Youtube comments of (@msun12000).

  1. Microsoft's "Sysprep" is worth a mention. It can be used to remove PC-specific information from a Windows installation so it can be installed on different PCs.
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  2. A concern that always needs to be addressed is to also have available some recovery option or backup in case you lose your primary authentication method or device.
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  3. It doesn't have to be malware. Bloatware is very common and can also generate heat...
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  4. It's even cheaper when upgrading a PC from mechanical to solid state drive - the old drive can be re-purposed to an external backup drive. All it needs is an empty USB caddy or enclosure.
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  5. Maybe worth mentioning that "Open Source" software can be both free to use and free from advertising.
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  6. I have an Asus RT-AC86U router which is not too expensive yet includes features such as a traffic analyser, parental controls and adaptive QoS. The traffic analyser can display nice pie charts with many filtering options. I'm sure there are a number of other inexpensive routers with similar features on the market 🙂
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  7. Maybe worth mentioning that if you restore deleted email from a backup via a desktop client with IMAP, perhaps disconnect from the internet to avoid the risk of losing that recovered email through synchronisation.
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  8. Another use case is to host a VPN service at home to allow a friend or relative living abroad to connect and appear as if resident in the home country. A VPN server can be easily set up on some brands of routers. It can also allow secure access to one's own home network.
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  9. My proffered way is to create 2 or more profiles within the same browser such as Edge or Chrome. That way, the same browser has separate bookmarks, cookies, and settings for each profile without the overhead of using multiple browser brands.
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  10. Passkeys are indeed secure but if the owner loses the phone or laptop device and a hacker gains access, then all those passkeys (or rather login credentials) would effectively be compromised; correct?
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  11. I like to keep all my "stuff" organised under a single root folder - called [path]\data of my choosing. Rather than deleting the shortcuts to documents, pictures, etc, I modify their locations under properties to point to my "data" path. In this way, most apps will take my preferred location settings as default. It's then easy to backup my "data" root folder using e.g. something like FreeFileSync for speed and convenience.
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  12. Yes, it shows what a big project it can be to do that fresh install with all the desired customisations. I use portable programs whenever possible - all stored in a single root folder. This reduces the effort needed, installation wise and also reduces clutter in the registry, etc. However, in 7 years I haven't felt the need to re-install fresh Windows but I do keep a keen eye on startup entries, unwanted processes creeping in, etc.
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  13. I used to do this in the past but now, I feel it's simply not worth the trouble. The factory image is usually in the recovery partition and is typically laden with a fair amount of bloatware. Better to do a thorough cleanup before backing up the whole disk - which will usually include the recovery partition with the original factory image anyway.
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  14. I find that a browser extension called "I don't care about cookies" helps to eliminate this annoying prompt on almost every web site.
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  15.  @Mobin92  Yes, Sysprep doesn't preserve user accounts. It is designed to present an "OOBE" for an installation onto a new PC with fresh driver detection/installation but with the option of having any extra software and settings pre-installed.
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  16. It should be fairly rare for Windows 10/11 not to find and install the video driver as it should normally be included in the hardware compatibility list. Also, I guess such a problem could arise if there is some fault with the graphics hardware.
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  17. Another good option if a PC is deemed uneconomic to repair is to sell it on a site like eBay "for parts or not working". This recovers some funds towards a new machine and gives the buyer an opportunity to repair or re-sell parts. I regard this as a nice "green" option which can minimise wastage 🙂
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  18. I use multiple Chrome profiles (or Edge in my case) to separate not only Google accounts but for multiple accounts on other web sites. For me that is more convenient than having multiple browsers to keep accounts separate. One can change personalisation colours to distinguish between the profile sessions. 🙂
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  19. Under your Microsoft account setting on-line, you can remove the listed device to dissociate it. I believe that disconnects the association even though your home folder name will remain unchanged.
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  20. Not wishing to complicate things further but a differential backup plan has advantages if your personal folder/file structures change by moving and/or renaming files. Otherwise a full restore can result in duplicates and unwanted deleted items returning. So I prefer to mirror or synchronise personal data using several backup media in rotation. This is normally much faster, reserving e.g. full monthly or bi-monthly backups for the whole operating system as a separate job using bootable backup media.
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  21. Sound advice which I agree with 100%.
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  22. Good explanation 👍
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  23. I'm thinking that for some users, the thorough process may be too much and a simpler solution may be to invoke a "factory restore" instead. For many this may be "good enough" if the personal data is not so sensitive but as an additional step, one could use something like CCleaner with its "wipe disk" option to clear out the "empty space" following a factory reset. PS: This comment is in the context of selling or giving away a typical laptop rather than just an HDD.
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  24. IMHO, I'm not sure that backing up the new machine "ASAP" is really worth the trouble. If things go wrong during initial setup, updates and customisations, you have the choice of 1. Restore from the recovery partition if available. 2. Clean install from media direct from Microsoft via media creation tool. 3. Return machine under warranty due to possible hardware fault, Creating a backup image of your laptop after all preference settings and updates have been completed is usually more worthwhile. This is because the factory-delivered image will not include any software or updates that you have installed since purchasing the laptop, and restoring to that image would mean losing all of your customizations and data.
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  25. That's a nice presentation on how to be methodical and patient, spending the time to resolve such problems. Just to add a comment: - if some system was working and then stopped, it's worth trying hard to recall any changes you may have made during that time interval. Some change must have caused the problem, whether it be user initiated or a system automatic update(s).
