DeepIn Linux 20
DeepIn Linux is a Linux distribution made by the Wuhan Deepin Technology Company in China. This company appear to be partnering with Huawei in a move to replace Windows as an Operating System on their hardware (similar to Google and Chromebook but this OS is much more functional and has the full capabilities of a Linux distribution). DeepIn Linux 20 Beta is freely available to download from their website and I demonstrate downloading the ISO, making a Bootable USB and performing a Clean Installation on a Dell OptiPlex 7040 and then taking it for a test drive. I then move to a Latitude 7350 to test its touchscreen capabilities. Although this is a Linux distribution it should be very familiar for Windows users due to having a very similar user interface to Windows 7/8.1 and 10.
The biggest bugs I found on a Latitude 7350 was with the onscreen keyboard, it does not work very well and the screen does not autorotate when in tablet mode.
Full installation instructions, download links and more detailed testing is available on my written guide:
Windows 10 Version 2004 Final Build Released
Windows 10 Version 2004 (Final Built 19041.207) has been released.
We are now getting the Windows 10 May 2020 Update (20H1) ready for release and releasing Build 19041.207 to Windows Insiders in the Release Preview ring. We believe that Build 19041.207 is the final build and we will continue to improve the overall experience of the May 2020 Update on customers’ PCs as part of our normal servicing cadence.
Video
In this video I demonstrate Creating the Bootable USB and performing a Clean Installation with a Windows 10 OEM License and a Windows 7 OEM License.
Note that all Product Activation Mechanism for the "Free Upgrade" from the now "End of Life Windows 7" to Windows 10 still work and this new build has substantial performance boosts over all previous Windows 10 builds. These performance enhancements prevent Windows Search from continuously indexing your Hard Drive throttling it and compromising your over all system performance. I decided to take the old low specification OptiPlex 790 I had lying around at home which has:
- 2011 UEFI BIOS (No Secure Boot)
- 2nd Generation Intel Processor
- 4 GB RAM DDR3
- 7200 RPM Mechanical Hard Drive
I used this to test the Activation Mechanisms of the Free Upgrade and compared the performance with Windows 10 Version 2004 with the previous build Windows 10 Version 1909. Both have a clean install and the performance difference doing a menial task such as watching a YouTube video with a Chromium based Browser is substantial:
Many older Windows 7 systems which had similar performance issues with older builds of Windows 10 should also run quite well with Windows 10 Version 2004 now that these fixes have been made.
Windows 10 Version 2004 has Significant Performance Boosts
All previous versions of Windows 10 were very intensive with Disc Usage when it came to indexing search results, displaying notifications and using browsers such as Google Chrome. This was particularly prevalent when using a Hard Drive with it being throttled at 100 % Disk Usage. Microsoft have finally addressed this feedback:
Back in the summer of 2018, a small group of Windows Insiders did something that we don’t typically recommend. They quietly turned off the Windows Search indexer on their PCs. Luckily for us, they also took us up on our request to explain why. The feedback they provided led to some of the most significant improvements we’ve made recently to the Windows Search experience.
Whenever a Windows Insider disabled Windows Search, a message would pop up on the screen asking why. Insiders gave many reasons for turning off the indexer, but it boiled down to three key areas: high disk and CPU usage, general performance issues, and the indexer didn’t seem valuable to them.
I decided to take the old low specification OptiPlex 790 I had lying around at home which has:
- 2nd Generation Intel Processor
- 4 GB RAM
- 7200 RPM Mechanical Hard Drive
And compared the performance with Windows 10 Version 2004 with the previous build Windows 10 Version 1909. Both have a clean install and the performance difference doing a menial task such as watching a YouTube video with a Chromium based Browser is substantial:
Spyder 4 Python Tutorial Videos
Desktop Market Share by Windows Version
Installing Linux Mint in a VMware Virtual Machine
Windows 10 Version 1909 Media Creation Tool Launched
Windows 10 "Version 1909"
The next 6 month update to Windows 10 is just a small patch that will be delivered via Windows Update. Those in the Windows Insider Slow Track should have it already and it'll be about a week or two until it is released via the Mainstream Track. Although many are calling this "Version 1909", the changes are very minor and the update process won't take much longer than a standard cumulative Windows Update. Moreover the Version remains at Version 1903.
Windows 7 Reaches End of Life in Less than 6 Months! You Can Still Upgrade to Windows 10 For Free
Windows 7 Reaches End of Life in precisely 6 months as of today. This means Microsoft will no longer patch Windows 7. Without Security Patches it will become vulnerable and more susceptible to Malicious software. Obviously with the large market share of Operating System, it is a prime time for hackers to target in order to steal bank details etc when users use online banking or to install randsomware “pay us if you want to access your files again”. In addition to Microsoft not supporting Windows 7, hardware vendors such as Intel have dropped support for Windows 7. This means that newer computers do not have Windows 7 drivers and thus Windows 7 will not run on newer hardware they produce. This is likely to become more and more prevalent as there is little incentive for hardware manufacturers to spend resources supporting a legacy Operating System. Other software companies especially those who make internet browsers such as Mozilla, Google may also drop Windows 7 support soon, which will once again make it even less secure.
Fortunately the free upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10 still works as I demonstrated a few moments ago.
Updated Guides to Perform a PSID Revert
I have created guides on performing a PSID Revert on Crucial and Samsung Solid State Drives (SSDs):
Windows 10 Version 1903 Media Creation Tool Released
The Windows 10 Version 1903 Media Creation Tool is now available to download:
Windows 10 Version 1903 Media Creation Tool Released
The Windows 10 Version 1903 Media Creation Tool is now available:
https://software-download.microsoft.com/download/pr/MediaCreationTool1903.exe
The Landing Page for the Media Creation Tool hasn't been updated yet.
