In repairing computers for a living, the one thing I find myself doing continually is cleaning up and resetting web browsers. Removing adware, malware and viruses can screw up the Internet Explorer. So here is how to clean up and reset the Internet Explorer.

Internet Explorer (IE) has been included in every version of Windows since Windows 98. Microsoft has made cleaning IE reasonably straightforward, but there can be some tricky items. All of IE's settings are accessible from either inside of IE or the Control Panel. The best way is to go through the Control Panel because that is when IE is not technically running. If you use Outlook or Windows Mail, you will need to close these programs too before attempting to clean up IE, as they use IE to rendered HTML formatted e-mails.

When it comes to resetting the IE, you have to first get into the Control Panel. The easiest way to do it with Windows Vista and Windows 7 is to type Control Panel into the search box above the Start button and select Control Panel from the search results. The easiest and fastest way in Windows 8 is to use the Power Users menu (Windows logo key + X) and then select Control Panel. In Windows 10, use the search box next to the Start button, type Control Panel, and click on it from the results. Once you have the Control Panel up, select Network and Internet then Internet Options (if viewing by category) or just Internet Options (if viewing by icons).

The Internet Properties General tab inside of Windows 10

The Internet Options haven't changed much over the years, so the tabs on the Internet Properties will look similar in Windows Vista as they do in Windows 10. When you first open Internet Properties, the General tab appears by default. You can go down to Browsing history and delete everything from temporary Internet files and cookies to form data and passwords. Remember that you cannot get it back once you delete something like passwords, so choose carefully.

The Internet Properties Programs tab inside of Windows 10

Once you're done with the General tab, go over to the Programs tab and select Manage add-ons. Here is where you enable, disable and sometimes delete add-ons that have been installed into the IE. There are times when all you can do is disable an add-on, so that is when you'll need a third-party program like CCleaner from Piriform. CCleaner can clean up all of the major browsers, but the only one I've had issues with getting rid of third-party applications is IE.

The Internet Properties Advanced tab inside of Windows 10

The last tab in Internet Properties is Advanced, and it is the most powerful. It has only two buttons, Restore advanced settings and Reset. The first one you click is Restore advanced settings, then click on Apply in the lower right-hand corner. Then to completely reset IE click on Reset. You will get a screen warning you that you are about to reset IE back to its original default settings. Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10 users will also have the option of deleting personal settings. Remember that these cannot be undone, so choose carefully. If in doubt, leave the personal files checkbox empty. You can always come back and remove them if need be.

Now, if after you have reset IE, you find you cannot get into some secure sites, like bank websites, go back into Internet Properties and select the Security tab, and deselect Enable Protected Mode. When you click Apply, you will get a prompt telling you that your current security setting might put you at risk. Then try the website you were having problems with. If you can now get into it, you are all set.

The Windows features menu inside of Windows 10

There is one option that is not available to IE, and that is to uninstall and reinstall. As I stated earlier in this article, IE is integrated into the operating system as a feature and is used by other programs like Outlook and Windows Mail. The only thing you can do is turn off the IE feature in the Control panel, restart your computer and turn it back on. To do this, go to the Control Panel and select Programs and Features, then Uninstall or change a program. In the left-hand column, left-click on Turn Windows features on or off.

The default programs that Windows 10 uses to open different file types are pretty good right from the start. But maybe you'd like to change what program opens music or photos? Here's how to change the default applications in Windows 10.

As with previous versions of Windows, there can be multiple programs that can open the same type of file. Some are UWP (Universal Windows Platform), and some are standard Desktop programs. Then, there are the programs you may install yourself. Knowing how to change the default programs in Windows 10 is essential since Windows 10 is prone to resetting default programs when performing a Feature update.

How to change the default apps in Windows 10 Settings

1. Left-click on the Start button.
2. Left-click on Settings (the gear icon).
3. Left-click on Apps.
4. In the left-hand column, left-click on Default apps.

The six (6) most common apps are listed at the top of the right-hand column. They are Email, Maps, Music player, Photo viewer, Video player, and Web browser. At the bottom of the right-hand column, you will find three more advanced ways of modifying the default applications.

• Choose default apps by type
  Warning! Choosing the wrong application for specific file types, you can make your system unusable. This method of setting the default program requires you to know the extension of the object you want to open. Be sure of the file extension before making any changes. When in doubt, use the Set defaults by app settings.
• Choose default apps by protocol
  Warning! Choosing the wrong application for specific protocols can make your system unusable. This method of setting the default program requires you to know the protocol of the object you want to open. Be sure of the protocol before making any changes. When in doubt, use the Set defaults by app settings.
• Set defaults by app
  When you choose this option, you are presented with a list of installed programs, and you can select what each one does or does not do. You can set an application to open all types of files it can or choose which types of files to open with that particular program.

