Copilot+ PCs, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 11

SFF Copilot+ PCs Remain Scarce

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Last year, I really got my hopes up when ARM announced a developer’s kit version of a small form-factor (SFF) PC with Snapdragon X. Alas, it never materialized. I’ve also read about plans from numerous vendors to offer mini but mighty PCs of this type, including Geekom and ASUS. But right now, SFF Copilot+ PCs remain scarce. In fact, I can find only two for sale presently: the Lenovo ThinkCentre M75q Gen 5 (AMD) and the MSI Cubi NUC AI+ 2MG (Intel).

Why Do SFF Copilot+ PCs Remain Scarce?

I speculated about this when ARM announced, delayed and then canceled its own SFF SnapdragonX based model. Looking at the enclosures for the 2 aforementioned models, I’m still leaning that way. Mostly, in fact, it has to do with support for only 1 or 2 USB-C ports (typically 40Gbps/Thunderbolt 4/USB4).

Thus, there’s a nearly inescapable add-on expense when buying such a unit — namely, a TB4 or TB5 dock, most of which cost from US$350 to over $500. That’s a big bump in cost, cubic volume, and complexity for PCs designed to be affordable and, above all, compact.

I’m Interested, But Is the Market?

Because of the need for more ports, power, connections and displays, I have to believe the general marketplace finds current Copilot+ SFF PCs unappealing. It’s one thing to get useful capability in a compact and reasonably powerful package. It’s another thing entirely to have to turn around and spend from 44 to 63 percent of the purchase cost on a TB4/5 dock to get all the ports and connectivity modern office workers need.

If these OEMs build such SFFs, will buyers come? Initial excitement and plans said “Yes.” Subsequent actual product offerings, options, and limited choices say “Maybe” at best. Too bad: I like the category and what it brings to the desktop. I may be in a (small) minority, though…

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Careful With App Defaults

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I’ve always got PCs coming and going here at Chez Tittel. That means laptops, mostly, with an occasional All-in-One or SFF desktop to keep things interesting. Further, that means setting up Windows to work the way I want. Too bad, then, that Edge isn’t inclined to make way for other Web-focused defaults (e.g. Chrome). Even when I pick Chrome as the default browser, Edge keeps popping up for other stuff. The lead-in graphic shows why I’ve learned to be careful with App defaults. Indeed, it shows Edge remains the default for .mhtml files (MIME encapsulation of aggregate HTML documents) even after Chrome gets the default pick.

Why Be Careful With App Defaults?

Elsewise, items opened in other MS apps will open in Edge rather than Chrome.  In this case, Outlook handles a lot of .mhtml files for links and Web items embedded in email messages. Those still go to Edge. The right way to do this is to click Settings > Apps > Default Apps > Google Chrome.  On that page, make sure Chrome gets associated to all file types you want it to handle.

In my case, I just made sure everything on the foregoing Settings page that used to show Edge as the default now shows Chrome. A hopefully obvious corollary to this exercise is that setting Chrome as the default browser in Windows 11, is not sufficient to make it take over for all Web-related items. Hopefully, that’s now fixed!

Just another happy day in Windows-World, living on the edge (horrible pun not just intended, but enjoyed).

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Cool Tools, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Thoughts & concerns, WED Blog

Interminable Adobe Acrobat Updates

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I’m feeling a little less happy about switching from Nitro Pro to Adobe Acrobat on my new 5800X production build PC. The former costs about US$110 for each new version, the latter about US$20 a month. Right now, it feels like I’m paying more and getting less. But I confess: it’s the interminable Adobe Acrobat updates that bother me most. Let me explain…

Why Say: Interminable Adobe Acrobat Updates?

I just went through my second update cycle on this program. I noticed it took a while for the last update. Today, I was actually working on something else, and not really watching closely. But I found myself thinking “Hasn’t it been about an hour now?” when the UAC prompt to run the Acrobat Installer finally hit the 5800X screen this afternoon.

I’m guessing, but it took as long as 90 minutes for the whole update cycle to complete on this PC. To make matters worse, Acrobat is subject to a “known issue” in the winget packages repo because its update process doesn’t signal completion as it should. Indeed, Copilot says:

Winget starts the next package update before Acrobat finishes, triggering a 1618 error (“another installation is already in progress”). This isn’t just a timing hiccup—it’s a flaw in how Acrobat’s installer communicates with Windows Installer, and it breaks the expected transactional flow of winget upgrade --all.

