Category Archives: Windows 10

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

Weird Win10 Insider Mismatch

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When I report a Windows puzzle, I usually like to provide a solution. But I just noticed something odd I may not have time to solve today. It looks to me like a weird Win10 Insider mismatch. Let me explain: my production PC is signed up for the Beta Channel, as you can see in the lead-in graphic. But a quick Winver run shows that PC running version 19045.5371 (see below). Alas, the current Beta Channel Insider Preview Build is 19045.5194. And there’s the mismatch in plain sight!

The Build number on this supposed Beta Channel PC corresponds to the current public/production release.

Fixing Weird Win10 Insider Mismatch

Upon closer examination, the Beta build is lower than the current production build. Looks like I want to switch to the Release Preview channel at Build 19045.5435 instead. Let me try that… No joy.

So then, I do some more poking around online, turns out I need to re-select the Beta Channel item (see lead-in graphic) and open its subsidiary window. That lets me switch to the Release Preview channel. Then when I pop back up two levels to re-run an update check, I get what I want:

Turns out my problem is an error in understanding how to switch from Beta to Insider Preview channel: problem solved!

Looks like the download and install are working. I’ll be rebooting soon: installing has reached 100% but not yet flipped over to “Restart pending…” Now it’s installing again … 20% … taking much longer … 45% … 73% … 88% … done. Restarting now… AAAAND winver now shows 19045.5435.

Turns out it wasn’t a channel mismatch: I was on the wrong channel FWIW, Copilot tells me that MS is shutting down Beta Channel, but is continuing to release into the RP (Release Preview) Channel. Hence, my need to change channels to get to the right build level. Apparently, I missed that memo. All fixed now!

As always here in Windows-World, fixing things is easy when one knows what to do. This time, it took me a while — and some new info — to figure out what that was. Go figure!

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Cool Tools, PowerShell, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows 11

OhMyPosh Auto Update Hangover Fixed

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Here’s an interesting one. Indeed one can configure or enable the excellent OhMyPosh prompt tweaking tool  (aka OMP) to update itself. But there’s a trick involved in getting WinGet to recognize an update has occurred. I call it an “update hangover.” Apparently the local copy of the WinGet source list itself needs a reset before it catches up with what’s happened. (That list provides the basis from which it decides what’s fresh and what needs updating.) Let me explain — and show — how I got this OhMyPosh auto update hangover fixed.

Getting OhMyPosh Auto Update Hangover Fixed

Take a look at the screencap in the lead-in graphic. Before this sequence occurred, OMP told me as the PowerShell session started up that it was updating itself to version 24.18.1. You’ll notice that selfsame “Available” version according to WinGet upgrade output right at the head of that PowerShell command sequence.

Keep reading. Note that the output for oh-my-posh –version also reads 24.18.1. Thus, OMP is already upgraded and already current. But after I complete the valid remaining upgrade manually (for Microsoft.WindowsADK), another simple upgrade check shows that WinGet thinks OMP still needs that upgrade.

What to do? I try basic winget source reset — which attempts a reset for the winget and msstore sources — but the command output tells me the directive requires the –force option to work. So that’s what I try next:

winget source reset –name winget –force

As you can see when I do the next upgrade check after that, WinGet now reports “No installed package found matching input criteria.” That means it no longer sees OMP as a legit update target. Fixed!

Now, I wonder if Jan DeDobbeleer can figure out a way to reset the local list of packages for comparison to the WinGet source as part of his auto-update function. Probably not: knowing his thorough and deliberate approach to this package, he’d have done it already were that possible.

 

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

New OhMyPosh Version Highlights Auto-Update

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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!

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

2025 Is PC Refresh Year

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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!

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

Avoid Mystery Pop-up Windows

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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…

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

8GadgetPack Is Now Just GadgetPack

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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!

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Fixing Winget Source Update Fail

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In the past two-plus years that I’ve used WinGet nearly every day, I’ve seen one error show up occasionally. It reads “Failed in attempting to update the source: winget.” This means that the winget command is looking to its own repository of known packages to obtain the latest list but unable to complete that access request. You can see what this looks like at the top of the lead-in graphic. The error follows right after the initial WinGet upgrade… command. The bottom part of that same screencap (it’s two pieces stitched together, actually) shows what’s involved in fixing WinGet Source update fail.

Fixing Winget Source Update Fail Has Its Own Command

It should come as no surprise that there’s a WinGet Source command that takes various subcommands to add, list, update, remove, reset and export WinGet sources. You can read all about these items in this MS Learn item The winget source command.

As you can see at the bottom of the lead-in graphic I used WinGet Source Update -n WinGet for my fix. Basically, that tells Winget to “try again” with updating the default WinGet source named WinGet. It does so automatically when you run WinGet Upgrade… But it does occasionally fail. And when it does, most of the time the Source Update at the head of this paragraph fixes things.

When Might WinGet Source Update Itself Fail?

A variety of problems could provoke error messages from the WinGet Source Update -n WinGet command I used for my fix. It might be that the WinGet source is offline. It might be some kind of networking communication problem is preventing access. I’ve never had this happen, but it would no doubt produce a different error message to help point you in the right direction. WinGet is well engineered that way.

Indeed, WinGet is now an essential part of my admin toolbox. I simply can’t live without it anymore. Cheers!

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

PatchMyPC Home Updater Mini Annoyance

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First things first: I’m a HUGE fan of PatchMyPC’s Home Updater product. Indeed, I got invited to try out the company’s latest version — an app-based implementation that supersedes PatchMyPC.exe — because I’ve written about it often and positively. In the interests of sharing my enthusiasm and support, I also have to report a recent PatchMyPC Home update “mini annoyance.” Let me tell you more…

What Is the PatchMyPC Home Updater Mini Annoyance?

