Windows 10 – How to take back control of your updates! (KB 3073930)

[ This post has a free bonus ]

This piece of information is probably the most sought-out requested information I’ve ever been asked: “How the heck do I control my updates in Windows 10?”

Well, here’s the utility Microsoft created to allow some kind of control over the update(s):

How to temporarily prevent a Windows or driver update from reinstalling in Windows 10 – KB 3073930

Download the “Show or hide updates” troubleshooter package now!

Please carefully read the full KB!!

P.S.: Yes, I still haven’t updated my main system to Windows 10. Still waiting for such problems to be solved… and Cortana. Canadian Cortana, eh!

FREE BONUS

Last post I shared a nice app to generate checksums. With this Windows shell extension, it’s right at your fingertips for all your files!
http://code.kliu.org/hashcheck/
(Yes, feels old. But it works perfectly!)

Enjoy!

Sirus

Reference
-https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3073930
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checksum
-http://code.kliu.org/hashcheck/

Windows 8.1 Installation Media is Free!

Did you know?

If you’ve lost, can’t find or don’t even have your Windows 8.1 installation disk (any version btw), there’s now no need to buy a new one; you can create one for FREE! I was recently asked again where to get a new installation media (aka install disk) and thought it was worth a post to reiterate this very useful info.

Create installation media for Windows 8.1

All you gotta do is download Microsoft’s application (less than 2 Mb), run the tool, select the Windows 8.1 version you need.

Probably the best part is it lets you choose between a USB installer and an ISO file. Once you’ve picked your preferred method of destruction installing, let it work. It’s that simple!

You don’t even have to install anything on your precious computer since it’s a standalone app; which makes it portable too!

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/create-reset-refresh-media

This nifty tool can create installation media for all the following Windows 8.1 versions (32bit/64 bit):

Windows 8.1
Windows 8.1 N
Windows 8.1 Pro
Windows 8.1 Pro N

Enjoy!

Sirus
sirusdark.ca

Checksum, MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256… What’s all this?

Checksum, MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256, etc. all mean the same thing: a way to verify the integrity of data, file or software.

Simply put, it’s an easy way to tell if the file you have is genuine or have been tempered with. (infected, modified, corrupted, etc.)

 

EXAMPLE

You download a software from a mirror server and you want to verify if the file you have is genuine. You navigate to the author’s website and see a checksum code: you then verify the file you have with that code. If they match, you know you’ve got genuine file!

 

Simple MD5

For those who simply want a simple MD5 generator/verification, I packaged one along with an icon. See references below.

 

FREE TOOL – File Checksum

I recently substituted my simple md5 app with File Checksum because it also includes SHA-1 and SHA-256. Note that it’s standalone and requires no installation to run. Since we’ve just discuss how checksum works, you might want to verify the integrity of File Checksum itself before using it.

How can one do that WITHOUT a checksum application? Use an online checker! : http://onlinemd5.com/

 

Enjoy!

Sirus
sirusdark.ca

References
-http://www.filechecksum.com/
-http://onlinemd5.com/

Download the simple MD5 Checksum from the now defuntc
“TSoft Ltd -www.midwavi.com” here (provided by me) :
-http://www.mediafire.com/download/t22kjtj8moz53c6/md5_custom_icon.7z (Requires 7zip to open)
–

Firefox v24 – JavaScript settings are gone?

I recently noticed that the latest Firefox version was missing a very useful feature: the ability to control which behaviour of the browser JavaScript can and can’t change:

So here’s the Firefox extension that brings back the missing JavaScript options:

SettingSanity by RealityRipple

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/settingsanity/

Enjoy!

Sirus
sirusdark.ca

References
-https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/969764

WinCDEmu – Do anything without using an optical drive

Here’s another free tool any Windows power user should have: WinCDEmu. It allows you to mount to any drive letter an image file. It supports: ISO, CUE, NRG, MDS/MDF, CCD, IMG images.

Download WinCDEmu here: http://wincdemu.sysprogs.org/

Tired of swapping in and out your CDs or DVDs? Tired of lending your movies and getting ’em back scratched? Don’t wanna spend money on dual layer DVDs? There’s so many reason to use it!

Don’t want to install a software? Good news! There’s even a portable version!

Enjoy!

 

Sirus
sirusdark.ca

References
– http://wincdemu.sysprogs.org