[Rick Corbett]

geekdom wrote:

You might try Revo Uninstaller Freeware

I couldn’t get Revo Uninstaller Free to even display Game Bar and you cannot use Hunter Mode on the Game Bar overlay itself.

Geek Uninstaller didn’t show it either.

 

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geekdom, satrow

[Rick Corbett]

Alex5723 wrote:

I think SharpApp will remove it. or 10appsmanager

Nope… 10AppsManager doesn’t disable or remove it either:

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geekdom

[Rick Corbett]

Nathan Parker wrote:

Would this get rid of the “XBox Game Bar”? I haven’t found a way to nuke it.

I tried SharpApp as well (using ‘Run as Administrator’). It claimed to have disabled the Game Bar and – just in case – I restarted Windows.

I checked in the registry and, sure enough, the policy restriction had been written:

I also re-ran SharpApp and clicked on the Configured button. A window appeared, confirming that the Disable Game Bar policy had been applied.

And here’s what happened when I pressed Game Bar’s Win+G keyboard shortcut:

… the Game Bar overlay!

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geekdom

[Rick Corbett]

Nathan Parker wrote:

Would this get rid of the “XBox Game Bar”? I haven’t found a way to nuke it.

Don’t bother trying Debotnet to disable it. I tried as a test (using ‘Run as Administrator on a Win 10 Home 1803 install) and Debotnet claimed to have successfully disabled it…

… but didn’t. 🙁

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doriel

[Rick Corbett]

The Lenovo IdeaPad L340 is a series, i.e. a model range, not a specific model itself. More info needed… what’s the specific model?

Have you tried connecting an external display then pressing the NOVO button?

[Rick Corbett]

I didn’t try v13 at first. As v14 was out I tried that instead. It didn’t work in my Win 10 Home VM… it just created a text file then triggered Windows Error Reporting (werfault.exe) every single time I tried to run it.

Event Viewer showed .Net Runtime errors (unhandled exception) with faulting application Bloatbox.exe, version 0.14.0.0 pointing at KERNELBASE.DLL.

So, after re-starting, I tried Bloatbox v13 instead. Same result… a spike in CPU usage then werfault.exe kicks in.

I didn’t experiment any further.

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[Rick Corbett]

iTunes works flawlessly on my MacBook but IMO it’s just a necessary carbuncle on Windows… very prone to failure and – if you look on the internet – the reason for so many support queries dealing with its deficiencies.

If I could find a decent, reliable alternative then I would. However, after trying several alternatives I’ve had to admit defeat and return to iTunes (on Windows – still my mainstay) and all its issues.

It’s one of the reasons I’ve delayed moving my last remaining Windows 7 desktop to Windows 10. I just don’t relish moving my current iTunes library, backed up apps and iOS backups to a newer platform. I’ve had to fix so many other people’s iTunes issues that I have been delaying the inevitable angst.

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Kirsty

[Rick Corbett]

So, I’ve just carried out the above process on a Lenovo MIIX Ideapad convertible tablet.

The process was identical, although – initially – I couldn’t halt the OOBE as described above. The volume was adjusted instead.

As per my previous posts, the Function keys at the top of the keyboard were active as Media control keys, not as F1-F12 Function keys.

I added the Fn key as well in order to interrupt the OOBE, i.e. use CTRL+SHIFT+Fn+F3 keys all together yet it still didn’t work initially. It was only *multiple* presses of CTRL+SHIFT+Fn+F3 together that triggered the OOBE halt and dumped it into Sysprep’s Audit mode.

Again, something for me to remember in future. 🙂

Apart from the multiple tapping of the 4 keys together, everything else is unchanged from my original post(s)… although I’ve added a lot more to the original Windows 10 Decrapifier script I originally obtained via Spiceworks.

Hope this helps…

[Rick Corbett]

Michael Austin wrote:

If you think back the scene in the movie, Groundhog Day

One of my favourite films… (apologies all for off-topic response).

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Michael Austin

[Rick Corbett]

So… Windows 10.

