Table of contents for Issue 2 in Windows Advisor

Is your computer running slower than usual? Are you getting lots of pop-ups? Have you seen other weird problems crop up? If so, your PC might be infected with a virus, spyware, or other malware – even if you have an antivirus program installed. Though other problems such as hardware issues can produce similarly annoying symptoms, it’s best to check for malware if your PC is acting up and we’ll show you how to do it yourself. Step 1: Enter Safe Mode Before you do anything, you need to disconnect your PC from the Internet, and don’t use it until you’re ready to clean your PC. This can help prevent the malware from spreading and/or leaking your private data. If you think your PC may have a malware infection, boot…

After nearly 20 years as a Mac user, I’m switching to a Windows PC. Despair drove me to switch from a Mac to a PC. I’ve used Apple computers since college, starting with a Apple Mac Classic II in a computer lab. It had a low-resolution monochrome display. And a floppy drive. Soon I bought a used PowerBook 100. From then on, I was committed, steadily working my way through PowerBooks, iBooks, MacBooks, a MacBook Air and MacBook Pros. Fast-forward to now: I’ve come to rely heavily on Apple-exclusive software that syncs data with my iPad Pro, iPhone SE and my current computer – a 13in 2015 MacBook Pro Retina with 8GB of RAM, a 2.9GHz Intel Core i5 processor, and a 512GB solid-state drive. My 400-film and 11,000-media collection…

You can play a DVD in Windows 10 for free, with a little help that’s probably not from Microsoft. I’ll tell you how Microsoft’s solution sort-of works for some people. Then I’ll tell you about the much better alternative that anyone can use – and best of all, it’s free. RIP Windows Media Centre When Windows 10 came along, it left behind Windows Media Centre, a utility for home entertainment PCs that let you play DVDs on your computer. Windows 8 didn’t come with it either, but users running Windows 8 Pro could still install Windows Media Centre. That workaround is gone with Windows 10. Windows Media Centre simply doesn’t work. Microsoft offers an official solution for DVD playback, but how should I put this: it’s bad. That bad solution…

The Windows 10 Fall Creators Update is coming soon to right some wrongs. Revealed at the company’s recent Build conference in Seattle, the next major version of the operating system fills in some of the missing pieces we lamented in March’s Creators Update, and it makes it easier to work across multiple Windows devices. As the name suggests, Microsoft will ship the OS upgrade late this year. Company executives declined to commit to a specific date, though Microsoft said recently that it will ship Windows upgrades in March and September. As a footnote, Microsoft also revealed that 300 million people use Windows 10 daily, a different usage metric to consider next to the 500 million Windows 10 devices the company revealed previously. If there’s a theme, it’s connection rather than…

A couple of months ago, I took a good, hard look at my dual-screen setup and thought maybe I should get another monitor. A bigger monitor. Then, after an hour or two of researching 27in monitors online, I walked into my living room and was struck with a brilliant idea: maybe, instead of purchasing an entirely new monitor, I should just move my 32in HDTV into my office and call it a day. Bigger is better, you know, and this way I wouldn’t have to drop a couple hundred pounds on a new piece of equipment. But just because HDTVs look a lot like computer monitors doesn’t mean they can replace them. Or does it? Here’s what you need to know if you’re thinking about sticking an HDTV on your…

Ransomware doesn’t sneak into your PC like ordinary malware. It bursts in, points a gun at your data, and screams for cash. And if you don’t learn to defend yourself, it could happen again and again, as the Petya (or NotPetya) outbreak is demonstrating. A form of ransomware similar to a piece of malware called Petya has attacked the Ukraine and other sites around the globe, encrypting files until a ransom has been paid. Researchers, though, have moved quickly to block the spread of the ransomware, also known as Petrwrap, exPetr, Petna and SortaPetya. There’s no real way to remove the Petya ransomware, but researchers have come up with a way to ‘immunize’ your PC, and malware companies are already working to block it. Petya is the second major ransomware…

Microsoft’s Game Bar has picked up some new tricks in the Windows 10 Creators Update. The floating toolbar, which acts like a Swiss Army Knife for capturing in-game exploits, now supports live broadcasting to Microsoft’s Beam service, and provides access to Game Mode for more stable performance. If you’ve yet to check out the Game Bar, here’s everything you need to know. Windows 10 Game Bar basics To summon the Game Bar, just press the Windows key + G. This works in any game – and, in fact, any PC application – with one major caveat: The Game Bar only supports full-screen mode on a small number of games. In most cases, you’ll need to dig into your game’s settings and change the video mode to windowed or full-screen windowed…

There’s nothing handier than turning one of your devices into a mobile hotspot so that all your gadgets can get on the Internet when a router isn’t available. Usually when it comes down to sharing an Internet connection, it’s your phone or tablet that does the heavy lifting. But there are times when your PC could end up being the device of choice. If, for example, you’re on hotel Wi-Fi, or say you want to share your Wi-Fi at home, but you don’t want to share your network password and your router doesn’t have a guest mode. Those are just two possible scenarios that you might run into from time to time. Sharing your PC’s Internet connection is easy in Windows 10. The feature allows up to eight devices to…