1191. Accessibility: My visually impaired client now using Voice-to-Text software for eMails

 A huge improvement for my friend was first getting him to us Narrator (great product) to listen to his eMails as it read them to him. This is step 2 to allow him to dictate to gmail his eMail text and letting Voice In Chrome Extension recognize voice and convert to text. He has been playing with it since I left and loving it. Big improvement for a near-blind person. He can now "read" his emails without the sender sending them with 24-pt text and vice-versus.  

Don't forget to unmute the mike. This is PF4 on a Lenovo PC.

Note: Voice In is free only if use is kept less than 60 minutes daily. I don't know if this is 60 minutes as long as the mic is on or when actually dictating time. So, you probably have to close Mic when finished dictating and don't leave it on.

A REAL Free Chrome Extesnion from the Chrome Store is Dictation for Gmail. It appears to work as well. However, it also appears ONLY to work with gmail and not other Chrome applications like voice In.

1190. Letter "A" repeats until cows come home on ALL Input Fields

 Here's  a strange problem on friend's PC. While working with him we went to the Google Chrome screen to look something up. Before we could type even the first keyword to search on, his PC starting typing continuous "A"s in the field and we couldn't type, stop it, etc.! Thought immediately it was due to his new keyboard, but he said it happened on old one before too and couldn't recreate the problem then. Anyway, you have to RESTART to fix it. Testing showed it was NOT limited to CHROME. Even hitting the Windows 11 START Key and it started putting A's there. EVERY input filed available it types A's! 

I am trying the following to stop this annoying behavior:

1. I remembers about 3 weeks ago I entered a REGEDIT zap to permanently turn on Num Lock so he could use it (remember, he is visually impaired and can't even see the letters on the Num Lock Key to press it. Also, now he can use the Num Pad to enter PIN for signing in to Windows. I don't see where this plays into the problem (yet!).

2. But, also at the same time I turned ON the Toggle Keys (in Start>Settings>Accesibility>Keyboard>Toggle Keys) so he would hear when he pressed the Caps Loc and other keys (he can only see 24-pt, bold, CAPITAL letters). Well, the sound does NOT work at all. However, I left it turned ON. Maybe the problem! So, I turned it OFF.

3. A common element between his different keyboards was the keyboard driver. It was set as an HP keyboard driver and NOT another PS2 Keyboard driver. I checked both first and the drivers were up to date. Thus, I switched him off the HP Keyboard hardware to the Other PS2 Keyboard driver.

Now, we will run and see if the problem is resolved. Just to note: there are only 1-2 other related issues like this reported, but in each case the persons responding assumed a bad/dirty/sticky keyboard was the issue. Not the case here. I detached the Keyboard entirely then closed CHROME, then went to another Input Field under Windows 11 contro directly and the A's starting typing without a Keyboard.

If no further update is made to this post, we are over the issue and one of the changes made above worked.

------

Update 1/17/24: See post 1193. No solution is yet available and this post is same as 1193 which has more details.

1189. "Trust No One"Glenn Dyer – 4.5 Stars

 

Trust No One by Glenn Dyer – 4.5 Stars

Publisher: TMR Press LLC

ISBN: 9781701105784

 I guess I should have read up on this novel before I started reading it. I hope Mr. Dyer did a better job in the Prologue, or even a Forward preceding it, to refresh his first 3 books and characters before releasing the final copy. It is important to note that following the actual novel text was the “Author’s Note” which I wish had read first. I struggled for many chapters getting into the event(s) and relearning the characters. That said, the way it was introduced lowered my 5-stars rating to a 4.5-starss for an excellent story in itself. Mr. Dyer, please put the “Author’s Note” up front!

 Over two years passed since the last read of his third book and unlike Mr. Dyer who lives in this WW II, I forgot most of it. I accept your apology for this long absence in completing it.

 Conor and Emily were well remembered and their cleverness and feistiness continued. It’s always a pleasure, particularly today in the world that has become so touchy-feely instead of suck-it-up and live with reality. Conor and Emily face a lot of adversity in a not-so-important-looking mission. Again, I stress that the Author’s Note be read first to get a perspective of why it was important, plus an additional refresh of some of the real-to-life characters. Mr. Dyer precedes each chapter with dates and places which without would really make this impossible to follow. My only suggestion relative to that is that the number of chapters be reduced and the consolation of pertinent information be done in larger chapters before hopping off to somewhere else.

 After finally understanding the characters, I could then consciously visualize the events and journey to its end. Bravo Mr. Dyer. But, the continuous referencing of character by names and/or positions, some in long German military and political position identities, and the numerous factions of Germany and France involved might have been a no-brainer for a history-buff. I’m still in infancy with the wars, hated history in school way back before the mid-1960s, but my interest finally peaked. Mr. Dyer’s Series was a great way to capture and promote that interest. Please spare your readers of the unnecessary military positions and better introduce the different country factions.  

 With all that said, I am amazed how well the history is imbedded with fiction in all the Connor Thorn & Emily Bright novels. Thank you, Mr. Dyer. If I can summarize, without revealing too much, this novel begins with the hiding of archives that start with thoughts it is limited to who assassinated a French Admiral., as his Author’s Note explains quite well as a document that could also endanger the coalition of the allies and outcome of the war. It was important to find the archives and determine the implications. General Eisenhower even committed to resigning if the OSS and SOE (look them up) were involved in the assassination of a Admiral, who in the beginning may or may not have been involved with Nazis. Conor and Emily’s journey started out rough with them being kicked out of their perspective organizations, but who do you call when you really need top spies to do an important mission? They again teamed and traveled through many locations to play detective, find the archives, assassinate a few Germans, and get beat up and shot on the way. The secrecy and cat-and-mouse events create a story that can not be put down, after the first several chapters as noted above. I almost want to read it again to appreciate the first part which I couldn’t reassemble from past novels in the Series. For example, I had totally forgot that Conor had a sister Maggie Thorn and for a while had her mixed up with Emily Bright Thorn his wife of 9 days when the novel began.

 It is only because of the structure of the novel that I removed ½ star from my rating, and would have liked to have rated it a 4.5 Star. The history and story rock as always.

 Reviewer: Rich

 

1188. Enable Num Lock on Startup and Permanently

 Enable Num Lock on startup or reboot in Windows 11/10

1187. Disable ADOBE prompt to make it PDF default

 https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/disable-prompt-to-make-acrobat-my-default.html

1186. Prevent scam pop-ups/notifications in Chrome

 Here's a tip that may work to eliminate getting scam alerts while browsing in Chrome. Turn OFF the notifications. Seriously, does anybody have any valid notification from a visited page? Just disble all of them by:

1. Select the 3-dotted Menu icon on the top right of Chrome

2. Select Settings > Privacy and Security > Site Settings (scroll down to it) > Notifications (under Permissions) > Select radio button "Don't allow sites to send notifications"

If you find this too aggressive, check radio button "Use quieter messaging" instead. I'm will be running the above to see if I can avoid all scams.

1185. Create Recovery Drive Fails

 I remember I had this problem with creating a Recovery Drive, but forgot to document resolution so I could avoid this happening again. So, here is one reason for the failure that I think I implemented to resolve this. I will try it again on my visually impaired client's system. Simply, you uncheck the "Back up system files to the recovery drive" option in the dialog. To create, START > Type Create Revovery and select it, now follow the instructions there EXCEPT uncheck the "Back up system files to the recovery drive" option. The above reference then tells you how to proceed, error or not, to then backing up before closing the creating by checking the "Back up system files to the recovery drive" option.

1184. Boots in Default Administrator mode? Scam? No Password? UPDATE-Power Fault.

 My visually impaired client's screen went to very small text and window size. Why He doesn't know what he did since he can't see the many things popping up on his screen. I didn't have time to troubleshoot and just want to get him back to booting in User Account mode on a system that was reliable. So, I did a System Restore from 2 days back successfully.

