windows

Here are the steps to detect, disable and enable SMBv1 client and server by using PowerShell commands with elevation.

NB: The computer will need to be restarted to complete enabling or disabling SMBv1.

If your computer or virtual computer is missing a TPM or SecureBoot, or you just don't want them to be used, Windows 11 will fail to start the install process with this message:

This PC can’t run Windows 11
This PC doesn’t meet the minimum system requirements to install this version of Windows. For more information, visit https://aka.ms/WindowsSysReq.

Fear not! This checks and more can be outright disabled and windows will still work just fine (for now!).

NLA (Network Level Authentication) is useful when RDP is directly connected to the internet. If however, you're using VPN and firewall to prevent access to the port, and trying to connect from Linux, then it just kills the ability to connect. Here's how to turn it off using PowerShell when the UI prevents you from access it.

Ads always annoy me, especially when they get in the way of what you're doing. If they were unobtrusive I would just let them be, but they always progress to more and more annoying to gain attention. Skype Ads are no different.

First there were none, now there are some. And now they change colours, blink on and off, and remove focus from the message window in the middle of typing. They make a workable program frustrating to the point of looking for an alternative. Let's not even get into the ridiculous memory usage of the program.

Disk Cleanup on Windows XP asks the user if they would like to compress all files on drive to save space. While it does what it advertises, it also makes the computer run significantly slower as it has to use the CPU to decompress each file as it is access before it can be used. A lot of files on a modern computer are already highly compressed - think mp3, ogg, avi, dll (a very relevant one to slow computers) - so drive compression doubles up on the work needed to access their contents for no advantage.

I have a separate username and password for every single site I visit. I do this because I own numerous domains from which I allocate a site specific email address which in turn allows me to track which website leaked or sold my email when I get a spam. Even if I didn't do this, I would still need some kind of system to keep track of the million different usernames that I've had to come up with because of my normal name being taken, or some length restriction.