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For working on laptops, tablets, phones, etc., I use the Pro Tech Toolkit from iFixit. It has a lifetime guarantee: “If something breaks, we’ll replace it—for as long as you own the toolkit.” Pricey, but excellent quality. I decided I should pay them back for all their videos I’ve watched over the years. They have a myriad teardowns and repair guides, often for the specific model I’m working on.

For USB-A/B/C external drive enclosures and adapters, my go-to vendor is Other World Computing. They started out as a Mac shop (you can tell from their URL), and have been around a LONG time. The quality of the hardware they sell is very good, as is the customer support. They have started to sell their stuff on Amazon, which is really convenient if you know what you want and have a Prime account.

Not only cart-before-the-horse, but also a security issue.  I don’t like having a network connection open before I can set up my firewall and anti-malware software!

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wavy, Cybertooth, Average-Jane

I wrote an article abut three methods of killing Clippy back in 1999; it was described as “There’s no better homicidal how-to on the Web.”

That reminds of one of my favorite “Wait, wait, don’t tell me” radio episodes, the famous “Clippy must die” exchange, where Clippy is taken for a ride in a car:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxcmoLKVd60
(the part you want starts about 2 minutes into the youtube audio)

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Will Fastie

Thanks @Randy McElveen!  Your columns are insightful and an educational experience for me.

I have a question.  Is there any particular reason you do the “chkdsk /r” repair first, and then the “chkdsk /f” repair?  I’ve always done it the other way ’round. My rationale is that if the issue is only with the logical file structure, I’ll be up and running much more quickly.  If the “/f” switch scenario takes a lot of time, and/or a bunch of errors are found and can’t be fixed, then I would run the “/r” switch.  I am curious to know if I’ve been doing it in the wrong order and the reason(s) why.

unINTELligible
INSIDE™

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wavy

Thanks for letting us know about this program!  I will test it out right away.  You never lead us wrong.

However, I’m not sure I need it, because I use Stickies (https://www.zhornsoftware.co.uk/stickies/), which has an option to associate sticky notes with a particular application (as it states on the referenced page: “Stickies can be attached to an application, web site, document or folder so they only show when it’s on screen.”).  I find it to be a good program; maybe you could review it some time?

I use Vivaldi every day, along with FireFox.  I love the tab-stacking capability of V.  Thanks for tip about Edge Dev!  I use Edge but force it to clear all data each time I close it.  I’ll start doing that with the Dev version right away.

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OscarCP

Do you know of a better, safer GUI-based utility that can check for .NET versions? If so, tell me and others in the forums!

There’s a .NET Version Check utility at Raymond.cc that is a GUI-based utility.  (https://www.raymond.cc/blog/download/did/1741/)  It is several years old but seems to work just fine.   The web site itself is very secure, more so than most.  I’ve attached a screen shot of the result on my system.

I use PowerShell and PSWindowsUpdates to stay on top.  This combination gives me more control than most other methods.

Thank you for reminding me of Steve Gibson and his great utlities!  I hadn’t heard of InControl until now…

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OldMainframeGuy

Yup, good observation.  Micro$oft just wants to see how much they can get away with.  They are not professional or mature at all.  They remind me of a 10-year-old that keeps testing limits.  This way, they don’t have to take any responsibility for the idiotic ideas they have on how to make more money.

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wdburt1

I’ve been using OpenShell (and it’s progenitor, ClassicShell) for nearly 8 years.  It has more capability than I need.  The two things that @Lance Whitney complained about in Start11 (built-in windows apps don’t have their own folder; configuration options are not organized) are addressed in OpenShell: Windows apps have their own folder, and there’s a search field for options.

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Cybertooth

Here’s a good, fairly recent article from Brian Krebs on gift card scams: https://krebsonsecurity.com/2021/09/gift-card-gang-extracts-cash-from-100k-inboxes-daily/

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Steve, SueW

My hovercraft is full of eels.

Hey, it’s a great idea!  In fact, I think Micro$oft should bake in a “Payday Loans” feature into Chredge.  Just sign over your next paycheck and they’ll give you a short-term loan (cash!  right now!) that will perpetuate the cycle of debt.  And here’s an acronym M$ can use, free of charge: BNPF (Buy Now, Pay Forever).  Does M$ know that this type of feature will target people who are poorer and less educated?  Do they care?

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wavy