It’s a Store app, so you must call it via the Start menu as “PatchMyPC Home Updater” to launch the program. But it’s NOT available in the Windows Store. Rather you must download it direct from the maker’s website, from the PatchMyPC Home Updater home page. If you try to find it in the MS Store, you get a big fat zip instead. Ditto for a search on “Patch My PC” as it appears here:

Only the website will do: the app is NOT in the MS Store.

Forewarned is forearmed, I guess. But gosh, it’s kind of a minor thing to add an app to the Store, isn’t it? C’mon guys: fix this sooner, rather than later. I applaud the new UI and the switch to a modern app style for this excellent tool. But please: finish the job and put it in the Store. Just sayin…

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Copilot+ PCs, Insider stuff, Recent Activity, WED Blog, Windows 10, Windows 11

MS Sez: Copilot+ PCs 5X Faster Than 2019 Models

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Here’s an interesting MS announcement from last week. I saw it, but didn’t read it all the way through. This morning, I read follow-up coverage (e.g. this WindowsLatest story). It’s entitled “How prepare for Windows end of support by moving to Windows 11 today.” Overall, it’s an eminently predictable bit of upgrade rah-rah. But specifically MS sez: Copilot+ PCs 5X faster than 2019 models.  I translated “5-year old PCs” from the original to get this year.

Weighing Copilot+ PCs 5X Faster Than 2019 Models

It just so happens that this cut-off equates to 10th Generation Intel CPUs (e.g. Comet Lake and Ice Lake). It also hits 3rdGeneration AMD Ryzen models (Matisse and Renoir). I’ve got 4 8th Gen Intel laptops here at Chez Tittel. I’ve also worked with 3 Copilot+ PCs (2 Snapdragon X models, and 1 Intel Aura/Lunar Lake model). My own gut feel, and my ongoing observation of resource intensive tasks — such as disk cleanup, updates, upgrades, big installs, and so forth — absolutely agrees with this claim.

If you dig into the October 31 announcement, you’ll find a section entitled “Benefits of upgrading to Windows 11.” Therein, author and MS EVP/Consumer Chief Marketing Office Yusuf Mehdi avers that when compared to Windows 10, 11 is

  • more sure and trusted
  • better optimized for speed and efficiency
  • better at multitasking
  • more accessible
  • more energy efficient

The 5x speed claim is footnoted to a May 2024 MS Learn item entitled Copilot+ PC performance details. That’s where the 5X claim gets some substance, which turns out to rest on the Cinebench 2024 Multi-Core benchmark. Further investigation shows this to be a 10-minute rendering test using the Redshift engine. Looking at the laptop segment at CPU Monkey, I see the first recognizable Copilot + PC in 17th place, with a value of 1,150 (Apple M2 Ultra (76-GPU) takes 1st place , with a value of 1,918).

Moving Up Probably Means Copilot+

With a handful of older PCs that I’ll need to upgrade in the next year or two, I am thinking about “what’s next” here at Chez Tittel. And indeed, most of what I’m thinking about buying into is Copilot. My first such purchase will probably be a Yoga Slim 7x (blogged July 1, 2024). It’s got a killer screen, runs like a demon, and represents a good value for its cost (~US$1,200 for 16 GB RAM, 0.5 TB SSD, and X1E-78-100 Snapdragon X CPU).

There will be plenty of other models to consider in the months ahead, as the Intel and AMD offerings get fleshed out alongside the earlier ARM Snapdragon X offerings. I’ll be choosing among those, or their successors, in the next year or two as I start upgrade. You should probably be thinking along those same lines. Unless and until something better comes along…

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PC Manager Gains Advanced Browser Cleanup

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Thanks to a recent story in Windows Latest, I just learned that a new version of the Chinese-built MS store app named PC Manager is out. For those who don’t already know, this tool offers performance boost, health check, storage  and startup cleanup tools, and more. Though I’ve heard from plenty of used inclined to be skeptical, if not distrustful, of this tool, I’ve never had it cause me a problem in the 16 months I’ve been writing about it (here’s my first intro post from July 2023). With the latest 3.14.10.0 release, PC Manager gains advanced browser cleanup tools.

Showing PC Manager Gains Advanced Browser Cleanup

You can see the results of such a cleanup in the lead-in graphic: especially for Chrome, they’re substantial (5.0 GB). Of the 9.7 GB in disk space that the Deep Cleanup tool freed up, 6.84 GB (~70%) comes from this newly-minted browser cleanup facility. IMO, that’s pretty major — especially because web browsers account for plenty of the CPU and memory cycles, and disk and memory space on Windows PCs.

Indeed, Copilot says that on a typical Windows PC, web browsers generally consume around 10-20% of the total runtime resources (CPU, memory, network and storage). I think that’s on the low side, but then I nearly always have 20 or more Chrome, Edge and Firefox processes visible in Task Manager (each), and at least a half-dozen tabs open in all 3 browsers. Seems like double (or more) in my case as compared to Copilot’s estimate.

Whatever your typical usage patterns might be, this newly-added cleanup tool will probably be worth running once in a while. I’m going to try it daily and see if it makes any difference.

Give It a Try?

If you’re not using PC Manager already, this new facility makes it even more compelling. If you don’t have it installed, you can find in the MS Store, or grab it via this MS Store link. Go ahead, check it out. You may enjoy it!

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