I wonder what happened. From research, this usually happens when the User Account (only one on his HP Windows 11 system) gets corrupted. Preliminary research indicates that one reason could be that the machine was powered off incorrectly while active. This most likely could be his reason since his only option when he can't see the many messages or troubleshoot on his own is to just reboot. However, instead of using a recommended way to reboot, like just invoke a restart one of the several ways, he simply abandons ship and pulls the plug. I did find out that he had a scam alert -- McAfee looking red window and sirens alert telling him he had a virus when he doesn't have McAfee any longer. He can't remember what he did while it was blaring away, but eventually just pulled the plug then (about 2 days prior to the reboot in Administrator mode). Had he responded in a positive way to the alert, he may have picked up a virus or the scammer could have set a timed trap to execute later.

Anyway, this is all past events now since the restore worked, but also wiped out anything done in the 2 days to troubleshoot cause. Thing to know about your system not booting to your User Account and automatically using the HIDDEN DEFAULT Administrator Account: The Default Administrator (DA) is there for those companies installing systems and software onto a new machine to sell. It's default is to be Disabled when the user gets the machine which would prevent (I think) the machine to come up that way which is also one without a PW! This is NOT a good to leave Active when the machine sells. It will allow anybody on your machine to have administrator access by simply turning on your machine should your User Account to corrupt or for other reasons. Thus, it should have been Disabled, or least notified the buyer to assign a PW to it which I understand can be done.

To Disable it or Enable it use the following instructions:

1. Start  Type CMD and then Right-Click CMD to open in Administrator mode.

2. In CMD window, to Disable, type without quotes "net user Administrator /active=no" or to Enable type without quotes "net user Administrator /active=yes"

3. Close Elevated CMD window.

The goal is to prevent someone from accessing administrator mode on your machine! Thus, my advice, you should NOT have the default-administrator active! Disable it. Now create a second user account with administrator privileges AND PASSWORD PROTECT IT. Now if you user account gets corrupted, you will have a second one to depend on to fix things as required. 

Now, suppose you don't follow the advice above and just keep the default-administrator  active. Create the second account quickly with a PW , disable the default-administrator (as instructed above), sign out and bring up your second administrator account.

Now comes the question, did someone already violate your system? Did a scammer corrupt you User Account, reboot your system into default-administrator mode, and have at your sensitive data? Not enough time to document everything that may need to be done to recover or even explain everything that could be corrupted. Take my advice above -- Secure your system. Obviously HP or Best Buy who built my client's system put him in jeopardy!

----------------------------

12/15/2023 Update

A Discovery!

The issues were caused by a power outage. Precisely, a short in outside receptacle that wasn't a certified FGCI exterior receptacle. The guy actually put out his Christmas lights by himself, but didn't realize his external receptacle wasn't certifiably the type required to prevent the elements from invading it! with 3 days of slow rain, BAM. This apparently happened before where he had a short outage that tripped his circuit breaker. Well, I'm declaring User Error as the root cause and it is being replaced. Regardless, the other messages in this blog are valid re the lack of security with an active default-administrator account on your system. Your system should have an INACTIVE one and you can get it there as stated in this blog.

 

1183. 23H2 Featured Microsoft Upgrade goes on FAST with no hassles

 Thought I'd have another day in the computer room installing a Microsoft Feature Update. Microsoft has come a long way since the first one after which I had at least several hours of work to get it back to MY system after they removed a lot. This time, 12 minutes from end-to-end and that incudes a restart. Absolutely nothing changed in my system. All my unique Registry changes stayed the same. More than I can say about the just earlier cumulative update that removed my Registry change to put the notification of a download in Chrome back to the bottom of the window instead on the top tight. I hate it there and will have to restore that hack. But, the Feature Update worked fine. The only noticeable  difference so far  is the AI Preview ICON they threw on my Taskbar. I'm looking forward to a new Voice-to-text application upgrade and will be testing that the next few days for my impaired client I am helping. Most of the other new features I have no interest in. Supposedly there is a new File Explorer with tabs that I might look at, but I, like my 85-year old client just wants a system to remain stable and NOT change for a long time. Poor guy can't see well enough to see even a screen at max magnification and when you modify something on it and changes what he has memorized, life is an ever-reminding misery. Makes you wish that Microsoft would just offer a very stable version that NEVER gets updated except for security tweaks that do NOT change any visible interface. 

Anyway, KUDOS to Microsoft this time.

1182. Plug it in stupid! Unmute it!

 Thought I had graduated from trying to run something before plugging it in! 40+ years and I did a Dumbo! I was trying to get Speech-to-Text to work and my PC wouldn't recognize my built-in microphone. Haven't used a microphone since the XP days! Well, when I play Hearts, I use the Fn+F4 key to display the score. NOW, I know that the other function on the F4 key on my Lenovo is the MICROPHONE MUTE toggle! Di I ever feel stupid! I worked on this for hours to get the microphone working. It always tested fine via the hardware settings. Just couldn't get it to work, like in gmail.com compose an email! I knew I needed a Chrome Extension and had one, then two, then tree and none of them worked. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Just hit the F4 key to toggle it back on! lol. If you are here because of the same problem that your microphone, or PC keyboard, has a mute button and it was on, join me in the self butt kicking closet of shame. Then let out a loud Har-Har to welcome you back to supreme troubleshooter that can fix anything BUT something this easy. Go ahead and tell your spouse so both of you can laugh and roll on the floor and ....

1181. ONEDRIVE disappeared from PC

 I never used ONEDRIVE and removed it from my system awhile back. Now I am testing ONLINE FREE Microsoft 365 for my client who is visually impaired so I can use the dictate feature to write documents or do emails. The Online 365 uses ONEDRIVE to save it documents. Thus, you can see them on your PC to perform some operation by clicking on the ICON in the Taskbar. But, I still don't see ONEDRIVE the file in File Explorer.

I did Start > typed ONEDRIVE and selected it. It opened the ONEDRIVE folder located as a subdirectory of my user name. I then PINNED it in Quick Access. Now I am in business.

1180. Why did Google Drive G: disappear from File Explorer and it's ICON vanish from System Tray?

 Unfortunately, I can't tell you WHY the G: (i.e., Google Drive) disappeared from my File Explorer, but I can tell you how to get it back:

Solution: Start > type OPEN GOGGLE DRIVE and select it. After it runs the Google Drive ICON will appear in the Task Bar, albeit the additional ones not visible on your task bar (click "^") AND G: will again reappear in File Explorer under This PC.

Ah ....strike 2! Got on next day and gone again. Only similarities is that I made a completely different change to the taskbar both times, the 2nd added the Search field back, after which is must have disappeared. Thus, I just made a change to taskbar again hiding the Search field. So far so good: the GDRIVE ICON in tray and G: in File Explorer. Knocking on wood.

Strike 3, but I'm still here. Restart booted it again and this time Open Google Drive di NOT put the ICON and G: drive back! So, I uninstalled Google Drive and reinstalled it (had to uninstall and reboot becasee the version I had was the same as the download and it wouldn't install it). ICON is back in Tray and G: back in File Explorer, PLUS it is pinned to Quick Access like it was once before (that too disappeared). G: is populated, i.e., SYNCed with cloud Google Drive as once upon a time. Restart will now be done again to see it vanish! GONE!!! The ICON and G: are like Ralph Kramden and Betty --- and away we go! What I did notice this time was that the Google Drive name in the Quick Access became G: with a question mark preceding it. Hmmm. I unpinned that. Just hoping...restart now.

No Way Jose! ICON still missing and G: not in File Explorer. I did save Google Drive ICON on my Desktop when installing though, So, let's see what it offers since noting on the Internet has helped yet.

Double Clicking the desktop ICON for Google Drive rand something and returned with a popup showing "Your Files are up to date and checked "Everything is up to date". And, Woohoo, there is the G: drive again in FE along with Google Drive (G:) in my Quick Access. Is it supposed to be there/ Does Google actually create the entry in MY Quick Access? I'm unpinning it and restarting once again. But first, how do I get the popup off my screen? Eventually it disappears by itself, just like ICON and G:...lol. Ok RESTART

Forget it! 😖Nothing I tried fixed the problem. Fortunately the cloud is preserved. Sometime Google will fix this properly. Until then I just now double Click the Google Drive Icon on my Desktop to get everything back to normal.

