This Week in Apps: Protests impact app stores, FTC fines app developer, kids’ app trends

Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the Extra Crunch series that recaps the latest OS news, the applications they support and the money that flows through it all.

The app industry is as hot as ever, with a record 204 billion downloads and $120 billion in consumer spending in 2019. People are now spending three hours and 40 minutes per day using apps, rivaling TV. Apps aren’t just a way to pass idle hours — they’re a big business. In 2019, mobile-first companies had a combined $544 billion valuation, 6.5x higher than those without a mobile focus.

In this Extra Crunch series, we help you keep up with the latest news from the world of apps, delivered on a weekly basis.

This week, we’re taking a look at how the civil unrest and George Floyd protests played out across the app stores. The events led some apps — including private messaging apps, police scanners and alerting apps, and other social communication apps — to surge, and even break records. Google decided to delay the launch of Android 11 beta 1 in light of the recent events.

We’re also keeping up with COVID-19 apps and how the pandemic is changing app usage and consumer behavior. Plus, the FTC fined an app developer over privacy violations in a warning shot for the app industry; Zoom faced criticism for its encryption plans; Apple launched an open-source resource for password managers; and more.

How the George Floyd protests impacted the app stores

Protests drive downloads of police scanners 

Downloads of police scanner apps, tools for private communication and mobile safety apps hit record numbers last weekend in the U.S., amid the nationwide protests over the police killing of George Floyd, as well as the systemic problems of racial prejudice that plague the American justice system. According to data from app store intelligence firm Apptopia, top U.S. police scanner apps were downloaded a combined 213,000 times last weekend, including Friday — a 125% increase from the weekend prior and a record number for this group of apps.

The group of top apps included those with similar, if somewhat generic, titles, such as Scanner Radio – Fire and Police Scanner, Police Scanner, 5-0 Radio Police Scanner, Police Scanner Radio & Fire and Police Scanner +.

Citizen, Signal and others spike during protests

In addition to tracking police movements with scanners, protestors organized and communicated on secure messaging app Signal. Meanwhile, community safety app Citizen, which sends out police alerts, also saw a jump in usage.

According to Apptopia, Citizen and Signal both set daily download records, Vox noted earlier this week.

Citizen

Citizen’s app lets users see “incidents,” based on radio communications with 911 dispatchers, police, fire departments and other emergency responders. The app uses high-powered scanners to tune into public radio channels, then digitizes and transcribes the audio, and turns those into incidents placed on the map. But the app is popular because it’s more than a police scanner; it includes a social networking layer where users can react and comment. 

Based on more recent data provided to TechCrunch by Sensor Tower, Citizen was installed around 620,000 times by first-time users in the U.S. during the past week, an increase of about 916% compared to the week prior. First-time installs reached a record 150,000 on June 2, nearly 12x the app’s average of 13,000 daily first-time installs during May. On average, the app was downloaded close to 86,000 times per day, or 6.6x larger than May’s daily average. The app grew to be as high as No. 4 on Tuesday, June 2 on the U.S. App Store, and is now No. 32 Overall on the top free charts.

Signal

Image Credits: Signal

The firm also estimated that Signal had been installed by approximately 135,000 first-time users in the U.S. during the past week across the app stores. This figure represented growth of 165% from the preceding seven days, or about 2.6x that total of approximately 51,000 new installs. Signal averaged about 19,000 installs per day over the past seven days.

For comparison’s sake, Signal was downloaded around 269,000 times in all of May and its average daily number of installs was 9,000. That makes the average for the past week about 2x higher.

Signal is currently ranked at No. 137 among the top free iPhone apps on the U.S. App Store. Earlier, it was ranked at No. 107 on Tuesday, June 2.

This week, Signal also added built-in face blurring for photos, to help better secure the sharing of sensitive information across its network.

Nextdoor and Neighbors by Ring

The civil unrest also impacted neighborhood networking app installs, as communities looked to share information about the protests with one another. Social networking app for neighbors Nextdoor was installed by 185,000 first-time users in the U.S. over the past week, an increase of 26% from 147,000 installs in the week prior. The app also jumped up nearly 50 places in the U.S. App Store rankings, moving from No. 2,014 to No. 156 in the top free iPhone apps chart.

Amazon-owned Neighbors by Ring, where neighbors share alerts, including security camera footage, was installed by 36,000 first-time users in the past week, an increase of 89% from its approximately 19,000 installs the week prior.

Twitter has a record-breaking week as users looked for news of protests and COVID-19

Civil unrest due to the nationwide George Floyd protests drove Twitter to see a record number of new installs this week, according to data from two app store intelligence firms, Apptopia and Sensor Tower. While the firms’ exact findings differed in terms of the total number of new downloads or when records were broken, the firms agreed that Twitter’s app had its largest-ever week, globally.

The app saw at least 677,000 installs at its highest point, Apptopia said. Sensor Tower said it topped 1 million. Twitter also broke a record for daily active users on Twitter in the U.S., when some 40 million people in the U.S. logged into the app on June 3, Apptopia noted. For comparison’s sake, Twitter reported its app had 31 million “monetizable” daily active users (mDAUs) in the U.S. in Q4 2019, which grew to 33 million in Q1 2020.

