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30 July 2021 - Podcast #754 - (18:38)
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Right-clicking a file, directory, or disk drive displays what Microsoft calls a context menu that offers actions you might want to take with the object. It's a relatively sparse list initially, but a lot of applications add actions that you might not want. The context menu can be changed.
When I right-click a file, I'm offered the usual options to open the file, cut or copy it, rename or delete it, create a shortcut, or view its properties. Applications have added actions such as opening in Notepad++, opening the Bulk Rename Utility, and scanning with Malwarebytes. I want these options, too. But there are also option to move the directory to OneDrive, convert the contents to PDF, and several options for WinRAR. I never use these and would like them not to be there.
Every option in the context menu increases the time required to open the list, adds actions that I have to search through to find the action I'm looking for, and makes it more likely that I'll accidentally click the wrong option.
The context menu for directories is even worse. There are lots of actions I want, but I never add a directory to the VLC Media Player's play list this way. As much as I like UltraEdit Studio, I'd never use a context menu item to open a folder in the program. Nor would I ever want to combine the contents in Acrobat. Let's just get rid of these unnecessary choices.
There's a difficult, scary way to accomplish this; there are also several easier options. Let's consider the difficult, scary way first. It involves editing the Windows Registry. I have no fear of editing the Registry because I back up any keys before I modify or delete them and I have a general understanding of what I can edit without turning the computer into a smoking pile of electronic components.
But still, it is the Registry. The Registry Editor doesn't have training wheels or safety features. Tell the Registry Editor to do something dumb and it will do something dumb. But let's start there so that we understand what's going on in the background when we use one of the easy methods to change the context menu.
The context menu looks like it's just a single list of choices, but these choices are stored in several different locations:
Choices that apply to both files and folders will be components in one of these keys:
Choices that apply only to folders may also be located here:
That alone might be enough to convince you that this isn't the ideal way to change the context menu. I'll offer just one example instead because I'm trying to show that this is not the right way for most of us to approach the context menu.
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Let's say that you've installed the VLC Media Player. It's a popular application for anyone who wants to play audio files, video files, CDs, video CDs, DVDs, or Blu-ray disks. But maybe you don't want the VLC option in the context menu. I've always preferred to start an application and then load a file, not to find a file or directory and open it from the file manager.
Where is "Add to VLC media player's playlist" in the Registry? You'll find the "AddToPlaylistVLC" key in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell. To remove this option from the context menu, all you have to do is navigate to the "AddToPlaylistVLC" key and delete it. The key is easy to find. It's easy to delete. So why not just do it?
There's always a danger in dealing with the Registry. Always. A simple mistake can create a problem that renders the computer unusable. Fixing such a problem may take hours to resolve. You might need to take the computer to a technician who can fix it. The operating system might need to be reinstalled. Data loss is possible if you don't have a complete current backup. So there must be a better way, and there is.
Several developers that create Windows utilities have included context menu editors. I described Glary Utilities 5 two weeks ago, but didn't mention the included Context Menu Editor. This isn't the only choice for modifying the context menu, but you already have it if you've installed Glary Utilities.
The advantage of using a utility to modify the Registry is that the developer of the utility has probably spent some time to understand how the Registry works.
That alone makes Registry modifications safer.
<< The context menu for files contains a lot of actions that I have never used and never will. In an initial pass with the Glary Utilities Context Menu Editor, I eliminated half a dozen actions. I expect to revisit this utility later to see if there are functions I don't use.
The context menu for directories was even larger. >>
So I used the Context Menu Editor in Glary Utilities to improve the situation. (The images show before and after views following my first pass with Glary's Context Menu Manager.)
The utility has three tabs: One for files and folders, another for new documents, and a third for the send-to option. The files and folders tab has the largest number of items in 8 categories: All files, folders, directories, drives, "all file system objects", background, recycle bin, and shortcuts.
The New tab controls what the context menu will display if it thinks you want to create a new file and the Send To section shows applications that you might want to receive files.
The first time you open the utility, every active context menu item will be listed with a check mark. To remove an item from the context menu, clear the check mark, or select the item and click the Remove button. The safer choice is to clear the check mark because this retains the ability to restore the item if you decide later that you'd like to have it in the list when you right-click something.
