Category Archives: Insider stuff

Backup/Restore, Cool Tools, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 11

Windows 11 Restore Point Pros&Cons

June 19, 2023 Ed Tittel 2 Comments

I’ve got to admit it: I’m of two minds about restore points in modern Windows versions — especially Windows 11. I found myself chewing over Windows 11 restore point pros&cons this morning, as I used WizTree to check my boot/system drive on some test PCs. Let me explain…

Exploring Windows 11 Restore Point Pros&Cons

Let’s start with a basic definition courtesy of Gavin Wright/TechTarget:

A system restore point is a backup copy of important Windows operating system (OS) files and settings that can be used to recover the system to an earlier point of time in the event of system failure or instability. It is a part of Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10, 11 and Windows Server. They are created automatically or manually. System restore points only affect OS and application files, but not user data.

I confess: up through and including versions of Windows 8, I used to use Restore Points a LOT. But since the introduction of Windows 10 in 2014/2015 — quite some time now — I’ve been using daily or weekly image backups on my production and test PCs almost exclusively. These protect user preferences, settings, and data as well as the “important OS files” mentioned in the preceding definition. For me, it’s also faster and easier to restore an image backup than it is to do likewise with a restore point (and with less certain results). FWIW, I still use Macrium Reflect Free as my primary backup and restore tool. (I use the paid-for version on production PCs.)

Restore Point Pros

If, as shown in the lead-in graphic, you have restore points turned on, Windows will make them for you automatically or manually. They’re created automatically when you apply Windows updates. Likewise, many application installers are built to make a restore point early on in their operation, so they can roll back to a point in time prior to their actions in case something goes wrong. Also, you can create a manual store point by clicking the “Create” button shown at the lower right in the lead-in graphic. If you do choose to use restore points, I also recommend grabbing and trying out Nic Bedford’s System Restore Explorer as well. IMO, it’s easier to use and more comprehensive than the built-in Windows facility.

Restore points are easy, somewhat automated and cover many OS or runtime issues. This makes them easy and convenient to use, especially for less savvy and sophisticated Windows users. In a nutshell, those are the pros for restore points.

Restore Point Cons

In using WizTree to explore a couple of my test machines this morning, I was reminded of one of the cons for restore points — namely, they can soak up a fair amount of disk space. When I use the “Delete all restore points…” option on one of my Lenovo ThinkPad X380 Yoga PCs this morning, here’s what WizTree showed as deleted immediately afterward:

All in all I recovered almost 6 GB of disk space by deleting all restore points.
[Click image for full-sized view.]

The impact of restore points can be up to the size limit you set aside for such use. As shown in the lead-in graphic, that’s 19.05 GB for my “other” X380 Yoga test PC. If you’re making image backups and restore points, it’s a good idea to allocate no more than 1% or 10GB (whichever is less) for such use.

Besides space issues, I’ve observed that restore points don’t protect you from unwanted registry changes (including preferences, settings, use of tweak tools and so forth). Nor do they restore user or application data files and such, either. In general, I favor image files because they include absolutely everything that might get changed — or go wrong.

That said, if you use an image restore, you will lose any new files or changes you’ve made since the time at which that image was captured. Thus, it may be necessary for you to run a “mini-backup” to save that stuff to a flash drive or other external media before restoring the most recent image so you lose less (or nothing). Because Reflect lets me mount an image as a virtual drive, I often make another image of my broken system just in case I need something from that set-up after I revert to my most recent saved image.

What’s Your Preference?

On your Windows PCs, you can do as you like with backups and restores (including restore points). I don’t use them anymore because they don’t bail me out of all the trouble I often get myself into. If your usage patterns are less experimental or extreme, restore points may indeed meet all your needs. Even so, I’d still recommend periodic image backups just in case they don’t work to get you of some of the jams you may occasionally get into. But again: that’s up to you!

