Tip: If you're a Microsoft 365 Family or Personal subscriber you get Microsoft Defender, our advanced security software for Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android, as part of your subscription.Learn more at Getting started with Microsoft Defender.

If the USB recovery drive doesn’t work on your Surface. If you can’t boot from your USB recovery drive or don’t see the Recover from a drive option, you may need to ensure that the boot-from-USB function in the Surface BIOS is enabled or configure the boot order so the USB drive is the first option. For more info, see Boot Surface from a USB device.

Looking for a long-lost app or program? There are several ways you can find what you need. Select Start , and then scroll through the alphabetical list on the left (if your Start screen is set to show as full screen, select All apps, and then scroll through the list).

The Program Install and Uninstall troubleshooter helps you automatically repair issues when you're blocked from installing or removing programs.

An upgrade moves your PC from a previous version of Windows—such as Windows 7 or Windows 8.1—to Windows 10. An upgrade can take place on your existing device, though Microsoft recommends using Windows 10 on a new PC to take advantage of the latest features and security improvements.

Right-click the app, select More, and then select Open file location.This opens the location where the shortcut to the app is saved. If there isn't an option for Open file location, it means the app can't run at startup.

When you need to protect the privacy of an email message, encrypt it. Encrypting an email message in Outlook means it's converted from readable plain text into scrambled cipher text.

Track your tasks in My Tasks. Planner offers a purpose-built My Tasks view, designed to centralize all the tasks relevant to you. My Tasks is organized into four distinct views, each serving a unique purpose: Private tasks: Private tasks is a place for you to quickly jot down tasks at the speed of thought.This is a place where you can create tasks that do not belong to a plan yet.

To pin apps to the taskbar. Select Start , select the arrow next to All apps, right-click the app, then select More > Pin to taskbar.

Check the Xbox services, games, and apps for any service outages.