Category: Windows

Some Windows 10 users reported issues with certain apps on their devices that refused to launch. Users noticed that default apps would not launch anymore on their systems or crash shortly after launch. Some received the error message File system error (-2147219196), others no error at all.

One user reported the issue on Microsoft’s official Answers forum. The thread blew up quickly. 380 users confirmed that they had the “same question”, and 524 replied to the original message.

The thread starter noted that Microsoft’s official Photos app would crash a few seconds after launch on a Windows 10 system. Double-clicks on photos returned the error message File system error (-2147219196) instead of a view of the selected image.

The apps, including the Photos app, were all native apps of the operating system. Even Microsoft’s Feedback Hub app, used to report feedback and issues, did not work anymore on affected devices.

To sum it up: affected users are no longer able to launch (select) native Windows 10 apps on their devices.

Bug hunting

Users reported the issues elsewhere, including on Microsoft’s Answers forum. There, it quickly became clear that the issue could not be resolved easily. Rollbacks of updates and even reinstallations of Windows did not resolve the issue for affected users.

More and more reports poured in and some users managed to find commonalities. It became clear quickly that the issue affected older systems only. Devices with Intel Core 2 Duo and and Quad processors, as well as older AMD Athlon chips were affected, while devices with newer processors were not. All of these processors shared another commonality, the lack of support for SSE 4.2.

Tip: you can use the free program Glow to list hardware information.

Windows 10’s list of officially supported processors does not include Core 2 chipsets. Microsoft did not introduce barriers in Windows 10 to prevent the installation of the operating systems on devices with unsupported hardware.

The company introduced compatibility blocks in Windows 11. The operating system cannot be installed on devices with unsupported processors, at least not without hacks.

Any attempt to install Windows 11 on a device with an unsupported processor is blocked.

Windows 10 gets installed on devices with unsupported hardware. It may run a bit slower, but that seems to be the only sideeffect.

Microsoft is working on a solution

Microsoft employee Mahmoud G Saleh confirmed the issue and revealed that Microsoft is working on a resolution.

He wrote:

Hi, the Visual C++ team has identified the problem as a regression in the vclibs framework package that the Photos app and other apps depend on. The problem affects computers with older hardware (that do not support SSE 4.2 instructions). Microsoft is currently working on validating a solution and it’s expected to rollout to affected customers soon.

He confirmed that the issue is caused by a regression in a framework package, and that devices with processors that do not support SSE 4.2 instructions are affected.

Saleh posted the information on February 2, 2024. It is unclear when Microsoft is going to roll out a fix to affected users.

Good news is that Microsoft is working on a fix. Bad news is that it is unclear when the fix will be released.

Microsoft published KB5034203 on January 23, 2024. The preview update for Windows 10 is an optional update. All of its changes will be included in the February 2024 cumulative update for the operating system.

Most Windows 10 users may not want to install the update, as it should be considered beta. The update addresses several issues that users may experience. This includes a bug that causes Windows to recognize some “single-function printers” as scanners. Another issue may bring back the Internet Explorer shortcut from the dead.

Digital Markets Act changes in Windows 10

Microsoft’s Windows 10 operating system is a core platform service of a gatekeeper according to the European Union. The Digital Markets Act (DMA) defines gatekeepers as companies that “provide an important gateway between businesses and consumers in relation to core platform services”.

In other words, services that give companies control and an unfair advantage.

Microsoft revealed in November 2023 that it would implement certain changes in its Windows operating system to “comply with the Digital Markets Act in the European Economic Area”.

These changes included the ability to remove “all apps in Windows”, remove Web Search from Microsoft Bing, and feeds in the Windows Widgets Board.

It is important to understand that the changes are in response to the DMA, but not coordinated with the EU. It is possible that Microsoft may need to introduce other changes to Windows in the coming months.

KB5034203 for Windows 10

The changelog includes the following paragraph that confirms these changes for Windows 10 version 22H2.

Microsoft has been working to ensure compliance with the Digital Markets Act (DMA) in the European Economic Area (EEA). To learn more, see Previewing changes in Windows to comply with the Digital Markets Act in the European Economic Area. These changes will gradually roll out to Windows 10, version 22H2 PCs in the EEA to be compliant by March 6, 2024.

The update introduces the changes in Windows 10 version 22H2, but it does not enable them at this point. Microsoft plans enable the functionality in the coming weeks using staged rollouts.

Windows 10 users who are not on Windows 10 version 22H2 won’t benefit from these changes. Updates to Windows 10 version 22H2 are available.

Closing Words

The changes that Microsoft rolls out are welcome ones. The ability to uninstall Edge or Bing Search will give users more choice. Most may not remove the browser or Bing Search, but users who want to do so, may do so after the change lands.