Is It Really “Less for More?”

Copilot also mentions that “[t]he in-app update is notoriously sluggish,” which IMO is understating things a bit. Painfully slow, is more how I’d put it. It explains that it’s old fashioned installer Enhanced Security settings (Sandboxing, AppContainer and Protected View) slow things down, but that its “monolithic update model” and “telemetry and plugin checks” also contribute to seemingly glacial update processing (my exaggeration, not Copilot’s).

That said, Acrobat has handled my PDFs with aplomb, and lets me edit, mark up and sign such documents with ease. Had I know it was such a crawl to update, I might have rethought my switchover. But I’m in for a year’s worth now, having signed up and paid the annual fee. I’ll be sure to keep this in mind when the next cycle comes around.

Here in Windows-World, as I’m fond of reciting: “It’s always something!” Today, it’s painfully slow Acrobat updates. What will it be tomorrow?

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

25H2 Enablement Blazes on Lenovo AIO9i

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I’m working with a Lenovo Copilot+ PC review unit these days: it’s a snazzy Yoga All-in-One AIO9i. It comes equipped with an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V (8 cores: 4 each P-cores and E-cores/8 threads), integrated Intel Arc 140V GPU, 32 GB LPDDRx-8533, Hynix OEM PCIe x4 NVMe SSD, and more. It also has Windows 11 Pro for Workstations installed. I’m not sure what makes this PC so fast, but 25H2 enablement blazes on Lenovo AIO9i.

Details: 25H2 Enablement Blazes on Lenovo AIO9i

How fast? The whole process, after opting into the Release Preview channel on the Insider program, took under three minutes to complete. That means:

  • Downloading the enablement package (under 30 seconds)
  • Running the GUI-based portion of the update (under 30 seconds)
  • Reboot and post-GUI update handling (under 40 seconds)
  • Resume desktop through lock screen and login (under 10 seconds)

There are lots of reasons why this is so fast. For one. the enablement package itself is svelte (under 1MB in size). That’s because MS has already included most of the code in earlier updates, and the enablement package — as the name indicates — simply turns such stuff on. As Copilot puts it, earlier “monthly cumulative updates (LCUs) have quietly staged the new features in a dormant state.” It continues: “The enablement package simply flips the feature flags — no need to download or install new core components.”

Other contributing factors to speed:

  • No drive revalidation, no app compatibility scans, no migration of user profiles
  • As the preceding bulleted list observes, this process requires only one update to complete
  • No rollback staging or recovery partition updates are included, to reduce disk I/O and system prep times

Indeed, inspection of $WinDrive (C:) shows no Windows.old partition, as one might usually find after a version uplift. Likewise, Disk Cleanup finds only 1.53 GB of files to clean up in the upgrade’s wake. That’s much less than the more typical 25-30GB on production Windows 11 systems here at Chez Tittel when transitioning from 23H2 to 24H2, for example.

Wow: Just Wow!

I’m not sure that Windows for Workstations made any difference here, either. Despite this version in place, it doesn’t use advanced features — e.g. ECC RAM and ReFS — that might speed things up. I think this is just one very lean, mean and fast enablement package. It’s worth enrolling a test PC in the Insider Program, Release Preview Channel just to check it out for yourself. Speedy!

 

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PowerToys v0.94 Reports Shortcut Conflicts

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There’s a new vesion of PowerToys out and available. Interestingly, PowerToys v0.94 reports shortcut conflicts. Amusingly, most (or all) of those originate from PowerToys itself, as you can see in the lead-in screencap. I tend to fix those by adding one of <Ctrl>, <Alt> or <Shift> to conflicting definitions, where no new conflicts get introduced thereby.

It’s kind of handy that this new version reports “Shortcut conflicts” on its default “What’s new” page. Note that conflicts occur with pre-defined System shortcuts, so related PowerToys items (e.g. Crop and Lock, Advanced Pase, Always on Top, and Color Picker) MUST be changed to resolve them.

If PowerToys v0.94 Reports Shortcut Conflicts, Fix ‘Em!