Cool Tools, Insider stuff, WED Blog, Windows 11

Chasing Canary Focus Sessions

June 16, 2023 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

I have to laugh — or, at least, chuckle. After reading about a new Focus sessions widget at MSPowerUser I went chasing after same. I should have known it might not be as available as one might hope. It’s on gradual release. Indeed, it shows up only in one of two of its possible haunts. After chasing Canary Focus sessions for a while, let me explain how I figured this out.

Chasing Canary Focus Sessions
May Yield Mixed Results

The first key to focus sessions is an update to the Clock app. It needs to get to version 11.2305.6.0 (or higher). That should come easily, courtesy of a quick hop into the Microsoft Store’s Library tab, where clicking the “Get updates” button should true up a Canary PC or VM. Indeed, as you can see in the app window from Clock that appears at the head of this blog post, “Focus sessions” is the first element in its left-hand menu (also expanded to fill the right-hand pane as shown).

But a pane in a Windows 11 app is not a widget. So I went to both places where one might expect to find such a thing with mixed results:

1. To the Dev Home (Preview) app, where one can click the “+Add widget” button on its Dashboard pane to pin another widget thereto. But alas, the list of available widgets does not include “Focus session” amidst its still-limited set of offerings.

2. To the news/weather bug on the Canary task bar, where clicking on same opens a larger panel that includes this entry:

After clicking “Add them now” I *DO* see “Focus session” as an available item. Clicking same produces the Focus session widget at the top of the expanded news/weather bug window. Goody!

What Did I Just Learn?

Only some widgets make it onto the Dev Home (Preview) dashboard. Many more are available through the expanded news/weather bug pane. For the time being, it looks like the Focus session widget is one of the latter, but not one of the former. That’s one specific lesson learned.

The bigger implication is that not all new widgets that MS announces will pop up in both places. Only some will make it into the Dev Home dashboard, while all should indeed appear through the expanded news/weather bug. Consider yourself so informed.

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

Post-Update Cleanup Causes DISM Loop

June 14, 2023 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

I’m not sure what’s causing a fascinating Windows 11 issue. But you can see what it looks like in the lead-in graphic for this blog post. Basically, post-update cleanup causes DISM loop, whereby cleanup keeps repeating 100% completion, until I forcibly stop it with Ctrl-C. Weird!

I’ve never seen anything like this before. It occurred on Windows 11 Canary Build 25387.1200, after applying KB5027120 “2023-06 Cumulative Update for .NET Framework 3.5 and 4.8.1 for Windows Version Next for x64.” This comes in the wake of KB5027849, released June 7, that takes the build to minor release number 1200. Again: Weird!

When Post-Update Cleanup Causes DISM Loop, What Now?

The traditional “next move” when something odd and extraordinary occurs in Windows is to reboot, and try again. So that’s what I did. The affected PC — a Lenovo ThinkPad X380 Yoga — came back up without any obvious signs of distress or damage. I was able to remote in without issues, either. And on a retry of the DISM… /startcomponentcleanup command it ran through to completion without further issues.

There’s a known oddity that this DISM command causes a weird doubling of the progress bar if (a) a CU is applied to a Windows 10 or 11 PC and (b) the command is run before the target system is rebooted for a second time. I can only speculate this oddity has been somehow exacerbated in this version of Windows 11.

Be that as it may, the old standby troubleshooting technique — reboot, and try again — seems to do the trick. Once again, the old “three-fingered salute” comes to the rescue. Go figure!

Cool Tools, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Updates, WED Blog

Tracking Minor Updates Poses Diminishing Returns

June 13, 2023 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

Here’s a question whose best practices answer may save admins time and effort. While indeed many developers now push regular updates for their software, not all are equally urgent. Why? Because whereas some updates add valuable new functionality or plug serious security gaps, others may not introduce much of note. That’s why, IMO, tracking minor updates poses diminishing returns against the time and effort required to find, download, and install them.

