Delete Windows.old folder

Just upgraded your Windows to Windows 10 Anniversary Update and you can’t get rid of that pesky Windows.old folder? Not even after using Windows Disk Cleaner like this?

Here is a quick and simple method…

Click Start -> Power -> Hold SHIFT key on keyboard -> Restart

Wait for a bit until Choose an option screen appears.

Troubleshoot -> Advanced options -> Command Prompt

Enter password if you use one for your account (leave empty if not), click Continue and wait for a bit until Command Prompt appears…

Then, follow these steps:

1. Type in C: and hit ENTER key
2. Type in rd /s Windows.old
3. Confirm with Y and hit ENTER key
   
4. Close the Window with X and select Continue button to return to Windows

It should look like this (simulated in Windows)…

There should be no Windows.old folder left on your C: drive anymore after this 🙂 For some reason, doing it in Windows using Command Prompt (Admin) doesn’t work. But this does.

Disable Windows 10 Anniversary Windows Defender notification icon

Don’t like the new Windows Defender icon in Anniversary Update? Not using Windows Defender and you want to get rid of the icon? For some reason the control for it is not located in same menu as for all other notification icons.

You can however disable it somewhere else…

Right click Taskbar -> Task Manager -> Startup tab

Select Windows Defender notification icon and click DISABLE in bottom right corner.

Windows Defender icon will not appear on next system boot. This also works if you still use Windows Defender, you just don’t want the icon in taskbar. Windows Defender will still protect you and still show notifications when it finds malware, it just won’t show taskbar icon anymore.

Btw, ignore my boot time. For some reason it’s reading 8240.7 seconds which is 137 minutes XD Somehow unlikely on a system with a speedy Samsung 850 Pro SSD as the only storage drive hehe.

Update to Windows 10 Anniversary Update now without waiting…

If you want to update to Windows 10 Anniversary update now and Windows Update keeps saying you’re already up to date, then do the following…

Visit this webpage:

https://www.microsoft.com/software-download/windows10

You should see a notification about the update on top of the page. Just confirm it and you’ll download a small tool that will begin the Anniversary Update right away without waiting. For some reason I managed to update my system on 2nd August 2016 via Windows Update, but I have to update both my laptop and tablet via this tool for some reason.

Windows 10 Anniversary Update tomorrow, get your systems ready!

We’ve talked about nonsense in Windows 10 about million times so far, but this one is on a bit more serious note. Yeah, I’ve been running Windows 10 for a while now and apart from privacy garbage, it’s been working fine.

However, massive update is scheduled for tomorrow, 2nd August 2016. To avoid potential problems, make sure you have all your 3rd party applications fully updated and verify that it’s Windows 10 Anniversary Update compatible. This especially applies to resident system applications like SSD caching software and antiviruses. Most vendors have been busy releasing compatibility updates, but since they aren’t pushed to users and most hesitate to update, make sure you’ll be ready. This will help avoiding unnecessary problems, lockups, BSOD’s and so on.

I’m looking forward to the update and I’m already prepared. I suggest you check your system too.

Windows 10 system integrity check (SFC & DISM)

Just like with Windows 7 and Windows 8.x, Windows 10 supports integrity checking and repair using two tools, SFC and DISM. Very useful when you’re experiencing errors and you’re suspecting corrupt Windows files might be the reason for that. There are however often complications with SFC and DISM tools in Windows 10 and all the guides I’ve found online didn’t provide sufficient help or guidance to make them work. This one however does thanks to fellow users from TechPowerUp (especially “jboydgolfer” 🙂 ) who helped me figure out why SFC and DISM tools fail to repair OS.

Basic Integrity Repair

Right click Start button and select Command Prompt (Admin). Into the command prompt, type in (or copy&paste it):

sfc /scannow

If you get a message there were corrupt files found, but SFC was unable to repair them, type in this (or copy&paste it):

Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

If this one ends with error 0x800F081F – The source files could not be found you’ll have to use the Advanced Repair guide below…

If DISM completes and repairs errors, use the sfc /scannow again. It should also repair files without any problems this time around. If it doesn’t, continue reading below…

Advanced Integrity Repair

You’re reading this part if both, SFC and DISM ended with error messages.

You’ll have to download Windows 10 ISO image from here first. Make sure you download the edition and version (32bit or 64bit) that you’re using for the given system.

