Gmail’s new end-to-end encryption feature is atrocious for non-Gmail users

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Google announced support for end-to-end encrypted emails on Gmail for organizations and later this year for end users last week. This allows Gmail users to encrypt emails so that only the recipient can read them.

Gmail is far from being the first email provider to offer such a feature. Proton Mail, for instance, supported end-to-end encrypted emails from the get-go.

When you read Google’s announcement, you may stumble upon the explainer on how this is implemented. Not technically, but how it works from the user’s perspective.

According to Google, end-to-end encrypted emails on Gmail work differently depending on whether you are a Gmail user or not, and whether an administrator has configured use of the restricted Gmail version for all users.

So, here are the different scenarios when someone sends an encrypted email from Gmail.

  • When the recipient is a Gmail user, the user may read it in their inbox. The email is decrypted when it reaches the inbox and the email can be read.
  • When the recipient is not a Gmail user, they receive an invitation to open the email in a guest Google Workspace account. This allows them to view and reply to the email in a restricted version of Gmail.
  • If S/MIME is configured, Gmail sends the encrypted email via S/MIME.

Google Workspaces administrators may furthermore configure encrypted emails to always require the restricted version of Gmail.

Here is why that is bad

Some emails, all end-to-end encrypted ones, no longer land in your inbox, if you do not use Gmail or when the admin enabled restricted mode. You furthermore need to sign in using an invite link and a pin. Organizations may furthermore limit access to emails by revoking access at any time.

To be fair, this is not all that different from how Proton Mail handles sending encrypted emails to non-Proton users.

Still, if you are not a Gmail user, you may have to read some emails on the Gmail website in the future using the guest account feature of Google Workspaces. This may have severe consquences:

  • When you search emails in your dedicated client or web service, encrypted email content is not included.
  • Filters may not work correctly, as they may only apply to the public part of the email and not the body.
  • Security tools can’t scan the emails.

It is probably only a matter of time before malware campaigns start to use the new feature.

Now You: what is your take on this? Do you use encrypted email already? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

Pause Windows Updates

Pause Windows Updates with a tiny script

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

While it is generally recommended to install Windows security updates, there are situations that make you want to postpone the installation. Maybe it is because of another faulty update that Microsoft released, a bug that you already experienced after an update was installed on your system, or just the desire to keep the PC running for a long period without forced update reboots.

Quite a few solutions exist that let you toggle the functionality using applications or scripts. Sordum’s Windows Update Blocker is just one program that you may use for the purpose.

And now there is also Pause Windows Updates. It is a tiny open source script that you may run on your Windows PC to pause updates.

Here is how it works: run the script after you have downloaded it and accept the security prompt to get a simple interface. There you may press keys on the keyboard to run corresponding actions. There are:

  • (1) Disable Updates
  • (2) Enable Updates
  • (3) Disable Microsoft Telemetry
  • (4) Remove Update Files
  • (5) Manage Update Service

Press the h-key to get information about each of the actions. When you select the disable option, all update downloading and installing is halted. This includes updates that are in the process of being downloaded to the system.

Any update that has not been installed fully at this point needs to be downloaded in its entirety again once you enable updates on the system.

Since it is a script, you may review it before you run it on your system. Just load it in a plain text editor like Notepad to do so.

Closing Words

Pause Windows Update is an easy to use option to block updates on Windows machines temporarily. Most users probably won’t need the script or similar apps ever, but there are situations where it may come in handy.

Now You: how do you handle updates on your Windows PCs? Do you let them install automatically or prefer manual control over updates? Any tools you use? Feel free to leave a comment down below. (via Deskmodder)

Windows 11: you can soon turn off one of the biggest Start menu annoyances

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

If you’d ask me to name the most annoying feature of Windows 11’s Start menu, I’d probably pick the Recommended section. Here specifically the inability to remove it from the Start menu.

While you can configure Windows to stop giving recommendations, you cannot remove the then-blank section from the Start menu. That is, until now.

The Sherlock Holmes of Windows, Phantom of Earth, discovered that Microsoft has had a change of heart in the latest Windows 11 Insider build.

The hidden feature introduces major changes to the operating system’s start menu, including the ability to remove the recommended section.

Here is his post on X that highlights the change.

Here is how this works:

  1. Open the Settings on the system.
  2. Switch to the Start category.
  3. Disable “Show recently added apps”.

Disabling the option will remove the entire Recommended section of the Start menu, including the header that could not be removed previously.

