XPost: alt.comp.os.windows-11

Win11, but I'm sure this applies to win10 too.

I can't finish the thread about the company that wants to remote control
my computer, until I solve this problem.

Things went well last night. He was much more organized than the rest
of his company. He installed the software I couldn't install, and I'll
tell you how in a post in the existing thread, BUT

Shortly after he was done, I found that when I tried to run appwiz.cpl
or go to Contol Panel / Program and Features, instead it started and
continues to start an alternate file manager, PowerDesk, PDExplo.exe.

And even though I had been to the RecycleBin once after he left and
restored 2 confidential files, when I closed the Bin and tried to go
there again, by Running shell:RecycleBinFolder or clicking on the
RecycleBin desktop icon, instead it started and continues to start, PDExplo.exe!!!

Sometimes it starts a new occurrence, up to 4 of them, and sometimes it doesn't. I don't know what other things there are that I haven't tried
that don't work.

I don't know what he could have done to cause these things but otoh I
dind't do anything out of the ordinary either and post hoc ergo propter
hoc.

I am using OpenShell to make my GUI like win7/8, and when I click Start
and right click Control Panel, the context menu for Control Panel starts
with PowerDesk . Below a line are Open, Pin to Quick Access, Pin to
Start, and Create Shortcut. I don't know when Powerdesk got added,
yesterday or when I installed PowerDesk.

Where is the list of Context Menus???? Can I delete PowerDesk from
this list? Maybe that would help, although I don't see how since
appwiz.cpl itself doesn't work. And what about Recycle Bin. No
context menu is at all involved, nor is there one for
shell:RecycleBinFolder

Any other ideas?


Also, I had my webbrowser open and he closed each window separately,
instead of exiting the whole program. the Firefox setting is maximum of
5 recently closed windows so I lost one or two windows. I will go
through the history and probably find all the important tabs that were
in them (though the History doens't indicate which window a url was in)
, but I could have closed FF myself before he got there. I've changed
the maximum to 15.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

XPost: alt.comp.os.windows-11

Ed, you are the person I know personally, not on the net, who afaik
knows more about this stuff than anyone else. If you have any insighte
or advice, remove NONONO if present and write me, or call me between
11AM and midnight any day.

This is also addressed to the very well informed members of win10 and
win11 newsgroups.

In alt.comp.os.windows-10, on Tue, 08 Jul 2025 15:49:10 -0400, micky <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote:

Win11, but I'm sure this applies to win10 too.

I can't finish the thread about the company that wants to remote control
my computer, until I solve this problem.

Things went well last night. He was much more organized than the rest
of his company. He installed the software I couldn't install, and I'll
tell you how in a post in the existing thread, BUT

Shortly after he was done, I found that when I tried to run appwiz.cpl
or go to Contol Panel / Program and Features, instead it started and >continues to start an alternate file manager, PowerDesk, PDExplo.exe.

And even though I had been to the RecycleBin once after he left and
restored 2 confidential files, when I closed the Bin and tried to go
there again, by Running shell:RecycleBinFolder or clicking on the
RecycleBin desktop icon, instead it started and continues to start, >PDExplo.exe!!!

My debugging progress so far. Running Nir Sofer's RegScanner, I find in
the registry 179 occurrences of appwiz, 9 of which with Key Modified
Time (which means both *added* or modified, right?) of 3:08:20 PM today,
which is just about when I tried to run appwiz (control panel Programs
and Features) and it didn't work.

The Data field says either Uninstall, Uninstall this program, Change,
Change the installation of this program, Repair, Repair the installation
of this program, Uninstall/Change, Uninstall or change this program, or Uninstall or change an application.

So I was suspicous that the program had been deleted. Using Everything,
I looked for it. And found 36 instances of appwiz, but only 14 that are appwiz.cpl. One of which is in sysWOW64, and 12 of which are in WinSxS, leaving only ONE that is in c:\Windows\System32.

Sorting by date, 6 of them have the same modified date and time,
yesterday at 3:37PM, over 4 hours before the remote control of my
computer. Is this just a coincidence? My problem started 3 hours before
he got involved, but the last registry changes happened 18 hours, 4
hours in usage time, after he disconnected?

