Coming January 14th, 2020, Windows 7’s support officially ends – which means that if you’re still desiring those security updates or over various updates that allow your PC to work its best, you’ll want to upgrade to Windows 10.

There are a few options that you may have to get Windows 10, including:

• Purchase Windows 10 and install it that way. It’s $139 on the Microsoft Store Website.
• Possible FREE upgrade loophole. There have been sources that say it may still work.
• Students can check to see if their school offers Windows 10 for free.

You can still forget the 2020 deadline and continue using Windows 7. It’ll continue to be functional. However, any issues regarding 7 will be yours to deal with. Using the free upgrade can possibly cause more complications, including Microsoft determining your product key update eligibility.

Just a heads up, if you don’t activate Windows 10, you’ll most likely see watermarks on your desktop, requesting activation.

For inquiries with computer issues, call us at 1-800-620-5285.  Karls Technology is a nationwide computer service company with offices in many major cities. This blog post was brought to you from our staff at the Frisco Computer Repair Service, if you need computer repair in Frisco, TX please call or text the local office at (469) 299-9005.

Back in August, we wrote about Windows Notepad getting small upgrades to its application. However, Windows just released a statement in their Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 19035 about ending support for it in the Microsoft Store.

Brandon LeBlanc, the Windows Insiders Program Senior Program Manager stated in the blog post:

Thank you for all the feedback you provided on the Store version of Notepad. At this time, we’ve decided not to roll this out to customers. Insiders may notice some changes as we remove this change from this build:

-If you pinned Notepad to your Taskbar or Start menu, you will need to re-pin after you upgrade to this new build.

-If you had certain file types set to open in Notepad by default, you will see a prompt when you try to open files of that type again and will need to re-select Notepad.

There doesn’t seem to be a reason as to why this change is occurring, but if you’re a Windows Insider, you’ll have to make the necessary changes stated above. If you’d like to sign up to be in the Windows Insiders Program, you can register here, accept the terms and you’ll receive a Welcome E-mail. Be certain to read the Important Notice before agreeing to join, as it adds a variety of risks to your computer.

For help with Windows 10 issues, call us at 1-800-620-5285.  Karls Technology is a nationwide computer service company with offices in many major cities. This blog post was brought to you from our staff at the Denver Computer Repair Service, if you need computer repair in Denver, CO please call or text the local office at (720) 441-6460.

If you use Realtek Bluetooth drivers, you may be having issues with updating your Windows 10 operating system. That itself is due to the safeguard hold that was put into place in May of 2019 by Microsoft because of outdated driver versions. Microsoft states, “You will need to update to driver version 1.5.1012 or later to remove this safeguard hold. Any earlier version of the driver is affected by this issue.”

On November 15th, however, Microsoft removed the hold with affected versions, according to their statement on Microsoft Docs. And you can install Windows 10 after updating the Realtek Bluetooth drivers. This process can take up to 48 hours, so don’t be discouraged if you’re not able to install right away.

If you need to download and install the drivers manually to disable the compatibility hold, here’s the step-by-step process:

• Download both of the Realtek Bluetooth radio drivers to your preferred folder: Driver 1, Driver 2. Note: We recommend downloading them to your Documents folder.
• Open File Explorer. If there is no file explorer icon in the task bar, select the search box and enter file explorer and select it.
• Within File Explorer, go the the Documents folder or the folder you downloaded the drivers to.
• Find and double click or double tap on the file named 068de0d6-6ac2-473a-8cbd-bd449cd5c97c_942eec5828662eecc6b98cc2706658bf2433717c.cab
• Select CTRL+a on the keyboard. This should select all of the files
• Right click or long press on any of the files and select Extract.
• Select the New folder button and rename it Realtek Bluetooth.
• Select the Extract button.
• In File Explorer, select the back  button to go to the location you downloaded the drivers into.
• Find and double click or double tap on the file named f2748416-7753-49c6-9185-56f4986f490b_e98e0d664b7e874011b8e3752046ca61f3475295.cab
• Select CTRL+a on the keyboard. This should select all of the files
• Right click or long press on any of the files and select Extract.
• If you are in the folder named Realtek Bluetooth, then select the New folder button and type Realtek Bluetooth 2.
• Select the Extract button.
• In the search box on the taskbar, enter device manager, then select Device Manager.
• Find Bluetooth and expand it.
• Find the Realtek device and right-click or long press on it.
• Select Update Driver from the context menu.
• Select the Browse my computer for driver software button.
• It should default to your Documents folder, if this is where you saved the drivers then just select the Next button. If you did not save the drivers to your Documents folder, select the Browse button and find the folder you downloaded the drivers to and select OK.
• It should now find the updated drivers and install them. Wait for this to complete and select Close.

Karls Technology is a nationwide computer service company with offices in many major cities. This blog post was brought to you from our staff at the Frisco Computer Repair Service, if you need computer repair in Frisco, TX please call or text the local office at (469) 299-9005.