Chipp.in Tech News and Reviews

Windows, Security & Privacy, Open Source and more

Menu
  • Home
  • Windows
  • Security & Privacy
  • Gaming
  • Guides
  • Windows 11 Book
  • Contact
  • RSS Feed
Menu
video

Vividl: download videos from hundreds of sites on Windows

Posted on January 28, 2024January 28, 2024 by Martin Brinkmann

Vividl – Video Downloader is an open source tool for Microsoft Windows devices to download videos from hundreds of websites. The app uses the popular downloader youtube-dl / yt-dlp in the background. It supports downloads of video or audio files from hundreds of sites.

Most video streaming sites do not want you to download videos. Prime reason for this is monetization as offline videos cannot be monetized. Some services support video downloads, but often only as premium features. Google’s YouTube, for example, supports downloads, but restricts them to YouTube Premium subscribers.

There are quite a few reasons why you may want to download videos. Here is a short list:

  • To watch the video (later) when there is no Internet connection or no reliable Internet connection.
  • To watch a higher quality version of the video, which the Internet connection is incapable of streaming.
  • To watch videos without ads. Tip: you may bypass YouTube video ads without adblockers.
  • To listen to the audio of a video only.
  • For backup purposes.

Vividl: the basics

Vividl Video Downloader interface

You may download the latest version of the video downloader from its GitHub project website. The app runs on Windows 7 and newer versions of the operating system.

The developer lists two dependencies: .NET Framework 4.8 or higher, and Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable Package. Downloads for both are linked on the project website, if needed.

Windows may throw a SmartScreen error when you try to install it. The app checked out fine on Virustotal, which suggests that this is thrown only because it is a new version.

The main program interface looks basic, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. Add a video by pasting its URL into the interface or through drag & drop. An auto import from Clipboard option is provided.

Vividl picks it up and displays information about it after a brief moment.

The main interface acts as the download queue but also download list. There is no option to separate these, which would help manage larger lists of videos.

Downloading videos

Vividl video and audio quality

All videos added to the video downloader are listed in the queue by default. Several download-related options are displayed there.

The default output format is mp4 video and a default quality is selected. Both options are customizable. Vividl supports webm, avi and mkv formats on the video site next to mp4.

A click on the tool icon, which is adjacent to the format button, displays all available video and audio qualities. Here you may select the desired output format and quality manually. You may need to scroll to find specific options, as the lists are not necessarily sorted by size or resolution.

There are options to download video and audio files separately, or just one of the two formats.

The downloading happens in the background. Vividl downloads three files simultaneously by default. You can change this in the program settings.

The settings list several interesting options, some of which automate the experience. Here is a short list of important options:

  • Change the default video resolution and video format. The defaults are mp4 and 1080p.
  • Always download the best quality.
  • Enable GPU acceleration for video encoding, if supported.
  • Instead of overwriting existing media, skip it or rename it.

Verdict

Vividl is a straightforward video downloader for Windows. It supports hundreds of video sites and works really well. Both manual and automatic options work reliable.

To conclude, if you need a well-designed video downloader, this is a program that you may want to test. I still prefer Internet Download Manager, but this is a commercial program that supports video downloads and also other file downloads.

Glow

Glow: open source Windows system analysis software

Posted on January 27, 2024January 27, 2024 by Martin Brinkmann

Glow is an open source program for Microsoft Windows devices that displays a wealth of information about the system it is run on.

What are the features that it offers and how does it compare to popular alternatives such as Speccy? Read on to find out.

Glow: a system analyzer

Glow Windows System information

Windows displays some information about a system’s hardware and software. The information is scattered all over the place. Even the System Information tool lacks some information that third-party tools offer.

Glow is a free portable app hosted on GitHub. You may run it right after extracting the ZIP archive on the local system. The developer says that it is compatible with Windows 10 and 11 only. The app does require the .NET Framework 4.8.1, which should be installed on most devices.

The left pane of the program lists the various sections, the right pane the information. Operating system information displays important information about the Windows system. This ranges from the operating system build and architecture to the user account, Windows edition and lots more. Scroll down to find information about the system’s uptime, last shutdown time and date, or the system and boot partitions.

Select another section on the left, e.g., motherboard, processor or graphics card, and Glow displays information about immediately.

