Computers and the Internet – Page 4

I NOW HAVE WINDOWS 11

When I booted my HTPC NUC this morning, I saw this icon in the Task Bar

It was a notification that Windows 11 was available for this computer. (I thought for sure that my Surface Pro 7 would get it first.)

So I downloaded and installed it. It took about 45 minutes and was very easy.

There was nothing un-expected as I have kept up to date by reading reports of others who have been testing Win 11 in the various Insider Programs – Mainly Paul Thurrott .

The major changes are the Start Screen and the Task Bar and there is plenty of information available on line.

My only complaint so far is that Apps for things like Facebook/Instagram and other other UNWANTED programs appeared on my Start Screen. However it was easy to uninstall them (Right Mouse / Uninstall).

TASK BAR

The Task Bar is not that different with the icons now aligned by default to the centre instead of being spread out from left to right. Also the notifications icon is not visible on the far right – but when there are notifications, they still pop up as before, with an icon showing a number (for the number of new notifications) appearing on the far right. This icon goes away when you look at the notifications.

ALIGNMENT – I went to Settings / Personalisation / Task Bar / Task Bar Behaviours / Task Bar Alignment – and changed it to “Left”.

TASK BAR CORNER OVERFLOW

The one thing with the Task Bar that will take some getting used to is when you have so many apps open that the Task bar overflows. With Win 10 you simply clicked on the drop-down icon to go to a second level. With Win 11 you get a “Corner Overflow” option. The last App opened is shown here with any other over flow icons shown in the “Show Hidden Icons” pop up (with the other hidden icons as per Win 10).

START SCREEN

The Start Screen is the main difference. You now cannot group and label the pinned apps and there are no live tiles. There are just “Pinned” and “All Apps”. However there is a new “Widgets” icon on the task bar and you can add live tiles for a limited number of selected Apps to this. (Weather / News / Calendar etc.)

The Start icons are easy to drag about and I dragged the icons for various pinned programs into a similar order to my old Win 10 arrangement. (They run over into a second page but it is easy to drag from one page to another.)

SETTINGS – FORMERLY – ALL SETTINGS

All Settings is now called “Settings” and you no longer get a summary page but instead the various sections are in a left pane. MAKE SURE you just put SETTINGS in the search when you go looking for it. It is in All Apps in Start under “S”.

SUMMARY

Not much has changed and it did not take me long to get used to the new items. I will add to this post if I find any other major changes.

Browsers and Search Engines

As a result of recent developments in Australia involving Google and Facebook, a couple of friends have asked me about what services I use.

First up there is a lot of truth in the saying – “If you’re not paying for the product, you are the product.”

On the other hand, a lot of people don’t have an issue with their information being sold particularly when they are getting something in return.

As far as browsers are concerned, I generally leave the defaults in place.

iPhone – Default Safari / Google (but not signed into my Google Account);
Ubuntu Linux PC – Default Firefox / Google (not signed in);
iPad – Default Safari BUT I changed the search engine to Bing;
Mac Book Pro – Default Safari / Google (not signed in);
Windows PCs – Default Edge / Bing (signed into my Microsoft Account by default).

My most used Windows PC is a Windows HTPC (NUC) and in this case I have 3 browsers set up as follows:

1. Default – Edge / Bing (signed in);

2. Most frequently used for day-to-day searches – Firefox / DuckDuckGo with Firefox set up to clear all search history, cookies etc when I close the browser;

3. And I use Chrome / Google Search mainly for use with Google products like YouTube & Gmail etc (and signed in with my Google Account).

My two most frequently used devices are the iPad and the HTPC (NUC) and both have a default non Google browser and search engine.

I never have had nor ever will have Facebook (including Instagram) as the price you pay is just not worth what is given back in return. This is, by no means, a recent decision. I decided about 15/16 years ago when it first became “a thing”.

Google does provide value and has made no secret of how it funds its operations. Nevertheless, I consciously limit my use of Google products. Once again, this is not because of the recent action taken by Google, but for a number of reasons, the main one being that it is almost a monopoly with search in Australia at above 94% market share. Monopolies are never good. Also, I just want to have my eggs in as many baskets as possible.

Google has many good and useful services including Gmail, Google Drive, YouTube, Maps and Google Docs to name a few. Don’t forget you get 15GB of storage with Google Drive before you have to pay, as opposed to One Drive and iCloud at 5gb each and DropBox at 2gb.

