Category Archives: Recent Activity

Hardware Reviews, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 11

Strange But Lovable Lenovo AIO

January 16, 2025 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

An AIO is an “all-in-one” — namely, a monitor with a mini-PC slung on its back, usually built from laptop parts. It’s got everything you need to compute except mouse and keyboard (and Lenovo sent those, too, along with the unit and power cord). I’ve owned and enjoyed numerous AIOs over the years. Thus, I was intrigued to learn more about what Lenovo might offer me in that line. They sent me the ThinkCentre M90a Gen 5 in December, but I’m only now writing about this strange but lovable Lenovo AIO .

Digging Into a Strange But Lovable Lenovo AlO

Let me tell you more about this beast: it combines numerous odd or even anachronistic features with a capable CPU, lots of ports, and a surprisingly vibrant and good-looking screen. Here’s a list of what was present on the review unit Lenovo sent me:

CPU: Core i7-14700 (8 P cores, 12 E cores, 28 threads total)
RAM: 2x DDR5-5600 16 GB (32 GB total)
Graphics: Integrated Intel UHD Graphics 770
Disk: 1x 1 TB SK Hynix HFS001TEJ9X164N NVMe SSD Gen4
Display: 23.8″ color calibrated touch display (1920×1080 HD)
Networking: Intel AX211 Wi-Fi 6E and RJ-45 for GbE
Ports: 3x 10 Gbps USB-A, 3x 5 Gbps USB-A, 1x 10 Gbps USB-C
Camera: 5 MP RGBIR (Windows Hello ready) [accessory]
OS: Windows 11 Pro 24H2
Mouse & Keyboard included (very basic house brand)

As configured, this unit goes for US$2,133.00 at the Lenovo Store. Prices go up and down there, and at resellers, so use this as a guidepost rather than a “must-pay” number. If you shop around you may find a better price.

Strange (Anachronistic) vs. Lovable

What makes the M90s strange — IMO anyway — is its inclusion of an optical (DVD only, not Blu-ray) drive, no add-in GPU support, and only USB 3.2 5 and 10 Gbps ports (no USB4 or TB4 ports at all). The unit refused to recognize a USB4 NVMe enclosure when I plugged it in (across all ports). That’s strange, and a bit frustrating, on a business-oriented (says Lenovo) AIO. The unit does support a second SSD slot (M.2 2080 module replaces the DVD drive). One could also insert a SATA SSD into the currently unoccupied hard disk slot inside the case.

What makes this unit lovable is its bitchin’ fast performance (the i7-14700 is wicked fast) and its eminently viewable display. I plugged an Acer 38″ monitor into DisplayPort on the back and easily drove the built-in 23.8″ (1920×1080) and the external 38″ (3840×2160) for an enormous desktop. Great fun!

There are plenty of ports available (albeit slower ones) and I was able to accommodate SSDs (mSATA and NVMe) and various hard disks in their respective enclosures. The internal SSD topped out at ~5 GiB read and 4+GiB write speeds (via CrystalDiskMark 8.0.6 x64 version). Because of port speed limits, 500 Mbps is about as fast as external media will run (on par with a SATA SSD, in fact).

Intended and Possible Uses for M90a Gen 5

Personally, I see this kind of PC as an ideal choice for a dorm room PC, or for office workers in typical productivity jobs (not developers or creatives, but most everybody else). It offers good value for the money if you let Lenovo emplace the parts. That value jumps if you buy minimally configured units and upgrade them yourself (e.g. RAM and storage, including a 2nd internal SSD and a SATA SSD in the HD slot). It’s a pretty solid workhorse if somewhat long in the tooth…

Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Troubleshooting, WED Blog, Windows 11

Dead CMOS Mungs Boot Behavior

January 15, 2025 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

It’s one thing to know something in the abstract. It’s entirely another to have it hit you in the face. Today, I went to log in to my son’s PC to update the BIOS to wake on LAN (WoL). No dice. I couldn’t get anything to get me into UEFI, not System > Recovery > Advanced Startup; not the Asrock Restart to UEFI utility, not even shutdown /r /fw /t 00. Then it hit me: could the CMOS battery be dead? Sure enough, a new CR2032 lithium coin battery fixed the problem. And I was forcibly reminded that a dead CMOS mungs boot behavior.