One of the six is in sysWOW64, and 4 are in WinSxS, leaving only ONE
that is in c:\Windows\System32. I presume that's the one that gets
executed, not side-by-side or Wow. I have not yet investigated
RecycleBin, which was also hijacked, so to speak, and there may be other programs that are not working now, but with regard to appwiz, it seems
to me, the program was modified so much that it doesnt' work. It either explicitly refers calls to PDExplo.exe, or that is somehow the system
default when someething doesn't work. Yes, there is a setting in
PDWxplo (PowerDesk) called "Replace MS Explorer" and I have that
checked. Since two different programs appwiz and RecycleBin both end up
there, maybe it's the default. Yes, I guess MS Explorer was the default
and PowerDesk is set to replace it. But reversing that would not bring
back appwiz or RecycleBin.

It seems to me I should find a good copy of appwiz and copy it in to
System32. Is a copy good enough or does it need some sort of
installation? Is there anything in the registry about this? After all
appwiz appears 179 times in my registry. Do any of those others have to
be changed, as installing them would change them.

The current System32 appwiz is 628KB.
6 of them are 74, 75 or 76KB
3 are 522KB, 1 is 523KB,
2 are 632KB, and 1 other is also 628KB
That's quite a range for the same file, and there is no reason to think
the 628K one is good. After all, it's not working.

I suppose the best place to get a replacemnt is my Macrium image. I have
images from June 2, 18, 20, and 28th. The first and fourth are long and
the middle two are short. I won't take any more for fear of overlaying
all the good ones, right?

Is the Macrium Reflect image the best place to go? I don't know how to restore but if I can't understand web instructions, I'll post back.

And I'll try and find the same information about RecycleBin. "shell:RecycleBinFolder" does not sound like a command I'll find in the registry, and the Properties for the RecycleBin shortcut do not include
a targe or file name or really anything.

RegScanner has an advantage over Regedit in that "In addition to the
standard string search (Like in RegEdit), RegScanner can also find
Registry values by data length, value type (REG_SZ, REG_DWORD, and so
on), and by modified date of the key."

So I will scan for anything modified yesterday at 3:37 PM. ....There
were 126 registry items*** changed between 3 and 4PM yesterday. But I
must have done something wrong because none of those 126 were the ....
it's appwiz that got changed at 3:37, not the registry entry. So I was
looking for the wrong time. I need a break. What say you guys about everything I've written except this last misguided paragraph.

***RegScanner insisted on at least one letter in the text search field
and I used "a". I can easily have missed entries that didn't have an a.
So forgetting I had done that is a second mistake I made. Since I'm
looking for whatever random program may have been screwed up at the same
time as appwiz, I don't know what letter to use and I don't know how to
avoid this problem except by doing one search for every lone letter and
merging the 26 results. But maybe it won't come to that.

Am I proceeding in the right direction?

Sometimes it starts a new occurrence, up to 4 of them, and sometimes it >doesn't. I don't know what other things there are that I haven't tried
that don't work.

I don't know what he could have done to cause these things but otoh I
dind't do anything out of the ordinary either and post hoc ergo propter
hoc.

I am using OpenShell to make my GUI like win7/8, and when I click Start
and right click Control Panel, the context menu for Control Panel starts
with PowerDesk . Below a line are Open, Pin to Quick Access, Pin to
Start, and Create Shortcut. I don't know when Powerdesk got added, >yesterday or when I installed PowerDesk.

Where is the list of Context Menus???? Can I delete PowerDesk from
this list? Maybe that would help, although I don't see how since
appwiz.cpl itself doesn't work. And what about Recycle Bin. No
context menu is at all involved, nor is there one for
shell:RecycleBinFolder

Any other ideas?

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

XPost: alt.comp.os.windows-11

On Tue, 7/8/2025 3:49 PM, micky wrote:

Win11, but I'm sure this applies to win10 too.

I can't finish the thread about the company that wants to remote control
my computer, until I solve this problem.

Things went well last night. He was much more organized than the rest
of his company. He installed the software I couldn't install, and I'll
tell you how in a post in the existing thread, BUT

Shortly after he was done, I found that when I tried to run appwiz.cpl
or go to Contol Panel / Program and Features, instead it started and continues to start an alternate file manager, PowerDesk, PDExplo.exe.

And even though I had been to the RecycleBin once after he left and
restored 2 confidential files, when I closed the Bin and tried to go
there again, by Running shell:RecycleBinFolder or clicking on the
RecycleBin desktop icon, instead it started and continues to start, PDExplo.exe!!!

