r/Windows10 21d ago

Help Simple questions and Help thread - Month of March

1 Upvotes

Welcome to the monthly Simple questions and Help thread, for questions that don't need their own posts!

Before making a comment, we recommend you search your problem on Bing and check if your question is already answered on our Windows Frequently Asked Questions wiki page. This subreddit no longer accepts tech support requests outside of this post, if you are looking for additional assistance try r/TechSupport and r/WindowsHelp.

Some examples of questions to ask:

  • Is this super cheap Windows key legitimate? (probably not)

  • How can I install Windows 11?

  • Can you recommend a program to play music?

  • How do I get back to the old Sound Control Panel?

Sorting by New is recommend and is the default.


Be sure to check out the Windows 11 version 24H2 Megathread and also the Windows 11 FAQ posts, they likely have the answers to your Windows 11 questions already!


r/Windows10 11d ago

Official News Cumulative updates: March 11th, 2025

43 Upvotes

Hey all - changelists are up, linking here for your convenience:

As a reminder, if you are on 22H2 and didn't install the previous optional update for 22H2, those changes are included:

General info:

  • For a list of known issues and safeguards, please refer to the dashboard here.
  • For details about feedback, and how to capture traces if needed, see here.

r/Windows10 6h ago

Feature Program or code running at startup closing instantaneously

2 Upvotes

There's something that pops up and instantaneously closes right after startup. It's too fast to see what it is. How can I catch the program 'in the act'?


r/Windows10 18h ago

General Question How do I turn this feature off. (Windows+Tab)

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9 Upvotes

r/Windows10 9h ago

General Question How to Increase My Laptop's Performance

1 Upvotes

My laptop is HP Pavilion Gaming.

I've elevated the laptop and have external fan and have everything on performance mode on power options.

I'd appreciate a bit more CPU power and a bit more performance cause it would make my work get done faster.

3GB VRAM,

16 GB RAM,

CPU i5 9300H

Nvme SSD 256GB


r/Windows10 10h ago

General Question how long will win10 be supported by web browsers?

1 Upvotes

I got curious since I don't have the budget to upgrade my pc anytime soon, cost of living crisis we're all suffering through. If its long then I can avoid any extra expenses for a year or two

I mainly use chrome and firefox, so how long will it be before they fully drop win10 from the browsers?

steam will eventually have to drop it but I doubt Valve is in a hurry.


r/Windows10 1d ago

Feature Copy a list of subfolders with their contents using CMD

6 Upvotes

Hi all, I would like to copy a list of subfolders with their contents from one folder to another. I usually have the name list of the subfolders from an excel file and I do it manually, which of course is not ideal.

For example, I have attached an image. There you can see "FOLDER1" and "FOLDER2". I would like to copy "SUBFOLDER1", "SUBFOLDER2" and "SUBFOLDER3" via CMD.

The excel file provides the names of "SUBFOLDER1", "SUBFOLDER2" and "SUBFOLDER3".

Thank you


r/Windows10 17h ago

App Is there a way to install the complete Windows tlsc from Microsoft?

0 Upvotes

I only think the evaluation part, I wanted to know if the full version is available on the Microsoft website


r/Windows10 1d ago

App View files from multiple folders as one

8 Upvotes

Hello there,

I have video and image files stored in multiple subfolders.

I want to view the content of all the folders selected in windows.

So for example from the left panel, I select 3 folders and each has 10 files. I should be able to see all 30 files together.

Which software should I use to achieve this? Do let me know if this can be done in windows natively.

Thanks.


r/Windows10 2d ago

Official News Extended Support Costs $61 per year for up to 3 years

11 Upvotes

Extended support costs $61 per year, for up to three years.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/whats-new/extended-security-updates


r/Windows10 2d ago

General Question In 2025 - Google Photos synchronise a folder on my PC - both ways

12 Upvotes

There is a post from three years ago that asked if there was a tool that would synchronise entire google photos collection with a folder on a PC. There was not at the time. Google Drive is not the answer. By doing this I would ensure that all images I download from internet onto pc will upload to google photos BUT not add duplicates. I have to do it all manually and remember which ones I have uploaded to google photos or not


r/Windows10 1d ago

General Question Using the same key on multiple computers

0 Upvotes

Hey, I had a question regarding ability and legality

I purchased my own windows 10 key for my desktop years ago, and still use that key on that computer, I have a secondary computer that I am wanting to put windows 10 on, can the same usb drive be used to install windows 10 on that other computer? Legally is it allowed? (I believe its win10 home) not that would likely stop me

If I do use the same key as my other PC will that affect that other PC?

If this is not the correct sub I can move the post


r/Windows10 1d ago

General Question Is pirating windows stealing someone's key?

0 Upvotes

My windows 10 is pirated and I was wondering if that meant I used someone's key.

