Category: Windows

Microsoft says Windows 11 is a lot faster than Windows 10 (on newer hardware)

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Microsoft published several performance claims that it says demonstrate how much better its Windows 11 operating system is in this regard when compared to its predecessor Windows 10.

Here are the claims that Microsoft is making:

  • Windows 11 PCs have 2.7 more hours of battery life than Windows 10 PCs.
  • Windows 11 PCs are up to 2.3 times faster than Windows 10 PCs.
  • Windows 11 PCs offer up to 3.2 times faster web browsing than Windows 10 PCs.
  • Windows 11 PCs offer up to 2 times faster Microsoft Office productivity than Windows 10 PCs.

Impressive stats. If you dig deeper, you may notice that Microsoft skewed the results significantly by using Windows 10 PCs with older hardware.

While it is fair to say that Windows 10 PCs are, on average, equipped with older processors, memory, hard drives and graphics adapters, it feels a bit like comparing apples to oranges. Yes, you can do that, but it does not really make a whole lot of sense other than to get some impressive sounding performance stats for marketing.

If you have used electronic devices for some time, you know that new device generations are often faster than previous generations. This is true for Windows PCs, mobile devices, streaming boxes, gaming consoles, and most devices that you can buy. If you compare the performance of a Google Pixel 9 with a Pixel 6, you will likely come to the conclusion that the newer device offers better performance. Same is true for PlayStation 5 vs 4, Apple iPhone 16 vs 15, and most devices that you can compare in that regard.

It should not come as a surprise, therefore, that a Windows 11 PC with an Intel 12th or 13th core processor runs better in benchmarks than a Windows 10 PC with an Intel 6th, 8th, or 10th core processor. That is the exact test setup that Microsoft used to conclude that Windows 11 PCs offer up to 2.3 times the performance of Windows 10 PCs.

To convince users, Microsoft should have used the exact same hardware setup for objective comparison. This way, it could have demonstrated that Windows 11 has the performance edge on the same hardware, if that is the case.

Microsoft’s claims boil down to Windows 11 running better on PCs with hardware that is one, two or more generations ahead of the hardware of the Windows 10 PC. The stats would very likely be not nearly as impressive if the same hardware would have been used.

PicPick

PicPick screen capture tool update adds WebP support

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

PicPick is an excellent screen capture program for Windows. It is free for personal use and you can support the developers by subscribing or buying a lifetime license.

The personal version has a few limitations, mainly that you can’t use it commercially, that it does not support automatic updates, and that it may display ads (you may have a hard time finding them though).

Updates are released frequently, sometimes multiple per month, sometimes less. The most recent update, released today as PicPick 7.4.0, adds support for an image format that is becoming popular on the Internet: webP.

When you capture an image in PicPick after the upgrade, you may now save the capture as a webP image. May be useful to users who need the format or prefer it.

Another handy addition is the ability to scroll horizontally with the mouse wheel by holding down the Shift-key on the keyboard. So, mousewheel without Shift scrolls vertically, mousewheel with Shift horizontally.

The update fixes two bugs next to that. The first fixes an issue that caused PicPick to fail to detect specific windows when capturing. The software supports window captures among many other capturing modes. The second fixes a focus loss issue when using the delayed active-window capturing feature.

You can check pout the entire changelog here. There you also find download links and options to buy the software.

Now You: which screen capturing software do you use and why?

Chrome

Windows 11 blocking Google Chrome? A security feature may be responsible

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Reports about problems to run Google Chrome on Windows started to emerge in early June 2025 on the official Chrome forum. Users claimed that they could not run the Google browser anymore on their Windows devices. Chrome would not start or close itself immediately after start; attempts to fix the issue, e.g., by uninstalling and reinstalling the browser, were unsuccessful reportedly.

The issue affects Chrome on Windows 10 and Windows 11 devices according to the reports. While Microsoft has not published an official response to the claims yet, Google did.

A Google community manager confirmed the issue on the official support forum. According to the notice, Google’s support team investigated the issue and discovered that Microsoft Family Safety was responsible for the unintended behavior.

