Deanna

I live in the UK, and am a retired Senior Crime Analyst for an English Police Force.   Whilst far from being a ‘computer techie’ I have a highly developed enquiring and searching mind.

I would like to draw your attention to the following link which I discovered when carrying out some research into Updatehub, which you have just recommended.   All the contributors in the link are clearly far more knowledgeable on the subject, and I am forwarding their observations to you for information.   Please read them all.

https://www.ghacks.net/2023/07/24/update-all-windows-programs-with-updatehub/

Regards   Ray

Deanna

I see that I have been identified as a Guest, but I have had an account for some time under the name of MS Doubter.

Ray

Re Xelitan PDF Reader – Looks great, but I’m addicted to Sumatra PDF reader because it not only is fast, but opens epub and mobi files. For me, that’s a huge plus.

Thanks for your great columns – I always look forward to them.

Deanna – thank you for your work.

I want to share concerns about HopToDesk that I found summarized on Github.

I did not produce the content, but I find the detail there to be concerning. I will not be exposing my systems to that “vendor.”  Please have a look: HopToDesk Concerns

HopLite might not be safe and this guy believes it is at best very suspicious:

https://github.com/rustdesk/rustdesk/discussions/2778

Maybe try rustdesk for now?

Deanna,

I’ve been looking for an alternative for WordPad, which I’ve used more than most others over the years. I’ve come up completely empty. I know that there are ways to install old versions of WordPad after it’s been completely deprecated and removed from Windows, but I’d like to find a small program that might be kept up to date after that point in time. Essential Office might be exactly what I’m looking for, but before I install it, I’m wondering if it can open .RTF files. Do you know the answer?

My Microsoft Defender says the PDF reader is unsafe and therefore does not install.  Any reasons for this?  Can I simply go into Defender and disable to install?

Updatehub installs but before the scan will work, it requires something called WinGet, described as Desktop app installer from the MS Store. However, the Store takes me to some kind of widget app and further exploration I found a Win 11 only notice for WidgetsUI (or something like that).

An MS Store search for “Desktop app installer” got me nothing and nothing useful from a “WinGet” search either. Did I do something wrong or is my Win 10 PC inadequate? I’m not quite sure what widgets are, though I suppose they’re some kind of active icon like the wow7 weather icon on my samsung phone?

Thanks for any info.

Reading more above, I found Ray’s entry and read the link he provided. It appears that Winget and UpdateHub are two different updating programs, though the demand in UH described above suggests it depends somehow on WinGet. Or WinGetUI, Or whatever. Somewhat confusing, to say the least. Why should I need both? And the added MB’s?

It appears that checking for updates via Help when loading a rarely used program or browser might be the simplest solution, like if I load up VLC after a long absence or decide to see if Firefox has anything worth returning to from Brave, which I currently use.

Found the ROBOCOPY note useful and pulled it down.  Happy with what I have tried, but ran into a problem, more with Windows 10 Pro than Robocopy.  Needing to (automatically) copy a file that is often in use, I set up the task and checked the “Use a volume shadow copy.”  This now produces an error that I do not have admin privileges.  Okay, so I went to the task and added the “Run as Administrator”.  It now shows up as Robomirror (Admin).  Great – except it didn’t fix anythig.  Still get the same error.

Actually right clicking and telling it to run as admin, or going to start and clicking on the app (and then okaying the resulting approval request) works fine.  Any ideas?

Maybe I’m missing something but I have not found a way for Xelitan PDF Reader to print landscape. I usually make PDF copies of various reports (e.g. Quicken, Calc, …) for a final review and then make hard copies as necessary. Usually one can access printer driver options that offer landscape but not in the installation of Xelitan PDF Reader that I have.

The PDF displays as landscape but the printout is squished onto portrait pages using some unusual font. Not easy on the eyes at all.

My printer is an HP LaserJet Professional 1102w. Windows 10 Pro, up to date through November.

I checked out Xelitan and found security warnings on Norton, Trend, Immuniweb and other sites so decided not to go there.