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Steps To Disable Location Tracking In Windows 10

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Windows 10 operating system was launched with a lot of features and security included in it. It has a lot of improvements when compared to that of its predecessors. Location based tracking is something that annoys the users as it is a security nightmare as it feels for many. But not many know that it doesn’t actually have to be that way, you can actually change the location settings and disable location access in Windows 10 using a few simple steps.

Disabling Location Tracking in Windows 10 Using Settings

  • Firstly, open Settings (Windows + I) and select Privacy
  • Here on the left-hand side panel, you will find App Permissions, below that you can see Location, just tap on the toggle button to turn it off

That’s it, this will disable the location access for Microsoft, built-in Windows 10 apps and even Microsoft Store apps on your device.

Disabling Location Tracking By Microsoft Store Apps

If you wish to track all apps from tracking you but have got no issues in letting Windows accessing your location, you can keep the earlier settings ‘On’

  • As you open the Settings page on your computer by clicking (Windows + I)
  • Scroll down on the same page and you will find Privacy option on the left side panel on your Windows screen
  • There under the option app permissions, you can find the option Location, turn off the toggle to disable location access for all the apps listed there

Disabling Location Access On Per App Basis

If you wish some of the apps on your computer like Weather, Clock, News access your location but don’t wished to be tracked on a wholesale by each and every app, then you need to keep both the earlier settings turned on. Then scroll down further to grant permissions for certain apps.

  • Under the Settings menu in your computer, head to the option Privacy
  • There, you will find App permissions option, below that you can see Location option, tap on it
  • Now, on the right-side panel you will see the list of apps. To grant or disable permission on per app basis, you just need to turn on or off each of the toggles individually

Disabling Location Tracking By Windows Apps

Desktop applications usually don’t ask for permissions to access data like the Microsoft apps does. To disable them from accessing your location, scroll down further and turn off the toggle for ‘Allow desktop apps to access your location’

Clear Location History In Windows 10

It can be noted that the location information saved on your device will automatically be deleted after a limited time, you can even delete it manually.

  • To clear location history, head to Settings>Privacy>Location then on the right hand side pane, find Location History and then tap on Clear

This is how you can pretty easily prevent Microsoft and its app from accessing/ collecting your geographical location information.

Try These Speech To Text Softwares For Free On Windows

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Speech to text is such an interesting feature that is very much helpful to those people who write novels, write academic transcriptions, office documents as they have to type a lot and that may sometimes take a lot of their time if they were not so proficient in typing, so, the speech to text softwares help them a lot by allowing them to just speak whatever they to wish to type and the softwares convert the speech into a text.

There are a lot many options for speech to text applications available for the Windows users, but putting aside the paid options, we will tell you about the best free speech to text softwares.

Free Speech To Text Softwares:

Google Docs Voice Typing:

To use this tool from Google, you will need a Chrome browser, a microphone and also an internet connection as it will only work with the internet. This tool offers the users the easiest way to use the speech to text feature. This tool works only in the Chrome browser and the users can use this feature in Google Docs, Google Slides. To use this you can simply connect the microphone to the computer and then open the document in Google docs or slides and then click on the tools and then select voice typing, then you will be able to see the microphone box which you can click when you are ready to speak. When done click on the microphone again.

Windows Speech Recognition:

This is another software recommendation from us if you are in search of a great speech to text tool. You need to head to Start>Control Panel> Speech Recognition and then click on setup microphone and then select the type of the microphone that you are using. Then it will ask you read a sentence to set up, just do it and click on next. Then before actually beginning your work, you can train your Pc to understand your voice by heading to Start>Control Panel>Speech Recognition and there click on Train Your Computer To Understand You Better. It will then present you some sentences to read one after the other and do them. Then you can simply turn the speech recognition feature by going to Start>Control Panel>Speech Recognition>Start Speech Recognition. It will then ask you to set up the method you would like to use to launch the app, set it up and you are done.

Learn A Few Easy Ways To Hide Folders In Windows

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It is very much important to protect your privacy and which is also a difficult task these days if you are sharing your computer or laptop whichever device you use with someone else like your colleagues or friends. There arises the need to secure your files in a safe place. So, we are here to help you know the various methods using which you can hide folders in your Windows PCs or laptops.

 Hide Folders:

  • Open File Explorer, then click on Tools>Folder Options
  • Then in the Folder options window switch to the View tab
  • Then under the option Files and Folders, select Hidden Files and Folders and then check the radio button with the option don’t show hidden files, folders or drives and click on ok
  • Then head back to the file explorer and select the particular file that you wish to hide and right-click on it and from the pop-up menu select properties
  • Then in the properties, make sure you check the hidden option in the general tab

You can access the files by temporarily making the hidden folders visible under folder options.

Make Folders Invisible:

This is yet another method that helps you in making the folder invisible rather than just hiding it.

  • As a first step you need to hide the name of the folder that you would want to make invisible, just select the folder and press F2, then while holding the ALT key type 0160 and press enter
  • In the next step, you need to make the folder invisible, right-click and select the properties of the folder and switch to the customize tab and click on the change icon. Choose a blank icon and click ok

 Hide Folders With A Tool:

There are many useful tools that will allow you to hide your various folders in Windows. My Lockbox is one such tool that you can try using to hide your folders. But unfortunately, the free version of the tool will allow you to secure only one folder at a time. You can change the folder from time to time as you wish.

Best Clipboard Manager Apps For Windows That You Must Check

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We don’t actually acknowledge the power of the clipboard, but we use it quite often. We have been very much used to it that we don’t actually realize we are using it. However, the default clipboard manager in Windows doesn’t have many features, so here are some of the best clipboard applications that have some wonderful features and allow you to excel in copy and paste.

Best Clipboard Manager Apps

ClipClip:  

It is the best clipboard manager application for Windows. Whatever you may copy whether a text, image or a web link, this will have them stored in the form of clips. You can view the saved clips by clicking the icon in the system tray. You can organize your clips in folders. Just dragging and dropping the links from the ClipClip window will paste the link wherever you want.

Ditto: 

This is one of the oldest and the best clipboard managers for Windows. You can find this one as well in the system tray like the ClipClip. The aesthetics and interface of the application look quite old and will take you some time to understand the app. It is a really powerful clipboard application, but the users need to try hard to understand it’s usage.

1Clipboard:  

This app has the best interface and looks very good. You can find this app also on your system tray after you install it on your PC/Laptop. Using start you can mark important on links that you feel are important. Drag and drop to paste is not available in this application.

CopySpace:

This is a pretty much different application from the other ones. It has a different design. IT opens a window and will not be available from the system tray. This is available in the Windows Store. But its functionality is yet to improve and it has some bugs also.

Don’t just copy and paste in an old regular routine way, use these applications and enjoy these features.

Creating Custom Desktop Icons On Your Windows PC

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Many of us might have got bored of the same old regular icons on our computer screens in our Windows devices. Don’t you ever want to try something new? Now, in this article today we are going to learn about creating custom desktop icons in your PC.

Creating Custom Desktop Icons

Rainmeter , the best customization tool for Windows is very good at creating custom icons for your programs. The icons range from immersive to regular. The best thing about this program is that there are already some fan-made icons available which you can make use of.

Rainmeter settings are text-based since it is necessary and important for you to learn the creation process of icons before you start downloading and installing icon packs, the more you learn, the better and more customized you will become.
Now let us see the process of creating a simple icon with this wonderful program

• Head to the C:\Users\[PC Name]\Documents\Rainmeter\Skins, the PC Name should be replaced with the name of your PC
• Right-click on a blank space and click on New, and then click on Folder
• Now name the folder that you have created, that it should represent the contents
• Now, after creating, just double click the folder and create another folder within it, name the folder with the name of the icon that you wish to create
• Then create another folder within it and name it @resources, this folder will hold your icon images

You have created three folders overall

• Now double click the second folder and right-click on the blank space and click on New, and then on Text documents
• Now open the text document created by double-clicking on it and just copy-paste the following thing

[OverwatchIcon]
Meter=Image
ImageName=#@#\[IconName].png
H=[Height]
LeftMouseUpAction=[“[Address]”]
[Rainmeter]
Update=1000

• IconName should be replaced with the name of the PNG file that you should be using for your icon
• Height for changing the size of your icon
• The address should be replaced with the address of your program or a website address
• Now go to the @Resources folder and paste your PNG file which you would like to use as an icon
• Then replace that PNG file with the parameter you have entered for the IconName
• Now replace the Height parameter in your INI file with the size of the icon

You are now done with creating the icon, let us now learn how to place it on the desktop

• Now just right click on the welcome to Rainmeter window and then click on Rainmeter and then click on Manage
• You can see a window open, you can see your created icon under active skins option
• Select the folder that you have created earlier and double click on the INI file, that is it you will see the skin on your desktop

This process may seem a bit long and may need a bit of mind into it, but remember that this will your Windows PC a new look and you must definitely give it a try and create your custom desktop icons.