Category: Windows

Turning Bluetooth off for two hours, enabling Dark Mode at eight in the evening, or setting the volume to 0 percent in the morning. These are all examples what a new PowerToys tool might offer in the future.

The main idea is simple: let users create schedules for certain system settings. Besides what is been mentioned already, the new feature may support Wi-Fi or keeping the screen turned on for a specific amount of time.

Windows itself offers limited functionality when it comes to automating features. One of the very few options lets users activate Night mode on schedule so that Dark Mode is enabled at a specific time.

Administrators may use the Task Scheduler for certain jobs, but this is an advanced tool and not user friendly.

What is PowerToys? PowerToys is a collection of tools that expand Windows. It adds dozens of tools to Windows. The program is optional and while it does add a ton of tools to Windows, some dislike it because of its size.

Settings Scheduler Tool

Settings Scheduler is not yet available, but it has been announced as an idea on the PowerToys GitHub repository.

There, it has been described in the following way:

A simple utility for scheduling a setting for a set time or duration. The utility would have a few options for different settings then the option to change them based on a timer or based on a specific schedule.

While it seems likely that Settings Scheduler is going to be integrated into PowerToys, there is no guarantee for that at this stage.

Who is the tool for? The answer depends largely on the functionality that it will ship with initially. It could be an interesting tool for users who would like to automate certain processes.

The real question is, would you use it if it meant that you would likely have to run PowerToys on system start (assuming that the scheduled tasks are not added to the Task Scheduler)? Feel free to leave a comment down below. Also, whether you use PowerToys. (via Neowin)

DISM-GUI is a free app for Windows 10 and 11 that gives you access to various commands to check and repair Windows.

Good to know: DISM stands for Deployment Image Servicing and Management. It is a command line tool that, among other features, may be used to find and repair Windows issues related to missing or changed operating system files.

The free app makes the functionality more accessible. You still need to know the basics, as the program lacks documentation. The program interface consists of buttons that run the selected commands in a command prompt window.

It includes all popular options, including cleanup, which frees up storage space by removing overhead from the component store, and restore, which attempts to repair the Windows system.

Tip: check out Super God Mode as well. It creates shortcuts to more than a thousand admin tools and settings on Windows.

Here is a quick overview:

• Check (CheckHealth) – The command checks for corruptions inside the Windows image.
• Scan (ScanHealth) – The command runs a more thorough scan.
• Restore (RestoreHealth) – Searches for errors and attempts to repair them.
  • Online – check using the local image.
  • Wim – use an ISO image or an unpacked ISO image for the repair.
  • ESD – use an ESD image.
• Analyze ( AnalyzeComponentStore) – Checks the component store for overhead.
• Cleanup (StartComponentCleanup) – Cleans up the component store to free up disk space.

DISM-GUI supports several non-DISM commands next to that:

• SFC Scan — Runs the command sfc /scannow.
• CAB Install — Install a CAB update on the system.
• ESD > WIM — Convert an ESD file to a WIM file.
• Get State — Returns the state of Reserved Storage.
• Enable / Disable — Enable or disable Reserved Storage.

Note: Windows reserves storage on the primary partition for “proper performance” and updates.

Commands are executed in a command prompt window in the background.

You can download DISM-Gui over at Deskmodder.

Verdict

DISM-Gui is a useful helper app for Windows 10 and 11. It is especially useful for admins who use the commands regularly and for inexperienced users who need to run the commands.

All in all, it is a useful free app for Windows administrators.

Will it disallow access to the Windows kernel by security products? Not right now, but the path could lead there.

Microsoft held a security conference earlier this week at its Redmond headquarters. It invited business partners, especially those in the security field, to participate.

The hot topic during the conference was the Crowdstrike disaster that took down more than 8.5 million PCs worldwide. More precisely, how to avoid a repeat of it in the years to come.

David Weston, Vice President Enterprise and OS Security at Microsoft, published a summary of the event on the Microsoft Windows blog.