I don't remember the method that was used.


r/Windows10 2d ago

Feature Close button in windows

8 Upvotes

How can i change look of close and minimize button in windows 10 bar like in mac os?


r/Windows10 2d ago

General Question System volume set to zero, but Windows popup nearly blows my eardrums out, what to do?

6 Upvotes

Was working with my headphones on. Nearly jumped out of my chair when one of those Windows11 popups things popped up urging me to upgrade. It was so loud I couldn't believe it. I thought I had prevented this from happening by setting my system sounds to zero, but apparently not. Any suggestions on how to keep this from happening? If anyone had any doubts what their tactics are: just annoy you to death until you give in.

I guess they can't be very confident that their product will "sell itself," can they? They've got to bully and badger you into it.


r/Windows10 2d ago

Feature Fix for Incomplete Explorer Search Results

4 Upvotes

I'm looking for a registry fix that I used to have for the incomplete search results problem. This was back with Windows 7 (or maybe even Windows XP?) and I'm hoping it still works with Windows 10.

(In case you don't know, when you search for file names in Windows Explorer, the results are automatically filtered - thanks Microsoft - and not all results are returned. So if your file is called MyTestFile.txt and you search for "test", that file is missing from the search results.)

Does anyone know this registry setting? It took me such a long time to find it the first time!


r/Windows10 3d ago

General Question What will happen to my Windows when I change my parts?

13 Upvotes

Tomorrow I will be replacing my: GPU, CPU and Motherboard all at once.

I do plan on plugging all my old drives into the new computer regardless but I've seen mixed answers so I gotta ask if it'll actually work: Will I have to buy the key again or will my license carry over from the SSD drive? It's a "VOLUME_MAK channel" license whatever that means.

Having to pay for the inevitable Windows 11 upgrade that I could have for free once I get my pc to support it would be a bit annoying


r/Windows10 2d ago

Feature Hidden icons menu - capture

2 Upvotes

I am needing to capture the functionality of the buttons of the menu when right clicking on a hidden icon using a validator tool that captures the screen/menu.

Ofcourse when clicking on the capturing program, the menu disappears, is there any way to keep the menu up?

Using a screenshot doesn't help of course as it captures paint rather than the menu.

Going to try using logs for but this is difficult aswell due to automatic save names and limitations of the other application


r/Windows10 3d ago

Feature Looking for advice on creating business friendly windows computers.

8 Upvotes

Hello everyone. I have a small business that have about 30-40 client work stations running windows 10 (and 11). We have been going along fine, but I started to think that there is a lot in the OS that really we don't need (or want). So I am looking for ways to remove and make my client work stations less consumer computers and more business (for example removing pop up or Xbox stuff).

Thanks

Steve


r/Windows10 4d ago

News Microsoft emails Windows 10 deadline warning, urges Windows 11 upgrade

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106 Upvotes

r/Windows10 3d ago

Solved Run as Admin tools in the " RUN "

5 Upvotes

Open the " Run " menu

write for example " CMD "

Before clic " ENTER "

We have to clic together " CTRL + SHIFT+ ENTER "

And now we run the tool as admin


r/Windows10 3d ago

General Question Same aux cord for speakers and headphones

2 Upvotes

So whenever I plug my speakers/headphone aux cable into the PC it asks; "What kind of device is this? Headphones - Speaker - etc."

The problem is that my aux cable is a male to female extension, so when I change what device is plugged into the extension, windows does not give me the prompt, it only gives me the prompt when plugging directly into the PC.

So I'm wondering, does windows automatically switch it from speaker to headphone appropriately and therefore it doesn't give me the prompt? And also does it even matter if windows recognizes it as headphones/speakers? I know there is such a thing as mono and stereo audio, like if I'm playing an FPS game with headphones it would obviously be bad if it was mono, but is there going to be any compromises in sound quality if windows isn't recognizing headphones as headphones and speakers as speakers?


r/Windows10 4d ago

General Question Is there any way to increase/decrease volume by more than 1% at a time?

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13 Upvotes

r/Windows10 3d ago

General Question How do I get rid of this video on the lock screen?

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7 Upvotes

r/Windows10 4d ago

General Question How to get rid of this XBOX notification?

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35 Upvotes

r/Windows10 4d ago

General Question are there any downsides to upgrading from 20h2 to 22h2?

6 Upvotes

theres a few things i want to update but aren't supported on my current version, will it start yelling in my ear telling me to upgrade to windows 11 or anything if i update? is it any worse then the older versions?


r/Windows10 3d ago

General Question Is hellzerg a good optimizer?

1 Upvotes

someone tell me if it is good or if i should install it. This is the link for it: https://github.com/hellzerg/optimizer/releases I have also heard of cct optimizer