Random Software topics

[Colif]

The difference is now in Win 11 favour but not by a lot.
Win 11 seems better at 4k than Win 10

 

[Colif]

bah.
So a week or so ago I had to set up the PIN on my PC again as I had updated the BIOS and that resets the TPM which is where the PIN is stored.
'I did that and for the rest of the week my phone wanted me to set it up there as well.
I did that yesterday and it set up a passkey that I assumed was just for the phone. This used my fingerprint
Go to logon today on PC and it wants me to use passkey... on my PC... which has no way to input fingerprints

So I had to set a PIN again. (At least this week I knew what my password was which sped up to process)

This is annoying, I just want to use the Password, I guess, on my phone. Or not bother connecting them. That also works, stupid phone doesn't need to know about PC anyway

Not everyone uses a laptop, Microsoft. Will there come a time desktop PC aren't secure enough? I don't want a camera on my PC.

 

[Colif]

Windows 11 changed the start menu

Start has changed how the All apps screen shows. Its no longer its own tab, now its all under recommended.
Views you can pick from are:

1. Category
2. Grid
3. List

Category self creates the groups and you can't move files between them

1. So it put Diablo 2 in Other instead of the games folder and I can't move it
2. It put Discord in productivity... when do I start laughing?
3. It created a steam folder in the Games Folder, so one extra step
4. Wish I could create my own folders and move some out of tools.
5. Wish I could hide some of the folders, I don't need accessibility or Creativity to always show...

Grid is the same as list, only the layout changes... makes start tab really long to scroll through.
At least clicking the letter in the list/grid still shows the index

wish I could just show a list of categories, or at least minimise the ones I don't use all the time.

tbh I don't spend much time in the Start menu but I still don't like it.
If it really annoyed me, I could use the right click start menu

1. Right click start
2. choose shutdown or turn off
3. Shutdown PC

Its only thing I do in there any day.

some ways to fix it but I didn't use any

 

[Colif]

desktop being odd, just showed a Onedrive choice on desktop that wasn't there the next time I went in to see what Version history showed

The only place that menu shows is in File Explorer and since they the same program, I guess it was just a glitch. The desktop is just a folder after all.

I ran DISM & SFC yesterday so windows should be okay.

It showed up again, version history shows the folders I have backed up to Onedrive.
Now that choice shows Folder colour. and a new choice: Manage Onedrive backup.

I don't see any mention of this in Google

 

[Colif]

Onedrive menu must have been a glitch as its not doing it now

Usual suspects:

• Razer Synapse
• Logitech G Hub
• Corsair Icue

 

[Colif]

Linux isn't as safe as it would seem

1000's of individual authors working on their own code VS 1000's of devs at Microsoft working on the same code.
Potentially more holes in the system of dependencies. Linux is less secure than MS in that regard as more ways to get in.

One of biggest way to get in to systems is through the users trust being exploited. IN the above case, a hacker managed to con the guy who created the ZIP function in Linux. It was used in everything. Lucky it was stopped or you know, internet would have had issues.

If more people use Linux, the chances of successful breaches increases. More eyes looking for holes.

If its gamings future, it will get more attention from hackers. Inevitable.
It was only ignored as most people used Windows... still do.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Linux isn't as safe as it would seem

1000's of individual authors working on their own code VS 1000's of devs at Microsoft working on the same code.
Potentially more holes in the system of dependencies. Linux is less secure than MS in that regard as more ways to get in.

One of biggest way to get in to systems is through the users trust being exploited. IN the above case, a hacker managed to con the guy who created the ZIP function in Linux. It was used in everything. Lucky it was stopped or you know, internet would have had issues.

If more people use Linux, the chances of successful breaches increases. More eyes looking for holes.

If its gamings future, it will get more attention from hackers. Inevitable.
It was only ignored as most people used Windows... still do.

I haven't reviewed the safety of Linux, but it will be higher than Windows for sure. And the nice thing about Linux is that you can probably find one that isn't a growing disaster like Windows. Microsoft is trying to make it all about using your phone for some reason. Windows is genuinely embarrassing compared to macOS and it's steadily getting worse. It's why there are so many people anxiously awaiting SteamOS. The day that launches it will crash Steam and create the largest exodus from Windows yet. But whether it's SteamOS or something else, Windows will eventually die unless they change directions. Other than you, I don't know a single person happy with it.

 

[Colif]

maybe it was the 6 years spent answering windows problems... You know, you get good at figuring out most of them if they aren't yours. Now I just get problems I have not seen before.

Its what I know, I haven't used many others.

Apart from android and BASIC and Python... but that later hasn't been used a lot. And the middle was from 40 years ago. And android is linux... so there I am using it now.

I don't want to change as that time spent answering questions would be even more of a waste of time than it already was.

I mostly leave windows alone, and don't go mad installing loads of programs. That stage happened years ago.

Microsoft have been looking for purpose for years. They missed all the big trends, Mobiles... and so they chased AI and well, its not working so well for them. If mobiles had worked for them, more people would have grown up using it, and ICT level 2 courses wouldn't have to spell out the basics of how to use Outlook (that was funny)

 

[Zed Clampet]

maybe it was the 6 years spent answering windows problems... You know, you get good at figuring out most of them if they aren't yours. Now I just get problems I have not seen before.

Its what I know, I haven't used many others.

Apart from android and BASIC and Python... but that later hasn't been used a lot. And the middle was from 40 years ago. And android is linux... so there I am using it now.

I don't want to change as that time spent answering questions would be even more of a waste of time than it already was.

I mostly leave windows alone, and don't go mad installing loads of programs. That stage happened years ago.

Microsoft have been looking for purpose for years. They missed all the big trends, Mobiles... and so they chased AI and well, its not working so well for them. If mobiles had worked for them, more people would have grown up using it, and ICT level 2 courses wouldn't have to spell out the basics of how to use Outlook (that was funny)

I wouldn't say I go mad with loading tons of programs, but everything is so poorly coded, other than games, that almost any number of programs isn't great unless it's something like Tidal or Discord.

I do install tons of games, but they use Unity or Unreal and don't mess with the system. It's much improved over the way games used to be.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Discovering Microsoft Magnifier was an ongoing curse. It kept popping up without me calling for it. It then immediately crashed, freezing my system for a few seconds. I managed to locate the executable in CMD because Windows refused to let me look in the System folder using File Explorer. I added ".bak" to the end of the executable, so that stops it for now, but I'll have to do that after every Windows update, I suspect.

 

[Colif]

Discovering Microsoft Magnifier was an ongoing curse. It kept popping up without me calling for it. It then immediately crashed, freezing my system for a few seconds. I managed to locate the executable in CMD because Windows refused to let me look in the System folder using File Explorer. I added ".bak" to the end of the executable, so that stops it for now, but I'll have to do that after every Windows update, I suspect.

Did you try settings?

1. Accessibility/Magnifier
2. Turn it off there

easier than editing windows each time. Probably also a registry setting as well, but those can be changed in updates as well.

Registry one part of windows I never look in. Can fix almost everything in OS without knowing it exists.


Guess I have found the programs I need or use now. I mainly install them when I first get a PC and not a lot changes
I make a list of the programs installed on the previous PC and just install them again.

My days of installing lots of things were over about 20 years ago. Its much easier if you don't have to fix the problems yourself...

I did all my silly installing on work PC, before they started to lock it all down in the 1990's/eearly 2000's, by time I actually had a PC I didn't need 35 Screen savers and had started to realise too much running slows things down... and having Windows ME, I installed windows a lot and you get bored of loading so much each time.

I knew someone who thought this was useful to have on PC

Not helpful on PC that virtually had no ram. My work PC would run out of resources just starting up... the good old days lol

Be nice if Xbox games files could be reused over installs like Steam games can be.

Windows is harder to break now than it used to be. People now are spoiled... use ME for a few months and then get back to me about how bad Windows is now. Win 10 I probably only clean installed 3 times, and all were to fix Hardware problems... Win 11 I am yet to need to reinstall it on either of the PC I have that run it. You can do so much to fix it now that a clean install only necessary if you can't start windows at all.

Only difference between Bonzi Buddy and Co Pilot is one is made by Microsoft

 

[Zed Clampet]

Did you try settings?

1. Accessibility/Magnifier
2. Turn it off there

easier than editing windows each time. Probably also a registry setting as well, but those can be changed in updates as well.

Unfortunately that doesn't turn it off. It might supposed to turn it off, but it didn't work on my corrupted version. It still kept activating.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Windows is harder to break now than it used to be. People now are spoiled... use ME for a few months and then get back to me about how bad Windows is now. Win 10 I probably only clean installed 3 times, and all were to fix Hardware problems... Win 11 I am yet to need to reinstall it on either of the PC I have that run it. You can do so much to fix it now that a clean install only necessary if you can't start windows at all.

Only difference between Bonzi Buddy and Co Pilot is one is made by Microsoft

I've used Windows from the beginning. The only reason, IMO, that Windows is harder to break is because I have many years of experience with it. In a lot of ways, it's gotten more annoying, and there are numerous low effort features like the on-screen keyboard, which behaves in nonsensical ways. For instance, when you hover over it, it changes you back to the last screen that you used it. Using it all the time, that has only been useful a couple of times. The rest of the time I have to go back to the page I was on. The only other option is to have it stay on top all the time, but that covers too much of the screen.

Another annoyance is just obnoxiously preventing you from doing some things, like accessing certain folders or turning off the antimalware process.

 

[neogunhero]

I recently ran some software and now I'm experiencing weird things on Win11.

I ran O&O ShutUp10++, which I've used many times in the past, but occasionally I run it to make sure all the settings are still enabled. I selected a few extra things that weren't selected before, nothing major, things like "Disable access to radios" and access to location data.

I also ran Windows Cleanup Utility and optimized drives with the Defragging tool.