The main short-term takeaways:

• Microsoft and security vendors agree that choice is good when it comes to security products for Windows.
• A list of best practices for developing and distributing security updates will be created based on discussing Safe Deployment Practices.
• Other areas of improvement include testing, information sharing, and improved incident response effectiveness.

For the long-term, Microsoft plans to introduce new security capabilities to the Windows platform to add “security capabilities outside of kernel mode”.

Microsoft will design and develop the new platform in collaboration with “ecosystem partners”. The goal is “enhanced reliability without sacrificing security” according to Microsoft.

The blog post ends with several partner quotes and how everyone appreciated the opportunity to discuss security. Reading between the lines, several expressed concern that security could suffer, especially if kernel access would be revoked.

Closing Words

It will take some time before changes, even the discussed short-term changes, are applied. While Microsoft said nothing about pushing security products out of the kernel on Windows, some are worried already that Microsoft could create a solution that benefits its own products over everyone else’s.

Called it. Regulators need to be paying attention. A world where only Microsoft can provide effective endpoint security is not a more secure world. pic.twitter.com/PR2AnJwpZi

— Matthew Prince 🌥 (@eastdakota) August 23, 2024

It would not be the first time in the history of Windows.

What is your take on this development? It should be clear that something needed to be done to avoid another scenario that would cause millions of PCs to go down in flames. Are the proposed changes the right way?

Super Microsoft Configuration is a new tool by “built by Bel”. It is an “advanced and fully automated alternative to the traditional MSConfig tool” according to the developer.

Key Details:

• It is designed specifically for Microsoft’s Windows 11 operating system.
• It checks the state of certain Windows features and settings to rate them as good or bad.
• Bad settings can be “fixed”.

The current version of the app has the title Super System Configuration. Whether that is going to be the new name or not is unclear. The developer has a habit of changing program names.

Using Super Microsoft Configuration

The program is portable and you may run it right after you have downloaded it from the GitHub repository.

Note: Windows SmartScreen may display a security warning. The reason for this is that it is a new program, not because it is malicious. A check on Virustotal returned a single false positive hit.

Hit the check button in the interface to run the scan. This should not take longer than a few seconds and you end up with a long log at the end.

The bad entries are shown in red. You can check “show only bad config” to hide the good settings to better focus on what the program considers bad.

While that helps, it is possible that you will still end up with dozens of entries. The main issue here is that each entry is listed in a single row. Since the information includes a description, Registry path, and other information, it is possible that you may need to scroll to read everything.

As far as what is considered beta is concerned, here are a few examples:

• Sending feedback and error reports.
• Radio access.
• Disabled Windows Defender Real-time Protection.
• Disabled User Account Control.
• Disabled Secure Boot.

At least two of the detected bad configurations were erroneous. User Account Control was enabled on the test system, for instance. The program returned no “current value” for the entry, which is why it detected it as bad.

You may double-click on an entry to display the details in a new window. This improves accessibility.

The window includes buttons to apply the fix or revert it. Here you may also copy the Registry value to search for it online.

It is necessary to go through them one by one, as you may not want to disable or enable features that might cause issues.

This makes Super System Configuration an advanced tool. The GitHub repository says as much as well.

Verdict

The application is not that different from other tweaking tools, including some of the developer’s past and present offerings. The main difference is the scanning and that it reveals advanced information, such as Registry keys.

On the other hand, it is difficult to navigate and there is no distinction between disabling quick links on Microsoft Edge’s new tab page and enabling Secure Boot or disabling microphone access.

It is not something that inexperienced users may want to use. It lacks guidance and at least some kind of warning or classification for some of the tweaks.

Considering that the program is available as a preview, it is a good idea to monitor its development and wait for the final release. For now, it is an interesting rough application.

Microsoft has restored a feature that it removed some time ago from Windows. At least in the Beta version of the operating system, sign-out is once again accessible directly when clicking on the profile icon in the Start menu.

Here is the current process in Windows 11 when you want to sign out using the Start menu:

1. Click on the Start button to open the Start menu.
2. Click on the profile icon.
3. Activation of the menu (three dots).
4. Selection of sign out.