Microsoft Family Safety is a parental control software. Chrome may not start if the child safety software is enabled on the device.

Google provided a suggestion on resolving the issue. The company said that unblocking Chrome in Microsoft Family Safety would resolve it and allow affected users to run the browser again on the Windows machine.

Here is how that is done:

  1. Open the Microsoft Family Safety website, or the mobile app.
  2. Select the affected child.
  3. Go to Windows tabs > Apps & Games.
  4. Unblock Chrome there.

Chrome should run again on the Windows devices after the changes have been made. Note that a parent or legal guardian needs to make the change, as minors do not have access to the administrative options.

Microsoft did provide the same solution to Windows users who reported the issue to the company’s support team.

It is unclear why the parental controls software started to block Google Chrome for some Windows users. Microsoft has not confirmed the issue officially. It is likely caused by a false positive or a bug, one that has the pleasant side-effect of pushing Chrome users to other browsers, for instance Microsoft’s own, Microsoft Edge.

Vanderplanki

Email Backup Software Vanderplanki 3 adds Microsoft Email support

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Do you create backups of your email accounts? A popular solution for that is MailStore Home, which is free and cross-platform. The original founder of MailStore Home has created Vanderplanki, which serves the same purpose.

Vanderplanki can backup email accounts so that you may read messages offline, search across accounts, and more. It lacked some of the advanced features of MailStore Home up until now, namely support for Microsoft email accounts, such as Outlook or Microsoft 365.

The new release, Vanderplanki 3, adds the support. The release notes confirm the addition of support for Outlook.com mailboxes, including Hotmail, Live, and MSN, and support for Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Exchange Online accounts.

The feature removes one of the main shortcomings of the email backup solution. Now, with Microsoft email support, it is capable of backing up emails from all major providers.

The new release adds another useful feature. The app fills out configurations for most major IMAP email providers automatically. This improves the process further.

There is still one downside to Vanderplanki at the time of writing. The software is only available in German. In fact, you may be blocked from downloading it, if you do not come from a German-speaking region. It is probably only a matter of time before other interface languages will be supported.

Now You: Do you back up your email accounts regularly? If so, how do you do it? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

Microsoft publishes PowerShell script to recreate the Inetpub folder on Windows

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

When Microsoft released the April 2025 security updates for Windows, users and administrators started to notice that the update created an empty folder called inetpub on the Windows drive.

Microsoft did not reveal any information about the mysterious folder in first place. This folder was linked to Internet Information Services in the past, but it was created even on systems that never had the feature installed.

It took a few days before Microsoft revealed why it created the folder. According to Microsoft, it was for increased protections. Users should not delete the folder under any circumstances.

Problem was, many did already as Microsoft did not mention any of that in the first days after releasing the update.

A new PowerShell script is now available that will recreate the inetpub folder along with all of its permissions.

Just run Install-Script -Name Set-InetpubFolderAcl in an elevated PowerShell terminal window. It has the following effect:

  • If inetpub directory does not exist, it gets created and default IIS permissions are applied to the directory.
  • If an empty inetpub directory exists, the default IIS permissions are applied to the directory.
  • If inetpub directory exists and only contains the sub-directory DeviceHealthAttestation, default IIS permissions are applied to both directories.
  • If inetpub directory exists and contains any other sub-directories, the script exits without making any changes.

So, if you do not have the inetpub folder anymore, you may run the script to restore it. (via Deskmodder)

How to sort files in Windows using two parameters, e.g. type and size

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

It is easy to sort files in Windows’ File Explorer. Just activate one of the displayed column headers, e.g., type or size, and Windows will sort all files using the selected value.

Select size and files will be displayed from largest to smallest. Click again, and the sort order is reversed.

Did you know that you can add a second sort parameter to this without breaking the first sort order? This can be useful, for instance by sorting all files by type and by size.

This keeps files grouped by typed, e.g., PDF documents, images, videos, while still sorting each individual group by size.

