Excellent free utilities for Windows 10

Windows migration mangles gigabytes of information

An unknown problem after an upgrade from Win7 to Win10 scrambles over 300GB of user files.

Plus: Is it worth enabling Internet Explorer’s obscure “Enable Strict P3P Validation” setting?

300GB of files now unreadable and undeletable

Reader Curtis J Baird’s attempt to copy files to a new PC resulted in digital chaos.

• “After sitting on the sidelines for quite a while, I’ve decided to jump in the Win10 pool — by buying a new Win10 PC and leaving my 5+ year-old Win7 system untouched.

  “Setting up the new PC has not been problem free. Using a previously reliable 1TB external drive, I copied some 320GB of personal files from the Win7 PC to a new Win10 machine. But then I ran into a problem I’ve not seen ever before — and I’ve been a Windows user since Win2.0!

  “Over two days, I transferred thousands folders to the new PC without a hitch. But folders on the external (source) drive had become corrupted!

  “The names of the folders and their files — including file extensions — had been randomly renamed with extended ASCII characters, symbols, wingdings, etc. Even the file dates were scrambled: The bulk of files and folders had no dates; the others showed bogus dates ranging from 1981 to 2107!

  “Fortunately, the files on the Win10 system are okay. Data retrieval isn’t an issue; I can access the live copies of my files. But something went wrong during or after the file transfers, seriously messing up the contents of the external drive and making cleanup impossible. I can’t open the scrambled files to see what’s in them, can’t delete them, and can’t rename them with valid names and dates so that I can then delete them.

  “Furthermore, the corrupt and undeletable files on the external drive occupy a huge amount of space.”

  “I tried to access the corrupt files/folders using Win7’s DOS. That gave me access to the directories where the corrupted folders and files reside, but directories and files did not show up when I used the DIR command. Apparently DOS doesn’t display folders or file names containing wingding-type characters.

  “Short of reformatting my external hard drive, do you have any suggestions for deleting the mangled files and folders now clogging that drive?”

Wow! It’s clear your external drive suffered a monumental error.

If I had to guess, I’d say that several days’ worth of continuous, intensive file-copying activity caused the drive hardware to drift out of spec, mangling the files there. For example, if the drive became unusually warm — approaching overheating — the head alignment could have suffered due to thermal expansion of the drive’s metal parts.

Later, when the drive cooled to normal temperatures, the metal components returned to their normal size — but they were no longer able to read files whose attributes were altered while the drive was very hot. I’d especially suspect this possibility if the drive is several years old and already suffering some effects of aging.

That said, your question was about how to get rid of the mangled files and restore the drive to normal operation.

Fortunately, a fix could be relatively simple. With a few special, manual settings changes, Windows’ chkdsk tool might effect repairs in one step.

Here’s how to give chkdsk the best-possible chance to correct problems on a badly mangled hard drive:

• Reboot your PC and don’t launch any software after the restart. Let the system settle down until you’re sure that the startup process has fully completed.
• Make sure that no software is actively using the damaged drive. You can use Windows’ built-in performance monitors (see Figure 1) to see if the drive is being used. (See the Feb, 12, 2015, Top Story, “Tools for finding PC-performance bottlenecks.”)
  

  Figure 1. Figure 1. In this view, the Task Manager Performance tab shows no activity on drive E:.

• If you know something is using the drive, exit or suspend the responsible software. If you don’t know what’s using the drive, you usually can use Task Manager to identify the active software. (In Win10, Ctrl + Alt + Del is still the fasted way to load the tool, though you can also right-click the Start menu icon and pick it from the list.)

  Explore Task Manager’s lists of apps, processes, and services to see what’s active and running. If something such as Windows’ Search Indexer is currently accessing the damaged drive, terminate it — right-click the app/process/service and then choose End Task or Stop from the context menu (see Figure 2). Repeat until all activity has ceased on the damaged disk.

  

  Figure 2. Right-clicking any process, application, or service lets you quickly terminate it.

• With the system quiet and the damaged disk not in use, open an admin-level command window and enter chkdsk {X:} /f at the prompt. Note: replace {X:} with whatever letter your damaged drive uses. E.g., if the drive is D:, enter chkdsk D: /f at the prompt.

  Chkdsk will verify the file system’s integrity; the /f switch tells it to fix any logical errors it finds. It should then create truncated and valid, 8.3-style filenames for the mangled files.

  (Note: When you launch chkdsk as above, you might get a warning that the “volume is in use,” followed by an offer to dismount the volume and continue the scan. As long as no other software is actively using the drive, go ahead and accept the offer; i.e., allowing the volume to be dismounted and scanned. When the scan completes, remount the volume either by simply rebooting — the easy and automatic method — or by following the manual instructions given on an MS how-to page.)

Be aware that chkdsk might churn for a while if there are many damaged files to process. Be patient — it’s worth the wait because correcting logical disk errors like these is one of the tool’s primary functions. It’s possible that this one step, by itself, could set things right!