The spike in installs was attributed to the protests, which were being watched by a global audience, and COVID-19, which continued to spread in worldwide markets.

Apps turn their icons black in support of George Floyd protests 

A small handful of apps did the equivalent of the Instagram black square by turning their icons black this week as a gesture of support toward the protests and civil rights. Participating apps included Reddit, Joss & Main and Shop Avani, for instance. Moves like this can be criticized as being merely performative, but one of the companies involved — Reddit — later followed up with real action. Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanion on Friday announced he was resigning as a member of the Reddit board, and is now urging them to fill his seat with a black candidate. He also said he would use his future gains from Reddit stock to serve the black community, starting with a $1 million pledge to Colin Kaepernick’s Know Your Rights Camp.

COVID-19 app updates and news

Read Full Article

This Week in Apps: Protests impact app stores, FTC fines app developer, kids’ app trends

Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the Extra Crunch series that recaps the latest OS news, the applications they support and the money that flows through it all.

The app industry is as hot as ever, with a record 204 billion downloads and $120 billion in consumer spending in 2019. People are now spending three hours and 40 minutes per day using apps, rivaling TV. Apps aren’t just a way to pass idle hours — they’re a big business. In 2019, mobile-first companies had a combined $544 billion valuation, 6.5x higher than those without a mobile focus.

In this Extra Crunch series, we help you keep up with the latest news from the world of apps, delivered on a weekly basis.

This week, we’re taking a look at how the civil unrest and George Floyd protests played out across the app stores. The events led some apps — including private messaging apps, police scanners and alerting apps, and other social communication apps — to surge, and even break records. Google decided to delay the launch of Android 11 beta 1 in light of the recent events.

We’re also keeping up with COVID-19 apps and how the pandemic is changing app usage and consumer behavior. Plus, the FTC fined an app developer over privacy violations in a warning shot for the app industry; Zoom faced criticism for its encryption plans; Apple launched an open-source resource for password managers; and more.

How the George Floyd protests impacted the app stores

Protests drive downloads of police scanners 

Downloads of police scanner apps, tools for private communication and mobile safety apps hit record numbers last weekend in the U.S., amid the nationwide protests over the police killing of George Floyd, as well as the systemic problems of racial prejudice that plague the American justice system. According to data from app store intelligence firm Apptopia, top U.S. police scanner apps were downloaded a combined 213,000 times last weekend, including Friday — a 125% increase from the weekend prior and a record number for this group of apps.

The group of top apps included those with similar, if somewhat generic, titles, such as Scanner Radio – Fire and Police Scanner, Police Scanner, 5-0 Radio Police Scanner, Police Scanner Radio & Fire and Police Scanner +.

Citizen, Signal and others spike during protests

In addition to tracking police movements with scanners, protestors organized and communicated on secure messaging app Signal. Meanwhile, community safety app Citizen, which sends out police alerts, also saw a jump in usage.

According to Apptopia, Citizen and Signal both set daily download records, Vox noted earlier this week.

Citizen

Citizen’s app lets users see “incidents,” based on radio communications with 911 dispatchers, police, fire departments and other emergency responders. The app uses high-powered scanners to tune into public radio channels, then digitizes and transcribes the audio, and turns those into incidents placed on the map. But the app is popular because it’s more than a police scanner; it includes a social networking layer where users can react and comment. 

Based on more recent data provided to TechCrunch by Sensor Tower, Citizen was installed around 620,000 times by first-time users in the U.S. during the past week, an increase of about 916% compared to the week prior. First-time installs reached a record 150,000 on June 2, nearly 12x the app’s average of 13,000 daily first-time installs during May. On average, the app was downloaded close to 86,000 times per day, or 6.6x larger than May’s daily average. The app grew to be as high as No. 4 on Tuesday, June 2 on the U.S. App Store, and is now No. 32 Overall on the top free charts.

Signal

Image Credits: Signal

The firm also estimated that Signal had been installed by approximately 135,000 first-time users in the U.S. during the past week across the app stores. This figure represented growth of 165% from the preceding seven days, or about 2.6x that total of approximately 51,000 new installs. Signal averaged about 19,000 installs per day over the past seven days.

For comparison’s sake, Signal was downloaded around 269,000 times in all of May and its average daily number of installs was 9,000. That makes the average for the past week about 2x higher.

Signal is currently ranked at No. 137 among the top free iPhone apps on the U.S. App Store. Earlier, it was ranked at No. 107 on Tuesday, June 2.

This week, Signal also added built-in face blurring for photos, to help better secure the sharing of sensitive information across its network.

Nextdoor and Neighbors by Ring

The civil unrest also impacted neighborhood networking app installs, as communities looked to share information about the protests with one another. Social networking app for neighbors Nextdoor was installed by 185,000 first-time users in the U.S. over the past week, an increase of 26% from 147,000 installs in the week prior. The app also jumped up nearly 50 places in the U.S. App Store rankings, moving from No. 2,014 to No. 156 in the top free iPhone apps chart.

Amazon-owned Neighbors by Ring, where neighbors share alerts, including security camera footage, was installed by 36,000 first-time users in the past week, an increase of 89% from its approximately 19,000 installs the week prior.

