How do you get rid of the lock screen on your Windows 10 PC? Read this.

Updated May 16, 2017: We refreshed this list to include new steps for the Windows 10 Creators Update.

The Windows 10 lock screen divides many users. Some don't mind seeing a nice picture along with a news blurb, some notifications, and the time of day. Others find it to be a waste. Why click or drag just to get to the actual sign-in screen?

Disabling the lock screen is now entirely possible in the Creators Update, whether you're running Home or Pro (including Enterprise and Education) editions of Windows 10.

How to disable the lock screen in the Home edition of Windows 10 Creators Update

If you have Windows 10 Home edition, to disable the lock screen you need to make some changes in your registry.

Note: As always when editing your registry, there is a chance that your OS can fail if the exact steps are not followed. Before beginning, make sure you create a full backup of your PC.

1. Right-click the Start button.

2. Click Search.

3. Type regedit and hit Enter on your keyboard.

4. Double-click HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.

5. Double-click SOFTWARE.

6. Double-click Policies.

7. Double-click Microsoft.

8. Right-click Windows.

9. Click New.

10. Click Key.

11. Type Personalization and hit Enter on your keyboard.

12. Right-click the Personalization key you just created.

13. Click New.

14. Click DWORD (32-bit) Value.

15. Type NoLockScreen and hit Enter on your keyboard.

16. Double-click the NoLockScreen DWORD you just created.

17. Type 1 in the Value data field.

18. Click OK.

To re-enable the lock screen, change the DWORD value back to 0.

How to disable the lock screen in the Pro edition of Windows 10 Creators Update

If you're running a Pro edition (including Enterprise and Education) of Windows 10 Creators Update, you can use the Group Policy editor to remove the lock screen.

1. Right-click the Start button.

2. Click Search.

3. Type gpedit and hit Enter on your keyboard.

4. Double-click Administrative Templates.

5. Double-click Control Panel.

6. Click Personalization.

7. Double-click Do not display the lock screen.

8. Click Enabled.

9. Click Apply.

10. Click OK.

Your lock screen

Is your lock screen disabled? Will it be now that you know how to disable it? For more Creators Update information, be sure to check out Senior Editor Zac Bowden's in-depth review.

See the definitive Windows 10 Creators Update review

Here's a handy tip to let you quickly access Control Panel via File Explorer.

Although the Settings app is the new experience to customize and configure Windows 10, you still need to use Control Panel, because not every option has been migrated to Settings.

The only problem is that on every new feature update for Windows 10, Microsoft makes it a bit more difficult to access Control Panel. For example, in the past, you could quickly open the experience from the ribbon menu in File Explorer and using the Power User menu (Windows key + X). But now those options are no longer available.

However, if you're still using Control Panel on a regular basis, it's possible to add a quick access button on "This PC" inside File Explorer by modifying the Registry.

In this Windows 10 guide, we detail the steps to include access to Control Panel inside This PC in File Explorer.

How to add Control Panel to 'This PC' in File Explorer

On Windows 10, you can use these steps to modify the Registry to add a new button on "This PC" to quickly access Control Panel:

Warning: This is a friendly reminder to let you know that editing the registry is risky, and it can cause irreversible damage to your installation if you don't do it correctly. We recommend making a full backup of your PC before you proceed.

1. Use the Windows key + R keyboard shortcut to open the Run command.
2. Type regedit, and click OK to open the registry.

3. Browse the following path:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MyComputer

4. Inside "MyComputer," right-click NameSpace (folder) key, select New, and click on Key.

5. You now have two choices. You can add a button to access all the Control Panel items, or you can add a button to access Control Panel divided into categories (default view).

   • To add a button to access the category view, enter the following key name and press Enter:

     {21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}

   • To add a button to access the large icons view, enter the following key name and press Enter:

     {26EE0668-A00A-44D7-9371-BEB064C98683}

6. Close the Registry.

Once you complete these steps, the changes should apply automatically without needing to restart your PC. Now simply open File Explorer (Windows key + E) and on This PC, under Devices and drives a new Control Panel item should appear.

Quick Tip: If you want an even faster way to access Control Panel, you can also right-click the button and pin it to Quick Access or Start menu.

At any time, you can revert the changes by following the same instructions, but on step No. 5 carefully right-click the key you added, click Delete, and then Yes to confirm.

This guide is focused on Windows 10, but note that the same steps should work on Windows 8.1 and Windows 7.

More Windows 10 resources

For more help articles, coverage, and answers to common questions about Windows 10, visit the following resources:

• Windows 10 on Windows Central – All you need to know
• Windows 10 help, tips, and tricks
• Windows 10 forums on Windows Central

If you need to access your Kodi media system remotely you can use a web browser.

Kodi is designed to be easy to navigate on the big screen, but there are times you may want to access it through your computer. You're able to start play things and control playback, for example, all without needing to touch the system itself. You can also go one step further with Kodi's web interface and stream content to your computer from your Kodi system.

What is Kodi, and how do you use it on Windows 10?

It's not necessarily for everyday use, but if you need to access your Kodi system in this way, here's how to get it all set up.

Use a browser to control Kodi

1. Go to Settings.
2. Click on Service settings.
3. Select Control.
4. Click on Allow remote control via HTTP.

Note the username and port, though the default values should be "kodi" and "8080" unless you already changed them in the past.

How to find the IP address of your Kodi system

Next, you need to find the IP address of your Kodi system. Here an easy way to do that:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Select System info.
3. Click on Summary.

You'll see your IP address listed there, so make a note of it for the next step.

To connect using your browser simply go to the address bar and type in http://kodi-IP-address:port, subbing the word "port" for 8080, if you didn't change the default. The web interface will now load and look something like the image above.

Any of the content on your Kodi system is now available to you, but by default, you'll be setting stuff to play on the main system. It is, however, a great way to cue up content for futre viewing while you're in front of your PC or schedule TV recordings.

Download Kodi from the Windows Store

Related stories

• What is Kodi, and how do you use it on Windows 10?
• How to use Kodi to watch live TV
• Why Kodi isn't illegal: Cutting through the media's misreporting

The Surge launched recently on Xbox One and Windows PC, and it's pretty damn good. It's also pretty damn difficult.

The Surge has been dubbed a sci-fi Dark Souls by gamers and the press, for its punishing difficulty and similar progression systems. If you're interested in learning more about the game, check out Windows Central reviewer Lauren Relph's comprehensive review.

In this quick guide, we look at how to kill the first boss in The Surge.

How to beat the P.A.X. robot

After traversing the dark sewers of the power station to reactivate the train, you'll also inadvertently reactivate a giant security mech, which, like the other robots and cyborgs of the CREO construction yards, has gone a little insane. It thinks you're an intruder, and it wants to stomp on you.

I did this with a power core level of 25, using a one-handed blade for rapid slashes. In theory, you could do this with any weapon, but I found the speed of a faster weapon to be a little less punishing on your stamina levels, since you need to dodge, a lot.

Here's what you need to know.

• The boss is called the P.A.X. (Pacification Automaton X), and if you have the implant for seeing enemy health bars, you'll notice that he has two.
• At the start of the fight, you can only attack his legs. It doesn't matter which one you attack, because both will build up the boss's yellow energy bar. Hitting the boss's legs does zero damage.
• When the P.A.X.'s yellow bar hits maximum, it will jump away from you and start spamming homing rockets that will kill you extremely quickly.

• To avoid this, sprint directly beneath the boss. The rockets will hit the P.A.X., stunning it, exposing its underside to the ground, and knocking you back.

• Target its body during these moments, because this is where the P.A.X. is at its weakest. Try and string together your best combos, rushing in using sprint and slide if possible.
• The body can be a little tricky to target, but you can easily shred a third of its health or more during this phase.
• Eventually, the boss will get back up and start attacking as normal.

• Repeat this action until it dies. At low health, it will just collapse without even needing to do another rocket phase.