But if not, you’ll have to dig a little deeper.

The Microsoft Support article 320081, “You cannot delete a file or a folder on an NTFS file system volume,” lists no fewer than six different primary problems that can make files and folders undeletable.

The first listed reason — “The file uses an ACL” — discusses permissions problems with the file/folder access control lists (ACL). These problems can lock you out of your own files! Alas, Win10 and Win8 both employ over two dozen different file attributes, and it’s not terribly uncommon for some of these to get scrambled during or just after upgrades.

Fortunately, there are a number of fixes for permissions problems; you’ll find them detailed in the Sept. 10, 2015, LangaList Plus item, “File-permissions problems after Win10 upgrade,” and the May 21, 2015, column, “Windows 8 upgrade error locks user’s files.” (That information applies to Win10, too.)

If you still have trouble, the rest of Support article 320081 discusses (and provides links to) numerous suggestions and techniques to resolve the other five most-common types of file- and folder-deletion problems.

If you’re still stuck, your best option might indeed be to reformat the drive.

But with luck, a simple chkdsk /f, on an otherwise-quiescent drive, could be all you need to get the drive working properly again — at least for a while.

I have a personal rule to never fully trust any hard drive that’s experienced a major, unexplained failure. If it were me, I’d demote that drive to secondary backup status and get a fresh new drive to use as my primary external backup.

IE’s obscure Enable Strict P3P security setting

Craig Linder was working through the information in the “Improve Internet Explorer 11’s security settings” Top Story (Feb. 4) when he encountered a very unfamiliar option: “Enable Strict P3P Validation.”

• “Thanks for the article on changing IE’s security settings for greater safety.

  “But in my copy of IE’s security settings, I see the option ‘Enable Strict P3P Validation,’ which is unchecked. I suspect many other users also have this option.

  “Would you recommend that this also be checked? I’ve left it in the default unchecked condition for the time being.”

P3P is the “Platform for Privacy Preferences,” an old, XP-era (circa 2002) protocol that websites can optionally use to publish (as data embedded in HTTP headers) some elements of their privacy policies so that browsers can automatically parse and act upon the information contained there.

But P3P was cumbersome to implement, and it never really caught on. The official P3P Working Group suspended development in 2006. Today, relatively few websites even bother to implement the required code.

Among the major browsers, only Internet Explorer has routinely offered ongoing support for P3P. But that’s starting to change — Microsoft is finally letting support for the protocol to fade away. The “Enable Strict P3P Validation” setting (see Figure 3) is currently available only in some versions of IE. For example, my Win10 IE 11 version doesn’t have it. And even in those IE versions that have the option, the default setting is off — disabled.

Moreover, Microsoft’s P3P documentation is scarce; the best — almost only — Microsoft coverage I could find is in a TechNet Team Deutschland article titled “AS: 79. Strikte P3P-Überprüfung aktivieren.” (Yes, it’s in German.)

According to that article, if “Enable Strict P3P Validation” is available in your copy of IE, and if you enable it, IE will then reject all cookies from any site without appropriate P3P headers, regardless of how other cookie-handling is set.

There are only two ways to see how the “Enable Strict P3P Validation” setting might affect your web use: run a specialized tool such as Fiddler (site) to sniff out the relevant HTTP headers, or simply enable the setting, browse around, and see what happens. If you try it and don’t like the results, just change the setting back.

But because this is an older standard that’s not widely implemented, and because using it could lead to unpredictable results, I personally don’t think P3P validation is anything to worry about.

In short: If “Enable Strict P3P Validation” is unavailable, or it’s available but disabled in your browser, you’re probably fine as-is.

For more information, see the following:

• “P3P” – Wikipedia entry
• “Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P) Project” – W3C page
• “Strict P3P validation in Internet Explorer 10” – Random Oracle page

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Excellent free utilities for Windows 10

As Windows has improved, third-party utilities have become less critical.

But small, fast, and free tools still make maintaining and troubleshooting Windows systems — including Win10 — easier.

Getting the full list of installed Win10 updates

Thanks to a tip from Windows Secrets Lounge member JC Zorkoff, we have a better way to review installed Windows 10 updates. NirSoft’s WinUpdateList utility (info/download site) quickly lists all Windows MS application updates installed on a PC. It’s not fully compatible with Win7 and newer versions of Windows, but it’s good enough for reviewing recent patching activity — even on Win10 systems.

One of the most popular knocks on Microsoft’s news OS is its automatic patching system and cumulative updates (see Figure 1). The former gives users little control over what fixes and enhancements get installed, and the latter makes it relatively difficult to know specifically what those fixes and enhancements do. Moreover, Win10 has a bad habit of resetting its “View your update history” list with every major update — Version 1511, for example.