Whether the changes are enough to get EU approval remains to be seen. It is certainly possible that the EU is asking Microsoft to make additional changes to its operating system.-

Other companies identified as gatekeepers have also announced changes. Google is blocking data sharing between some of its services by default, and Meta announced changes to Facebook, Instagram and Messenger. All these changes are only available to users from the EEA, the European Economic Area.

Zip archives are widely used on today’s Internet and on desktop computer systems. The Zip archive format is popular and used for distributing files, programs or saving space.

Archives contain one or more files. A Zip archive needs to be extracted, which is called unzipping.

Windows 11 supports the Zip archive format by default. It can extract contents of archives on the system. A third-party tool, like WinZip, WinRar or 7-Zip, is not required anymore for that purpose.

While it is a useful feature, it is far from perfect. Current versions of Windows 11 may be used to create and extract Zip archives. Windows 11 supports extracting other archive types, including Rar.

Last year, I ran benchmarks to find out how well the native functionality compared to that of popular archive apps. While it works, its performance is much slower than that of the tested third-party tools.

How to unzip files in Windows 11?

You may use the File Explorer context menu to extract archives. The option is available for all supported archive formats, including zip and rar.

Step 1: Open File Explorer on the system and navigate to the folder that contains the Zip archive. It may be in the Downloads folder if you have downloaded it from the Internet.

Step 2: Right-click on the Zip file and select the Extract all option from the menu that opens.

Step 3: A window opens. You may change the location the files will be extracted to. The default is a folder that matches the archive file’s name in the same location as the archive.

The option “show extracted files when complete” opens that folder. It is enabled by default, but can be unchecked.

Select Extract to unzip the archive to the selected folder. The process may take a while to complete.

How to view the contents of Zip archives

You may also open archives on Windows 11 before you extract them. This is useful if you want to see the files of the archive or access some of the files.

Double-click on the Zip archive in File Explorer to display its contents. File Explorer lists all folders and files that it contains.

You may browse them or use the built-in search feature to find specific files.

Your Options:

• Double-click on any file to open it. This works only for files like .txt or .png that have a viewer on the system.
• Right-click on a file or a selection to get options to copy, cut or delete it. Copy may be used to extract only the selected files. Cut is like copy, but it removes the file from the archive. Delete removes the file from the archive.
• Select the “extract all” button in the toolbar to extract all files. This works similarly to extracting archives using the context menu.

Tip: You may edit the path in File Explorer to view any archive directly. Just add the archive’s name and file extension to it, e.g. C:\Users\Martin\Downloads\Test\iview466_plugins_x64.zip

Use of third-party tools to unzip files

Third-party archive apps offer several advantages over the native functionality of Windows 11. Apart from the already mentioned speed, which translates to minutes or hours saved when extracting and creating archives, third-party apps support advanced features.

Advantages include support for additional archive formats, better archive creation support and more.

Extracting archives works identical once the third-party app is installed on a Windows 11 device.

Right-click on the archive and select the extract option. If you have installed WinRAR, you select WinRAR > Extract Files.

Command line and PowerShell options

Most Windows users do not need to extract Zip archives from the command line or PowerShell. The process is not faster. In fact, most users may find it complicated, as it requires parameters.

Still, some may find the information useful.

Command Prompt

Open a Command Prompt window in the location of the archive file. If you are in File Explorer, replace the location path with CMD and press the Enter-key. This launches a Command Prompt window in the location.

Now run the command tar -xf ARCHIVENAME, e.g. tar -xf iview466_plugins_x64.zip.

This extracts the archive to the current directory.

PowerShell

You may open a PowerShell prompt from Start. Just open Start, type PowerShell and select the result.

Navigate to the folder of the Zip archive using the CD command.

Once there run the command Expand-Archive ARCHIVENAME to extract it, e.g. Expand-Archive iview466_plugins_x64.zip.

Closing Words

Third-party software offers several advantages over the built-in Zip extraction capabilities of Windows 11. In fact, the only advantage Windows 11’s native functionality has is that it is available immediately.

If you extract archives regularly or need advanced options, then you may want to use third-party tools for that.

Now You: do you use archive apps?

Microsoft’s Windows 11 operating system supports a wide range of color settings. Users may customize the color for window borders and title bars, the Start button and the taskbar.

Microsoft distinguishes between color modes, which refers to dark, light and custom modes, and individual color settings of each mode. This has not changed in the recently released Windows 11 version 23H2 update.

The very first choice that users of Windows 11 have to make is whether to enable light, dark or custom mode.

Here is how they differ:

• Light Mode — designed to work well during daylight hours and in bright environments. This mode supports accent colors for window title bars and borders.
• Dark Mode — designed for low-light environments, e.g., at night. Changes the colors of the Start Menu, Taskbar and Action Center, supports changing colors for windows borders and title bars.
• Custom Mode — custom settings that may mix Dark and Light mode settings.