Find the ISO image file you’ve just downloaded from Microsoft webpage on your drive, right click it and select Mount option. This will mount the ISO image to your This PC (just like USB drive). Check which drive letter it is using. You’ll need it down below…

Right click Start button and select Command Prompt (Admin). Into the command prompt, type in (or copy&paste it):

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth /Source:WIM:X:\sources\Install.wim:1

Replace X with the actual letter to which Windows 10 mounted your ISO image. It looks like this on my system. For me it was letter E. It might be some other for you.

If DISM completes with message:

The restore operation completed successfully.
The operation completed successfully.

Yay, you made it! 😀 Now, use the sfc /scannow again and it should complete fine as well. It should report finished task with message:

Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired
them.

Congrats, you’ve managed to get SFC and DISM to work and do their job. You can now right click the mounted drive in your This PC and select Eject. This will unmount the ISO image. That’s it. Store the ISO for later use, either for OS re-installation or for repairs like this.

If you have any other issues or you’re unsure what to do in certain step, drop me a message below and I’ll try to figure it out or update the guide to make it more understandable.

Microsoft, stop fucking switching languages!

I’m so fucking pissed right now. I live in Slovenia, but I want my operating system to be entirely in English. Ok then, so I get my Windows 10 installed, set interface language to English and keyboard to Slovene in order to support our special characters not found in English alphabet (and have keyboard layout set right). All fine except fucking stupid OS with mind of its own insists on switching keyboard layout from SL to ENG for no fucking reason. I have it set to ENG/SL, but when I start CS:GO game, it decides to use ENG/US for no fucking logical reason. Stop doing this motherfucking shit Microsoft. I always notice it when I have to type something in the chat (meaning I’m in the game and can’t go out and switch) and it makes my “Y” and “Z” keys reversed as well as replacing “‘” with “-“. It’s fucking infuriating bullshit that makes no sense. Stop changing shit! Stupid garbage broken OS. Never had this problem till Windows 10 and even this looks like it happened now and not few months back.

Get your shit together Microsoft and stop breaking shit that worked fine for years.

Fix ACER Iconia W4 820 not starting after sleep

I often use ACER Iconia W4 820 tablet to watch series in bed. I have it placed on a tablet stand so even when I fall a sleep in don’t break it. It’s great, when video stops playing, it goes into sleep automatically after a bit of time and that’s that.

Problem is, when I want to turn it on again in the morning, it’s just dead. Not even power on LED responds. First I thought battery was flat, but it still had around 50% charge after I managed to force wake it up…

I could wake it up using recessed RESET button to get it running or by holding POWER button for 10 seconds, releasing it and then pressing it again once. But that’s actually reset and that sucks.

After some digging, issue seems to be related to Broadcom’s wireless module “Broadcom 802.11abgn Wireless SDIO Adapter”. Fix was promised by ACER, but they of course never delivered it…

Apparently, in many cases, installing newer wireless driver helps. I managed to dig the latest driver from May 2015, provided by TOSHIBA. From the looks of it, it fixed the issue for me. It might happen again, but so far so good. It might also work with other devices that are experiencing the same wake from sleep problem and are using the same wireless module.

Download:

Broadcom Wireless Driver for Windows 10

 

Windows Update MiniTool

Are you sick and tired of retarded Windows Update in Windows 10 ? You know, that shit that only has one button and shoves all the shit down your throat whether you like it or not? Yeah, that one.

Well, someone made Windows Update MiniTool which essentially looks like Windows Update in Windows 8.1 (why the fuck Microsoft didn’t leave this properly functional feature alone, I don’t fucking know). All Microsoft had to do is force security updates so you can’t deselect or postpone them and call it a day. But no, they had to go the length and fuck everything up with forced driver updates and other shit. Aaaaaagh.

Anyway, switching to chill mode because Windows Update MiniTool is awesome and has restored sanity to my Windows world. It’s all Windows Update in Windows 8.1 had plus more. It’s actually really nice thingie for power users like me.

Updates are delivered directly from Microsoft servers so worry not about quality or security of updates. Windows Update MiniTool is just a more advanced front end for the existing Windows Update service.

Official Windows Update MiniTool “homepage”:
LINK

English thread on MDL:
LINK

My download mirror and Slovenian translation language file*:
LINK

*place wumt_lang.ini file next to EXE of WU MiniTool

I’ll keep my download mirror as up-to-date as possible, though I recommend using official download links if you want to be sure you’re using the very latest tool and language files.