A case in point appears in the lead-in graphic. Antibody’s WizTree is a tree graph oriented disk space layout visualization and management tool. You’ll notice that winget doesn’t track release numbers past the first sub version level (e.g. 4.14 is what its “show” sub-command displays, and what its “list” sub-command finds on the target PC).

Why Say: Tracking Minor Updates Poses Diminishing Returns?

Simply put, if winget doesn’t track it and package labels don’t include it, not even the developer thinks it’s noteworthy. I’ve had other development teams confirm this approach to me. Thus, for example, when I contacted IObit to ask about minor revisions to their Driver Booster tool (example version number 10.4.0.127) they’ve told me that they don’t advise users to update unless something new or security-related is changed in a new version. If so, their policy is to increment version numbers more significantly, and to use the tool’s auto-update function to recommend and flog the update process forward.

Long story short: if the developer doesn’t recommend installing every minor update that comes along, I can’t do otherwise. For one thing: life’s too short to keep up with absolutely everything. For another, working toward scheduled update windows for most corporate software means choosing only “worthwhile updates” for inclusion. This reduces the amount of change — and its attendant risk — during such windows, and keeps the time and effort required to survive them as manageable as possible.

The old saw: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” somehow seems apt. Don’t let OCD tendencies to keep up with all change put you in a bind. Relax, and watch the blinking lights instead…

Insider stuff, Recent Activity, USB devices, WED Blog, Windows 11

Avoid Cascading Thunderbolt 4 Hubs

June 12, 2023 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

I guess it makes sense, now that I’ve figured out what’s going on. I’m using the Lenovo ThinkVision P27u-20 flat panel monitor with a Lenovo ThinkPad X12 Hybrid PC. It’s been an interesting ride, getting it working once again. (I wrote about it first last December upon its arrival here at Chez Tittel.) Over the weekend, I got it working again Among the various things I learned along the way: avoid cascading Thunderbolt 4 hubs.

Why Avoid Cascading Thunderbolt 4 Hubs?

Simple, short answer: Windows 11 can’t find the monitor when it has to traverse an upstream TB4 hub and a downstream one. There’s a longer, more complex answer as well. Too much throughput is required for an all-purpose power/video/peripherals link between host and monitor. Multiple TB4 hubs don’t work that way.

This drove me batty for a while. That’s because I used the CalDigit TS4 hub as the primary. Then, I ran a video connection from it to the P27u-20. But the monitor features a built-in TB4 hub that doesn’t work in that configuration. Good to know, but hard to figure out. What led me to this discovery? In part, a consistent report that my power link wasn’t beefy enough to recharge the X12’s battery.

When I finally checked the port map for the monitor I saw that only one is labeled both Thunderbolt 4 and “full function upstream port with max 96W With Smart Power PD output” (see pg. 6). And sure enough, that’s the one I had to hook directly to the primary USB-C port on the X12 to get the monitor recognized as a 2nd working display.

It’s all good now. But if you use a monitor like the P27u-20 with integrated hub, it’s best to avoid bringing another TB4 hub into that mix. ‘Nuff said!

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

XP Bliss Wallpaper Brings Back Memories

June 9, 2023 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

It may be the longest-lived version of Windows, ever. Windows XP was generally available on October 25, 2001. And it didn’t hit EOL until April 8, 2014. That’s 4,548 days or 12 years, 5 months, and 14 days (not including the end date, add one more day if you’re feeling generous). Now, I’ve learned that the familiar grassy hillside from the XP default wallpaper that graced my desktop for much of that interval is available in 4K format for download. The old XP Bliss wallpaper brings back memories galore for me, as it may do for you.

An auto-scaled version of that download appears as the lead-in graphic for this admittedly nostalgic blog post. You can download the original from the Microsoft Design team. And here’s a shout-out to the Neowin team whose June 9 story brought this onto my radar.

If XP Bliss Wallpaper Brings Back Memories, Grab It!

