Category Archives: Cool Tools

Careful With App Defaults

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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Interminable Adobe Acrobat Updates

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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PowerToys v0.94 Reports Shortcut Conflicts

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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Recent Updates Bork Reset Option

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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So Long Dynabook X40M2

It was nice while it lasted, but my time slot has expired. I’m shipping the Dynabook X40 M2 PC back to the maker’s PR group this afternoon. It’s been an enjoyable month working and playing with this handsome, sturdy, compact laptop. Though it’s no longer a Toshiba, it’s still called a Portege (a well-known and long-lasting laptop moniker). When I reviewed PCs for Tom’s back in the 2000s, I had a quite a few Toshibas pass through my hands. This new model is very much in the same vein. But now, alas, I must say “So long, Dynabook X40M2.” Let me conclude my adventures with some closing thoughts and observations…

Not Copilot+, But That May Not Matter Much

I was initially disappointed when I got this PC, to understand that it didn’t meet Copilot+ requirements.  Indeed, its Core Ultra 5 225U doesn’t hit the minimum TOPS number (40). That said, this unit has done everything I’ve asked it to with reasonable performance and battery life.  I chose to model typical productivity work involving Office, Adobe Acrobat, email, and so forth (no gaming or heavy creative workloads here) to reflect what students or office workers might demand of such a machine in the classroom, on the job, or on the go.

Small digression: I wondered how many PCs being sold these days are Copilot+ capable. Interestingly, Copilot tells me that 1.9% of global PC shipments in 2025 (in round numbers 1 in 50) fits that bill. So it seems that most buyers aren’t looking for such capabilities anyway. Outside that realm (which is most of the landscape) the X40-M2 plays very, very well.

Dynabook rates the unit’s battery life at 12-14 hours. I was able to break the 10-hour barrier on this machine twice, but mostly it came in between 9 and 10 hours when running email, web browsing, Office apps, Acrobat and Zoom or Teams video meetings. As is so often the case, the maker’s estimates are optiimistic, but the unit brings enough oomph to last a bit longer than a typical workday anyway. That’s all to the good, as far as I’m concerned.

Pros and Cons for the Portege X40 M2

On the plus side, the unit is sturdy, good-looking, compact, and lightweight enough for easy backpack or briefcase transport. It’s also got decent battery life, a good-looking display, 2 Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports, and full-size HDMI and RJ-45 GbE ports. On the minus side, mine came equipped with a modest 0.5TB Samsung OEM NVMe drive that failed to impress with its performance (on par with faster Gen3 or slower Gen4 circuitry), and its pair of 5 Gbps (USB 3.2 Gen 1) USB-A ports.  For office or home work, seems like a good Thunderbolt 4 dock would be a useful add-on, given that one USB-C port otherwise goes for charging at least some of the time.

If I were to buy one of these units, I’d probably go for the Ultra 7 model instead of the 5. Interestingly, I don’t see a 32GB option on this line’s product pages. Here’s my final net-net on this beast: a good choice for college students or office workers. Not enough oomph for developers or knowledge workers, though (the lack of Copilot+ support may not yet be telling for such folks, but will weigh more heavily in 2026 and 2027 as AI comes more into its own at the OS level). Check it out at the Dynabook Portege X40-M Series home.

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Jabra Headset Goes MIA

Sometimes, I have to wonder about Windows. For the past three years and more, I’ve  unplugged my Jabra Engage 75 headset from my production desktop. (FWIW, I’ve also recently upgraded to an AMD Ryzen 7 5800X running Windows 11 24H2.) I then plug into my Lenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 instead, whenever I need video for an onlne meeting. Today, when I did that very same thing, the device worked locally but would not engage with Zoom. While my Jabra headset goes MIA, I made three expensive attorneys wait for me to get my act together. Sigh.

When Jabra Headset Goes MIA, Then What?

It seems I never installed the Jabra Direct software on the P16. All of a sudden the device stopped interacting with Zoom. It was easily fixed — I visited the Jabra site, and downloaded and installed the latest Direct version, then made sure headset firmware was up-to-date. Now, everything is working OK.

