Category: Software

O&O ShutUp10++ review: tame Windows’ data hunger

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

O&O ShutUp10++ is a free tool for Microsoft’s Windows operating system to improve privacy. Designed initially for Windows 10, the program is now also available for Windows 11.

While its main focus is on blocking the operating system’s data hunger, it is also a helpful tool for managing other Windows settings.

First, the basics. You can download the free tool from the official project website. Just run the program after download, an installation is not required. Note that elevated privileges are required to modify settings on the system.

The main interface looks like this on start.

O&O ShutUp10++ interface

O&O ShutUp10++ groups settings for better recognition. You may disable that under View > Group by Categories if you prefer a long list. There is also a search to find settings that match search terms quickly.

Using O&O ShutUp10++ to improve Windows Privacy

All tweaks use a color coding to indicate whether a feature is enabled or disabled. Each setting has a toggle to turn a feature on or off. A short description and a recommendation is also displayed.

Note that you may hover over any description and click with the left mouse button to display additional information. Excellent if you need to know more about a setting.

Many options are self-explanatory, but some may require additional research. “Disable People icon in the taskbar” is quite clear, but “disable input personalization” or “disable automatic receipt of updates” may not.

You can modify individual options with a click on the switch next to a setting. The program prompts you to create a system restore point, which you should accept. It allows you to restore the system to the previous state. The settings do not have the capacity to break the system, but it is still better to have a restore option.

The Actions menu at the top lists bulk options for the most part. You may use them to apply all recommended settings among other things. These are safe changes that should not impact usability on the device.

Bulk Actions in O&O ShutUp 10++

Options to apply “somewhat recommended” or all settings are also available, but this is not recommended. It is better to go through the remaining settings manually to make changes.

The two other options let you reset everything to factory defaults and to create a system restore point manually.

Administrators may also switch between the user and machine tabs. User settings apply only to the logged-in user, machine to all users on the system.

Verdict

O&O ShutUp10++ is a useful tool for Windows users. It is easy to use, free for personal use and includes major privacy settings. The settings don’t have the capacity to break a system, but some of the advanced options may impact certain settings or features on the device. It is easy enough to restore these, should you ever run into any issues in this regard.

All in all, O&O ShutUp10++ is an excellent program that every Windows user should run after installation and major upgrades. O&O Software updates the program frequently to include new options, which is another major plus.

Firefox will get Early Hints support

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Mozilla plans to integrate support for Early Hints in the Firefox web browser. The feature may improve the time it takes to load webpages by up to 30% according to early studies.

Cloudflare announced Early Hints back in 2021 as a novel way to speed up the loading of webpages. Then, in 2022, the company announced a collaboration with Google and Shopify to establish Early Hints.

Early Hints explained

Whenever a user instructs a browser to open a webpage, some time is spend waiting. Some of the wait time depends on the user’s Internet connection and the website’s servers.

When a browser connects to a site, it requires instructions to know what to render and which resources it needs to fetch. The server provides the instructions. Often, servers require a bit of time to generate the list that they need for their response to the browser.

Traditionally, during that time, browsers don’t do anything. This changes with the introduction of Early Hints. Think of the feature as a way for the server to tell the browser where to start right away.

Instead of waiting for the full list of instructions and resources, the feature gives the browser some instructions. The browser may then use the information to start processing data, even before all instructions are provided by the server.

Early Hints is a web standard that defines the HTTP status code 103. You can read the linked blog posts for additional technical details.

Web Browser Support

Early Hints Test Page

Google implemented Early Hints support in Chrome 103 and Apple introduced support in Safari 17. Chromium-based browsers should also support the feature by and large.

You can point your browser to this page to find out if it supports the feature.

Mozilla Firefox will soon support the new technology as well. Mozilla confirmed this on Bugzilla. There, Mozilla writes:

The early-hints-preconnect showed overall positive results and we would like to enable Early Hints preconnect in the next version. An experiment on Early Hint preload will follow.

It looks as if Firefox 120 will support Preconnect only and that the full feature, Preload, will be introduced at a later point in time.

