As more and more people get into insider preview of upcoming Windows 11 we will see more and more different takes and opinions on it.
Generally speaking, the first wave was quite positive when it was previewed but how time is passing more and more limitations and frustration comes to the surface.
Some of the limitation that is inside it, which have been confirmed by Microsoft itself includes features missing that we had in Windows 10 like moving the application to the taskbar in order to pin it, moving the file in the taskbar to open it in default application and some big annoyances like Windows opening widgets always in Edge no matter what is your default browser. Not being able to move the taskbar from the bottom is also one of many illogical things.
There is not really a point in these missing features since they were working fine in Windows 10 and many users liked them since they could customize Windows more to their liking, now with this new look at limitations it reminds me personally much of apple macOS and I will be honest, I am not a big fan of that kind of thinking.
If I wanted that kind of OS I would have gotten myself a MAC, not custom build PC, but hey, Linux is always a free alternative, and how Microsoft itself is pushing limitations and in my opinion bad design choices along with awful system requirements that might just be a case for a lot of users.
I am really not sure what is logic behind these moves and I am sure they have their reasons but this time it seems that their take on the new OS is not resonating well with the overall user population, well at least what I have heard so far. Things of course can still be changed and made for the better and I would rather see release postponed and issues addressed than getting more system hogging and limited new OS that at its current state looks like reskinned Windows 10 with limitations.
There is a lot of high resource utilization by any process that slows down a Windows operating system and one of the services that could cause such a thing is the utcsvc.exe process. This particular process at times can cause high CPU and disk usage. So if you are currently facing this problem, read on as this post will guide you on how you can resolve the problem.
UTC which stands for Universal Telemetry Client is a software that runs a service named Diagnostic Tracking Service or DiagTrak. This service is used by Microsoft to collect customer feedback, analyze customer’s problems, and push resolution via updates in order to make the Windows 10 operating system better. This service is an executable file that could be translated to Service Host and even though the process does not usually cause problems, there are actually times when it does especially if it results in high resource utilization. In such cases, you might want to consider disabling it to fix its high CPU and disk usage.
According to Microsoft:
“We collect information about you, your devices, applications and networks, and your use of those devices, applications, and networks. Examples of data we collect include your name, email address, preferences, and interests; browsing, search and file history; phone call and SMS data; device configuration and sensor data; and application usage.”
There are several ways you can disable the utcsvc.exe process. You can disable it using the Service Manager, Registry Editor, and Group Policy Editor. For more details, refer to the instructions laid out below.
Option 1 – Disable the Connected User Experience & Telemetry Service via Service Manager
Note that this option is for standalone systems, so if you’re not using one, refer to the next given options below.
Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
Then type “services.msc” in the field and tap Enter or click OK to open the Services Manager.
From the given list of services, look for the Connected User Experience service. Once you found it, click on it and you’ll see its description which states:
“The Connected User Experiences and Telemetry service enables features that support in-application and connected user experiences. Additionally, this service manages the event-driven collection and transmission of diagnostic and usage information (used to improve the experience and quality of the Windows Platform) when the diagnostics and usage privacy option settings are enabled under Feedback and Diagnostics.”
Next, right-click on it and select Properties.
Now, change its Startup Type to Disabled and click on the Apply and OK buttons to save the changes made.
Option 2 – Disable the Connected User Experience & Telemetry Service via Registry Editor
Tap the Win + R keys to launch the Run utility and type “Regedit” in the field and click OK to open the Registry Editor.
Next, navigate to this registry path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftWindowsDataCollection
After that, right-click on the folder named “DataCollection” and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.
Now name the new value “AllowTelemetry” and make sure that its Value data is “0” and then click on OK to save the changes made.
Restart your computer.
Option 3 – Disable the Connected User Experience & Telemetry Service via Group Policy Editor
If you have to disable the service related to the Universal Telemetry Client for company-managed systems, then you can do that using the Group Policy Editor.
Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run utility and type “gpedit.msc” in the field and hit Enter to open the Group Policy Editor.
Next, navigate to this path: Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components> Data Collection and Preview Build
After that, double-click on Data Collection and Preview Build to open its settings.
From there, look for the “Allow Telemetry” item and double click on it to open its Properties.
Next, set the radio button to Disabled and then click on the Apply button to save the changes made.
Restart your computer.
Option 4 – Run the Hardware and Devices Troubleshooter or the Performance Troubleshooter
Hardware and Devices Troubleshooter:
The first thing you need to do is click on Start and then on the gear-like icon to pull up the window for Settings.
