How to x

your PCs worst

annoyances

Slow startups. Endless

updates. Undeletable
les. Working with a balky,
uncooperative computer can
be a real headache. These tips
will give you some relief.
By Brad Chacos Illustration by Papercut.fr

Fix PC
annoyances
They say its the litle things that
count, and that goes doubly so for
PCs. Modern-day computers
have enough processing power to
cure diseases and crunch your
monthly budget numbers without
breaking a sweatbut none of
that maters if youre so annoyed
by interface quirks and litle
irritations that merely sending
email is an exercise in frustration.
Windows oozes
with all sorts of
hackle-raising
features that
interfere with just
plain using your PC.
But dont chuck
your monitor across
the room! By the
time youre done
reading this article,
your headaches
should be gone.

Fine-tune
UAC

Delete
les

Restore
Start

Disable
locks

Silence
sounds

Improve
boot time

Clean up
menus

Update
sofware

Erase the
new UI

Make User Account Control

less annoying
Microsofts User Account Controlthe box that pops up and
asks Do you want to allow the following program to make changes to
this computer? incessantlyhas noble roots, as its intended to
let you know when software is making administrator-level
tweaks to your operating system. That makes it handy for
thwarting malware, but the pop-ups are annoying, especially if you stick to safe corners of the Web and run
third-party security software.
If you feel condent enough to disable UAC,
doing so is pretty easy. First, open up the
Control Panel by going to Start u Control Panel in any version of Windows
that includes a Start button, or
by heading to Windows 8s
tiled Start screen, typing
Control Panel, and
clicking it.

Fix PC
annoyances

Next, head to User Accounts and Family Safety u User Accounts

u Change User Account Control settings. A new window pops up
with a slider that allows you to ne-tune just how often the
UAC dialog box will appear. Dont like the way the screen dims
when UAC activates? You can ditch that behavioror you can
just turn UAC o completely. (Amusingly, a UAC prompt pops up to
conrm that you approve of the UAC changes.)

This slider lets

you ne-tune
UAC notications.

Delete les that refuse to be deleted

Few things are more irritating than Windows refusing to delete a le or folder because some part of
that item is in use. The superb Unlocker (go.pcworld.
com/unlocker) lets you seize control and snu out
those stubborn locked les.
Now, when youre faced with a tenacious
le, simply right-click it and select Unlocker
from the context menu. If the le is locked
down, Unlocker opens a window that
details the active process (or processes)
and presents you with several options.
Unlocking a process removes the lock while
leaving the process itself active, whereas killing a process shuts it
down completely. Once youve unlocked or killed the pesky processes,
youre free to delete the le or folder in question.
Be careful, though: Killing critical processes and deleting les
willy-nilly is a good way to create an unstable system. Use Unlocker
only to delete those locked les that you know are safe to scrub.

Warning: Although Unlocker is excellent, its default

Quick settings install unwanted toolbars and muck
up your browsers homepage and search provider.
Be sure to pay attention! Select Advanced at the
appropriate screen and uncheck those options,
or youll have a whole new hassle.

Fix PC
annoyances
Bring back the Start buton
Windows 8 ditched the iconic Start button. The Windows
8.1 update, launching at retail on October 18, brings it back,
but that version of the button simply drops you onto the modern-UI
Start screenWindows 8.1 isnt bringing back the Start menu itself.
(Gee, thanks,
Microsoft.)
If youre having a
dicult time learning
to love live tiles, you
can nd a ton of
stellar Start-button
replacement programs, all of which
bring back the Start
button and restore
its full Windows 7
style functionality.
Our favorite options
include Classic Shell
(go.pcworld.com/
clshell), Pokki (go.
pcworld.com/pokki),
and Start8 (go.
pcworld.com/start8).

Heres Start8 in action

on a Windows 8 PC.

Disable password and lock screens

Passwords and lock screens make a lot of sense on laptops
and touchscreen tablets, but on your personal desktop
safe and secure in your hometheyre just speed bumps along the
road to computational bliss. I especially loathe Windows 8s introduction of a lock screen that you have to dismiss every time your
device wakes up, a function that simply doesnt belong on
non-touchscreen PCs (read: most of them).
You can disable
To ditch it, press <Windows>-R on your keyboard to bring up
Windows 8s
user-password
the Run command box. Next, type gpedit.msc and click OK to
protection easily.
bring up the Local Group Policy Editor. Journey to Computer

Fix PC
annoyances
Conguration u Administrative Templates u Control Panel u Personalization in the le tree located on the left side of the window, and then
double-click Do Not Display the Lock Screen. Finally, select the Enabled
radio button and then click OK.
If you want to disable your password, the method varies by OS version.

