Web User - UK (2019-10-16)

If an update creates PC problems, uninstall it from the Control Panel

68 16 - 29 October 2019

EMAIL

Sort random contacts

Q

I use Outlook.comfor myemail

andI have a lot of contacts (or

People, as they are now called). The

problem is that when I want to email

someone,mycontacts appearto be

in random order, which makes it hard

to locate individual entries. They used

This fortnightRoland bought a new iPhone 11 and has been selling old phones and PCsto help payfor it

Ask the Expert

Q

I would like to changethe

backgroundcolour of the

taskbar in Windows10, but there

doesn’t seemto be a way to do

this. I knowwhere the settings are

in the Settings app, but I can’t

changethem because they are

greyed out. Selecting acolour has

no effect on the taskbar andit

stubbornly remains dark grey or

black. Is this a bug?

ShaneDalton, via email

A

Windowssupports themes,

each of which consists of a

collection of icons, colours,

desktop wallpapers andother

elements. These themes change

the appearance of Windowsbut

not every element can be individually

customised, which means you may

not be able to changecertain items –

such as the taskbar andAction

Centre, for example.

Open the Settings app, click

Personalisation andselect Themes on

the left. The ‘Windows(light)’theme,

which camewith version 1903, is one

such ‘locked-down’ themethat

prevents the coloursfrombeing

changed. Select the Windowstheme

you want, then go to Colours. You will

now be able to choose a colour and

select the option to apply it to the

taskbar andAction Centre.

Change the colour

of the taskbar

GENERAL PC

Some Windows themesapply a choice of

colours and might not let you change them

to be displayed alphabetically. How do

I sort them?

H Quinn, via email

A

There are several waysto sort

contacts in Outlook.comand, while

the order may appearto be random,

they may be sorted by company, work

city, homecity or even date added. Go

to Outlook.comandclick the People

icon in the bottom-left corner. When

your contacts appear, click the link in

the top-right corner of the contacts list

andselect the sort method you’d like to

use, such as ‘First name’ or Surname.

GENERAL PC

FixStart and ActionCentre

Q

After installing the latest update on

mycomputer, I can no longer open

the Start menuor Action Centre.

Colin Harris, via email

A

This isa familiar problem that has

affected a small numberof users.

Thankfully, there is an update on the

way that will fix it. In the meantime,

there are several things you can do –

for example, use Explorer to run

programs instead of Start.

Open Explorer using the icon on

the taskbar or press Win+E. Click the

Viewtab andselect ‘Hidden items’,

then go to:

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\

Start Menu\Programs

Most of the items on the Start menu

are listed here andyou can just double-

click an itemto runit.

Open the Settings app and goto

‘Update &Security’, WindowsUpdate,

‘View update history’, then ‘Uninstall

updates’. Click the Installed Onheader

to sort the updates by date (scroll right

if you don’t see it). Now, uninstall the

last update, if that’s when the problem

started.

Click here to choose how your contacts

are sorted inOutlook.com