Random Software topics

[neogunhero]

Yeah, I don't normally move 62gb folders around, I should be fine.

I normally don't install recent Windows updates; somehow this one slipped through. I don't move a lot of folders around either, but I do install games each week with pretty large sizes.

list of drives tested, with results.
I don't know if this is a complete list.

Just from what I've read, this issue can also be triggered by downloading files such as games 50GB or larger. Also, I would exercise extra caution, that list could very well be incomplete. You wouldn't want to be the first one to find out your drive is also affected.

When I do my upgrade to Win11 tomorrow, I'll roll back the update if it puts me onto the latest one. Of course this happens right when I get a new SSD and decide to upgrade. My new drive isn't listed, but I don't want to take any chances. It's using an InnoGrit controller though, but still, rather not risk it.

Wait. I just saw "SSD with InnoGrit controller" under the "SSD With Malfunction" section. Dammit.

 

[Colif]

Just from what I've read, this issue can also be triggered by downloading files such as games 50GB or larger. Also, I would exercise extra caution, that list could very well be incomplete. You wouldn't want to be the first one to find out your drive is also affected.

two of my drives are listed as not effected, and the 3rd uses a different controller - its made by Samsung.
That and rarely move anything that big

It appears your drive uses a different controller to the drives effected.
this is one of the drives effected:

Western Digital SN5000 2 TB Specs

2 TB, TLC, PCIe 4.0 x4, M.2 2280

www.techpowerup.com

this is a list of all the drives using that controller

TechPowerUp

Solid-state-drive database with specifications for products launched in recent years. Includes specs, photos, and technical details.

www.techpowerup.com

meanwhile, this is your drive:

Western Digital SN570 2 TB Specs

2 TB, TLC, PCIe 3.0 x4, M.2 2280

www.techpowerup.com

this is a list of the drives that use its controller:

TechPowerUp

Solid-state-drive database with specifications for products launched in recent years. Includes specs, photos, and technical details.

www.techpowerup.com

Doesn't seem to be any cross over.

Wait. I just saw "SSD with InnoGrit controller" under the "SSD With Malfunction" section. Dammit.

which drive? its not the 2tb one. Its controller called Polaris.

 

[neogunhero]

which drive? its not the 2tb one. Its controller called Polaris.

My new one coming, Teamgroup T-Force G50, uses an InnoGrit IG5520 controller. I don't see anything about this one being affected, but I'd still want to be safe.

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Since I've been messing about with my handheld emulation device and now getting Win11 onto a boot drive, I've used a handful of flashing programs over the past month or so. You'd be surprised at just how many are out there that claims to do similar things but are all designed in completely different ways.

Just to give a spotlight on the best of the bunch in my opinion, the Raspberry Pi Imager software was by far the easiest to use. The interface is clean and simple, gives tons of options on what you want to do in a way that is easy to read and choose correctly, and works quiet fast. I have used this to image MuOS onto a SD Card for my Anbernic handheld, and it completed it within just a few minutes. Other software I used to do the same thing took longer or were just generally a bit more complicated, not as straightforward.

With the Win11 boot disk program causing my PC to BSOD for the first time in two years, I wonder if I can use this program to image Win11 onto the flash drive.

 

[Colif]

lets see
Controller for you device:

https://ssd-tester.de/downloads/controller/InnoGrit%20IG5220.pdf

other drives with your controller:

TechPowerUp

Solid-state-drive database with specifications for products launched in recent years. Includes specs, photos, and technical details.

www.techpowerup.com

The ADATA 800 Legend shares same controller and it restarted during tests

I would just hold off until they announce a fix. I expect since windows may have caused it, the fix will be another update. Or they roll back this one.
Needs more testing to find out actual cause.

 

[Zed Clampet]

You know what annoys me (but not that much)? That Windows doesn't have a system for automatically granting the PC owner administrator rights. I get that this protects your system from your own stupidity, but it was really annoying when I tried to delete a program the other day, and it told me I couldn't do it because I needed to be an administrator.

To make matters worse, nothing I did in security (which I found confusing to use) actually gave me enough privileges to delete the file. I had to go into CMD and create a new Administrator ID, log out and then back in as the Administrator.

 

[Colif]

To make matters worse, nothing I did in security (which I found confusing to use) actually gave me enough privileges to delete the file. I had to go into CMD and create a new Administrator ID, log out and then back in as the Administrator.

What was the file you were trying to delete? That isn't normal, most files let you delete them without confirmation or at most UAC should ask for confirmation or ask for admin password

what type of user do you normally use? Mine is admin

You don't own all the files on the PC. There are system users that own many of the system ones.

