Windows Security provides built-in security options to help protect your device from malicious software attacks.
Firewall & network protection in Windows Security lets you view the status of Microsoft Defender Firewall and see what networks your device is connected to. You can turn Microsoft Defender Firewall on or off and access advanced Microsoft Defender Firewall options for the following network types:
You can hide the Firewall & network protection area from users on the device. This option can be useful if you don’t want users to see or have access to user-configured options for these features.
This tutorial will show you how to hide or show the Firewall & network protection page in Windows Security for all users in Windows 10 and Windows 11.
Windows Sandbox provides a lightweight desktop environment to safely run applications in isolation. Software installed inside the Windows Sandbox environment remains “sandboxed” and runs separately from the host machine.
A sandbox is temporary. When it’s closed, all the software and files and the state are deleted. You get a brand-new instance of the sandbox every time you open the app.
Networking in Windows Sandbox is done by creating a virtual switch on the host (Windows 10/11), and connects the Windows Sandbox to it via a virtual NIC.
Disabling network access can decrease the attack surface exposed by the Sandbox. Enabling networking can expose untrusted applications to the internal network.
This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable networking in Windows Sandbox for all users in Windows 10 and Windows 11.
You can Map a network drive to access shared files on it from File Explorer in Windows without having to look for it or type its network address each time.
A mapped network drive has the following characteristics:
This tutorial will show you how to add or remove Map network drive and Disconnect network drive context menu for specific or all users in Windows 10 and Windows 11.
The Network icon on the sign-in screen can allow users to change the network connectivity state of the computer without having to sign in to Windows.
This tutorial will show how to add or remove the Network icon on the sign-in screens for all users in Windows 10 and Windows 11.
AÂ DNS (Domain Name System)Â server is the service that makes it possible for you to open a web browser, type a domain name and load your favorite websites.
DNS over HTTPSÂ (DoH) is a protocol for performing remote Domain Name System resolution via the HTTPS protocol. A goal of the method is to increase user privacy and security by preventing eavesdropping and manipulation of DNS data by man-in-the-middle attacks by using the HTTPS protocol to encrypt the data between the DoH client and the DoH-based DNS resolver.
You will have separate IPv4 DNS servers and IPv6 DNS servers assigned or set to the network adapter on your Windows 11 device.
When you subscribe to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) (ex: Cox, Comcast, AT&T, etc…) in your area, your Windows 11 device will use their DNS server by default.
If you change the DNS server, then depending on where you changed it at will affect the priority of which DNS servers get used by your devices.
This tutorial will show you how to find the IPv4 and IPv6 DNS servers used on your Windows 11 device.
When password protected sharing is turned on, only people who have an account and password on your computer can access shared files and folders, printers attached to your computer, and Public folders on the network.
If you wanted to give access to shared items to other people without an account and password on your computer, then you will need to turn off password protected sharing.
This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off password protected sharing on your Windows 11 PC.
Windows 11 shows the Network icon in the navigation pane of File Explorer by default. This makes it easy to browse your local network.
If you prefer not to have Network show in the navigation pane of File Explorer, you can remove it.
This tutorial will show you how to add or remove Network in the navigation pane of File Explorer for your account in Windows 11.
AÂ DNS (Domain Name System)Â resolver cache is a temporary database, maintained by Windows, that contains records of all your recent visits and attempted visits to websites and other Internet domains.
The Internet relies on the Domain Name System (DNS) to maintain an index of all public websites and their corresponding IP addresses. Every time a user visits a website by its name (such as “tenforums.com”), the user’s web browser initiates a request out to the Internet, but this request cannot be completed until the website name is converted into an IP address.
This conversion process is called name resolution and is the job of DNS, but it takes time. A DNS cache attempts to speed up the process by handling the name resolution before the request is sent out to the Internet.
If the IP address of a website changes before your DNS cache updates, you may not be able to load the webpage. If you are running into a lot of Page Not Found errors and you know you are connected to the Internet, you could try flushing your DNS cache to have your computer request new information.
The ipconfig /displaydns or Get-DnsClientCache command displays the contents of the DNS client resolver cache, which includes both entries preloaded from the local Hosts file and any recently obtained resource records for name queries resolved by the computer. The DNS Client service uses this information to resolve frequently queried names quickly, before querying its configured DNS servers.
Viewing the contents of the DNS Resolver Cache may help in troubleshooting to verify name resolution and IP.
This tutorial will show you how to view the contents of your DNS Resolver Cache in Windows 11 and Windows 10.
AÂ DNS (Domain Name System)Â resolver cache is a temporary database, maintained by Windows, that contains records of all your recent visits and attempted visits to websites and other Internet domains.
The Internet relies on the Domain Name System (DNS) to maintain an index of all public websites and their corresponding IP addresses. Every time a user visits a website by its name (such as “tenforums.com”), the user’s web browser initiates a request out to the Internet, but this request cannot be completed until the website name is converted into an IP address.