Another reason not to overly rely on one product or company is – Picasa. Remember Picasa – the excellent photo program from Google that was discontinued. This is not the only time that a “free” app has been discontinued. And not to pick on Google – remember Windows Live Essentials with the excellent Windows Live Movie Maker. I even wrote a Blog about it.

So, the moral of the story is – Your information is valuable – Look at how rich Google and Facebook are. Therefore, don’t sell yourself cheaply – spread yourself around. MOST IMPORTANTLY, don’t encourage monopolies.

P.S. Nothing and I mean nothing annoys me more than when I search for information from a Government Department and it returns a Facebook page. It also annoys me when the same thing happens with a private organisation but in these cases I understand why they do it.

NUC – PROBLEMS WITH HD TV AS MONITOR – NO PICTURE

I have been very happy with my first NUC and have been using it for almost a year without any issues. See prior post.

I liked it so much so that I decided to replace my HTPC with a NUC to save space and make room for a PlayStation 5.

The new X Box Series X will fit (on its side) in the same space occupied by my X Box One X but the PS5 is a lot larger than the PS4. As a result, I thought I would replace my HTPC with a NUC to open up more space for a PS5.

I bought a “bare bones” NUC with a 10th generation Core i5 and inserted 32 GB RAM and 2 X 1 TB hard drives. (The models with “H” in the model number have space for an additional 2.5 inch SATA SSD as well as the main M.2 drive.)

My existing HTPC has a reasonable graphics card plus a TV Tuner card and a sound card. However, with nothing on FTA (Free to Air) TV, I rarely, if ever, use the TV Tuner card. I play Blue Ray discs on the X Box One X using my Denon AV Receiver so I now use the HTPC for watching Netflix, YouTube and iTunes videos.

Therefore, I reasoned, a NUC would fulfil these requirements and I went ahead and purchased another NUC and attached it to one of the four HDMI inputs on my Sony 4K HDR TV

PROBLEM – POWERS ON BUT NO PICTURE

All went well for about a week. Then one morning when I turned it on there was power but no picture on the screen.

I tried everything in terms of the Intel troubleshooting wizard – with no success:-

This is the link to the Australian version of the Intel NUC no boot troubleshooting wizard

https://www.intel.com.au/content/www/au/en/support/topics/wizard-nuc.html

OR just search for – Intel NUC troubleshooting wizard.

After searching the internet, I ran across posts that suggested the problem may be with using a HD TV as a monitor. There are various NUC models with varying integrated graphics capabilities. As a result, some models have problems with some HD TVs. So, I then connected my NUC to a computer monitor and it operated normally.

On the TV, I discovered that the input being used for the NUC had an “Enhanced Format” setting that was turned on. When I turned off this setting or used another HDMI input without this feature, the picture was OK. However I still occasionally had a problem on getting the video to display after sleep and had to use this solution:

Unplug your Intel NUC from the AC outlet and wait for about 10 seconds. Press the power button on the front panel of your NUC a couple of times. Do this with no power source connected to make sure the NUC discharged completely. Connect your NUC to the AC outlet and try to turn it on.

I did further research and Intel does sell NUC models with higher end graphics. My NUC is not one of those.

My NUC does come with an “Intel Graphics Command Centre” App. I opened this App and set it at 3840 X 2160 with 60p Refresh rate.

Hopefully this will fix the problem. I will add to this post with the results. I don’t want to even consider an External GPU (eGPU) as they are bigger and more expensive than a NUC.

UPDATE

It has been a couple of days now and the problem appears to have been resolved. (I hope / touch wood).

Setting the output via the Intel Graphics Command Centre to 3840 X 2160 with a refresh rate of 60 Hz P seems to have fixed the issue.

After installing the hard drives and RAM, I immediately attached the NUC to the TV to install the OS and complete the setting up. The integrated graphics on the NUC detected the TV as the monitor and, by default, set the output to 3840 / 2160 / 59P.

Therefore, I can only conclude that the refresh rate of 59Hz was the cause. The TV manual shows refresh rate specifications for the HDMI inputs of 50 & 60 Hz with additional refresh rates of 24,25 & 30 on 2 of the HDMI inputs.

I know very little about this subject but changing the output from the NUC to the TV from 59Hz to 60Hz seems to have fixed the problem.

I did a lot of reading on the internet about this. CNET has an article that suggests that I should use 50Hz in Australia (and UK) See https://www.cnet.com/news/ultra-hd-4k-tv-refresh-rates/

This article states that, refresh rates of 50 and 60 work the same, as do 100 and 120. In countries that have 50Hz electricity like the UK and Australia, refresh rates of 50 and 100 should be used.