You too, can grab and use this image yourself if you like. It works for wallpaper, or goes readily into your desktop background rotation. I remember that grassy sward both fondly and well from those days from decades past. If you’re of like mind you may, like me, be inclined to grab yourself a copy, too. The original weighs in a around 7MB in size, with native resolution of 4089×2726 pixels (hence its 4K label).

It’s big enough, in fact, that WordPress had to downscale it so I could run it as my “featured image” here. That took it down from the aforementioned resolution to a less-hefty 2560 by 1707 pixels instead. And there it sits, at the head of this post.

Cool Tools, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, WED Blog

Chrome Signals Busy During 114 Update

June 8, 2023 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

Here’s something I’d never run into before. Yesterday, while attempting to upgrade Chrome from a 113.x to the latest 114.y version, I got a “servers busy, try again later” error message. That’s why I’m saying Chrome signals busy during 114 update. Interestingly, this meant that even downloading and running the installer didn’t work. It couldn’t get anything from the servers, either.

If Chrome Signals Busy During 114 Update,
Then What?

Wait for the condition to clear, of course. The denial of service lasted for under half and hour as far as I could tell. But that made me chuckle at the slogan from the download page that appears in the lead graphic. Indeed, there was no place like Chrome yesterday at all. You couldn’t get there from here — at least, not for a while.

Once the servers started responding to download requests as usual, the update went through without difficulty. I guess that’s just the way things sometimes go, here in Windows World. The old saw that begins “If at first you don’t succeed…” somehow comes to mind in this context.

Poking Around Inside Chrome Settings…

While waiting for the DoS to clear, I started poking around inside Chrome settings to see what was new. In turn, this led me to the “chrome web store” where I found some interesting themes and extensions to look at and play with. Given the prevalence of JSON in Windows Terminal, PowerShell, WinGet and other tools, I’m definitely going to take the JSON Formatter for a spin.

Sounds like fun, in fact. So yesterday’s dithering and delay was by no means a total wast of time. And now, the latest Chrome version has made its way onto all of my Windows PCs. Cheers!

Insider stuff, PowerShell, Recent Activity, Security, WED Blog

MS Defender Update Targets Deployment Images

June 7, 2023 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

If you can trust the header data in this MS Support note (I do) it was updated on June 5, 2023. The item is entitled “Windows Defender update for Windows Operating system installation. It describes how to imbue offline Windows images with the latest and greatest Defender capabilities. In fact, that article includes a warning not to apply them to live images. Thus, it’s clear that this MS Defender update targets deployment images.

I got my date information about the article from its HTML meta-data:

<meta name="lastPublishedDate" content="2023-06-05">
<meta name="firstPublishedDate" content="2020-12-04">

How MS Defender Update Targets Deployment Images

Pre-requisites to run the updates — for WIM and VHD files — include:

Works on OS install images for 64-bit Windows 10 and 11, and Windows Server 2016 and 2019
OS environment must include PowerShell version 5.1 or newer (current production version is 7.3.4 as I write this)
Microsoft.Powershell.Security and DISM modules installed
The PowerShell session for the script <code>DefenderUpdateWinImage.ps1</code> runs with admin privileges. (“Run as administrator” or equivalent.)

The script provides switches to apply, remove or roll back, and list details for the installed update. Useful for those who maintain Windows images and want their security levels up to current snuff.

Find all the details in the MS Support article previously named. Do this before your next scheduled update window, for sure. Of course, this means you’re using Windows Defender as part of your security infrastructure.

MS Is BIG in Security

I just worked on a promotional piece for a joint Rubrik and MIcrosoft security webinar (YouTube video). Amazingly, MS describes itself as “the biggest cyber security company in the world” and did over US$20B in such business in 2022. I guess they do have some legs to stand on in this arena. And indeed, they’re doing all kinds of fascinating stuff with AI and ML to improve their security posture and incident response capabilities. Great stuff!