Other utility providers offer similar utilities. NirSoft, for example, has ShellMenuView for editing regular shell items and ShellExView, which handles shellex items. Shell and ShellEx refer to locations in the Registry. Some users may find the NirSoft utilities easier to use, but I like having all of the context menu items in Glary's single component and the fact that the Context Menu Manager is part of Glary Utilities.
TechPout has identified 15 utilities that can be used to modify the context menu, so there's really no good reason to limit yourself to manually editing the Registry just to change the context menu.
This will be the first of an indeterminate number of comments about the forthcoming Windows 11. I've been looking at the initial preview release. There are bugs. There are missing features. But there's enough present to begin to understand where Microsoft is going with this significant update.
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The Desktop and everything on the Desktop has changed. Some of the changes are small. Some are not.
I've seen some reports that say the Notification Area can no longer display custom icons from applications. Some icons are hidden in what's called the "overflow area", which is revealed by clicking a carat symbol at the left of various quick settings buttons. That's not new, by the way. Some of these icons can be specified to appear in the Notification area, but the inability to create a multi-level Notification Area will reduce usability. Because some utilities are designed to display information in the Notification Area, I suspect this change will be met with considerable resistance.
Apparently Microsoft feels that Windows 11 users will want to spend more time with games. If that describes you, you'll like what Microsoft has done. If it doesn't describe you, you won't care.
Settings (formerly "Control Panel") has a much cleaner look. Microsoft has been working for more than a decade to migrate all Control Panel functions to Settings. The Control Panel still exists in Windows 11 despite Microsoft's ongoing efforts. That's likely to continue for quite some time.
I have seen Settings crash, which is something I believe I've never seen in Windows 10, and the overall Settings performance seems a bit sluggish. These issues will be high on the list for being fixed before Windows 11 is released.
<< The clock on the screen is the Aero Clock, not a function of Windows.
The ability to copy information from Settings has been improved. This is an important feature for use when requesting support for a problem. Selecting the copy function grabs all of the essential information so that it can be pasted into an email or a support ticket without the danger of typographical errors.
So there's a quick initial first look at Windows 11. It's a complex operating system with a lot of substantive changes, so check back for new information as I work my way through the discovery process.
Much of the promise of 5G cellular technology is based on the presumption that it will be ubiquitous. For that to happen, providers will need to install what are called "small cells" — lots of them. IDTechX research suggests 45 million such small cells in the next decade.
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Two new frequency bands in the 3–7 GHz range and the 24–48 GHz range will make greater bandwidth a reality and, with it, lower latency, higher reliability, and the ability to handle more connections. Challenges need to be addressed, though, including the shorter reach of signals. Standard 4G signals cover a wider area. The smaller coverage of 5G signals means more locations. Unlike older technology, though, 5G "towers" can be all but invisible.
According to IDTechX, there are three types of small cells: femtocells, picocells, and microcells. The classification depends on the output power, range, and number of potential users. Femtocells will cover a radius of about 100 meters, picocells will cover the 100–200 meter range, and microcells can cover a up to a 2000 meter radius. Femtocells will have an output power no greater than one quarter Watt and will handle up to 25 simultaneous users. Picocells should be able to handle up to 100 simultaneous users and the maximum output power will be one Watt. Microcells, with an output power of one to ten Watts will be able to handle up to 2000 users.
As of mid-2021, the majority of the 5G commercial roll-outs are still focused on enhanced mobile broadband — installing 5G macro base stations to provide networks with high capacity for consumers using mobile devices. However, IDTechX says 5G small cells will play an essential role in supporting uses such as those required to enable smart cities technologies.
The 5G Small Cells 2021-2031: Technologies, Markets, Forecast, which costs $6000, analyzes data gathered via interviews with 5G industry leaders and includes an analysis of the supply chain across 5G small cells.
Last week in a tirade about the futility of making software perfect, I mentioned errors that one might find here. Typos, for example, somewhere in the 500 of so lines of code used to create each week's program summary.
That count is actually a bit low. The HTML file each week is around 500 lines, but there are also several Cascading Style Sheet files, several Javascript files, and one referenced HTML file that are included. The minified version of bootstrap.css appears to be just seven lines of code, but one of those lines is 140,679 characters long. A referenced FontAwesome CSS file is just six lines long, but one line has more than 48,000 characters. The prirmary CSS file has 234 lines of code. Other files add hundreds of lines of code. Are errors present? Of course.