Sometimes it starts a new occurrence, up to 4 of them, and sometimes it doesn't. I don't know what other things there are that I haven't tried
that don't work.

I don't know what he could have done to cause these things but otoh I
dind't do anything out of the ordinary either and post hoc ergo propter
hoc.

I am using OpenShell to make my GUI like win7/8, and when I click Start
and right click Control Panel, the context menu for Control Panel starts
with PowerDesk . Below a line are Open, Pin to Quick Access, Pin to
Start, and Create Shortcut. I don't know when Powerdesk got added, yesterday or when I installed PowerDesk.

Where is the list of Context Menus???? Can I delete PowerDesk from
this list? Maybe that would help, although I don't see how since
appwiz.cpl itself doesn't work. And what about Recycle Bin. No
context menu is at all involved, nor is there one for
shell:RecycleBinFolder

Any other ideas?

Also, I had my webbrowser open and he closed each window separately,
instead of exiting the whole program. the Firefox setting is maximum of
5 recently closed windows so I lost one or two windows. I will go
through the history and probably find all the important tabs that were
in them (though the History doens't indicate which window a url was in)
, but I could have closed FF myself before he got there. I've changed
the maximum to 15.

https://www.asus.com/support/faq/1043917/

[Apps & features]
[Sort by] and select [Install date]
[Filter by] and select [All drives]

Which it is claimed, aligns the Apps in the order
they were installed in.

Otherwise, you would switch on Auditing, if you
wanted some sort of Audit Trail for a visitor.

Executable code does not need to be installed.
A portable version can be copied onto the machine
and used. a side effect, is such a software could
install services or make changes suited to the
conveniences it expects.

The problem with designing butterfly nets,
is you don't know what size of butterfly you have
invited into the house.

Paul

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

XPost: alt.comp.os.windows-11

On Tue, 7/8/2025 10:11 PM, micky wrote:

Ed, you are the person I know personally, not on the net, who afaik
knows more about this stuff than anyone else. If you have any insighte
or advice, remove NONONO if present and write me, or call me between
11AM and midnight any day.

This is also addressed to the very well informed members of win10 and
win11 newsgroups.

In alt.comp.os.windows-10, on Tue, 08 Jul 2025 15:49:10 -0400, micky <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote:

Win11, but I'm sure this applies to win10 too.

I can't finish the thread about the company that wants to remote control
my computer, until I solve this problem.

Things went well last night. He was much more organized than the rest
of his company. He installed the software I couldn't install, and I'll
tell you how in a post in the existing thread, BUT

Shortly after he was done, I found that when I tried to run appwiz.cpl
or go to Contol Panel / Program and Features, instead it started and
continues to start an alternate file manager, PowerDesk, PDExplo.exe.

And even though I had been to the RecycleBin once after he left and
restored 2 confidential files, when I closed the Bin and tried to go
there again, by Running shell:RecycleBinFolder or clicking on the
RecycleBin desktop icon, instead it started and continues to start,
PDExplo.exe!!!

My debugging progress so far. Running Nir Sofer's RegScanner, I find in
the registry 179 occurrences of appwiz, 9 of which with Key Modified
Time (which means both *added* or modified, right?) of 3:08:20 PM today, which is just about when I tried to run appwiz (control panel Programs
and Features) and it didn't work.

The Data field says either Uninstall, Uninstall this program, Change,
Change the installation of this program, Repair, Repair the installation
of this program, Uninstall/Change, Uninstall or change this program, or Uninstall or change an application.

So I was suspicous that the program had been deleted. Using Everything,
I looked for it. And found 36 instances of appwiz, but only 14 that are appwiz.cpl. One of which is in sysWOW64, and 12 of which are in WinSxS, leaving only ONE that is in c:\Windows\System32.

Sorting by date, 6 of them have the same modified date and time,
yesterday at 3:37PM, over 4 hours before the remote control of my
computer. Is this just a coincidence? My problem started 3 hours before
he got involved, but the last registry changes happened 18 hours, 4
hours in usage time, after he disconnected?

