Newsletter Archives

• I installed Windows 11 24H2

  Posted on April 7, 2025 at 02:44 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  WINDOWS 11

  

  By Will Fastie

  24H2 has been running on my laptop for some time so I can check things as required by my editorial duties. Last week, I decided that 24H2 needed to be under my fingers all the time, so I updated my daily driver, Obsidian.

  It went pretty well. I did break one of Susan’s rules; the result was at least a doubling of the time the update should have taken because I had to manually fix an unexpected problem.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.14.0, 2025-04-07).

  Windows 11 Drivers, File Explorer, Graphics Cards, Newsletters, Windows 11, Windows 11 24H2

• What Windows 11 24H2 offers beyond bugs

  Posted on March 31, 2025 at 02:43 CDT by Lance Whitney • Comment in the Forums

  WINDOWS 11

  

  By Lance Whitney

  If you can get past the persistent glitches, the 2024 flavor of Windows 11 does have some interesting and helpful new features.

  I’d long resisted updating my main laptop to Windows 11 24H2. Though I’d been running this version on a couple of virtual machines, I didn’t want to put one of my core PCs through the ringer. And that’s because Windows 24H2 had been plagued by bugs almost since its official release last October.

  Most major Windows updates are beset with glitches here and there. Before an official rollout of a new version, Microsoft strives to find as many flaws as possible through internal reviews and beta testing. But with so many different Windows PCs and environments in the world, finding every single problem or conflict is difficult — if not impossible.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.13.0, 2025-03-31).

  Windows 11 Camera, File Explorer, Newsletters, Sudo for Windows, Voice Clarity, Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi 7, Windows 11, Windows 11 24H2, Windows Narrator, Windows Spotlight

• Revisiting Windows 11’s File Explorer

  Posted on March 24, 2025 at 02:43 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  WINDOWS 11

  

  By Will Fastie

  Have there been any recent improvements?

  In a word, no. The new File Explorer is not getting any love and continues to suffer from major problems.

  This is highlighted by my ongoing study of macOS. I will eventually write about the two world views of file management, comparing Microsoft’s File Explorer with Apple’s Finder.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.12.0, 2025-03-24).

  Windows 11 File Explorer, Newsletters, OneDrive, Performance, Software Quality, User Interface

• User interface annoyances

  Posted on September 9, 2024 at 02:43 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  WINDOWS 11

  

  By Will Fastie

  The user interface for Windows 11 is changing almost monthly, and sometimes even more quickly.

  It’s not clear why, nor are the benefits of the changes explained. Many of the changes arrive silently and are noticed only when something doesn’t work as expected.

  Here are a few of my personal aggravations.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.37.0, 2024-09-09).

  Windows 11 Excel, File Explorer, Newsletters, Office 365, OneNote, Outlook, User Interface, Windows 11, Windows Lock Screen, Word

• OneDrive and File Explorer

  Posted on June 17, 2024 at 02:45 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.25 • 2024-06-17

  WINDOWS 11

  

  By Will Fastie

  Things are not going so well for Windows 11’s new File Explorer.

  But it might be OneDrive’s fault.

  In fact, it’s not really possible to discuss File Explorer without including OneDrive, and vice versa. They are inextricably linked now, a probable source of many problems with synchronization. And there may be a deeper problem, buried somewhere in Windows 11, that is the source of a strange behavior described below.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.25.0, 2024-06-17).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Windows 11 File Explorer, Newsletters, OneDrive, OneDrive Settings, Privacy, Synchronization, User Profile

• More fun with File Explorer

  Posted on April 8, 2024 at 02:43 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  WINDOWS 11

  

  By Will Fastie

  Windows File Explorer is getting a major overhaul in Windows 11. The most significant change is a new tabbed user interface, a feature much requested.

  I say “is getting” because File Explorer is a perfect example of Susan Bradley’s “dribble” theory, which states that features are being incorporated into Windows in a constant trickle rather than in discrete chunks. Worse, some of these features are being installed silently — we don’t know what we’re getting until after the fact.

  Trying to review such a moving target is challenging.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.15.0, 2024-04-08).

  Windows 11 File Explorer, Newsletters, Power Users, Tabs, Usability, User Interface

• Microsoft removes Win10 File Explorer features without notice

  Posted on January 8, 2024 at 02:45 CST by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.02 • 2024-01-08

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  Microsoft’s updates for Windows 10 in November and December 2023 made significant changes to the File Explorer interface and its search functionality. But the Redmond software giant has posted no written information about the differences or how users can configure them.