I was thinking the other day about what program I use the most when doing computer repair. The one program I use the most on Windows computers would have to be System File Checker (SFC). SFC checks for system files that may have gotten corrupted or replaced with incorrect versions. Here's how to check Windows 10 system files with System File Checker.

SFC has been included inside Windows since Windows XP and is a CLI (Command-Line Interpreter) program, meaning you must use an Administrative Command Prompt / PowerShell to run it.

Open a Command Prompt with Administrator privileges in Windows 10

1. Left-click on the Start button.
2. Scroll down the program list and then left-click on the Windows System folder to expand.
3. Right-click on Command Prompt.
4. On the context menu that appears, hover your cursor over More and then left-click on Run as administrator. If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

Open PowerShell with Administrator privileges in Windows 10

1. Right-click on the Start button to bring up the Power User menu.
2. Left-click on Windows PowerShell (Admin). If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

When you have an Admin Command Prompt or PowerShell open, you must type SFC and a combination of syntax and switch(s). The most commonly used syntax/switch is SFC /scannow. Here is a complete list of syntax/switches for SFC.

SFC [/SCANNOW] [/VERIFYONLY] [/SCANFILE=<file>] [/VERIFYFILE=<file>] [/OFFWINDIR=<offline windows directory> /OFFBOOTDIR=<offline boot directory>]

/SCANNOW (Scans integrity of all protected system files and repairs files with problems when possible)
/VERIFYONLY (Scans integrity of all protected system files. No repair operation is performed)
/SCANFILE (Scans integrity of the referenced file, repairs file if problems are identified. Specify full path <file>)
/VERIFYFILE (Verifies the file's intergrity with full path <file>. No repair operation is performed)
/OFFBOOTDIR (For offline repair specify the location of the offline boot directory)
/OFFWINDIR (For offline repair specify the location of the offline Windows directory)

Examples

sfc /scannow sfc /verifyfile=c:\windows\filetobereplaced.dll sfc /scanfile=d:\windows\filetobereplaced.dll /offbootdir=d:\ /offwindir=d:\windows sfc /verifyonly

Once SFC is done scanning the system files, it will give one of four possible results:

• Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.
  All system files are fine, and you're good to go.
• Windows Resource Protection could not perform the requested operation.
  There may be another program preventing SFC from running. In this case, boot the system into safe mode and run SFC from there.
• Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired them.
  All system files are now correct, and you're ready to go. If you want to view the repair details, see below.
• Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them.
  If you get this message, SFC found a file or files it couldn't repair. The next thing you will need to do is find the name of the file(s). Using the Find String utility, you can filter out the SFC results with only the scanned components and create a text file with that information on your Desktop called sfcdetails.txt. Just copy the following code into an Administrative Command Prompt (it will not run using PowerShell) and press Enter.

findstr /c:"[SR]" %windir%\Logs\CBS\CBS.log >"%userprofile%\Desktop\sfcdetails.txt"

Manually replacing a corrupt system file in Windows 10

Note: To replace a corrupt system file, you must have a known good copy of the file(s) in question. Another computer or virtual machine running Windows 10 is a good source for files. Since I do computer repair for a living, I have all Windows versions that are still supported by Microsoft running inside of Oracle VirtualBoxes.

The first thing to do is note the location (path) and name of the file(s) that must be replaced from the sfcdetails.txt file. Once you have another copy of the corrupt file(s), you will need to take administrative ownership of the file(s). To do this, modify the following command with the path\filename of the file you want to replace and then type it into an Administrative Command Prompt:

takeown /f path\filename

Example: takeown /f C:\Windows\FileToBeReplaced.dll

Next, you will have to grant administrators full access to the file(s) being replaced. To do this, modify the following command with the path\filename of the file you want to replace and then type it into an Administrative Command Prompt:

icacls path\filename /grant administrators:F

Example: icacls C:\Windows\FileToBeReplaced.dll /grant administrators:F

The third thing to do is copy over the new file(s) and replace the corrupt one(s).To do this, modify the following command with the path\filename of the file you want to replace and then type it into an Administrative Command Prompt:

copy path\filename path\filename

Example: copy C:\Temp\FileToBeReplaced.dll C:\Windows\FileToBeReplaced.dll

When it comes to maintaining HDDs (Hard Disk Drive) or SSDs (Solid State Drive), running a disk check will usually find any software-related issues. But when I need to check the hardware inside a drive, I will use SpinRite from Gibson Research Corporation.

Intro screen from GRC SpinRite

SpinRite is a storage data recovery, repair, and maintenance program that works on HDDs and SSDs. SpinRite includes a feature called DynaStat that can reassemble missing data from bad sectors. SpinRite is a self-contained program that runs on top of a version of FreeDOS (Free Disk Operating System).

Graphic Status Display screen from GRC SpinRite

SpinRite has five (5) levels of operation, each building on the previous level.