New Battery Fixes Dead CMOS Mungs Boot Behavior

I happened to have 7 of the 10 (now 6) CR2032s I bought via Amazon in 2023 still on hand. With an expiration date in the 2nd half of 2027, I felt comfortable swapping in this newer battery in place of the dead one. As soon as I’d done that, then recabled everything — alas I had to unseat the GPU to reach the battery receptacle — the system resumed proper, normal boot behavior.

Take this lesson from me: if you ever find yourself unable to get to UEFI, WinRE, or other boot menus and displays, check the CMOS battery. If you’re as lucky as I was today, replacing same will fix your issue(s) as it did mine. Cheers!

And ain’t that just the way things go sometimes, here in Windows-World? You betcha… There is an upside though: with the BIOS/UEFI change I was finally able to make, I can now remote into the upstairs Ryzen PC thanks to Wake on LAN (WoL). All’s well that ends the same way.

Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Troubleshooting, WED Blog, Windows OS Musings

Assessing Generic WU Error Fixes

January 10, 2025 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

Here’s an interesting situation. Right now, my Windows 10 production PC (22H2 Build 19045.5247) has been showing a “perfect” Reliability index since December 21 (21 days). That said, this same device threw a “Failed Windows Update” error 4 times in the period from December 30 through January 6. In researching the error it shows mostly gobbledygook: error 0x80073D02: 9P6PMZTM93LR-Microsoft.6365217CE6EB4. Furthermore, it has me assessing generic WU error fixes, because I can find no definite prescription to fix this recurring item.

Why I’m Assessing Generic WU Errror Fixes

Take a look at the reliability monitor output in the lead-in graphic. It shows a Windows 10 PC that’s working as well as it can for an extended period of time (3 weeks). It also shows 4 instances of the same gobblydygook error string reproduced in the preceding paragaph that occurred about every other day over an 8-day period.

To begin with, the 10 reliability index convinces me that whatever is wrong isn’t really serious. Next, conventional wisdom when troubleshooting WU errors is to “try a bunch of stuff, and hope something works.” Indeed, here’s what Copilot — affirmed by other reliable sources including TenForums.com — recommends for this error:

Run Windows Store Apps Troubleshooter: Go to Settings > System > Troubleshoot > Other troubleshooters, and find the Windows Store Apps troubleshooter.
Reset Microsoft Store Cache: Press Windows Key + R to open the Run dialog, type WSReset.exe, and press Enter.
Uninstall/resinstall Windows Store (Winget does this nicely with Microsoft.WindowsStore as the targeting ID.
Re-register Windows Store: Open PowerShell as an administrator and run the following commands:

Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted
Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register “$ ($_.InstallLocation)\\AppXManifest.xml”}

Check System Files for Corruption: Run the SFC and DISM commands to check and repair potential corruption.

The problem with this kind of approach is that it involves “try everything, and hope something works.” Mostly, the Store is working well enough to avoid uninstall/reinstall (Item 3 above) and also unregistering then re-registering all Store contents (item 4) above.

So I tried items 1, 2 and 5, which took under 7 minutes to complete. None said they fixed anything, either. So far, no repeat errors in the past four days. Is the problem fixed? As with most mysterious Windows weirdnesses, only time will tell.

If It Ain’t Broke…

One thing I’ve learned in tinkering with Windows versions since 3.1 and forever afterward (3.11. 95, 98, Me, NT, 2000, XP, 7, 8, 10 and 11) is that fixing problems that aren’t really problems only makes things worse. Here I took the approach of “do the easy stuff, save the hard risky stuff if it comes back later.” So now, fingers crossed, I’m watching to see what happens next. Hoping for that to be “little or nothing.”

Benchmarking, Cool Tools, Hardware Reviews, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, USB devices, WED Blog

First TB5 NVMe SSD Enclosures Drop

January 9, 2025 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

OK then, I knew it was coming. The Thunderbolt 5 (TB5) and USB5 (aka USB4V2.0) specs got released in September 2023. We’d been expecting 80Gbps devices (including docks, SSD enclosures, dongles, and so forth) to hit the market by late 2024. Now it looks like that crop is starting to come in. I see an NVMe enclosure model available from Acasis at Newegg (MSRP: $279, limited time deal for $239 — it provides the lead-in graphic image above). I also see a Trebleet model available at Amazon ($199). So as these first TB5 NVMe SSD enclosures drop, I find myself asking: “When will I get a test PC with an 80 Gbps USB-C port?” Good question!