If you have a Solution, please drop a Comment here. Thanks.

1179. Opening File Explorer and it always searches - why?

 Strange that when I open File Explorer a search precedes any file listings. Why? Easy to stop search by simply clicking on a folder on my PC. But, why is it even doing it?

The answer for me was that I had pinned a remote user's PC file, i.e., another PC's file on the network, to Quick Access. This causes File Explorer to search for it even when that user is not signed in on the network. Unpinning the networked file for that other user stops the unnecessary search and File Explorer comes right up with my Home files.

1178. Notice the Bookmarks change in Chrome from Other Bookmarks to ALL Bookmarks?

 This was just great! I used to save my not-yet-permanent bookmarks in Other Bookmarks in Chrome Browser. Then, mysteriously, Other Bookmarks disappeared and I had a choice to use All Bookmarks. So, I went to Bookmarks Manager and instead of finding an ALL BOOKMARKS I found Other Bookmarks. They appear to be one in the same! So, I decided to try to rename the ALL to Other, couldn't. Tried to rename Other to ALL and couldn't. 

I found this article which tells you how to Remove All from the top tight of Chrome where Other once appeared. Well, it did, but replaced it with Other. So, it simply renamed it. Here's how:

In Chrome, go to about://flags and disable "Power bookmarks side panel" allows enable, disable of the so-called Power Bookmarks.

So, someone had a "quicker" way to make ALL disappear (don't do it before reading on):

hit Ctrl+Shift+B on the keyboard to toggle it to show or hide.

MAYBE, this works if it is still ALL Bookmarks. But if you changed it the first way back to Other Bookmarks, this does NOT make it disappear. At least I'm back to something I have used for decades!

1177. "Dark Dive" by Andrew Mayne – 5 Stars

 

Dark Dive by Andrew Mayne – 5 Stars

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer

ISBN: 9781662506451

 

As always, Andrew Mayne blends crime solving and science, so, I become a little smarter while being entertained.

Great characters make a story great and there are plenty of fascinating ones here. Sloan is daring, courageous, and smart. Her family is loving and a bit quirky. Her team is supportive and close knit. There is a group of people who dive into sink hole for fun.

The plot has a recent cold case and an ancient one, exciting action, history and geology of Florida and a missing person.

Two things stood out for me. One, what AI can do to assist in underwater investigation. The other, the vivid description of the remote areas of Florida that are filled with wildlife and huge interconnecting sinkholes.

The Underwater Investigation Unit series is my favorite of Andrew Mayne’s series and this one is the best.

 

Reviewer: Nancy

1176. Return of the Dish Hopper 3 Demon

 I posted a while ago here about memory conflicts causing issues with the Dish Hopper3 that had an OTA attached and used its PRIME interface instead of switching directly to it. Well, this time Dish added channels 151 and 152 to respectively present multiple viewing of some sports channels and the other to find current sports of you liking where you can use its options to customize you favorite sports and teams.  Real nice and desired function. HOWEVER, what came with are the Hopper3 crashes like before. I won't be pursuing this with Dish because they never honored my technical expertise on the other issues in post above and I had to find a workaround. This implementation of the two channels are immediately obvious because they are like other channels. Once there, you can't simply press channel up/down to get off it. You have to back out. That was the first clue that they set up special memory to handle the multiple showings (channel 151) and customized finds (Channel 152). After about 10-12 uses of these I started to have crashes again -- that's what happens when you don't know how to manage dynamic storage needed as required and how to release it and ensure no other operation collides with the active/inactive memory used. Been there, seen that in my career! No workaround for this, so it can have its channel 151 and 152! You can use PIC viewing to show 2 games at a time -- good enough for me for I don't even use it. And the game scores, scheduling, and recording I can handle a different way. Thanks Dish, but no Thanks. Crashing is NOT acceptable. But, if your Hopper3 does crash, try the Satellite button on the left side of the remote to get it back up. I also go to settings to reboot the Hopper3 when this happens to clean up memory.= and any lingering issues