Twitter has a record-breaking week as users looked for news of protests and COVID-19

Civil unrest due to the nationwide George Floyd protests drove Twitter to see a record number of new installs this week, according to data from two app store intelligence firms, Apptopia and Sensor Tower. While the firms’ exact findings differed in terms of the total number of new downloads or when records were broken, the firms agreed that Twitter’s app had its largest-ever week, globally.

The app saw at least 677,000 installs at its highest point, Apptopia said. Sensor Tower said it topped 1 million. Twitter also broke a record for daily active users on Twitter in the U.S., when some 40 million people in the U.S. logged into the app on June 3, Apptopia noted. For comparison’s sake, Twitter reported its app had 31 million “monetizable” daily active users (mDAUs) in the U.S. in Q4 2019, which grew to 33 million in Q1 2020.

The spike in installs was attributed to the protests, which were being watched by a global audience, and COVID-19, which continued to spread in worldwide markets.

Apps turn their icons black in support of George Floyd protests 

A small handful of apps did the equivalent of the Instagram black square by turning their icons black this week as a gesture of support toward the protests and civil rights. Participating apps included Reddit, Joss & Main and Shop Avani, for instance. Moves like this can be criticized as being merely performative, but one of the companies involved — Reddit — later followed up with real action. Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanion on Friday announced he was resigning as a member of the Reddit board, and is now urging them to fill his seat with a black candidate. He also said he would use his future gains from Reddit stock to serve the black community, starting with a $1 million pledge to Colin Kaepernick’s Know Your Rights Camp.

COVID-19 app updates and news

Read Full Article

5 Couples Apps for Romantic Date Nights at Home or Virtual Dates

Love and romance are tricky waters to navigate at times. Whether you’re starting a new relationship or trying to keep the spark alive, these romantic apps for couples will help you connect with your partner.

Just to be clear, we aren’t diving into the best dating apps. This article talks to those already with a partner, be it the excitement of someone new or the comfort of stability.

At times when going out for dates is difficult or you want a fresh way to connect with your loved one, these apps and digital guides are the relationship advice you need.

1. Date Night at Home (Web): First Things First’s Free Videos and Guides

Whether you have just started dating or in a long term relationship, First Things First has all types of guides for couples. The Date Night mini-site is all about adding a little romance while staying at home.

The section has something for both virtual date nights or DIY date nights at home. If you find virtual date nights strange, this is the website to start with.

At the moment, they even have guided videos every Friday for virtual dating beginners to learn the ropes and get comfortable with the medium. Their Facebook posts are full of praise, so it’s worth checking out.

For DIY date nights, you’ll find new ideas posted regularly. It ranges from fun and spicy games of truth or dare to “what’s in the bowl” and other things. There’s a brief guide, a downloadable pamphlet for creative games between two people, and a few pointers on how to take it to the next level.

2. Talk2You (Android, iOS): Conversation Starter for Couples

Conversations are the pillars of relationships. Are you trying to get to know someone new better? Or do you want to discover a new layer to someone you think you know inside out? Talk2You is a conversation starter for couples to explore each other.

The app has 360 questions spread over 10 categories like our history, the two of us, everyday life, dreams, intimacy, and more. The idea is that one person chooses the category and question, and asks it aloud to the partner.

One of you can be the questioner and write what you expect the answer to be. After your partner answers it, you can see how much it matched and how well you know each other.

Talk2You has a few instructions before you start. It’s quick to point out not to take the game too seriously. If a question doesn’t apply to you, or either of you find it uncomfortable, move on to the next one. And if something sparks a conversation, keep the app aside and talk. Your phone isn’t going anywhere.

The free Android app gives access to three categories for a total of over 100 questions. You’ll have to pay to unlock the rest.

Download: Talk2You for Android (Free)

Download: Talk2You for iOS ($0.99)

3. Gottman Card Decks (Android, iOS): Research-Back Relationship App

Drs. John and Julie Gottman of The Gottman Institute study relationships and couples. They turned their findings over the years into a fantastic app for partners to get to know each other better and to level-up the relationship.

The Gottman Card Decks are a pack of 14 flashcard decks: love maps, open-ended questions, rituals of connection, opportunity, sex, date, give appreciation, “I feel”, salsa (or sex life), needs, empathy, and listening. The Gottmans note that these decks prove popular and successful in workshops on the art and science of love.

Each deck has its own rules, where it prompts you and your partner to have a conversation about a topic. These aren’t hard and fast rules, and the objective isn’t to “win” at the game. You want to try and understand each other better, open up communication, or discover something new about your partner.

Apart from the Card Decks, check out the affiliated relationship quiz, “How well do you know your partner?” The Gottman Institute also has an active blog with insights about managing relationships. It’s one of the best websites to improve your communication skills.

Download: Gottman Card Decks for Android | iOS (Free)

4. Love Nudge (Android, iOS): Find What Makes Your Partner Feel Loved, and Do It

Daily life doesn’t need grand romantic gestures. How loved you feel in your relationship is made up of small acts done regularly. Love Nudge is an app to find out what you value and what your partner values, and help you both show your love in ways that the other finds meaningful and touching.

