Newsletter Archives

• 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

• Working with USB 3 and 4 in Windows

  Posted on August 21, 2023 at 02:43 CDT by Ed Tittel • Comment in the Forums

  HARDWARE

  

  By Ed Tittel

  The Universal Serial Bus, most commonly known as USB, has been a basic staple of computing since it first arrived on the scene in 1996.

  It’s a widely used computing-industry bus standard that’s overseen by the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), an industry consortium that publishes and maintains standards for USB4, USB 3.2, USB 2.0, USB ports, cables, connectors, and more. I haven’t seen a PC that didn’t include multiple USB ports since the early 2000s.

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

  Hardware Newsletters, storage, USB, USB 2, USB 3, USB Flash Drives, USB-C, USB4, Windows

• Can I install that on that?

  Posted on August 21, 2023 at 02:42 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  SOFTWARE

  

  By Susan Bradley

  I’m going to see how well the applications and tools I regularly use work on vastly different platforms.

  Can we install a contemporary Linux distribution and still run our favorite Windows applications? What about Windows applications on a Mac? Do you think we can?

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

  Software ChromeOS, CrossOver, Linus, macOS, Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts, Virtual Machines, Windows

• More Microsoft Rewards tips and tricks

  Posted on August 14, 2023 at 02:43 CDT by Mary Branscombe • Comment in the Forums

  MICROSOFT

  

  By Mary Branscombe

  You can earn points by playing games on Xbox — even if you don’t have a Game Pass subscription — or even by learning about new games!

  Last week, I looked at all the ways you can earn daily and weekly Microsoft Rewards points by using the Bing search engine and the Edge browser. But if you have access to an Xbox, you can earn significantly more points, even if you’re not a regular gamer.

  The number of apps involved depends on where you live and how much you travel, because the Rewards program has become attractive enough to exploit.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.33.0, 2023-08-14).

  Microsoft Bing, Edge, Loyalty Programs, Microsoft, Newsletters, Rewards, Travel, Windows, Xbox

• Folder Size Analyzer — What’s using up your hard drive?

  Posted on August 14, 2023 at 02:42 CDT by Deanna McElveen • Comment in the Forums

  FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT

  

  By Deanna McElveen

  You know what hardware-focused people don’t do? They don’t keep their computer’s software cleaned up. My husband is no exception. I’m going to show him where that hard-drive space is going.

  Folder Size Analyzer by TweakNow is a great tool for finding out where the huge files and folders are hiding on your computer. As I use it on Hubby’s computer, you can follow along to find out where your own large files are.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.33.0, 2023-08-14).

  Freeware Spotlight Deanna's Freeware Spotlight, File Size, Folder Size, Newsletters, Windows

• Make the most of Microsoft Rewards

  Posted on August 7, 2023 at 02:45 CDT by Mary Branscombe • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 20.32 • 2023-08-07

  MICROSOFT

  

  By Mary Branscombe

  Microsoft will give you points for using Bing, and more!

  Welcome to this first of a two-part series on how to earn rewards points, where to spend or donate them, and how to maximize your earnings.

  You can view the Rewards program as a bit of a bribe to use Microsoft’s search engine and browser, or you can see it as getting your share of the advertising money Microsoft earns on Bing and MSN. Every search engine makes money, but only Microsoft shares it with users through what’s now called Microsoft Rewards.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.32.0, 2023-08-07).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Microsoft Bing, Edge, Loyalty Programs, Microsoft, Newsletters, Rewards, Windows

• HiBit System Information — Meet your computer

  Posted on July 31, 2023 at 02:45 CDT by Deanna McElveen • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 20.31 • 2023-07-31

  FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT

  

  By Deanna McElveen

  A modern Windows PC has hundreds of hardware components and even more software programs to control it all. You don’t need to use a screwdriver to find out what you have.

