Bo Elam
Ed Tittel
Kari Finn
Toni Fasth
Grooming MS Office 365 Licenses & Activations
October 18, 2019, 0 Comments
The Office Software Protection Platform (ospp.vbs) script is an invaluable tool for inspecting and managing Office 365 (and other Office version) licenses. Check it out!
Editorial
Win10 Provokes Strong Q3 2019 PC Sales Growth
October 16, 2019, 2 Comments
Here’s an interesting and bright bit of recent news about PC sales. Analyst firm Canalys reports a jump in global PC sales growth for Q3 2019. In fact, their numbers show an increase of 4.7% for that quarter, a rate not seen since Q1 2012 when growth hit 5.4%. For the record, that translates to
2FA
Expat, Two-Factor Authentication and Windows Phone – Life made difficult
, 3 Comments
This time, a personal story about 2FA and Windows Phone making this expat’s life somewhat difficult. In my opinion, globalization or global integration is a very positive phenomenon. The world is becoming smaller when more and more people are free to travel and even move abroad without permissions and visas, freight moves more freely, and
19H1
Windows Insider team – Out with the old boss, where’s the new one?
October 15, 2019, 0 Comments
A week ago we reported on Dona Sarkar leaving the Windows Insider team, which suddenly and surprisingly left the team without a team lead. Everything we know — or rather, everything we do not know — owing to Microsoft’s and its Insider team’s silence on this sudden move, only makes me more convinced that Sarkar’s
1903
Clean Out Stale RDP Connections
October 14, 2019, 0 Comments
Poking around on the Remote Desktop Connection app on my production PC, I notice some stale entries. I show how to clean them up with some careful registry edits.
Hyper-V
Remote Desktop Connection to Linux
, 0 Comments
I am a big Hyper-V fan, but even I must admit that running Linux virtual machines within that hypervisor can be problematic. First, enhanced session mode does not work, so changing guest resolution is quite difficult. In addition, Copy & Paste between the Windows host and the Linux guest does not work. One option is
19H2
Insiders Warned to Prep for November 2019 Update Release
October 11, 2019, 1 Comment
Yesterday, Brandon Leblanc, Senior Program Manager for the Windows Insider Program posted on Insider blog. Entitled “Getting the November 2019 Update Ready for Release,” it sets the state for the next and coming Feature Update. Among other things worth reading, LeBlanc says “We believe that Build 18363.418 is the final build and we will continue
Azure
Microsoft: Linux – from cancer to revenue source
, 1 Comment
Things at Microsoft have for sure changed since Steve Ballmer‘s, then CEO at Microsoft, infamous “Linux is a cancer” statement in a commercial back in 2001. Whereas Microsoft earlier saw Linux as something to avoid by all possible means, today it has become a steady source of revenue for the company. Thus, for example, on
1903
Toolkit Item: 8GadgetPack
October 10, 2019, 0 Comments
Supposedly, Windows Gadgets came in with Vista and went with Windows 7. Even before Windows 8 came along, MS decided to retire Windows Gadgets in 2011 (see this Spiceworks Community post that quotes the MS info from the time). This post states that the decision lets the company “focus support on the much richer set
19H1
Windows 10 and UUP – What’s wrong?
October 9, 2019, 4 Comments
Up through December 2016 and Build 11082, Windows 10 feature upgrades including new Insider builds were delivered in the form of so-called ESD (Electronic Software Distribution) updates. Upgrades were generally speaking quite fast, and worked as expected. In November 2016, Microsoft introduced a new feature upgrade system called UUP (Universal Update Platform). The idea was,
Announcements
Team lead Dona Sarkar leaves Windows Insider team
October 8, 2019, 0 Comments
The Windows Insider team announced yesterday, October 7th, that Dona Sarkar had left the team. Although that was hardly a surprise to anyone having followed the team since the 1809 catastrophe, the way it was handled shows it was done suddenly and without advance preparation. There was no clean transition this time: no new lead
1903
Ruminating on New PC Setup
October 7, 2019, 0 Comments
Last Thursday, I received a welcome interruption to my working day. Late the previous week, I’d uncovered what I believed to be a “killer deal” on a Lenovo Thinkpad X380 Yoga laptop. Because it was an eBay thing, I was mildly apprehensive about what would get delivered. But when I unpacked the unit I ordered
Announcements
Windows 10X: Another Try at Compact Windows 10
October 4, 2019, 1 Comment
Big doings at the Surface event in NYC on October 2 included yet another attempt at a compact, touch-mostly/only version of Windows 10. Think back to Windows R/T and Windows S (multiple iterations). Now, take a look at this Windows Insider Program blog post. It’s entitled “Introducing Windows X: enabling dual-screen PCs in 2020.” The
1903
Investigating 1903 PortableBaseLayer Partition
, 0 Comments
When a strange new storage device with a single 8 GB partition named PortableBaseLayer shows up on my Yoga X380, I start investigating. I’m not 100%, but there may be a Sandbox in there somewhere.
Admin Tools
Windows 10 Decrapifier
October 3, 2019, 2 Comments
What it is? Windows 10 Decrapifier is a PowerShell script by csand, a fellow member at TenForums.com. It is used to clean a Windows image prior to its deployment by removing unwanted or unnecessary apps and tasks, and modifying privacy settings. Because it runs in script forms, users can modify it according to their own
1903
USB-C HDD Disappoints Vis-a-vis USB3
September 30, 2019, 0 Comments
When I compare benchmarks and Macrium Reflect backup times for the same 2.5″ HDD in USB-C and USB 3.0 enclosures, I’m stunned to observe the USB 3.0 results are better than those for USB-C. Must be the hardware!
Editorial
Windows Insider Program Celebrating 5th Anniversary
, 0 Comments
On September 30, 2014, Terry Myerson, who was then Executive Vice President of the Windows and Devices Group at Microsoft, announced the birth of Windows 10 and the Windows Insider Program. On the very next day, October 1, the first-ever public preview of Windows 10: Technical Preview build 9841 was released. A lot has changed