Impact When First TB5 NVMe SSD Enclosures Drop

According to the device info a Newegg and Amazon, these new enclosures offer double the maximum read/write speeds from external NVMe connections. But remember, the whole chain — that is, port to cable to enclosure to embedded SSD — must be ready to accommodate those blistering speeds. Right now, it seems that cables (which usually ship with high end enclosures), enclosures and NVMes (which should ideally be PCIe Gen 4×4 or better) are becoming available.

There’s a bit of a problem on the port side of the chain right now, though. At the moment, only the very newest laptops incorporate USB5/TB5 80Gbps capable USB-C ports. Basically, you’ll have to go out and buy something new to take this I/O chain into your Windows processing stable. And indeed, Qualcomm has not yet incorporated USB5/TB5 controllers into its chipsets, so such a laptop will not come from that branch of the Copilot+ PC family tree, either. Indeed, Copilot tells me the same is true for Intel and AMD based Copilot+ PC hardware right now, too.

Does anybody else see a possible mismatch emerging? I can’t help but believe that leading-edge AI capable PCs should also accommodate the fastest USB-C ports and related I/O chains. It could be that the PC market is about to get more interesting than Microsoft and OEMs want it to be… Who wants to choose between AI-capable and blistering fast I/O: buyers want both!!!

Stay tuned: I’ll keep digging!

Hardware Reviews, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 11

Final thoughts: ThinkBook Plus 5G Android Connection

January 8, 2025 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

Now that I’ve had — and used — the hybrid ThinkBook Plus 5G (TB5G) for 8 weeks or so, I’m ready to close out my eval and send it back to Lenovo. That said, my final thoughts are: the ThinkBook Plus 5G Android connection is what makes (or breaks) a buying decision. Those with Android phones they’d like to integrate will find that link-up much more convivial and useful than those with iPhone devices. Alas, I’m a member of the latter club, so I’m coming down on the “won’t buy” side of the equation. I like the PC, but not enough to buy this particular dream.

The ThinkBook Plus 5G Android Connection Is Vital

As is often true for hybrid devices, I also found the TB5G configuration somewhat brittle. I ran into initial difficulties upgrading the device from 23H2 (as shipped) to 24H2 (once WU started offering that version). It did succeed on a later try, so MS obviously took steps to accommodate its hybrid storage. It creates a shared “exchange zone” between the Android tablet/display and the Wintel Core Ultra 7 155H-based keyboard deck. Obviously, it also requires special handling during Windows install and upgrade.

This also went by the wayside when, as an experiment, I let Snappy SDIO loose on the device’s drivers with a doomed across-the-board upgrade. That experiment goes in the “major fail” column, as it left the PC without working cursor, keyboard or touch display upon completion. That fail was severe enough, in fact, that I had to use the “reboot three times” method to get into WinRE and reset the PC from the cloud to restore it to working condition. After that, in fact, it took an upgrade to “Hybrid Center” to bring the Hybrid Folder (A:) back to the desktop…

A Large But Likable Beast

Overall, the unit behaved well, and did what I asked it to do during the eval process. It’s heavier than most ThinkPads, though, and I found it harder to lug than most other Lenovos I’ve tried out in the past 4-5 years (3.9lbs/1.77kg: 2.14lbs/0.97kg base; 1.73lbs/.80kb tablet-display). If I have the price right (my 32 GB, 1 TB SSD, 155H configuration appears to cost around US$2K) it’s a bit pricey, but offers good performance and interesting capabilities.

In the end, it comes down to whether or not you’ve bought into Android or iPhone telephony. It integrated well with my aging Motorola Razr Android phone. With my iPhone 12, not much differentiated it from other Windows laptops. That’s why I’m making the Android call on “who’s most interested” where this device is concerned.

For my money, the lack of Copilot+ PC capability outweighs the “ooh” factor in a laptop with a detachable, independently usable display. I’m ordinarily a sucker for such devices — and have owned models from Dell, Fujitsu, Microsoft, and Lenovo in this category. But lacking the right NPU configuration, this device doesn’t make that grade. Back it goes…

Cool Tools, Insider stuff, PowerShell, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows 11

New OhMyPosh Version Highlights Auto-Update

January 7, 2025 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

As the world returned to a more normal work rhythm yesterday, I found myself fielding various new software updates. Among them, a bump to OhMyPosh version 24.18.0. It wouldn’t work via WinGet because — as you can see in the lead-in graphic — it introduces a “newer version” for its “install technology.” Thus, this new OhMyPosh version highlights auto-update gotcha. I’d already used the oh-my-posh enable upgrade command to automate that process. A new install wipes out that directive.

If New OhMyPosh Version Highlights Auto-Update, Then What?