If you click on the “Shortcut conflicts” item in What’s New (upper right), you’ll produce the report shown in the lead-in screencap. Or something like it, as your local definitions may vary. You can edit these definitions simply by clicking the edit (pencil) icon to the right of each shortcut. Here’s what I wound up with after fixing things:

  • Changed to Winkey-Alt-Shift-T (Activation, Crop and Lock)
  • Changed to Winkey-Alt-Shift-V (Activation, Advanced Paste)
  • Changed to Alt-Shift-C (Activation, Color Picker)
  • Changed to Alt-Shift-T (Activation, Always on Top)

Once you find a shortcut sequence that isn’t already taken, use the Save button to enshrine it in your shortcut definitions. To check shortcuts for PowerToys, visit their specific pages via PowerToys settings. Alas, I haven’t found a clever way to list customizations like the foregoing ones in the preceding bulleted list just yet.

That’s a task for me to tackle in my “spare time, ” I guess. Here in Windows-World, it’s always something. At least I’ve fixed my shortcut conflicts now… And the new 0.94 version seems to be quite solid otherwise as well — IMO, anyway.

 

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Insider stuff, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 11

Quiet Labor Day Return

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Hello, there! Today’s my first day back at work since I took off with my family to get son Gregory moved into his Hollywood CA dorm. He’s concluding his film school studies with a semester at Emerson’s campus on Sunset Boulevard, with a dorm move-in on 8/23. We had an epic trip with stops at Las Cruces, NM and Phoenix, AZ on the way to LA from 8/20-22. We spent 2 days in Hollywood, 2 in Santa Barbara, and 2 more in Culver City. Then, we covered the same route in reverse from 8/28-30. I expected lots of catch-up Windows work this weekend, but I got a quiet Labor Day return instead. Let me explain…

What Makes For a Quiet Labor Day Return?

Apparently, Windows-World mostly held its breath while we were gone. I was expecting lots of updates via winget, PatchMyPC, Intel DSA and so forth after 10 days away. Instead, I observed update counts in the following (surprisingly low) ranges:

  • Winget: 3-10 items
  • PatchMyPC: 1-2 items
  • Intel DSA: 0-2 items
  • Lenovo Vantage: 0-2 items

Indeed, I saw the highest counts on machines that I’d left idle 2-3 days before leaving town. That puts the unchecked period north of two weeks on such machines, and shows low update deltas for the time period involved. The lead-in graphic shows 10 winget items on the Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 Mobile Workstation. It had the most pending updates, with the Dynabook Tecra taking the number 2 winget spot with 7 items.

Note Added 1 Hour Later

When I visited my sole remaining Windows 10 physical PC — the i7 Skylake I’m still running in tandem with my 5800X production PC — it looked more like what I’d expected for all machines. Here’s the skinny:

  • Winget: 18 items
  • PatchMyPC: 5 items
  • Intel DSA: 0 items
  • WU: pending restart for KB5064794 and KB5063842

Again: that’s 25 items altogether, and more like what I thought I’d see across the board. That said, here at Chez Tittel Windows 10 is slowly shuffling off the scene…

Now What?

With all my Windows PCs — 10 in all — now caught up, it’s time to get back into the working groove. I’ve got a couple of assignments this week, including one for TechTarget, one for ComputerWorld, and another for Actual Tech Media. Things pile up when you’re off having fun (and driving 3K+ miles)! My return to Windows-World wasn’t as labor intensive as I’d guessed, which makes it a nice Labor Day surprise. In this case, quiet is good!

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Recent Updates Bork Reset Option

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In its Windows Issues list, Microsoft confirms that recent updates to Windows 10 and Windows 11 22H2 and 23H2 may cause the “Reset PC” option to fail if invoked. The actual issue is entitled “Reset and recovery operations on some Windows versions might fail,” and specifically identifies KB5063875 as a potential cause in Windows 11. WindowsLatest  also reports that KB506370 could do the same for Windows 10. Hence my heading “Recent updates bork reset option,” though versions 24H2 and 25H2 appear to be exempt.