Remember: Removing your password means that anyone

can sit at your PC and start poking around.

In Windows 7, open the Control Panel and head to User Accounts and
Family Safety u User Accounts u Remove your password. Just input your
current password and click Remove Password, and youre good to go.
In Windows 8, open the right-side charm bar and then select Settings
u Change PC Settings u Users. Here, click Change under the Any user
who has a password must enter it when waking this PC option, and
click OK in the box that pops up. Boom! Done.

Banish
annoying
Windows
noises.

Enjoy the sound of silence

Windows constantly chirps, buzzing in with a cacophony of
noises ranging from the lowliest ding to the ber-annoying
sound of a User Account Control notication. Just leave me to my
Spotify playlists in peace, Windows!
To force it to do just that, right-click the volume indicator in the system tray (on the right side of the taskbar) and select Sounds from the
context menu. In the new window that opens, click the Sound Scheme
drop-down menu, select No Sounds, and click OK. Revel in the silence.
(Hey, no one ever said all PC annoyances had to be major!)

Fix PC
annoyances
Speed up boot times
Windows inevitably becomes bogged down as the months
go by. And as more and more software and services work
their tendrils into the startup process, your systems boot
time suers in particular. Preventing unnecessary software
from running at startup can drastically reduce how long
Windows 8s Task
your PC takes to get up and at em.
Manager shows a
First, you need to see exactly which programs start along
list of programs
with your computer. In Windows 7, press <Windows>-R,
set to launch at
startup.
type mscong, and press <Enter>. In the System Congura-

tion window that

opens, click the
Startup tab.
The procedure is
a bit easier in Windows 8. Press <Ctrl>-<Shift>-<Esc> to bring up the Windows Task
Manager, and open the Startup tab.
Here youll see a list of all the software that activates at your PCs
startup. Clear the logjamand speed up your PCs boot timeby disabling any entries that absolutely, positively dont need to launch with
Windows. In my case (see the screenshot above), Ive disabled the
startup launches for Microsofts OneNote note-taking software and
the Prime95 benchmarking program, among others, since I can simply
open those applications if I want to use them.
Dont prevent a process from starting during boot if you arent
certain that its superfluous, though. One time, I accidentally disabled startup activation for my laptops touchpad software, which
became a headache all its own.
Neutering rogue startup programs is the fastest way to boost your
machines boot times, but if youre feeling a need for even more
speed, check out PCWorlds nitty-gritty guide to making your PC boot
faster (go.pcworld.com/bootfast).

Fix PC
annoyances

Clean up the context menu

Nirsofts
ShellMenuView:
Ugly but

If youve installed enough software to slow down

powerful.
startup, chances are good that your computers
right-click context menu is overflowing with options, too. Nirsofts excellent ShellExView (go.pcworld.com/shellex) and
ShellMenuView (go.pcworld.com/shellmenu) tools display all the
menu items that appear in your context menu, and they allow you
to disable the ones you dont need.
Note that both utilities drill down to a really granular level, displaying even context-menu options that appear only for certain le extensions and programs. Start with ShellMenuView, and then hunt down
any stragglers with ShellExView. When you nd a menu option you
want to erase, select it in the list, and click the red dot in the Nirsoft
toolbar to disable it. The green dot reactivates a disabled menu
option. (Tip: Use <Ctrl>-F to quickly search for specic programs.)
Nirsofts utilities clean up the context menu by mucking around
with the Windows Registry, so you should be sure to back up the
Registry rst (go.pcworld.com/regbackup).

Ensure hassle-free sofware updates

Keeping your plethora of programs patched and up-to-date
is vital to plugging potential vulnerabilities in your system,
but desktop programs dont automatically update in applike fashion.
You must actively seek out updates for your softwareor worse, deal
with dozens of automatic-update helpers popping up in your face
and clogging up system resources. (Im looking at you, Java Update.)
Or you could simply install Secunia Personal Software Inspector (go.
pcworld.com/psirev). Secunia PSI inventories all the software on your
machine and then keeps an eye out for any updates. If an update
comes along for one of your programs, Secunia attempts to apply it
without bothering you. If Secunia PSI cant apply the
update automatically, it pings you to let you know that a
Secunia PSI helps
new version of the software is currently available, complete
you update your
with a handy-dandy download link.

installed programs.