The "out of memory" pop-up says your'e running out of the limit on private committed memory—a type of virtual memory. Not that you're running out of RAM (physical memory). It doesn't matter how much available RAM you have. Having lots of Available RAM does not allow you to exceed the commit limit. The commit limit is the sum of your total RAM (whether in use or not!) plus your current pagefile size.

Conversely, what "uses up" commit limit (which is mostly the creation of process-private virtual address space) does not necessarily use any RAM! But the OS won't allow its creation unless it knows there is some place to store it if it ever needs to. So you can run into the commit limit without using all of your RAM, or even most of your RAM.

If you want to find out what's using committed memory you need to look at Task Manager's "Details" tab and enable the "Commit size" column.

Nor will the total of the "Commit size" columns add up to the "commit charge" (30.1 GB on your machine), because other things contribute to commit charge: Nonpaged and paged pool and some more "subtle" mechanisms like copy-on-write sections, pagefile-backed sections, AWE mappings... but these are usually small compared to process-private v.a.s.)

On that tab, the "Memory (Private working set)" column corresponds to what the "Processes" tab shows for "Memory". This is the RAM currently assigned to each process for its committed virtual address space. The remainder will be in the pagefile. But, again, processes have other types of address space, mostly of the sort called "mapped", and some fraction of that will be in RAM as well. There are other system-wide things created by the OS, not specific to any process, that use up RAM too.

To move the Windows 11 Start menu from the center to the left, right-click on the taskbar, select "Taskbar settings," then under "Taskbar behaviors," change the "Taskbar alignment" from "Center" to "Left." This will shift the Start button and other icons back to the left side of the screen.

Audit Mode is a special Windows setup environment used mainly by IT professionals and manufacturers. Unlike the normal Windows installation that takes you through the OOBE (where you create user accounts, set up privacy options, and connect to Wi-Fi), Audit Mode allows administrators to bypass this process.

Key characteristics of Audit Mode:

• Bypasses OOBE so the system can be configured before end-user access.
• Allows installation of drivers, applications, and updates.
• Enables creating and capturing Windows images for deployment.
• Provides administrator access without creating new user accounts.

You’ll know you are in Audit Mode if:

• You see a System Preparation Tool (Sysprep) window open automatically after login.
• The PC bypasses the OOBE setup process.
• The desktop shows an administrator account with no other user accounts available.

The most straightforward way to exit Audit Mode is by using the built-in Sysprep tool.

1. Boot your PC into Windows 11.
2. When the System Preparation Tool window appears, check the options carefully.
3. Under System Cleanup Action, select:
4. Enter System Out-of-Box Experience (OOBE).
5. Check the box Generalize if you want to remove system-specific data (optional, mostly for deployment).
6. Under Shutdown Options, choose Reboot.
7. Click OK.

If the Sysprep window does not appear automatically or you closed it, you can launch it manually through Command Prompt.

1. Press Windows + R, type cmd, and press Enter.
2. In Command Prompt, type the following command and press Enter: C:\Windows\System32\Sysprep\Sysprep.exe /oobe /reboot
3. Windows will reboot into OOBE, where you can set up your account and finish the installation process.

To automatically start a program in Windows 11, you can go to Settings > Apps > Startup and turn on the toggle for the desired app. Alternatively, you can place a shortcut of the program in the Startup folder located at

%userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\forcerunasinvoker]
@="Run without privilege elevation"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\forcerunasinvoker\command]
@="cmd /min /C \"set __COMPAT_LAYER=RUNASINVOKER && start \"\" \"%1\"\""

Save this text in <name_of_file>.reg and add it to the Windows Registry. (Double-clicking on it should do the trick.)

Afterwards, right-click the app you'd like to run without administrative privileges and select "Run without privilege elevation".

In some cases - small amount 0.1% of programs may ask twice about UAC prompt. //

You can add this to the registry for only the currently signed in user by changing the keys to :

and

Service Control - Create, Start, Stop, Query or Delete any Windows SERVICE. The command options for SC are case sensitive.

Voidtools' Everything is a great File Explorer replacement //

WinDirStat is a tell-all we all need
A cold hard look into the storage //

ShutUp10++ is an absolute must-have
This is where I take control back from Windows //

Autoruns gives you a very deep look under the hood
Autoruns often feels like my secret weapon

There are two important things you must do now: confirm you have Secure Boot enabled and that your system firmware is updated. The Windows System Information tool can show if Secure Boot is enabled. However, any firmware update should come from your PC manufacturer or the platform managing virtual firmware.

If your system is eligible, the update typically happens quietly in the background. You should pay more attention to devices with dual-boot setups or PCs with legacy boot remnants, as they are less likely to get automatic deployment. You may have to navigate to this registry path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecureBoot and set the AvailableUpdates registry value to a nonzero value. //

You can view the current certificate on your PC by running this PowerShell command: (Get-AuthenticodeSignature "C:\Windows\Boot\EFI\bootmgfw.efi").SignerCertificate | Format-List Subject,Issuer,NotAfter,Thumbprint

You can run this command on PowerShell, and a non-zero value for AvailableUpdates would confirm your computer is eligible to receive certificate updates: Get-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecureBoot" | Format-List

CursorWrap is a standout utility from the recent PowerToys release (v0.97, to be precise). It turns your linear, multi-screen array into an infinite circle and eliminates the dead ends of your desktop in no time.

1. Press Windows Key + R to open the Run prompt. Type regedit and hit Enter.
2. Navigate to the following registry path:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Search
3. Right-click the empty space in the right pane. Select New followed by DWORD (32-bit) Value.
   Set its name to BingSearchEnabled. Set the value to 0.
4. Restart your PC for the changes to take effect.
   And that's it. Your Start menu will now only search locally.