However it is working at 60Hz so I think I “will leave well enough alone”. Also, I don’t think it matters much as I don’t have the Premium Netflix subscription and both Netflix and iTunes video looks OK to me.

UPDATE No 2

I have come up with a couple of options as a final solution to the issue covered above.

OPTIONS

No 1, Change the Intel Graphics to an output of 1920/1080 60P (which is on the list of “Supported Modes” in the App)

No 2, Set at 3840/2160 50P with All Settings / System / Power & Sleep / Power set to “never” for both screen and PC. (NOT on the list of “Supported Modes” in the App and only works if you set the power for the screen never to go to sleep.)

Previously I was having occasional problems with the screen waking from sleep but, with either of these settings, I have had no issues for many days.

DETAILS

I discovered that the Intel Graphics Command Centre has a section that displays all supported outputs for the attached monitor. (Yes, I know – I should have looked!)

As can be seen, it can display 4K resolutions but only at lower refresh rates. However, set at 4K but at lower refresh rates, the difference is noticeable.

A setting of 1920X1080 60P (or 50P) is very good and I can’t see any difference between Options 1& 2.

As a result, I will use Option 1 as it is on the “Supported Modes” list while Option 2 is not and I don’t have any video on or via the NUC that is in 4K. Option 2 is handy to know in case I get a Blue Ray Drive or upgrade Netflix etc..

Surface Pro 7 – Win 10 Version 2004 – New REGRESSED Cortana

At long last, my Surface Pro 7 has received the update to Win 10 Version 20 04.

My other computers received it weeks ago.

AND, as expected, my last fully functional Cortana is gone and I have the new “regressed” Cortana.

Also, Cortana is now a store App and no longer appears in “All Settings”.

New “regressed” Cortana is like a petulant teenager – Ask her to open Excel and you get told “Sorry, I can’t help with that”. I suppose that I should be grateful that she at least says “sorry” and she can still tell me the time and temperature in London.

FYI in London it is 6 am – Temperature is 18c – Mostly Clear ( 23c to 17c) – SUMMER

Here in South East Queensland it is 3 pm – Temperature 22c – Sunny (22c – 15c) – (our brutal) WINTER

Interesting I am sure – but I would prefer a Cortana that opens an App when asked – and, almost forgot – Cortana no longer responds to “Hey Cortana”. You have to open the App and click on the microphone icon to talk to her.

Surface Pro 7–Wi-Fi failing to turn on after sleep–FIXED

Please refer to my previous post https://whysun.com/computers-and-the-internet/surface-pro-7-wi-fi-fails-to-turn-on-after-wake-from-sleep/

I have still not yet received updated Win 10 version 20 04 on my Surface Pro 7 so I have been checking Windows Update every morning.

This morning I noticed a number of system updates involving various Intel components. After installation, I checked on the Intel Wi-Fi Network Adaptor and it has been updated to driver 21.80.2.1 (dated 25/2/20).

Therefore, I changed All Settings / System / Power & Sleep so that the computers goes to sleep after 10 minutes on both battery and when plugged in. Then I waited for about 30 minutes and on waking the computer the Wi-Fi was connected and worked correctly. I repeated this a couple of times throughout the day and it appears that the issue has been fixed.

The new driver number (21.80.2.1) is different from the one on the Intel site (21.90.3) so I am glad I had second thoughts about updating from the Intel site and waited for an update via Windows Update.

WINDOWS 10 MAIL APP – GMAIL PROBLEMS – FIXED

Refer previous posts regarding problems with Gmail on the Windows 10 Mail App.

https://whysun.com/computers-and-the-internet/windows-10-mail-app-problems/

https://whysun.com/computers-the-internet/windows-10-mail-app-problems-update/

https://whysun.com/computers-and-the-internet/windows-10-mail-app-problems-confirmation/

There was an update (issued via Store Updates) that seems to have fixed the issues with Gmail.

The update is dated 17^th July 2020 and I noticed it about a day later and re-installed my Gmail to the Mail/Calendar App. Since then, I have not had problems with Gmail.

Occasionally, I still have formatting issues with all Email accounts. The most common is when the text in the Email appears in a single one letter wide vertical line.

The quickest way to fix it is :

· Click “Forward” so that you get access to the “Format” Menu;

· Place curser in the body of the email and click Ctrl/A to select all;

· Then go to Format Menu – Drop Down and click the bottom “eraser” icon to remove the formatting.

You will then be able to read the Email. After, click “Discard” to delete the Forwarded copy of the email (or insert addresses and send it).

