[FullRangeMan]

Note below the user name to you gain access to this file:
--\-
x(--\)

x = your user object name

[JohnR]

As I said before MS will try install TPM software in your W10 at all costs to control your files, DRM and put an end in your privacy...

Don't you need that if your computer has a TPM in it? At any rate, maybe it's time to try Linux?

[FullRangeMan]

Err... don't you need that if your computer has a TPM in it? At any rate, maybe it's time to try Linux? It's a lot easier than it used to be.

Affortunately my mother board or mobo as they say, dont have a TPM chip.
I afraid these new guidelines are general for all manufacturers and OS but I not sure, I dont know how far their arm will reach.

[FullRangeMan]

They want use IPv6 and cookies to located precisely the PC.
The internet provider have the user IP #, full name and address.

[JohnR]

What is the screenshot from?

[FullRangeMan]

From an Euro email provider, but today is rare any site dont use probe cookies, they a plague.

[JohnR]

Back on topic.

I've read a few times how Microsoft is trying to prevent you from logging into Windows 11 Home with a local account and esp how it forces you to log in with a Microsoft account when you set up Windows on a new device.

However, it's actually really easy to create a local account if your device (laptop etc) has an Ethernet port. The initial setup does some things, during which time you have to have an Internet connection or you can't proceed. This is, however, before you create an account. Then the first time the PC reboots, unplug the Ethernet connection. On reboot, it will ask you to create a local account without any fuss at all.

(If you don't have an Ethernet port, my guess it would work with a cheap USB-Ethernet dongle but I haven't tried.)

The next question for me was whether you can upgrade a device that comes with Windows 11 Home to Windows 11 Pro using a Windows 10 Pro licence key. I went into the Activation settings, chose Change Product Key and entered a Win10 Pro key and it worked. However that key was previously upgraded to Win 11 on a different machine, so I'm still not sure if it works with a fresh Win10 key.

[BobM]

I bought a new computer on Black Friday and it came with Win 11. The biggest problem I had with this (I upgraded from Win 7, so a pretty big change in usability) was a nasty screen flicker that happened sometimes. I tried updating the display drivers from DELL but this didn't do anything. I had to go to Intel and update using their drivers and this worked just fine. No issues anymore.

[FullRangeMan]

Another crap they did was Cortana, so many users uninstalled Cortana that they changed the alias name to a numerical code to make it more difficult to uninstall it at DISM.
To how uninstall these superfluous app see this topic:
https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=154651.0

[WGH]

Windows 11 Cortana is supposed to be disabled by default, it's status can be checked or disabled:

    Click Windows + I (that's an I not an L) to open Settings.
    Select Apps from the left menu.
    Select Apps and Features on the right menu.
    Scroll to Cortana, click the three dots icon and select Advanced options
    Flip the "Run at Log-in" toggle to the OFF position.



or

    Right-click the Windows Start button from the bottom of the screen
    Select Task Manager
    Open the Startup tab
    Find and right-click Cortana
    Select Disable

or

    Open the Start Menu and type in PowerShell.
    Right click on Windows PowerShell.
    Select 'Run as administrator'.
    Type the following text (minus the ' marks) in: 'Get-AppxPackage -allusers Microsoft.549981C3F5F10 | Remove-AppxPackage'
    Press Enter.

Then log into the Privacy Dashboard to track, manage and delete info Microsoft has gathered about you
https://account.microsoft.com/privacy/

[Jon L]

As much as I hate Microsoft strong-arming us with Cortana, Edge, and Microsoft account, I've now spent a good amount of time with MacBook and well...

[Doublej]

As much as I hate Microsoft strong-arming us with Cortana, Edge, and Microsoft account, I've now spent a good amount of time with MacBook and well...

What do you not like about the MacBook? I have been thinking about switching from Windows to Mac.

[WGH]

Part 1

I built a new computer and installed Windows 11 in September 2021. At that time all the drivers and BIOS were updated and current. ASUS motherboards come with update software called Armoury Crate. I ran Armoury Crate a couple of days ago and 6 drivers plus the BIOS were already out of date. Note: the BIOS suggested by Armoury Crate was old, I downloaded a current BIOS directly from ASUS. Windows 11 now seems faster and more responsive after the update and it was fast before.