Closing Words

The integration in Firefox ensures support for Early Hints in all major browsers. While it will take a bit of time before the full feature lands in Firefox, Firefox users may notice speed improvements in Firefox 120 already. Firefox 120 looks to be a big release, as it will also block cookie banners.

Archive

WinRAR 7 Beta: new features and backwards compatibility

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

RARlab released WinRAR 7 Beta today. This new version of the popular archiver comes with important changes, some of which affect backwards compatibility.

Note: the new version is released as beta. Don’t install and run beta software on production systems. Beta releases are ideal for testing purposes.

With that out of the way: you may download WinRAR 7 from the official website. The graphical user interface version is available for Windows; Linux and macOS devices may use a command line version.

Existing users may download and install the latest WinRAR over an existing installation.

WinRAR 7.0

Selecting Help > About WinRAR displays the current version.

WinRAR 7.0: Dictionary Size changes

The new release improves the handling of dictionary sizes in WinRAR. The new limit is 64 gigabytes, but it depends on the physical available memory on the device WinRAR is run on.

Any dictionary size may be selected in the new version, which means that you are no longer limit to certain values.

Dictionary sizes play a role when creating archives. Larger dictionary sizes may improve the compression rate “for large files with distant repeat blocks” according to the developers. Files like virtual disk images or collections of similar large files may benefit from this.

The new options introduce a backwards compatibility issue. Only WinRAR 7.0 can unpack archives with 4 GB or higher dictionary sizes.

This is an issue under certain circumstances, as users may need to upgrade to the new version to extract certain formats. Windows 11’s RAR extraction capabilities may not support this either in the beginning.

WinRAR displays a prompt to the user if the dictionary size exceeds the “Maximum dictionary size allowed to extract” preference. Select Options > Settings to change the value, which is set to 4 GB by default. There you may also set the sizes you want to see in the create archive menu.

The Command Prompt version, furthermore, blocks unpack events if the dictionary size exceeds 4 GB. The use of the parameters -md and mx allow the unpacking. MD and MDX allow setting the dictionary size; the latter is applied to the extraction only.

Other changes in the new WinRAR

Exhaustive Search and Long Range Search in WinRAR 7.0.0

The changelog lists other changes besides those already mentioned.

Another change that affects backwards compatibility is that WinRAR 7.0 can’t create RAR 4.x archives anymore. Compression is not affected and most users may not need to create this type of archives specifically.

New search algorithms may help improve the compression ratio for certain data sets. WinRAR’s compression ratio may improve for “big text files” when the feature is turned on. Downside is that it will increase memory usage and may reduce the compression speed.

In addition, exhaustive search may improve the compression ratio even further, but at the expense of speed.

WinRAR users may turn these features on or off under advanced compression parameters. Exhaustive search depends on Long Range Search, which means that it activates automatically.

Another useful feature is giving users control over “Mark of the Web”. This feature adds security zone information to files, which Widows and software may use for security purposes. Files may for instance load read-only, if they have the mark.

This functionality is found under Settings > Security.

Here is a short list of other important changes:

  • Option to enable Attributes column under Settings > File List > Columns.
  • Benchmark command supports exact number of threads and results copying to Clipboard.
  • New “remove redundant folders from extraction path” option in Settings > Paths.
  • Comments support Word Wrap now.
  • Maximum path length is now 65535 characters.
  • The archive formats .bz2, .lz, .tar.bz2, .tar.gz, .tar.lz, .tar.zs show dictionary sizes now.
  • The new switch -ol blocks archiving and extracting symbolic links.

You can check out all of the entries here.

Closing Words

WinRAR 7.0 is a major new release. It improves the handling of dictionary sizes, but this may lead to some backwards compatibility issues.

Now You: do you use WinRAR?

Disable OneDrive’s Back up folders on this PC feature

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Microsoft Onedrive’s back up up folders on this PC feature may transfer files from system folders to Microsoft cloud servers automatically.

OneDrive is integrated natively into Windows 11. Users who sign-in with a Microsoft account, which Microsoft encourages, get access to OneDrive. File Explorer lists a OneDrive folder and there is an icon in the system tray.