To name just a few important bits of information: motherboard model and BIOS version, whether a TPM chip is available, the model of the graphics card and the driver date, the RAM type and amount, number of RAM slots, and information about all connected hard drives.

There is a lot to explore, especially for users new to these kind of tools. The sections function as entry points. There is no search, which might help find information quickly.

Glow supports exporting information to txt or html files. The tools section lists a few options:

Other Tools

  • SFC and DISM Automation Tool — this uses built-in Windows tools to find and repair corrupt system files. Microsoft plans to introduce a Windows Update repair feature in future versions of Windows.
  • Cache Cleanup Tool — clean several memory caches to free up RAM.
  • TRIM Audit Tool — this tool checks the TRIM status, on or off, and allows users to enable TRIM if off. TRIM is used to free blocks on Solid State Drives, which opens them up for writing.
  • System Software Tool — links to 10 system tools, including Autoruns, Display Driver Uninstaller, and graphics cards driver download repositories.

How Glow compares to Speccy

The free version of Speccy displays information about the system. There is a professional version, which includes automatic updates and priority support.

Speccy needs to be installed before it is ready for use. There used to be an official portable version, but it has been removed by the developer.

Speccy displays information about the computer’s hardware on launch. This includes key information, but some is missing. As an example; while Speccy lists the operating system and edition, it does not list the build number. The tool focuses on hardware and devices only. Glow, on the other hand, displays installed drivers. Temperature readings are supported by Speccy, but not by Glow.

In closing, both programs offer features that the other does not support. Speaking of support, the developer of Glow announced that Glow is feature complete. There won’t be any future updates of the app anymore. It is possible that the project gets forked, as it is open source, but it is unclear at this point.

Verdict

Glow is a powerful system information tool for Windows. It is excellent for looking up information, e.g., to find out if you can put more RAM into the system or can replace the existing graphics card with a new one.

Summing up, there is little not to like about the tool. The missing temperature information is probably the main feature missing from it. Consequently, it is an excellent program for Windows users to look up system information. Nevertheless, the end of development announcement may cause issues in the future.

Now You: do you use system information tools?

AI

Why you need to check any AI service before use

Posted on January 26, 2024January 26, 2024 by Martin Brinkmann

Barely a day goes by without another announcement that some form of AI has been added to a product. Operating systems, web browsers, Office programs ,devices such as smartphones, and yes, toasters, all get AI infusions these days.

These AI additions are disabled sometimes, at other times enabled. While it is tempting to try out the latest AI feature in a product that you use, it is even more important to understand how it works.

Most AI tools require an active Internet connection at the time. This is true for Windows Copilot, the AI that Microsoft has integrated into the Windows operating system, and also for many of the AI tools. Besides requiring an active Internet to work at all, Telemetry may also be collected by companies.

Google, for example, launched new AI features in Chrome this week. One of the features submits all URLs and page titles to Google when used. There is a policy that prevents the sending, but the default state submits the data to Google when the feature is used. Is Google warning users of the feature about this prominently? No, it is not.

Companies use the data to improve their AI tools. These Large Language Models eat data for breakfast. New data is used to train the AI and improve it further.

For ordinary people, it is almost impossible to find out if a system submits data, which data is submitted, and how it is processed.

Oh Transparency, where art though?

Companies should be transparent when it comes to AI. Does it require an Internet connection to work? In other words, does it communicate with a server and submit user data to it?

If it does, how is the data processed and stored? Is it deleted automatically? Is there an opt-out for the use of data for AI training or other purposes?

Companies need to be open about the use of Telemetry data to train AI. Which data is collected, how is it processed and stored? What options do users have to opt-out or get their collected data deleted?

It feels a lot like Wild Wild West currently when it comes to AI. The new data rush promises great returns in the short and long run.

Closing Words

AI has a novelty factor and some good uses. You could use it to create images for blog posts or something else. While all text-based returns require validation, as AI may hallucinate or return factually incorrect information, it can be useful.

Most users need to be aware that most AI tools submit data to servers. The premise may limit data leaks, which can be a real problem, especially if the AI uses the data for training.

It is good to be cautious about any new AI service that is added to a product because of that. Better, do not use it if you are unsure or if the company behind it does not make it clear.

Now You: do you use AI tools?