One of the six is in sysWOW64, and 4 are in WinSxS, leaving only ONE
that is in c:\Windows\System32. I presume that's the one that gets
executed, not side-by-side or Wow. I have not yet investigated
RecycleBin, which was also hijacked, so to speak, and there may be other programs that are not working now, but with regard to appwiz, it seems
to me, the program was modified so much that it doesnt' work. It either explicitly refers calls to PDExplo.exe, or that is somehow the system
default when someething doesn't work. Yes, there is a setting in
PDWxplo (PowerDesk) called "Replace MS Explorer" and I have that
checked. Since two different programs appwiz and RecycleBin both end up there, maybe it's the default. Yes, I guess MS Explorer was the default
and PowerDesk is set to replace it. But reversing that would not bring
back appwiz or RecycleBin.

It seems to me I should find a good copy of appwiz and copy it in to System32. Is a copy good enough or does it need some sort of
installation? Is there anything in the registry about this? After all appwiz appears 179 times in my registry. Do any of those others have to
be changed, as installing them would change them.

The current System32 appwiz is 628KB.
6 of them are 74, 75 or 76KB
3 are 522KB, 1 is 523KB,
2 are 632KB, and 1 other is also 628KB
That's quite a range for the same file, and there is no reason to think
the 628K one is good. After all, it's not working.

I suppose the best place to get a replacemnt is my Macrium image. I have images from June 2, 18, 20, and 28th. The first and fourth are long and
the middle two are short. I won't take any more for fear of overlaying
all the good ones, right?

Is the Macrium Reflect image the best place to go? I don't know how to restore but if I can't understand web instructions, I'll post back.

And I'll try and find the same information about RecycleBin. "shell:RecycleBinFolder" does not sound like a command I'll find in the registry, and the Properties for the RecycleBin shortcut do not include
a targe or file name or really anything.

RegScanner has an advantage over Regedit in that "In addition to the
standard string search (Like in RegEdit), RegScanner can also find
Registry values by data length, value type (REG_SZ, REG_DWORD, and so
on), and by modified date of the key."

So I will scan for anything modified yesterday at 3:37 PM. ....There
were 126 registry items*** changed between 3 and 4PM yesterday. But I
must have done something wrong because none of those 126 were the ....
it's appwiz that got changed at 3:37, not the registry entry. So I was looking for the wrong time. I need a break. What say you guys about everything I've written except this last misguided paragraph.

***RegScanner insisted on at least one letter in the text search field
and I used "a". I can easily have missed entries that didn't have an a.
So forgetting I had done that is a second mistake I made. Since I'm
looking for whatever random program may have been screwed up at the same
time as appwiz, I don't know what letter to use and I don't know how to
avoid this problem except by doing one search for every lone letter and merging the 26 results. But maybe it won't come to that.

Am I proceeding in the right direction?

Sometimes it starts a new occurrence, up to 4 of them, and sometimes it
doesn't. I don't know what other things there are that I haven't tried
that don't work.

I don't know what he could have done to cause these things but otoh I
dind't do anything out of the ordinary either and post hoc ergo propter
hoc.

I am using OpenShell to make my GUI like win7/8, and when I click Start
and right click Control Panel, the context menu for Control Panel starts
with PowerDesk . Below a line are Open, Pin to Quick Access, Pin to
Start, and Create Shortcut. I don't know when Powerdesk got added,
yesterday or when I installed PowerDesk.

Where is the list of Context Menus???? Can I delete PowerDesk from
this list? Maybe that would help, although I don't see how since
appwiz.cpl itself doesn't work. And what about Recycle Bin. No
context menu is at all involved, nor is there one for
shell:RecycleBinFolder

Any other ideas?

PowerDesk Pro Explorer ("PDExplo.exe") is written by VCOM.
If you see a VCOM reference in Google, that would be their
main web site.

https://support.vcom.com/support/solutions/articles/1000234310-i-was-using-powerdesk-for-a-while-with-no-problem-but-now-when-i-try-to-start-it-it-crashes-i-get-a

C:\Progra~1\Ontrack\PowerDesk\pdexplo.exe

Which suggests the path is

C:\Program Files\Ontrack\PowerDesk\pdexplo.exe

Have a look around there, and then check your Apps list
and see if a dated entry is there, with a "Remove" or
"Uninstall" option.

The "shell:RecycleBinFolder" is a kind of URI, and taps
into the features of shell32 or whatever. For example

explorer.exe shell:RecycleBinFolder

would take you there.

It could be shell32.dll based, or something like ShellExperienceHost, but explorer.exe might be involved in processing the URI at some point.
Since the Recycle Bin contents are name-encoded to prevent collisions,
a listing created by the program in the example below (C++), might not
reveal the restore-path of the item. Maybe there's an extra
step to do that.