One of the integrated features is the option to back up files to OneDrive automatically. This feature is limited to system folders — Documents, Pictures, Desktop, Music and Videos — similarly to what the new Windows Backup app offers.

These folders are protected when backed up to OneDrive, according to Microsoft.

Tip: the easiest way to stop this is to sign-in to Windows with a local account.

Problems related to OneDrive’s automatic backup feature

In an ideal world, backups would only happen automatically when users give their ok. User reports on the Internet suggest that OneDrive’s backup feature may transfer files without user consent sometimes.

I confirmed this behavior on one of my PCs. I only noticed it because OneDrive’s occupied storage increased from less than 1 Gigabyte to nearly 25 Gigabytes over night. Never enabled automatic backups on the Windows 11 version 22H2 system.

Another issue is related to this. Automatic updates may push files in the cloud that OneDrive may flag. This does not necessarily have to be illegal content; false positives happen, and they may lead to temporary or permanent account bans.

How to manage OneDrive folder backups

onedrive back-up folders on this pc

Here is a step-by-step guide to manage automatic folder backups:

  1. Right-click on the OneDrive icon in the System Tray area of Windows.
  2. Select the Help & Settings icon and then Settings from the menu.
  3. Under Sync and backup, select Manage backup.
  4. OneDrive lists the five system folders in the window that opens.
  5. Toggle one of the folders to Off to stop automatic backups.
  6. OneDrive displays a “where do you want to keep your files” prompt afterwards. Select “This computer only” and then continue.
  7. Select OK to confirm the change when the prompt appears.

Selecting this computer only stops automated backups of the selected folder to OneDrive. Repeat the process for all other folders that are set to backup at the time.

The Sync and backup menu’s preference “save photos and videos from devices” lists another automatic backup option. It transfers photos and videos from connected devices, e.g. cameras or smartphones, to OneDrive when enabled.

There is also “save screenshots I capture to OneDrive”, which transfers screenshots to OneDrive.

Closing Words

It appears that OneDrive may sometimes upload files to the cloud automatically on Windows 11 devices. This is a problem as it may lead to all kinds of issues.

Windows 11 users who sign-in with a Microsoft account may want to check the sync settings regularly because of that.

Windows 11

Is Windows 11 a Flop?

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Microsoft released its Windows 11 operating system in late 2021 to the public. Internal data, viewed by Windows Central, suggests that the operating system passed the 400 million monthly active devices mark this year.

Microsoft has not released information on monthly active users to the public. Third-party sites such as Steam’s hardware survey or Statcounter show a slow rise of Windows 11 since its release.

Windows 11 rose from 13.61% in September 2022 to 23.64% in September 2024 on Statcounter. Windows 10, on the other hand, nearly kept its commanding market share lead. The operating system dropped from 71.88% to 71.62% in the period.

Things look a bit better on Steam. Windows 11 has a share of about 37%, but it is still trailing Windows 10’s 57%.

Most of Windows 11’s gains appear to come from Windows 7 and Windows 8/8.1. Microsoft ended support for both operating systems in January 2023 and both have tanked since then.

Windows 11’s rise compared to Windows 10’s

It took Windows 11 two years to reach 400 million devices. While that would sound impressive for many systems, it is not, when compared to Windows 10.

Windows 10 managed to reach that number in a year’s time and it even managed to cross the 1 billion devices mark in 2020.

Granted, the underlying situation was different. Microsoft pushed Windows 10 with free upgrade offers from Windows 7 and Windows 8/8.1 devices. Users could upgrade their devices for free. Not all did, but the free upgrade offer certainly helped push the new operating system into the market.

Microsoft failed to reach the ambitious 1 billion device goal.

When Microsoft released Windows 11, it still let users upgrade for free to the new operating system. Initially, users of Windows 7, 8, 8.1 and 10 could upgrade to free. This changed recently, when Microsoft eliminated the option for Windows 7 and 8/8.1 systems and product keys.

What kept Windows 11 back from rising as quickly as Windows 10 was a change in system requirements. Microsoft changed the operating system’s minimum requirements, which meant that older systems could not upgrade to Windows 11 directly.

