Disable non MS store apps in Windows 11

Loving Windows 11 so far? We sure are. Microsoft has clearly decided to take its OS to the next level and keeps showing it through every update. It makes you wonder what’s next - and today, you’ll find out!

Tons of new features have been leaked, and we can probably expect them with the 23H2 update. Here’s everything you need to know so far.

What’s Windows 11 23H2 bringing?

There are plenty of new features already confirmed for Windows 11. The only issue is we don’t know for sure if they’re coming with the 23H2 update or separately, at a different time. Whatever the case, a lot of them are pretty exciting.

Here’s an overview of what we might be getting this fall.

• Windows Copilot. Microsoft wants to add this AI-powered feature based on chatbots like Bing Chat and ChatGPT to assist users with all kinds of actions and tasks on the platform. As part of this development, the integration of first- and third-party plugins and the Bing Chat AI will be enhanced. This is a pretty amazing addition to look forward to, if you ask us.

• Dynamic Lighting. RGB lovers will rejoice upon this one! Dynamic Lighting will allow you to control your RGB-powered components directly through the Windows Settings, allowing smooth integration of your favorite peripherals with your OS. No need for third-party software anymore!

• Taskbar enhancements. Microsoft has announced some neat improvements to the Windows 11 taskbar. For one, we’ll be able to hide the Time and Date now, which is extremely useful for focus, but also for clean screenshots. Another change is the ability to shut down programs directly from the Taskbar, without having to run the Task Manager.

• Expanding native support for archive formats 7-zip, rar, gz and others on the libarchive open-source projects.

• Microsoft Store AI features. The theme of AI power is clearly being taken up a notch, because the Microsoft Store seems to be getting several awesome features in this regard. One of them is AI hub, which “curate the best AI experiences built by the developer community and Microsoft” (Windows Developer Blog). We’re not sure what that means exactly, but we sure can’t wait to see.

Another is AI-generated keywords, designed to improve the discoverability of apps you’re searching for. Moreover, the AI-generated review summary is designed to give us a simpler experience looking at reviews. Huge numbers of reviews will be compiled into a summary that’s easy to scan and lets us discover new content faster.

• Other Microsoft Store improvements. Business owners will be happy to hear that Microsoft Store ads will now reach 150+ regions worldwide, significantly increasing the audiences they can target. Furthermore, there will be enhancements to the Backup and Restore functionality to give users a more seamless experience in case they switch devices. 

• File Explorer changes. Rumor has it that Microsoft is working on a Gallery to be embedded within the File Explorer. The addition of a Recommended section might be on the horizon as well. 

• Widget Panel update. The introduction of the Widget Panel in itself was exciting for many. As a next step in the development of this feature, Microsoft is planning to make it possible to pin widgets to the desktop. 

• Presence sensor. You might actually already have this one, as it was rolled out as part of Moment 3 for compatible devices. With the Presence sensing app, found in the Privacy settings, you can decide which (if any) apps use APIs to detect the state of your activity on Windows. This can significantly enhance privacy and security, as you can have apps containing sensitive data lock automatically when unattended. If you’re a laptop user, it can also be beneficial to your battery life.

• Bluetooth LE. Microsoft is adding support for Bluetooth Low Energy, a functionality that allows reduced battery consumption when devices are connected.
  
• Adding more languages to the Live Captions feature. This specification is only as powerful as the languages it supports. Microsoft is reportedly working on expanding the list with 10 more languages.

Summary

We’ve got some interesting stuff to look forward to with the next major Windows 11 update. And these are just the things the Internet’s actually heard of, so who knows what else Microsoft might be planning? It remains to be seen, hopefully just a few months from now. 23H2 has been released on October 31st.

The Clear Linux Project creates an operating system and software stack that offers highly optimized performance, security, versatility, and manageability. Clearly optimized for Intel CPUs and based on GNOME it will offer you incredible speeds if you are on Intel CPU. The big news, though, is that Clear Linux sports the shiny new Gnome 40. This is a fresher Gnome than you'll find even on Ubuntu's more experimental 21.04 release. The only big names that let you test drive Gnome 40 are Fedora and Arch Linux.

Packages only when you need them

Installation of packages is used by Swupd, a Clear Linux* package management tool. It is easy to use and pretty straightforward.

• "bundle-list" for showing what's installed
• "bundle-info" for details on installed bundles (such as owned files via the "‑‑files" flag)
• "search" for repository searching
• "bundle-add" for installation
• "bundle-remove" for uninstallation

The only problem here is the packages themselves. Clean Linux* has been imagined as a developer distro focusing mostly on well-development tolls. In intel’s words: “A Linux OS built for Linux developers”, so some things will be left out. Strangely enough some things as FFmpeg which if you want to have and blast some youtube videos while you work will have to complete manually by yourself.

