Replies

Lars220 wrote:

Concerning the Cortana Registry block, there are some nice updated, June 22, 2018, instructions for Disabling Cortana, and returning the Search to local computer only, at this Lifewire article: https://www.lifewire.com/turn-off-cortana-in-windows-10-4165920 .

That’s not new and at an irritating site that almost gave me a migraine headache as it has stuff jumping all over the page! I did the GPEdit last December when I got this Win 10 Pro machine.  But that doesn’t stop and kill Cortana.  It still runs several instances of itself in task manager.  It still works. ..at least appears to work for search.  I don’t really understand Cortana anyway because I don’t have a $100 mike (or any mike) attached to my computer in a sound proofed room and that is the only way speech on Windows works (after you have extensively trained it)…it’s a joke.  Microsoft has never done anything since XP to improve Speech.

I would never use Windows based c****y search anyway and I turn off Indexing as soon as I get a new computer as it is unneeded and insulting…I can’t use Explorer to find something?  If I really can’t find something that way I use Agent Ransack.

Maybe I should do the registry fix but will that actually FULLY KILL IT?  I have read countless places that it is NOT possible to fully kill it (much less remove it…not hide it but actually remove it forever off the computer).  I found it was impossible to fully remove Microsoft apps off Windows 8.0 Pro.  You thought, after much effort of many, many hours that you had but all you did was hide them deep.

I want to know how to actually KILL IT AND REMOVE IT from the computer.  I don’t think that is possible though.

 

FakeNinja wrote:

Why do people even bother with Windows 10?

What would you have people do who need new computers and want a particular one?  They come with Windows 10 so it has nothing to do with “bothering” with Windows 10. There is no choice really.

anonymous wrote:

Maybe the advice at one of these 2 websites may help some of us (?): =

I did both methods in those articles when I set up Windows 10 Pro last December.  Neither method has stopped these.  I even made sure to  turn off showing suggested content in Settings in the Registry as well as in Privacy settings.  I just checked the settings and they are holding so a video like this is getting through I suppose because it is not considered an ad.

I don’t really consider them “ads” as they are informative about new things in the new version of Windows 10 that, in my case, Microsoft just THINKS I have (but I don’t).  I watched the video and if I did have 1803, I’d like to know about the new features even though I would probably turn them off as they look irrelevant to me.

What I’d like to know is how to do is to get rid of the video after I have watched it!

I have Tips uninstalled so Microsoft telling me to look at Tips for more information is irrelevant.  The Learn More link on the Windows Updates page is also irrelevant even though it works as it takes me to a Microsoft website page all about 1803 that I don’t have.

What I’d particularly like is for Microsoft to stop treating me like a second class citizen simply because I chose a local account when setting up Windows 10.  I did the smart thing and Microsoft should respect that.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Lars220

My settings are holding so far and I am still on 1709.  However, I got on the computer today to see that Microsoft has left me a “present” on the Settings/Update and Security Window.  i have a bright, new, shiny video in the upper right corner of the screen where I used to just have text (from when Microsoft tried in the past and the server believed it was successful but it was NOT) saying I had a new version of Windows 10 (I did NOT as my settings held then too).

This new video claims I now have:

Timeline, Focus Assist, Continue on PC and Dynamic Lock.

I have NONE of the above and am, thankfully, still on 1709 (with no July patches).

 

anonymous wrote:

1. Everything. Windows is incomplete without this. 2. Geek uninstaller not Revo. Geek uninstaller does everything Revo does and more. It removes Windows Store Apps (view–Windows Store Apps or Desktop Apps). 

Geek uninstaller is NICE!  I’ve been looking for something to get rid all the junk Windows Store Apps that come installed on Windows 10.

Paul T wrote:

No, a single column, as provided by MS themselves. cheers, Paul

My mistake was in NOT clicking on the Microsoft link earlier.  I just did that after reading your reply and saw that each of the numbers in the long list is clickable and takes one to the Microsoft KB article.

Thank you for getting me unconfused.  That is an awfully long list…sigh.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Elly

Am I supposed to be seeing something besides a long list of numbers and nothing else?  (Fx 52.9 ESR).

philrandal wrote:

Mele20 wrote:

WhooWeee! Back to normal!…well not completely..the new cert expires in THREE MONTHS? Why is that? The cert is NOT HSTS according to Qualys ever a problem again. (But then I don’t think the expired cert was HSTS as it was not in my SiteSecurityServiceState.tx file in my Fx profile).

HTBridge’s ssl checker repors a weak Diffie-Hellman parameter: https://www.htbridge.com/ssl/?id=ZQ6FWeVA

Yep. That’s correct. I was not familiar with htbridge.com’s analysis of sites ssl certs.  Thanks for the information.

Woody’s should have a grade of A for its cert.  B’s good (and A- at the site you link to) but for a site devoted to Windows and security, etc. the cert should be impeccable and serve as an example of what other sites should strive for.  The third and fourth cipher suites used are weak and still accepting TLS 1.0?!  That’s embarrassing.

 

 

WhooWeee!  Back to normal!…well not completely..the new cert expires in THREE MONTHS?  Why is that?

The cert is NOT HSTS according to Qualys

ever a problem again.  (But then I don’t think the expired cert was HSTS as it was not in my SiteSecurityServiceState.tx file in my Fx profile).

ebrke wrote:

FYI, FF still refuses to connect. Chromium warns but does let me connect if I override. I’ll keep trying FF.