Gary Chapman, the author of the Five Languages of Love, says people like to receive love as physical touch, quality time, acts of service, words of affirmation, and receiving gifts. Love Nudge starts you with a 30-question quiz to find out how you like to receive love in these five categories. Then, connect with your partner’s app, who has also taken the same quiz. Through acts that meet those categories, you can express your love in your partner’s language.

Love Nudge also encourages you to set tasks. You can choose from preset recommendations, or make your own goals. If you aren’t overly physical, set that goal to hug your partner and get reminders. Good relationships take time and effort, and the app is here to nudge you in the right direction.

The app also tracks how you feel, like a mood journal for your love life. Over time, you can see stats about how loved you feel and how your partner is feeling. The app is completely free, with no strings attached.

Download: Love Nudge for Android | iOS (Free)

5. YouTube Date Night (Web): How to Setup a Romantic At-Home Date Night

So you can’t go out for a date night. So what? You can have a romantic evening at home, on a budget, and together or over a video call. The Dating Divas have a free “YouTube Date Night” package for couples to try. Download and print out the free PDF before you start, and cut the tasks and keep them ready.

The YouTube Date Night has three parts. Start with the scavenger hunt. It’s a list of 10 types of YouTube videos you have to find, like “a music video from your high school days” or an epic fail video. Make your list of links, then watch them together. If you’re doing a remote date, use an app to watch YouTube together in sync.

Next up is the YouTube Task Game. Pick up a chat and do the task in it. It’s a bunch of funny and endearing tasks, like lip-syncing to Endless Love or the try not to laugh challenge. When you’ve had enough, move on to the voting sheet for the six best videos of the night to make it a permanent memory. The whole thing is a sweet package and completely free.

36 Questions to Find Love

This one can be done online or offline. In a famous study, two psychologists collected their findings on what makes people fall in love, and turned it into a 36-question quiz. You can use this in both a new relationship and with your long-term partner.

If you’re seeing someone new, these 36 questions will bring you closer or make it clear you don’t belong together. And for old couples, they help rekindle your spark. New York Times turned this quiz into a nice little web app, which is one of our best Valentine’s Day apps for a romantic date night. Check it out.

Read the full article: 5 Couples Apps for Romantic Date Nights at Home or Virtual Dates

5 Couples Apps for Romantic Date Nights at Home or Virtual Dates

Love and romance are tricky waters to navigate at times. Whether you’re starting a new relationship or trying to keep the spark alive, these romantic apps for couples will help you connect with your partner.

Just to be clear, we aren’t diving into the best dating apps. This article talks to those already with a partner, be it the excitement of someone new or the comfort of stability.

At times when going out for dates is difficult or you want a fresh way to connect with your loved one, these apps and digital guides are the relationship advice you need.

1. Date Night at Home (Web): First Things First’s Free Videos and Guides

Whether you have just started dating or in a long term relationship, First Things First has all types of guides for couples. The Date Night mini-site is all about adding a little romance while staying at home.

The section has something for both virtual date nights or DIY date nights at home. If you find virtual date nights strange, this is the website to start with.

At the moment, they even have guided videos every Friday for virtual dating beginners to learn the ropes and get comfortable with the medium. Their Facebook posts are full of praise, so it’s worth checking out.

For DIY date nights, you’ll find new ideas posted regularly. It ranges from fun and spicy games of truth or dare to “what’s in the bowl” and other things. There’s a brief guide, a downloadable pamphlet for creative games between two people, and a few pointers on how to take it to the next level.

2. Talk2You (Android, iOS): Conversation Starter for Couples

Conversations are the pillars of relationships. Are you trying to get to know someone new better? Or do you want to discover a new layer to someone you think you know inside out? Talk2You is a conversation starter for couples to explore each other.

The app has 360 questions spread over 10 categories like our history, the two of us, everyday life, dreams, intimacy, and more. The idea is that one person chooses the category and question, and asks it aloud to the partner.

One of you can be the questioner and write what you expect the answer to be. After your partner answers it, you can see how much it matched and how well you know each other.

Talk2You has a few instructions before you start. It’s quick to point out not to take the game too seriously. If a question doesn’t apply to you, or either of you find it uncomfortable, move on to the next one. And if something sparks a conversation, keep the app aside and talk. Your phone isn’t going anywhere.

The free Android app gives access to three categories for a total of over 100 questions. You’ll have to pay to unlock the rest.

Download: Talk2You for Android (Free)

Download: Talk2You for iOS ($0.99)

3. Gottman Card Decks (Android, iOS): Research-Back Relationship App

Drs. John and Julie Gottman of The Gottman Institute study relationships and couples. They turned their findings over the years into a fantastic app for partners to get to know each other better and to level-up the relationship.

The Gottman Card Decks are a pack of 14 flashcard decks: love maps, open-ended questions, rituals of connection, opportunity, sex, date, give appreciation, “I feel”, salsa (or sex life), needs, empathy, and listening. The Gottmans note that these decks prove popular and successful in workshops on the art and science of love.

Each deck has its own rules, where it prompts you and your partner to have a conversation about a topic. These aren’t hard and fast rules, and the objective isn’t to “win” at the game. You want to try and understand each other better, open up communication, or discover something new about your partner.