Show recently used apps is going to remove Recommended in the Start menu. Source: Phantom of Earth

Here is why this is important. Up until now, Recommended would take up space in the Start menu, even if you did not use it. You could not use the space to display more pinned apps, which some users might prefer.

Phantom of Earth notes that there is another feature available now that complements the change. You may now choose to display “all pins by default”. You had to click on the All button up until now to display them all. The change places these icons in the area of the recommended section.

Closing Words

It is rare these days that I applaud Microsoft for the changes that it makes to the Windows operating system, but this one, albeit years too late, is a welcome addition.

Considering that it is currently only available in Insider builds, it may take a while before it lands in Stable. And yes, there is always the chance that a feature gets pulled again. Let us hope that this is not one of those cases.

Now You: do you use the Windows start menu or do you prefer to use a replacement?

Windows 11 is removing an option to bypass Microsoft account and internet during setup

Microsoft bringing a useful Windows Update feature to Windows 11, but restricts it artificially

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Microsoft’s Windows 11 operating system has its fair share of annoyances. From mediocre apps, Telemetry and ads to other design decisions that seem to serve Microsoft more than the users of the operating system.

Windows Update and the requirement to restart the PC to install updates is certainly on the list of some users. Especially the operating system’s habit of restarting the PC when it perceives it as idle needs to be mentioned. You find plenty of horror stories online about users losing work because of automatic restarts of their PCs.

Hotpatching

Microsoft created a solution for that some time ago. Hotpatching was introduced in 2022 for Windows Server. This allows updates to be installed without a reboot of the system. Unfortunately, this feature has been limited to Windows Server products up until now.

Good news is that Microsoft has finally ported the Hotpatch functionality to Windows clients, more specifically, Windows 11, version 24H2. Bad news is that this is limited to Enterprise clients at the time of writing.

Microsoft employee David Callaghan revealed the news on the company’s Windows IT Pro Blog. Hotpatching, according to Microsoft, offers several benefits over the traditional method of installing security updates.

  • Updates are applied immediately and not after the next reboot.
  • Security is always up to date.
  • Disruptions for users are minimized, as systems do not need to be rebooted anymore to install updates.

Note that some updates, feature updates or firmware updates for example, still require reboots. This is also true for what Microsoft calls cumulative baseline updates. These are released in January, April, July, and October of each year. They continue to require restarts.

The updates inbetween are hotpatch updates, which means that they do not require restarts.

In other words, four updates per year continue to require restarts, while the other eight cumulative updates of the year do not.

The big downside to the improvement is that home users and many small and medium-sized businesses do not gain access to the functionality. It is reserved for Enterprise customers (Windows 11 Enterprise E3, E5, or F3, Windows 11 Education A3 or A5, or a Windows 365 Enterprise subscription).

Another restriction is that the ARM version is still in public preview. It requires additional prerequisites, specifically a Registry Key needs to be set as outlined by Microsoft.

Closing Words

Windows is not the only operating system that requires reboots when updates get installed. It is still a major nuisance, especially if the system reboots automatically suddenly, which may lead to lost work.

A big MSEdgeRedirect update has just been released

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

When Microsoft launched its Edge web browser, it used Windows to quickly push the usage share of the browser. One of Microsoft’s ways of doing so was to create artificial protocols in Windows that would open only in Edge.

Clicks on web searches in Start or news would always open in Edge, even if the browser was not the default browser on Windows.

The small tool MSEdgeRedirect was created to address this. The main idea was to redirect requests that Windows would push towards Edge to another browser.

There have not been any updates for over a year, but a new update just hit. Good news for users of the project, as it is improving the redirector in several ways.

Note: The open source program is still a beta officially. While it works well, you may run into bugs or issues using it. Also, Microsoft may change things and that may break functionality.

So, here is what is new in MSEdgeRedirect 0.8.0.0:

  • The minimum supported system is now Windows 10. Windows 8 is no longer supported.
  • Fixed Windows Spotlight, PDF file handling, some UWP apps no longer working in Service Mode.
  • New AI-less Google Search results option.
  • Improved news handler.
  • Adds support for –from-ie-to-edge and bing.com/WS/redirect.
  • Adds passthroughs for –user-data-dir and –win-session-start.