Combat tips for the P.A.X. boss fight

Those are the steps to kill the boss, but knowing when to attack, what to avoid, and when to dodge is key to victory in this first boss fight.

• The P.A.X. jumps around the battlefield, slashing in a wide cone in front of it. You can dodge this by going to a rather extreme range, or by hovering around its feet.

• When it detects that you're in range, the P.A.X. often stamps on the ground. During these sequences, there is a recovery period which is good for jumping in for quick hits.

• Sometimes he will do a downward slash near its feet as well, which can be dodged sideways. But it's quite hard to predict.
• You can make this fight easier by making sure you take implants that boost your health. You don't need implants that help you get finishers, as you can't perform a finisher on the boss, for example.
• The Medi-Voltaic Injection healing implant really helped in this fight, which dropped for me from an enemy in the basement section of the Assembly line. It allows you to trade finisher energy for health.
• If you're finding it too hard, you can always grind a few trash mobs scattered around the factory, or upgrade your weapons at the operations med bay.

The Surge is a great action RPG with an edge of dystopic post-apocalypse in a grim, cybernetic future. If you're looking to scratch that Dark-Souls itch, or perhaps just want something a little less punishing, The Surge might be perfect for you.

See at XboxSee at AmazonSee at GreenManGaming (PC)

Read our review for The Surge on Xbox One

The Hot Wheels expansion isn't your usual Forza Horizon experience. Here are some tips to get going FAST.

The addition of a giant Hot Wheels playset to the Forza Horizon 3 landscape has added (quite literally) a whole new dimension to the experience. It also requires a different style of play to be successful. The new cars and circuits have brought in a completely new challenge to master.

If you're getting ready to race, here are some tips to help you out.

1. Speed is everything

Sounds silly, right? Usually, outright speed isn't always the key to racing success, as it needs to be balanced with handling and driver skill to get the best possible outcome.

In Hot Wheels, don't think about handling so much. Think about speed. When you're choosing a car to race in, go for better acceleration and a higher top speed.

When you hit the speed boost pads littered about the map, you'll benefit from this especially. If your car tops out at 130mph and everyone else can hit 160mph, they'll go sailing past and you'll be on the back foot again. Even the odds, and worry less about corners and more about going as fast as you can.

2. Aim for the middle

Part of the fun of the Hot Wheels expansion is the insane and disorientating circuits that involve high-speed loops, banks, jumps and other assorted ways to get out of shape very quickly.

The sides of the track in Hot Wheels are either completely open or home to a tiny lip. The former will leave you falling off the track, the latter has a habit of flipping you up into the air. Neither are much good for winning races.

A good tactic is to aim for the middle at all times, as you'll also find it the easiest way to keep a consistent, fast speed through loops and banks. And try not to look around too much!

3. Respect the speed boosts

Speed boosts are awesome. But they can also be your worst nightmare. If you try and move about too much while under its power, you're going to shape up for a big accident and lose your position.

As tempting as it is to try and use one to shoot past an opponent, they're also under its power. Try and keep 'er on the straight and narrow until the blurry part ends and you'll usually see a better end result!

4. Not just racing

The progression method in Hot Wheels requires collecting medals for completing challenges. If you're struggling to win races and collect all three medals, try refocusing on some of the other things out there.

Speed traps, drift zones, speed zones, bucket lists and danger signs are all included in Hot Wheels and follow the same model as the base game. Give these a whirl over continuing to struggle to win the same race over and over!

Your tips

Those are a few of our tips to get off to a winning start in Forza Horizon 3 Hot Wheels, but if you've got some of your own be sure to share them in the comments below! Forza Horizon 3 Hot Wheels is available now for $19.99.

See at Microsoft

You can quickly reduce blurry text and stretched elements in legacy apps on Windows 10, and in this guide, we'll show you how to do it.

Nowadays, you'll find high-DPI displays on almost any device, including on phones, laptops, tablets, and on desktop computers. However, there is one problem, while Windows 10 ships with DPI scaling support to improve the viewing experience, legacy applications never really benefit from it.

You can see this scaling problem when running traditional desktop (win32) apps, where text and visual elements look blurry or they're sized incorrectly. To address this issue, Microsoft introduced some improvements with the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, but it wasn't until the Creators Update that we've seen significant changes.

High-DPI scaling improvements on Windows 10

Microsoft is improving the way Windows 10 handles automatic scaling per-monitor, which reduces the amount of blur or incorrect size for legacy apps. However, there are scenarios where applications won't render correctly, such as when a developer doesn't update an app to support new DPI scaling changes. For this and other similar situations, Windows 10 now includes an option to force a particular app to run as a DPI-unware process.

The new option is called "System (Enhanced)," and when enabled the text and interface will look crispier and elements will be sized correctly. Though, some parts of the app may continue to look a little blurry, but it's still a significant improvement.

In this Windows 10 guide, we'll walk you through the easy steps to change the scaling settings for a particular legacy app to make text and interface look crisper and less blurry.

How to enable 'System (Enhanced)' scaling option on apps

If you're running legacy (GDI-based) apps that don't render properly on high pixel density displays, you can make them look better using the following steps:

1. Open the app you want to enhance scaling.
2. Right-click the app in the taskbar.

3. Right-click the name of the app and select Properties.

   Quick Tip: You can also find the app's .exe file, right-click it, and select Properties.

4. Click the Compatibility tab.
5. Under "Settings," check the Override high DPI scaling behavior option.

6. Under "Scaling performed by" drop-down menu, select System (Enhanced).

7. Click Apply.
8. Click OK.

This new option will override the way that a particular app handles the DPI scaling, which can result in interface elements and text being blurry, and allows Windows 10 to take care of the scaling.

Once you've completed the steps, restart the application to see the improvements. If the new scaling option works as expected, text and visual elements should look crisper. (Note that you may also need to reboot your computer to see the changes.)

Here are some of the current limitations with the new option:

• GDI+ and DX content don't DPI scale.
• Bitmap-based content won't look very crisp.
• You need to enable the option on each app to see if it works.

However, even with these limitations, the new high DPI scaling improvements are very noticeable to the point that Microsoft decided to enable the new option on many apps built into the OS, including the Microsoft Management Console (mmc.exe). This means that on the Creators Update and later versions built-in snap-in, such as Disk Management, Computer Management, Device Manager, and others will look significantly crispier and less blurry.

Disk Management Anniversary Update (left), Disk Management Creators Update (right)

Device Manager Anniversary Update (left), Device Manager Creators Update (right)

You'll also notice two additional scaling options, if "System (Enhanced)" is working on a particular app:

• Application: Used to be referred as "Disable display scaling on high DPI settings." Using this option will force the app to run on a per-monitor DPI awareness.
• System: When enabled Windows 10 will stretch the interface, bitmap elements, and text will be blurry. This is the standard way Windows 10 handles scaling.

The new DPI scaling settings are only available for traditional desktop (GDI-based) apps. Windows Store apps cannot be configured with these options because they're already optimized for high pixel density displays.

More Windows 10 resources

For more help articles, coverage, and answers to common questions about Windows 10, visit the following resources:

• Windows 10 on Windows Central – All you need to know
• Windows 10 help, tips, and tricks
• Windows 10 forums on Windows Central

Everything you need to know about power cores, implants, and tech scrap metal.

The Surge is the second hardcore action game by Deck 13 Interactive and published by Focus Home Entertainment. Their first swing into the niche genre was Lords of the Fallen in 2014, securing their place as notable competition against the genre giant, Dark Souls. The hardcore action games are notoriously difficult, and progress can seem downright impossible. Here is what you need to know before you play so you don't get sent to the recycling bin.

Power cores

Power cores, as the name suggests, power your exoskeleton rig. You can upgrade the power core at med-bays, using tech scrap metal as currency. Upgrading your power core doesn't alter your character Warren's stats in any way, but it does increase the capacity of your core.

Each piece of armor has a power consumption value, and in order to be able to equip the piece, you must have enough available energy in the core.

Upgrading the power core determines which level doors you will be able to Overcharge and open, and how many implants you can install on your rig.

