Some News/Tips

Updated: Sunday, 02/26/2023

YES

If you can, definitely update.
Windows 11 is now the way to go.
A properly installed and configured machine, that is capable, will run Win 11 without any problems. If someone wants to install or sell you something with Win 10 because of "problems" with Windows 11, the machine is either real old, or they don't know what they are doing as well as I do :-)
No charge to bring your machine by to find out if it can upgrade.

Keep in mind --
Windows 10 support runs out in a couple years.

Officially

The requirements listed by Microsoft require a TPM2.0 chip, and a fairly recent CPU. (Intel 8th-generation i processors, or AMD Ryzen 2nd Generation -- dating back to 2017 and 2018, respectively.)
So, basically, if your machine is more than a few years old, it does not meet the Microsoft official requirements.

But does that matter?

If the machine came with Windows 7 or later, I probably CAN install Win 11
Because I have great success:
On almost any machine that can boot in SATA AHCI mode.
So like I said, if your PC/Laptop came with Win 7 or above, I can likely update.
Things to check:
It is best to have an Intel i-series CPU. Even a 1st-generation. (rather than an N-series or any other low-powered chip, like an Atom processor...) And I suggest at least 6 GB of RAM. Generally runs MUCH better than Microsoft's stated minimum of 4 GB. Almost always cheap to upgrade memory if low.

Windows 10 - 22H2
Released 2022-10-18
Beginning with Windows 10, version 21H2, feature updates for Windows 10 release are released annually, in the second half of the calendar year, to the General Availability Channel. They will be serviced with monthly quality updates for 18 or 30 months from the date of the release, depending on the lifecycle policy. The General Availability Channel replaces the previous "Semi-Annual Channel" as the primary and recommended channel for Windows 10 servicing.

Windows 11 - 22H2
Released 2022-09-20
Windows 11 will have an annual feature update cadence. Windows 11 feature updates will release in the second half of the calendar year and will come with 24 months of support for Home, Pro, Pro for Workstations, and Pro Education editions; 36 months of support for Enterprise and Education editions.

Biggest change is that Win10 will have feature update yearly, as opposed to twice a year as it had in the past. Also, previews for next feature update of Windows 11 included advertizing in windows explorer... Microsoft may be going the way of ads, like most everyone else online. They can't let eveyone update for nothing and stay in business, right?
Both 10 and 11 havew the newsfeeds in taskbar running by default.,,, ads when you start clicking. You CAN simply turn off the newsfeed :-)

Lert's face it -- often your "STUFF" (documents, pictures, tax PDFs, work-related files) -- are worth more than the machine they are sitting on. ALWAYS keep at least 2 copies of any files you don't want to lose.
Your computer and a USB stick or external drive.
Something.

And refresh or update them at least a couple times a year. Even the best drives don't lasrt forever.
Did you never hear of Bit Rot? -- it's a real thing:

https://www.howtogeek.com/660727/bit-rot-how-hard-drives-and-ssds-die-over-time/

You are on the internet, browsing around... looking up this, YouTubing that, Facebooking... whatever
Then you get one of the following (or similar):


OR



Usually you get stuck there not able to do anything.
As insensitive as this might sound, listen to me.
No one at Microsoft wants to talk to you!


DON'T CALL THE NUMBER!

Microsoft is not contacting you. This is a browser pop-up scam. All you have to do is close the browser to get it to stop -- but the scammers make it difficult. Here's how to shut them out:

You open the task manager and "end task" for the browser you were using (be it Internet Explorer, Firefox of Chrome.

1.) On your keyboard, press the keys CRTL and ALT and Delete

You will see this screen:




2.) Then choose Task Manager and you will see:



3.) Then choose the browser (in this case Chrome)
and hit End Task

And the warning should disappear.

I don't care how many old coots like me tell you different.

The vacuum cleaner can generate static electricity near the nozzle. It's a fact.
Use compressed air. I've got one of those big compressor tanks, but even the small compressed air cans they sell at Walmart can do a decent job.