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  26. A good list, a high percentage of which I like to use. Also, I like to seek out portable versions whenever possible. These I keep on a root folder, making it easier to move from machine to machine...
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  27. Yes, there are so many settings to get right - and these are a devil of a job to find as well. Aspects like share versus NTFS file permissions, whether the W-Fi connection is declared to be public or private, advanced sharing permissions, firewall blockings, etc, etc. It's not easy to cover all this aspects in a concise and easy to understand format.
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  28.  @maertscisum  My understanding is that any digital license will not carry over to the target machine.
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  29. Passkeys aren't sent over the internet so they can only be guessed and even then, it is only of value on the owner's device(s).
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  30. If your primary drive is an SSD, you wouldn't want to move the paging file to a second internal HDD if present.
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  31. Good advice but I bet only a tiny percentage of home users would actually take the trouble to do that full system backup so regularly. Of course personal data backups are more vital as otherwise any such loss cannot be restored unlike the operating system can be restored via bootable installation media. One has to weigh up the benefits of a fresh install with a varying amount of setting up effort, versus a an image restore from a full backup. In cases involving large volumes of personal data, such regular image backups can be quite time consuming.
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  32. So if the spam folder on a local client is synchronised with the web client, I would assume that the policy is not restricted just to the local client?
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  33. There's also the issue of any saved login credentials within the browser(s) which would also need to be cleared. Having something like LastPass would mitigate the inconvenience factor.
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  34. Presumably any "OneDrive" content also counts as used storage.
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  35. Microsoft Outlook email has the option of either reporting spam as "junk" or as "phishing" so I'm wondering if there is any actual difference as to what happens in either case. Does anything different happen compared with simply deleting the spam?
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  36. I guess you have to accept the risk of loss during that initial sending out of that valuable original media.
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  37. Am wondering if it would be a good idea to have some form of pressure sensor on the nose wheel leg which could be used to check the centre of gravity of the aircraft on the ground before take-off. Perhaps this exists already as a confirmation check to get the optimum trim for take-off?.
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  38.  @askleonotenboom  True but I believe it's only 5-10% that is actually not free 🙂
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  39. That's a good explanation and sound advice. Another trick is not to use the same Google account for mail and other personal storage. I use e.g. Microsoft for email (and not use OneDrive) and Google for photos, etc but keep Gmail as a largely empty backup email account.
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  40. I always do this on any PC I come across.
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  41. Yes, I get a lot of such requests and as you say, all I can do to help is to guide them through whatever recovery process is available to them.
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  42. If you still prefer to use the Google search engine, uBlock Origin as an extension seems to do a reasonable job of filtering out most Ads.
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  43. Sound advice. Just as a side note - it is possible to use SysPrep to "re-seal" an image for cloning even non identical machines, where the hardware is re-detected in the same manner as a clean install of Windows. It is of course not worth the effort for a one-off migration to a new machine but it is good for a rollout to many machines that a typical company may have.
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  44. Going for lower resolution and/or monochrome also reduces scanning times
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  45. I agree that SSDs are excellent value upgrades typically costing under £50 for 250-500Gb. A laptop hdd can be repurposed by using it in a USB enclosure to facilitate cloning and then having it as a backup drive.
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  46. Nice tip 👍
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  47. So if, at home, you connect to a VPN server running on your home router, the situation becomes "VPN to ISP to Internet Site". There's no trust issue with the VPN as it is my own, but can the ISP see all the internet sites I visit via such a VPN connection?
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  48. Rather than having to change the default path within each app, it may suffice to change the shortcuts (Symlinks) for Documents, Photos, etc within File Explorer. Just right-click the shortcut - Properties - Location and change the path to e.g. c:\users\[name]\Documents rather than the OneDrive location. Most apps should then use the local path as the default save location. You may need to unlink and disconnect the account in OneDrive settings to allow the changes.
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  49. Question: If upgrading an OEM version from "Home" to "Pro", does that upgrade stay with the machine? Can one transfer the "upgrade" to a newly purchased "Home" machine if the old machine is restored to "Home" edition?
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  50. There seems to be a slight inaccuracy for the paths to "users" versus "global" start menus. i.e I think the paths are:- C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu - for global (all users) items C:\Users\<your login>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu - for specific user Moving any entries from 2nd to 1st often works for most programs.
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  51. Good explanation on a little understood topic 😀
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  52. With modern laptops, temperature seems to be the main shortener of battery life rather than whether the battery is cycled or not.
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  53. It seems unclear how much free storage you get. At minimum it's only 5Gb but I seem to have 15Gb free plus another 15Gb as a "camera roll bonus". making 30Gb free storage in total. I'm nor sure how I got the extra free storage nor do I know if the extra free storage can be relied on as permanent or just temporary.
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  54. Very useful to know 😀
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  55. Another tip worth considering is to delete the user profile, typically the "default" profile and/or create a new user profile to see if that resolves any issue with the browser.
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  56. Just booting into BIOS, if successful, verifies if keyboard hardware is OK.
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  57. Question: How about downloading the Windows 10 ISO file using the "media creation tool" and running its setup.exe from within Windows 11, keeping all settings and data. Is that still a viable option?
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  58.  @askleonotenboom  You're right - testing this on a virtual machine, the "Keep personal Files and Apps" is greyed out leaving just the keep "Nothing" option available.
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