Implants

Installing implants on your exo-rig will give you buffs and help you become more resilient. The rig can be equipped with light, medium or heavy attachments, and each one will draw some power from your core. Finding the right balance between energy requirements and benefits can be tricky, but will be well worth it when you have nine heals against a boss instead of three.

You can equip multiple of the same implants, and also sell them for scrap if you don't need them.

Upgrading your equipment

Upgrade your equipment with scrap metal tech at Gear Assembly bays. You will also need materials, which can be cut from enemies (more on this below).

Bear in mind that upgrading your power core at the med-bay won't change your base stats. Your damage output and defense stats are based on your gear, so upgrading these will keep you safer for longer.

Any parts you collect after defeating an enemy are broken down into useable upgrade materials, which can be then used to upgrade your weapon to the next level.

Battle Strategy

Almost all enemies will attack the second they see you, seeking to close the distance between you so they can hack you up.

Get the jump on them first with backstabs which act like critical hits, doing extra damage, allowing you time to knock them off their feet or stagger them while you work out your next moves.

Enemies will often be in numbers but spread across a small area, patrolling their section. Attract the attention of one at a time and lead them into an area away from other enemies to give yourself the space you need to take them. You can also use your drone to do this so you don't have to get too close personally.

Some of the areas are toxic and can be used to your advantage. If you can get an enemy to launch at you and land on the toxic waste floor, you don't even need to raise your makeshift buzzsaw in your own defense.

Make the most of combat multipliers

Unless you bank or spend your scrap tech metal (otherwise known as experience points/XP in other games), you risk losing everything you have on hand if you die.

For each enemy you decommission, you'll receive a multiplier on the scrap you receive at the end of each fight. At the start of the game the multiplier and bonus XP are negligible, but if you kept a roll going and didn't bank or spend any of it, you'll be swimming in scrap before long.

Take a beating

In the grand scheme of things, you're supposed to have the stuffing kicked out of you. But, if you can't learn how to recognize telegraphed attacks, you will take a lot of damage often.

Almost all enemies have an obvious 'tell' before their attack. Learning what these look like and what comes after these 'tells' will give you the time to get out of the way, learn their attack patterns and eventually not get hit at all.

Parts Mk1, Mk2, etc

As you upgrade your weapons and gear, you'll begin to need higher level materials. It's not obvious at the start, but if you keep cutting the heads off the enemies, you'll keep getting 'optical gear'. It doesn't matter which enemy, but it will always be the material you need for the head, and so on for each body part. As you progress to new areas, these parts level up, so if you're spending all your time looking around for them in an area that isn't giving the drops to you, then you need to move on!

Cutting for parts and energy

In order to upgrade your equipment, you'll need to get hack and slash with the enemies. When you're close enough to target them, use the right stick to target a body part. You can get close enough to some that you can target their parts before they've seen you. This is a good trick to stick to in the beginning, as it also gives you time to learn how they fight.

While you're hammering the sprockets out of them, the blue bar at the bottom of your heath and stamina indicators starts to fill up. The more attacks that connect, the more the energy bar fills up. If it fills up more than halfway when it's time to 'cut' the body part when the X command is shown, the chances of the part being successfully cut are increased.

Armored vs. unarmored

When you're targeting an enemy, his armored parts glow gold and unarmored show as blue. Attacking the gold armor parts makes the fight slightly tougher, but will reward with better schematics. Attacking the unarmored parts will do extra damage, thus ending the fight sooner.

Given the necessity of having to upgrade in order to do better damage and receive less, you will find yourself having to make the toss up.

Wooden crate? Hit it, mate!

Wooden crates are everywhere, and smashing them can reveal hidden items, or open up shortcuts to other areas. However, they could also contain enemies so the best players are cautious not to get ambushed.

Losing your on-hand scrap

If you die, you have around two and a half minutes to reclaim your dropped scrap. You will find them at the point of your last death. If you don't get to your scrap on time, or you are killed again on the way, the scrap is lost.

However, all is not lost. Many enemies drop piles of scrap upon death, and these are worth various amounts depending on the type of pile you pick up. If you hang onto them until you need them, you may find you have more than enough to carry you up a few power core levels, as well as make some upgrades.

Got any more tips that you think we should include? Sound off in the comments below!

The Surge is available to buy now for $59.99 on Xbox One, PS4 and Steam.

See on the Xbox Store

Even as an Oculus Rift user, there are some experiences you can't miss on SteamVR.

When SteamVR first launched alongside the HTC Vive last year, the platform soon came to be an outstanding stop for all your VR content. Building on an already established ecosystem with over a decade of history, the platform soon grew to be one of the strongest aspects of the HTC Vive.

However, being a relatively open platform, Oculus Rift users can also take advantage of SteamVR's content offerings with a select range of titles. A growing list of games is adding support for Facebook's headset, with some going to extra mile to make sure all users feel at home. Now, several titles support the Oculus Rift exclusively via SteamVR, making this an unmissable store for all virtual reality users. These are our favorite games currently only available in Valve's ecosystem.

Read more at VRHeads

If Emby is your choice of media center, here's how to record your live TV.

There are of course a couple of pre-requisites here. The first is that you have the necessary hardware and software to get live TV into your Emby server in the first place. The second is that you're an Emby Premiere subscriber in order to be able to use it.

Getting live TV set up is itself a fairly involved process, but once you're there you can use your Emby server as a DVR to record your favorite shows. Setting up the DVR is a fairly simple process, just follow the steps below.

Before you do anything inside Emby server, get yourself a dedicated folder set up on whatever hard drive you're going to use to store the recorded content. Make it easy to find when you're setting Emby to point at it.

1. Open up your Emby server dashboard.
2. In the sidebar, click on live TV.
3. Click on settings.
4. Find default recording path.
5. Click the magnifying glass to choose your DVR storage folder.
6. Click save.

That's all you have to do to get the basic DVR up and running. When you go into your Emby TV guide you'll now see options to record a show or the entire series of that show.

Of course, there are some other settings you can and probably should tweak. For example, you can set Emby to convert the recordings to a more mobile friendly MP4 format, or you can keep them as MKV files. And if you're looking for the best quality recordings, you can enable the option to preserve the original video quality.

One option you really should enable is at the bottom of the settings page. Here you can tell Emby to start recording a certain number of minutes before the start of a show, and finish a certain amount after the end. This is particularly useful if you're going to be recording a live event, since you can tailor it to cater for any additional runtime, like extra time in a sports game.

So, that's how to set up your Emby DVR. Once your shows have saved to your drive you'll be able to access them through the recordings tab in the Emby apps on any of the supported platforms.

Download Emby Theater from the Windows Store

Using the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) can make your PC more secure and a bit faster if you're still using the legacy basic input/output system (BIOS). In this guide, we show you how to switch.

Windows 10 makes it easier to switch from legacy BIOS to UEFI using the new MBR2GPT disk conversion tool included with the Creators Update. One of the most important parts of your PC is the BIOS, which is the code that sits on a chip on the motherboard, linking the software to the hardware.

Computers have been using BIOS for a long time, but it had a lot of limitations with today's hardware, such as drive support, where BIOS limits you to partitions less than 2TB. This was alright for a while, but it was obvious something else was needed, which is why UEFI was introduced.

UEFI is what replaces BIOS, and it adds a number of other benefits, including faster startup, sleep, resume, and shutdown times. In addition, and perhaps more importantly, it allows you to take advantage of new security features on Windows 10. For example, a "Secure Boot" feature protects the PC startup process from malicious software. "Credential Guard" helps to prevent pass-the-hash attacks, and "Device Guard" give you more advanced controls for application access.

In the Creators Update, Windows 10 introduces a new command-line utility called MBR2GPT that lets you convert a disk formatted using Master Boot Record (MBR) to GUID Partition Table (GPT)-style partition without modifying or deleting that data stored on disk, which is a requirement to move to UEFI mode.