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But what I'm pointing to here is a bit of text that was in the email sent to subscribers. The newsletter contained this text: Microsoft says Windows 11 is on the way, but not all computers that run Windows 10 will be able to run Wpmdows 11.
I would like to point out that I did this intentionlly as an example of what I was calling attention to when I wrote "[S]ome of those lines have errors. The errors may be something as simple as a typo that slips through (common) to a bad link (rare) or an error in HTML, CSS, or PHP code. Typos make me look silly, but cause no harm."
I really would like to point out that this spelling was intentional. But it wasn't.
We humans repeatedly let genies out of bottles. The genie (or djinn if you prefer) turns out to be evil and does more harm than good. We say how stupid we were, but when the next one comes along, we let it out of the bottle. Take spyware as an example.
It was created as a way to fight crime, but of course governments started using it for other purposes. And criminals got hold of it and started using it to steal information that allowed them to clean out bank account. Israel's NSO Group created the Pegasus Project and, even though the software is sold only to law enforcement agencies, it has somehow been used to spy on tens of thousands of individuals in addition to criminals.
It's been found on phones belonging to world leaders. It's been found on phones owned by journalists. There's a high probability that it's NOT on your phone, but it could be. It's intended to infiltrate smart phones (both Android and IOS, despite Apple's claims that their phones are totally secure) and turn them into surveillance devices. Someone who has planted the spyware on a phone can turn on that phone's microphone or camera, send email or text messages from the phone, view files and lists of contacts, and more.
Initially targeted phishing was used to con a target into clicking a link that would install the spyware, but now there are ways to place the spy application with much less dependence on errors by uses.
Pegasus is limited to smart phones, but other spyware applications exist for computers. Next week's main article will describe one method of checking your computer for spyware and will have additional information on how to get rid of it if you find something.
Although this isn't about an application you can install on your phone or computer and it's not about a piece of hardware you can buy and install, there's an enormous amount of technology here. And it's an interesting glimpse at a possible future.
Unless you've been off the planet or doing a Rip Van Winkle number for the past 10 to 20 years, you probably know that our propensity to eat meat isn't exactly eco-friendly. But maybe you like hamburgers, steaks, and bacon. Join the club. But what if there was another way? Until recently, vegetable-based meat products haven't been too promising. But now even Burger King has it's plant-based Impossible Burger.
We may be approaching a time when those of us who enjoy meat can have the flavor and texture of the real thing without the need to kill animals and harm the ecology. But what if we could have real beef, not plant-based beef, without the cow? Is that even possible?
Maybe. "Cultured meat" involves directly culturing cells that are nearly identical to those found in animals we eat, so there's the theoretical possibility that we could eventually have meat products that are indistinguishable from conventional meat, but without the need for slaughter. I wonder what the anti-GMO crowd think of that.
The world's first cultured burger was produced in 2013 and companies are racing forward with hopes of becoming the first to sell a cultured meat product. In December 2020, Singapore became the first region in the world to grant regulatory approval for commercial sale of a cultured meat product, a hybrid product made from plant protein and cultured chicken cells produced by Eat Just.
Showstoppers ran just below the surface of PC Expo every year and often had novel products from small organizations. Big companies were represented, too, but Showstoppers was closed to the general public and participating companies were able to talk directly to tech journalists. I saw my first thumb drive in 2001, but it wasn't called a thumb drive back then.
Keep in mind that transferring any file larger than 1.4MB was complex in those days unless you had an Iomega Zip drive. I was really excited about it: Let's say you're working on a file at the office. You'd like to take the file home to work on it, but it's a 3MB file. You have a floppy disk drive at home and in the office, but the file is too big for a floppy. You could compress it, but sometimes there are problems with compressed files. You have an Iomega Zip drive at home, but not at the office. You have an LS120 drive at the office, but not at home. You could e-mail the file to yourself, but you're still using a dial-up connection and you know that downloading the file would take 25 minutes.
If you have a USB port on both computers, you can use DiskOnKey. Plug it in to the USB port on your office machine and it will instantly be recognized as a disk drive. Copy the file to DiskOnKey (8, 16, or 32MB capacity) and unplug it. Take it home and plug it into the USB port on your home machine (even if it's a Macintosh) and DiskOnKey will instantly be recognized as a disk drive. Edit the file, return it to DiskOnKey, and take it back to the office.
You'd pay $70 for a 16MB device. Compare that to 10GB drives today for around $10.