A number of Winaero readers write to me regularly saying they have various shutdown-related issues with Windows 10. The most popular issue is that their PC reboots instead of shutting down. When they click shut down, Windows 10 doesn't shutdown, but instead restarts.
Category: Windows 8.1
KB4012218 and KB4012219 are patches with CPU detection
If you recently bought a new PC or assembled one yourself with a new CPU and decided to install Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 on it, you will not be able to update these operating systems. Microsoft is not going to deliver updates for you any more. This was recently announced. A newly released set of patches brings the CPU detection feature to Windows 7 and Windows 8.1.
Firefox to support Windows XP and Vista till September 2017
These days, most mainstream browsers do not support Windows XP and Windows Vista operating systems. Once Microsoft ended their official support, many vendors did the same. For example, Chrome doesn't support them, but Firefox still does. Mozilla today shared details of their plans for Windows XP and Windows Vista.
Extract wallpapers from themepack or deskthemepack file
Starting with Windows 7, Microsoft invented a new theme format - themepack. It was created so all the theme resources would be packed inside a single file and sharing of such themes would be easy. In Windows 8, the file format was revised to deskthemepack, and supported specifying if the window color would be automatically set based on the dominant color of the desktop background. Windows 10 supports both themepack and deskthemepack formats. In this article, we will see how to extract images from a themepack or a deskthemepack file.
Windows Defender is getting a revamped UI in Windows 10 Creators Update
Another interesting change was seen in the leaked screenshots of Windows 10 Creators Update: a new user interface for the built-in antivirus and protection software, Windows Defender. Let's see how it looks.
Fix system repair pending in Windows 10
If you face this problematic issue in Windows 10 where the operating system does not start in normal mode but starts in Safe mode instead and complains about pending repair operations, this article might help you. When you try to run SFC /scannow, it reports that a system repair is pending and does not proceed. Here is how to revert the pending system repair and continue normal startup mode.
Windows 10 build 14393.351 is out for Release Preview ring
Along with all the announcements Microsoft made during the October 2016 Microsoft Event, the Redmond giant today released Windows 10 PC build 14393.351 for Insiders on the Slow and Release Preview rings. If you have joined one of these rings, the update will arrive on your PC very soon.
Windows 10 build 14955 now available for Fast Ring insiders
A new build of the upcoming feature update for Windows 10, known as Redstone 2 or Windows 10 version 1703, has been released for Fast Ring insiders. This build comes with bugfixes mostly, so its change log is short.
Enable Submit Button in Search Box (Cortana) in Windows 10
Windows 10 "Redstone 2", which will eventually become Windows 10 version 1703 when released, has a number of tweaks for Cortana to customize its look and appearance. It is possible to move the search box to the top of the search pane, customize its border color and enable search and submit glyph icons. Let's see how to enable a submit button in Cortana's search box.
Fix for Event ID error 10016: DCOM server not having Local Activation permissions for PCNAME\Username SID
Recently, on my Windows 8.1 PC, out of nowhere, I started getting errors in the Event Log after installing updates on a Patch Tuesday. The error was related to Distributed COM (DCOM):
The application-specific permission settings do not grant Local Activation permission for the COM Server application with CLSID {9E175B6D-F52A-11D8-B9A5-505054503030} and APPID {9E175B9C-F52A-11D8-B9A5-505054503030} to the user PCNAME\Username SID S-1-5-21-81864976-3388411891-1937036257-1001 from address LocalHost (Using LRPC) running in the application container Unavailable SID (S-1-15-2-1430448594-2639229838-973813799-439329657-1197984847-4069167804-1277922394). This security permission can be modified using the Component Services administrative tool.
Such a complicated error might make inexperienced users throw up in frustration. They are unfamiliar with this terminology. Plus, troubleshooting DCOM errors is a pain so I ignored it at first but the event log was full of them as it occurred every hour or so. Determined to fix it, I decided to investigate.