After opening Settings, look for the Update and Security option and select it.
From there, go to the Troubleshoot option located on the left-hand side of the list.
Next, select Hardware and Devices from the list and open the Troubleshooter and run it. Once it is doing its job, wait for it to complete the process and then restart the system.
After the system restarts, check if the problem’s now fixed. If not, refer to the next option given below.
Performance Troubleshooter:
Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
Type “exe /id PerformanceDiagnostic” in the field and hit Enter to open the Performance troubleshooter.
Then click on Next to get started. Wait until the process is completed.
Recently, a number of users reported that they were not able to run PLEX and other similar streaming services ever since a Windows Update was automatically installed in the system. The error in these streaming services has something to do with a missing Mfplat.dll DLL file from the Windows Media Feature Pack. On the other hand, some users also reported that the mfplat.dll error occurred on several games as well which used the Media Feature Pack.
Usually, the mfplat.dll error is caused by the missing Media Feature Pack in Windows 10. Although most of the time the Media Feature Pack is installed by the application that needs it or through Windows Update automatically, there are just certain installers that do not have it. It could be that the Media Playback service was disabled by a particular Windows Update. Aside from that, the error might be because your computer is using Windows 10 N – a Windows 10 version that does not include the Media Feature Pack by default. Whatever the cause may be, you can troubleshoot the problem with the help of the options given below. But before you go on, keep in mind that downloading the missing DLL file and copying it to the folder of the program where you encounter the error won’t really help and will only make things even more complicated.
Option 1 – Install the Media Feature Pack for Windows 10 N version
As mentioned, the Windows 10 N version does not come with Windows Media Player. Meaning to say, the Media Feature Pack is also not installed by default or won’t be updated by the Windows Update component. So if you are not quite sure what Windows 10 version you currently have installed, refer to these steps:
Tap the Windows key + S and then type “about” in the search box.
From the search results, click on the “About your PC” to open the About tab of the Settings app.
Afterward, scroll down to the Windows specifications and check your Windows version under Edition.
Note: If you’ve determined that your computer is using the Windows 10 N version, you need to install the appropriate Media Feature Pack for your computer. How? Refer to the steps below:
Click this link to download and install the Media Feature Pack from Microsoft’s official website.
Upon installation, select the edition you want to install using the drop-down menu and then click on Confirm. Take note that there are few reasons why you’d want to install the older version since most streaming services like PLEX and most games usually require version 1803.
After that, wait until the request is validated. The download should begin in a few minutes automatically.
Once the download is completed, open the installation executable file and follow the next on-screen instructions to install the Media Feature Pack on your computer.
Restart your computer. After your computer has rebooted, open the application where you’re getting the mfplat.dll missing error and then check if the problem is now fixed.
Option 2 – Enable Media Playback via Command Prompt
If you encounter the mfplat.dll missing error when you attempt to run PLEX or other similar streaming service and you’ve already verified that the Media Feature Pack is indeed installed, you might want to try enabling it using an elevated Command Prompt. There are cases when a particular Windows Update ends up disabling the feature and creates the grounds which results in the mfplat.dll missing error. Thus, you can have to enable the feature via Command Prompt.
Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
Then type “cmd” in the field and hit Enter to open an elevated Command Prompt.
Next, click on Yes if a User Account Control prompt pops up.
After opening Command Prompt, copy and paste the following command and hit Enter to execute it:
Close Command Prompt and then open the app once again to check if the problem is now fixed.
Option 3 – Try extracting a copy of the mfplat.dll file from the windows.old directory
If you encounter the error shortly after you just upgraded to Windows 10 from an older version, the best thing you can do to resolve the problem is to use windows.old directory to fetch an old copy of the mfplat.dll file. To do so, follow the steps below.
Go to the Windows drive and then look for the windows.old directory where it preserves a copy of your old operating system as well as associated files in case something goes out of hand during the upgrade process.
After that, open the windows.old folder and then go to the syswow64 folder.
Next, from the syswow64 folder, copy the mfplat.dll file and paste it to C: windows syswow64.
Restart your computer and check if the error is now resolved or not.
If you are following the latest gaming trends and spend a lot of time on social media, watching streams, etc. you might be under impression that gaming as a hobby is very expensive. If you plan to play the latest games on a very large screen in their highest setting that might be true but if you do not care about that you can still play games and spend much less money on them.
That being said we are here to share with you some tips and tactics on how to play good games with minimum money spent.