Apart from the Card Decks, check out the affiliated relationship quiz, “How well do you know your partner?” The Gottman Institute also has an active blog with insights about managing relationships. It’s one of the best websites to improve your communication skills.

Download: Gottman Card Decks for Android | iOS (Free)

4. Love Nudge (Android, iOS): Find What Makes Your Partner Feel Loved, and Do It

Daily life doesn’t need grand romantic gestures. How loved you feel in your relationship is made up of small acts done regularly. Love Nudge is an app to find out what you value and what your partner values, and help you both show your love in ways that the other finds meaningful and touching.

Gary Chapman, the author of the Five Languages of Love, says people like to receive love as physical touch, quality time, acts of service, words of affirmation, and receiving gifts. Love Nudge starts you with a 30-question quiz to find out how you like to receive love in these five categories. Then, connect with your partner’s app, who has also taken the same quiz. Through acts that meet those categories, you can express your love in your partner’s language.

Love Nudge also encourages you to set tasks. You can choose from preset recommendations, or make your own goals. If you aren’t overly physical, set that goal to hug your partner and get reminders. Good relationships take time and effort, and the app is here to nudge you in the right direction.

The app also tracks how you feel, like a mood journal for your love life. Over time, you can see stats about how loved you feel and how your partner is feeling. The app is completely free, with no strings attached.

Download: Love Nudge for Android | iOS (Free)

5. YouTube Date Night (Web): How to Setup a Romantic At-Home Date Night

So you can’t go out for a date night. So what? You can have a romantic evening at home, on a budget, and together or over a video call. The Dating Divas have a free “YouTube Date Night” package for couples to try. Download and print out the free PDF before you start, and cut the tasks and keep them ready.

The YouTube Date Night has three parts. Start with the scavenger hunt. It’s a list of 10 types of YouTube videos you have to find, like “a music video from your high school days” or an epic fail video. Make your list of links, then watch them together. If you’re doing a remote date, use an app to watch YouTube together in sync.

Next up is the YouTube Task Game. Pick up a chat and do the task in it. It’s a bunch of funny and endearing tasks, like lip-syncing to Endless Love or the try not to laugh challenge. When you’ve had enough, move on to the voting sheet for the six best videos of the night to make it a permanent memory. The whole thing is a sweet package and completely free.

36 Questions to Find Love

This one can be done online or offline. In a famous study, two psychologists collected their findings on what makes people fall in love, and turned it into a 36-question quiz. You can use this in both a new relationship and with your long-term partner.

If you’re seeing someone new, these 36 questions will bring you closer or make it clear you don’t belong together. And for old couples, they help rekindle your spark. New York Times turned this quiz into a nice little web app, which is one of our best Valentine’s Day apps for a romantic date night. Check it out.

Read the full article: 5 Couples Apps for Romantic Date Nights at Home or Virtual Dates

Read Full Article

How to Prevent Your Windows Computer From Waking Up Randomly

It’s a frustrating problem when your PC randomly turns on from sleep. Not only does this waste power, but it might wake you up if you sleep near your computer.

If you have problems keeping your Windows 10 system in sleep mode, we’re here to help. Let’s look at why your computer randomly turns itself on, and how to stop your computer from waking up without your say-so.

Check for Wake Devices in the Command Prompt

To figure out why your computer randomly turns on, you can first use a few Command Prompt commands to get an idea of what’s going on.

To open a Command Prompt, right-click on the Start button (or press Win + X) to open the power user menu. There, select Command Prompt (or Windows PowerShell; either will work). Enter the following command:

powercfg –lastwake

This will show you the last device that woke your PC up from sleep. if you see something like Wake History Count – 0 as in the screenshot below, Windows doesn’t have a record of what it was. This can happen if you just rebooted your PC.

Next, you should try the following command:

powercfg –devicequery wake_armed

This one displays all the devices that are allowed to wake your PC from sleep. It’s common to see your mouse and keyboard listed here.

If you don’t want a device to have the authority to wake up your PC, use the following command to disable it, replacing the text in brackets with the name of the device. We look at a more user-friendly way to do this below.

powercfg -devicedisablewake [DEVICE NAME]

Review More Sleep Info in Event Viewer

For a bit more information on the latest sleep event, you can open the Event Viewer in Windows. Search for it in the Start menu for easy access; once it’s open, select Windows Logs > System in the left sidebar. From there, click Filter Current Log in the right sidebar.

In the filter window, click inside the Event sources box and select Power-Troubleshooter. You can use the Logged dropdown at the top to set a time frame if you want, then hit OK.

After this, you’ll see a list of events showing when Windows woke up from sleep. Select one to get more info about it, including exactly when it happened. Check the Wake Source inside the box to see what caused it. This may say Unknown, which obviously isn’t much help. But if there’s a specific cause here, you’ll know what to look for going forward.

Use the Device Manager to Disable Wake-Ups

Using the information you gained from the Command Prompt and Event Viewer, you can now hopefully prevent your computer from turning on during sleep mode through the Device Manager. To open it, right-click the Start button (or press Win + X) and choose Device Manager from the list.

This utility shows all devices connected to your PC, but not all of these have the ability to wake up your computer. You’ll want to check the ones revealed by the commands above. Devices under Keyboards, Mice and other pointing devices, and Human Interface Devices are the most common culprits.