Since then, Steam occasionally blacks out for a second and reappears. When loading into Starfield, my CPU usage spikes to 100%. Not sure if this is being caused by mods or not.

I also left my PC on for over 24 hours, which I almost never do, and after a restart the CPU usage didn't get close to 100% again even after gaming for over an hour.

Gonna have to keep poking around and see if the issue can be replicated.

 

[Colif]

I've used Windows from the beginning. The only reason, IMO, that Windows is harder to break is because I have many years of experience with it. In a lot of ways, it's gotten more annoying, and there are numerous low effort features like the on-screen keyboard, which behaves in nonsensical ways. For instance, when you hover over it, it changes you back to the last screen that you used it. Using it all the time, that has only been useful a couple of times. The rest of the time I have to go back to the page I was on. The only other option is to have it stay on top all the time, but that covers too much of the screen.

Another annoyance is just obnoxiously preventing you from doing some things, like accessing certain folders or turning off the antimalware process.

Windows is a swiss army knife where they keep adding things but never quite finish them. So there are lots of parts that don't quite work as the person who fought to include them is no longer there, or its a feature like the Fax machine that did work (and probably does now) that are just forgotten.
I wanted them to finish the multiple desktop feature off, so you could have different icons on different desktops and maybe have a use for more than one. I only use it now to swap backgrounds. I have a few set but feature was a win 10 feature, maybe team who wanted it no longer exists.
I haven't tried the onscreen kb, I forgot it was there.

Windows refuses to let you turn off antimalware unless you replace it with something else. I use Malwarebytes so I don't have that service running.

Folders... they protected to stop people deleting things that are necessary,... have you tried safe mode?

I also ran Windows Cleanup Utility and optimized drives with the Defragging tool.

do you have any hdd? You shouldn't need to defrag ssd, the system will run it once a month on C drive to make sure the System recovery data is all together on drive. Windows Defrag knows not to treat solid state like hdd anyway.

I used to use defraggler on HDD but as I don't have any now, I don't have it.

I haven't run disk cleanup... I don't feel I need to.

I selected a few extra things that weren't selected before, nothing major, things like "Disable access to radios" and access to location data.

I would look at the extras you added as that is possibly cause of problem. Other things you did shouldn't be cause.

The uptime isn't really a problem. People leave them on for far longer.
Restart would clear ram but windows pretty good at managing that... only program I have that needs restarts every 8 hours or so is Firefox

 

[Zed Clampet]

I also ran Windows Cleanup Utility and optimized drives with the Defragging tool.

Edit: Sorry, Colif beat me to it. You don't have SSDs? You aren't supposed to defrag an SSD. It doesn't help anything because SSDs use flash memory. The only thing is does is significantly reduces the lifespan of the SSD.

I also left my PC on for over 24 hours, which I almost never do, and after a restart the CPU usage didn't get close to 100% again even after gaming for over an hour.

Gonna have to keep poking around and see if the issue can be replicated.

Did you look to see what, exactly, was using the CPU? If this situation occurred on my PC, it would definitely be some process that didn't turn off when I such the software down that needed it

 

[Zed Clampet]

Windows refuses to let you turn off antimalware unless you replace it with something else.

Which is ridiculous when I'm not online and need that RAM it's using.

Folders... they protected to stop people deleting things that are necessary,... have you tried safe mode?

No, I find CMD easier. But this is another example, like the antimalware, of Microsoft treating its customers like morons.

 

[Colif]

. The only thing is does is significantly reduces the lifespan of the SSD.

its not that bad
When you run Defrag on an ssd on anything newer than 8, it just runs a TRIM command on the drive

What is TRIM for SSDs?

TRIM is a command that helps keep your solid state drives in shape. Here's what it does and how to check it's working.

www.corsair.com

Defrag in Windows now is not the same as the old one. I assume the old one is part of the package but it knows what to do with ssd now.

The real and complete story - Does Windows defragment your SSD?

There has been a LOT of confusion around Windows, SSDs (hard drives), and ...

www.hanselman.com

I have been here before, hence I had that link

Antimalware was MS trying to do something about all the virus attacks directed at them. It behaves like it does as many virus will try to shut it off, so its obviously going to be hard for users... they are collateral damage in a war between malware and MS

Windows XP without any protection lasts about 5 minutes on internet. MS decided to at least give you some.

 

[Zed Clampet]

its not that bad

You are missing something. Heavy users who think you are supposed to defrag an SSD as you did the old drives may be doing this every 2 weeks (which was the recommendation for people who used their PCs heavily). Just for the ease of math, let's say you have a 3 TB SSD that is rated for 300 writes. Each defrag uses 3 TB of writes, which is 1 percent. If you do this every other week, that's 26 percent of your lifespan over the course of a year. Even once per month means you've used up over 10 percent of your lifespan for no reason at all.

There are also other problems with defragging an SSD. It can actually make it slower by disrupting TRIM, for instance. It also forces Windows to write in specific places instead of spreading level wearing, so you can actually lose individual cells.