Do not buy games the moment when they are released
Buying a game on its launch date is maybe the worst and most expensive thing you can do. Games have their highest price on launch day but sadly with the current state of the industry, they are in their worst state as well. Games eventually became better over time after patches are released but so does their price drops after the hype has calmed down. So if you really must have some specific game on its launch day, go for it but know that by doing so you are getting the worst version of the game for its higher price.
Wishlist games and wait for the sale
All services today have a wishlist, very good and money-saving tactic is to wishlist interesting titles and wait for them to be on the sale. Services will usually have the option of sending you an email once your wishlist titles are on sale so you will be notified once they do. A good tactic as well is to wait for large sales like for example summer, winter, easter sales, or many other seasonal ones.
Get free games
Some online stores are offering free games from time to time and some are always offering some titles as gifts in order to get customers to their platform. EPIC has become famous for gifting some great titles over the past years completely for free and there are a lot of free-to-play games on each platform that you can play.
Get second-hand PC
Having a new computer is great but if your budget is tight you might consider getting your PC as a second hand instead of the new one. Hardcore games will switch components more frequently than your typical users and usually the components will be sold cheaper and be more affordable.
Play games on some older devices in general
Many games today are available on many platforms not only just on your typical PC. Same titles are available on your mobile phones, tablets, and even on your Android TV. Many titles will not even require the latest technology or monster of a computer in order to run them. You can also lower game settings and play many games on lower hardware if you do not mind not having top graphics settings.
Play over the cloud streaming
If you are very tight on budget but want to enjoy new games in their full glory there is always the option to play games via a cloud streaming service, it is not exactly a mega cheap option since it has a monthly fee but it is cheaper than some high-end gaming computer. If you combine this with the game pass you can enjoy the latest games with high-quality settings and pay it on a monthly basis.
REevil is one of the most active and successful hacking groups connected to Russia and operating all over the world. The group recently demanded a huge bitcoin ransom for an attack targeting IT firm Kaseya in the USA.
Since Tuesday blog and payment site run by REvil group cannot be longer reached without any kind of explanation or why.
The reason behind the disappearance is unknown but has sparked speculation that the group may have been targeted deliberately by authorities.
US President Joe Biden said he raised the issue with Vladimir Putin during a phone call on Friday, after discussing the subject during a summit with the Russian president in Geneva last month.
Mr. Biden told reporters that he had "made it very clear to him...we expect them to act" on information and also hinted the US could take direct digital retaliation on servers used for intrusions.
The timing of Tuesday's outage has sparked speculation that either the US or Russian officials may have taken action against REvil - though officials have so far declined to comment and cyber experts say sudden disappearances of groups are not necessarily uncommon.
The development comes after a series of high-profile ransomware attacks which have hit major US businesses this year.
The FBI accused REvil - also known as Sodinokibi - of being behind a ransomware attack on the world's largest meat processing company JBS last month.
If you receive an error message saying, “File System Error 2147219196” when trying to open a picture, access a file or when moving a folder on your Windows 10 computer then read on as this post will help you resolve this error. According to experts, this error started to appear right after the Windows Update v1803 was released. Users who installed the new Windows version faced the same dilemma.
This error might be caused by a corrupted disk or it could be due to some broken Windows components or due to file system encryptions. Before you troubleshoot the problem, make sure that you are logged in as an administrator.
Option 1 – Update Windows
The first thing you can do to Resolve File System Error -2147219196 is to update Windows. Since Microsoft is already aware of this issue, they might have already released a fix for this in one of their new updates so make sure to check for any available updates on your computer and have it installed right away.
Tap Win + S to open Search then type “update” in the field and from the search results that appear, click on Windows Update.
After that, it will open Windows Update under Settings and from there click the Check for Updates button and let Windows check for any available updates.
And if there are any updates available, download and install them on your Windows 10 computer.
Restart your PC and check if the error is now fixed or not.
Option 2 – Run CHKDSK to check your disk for errors
When it comes to some issues concerning the hard drive or removable devices, there is a utility in Windows that might help which is called “chkdsk”. This error check utility can help with several issues in the system including File System Error -2147219196.
Tap the Win + S keys to open the Search box.
Then type “command prompt” in the field and from the search results that appear, right-click on Command Prompt and select “Run as administrator”.
After opening an elevated command prompt, copy and paste the following command and hit Enter:
chkdsk /r /f
Now if you are prompted to run CHKDSK after your reboot your PC, just tap Y and reboot your PC.