In this Windows 10 guide, we detail the steps to use MBR2GPT to convert a disk using MBR to GPT to switch from BIOS to UEFI mode.

• How to convert a disk from MBR to GPT on Windows 10
• How to change the firmware mode from BIOS to UEFI
• Important information about the MBR2GPT tool

How to convert a disk from MBR to GPT on Windows 10

While you've been able to do this process in the past, it required hours of work. Previously, you needed to back up your data, repartition the disk using GPT, reinstall the OS, and then restore the data.

Starting with the Creators Update, the MBR2GPT tool enables you to change the partition style in minutes, and more importantly, in a non-destructive process. The conversion is done by adding the GPT components to an MBR disk without modifying the existing partition and file system, which allows your data to remain unchanged.

The ideal way to switch is to configure Windows 10 and use UEFI from the beginning. However, if you're already running Windows 10, you're upgrading from a previous version to Windows 10, or you've already deployed the OS in BIOS mode on devices with support UEFI, there are two things you need to do:

• First, you need to convert the disk using MBR to GPT-style partition, which is the main requirement to run Windows 10 in UEFI mode.
• Secondly, you must change your motherboard firmware settings to make the switch from BIOS to UEFI mode.

Checking disk partition type

1. Use the Windows key + X keyboard shortcut to open the Power User menu and click on Disk Management.

2. Right-click the disk with the Windows 10 installation and select Properties.

3. Click on the Volumes tab and look at "Partition style". If it reads GUID Partition Table (GPT), the disk doesn't need to be converted, but if you see the Master Boot Record (MBR) label, then you can use the conversion tool.

   • In addition, make sure to check your PC manufacturer's support website to see if the device includes support of UEFI mode before using the conversion tool.

Converting disk to GPT partition style

In order to convert the disk from MBR to GPT, you need to start your computer in Windows PE (Preinstallation Environment), and then do the following.

Warning: Although this is a non-destructive process, you should always keep a full backup of your computer and data in case something goes wrong.

1. Open Settings.
2. Click on Update & security.
3. Click on Recovery.

4. Under "Advanced startup," click the Restart now button.

5. Click on Troubleshoot.
6. Click on Advanced options.

7. Click on Command Prompt to boot into Windows PE.

8. Click on your account and login with your credentials (if applicable).

9. Type the following command to validate and make sure the disk meets the requirements and press Enter:

   mbr2gpt /validate

   • If everything checks out successfully, you can continue with the next step, but it's also possible that you'll get an error, in case the disk didn't meet the requirements. For example, if the drive was already using a GPT partition style.

   • Quick Tip:"MBR2GPT.exe" is located inside the "System32" folder inside the "Windows" folder, and if you want to see all the available options included with this tool, you can use the mbr2gpt /? command.

10. Type the following command to convert the disk from MBR to GPT and press Enter:

    mbr2gpt /convert

As you execute the commands, the tool will validate the disk. The partition will be reconfigured to include an EFI system partition (ESP) as needed. Then the UEFI boot files and GPT components will be installed in the new partition. The boot configuration data (BCD) will be updated, and finally, the drive letter is restored.

The tool was designed to run in the Windows PE using Command Prompt, but it's also possible to use it when Windows 10 desktop is fully loaded. This is not recommended, though, because you may encounter some problems with other applications running on the system.

In the case you want to use the tool while Windows 10 is fully loaded, you'll need to append the /allowFullOS switch after each command mentioned above. For example, you can use this command mbr2gpt /validate /allowFullOS to validate the disk. Otherwise, you won't be able to use the tool.

MBR2GPT return codes

If the conversion was applied successfully, you should see a return code of 0. If the process fails, you'll receive a different return error code.

Actually, you can get eleven different return codes 1 through 10, and code 100, each one indicating a particular problem during the conversion process.

Here's what those codes mean:

How to change the firmware mode from BIOS to UEFI

Once you've completed the steps to switch to the GPT-style partition, it's the time to access the motherboard's firmware to change from BIOS to UEFI. Otherwise, Windows 10 won't boot.

In order to do this process, you can use tools provided by your PC manufacturer, or change the settings manually in the firmware interface.

This process typically requires hitting one of the function keys (F1, F2, F3, F10, or F12), the ESC, or Delete key as you boot your computer. However, these settings will vary by manufacturer, and even by model. So make sure to check your PC manufacturer support website for more specific details.

After getting the access to the firmware (BIOS) interface, look for the Boot menu, and make sure to change from legacy BIOS to UEFI.

Then reboot your computer, and use these steps to verify that you're indeed running Windows 10 in GPT style partition:

1. Use the Windows key + X to open the Power User menu and click on Disk Management.
2. Right-click the disk with the Windows 10 installation and select Properties.
3. Click on the Volumes tab, and under "Partition style," it should read GUID Partition Table (GPT).

To make sure, your device is using UEFI, do the following:

1. Open Start.
2. Search for msinfo32 or System Information and press Enter.

In the System Information summary, you should now see that "BIOS Mode" is set to "UEFI."

Important information about the MBR2GPT tool

Although disks configured with MBR-style partition can have up to four primary partitions, for this process to work the disk you want to convert can't have more than three partitions, because one allocation is needed to create the new UEFI system partition.

You can use the MBR2GPT tool to convert hard drives and solid state drives (SSD) with an earlier version of Windows 10 installed, including Anniversary Update (version 1607), November Update (version 1511), and the initial version of Windows 10 (1507). However, you must use the tool on a computer running Windows 10 version 1703 or later, and then perform the conversion.

It's not possible to convert disks with older versions of the OS, such as Windows 8.x and Windows 7, but you can upgrade to Windows 10, and then use the tool to convert from MBR to GPT.

If you're converting a hard drive or SSD with BitLocker enabled, you must suspend the encryption protection before using these steps. And to resume the protection after the conversion, you must remove the current protectors and recreate them again.

Wrapping things up

It's been possible for a long time to convert an MBR disk to GPT to switch from BIOS to UEFI, but now you can make the conversion in minutes without wasting time doing a clean install of Windows 10 and backing up your data. This tool not only comes in handy for anyone who wants to make their PCs a bit more secure and faster, but it'll also benefit organizations that want to significantly reduce time and the cost to move to a more advanced firmware.

More Windows 10 resources

For more help articles, coverage, and answers to common questions about Windows 10, visit the following resources:

• Windows 10 on Windows Central – All you need to know
• Windows 10 help, tips, and tricks
• Windows 10 forums on Windows Central

Here's how Acer's Windows 10 Mixed Reality headset stacks up against the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift.

As a part of Microsoft's Build 2017 conference, Windows 10's Mixed Reality platform took to the stage, becoming a huge focus of the second day's keynote. A number of third-party manufacturers have already shown off their planned offering for Windows Mixed Reality, with Acer's headset leading the pack as an accessible budget headset which delivers high-fidelity VR to the masses.

Although it's not technically sold as a virtual reality headset, the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive will be the headset's biggest competition outside of the Windows ecosystem. Here's how the device is shaping up next to these existing leaders in the virtual reality space.

Read more at VRHeads!

Is an inkjet or laser printer better for you? Here's how to tell.

When it comes to buying a printer, the choice can be difficult. Ink. Laser. Ink. Laser. INK! LASER! Well, what's the difference? Is one better than the other? Is the cost of owning an inkjet printer really that expensive? Do you need to buy a new laser printer whenever your toner runs out?

Here's what you need to know.

Updated May 18, 2017: Added links to the best inkjet and laser printers you can buy.

• Ink printers
• Laser printers
• Which is better?
• Which one is right for you?
• What's the deal with remanufactured ink cartridges?
• Where do you find more ink?

Ink printers

Most consumer printers are what's known as drop-on-demand (DOD) printers and are divided into thermal DOD and piezoelectric DOD. From here, most home-use printers fall under the thermal DOD category, like those from Canon, HP, and Lexmark. At the end of the day, they're both inkjet printers.