 

[Zed Clampet]

What was the file you were trying to delete? That isn't normal, most files let you delete them without confirmation or at most UAC should ask for confirmation or ask for admin password

what type of user do you normally use? Mine is admin

You don't own all the files on the PC. There are system users that own many of the system ones.

It was miniconda, something I have deleted in the past, but this time it was installed using an installer for another program.

I may not own some of the files, but they are on my property and I can delete them if I want to.

As far as what type of user, I generally don't like the admin process in Windows, so on a new PC I delay giving myself "Admin" until something happens where I need it, like when I needed to delete the incorrectly installed miniconda. So up until I ran into this issue, I was the default user. Now I'm admin.

 

[Colif]

My PC has 6 users on it, Only one of them is mine and directly controllable by me

• DWM-1 - Desktop Windows Manager (controls GPU for windows)
• Me
• Local Services - mainly controls the host services.
• Network Services
• System - runs all the applications on the PC.
• UMFD-1 - Usermode Font Driver Host

You may own the PC but you don't control all the files.
I do agree that anything you install you should be able to remove.
I wouldn't delete system files if you want winidows to keep working as expected.

 

[Zed Clampet]

My PC has 6 users on it, Only one of them is mine and directly controllable by me

• DWM-1 - Desktop Windows Manager (controls GPU for windows)
• Me
• Local Services - mainly controls the host services.
• Network Services
• System - runs all the applications on the PC.
• UMFD-1 - Usermode Font Driver Host

You may own the PC but you don't control all the files.
I do agree that anything you install you should be able to remove.
I wouldn't delete system files if you want winidows to keep working as expected.

Those aren't user accounts. They're just components of Windows.

I own the PC, and I control all the files. Obviously, if I want to run Windows, I won't delete system files, etc. but if I want to reformat the drive and install SteamOS, that's an option.

There are always things you can't delete and expect your software to keep running. But we aren't talking about any of that. We're talking about miniconda, which has nothing to do with my operating system. It would be like you downloading a game on Steam and then not being able to uninstall it.

 

[Colif]

Those aren't user accounts. They're just components of Windows.

Yes and NO, they are user accounts used by Windows to perform certain tasks
If they weren't users, they wouldn't be listed on this page:

Local Accounts

Learn how to secure and manage access to the resources on a standalone or member server for services or users.

learn.microsoft.com

 

[Zed Clampet]

Yes and NO, they are user accounts used by Windows to perform certain tasks
If they weren't users, they wouldn't be listed on this page:

Local Accounts

Learn how to secure and manage access to the resources on a standalone or member server for services or users.

learn.microsoft.com

Sorry, I got confused typing. They aren't users, they are user accounts is what I meant to say.

 

[Colif]

In future years, will you need multiple computers/users to play your games since Anti Cheats don't get along

Or take logical approach and not play games that use them.

 

[Zed Clampet]

In future years, will you need multiple computers/users to play your games since Anti Cheats don't get along

Or take logical approach and not play games that use them.

Or better, just play one at a time. Dune Awakening has anti-cheat, and I definitely am not giving that up.

 

[Colif]

What does it mean? Not a lot... no more updates... thats a good thing, no more introduced bugs

The main reason to upgrade from an OS used to be to avoid having to install all the updates after a clean install. Before they introduced Cumulative Updates, it could be over 200 updates and Service Packs just to get to the current version... Now, its about 5 Updates provided you download the latest Installer from Microsoft.

No need to panic.

If you concerned about no more defender updates, just use a 3rd party anti virus like Malwarebytes or Bit Defender... for years before Defender took over, people used the alternatives... many of them are still safer than Defender

 

[Colif]

Windows Audio System is holding back game audio from being as latency free as almost every other part of your system when playing games

You can't fix it yourself via buying better hardware. External dac's will still have same latency

One way to resolve it is to set the audio driver to not use the windows sound api, but use an alternative like ASIO or set exclusive mode to the sound driver so that only the game can access the sound device - but games need to do this.

And some gamers won't like having the games do that as many like to listen to music or play videos while playing and if the game has exclusive mode, it won't work.

To play higher resolution audio on my Aune DAC on Tidal on PC, I have to change options in Tidal so that it uses the driver in Exclusive mode but it restricts the access to the driver so that nothing else can output sound on device until exclusive mode is disabled again. It was enough for me to stop using Aune on my PC.

Until Microsoft update the sound api's that have remained the same for 15 years now, its going to be up to games companies and most of those don't even see it as a problem. Shame having latency free audio isn't a priority compared to making game look prettier. This won't change any time soon.

