MS finally released WinGet 1.0 which was planned and mentioned at Build 2020. “A package manager is designed to help you save time and frustration,” Microsoft’s Demitrius Nelon explained when the firm announced its plans for WinGet. “Essentially, it is a set of software tools that help you automate the process of getting software on your machine. You specify which apps you want installed, and it does the work of finding the latest version (or the exact on...

I receive Ghacks updates routinely. Today I received one which while nothing out of the ordinary for MS, caused me some concern regarding the March 2021 Cumulative Update issued on Patch Tuesday (yesterday). "The updates patch security issues, all with the second-highest severity rating of important. One of the additional issues that these updates patch is a printing to FILE ports vulnerability. The issue is patched in updates for all versions of Windows, from Windows 7 to Windows 10...Accor...

I'm using Brave as my default, but am looking at Opera and Edge, and I'm wondering which extensions you guys use and if they slow you down. I might also take a look at Vivaldi with its stacked tabs.

Came across this article which caught my eye since the net seems to have an inordinate hunger for info about what you look at, wear, sites you visit, your health and more. So, the authors offered six browser extensions to leave slimmer pickins on the net...in the link above.

Came across this article this morning, and thought it best to report on it to prevent possible problems for those running ChkDsk (Windows' native utility to discover and fix corruptions in its file system when adding /f to the command ChkDsk. This affects SSDs only, apparently. If you have updated to W10 20H2, do not run ChkDsk or worse, ChkDsk /f. "One of the authors at  Planet3DNow  say they ran the utility with the /f parameter, which prompts a system reboot so that it can ...

I've written in the past about W10 God mode ( https://forums.wincustomize.com/498183/page/1/#3767818 ). This isn't a rehash.  gHacks' Ashwin published a good, really useful and very detailed article about a new, portable app you can use and put on your repair tools stick. It's an impressive app that also (on right click) gives many personalization options. Ashwin made many screenshots to illustrate his text. The article can be found here (and is linked above). "Though Win10 All ...

The first is Windows Repair Toolbox v3.0.2.5, which you can find here: https://www.oldergeeks.com/downloads/file.php?id=1599 It works for Windows XP through W10. It contains tens of utilities for the repair of just about any problem, and is an essential for anyone having to repair family computers. Check out its contents at the link, and you'll see why I didn't list the utilities included. The second is a rather new one, for the removal of remnants of antiviral programs which mig...

Want to go completely dark? It's easy on the eyes, let me tell you.\ At How to Geek, you can get easy peasy instructions on how to engage the dark Edge Theme, as well as Edge's latest and greatest feature, forcing dark mode on every website you visit (Edge's dark theme and forced dark website mode in the screenie below). You can find a great "How To" engage both Dark Mode and Force Dark Website and more at the link above or here:  https://www.howtogeek.com/360357/how-to-enable-dar...

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...

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...

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...

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.  

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...

I received a nice article in my email from Review Geek, going through photo editors and image manipulation and creation software for Windows systems, paid and free, so figured that in these days of being almost exclusively at home, folks might be interested in the software that's out there, and what each program does, as well as whom they're most compatible with. I'm not going to recommend one or another, as there's no "one size fits all"...there wouldn't be an article to refer you to if t...

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-...