Clear Linux* modular philosophy

Everything in Clear Linux* is based on a modular philosophy approach. There is no /etc/fstab file, the /boot directory is totally empty. Every partition to be mounted is enabled as a systemd "mount unit." Intel reaping the benefits of systemd's modular philosophy, where everything is a unit. If you know your way around systemd, intermediate-level configuration tasks should be straightforward. Any advanced configuration likely demands deep systemd knowledge.

Clear Linux* performance

As stated earlier this is Intel’s distro, optimized for Intel hardware meaning that Intel as the developer has every possible tool at its disposal to make use of hardware to its maximum potential and it shows. Distro almost leaves other ones two times in speed performance. So if you are looking for a distribution that will deliver you speed and it is aimed for developer Clear Linux* is for you.

Conclusion

Clear Linux* is a really interesting distro and seeing how Intel is adding new software packages on its official website it might have a bright future. But as always, be the judge for yourself and see if it can fit your needs. Go get it at: https://clearlinux.org/

There are various components that take part during a Windows Upgrade process such as the CPU, Disk, Network, and many more. This is why the process of upgrading your Windows 10 computer can be quite complex and due to its complexity, there are times when you might encounter some errors like the Windows Upgrade error 0x800701E3. If you encounter this kind of error then it has something to do with the “disk” part of the whole upgrade process which could be due to a conflict with the storage of your Windows 10 computer. When you receive this error, you will see the following error message on your screen:

“Windows cannot install required files. Make sure all files required for installation are available and restart the installation. Error code: 0x800701e3.”

To fix this Windows Upgrade error, here are some suggestions that might help.

Option 1 – Delete Files from Software Distribution Folder & Catroot2 folders

The downloaded Windows Updates are placed in a folder called “SoftwareDistribution”. The files downloaded in this folder are automatically deleted once the installation is completed. However, if the files are not clean up or if the installation is still pending, you can delete all the files in this folder after you pause the Windows Update service. For complete instructions, refer to the steps below.

• Open the WinX Menu.
• From there, open Command Prompt as admin.
• Then type in the following command – don’t forget to hit Enter right after typing each one of them.

net stop wuauserv net start cryptSvc net start bits net start msiserver

• After entering these commands, it will stop the Windows Update Service, Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS), Cryptographic, and the MSI Installer
• Next, go to the C:/Windows/SoftwareDistribution folder and get rid of all the folders and files thereby tapping the Ctrl + A keys to select them all and then click on Delete. Note that if the files are in use, you won’t be able to delete them.

After resetting the SoftwareDistribution folder, you need to reset the Catroot2 folder to restart the services you just stopped. To do that, follow these steps:

• Type each one of the following commands.

net start wuauserv net start cryptSvc net start bits net start msiserver

• After that, exit Command Prompt and restart your computer, and then try to run Windows Update once more.

Option 2 – Try running the DISM tool

You can try running the Deployment Imaging and Servicing Management or DISM tool to fix the Windows Upgrade problem. Using this built-in tool, you have various options such as the “/ScanHealth”, “/CheckHealth”, and “/RestoreHealth”.

• Open the Command Prompt with admin privileges.
• Then type in the following commands and make sure to hit Enter right after you type each one of them:
  • Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth
  • Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth
  • exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth
• Do not close the window if the process takes a while as it will probably take a few minutes to finish.

Option 3 – Run the System File Checker Scan

System File Checker or SFC is a built-in command utility that helps in restoring corrupted files as well as missing files. It replaces bad and corrupted system files with good system files. To run the SFC command, follow the steps given below.

• Tap Win + R to launch Run.
• Type in cmd in the field and tap Enter.
• After opening Command Prompt, type in sfc /scannow

The command will start a system scan which will take a few whiles before it finishes. Once it’s done, you could get the following results:

1. Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.
2. Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired them.
3. Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of them.

• Restart your computer.

Option 4 – Try running the ChkDsk utility

You can also run the ChkDsk utility to fix the Windows Upgrade error 0x800701E3.

• First, open This PC and right-click on your operating system partition for Windows.
• Next, click on Properties and navigate to the Tools tab.
• Then click on Check under the Error Checking section.
• After that, a new mini window will be opened and from there click on Scan drive and let it scan your disk drive partition for any errors and then restart your computer.

Option 5 – Run the Windows Update Troubleshooter

Running the built-in Windows Update troubleshooter is one of the things you can first check out as it is known to automatically resolve any Windows Update or upgrade errors like error code 0x800701E3. To run it, go to Settings and then select Troubleshoot from the options. From there, click on Windows Update and then click the “Run the troubleshooter” button. After that, follow the next on-screen instructions and you should be good to go.

Option 6 – Run Microsoft’s online troubleshooter

Running Microsoft’s online troubleshooter might also help you fix the Windows Upgrade error code 0x800701E3. This online troubleshooter is known to help in fixing Windows Update errors, it scans your computer for issues that might be causing the problem and then fixes them automatically.

The speed at which the CPU runs varies depending on any Windows laptop or desktop. And in case you don’t know, the CPU does not run at full speed all the time as it depends on how the operating system distributes the load so it works accordingly. However, there are instances when it runs at full speed especially if your Windows 10 computer is on a heavy workload. But if you find that even when your computer is already on a heavy workload and the CPU is still not running at full speed, then you need to look into this situation. To verify that your CPU’s speed, you can use any CPU stress test tool. This kind of issue is common on laptops compared to desktop computers since laptop runs on battery. The Intel Processor on laptops uses the Speed Stepping Technology which means that when you are doing some small tasks on your laptop, the processor’s speed is reduced. On the other hand, if this happens when you are using a heavy application, it can be due to a low charge on the laptop’s battery. Thus, Windows will try its best to keep the computer running for as long as possible by reducing the CPU speed or processor. But there are times when you are ready to sacrifice battery to make sure that the work gets done on time. To achieve that, here are some options you can check out.

Option 1 – Try setting the processor state to the maximum in Power Options

• Type “control” in the search box to view the classic Control Panel as well as the popular options.
• Next, click on Power Options > Change plan settings > Change advanced power settings.
• Then navigate to Processor power management > Maximum processor state.
• Now select 100% when it is on Battery and Plugged in.
• After that, expand the System cooling policy option and make sure to set it as Active to make sure that the battery won’t overheat.
• Finally, apply the changes made to all the profiles of the power management and restart your computer. This will ensure that your CPU will run at maximum power at all times.

Option 2 – Try to update or disable the Intel Power Management driver

The next option you can try is to update or disable the Intel Power Management driver. The Intel-powered computers have dedicated software that controls CPU speed and Fan speed when it needs to save battery. You can try disabling it temporarily and check if there are any changes with the CPU fan speed.

• First, restart your computer by holding the Shift key to boot your computer into Troubleshooting or Advanced mode.
• Next, go to Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > Command Prompt.
• Then change the directory to C:/Windows/System32/driver and then rename the file named “Intelppm” by entering the “ren intelppm.sys intelppm.sys.bak”.
• Now restart your computer.

Note: If you were not able to find the drivers in C:/Windows/System32/driver, check if they are available under C:/Drivers/IntelPPM. After that, the CPU speed should change now with the Intel driver missing from the system. And in case you want to enable it, simply follow the same steps given above and rename the file again.

Option 3 – Try disabling the IPPM using the Command Line or Registry Editor

• Command Prompt:
  • Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box and type “cmd” and tap Enter to open Command Prompt.
  • Next, type this command and hit Enter: sc config intelppm start= disabled
  • The “sc config” command you entered modifies the value of a service’s entries in the registry as well as in the Service Control Manager database.
• Registry Editor:
  • Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box and type “Regedit” in the field and hit Enter to open the Registry Editor.
  • Next, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesintelppm.
  • From there, double click on the intelppm and change the Start key value to
  • Now close the Registry Editor and reboot your computer.

Note: The steps given will make sure that the CPU will run at maximum power at all times.

As you know, the Windows 10 Action Center has a stack of all the notifications that come from different applications on your computer. So each time an app displays notifications, it will be displayed for about 5 seconds and then it disappears right away. Although the allotted time for the notifications to be displayed is quite enough to catch your attention and help you get a glance at the message, there are times when you might miss it and you hoped it could’ve been displayed a lot longer. So in this post, you will be guided on how you can increase or decrease the display time of the notification in Windows 10. The best way you can view the missed notification is to click on the Action Center. From there, you will see all the notifications that are grouped by the applications. This means that if you have a lot of notifications, it would be hard for you to find what you are looking for. Thus, in such cases, the best way you can do is to increase the display time for which notification to stay on the screen.

To get started, refer to the instructions given below.

Step 1: Tap the Win + I keys to open Settings. Step 2: Next, navigate to Home > Ease of Access > Display. Step 3: After that, scroll down to the end until you see the dropdown to change the notifications where you should see the “Show notifications for”. Step 4: Then you can change the time from the default 5 seconds to 7, 15, 30, and so on. Step 5: Once done, the display time of the notifications should stay longer but keep in mind that you must choose the length wisely so if you have notifications from a lot of apps, then the screen will also be filled with multiple notification cards.