Surface Pro 7 – Wi-Fi fails to turn on after wake from sleep

This is a problem that I have only noticed recently and, as detailed later, it might be caused by a driver for the Wi Fi network Adaptor. (Although the current driver is over a year old and the ‘Wi-Fi drop out after sleep’ has only been a recent occurrence for me.)

After the SP7 has gone into sleep mode, the Wi-Fi fails to re-connect when the computer is activated.

The “no Internet” icon appears in the Task Bar when the SP7 is woken from sleep.

Initially, I ran Troubleshoot Problems (right mouse on the icon) and this fixed the problem. However, after I realised that it was an on-going issue, I looked for a better remedy. At first I thought that I would go to Network and Sharing Centre / Change Adaptor Settings / WiFi adaptor / properties / Power Management and turn off “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power”. However, the “Power Management” tab is no longer there.

So, I found an alternative by going to All Settings / Network and Internet / Wi-Fi and turning off the Wi-Fi, waiting a couple of seconds and turning it back on.

Although turning the Wi-Fi off then back on worked, I was curious to find a better answer and this article on the Windows Central site has another explanation.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/windows-10-1803-and-above-why-wifi-disabled-after/36323a4b-050a-45a0-a32e-92a34dca8ddb

According to this article, it is a driver issue with the Intel AX201 Wi-Fi adaptor – driver version 21.40.1.3 – and hopefully it will be fixed soon.

I checked the date of driver 21.40.1.3 installed on my SP7, and it is dated May 2019 . However, in my case the problems have only become apparent recently (last month or so).

The Intel site has a newer driver 21.90.3 issued in May this year, but I am inclined to wait for a new driver via Windows Update particularly as the article advises against installing a non Windows Update driver.

In the meantime I have tested the suggested work around:

Hardware manager -> network adaptor -> Intel AX201 -> Advanced -> MIMO power save mode -> Change “Auto SMPS” to “No SMPS”.

This worked most of the time but was not 100% successful, particularly if the computer has been asleep for a lengthy period.

I then changed the power setting (All Settings/System/Power and Sleep) so that the computer “never” goes into sleep mode when plugged in and this seems to be working. Before, with Sleep mode activated, the Wi-Fi disconnected on sleep but turned back on after about 1 second delay in most cases but failed after long periods asleep.

I suppose setting “Sleep” to “Never” defeats the purpose of my tests, but I have downloaded driver 21.90.3 and I am thinking about installing it. In the meantime, I will continue to experiment and add to this post in a few days.

UPDATE – 13 Jul

The suggested work around of disabling MIMO power save mode is not working for me.

I have changed it back to Auto SMPS and altered Power and Sleep to never allow sleep when the SP7 is plugged in. Now I will wait to see what happens next Patch Tuesday. After Patch Tuesday, (Wednesday in Australia), I will check the network adaptor driver to see if it has been updated and, if not, will probably manually update the driver from the Intel site.

CARE – NOW FIXED VIA WINDOWS UPDATE OF DRIVER See my post https://whysun.com/computers-and-the-internet/surface-pro-7-wi-fi-failing-to-turn-on-after-sleep-fixed/

WINDOWS 10 Mail App Problems–Confirmation

Please refer to two previous posts:

Windows 10 Mail App–Problems Update

and

Windows 10 Mail App–PROBLEMS

I looks like it was not just me – See https://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2020/06/28/google-gmail-serious-problem-deleted-emails-spam/#54bf33f2447c

(Thanks Greg for letting me know).

This is exactly what was happening with me – When forwarding Emails sent to my Gmail and dealt with in the Win 10 Mail App, the sent item “disappears and cannot be found anywhere including in Sent, Drafts, Outbox, Spam, nor on any folder in Gmail on the web (via Chrome Browser).” It just disappears and has obviously been erased from the server.

Gmail in the App is unusable and I deal with emails to that address either in the Chrome Browser and/or in the Outlook Mail program.

Outlook (mail program) is a great program, but it is “overkill” for a simple personal email user like me AND, I don’t like the browser Gmail client at all. I have retained the Win 10 mail App, as it is the default mail client, is simple to set up and operate and works OK with other types of Email (Microsoft, Yahoo, Bigpond and my own Domain) – APART from the occasional formatting issue that I can live with!!.

The obvious alternative is Mozilla Thunderbird and I was about to set up Thunderbird, but I will wait to see if the Win 10 Mail App gets fixed.

In the meantime, I have removed Gmail from the App and will access it via a browser or on my iPad.