  HiBit System Information is a free and portable utility that gives you everything you ever wanted to know about your computer in a neat, easy-to-navigate, tabbed interface. Because it’s portable, you can put it on a flash drive and go around snooping in everyone’s computers. With permission, of course.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.31.0, 2023-07-31).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Freeware Spotlight Deanna's Freeware Spotlight, Newsletters, system information, Windows

• BitLocker, Windows 11 security, and you

  Posted on July 31, 2023 at 02:44 CDT by Ben Myers • Comment in the Forums

  BEN’S WORKSHOP

  

  By Ben Myers

  BitLocker, a major part of a more secure Windows 11, is treated differently by the Windows Out-of-Box Experience (OOBE) setup than by an install and setup using the standard Windows 11 installation image downloaded directly from the Microsoft website.

  This is a significant difference, so let’s explore these two ways to install Windows 11, adding useful background and facts plus analysis of what Microsoft keeps close to the vest. (OOBE is an abbreviation coined by Microsoft.)

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.31.0, 2023-07-31).

  Ben's Workshop BitLocker, ISOs, Microsoft, Newsletters, OEM, Security, Windows, Windows 11

• MS-DEFCON 4: Got 22H2?

  Posted on July 25, 2023 at 02:45 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 20.30.1 • 2023-07-25

  

  By Susan Bradley

  If you haven’t updated to Windows 10/11 22H2, now is a good time because I’m lowering the MS-DEFCON level to 4.

  This month’s updates have now settled down to the point that I don’t anticipate any issues for the vast majority of readers, nor have I seen any surprises in my testing on Windows 10 or Windows 11.

  22H2 is now my recommended version of Windows for both Windows 10 and Windows 11 for all editions and all types of users — with the single exception of gamers.

  Anyone can read the full MS-DEFCON Alert (20.30.1, 2023-07-25).

  AskWoody Plus Alert, MS-DEFCON Alerts, Gaming, MS-DEFCON, MS-DEFCON 4, Windows, Windows 10 22H2, Windows 11 22H2, Yahoo Mail

• Another AI you didn’t ask for: Windows Copilot

  Posted on July 24, 2023 at 02:45 CDT by Josh Hendrickson • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 20.30 • 2023-07-24

  WINDOWS 11

  

  By Josh Hendrickson

  Microsoft’s new AI for Windows has me asking the same question over and over: Who is this even for?

  I’ll get to why in a moment, but it’s not a good first impression for Copilot, the new AI Microsoft intends to build into Windows. It’s out in preview right now for anyone on the Windows Insider DEV build, and naturally I had to give it a go.

  First impressions are everything, and Copilot starts off … well, strange.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.30.0, 2023-07-24).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Windows 11 AI, Bing AI, ChatGPT, Copilot, Newsletters, Windows

• Why PowerShell?

  Posted on July 17, 2023 at 02:45 CDT by Bruce Kriebel • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 20.29 • 2023-07-17

  WINDOWS

  

  By Bruce Kriebel

  For nearly 50 years, we’ve all been using the commands that originated from MS-DOS command line interpreter (CLI).

  This wasn’t a bad thing. Even when Windows came along, Microsoft provided a means to get to the CLI (the program cmd.exe) and continued to flesh out its capabilities. I’ll bet nearly everyone reading this has written a simple batch file using those commands.

  But there’s a better alternative.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.29.0, 2023-07-17).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Windows CLI, Newsletters, PowerShell, PowerShell 7, PowerShell Core, Scripting, Windows

• Working with the Intel Driver & Support Assistant

  Posted on June 19, 2023 at 02:45 CDT by Ed Tittel • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 20.25 • 2023-06-19

  WINDOWS

  

  By Ed Tittel

  Intel’s share of the x86 processor market at the end of 2022 came out at nearly a two-to-one ratio for Intel vs. AMD.

  The Statista survey ascribes 62.8% of that market to Intel and 35.2% to AMD; the remaining 2% presumably belongs to ARM and “other CPUs” sometimes found in PCs.

  But other Intel devices, including PC chipsets and controllers, show up in PCs of all kinds. And that means Intel also supplies drivers to connect devices to Windows and allow them to do their jobs.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.25.0, 2023-06-19).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Windows Hardware, Hardware drivers, Intel, Newsletters, Software, Utilities, Windows
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