1175. Accessibility: Reconnect Internet after a network crash - SONY TV and Fire Stick

 Dear Jack (not the real name of my visually impair client) once again got bitten by technology. If you followed previous posts re me installing his Fire Stick onto his Sony Smart TV, along with an OTA to pull in FREE local channels, you would have noticed a SUCCESS yell. Until yesterday when his network crashed for some unknow reason. Thing is, mine did too. We are on different Fiber Internet services, mine AT&T, his Vexus. Interesting that both crashed the same time. Since they have separate local fiber to houses I would have though the entire system was too exclusive to the organization. Sure seems like Vexus did a piggy-back somewhere down the line and when an AT&T service was disrupted, it also caused Vexus to hiccup. Could possibly, like before Fiber, some of the smaller companies would address the customer interface but pay to use a larger companies facilities and services to perform the backend functions? I'm going to address that here - speculate as you will.

Only thing of concern was the network crashed so the simple solution is to cut the power on the router and bring it back up again. This worked fine for his computer, but not his TV and Fire Stick. The SONY gave an appropriate message that the Internet wasn't available and to check it, but also wanted to connect to a cable or satellite service which he gave up in lieu of a Fire Stick (big You Tube user for UFOs and History) and Local Channels off an OTA (over-the-air antenna) connected to the SONY. (Simple voice switching between the two using the Fire Stick remote works like a charm (see This Post and also this one). Now he has free TV (Go Cowboys) and all the applications available to the Fire Stick.)

Back to the subject. How did I get him past the SONY message. rial and error. Actually hit the right button on the SONY remove (TV button) which connected him. Who would have thought? I don't know if the SONY was confused because it always expected either a cable/satellite service. I don't think any research would have told me to hit the TV Button on the remote! One for the Good Guys. 

1174. BAD MICROSOFT: PHOTOS APP and GALLERY slipped into FILE EXPLORER

 PHOTOS APP and GALLERY slipped into FILE EXPLORER

So what's so bad about the new Photos App? Probably nothing. From what I saw on my visually impaired client was that he had Photos App as the default .jpeg, etc. picture viewer and it looked fine. The problem was when "Gallery" showed up at the top of his File Explorer window on the left side. His vision is so bad that he would select things based on their location. So, what was just his "My Pictures" that led him to his pictures now was below the "Gallery" word Microsoft just stuck there. When he hit Gallery, he got his pictures, or at least he thought, as before. Instead, he was now looking (and not seeing), a list of all pictures on his system that he could select or to scroll over to see what folder they were in (no help to the blind). Since his current project is to take new pictures and place them into existing folders which he knew how to locate because he divided them up into categories (sub-folders) -- only took a month or so --, but first wanted to eliminate duplicates, the Gallery item really screwed him up. He began thinking that he could add/delete/move pictures from that "Gallery" and didn't realize it was no more than what a PIN is in Quick Access, meaning, just a pointer to where it actually is. So, he deleted an item from what he thought was a source folder thinking that the destination folder he put it in was where he wanted it, only to find out that a delete via Gallery actually deleted the file in the destination! I probably didn't justice explaining this, but that delete was only the tip of the iceberg for him. He began to notice that his pictures AND folders in Quick Access were also being screwed up and by the time I got there he had duplicates and triplicates of some folders and their sub-folders, most of which were now empty! He thought he lost everything, including his backups. Fortunately I made two backups of his files because he was taught to backup first and when he did that he simply propagated the empty folders to the Backup folders! 

It took me 2.5 - 3 hours to get him restored to original folders which also reminds me that he kept visiting the Recycle folder to find his pictures that disappeared. Since he didn't understand that the Recycle Bin was NOT a picture folder where a picture file could be displayed but only an entry to restore it to the original place, he now became totally confused. He can make out picture images, but the Recylcle Bin is only text. Thank You Microsoft for beating a guy that was already down!