The update is a bug fix update for the most part that fixes some existing issues. If you use the tool already, you should upgrade to the latest version. That is, unless you still run Windows 8.1, as this is no longer supported. Oh, and Europe mode is still a thing, why not give it a try.

All in all, it is good to see that the project has not been discontinued.

Now You: do you use MSEdgeRedirect or have used the app in the past?

Firefox AI Summaries

First Look at Firefox’s new Link Preview feature with AI Summaries

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

Mozilla is working on introducing link previews in its Firefox web browser. The feature is in testing in the latest Nightly version currently and includes support for local AI summaries.

The main idea behind the feature is to give users a tool at hand to check information about linked resources without visiting them directly.

Here is how it works: You hold down the Shift and Alt-keys on the keyboard and move the mouse cursor over links in the browser’s interface. Firefox displays a popup then that shows a preview image, the page title, and some basic information.

It uses AI, processed locally entirely according to Mozilla, to create key points that are displayed in the popup. This works for English webpages only at the time. Sören Hentzschel notes that you may add additional language support in the advanced configuration, but that the summaries are often in English.

The speed of processing depends entirely on the local system and its capabilities. I tested this on a fairly old computer and the processing took too long to be of use. Still, even without it, link previews worked quickly and reliably already.

How to enable the feature

You need the most recent version of Firefox Nightly, as this is only baked into Nightly at the moment. Note that the feature is in active development and that some features may be missing and that you may experience bugs while using it.

To enable Firefox’s new link preview feature:

  1. Load about:config in the Firefox address bar.
  2. Confirm that you will be careful.
  3. Search for browser.ml.linkPreview.enabled.
  4. Set the experimental preference to True.
  5. Restart Firefox.

Tip: you can add new supported languages to the preference browser.ml.linkPreview.allowedLanguages. Just append them. The default value is en. To add Spanish and Japanese, expand the string so that its value is en,es,jp in the end.

Again, languages other than English may not work overly well at this stage in development.

Closing Words

Firefox supports link previews on mobile already. You can long-press a link to get a preview. On desktop, users need to install extensions for that purpose, unless I’m mistaken (correct me please on this if that is the case).

The shortcut Shift-Alt is not overly elegant, but it works. The preview opens quickly and you get some information that you would not get otherwise, including the page title and a short description.

The AI summary feature did not work well on an older test system, but it may work better on modern hardware.

Now You: do you make use of link previews regularly or click on links right away all the time? Would you use Firefox’s new feature? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

Windows: Quick Machine Recovery feature explained

Posted on by Martin Brinkmann

If you have used Windows long enough, you have probably come into contact with Startup Repair at one point. The feature aims to resolve issues that prevent the operating system from starting up. It is a hit and miss kind of feature for many users though, as it relies solely on local files. All in all, it is not overly reliable.

Quick Machine Recovery extends the functionality to the cloud and Windows Update. The main idea is to improve recovery of Windows systems when boot issues are encountered. Designed primarily for administrators who manage multiple devices, Quick Machine Recovery adds cloud files and data to the recovery process.

The new feature uses a Windows Recovery Environment to “scan Windows Update for remediation options” according to Microsoft. The company says that this “allows devices to be recovered without requiring manual intervention”.

Quick Machine Recovery supports two recovery options:

  • Cloud remediation.
  • Auto remediation.

Cloud remediation

The feature uses Windows Update to fix issues experienced on the device. It requires an Internet connection and may download data from Windows Update to correct issues. If the feature is not enabled, Windows will use the local-only Startup Repair feature instead to attempt to fix the problem.

Auto remediation

This automates the problem solving. Windows will connect to Windows Update automatically to try and fix the issue. It will retry to correct the issue several times automatically.

The Quick Machine Recovery process

The five steps of the Quick Machine Recovery process. Image source: Microsoft.

Five steps make up the remediation process:

  1. Device crashes or fails to boot.
  2. Boot into recovery to start the Quick Machine Recovery process.
  3. Establish a network connection to scan Windows Update for fixes.
  4. Remediation, which attempts to apply fixes found by downloading data from Windows Update.
  5. Reboot to either boot into Windows, if a fix was applied successfully, or to restart the process from step 2.

Default configuration

The default configuration depends on the Windows edition:

  • Windows Home: cloud remediation is enabled by default, auto remediation is disabled by default.
  • Windows Pro, Enterprise: both remediations are disabled by default.

