Replies

TechTango’s suggestion (which worked for me on Win11 Home 22H2) would not change the .xlsx extension to exe.  What he did was right-click on the .xlsx file, then Create Shortcut.  The new shortcut file has the original .xlsx filename with an .xlsx – Shortcut.lnk extension.  Then right click on the .xlsx – Shortcut.lnk file and put “explorer” (or “C:\Windows\explorer.exe”) in front of the Target.  (No quote marks.)

Win11 Home 22H2

I couldn’t get Susan’s tip (rename .xlsx to .exe, pin, rename back) to work for me.  But this tip worked just fine.  Very useful.  Many thanks.

I found that if I had already pinned the shortcut to the task bar and then changed the icon (right click on shortcut.lnk, then properties, change icon, select icon, then apply), the task bar icon didn’t change.  But if I then unpinned it from the task bar followed by repin to task bar, the icon changed.  (Icon might have changed on the next reboot without the repinning step – didn’t test.)

 

Mine was “Other Update” (Update History group following Quality, Driver, and Definition updates).

The Windows Configuration Update you refer to was installed on one of our four laptops (which is Win 11 Home, updates paused) but not the other three (one of which is also Win 11 Home, updates paused):

The Windows Configuration Update was installed on a Dell XPS 9710 Win 11 Home 22H2 PC overnight Sept 15-16, 2023.

— Windows Update was paused until Sept 26, 2023.

— Under Update History it shows as an Other Update successfully installed.  Clicking on Learn More brings up “May 24, 2023—Windows configuration update Windows 11 version 22H2, all editions”.

— “Get the latest updates as soon as they are available” is off.

— Now at: OS Build 22621.2134.

— Comment: Last night, just before the Windows Configuration Update was installed, Dell installed a BIOS update.

Windows Configuration Update did not happen on Lenovo L13 Yoga-Gen2 Win 11 Home (where updates are paused).

Windows Configuration Update did not happen on Lenovo L470 Win 10 Pro (where updates are not paused).

Windows Configuration Update did not happen on Lenovo E420 Win10 Home (where updates are paused).

 

3 users thanked author for this post.

jburk07, kstenbch, Renee

Cookies and site data (cache, history, etc) are browser specific. If your phone is Android and you’re using Chrome:
1. Open Chrome.
2. Click on three vertical dots in top right (options menu).
3. Click “History”.
4. Click “Clear browsing data”.
5. Choose what do clear (browsing history, cookies and site data, cached images and files).
6. Click “Clear data”.

If you’re using an Apple phone or a browser other than Chrome, search the Internet for your specific instructions.

As to whether you should, if you search the Internet for something like “clear browsing history on android phone” you’ll find discussion and recommendations. Also links to some YouTube videos.

I use Google Keep – Notes and Lists. It can search notes for text.

Thanks, Oldfry and Alex5723,

With last November’s hacking of LastPass and, now, possible criminal activity, I am giving up on LastPass.  I was surprised to find that I actually have 196 passwords stored in LastPass.  Some of these I no longer need, so this is a good time for a purge.

But, even if I end up ditching half of them, I don’t think I want to go so far as Alex’s suggestion of keeping track of remaining PWs using only pen and paper.  That’s just more log-on look-up and data entry than I want to deal with.  I’m not ready to abandon a PW manager.

I admit that I already do something along the lines of Alex’s suggestion: I store passwords in a PW-protected file and I keep it up to date.  One family member knows the location and PW to that file.

I am testing another PW manager, LogMeOnce. LogMeOnce imported all 196 passwords from LastPass.  In the next few days, I’ll do the purging.  Further I need to look at each of the remaining passwords and modify those that LogMeOnce says are not strong or are duplicates.

I use Edge as my main browser.  I have been sloppy in letting Edge store some passwords.  Assuming LogMeOnce becomes my new password manager, I need to clean out passwords stored by Edge.  Settings / Privacy / Clear Browsing Data / Choose What to Clear / Passwords.  I’m keeping them for a few more days until I’ve decided on LogMeOnce.

I do have Google Chrome Portable on my PC as my backup browser.  I don’t use it often, but it may have some stored PW.  So I will do the same clean out as I will do with Edge.

After importing the passwords into LogMeOnce, I logged onto LastPass and deleted my account.  LastPass confirmed this by email.  “Your LastPass account has been permanently deleted and all of your data has been purged from our systems.”

I respect Alex’s “paper and pen” approach, but my 81-year-old brain just doesn’t want to deal with that every day.  Short of that, am I addressing the LastPass issue in the right way?

Paul

Once again, lmacri, thank you for the good advice and clear explanations.  I hadn’t even noticed the addition of Dell Update to the Win 11 menu.

I also appreciate your comment on not allowing Dell Update or SupportAssist to install BIOS updates.  I’ve actually learned that the hard way.  One month after getting the XPS 9710 I allowed SupportAssist to update BIOS, and it fried my motherboard.  Fortunately, I have Dell Premium Tech Support (in-home), and a very knowledgeable tech support guy from a Dell sub-contractor replaced the motherboard.

After the motherboard incident, I kept ignoring BIOS updates for nearly a year.  I was not aware of the two alternative methods you pointed out for updating BIOS without using SupportAssist.  Finally, I got worried about the security of an outdated BIOS and allowed SupportAssist to update it.  It went well, and I got complacent.  So, when an updated BIOS was again offered, I accepted – and this time, once again, it borked my motherboard.  The same tech support guy came, installed motherboard #3, and all has been good ever since.  Of course, when I asked what’s going on with BIOS updates and fried motherboards, the Dell rep was tight-lipped.