Privacy

This Chrome AI tool submits all URLs and titles of open tabs to Google

Posted on January 25, 2024January 25, 2024 by Martin Brinkmann

It seems like some companies have entered into the “adding the most AI tools into products” competition. Microsoft seems to be winning, with its pushing of AI into lots of its products. The company introduced Copilot Toolbar for Android recently, and many future Windows devices will even feature a dedicated Copilot key on the keyboard.

Google launched Chrome 121 earlier this week and announced new AI tools that it included in the browser. These are limited to a small subset of users at the time but will roll out to more in the coming weeks and months.

One of the tools is called Tab Organizer. Google promises that the AI tool helps users bring order to their tabs. It does so by finding tabs suitable to be put into tab groups.

Tab groups is an excellent tab management feature. Open tabs may be placed into groups, or created there directly. A group can be collapsed, so that it occupies just a single tab on Chrome’s tab bar, even if it holds dozens or hundreds of tabs.

Tab Organizer

Tab Organizer

Google announced Tab Organizer on the official company blog The Keyword as part of three AI tools for Chrome.

Google writes: “With Tab Organizer, Chrome will automatically suggest and create tab groups based on your open tabs. This can be particularly helpful if you’re working on several tasks in Chrome at the same time, like planning a trip, researching a topic and shopping.”

The feature is available to a selection of users from the United States only at the time. These users need to be signed-in to Google Chrome and they need to enable the Tab Organizer feature first.

This is done by selecting Menu > Experimental AI > Try out experimental AI features > Tab Organizer and then selecting relaunch.

Tab Organizer is then accessible via the Tab Search icon in Chrome’s main toolbar, by right-clicking on tabs and selecting “Organize similar tabs”, or through the Chrome Menu.

Google’s AI will then suggest to put tabs into specific groups. Users may remove tabs from the list of suggestions and rename the tab group for better identification. A click on “create group” creates the tab group based on the selections.

The huge privacy issue

What Google’s announcement on The Keyword blog does not reveal is that Google collects all page titles and URLs when the feature is used.

This is confirmed on a Google Chrome Help page:

When you use Tab organizer, the page titles and URLs of open tabs in the active window and your feedback are collected. As described in our Google Privacy Policy, this information is used to improve this feature, which includes generative model research and machine learning technologies.

In other words, Google knows about any URL and page title open at the time. Since Tab Organizer requires to be signed-in, it could also link the information to the Google account.

Google says that human reviewers may look at the data as part of the review process.

A policy is available for Enterprise and Education users to block the data collecting from happening. No such option is provided for other users.

Closing Words

Most Chrome users may want to avoid the feature, unless they have no problems that it submits all URLs and page titles to Google.

While the feature can be useful, especially if hundreds of tabs need to get organized, it may be better in most cases to use the feature manually instead to avoid any leaks to Google.

With AI tools, it seems to become necessary to ask about privacy implications first before even considering using a tool.

Now You: what is your take on this?

Windows 10

KB5034203 prepares Windows 10 for the EU’s Digital Markets Act

Posted on January 24, 2024January 24, 2024 by Martin Brinkmann

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.

European Union

Microsoft Edge and Bing insignificant for regulation in the EU

Posted on January 24, 2024January 24, 2024 by Martin Brinkmann

The European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) will come into force in March 2024. The EU identified several products and services as gatekeepers. These fall under the new regulation.

One of the main goals is to level the playing field and avoid abuses of power. Six companies and 22 services and products are gatekeepers according to the EU.

The EU opened four market investigations into Bing, Edge, Microsoft Advertising and iMessage to determine if these services will be added to the list of gatekeepers.

A Bloomberg report now claims that all four won’t be considered gatekeepers by the European Union. The report cites “unnamed officials at the EU as “people familiar with the matter” as its source.

According to Bloomberg, the four mentioned services are “dominant enough to be hit by the regulation”. While some of the services are popular in other regions of the world, Apple’s iMessage or Microsoft’s Bing are popular choices in the United States, they are not dominant enough in the European Union.

Microsoft Bing, for instance, has a market share of less than 4% in Europe according to Statcounter. Similarly, Microsoft’s Edge web browser has a market share of less than 6% in Europe according to the company.

While these stats are not 100% accurate, they make the argument for adding these services to the list of gatekeepers difficult.