Administrators find instructions on Microsoft’s Learn website that explain how to enable or disable the feature.

Closing Words

Tests will show how well the cloud-based recovery feature will perform. For now, it is only available in test versions of Windows 11.

Now You: what is your take on this new recovery feature? Do you think it will work better than the local-only Startup Repair?

Windows 11 is removing an option to bypass Microsoft account and internet during setup

Windows 11 is removing an option to bypass Microsoft account and internet during setup

Posted on by Ashwin

Microsoft is making a change to the Windows 11 out-of-the-box-experience, also called OOBE. The company has removed a script that lets users skip adding a Microsoft account when setting up Windows.

Normally, when you install a fresh copy of Windows, the set-up process requires you to sign in to your Microsoft account. It even highlights some advantages of connecting an account such as the ability to sync your data across your computers, accessing the Microsoft Store, saving files to OneDrive, Microsoft Office products, etc.

The problem with this process is that it does not offer any option to skip the account sign in. In other words, the set-up does not let you set up the PC with a local account. This annoying requirement has been in place since February 2022.

However, there are a few workarounds using which users can bypass the log-in prompts, allowing them to install Windows sans a Microsoft account.

Naturally, Microsoft does not like it when people resort to such measures. In a bid to curb this, the Redmond company has revealed that it is removing the bypassnro.cmd script from the operating system. This change is already in effect in the latest Windows 11 Insider Preview Build for the Dev Channel, with Build 26200.5516 (KB5054687).

For those unaware, Microsoft is referring to a command that users could run when setting up Windows when you are not connected to the internet. Press Shift + F10 and type OOBE\BYPASSNRO and hit Enter. When you reboot the PC, the “Let’s connect you to a network” screen will display another option, “I don’t have Internet”. Users could use this method to bypass the internet and Microsoft account requirement.

The official explanation regarding the removal of the script is that this move was done to enhance the security and user experience of Windows 11. It also states that users will exit the setup with internet connectivity and a Microsoft Account. The message that it tries to convey is that users have no choice but to sign in to their account, the loophole has been closed. Oh, really! Well, no!

It’s gone, but there is a workaround

There is some good news. Even though it may seem like the option is being removed, you still have other ways to skip the account requirement. Notable Windows Insider and X user, phantomofearth, has revealed that Microsoft has only removed the BypassNRO script. But, you can still bypass the network requirement simply by editing a Windows Registry.

bypass the network requirement

Open Regedit and create a new DWORD under the following location: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\OOBE.

Set its value to 1, and reboot your computer. Now, you should see the “I don’t have Internet” option. Select it and proceed to set up your PC without a Microsoft account.

As Martin mentioned on Ghacks, there are a couple of other ways to bypass these annoying requirements, for example, you could use a banned email address like no@thankyou.com or a@a.com which lets you skip the account sign in process. The Rufus tool also lets you disable the online account requirement while setting up a Windows installation media.

Microsoft's Windows Roadmap shows when new features will be available

Microsoft’s Windows Roadmap shows when new features will be available

Posted on by Ashwin

Microsoft has launched a Windows Roadmap to help users discover when new features will be added to Windows. Here’s how you can use it.

It’s not easy to discover when new features are coming to Windows. Sometimes, you may not know what features are being released either. You might suddenly come across a new feature after a Windows Update has been installed on your computer.

This is what the Roadmap addresses, it sort of gives you a heads-up. It’s quite impressive actually, the page lists all upcoming features and improvements that are currently being tested in the Windows Insider Program.

Each listing has a description that explains what a feature does, and links to a relevant article on the Windows Insider Blog that has some additional details, so you can learn more about it. You can also find out the current status of the development, i.e., whether it is in preview, or gradually rolling out, or is generally available to all users.

The Roadmap also gives you an ETA about when we can expect a specific improvement or feature to be available, this is a tentative date.

There is a search bar at the top of the page, which you can use to find something specific. For example, you could type “Explorer”, and the list will filter the results to only show improvements that are heading to File Explorer.

There are some options that are available below the search box. These are filters that allow you to refine the results further. For instance, you can use them to view the features that will be available for a specific version of Windows 11, such as 23H2 or 24H2. Similarly, you can filter results by platform, all PCs or just Copilot+ PCs. You can even filter the results by the status of a feature, and which channel it is currently being tested in.