This got me looking at ways to embed the same information in the omp.json file that drives OhMyPosh configurations. Turns out when a reinstall happens, default configurations are rewritten from scratch. Thus, adding commands to

“auto_upgrade”: true,
“disable_notice”: true,

likewise got wiped from my chosen JanDeDobbelleer.omp.json config file as well. (Add them to the end of that file and you’ll need to drop the second comma, in fact.) What to do?

Turns out a custom config file is left alone when you have to shift from an older install technology to a newer one. Renaming the default config file, adding customizations, and referencing that new name in the invocation for OMP will do the trick. Way to learn, I guess!

Best Gets Better, After Sussing Out the Wrinkles

My fervent thanks to Jan DeDobbelleer, the OMP developer and chief steward. There’s seldom anything that goes off with OMP that isn’t addressed in his copious documentation and online interactions with other users. It sometimes takes a little while — about half an hour for this set-to, for example — but I have always been able to figure out and fix whatever gets hinky with OMP. That’s quite a testament to the tool and its builder. Thanks again for everything, Jan!

Insider stuff, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows 11

2025 Is PC Refresh Year

January 6, 2025 Ed Tittel 2 Comments

I’m not sure what to make of Microsoft’s blog post for CES 2024, entitled “The Year of the Windows 11 PC Refresh.” According to StatCounter, as of December 2024, Windows 11 holds a 34.11% market share, as compared to Windows 10 at 62.7%. That puts 11 at around 55% of 10 by those numbers. If indeed 2024 is PC refresh year for Windows 11, as MS says, it’s got a lot of ground to make up.

Why Say: 2025 Is PC Refresh Year?

Indeed, MS concludes the afore-cited blog post with these concluding words:

…we believe that one of the most important pieces of technology people will look to refresh in 2025 isn’t the refrigerator, the television or their mobile phone. It will be their Windows 10 PC, and they will move forward with Windows 11.

The impetus, of course, from the MS POV is that Windows 11 running on a Copilot+ PC provides significant new capabilities in the areas of security and AI-driven content creation, bolstered by faster, more powerful hardware with longer battery life. Given such a compelling combination of features and functions, the case for refresh is too strong for any other outcome to be likely.

Impending End of Service for Windows 10

October 14, 2025 remains the end of the officially supported road for Windows 10, with subsequent yearly payments for extended service after the cut-off date. MS will bump costs annually for up to three years after that time, to allow laggards to pay for the privilege of postponing refreshes instead.

Does this all translate into 2025 as a notable refresh year? It could, provided that consumers and businesses buy into the notion that what Windows 11 24H2 brings to the party is worth the time, cost and effort to push a refresh through sooner rather than later.

IMO, what’s more compelling to consumers and businesses is the age of their PC fleets, and how long it might be until a refresh occurs as per normal 3-5 year cycles. Looking at my modest collection of a dozen units or so, 3 of them date from 2018, and another three pre-date 2022. That would argue for a 60% refresh rate here at Chez Tittel. I suspect many small to mid-size businesses, and even enterprises, are in a similar boat.

Could 2025 be a big year for PC refreshes? Possibly. Will that actually happen? It depends on how appetites for new technology match up with the will and the wherewithal to acquire Copilot+ PCs. I suspect 2025 will see more refresh activity that 2024 did. But I’ll be surprised if Window 10 and 11 marketshare flip-flops — that is, 30-40% Windows 10 versus 50-60% for Windows 11 by the end of the year. That said, stranger things have happened.

My own best guess is that Windows 10 and 11 might reach parity — which currently calculates to ~48% each — by 12/31/2025. But I see that as a stretch target based on current numbers and prior version histories. Of course, only time will tell… Stay tuned!

Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Security, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows 11

Avoid Mystery Pop-up Windows

January 3, 2025 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

It’s now a truism that one should NEVER click links in email from unknown or untrusted sources. This morning, I was reminded the same is true inside a browser. There, one should avoid mystery pop-up windows with equal attention and suspicion. Indeed, this happened as I visited one of my daily Windows-related news and info sites, much to my alarm and dismay.

Why Avoid Mystery Pop-Up Windows?

Any time you’re presented with a link you don’t recognize, didn’t ask for — and probably also, don’t want — leave it alone. In my case, I clicked CTRL-Shift-ESC to launch Task Manager. Then, I killed all related browser processes. After that, I restarted Firefox anew. It’s never smart to take any such bait, nor to let it linger on your desktop.