On my Win10 test system, WinUpdateList displayed all updates back to when I installed Version 1511 in November. So Win10’s update history appears to be well and truly reset with big upgrades. But NirSoft’s utility made it quick and easy to see what updates Win10 has installed and when. It generally gives a wealth of information about your update history.

We’ve recommended other NirSoft utilities in the past. For example, Produkey (download site) helps you quickly recover product keys for Windows, Office, and other Microsoft products. It doesn’t, however, help with third-party keys. On my Win10 test system, it found keys for the OS and Office 2013, but not for Office 365/2016 — which is not really all that surprising. (Interestingly, the Win10 key displayed is the generic key offered last year for system upgrades.) This tool is probably more useful for Win7 systems.

Another excellent app is USBDeview (Figure 3; site), which gives a wealth of information about, and some control over, USB devices attached to a system. You can, for example, enable and disable attached devices — useful for troubleshooting — and run data-throughput speed tests on storage devices.

Many of the NirSoft tools are for advanced users. BlueScreenView (site), for instance, helps with analyzing dump files produced by a blue-screen-of-death event.

Unfortunately, some of those admin-level tools marked NirSoft as a suspect hacker site — specifically its collection of password-recovery apps.

Possibly related to that erroneous reputation, whenever we’ve discussed NirSoft’s utilities, we get a few reader notes claiming that downloading its tools triggered alerts by some anti-malware applications. As we’ve noted several times, the utilities are all safe and legitimate. NirSoft has an explanation for these “false positives” on its site.

When I installed a couple of the apps on my Win10 system, the OS popped up a security UAC warning (Figure 4). Typical of Win10 messaging, the path to allow the installation to proceed is a bit obtuse — you must click the More info link, which brings up the message box shown in Figure 5.

A few more notes about NirSoft apps: These tools are updated as their developer, Nir Sofer, gets to them. So some haven’t been worked on for some time; others are recently updated. You can check the history at the bottom of the site’s home page. Note that many of the more popular apps have been recently upgraded to 64-bit versions. And lack of listed Win10 support for a particular utility doesn’t mean the app won’t run on the OS. Try it and see what happens (but also ensure you have a recent system backup before doing so).

Most of the tools are portable — they run without a formal installation and don’t make chances to the Windows Registry. You can load a bunch of them on a USB drive and have a powerful and portable PC toolkit. If you’re interested in the full suite of utilities, you can also download NirLauncher (more info).

All of these tools are free. As such, support is limited; check out the site’s FAQ page. And if you’re feeling generous, you can make a donation via PayPal.

Readers still sitting on the Win10-upgrade fence

It’s a bit surprising that we’re still getting this simple question: Should I upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10?

That’s a bit like asking us whether you should buy a new car. The simple answer is: It depends — though obviously that’s not very helpful. In truth, we can’t answer the upgrade question for specific cases; we can give only general guidelines and leave it to individual users to decide.

First and foremost, the upgrade to Windows 10 isn’t required by Microsoft — though given the company’s various “Get Windows 10” tricks, you’d be forgiven for thinking otherwise. Win7 and Win8 won’t get enhancements, but they will get security fixes for years to come.

Here’s a quick summary of what to consider before moving to Win10.

• Do you have aging or line-of-business software and hardware that you must keep running and that might not work with the newer OS? Suitable drivers for older hardware have been a problem for some Win10 users.
• What’s your tolerance for “the next new thing?” If you don’t like ongoing changes to your computing environment, stick with Win7.
• Do you prefer to closely manage Windows updating? Win10’s mostly-automated patching system won’t make you happy.
• Is security a top priority? Each new version of Windows comes with better resistance to malware, and Win10 is no exception — especially when combined with new PC hardware.
• What’s your level of Windows expertise? When you upgrade to Win10, you have 30 days to roll back to your previous OS (Win7 or Win8.1). But the roll-back process can fail; you should know how to make system images and, most important, know you can restore an image of Win7 or Win8.1.

Beyond those considerations, the decision to upgrade to Win10 can come down to simple, personal preference. Not everyone likes the look and operation of the new OS. If you want to take a quick tour before making the leap, head down to your local electronics store and ask for a demo.

Two final comments on this topic. The best tool for blocking the Win10 upgrade is still GWX Control Panel (site); it’s quick to install and easy to use. Also, keep in mind that the free Win10 upgrade is scheduled to end in July.

A quick tip for entering repetitive text

A Windows Secrets reader asked for some tips on how to quickly and repeatedly enter common strings of text such as website addresses. There are various macros, utilities, and addons that can do that, but they tend to be application specific.

Contributor Doug Spindler has a better approach. He purchased a customizable, 24-key keypad that attaches via USB. Each key can be programmed for a specific task such as entering an address, a long and complex password, phrases, and so forth. He uses is a Genovation ControlPad CP24 USB HID (more info), about U.S. $80 on Amazon. Doug says that the initial setup will take a bit of time, but the process of installing the software and programming the keys is easy.

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