If you're on Windows 11 version 24H2 or newer running the May 2020 Update or later, there's an alternative registry path that you might need to update. Navigate to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer
Create a DWORD called DisableSearchBoxSuggestions and set its value to 1 using the same steps mentioned above. This disables both web results and search box suggestions in one shot.

These are simple utilities to manipulate Microsoft Virtual Hard Disks (VHD/VHDX) from the command line.

This utility copies files and directory trees while fully preserving all timestamps, and when possible, NTFS compression and encryption attributes.

The primary benefit to using vcopy is that it preserves all timestamps and NTFS compression and encryption attributes, when possible. Normally, copy operations will fail to preserve any of the timestamps on directories and the creation and access timestamps on files. Especially in the case of directory timestamps, this default copy behavior wreaks havoc on people who depend on their files and directory trees having meaningful timestamps.

You can also suppress and strip out certain file attributes from being copied; for example, the read-only attribute when copying files from a CD-ROM.

Additionally, vcopy can compute hashes for files as they are being copied, eliminating the need for a wasteful second read pass.

Notepad2 is a free, open-source text editor created by Florian Balmer. I have been a user of Notepad2 for a few years; it is the primary text editor that I use every day. This page was created as a way for me to share some of my Notepad2 resources.

The HashCheck Shell Extension makes it easy for anyone to calculate and verify checksums and hashes from Windows Explorer. In addition to integrating file checksumming functionality into Windows, HashCheck can also create and verify SFV files (and other forms of checksum files, such as .md5 files). It is fast and efficient, with a very light disk and memory footprint, and it is open-source.

winisoutils - Windows ISO Disc Image Utilities

Part 2 There's a wealth of highly usable free software for the big proprietary desktop OSes. You can escape paying subscriptions and switch to free software without changing your OS.

In the first half of this short series, we looked at how to freshen up an aging Mac or Windows 10 PC, and ideally, how to wipe it and install a clean, bloat-free copy of its OS. That is all well and good, but this leaves the problem of what to put on that OS to get out of the trap of software you paid for but don't own. //

Compare OpenAlternative.co, which is snazzy and effects-heavy, with the decidedly low-tech Best FOSS Alternatives, which is very simple and austere. The latter has nothing to sell; it's just a plain, simple categorized list of FOSS tools. If you scroll to the end, it even has a short list of alternatives to itself. //

On a fresh new copy of Windows, the easiest way to get up and running is Ninite. https://ninite.com/

The current 25H2 build of Windows 11 and future builds will include increasingly more AI features and components. This script aims to remove ALL of these features to improve user experience, privacy and security.

Vellum is Mac-only software, but it is possible to use it by renting a Mac “in the cloud” that you can access via your PC.

This guide will walk you through using a service called MacinCloud. Currently, this service offers plans as low as $1 USD per hour. And once you are familiar with Vellum, creating your final files should take considerably less than an hour!

Practical steps to make an aging operating system usable into 2026

Part 1 You can switch to running mostly FOSS without switching to Linux. First, though, give your OS a bit of TLC. We'll come back to what to do next in part two. //

Before you begin, you should grab a copy of Snappy Driver Installer Origin and put it on a clean, empty USB key. Then run it, directly on the new key, and tell it to download all its driver packs. SDIO is the only driver-installer tool we trust and recommend. Don't pay for any alternative: indeed, we suggest you avoid anything else. SDIO is big – it takes quite a few gigabytes with all the driver packs or more – and takes a long time to download all the drivers, but it does the job. We've found it helpful from Windows XP all the way up to Windows 10.

Next, get a clean version of Windows. If you have the license key, you're all set. If you don't have your license key, then you can extract it from the running copy of Windows with Nirsoft ProduKey.

• https://www.snappy-driver-installer.org/
• https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/product_cd_key_viewer.html

However, if you are willing to change versions, we suggest switching to Windows 10 LTSC. As we explained back in August, the Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2021 edition will get updates until 2027, and if you don't mind using US English, it'll last until 2032. As an added bonus, it's remarkably uncluttered – it doesn't even have the Windows Store, and so no "Modern" applications. Aside from Notepad, there's very little there at all, which is just how we like it. //

11 hrs
Liam Proven(Written by Reg staff) Silver badge
Reply Icon
Re: Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2021 edition?

This doesn't work on machines running Windows 10 Home though, does it?

Yes it does.

Read ALL OF https://massgrave.dev/ carefully. It is not a large site. //

11 hrs
Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward
The trick I find is to simply keep them offline (from installation, onwards).

This doesn't mean you can't use them to connect to the internet, but the OS as a whole must never be online. What I mean by this is i.e SOCKS5h proxy which only Firefox knows about. //

hrs
Jou (Mxyzptlk)Silver badge
Thanks for the article!
Snappy Driver and Ventoy were unknown to me, never needed them, but good to know and have those tools at hand.

As for my usual 10th-bazillion times repeated hint: Server 2022 and 2025, keys which activate are cheap, or use your favourite graveyard tool. Does not need a hacked-installer to not-annoy you. And has some nice features. like dedup, or setting a quota in a directory, or limit the file type / sizes, disconnected RDP sessions don't stop like on workstation Windows, they just work on, SMB Bandwidth control (nice for LAN parties, 'cause your game play is more important than those copy jobs). Well, and that's it, the rest of the server features/capabilities/roles are too esoteric for a workstaton install, or are already the same on normal Windows, except mins the crap you get on normal Windows.

If you want to install something from the store (manually, without account, like the Windows-Camera) or need bluetooth audio (read, never tested self on S2022) you are better off with Server 2025.

And you get updates long enough