Having a software and using it wisely may seem like two different matters, when it comes to Windows. What we try to say here is that no matter how reliable and easy to handle Windows was designed to be, it is still a cause of some serious nuisances that border on stupidity. Not one time, Windows users had to deal with annoying and redundant security alerts, weird messages communicating what the users just did or conflicts with pluggable devices that the users should be free to plug and unplug whenever they want. In this article, we will show you how to keep Windows at bay, along with all the irritation it can cause.

These are some of the common Windows nuisances, along with their solutions.

Pluggable Devices Do Not Befriend Windows

Windows really has an issue with your USB drives when you disconnect them. If you did not take care to let Windows know that the USB drive had been disconnected, then you will have to deal with some really annoying errors resulting in the process. What happens is that Windows will still try to write on the USB drive, even after it has been unplugged. Here is the easiest solution to these PC irritant: search your system tray for the “Safely Remove Hardware” utility and use it; this will announce whenever an USB device is disconnected, and it will ensure that Windows will not try anymore to write data on thin air. This is only one tool, but you can always find other free software to master your USB drives, on the Internet.

Irritant: Perpetual Security Alert Messages

Even if your system has the latest virus definitions installed, Windows may still be babbling on about your system being at risk of an exploit or virus. This can sometimes occur when you disable a setting on your antivirus software. To prevent Windows from being so meddling and intrusive, you may opt out of receiving the security alert messages by clicking on the balloon alert message when it pops up, selecting Recommendations in the Virus Protection Panel; from here, select “I have an antivirus program that I will monitor” to put the alert messages out of commission.

Irritant: Redundant Printer Messages

A menial task like sending files to a network printer should not raise any problems, but still, this does not seem to be the case. The moment you give a command to the printer, Windows pops again letting you know that you are printing! It is easy to handle this nuisance. Just use Control Panel, Printers and Faxes. There, in File, Server Properties, you will see a box next to a message that goes like: “Notify me when remote documents are printed”. Just uncheck this box, and there you go.

Irritant: Email Client Refuses to Open URLs

You’ll most likely experience this when default settings are not reset when you uninstall a web browser. For example, say you install Firefox, but you decide you’d like to go back to surfing the web with Internet Explorer instead. URLs that you receive in an email client, like Thunderbird or Outlook, may no longer open when you uninstall Firefox, as you need to give the default rights back to Internet Explorer to make the URLs open correctly in IE. Navigate to the Control Panel and select Internet Options; next, choose Programs, and select “Internet Explorer as the default browser”. A simple fix for a very annoying problem.