Expand those lists and double-click on an entry to open its Properties window. If there’s more than one entry, you may have to check each one individually. Unfortunately, devices don’t always include their model name, and you’ll likely see multiple devices if you’ve connected more than one in the past.

In the Properties window for your device, you should see a Power Management tab at the top. Select this, then uncheck the Allow this device to wake the computer box and hit OK. This prevents your mouse, keyboard, or other device from waking up Windows from sleep.

Repeat this process for any devices that you also want to disable. While you most likely won’t bump your keyboard by accident (unless your pet activates it), the mouse is a much more common problem. A particularly sensitive mouse can wake up your computer from a small shake of your desk or the floor. Thus, it’s a good idea to prevent your mouse from waking up the PC.

Even if you disable every device’s ability to wake up your computer from sleep, you can still wake it up using the power button. It’s up to you whether you want to keep another device enabled for this purpose. For troubleshooting purposes, it’s best to disable everything to start.

Stop Network Wake-Ups

While poking around in the Device Manager, you should be aware of another common culprit: your computer could be waking up from its network connection.

Most modern systems include a feature called Wake-On-LAN. This allows you to turn on your computer from anywhere in the world. Which using Wake-On-LAN can be beneficial, it might also malfunction and cause your computer to wake up randomly.

If you don’t care about this feature, try disabling it to see if your sleep issue goes away. In the Device Manager, expand the Network adapters section and look for your connection adapter. This feature is almost always used with wired connections, so look for an entry containing Ethernet Connection or similar.

In its Properties window, switch to the Power Management tab again. Depending on your adapter, you may have a simple Allow this device to wake the computer box—uncheck it if so. However, other network adapters will have a list of options. In the below example, unchecking each of the boxes under Wake on LAN will disable the feature.

Turn Off Scheduled Task Wake Timers

The Windows Task Scheduler lets you set routines to run automatically on your system. While this is convenient, some tasks are set up to wake the computer so they can run. Even if you never set a task up manually, there’s a chance that some app is waking up Windows so it can check for updates or similar.

You can dig through the Task Scheduler by hand, but that’s not necessary. Instead, toggling a simple option in your power plan will disable tasks from waking up Windows. To access this, head to Settings > System > Power & sleep. On the right side, click Additional power settings to open the Control Panel page for Power Options.

There, click the Change plan settings link next to your current power plan. On the resulting page, select Change advanced power settings to open a new window. Finally, expand the Sleep item, followed by Allow wake timers. Change this to Disable and hit OK. Now, Windows will no longer wake up for scheduled events.

For best results, you should repeat this for each power plan. That way, you won’t start having problems again if you switch plans.

Disable the Scheduled Maintenance Feature

Windows 10 has moved so many preferences to the Settings panel that you probably haven’t visited the Control Panel much. As it turns out, a lesser-known feature from Windows 8, called Automatic Maintenance, is still there in Windows 10. This can wake up your PC on its own, so you should disable it if your problem hasn’t gone away.

To check it, type control panel into the Start menu to search for and open it. If you see Category in the top-right, click it and change to Small icons.

From there, choose Security and Maintenance. Expand the Maintenance section and find Automatic Maintenance, then click Change maintenance settings underneath it. Make sure the Allow scheduled maintenance to wake up my computer at the scheduled time box is unchecked.

Scan for Malware

At this point, it’s worth running an anti-malware scan to make sure you don’t have something malicious waking up your system. While all malware acts differently, there’s a chance that it’s set to wake up your system in order to phone home or take some other action.

You can scan with the built-in Windows Defender. For a second opinion, download the free version of Malwarebytes and run a scan with that. Hopefully you don’t have anything hiding on your system, but it’s worth checking if you still can’t explain the wakeup behavior.

Stop Your Computer From Turning Itself On

Hopefully, one of these tips helped you solve the problem of your PC turning on randomly. This issue can have many causes, so it’s often difficult to troubleshoot. After making the above changes, if the problem still occurs, you may need to run through the first steps again to diagnose what device is still waking up your PC.

For more help with this, we’ve looked at how to fix other Windows 10 sleep mode issues.

Read the full article: How to Prevent Your Windows Computer From Waking Up Randomly

How to Enable Two-Finger Scroll on Windows Laptops

Are you swiping at your Windows 10 laptop and wondering why the two-finger scroll isn’t working? There are a few ways to fix this problem, from enabling the setting to ensuring your drivers are working as they should.

Let’s explore some easy ways to enable a double-finger scroll in Windows 10.

Enabling the Two-Finger Scroll Option

First of all, before we do anything technical, it’s a good idea to double-check that the setting for a two-finger scroll is enabled. We don’t want to mess around with drivers if the solution is as easy as ticking a checkbox!

To check if the setting is enabled, click on the Start button, followed by the “Settings” option.

Click on “Devices.”

Finally, click on “Touchpad” on the left.

You’re now in the Windows 10 touchpad settings. You may see a lot of options here, and you should give them all a look-over when you have the time.

If your laptop has a precision touchpad, for example, it unlocks a lot of gestures you can perform. To check if you have one, look at the top of the touchpad window to see if it says “Your PC has a precision touchpad.”