Inkjet printers use hundreds of tiny guns to fire ink at the paper and every character they create is made up of dots. The dots are so tiny, you just can't see them. Thermal DOD printers and piezoelectric DOD printers have different mechanisms for firing the ink.

Thermal DOD printers

As the name might suggest, thermal DOD printers use heat to fire the ink at the paper. The print cartridges consist of a series of little chambers, which each contain a heater. An electric current is passed through the heating element, heating up each chamber, causing immediate vaporization of the ink and a pressure build-up so great that the ink fires toward the paper.

The force of the ink firing out of the chamber is so great that it pulls the next drop into the chamber, ready to fire again in rapid succession. Canon trademarks this process as "Bubble Jet," since it's a bubble of ink that bursts onto the page.

Since there are no special materials involved in thermal DOD printers, the print heads are relatively inexpensive to manufacture compared to other inkjet technologies.

Piezoelectric DOD printers

Most commercial and industrial printers use the piezoelectric DOD method, though Epson and Brother consumer printers use this method as well. Instead of a heating element, there's a piezoelectric material inside each ink-filled chamber behind a nozzle.

Piezoelectricity is the electric charge stored within solid materials. When the material in the ink chambers gets charged up, it changes shape, causing an increase in pressure, forcing the ink out.

Since special piezoelectric materials (lead zirconium titanate) are required in the piezoelectric DOD printing process, the print heads are generally more expensive to manufacture.

Laser printers

Laser printing produces high-quality text and graphics through an electrostatic process where a laser beam is passed back and forth over a negatively charged drum, scanning the image and text directly across the printer's photoreceptor. This tells the drum to selectively collect powdered ink, also known as toner, which it then transfers to paper.

The paper is then heated to fuse the toner to it. This is known as a xerographic printing process, which means that no liquids are used.

Which is better?

Which type of printer is better for you depends on your printing needs. Laser printers are generally more expensive, but they produce more sheets, per dollar, than inkjet printers do and they're less wasteful when compared to inkjet printers.

That being said, laser printers take time to warm up and can be considerably more expensive.

Let's take a look at the pros and cons of each:

Inkjet printers

The best Inkjet printers

Laser printers

The best laser printers

Which one is right for me?

At the end of the day, it's all going to come down to your needs. If you're the average home printer user who prints the odd document here and there and maybe an image now and again, go with an inkjet printer. It'll be cheaper up front and cheaper when you go to replace ink cartridges. You can even get them refilled or buy "remanufactured" cartridges.

If you're going to be printing a lot and need your prints fast, then go with a laser printer. Or, if you have the extra cash on hand and are in need of incredibly crisp and perfect black text and high-quality graphics, go laser. Your startup cost will be more, but you'll stretch your dollar further.

Is it true that remanufactured ink cartridges suck?

For a while, it was thought that the remanufactured ink market was a shady place where good, honest, hard-working folk got fleeced. That's really not the case anymore.

Remanufactured printer cartridges are sent to manufacturers that restock the ink, fix any parts that aren't working optically, and perform a quality test. Recycled ink cartridges are generally less expensive because sellers can set their own prices for the cartridges. And hey, you help the environment when you buy recycled products.

All that being said, do your research. Quality might not be consistent among manufacturers, and there are probably a few duds in the mix. Double-check warranties, ask if their quality tests are certified and make sure their cartridges meet the original manufacturer standards. Just because remanufactured cartridges are recycled doesn't mean they're going to damage your print head or cause other havoc for your printer.

Where do I find more ink?

Having trouble finding ink for your printer? Amazon and Staples have handy tools to help you find the ink or toner you need.

What do you use?

Are you a laser or inkjet printer user? Do you feel like you made the right choice? Sound off in the comments.

Here's everything you need to know to bring your Yahoo email account to the Windows 10 Mail app.

Yahoo has stopped supporting its "Yahoo Mail" app for Windows 10, and this means that if you're still an avid user of Yahoo mail, starting May 22, 2017, you'll no longer be able to check your emails using the app.

While the company has advised users to switch to the web browser experience, you can still use other solutions, such as the Mail app included with Windows 10. This app not only includes support for Yahoo mail but it offers many of the same features, including desktop and Lock screen notifications, dynamic Live Tile updates in the Start menu, and theming with custom color schemes and backgrounds. It also won't bombard you with ads, unlike Yahoo's email website.

In this Windows 10 guide, we'll walk you through the easy steps to set up a Yahoo email account in the built-in Mail app. We tell you steps to fix specific sync issues that may occur after configuring the account, and we also look at the steps to uninstall the no longer supported Yahoo Mail app from your device.

• How to add a Yahoo email account to the Mail app
• How to customize a Yahoo email account settings
• How to fix sync problems with a Yahoo email account
• How to uninstall the Yahoo Mail app on Windows 10

How to add a Yahoo email account to the Mail app

The Windows 10 Mail app makes it super easy to manage emails from many different services, and you can use the following steps to add your Yahoo email account.

1. Open Mail.
2. Click the Settings (gear) button located in the bottom-left corner.

3. Inside the Settings flyout, click on Manage Accounts.

4. Click on Add account.

5. Click Yahoo! from the list.

6. Type your Yahoo email account.

7. Click Next.

8. Type your email password.

9. Click Sign in.

10. Click Agree to allow the app to access your Yahoo account.

11. Click Done.

Once you completed the steps, your emails will begin to sync with the app, and you can start managing your account as you would normally do with Yahoo Mail.

How to customize a Yahoo email account settings

Using the default Mail app included with Windows 10, it's also possible to customize a number of options for your Yahoo account.

1. Open Mail.

2. Right-click your Yahoo account and click Account settings.

Using the Yahoo account settings, you can change the account name to something more descriptive, which can come in handy when managing multiple accounts.

You can also click Change mailbox sync settings to manage your Yahoo email account sync settings.

In this page, you can change how often Mail should check for new emails, contacts, and calendars, which can help to save data and battery life.

Additionally, there is an option to change the name you use to send your messages, and under "Sync option," you can quickly control whether you want only sync emails, or calendars and contacts as well.

You'll find a number of advanced options, but it's not something regular users need to configure, as the app sets these settings automatically.

How to fix sync problems with a Yahoo email account

In some cases, after configuring an account using the Windows 10 Mail app, you may receive an error trying to sync emails.

You may come across this error as a result of recent Yahoo security changes, but it's something that Microsoft has fixed by implementing OAuth (Open Authorization) security support for Yahoo accounts with the Windows 10 Creators Update.

If you're having this issue, it's probably because your device is not running the latest version of Windows 10. You can use our guide to installing the Creators Update on your computer to resolve this problem.

If after the upgrade you're still unable to sync your emails, you can try the following:

1. Configure two-step verification on your Yahoo account.
2. Set up an app password.
3. On Windows 10, open Mail.
4. Right-click your Yahoo account and click Account settings.
5. Type the newly created app password.

After entering the app password, your emails should start syncing with the Mail app again.

How to uninstall the Yahoo Mail app on Windows 10

After May 22nd, the Yahoo Mail will no longer work, which means that it's also a good idea to remove it from your computer.

To uninstall Yahoo Mail from your device, do the following:

1. Open Settings.
2. Click on Apps (or click on "System" if you're not running the Creators Update).
3. Click on Apps & features.
4. Select the Yahoo Mail app and click the Uninstall button.
5. Click the Uninstall button to confirm.

More Windows 10 resources

For more help articles, coverage, and answers to common questions about Windows 10, visit the following resources:

• Windows 10 on Windows Central – All you need to know
• Windows 10 help, tips, and tricks
• Windows 10 forums on Windows Central

Is the HTC Vive a little harsh on your eyes? These are the steps to reduce its brightness.

Looking back, every kid was told to keep his distance from the television at a young age. Now, here we are in the 21st Century, strapping bright OLED displays to our face for entertainment. While the HTC Vive offers a vivid and immersive image in almost all situations, its display can end up being rather harsh on your eyes when coming from a darker environment.