On a PC, open 'er up and gently hold the fins on the CPU fan. This will keep them from rotating too fast and getting damaged. Then use the air to blast out all the dust in/on the CPU heat sink.

The power supply in a PC has a fan and gets dusty inside. Blast through vent holes from inside-out for a while. Then from outside in -- then again from inside out.

From there you just spray air anyplace you can see dust to clean inside the chassis. I also use a soft paint brush (clean and never used to paint) to gently brush off surfaces.



On a laptop

I open them all the time, but for the casual user I suggest not to... You can usually eliminate most dust with a few blasts from outside. The only place you really get dust buildup in a laptop is between the CPU fan and exhaust fins. (Crumbs and liquids in the keyboard are another matter :-(

Flip the laptop over.



Find the INTAKE vent over the fan. Stick Mr Cliuppy in there to prevent too-rapid fan spin... Blast air INTO exhaust vent on side of laptop. (from intake-out won't work.)
These can be a bit stubborn. You can usually tell by observation if it is clean or coming clean. Some of the laptops you really have to open up and remove the exhaust fins to get the dust clumps out. Dusty or animal-hair infused units can end up with a "felt strip" of dust stuck in there.

If you don't want to play around, give me a couple bucks and I'll do it for you :-)

The Vivaldi browser is a nice alterative to Google Chrome or Firefox. It uses the Chrome/Chromium codebase, with it's own UI -- it's leaner, cleaner, faster and I set it up to do no tracking. (For pop-=up ads I strill use Ublock Origin, as it does the best job.) It almost always works -- and if it does not, you have Chrome or Edge to fall back on...
I find it much faster and enjoyable going from page to page with the Vivaldi browser. I used Firefox on Linux a lot -- and it got REAL slow. And I just don't like feeding all my info to Google.
I don't think I'm the paranoid type -- but all that tracking and advertising they do can really slow down web browsing. And it's kinda creepy.

Tuesday, 01/28/2020


If you use Avast antivirus, be it known -- they like to sell information about your browsing habits to anyone they can. Everyplace you visit, everythng you buy... via the browser protection plugin. (And in case you did not know, AVG is a subsidiary of Avast.)

Read all about it at:

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/qjdkq7/avast-antivirus-sells-user-browsing-data-investigation

Saturday, 07/13/2019Friday, 06/21/2019


Would you like to search the internet, maybe watch YouTube, without Google keeping track of everything little you do? Here are a couple tips:

1. You can search with duckduckgo instead of google. That site does not track your searches. However, the search results are not quite as good.
2. Turn off tracking for some google services. Go to Google Account Personalization.
   
   Log into your google account if you are not already, then scrolll down a pinch until you see:
   
   
   
   Simply pick which "Activity" you wish to turn off tracking for...in this case choose "Web & App Activity", and you will see this page:
   
   
   
   Then simply click OFF the button, and web search tracking is supposed to be off. You can do the same for other activities, such as YouTube search or watch records.



3. Use a browser other than google chrome. Because no browser collects as much data about you as Chrome.... Try Firefox from Mozilla. It's a good browser. All the other browsers I've tried had their drawbacks, had compatability issues at some sites, or were just plain awkward to use.
   
   

Friday, 06/21/2019


Dell and other OEMs include Support Assistant software with their PCs. It opens systems up to DLL hijacking attacks.
https://threatpost.com/millions-of-dell-pcs-vulnerable-to-flaw-in-third-party-component/145833/

I have been taking this out of my customer's machines for many years... as I knew this could prove to be a vulnerability -- and was never generally productive or helpful long-term.

If you still have Support Assistant on your machine, then it is strongly suggested that you go to Add/Remove Programs and take it out.

Saturday, 05/18/2019

For you stubborn folks still using XP, Microsoft as released a patch to fix a very serious vulnerability involving remote access. You can get the fix at:
microsoft security update KB4500705

The vulnerability also affects Windows 7... so win7 users should double-check windows update.