How to unblock a country in Outbound block policy in Palo Alto Firewall

Situation: The company has a policy blocking their internal users to access foreign countries in the Palo Alto firewall. Now, they want to allow accessing a foreign country.

Here is how.

  1. In paloalto firewall, go to Policies>Security.

2. Find the policy which blocks all countries IP addresses except USA, Outbound Blocked Countries in our example.

3. In Destination, click on Add to add the country code, for example TW for Taiwan.

4. Click OK and send Commit to save the settings.

Please view this step by step video:

How to upgrade, disable, uninstall a driver in Windows

  1. Type Device in the search bar.
  2. Click on Device Manager.
  3. Double click on the device, all drivers for the device will display.
  4. In Device Manager right click on the device you want to upgrade.
  5. You will have options to upgrade, disable or uninstall it.
  6. If you click upgrade, you will have two options: search for the driver software and browse my computer for driver software.
  7. Click on one of them, it will start to find the latest driver.
  8. It may take a few minutes to install it.
  9. If you don’t see the device, right click on your computer in the Device Manager. Click on Scan for hardware change. All installed devices will show up.

  • Please view this step by step view:

Run DISM and SFC to repair missing or corrupted system files

If you get BSOD, or some Windows functions aren’t working or Windows crashes, you may run Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM)  and the System File Checker (SFC) to scan Windows and restore your files.   Here is how.

1. Open an elevated command prompt by typing cmd in the search bar and then run Command Prompt as administrator.

2. Run this command which uses Windows Update to provide the files that are required to fix corruptions :

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth

3. Run this command to replace the C:\RepairSource\Windows placeholder with the location of your repair source.

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth /Source:C:\RepairSource\Windows /LimitAccess

4. Run this command that will scan all protected system files, and replace corrupted files with a cached copy that is located in a compressed folder at %WinDir%\System32\dllcache.

sfc /scannow

5. After the process is finished successfully, restart your computer an check if that fixes the problem.

Re-install Windows 10 without license key

  1. Boot from the Windows 10 disc or USB thumb drive. If you don’t have installation media, check this post: How to download official Windows 10 ISO files 
  2. Press enter when you see this message: Press any key to boot from CD or DVD…
  3. In Windows Setup screen, chose your Language, Time and Keyboard method then click Next.
  4. Click Install now
  5. If you have a Windows 10 product key, enter here. If you upgrade from Windows 7 or Windows 8 click the option ‘I don’t have a key’ and ‘Do this later’ .
  6. Select Windows 10 Edition.
  7. Check Accept the license terms then click Next .
  8. Click  Custom: Install Windows only (advanced)  to continue.
  9. Select the drive then click Next.
  10. Installing Windows is processing.

Please view this step by step video:

How to manage accounts in Windows 10 using Credential Manager

Credential Manager in Windows 10 lets you view and delete your saved credentials for signing in to websites, connected applications, and networks. Here is how.

  • In the search bar, type credential manager, and click on Credential Manager Control panel
  • You have two options: Web Credentials and Windows Credentials to access the credentials you want to manage.
  • You can Remove, Back up, Restore, Add a credential.
  • Please view the step by step video:

How to free up more spaces on PC

It is recommended to use Disk Clean to free spaces in Windows. If you still need more spaces after Disk Clean, you can free more spaces manually. Here is how.

  1. Uninstall unwanted Programs by going to Control Panel/Uninstall a program
  2. Clean Temporary files by going to C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Temp.
  3. Use Storage Sense
  4. Move data to an external storage or the Cloud like OneDrive or Google Drive.

How to access BIOS

For troubleshooting or settings, you may need to access computer BIOS (Basic Input / Output System). Here are some options.

Option 1: Press BISO key(s): Press the key(s) when you turn on a computer and while it goes through a very quick POST (power on self test) . This is the list by manufactures.

  • ASUS: F2
  • Acer: F2 or DEL
  • Dell: F2 or F12
  • HP: F10
  • Lenovo Laptops: F2 or Fn + F2
  • Lenovo Desktops: F1
  • Lenovo ThinkPads: Enter then F1.
  • Microsoft Surface Tablets: Press and hold volume up button.
  • Samsung: F2
  • Toshiba: F2

Option 2: Use Advanced Start Menu in Windows 10

  1. Click Start icon and then Settings.
  2. Click Update & Security.
  3. Select Recovery in the left pane.
  4. Click Restart now under the Advanced startup.
  5. After restart, the computer goes to Choose an option window. Click on Troubleshooting.
  6. Click Advanced options under Troubleshoot.
  7. Click Restart under UEFI Firmware Settings.

After accessing BIOS, you may setup boot order, Date/Time, System configuration, Security, Performance, Power Management, Post Behavior. Please view the step by step video: