Author: Martin Brinkmann

When I was young, I studied German, History and English at Essen University in Germany. I worked in computer support for several years at the time to help other computer users when they ran into issues. Writing started out as a passion project, as I wanted to help more users and not just the ones that I handled in support. This lead to the founding of Ghacks Technology News in 2005. First, as a side-project, but shortly thereafter as a full-time project as the site's popularity exploded. I sold Ghacks to Softonic some years ago, but stayed on as Editor. You can still read my articles on the site. I do publish on Betanews as well. In recent years, I started to write and publish technology books, including my latest book "Windows 11 From Beginner to Advanced", which is available on Amazon. I'm also a freelance writer for the German publisher Gamestar. Chipp.in is my newest project. I want to use it to talk about my book projects, sell my books directly, and write about technology, as this is what interests me.

How to change the install location of Steam games

Posted on October 7, 2023October 7, 2023 by Martin Brinkmann

Steam games can be installed on any drive or partition on the system. The default installation path is always the main drive, but users may select a different drive.

Reasons for doing so include running out of space on the main drive, putting games that require less speed on slower drives, or to improve manageability.

This guide provides step-by-step instructions to install Steam games on any drive.

Installing Steam Games

Valve Software, maker of Steam, improved the Steam client significantly in the past years. One of the improvements added support for installing Steam games on different drives.

The process is straightforward and identical for all games, apps and other content:

Select the game that you want to install.
Activate the install button on the page.
- Tip: you may also right-click on any game to select install from its context menu.
The install dialog lists all available installation locations. Each location lists the available free storage.
Select one with the mouse or by tapping on it to make it the target for the installation.
Activate the install button to start the download and installation of the game.

If a drive is not listed, select the cogwheel icon to jump to the Storage settings. Display the list of available drives there with a click on the arrow icon and select “add drive” to add a new drive for game installations.

Tip: please note that you may also use the “add drive” option to add a new folder of a drive that is already used by Steam. Valve confirms this on the Steam Help website. Note that the instructions ask the user to click on a plus button at the top, but do not point out that it becomes available only after expanding the menu.

Making another location the default on Steam

Steam resets the installation location to the main one each time a game is installed. There is an option to make another location the default, but it is well hidden.

Select the Steam menu at the top and then Settings.
Switch to the Storage section when the Steam Settings window opens.
Select the location that you want to make the new default from the menu at the top.
Click on the three-dots icon on the page and select the “make default” option.

This makes the selected location the new default installation path on Steam. In other words, it is selected by default whenever the install action is selected on Steam.

Manage installed games on Steam

Select Steam and then Settings from the menu that opens to open the Settings in a new window.

Switch to Storage with a click. Steam lists all games installed on the main drive. You may click on the arrow icon at the top to list games installed on a different drive. Note that you may also add a new drive, e.g., an external drive.

Each game is listed with its name, size on disk and the last playtime. The install path is also listed on the page.

Check the box next to a game and then the “uninstall” button to remove it from the PC.

There is also an option to move a game to another drive; this is useful in some cases, including:

To make room for another game, system updates or anything else that requires a certain amount of storage.
To move a game to a faster or slower drive.
To move a game to a drive with more free storage. Useful if you plan to install an update or DLC.

6 Brave Browser features that you may like

Posted on October 6, 2023October 6, 2023 by Martin Brinkmann

Brave Browser is a Chromium-based web browser by Brave Software Inc. It is available for desktop PCs and mobile devices.

While it shares its core with Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge and other Chromium-based browsers, Brave Browser comes with several useful and even unique features.

The following paragraphs list some of these features.

Tor Integration

Tor promises to anonymize the browsing session. It is started with a click on Menu > New private window with Tor. You may also use the keyboard shortcut Alt-Shift-N instead.

Once Brave establishes the link, it routes the connection through a series of servers. This means, essentially, that the IP address of the user’s device is never revealed to the target website.

This mode includes all the benefits of Incognito Mode, which erases local data accumulated during the browsing session once the mode is terminated.

Performance may be slower than direct browser connections to websites; this is explained by the number of extra servers used while connected to the Tor Network.

Note that there is still a chance that personal data leaks during that browsing mode. You may want to check out this support article for additional information. Use of Tor Browser is recommended if anonymity is of utmost importance.

Force Paste in disabled forms

Some web forms may prohibit the pasting of data, which is a nuisance. Common examples include preventing the pasting into password fields, email fields or other fields that accept sensitive data.

Brave Browser includes an option to force paste content into forms. The feature bypasses the restriction imposed by the website to allow the pasting of any data into the blocked form field.

To use it, simply right-click on the protected form field and select the Force paste option from the context menu. Note that content needs to be in the Clipboard for the paste option to display.

Speedreader: improve readability

Speedreader is a readability feature that turns any article in Brave into a readable copy. This conversion puts the focus on the content by removing everything else, e.g., menus, advertisement, comments and other noise.

You may need to enable Speedreader in the Brave Settings (brave://settings/appearance). The option is located near the bottom of the page.

Brave displays the Speedreader icon in the address bar from that moment on. A click displays the active website in the mode.

Note that this feature may not detect all sites correctly. It does not work on this site, for example.

Speedreader supports two options, which you may configure while in the mode:

Change font and appearance related settings, e.g., make the font size larger or change the background color.
Configure Speedreader to always load articles of the active site or all compatible articles in the mode.

Vertical Tabs

Browser tabs are displayed in a horizontal bar by default. Only a few browsers support vertical tabs, and Brave Browser is one of them.

Open the Appearance settings in Brave (brave://settings/appearance) and toggle “Use vertical tabs” there to switch to the display mode.

Two additional options, “show title bar” and “expland vertical tabs panel on mouseover when collapsed”, are enabled by default. You can turn these off individually, if you like.

Vertical Tabs may display more open tabs at the same time and free up horizontal space for websites. It is an excellent option on widescreen displays.

Integrated Content Blocker

Brave Browser includes an integrated content blocker. It works well out of the box, but it contains options to add more filter lists to it.

A click on the Shield icon displays information about the active webpage. Brave lists the number of ads, trackers and other contents that it blocked.

A click on Advanced Controls displays additional information and the settings that the browser applied to the site. Here you may make changes right away, such as blocking scripts.

Filter lists are linked here as well, which leads to this page, brave://settings/shields/filters, in the Settings.

New filters from a preset list of filters may be enabled there with a single click. Options to add custom filters are also available.

Delete data automatically when closing a site

Another useful feature of Brave’s Shield feature, which powers the content blocker, is that you may configure the browser to delete site data once you leave a website.

Activate the Shield icon on the site that you want to configure this way and toggle “Forget me when I close this site” to enable the feature.

Brave deletes site data automatically once the site is closed.

Android 14 is ready: the main changes

Posted on October 5, 2023October 5, 2023 by Martin Brinkmann

Google Android 14 is now available. This article looks at the main changes of the mobile operating system. The new version is in distribution already; Google Pixel owners are the first to receive the update.

Other device manufacturers will release updates for supported devices starting later this year.

Android 14: security improvements

One of the main changes of the new mobile operating system is that it blocks the installation of (very) old apps. Apps created for Android 5.1 or older can’t be installed anymore on new Android 14 devices anymore. The change does not affect old apps installed already on a device that gets upgraded to the new Android version. These remain available and users may run them like before.

Attempts to install old apps however will be blocked. Google explains that it implemented the change to block malicious apps. To better understand the logic, it is important to understand a core concept of Android.

Developers may target specific versions of Android for their apps. Older versions of Android may support different security features and features in general. Apps that target still run fine on modern Android devices, but security features may be limited, if introduced in a later version of the operating system. Malware developers use this to bypass certain security features on Android.

Block installation of apps targeting older SDK versions – To protect against malware that targets older API levels to bypass security and privacy protections, apps with a targetSdkVersion lower than 23 cannot be installed on Android 14.

The new Credential Manager supports multiple sign-in methods, including passkeys and federated sign-in solutions.

Privacy changes

A new privacy option in Android 14 allows users to give apps access to some photos or videos only. Previous versions of Android supported only full access, even if only a single photo or video needed to be shared.

Google confirms the change on its Android Developers blog:

The new “select photos” option gives users full control over the apps’ access. Apps only get access to the selected photos or videos, if the option is selected.

Another welcome change informs Android users about an application’s permissions or privacy changes. A popup is displayed that informs users about the changes the developer made. Android 13 and earlier did not inform users about the changes, unless the developer displayed a message directly.

Users who enter a PIN to unlock their device may notice that the PIN is accepted right away without having to tap on the OK button first. This button is removed, if the PIN is six digits or more. There is also a new option in Settings to turn of animations when entering a PIN.

New Media features

Android 14 adds support for Ultra HDR for images. The format is backwards compatible with JPEG according to Google.

The new Android version supports lossless USB audio, which allows Android users to experience these formats over USB wired headsets.

Last but not least, Camera extensions support new features that allow apps to “handle longer processing times, enabling improved images using compute-intensive algorithms like low-light photography on supported devices”.

Android 14: Customization improvements

The new Android version ships with new customization features, e.g., new language and font display options.

One of the most important changes is the ability to scale the font size up to 200%. This is an increase of 70% when compared to the maximum font scale size of Google Pixel devices on Android 13.

Android uses a non-linear font scaling curve to “ensure that text that is already large enough doesn’t increase at the same rate as smaller text”.

If you happen to miss a lot of notifications on your device, you may find the following change useful. Android may use the device’s flash to announce notifications.

Called Flash Notifications, it gives you the choice to announce notifications using the camera’s flash, the display flash, or both.

Other Android 14 changes

Battery life is improving as internal processes are more efficient now.
Additional battery information is found under “Settings > About Phone > Battery information. This includes the manufacturing date and cycle count.
Improved lockscreen customization options.
Android 14 improves passkeys support further.
Applications can only kill their own background processes.
Health Connect receives updates via Google Play.

Closing Words

Android 14 introduces several important changes, for instance the credential manager, improved privacy when sharing photos or videos, or information when apps change permissions or privacy policies.

It will take some time before non-Google device manufacturers push the update to their devices.

Stream-jacking Attacks are on the rise

Posted on October 4, 2023October 4, 2023 by Martin Brinkmann

Stream-jacking attacks have gained some traction this year. These attacks hijack streaming accounts on popular sites to impersonate known brands and push crypto-scams.

BitDefender published an analysis of one of the larger attacks on its blog this week. The security company discovered a large operation that hijacked more than 1100 streaming video channels.

The hijacked channels had a median view count of more than 200000 views and a median subscriber count of more than 2200. The largest hijacked channel had a subscriber count of 9.9 million. The three largest hijacked channels view counts of more than 1 billion.

The attacker changed several of the channel names and handles to mimic official Tesla channels. Livestreams with officially sounding titles were streamed then to subscribers and others using old Tesla footage. The attacker displayed links to users to promote scams.

BitDefender writes:

Links propagated via hijacked YouTube channels promote a similar and well-known scam. The ruse involves sending any amount of cryptocurrency (Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDT, Dogecoin, BNB, Shiba Inu, etc.) and promises to send double the amount back to the scammed person. In rare cases, phishing links are written directly in the video.

BitDefender did not find any “old” videos of the channel, and the company suggests that these were either set to private ore deleted entirely by the attacker.

How the attack starts

Most attacks start with targeted phishing emails. The attacker creates well crafted emails, that often look like business opportunities. It could include information about a sponsorship deal or other form of collaboration.

Another popular email type informs the channel owner about copyright notices, which are fake.

The attackers try to use emails and email addresses that look legitimate to the untrained eye. It mimics “communications from trusted third-party vendors” or uses “email addresses that don’t raise immediate suspicion”, says BitDefender.

The goal of the attacker is to get the recipient of the email to download and execute a malicious file. Since security software may stop these before they are downloaded by the user, it is often inflated in size to prevent the scanning.

The software scans the system for valuable information, including cookies and session tokens. These may allow the attacker to take over the channel without knowing the account password.

How to protect yourself against Stream-jacking attacks

Stream-jacking attacks start like any other phishing attack. It is therefor essential to be able to identify phishing attacks.

Here are the essentials:

Emails that use non-personal greetings, e.g., without a name.
Emails that include attachments, especially if the file format looks dubious, e.g., .exe or .scv.
If the email address imitates that of a legitimate company, but not fully. Examples include using a different country extension or a slightly wrong spelling of the company name in the email address.

Other factors include spelling or grammar mistakes, prompts to take urgent action or offers that sound too good to be true.

One of the best protections is to avoid interacting with the email directly. Never open attachments if the sender is not trusted or you aren’t expecting an email with an attachment.

A good starting point is to do some research using a search engine. Try to find out if a company is legitimate or if others have worked with it in the past already.

Sometimes, all it may take is to sign-in to the account to check if an official notification is available. At other times, contacting a support representative of the streaming service may also help in the matter.

How to bring order to Google Photos Takeout exports automatically

Posted on October 3, 2023October 3, 2023 by Martin Brinkmann

Google Photos Takeout is a straightforward option to export all Google Photos to a local computer system. It is an excellent option to create a local backup of all photos uploaded to Google Photos or moving to a different provider.

A big problem with the takeout is that the photos are stored in multiple zip files, often hundreds of them. The number of folders depends largely on activity and time. Each zip file contains photos and a JSON file.

While it is possible to extract individual folders or all at once, doing so still leaves the photos in a disorganized state.

Google Photos Takeout Helper

The open source application comes to the rescue. All it takes is to point the app to a downloaded Google Photos takeout folder for it to do its magic. The application extracts all zip archives, sets timestamps correctly and will put all photos in a single folder or in monthly folders.

You need to download the photos from Google Takeout in the first step. This is done by visiting the Google Takeout site, signing-in, activating “deselect all” at the top to uncheck all export options, and checking the box next to Google Photos on the page.

Select “Next step” to continue and keep all other settings. Activate “create export” and wait for Google to inform you with an email that your download is ready.

A click on each of the download links opens the download page. You may need to authenticate yourself again before the download starts.

Extract all Zip archives. You may need to move them into a single root folder first, if there is more than one archive. The easiest way to do so is to copy all additional Google Photos folder into the first folder, so that all folders are under the same structure (Takeout\Google Photos).

Once all photos have been downloaded and all archives extracted, it is time to switch to Google Photos Takeout Helper.

Using the Helper app

Yearly folders for all photos exported from Google

First step is to download the application from the project’s GitHub repository. Visit it with a click on this link. The app is available for Windows, macOS and Linux. I downloaded the Windows version for this guide.

Run the downloaded file once it is on the local system. Note that you may get a “Windows protected your PC” prompt. This is thrown by SmartScreen, a security feature. The app is not dangerous, but SmartScreen does step in if an app is new or unrecognized by it.

Select “more info” and then “run anyway” to continue. A command prompt window opens with instructions. Press the Enter-key and use the folder browser that opens to pick the Takeout folder.

Once done, press Enter again to select the output folder. This is the folder that all sorted photos are put into.

All photos may be put into a single folder or sorted into year/month folders. Press 1 or 2 to make the selection.

Select what Google Photos Takeout Helper should do with albums in the final step:

0 Shortcut — links album folders to original photos.
1 Duplicate-Copy — puts photos into album folders as well.
2 JSON – puts all photos into a single folder and creates a json file with album information.
3 Nothing — ignore albums, which will ignore archive and trash photos altogether.

If the target folder is not empty, you need to select (1) to delete all files inside, (2) to place photos next to existing files or (3) exit the process.

The process may take a moment to complete. Press the Enter-key to finish the process and close the program window.

Once closed, open the target folder. You should see a folder structure based on your selections. Check the ALL_PHOTOS folder to access them all.

Closing Words

Google Photos Takeout Helper is a useful open source tool to quickly sort all exported photos. While not needed per-se, it may save users lots of time.

How to disable Windows Copilot on Windows 11

Posted on October 2, 2023October 2, 2023 by Martin Brinkmann

The following guide offers step-by-step instructions on how to disable Windows Copilot.

In less than two weeks, many Windows 11 users will gain access to Windows Copilot. Microsoft included the new AI-powered assistant in an optional update released in September 2023 already.

On October 10, 2023, Windows 11 users who upgrade their devices to the latest version, will receive Windows Copilot among other changes, courtesy of the fourth Moment update for the operating system.

What is Windows Copilot?

Microsoft describes Windows Copilot in the following way:

Copilot in Windows is an AI-powered intelligent assistant that helps you get answers and inspirations across the web, supports creativity and collaboration, and helps you focus on the tasks at hand.

Windows users may interact with Copilot directly from the Windows desktop. A click on the Copilot icon on the taskbar or pressing Windows-C opens the interface on the right side of the screen.

It looks very much like Bing Chat on first glance. Copilot includes Bing Chat functionality and other AI components.

Users interact with Windows Copilot by voice, text or by sending images, similarly to how interactions with other AI-powered tools happen.

One of Copilot’s greatest strengths is the ability to help users directly in Windows. The functionality is very limited at this stage, but you can use Copilot to turn on dark made, capture a screenshot of any desktop, or snap open windows.

What Copilot can’t do in its current stage is terminate processes, check Windows Defender logs and return research on found threats, or help users troubleshoot issues that they experience. All of this may come at a later stage, but Microsoft is tight-lipped about the functionality.

Privacy and Windows Copilot

Windows Copilot requires an active Internet connection and the tool breaks down when there is none.

Copilot needs to communicate with Microsoft servers. Anything typed, pasted or said is known to Microsoft as a consequence. This is not Microsoft-specific, tools like Google Bard or Claude AI do require Internet connectivity as well.

Windows Copilot is not active by default; this is unlike classic assistants, such as Alexa, which are programmed to listen to commands.

Still, some users may prefer to disable Windows Copilot entirely. There is no option to remove Windows Copilot, even though many tutorials sites suggest that there is an easy way to do so.

A click on Private Statement in the Copilot menu opens the general Microsoft Privacy Statement. Copilot is not mentioned once in the statement.

How to disable Windows Copilot

Windows 11 users have several options when it comes to turning off Windows Copilot on their devices.

Individual users may remove its icon from the Windows taskbar, but that does not shut down Windows Copilot, as it may still be launched using the keyboard shortcut.

Note that there is no option to remove Windows Copilot entirely from the system, without affecting other features. It is not listed under installed Apps.

Removing the Windows Copilot icon from the Windows taskbar

Still, it may be sufficient for some users. Here is how that is done:

Right-click on a blank location on the taskbar and select Taskbar Settings from the menu that opens.

Locate Copilot (preview) or Windows Copilot there and toggle it to Off.

The icon is removed immediately. Toggling the feature to the On state restores it again.

Disable Windows Copilot in the Group Policy Editor

The Group Policy Editor is not available in Windows 11 Home. Home administrators may make the change in the Windows Registry, which is explained in the next section.

Here is how you disable Windows Copilot in the Group Policy Editor:

Use the keyboard shortcut Windows-R to open the Run box.

Type gpedit.msc and press the Enter-key.

Use the folder structure on the left to follow this path: User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Copilot.

Double-click on Turn off Windows Copilot.

Set the value from “Not Configured” to “Enabled.

Click OK.

Close the Group Policy Editor.

Restart the PC.

Disable Windows Copilot in the Registry

The very same changes may also be applied to the Windows Registry directly. Here is how that is done:

Use the keyboard shortcut Windows-R to open the Run box.

Type regedit.exe and press the Enter-key.

Confirm the security prompt.

Use the folder structure on the left to navigate the following path: Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsCopilot

Note: if a key does not exist, right-click on the previous one and select New > Key. Name it accordingly to create the entire path.

Right-click on WindowsCopilot and select New > Dword (32-bit) Value.

Name it TurnOffWindowsCopilot.

Double-click on the newly created Dword and change its value to 1.

Close the Registry Editor.

Restart the PC.

Closing Words

The Group Policy Editor and Registry Editor tweaks disable Windows Copilot on the operating system. The icon is removed in the process, the user can’t toggle the icon in Settings anymore, and the keyboard shortcut Windows-C does not work either anymore.

Cursed Treasure 2: Game of the week

Posted on October 1, 2023October 1, 2023 by Martin Brinkmann

Cursed Treasure 2 is the successor of the popular Cursed Treasure game by Iriysoft. It is a well-designed tower defense game that is available for mobile platforms, Steam and also as a web-based version.

A word on ads and in-game monetization

Cursed Treasure 2 is a game that is light on ads, at least when it comes to the Android and web-based versions, which I played. There are no ads during gameplay or even after levels. You may watch an ad to double the experience gained in a level, but that is about it and completely optional.

An option to make a purchase to remove all ads is provided, but it is unclear how much it costs. Users may want to stay away from that option because of that.

Cursed Treasure 2: the Game

Cursed Treasure 2 follows the main game philosophy of most tower defense games. Players place towers on the map that attack rushing waves of enemies. The main goal of the game is to prevent the enemies from reaching your treasure and stealing all the gems. It is game over for the map when enemies manage to steal them all.

The game lets players place towers nearly everywhere. Some locations are blocked, but the majority aren’t. The three core towers, Den, Temple and Crypt attack enemies with arrows, fire and magic. These can be upgraded and different paths become available for towers. The Temple tower, for example, can be upgraded to shoot two fire beams at enemies or unleash an area of attack damage regularly.

Towers gain experience when they shoot at enemies. Once they reach a certain threshold, they may be upgraded. Upgrading makes them stronger, e.g., by increasing damage or abilities.

The two core currencies in the game are money and mana. Money is used to build and upgrade towers, and to influence some of the independent buildings on the map. Mana is used to influence other buildings and used for spell casting.

Experience points and skills

Players earn experience points while playing the game. They need to complete a level or fail to earn experience.

Experience is used to level up and this awards players with skill points. These points are invested into the three skill trees Orcs, Undead and Demons, which correspond to the three core tower types Den, Crypt and Temple.

Skills fall into several groups. Some improve mana or gold during game start or while performing certain actions in the game. Ancestral Wisdom, for instance, adds 30 mana at start for each invested skill points, which is a lot.

Another group of skills makes placing towers, upgrading towers, cutting trees or casting mana cheaper or more rewarding.

A third group increases random rewards that defeated enemies may drop. The fourth and final group increase damage output. Any invested skill gives the corresponding tower a bonus, such as faster recharge times or increased range.

Spellcasting

Spellcasting plays an import role in the game. Player spells are limited to just two and certain items. The two spells are Meteor and Terror.

Meteor fires a a blazing rock from the sky on the designated target location, hitting all enemies in range. It can be improved with skills, so that it leaves a smoldering pool on the ground that damages enemies who step on it.

Terror frightens enemies in range. Frightened enemies move back the path for as long as they are frightened. Another positive effect of casting terror is that negative effects are removed from towers and that they are protected from effects for three seconds.

Items play a big part as well. There are three scrolls that enemies may drop. Players may activate the scrolls at any time with a tap or click to cast their spell. The spells are polymorph, which transforms enemies into chicken, stasis, which keeps them in place, and thunder, which damages them with lightning.

Enemies may drop coins, mana potions or skulls. Coins and potions give the player money or mana. Skulls allow players to cheat. They may be used to gain lots of gold or mana, return all gems to the treasure or wreak havoc on all enemies on the screen.

The enemies

A tower defense game would be nothing without a good assortment of enemies.

Cursed Treasure 2 delivers in this area. It distinguishes between regular enemies, champions and bosses. Regular enemies range from peasants and guards to enemies with special abilities.

Valkyries can fly over water and lakes, monks heal enemies and paladins are immune to most magic. There is a good variety of regular enemies and the level designers have done a good job at creating the levels and enemy waves.

Champions are special enemies that have more health and usually special abilities as well. The Templar, for instance can’t be frightened, is protected against evil magic and has a spell that halves damage and fire rate of nearby towers.

Bosses are even tougher enemies and they almost always have one or multiple abilities. The General, for instance, is protected by armor, may summon knights and Valkyries, may give mass magic armor to allies and has a final rush ability that breaks the armor but increases the speed of the General.

Gameplay and story

If there is one area in which Cursed Treasure 2 fails to deliver, it is the story. A dark overlord has set sight on the treasures of the kingdom, and it is the player’s task to protect the gems from the evil creature.

Each map adds a bit to the story, but most players may skip reading these altogether, as they don’t miss much.

Gameplay, on the other hand, is excellent. Players who like Tower Defense games will enjoy this game. It is well designed, but never unfair. Some maps may look impossible on first try, at least when it comes to protecting all gems, but all it may take is to add a few more points into skills.

Where to play Cursed Treasure 2

You can play the game online using any modern web browser. Check it out on Crazy Games, Kongregate or Gameforge.

The game is also freely available on Google Play and Apple’s App Store.

Steam gamers may play it on Steam, but it costs $4.99 on the platform.

Cursed Treasure 2 Verdict

Cursed Treasure 2 is an excellent tower defense game. You need to like the genre to enjoy it, but if you do, you will certainly have hours of fun playing it.

It is quick to jump in and play a map, which usually takes about 10 to 15 minutes. The game explains some of its concepts during the first levels, which may help new players understand core game mechanics.

Cloud Content Search: disable it in Windows 11

Posted on September 30, 2023September 30, 2023 by Martin Brinkmann

Microsoft’s Windows 11 operating system runs local and remote searches when users use the search functionality. A relative recent addition is the ability to find cloud files. Windows Search may return content from OneDrive, Outlook and other Microsoft services alongside local results.

Some Windows users may find cloud search functionality useful, especially if they use OneDrive or Outlook. Others may want to disable the feature, as they may have no need for it or are concerned about privacy.

The operating system’s search uses connected Microsoft, work or school accounts, automatically when users sign-in with those.

Windows 11 users may connect personal or school/work accounts independently of that in the Settings:

Select Start and select Settings, or use the keyboard shortcut Windows-I to open Settings.
Go to Accounts > Email & accounts.
Locate “Accounts used by other apps”.
Select “Add a Microsoft account” to add a personal account.
Select “Add a work or school account” to add an organizational account.

You are asked to provide the username and password for the account to add it.

Here is what happens when Cloud Content Search is enabled

Users who use a personal Microsoft account will see items from OneDrive, Outlook and other Microsoft services in Windows Search. A search for a filename may, for example, return files found on OneDrive.

Additionally, results will be personalized when searching the web or getting web search suggestions in Windows Search. Bing searches in the Windows search box will earn users Microsoft Rewards points.

Work or school accounts connected to Windows 11 may see organizational content returned in Windows searches. This may include content from OneDrive for Business, Outlook, SharePoint and other Microsoft services.

Disabling cloud-based searches in Windows

Cloud Content Search settings in Windows 11

Windows 11 includes options to disable cloud content search functionality. The functionality is enabled by default and users need to become active to turn it off.

The following guide provides step by step instructions on disabling cloud content search in Windows.

Open Start and select Settings, or use the shortcut Windows-I to open Settings.
Select Privacy & Security from the sidebar on the left.
Click on Search permissions.
Two Cloud Content Search options are available:
- Microsoft account — handles personal account content.
- Work or School account — for users signed-in with these types of accounts.
Toggle one or both of the options to the Off state.

Windows 11 won’t pull data from remote Microsoft services, such as OneDrive, Bing or Outlook anymore, when turned off.

Windows 10 also includes options to turn off the feature. Here is how that is done on Windows 10 devices:

Select Start and then Settings to open the Settings application.
Select Search from the available categories in the Settings app.
Find Cloud content search.
Toggle Microsoft account and/or Work or School account to Off to disable the feature.

Turning off cloud searches with the Group Policy Editor

Administrators may use the Group Policy Editor to turn off Cloud Content Search for all users of the operating system.

Note: The Group Policy Editor is only available in professional and enterprise / education editions of Windows 11. Windows 11 Home systems need to make the change in the Registry; this is explained further down below.

Use the keyboard shortcut Windows-R to open the run box.
Type gpedit.msc and press the Enter-key to start the Group Policy Editor.
Navigate to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Search.
Locate Allow Cloud Search on the right-side and double-click on the policy.
Change the state from “Not Configured” to “Enabled.
Use the menu under Options to select “Disable Cloud Search” to turn it off.
Select OK to apply the change.
Close the Group Policy Editor.
Restart the PC.

Disabling Cloud Search in the Registry

Home edition users need to make the change in the Registry directly. It applies the same policy.

Open the Start Menu, type regedit.exe and press the Enter-key to launch the Registry Editor.
Confirm the security prompt that Windows displays.
Use the hierarchical structure on the left to go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > Policies > Microsoft > Windows > Windows Search
- If one of the keys is not available, right-click on the previous key and select New > Key. Name it accordingly to create the path.
Search for the Dword AllowCloudSearch on the right side.
- If it is not there, right-click on Windows Search and select New > Dword (32-bit) Value.
- Name it AllowCloudSearch.
Double-click on AllowCloudSearch.
Set its value to 0 to turn off Cloud Search for all users.

After 7 years, Microsoft ends free Windows 7 and 8 upgrades to Windows 10 and 11

Posted on September 29, 2023September 29, 2023 by Martin Brinkmann

When Microsoft released the initial version of Windows 10 in 2015 it allowed users to upgrade from Windows 7 and 8 devices to the operating system for free.

Windows 7 and 8 product keys carried over during setup. Upgrades to Windows 10 accepted the key as well.

Microsoft did end the free upgrade option officially in 2016 but the company never made the change on the backend; this meant, that customers could still use their Windows 7 or 8 product keys to install Windows 10 or upgrade to the system without running into licensing issues.

The release of Windows 11 in 2021 did not change that. Customers could use their Windows 7 or 8 product keys to install Windows 11 and activate the operating system. Similarly, those with compatible systems, could also upgrade to Windows 11 from these older versions of Windows.

Microsoft ended support for Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 in January 2023. The end of servicing did not affect the ability to use the product keys of these older versions of Windows to install Windows 10 or 11, or to upgrade to these systems.

The free upgrade ride ends

The situation changed this week. German site Deskmodder was the first to report about the change. Microsoft published new information on its Device Partner Center website that confirms that the company has stopped the free upgrade path.

Microsoft writes:

Microsoft’s free upgrade offer for Windows 10 / 11 ended July 29, 2016. The installation path to obtain the Windows 7 / 8 free upgrade is now removed as well. Upgrades to Windows 11 from Windows 10 are still free.

In other words: Windows 7 and 8 systems upgrades to Windows 10 or 11 are still permitted and not blocked. Product keys of these older systems may not be accepted, however.

Windows users need to purchase a new product key for Windows 10 or 11 to activate the operating systems in this case.

Neowin ran a quick test and discovered that the product keys could be used to activate Windows 11 version 22H2 or earlier, but not newer versions of Windows 11 anymore. The situation is likely similar on Windows 10.

Affected users might try and upgrade their devices to these earlier versions of Windows 10 or 11, as it still seems to work at the time of writing. Microsoft could end this option at any time in the future though.

Microsoft notes that upgrades from Windows 10 to 11 continue to remain free. It is likely that the company will change this after Windows 10 reaches end of servicing in October 2025.

Buying a Windows 10 or 11 license

Microsoft charges $139 for Windows 11 Home and $199 for Windows 11 Professional on its Store. Windows 10 is no longer sold there.

Retail stores may offer licenses for cheaper, but usually not by much. Another option is to buy product keys from key resellers. Keys cost around $20 when bought from these.

You can check out eBay and other marketplaces. Key reselling may not be allowed in all regions and markets though.

Checking the activation status

Multiple options exist to check the activation status of a Windows device. One of the easiest options is the following one:

Use the keyboard shortcut Windows+R to open the Run box.
Type slmgr.vbs –xpr.
Activate the Enter-key on the keyboard.

Windows returns the activation status in a small popup window. You may also run this command from Terminal or Command Prompt windows.