• Level 1 - Examine storage media: This operation rapidly read-scans the entire storage media surface independent of whatever data and/or file system that may be present. This level will read every sector of the selected drive(s) psychical surface, looking for areas that appear healthy but could fail.
• Level 2 - Recover unreadable data: This operation rapidly read-scans the entire storage media for any unreadable or difficult to read data sectors. Spinrite will then attempt to recover unreadable data using the built-in advanced recovery technology.
• Level 3 - Refresh storage media: This operation performs all of the scanning and data recovery of Level 2. This level will read and write every sector of the selected storage media psychical surface, mainly exercising the hard drive. It tests and verifies every sector on the drive(s).
• Level 4 - Refresh and verify media: This operation performs all of the scanning and data recovery of Level 3. This level will read, write, and invert every sector twice of the selected drive(s) psychical surface. This tests and verifies that every 'bit' on the selected partition can be successfully written to and retrieved.
• Level 5 - Exercise storage media: This operational level should only be used on HDDs. This level does everything that all other levels do and restores any areas that may have been previously marked as defective but are now reliable.

DynaStat Data Recovery screen from GRC SpinRite

Note: If your Windows-based computer uses BitLocker drive encryption, it must be paused or disabled before you can run Spinrite. See the link below for instructions on how to do this.

Now, I have been using SpinRite for several years, and running it used to be fairly simple. If you could not get your system to boot from the SpinRite media, just go into the BIOS and change the boot mode. But with BitLocker drive encryption, things have changed.

For you to be able to run SpinRite on your system, it needs to be able to boot using either BIOS (Basic Input-Output System) or UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) with BIOS capability support. For you to boot your system, you may have to turn off secure boot.

Warning: Secure boot is directly tied into BitLocker drive encryption, and if your drive is encrypted and you turn off the secure boot function without pausing or turning off BitLocker, you can lose access to that drive. Here is how to turn off BitLocker drive encryption.

GRC does have a free app called BootAble that will create a bootable USB drive to verify whether your system can boot using the SpinRite version of FreeDos. SpinRite is available from Gibson Research Corporation for $89 (as of this writing). For more information on SpinRite, follow the link below.

Gibson Research Corporation SpinRite

Since I do computer repair for a living, there are times when I need to boot a Windows 10 system up into Safe Mode. But with newer computers utilizing UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) and fast/safe boot features, this can be challenging. So here is how to use the Windows 10 Advanced Boot Options.

In previous versions of Windows, getting to the advanced boot options was pretty easy. All you had to do was press the F8 key at startup. But with Windows 10, getting the advanced boot options is a little different. You can bring up the advanced boot options just one time or set it up permanently. Both require the system to be able to boot up into Windows 10 first.

Enable Windows 10 Advanced Boot Options screen one-time

You can bring up the one-time Windows 10 boot options, either logged on or off. Since I repair computers for a living, I prefer not to log in under any user's profile. That way, I don't have to deal with any of the programs that may load when a user signs in. There are two (2) ways (logged in and logged out) of getting to the Windows 10 one-time boot options.

When you are logged in to Windows 10:

1. Left-click the Start button to bring up the Start menu.
2. Left-click on Settings (the gear icon).
3. Left-click on Update & Security.
4. In the left column, left-click on Recovery.
   
5. Under Advanced startup, left-click on Restart now. The computer will log you off and bring up the Choose an option screen.

When you are logged out of Windows 10:

1. At the login screen, left-click on the Power button in the lower right-hand corner to bring up the different options.
   
2. Hold down the Shift key on the keyboard and right-click on Restart. This will bring up the Choose an option screen.

When you get to the Choose an option screen:

1. Left-click on Troubleshoot.
   
2. Left-click on Advanced options.
   
3. Left-click on Startup Settings.
   
4. Left-click on the Restart button.
   
5. When the Startup Settings page appears, select the number that coincides with the function you would like to perform.

Enable Windows 10 Advanced Boot Options screen permanently

This option should be used very carefully. Not only do you have to edit the boot configuration of your Windows 10 computer, but once permanently enabled, you will have to select a boot option you want to use every time your computer starts or restarts. There is no timer for this screen, unlike in previous Windows versions. You will need to use an administrative command prompt to edit the boot configuration.

How to open a Command Prompt with Administrator privileges in Windows 10

The first thing we have to do is turn on the Windows 10 Advanced Boot Options. Type or cut and paste the following code into an administrative command prompt:

bcdedit /set {globalsettings} advancedoptions true

To turn off the Windows 10 Advanced Boot Options, type or cut and paste the following code into an administrative command prompt:

bcdedit /set {globalsettings} advancedoptions false

You can also change the default boot manager used with the advanced boot options. The default is the Windows 10 standard version, but you can change it to the legacy version if you like the old DOS look.

To change to the legacy boot manager used in previous Windows versions, like Windows 7, you can type or cut and paste the following code into an administrative command prompt:

bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy legacy

To restore the boot menu to the default, type or cut/paste the following code into an administrative command prompt.

bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy standard