 

[Frindis]

Throwing in this software for anyone doing new updates for Windows 11. This removes a lot of spying and bloat that Microsoft pushes, and you can save your settings so that whenever Windows performs a new update, you can simply rinse and repeat. It's important that you do so, because a lot of settings get reset whenever you do a new windows update.

O&O ShutUp10++: Free antispy tool for Windows 10 and 11

With this tool you have full control over which comfort functions under Windows 10 and Windows 11 you wish to use, and you decide when the passing on of your data goes too far.

www.oo-software.com

 

[Colif]

I was not amused this morning, I was using Youtube and thought they had changed the layout of the page around

Normally under videos it shows comments... I had to scroll down through several rows of videos to see the comments section. I was fuming at this point as I don't want to have to scroll through a stack of videos each time to read comments. That would drive me mad. (well, madder than I already am)

A few minutes later I widen the browser window and found it was the width of the page that was the cause. They must have changed it last night as my browser window should have been the same from night before. Now I have to give a little more room to it. Sigh

I don't use full screen mode as there is too much blank space on either side then. I assume that is where ads are, I don't know... I don't see advertising anywhere. It lets me run another application in the other half of my screen.

After Google changed the Search page yesterday, I was starting to think it was enforced change time

 

[Frindis]

I wanted to talk a little about security. Do add other stuff if you have and educate me if I missed something or said something wrong. I am only human after all.
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Password security:

For anyone wanting to secure their files, I can recommend https://veracrypt.io/en/Downloads.html. It's free and you basically make your own virtual drive of size that you have to type master key password to mount. You can put anything in there to crypt and as long as you unmount the station after using it, you files will be secured.

Obviously, never store your password in just one place and never just in your home. If you have a fire, you lose everything if not extremely lucky with a "fireproof" safe. The reason I mention this is because most people do not have their password/documents stored in different places, which is why I want to remind those who don't. Better safe than sorry.

Credit cards:

A small tip for those who order a lot online: Either use one of those virtual bank cards (I can't get them in my country unfortunately) or use (which I do) a designated credit card for online shopping. Use it for some time (I set a limit between 1-2 years, depending on activity) and then get a replacement, which most banks give out for free. If something were to happen to that credit card, it would not matter much since you don't give up your own personal info (if you can avoid it) and you don't have much money on it. So, if it gets stolen, they can't really harm you much, except it being an annoyance. Then you just lock the card and order new one.

Also very nice to have this type of "play" card because you can use it for thousands of trials all over the net and if you ever were to forget to cancel your subscription, it will not matter one bit. They can't charge you if you don't have any money, so If you notice a missed charge, you can easily stop it manually so it does not stay churning.

Phone call scammers:

The telephone service you use probably has either a manual or automatic (probably both) call filter for some of these scam numbers. But some software also has it, like the one through Bitdefender, so if you want to add an extra convenience (it will cost a little, but you can get cheap subs if you look around ) you can use something like that to add an extra layer.

After using this type of call blocker myself, I have not had ONE single scam call go through. I do get a notice from time to time if the number blocked if something I still want to have blocked which is nice. Something to think about if you are super annoyed with calls not getting blocked good enough by your phone provider.

 

[Colif]

Use a password manager...
Something like

Best Password Manager for Business, Enterprise & Personal | Bitwarden

Bitwarden is the most trusted password manager for passwords and passkeys at home or at work, on any browser or device. Start with a free trial.

bitwarden.com

good advice, I should follow it.

Use two factor authentication anywhere that offers it, its added security on the account. Makes it harder to get into. I have it on all the accounts that count

1. Microsoft
2. Google
3. My Bank
4. here (lol)
5. Steam logon

a few others I forget

then, even if they know your password, they also need your phone. Lets you fix problem painlessly.

Maybe change your email address more often than every 25 years... I should make a new one, I think entire world knows mine now.

 

[Frindis]

Good tips! I try to use two-factor as much as possible, preferably also use Google authentication for different stuff, like Runescape or even PC Gamer forums.

 

[Colif]

Good tips! I try to use two-factor as much as possible, preferably also use Google authentication for different stuff, like Runescape or even PC Gamer forums.

its the same thing. Microsoft uses the Google authenticator. My bank uses its own system, as do some of the ones I forgot. Some will send you a code whereas in others you use the app.
Most systems allow two different ways to get the codes. Often its a choice on the site, pick phone number or email.

one of the last questions in my course covered this topic so I just used some of the tips from there.