Workarounds When Recent Updates Bork Reset Option

If either of the previously cited KB updates has been applied to a Windows install, one should avoid tempting fate. That means: don’t use the “Reset PC” button on such instances. Consequently, two options present themselves as workarounds:

  1. Perform a clean install of the same Windows version using an MS ISO or the identical version from UUPdump.net. Of course, that also means one must reinstall drivers and other software present on the PC when it left the factory…
  2. Roll back the update, then use the Reset PC button. The easiest way to do this is to visit Settings > WU > Update history, click the KB item therein, and select Uninstall. Alternatively, wusa /uninstall /kb:<number> /quiet /norestart should do the trick.

Better Not to Use It, If in Doubt

WindowsLatest also reports that the “Reinstall now” option may be likewise affected on 23H2 and 22H2 PCs (it’s not available on Windows 10). The best approach is to use alternative methods for repair and recovery, or one of the preceding workarounds, for possibly affected Windows PCs. This is a big enough deal, however, that MS will probably fix it as soon as it can.

Hopefully that mean this situaiton won’t persist for too long. But hey: It’s Windows-World. Anything is possible, and careful repair is always a good strategy. Stay tuned!

 

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Dynabook Tecra A60-M2 Intake

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I guess Sharp/Dynabook must’ve liked my coverage of their Portege X40-M2 unit. Why say so? Because about 2 days after I sent that unit back, they sent me another more powerful laptop to look at. Today’s blog post describes my Dynabook Tecra A60-M intake experience (Model PNL21U-017004). It’s a bigger beast, but a little less sturdy (it’s got what feels like an all-plastic lower/keyboard deck) albeit with minimal flex. For the first time, ever, it comes with Windows 11 24H2 Enterprise loaded as well.

Describing Dynabook Tecra A60-M2 Intake Process

Again and suprisingly, Dynabook uses closed-cell plastic foam inserts to enshroud the unit in an otherwise all-cardboard set of nested shipping boxes. It comes with exactly two parts: the laptop itself and the power brick/power cord. Initial setup was absurdly easy. But, for some odd reason, Intel BE201 802.11 Wi-Fi 7 adapters won’t let me log into the 5GHz band on my Asus router. I have to use the 2.4 GHz band instead. If I need to go faster than that, I can plug my trusty StarTech GbE USB 3 adapter into one of its two 5 Gbps USB 3.2 version 1 ports.

It took me some time to get all the bits and pieces in place for my usual setup. I used Patch My PC Home Updater to bring in 7Zip, GadgetPack, CystalDisk mark & info, CPUID, Everything, Chrome, and more. Because this is an Intel-flavored Copilot+ PC, I also installed Intel Driver and Support Assistant as well, along with the Dynabook Support Utility to check for vendor UEFI, firmware, and driver updates.

A Clean, Clean, Clean Machine

I’ve got to say this is one of the cleanest review units I’ve ever gotten. It required very little by way of update or clean-up to bring entirely up to snuff. It’s also got the fastest and most accurate fingerprint scanner I’ve ever used (Device Manager identifies it as a FocalTech Electronics device). So far, it’s fast, has a nice 16″ display, and does everything I’ve asked it to in short order.

The Tecra A60-M2 Components, Listed

According to the vendor web page, this unit goes for US$1249 (MSRP). I don’t see any major discounts available online but it’s pretty new still, so they may be coming. Here’s what’s inside:

  • CPU: Intel Core Ultra 5 225U
  • OS: Windows 11 24H2 Enterprise (26100.4946)
  • 16.0″ WUXGA display (1920×1200)
  • 16 GB DDR5-5600 (Samsung)
  • 0.5TiB Samsung OEM PCIe Gen4 NVMe SSD
  • Ports: 2xUSB4/TB4 USB-C ports, 2xUSB3.2 Gen 1 ports, HDMI, RJ-45 GbE, microSD, mini-RCA (headset) jack
  • 60 Wh Lithium polymer battery; 65W USB-C power brick

What it doesn’t have that I might want? Offhand, I’d say a Hello-capable IR camera, and a touch display. Other than those things, and a bigger SSD, it’s pretty well-equipped. What one gets for US1,250 for this unit isn’t at all bad.

All in all, I like it pretty well so far. I’ll report further as I spend a bit more time with it, and learn more about what it can and can’t do. I’m curious about its SSD speed, USB-C performance, and general processing oomph. Expect to hear more from me on all of those topics, soon. In the meantime, I’m having fun playing with this new toy.

 

 

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Dude! Where’s My Internet?