To do so, simply sort files like you always do. Click on a column header to sort by type. Hold down the Shift-key then and click on another header, e.g., size.

You will notice that files get sorted again without breaking the first sort order.

This can be quite useful, for instance when you want to check the largest files of multiple file types.

Now You: have another tip that is a time-saver on Windows or other devices that you use? Feel free to leave a comment down below to share it with everyone.

Microsoft Edit Open Source Text Editor

Microsoft’s new open source Edit application may remind you of the classic MS-DOS Editor

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

If you have used computers for a long time, you may remember MS-DOS and the tools that Microsoft shipped with it. Microsoft developed Edit, an open source command line text editor for Windows as an homage of sorts.

Interested users can download and install the latest version of Edit for Windows or build the app from scratch, if they prefer to do so. Microsoft plans to integrate the editor into insider builds of Windows first before making it available to all users as part of Windows 11. It is also available for Linux.

The big difference to the classic MS-DOS Editor is that Edit has a modern graphical user interface.

Microsoft describes Edit in the following way on GitHub:

This editor pays homage to the classic MS-DOS Editor, but with a modern interface and input controls similar to VS Code. The goal is to provide an accessible editor that even users largely unfamiliar with terminals can easily use.

Edit has a size of just 250 kilobytes and users may run the app without installation.

Here are key features that Microsoft highlights on this Dev blog:

  • Lightweight open source text editor.
  • Supports mouse and text user interface to select all menu options using keys.
  • Support for opening several files and switching between them using Ctrl-P.
  • Support for finding and replacing text. Use the keyboard shortcut CTRL-R for that, or select Edit > Replace.
  • Word wrap support.

Compared to established text editors, the functionality is not really special. Notepad++, for instance, supports additional features, such as syntax highlighting, which Edit does not.

Edit on the other hand does not appear to be an attempt by Microsoft to introduce competition to established third-party editors. Microsoft itself says that the main goal of Edit was to introduce a command line text editor for 64-bit versions of Windows, as these come without one (unlike 32-bit versions of Windows).

Closing Words

Edit looks like an interesting protect. It is open source, lightweight, and will one day be included in default Windows installations. That does not mean that you have to use it, but it is an option for users who like these types of editors.

Now You: what is your take on Edit? Will you give it a go? Let us know in the comments.

Windows 10 update may cause another Bitlocker recovery reboot issue

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

What is with Windows operating systems and issues with the default encryption software Bitlocker? Last year, Windows 11 users suffered from the issue after installation of certain updates for their systems.

Now, Microsoft is confirming a similar issue for users of the Windows 10 operating system.

The details:

  • The update in question is KB5058379, the May 2025 cumulative update for Windows 10, version 22H2.
  • It affects Windows 10 systems with Intel 10th generation or later vPro processors that use Intel Trusted Execution Technology (TXT)
  • An automatic repair is triggered on affected systems after installation of the update. This may require the entering of the BitLocker recovery key to proceed with the automatic repair.

Microsoft confirmed the issue on the official Windows 10, version 22H2 health dashboard. There, the company writes:

We are aware of a known issue on devices with Intel Trusted Execution Technology (TXT) enabled on 10th generation or later Intel vPro processors. On these systems, installing the May 13, 2025, Windows security update (KB5058379) might cause lsass.exe to terminate unexpectedly, triggering an Automatic Repair. On devices with BitLocker enabled, BitLocker requires the input of your BitLocker recovery key to initiate the Automatic Repair.

Affected devices may enter one of two states according to Microsoft:

  • They may try to install the update for Windows 10 several times before Startup Repair rolls back to the previous version of Windows 10.
  • Startup Repair may run into an error on some devices, which ultimately will trigger the Bitlocker recovery screen.

The first state should not require extensive troubleshooting or frantic searching for the Bitlocker recovery key. You can consult this Microsoft support page that lists all options to look up the recovery key.

