Windows 10 for Professionals
March 25, 2023
Desktop tools
When PCs and other computer components and gear comes to the end of its useful or working life, it’s important to dispose of such electronic waste (eWaste) responsibly. Don’t add to the toxic burden in conventional landfills, please!
Read More about Dispose of Old Computing Gear Responsibly
20H1
MS published a timeline announcing a gradual phaseout for Internet Explorer starting in November 2020, with EOL scheduled for August 2021. A German source reports that the degradation of the IE experience promised for November may be more faqr-reaching than expected.
Read More about Credible Report Puts IE Out of Business Use Next Month
Editorial
If I had only read the Dev Channel Build 20231 release notes more carefully, I would have already known that this latest release sometimes sports spurious warnings that MS Office is not compatible with this OS and has been removed. I got bitten twice by this, in fact. Sigh.
Read More about Dev Channel Build 20231 Reminds Me to RTFM
20H1
The excellent GitHub project Driver Store Explorer gets an update to version V.0.11.42. If you have it installed, get current; if you don’t have it installed, it’s worth getting to know (and using occasionally, to keep the Driver Store slimmed down).
Read More about Admin Toolkit: DriverStore Explorer (RAPR.exe) V0.11.42 Update
20H1
When it comes to swapping an older (usually smaller) NVMe boot/system drive for a newer (usually bigger and faster) one, you can either clone the old drive, or restore an image backup from the old drive to the new one. Deets on pros and cons and choices in this story.
Read More about NVMe Replacement: Cloning vs. Backup Restore
20H1
Three different PowerToys stories pop at around the same time: a new release, a user input survey on upcoming tools, and a “functional spec” for Video/Image capture. Good stuff!
Read More about PowerToys Offers Survey, Goes to v0.23.0
20H1
This Admin Toolkit item is named Wifinian. It’s a Github open source project, costs nothing, and provides useful immediate control over Windows 10 Wi-Fi networking.
Read More about Toolkit Item: Wifinian Wi-Fi Utility
20H1
After a family member reminds me that my account/password security needs attention, I spend the better part of a day on cleanup and remediation. Please think about doing likewise yourself.
Read More about Managing Win10 Accounts and Passwords
20H1
One day after I caution against installer Optional driver updates that WU may offer, I learn that other optional updates cannot be reasonably disregarded. These “other updates” are worth watching, and at least some are worth installing, too.
Read More about Other Optional Updates: Worth Grabbing?
Admin Tools
When I learn that Windows 10 Dev Channel Insider Preview Build 20226 includes an NVMe SSD “Drive Health” indicator I get curious. When I realize it’s embedded in “Manage Disks and Volumes,” I wonder if it will work at all on my test PCs. To my great delight: it does!
Read More about Build 20226 Gains SSD Health Metric