Category: How To

Security of portable devices such as tablets and laptops is ever more important in this day where our digital lives are literally on them.  Microsoft recognized this with Windows 8.1 and enabled a new Device Encryption when they released the update last year.  The idea behind Device Encryption is that your device is secure and the recovery key for that encryption is stored on Microsoft’s servers, associated with your Microsoft account (yes, they have access to the key but only access it for law enforcement needs).  Should your Windows 8.1 tablet or PC be stolen or lost, the content of that drive is encrypted and unless someone has your PIN or password then the contents of the device will not be something they can access.

In this How To I’m going to show you how you can disable the Device Encryption on your Windows 8.1 tablet or PC.  It is easy to disable (and enable) but it is a bit buried in the PC Settings.  Now, just because you can do a thing doesn’t mean that you should do a thing.  Really, there is no reason to follow this How To and turn off encryption.  It is for your own safety and personal data security which is why Microsoft has enabled it by default.  If you aren’t comfortable with Microsoft having the recovery key, that’s fine.  Follow this How To so you can disable it then re-encrypt with another encryption software.

OneNote has become a serious player in the note taking app space but it is much more than just for notes.  OneNote allows you to create everything from lists to notes with embedded photos to being a platform to sync content from Office Lens or other apps on your Windows PC and Windows Phone.  In Windows Phone there is a big feature that is often overlooked but can be very handy, particularly for lists or a note you need to continually access.  That feature is the ability to pin a note to your Start screen on your Windows Phone.  In this How To I will show you just how to do this in OneNote so you can take advantage of it.

If you took the plunge last week and put Windows 10 on your Phone, you know by now that it is very much a work in progress.  As I put in my initial thoughts post on the next generation of Windows for your phone, it has some rough patches and things that just aren’t working the way they should.  But hey, it’s beta and that’s to be expected.  That said, Microsoft has made an easy way for you to get back to Windows Phone 8.1 if you have decided that beta testing is not for you.  Fortunately they have made it super easy to do and in this How To I will cover how to go about it.

The Windows 8.1 Start Screen has a lot of customization that you can do to arrange your icons into logical groups to find things quicker on your PC or tablet.  Did you know however that you can name these groups as well?  While it isn’t required, it is another way that you can personalize your Start Screen a little bit more to your liking.  In this How To I will show you just how to do this and it is literally a single click.

Let’s start first with the basics to make sure everyone is up to speed.  To add an app to your Start Screen, go to your Apps list and the right click it (or tap and pull down) to highlight it.  You will then see the menu at the bottom of the page where one option is to Pin it to your Start screen.  Once on your Start screen you can drag and drop the apps into logical groups to your liking.

There are times when the only connectivity to the Internet you have is your data connection on your Windows Phone at an airport, hotel or while in a taxi.  With high speed 3G and 4G coverage throughout most major cities and countries in the world, being able to leverage that connection from your Windows PC or tablet can be important when you are in the back of a taxi making that last minute change to a PowerPoint presentation (which you would need to do from a PC or tablet given how poor the Office experience is for Windows Phone – but I digress). In this How To I will show you how to quickly and easily configure the Internet Sharing feature of your Windows Phone so it can be that mobile hotspot for your other devices.

Two things to keep in mind about this How To.  First, it is made with the assumption that you have this feature from your carrier available and enabled.  Here in the US, I’m on AT&T and tethering as they like to call it is by default enabled and does not cost any extra for me to use.  You will need to check with you mobile provider to see if that is the case for your account.  If you do not have it included in your account and you do Internet Sharing, you could rack up some serious charges so check it out before you set this up.  Secondly, you will use a significant more amount of data if you have Internet Sharing enabled and are using your Windows Phone to connect two or three devices at once.  Make sure you have enough data to cover your needs on your monthly account.

One of the great new features of Lumia Denim are Live folders on your Start screen on your Windows Phone.  This feature allows you to group together applications into one folder instead of having them separately scattered on your Start screen. If you are like me and have moved from iOS or Android, you know how powerful these folders can be in your day-to-day organization on your phone.

There may be a time however where you need to eliminate a Live folder on your Start screen to either save space and prevent long scrolls down your Start screen or you simply don’t need that collection of apps on your Start screen anymore.  It is easy to remove a Live folder from your Start screen but it isn’t exactly intuitive.  In this How To I will show you how to do it in just a few steps.