More or less any device purchased before 2018 could not be upgraded to Windows 11 using official means.

The end of Windows 7 and 8/8.1

End of Windows 7 and 8/8.1 support in January 2023 benefitted Windows 10 and 11 similarly. Windows 7 and 8/8.1 devices were upgraded to Windows 10, which was still possible at the time.

New devices, bought by Windows 7 and 8/8.1 users benefitted Windows 11 more than it helped Windows 10.

The vast majority of Windows devices are sold with Windows 11 nowadays.

Microsoft believes that Windows 11 devices will reach the 500 million mark in 2024.

Windows Central cites unnamed sources at Microsoft that said the the company’s expectations regarding Windows 11 were “set rather modestly” and that these have been surpassed consistently.

2025 is the year decisions need to be made

Windows 10 will reach end of support in 2025, at least for consumer editions. It will be interesting to see what users will do then. Some may upgrade their devices to Windows 11, or Windows 12, if the rumors of a new operating system are correct.

Many users may not be able to upgrade, because of the system requirements. It is unreasonable to assume that all of these will purchase new Windows devices in 2025.

Some may continue to run Windows 10, even though the operating system is no longer supported by Microsoft. It is unlikely that Microsoft is going to introduce Extended Security Updates for consumers. It has not done so when Windows 7 reached end of support.

Windows 10 users could migrate their devices to Linux. It is a chance for the open source operating system, but solutions need to be created to make the migration as painless as possible.

Verdict: Flop or not

Microsoft may have had higher hopes for Windows 11, but this is disputed in the internal document according to Windows Central. The company has been tight lipped about sales and monthly active devices, and that often means that things are not as good as hoped.

400 million devices is a sizeable number on the other hand. All of these will likely get the option to upgrade to Windows 12, if the operating system is released.

In closing, Windows 11 is not a flop, but it is not a hit either.

Now You: do you run Windows on your devices?

Why are some Apps System Components in Windows 11?

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Native applications on Windows 11 will soon be divided into apps and system components. Microsoft introduced the change back in July in Insider builds and it looks as if it is going to roll out soon to stable versions of the operating system.

Windows 11 ships with a large number of apps. Some of these are classic apps, such as Paint, Notepad or Calculator. Others, including Game Bar and Phone Link, aren’t nearly as old. New apps are also introduced regularly.

Current versions of Windows 11 list all of these apps in a single listing under Settings > Apps > Installed Apps. Soon, some of these apps are moved to another location instead. It is located under Settings > System > System Components.

Microsoft announced the change back in July 2023. Back then, the company’s message focused on the Start Menu. It said:

Under All apps in the Start menu, Windows 11 system components will now show a “system” label. This change is beginning to roll out and so not all Insiders in the Dev Channel will see it right away.

System Components in Windows 11

System Components in Start

The following apps are tagged as system components in future versions of Windows 11.

  • Game Bar
  • Get Help
  • Microsoft Store
  • Phone Link
  • Tips
  • Windows Security

Twitter user Techosaurusrex discovered this and published two screenshots of the new menu.

Microsoft does not explain why it made the decision to separate this assortment of apps from the rest. Some of them fit the definition of a system app, for example, Get Help or Windows Security.

Others, especially Game Bar and Phone Link, look somewhat out of place here. What makes them a system component and apps like the Feedback Hub or Remote Desktop Connection not?

Clearly, Microsoft wants to distinguish this particular assortment of apps from the rest. Maybe, and this has not been confirmed by Microsoft, it is an attempt to make it difficult to remove these apps from the system. Or, at least highlight to users that these apps are more important than others, even if that may not be true for all of them.

Installed Apps Windows 11: can't uninstall

Note that the listed apps can’t be uninstalled in the Settings app even on today’s systems. Only Advanced Options are displayed when users select the three-dots menu next to these apps.

Microsoft could make more apps System Components in the future. Some of the apps listed as System in Start are not included (yet) in System Components in Settings. This is the case for instance for Get Help and File Explorer.

Not Microsoft’s only attempt to protect apps

The recently launched Windows Backup app is another example of a new approach to releasing apps for Windows. This app, which is not a real backup app by any definition, is not listed as an app.