Changing Color Modes on Windows 11 devices

Follow these step to set the color mode on a Windows 11 system:

1. Open Start and select Settings. You may also use the keyboard shortcut Windows-I to open the Settings app this way.
2. Select Personalization in the sidebar menu and then Colors on the page that opens.
3. Activate the menu next to “choose your mode” and pick one of the available options. These are light, dark and custom.

Changing Light Mode colors

Select Light under “choose your mode” to enable light mode. If the mode was set to custom or dark, you should notice a return to lighter colors immediately.

Scroll down to Accent color. You may set it to manual or automatic. Set it to manual to pick one of the listed “recent colors” or “Windows colors”, or select “View colors” beneath the options to pick a color from the entire color range.

The selected color is set automatically. Note that the option to show the accent color on Start or the taskbar is disabled in light mode.

You may enable or disable “show accent color on title bars and windows borders” to show the selected color there.

If you set the color to automatic, Windows picks the color based on the wallpaper or open applications. Some users may find this confusing, as the color changes regularly when automatic is selected.

Changing Dark Mode colors

Dark mode supports a wider range of color options than light mode. It is unclear why Microsoft decided to restrict light mode in this regard.

After you have selected Dark as the preferred color mode on the system, you may also set the accent color to manual or automatic. The same color options are provided in this regard.

The accent color is shown on the title bars and windows borders by default. You may also enable “show accent color on Start and taskbar” to show it there as well.

Custom Color Mode

This mode gives you the option to set light or dark color modes for Windows and apps individually. You may set Windows to dark mode and apps to light mode, or vice versa.

How to configure less distracting color settings

Depending on how you configure colors on Windows, you may get a colorful system or one that is not as distracting. If you work on Windows 11, you may want to tone down colors on the system.

You may do so in all three color modes. The main recommendation is to disable all other features that Windows supports.

These are:

• Transparency effects — these make Windows and surfaces translucent.
• Show accent color on Start and taskbar — to show the taskbar and Start in a single color that uses the selected color mode as its base.
• Show accent color on title bars and windows borders — to hide accent colors on windows.

It does not really matter which accent color you select, or if you set it to automatic or manual, if you disable all other settings on the page.

Now You: what is your preferred color mode?

Microsoft announced a dedicated Copilot key for Windows recently. Yusuf Mehdi himself announced the “year of AI” and the introduction of the Copilot key for Windows 11 PCs. Microsoft and several OEMs will ship upcoming devices with the key on the keyboard.

Information about the key is scarce at the moment. While Microsoft did publish a blog post on its Windows Experience blog about the key, it revealed little about its functionality.

Mehdi revealed on Twitter that the key would “enable one-click access to Copilot” and Microsoft’s rather lengthy post does not provide any additional information on the functionality it provides besides that.

Microsoft does compare it to the Windows-key, which it introduced almost 30 years ago. This key, also controversial at the time, introduced a number of new shortcuts on Windows.

Microsoft’s own Surface devices and devices by OEMs such as Dell will feature the new Copilot key.

The Copilot key: what we know

A short clip of the key that Mehdi posted reveals its location next to the right Alt key and the cursor keys on a keyboard for a mobile device. What Mehdi failed to mention is that it sits in the place of the right Ctrl-key on the keyboard.

Tom Warren posted a screenshot of a Dell keyboard with the key. It too replaced the Ctrl-key on the keyboard. It appears that Menu functionality is still available as well, albeit not directly when pressing the key.

The removal of the right Ctrl-key introduces a problem for users who use it. There does not seem to be a replacement option and it is unclear if users may map Ctrl again to the Copilot key to restore the current functionality.

Functionality-wise, all that Microsoft revealed was that you get access to Copilot when you activate the key.

Obviously, Copilot itself needs to rise to the occasion as well. It is severely lacking at the moment. It takes to long to process input and anything that you write is submitted over the Internet to a Microsoft server.

Is there more to it?

If the entire functionality of the key is to launch the Windows Copilot interface, then it is quite the redundant feature. The existing shortcut Windows-C opens the Copilot interface already. Users may also click on the Copilot icon to launch it.

What happens to the key when users deactivate Copilot? It is a dead key then? Will Windows 11 map it to Ctrl automatically? Or will it reactivate Copilot even?

It is certainly possible that the key adds just the launch option, which would demonstrate Microsoft’s dedication to AI. It may be great for the stock price and initial usage of Copilot, but it would be lacking functionality-wise.

If that is indeed all there is to the dedicated key, it is a missed opportunity. If Microsoft uses it as another key for shortcuts, it might interest more users.

From launching dedicated AI tools, such as image generation, to creating summaries of open documents or webpages with a simple shortcut.

If Microsoft wants to please everyone, it would even introduce a setting to remap the key to Ctrl.

Closing Words

The coming days and weeks will provide us with additional information about the key and its uses. While many OEM keyboards will include the key, it is uncertain if the majority of standalone keyboards will support it.

Now You: what is your take on the key?