In any case, I would work on "seeing the pest to the door", and
properly uninstalling PowerDesk Pro, rather than playing at
whacking moles, one mole at a time. You should not try to treat
symptoms by leaving bandages all over the place. Work on the
disease, not the symptoms.

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/56528941/how-to-get-the-list-of-file-in-recycle-bin-by-using-c-sharp-console-application

Paul

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

XPost: alt.comp.os.windows-11

micky wrote:

Shortly after he was done, I found that when I tried to run appwiz.cpl
or go to Contol Panel / Program and Features, instead it started and continues to start an alternate file manager, PowerDesk, PDExplo.exe.

Is your day-to-day account an admin, or a standard account?

Have you got a(nother) admin account you could try logging-on as, to see
if appwiz works?

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

XPost: alt.comp.os.windows-11

In alt.comp.os.windows-11, on Tue, 8 Jul 2025 23:22:49 -0400, Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> wrote:

Deleted a lot of my own stuff.

Where is the list of Context Menus???? Can I delete PowerDesk from
this list? Maybe that would help, although I don't see how since
appwiz.cpl itself doesn't work. And what about Recycle Bin. No
context menu is at all involved, nor is there one for
shell:RecycleBinFolder

Any other ideas?

PowerDesk Pro Explorer ("PDExplo.exe") is written by VCOM.
If you see a VCOM reference in Google, that would be their
main web site.

https://support.vcom.com/support/solutions/articles/1000234310-i-was-using-powerdesk-for-a-while-with-no-problem-but-now-when-i-try-to-start-it-it-crashes-i-get-a

I think PowerDesk is a great program, but not the version I bought 3 or
4 years ago.*** It had major problems and they gave me my money back.

I found a free version from 15 or more years ago and that's what I use.
It's had small problems in the last 36 hours but that is probably from
the bad KB update I write about in my other post in this thread. Prior
to that it was fine, except my verion is 16 bit or whatever, not 32 or
64 whatever they have now, so it doesn't find 64 bit files like HOSTS. I
would have to use File Explorer to find or edit that.

C:\Progra~1\Ontrack\PowerDesk\pdexplo.exe

Which suggests the path is

C:\Program Files\Ontrack\PowerDesk\pdexplo.exe

In my case it's C:\Programs\PowerDesk\pdexplo.exe

Have a look around there, and then check your Apps list
and see if a dated entry is there, with a "Remove" or
"Uninstall" option.

You want me to uninstall it, but what I read about the Windows update I installed on Tuesday makes me think that is the problem.

The "shell:RecycleBinFolder" is a kind of URI, and taps
into the features of shell32 or whatever. For example

explorer.exe shell:RecycleBinFolder

would take you there.

It could be shell32.dll based, or something like ShellExperienceHost, but >explorer.exe might be involved in processing the URI at some point.
Since the Recycle Bin contents are name-encoded to prevent collisions,
a listing created by the program in the example below (C++), might not
reveal the restore-path of the item. Maybe there's an extra
step to do that.

In any case, I would work on "seeing the pest to the door", and
properly uninstalling PowerDesk Pro, rather than playing at

If I uninstalled it, I would see File Explorer starting every time I
tried to use appwiz or RecycleBin. That's no better.

whacking moles, one mole at a time. You should not try to treat
symptoms by leaving bandages all over the place. Work on the
disease, not the symptoms.

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/56528941/how-to-get-the-list-of-file-in-recycle-bin-by-using-c-sharp-console-application

Interesting, and complicated. If MS doesn't come up with a better
KB-thing, I'll reread this url.

Paul

*** Also, I'm mad at VCOM because I bought 2 programs from them and the
backup program deleted and lost a gig of my files. (I didn't update it
before running it, but I had just gottten it.) The other was multiboot
and it was almost impossible to use and I found out that other multiboot programs are easy, but by then I was worn out. I haven't multibeet
since. These were the only two programs I ever bought that didn't live
up to their claims, and both were from VCOM.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

XPost: alt.comp.os.windows-11

In alt.comp.os.windows-10, on Wed, 9 Jul 2025 06:12:18 +0100, Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:

micky wrote:

Shortly after he was done, I found that when I tried to run appwiz.cpl
or go to Contol Panel / Program and Features, instead it started and
continues to start an alternate file manager, PowerDesk, PDExplo.exe.

Is your day-to-day account an admin, or a standard account?