A feature within SteamVR now allows you to reduce the brightness of the HTC Vive display, while also outputting a warmer image. Whether for those late-night virtual reality adventures or simply soothing your eyes, SteamVR's "Night Mode" is a feature that shouldn't be missed. Here's how to enable Night Mode for your HTC Vive.

Read more at VRHeads

Microsoft uses "Alcantara" fabric to add a premium look and feel to some of its products.

Namely, the Surface Laptop, the Signature Type Cover and the Surface Ergonomic Keyboard all feature Alcantara. We recently looked at just how durable these pricey extras can be. But how do you clean Alcantara to ensure it lasts as long as possible?

It's not as difficult as you might assume. Microsoft recommends the following when cleaning its Type Cover Keyboards:

To clean the keyboard, wipe with a lint-free cloth dampened in mild soap and water. Don't apply liquids directly to your Surface. Do this often to keep your Touch Cover or Type Cover looking great.

General cleaning tips for Alcantara

Here's what you'll need:

• Lint-free cloth.
• Mild liquid soap.
• Upholstery and Alcantara Cleaner.
• Compressed gas.
• Pure ethyl alcohol. (You can find this at your local drug store.)

First, you're going to want to use some compressed gas or cloth to get rid of any dirt and particles that may have collected on or underneath the keys, as well as the surface and on all sides. Once this has been completed, it'll be easier to analyze just how much cleaning you'll need to do to remove tough marks or oil stains from daily use. Here's a list of next steps:

1. Pour some warm water into a bowl.
2. Add the mild liquid soap.
3. Dampen a lint-free cloth into the mixture.
4. Rinse and gently wipe down the Keyboard/Type Cover.
5. Repeat until clean.

If stains and marks remain after a few runs with the cloth, it may be time to apply some Alcantara cleaner, which should get rid of these unwanted blemishes. We recommend giving a keyboard or Type Cover a cleaning once a week (depending on use) to prevent build-up.

How to clean specific substances from Alcantara

The official Alcantara website details how you can remove specific stains or spillages:

• Fruit juice, jam, jelly, syrup or ketchup— Lukewarm water; rinse by dabbing with clean water.
• Blood, egg, excrement or urine— Cold water; avoid warm water because it makes these substances coagulate, rinse by dabbing with clean water.
• Liquors, alcoholic beverages, wine, beer, coke or tea— Lukewarm water; if the color mark remains, treat with lemon juice and then rinse it well.
• Indelible pencil, cocoa, chocolate, pastry with cream or chocolate, ice-cream, or mustard— Lukewarm water; rinse by dabbing with clean water.
• Vinegar, hair gel, tomato sauce or coffee with sugar— Lemon juice and then wipe with lukewarm water; rinse by dabbing with clean water.

How about you?

Do you own a Microsoft Keyboard or Type Cover with Alcantara? Let us know in the comments how you clean your products and what your experiences have been.

If the latest crop of iPhones has you ditching your old Windows Phone, here's how you bring all your data with you.

If you've been using Windows Phone for a while, you no doubt have a considerable amount of data stored on your device, including contacts, calendars, email, messages, favorite apps, music, photos and more. There's no automated "Switch to iOS" app for Windows the way there is for Android, but there are cloud services like OneDrive, and Microsoft's own apps that make it easier than ever.

Download iTunes

While Apple's iTunes — the company's all-in-one media player, manager, and sync service — may not be needed anywhere near as much as before, there might still be occasions when you want to transfer big files, make local backups, or troubleshoot problems. Then iTunes, clunky as it is, is invaluable. Mac owners will find it pre-installed, but for Windows navigate yourself to the link below to get started.

Download iTunes for Windows

Of course, in the not too distant future, all you'll need to do is head into the Windows Store to get iTunes. For now, you need to get it from Apple, and that means you also have to get the associated baggage that comes with the current Win32 app.

Contacts, calendars, and email

Our phones have quickly become our main communications tools, beyond just calling relatives. Managing both work and personal lives in our pockets is very much a thing and moving your contacts, calendars and email to your new iPhone will be a top priority.

Fortunately, Apple makes it pretty easy. Assuming you've been using your Microsoft account to keep these three entities in sync, you'll be able to import to your iPhone with ease. Before you proceed, it's a good idea to go back to your Windows phone and make sure you've backed it all up first.

On your iPhone, open up the "Settings" app and scroll down until you find the option for "Mail, Contacts, Calendars." Tap on it and then on "Add Account."

You can now add any number of accounts, including Outlook.com and Exchange. Tap on the one your personal information is stored with and follow the instructions to log in and link up your account with your phone.

Once the account has been added, tap on it and ensure the sliders for the information you wish to sync are activated.

Now, your Microsoft account will pull in your email, your contacts and your calendar to the relevant stock apps on the iPhone. And you're good to go.

You also have the option of using the Microsoft Outlook app on your iPhone to manage your Outlook email and calendars. It's considered by many to be the among the best mail client on iOS, so it's worth checking out.

Download Outlook for iOS

Your photos and videos

Our recommendation would be to avoid transferring your photo library from your old phone to your new one. Not least because on Windows you may have been using a microSD card to store them, something not possible on the iPhone. (Apple has the online iCloud Photo Library service instead — for a price.)

You can opt to start fresh, or better still, backup all your photos to your computer and your favorite online service, and then go from there.

The best option is to use the cloud. If you've been using Windows Mobile then there's a strong chance you had your phone set to auto-upload your photo library to OneDrive. If you didn't have it set this way, there's still time to do it and upload your entire photo library to Microsoft's cloud. And you can still upload your iPhone photos to OneDrive as well to keep your full back catalog rolling.

With this, you just need to install the OneDrive app from the App Store and you'll have instant access to all your photos wherever you are.

Download OneDrive for iOS

Or, if you're a user of Dropbox (the other big, cross-platform option,) the same applies. Make sure everything has uploaded, grab the Dropbox app for iPhone and you'll be set.

Download Dropbox for iOS

With no expandable storage on the iPhone, we strongly recommend the cloud route if you want to have easy access to all your old Windows-shot photos. You'll be snapping a ton with the iPhone camera so don't fill up that storage with gigabytes of old stuff.

If you can't or simply don't want to use the cloud, you can still make the transfer over a good, old-fashioned cable. If you're using a Windows 10 PC getting your photos off your phone is straight forward. You can either go through the Phone Companion app, which then imports from your phone into the Photos app, or you can just navigate to your phone in File Explorer, find the folder and drag and drop.

To move photos from your computer to your iPhone requires iTunes. With the phone connected via the USB to Lightning cable, you'll be able to select items to sync between the phone and the computer.

Microsoft Apps

Microsoft is a big supporter of cross-platform apps and services. As such, all the most popular apps are available to use on iPhone. And they're pretty good too, for the most part. We've already linked up OneDrive and Outlook above, the list below will help you find some of the other big ones.

• Skype - Download now
• Word - Download now
• PowerPoint - Download now
• Excel - Download now
• OneNote - Download now
• Bing - Download now

You can find a complete list of all Microsoft apps for iPhone here:

Download Microsoft apps at the App Store

Music and video content

The iPhone and iTunes are heavily established for music, and you'll be well looked after. If you have a physical collection on your computer that you synced to your old Windows phone, simply fire up iTunes and start syncing it to your phone.

If you used Microsoft's Groove Music, or something such as Spotify or Deezer to get your aural fix, there are of course apps available for all three in the App Store.

• Download Microsoft Groove for iOS
• Download Spotify for iOS
• Download Deezer for iOS

Popular apps

The iOS App Store is the place to find apps. You can get almost every Google app available, for example (which were notably absent from the Windows Store...)

Equally, you'll probably be looking for these:

• Facebook - Download now
• WhatsApp - Download now
• Twitter - Download now
• Instagram - Download now

There are also hundreds of thousands of games, including all the major mobile titles, so hit the App Store and download away!