1. What edition (Home/Pro, etc)?

2. What version (1909/earlier/later)?

3. Have you re-started the device so services like Bluetooth are also restarted?

4. What device make/model? (Just in case it’s relevant).

5. When did the issue start?

6. Did you make any changes (like install Windows Updates or other software) immediately before the issue became obvious.

7. Do you have System Restore enabled and, if so, have you tried that?

Sorry but… you’ve described a symptom but given very little background info to work on. Like going to a doctor and saying ‘I’m not feeling well’… and nothing else.

Help us to help you…

[Rick Corbett]

Another thing to consider is using O&O’s free RegEditor (perhaps run as Trusted Installer) instead of Windows’ built-in Registry Editor.

I like that it’s portable, has a LOT more features, understands XML and that I can carry around a list of the many ‘Favourite’ registry locations that I tend to visit time after time.

Just remember that even though you can… sometimes you need to resist the temptation to elevate all the time and think carefully about each situation as it arises rather than just always reaching for TI… just ‘cos it works.

IMO the Windows’ security model is well-thought out… just don’t blast through it without thinking.

Hope this helps…

(PS – On my own devices I *always* replace Windows’ built-in Task Manager with Process Hacker as a default task manager. Always…)

[Rick Corbett]

anonymous wrote:

I have the IPhone stripped down as much as possible to be a dumb phone and do not use it for email, apps, searches, etc.

Whilst I understand your sentiment, I have fat fingers and am always making mistakes typing on the tiny keyboard.

I love being able to say “Siri, send message to <name in my Contacts list>”. Siri replies with “What do you want to say?” and I dictate my message. Siri shows me the message and asks me if the content is OK. I can amend the content or just say ‘Send’.

Siri confirms when the message is sent… and I never touched the keyboard at all.

So, so simple… and invaluable in the car when I’m driving. (Think “Hey, traffic’s awful. I’m going to be about 30 minutes late.”) The speech recognition is excellent!

I now use Siri to set appointments, set reminders, turn Bluetooth on and off. So, so easy (and handed off to my MacBook and iPad as well… where I now use Siri as well)!

Darn you Apple, you turned me into a fanboi by making ‘stuff’ just so easy… 🙂

(Even though the downside is a growing dependency on this ‘ease of use’…)

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Nathan Parker, Myst

[Rick Corbett]

Michael Austin wrote:

Is there some secret, wizardly chant I must perform to nuke these?

I tend to use Nir Sofer’s USBDeview (run as Administrator) to uninstall the Apple Mobile Device drivers, especially when the problem is the device not being recognised.

1. Just do a sort on the Description column so the Apple entries are together then select *all* the Apple entries – not just the Apple Mobile Device drivers.

2. Right-click and choose Uninstall Selected Devices. This will remove their entries in the registry. (IMO this is much easier than using RegScanner.)

Hope this helps…

EDIT: Oops, I’ve just spotted your last post that phone is now syncing. So, all sorted now?

(I’ve also used CopyTrans Manager. It was OK but a little hit-and-miss. I went back to the vagaries of iTunes when I ran into issues and found the CopyTrans support was poor.)

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Michael Austin

[Rick Corbett]

Michael Austin wrote:

And it seems this happened around the time of some forced Windows 10 updates shown in the second screenshot.

Are you using the same Lightning-to-USB for both?

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Michael Austin

[Rick Corbett]

Michael Austin wrote:

… trying both Apple’s executable and the different, separate Windows 10 version from the Windows Store

Hmm… from what I’ve read, I avoid the Windows Store version of iTunes. In particular, mixing both the Apple MSI-based version and the Store UWP version has lead to reports of having to uninstall both. It sounds like they don’t play well together but there’s no posts I can find that demonstrate definitive proof… just supposition and hearsay.

Whilst I agree with comments that iTunes for Windows is rubbish, it seems the UWP version is even worse. (In its favour, iTunes for the Mac has never given me a minute’s problem compared to the hours I’ve spent troubleshooting and fixing iTunes for Windows.)

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Michael Austin

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