Armoury Crate


Since Windows 11 is still new there are bound to be glitches. The "latest version" Intel Graphics Driver 30.0.100.9864 broke HDMI, my surround processor and TV disappeared.
Entering the driver description and version numbers into Google took me to the Intel download page and the most current DHC drivers. In my case the "latest version" graphics driver (.9864) was 5 versions too old, the newest version fixed the HDMI bug.


I haven’t tried the Intel® Driver & Support Assistant (Intel® DSA)
The Intel® Driver & Support Assistant keeps your system up-to-date by providing tailored support and hassle-free updates for most of your Intel hardware.
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/detect.html


Part 2

The next day Windows Update had an Intel Graphics Driver update ready for me. A downgrade from the latest 30.0.101.1191 to the year old 27.20.100.9127. WTF? Since Windows Update had already downloaded and installed it there was nothing I could do but cringe and click Restart. Everything is working fine but the experience left me wondering what could be done to stop this...


WuMgr (Update Manager for Windows) is a tool to manage updates of Microsoft products on the Windows operating system. It uses the "Windows Update Agent API" to identify as well as download and install missing updates. It allows the user fine control of Windows 10 & 11 updates .

This is a Swiss Army knife of update managers. WuMgr controls which updates you want or stop updates completely. Programed by David Xanatos, there is no documentation except for reading the source code, not exactly user friendly.

WuMgr is free and can be found at the far right side of the page: Release 1.1
https://github.com/DavidXanatos/wumgr

The Ask Woody forum has a long thread about how to use WuMgr. You must read the entire thread before attempting to use this powerful software.
Guide to Using WuMgr for Windows 10 Updates
https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/guide-to-using-wumgr-for-windows-10-updates/



There is also a handy pdf cheat sheet buried in the thread, I un-buried it:
Using-WUMgr-to-Update-a-Windows-10-System
https://www.askwoody.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Using-WUMgr-to-Update-a-Windows-10-System.pdf

Have fun!

[jmc207]

Thanks for the great info.

[WGH]

Power Toys for Windows 11

A new Power Toys for Windows 11 & 10 was just released a couple days ago - 1/06/2022.

Apps included are:

Always on Top
PowerToys Awake
Color Picker
FancyZones
File Explorer add-ons
Image Resizer
Keyboard Manager
Mouse Utilities
PowerRename
PowerToys Run
Shortcut Guide
Video Conference Mute

There are two sites to download and find out more:

The pretty Microsoft site with a how-to video
Microsoft PowerToys: Utilities to customize Windows
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/

And the utilitarian GitHub site where all the work gets done and you can check under the hood
https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys

[WGH]

Microsoft wants to make our computer experience faster, to further their goal the Edge browser has a little known feature called Startup Boost. The feature loads core Microsoft Edge processes in the background on system start. Startup Boost does not cost a lot of resources but there is no reason to have it running in the background if you use a different browser.

How to turn off Microsoft Edge's new Startup Boost feature
https://www.ghacks.net/2021/05/25/how-to-turn-off-microsoft-edges-new-startup-boost-feature/

You have two main options to find out if Startup Boost is enabled. You can either open Microsoft Edge, load edge://settings/system in the browser's address bar and check the Startup Boost setting there. If it is blue, it is enabled.




The safest option is to turn off the feature in Microsoft Edge. You can disable it in the Task Manager under Startup or another autostart manager, but it is not clear if Microsoft will enable the option again if Startup Boost is still enabled in the browser itself.

Edge Boost disabled in browser using edge://settings/system in the address bar



Disabling the startup process does not turn off the feature in Microsoft Edge.

System administrators may use the new StartupBoostEnabled policy to turn off the feature.

[FullRangeMan]

Don't you need that if your computer has a TPM in it? At any rate, maybe it's time to try Linux?

Updating the TPM driver situation that I have removed.

This did not work as I expected as my FireFox v88 is checking the copyright of the latest YT videos and with the missing TPM driver all W11 abend for IRQL NOT LESS OR EQUAL or ever other strange codes as memory error.

So after I replaced the TPM driver to the original folder no more probs.