  Some of the modifications revert File Explorer to the configuration it had in Windows 10 19H2, the version that existed way back in November 2019.

  Ironically, you may find that you actually prefer the old behaviors to the new ones.

  But that isn’t the point. The point is that changes of this magnitude cry out for written explanations from Microsoft.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.02.0, 2024-01-08).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Public Defender Digital Markets Act, EU, European Union, File Explorer, KB5032278, KB5033372, Newsletters, Regulation, Search, Windows 10

• Ignore Susan Bradley’s Patch Watch at your peril

  Posted on December 4, 2023 at 02:44 CST by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  They say a cobbler’s children have no shoes. I proved this aphorism — the hard way — when I absent-mindedly clicked on a Microsoft update that seriously messed up some features of Windows 11 that I rely on.

  I’ll tell you what occurred and how you can prevent it from happening to you. Most importantly, I’ll explain how you can recover if an update has already wreaked havoc on your system.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.49.0, 2023-12-04).

  Public Defender File Explorer, KB5032190, Master Patch List, Newsletters, Patch Watch, Windows 11

• Why I leave Windows 11 alone

  Posted on October 9, 2023 at 02:43 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  WINDOWS 11

  

  By Will Fastie

  It’s not that I think Windows 11 is perfect. It’s just that I don’t let it bother me. Too much, that is.

  Don’t get me wrong — I am not suggesting that using third-party apps such as Start11 or StartAllBack to enhance Windows is a bad idea, or even that you shouldn’t bother. We’ve come to look at Windows as highly customizable over the decades of its existence, and it is thus quite natural to want to continue working in the same manner without having to adapt ourselves to a new paradigm we didn’t ask for.

  I don’t do that. Here’s why, along with a few things I think Microsoft got wrong.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.41.0, 2023-10-09).

  Windows 11 File Explorer, Newsletters, Start menu, Touch, UI, User Interface, Windows, Windows 11

• Why File Explorer keeps me on Windows

  Posted on September 25, 2023 at 02:44 CDT by Josh Hendrickson • Comment in the Forums

  WINDOWS

  

  By Josh Hendrickson

  I own both a fairly powerful Windows PC and a Mac Studio.

  Technically, the Mac Studio, with its M1 processor, far outstrips my desktop PC. And yet my PC continues to be my daily driver. Why?

  File Explorer.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.39.0, 2023-09-25).

  Windows File Explorer, Finder, macOS, Newsletters, Windows, Windows Explorer

• MORE of your worst Windows 11 irritations solved

  Posted on September 4, 2023 at 02:44 CDT by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  We’ll all eventually be forced to upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11. Microsoft says it’ll end security updates for Win10 on October 1, 2025, as I wrote in Part 1 of this two-part column.

  In today’s Part 2, I describe the two options we face: Hang on to our Win10 installations until the last possible moment, or take the time now to adopt Win11 and cure some of the worst bugs and stupidities that Redmond sent out the door with it.

  I invited my readers to send me fixes they’ve found for Win11’s problems. We’ll get into those workarounds in a minute. But before you go any further, please take a look at the first half of this two-part column and then review my previous exposés of Win11 that you may have missed.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.36.0, 2023-09-04).

  Public Defender File Explorer, Newsletters, Photo app, Photo Viewer, Taskbar, User Interface, Windows 11

• Your worst Windows 11 irritations — solved!

  Posted on August 21, 2023 at 02:45 CDT by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 20.34 • 2023-08-21

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  Despite all the wailing and gnashing of teeth that Windows 11 users have directed at Microsoft, the tech giant still hasn’t corrected the OS’s most common failings. Fortunately, we can fix the problems ourselves.

  Microsoft plans to end technical support and security patches for Windows 10 on October 14, 2025. (Redmond might extend that date — if big corporate users howl loudly enough — but don’t count on it.) It’s likely that we’re little more than a year away from being forced to run Win11, like it or not. You might as well make it work the way you want it to. Why suffer the dumbed-down user interface that you get out of the box?

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.34.0, 2023-08-21).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Public Defender File Explorer, Newsletters, Start menu, StartAllBack, Windows 11, WinSetView
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