Copy, Paste on the Clipboard

Tip of the Day: Cut, Copy, Paste and the Clipboard

The clipboard and its basic operations — cut, copy, and paste — are heavily used and underappreciated building blocks for Windows applications.

Shutdown

Tip of the Day: Shutdown or Reboot from the Command Line

The shutdown command does what its name implies, but includes many options relating to shutting down or rebooting.

Traditional Text Selection

Tip of the Day: Text Selection

Text selection is one of the most basic operations we perform. Here’s a look at some common techniques.

Pinning an Email Account to the Start Menu

Tip of the Day: Pin an Email Account to the Start Menu

If you have multiple email accounts configured in the Mail app, you can create a convenient shortcut on the Start menu for each.

File Explorer open to This PC

Tip of the Day: Rename “This PC”

“This PC” is clear, but generic. If you regularly use multiple computers, it can be handy to change it to something more helpful.

Default File Explorer

Tip of the Day: Clean Up File Explorer Quick Access

By default, Windows File Explorer opens to “Quick access”. Not everyone uses, or even likes, “Quick access”.

Desktop Peek Control

Tip of the Day: Desktop Peek

For those with cluttered (or information-filled) desktops, Desktop Peek is a quick way to see what your running applications otherwise cover.

Help piped into More

Tip of the Day: Help and More

The Command Prompt has a number of commands and tools. One of them lists available commands and tools.

Windows in High Contrast

Tip of the Day: Make Things Readable Using High Contrast

High-contrast mode can be the difference between being frustrated by what’s on the screen and being able to read it clearly.

A document with assorted formatting

Tip of the Day: Clear Formatting Using Notepad

Notepad turns out to be a useful tool to remove formatting from fancy text.

Pinned drive on the Start menu

Tip of the Day: Pin a Folder to the Start Menu

The new Windows Start menu has given one of my oldest questions an easy answer.

mklink example

Tip of the Day: mklink: Hard and Symbolic Links in Windows

File system links can make files and folders appear in more than one place. It can be quite useful.

File Open with Thumbnails

Tip of the Day: Icons or Thumbnails?

ALT+TAB

Tip of the Day: ALT+TAB

The ALT+TAB tab sequence is under-appreciated. Learn its power and flexibility to switch between running programs.

Command Line Search

Tip of the Day: Searching Via the Command Prompt

Using the Command Prompt can often be quicker and clearer than Windows’ own built-in search function.

Changing Size of Displayed Items

Tip of the Day: the Size of Things on Your Display

Windows 10 has made controlling the size of items on your display easier and more obvious.

Just START Typing

Tip of the Day: Just Start Typing

One small change to how the Start menu works, coupled with the increased power of Windows Search, and you might find yourself leaving significant parts of the Windows UI behind.

Uninstall Apps

Tip of the Day: Uninstall (Some) Apps

Uninstalling some of the pre-installed apps in Windows 10 is (usually) possible.

CPU Meter

Tip of the Day: Put a CPU Meter in Your Taskbar

Windows comes with its own little CPU meter built in. You can access it using Task Manager.

Unpin From Start

Tip of the Day: Removing Start Menu Tiles

The Windows 10 Start menu is one of its most controversial features. What most people don’t realize is how much you can customize it.

PIN Sign-In

Tip of the Day: Sign in With a PIN (or Not)

Windows 10 introduced the ability to sign in using a PIN. It’s quick and easy to set up and use.