The final verdict is expected in February 2024.

No free pass for Microsoft

Microsoft’s Windows operating system and its LinkedIn social network are gatekeepers, according to the EU.

Microsoft announced changes that it plans to make available to users from the European Union and European Economic Area exclusively in the coming months.

The changes give users control over certain features of the operating system. They include the ability to remove Microsoft Edge and Bing Search in Windows, among other changes.

Microsoft’s Windows operating system ships with Microsoft Edge as the default browser and Bing Search included. Some links open only in Edge by default, but this is changing soon for users from the EU.

To sum it up, Windows users from the EU and EEA will gain control over Edge and Bing, even though both services are not (likely) considered gatekeepers.

The EU’s target is Windows. Specifically, Microsoft’s use of the operating system to favor its services, Bing Search and Edge are just two examples, over others.

Would Microsoft’s web browser stand where it is standing right now market share wise, if not for the integration and pushing in Windows?

Closing Words

Some Google and Meta products and services are also considered gatekeepers. Meta announced this week that it will give EU users control over data sharing between some of its services.

Google too is disabling data sharing between its services by default for users from the EU.

It is unfortunate that the rest of the world is not getting the same improvements.

Now You: what is your take on gatekeepers and the DMA?

facebook

Unlink Facebook, Instagram and Messenger accounts in the EU

Posted on January 23, 2024January 23, 2024 by Martin Brinkmann

Facebook, Instagram and Messenger users from the EU, EEA and Switzerland may soon unlink their accounts to stop data sharing.

Meta, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp parent company, announced that users from the EU, EEA and Switzerland will soon have the option to unlink some of their services. The announcement includes some surprises, among them an option to unlink Facebook data from Marketplace activities, and Facebook Messenger from Facebook data.

The improvement comes as a response to Europe’s Digital Markets Act (DMA). The EU identified gatekeeper companies that dominate certain services on the Internet or on user devices. New regulations for these companies aim to improve user rights and competition in the market.

Google users from the EU may also unlink services to stop the automatic exchange of data between them. Now, it is Meta that announces similar functionality for some of its main services. The company says that it has “assembled a large cross-functional team staffed by senior employees from around the globe and across our entire family of apps” to introduce these changes to the platforms.

Meta products affected by the change

Meta mentions Facebook and Instagram only in the announcement. WhatsApp, also owned by Meta, is also considered a core platform service by the DMA, but not mentioned by Meta.

Facebook and Instagram users who connected their accounts will see an option to unlink these in the coming weeks. They can:

  • Keep the two accounts linked and have information shared between Facebook and Instagram.
  • Unlink the accounts to manage them as separate accounts. This ends data sharing between the two accounts.

Facebook Messenger users may choose to use Messenger as a standalone product. They may create a new account in the application to use it as a standalone messenger app.

Core services, including private messaging and chat, and voice and video calling are available then.

Facebook Marketplace users may unlink Marketplace from their Facebook information. Users who do that may continue to use Marketplace to buy and sell products. Communication between buyer and seller, on the other hand, happens exclusively via email and no longer Facebook Messenger or Chat.

Facebook users who play games on the site may block games from accessing their Facebook information. This limits availability of games. Only “some single-player games” may be played in that case. Multiplayer games, personalized game suggestions and in-game purchases are not available in these cases.

Closing Words

Facebook plans to roll out these changes in the coming weeks. Only users from the European Union, European Economic Area and Switzerland will get these options. The changes will roll out gradually and users will be notified about them once they reach their accounts or devices.

Video creator

Grayjay: follow video creators on multiple platforms

Posted on January 22, 2024January 22, 2024 by Martin Brinkmann

Grayjay is a new application for Google Android devices to follow video creators on multiple platforms.

Depending on how active you are when it comes to streaming media, you may know that many video creators publish content to different platforms. A basic example is a Twitch streamer who also publishes some footage on YouTube.

Keeping up with just a single creator may require following them on different platforms. Follow more and add more platforms and it can get complicated quickly.

Grayjay set out to fix this. It supports a good number of platforms already. Besides YouTube and Twitch, Grayjay supports PeerTube, Odysee, Kick, Patreon, Rumble, Nebula and SoundCloud. Support for Subscribestar is under development already and there is a good chance that more platforms are added in the future.