This conversion process is called name resolution and is the job of DNS, but it takes time. A DNS cache attempts to speed up the process by handling the name resolution before the request is sent out to the Internet.
If the IP address of a website changes before your DNS cache updates, you may not be able to load the webpage. If you are running into a lot of Page Not Found errors and you know you are connected to the Internet, you could try flushing your DNS cache to have your computer request new information.
This tutorial will show you how to flush your DNS resolver cache in Windows 11, Windows10, Microsoft Edge, and Google Chrome.
An IP address (Internet Protocol address) is a unique address that identifies a device on the internet or a local network.
If you are having network connectivity issues related to expired or cached IP information, you can try to release and renew your IP address to reset the IP address to hopefully solve the issue.
The ipconfig /release command sends a DHCPRELEASE message to the DHCP server (ex: ISP or router) to release the current DHCP configuration and discard the IP address configuration for all adapters.
The ipconfig /renew command requests a new IP address from the DHCP server (ex: ISP or router).
This tutorial will show you how to release and renew your IP address to reset the IP address in Windows 10 or Windows 11.
Some apps use the video platform that’s built into Windows 11. These include Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps that come with Windows 11, such as Microsoft Edge, Photos, and Movies & TV, as well as many third-party video apps you get from Microsoft Store (for example, Hulu, Netflix, and Vudu).
For these apps, you can control video playback using the video playback settings in Windows 11. For example, you can have your PC process video to enhance it (depending on your PC’s hardware) or choose to play video at a lower resolution to help save network bandwidth.
This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off save network bandwidth by playing video at a lower resolution during video playback when plugged in for your account in Windows 11.
An IP address (Internet Protocol address) is a unique address that identifies a device on the internet or a local network.
Your computer will have IPv4 and IPv6 addresses.
Your computer will have public (external) and private (internal) IP addresses.
This tutorial will show you how to find the private and public IPv4 and IPv6 address of your Windows 11 PC.
You can Map a network drive to access shared files on it from File Explorer in Windows without having to look for it or type its network address each time.
This tutorial will show you how to disconnect a mapped network drive for your account in Windows 11.
You can Map a network drive to access shared files on it from File Explorer in Windows without having to look for it or type its network address each time.
A mapped network drive has the following characteristics:
This tutorial will show you how to map a network drive for your account in Windows 11.
File and printer sharing is the ability of a computer running Windows to share a folder or attached printer with other computers on the same network.
Windows creates a separate network profile for each network you use. You can turn on or off file and printer sharing separately for each Domain, Private, and Public network profile type.
This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off file and printer sharing on your Windows 11 PC.
Network Discovery is a network setting that affects whether your computer can see (find) other computers and devices on the same network and whether other computers and devices on the same network can see your computer.
When network discovery is turned on, the device sends out signals over the network to search for other discoverable devices. This makes it convenient for you to share network resources among the devices connected to the network.
Windows creates a separate network profile for each network you use. You can turn on or off network discovery separately for each Private and Public network profile type.
This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off network discovery for private and public networks on your Windows 11 PC.
A MAC address (Media Access Control address) is a unique identifier assigned to a network interface controller (aka: NIC or network adapter) for use as a network address in communications on the physical network segment. This use is common in most IEEE 802 networking technologies, including Ethernet, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth.
MAC addresses are primarily assigned by device manufacturers, and are therefore often referred to as the burned-in address (BIA), or as an Ethernet hardware address (EHA), hardware address, or physical address.
MAC addresses are recognizable as six groups of two hexadecimal digits, separated by hyphens, colons, or without a separator.
Knowing the MAC address of a network adapter can help to identify the device or configure networking permissions (ex:Â MAC filtering) on a router.
This tutorial will show you how to find the MAC address of network adapters (NICs) on your Windows 11 PC.
A network adapter (aka: Network Interface Controller (NIC) ) is a computer hardware component that connects a computer to the Internet or local area network.
Sometimes you may need to check to see what the current connection link speed is for your network adapters to see if they are performing at specs. This can be helpful with troubleshooting network performance issues.
This tutorial will show you how to check the connection link speed of your network adapters in Windows 11.
A network adapter (aka: Network Interface Controller (NIC) ) is a computer hardware component that connects a computer to the Internet or local area network.
A network reset will remove and reinstall all your network adapters, and set other networking components back to their original factory settings.
You might need to reinstall other networking software afterwards, such as VPN client software or virtual switches.
Resetting your network adapters may help fix network connection issues.
This tutorial will show you how to reset network adapters in Windows 11.
A network adapter (aka: Network Interface Controller (NIC) ) is a computer hardware component that connects a computer to the Internet or local area network.
You can rename a network adapter to what you want instead of the default name given to it.
This tutorial will show you how to rename network adapters in Windows 10 and Windows 11.