Business Solutions & Software Group Blog

Windows 11 offers plenty of great utility and customization that will help your business efficiency—provided you can use it well. Today, we want to explore how you can control your Windows desktop experience so that you can improve productivity and manage the way you make use of it throughout the day. Here are four tips to customize the way you use Windows.

The Windows 10 operating system was a major achievement for personal and business computing after the debacle that was Windows 8 (and the 8.1 update). Now that Windows 11 has taken the computing world by storm, Microsoft is getting ready to retire Windows 10. Today, let’s go through everything you need to know about Windows 10’s end of support.

It can be frustrating having a file or folder on your PC that you need to access all the time, without having a shortcut to access it with. Thankfully, Windows makes it easy to add a new shortcut for just about anything, be it a file, folder, program, and so on. Here’s how you can create new shortcuts for specific files or folders on your Windows PC.

Using multiple monitors is great—once you try it, you never want to go back. However, there are times that Windows will still act as though you’re using an additional monitor even when you aren’t. This can make your application windows inaccessible.

Let’s go over how you can retrieve them.

While you most often concern yourself with your computer while it is powered up and active, it pays to be aware of your different options when the time comes to walk away. Let’s take a few moments and review the options that you likely see when putting your computer to rest.

With so many users worldwide embracing Windows as their chosen operating system for all kinds of purposes, there are many different settings that can be customized to best fit the different needs of a workplace as compared to a gamer’s or a family’s setup. Microsoft understands this, and so is testing out a new feature to help a user quickly personalize a device to its predominant use.

Windows 7 was once the best operating system ever made by leaps and bounds. Now, it’s unsupported and shouldn’t be found on any Internet-connected device. Unfortunately, this isn’t the truth as millions of people are still using Windows 7 for their businesses. Today, we will take a look at why Windows 7 is dangerous and what options businesses have to upgrade away from the unsupported OS.

With thousands of people exposed to the COVID-19 Coronavirus and millions more under quarantine, the healthcare industry is on red alert at the moment. Just a short time ago they were worried about another virus: Bluekeep.

Notifications are almost ubiquitous in computing nowadays, which is what makes it so surprising that--until just a few years ago--Windows notifications were either nonexistent or (when Windows 8 rolled around) effectively unusable. Fortunately, Windows 10 solved this problem with the Action Center. Let’s go over what the Action Center can do.

It wasn’t too terribly long ago that Windows 10 was offered for free to users of Windows 7 and Windows 8.1. While this offer was constrained to a limited time, the response was surprisingly stagnant. Why didn’t more people jump at the chance to snag the latest version of the operating system - especially when it would come at no cost to them?

I recently read a statement from the National Security Agency (NSA) expressing concerns over the risks and vulnerabilities that come with running unpatched versions of older Windows operating systems. First, you know it’s serious if the NSA, an entity in the US who depends on the collection and processing of information, is worried that your personal information is at risk. Second, it’s another in a long line of reasons to not allow your network to fall into such disarray that you can no longer protect it.

You’ve been told that it’s a best practice to ensure that you never leave your workstation without locking it first. Yet, if you’re only stepping away for a few minutes, it might be tempting to just allow it to remain unlocked. But what happens when you step away for longer than expected? You leave your computer exposed to all manners of threats. Thankfully, a new solution allows for a fix with a device that most are never without: the smartphone.

Encryption is one of the most effective ways to secure a file, and even the average user can take full advantage of it on their Windows PC. In essence, you can arrange for your files to appear as random numbers, letters, and special characters in the event that an unauthorized user accesses them.You might be surprised to learn that even your  Windows PC has encryption options so that you can protect your sensitive information if so desired.

As time goes on, operating systems grow old and eventually reach their end-of-support date that’s designated by Microsoft. When this fated day comes, patches and security updates are no longer applied to the expired operating system. To help you better plan for the future, we've compiled a list of various expiration dates for many Windows operating systems.

The hype train keeps chugging along for Windows 10, and it’s obvious why. It’s a great operating system that’s changing the way that businesses handle their daily tasks. But is Windows 10 doing as well as it lets on? According to desktop operating system usage statistics from NetMarketShare, Windows 10’s adoption rate has significantly slowed down in recent months, while more people continue to take advantage of Windows 7 and 8.x. Why?

It’s easy to get scatterbrained when things get busy. When this happens, you can forget important things like where you placed your keys, and where you saved your computer file. To help you out, here are some tips on how to locate a missing file. As far as your missing keys go, did you check underneath the couch?

Before Microsoft officially releases Windows 10, beta versions are first given to select business leaders like CIOs. This is a standard practice for software manufacturers because it helps them to work out real-world bugs before publicly releasing their product. What do CIOs think of the Windows 10 technical preview? Inquiring business minds want to know.

What we expected to be Windows 9 has been gradually revealed through leaks over the past several weeks, but Microsoft has thrown a curveball into the mix with Windows 10. The latest information, revealed during a public Microsoft Windows event, has gone into much detail concerning the nature of the newest incarnation of Windows, including its focus on enterprise and cloud-centric policy.

This wasn't supposed to happen. After Microsoft pulled the plug on its popular Windows XP operating system this past April, use of the decade-old OS was supposed to sharply decline and quickly become extinct. Only a few months out from the XP-end-of-life event and the opposite has proven to be true.

Microsoft has announced that, unless you upgrade to Windows 8.1 Update (think of it like a service pack) users will no longer receive updates and support for Windows 8.1. The deadline was set for May 13th, but Microsoft bailed on this deadline the day before it would pass and, instead, extended the deadline. The update is crucial if you are using Windows 8.1 and desire to continue receiving patches for the operating system.