Bad_Pool_Header Error - What is it?

Bad_Pool_Header is one of the types of BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) error codes. This error triggers a problem with Windows memory allocation. When this error message occurs, the screen turns blue and locks the user out of the application running on the system. The computer shuts down or restarts.

Solution

Error Causes

There is no one particular cause for the occurrence of the Bad_Pool_Header error code. It may appear on your system due to multiple reasons such as:

• Device driver issues
• Cluttered disk
• Disk writing issues
• Faulty memory hardware

Driver issues and disk writing issues occur when your try to update new driver versions. During this process, users often forget to remove the files of the uninstalled version from the registry. And due to the presence of the uninstalled driver files in the registry updating and disk writing becomes an uphill task which leads to the Bad_Pool_Header display on the computer screen. The main database of your system is the registry so you need to keep it clean to avoid disk cluttering. The hard disk clutters because the registry saves all the activities that you perform in your system. It saves junk files, internet history, invalid entries, and other unnecessary files. This occupies a lot of your disk space thus resulting in disk cluttering and faulty memory hardware issues triggering the Bad_Pool_Header. Ignoring the Bad_Pool_Header error is not wise. It is advisable to repair the Bad_Pool_Header right away as it can lead to serious threats like system failure and data loss.

Further Information and Manual Repair

The easiest, time and money-saving way to resolve the Bad_Pool_Header error on your system is to install Restoro. This is a high and multi-functional repair tool that features a powerful inbuilt registry cleaner, anti-virus, and a system optimizer. This tool is the one-stop solution for all your PC-related errors including the Bad_Pool_Header blue screen of death error. Whether it’s a driver issue, faulty memory, or cluttered disk, all the causes triggering the Bad_Pool_Header error code fall under the registry which is why it is recommended to install Restoro. Its innovative and powerful registry cleaner scans detect and repair all the errors related to the registry in one go including the Bad_Pool_Header errors. With this helper, you can easily remove all the unnecessary files cluttering your hard disk and damaging your registry. It wipes out the clutter in seconds and frees up disk space.

Why Should You Clean The Registry?

Sometimes the registry also gets cluttered by malicious software like viruses, spyware, and malware. These may also take up your disk space and prevent you to perform disk writing successfully and also corrupt the registry. The privacy error finding utility embedded in Restoro helps you scan for such malicious software on your system and removes them immediately. It lends the software anti-virus properties. When it comes to using repair tools, many users who are not technically sound often worried. They think it may be difficult to operate. If you think the same way, let us tell you that Restoro is very easy to use. It is integrated with a high-functional yet user-friendly interface complemented by simple navigation.

Restoro Special Features

This makes it simple for all levels of users to operate it regardless of whether they are technically adept or not. Restoro is compatible with all Windows versions. You can download it with ease and run it for scans on any Windows version you have installed on your system. To get started, all you have to do is:

• Click here to install Restoro.
• Once the installation is complete now run it to scan for errors like the Bad_Pool_Header
• After that simply click on the ‘repair’ button to resolve

Error Code 0x8007232B (Code 0x8007232B) – What is it?

Error code 0x8007232B (Code 0x8007232B) is an error that occurs when you attempt to activate Windows Server 2008 or Windows Vista.

Common symptoms include:

• Attempting to activate Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows Server 2012 and you receive an error message.
• The error message says: “Windows could not be activated. Key management services host could not be located in domain name system, please have your system administrator verify that a KMS is published correctly in DNS”
• The error message says “The directory name, file name, or volume label syntax is incorrect”.

Error Causes

• Error Code 0x8007232B occurs when you attempt to use media that is volume licensed to install: Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista Enterprise, Windows Vista Business, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2.
• This error code also occurs when the activation wizard is unable to connect to a Key Management Service host computer.

Further Information and Manual Repair

Error code 0x8007232B can be seen when you are trying to activate windows, on several different operating systems. This problem can usually be easily corrected, but in the event that it can't, please contact a computer repair technician. When you try to install any of the previously mentioned Windows products, they use a generic product key to install the volume-based license software. If you do have a KMS host computer configuration and see these error codes, that means the correct DNS entries are not being seen on the computer. If there is not a KMS host computer setup, you need to do this setup, otherwise switch to a MAK product key method, and activate the volume license installation that way.

Method One:

Using a Multiple Activation Key as opposed to KMS activation

1. Click the Start icon, click on All Programs, click on Accessories, right-click on Command prompt.
2. Click on “Run as administrator”. Type in the password or provide confirmation if prompted for administrator password or confirmation.
3. When asked for the command prompt, enter in the following and then hit the Enter buuton: slmgr -ipk xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx  Note: this placeholder represents the MAK product key.

Method Two:

Configure a KMS host server for the clients to activate against.

A KMS host server needs to be configured for the clients to activate against. When there are no KMS host servers configured near you, install and activate a KMS server key. After this, configure a computer on the network to host this KMS software and publish the Domain Name System (DNS) settings.

Method Three:

When the client cannot locate a KMS host on the network for activation:

1. Verify that your computer has the KMS host installed and activated by using a KMS key that is registered in DNS. You will follow these steps to do that:

1. Click the Start button, click on All Programs, click Accessories, and then right-click on Command Prompt.
2. Click on Run as Administrator. Type the password or provide confirmation if you are asked for an administrator password or for confirmation.
3. In the command prompt box, type the following command and press ENTER: nslookup -type=all _vlmcs.tcp>kms.txt
4. Then open the KMS.txt file generated by this command. The file will contain at least one entry that relays the SRV service location.

2.  A KMS host server registers a DNS SRV record once every 24 hours by default. You should check the registry to see if the KMS host server is registering with the DNS. Follow these steps to do so:

1. Click on Start, type in regedit, and then press Enter.
2. Locate HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsNTCurrentVersionSL and then click on it.
3. The KMS server does not register in DNS if the DisableDnsPublishing subkey is existing and has a value of 1. If this subkey is missing altogether, create a DWORD value called the DisableDnsPublishing. If the dynamic registration is suitable, the subkey value should be changed to 0. Right-click DisableDnsPublishing, click on Modify, enter 0 into the Value data box, and click OK.

In case you don’t know, new support has been added by Microsoft to Windows 10 that now allows users to turn off or on the Mobile Hotspot remotely. The Mobile Hotspot feature, known earlier as “Virtual Networks”, was first introduced with the initial release of Windows 10. With this new feature to remotely turn on or off the Mobile Hotspot in Windows 10, users can just use the Bluetooth on their mobile phones to turn off or on the Mobile Hotspot even when their Windows 10 computers are out of their reach. To turn off or on the Mobile Hotspot feature in your Windows 10 computer remotely, there are two options you can try. First, you can do it using the Windows 10 settings app or using the Registry Editor. To get started, refer to the following options.

Option 1 – Turn off or on the Mobile Hotspot remotely via Windows 10 Settings app

• First, you need to open the Windows 10 Settings app and from there go to Network & Internet and then go to the Mobile Hotspot section.
• After that, scroll down to the “Turn on remotely” section.
• Once done, make sure that the toggle button is set to ON and that the Bluetooth of both devices is turned on and paired as well. This should enable the feature to turn on or off the mobile hotspot remotely.

Option 2 – Turn off or on the Mobile Hotspot remotely via Registry Editor

Before you get started with the second option, make sure that you create a System Restore point first. Once done, proceed to the following steps:

• Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box and type “Regedit” in the field and then hit Enter to open the Registry Editor.
• Next, navigate to this registry path: ComputerHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWcmSvcTethering
• From there, look for the DWORD named “RemoteStartupDisabled” and set its Value data to be “0”. This will enable the feature that will allow you to remotely turn on or off the mobile hotspot in your Windows 10 computer. To disable it, just set its Value data to “1”.

Same as Windows 10, Windows 11 also keeps track of date and time using an internet time server. But in a case that you need to change the date or time for any kind of reason here is a guide for that process:

1. Press ⊞ WINDOWS + I to open settings
2. Click on Time & Language in Taskbar
3. Inside Time & Language click on Date & Time
4. Turn off Set Time Automatically by clicking on the switch next to it
5. Below find Set the date and time manually and click on Change
6. Inside, Change Date and Time window use the drop-down menu to set desired date and time

Hello everyone and welcome to another tutorial on errortools.com, Windows itself when it is installed has a general idea about certain file types and how to open them, for example, image files would be opened with application photos, web links with the edge, etc. So when we double click on the known file type, Windows will start the default application for that type and open the file in it. But what if we do not want to open files in applications Microsoft thinks we should? What if we want to open the website in firefox or images in photoshop, or whatever. Luckily we can easily change which application Windows uses for which file type. Click on ⊞ WINDOWS to open the start menu and choose settings. On the settings screen, choose Apps. When the Apps screen opens on the left click on Default apps. On right, you will get a list of Windows default applications for certain types of files. Click on any application you would like to change and choose from the drop-down list a new one. Click on it and you are done.