Windows 11 – Daves Computer Tips

How To Prevent Windows Updating Drivers

Jim Hillier — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 05:01:43 +0000

Device drivers are programs that allow the operating system to communicate with hardware devices. When it comes to driver updates, the old saying “if it isn’t broken, it doesn’t need fixing” well and truly applies. The one possible exception is graphics card drivers, which often include support for newer games/technology, but even then, the preferred option is to download updated drivers…

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Easily Debloat Windows With ‘Winhance’

Jim Hillier — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 11:17:41 +0000

Looking for an easy solution to slim down Windows? Look no further! Based on a suggestion from one of our regular readers, I checked out “Winhance,” a free and open-source Windows debloat/enhancement utility to see what it offered, and I must say I am very impressed. Many thanks to Reg for the suggestion. There are quite a few Windows debloat/slimming tools around at the moment…

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2 Little Known Windows Tricks

Jim Hillier — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 05:10:19 +0000

Here are a couple of Windows tricks that I pretty much guarantee you don’t know about. This trick creates a one-click option to quickly shut down the PC, and it’s achieved via an obscure file that’s been tucked away in the System32 folder for many years: Now, when you double-click the new shortcut, a “shade” will drop halfway down the screen. Slide the shade down with the mouse to…

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Windows 11’s New LARGE Start Menu

Jim Hillier — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 05:04:28 +0000

For months, I’ve been reading about a new Start menu in Windows 11 but hadn’t seen it in either of my Windows 11 systems… until now. The new Start menu was installed on one of my Windows 11 machines yesterday, and now I’m not sure if it might have been better for it to remain unseen. It’s large, very large. By my calculations, around 50% larger than the old Start menu: (on a 27″ monitor)…

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How To Check Your PC’s Reliability Score

Jim Hillier — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 06:26:48 +0000

Both Windows 10 and Windows 11 include a “Reliability Monitor” feature that will present a system stability rating from 1 to 10, and also help diagnose problematic apps/processes. However, the Reliability Monitor is tucked away and not easy to locate… unless you know how. Here is a screenshot of my Reliability Monitor in Windows 10 (click the image to enlarge): As you can see from the…

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2015- 2025: Microsoft’s Dismal Decade

Jim Hillier — Tue, 06 Jan 2026 06:45:07 +0000

I am not a Microsoft basher by nature, but in all my years of working with Windows, I cannot recall a more infamous period. Microsoft’s introduction of the Insider program not only reinforced the company’s lack of regard for the average home user but also signified the beginning of the rot. It’s no coincidence that when Microsoft sacked the team of professional coders, who were tasked with…

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AI – Too Much Too Soon?

Jim Hillier — Tue, 23 Dec 2025 05:16:02 +0000

Like it or loathe it, AI is permeating every aspect of the PC. Microsoft, Google, software developers, etc., are all pushing AI at every opportunity. But, the critical question here is… is AI truly ready for prime time? In my opinion, AI has been pushed down our throats ahead of its time, and I’ll explain my thinking. There are two hardware components that are essential for AI to function…

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Windows 11 Supported CPUs Is Now Even More Confusing

Marc Thomas — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 06:07:41 +0000

Microsoft recently ‘updated’ its lists of Windows 11 supported processors, but for Intel CPUs, the company chose to list CPU series as opposed to each processor, which is very confusing. For example, it lists the Celeron series being supported when in fact only one out of ten of that series is supported – the Celeron 3867U. What baffles most people is that CPUs such as the mighty Intel 10th Gen…

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Windows 11’s Adoption Not Going Well?

Jim Hillier — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 06:02:07 +0000

Tech sites are at it again, posting ridiculous articles with sensationalist headlines announcing the shocking news that Windows 11 adoption has been underwhelming. These headlines are predicated solely on a report from Dell stating that 1 billion users are still on Windows 10; 500 million with PCs that meet Windows 11 requirements but are still running Windows 10, and 500 million Windows 10 PCs…

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BitLocker Encrypted My Laptop Drive Without Warning

Marc Thomas — Fri, 05 Dec 2025 05:01:26 +0000

I was having some problems with AMD Radeon Adrenalin settings on my Asus TUF Gaming A16 laptop and decided to roll back the GPU drivers. But before doing that, I needed to use Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) in safe mode to remove the current software. To reboot Windows in safe mode, I always hit Win+R, then type msconfig, select the Boot tab, and then Safe Boot. As I was about to hit…

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How To Quickly “End Task” In Windows 11

Jim Hillier — Thu, 27 Nov 2025 05:01:23 +0000

Normally, when an application becomes unresponsive and hangs, we’d need to bring up Task Manager, locate the process, and then end that task. However, in Windows 11, there is a setting that adds an “End task” option to the right-click context menu. The option in my Windows 11 25H2 was enabled by default. To make sure the option is enabled for you: If an application becomes…

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Warning: Windows 11 23H2 Now Unsupported!

Jim Hillier — Tue, 18 Nov 2025 07:33:34 +0000

With all the hoo-hah surrounding Windows 10’s end-of-support, the fact that Windows 11 23H2 reached its end-of-support date on November 11th has gone by pretty much unnoticed. So, this is a reminder that Windows 11 23H2 is no longer receiving security updates, and you need to update to a newer version ASAP. Unlike Windows 10, Microsoft is not providing ESU (Extended Security Updates) for Windows…

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Check Your Startup Apps In Windows 11

Jim Hillier — Tue, 04 Nov 2025 05:23:35 +0000

If you’ve recently upgraded to Windows 11, I strongly suggest checking which apps are set to auto-start with Windows. There are several options to view and manage startup apps in Windows 11: From there, you can enable/disable startup apps as required. Windows 11 adds many apps set to auto-start with Windows, none of which are necessary and, of course, all of which are enabled by default.

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Windows 11: How To Fix Persistent Update Issues

Jim Hillier — Wed, 29 Oct 2025 04:03:58 +0000

Recently I experienced an issue with my Windows 11 installation whereby an update was stuck in one of those interminable loops… install/undoing changes/retry/install/undoing changes, on and on. I tried all the usual fixes, including resetting Windows Update components, renaming the SoftwareDistribution and catroot2 folders, etc., and all the while sfc /scannow is reporting zero system file…

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