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Whoa! I had an amusing but vexing hiccup on the new Flo6 Ryzen 7 5800X system when I sat down to work this morning. The Internet was dead, dead, dead. I could ping localhost but nothing further. It got me thinking about the absurdist epic starring Ashton Kushner and Sean Wm Scott. That prompted the tongue-in-cheek question “Dude! Where’s my internet?” I must speculate, and laugh, at what I think is the answer. Let me explain…

Why Expostulate: Dude! Where’s My Internet?

Everything looked OK when I sat down at the machine. But as soon as I tried to access any online resources, those requests went nowhere. And, of course, they took quite a while to time out to tell me there was no there on the other side of the connection.

I checked the cable TV signal (still there, which means out inbound broadband is working). I checked the wireless PCs (still there, which means at least the fallback to the boundary device WAP is working). Soon it became apparent: the Flo6 PC was the source of my woes. I’m not seeing any errors in Reliability Monitor so I’ll make an educated guess.

Waking Up Is (Sometimes) Hard to Do

The Flo6 had been asleep when I sat in front of it this morning. My best guess is that yesterday’s update somehow mucked with the wake behavior for the unit’s Realtek Gaming 2.5GbE Family Controller. So I reloaded the driver, and then unchecked the box under Power Management that reads “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power.” From sad experience, I’ve learned this can turn into “LAN doesn’t work after waking from sleep” errors.

And gee: doesn’t that sound just like what happened to me this morning? It also demonstrates quite convincingly that here in Windows-World, some mornings start better than others. I’ll let you decide what kind of morning I was having today. I think I already know!

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Thunderbolt 5 Era Is Finally Dawning

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It was nearly two years ago — September 12, 2023, in fact– that the Thunderbolt 5 specification made its debut, including a prototype. But the road from prototype to “tech for sale” has proved long and somewhat fractured. Cables, docks, and peripherals started to show up about a year later (e.g. Kensington SD5000T5 Dock). Gaming laptops blazed the way on the PC front, with the Razer Blade 18 the first to offer TB5 ports as an optional upgrade (April 2024). And as I write this screed in August, 2025, it looks like the Thunderbolt 5 era is finally dawning for real. Let me explain…

Why Say: Thunderbolt 5 Era Is Finally Dawning?

When Thunderbolt 5 (of which USB4 v2 is a subset) first showed up about 12-16 months ago in shipping products, it was a kind of exception. Initial offerings were costly, or provided as added-cost options. Now, they’re starting to appear as standard ports on higher-end  laptops. That still means gaming devices, mostly, though business/developer platforms and high-end mobile workstations are also getting in on the fun.

You can see the specs for the MSI Vector 16 HX AI A2XW in the lead-in graphic. It retails for right around US$3,700 at Amazon. Its CPU goes to 24 cores (8 P-cores, 16 E-cores), includes 64GB RAM, a 4 TB NVMe SSD, and various mobile NVIDIA GPU options. It also offers 2 Thunderbolt 5 USB-C ports. It’s even Copilot+ capable. Kind of a beast, actually…

I see another MSI model available similarly equipped, plus one each Gigabyte and ASUS laptops (all offer 2 TB5 ports except for the ASUS, which offers a singleton). What’s missing from this picture? How about HP, Lenovo, Acer, Dell or Microsoft Surface models?

When Will Things TB5 Heat Up for Real?

When the aformentioned bigger players jump firmly onto the TB5 bandwagon. I expect that could happen later this year, or early next year, after vendors get the OEM bits from Microsoft for Windows 11 25H2. It’s coming soon — probably in October — so we may see more than a dawning in the near term.

I’m surprised that it’s taken this long, and that uptake hasn’t been what I would call either aggressive or enthusiastic. Could it be that most ordinary PC users and laptop buyers simply don’t care about or don’t need the higher performance and greater bandwidth that TB5/USB4 v2 provide? Maybe so.

I’ll keep watching, and keep chiming in on what I see. I’m still waiting for somebody to send me a review unit with TB5 ports, so I can put an entire device chain to work, including dock, monitors and external NVMe storage devices. Will somebody at MSI, Gigabyte, or ASUS take the hint? I reviewed all your stuff back in the day when I was building PCs and sussing out laptops for Tom’s Hardware. Why not let me pick up where I left off now, with a TB equipped laptop?

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