If you have one, you gain access to a lot of settings that let you get the most out of your touchpad. For now, however, let’s focus on double-finger scrolling.

To activate it, scroll through the window until you see the category “Scroll and Zoom.” Underneath that is a checkbox labeled “Drag two fingers to scroll.” If it’s unchecked, go ahead and check it.

Now you should be able to use two fingers to scroll through webpages and documents.

Customizing the Two-Finger Scroll

You can also set which direction the page will scroll when you swipe. Underneath the checkbox you just ticked is a drop-down menu called “Scrolling direction.” You can set this to one of two options.

“Downward motion scrolls down” feels like you’re controlling the page’s scroll bar with your fingers. When you move your fingers down, the page moves down, like when you click and hold the scroll bar.

“Downward motion scrolls up,” on the other hand, feels like you’re physically touching and dragging the page up and down with your fingers. Play around with both settings to find the one that feels natural to you.

Update or Roll Back the Touchpad’s Driver

If the above steps do not work, or the checkbox is already ticked when you check it, there’s still hope. The problem may not be with Windows 10’s settings, but instead with the touchpad’s driver.

Try to remember if this problem began after you installed new drivers. If they did, rolling back the new drivers will fix it. If you haven’t downloaded them in a long time, or you’re on a brand-new Windows 10 laptop, you should try installing new drivers.

How to Install New Touchpad Drivers

To install a new driver, look up the manufacturer for your laptop. Then, head on over to their website and hunt down the driver download page. You’ll need your laptop model name or model number on-hand so you can find the right drivers.

Once you find your laptop’s driver download page, install the latest touchpad driver, then restart your laptop.  If you still can’t scroll with two fingers, ensure the option hasn’t turned itself off in the Windows 10 settings during the reinstallation.

How to Roll Back the Touchpad’s Drivers

If you recently updated your drivers and your two-finger scroll broke immediately afterward, rolling back to the drivers you used before should fix the problem. To do this, click the Start button, then type “device manager.” Then, press Enter.

Expand the category called “Human Interface Devices,” right-click your touchpad drivers, then click “Properties.”

Go to the “Driver” tab, then click “Roll Back Driver.”

If the button is greyed out, it may be because your computer has already cleaned up the old driver. As such, it’s best to try to find a download link to the old driver and re-install it. Some manufacturers let you select from a history of drivers, which is useful in cases such as these.

Double-Check for Manufacturer Software

If none of the above work, you may have manufacturer software installed that took over the touchpad’s settings. This software is likely to have its own setting for two-finger scrolling.

There’s no single way to check for third-party software; you’ll have to do some digging through your laptop’s programs. If you do find a touchpad settings program, see if you can enable two-finger scrolling through it. If not, try updating the program or even uninstalling it to see if that fixes the issue.

How to Enable or Disable Two-Finger Scrolling in Inactive Windows

Did you know that you can scroll in an inactive window using two fingers? For example, if you’re typing away in a document, you can move your cursor over the website you’re researching and use two-finger scrolling to continue down the text without clicking in the window.

This is a handy feature if you dislike having to click between windows all the time; on the other hand, some people prefer the scroll to only affect the window that you’re currently working in. Regardless of your stance, you can easily enable or disable this feature.

First, go to the Devices settings page as we covered above. Now, instead of clicking Touchpad on the left, click “Mouse.”

Find the toggle that says “Scroll inactive windows when I hover over them” and set it on or off, depending on preference.

Making Your Touchpad Do More

Laptop touchpads can do a lot, especially if you own a precision touchpad. Two-finger scrolling is helpful and easy to enable, so give it a try.

Now that you’re becoming more familiar with your touchpad’s features, why not learn all the essential touchpad gestures in Windows 10!

Read the full article: How to Enable Two-Finger Scroll on Windows Laptops

How to Prevent Your Windows Computer From Waking Up Randomly

It’s a frustrating problem when your PC randomly turns on from sleep. Not only does this waste power, but it might wake you up if you sleep near your computer.

If you have problems keeping your Windows 10 system in sleep mode, we’re here to help. Let’s look at why your computer randomly turns itself on, and how to stop your computer from waking up without your say-so.

Check for Wake Devices in the Command Prompt

To figure out why your computer randomly turns on, you can first use a few Command Prompt commands to get an idea of what’s going on.

To open a Command Prompt, right-click on the Start button (or press Win + X) to open the power user menu. There, select Command Prompt (or Windows PowerShell; either will work). Enter the following command:

powercfg –lastwake

This will show you the last device that woke your PC up from sleep. if you see something like Wake History Count – 0 as in the screenshot below, Windows doesn’t have a record of what it was. This can happen if you just rebooted your PC.

Next, you should try the following command:

powercfg –devicequery wake_armed

This one displays all the devices that are allowed to wake your PC from sleep. It’s common to see your mouse and keyboard listed here.

If you don’t want a device to have the authority to wake up your PC, use the following command to disable it, replacing the text in brackets with the name of the device. We look at a more user-friendly way to do this below.

powercfg -devicedisablewake [DEVICE NAME]

Review More Sleep Info in Event Viewer

For a bit more information on the latest sleep event, you can open the Event Viewer in Windows. Search for it in the Start menu for easy access; once it’s open, select Windows Logs > System in the left sidebar. From there, click Filter Current Log in the right sidebar.