What I don’t understand is why it stopped working in the first place. I have to guess that some recent Windows Update made a change to the way audio works, and somehow orphaned the headset running entirely on its own. But with its controlling software installed, and firmware updated, all is back to what passes for normal here at Chez Tittel.

Too bad I had to waste a no-doubt costly 20-25 minutes trying to make my headset work, when I should’ve been talking to the interviewing attorneys instead. If it wasn’t my birthday (just turned 73) I might be inclined to sulk. But I’ll simply say instead: that’s the way things go sometimes, here in Windows-World!

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BlueScreenView Version Unknown Stymies WinGet

I guess it was predictable. Having worked through various version mismatch errors with WinGet, it seems inevitabled that a package focus might fail to report its version info entirely. That seems to be what’s going on with Nir Sofer’s otherwise excellent tool for inspecting Windows crash dumps. But, as you can see in the lead-in graphic, the program fails to report its own version info. Thus, BlueScreenView version Unknown stymies WinGet updates. Sigh.

Depicting BlueScreenView Version Unknown Stymies WinGet

One standard technique for solving WinGet version info issues is the tried-and-true uninstall-reinstall manuever. That said, its successes depend on the developer fixing version mismatches in the packages that WinGet stores in its database. As you can see in the lead-in graphic, that’s NOT what happens with BlueScreenView.

What you see in that graphic is a sequence of efforts to fix the unknown version info for BlueScreenView (BSV, for brevity):

1:  WinGet upgrade shows that BSV has a version number “that cannot be determined”
2-3: WinGet goes to work to uninstall, then reinstall BSV
4: A repeat of Winget upgrade shows that BSV’s version number remains unknown

Alas, this won’t be fixed until Mr. Sofer does something to address the version information stored in the package data. I’m sending him some feedback to that effect after I finish this blog post.

Let’s see what happens next. It’s always something, here in Windows-World. I enjoy digging into WinGet problems as they come up, so that’s what you often hear about from me. Cheers!

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PowerChute Software Steps Functionality Back

I find myself wondering why, why, why Schneider Electric (parent company of APC, maker of my brand-new uninterruptible power supply, or UPS) switched to forced registration and login for its latest generation of software. Seems like that’s a step backward, not forward, as its PowerChute software steps functionality back. I ended up visiting MajorGeeks to download the old version (3.1.0) which I’m using quite happily right now. It serves as the lead-in graphic above, in fact.

Why Say: PowerChute Software Steps Functionality Back?

The key to the new PowerChute Serial Shutdown (PCSS) software is registering the UPS device and setting up an online account. In turn that requires scanning and uploading or manually entering a device ID and a product key value from a preprinted label attached to the device. You can’t access the software without going through that process.

My problem is there’s no such label on my device. I’m not quite sure how I got one without that data, but that’s my situation. I’ve contacted Schneider’s online support forums to see if somebody can help. But in the meantime I can’t log into PCSS without a valid account, and I can’t validate my account without registering my device.

Frankly, I don’t understand why PCSS won’t work at all without that validation step. The old sofware — as you can see above — works just fine without it. That’s the basis for my assertion that this software steps functionality back. I can understand why Schneider wants to keep tabs on its customers and keep track of their devices. As I said, I can’t imagine why the software won’t work at all without jumping through such hoops.

Go figure! Sometimes, things in Windows-World make little or no sense. Ditto for access management decisions from some equipment makers. Good thing the old software still works (it’s scheduled to retire in January 2026). Hopefully, I’ll get things straightened out a lot sooner that that.

Successful, But Protracted Support Call Fixes Things

I got on the phone with Schneider tech support. Turns out they’ve got another version of the software that doesn’t require registration to let PCSS run. It took a while for the tech support person’s email client to figure out how to get me that file. We ended up having to use a link on Google Drive because my HTML email client was apparently bollixing their ZIP file (I could tell she was using a Salesforce environment, because the link resolved somewhere in Salesforce-land).

This time, when I started to install PCSS, it welcomed me and asked for configuration settings right away. No login or validation required. Why do  I think this means this isn’t the first time the support folks have been down this road? It’s working now as it should be, but I must confess: I do like the old software version better. It told me more, in a more approachable form. Indeed, I prefer a native Windows app to a web-based interface for this stuff. But hey: that’s progress!

Along the way, I figured out I’d plugged my devices into the wrong outlets on the UPS (hence, the foregoing zero values). They’re in surge protected but not battery backed up outlets. I’ll switch that soon. Cheers!

 

 

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Will BlueScreenView Go Black?

In upcoming versions of Windows 11, says Microsoft, the long-standing “Blue Screen of Death” will go black. That is, it will change color and appearance from its deep-blue, graphics- and text-laden format. It will transform to something sleeker and simpler, in pure black-and-white colors. According to Windows Latest, this change should appear in Windows 11 24H2 or 25H2 and “may not be backported to Windows 11 23H2.” All this given, I’m asking this question: “Will BlueScreenView go black?” Let me explain…

Unpacking the query: Will BlueScreenView Go Black?

To begin, let me identify BlueScreenView as a NirSoft tool, from Israeli programming dynamo Nir Sofer. It’s been around for over 15 years, and provides simple decodes for Windows mini-dump and crash dump files. It’s darned handy, in fact, if a BSOD (of either the black or blue variety) gets past you, and you didn’t record the STOP CODE error that provoked the crash, it will show it to you.

The afore-linked Windows Latest story works itself into something of a lather by observing that (a) the new black BSOD looks a lot like a post-GUI Windows Update screen (it does), and (b) that some Windows users may mistakenly see it as such and miss the STOP CODE for that reason. Here again, BlueScrenView should come in handy to help find and expand on those pesky codes.

What I want to know, however, is if Mr. Sofer will issue a new version of his program, and call it BlackScreenView instead. I’m guessing maybe yes, maybe no, depending on how much weight he puts on that change.

These are the kinds of things I wonder about as I putter around happily in Windows-World. Let’s see what happens, shall we?

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WinTerm Windows 10/11 Divergence

Here’s something interesting — and purely temporary. My Windows 11 PCs and VMs are getting updates to Windows Terminal, but my Windows 10 PCs aren’t (yet). As you can see in the lead-in screencap that means there’s some WinTerm Windows 10/11 divergence currently happening. To the left, Windows 11 shows version 1.22.11751.0; to the right, Windows 10 shows 1.22.11141.0. An upgrade attempt on WinTerm for 10 says “No newer packages are available from the configured source” (which happens to be WinGet itself). What’s up?

Why There’s WinTerm Windows 10/11 Divergence

Simply put. MS is pushing the Windows Terminal upgrade to 11 before it gets around to doing likewise for Windows 10. It could happen in the next hour, day, or week. But it surely won’t take much longer than that.

Here’s what Copilot says:

The version difference you’re seeing—v1.22.1141.0 on Windows 10 versus v1.22.11751.0 on Windows 11—likely comes down to staggered rollout timing and platform-specific servicing.

Microsoft often releases Windows Terminal updates in waves, and while both versions fall under the 1.22 stable branch, the build numbers reflect incremental servicing updates. These can include bug fixes, compatibility tweaks, or minor enhancements tailored to each OS version. For instance, Windows 11 might receive a slightly newer build first due to broader feature support or integration testing, while Windows 10 gets a more conservative rollout.

It’s nice to get a decent explanation, and it helps me appreciate one thing that Copilot really is good at: summarizing and stating the MS party line on what’s going on when interesting things happen.

Eye of the Beholder

Of course, I recognize that what’s interesting to me is not interesting to everyone. Perhaps it’s not even interesting to that many others. But hey, it’s definitely a feature of the way things happen in Wndows-World. And if you read this blog, you already know I care a fair amount about that kind of stuff. Hopefully, you feel likewise — or what else would lead you here?

Here’s a shout-out to Shawn Brink at Eleven Forum, whose X tweet alerted me to this situation. See also the related news item. Thanks!

Note Added 6/26 (One Day Later)

And as I check the running instance of Windows Terminal on Windows 10 right now, it’s been upgraded. My guess is that Windows Store caught it on its usual light-night/early-AM update cycle. And sure enough, here’s visual proof:

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