How to Remove Old Images from Windows 10’s Lock Screen History

Windows 10 lets you customize the look of the lock screen with personalized pictures within the Settings app. It also remembers the last five images you used. If you don’t like any of the default images in the history—or want a fresh start—you can remove them from the suggested images.

Your lock screen history in the Settings app shows five images that Windows picks randomly from a hidden folder on your system. These images include any that you’ve previously used as a lock screen background.

By default, Windows shows the five most recently used images, so you could add new images to push out old ones from the suggestions. The trouble is that those images still exist in the folder of lock screen images and sometimes Windows will get mixed up and not just show the most recent images.

There is a way to remove these images. You will have to jump through a couple of hoops, though.

The first hoop involves finding the right folder. Windows stores all these images in the following location:

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\SystemData\User_Account_Security_Identifier\ReadOnly

The User_Account_Security_Identifier part of that path is different for everyone. Each user account on the computer has a different Security Identifier (SID). To find yours, fire up the Command Prompt or PowerShell and type the following command at the prompt:

whoami /user

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Here’s What’s New in iOS 12.1, Available Today

How to Use the Conversation Clean Up Tool in Outlook

Some people like to keep their Outlook folders perfectly controlled, with emails neatly categorized and stored in a logical, minimal folder structure. Most of us aren’t like that, so Microsoft has provided tools to help. One of these tools is the little-known Conversation Cleanup tool, which deletes or moves redundant emails from a conversation. Here’s how it works.

You can run the Conversation Clean Up tool against a single conversation, a folder, or a folder and all of its sub-folders. It looks for emails that are redundant, which mean those that are included in full in another message in the conversation. It then deletes (by default) or moves these emails to another folder, depending on how you’ve set it up. This helps keep your mailbox from being filled with multiple copies of the same message.

First, you need to set the Conversation Clean Up parameters. Head to File > Options > Mail and then scroll down to the “Conversation Clean Up” section.

By default, Conversation Cleanup deletes items, but if you want to move redundant items to a folder instead, you can click “Browse” and choose the folder to which you want to move them. This is handy if you want to double-check for yourself that the messages the tool finds really are redundant. The Conversation Cleanup tool is reliable in our experience, but sometimes there’s no substitute for checking things yourself.

You can probably leave the other default options as they are because they make a lot of sense, but if your situation or preferences are different, go ahead and switch the parameters on or off as you see fit. Once you’ve got the settings the way you want, click “OK” to go back to Outlook.

Now, you need to open the tool. On the “Home” tab, click the “Clean Up” button. The drop-down menu gives you the option to clean up the conversation that’s currently selected in the folder, the whole folder, or the whole folder and all of the sub-folders.

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Everything You Need For Your New Kitten

Kittens are pretty awesome. So are cats too. Bringing a new one home is an exciting time but you need to make sure you have the right accessories to keep them content, happy, and well cared for. Here’s a bunch of great bits and pieces for your new kitten to enjoy. Remember though—cats are frequently a little pickier than dogs, so don’t be surprised if it takes time to convince the little devil that you bought them the right thing!

Bowls: Lorde Cat Bowls ($13)

Sure, you can buy some cat bowls that are dirt cheap but the Lorde Cat Bowls will look way better in your kitchen, plus they’re designed to make things easier for your cat. That’s because they’re angled in a specific way so that your cat can get to the food or water easily without the risk of whisker fatigue or a dirty face. The dirty face thing isn’t just a superficial consideration either; many cats are sensitive to cheap plastics and metals—they can have reactions to the material and get a sort of kitty acne (that they then furiously scratch at). This bowl is made of non-porous melamine and should help avoid that whole mess (and resulting expensive vet visit). On top of being non-allergenic, the non-slip legs mean they won’t be chasing the bowl around the floor either.

Remember to keep the food and water bowl separate and a short distance away from each other. Cats prefer things to be laid out like this as they prefer their “prey” and water source separated.