First corrective step was to get rid of "Gallery" on left side of File Explorer window. The best article I found was Here. Poof, it's gone! No more confusion. Remember, it uses Regedit to do its trick, so backup up the Registry (Export) before running it. It also gives you the Regedit file to put it back to Gallery if you ever want to do so.

I personally have no use for Gallery in File Explorer. I'm appalled that Microsoft just stuck this onto my client's system just because he had a Microsoft Account logon into Windows 11. Well, that changed. I now have him on a Local Account logon (see This Post). If you are on a Microsoft Account, expect PREVIEWS  to show up automatically onto your system. See other BAD MICROSOFT issues by searching on BAD MICROSOFT on the search field on top of this blog. Also note that as soon as Microsoft changes things like this it also removes the procedures you have become accustomed to and all the help to get back to normal. This change in procedures makes most articles posted on the Internet to become obsolete, requiring those authors to keep up with the changes. Impossible I am sure you have notices many times that the procedure documented no longer works as is. Now, if I were only charging my client for all this work (NEVER) I'd be making a living.

Here's a tip for a senior in High School or College student that wants to start up a business: You can make a living consulting in just IMPLEMENTING and consulting of Accessibility features on computer systems, particularly Visual Impairments. Think Larger text, text-speech apps, simplified use and instruction on File Explorer, maintenance, eMail, etc. I have included several Accessibility posts that you can use to spark your career. Comment re this and I can help you out at my rates (ZERO at the moment). 

1173. BAD MICROSOFT: Use the LOCAL ACCOUNT logon to Windows instead of MICROSOFT ACCOUNT logon

 Are you tired of running into Microsoft changes to your Windows 11 system without being told about them? Are you seeing new PREVIEW ICONs appearing on you Task Bar and wondering how they got there? Are you losing functions that you had in Windows 10 that you depended on?

Well, it’s probably because you are using the Microsoft Account to logon to windows when you start/restart your system instead of a Local Account. What's the difference? Microsoft wants you to believe that there is a reason to use a Microsoft Account. Years ago, I was nailed when I had to do a SAFE boot to do some repair work. I believe it was related to doing a system restore or something recommended by Microsoft. Only problem was that it always failed. Searching the web, I learned that I would have to use a Local Account logon to fix the issue. That worked like a charm. Since then, I have been leery of the Microsoft Account and reasons why I needed it. Now, I have learned that Microsoft can slip a new function onto your system without your acknowledgement under the guise of a PREVIEW. First time I saw this was when I was helping another user who used a Microsoft Account logon Windrows, i.e. Start/Restart Windows on your pc system. It was an AI Search Icon installed onto the Task Bar. Well, I tried it out and on the first several tries I could NOT get it to locate anything that I could locate via a simple Goggle search! Plus, for my client who is essentially legally blind, this was just one more annoyance to a routine he had learned to find things via a browser search which was as much as he needed. He did NOT need an AI search, particularly one that didn't produce results! You can read yourself about the AI PREVIEW Search Icon on the Task Bar to learn how it got there and its purpose. I found it useless and even more so for my blind client. Then I had to search for quite a while to find out how to remove it! I really need these interruptions, hurdles, and delays! Another PREVIEW that apparently went onto his system before I started working with him was the new PHOTOS APP that replaced PHOTOS and its GALLERY index to all your pictures that appears at the top of your File Explorer window. You can read about that at this post. I recommend an additional link there for information so I don't have to explain these and couldn't explain it any better It used Regedit to make a change to the Registry, so,  but I want to first caution you to ALWAYS back up the Registry when you need to use REGEDIT! Either EXPORT the entire Registry by selecting the top entry or go ahead and traverse the tree to get where you need to make changes and EXPORT just the part that you are changing. That way, should something not work, you can simply double-click the saved .reg file to put it back together the way it originally was before your changes.

But for now, get off Microsoft Account and gain control back to how YOU want to manage your system.