I am quite happy with my XPS 9710, but I have extended my Dell Premium Tech Support contract for two more years.

Thanks, DrBonzo,

I think we’re on the same page.   I don’t need the 2gb Dell Command | Deploy Driver Pack.

The recommendation in your link is to use SupportAssist, and your link provides guidance for doing that.  That’s what I’ll do.

Paul

1 user thanked author for this post.

DrBonzo

Hi lmacri,

Thank you replying and for all the good information.

Dell’s recommendation that I install Dell Command | Deploy Driver Pack came in an email (“Dell Notifications – Dell Technical Updates”) yesterday.  Like you, I was surprised that Dell wanted me to install this 2gb download to do future driver updates.  I have been using SupportAssist (currently version: 3.14.0.91) without problems.

Although I have been using SupportAssist, like you I have found it more aggressive than needed (particularly all sorts of unnecessary scans, cleanings, and optimizations).  All I want to do is update out-of-date drivers.  But I can be selective and only do the driver scan without the other stuff.

I had not heard of Dell Update Windows Universal Application that you mentioned.  https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=kjp8k

Its support page says: “Dell Update application automatically updates critical fixes and important device drivers as they become available. This package is compatible only with Windows 10 Anniversary Update (Redstone 1) or later, and Windows 11 operating system.”  That support page automatically found my computer model and Dell Service Support Tag.  However, it said: “This driver is not compatible.  This driver is not applicable for [my service support tag number] with Windows 11.”  Dell’s wording is sloppy because it’s not a driver but, rather, an auto update app.

I followed your suggestion of going to the support page for my model XPS 9710.  When I went to that page, it invoked SupportAssist, which in turn did the same driver scan that would have happened if I went to SupportAssist directly.  It recommended that I install the Dell/Alienware Update Universal Application (which, I think, is an alternative to the Dell Update Windows Universal Application).  The Dell/Alienware Update Application automatically updates critical fixes and important device drivers as they become available.  I decided that for my level of skill, automatically doing critical and important updates is ok.  So I installed the Dell/Alienware driver updater.  Then restarted.

Now when I go to the support page for XPS 9710 it says my system is up to date.  Likewise for SupportAssist.

So, bottom line for me, for now, is I don’t need the 2gb Dell Command | Deploy Driver Pack that Dell recommended in yesterday’s email.  Your helpful comments got me to the Dell/Alienware Update Application.  For now, all seems good.  Thank you.

Paul

 

For me, making the snipping tool the default for the print-screen key makes good sense. I do several print-screens each day. I cannot recall the last time that I wanted to capture the whole screen (including unwanted sidebars, headers, footers, etc). Invariably, I just want a part – a photo, QR code, or some small bit of information. I had been using a third-party screen capture tool with default set to capture a rectangle until I realized that in Win 11 Settings > Accessibility > Keyboard there’s a toggle to “use the Print Screen button to open screen snipping”. So now one fewer third-party app I need.

1 user thanked author for this post.

b

A Dell XPS 17 9710 laptop is my new “desktop”, mainly for space-saving reasons in an apartment. I purposely chose the latest available processor, high end video card, and 64 gb of memory to avoid the potential for, and inconvenience of, upgrading the laptop.

My laptop is supplemented with a Dell D3100 docking station, a keyboard (Logitech K120 – basic, but works great), and monitor (Asus VP28U 3840 x 2160). While the laptop does have a 2 tb SSD, two external 4 tb drives are also plugged in. These are easily upgradable as technology advances. In fact, I just replaced one older external 4 tb HDD with a Crucial 4 tb external SSD.

I have another laptop that I use for travel. But actually my Dell XPS 9710 could be conveniently portable simply by having an extra power adapter.

As it happens, the motherboard on my Dell XPS 17 9710 died a month after I got it (early 2022). The replacement was fully covered by my in-home service contract. I think the replacement was a lot easier with the laptop than it would have been if either the service technician or I would have had to crawl under my desk to get at a tower computer and its power supply.

Before I retired, the organization I was working for had about 1,000 computer-using employees in our location. The vast majority of those 1,000 had a laptop, not a desktop. Three main reasons: First, much of our work was done out at client offices. Data security was critical. Our staff brought their computers with them. Second, laptops can more easily be locked in a secure cabinet. Third, many staff were out at client offices for weeks at a time. Some worked from home for extended periods. Most of those people did not have a permanent office or desk at HQ. Instead, they booked an office or desk when they needed to work at HQ (hoteling). Those reasons made a laptop a sensible choice.

Agree.  A good example of fake AI is a legal brief prepared using ChatGPT by an attorney at a respected NY law firm.  The brief based on AI included “bogus judicial decisions with bogus quotes and bogus internal citations”.  The attorney is now facing legal sanctions.  https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/27/business/chat-gpt-avianca-mata-lawyers/index.html

[edit:  We submitted similar comments simultaneously.]

2 users thanked author for this post.

TechTango, Alex5723

I use Total Commander as my file manager. https://www.ghisler.com/ Latest non-Beta version is 10.52.

Its “synchronize directories” function will do what you want. Total Commander will, of course, do much more than sync directories.

A free app that will do this, too, is Free File Sync: https://freefilesync.org/

Nirsoft nk2_edit lets you edit Outlook’s auto-complete:

https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/outlook_nk2_edit.html

1 user thanked author for this post.

dmt_3904