Once the change lands, the process is the following one:

1. Click on the Start button to open the Start menu.
2. Click on the profile icon.
3. Select Sign out.

It used to be this way, but Microsoft introduced the account manager to the Start menu. The main purpose of it, if you ask me, is to advertise Microsoft 365 and Microsoft cloud storage.

It shows the M365 subscription status and also the available cloud storage. For that, Microsoft removed the options to sign out or switch users from the main interface and hid it behind a new menu that it added just for that purpose.

If you look at the screenshot of the revised version, you may notice that something is amiss. Where is the option to switch to another user? Microsoft says that it will show a list of signed in users under menu.

The screenshot shows nothing of it though. Maybe it is only displayed when there are other users who are signed in.

Note: a better way of signing out is to right-click on the Start button. It shows that option next to others under shutdown.

Since it is a beta release, it is possible that Microsoft is going to alter the interface further before it hits the stable channel and the majority of users.

How do you sign our or shut down your Windows PCs? Do you have any preference? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

I have a simple opinion about AI. If it is off by default and if I control my data, I might use it if it is useful. Whether Intelligent Media Search is such a feature remains to be seen.

First spotted by Xeno and revealed on X, it is designed to let users index all of their audio and video files to make it searchable. The feature is powered by AI and the idea is that you can use natural language to search for matching audio or video files.

You can ask questions like:

• What cakes did I eat over the years on my wife’s birthday?
• Who shot first? Han or Greedo in the film Star Wars?
• Retrieve every mention of X in project videos / audio files.

Obviously, you could do a lot with this, provided that you have the media files on the local system. Ask questions about a teleconference call, financial audio webcasts, or anything else that is available as media on the system.

There is also the possibility for it to find specific files, music by a band, appearances of an actor, or a certain event in movies or videos.

Does that sound useful? Not to everyone, but it certainly has more appeal than the overreaching Recall feature. That is back to the drawing board as Microsoft was certainly caught off-guard when the rain of negative feedback started.

Still, little is known about the feature. Good news is that Microsoft is asking for consent and it seems likely that the feature is off by default because of that. So, there is little to worry about for users who do not want to use it, provided that Microsoft does not push the Intelligent Media Search feature to hard or in an annoying way.

The verdict is still out on this one. Lots is unclear. Where is the indexed data stored, how is it protected, will it be synced? What controls do users get?

What is your take on the feature? Would you use it under certain circumstances? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

When you copy files from one location to another in Windows, an estimation of the remaining time is displayed. This estimation may fluctuate widely and it has been at the center of many jokes.

Microsoft has added a similar estimation to Windows updates in the latest Insider builds.

Some Insiders in the Canary Channel will begin to see an estimated time for how long their PC will be offline to install Build 27695. This estimate will be shown on the Windows Update settings page and via the Start menu power button.

If you have installed updates in Windows before, you know that you never know how long an update will take to install.

When you hit the restart button, it feels like a game of chance. Sometimes, updates seem to install quickly, at other times, they seem to take ages.

New builds or feature updates take longer, naturally, than the monthly cumulative updates or minor updates.

It is a good idea to avoid installing updates if you are in a hurry. If you just have a bit of time before you need to leave the computer, you better postpone the installation until you return.

There is another reason for that: if something goes wrong, you may not have the time to start fixing the issue immediately.

Microsoft hopes that the displayed estimates help administrators; but does it?

Windows Update downtime estimation

Problem is, Windows Update displays a range and not a fixed number. The screenshot that Microsoft published shows a downtime between 15 and 50 minutes.

Is that helpful? Would not it be better if Microsoft would either display just the maximum, e.g. up to 50 minutes, or the average, e.g. 35 minutes to the user?

The feature is in testing right now and only some Insiders see it. It is shown on the Windows Update settings page and the start menu power button after an update has been downloaded and prepared for installation.

How do you handle updates in Windows? Feel free to leave a comment down below.