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Scratching Post: SmartCat Ultimate Scratching Post ($42)

Cats love to scratch and you, obviously, would rather they didn’t scratch up your furniture, your rugs or your legs. Buy the SmartCat Ultimate Scratching Post and you won’t have to worry about replacing it for a number of years. We checked it out earlier in the year and it really is a pretty amazing feat of construction.

Made from durable fibrous sisal, it feels perfect on your cat’s claws while also being tough and long lasting—even in a multi-cat household you should expect to get years out it. It’s super easy to assemble too, plus there’s no risk of it toppling over thanks to a wide and heavy base.

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Alternate Scratching Tree: AmazonBasics Cat Activity Tree with Scratching Posts ($36)

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The Best WordPress Website Hosting For Most People

WordPress is a free and open source content management system, usually used for managing a blog, but also used to power large publications (including HowToGeek). While the software itself is free, you’ll still need web hosting so your audience can visit the site. These hosting providers run WordPress on their servers and often manage most (if not all) of the technical work for you.

While you can set up a basic site at wordpress.com, the default one has ads, you can’t put your own ads on their regular plans, and they offer much less flexibility and freedom than a paid hosting provider. Most of them have plans for only a couple bucks a month, so if you’re serious about starting a website, it’s best to look for actual hosting.

What to Look For

Web hosting generally falls into two categories:

Managed hosting is when the hosting provider sets up WordPress (or whatever service) for you and handles all the behind-the-scenes IT stuff. If you’re just getting started setting up a website, it’s best to look for managed hosting.

Shared hosting is when the hosting provider runs your site on the same physical server as other sites and is generally much cheaper than having a dedicated server for your site. Unless you’re expecting millions of visitors to your site, shared hosting is often a cheaper and simple option.

Hosting providers often separate their services into different tiers and offer different products for more money. Usually, they’ll limit how many different WordPress sites you can have, limit your storage space for pictures and videos, and sometimes limit how much traffic your site can get. Be realistic about how much you need, as you can always upgrade to a better plan if the need arises.

What Providers to Consider

There’s no shortage of hosting providers out there, and many of them look pretty similar (and all claim to offer the same services). We’ve put together a list of the industry-leading providers to help you choose the one right for you.

Bluehost

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How to Set Your Smarthome Up for a Spooky Halloween

When most people think of Smarthomes, they think of voice-controlled lights and video doorbells. But the gadgets you may already have can be used to take your Halloween decorations to the next level.

When you put up Halloween decorations, you have probably run into one of two problems. Either you always have to leave the plugged-in devices on, or you have to rely on analog timers that are complicated to set and quickly lose time. This especially leads to difficulties if you’re trying to keep everything in sync. And one of the best decorations of Halloween, the jack-o-lantern, can be the most tedious to light and keep lit.

Make Your Jack-O-Lanterns Scarier and Safer

When most people make a jack-o-lantern, they cut a round opening in the top of a pumpkin, dig out the insides and then carve a fun pattern into the side. This creates difficulty in placing a tea light, getting it lit from the top, and hoping it’s bright enough to make the pattern shine.

This year consider starting from the bottom. By cutting the opening from the bottom instead of the top you benefit in having a larger hole to work with, and you place the pumpkin on your light source instead of a light source in your pumpkin.

This trick works even better with a smart light. It’s easy enough to cut a notch in the back of the pumpkin for a power cord. Then you can place a smart light, like a Philips Hue Go, inside. With a Philips Hue light, you can do some fun things you can’t do with a conventional bulb or a candle.

For example, you can change the light to any spooky color you want, or even put different colors on rotation. If you love the flicker of a candle, you can achieve a similar effect for your smart light with an app like OnSwitch (for Android and iOS).

With a little extra work, you could even set up a smart motion sensor or the motion sensing ability of your smart video doorbell to activate or change the jack-o-lantern’s light when people approach.

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Geek Trivia: Which Of These Animals Are Able To Effectively “Pause” Their Pregnancies?

Which Of These Animals Are Able To Effectively “Pause” Their Pregnancies?

Tigers White-Tail Deer Field Mice Kangaroos Think you know the answer?