Indeed, Task Manager might have refused to kill one or more Firefox processes. Then, my next step would be: restart my PC, then run an immediate virus scan. As it was, an immediate follow-up scan showed Defender still on the job. It revealed neither lurking threats nor suspicious files. Good-oh!

You’ve Been Pwned!

Right here at edtittel.com, I fought off a series of WordPress-induced injection attacks last year. I ended up having to buy into a security service that prevented hijackers from altering URLs published into social media sites (e.g. X, Facebook and LinkedIn). These redirected would-be blog post visitors to certain potentially unsavory stop-offs en route to my daily posts. It now costs me $300 a year to protect website visitors from such stuff and nonsense.

I say this to explain that such things can happen to almost any website, at any time, as unpatched vulnerabilities get exploited. Knowing that this is always a possibility, savvy users recognize that mystery pop-ups hide much more malice and potential for harm than sources for wonder and beauty. Avoid them at all costs, is received security wisdom — and my best advice as well. That goes double if they come bearing offers that seem too good to be true…

Device drivers, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Troubleshooting, WED Blog, Windows 11

DSA Update Succeeds Where Lenovo Vantage Fails

January 2, 2025 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

Go figure! When Lenovo Vantage reported this morning that the ThinkStation P3 Ultra needed a new Intel Wi-Fi driver, I thought nothing of it. I elected the install, fired it off, and waited for the results. Oops: “Failed to install.” Tried again, and got the same result. So I checked Intel’s Driver and Support Assistant (DSA). Sure enough it reported the same outdated driver (23.60.0.10) and the same incoming new replacement (23.100.0.4). But that DSA update succeeds where Lenovo Vantage fails. As you can see in the lead-in graphic, a subsequent Vantage update check post-DSA reports no updates available (and shows a failed attempt below).

Guessing Why DSA Update Succeeds Where Lenovo Vantage Fails

I’m a great believer in the old principle that “if one tool fails, try a different one.” What’s trickier is figuring out why Vantage falls over while DSA does the job correctly. Copilot speculates it could have to do with compatibility, permissions, or software conflicts. Turns out one must enable a registry setting to get Vantage to log and report on failures — absent on the P3 Ultra, alas — so I can’t really tell what went south when Commercial Vantage did its thing.

If it were really important (and I hadn’t found an immediate and easy workaround) that’s what I’d be doing next. The key string involved is:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Lenovo\
SystemUpdateAddin\Logs

The REG-SZ (registry string) value named “EnableLogs” needs to be changed from its default value of “False” to “True” for subsequent logging to occur. I’ve made that change, and will check out if and when future Vantage install or other update errors occur. Good stuff!

Prepped for the next gotcha: logging enabled.

Hopefully next time I won’t have to guess what happened. The log should tell me something. Whether I can parse its meaning is a whole ‘nother challenge!

Cool Tools, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Updates, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows 11

8GadgetPack Is Now Just GadgetPack

December 30, 2024 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

We returned from our holiday travels over the weekend, and I’ve been slowly getting back into the groove here at Chez Tittel. While I didn’t apparently miss many updates or upgrades, one interesting item popped up. Helmut Buhler has renamed his epic 8GadgetPack tool to drop the leading 8 — making it GadgetPack — with a similarly truncated website to match. Hence my claim that 8GadgetPack is now just GadgetPack. But boy, does it bring a lot of welcome changes, too. Let me explain.

If 8GadgetPack Is Now Just GadgetPack, Changes Follow

You can see the complete list of changes to this essential Windows toolkit (IMHO, anway) in its December 25 changelog entry. But a quick look at the lead-in graphic shows some changes emphatically. The new version is at left, and the old at right, showing my go-to gadgets on Windows physical and virtual desktops everywhere. You can see a newer, more stripped-down approach to those tools, especially the Clock. Simply put, Buhler has updated icons, gadgets and controls (now called settings) to mesh more directly with standard Windows 10 and 11 UI stuff. It looks great, too.

Clock is simpler, sparer and feels less dated.

What Else Ya Got?

The changelog entry for 12/25 cites to updated graphics for “many gadgets, gadget icons, gadget grip buttons and the GadgetPack installer itself.” This is no exaggeration. The program is updated and refreshed throughout. The version number is now up to 38.0, too. For those who already use this tool, this is a must-have update. For those who’ve yet to take it for a spin, it’s even more worth doing than it was before.

A great Christmas present for Windows-heads everywhere. Thanks for your hard work, and a great update, Mr. Buhler!