Admin.

Have you got a(nother) admin account you could try logging-on as, to see
if appwiz works?

No. In my follow-up post, I found out that appwiz.cpl was updated
yesterday, July 7 at about 3:30 PM. Is it normal for appwiz.cpl to have
a date other than when windows was installed, or earlier? Oh, yeah, of
course. That reminds me, when was my last Windows update? Oh, yeah, it
was that same day, July 7. I tried to get ready for the Remote Guy by
being fully updated, by installing "2025-06 Cumulative Update Preview
for Windows 11 Version 24H2 for x64-based Systems (KB5060829),
Successfully installed on 7/7/2025".

So that's what changed appwiz and probably RecycleBin. Surely I'm not
the only one.

Aha, link provided but I'll quote anything important, or even
unimportant. https://www.windowslatest.com/2025/07/03/microsoft-confirms-windows-11-kb5060829-issues-but-you-can-safely-ignore-it/
"Microsoft confirms Windows 11 KB5060829 issues, but you can safely
ignore it" Ignore the updates or ignore the problems? ;-)
In addition to the Alt + Tab cursor lag bug spotted by Windows Latest, Microsoft now says the optional patch causes Windows Firewall-related
warnings in the Event Viewer. But don’t worry, you can safely ignore the errors. As first spotted by Windows Latest, Microsoft has quietly
updated its support document on July 2 to acknowledge false Windows
Firewall warnings.

As per Microsoft, if you’re affected, you’ll see an event with 2042 in
Windows Firewall With Advanced Security. The event points to a “Config
Read Failed” warning and a “More data is available” message, but it
doesn’t impact the system or the firewall in any manner.

Microsoft says the Windows Firewall warning doesn’t go away if you
restart the PC, and continues to appear in the event viewer. Microsoft
urges you to stay calm as it doesn’t loosen your system security
mechanisms, and it is a harmless error code that shouldn’t be there.

Yeah, but I've lost access to the Recycle bin. That's not harmless.
But I'll try to stay calm.

According to Microsoft, these false warnings or errors are a result of
an experimental feature that was added to Windows 11 24H2 via KB5060829,
but Microsoft has nothing to share about that feature.

So they are experimenting on us, like lab rats!

Microsoft is working on a fix that will stop the system from throwing unnecessary event viewer errors and should hopefully appear with this
July 2025 Patch Tuesday update.

If you want a quick resolution, removing the June optional update from
the Settings app can help you. Open Settings > Windows Update > Update
History > Uninstall updates, locate KB5060829 and click Uninstall next
to it. Then, restart your PC, and recheck the Event Viewer for any 2402 entries.

It's 1:30 AM but tomorrow I may try this. (but read further). I
did need to use both appwiz and RecycleBin, to investigate why he could
install the software but not me, but I'm losing interest in that and may
just wait until MS fixes what went wrong and sends another update. Is
that guaranteed not to happen before Patch Tuesday, almost 7 days from
now?


Microsoft has not acknowledged Alt + Tab issues yet.

My alt-tab seems to be working fine. I've used it all night.

The last few updates have wrecked some third-party apps’ functionality
in Windows 11 24H2 and are yet to be mitigated. Be it the Dirac Audio
issue or the conflict with other apps, the problems aren’t stopping.

However, most of these issues are fixable with a developer-side update
that is unfortunately taking longer than ever. As usual, until the devs
roll out a patch, PC with these apps cannot update to 24H2.

Unless you already have!

So it was only barely related to the Remote Guy, because I would
not have checked Updates and installed this if he weren't expected.
Another case where post hoc ergo propter hoc requires you to know what
the first hoc really was.

Also www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXVZvfWVbQg
Major Windows Update Problem With KB5060829
23,966 views Jul 7, 2025

Almost 24,000 views in a day and a half!! People must pay attention
to this guy: Britec09 876K subscribers. Wow. So it couldbe 35
times as many if we wait a few days.

Britec says:
Don't install KB5060829 if you value your time. I lost taskbar and could
not get it back. So I uninstalled update and ended up with grey screen
of death. Spent whole day fixing the boot loop nightmare. Thanks
Microsoft for forcing another bug ridden windows update.

So I guess uninstalling it might be worse. I don't want a GSOD. Britec doesn't have any comments. At least my Taskbar is unchanged. So far,
I've read or watched two webpages and no one is complaining about
anything I'm complaining about, and I'm not complaing about anything
they are. Go figure.