Despite the Tool Referencing:
- "MediaCreationTool1903"
- "File/Product Version 10.0.18362.1"
It does not give a:
- "Windows 10 Version 1903 Build 18362.1 ISO"
When I tested this tool I obtained a:
- " Windows 10 Version 1809 Version 2 ISO"
- "Created by Microsoft on the "12th of March 2019"
- The ISO is "Version 10.0.17763" and "ServicePack Build: 379"
Installing the Developer Version of Open RA2
One of my favourite childhood games was Red Alert 2. There is an Open Source Version in Development called OpenRA2. OpenRA (Red Alert 1) has been out for a while.
Upgraded my OptiPlex 7060 Micro to a 1 TB SSD and 32 GB RAM
More details on doing this are available here.
Microsoft Edge for Windows 10 Insider Preview
Microsoft Edge Preview Based on Chromium is available for those on Windows 10 Version 1809 and Windows 10 Version 1903:
https://www.microsoftedgeinsider.com/en-us/?form=MD18G4&OCID=MD18G4
Unsurprisingly it looks and feels very similar to Google Chrome (with Bing Search Results) which is also built on Chromium.
Jetpack: Matrix Display Problem
Code
Text Block
Classic Block
Code
removing the $ signs at the start and end
latex \displaystyle M=\left[ {\begin{array}{*{20}{c}} 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 \\ 5 & 6 & 7 & 8 \\ 9 & {10} & {11} & {12} \\ {13} & {14} & {15} & {16} \end{array}} \right]
Display Issue
Updated Windows 7 Guides Covering Dell OEM Licenses (All Editions)
Tyranny of the EU: Article 13
Article 13 is an act by the Federalist European Superstate to censor the internet. It allows legislation to deliberately give a monopoly to pro-EU companies and pro-EU media and allows political persecution against any dissidents. Jan Krohn author of Heidoc.net writes an article in more detail here:
EU Copyright Reform, Upload Filters, Article 13, and the Death of the User-Generated Internet
We the 17.4 million in the UK have already tried to leave the dreadful EU by voting for Brexit, a decision that looks increasingly likely to be ignored by our political class.
Windows Insider Build 18362.1
This is likely the build which will be released to mainstream Windows 10 users. Windows 10 Version 1903, not watermarked and with no expiry date. This means it will likely be tested for 1-2 weeks before a new Media Creation Tool is created, likely sometime in the first 10 days of April.
WordPress
I made a video tutorial of creating a website/blog with WordPress using the Block Editor.
I go through:
- Discussing blocks
- Text Block
- Images Block (Images Inline)
- Gallery (a Gallery of Images)
- Slideshow (Pictures as a Slideshow)
- Text and Image
- A GIF
- Download Link, Button and File
- Uploading YouTube Videos
- Making a List
- Making a Table
- Adding Social Media Links (Not Working Properly)
- Adding Custom HTML e.g. an Advert
- Adding Code
- Adding Symbols using Windows 10's Emoji Panel
- Adding a Map
- Adding Open Hours
- Adding a Contact Form
- Discusses Permanent Pages and a Wall of Posts
- Creating/Updating a Table of Contents (Pages)
- Changing Theme
- Adding a Widget to the Sidebar
Windows Insider MVP
Windows 10 Insider Preview (Version 1903) Slow Track Build 18343 Released
The Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 18343 (Slow Tracks) ISOs have been released by Microsoft:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windowsinsiderpreviewadvanced
You can use Rufus to make a Bootable USB:
The English Checksums are.
Windows10_InsiderPreview_Client_x64_en-gb_18343
- 7374b4f3778b087e6f53c292d7f0b17c
- 653128ac43a7c6ac277fd21da60d3971b7d8ee2f
- d526ec62af91cfddd94aba1f09c6676e262a58f827672d69e9f12ea864f2f467
Windows10_InsiderPreview_Client_x32_en-gb_18343
- 262f3500430602b0d100fa32678c8da0
- 2d2de656a68ab62e8096f07cdbb72dcc509671a6
- d7fd83786fda6195f89f76859ca0a776ded6bdac6b568ce9ff709613416a8eb6
Windows10_InsiderPreview_Client_x64_en-us_18343
- f80be41cdf8066cd2a0d9a57a061c943
- 0ffd1ed658d0235768ff8b9c12714c9f1fcd1545
- 774944d68ab14371d37a119e714adc4edd337b780017bd3924920ba4c4df26a7
Windows10_InsiderPreview_Client_x32_en-us_18343
- 7ee9823c6f7b22d81ca55526258912a1
- 1f9e12f0a91e97abf3cd860f99de938f7aa6131b
- 008bbdd76253522c920452912bc28292a590515c5e08d308e74ee28a0af4209a
My Tutorial Video Reaches 250,000 Views
The Tutorial Video I made on Referencing with Mendeley Desktop has now reached 250,000 views and 1,000 interactions with (>95 % positive feedback).
The Video is here:
The written guide is here:
Windows 10 Version 1903 Keyboard Input Methods Update
Video
Windows 10 Version 1903
Microsoft have changed the Version Number on their latest Windows 10 Insider build to Version 1903 suggesting a Late March 2019 Release date. They have update the keyboard input methods:
Enabling the Paste Clipboard
Enabling the Touch Keyboard Button
Symbol Support in the Touch Keyboard
Symbol Support in Emoji Panel for Keyboard/Mouse Usage:
Paste Clipboard
Paste Options for Pasted Data from Paste Clipboard: