With nothing more than a generic Windows 11/10 installation disc or USB flash drive, one can enable the built-in Administrator account with a little simple trick – and then use it to lock you out of your own system, or worse, access your private and sensitive files. In this post, we will walk you through the steps to delete the inbuilt Administrator Account in Windows 11/10.
By default, the built-in Windows administrator account is disabled. The built-in administrator account in Windows 11/10 does not even require a password. If you enable the built-in Windows administrator account by choice, you should always create a strong password to use with it.
Caution: It’s strongly recommended NOT to delete the inbuilt Administrator account.
To delete the inbuilt Administrator account in Windows 11/10, do the following:
Since this is a registry operation, it is recommended that you back up the registry or create a system restore point as necessary precautionary measures. Once done, you can proceed as follows:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SAM\SAM
- At the location, on the left pane, right-click the expanded SAM folder, and then click Permissions on the pop-up context menu.
- In the Permissions for SAM window, select the Administrators group. Then, enable the Full-Control and Read options under the Allow header.
- Click Apply > OK.
- Next, click View on the Registry Editor window menu bar, and then click Refresh.
- Now, expand the subfolders underneath the SAM folder until you get to the Names folder. The path is as follows:
SAM > Domains > Account > Users > Names
- Expand the Names folder to reveal the list of user accounts on the system.
- Right-click the Administrator folder, and then click Delete.
That’s it! You have successfully deleted the Windows built-in Administrator account.
You can use the same process to delete the Default Account and Guest Account in Windows as well.
To verify that the built-in admin account has indeed been deleted, you can open a command prompt by pressing the Windows key + R, then type cmd and hit Enter. In the command prompt window, type net user and hit Enter. This command will list all accounts on the system – even if they have been disabled.
Once the command executes, Windows will display a list of all accounts on the system. Note that the Administrator account is no longer visible.
You can also verify that the built-in Windows admin account is gone by opening the Computer Management console in Windows 11/10.
To do this, invoke the Run dialog box, then type compmgmt.msc and hit Enter. Then, click Local Users and Groups and select the Users folder. Again, note that the Administrator account is not visible.
Hope this helps.
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When you create a new user account in Windows 11, the operating system (OS) automatically creates a new user profile folder in C:\Users\Username. However, this default user profile folder name is not always what you want.
Windows, by default, will use the first five characters of your user account name as the profile folder name. If you don’t like the user profile folder name, you can change it using a registry hack. Here we show you how to change the name of the user profile folder in Windows 11.
But First, Some Potential Issues That May Arise From These Steps
While the registry hack should help you successfully change your user account folder name, it can lead to some complications. For example, some of your Microsoft Store apps, including OneDrive and Outlook, can stop working.
As a quick fix, try to sign out and then sign in to your app. If that does not work, you’ll need to move the existing path and define the new correct path after changing the user folder name.
Also, create a restore point and exercise extreme caution while making changes to your user name folder. Incorrect modification to the Windows Registry can cause serious issues and may require reinstallation of the operating system.
How to Create a New Administrator User Account in Windows 11
To change your current user profile name, you need to log into a different administrator account. You cannot modify an existing user account profile path from the same account.
To do this, you can enable and use the built-in administrator account in Windows 11. If not, follow these steps to create a new administrator account in Windows 11.
To create a new administrator account:
- Press Win + I to open Settings.
- Open the Accounts tab in the left pane.
- Click on Family & other users in the right pane.
- Click on Add account under Other users. This option is useful if you want to create a local user account without Microsoft Account.
- Next, click on I don’t have this person’s sign-in information.
- Click on Add a user without a Microsoft account.
- Type a name for the user account. Leave the password field empty and click Next.
- Click on the new user account and click Change account type.
- Click the drop-down for Account type and select Administrator.
- Click OK to save the changes.
Now you can log in with your new administrator account. To do this, click on Start, click on the user profile name, and select Sign out. Now you can sign in with the new administrator account.
How to Change the User Profile Folder Name Using the Registry Editor
You can modify the registry entries associated with your user account to change the user profile folder name in Windows 11.
This process involves modifying your registry entries, so we recommend you to create a restore point. You can use the restore point to restore your PC if something goes wrong during the process.
To change the user profile folder name:
- Sign-out from your current user account and login with a built-in or newly created administrator account
- Next, press Win + R to open the Run dialog.
- Type netplwiz and click OK to open the User Accounts dialog.
- Here, select your user account and click on Properties.
- In the User Properties dialog, you’ll see your User name and Full name.
- Type a name for your user name and click OK and Apply.
- Close the User Account dialog and preform a restart.
- Next, open the Command Prompt. To do this, press Win + R, type cmd and click OK.
- In the Command Prompt window, type the following command to view SID (Security Identifier) for all user accounts: wmic useraccount get name,SID
- Here, note the SID for the user account you want to change the user profile folder name. In this case, the SID for the username tashr is S-1-5-21-200486166-247335145-1769094253-1001.
Now that we have the SID, we need to enter it into the Registry Editor. To do that, follow these steps:
- Press Win + R, type regedit and click OK to open Registry Editor.
- In the Registry Editor, navigate to the following location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList
- Inside the ProfileList key, locate and click on the key name identical to the SID you made a note of earlier.
- In the right-pane, right-click on ProfileImagePath value and select Modify.
- Enter a name you want for the profile folder and click OK.
- Close the Registry Editor and Command Prompt window if open.
- Next, press Win + E to open File Explorer and navigate to C:\Users\.
- Select your user profile and press F2 to rename. Enter a new name for your user profile (it must match the user name entered in the Registry Editor).
- Click away and then click Continue to save the changes.
You may sometimes encounter the "You can’t perform this action" error when renaming the folder. This error often occurs if you switch to a different administrator account without signing out from the primary user account. Alternatively, restart your PC and repeat the steps to rename the user profile folder without the error.
Next, log out from your current account and sign in to the user account with the new user folder name. Open File Explorer and navigate to C:\Users\, and you should be able to use the previous profile with the new pathname.
Renaming the Default User Profile Folder in Windows 11, Made Easy
While you can rename the user account in Windows 11 using the Control Panel, doing so will not change the user profile folder name. For this, you need to modify the ProfileImagePath value in the Registry Editor with a different administrator account. Once done, you can remove the new administrator user account to declutter your login screen.
With companies increasingly moving their data to cloud, there is an extensive need for more professionals with sound understanding and expertise of cloud technology.
Microsoft’s cloud offering, Azure, ranks among the top in the industry. Enterprises find Azure’s hybrid feature appealing, as well as the wide range of tools offered on the platform. As per data from Statista, the Azure market share has been on an upsurge and now accounts for 21% of the worldwide cloud market, making earning an Azure certification a strong career move.
Here are 16 role-based Azure certifications that will provide you an in-depth understanding of the skills and knowledge required to elevate your IT career using Microsoft’s cloud.
- Azure Administrator Associate
- Azure AI Engineer Associate
- Azure Database Administrator Associate
- Azure Data Engineer Associate
- Azure Data Scientist Associate
- Azure Developer Associate
- Azure Enterprise Data Analyst Associate
- Azure Network Engineer Associate
- Azure Security Engineer Associate
- Azure Solutions Architect Expert
- Azure Stack Hub Operator Associate
- Cybersecurity Architect Expert
- DevOps Engineer Expert
- Identity and Access Administrator Associate
- Security Operations Analyst Associate
- Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate
Azure Administrator Associate
The certification is designed for professionals with expertise in implementing, managing, and monitoring identity, storage, governance, compute, and virtual networks in a cloud environment. Many a times, this role operates as a part of a bigger team devoted to implement an organization’s cloud infrastructure.
To earn this certification, you should have a minimum of six months of hands-on experience managing Azure. In addition, you would also require a good understanding of core Azure services, Azure workloads, security, and governance. It will also test your skills of deploying and managing Azure compute resources, as well as your ability to configure, monitor, and maintain Azure resources.
Job role: Administrator
Required exam: Microsoft Azure Administrator
Cost: Depends on the country or region in which it is taken. Does not include applicable taxes.
United States: $165 USD
India: ₹4800 INR
Azure AI Engineer Associate
This certification validates your ability to develop AI solutions in collaobration with data engineers, data scientists, AI developers, and IoT specialists.
To earn this certification, you need to have a strong understanding of C# or Python and should have hands-on knowledge of REST-based APIs and SDKs to develop conversational AI solutions, natural language processing, computer vision, and knowledge mining on Azure. You should also be proficient enough to apply responsible AI principles and be able to plan and mange Azure Cognitive Services solution.
Job role: AI engineer
Required exam: Designing and Implementing a Microsoft Azure AI Solution
Cost: Depends on the country or region in which it is taken. Does not include applicable taxes.
United States: $165 USD
India: ₹4800 INR
Azure Database Administrator Associate
This certification demonstrates your ability to implement and manage the operational side of hybrid data platforms and cloud-native solutions developed with SQL Server and Azure data services. This test verifies your proficiency in using varied methods and tools to execute regular operations, including know-how of using T-SQL for administrative management purposes.
The skill sets that the test measures include the ability to: plan and implement data platform resources; implement a secure environment; examine, configure, and Improve database resources; configure and manage task automation; and plan and configure a high availability and disaster recovery environment.
Job role: Database administrator
Required exam: Administering Microsoft Azure SQL Solutions
Cost: Depends on the country or region in which it is taken. Does not include applicable taxes.
United States: $165 USD
India: ₹4800 INR
Azure Data Engineer Associate
This certification is a stamp of your expertise in integrating, consolidating, and transforming data pouring in from numerous structured and unstructured data systems and in providing structure to build analytics solutions on that data. An Azure data engineer ensures data pipelines and data stores are well-functioning, effective, structured, and reliable based on business requirements and limitations. You also need to navigate unexpected issues and reduce data loss.
To earn this certification, you need to have an in-depth knowledge of data processing languages, including Scala, SQL, or Python, and have an understanding of parallel processing and data architecture patterns. You should be able to design, implement, and optimize data storage, data processing, and data security.
Job role: Data engineer
Required exam: Data Engineering on Microsoft Azure
Cost: Depends on the country or region in which it is taken. Does not include applicable taxes.
United States: $165 USD
India: ₹4800 INR
Azure Data Scientist Associate
This certification focuses on your expertise in leveraging data science and machine learning to implement and run machine learning workloads on Azure.
Candidates for this role should be able to conduct data experiments, train predictive models, and manage Azure resources for machine learning.
Job role: Data scientist
Required exam: Designing and Implementing a Data Science Solution on Azure
Cost: Depends on the country or region in which it is taken. Does not include applicable taxes.
United States: $165 USD
India: ₹4800 INR
Azure Developer Associate
The Azure Developer Associate certification is designed for professionals with one to two years of professional experience with Azure. It validates that a candidate is a cloud developer who takes part in all stages of development, deployment, and maintenance. And that the candidate works with cloud database administrators and clients to implement solutions.
The skills measured in the test include the ability to develop Azure compute solutions; develop for Azure storage; implement Azure security; monitor, troubleshoot, and optimize Azure solutions; and connect to and use Azure services and third-party services.
Job role: Developer
Required exam: Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure
Cost: Depends on the country or region in which it is taken. Does not include applicable taxes.
United States: $165 USD
India: ₹4800 INR
Azure Enterprise Data Analyst Associate
The certification proves your standing to appropriately deal in areas of designing, creating, and deploying enterprise-scale data analytics solutions.
To achieve this certification, you should have advanced Power BI skills. You should have the expertise to implement and manage a data analytics environment; query and transform data, implement and manage data models; and explore and visualize data.
Job role: Data analyst
Required exam: Designing and Implementing Enterprise-Scale Analytics Solution Using Microsoft Azure and Microsoft Power BI
Cost: Depends on the country or region in which it is taken. Does not include applicable taxes.
United States: $165 USD
India: ₹4800 INR
Azure Network Engineer Associate
The Azure Network Engineer Associate certification validates your prowess of deploying networking solutions by using the Azure portal and other methods such as PowerShell, Azure Command-Line Interface, and Azure Resources Manager templates. The certification demonstrates your aptitude to work with solution architects, security engineers, cloud administrators, and DevOps engineers to deliver Azure solutions.
The test measures thorough expertise in planning, implementing, and maintaining Azure networking solutions comprising connectivity, routing, hybrid networking, security, and private access to Azure services.
Job role: Network engineer
Required exam: Designing and Implementing Microsoft Azure Networking Solutions
Cost: Depends on the country or region in which it is taken. Does not include applicable taxes.
United States: $165 USD
India: ₹4800 INR
Azure Security Engineer Associate
This certification focuses on your expertise in implementing Azure Security Controls that secure identity, access, data, applications, and networks in cloud and hybrid environments. It proves your ability to execute responsibilities such as managing the security posture of the organization, responding to security incident escalation, conducting threat modeling, identifying and neutralizing detected flaws, and implementing threat protection.
To earn this certification, you need to have moderate to robust knowledge of most Azure offerings and an understanding of basic IT security principals. This test tests your knowledge in four different subject areas: managing identity and access; implementing platform protection; managing security operations; and securing data and application.
Job role: Security engineer
Required exam: Microsoft Azure Security Technologies
Cost: Depends on the country or region in which it is taken. Does not include applicable taxes.
United States: $165 USD
India: ₹4800 INR
Azure Solutions Architect Expert
The certification validates your subject matter expertise in designing cloud and hybrid solutions on Azure, including network, compute, monitoring, storage, and security. It requires you to have advanced experience and deep knowledge of IT operations comprising networking, governance, disaster recovery, data platforms, virtualization, business continuity, identity, and security.
To earn it, you must have Azure Administrator Associate certification (see above), which tests your skills to implement, monitor, and manage an organization’s Microsoft Azure environment.
Job role: Solution architect
Required exam: Designing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions
Cost: Depends on the country or region in which it is taken. Does not include applicable taxes.
United States: $165 USD
India: ₹4800 INR
Azure Stack Hub Operator Associate
This certification focuses on your ability to plan, deploy, update, and maintain the Azure Stack Hub infrastructure. It evaluates your aptitude to work with teams that support datacenter infrastructure; teams that manage identity; and teams that use Azure Stack Hub resources such as DevOps engineers, developers, and virtual infrastructure administrators.
The certification requires you to possess strong experience in operating and managing Azure Stack Hub environments, and to do so by using PowerShell. It will also test the depth of your understanding of Azure, as well as your knowledge of networking, virtualization, and identity management as the certification is for administrator-level role.
Job role: Administrator
Required exam: Configuring and Operating a Hybrid Cloud with Microsoft Azure Stack Hub
Cost: Depends on the country or region in which it is taken. Does not include applicable taxes.
United States: $165 USD
India: ₹4800 INR
Cybersecurity Architect Expert
Cybersecurity Architect Expert is an enhanced certification that establishes your subject matter expertise in securing an organization’s digital assets by deploying cybersecurity strategy. It also focuses on your ability to design a Zero Trust strategy and architecture, which comprises applications, security strategies for data, identity and access management, and infrastructure. This test also evaluates Governance Risk Compliance (GRC) technical strategies; security operations strategies; and experience of hybrid and cloud implementation.
To earn this certification, you must have at least one of the following certifications: Microsoft Certified: Azure Security Engineer Associate; Microsoft Certified: Identity and Access Administrator Associate; Microsoft 365 Certified: Security Administrator Associate; or Microsoft Certified: Security Operations Analyst Associate.
Job role: Security engineer, administrator, solution architect, security operations analyst
Required exam: Microsoft Cybersecurity Architect
Cost: Depends on the country or region in which it is taken. Does not include applicable taxes.
United States: $165 USD
India: ₹4800 INR
DevOps Engineer Expert
The DevOps Engineer Expert certification proves your ability to plan and implement strategies for collaboration, code, source control, infrastructure, compliance, monitoring, delivery, testing, constant integration, monitoring, and feedback. It requires you to possess experience with administering and developing in Azure, with solid skills in at least one of these domains. You need to be acquainted with both Azure DevOps and GitHub.
The test evaluates your ability to develop an instrumentation strategy; oversee source control; design a security and compliance strategy; plan and implement constant integration; plan and implement a continuous delivery and release management approach; enable communication and collaboration; and build a site reliability engineering strategy.
To earn this certification, you must have either the Azure Administrator Associate or Azure Developer Associate certification.
Job role: DevOps engineer
Required exam: Designing and Implementing Microsoft DevOps Solutions
Cost: Depends on the country or region in which it is taken. Does not include applicable taxes.
United States: $165 USD
India: ₹4800 INR
Identity and Access Administrator Associate
The certification verifies your ability to design, implement, and operate an organization’s identity and access management systems by putting into use the Azure Active Directory. It also validates your expertise to configure and manage authentication and authorization of identities for Azure resources, users, devices, and applications.
Job role: Administrator, identity and access administrator, security engineer
Required exam: Microsoft Identity and Access Administrator
Cost: Depends on the country or region in which it is taken. Does not include applicable taxes.
United States: $165 USD
India: ₹4800 INR
Security Operations Analyst Associate
This certification validates your skills in collaborating with stakeholders to secure IT systems from cyberattacks. It demonstrates that you are capable of reducing organizational risk by promptly emending active attacks in the systems, recommending improvements to threat protection practices, and stating breaches of organizational policies to applicable stakeholders.
The certification establishes that you are efficient for the role that predominantly investigates, responds to, and tracks attacks applying Microsoft Sentinel, Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Microsoft 365 Defender, and third-party security products.
Job role: Security engineer, security operations analyst
Required exams: Microsoft Security Operations Analyst
Cost: Depends on the country or region in which it is taken. Does not include applicable taxes.
United States: $165 USD
India: ₹4800 INR
Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate
This certification proves your expertise in configuring and managing windows server workloads using on-premises, hybrid, and infrastructure-as-a-service technologies. It also demonstrates your ability to execute tasks in line with security, monitoring, migration, troubleshooting, and disaster recovery. It also covers Azure Automation update management, Microsoft Defender for identity, Azure Security Center, Azure Migrate, and Azure Monitor.
This certification tests your ability to deploy and manage active directory domain services in on-premises and cloud environments; manage windows servers and workloads in a hybrid environment; implement and manage an on-premises and hybrid networking infrastructure; manage virtual machines and containers; manage storage and file services; and implement disaster recovery. You should have vast experience working with Windows Server operating systems.
Job role: Administrator,identity and access administrator,support engineer, network engineer, information protection administrator, technology manager, security engineer
Required exams: Administering Windows Server Hybrid Core Infrastructure and Configuring Windows Server Hybrid Advanced Services
Cost: Depends on the country or region in which it is taken. Does not include applicable taxes.
United States: $165 USD + $165 USD = $330 USD
India: ₹4800 INR + ₹4800 INR = ₹9600 INR
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Are you unable to keep your server members informed of which game you are playing, because Discord's game detection feature isn't working on your Windows PC?
Most of the time, this happens when users mistakenly disable the feature in Discord settings. There are times, however, when the problem is either game-specific, caused by restrictions imposed by other games running simultaneously, or simply because the Discord app isn't up-to-date.
In this article, we'll look at various solutions for getting Discord's game detection feature working again.
But First, Some Preliminary Checks...
First, apply these preliminary checks before performing more advanced fixes:
- Make sure your internet is working.
- Restart the game Discord isn't detecting.
- Restart the Discord app.
- Close any streaming apps that are running when you have Discord open.
- Disable your VPN if you are using one.
If the above preliminary checks don't resolve the issue, begin applying the following fixes.
1. Run Discord as an Administrator
First, you should run Discord as an administrator. By doing so, the application will get administrative privileges, allowing it to access even those system files that would otherwise be restricted, which may fix the issue. To run Discord as an administrator, right-click on the Discord app icon and hit Run as administrator.
Play the game again and see if Discord's game detection feature detects it this time. If not, proceed to the next fix.
2. Ensure That Discord's Activity Status Feature Is Enabled
Discord attempts to detect your game and show it to your friends only if you enable the activity status feature. When it's off, Discord won't detect the game you're playing. If you've tweaked Discord settings or reset Discord, ensure the activity status feature wasn't accidentally disabled. Follow these steps to confirm:
- Launch Discord.
- To access User Settings, click the gear icon in the bottom-left corner.
- Under Activity Settings on the left-hand side, click Activity Privacy.
- Switch the toggle next to Display current activity as a status message to the right.
- Let the changes take effect by relaunching Discord.
Move on to the next fix if the activity status feature was already enabled or if enabling the feature makes no difference.
3. Rule Out Game Specific Issues
Is Discord not detecting only when playing a particular game? If so, have you purchased an authentic copy of the game, or are you just playing a pirated copy? Cracked, pirated, and illegally activated games are not detected by Discord. So, if you don't have a genuine copy, get one, and Discord will start detecting it.
If you are unsure whether the game you are playing is authentic or not, you can verify its authenticity by following these steps:
- Go to the game's installation folder containing the game's executable file.
- Right-click on it and select Properties from the context menu.
- Go to the Digital Signatures tab in the Properties window.
- Select the signer's name and click on Details.
- Click View Certificate.
The game is authentic if the certificate is issued to the original developer. If not, it is a cloned copy. Hence, you should purchase an original copy of the game. However, if Discord fails to detect a single or multiple games even though they are authentic, continue applying the remaining fixes.
Discord can't detect game mods, just like it won't detect pirated games. Likewise, if you are using any cheat software to get an advantage in the game, Discord may not detect it due to its real-time file tempering. Considering that, do not modify the game or enable cheat software, and it will help Discord detect your game better.
4. Update Discord
An outdated Discord app can also cause unexpected problems. Typically, the Discord app checks for updates and installs them when you run it, but there are times when it doesn't, especially when you have stopped Discord from updating automatically.
To check whether or not you already have the latest Discord version, click the gear icon (User Settings) in the bottom-right corner and scroll down. Compare the version number next to Host with the latest version released by Discord.
If they match, your Discord app is updated. If not, you can update the app by following these steps:
- At the right end of the taskbar, open the System Tray.
- Right-click on Discord and click Check for Updates.
- Relaunch Discord, and hopefully, the updates will be automatically installed.
5. Ensure Your Antivirus or Firewall Isn't Blocking Discord's Game Detection
Your antivirus or Windows Defender Firewall can also prevent Discord from detecting the game. Discord won't be able to detect the game if its access to it has been restricted. To rule out this possibility, you must whitelist Discord in the Windows Defender Firewall or antivirus settings.
If you use the antivirus that comes included with Windows, check out our article on how to whitelist files in Windows Defender if you aren't familiar with the process. If you use a third-party program, each antivirus software has a different process for whitelisting an app in its settings. Refer to the official website or documentation of your antivirus for more information.
6. Manually Add the Game to Discord
Users can also manually add games to Discord, which the app does not detect automatically. If none of the above fixes work, you should manually add it. Follow these steps to do so:
- Launch Discord.
- Click the gear icon in the bottom-left corner to access User Settings.
- Under Activity Settings on the left-hand side, click Registered Games.
- Next to "Not seeing your game?", click on Add it.
- In the box, paste the path to the game's executable file.
- Select the game from the search results.
By following the above instructions, you will be able to add the game to Discord manually and show up as you are playing it now. Even though it's handy, you'll have to add the game every time you play it and remove it when you're done. Reinstalling Discord will help you overcome this problem.
7. Reinstall Discord
If none of the fixes work and you get tired of adding the games manually, you can reinstall Discord. So, uninstall the app from your Windows device, visit the Discord website, and get the app. After downloading, install the app; hopefully, a fresh installation will resolve the issue.
Fix Discord's Game Detection
By applying the fixes in the article, you should be able to fix Discord's game detection feature. Thus, you'll be able to keep your audience informed about what game you're playing and help you keep them engaged.
The game detection feature can also be disabled in a few clicks if you find it compromising your privacy. You can also control your visibility on the platform with great ease.
While Windows 10 Home is intended for a casual use, Windows10 Pro will primarily be of interest to SMEs and professionals requiring access to specific administration or security features. What are the differences between Windows 10 Home and the Pro edition? Which edition of Windows 10 is right for you? All you need to know is in this article.
Which Windows 10 Edition is free?
Well, it all depends on your current version of Windows. You can either get a free upgrade to Windows 10 Home or Pro:
| From | To |
| Windows 7 Starter Windows 7 Home Basic Windows 7 Home Premium Windows 7 Professional Windows 7 Ultimate Windows 8.1 Windows 8.1 Pro Windows 8.1 Pro Student Windows 8.1 Pro WMC Windows Phone 8.1 | Windows 10 Home Windows 10 Home Windows 10 Home Windows 10 Pro Windows 10 Pro Windows 10 Home Windows 10 Pro Windows 10 Pro Windows 10 Pro Windows 10 Mobile |
Which features available on both versions?
There are several basic features shared by both Windows 10 Home and Pro:
| Feature | Home Edition | Pro Edition |
|---|---|---|
| Customizable Start Menu | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Defender/Firewall | Yes | Yes |
| Fast start up with Hiberboot and InstantGo | Yes | Yes |
| TPM Support | Yes | Yes |
| Power Saving Mode | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Update | Yes | Yes |
| Cortana | Yes | Yes |
| Windows Hello (biometric) | Yes | Yes |
| Virtual Desktops | Yes | Yes |
| Snap Assist | Yes | Yes |
| Snap Apps | Yes | Yes |
| Continuum (sync PC and tablet) | Yes | Yes |
| Microsoft Edge Web browser | Yes | Yes |
What about the administration and security features?
The major difference between the Windows 10 Home and Windows 10 Pro lies in the number of administration and security tools available on the pro edition. For example, features such as BitLocker drive encryption, DirectAccess, or the Group Policy Editor are available only in the Windows 10 Pro edition:
| Feature | Home Edition | Pro Edition |
|---|---|---|
| Device encryption | Yes | Yes |
| Joining domains | No | Yes |
| Group Policy | No | Yes |
| BitLocker | No | Yes |
| Internet Explorer Enterprise Mode | No | Yes |
| Kiosk Mode | No | Yes |
| Remote Desktop | No | Yes |
| Client Hyper-V | No | Yes |
| Enterprise-specific app on Windows Store | No | Yes |
| DirectAccess | No | Yes |
What are the other features?
Most of the advanced management tools and apps are only available in the Pro edition:
| Features | Home Edition | Pro Edition |
|---|---|---|
| Sideloading of Windows Store apps | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile Device Management | Yes | Yes |
| Azure Active Directory | No | Yes |
| Easily upgrade from Pro to Enterprise Edition | No | Yes |
| Easily upgrade from Home to Education Edition | Yes | No |
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A number of new features are coming to Microsoft Teams: a new Teams Premium option will be available to IT managers to sign on to, while ordinary users will have a number of new UI elements and apps to choose from — yes, even which music to listen to while working.
Microsoft unveiled the new features for Teams as well as other business applications at its Microsoft Ignite conference.
From both an administrator and user level, the new Teams Premium experience — available this coming February, most certainly for a premium price — will bundle some useful features together. Not only will Teams try and pluck the most useful bits of information from the meeting itself (known as meeting recap) but will automatically generate AI-authored to-do tasks to follow up upon. In fact, you’ll see AI used liberally throughout. Miss the meeting entirely? AI will transcribe it, translate it, highlight the parts it thinks you’ll be interested, call out important speakers, and even note down when and where your name was mentioned, just to make sure you didn’t miss anything.
Teams will even provide meeting guides, to make sure that you don’t miss another department’s meeting that you might want to listen in. These added AI features, however, will roll out a bit later — most likely in the first half of 2023, Microsoft said.
Remember the avatars that Microsoft announced for Teams, just to show off that it, too, was part of the metaverse hype? They’re now in private preview, where users can create up to three avatars via a list of options. During a meeting, avatars will be able to use a variety of gestures, Microsoft says. To be fair, avatars could be useful for someone having a bad hair day, recovering from cosmetic surgery, or just plain shy. Teams’ together mode is also adding a small tweak — assigned seats, so you’ll always be able to look for your coworker in the same place.
Microsoft is also making a number of tweak to Teams chats, including scheduled chats. If you’d like, you’ll be able to delay a chat message within Teams to a future date and time, a capability Microsoft is bringing to Outlook as well. If you don’t want to chat, you can bow out, too, deleting yourself from the chat. (This will be available in November.) You’ll also have the option of sending video clips to other coworkers, or responding with up to 800 new Teams reactions.
Microsoft
Teams will even use AI to suggest replies later this month — not the sort of autofilled suggestions in Microsoft Editor or Google’s Gmail. “Suggested replies use machine learning to generate responses most relevant to the group conversation,” Microsoft says. “Instead of typing out a routine response to incoming messages, users can simply click one of the three responses while staying productive in their workflow.”
Teams will also overhaul its UI, making channels and chats easier to find, with the ability to call out standalone chats, too.
And if you’ve never dug through the available Teams apps via the Teams App Store (navigate through the left-hand nav bar, down to the ellipsis menu, then More Apps), there are more coming: 3M says a new Post-It app can now translate Post-It notes that you’ve written in the real world and translate them via OCR into text.
Finally, iHeartRadio even has ported its music app to the Teams App Store as well, providing the first music app for the Teams platform. The app will “allows users to listen to music while working and share favorite stations with colleagues.” Finally — the future is here.
By Tashi McQueen, AFRO Political Writer,
Report for America Corps Member,
tmcqueen@afro.com
People have made powerful reconnections by “tracing their roots” over the years, but the process isn’t always straightforward. The information available can run the gamut from dense, government documents to barely legible notes, handwritten on the back of a family photo. So, where to start?
This week, the AFRO spoke with historians to find out the top seven ways to research your family history.
“The U.S. Census, the National Archives, local archival facilities, word of mouth, ancestry companies, church records and cemeteries are some good resources,” said David Reed, Ph.D., assistant professor of history and government at Bowie State University. “It takes time, energy and persistence but it can be done.”
Here are six resources you can use:
The U.S. Census Bureau
The U.S. Census Bureau has a genealogy page to help those seeking individual records from 1790 – 1950. The National Archives and Records Administration maintains the records for that specific time period. Decennial census records have a 72-year confidentiality rule to protect respondents’ privacy, so extra forms may be needed to access the information. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, “records from the 1960 to 2020 censuses can only be obtained by the person named in the record or their heir after submitting form BC-600 or BC-600SP.”
You can access the list of questions asked in the census, genealogy maps, and an immigrant genealogy program online. The maps can help the researchers discover where their ancestors lived. The website mentions online subscription services where the 1790–1950 records are available to access through public libraries for free.
Public library
Public libraries are an excellent source for discovering the past. The Enoch Pratt Free Library has a genealogy page where you can access the four offices that specialize in different aspects of genealogy. There is the African American Department, a Maryland Department, the Periodicals Department, and the Social Science and History Department. The African American Department can assist the Black community in their search through obituaries. Research services are free, but to mail photocopies, requesters do have to pay. They have various records listed on their website and in person at their main branch.
“We have many resources available though they are restricted to Maryland,” said Meghan McCorkell, chief of marketing, communications and strategy at the Enoch Pratt Free Library. “Some of our resources are available online with your Pratt library cards.”
McCorkell continued, stating that “genealogy is one of our most popular services and our staff love helping people unravel their family mysteries. They get as excited as some of our customers do.”
Marriage and death certificates
Seekers can access marriage and death certificates through ancestry.com. Some information is readily available and some may need to be requested. Ancestry comes with fees ranging from $21 to $59. The company can help find details about their burial locations, marriage, full names of past relatives and photos.
Newspaper archives
Another great way to get information on family members is through newspapers. The news provides accurate timestamps and records for and about the community. Several local historical newspapers like the Baltimore AFRO American Newspaper are great resources. The Library of Congress has catalogs containing newspaper clippings available on-site and online.
Military records
Seekers can find veterans’ records to search for relatives through the National Archives. Researchers can request information online, by mail or by fax. Individuals can check the status of an existing request through the National Archives. They have access to the funeral home director’s information and pre-world war one records. Persons can find pictures of military vessels, casualties from various conflicts, awards and medals based on each recorded American war.
Church records
Churches are a distinct part of the community and thus hold a host of information beneficial to a genealogy search. Speaking with local church members or staff connected to a relatives home town may provide a host of information. FamilySearch.org can help individuals find records online of all U.S. churches throughout history and other documents related to family history. It allows patrons to search church records and can provide context about an ancestor, their church type, ethnicity and national origin.
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The European Commision and the U.S. government announced its new Trans-Atlantic Data Privacy Framework earlier this year, and Microsoft was quick to champion the move given its legal history with international data privacy concerns, but the Biden administrations accurate executive order could fast track its implementation.
Last week, the Biden administration signed an executive order which implements the previously announced Data Privacy Framework and marks the third such effort by the two regions to tackle trans-Atlantic handling of data since 2015.
As a refresher, the Trans-Atlantic Data Privacy Framework adds restraints on Washington's signals intelligence gathering in the EU in addition to setting up processes for data collection and establishes an appeals system that European citizens can access when they feel American Intelligence agencies have violated the principles of the agreement in pursuit of 'information.'
This framework addresses two concerns of the Court of Justice in the EU related to U.S. surveillance laws: (1) the scope and proportionality of permissible U.S. national security surveillance activities; and (2) the availability of redress mechanisms for Europeans whose personal data is improperly collected and used by U.S. intelligence agencies. The new framework rightfully makes clear that U.S. surveillance practices must be both necessary and proportionate. And critically, it creates an independent data protection review court to provide effective review and redress for Europeans impacted by improper surveillance.
Back in 2018, several US officials came to an agreement to pass the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data (CLOUD) Act, which aimed to facilitate cross-border access to data as it pertained to investigations of serious crimes. The effort to pass the CLOUD act was entirely a US led effort but helped clarify Microsoft's position as a data broker in a publicized suit between the company and the US Justice Department over emails originating from Ireland on Irish servers but ultimately held by an American-based software company.
With Biden fast tracking safeguards and implementing more clear frameworks for the handling of international data sought or held by US-based organizations, it's no wonder Microsoft publicly offered its own commitment statement for the effort back in March of this year.
First, Microsoft will confirm that any demand for personal data from the U.S. government complies with the newly announced Trans-Atlantic Data Privacy and Security Framework. If we believe the demand is not compliant, we will use all lawful means to challenge it.
Second, Microsoft will support the redress process under the new agreement by putting our full legal resources to work and seeking to actively participate in the judicial review of an individual’s claim of harm related to Microsoft’s public sector and commercial cloud services.
As of this month, Biden's executive order simply expedites the long-term efforts to establish frameworks for the investigation, handling and limits to the use of international data in criminal cases, which takes the onus off of Microsoft dancing between the various data privacy rules established by each country and determining which ones take precedent.
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New FMCSA Administrator Robin Hutcheson in official portrait, left, and during a "touch a truck" event with Women in Trucking Association leadership earlier this year.
Photos: FMCSA, Women in Trucking
The U.S. Senate confirmed Robin Hutcheson as administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration by a voice vote on Sept. 22. She had been serving as deputy and acting administrator of the FMCSA since January, when she replaced the departing deputy/acting administrator, Meera Joshi.
Hutcheson was nominated by President Biden in April. The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held confirmation hearings in June and moved the nomination to the Senate. During those hearings, Hutcheson fielded a number of questions about what the FMCSA is doing about the truck driver shortage and related supply-chain challenges. She also was asked about some long-overdue regulatory changes that were called for in the 2015 FAST Act, including hair-testing for drugs and changes to the Compliance, Safety, Accountability program the agency uses to prioritize unsafe carriers for interventions.
Hutcheson is the seventh person to officially hold the position of FMCSA administrator, although there have been a number of acting administrators in accurate years. Hutcheson was the fourth acting chief of FMCSA since Ray Martinez stepped down nearly three years ago, and one of several to have left the agency unexpectedly since it was formed more than 20 years ago. The former deputy administrator, Meera Joshi, left the role to serve as a deputy mayor in New York City.
Hutcheson was previously deputy assistant secretary for safety policy for the Department of Transportation, where she led the development of the National Roadway Safety Strategy and was instrumental in the development of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, White House officials said in a press release. Prior to that, she was the director of public works for the City of Minneapolis.
American Trucking Associations President and CEO Chris Spear applauded the confirmation. “In her time as Acting Administrator, Robin has been a true partner with our industry, working to confront a number of issues facing trucking.
“Whether it is addressing safety concerns, ongoing supply chain issues or workforce development, she has been open to engaging with our industry and we look forward to continuing our ongoing, candid dialogue about these challenges and to engaging with her and her agency to implement solutions that uphold safety and Improve efficiency in trucking and across the supply chain.”
Truckload Carriers Association President Jim Ward said in a statement, "I am pleased to see this confirmation come to fruition. In the short time that she has been there, the administrator has demonstrated a passion for safety improvement and a willingness to engage with the industry. We are looking forward to working with her on truckload-related safety measures in the future.”
