Ramblings of an old Doc
DrJBHL's Articles In Personal Computing » Page 81
July 3, 2020 by DrJBHL
I had installed Edge previously, and I haven't seen what the author of the above linked article is describing. Not sure I'd ask anyone to check if it's true after reading what he wrote, though. This really borders on monopolistic practice, considering Edge isn't IE base at all, rather it's Chromium based. I wonder if any of you folks have seen anything like what's described in the Verge article, though. This, along with wonky updates makes me really wonder "Quo vadis MS?".   An...
June 30, 2020 by DrJBHL
This is a good tool to have, especially considering the wonkiness of MS W10 updates. It's more detailed description can be found here:  https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4538642/windows-10-restore-lost-files  . It has 3 modes of deployment (from the Thurrott article): Default mode.  This mode uses the Master File Table (MFT) to locate lost files. Default mode works well when the MFT and file segments, also called File Record Segments (FRS), are present. Segme...
May 23, 2020 by DrJBHL
Saw this article on MakeUseOf (linked above) offering five powerful alternatives to MS's improved Task Manager. Right now I'm trying SysInternals Mark Russinovich's Process Explorer which looks best to me for my needs. If you like Process Explorer, it's landing page is here:  https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/process-explorer  . If not, there are four other good ones in the MakeUseOf article.  Thought you'd be interested in this tool which has good expl...
May 20, 2020 by DrJBHL
For the power tool users among us, How To Geek put out a nice update to their prior article about MS's power toys, and a nice explanation about the new ones at the url linked above.  
May 18, 2020 by DrJBHL
Another problematic update for Windows...with a fix and no, iOS isn't in the cards, just yet. KB4556799 is the problem causer this time.  " TechRadar reports several issues that people have flagged on Microsoft Community and answer posts, including the Blue Screen of Death, white screen flickering, system fonts being replaced, systems switching back to S-mode, and Outlook search issues. Windows Latest adds that some people have audio issues as...
April 2, 2020 by DrJBHL
Edge is going to get some excellent new features: 1) Side tabbing and tab grouping which are designed especially for 16:9 displays. 2) Cut and paste grouping by subject in "Collections". 3) Password breach warnings.   For a more detailed description, look here:  http://www.infopackets.com/news/10737/edge-browser-gets-new-features-based-chrome For a quick peek at how it'll look, go here:  https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/30/21199819/microsoft-edge-vertical-tabs-...
March 26, 2020 by DrJBHL
Seems as if all we do is about viruses, anymore, eh? Well, there's a new zero day vulnerability in Windows and you really should fix it as you could end up infected with ransom ware as a result of its exploitation. MS has found two cases of that, and now that they have described the exploit, chances are much higher of getting hit by it. To get a good description of the problem, check the linked article. If you wish to read the original MS notification, it's here . "On 23rd March,  M...
March 14, 2020 by DrJBHL
This spring, Windows10 v. 2004 or 2020 first half year update (code named 20H1) will be coming and it's feature heavy, with some meaningful changes such as those in Cortana  and notepad, Windows subsystem for Linux (WSL 2), Windows explorer with much better local search and tied to OneDrive, sandbox and virtual desktops, and a beefed up Task manager. There are more, and I suggest reading up on them in the link above. And have a good weekend! 😉
February 26, 2020 by DrJBHL
Ghacks is an excellent tech website. It was recently sold, however, the tech content has remained in Martin Brinkmann's extremely capable hands.  So, I was perusing there, as I really didn't want to do an article about MS killing the useless Live Tiles in W10, because Start10 beats anything MS has offered with W8 onward, nor about new icons coming to W10 as I think the icons created here beat them hands down, and always have. So, Brinkmann discusses the findings of this study , which...
February 15, 2020 by DrJBHL
The external link  is a really useful explanation of how to add some power to the W10 context (right click) menu by Brady Gavin at How to Geek . I won't waste your time with copying exactly how to do a registry edit, but I will reproduce the universal warning about editing the Windows registry: "The Registry Editor is a powerful tool and, if it’s misused, it can render your system unstable or even inoperable." A useful link:  https://www.howtogeek.com/school/using-...
February 2, 2020 by DrJBHL
Razvan Serea wrote a good review of Windows Ultimate Tweaker 4.7 over at Neowin, including the change log. There are more than two hundred new tweaks, and most pertinently new ones in the privacy and security sections...nice for the folks who are new to W10 from W7 and who are (rightfully) concerned about the former. The full list of the tweaks are here:  https://www.thewindowsclub.com/list-of-tweaks-available-in-uwt4  . Here's a screenie showing privacy tweaks. The red ar...
January 23, 2020 by DrJBHL
Jafo made the remark on a post of mine recently that he does no banking on his phone. There's an excellent reason not to. I'd heard it wasn't wise because of the vulnerability of phones, and public networks (man in the middle attacks), though not because of SIM swap fraud! So, I have to admit, this one's a new one for me. SIM swap fraud. Turns out they’re easy pickings for hackers. So, what’s SIM swap fraud? "SIM swapping occurs when someone contacts your wireless carrier...
January 20, 2020 by DrJBHL
The new Edge is here, promising more extensions and a far better search engine, based on Chromium, the same engine powering Google's Chrome browser. This makes it more compatible with websites other, less popular browsers have problems with.  This also means that after granting Edge permission, it can use Chrome extensions from the Google Playstore, which has far more than Microsoft's.  Downloading and installing are explained in the linked article, above. You don't have to unins...
January 14, 2020 by DrJBHL
W7 ran its course from 2009 to 2020. MS has notified that there will be no more support for W7, meaning its kernel will become vulnerable to attack: "Security updates are essential to staying safe online, and Windows 10 is getting them while Windows 7 isn’t. Many flaws found in Windows 10 will also apply to Windows 7. Attackers will hear about them and can start attacking those vulnerable Windows 7 systems. As more time goes by, more unpatched, known flaws will exist in Windows 7...
January 6, 2020 by DrJBHL
Remember how useful God mode was? I haven't seen how to create it in W10...until good old Tech Republic (link above) mentioned it in a simple "how to". Just make sure you're the Administrator, right click on your desktop and create a new file. Name it: GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}  and press "Enter". This is what you should see when you double click on the blue file: Mine is dark mode enabled from my prior article ( https://forums.wincustomize.com/498171/...