When you try to uninstall it, you will notice that it is not listed in All Apps in the Settings. Microsoft made the decision to integrate it into an Experience Package. While it is possible to remove that, doing so will also remove other apps and features from the system.

Others have noticed this as well and no one seems to be particularly happy about this change.

To be fair, Microsoft announced plans in August 2023 to drop the blocking of uninstalls of several apps. These apps — Camera, Cortana, People, Photos and Remote Desktop — aren’t system components. Cortana is on its way out, but the other four apps remain a part of Windows in the foreseeable future.

Windows Backup is not a “real” backup solution

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Microsoft developed a new app for Windows 10 and 11, called Windows Backup, which is rolling out to systems that install the latest updates for these operating systems.

Previous backup options, such as File History, remain available for now.

The backup application uses Microsoft OneDrive to save some data. While that sounds like a good feature on paper, it is far away from that.

Windows Backup: the functionality

Windows Backup main interface

Windows users may run Windows Backup from the Start Menu. Open the Start Menu, type Windows Backup and select the result.

The application opens after a brief moment. It displays the “Let’s back up your PC” screen on start. The app lists the various backup elements in the middle, the estimated storage space on OneDrive, and back up and cancel buttons.

Apps, Settings, and Credentials are automatically transferred if the user is signed-in with a Microsoft account. Only the content listed under Folders is not.

Windows Backup lists just the special folders for backup there: Desktop, Documents, Pictures, Videos and Music. The app may omit some folders, especially if they don’t contain any user files. There is no option to select a custom folder for backup.

Each supported folder is listed with its size and a toggle to remove it from the task. A click on back up transfers the files to OneDrive.

The length of the process depends on the number of files in the selected folders. There is no option to restore files directly from the app. You need to open OneDrive, either on the local system or online, to access the files and restore them to the local system.

The “other” sources that backup uses

Windows Backup supports backing up information about apps, settings and credentials.

  • Remember installed apps and pinned app preferences.
  • Remember Windows settings and preferences: accessibility, language preferences and dictionary, other Windows settings, personalization.
  • Remember Wi-Fi networks and other passwords.

Here is what’s wrong with the Backup app

Windows users may only use the app if they sign-in with a Microsoft Account. Additionally, it can’t be used if Enterprise or Education accounts are used to sign-in.

If there is one point to criticize, it is the lack of backup options. Windows Backup supports backing up just the special folders. There is no option to select custom folders, let alone back up an entire drive.

Windows users who want to back up these folders can do so already using OneDrive, which is also available on Windows PCs.

Even File History, which remains available, supports backing up any folder to local drives or network drives.

The Windows Backup app lacks any option to restore files using it in addition. While Windows uses the backups on new PC setups or resets, it is the extent of the feature.

Not surprisingly is the focus on OneDrive as the only backup location, at least currently. All Microsoft account users get some OneDrive storage free of charge, but it is only 5 gigabytes. Microsoft charges a monthly subscription fee if users require more storage. Since OneDrive is the only option, there is little that users can do about that.

Manage Backups

Windows users may open Start > Settings Accounts > Windows Backup to control the backups. There, they may deselect the syncing of preferences and also add or remove folders from the backup process.

Note that these settings are specific to the active PC. There is no option to manage the backups of other Windows PCs from the Settings.

How to remove Windows Backup

Windows Backup is a system component. As such, it is not possible to remove it from the Windows device according to Microsoft.

A better backup alternative

There are quite a few free backup solutions available for Windows. The one that I use is Paragon Backup & Recovery, which ticks all the right boxes. Free, lets you back up files, folders, disks and the operating system, schedule backups and includes recovery options.

It is a full backup solution for Windows. You do need a second hard drive or optical disk device for the backups though, as cloud backups are not supported by it.

Now You: which backup application do you use?

6 Brave Browser features that you may like

Posted on 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

Brave with 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

Force Paste into 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

Brave's Speedreader

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

Vertical Tabs in Brave

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 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

Android 14 font scaling

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.

How to bring order to Google Photos Takeout exports automatically

Posted on 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

Google Photos Takeout

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.