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

Windows 10 COM Surrogate Errors Continue

June 6, 2023 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

Hmmmm. About 18 months ago, I blogged about a source of regular crashes on my Windows 10 production PC. Entitled “Chronic COM Surrogate Windows 10 Failures” it goes into possible causes of and fixes for APPCRASH errors relates to the Windows COM Surrogate. As you can see in the Reliability Monitor output at the head of this story, my Windows 10 COM Surrogate errors continue, sometimes multiple times in a day. Sigh.

If Windows 10 COM Surrogate Errors Continue, Then…?

I’ve already tried all of the fixes described in the earlier item and the errors continue. My current error history goes back to May 6, and the COM Surrogate error is mentioned in over half the total error reports involved (5 of 7 items). As I look around online, I see I’m not alone in this situation. It also shows up on most, but not all, of my Windows 11 PCs (of which I currently have 11 at my fingertips).

This feels more like a “feature” even if it is manifestly an “APPCRASH” event. Thankfully, it doesn’t seem to impact system stability, reliability or performance. Sometimes, things like this just pop up in Windows. This one is interesting and mildly vexing, but overall doesn’t seem to impair the user experience.

Feedback Hub Search Results

As I search Feedback Hub on some combination of COM Surrogate, APPCRASH, MoAppHang, and so forth, I see that PowerToys sometimes enters the picture, sometimes not. The nature of the error appears to depend on whether it emerges from an app (usually on the PowerToys components) or an executable (usually DllHost.exe).

But it looks like this issue hasn’t gone away since I dug into it a while back. And based on its common presence on Windows 10 and 11 PCs alike (across production, preview, beta, dev and canary channels as well) it looks like something more constant than intermittent. While I hope MS does fix it sometime (sooner would be better than later), I guess I can live with it while they’re searching for the right “round tuit.”

Cool Tools, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, Troubleshooting, WED Blog

Winget Zip Support Is Uncertain Right Now

June 5, 2023 Ed Tittel Leave a comment

I have to laugh, because that beats crying. Upon reading about built-in support for ZIP files added to winget v1.4.0.1071, I had to try it (note: it works in some Preview 1.5.1081 installs as well). I ran into issues on various PCs,owing to a missing dependency item. You can see what that error looks like in the lead-in graphic. It worked on some of my PCs but not all of them. Hence I say: Winget Zip support is uncertain right now. It works in some cases, in others it doesn’t.

Exploring Winget Zip Support Is Uncertain Right Now

If you look at the winget output in the lead-in figure, you’ll see the problem isn’t really with the unZIP process. That completes OK as the output line “Successfully extracted archive…” indicates. It blows up after that as it attempts to use the extracted files to drive actual installation. I’ve reported this to team lead Demitrius Nelson, and he suspects some additional framework package is needed. Seems likely given that “dependency missing” is explicitly cited in the last line of the error message.

I did succeed on a few of my systems whereas several others failed with the error message shown above. Here’s how success looks:

When things work, it simply installs from the (temporarily) unzipped archive’s contents. Good-oh!

The Store Version Works Around the Issue

If you don’t want to wait for MS to fix this particular — and quite minor — gotcha, download and install the MS Store version instead. I already know that works just fine because I blogged about it last Thursday: Exploring Windows 11 Dev Home. As a member of the “I have to see it working” club, I’m glad I tried winget to take an alternate install path this morning. That gave me the opportunity to report an interesting gotcha to the dev team. And indeed I got a response back within minutes when I reported my findings to them.

Further, I’m pleased to report that I just tried the MS Store technique on one of my affected PCs, and it worked. The Preview version of Dev Home is now running on that machine. Good stuff!

Note Added June 5 Late Afternoon: Fixed?

I reported the issue this morning and got an immediate response with an explanation and a workaround. Just now, I successfully installed DevHome on two more PCs, with no issues. My sample size is waaaaaaaaay too small for me to say “Fixed” But I can say that perhaps it has been addressed. Thus, fixed? No further direct from the WinGet team means I cany guess, but my guess is — I hope — a good one.