Windows 11 – Daves Computer Tips

How To Check Your PC’s Reliability Score

Jim Hillier — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 06:26:48 +0000

Both Windows 10 and Windows 11 include a “Reliability Monitor” feature that will present a system stability rating from 1 to 10, and also help diagnose problematic apps/processes. However, the Reliability Monitor is tucked away and not easy to locate… unless you know how. Here is a screenshot of my Reliability Monitor in Windows 10 (click the image to enlarge): As you can see from the…

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2015- 2025: Microsoft’s Dismal Decade

Jim Hillier — Tue, 06 Jan 2026 06:45:07 +0000

I am not a Microsoft basher by nature, but in all my years of working with Windows, I cannot recall a more infamous period. Microsoft’s introduction of the Insider program not only reinforced the company’s lack of regard for the average home user but also signified the beginning of the rot. It’s no coincidence that when Microsoft sacked the team of professional coders, who were tasked with…

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AI – Too Much Too Soon?

Jim Hillier — Tue, 23 Dec 2025 05:16:02 +0000

Like it or loathe it, AI is permeating every aspect of the PC. Microsoft, Google, software developers, etc., are all pushing AI at every opportunity. But, the critical question here is… is AI truly ready for prime time? In my opinion, AI has been pushed down our throats ahead of its time, and I’ll explain my thinking. There are two hardware components that are essential for AI to function…

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Windows 11 Supported CPUs Is Now Even More Confusing

Marc Thomas — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 06:07:41 +0000

Microsoft recently ‘updated’ its lists of Windows 11 supported processors, but for Intel CPUs, the company chose to list CPU series as opposed to each processor, which is very confusing. For example, it lists the Celeron series being supported when in fact only one out of ten of that series is supported – the Celeron 3867U. What baffles most people is that CPUs such as the mighty Intel 10th Gen…

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Windows 11’s Adoption Not Going Well?

Jim Hillier — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 06:02:07 +0000

Tech sites are at it again, posting ridiculous articles with sensationalist headlines announcing the shocking news that Windows 11 adoption has been underwhelming. These headlines are predicated solely on a report from Dell stating that 1 billion users are still on Windows 10; 500 million with PCs that meet Windows 11 requirements but are still running Windows 10, and 500 million Windows 10 PCs…

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BitLocker Encrypted My Laptop Drive Without Warning

Marc Thomas — Fri, 05 Dec 2025 05:01:26 +0000

I was having some problems with AMD Radeon Adrenalin settings on my Asus TUF Gaming A16 laptop and decided to roll back the GPU drivers. But before doing that, I needed to use Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) in safe mode to remove the current software. To reboot Windows in safe mode, I always hit Win+R, then type msconfig, select the Boot tab, and then Safe Boot. As I was about to hit…

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How To Quickly “End Task” In Windows 11

Jim Hillier — Thu, 27 Nov 2025 05:01:23 +0000

Normally, when an application becomes unresponsive and hangs, we’d need to bring up Task Manager, locate the process, and then end that task. However, in Windows 11, there is a setting that adds an “End task” option to the right-click context menu. The option in my Windows 11 25H2 was enabled by default. To make sure the option is enabled for you: If an application becomes…

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Warning: Windows 11 23H2 Now Unsupported!

Jim Hillier — Tue, 18 Nov 2025 07:33:34 +0000

With all the hoo-hah surrounding Windows 10’s end-of-support, the fact that Windows 11 23H2 reached its end-of-support date on November 11th has gone by pretty much unnoticed. So, this is a reminder that Windows 11 23H2 is no longer receiving security updates, and you need to update to a newer version ASAP. Unlike Windows 10, Microsoft is not providing ESU (Extended Security Updates) for Windows…

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Check Your Startup Apps In Windows 11

Jim Hillier — Tue, 04 Nov 2025 05:23:35 +0000

If you’ve recently upgraded to Windows 11, I strongly suggest checking which apps are set to auto-start with Windows. There are several options to view and manage startup apps in Windows 11: From there, you can enable/disable startup apps as required. Windows 11 adds many apps set to auto-start with Windows, none of which are necessary and, of course, all of which are enabled by default.

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Windows 11: How To Fix Persistent Update Issues

Jim Hillier — Wed, 29 Oct 2025 04:03:58 +0000

Recently I experienced an issue with my Windows 11 installation whereby an update was stuck in one of those interminable loops… install/undoing changes/retry/install/undoing changes, on and on. I tried all the usual fixes, including resetting Windows Update components, renaming the SoftwareDistribution and catroot2 folders, etc., and all the while sfc /scannow is reporting zero system file…

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New Windows 11 Auto-Repair Feature

Jim Hillier — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 04:02:33 +0000

Microsoft has added a new feature to Windows 11 that has the ability to automatically repair a non-booting system. This new feature is called “Quick machine recovery” (QMR) and, while it’s available in all Insider builds, I believe the general release is still in the process of rolling out. So, if you haven’t gotten QMR yet, don’t worry, you should be getting it soon. QMR is a cloud-based…

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Windows Recovery Mode Is Still Garbage

Marc Thomas — Mon, 20 Oct 2025 07:52:22 +0000

I’ve been fixing PCs for more than 20 years, from Windows XP to Windows 11, and I can barely remember when Recovery Mode has actually recovered anything. In fact, it’s worse now than it ever was and even more difficult to invoke. Remember when you could hit F8 at boot? The fact is that when Windows goes wrong, i.e., unbootable, the only option is to hit the nuclear button and reinstall the OS.

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What’s New In Windows 11 25H2

Jim Hillier — Wed, 15 Oct 2025 18:09:24 +0000

Microsoft has started rolling out the latest Windows 11 iteration, Windows 11 25H2. The rollout will be gradual/staggered, so if you don’t see a notification right away, you will eventually. Microsoft describes the latest update as an “enablement package”: I’ll never get the hang of Microsoft’s language. What that means, as far as I can interpret, is that new features will be delivered more…

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How To Restore Old Context Menu In Windows 11

Jim Hillier — Fri, 10 Oct 2025 04:01:30 +0000

One of the most common user complaints about Windows 11 involves the changes to UI elements. One that annoys me is the new right-click context menu, which seems to go on forever and requires a second click to fully open it. In this article, I’ll show you how to restore the traditional (or legacy) right-click context menu. (Windows 11’s modern context menu) If, for some reason…

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