If CHKDSK is not able to find any errors, tap the Win + E keys and navigate the access window. From there, right-click on the concerned drive and click on Properties.
After opening Properties, click on the tab Tools and then click on the “Check” button under the Error-checking section.
Wait until the process is completed and then restart your computer.
Once your computer has restarted, try accessing the file and check if the error persists.
Option 3 – Disable the File System Encryption
File System Encryption allows you to encrypt drives to protect them from being accessed from another computer. This is the standard practice in various organizations in order to protect their data. However, there are times when the file encryption system caused issues for users in accessing files and throws the File System Error -2147219196 instead which is why you need to temporarily disable it to access your file. To do so, follow the steps below.
Tap the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box.
Then type “control” in the field to open Control Panel.
From there, navigate to Security and select the BitLocker Drive Encryption option from the list.
After that, make sure that all your drives are not encrypted and if any of them are encrypted, turn off encryption by selecting Turn off BitLocker.
Reboot your computer for the changes to take effect.
Option 4 – Run SFC scan
Tap Win + R to launch Run.
Type in cmd in the field and tap Enter.
After opening Command Prompt, type in sfc /scannow
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”.
Windows 10 supports various devices to get connected to which makes it quite a flexible operating system. The connection varies on the fact that the device can be connected either with Bluetooth or other wireless and wired connection. However, no matter how great the features are, there a few times when they bring in some bugs too. One of these bugs won’t allow you to either remove or reinstall the Bluetooth mouse and keyboard device from your Windows 10 computer. So if you are currently experiencing this problem, read on as this post will guide you in fixing it.
Before you go over the suggestions laid out below, you need to create a System Restore Point first since, in one of the options, you will be making some changes with the registry files as well as some critical Windows settings. Once you have that covered, refer to the following options.
Option 1 – Configure the Bluetooth Services
The first thing you can do is configure Bluetooth Services.
Tap the Win + R key combination to open the Run dialog box.
After that, type “services.msc” in the field and hit Enter to open the Windows Services Manager.
You will then see a list of services and from there, look for the following services and make sure that their default values are set as follows:
Bluetooth Audio Gateway Service – Manual (Triggered)
Bluetooth Support Service – Manual (Triggered)
Bluetooth User Support Service – Manual (Triggered)
Now click on the Start button to start all the aforementioned services and then check if you can now remove or reinstall the Bluetooth mouse and keyboard device.
Option 2 – Try running the Bluetooth Troubleshooter
As you know, Windows 10 has various troubleshooters with user-friendly interfaces where you can utilize them to fix issues in your PC. And since you’re dealing with some Bluetooth problem, you have to run the Bluetooth Troubleshooter.
Open the Windows 10 Settings.
Then go to Update & Security > Troubleshoot.
You should find the option for Bluetooth on your right-hand side – click on it then click on the “Run the troubleshooter” option.
Now follow the next screen options.
Option 3 – Try to reinstall or update the Bluetooth driver
The issue might have something to do with the Bluetooth drivers. It could be that it is outdated and needs to be updated or that you recently updated it and since then you have trouble removing the Bluetooth device and so to fix the issue, you can update, roll back or uninstall the Bluetooth drivers. How? Follow the steps below.
Tap the Win + X keys to open the Device Manager.
Next, look for the Bluetooth device and right-click on it.
Select the option “Update driver”.
After that, a new popup window will appear. In there, select the option, “Search automatically for updated driver software”.
Note: Checking the update may take a few minutes so you’ll have to wait until it finishes. If it is able to find an update, you must install it.
Option 4 – Get rid of any interference
If you have several wireless devices in the same room as your PC then it might have caused interference with the current connection in your PC which is why you have to switch off all the other devices and then try removing reinstalling the Bluetooth mouse and keyboard devices again.
Option 5 – Remove or reinstall the Bluetooth devices in a Clean Boot State
You might want to uninstall or remove the Bluetooth Devices while your computer is in a Clean Boot State. Putting your computer in this state will surely help especially if there are some processes that prevent the Bluetooth devices from being removed or reinstalled.
Log onto your PC as an administrator.
Type in MSConfig in the Start Search to open the System Configuration utility.
From there, go to the General tab and click “Selective startup”.
Clear the “Load Startup items” check box and make sure that the “Load System Services” and “Use Original boot configuration” options are checked.
Next, click the Services tab and select the “Hide All Microsoft Services” check box.
Click Disable all.
Click on Apply/OK and restart your PC. (This will put your PC into a Clean Boot State. And configure Windows to use the usual startup, just simply undo the changes.)
After that, try to reinstall or remove the Bluetooth mouse and keyboard devices again.
Windows 11 has been officially presented during Microsoft’s virtual event on June 24th.
Since presentation internet has been pretty live and busy with a discussion about it, some discussions are positive, some not so much but that is expected and it happens always when a new product is presented.
One of information that we have about Windows 11 is tied to the home edition of this OS,
Windows 11 home edition will require an internet connection at setup, and a Microsoft account in order to be installed and used. Previous versions of Windows could be installed and used with local accounts but it seems Microsoft has abandoned that idea for its new OS.
OS will be delivered mostly as updates or via internet download so internet and online requirement make sense but why it cannot use the local account and must have a Microsoft one is beyond me.
If you encounter an error message saying, “ERR SSL VERSION OR CIPHER MISMATCH” while visiting a website, then it is not primarily your fault as an end-user. In fact, it can happen on any website like Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and even Internet Explorer. Getting this error means that the website you are visiting is using an SSL certificate which your browser seems to be rejected because there is some issue with the certificate. It is also possible that the certificate that’s downloaded on your computer is corrupted or that your computer configuration for TSL/SSL is misconfigured.
Here are the complete details of the error message:
“A secure connection cannot be established because this site uses an unsupported protocol, Error code ERR_SSL_VERSION_OR_CIPHER_MISMATCH”
To resolve the ERR_SSL_VERSION_OR_CIPHER_MISMATCH error, refer to the options given below and see which one works for you.
Option 1 – Try to access the website with the only HTTP
The first thing you can do is to try accessing the website using HTTP instead of HTTPS. If you can open the website using HTTP then it means that the problem is in the website itself. And if you are the website owner, you can check the following:
Check if your website’s SSL certificate name is mismatched. Here you need to ensure that the name and alias of the websites match with the actual website URL where the certificate is installed.
Second, check if your server is using the RC4 Cipher. If it is, then you need to fix that.
On the other hand, you may also check if your CDN also supports SSL since most of the CDN nowadays supports SSL. All you have to do is configure it correctly and it should be good to go.
If you were using Google Chrome when you got the ERR SSL VERSION OR CIPHER MISMATCH error, then you need to follow the protocol fixes for SSL3/TLS and QUIC which are usually some of the reasons that cause the SSL version / Cipher Mismatch. It also has a few fixes for Windows 10 computer where you can clear the certificates and make sure that your computer date and time is in sync with your time zone and so on.
If you were using Edge or Internet Explorer when you got the error, then you have to follow the steps below.
Type “Internet” in the search box of your browser. After that, you should see the Internet Options from the search results.
Next, open the Internet Properties window and switch to the Advanced tab and then scroll down to the Security section.
From there, check the “Use TLS 1.1” checkbox as well as the “Use TLS 1.2” checkbox and then click OK to save the changes made.
Restart the browser.
On the other hand, if you were using Firefox when you go the error, here’s what you have to do.
Open Firefox and in the address bar, type “about:config” and hit Enter.
If a warning appears, just click on the “I accept the risk!” button to proceed.
Next, type in “TLS” in the search field and hit Enter.
Then look for “security.tls.version.min” and double click on it and set its integer value to 3 to force the protocol of TLS 1.3.
Now click OK and restart Firefox and do the same thing with SSL.
As more and more people get into insider preview of upcoming Windows 11 we will see more and more different takes and opinions on it.
REevil is one of the most active and successful hacking groups connected to Russia and operating all over the world. The group recently demanded a huge bitcoin ransom for an attack targeting IT firm Kaseya in the USA.
Since Tuesday blog and payment site run by REvil group cannot be longer reached without any kind of explanation or why.
The reason behind the disappearance is unknown but has sparked speculation that the group may have been targeted deliberately by authorities.
US President Joe Biden said he raised the issue with Vladimir Putin during a phone call on Friday, after discussing the subject during a summit with the Russian president in Geneva last month.
Mr. Biden told reporters that he had "made it very clear to him...we expect them to act" on information and also hinted the US could take direct digital retaliation on servers used for intrusions.
The timing of Tuesday's outage has sparked speculation that either the US or Russian officials may have taken action against REvil - though officials have so far declined to comment and cyber experts say sudden disappearances of groups are not necessarily uncommon.
The development comes after a series of high-profile ransomware attacks which have hit major US businesses this year.
The FBI accused REvil - also known as Sodinokibi - of being behind a ransomware attack on the world's largest meat processing company JBS last month. 