A work around found online involves going into Gmail Settings / Filters and Blocked Addresses and creating a new filter to stop emails to your address being put into Spam. DON’T DO THIS. I tried and I don’t even know if it works. I had to immediately delete the filter as spam was ending up in my Inbox.

Windows 10 Mail App–PROBLEMS

I have had ongoing problem with the default Mail App in Windows 10.

In the past I used Windows Live Mail and its predecessor Outlook Express . These were excellent lightweight Email programs and just right for personal use. I also used the full Outlook program at work and it is also an excellent fully featured program designed for business but perhaps “over-kill” for light personal use.

Unfortunately Windows Live Mail, like the also excellent Windows Live Movie Maker, are both no longer available. Although there is an equally good mail program from Mozilla called Thunderbird, I decided to use the default Win 10 solution.

From the start, Mail App has had problems but it did improve over time and the convenience of using the default solution generally made up for the faults.

Problems that still regularly occur are issues with formatting on received emails, syncing, failure to download images, population of addresses from the People App**## and other minor annoyances. Perhaps, the most aggravating one is where all the text is only one letter wide with a long descending column of single letters that are impossible to read.

(** Outlook does this well. When forwarding an Email, clicking inside the “To Address” box prompts a list of recently used addresses to pop up and/or by clicking the “To” box you can select multiple addresses at once from the full list. With the Mail App, the suggested addresses are all over the place and ## ~~it is not possible to select multiple addresses at once~~.

## Correction – If you click on the little person icon “Choose Contacts” in the right of the “To Address Box” it brings up the full list that you can then select one by one and then place all selections into the address box in one click on the Tick on the bottom right of address pop up. I should take more notice of what is in updates!)

I know that these issues must be the App as I have no problems with the same Emails on my iPad.

The straw that broke the camel’s back came when emails sent via the App from my Gmail were sent multiple (up to five) times. At the same time, the App stopped syncing with Gmail and these issues have persisted despite removing and re-entering Gmail on the App more than once.

I should just use Thunderbird. My neighbours use it and it is an excellent program – a lot like Live Mail. But as I pay for Office 365 I started using Outlook. It is a long time since I last used Outlook, but it did not take long to get used to it again.

In the meantime I am reluctant to give up on the default App as, despite its flaws, it is lightweight, easy to use and a breeze to set up again after a PC refresh. So I went looking for a solution and the internet has plenty of reports of problems and just as many suggested solutions. This YouTube video from Britec09 is good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k39Rq4q91mw

I will carry out the suggested fixes in the order they appear in the video until one works. I will start with the first and easiest – All Settings / Apps / Apps and features / Mail and Calendar / Advanced options / Reset.

After each fix I will use the App for a few days and report back in this post. Naturally I will stop when (if) it is fixed.

15th March – Reset. Note – It took only a second or so and I rebooted the computer. After the reboot, when I opened the Mail App, the emails for my Domain and Yahoo were still there. (I had previously deleted G Mail). The Hotmail addresses were not there but they were easy to put back. The App remembered them and the passwords. The G Mail account had to be input fully again but as I said I had previously deleted it.

Now I will see what happens and post again in a few days. I will leave the Mail App as the default but continue to run Outlook and use the iPad as a further check.

UPDATES – NBN SP7 NUC etc

This post is to update various previous posts.

NBN

As I have stated I have FTTN (Fibre To The Node), and the node is a little under ½ KM away.

It has now been 12 months and I have had no problems at all. No matter the time of day, I still get 47 to 48 Mbps down and 18 to 19 Mbps up on a 50/20 plan.

My router still shows that my maximum line rate is more than sufficient to get the 100/40 plan and most people in my area are now connected.

I have assisted a number of (mainly older) people with transferring to NBN involving all of the major providers and I have to say that Telstra is the best to deal with but none of them could be described as bad.

Most recently (this week) I helped a friend living in Brisbane and they have FTTC ( Fibre To The Curb) – lucky people. Unlike others who were connected via FTTC earlier, they had an NBN Connection Device posted to them. This small router like box streamlines the process and you no longer have to phone your service provider. You only need to disconnected all phone lines in the house and place the device between the phone outlet and your router and the transfer takes place automatically in just a few minutes.

NUC

I remain very impressed with my Intel NUC. It serves as my main computer and in future this is what I will recommend when people come to me for advice on a Windows home (desktop) computer.

SURFACE PRO 7 (SP7)

I have no regrets with upgrading from my old SP4 and the Surface Pro remains my preference for a laptop. However I concede that (particularly with the mouse and key pad, dock, pen etc) they are expensive and there are any number of price points and excellent choices for a Windows laptop.