Now of course, just because something is listed on the Windows Roadmap does not mean that the feature has been finalized. Microsoft could decide to remove something if the feedback that the company received from testers was negative. Or it might delay a feature to make further improvements, and testing.

The announcement on the Redmond company’s blog highlights that the Windows Roadmap could be very useful for IT admins who manage several workstations at the office, as they can use the information to plan ahead. But, it could be handy for regular users too, as it can help them decide whether to defer updates if they perceive some features as annoyances. e.g. Windows Recall

You could skip an upgrade to a major version entirely, but this involves changing a policy or requires a third-party utility like InControl to set your preferred target release. A lot of users are still on Windows 11 23H2, having avoided the upgrade to Windows 11 24H2, due to various bugs that were introduced in the latest version.

For once, Microsoft has done the right thing by launching the Windows Roadmap. But whether users will like the features that it adds to Windows is a completely different story.

Vivaldi browser now comes with Proton VPN built-in

Vivaldi browser now comes with Proton VPN built-in

Posted on by Ashwin

Vivaldi browser has partnered with Proton VPN to allow users to protect the privacy of users. This is not particularly a new innovation, but what matters is the service that is used.

Opera and Brave have integrated their own VPNs in their browsers, as have some apps on Android. Proton is a great choice, as the Switzerland-based non-profit foundation is known for its privacy-oriented services such as Proton Mail, Proton Drive, Proton Pass, etc.

Using a VPN is an easy way to bypass censorship, Geo-restrictions, and access content that is otherwise blocked by your internet service provider.

While it may sound like you don’t need a Proton VPN account to use the security feature, that is not the case. You have two options. One is to sign in with a Proton account directly.

Two, you will need to use your Vivaldi account, and chances are you probably have one if you signed up to sync your browsing data between devices. That being said, you will need to authorize Vivaldi to share your email address with Proton to allow you to use their service, the process is handled by OAuth.

Proton authorization to connect with Vivaldi

How to use Proton VPN in Vivaldi browser

  1. Open Vivaldi on your desktop and click on the “VPN” button in the toolbar (top right corner).
  2. Select Sign in with Vivaldi, or Click on “Already have a Proton Account.”
  3. Click on the Connect button to automatically connect to the nearest Proton VPN server.

That’s it, your browser traffic is now protected by the VPN. You can tweak the service’s settings from the pop-up panel.

Vivaldi Proton VPN Connect

If you do not see the VPN option, try updating your browser to the latest version.

Note: You may want to disable sharing of anonymous usage crash reports under the VPN’s settings.

Built-in feature, or is it?

All that said, it appears that the feature is not truly baked into the browser. What I mean by that, is that Vivaldi doesn’t integrate the VPN in its browser, there are no options that you can manage from the Settings page. That’s because Vivaldi installs the Proton VPN: Fast & Secure extension for the VPN feature. Vivaldi’s announcement does not mention this.

The VPN button does not indicate that it is related to an extension, as the right-click menu does not list options like “Manage Extension” that are available in other add-ons. Vivaldi’s VPN button appears as if it’s a native option, but sadly it’s not. The only unique experience that it seems to offer is the VPN button itself, the icon doesn’t use Proton VPN’s logo. You can still hide it from the toolbar, or even uninstall the extension.

Proton VPN extension installed by Vivaldi

The extension is not installed by default, it only appears when you interact with the VPN button, i.e. when you choose to sign in. You could of course install the extension manually and sign in to it directly with your Proton account, i.e. if you don’t want to use a Vivaldi account. The add-on is available for all major browsers including Firefox, and Chromium-based browsers like Chrome, Edge, Brave, Opera, etc.

It’s not my intention to downplay the feature, I’m just saying a native feature would have been nicer. But, this could be useful too, especially for people who are not familiar with VPN or Proton, or don’t know which extension to download.

Proton VPN in Vivaldi is only available in the desktop version of the browser, i.e. it is not available in the mobile apps for Android and iOS.

Now, this should be obvious to power users, but for those unaware, using Vivaldi’s built-in VPN will only protect your browser traffic. If you want to protect all of your internet traffic, then you should consider using the Proton VPN desktop client, which has a free tier with some limitations, or a different VPN of your choice, like Mullvad.

Read my recent coverage about Vivaldi 7.2, which introduced a faster, more accurate address bar and other improvements.