What version of Fx?

On Fx, only sites that use Strict Transport (HSTS) do not allow for exceptions and that is not Fx’s choice.  It’s the Strict Transport protocol and occurs on all browsers.  But Woody’s site is not using Strict Transport so there should be an exception button on the Fx window that you can click to override and come here anyway.  If you have an exception button is it grayed out?  If so, then you likely have some profile corruption.  Do you have another profile to try?

Yes, Congrats!!

Fx 52.9 ESR just told me you have an expired security cert…it expired just a few minutes ago.  I was here earlier today and no problems with the cert.  I restarted Fx a bit ago and this tab did not load due to this problem.

Vivaldi says the security cert expired yesterday rather than today…but whatever it needs your attention…the warning on Vivaldi is much stronger than on Fx 52.9 ESR and could scare some folks away.

4 users thanked author for this post.

SueW, Microfix, Noel Carboni, Elly

Multistep process to change the default browser on Windows 10?????  What does he mean as the process is no different than on earlier versions of Windows.  Start/Control Panel/default programs/choose your default browser from a list of all installed browsers.  Then don’t forget to tell that browser, when it asks, that you want it to be default.  (Maybe it won’t ask because you changed it on this page).  You could also just tell your favorite browser, when it asks, that you want it to be default.  The process has not changed at all, at least on 1709, when I got this six month old computer and immediately installed Basilisk, and made it default. Plus, while you are there on the Default Apps screen you can take the opportunity to choose defaults for the other apps.

I take issue with the notion that Edge is worse than IE 11.  I don’t like Edge and seldom use it.  But I can’t use IE 11 at all as it takes all my browsing urls that it has kept in history and puts them in a drop down box when I use the Run box. (Yet the normal commands you would likely be entering into the Run box are not kept and that box is always blank on Windows 10). That is awful and neither ever happened on Windows 8.0 Pro or XP Pro.  Plus, IE 11 refuses to keep a history of ALL sites I have visited in a given session.  THAT is weird and unacceptable.  Edge correctly keeps a history of ALL websites I have visited…not an arbitrary list of just some like IE 11 does.  (IE 10 keeps all history but maybe that is because Windows 8.0 went unsupported 1/16 so maybe some patch since then would have messed it up also).

This cripples IE for anyone valuing browser history.  (I keep history in gecko based browsers for as long as they will keep it which is now two years or more).  With IE 11 on Windows 10, you have to erase all history…before closing the browser if you intend to use the run box and don’t want a bunch of visited websites to appear in the drop down box.

Edge, on the other hand, works correctly and you can keep history and it never is populated in the Run drop down box.  So, for me, IE 10 on my Windows 8.0 Pro machine is fine but IE 11 is unacceptable on Windows 10 Pro while Edge is ok except for how extremely ugly it is on my 24 inch wide screen Dell UltraSharp monitor.

Flash updates for IE/Edge and for NPAPI and PPAPI browsers can be obtained outside Windows Updates.  For Flash for IE/Edge on Windows 8.1/10 simply open the Microsoft Update Catalog https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Home.aspx.  Put in your search term (for Windows 10 1709), I put in “Flash Player 1709” and immediately got a list of all recent available downloads for Flash. This is how I update Flash on IE/Edge on my Windows 10 Pro computer.

For browsers such as Firefox and Opera use this Adobe page (ignore that it says for Windows 7 as it works fine Windows 8/10 also).  Scroll down to the section under “Still Having Problems?” and click on the appropriate download.  You can bookmark the ftp download links for Flash update for these browsers so you don’t have to visit that page again.

anonymous wrote:

. Perhaps since the update did actually start at one point, one of MS’ servers believes that I now have the latest version?

I bet that’s what happened and that means you won’t get targeted again for update to 1803.

I have no failed updates in my Windows Updates history and nothing in event viewer regarding attempted update to 1803.

On the Windows Updates settings page it shows the last time it checked for update status was 5/18.  Obviously, that is not correct since I saw that “Lucky you….” announcement on 6/9.  Apparently, my group policy settings kept an update to 1803 from happening.  I suppose one of the Microsoft servers thinks I have 1803 now (hence the ‘Lucky you…” announcement) and, like with you, stops trying to install 1803.

I will upgrade to 1803 AFTER it reaches “Semi annual channel” status (NOT “targeted”) and it has been close to 365 days of deferral.  I am no fan of frequent OS updates and never have been.  Back with XP Pro, I never upgraded from SP2, that came on the computer to SP3, and went several years with no Microsoft security patches.  I was fine.  With Windows 8.0 Pro, I also did not upgrade from 8.0 to 8.1.  I still use that computer without security patches (except for Defender) since Jan 2016.  I’ve been fine. Thus, even once yearly updates to a new OS version is way too often but I wanted another Dell XPS desktop which meant Windows and I wanted 4 years of extended hardware support (for peace of mind and the inevitable hardware failures in this harsh (to computers) climate.  Wish I liked laptops as the XPS laptops can be ordered with Ubuntu and full four year Dell support.

I read the article, clicked on the link, and it it took me to your June 7 post https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/1000002-links-to-flash-update-resources/#post-196570.

I didn’t realize this was an ongoing thread with lots of prior posts from years back so I just read the thread from your latest post onward.  Plus, I didn’t click on “links above” in your post…my bad.  Sorry.  🙁