The beginning

Hopefully these tips help you to get started with your new iPhone without having to start again from scratch. With the prevalence of the cloud and Microsoft's strong support for iOS, following a little work you'll be up and running in no time with all your personal communications, media and app needs!

If you're new to the PC gaming world, fear not. We're here to run you through how to purchase and play games on the Steam gaming service.

Valve created Steam to answer PC gamers' need to have a centralized location to purchase games, play those games, and communicate with friends without having to use other software. It was a great solution at the time and remains the top destination for many gamers on PCs. Should you be new to the platform, you may wish to get started on Steam to join friends and take advantage of enticing discounts. Here are the basics.

From the beginning

First, you need to get Steam installed. You will also need to create a Steam account to access services and purchase games. This can all be achieved from the official website. Here's how:

1. Head to store.steampowered.com.
2. Click "Install Steam".
3. Run the downloaded installer file.
4. Run steam and click on "Create account".
5. Enter necessary details, credentials and accept the terms and conditions.

Once you have everything set up and have logged into the client, you'll be greeted by the store page. This is the default location the platform will send you to each time you visit. Take a moment to have a look around. If you find it familiar to the main website, you're not wrong. It is simply a wrapper, and everything works as you'd expect from using the official Steam website.

Four tabs at the top of the software take you to the various sections of the app: Store, Library, Community, and Profile.

• Store: This is where you find new games and make purchases.
• Library: All purchased and activated games will show up here.
• Community: Steam has a massive community and this is where you can access groups, find friends, the Workshop, and more.
• Profile: Manage your profile and Steam account.

We recommend you head into your profile and edit information, add friends, and get everything squared away. It's also possible to link your Steam account to Facebook. As well as editing your information, it's also required to have a valid form of payment tied to your account, be it a credit card, debit card or PayPal. When you make purchases from the store, Steam will ask which gateway you'd like to use to pay for everything in your cart.

All games purchased from the store are listed in your library. This is where you can download, uninstall, and update titles, not to mention quickly access mods, game forums, and more. When uninstalling games, Steam will also delete all other files, too, so this means you'll lose all your saved games if that particular title does not support Steam Cloud, a service that copies your local saved games to Steam's servers.

Handy tips for Steam users

Activate offline mode

If you plan to be away from an active internet connection or happen to know in advance of ISP maintenance, you can activate offline mode in Steam to play your already downloaded games. Simply head to settings, uncheck "Don't save account credentials on this computer", then hit "Go offline" from the main menu.

Playing with friends

It's easy to get started with friends. Some games actively support Steam and can show friends who are playing the same title in-game, which makes it super easy to get together. If not, you can open up your friends list, right-click your friends and hit "Join game".

Deals, deals, deals!

Steam is famous for offering massive discounts on games at certain points throughout each year. Keep an eye out on the store for when promotions kick off, and you'll be able to bolster your collection without burning your wallet.

We also cover new games and promotions right here on Windows Central so be sure to remain tuned to our feeds.

Skins

You may have noticed that our screenshots of the Steam client appear different than your install. This is because we have a skin installed. Here's how you can change the look of the dated platform:

1. Download a skin (Steam Skins).
2. Extract it to your Steam skin folder (default is C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\skins).
3. Head to your Steam settings.
4. Click "Interface."
5. Choose a skin from the drop-down menu.
6. Restart the client.

Secure your Steam account

By verifying your email address with Steam, Steam Guard will be activated on your account. This will require a code to be entered when your account is logged in on an unknown device, which is sent to your email address. If you're the one logging in, simply enter the code and it'll log you in. If a third party is trying to gain access, they will be locked out unless they also have access to your email. It's a handy safety measure that can be accessed from the main Settings panel.

After you connect your Kodi system to a web browser, there are some interesting things you can do with it.

While Kodi is designed to be enjoyed on the big screen, that's not always convenient. There are times when you just want to listen to some music without having to move away from your PC.

The Kodi web interface lets you be in front of a computer and interact with your Kodi system. There are limitations to what you can (easily) do, but here's a quick look at how to use it.

The first thing you need to do is to allow access to your Kodi system from a web browser. Check out the guide below for a walkthrough of how to do that.

How to control Kodi from a web browser

Streaming music

If you're in front of any device with a browser that isn't your Kodi system, and you want to listen to some tunes, you can easily stream your music collection using the browser. You can just select music to play through your Kodi system by simply clicking on something to listen to.

But, perhaps better than this is that you can stream the music you've organized in Kodi to the machine you're accessing it on via the web interface.

To do this, you'll need to look for the local tab in the right-hand panel of the web interface. There you can build a playlist from your music collection to stream over your local network. Simply hit the + button next to tracks you want to add to the playlist. When you play it now, it'll stream locally through your browser.

This only works for music, though. Video streaming isn't (easily) possible through the web interface, and it's a far more advanced process that's not really for the casual user. This isn't a replacement for a dedicated app to stream music, but if you just need quick access on a PC or even a phone, it's handy to have.

Personal Video Recorder (PVR), media collection, and add-ons

If you set up your Kodi system to deliver live TV then you can use the web interface to check the guide and even send an instruction to play a channel on your main box. It won't stream through the browser, but it's a useful way to check what's on.

In a similar fashion, you can also browse inside your Kodi add-ons and your video media collection. Again, you can't stream any videos, but you can use the browser to set up a playlist of videos to watch later on. For example, you can cue up an evening's entertainment without having to sit flicking through various options on your TV.

If you open up a video in your library from the browser, you'll find buttons to both play it immediately or to add it to your queue.

Your tips

That's a quick overview of how you can use the Kodi web interface, but if you have tips to share, be sure to drop them into the comments.

Download Kodi from the Windows Store

Related stories

• What is Kodi, and how do you use it on Windows 10?
• How to use Kodi to watch live TV
• Why Kodi isn't illegal: Cutting through the media's misreporting

You can use a stronger protection level with Windows Defender Antivirus, and in this guide, we'll tell you how to do it on the Windows 10 Creators Update.

Windows 10 offers the Windows Defender Antivirus as the default security and anti-malware solution to protect your computer and files against the ongoing growth of threats, including viruses, rootkits, spyware, and other types of malware -- and even those nasty ransomware.

Alongside the new features and improvements included with the Windows Defender Security Center, on the Windows 10 Creators Update (version 1703), the antivirus continues to evolve with new enhancements, such as the ability to manually change the cloud-protection level for your devices.

While out-of-the-box, the antivirus already offers robust threat detection, you can now select a higher level of protection to allow Windows Defender Antivirus to be more proactive scanning and detecting suspicious files, which helps Windows 10 users and organizations to keep their PCs more secure.

In this Windows 10 guide, we'll walk you through the steps to change the cloud-protection level that Windows Defender Antivirus uses to scan and block suspicious files using Local Group Policy and the Registry.

Important: Using these instructions, you'll be joining your device to the Microsoft MAPS community program, which allows the company to collect various pieces of information about threats detected on your system to create new definition updates, and sometime it'll even collect some of your personal information. Although Microsoft ensures that they won't use the information to identify or contact you, if you're not comfortable with that then this guide isn't for you.

• How to change the Windows Defender protection level using Group Policy
• How to change the Windows Defender protection level using Registry

How to change the Windows Defender protection level using Group Policy

If you're running Windows 10 Pro (or Enterprise), the easiest way to change the cloud-protection level of Windows Defender Antivirus is using the Local Group Policy Editor.

Enabling 'Join Microsoft MAPS'

To use a stronger antivirus protection on Windows 10 (version 1703), it's required that you must first to join Microsoft MAPS community, in order to change the level of protection on Windows Defender Antivirus.

To become a member of Microsoft MAPS using the Local Group Policy editor, do the following:

1. Use the Windows key + R keyboard shortcut to open the Run command.
2. Type gpedit.msc and click OK to open the Local Group Policy Editor.

3. Browse the following path:

   Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Defender Antivirus > MAPS

4. On the right side, double-click the Join Microsoft MAPS policy.

5. Select the Enabled option.

6. Under "Options," select the Advanced MAPS option.

7. Click Apply.
8. Click OK.

You'll notice that the policy also includes a Basic MAPS option, but Microsoft is deprecating that membership level, and even if you select it, you'll be enrolled in the advanced group.