The app does not require an account. Since it supports the downloading of videos, it is not available on Google Play. You may download it for Android from the developer website.

One effect of using Grayjay is that you can watch videos without ads. While you can block ads on YouTube and other platforms, it is another benefit of using the app.

Using Grayjay

Grayjay

YouTube is the only source by default. You may change that with a click on Sources and the selection of one or multiple sources. All of these are shown in the main interface. The developer notes that adding more sources may impact loading times, as videos from different platforms need to be loaded.

Tap on any video to play it right then and there in Grayjay. This is useful already, especially since Grayjay supports a queue, custom playlists and watch later functionality. The option to download any video is also provided. The downloads menu lists options to change the quality of the video before downloading it.

The main feature of Grayjay is its follow option. You may subscribe (follow) on any video page or by selecting the channel name. Options to enable notifications and follow only streams or videos are provided.

You need to subscribe to sources individually. There is no option at the moment to select a creator and follow them on all platforms that they publish or stream on.

Still, this is one time process to follow creators on multiple platforms. You may create groups for subscriptions to improve organization. Options include creating groups for individual creators or themed groups based on interests.

The app supports imports and exports of data. This allows you to share subscriptions across multiple devices or migrate subscriptions to new devices.

Verdict

Grayjay appears to be free to use at the moment. The app is open source and you may access the source on Gitlab. There is a “buy” link under “more” in the app that is asking for a payment of €9.99 plus tax. Several developers work fulltime on the app according to the page. The developers hope that enough users find their app useful to pay for it and make it sustainable.

Grayjay works well already. It would benefit from additional features, including the ability to follow a creator on all platforms with just a tap. While that may be difficult to automate, it could maintain a database of developer accounts on various platforms and use crowdsourcing to maintain it.

All in all, it is an interesting app that shows a lot of promise.

AI

Microsoft Edge for Android’s new Copilot Toolbar

Posted on January 21, 2024January 21, 2024 by Martin Brinkmann

Microsoft has renamed its browser for Android recently to Microsoft Edge: AI Browser. The browser is getting an infusion of Copilot and AI features. One of the latest is the Copilot Toolbar.

Available in Microsoft Edge Canary only at the time of writing, it is designed to give users even quicker access to Copilot.

Copilot is the main term that Microsoft uses for AI in its products. There is Windows Copilot, Microsoft 365 Copilot, and a large number of other Copilots. There is even a standalone Microsoft Copilot app for Android.

The mobile Edge browser supports Copilot already. Since it is the “AI browser”, it ships with Copilot included. This base version works similarly to Copilot on the web, but there are a few differences.

A tap on the prominent Copilot button opens the interface. You may use it to get a summary of the active webpage or communicate with the AI using text or voice input.

The Copilot Toolbar in Microsoft Edge: AI Browser

Copilot Toolbar Microsoft Edge

The Copilot Toolbar shows up at the bottom of webpages. It is placed on top of the main Edge toolbar.

It features two options currently: summarize and “ask me about this page”. Both open the main Copilot interface on selection. The first summarizes the webpage, the second offers information about the content on the page.

The toolbar feels a bit out of place. A tap on the Copilot button opens the interface of the AI as well. There you may also tap on the summary option to get it.

The toolbar saves you a single click. It is not overly useful. Microsoft, on the other hand, gets more eyes on Copilot.

The Copilot Toolbar offers some options. Tap on the three-dots next to it to get them. You may disable the toolbar “once”, “on this site” or “globally” using the menu.

Enable the Copilot Toolbar in Edge

The new toolbar is only available in Microsoft Edge Canary for Android. You need to enable it, as it is provided as an experimental flag only at this time:

  • Make sure Microsoft Edge Canary is up to date.
  • Load edge://flags in the browser’s address bar.
  • Search for Copilot Toolbar.
  • Set the status of the feature to Enabled.
  • Restart Microsoft Edge.

The toolbar shows up automatically on webpages and when PDF documents are loaded.

Closing Words

Microsoft pushes AI into all of its products. Some of the integrations feel like tests, to see what works and what does not. Copilot Toolbar is one of these. It does not offer much in terms of functionality.

The summary function is supported already. Considering that it takes a few seconds or sometimes more to get the AI to generate the summary, it may sometimes be faster to read the article by yourself.

This may not be true for very long articles, but it is necessary to verify the information the AI provides anyway.

Computers

How to back up Windows user profiles

Posted on January 20, 2024January 20, 2024 by Martin Brinkmann

Each Windows user has a user profile that holds customizations and personal files. Users may install software, download files or change the look and feel of Windows.

Backing up user profiles may not be something that most users are familiar with. There are full system backups after all, which include user profile data.

User backups may come in handy in some cases, however. Here are the two main cases:

  1. To migrate a user profile from one Windows device or installation to another.
  2. To back up a user profile for safekeeping.

Windows users who use a Microsoft account may have some of their customizations and files synced between devices. Not all data is synced on the other hand, including Win32 software installations or customizations of installed programs.

A backup of the user profile and the restoration of it on another device takes care of that.

Note that there are also specialized programs for copying settings. Appcopier is a free tool that does that. Note that Windows Backup backs up user data as well, but not much more.

Super Grate: back up Windows user profiles

Back up Windows user profiles

Super Grate is a free open source tool for Windows to back up Windows user profiles and to restore the backups. Its main purpose is migrations from one device to another. It runs on Windows 7 to Windows 11 devices.

The program requires no installation. Just run the program after download to get started. Windows may throw a SmartScreen error, which you can skip. The application is safe to use. Note that Super Grate requires elevation.

The interface looks simple enough, but there is a roadblock for users who never worked with computer names and domains.

Backing up profiles

To back up a profile, it is necessary to enter the name, and optional domain, of the computer. Open Settings > System to get the name of the computer. It is listed at the top of the page.

Name of Computer

Type the name of the computer into the source computer field and activate the “list source” button. The program will return all user-created profiles but no standard profiles.

The name, creation date and last modification date of each profile is listed by the app.

Select one or multiple profiles and activate the start button to back up these profiles. It may take some time to back up profiles. Much of it depends on the size of the profile. There is a progress bar that reveals the progress of the entire process.

Restoring profiles

Restoring a Windows user profile works similar to the backup process. Type the computer name into the destination computer field and hit the “list store” button afterwards. To restore on the same computer, type the computer name again.

Super Grate should return all backed up profiles. Select the profile that you want to restore and then Start to restore the user profile on the device.

Tip: you may rename a Windows user profile by right-clicking on it and selecting the “set destination user name” option from the context menu.

Full migrations

To migrate a user profile from one computer to another, it is necessary to fill out both the source and destination computer fields. These need to be different and connected to the same network.

Consult the official documentation for additional guidance. It includes information about using Active Directory, deleting profiles and more.

Verdict

Creating a backup of a Windows user profile is a simple task with Super Grate. It is a useful when you want to migrate the profile from one device to another, or for back up purposes.

User profiles may become corrupt, for instance after a virus attack or accidental deletions of important files.

  • Previous
  • 1
  • …
  • 62
  • 63
  • 64
  • 65
  • 66
  • 67
  • 68
  • …
  • 74
  • Next

Support This Site

If you like what I do please support me!

Any tip is appreciated. Thanks!
  • April 21, 2026 by Martin Brinkmann Brave Origin is a stripped-down version of the browser that you need to buy
  • April 21, 2026 by Martin Brinkmann Microsoft confirms yet another BitLocker Recovery Screen issue in Windows 11
  • April 20, 2026 by Martin Brinkmann WhatsApp Plus launches: would you pay for these features?
  • April 18, 2026 by Martin Brinkmann Google App for Desktop is now available and it is all about AI
  • April 16, 2026 by Martin Brinkmann Windows 11 Context Menu Manager: remove items with a click

About

We talk, write and dream about Technology 24/7 here at Chipp.in. The site, created by Martin Brinkmann in 2023, focuses on well-researched tech news, reviews, guides, help and more.

Legal Notice

Our commitment

Many websites write about tech, but chipp.in is special in several ways. All of our guides are unique, and we will never just rehash news that you find elsewhere.

Read the About page for additional information on the site and its founder and author.

Support Us

We don't run advertisement on this site that tracks users. If you see ads, they are static links. Ads, including affiliate links, never affect our writing on this site.

Here is a link to our privacy policy

©2026 Chipp.in Tech News and Reviews