In the filter window, click inside the Event sources box and select Power-Troubleshooter. You can use the Logged dropdown at the top to set a time frame if you want, then hit OK.

After this, you’ll see a list of events showing when Windows woke up from sleep. Select one to get more info about it, including exactly when it happened. Check the Wake Source inside the box to see what caused it. This may say Unknown, which obviously isn’t much help. But if there’s a specific cause here, you’ll know what to look for going forward.

Use the Device Manager to Disable Wake-Ups

Using the information you gained from the Command Prompt and Event Viewer, you can now hopefully prevent your computer from turning on during sleep mode through the Device Manager. To open it, right-click the Start button (or press Win + X) and choose Device Manager from the list.

This utility shows all devices connected to your PC, but not all of these have the ability to wake up your computer. You’ll want to check the ones revealed by the commands above. Devices under Keyboards, Mice and other pointing devices, and Human Interface Devices are the most common culprits.

Expand those lists and double-click on an entry to open its Properties window. If there’s more than one entry, you may have to check each one individually. Unfortunately, devices don’t always include their model name, and you’ll likely see multiple devices if you’ve connected more than one in the past.

In the Properties window for your device, you should see a Power Management tab at the top. Select this, then uncheck the Allow this device to wake the computer box and hit OK. This prevents your mouse, keyboard, or other device from waking up Windows from sleep.

Repeat this process for any devices that you also want to disable. While you most likely won’t bump your keyboard by accident (unless your pet activates it), the mouse is a much more common problem. A particularly sensitive mouse can wake up your computer from a small shake of your desk or the floor. Thus, it’s a good idea to prevent your mouse from waking up the PC.

Even if you disable every device’s ability to wake up your computer from sleep, you can still wake it up using the power button. It’s up to you whether you want to keep another device enabled for this purpose. For troubleshooting purposes, it’s best to disable everything to start.

Stop Network Wake-Ups

While poking around in the Device Manager, you should be aware of another common culprit: your computer could be waking up from its network connection.

Most modern systems include a feature called Wake-On-LAN. This allows you to turn on your computer from anywhere in the world. Which using Wake-On-LAN can be beneficial, it might also malfunction and cause your computer to wake up randomly.

If you don’t care about this feature, try disabling it to see if your sleep issue goes away. In the Device Manager, expand the Network adapters section and look for your connection adapter. This feature is almost always used with wired connections, so look for an entry containing Ethernet Connection or similar.

In its Properties window, switch to the Power Management tab again. Depending on your adapter, you may have a simple Allow this device to wake the computer box—uncheck it if so. However, other network adapters will have a list of options. In the below example, unchecking each of the boxes under Wake on LAN will disable the feature.

Turn Off Scheduled Task Wake Timers

The Windows Task Scheduler lets you set routines to run automatically on your system. While this is convenient, some tasks are set up to wake the computer so they can run. Even if you never set a task up manually, there’s a chance that some app is waking up Windows so it can check for updates or similar.

You can dig through the Task Scheduler by hand, but that’s not necessary. Instead, toggling a simple option in your power plan will disable tasks from waking up Windows. To access this, head to Settings > System > Power & sleep. On the right side, click Additional power settings to open the Control Panel page for Power Options.

There, click the Change plan settings link next to your current power plan. On the resulting page, select Change advanced power settings to open a new window. Finally, expand the Sleep item, followed by Allow wake timers. Change this to Disable and hit OK. Now, Windows will no longer wake up for scheduled events.

For best results, you should repeat this for each power plan. That way, you won’t start having problems again if you switch plans.

Disable the Scheduled Maintenance Feature

Windows 10 has moved so many preferences to the Settings panel that you probably haven’t visited the Control Panel much. As it turns out, a lesser-known feature from Windows 8, called Automatic Maintenance, is still there in Windows 10. This can wake up your PC on its own, so you should disable it if your problem hasn’t gone away.

To check it, type control panel into the Start menu to search for and open it. If you see Category in the top-right, click it and change to Small icons.

From there, choose Security and Maintenance. Expand the Maintenance section and find Automatic Maintenance, then click Change maintenance settings underneath it. Make sure the Allow scheduled maintenance to wake up my computer at the scheduled time box is unchecked.

Scan for Malware

At this point, it’s worth running an anti-malware scan to make sure you don’t have something malicious waking up your system. While all malware acts differently, there’s a chance that it’s set to wake up your system in order to phone home or take some other action.

You can scan with the built-in Windows Defender. For a second opinion, download the free version of Malwarebytes and run a scan with that. Hopefully you don’t have anything hiding on your system, but it’s worth checking if you still can’t explain the wakeup behavior.

Stop Your Computer From Turning Itself On

Hopefully, one of these tips helped you solve the problem of your PC turning on randomly. This issue can have many causes, so it’s often difficult to troubleshoot. After making the above changes, if the problem still occurs, you may need to run through the first steps again to diagnose what device is still waking up your PC.

For more help with this, we’ve looked at how to fix other Windows 10 sleep mode issues.

Read the full article: How to Prevent Your Windows Computer From Waking Up Randomly

Read Full Article