System administrators may notice the following additional symptoms on affected devices:

  • ​Event ID 20 might appear in the Windows Event Viewer in the System event log, with the following text: “Installation Failure: Windows failed to install the following update with error 0x800F0845: 2025-05 Cumulative Update for Windows 10 22H2 for x64-based Systems (KB5058379).”
  • ​Event ID 1074 might appear in the System event log, with the text: “The system process ‘C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe’ terminated unexpectedly with status code -1073740791.”

Microsoft is working on a resolution for the issue and plans to release an out-of-band update once that administrators may install on affected devices. The company says that it plans to release the update in the coming days on the Microsoft Update Catalog website.

Users and administrators should monitor the issue on the Microsoft Health dashboard website for updates.

Microsoft 365: Windows 10 continues to be supported, at least somewhat

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Microsoft plans to end support for several editions of Windows 10 this October. While customers may subscribe to extended security updates to extend support by one (home) or up to three (business / Enterprise) years, it was unclear how Microsoft would handle support for some of its other products and services running on Windows 10, including Microsoft 365.

Do Windows 10 customers, who run apps like Word or Excel after October 14th, 2025, get support when they run into issues? What about software updates? These customers pay Microsoft for access after all.

A new blog post by Microsoft provides answers to these questions and others that customers may have.

Will Microsoft 365 continue to work after Windows 10’s end of support date? Microsoft says yes. Apps like Word or Excel will continue to work. The company notes, however, that running the apps on an unsupported operating system may lead to performance and reliability issues. Microsoft recommends to switch to Windows 11 to avoid these.

For how long will Microsoft support Microsoft 365 on Windows 10? Microsoft plans to release security updates for Microsoft 365 apps under Windows 10 for three years starting the day support ends officially. This seems to imply that the applications won’t receive feature updates anymore. Whether that is indeed the case remains to be seen. Support will end on October 10th, 2028 either way.

Support is limited on Windows 10. While Microsoft promises to support Microsoft 365 apps on Windows 10 for another three years with security updates, it is limiting support in other areas. When customers encounter bugs that affect the Windows 10 version only, Microsoft support will ask the customer to make the switch to Windows 11.

Microsoft limited Office support in the past on Windows systems that ran out of support.

In closing, Microsoft 365 customers may continue to use apps like Word or Excel after support ends. Microsoft will provide security updates for three years, but does not guarantee much besides that.

Now You: do you use Microsoft Office or Microsoft 365? Are you affected by the end of support for Windows 10?

Windows 10 has five different official end of support dates

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

For years, Microsoft has warned Windows 10 customers that the operating system is reaching its end of support in October 2025. Did you know that this is only the cause for specific editions of Windows 10 and that there are numerous other editions that Microsoft will continue to support for years after 2025?

Depending on the Windows 10 edition, support may end in 2026, 2027, 2029, or 2032. That’s right, there is one edition that will receive updates for another 7 years.

The good folks over at Deskmodder have created a list of the different Windows 10 editions and their end of support. Here it is, translated into English:

October 14th, 2025:

  • Windows 10 (22H2) Home/Pro
  • Windows 10 (22H2) Enterprise and Education
  • Windows 10 2015 LTSB (First Windows 10 version)
  • Windows 10 IoT Enterprise (First Windows 10 version)
  • Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSB 2015 (First Windows 10 version)

October 13th, 2026:

  • Windows 10 2016 LTSB
  • Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSB 2016

January 12th, 2027

  • Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2021

January 9th, 2029

  • Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2019
  • Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2019

January 13th, 2032

  • Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2021

All listed Enterprise editions will continue to receive support until they reach their end of support date. This means that they do not need ESU, extended security updates, for that.

ESU is only for Windows 10 Home and Pro customers who want to extend support by a year, and for Windows 10 Enterprise or Education customers, who may extend support by up to three years.

Hacks circulated in the past that allowed users of out-of-support operating systems to install updates designed for still-supported versions and editions of the same operating system. It seems likely that hacks will be discovered to allow the same on Windows 10 machines.

Now You: Are you affected by the end of support for Windows 10? If so, what do you plan to do? If not, which operating system do you run on your devices?