First BEWARE. Microsoft has made it difficult to return to a Local Account once on a Microsoft Account. That’s why every time I install a new Windows version I make sure I don’t blindly follow the instructions up front that lead you to a Microsoft Logon! Select Local Logon instead there. Microsoft removed all the ways you used to be able to do so with another interface (as of 10/6/2023). You can find ways by doing a search that give Instructions to go to Settings > Accounts > Your Info > then simply:

1. Select "Sign in with a local account instead"
2. Followed by Type the user’s name, password, and password hint for your new account.

 

NO MORE!  Now instead go to Settings > Accounts > Your Info > Select "Stop signing in to all Microsoft Accounts Automatically"

The rest of the instructions also do not apply. When I "TRIED" the above out of desperation since no really current nor correct solutions could be found, it returned immediately and changed the Settings text above the selection from "Microsoft Account" to "Local Account". That was easy, but It did NOT let me choose a User Name, password, and password hint for your new account as the incorrect search article stated. Knowing from MY system that a name should be assigned, as well as a password, etc. prompted me to find out how to do that, but I had little patience by this time and simply wanted to get a Local Account up and running. Probably I could have determined what to exactly do, but  I was in a rush for what turned out to be another 3-hour repair of what my blind client messed up because of the Preview Photos App and Gallery (Go Here  to read about it). Thus, I settled on just how to use the existing account name "User" (Yes, whoever created his system didn't even create a name different from the default which shows up as "User User" in file explorer as the lead in all file paths. Fine, I could live with that initially -- just needed to assign a password which he never had making his PC vulnerable to anybody getting onto! Of course, Microsoft changed all its procedures to do that too! In other words, Microsoft does NOT want you to use Local Account! Luckily, I found this "How to Change a Windows Password Using Command Prompt" that is invoked in a basic DOS via Start > CMD > Run as Administrator :

"To change a password in the Command Prompt, type "net user [username] [new password] and press "Enter." For a more discreet option, you can type "net user [username} *" and press "Enter." Then enter the new password twice. You must have administrative access to change a password using the Command Prompt.Apr 26, 2023"

Note, that when you type the password, it does NOT display while typing. Confused me at first. Just enter it and you'll be prompted to enter it again (not displaying) for confirmation. That did it. I restarted, the user account poppet up, entered the password and now home safe for once, never to be bothered by Microsoft's experimental PREVIEW functions.

1172. BAD MICROSOFT: Return to using Windows 10 Context Menu instead of dumb-downed Windows 11 version

 

Update: 5/16/2024: You no longer need this Registry Hack. The W10 version of the context menu can be brought up instead by simply doing a SHIFT+Right-Click whenever you want it, e.g., on a file, do a SHIFT+Right-Click instead of just a Right-Click. Besides, if you did the hack it will be overwritten by new updates to Windows and needed to be reapplied.

Return to using Windows 10 Context Menu out of the chute instead of the so-called simplified Windows 11 Context menu where you need to take an additional step to see all your options.

I have additional functions that I use constantly already added to my od Windows 10 version of the right-click context menu. For example, I I want to encrypt or decrypt a file I want to immediately select that option when I right-click the file name. Other things, how about Scan a file with Defender (now called Windows Security), or run a Slideshow of pictures in a folder, or Share a folder/file via Goggle share, etc. There are so many other options on the Windows 10 version of the Contest Menu to choose.

To get the Windows 10 Context Menu back, you have to go way down the Regedit route! This RegeditLink explains the details.  BUT, first ALWAYS EXPORT the entire Registry or the portion that is being changed before you mess with Regedit. Should the article disappear, here are the steps thanks to the originator at the link above.

Type “regedit” on the Run window,  press enter, and navigate to Computer > HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Software > Classes. > CLSID folder.  Right-click it and Click New when the menu appears. Now, select Key and name (copy below and do paste) it to 

{86ca1aa0-34aa-4e8b-a509-50c905bae2a2}.

Under that new key, Create another key and name it: InprocServer32 

Open InprocServer32 and double-click on “Default” at the right pane. A window should appear after you do this step, but ignore the fields in the opened window and just click Ok.

When you now Restart your PC the legacy W10 context menu should appear providing you all the options on this FIRST and ONLY menu to do your business.