Changing antivirus cloud-protection level

Once you configured the membership to report potential threats to Microsoft, you can then change the protection level of the Windows Defender Antivirus using the following steps:

1. Use the Windows key + R keyboard shortcut to open the Run command.
2. Type gpedit.msc and click OK to open the Local Group Policy Editor.

3. Browse the following path:

   Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Defender Antivirus > MpEngine

4. On the right side, double-click the Select cloud protection level policy.

5. Select the Enabled option.

6. Under "Options," select the High blocking level option to increase the protection level on your device.

   Here's a brief description of the available protection levels for the Windows 10 antivirus:

   • Default Windows Defender Antivirus blocking level: Everyone by default has this level of protection. It offers good threat detection, and false positive detections are kept to a minimum.
   • High blocking level: This option provides the strongest level of protection that Windows Defender Antivirus can offer. Using this level, the antivirus will block and scan files more frequently, which translates into a higher rate of false positives on legitimate files, when compared to the default option. However, you have the option to unblock detected files as needed.
7. Click Apply.
8. Click OK.

Once you completed the steps, Windows Defender will use the "High blocking level" option, and it'll scan and block suspicious files more proactively.

You can always revert all the changes by following the same steps on the both set of instructions, but on step No. 5 for the Join Microsoft MAPS policy, select the Not Configured option. Also, on step No. 5 for the Select cloud protection level policy, select the Not Configured option.

How to change the Windows Defender protection level using Registry

In the case you're running Windows 10 Home, you won't have access to the Local Group Policy Editor, but you can still change the protection level of the antivirus included on Windows 10 by modifying the Registry.

Warning: This is a friendly reminder that editing the registry is risky, and it can cause irreversible damage to your installation if you don't do it correctly. We recommend making a full backup of your PC before proceeding.

Enabling 'Join Microsoft MAPS'

In order to switch antivirus protection levels on your device, you must first modify the Registry to join Microsoft MAPS to allow the company to collect information about threats and create new definition updates.

To become a member of Microsoft MAPS using the Registry, do the following:

1. Use the Windows key + R keyboard shortcut to open the Run command.
2. Type regedit, and click OK to open the registry.

3. Browse the following path:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender

4. Right-click the Windows Defender (folder) key, select New, and click on Key.

5. Name the key Spynet and press Enter.

6. Right-click on the right side of "Spynet," select New and click on DWORD (32-bit) Value.

7. Name the key SpynetReporting and press Enter.

8. Double-click the newly created DWORD and set the value from 0 to 2.

9. Click OK.

Changing antivirus cloud-protection level

Once you configured the Microsoft MAPS membership, you can configure the "High blocking level" for Windows Defender Antivirus using the following steps:

1. Use the Windows key + R keyboard shortcut to open the Run command.
2. Type regedit, and click OK to open the registry.

3. Browse the following path:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender

4. Right-click the Windows Defender (folder) key, select New, and click on Key.

5. Name the key MpEngine and press Enter.

6. Right-click on the right side of "MpEngine," select New and click on DWORD (32-bit) Value.

7. Name the key MpCloudBlockLevel and press Enter.

8. Double-click the newly created DWORD and set the value from 0 to 2.

9. Click OK.

After completing the steps, Windows Defender will use a higher protection level to scan and detect suspicious files on your device.

If you want to revert the changes, you can follow the same steps mentioned above on the both set of instructions, but on step No. 4 for "Enabling Join Microsoft MAPS," right-click the Spynet key and click Delete to opt-out.

Then to opt-out of the "High blocking level" protection level, follow the same steps, but on step No. 4, right-click the MpEngine and click Delete.

More Windows 10 resources

For more help articles, coverage, and answers to common questions about Windows 10, visit the following resources:

• Windows 10 on Windows Central – All you need to know
• Windows 10 help, tips, and tricks
• Windows 10 forums on Windows Central

You can bring back the option to launch Command Prompt from the right-click context menu on Windows 10, and in this guide, we'll show you how to do it.

With the Windows 10 Creators Update, Microsoft is continuing to fade out Command Prompt in favor of PowerShell. While you can still use the command-line utility, the option is no longer available on the Power User menu (Windows key + X), on the File menu for File Explorer, and even in the extended context menu (Shift + Right-click).

Although there is an option in the Settings app to add Command Prompt to the Power User menu, you won't find an option to bring it back to the extended context menu. However, it's still possible to re-incorporate the option in Windows 10, if you're comfortable modifying the Registry.

In this Windows 10 guide, we'll walk you through the steps to bring back the "Open command window here" to the context menu.

How to add 'Open command window here' to context menu

In order to re-incorporate the option to launch Command Prompt on the extended context menu, you'll need to modify the Registry using the following steps:

Warning: This is a friendly reminder that editing the registry is risky, and it can cause irreversible damage to your installation if you don't do it correctly. We recommend making a full backup of your PC before proceeding.

1. Use the Windows key + R keyboard shortcut to open the Run command.
2. Type regedit, and click OK to open the Registry.

3. Browse the following path:

   HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\cmd

4. Right-click the cmd (folder) key, and click on Permissions.

5. Click the Advanced button.

6. On "Advanced Security Settings," click the Change link next to "Owner."

7. Type your account name in the provided field, click Check Names to verify you're typing the account name correctly, and click OK.

8. Check the Replace owner on subcontainers and objects option.

9. Click Apply.
10. Click OK.
11. On "Permissions," select the Administrators group.

12. Under "Permissions for Administrators," select Allow for the Full Control option.

13. Click Apply.
14. Click OK.
15. Inside the cmd (folder) key, right-click the HideBasedOnVelocityId DWORD, and click Rename.

16. Change the DWORD name from HideBasedOnVelocityId to ShowBasedOnVelocityId, and press Enter.

Once you completed the steps, using the Shift + Right-click combo will now display the "Open command window here" option.

While these instructions will bring the option to open Command Prompt in a specific folder location to the context menu, there is one caveat: this will only work when you "Shift + Right-click" a folder. The option won't be available using "Shift + Right-click" on an empty space within a folder.

How to remove 'Open PowerShell window here' from context menu

You'll also notice that using the above steps will bring back the "Open command window here," but it'll keep the "Open PowerShell window here" too.

If you want to remove the PowerShell entry from the extended context menu, do the following:

1. Use the Windows key + R keyboard shortcut to open the Run command.
2. Type regedit, and click OK to open the Registry.

3. Browse the following path:

   HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\PowerShell

4. Right-click the PowerShell (folder) key, and click on Permissions.

5. Click the Advanced button.

6. On "Advanced Security Settings," click the Change link next to "Owner".

7. Type your account name in the provided field, click Check Names to verify you're typing the account name correctly, and click OK.

8. Check the Replace owner on subcontainers and objects option.

9. Click Apply.
10. Click OK.
11. On "Permissions," select the Administrators group.

12. Under "Permissions for Administrators," select Allow for the Full Control option.

13. Click Apply.
14. Click OK.
15. Inside the PowerShell (folder) key, right-click the ShowBasedOnVelocityId DWORD, and click Rename.

16. Change the DWORD name from ShowBasedOnVelocityId to HideBasedOnVelocityId, and press Enter.

After completing the steps, using Shift + Right-click will only show the "Open command window here" option.

Wrapping things up

While you can run the majority of the commands using PowerShell, a lot of people still prefer Command Prompt, and the context menu option provided a quick way to open the utility in a specific location without having to type a long command to navigate to a folder path. But now, thanks to a hidden option in the Registry, you can bring that experience back to Windows 10.

More Windows 10 resources

For more help articles, coverage, and answers to common questions about Windows 10, visit the following resources:

• Windows 10 on Windows Central – All you need to know
• Windows 10 help, tips, and tricks
• Windows 10 forums on Windows Central