He's in a loop, he uninstalls the update and restarts and immediately it schedules the same update for the next restart, which I infer he cannot
yet stop. I thought MS figured out how to do this long ago. He's
going to stop the windows update Service and then delte the update
itself, in order to stop it from updatign. I'm only 2:40 into a 13
minute video, but I'll post this now and watch the rest tomorrow.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

XPost: alt.comp.os.windows-11

micky wrote:

In my follow-up post, I found out that appwiz.cpl was updated
yesterday, July 7 at about 3:30 PM. Is it normal for appwiz.cpl to have
a date other than when windows was installed

Yes, from updates.

This Win11 machine was flattened and re-installed on 19th June (I know
from the date when my C:\Users\%whatever% folder was created)

searching the whole of C: drive for appwiz.cpl

I see several of them dated 19th June (the day that windows was installed)

I also see several of them dated 27th June, I didn't get any Windows
updates on that day, but I did get KB5060829 on the 28th, the date of
that update is the 26th

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

XPost: alt.comp.os.windows-11

In alt.comp.os.windows-10, on Wed, 9 Jul 2025 08:07:21 +0100, Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:

micky wrote:

In my follow-up post, I found out that appwiz.cpl was updated
yesterday, July 7 at about 3:30 PM. Is it normal for appwiz.cpl to have
a date other than when windows was installed

Yes, from updates.

This Win11 machine was flattened and re-installed on 19th June (I know
from the date when my C:\Users\%whatever% folder was created)

My personal user folder is date 7/8/2025 at 2:31PM, but is that th etime
the folder was created, or the time the most recent file in it was
updated? Four NTUSER.DAT files have that same update date/time

searching the whole of C: drive for appwiz.cpl

I see several of them dated 19th June (the day that windows was installed)

I also see several of them dated 27th June, I didn't get any Windows
updates on that day, but I did get KB5060829 on the 28th, the date of
that update is the 26th

But it didn't cause you any problems???


--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

XPost: alt.comp.os.windows-11

micky wrote:

My personal user folder is date 7/8/2025 at 2:31PM, but is that th etime
the folder was created, or the time the most recent file in it was
updated?

files/folders have multiple datestamps, if you view properties, you see
the created timestamp rather than modified

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

XPost: alt.comp.os.windows-11

micky wrote:

But it didn't cause you any problems???

no, it opens the apps list fine,but I don't have pdexplo

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

XPost: alt.comp.os.windows-11

So Ed, the problem is solved. Even though I had made no changes to
powerdesk, the cumulative update on Tuesday seems to have given it
priority over the two other programs (and maybe others), but
uninstalling fixed it and reinstalling it didn't break it.

Details follow.

In alt.comp.os.windows-10, on Thu, 10 Jul 2025 10:06:29 +0100, Andy
Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:

micky wrote:

My personal user folder is date 7/8/2025 at 2:31PM, but is that th etime
the folder was created, or the time the most recent file in it was
updated?

files/folders have multiple datestamps, if you view properties, you see
the created timestamp rather than modified

Oh, yeah. The creation date is June 23.

I don't know why that date... There were Cumulative Updates on June 20
and June 26, but nothing on June 23,

It's pretty amazing to me that not just files get replaced but
directories get replaced and reloaded, even "my own" user directories.
Would that not mean if I were to save something of my own in one of
those directories, it would get deleted and lost during a system update?
As to the bigger problem, I was waiting for another Windows update and KB5062553 25-06 Cumulative Update for Windows 11 came yesterday, just
two days after I noticed and installed he previous one. I installed it
today but it had no effect on my appwiz or RecycleBin. So I unchecked
he box in PowerDesk, pdexp.exe, that said Replace MS Explorer and that
had no effect. So I uninstalled PowerDesk and appwiz etc. worked fine
again.

So PowerDesk really did hijack those two functions even though it just
sat there. I'm sure it was the Cumulative Update I installed on Tuesday
that did it. Although I can't figure out how it did it.

I had to reset all the PowerDesk settings. Some programs save that
stuff, right?, for when you reinstall, but maybe this one does not
because it was a free version of something they also sold.

Anticipating this, I tried to find and save the settings. There is an
ini file but it only has 3 lines in it, the usage count (to know when to
nag me to buy a copy), the Date, and the SplashDate. The new
installation doesn't have SplashDate, and all the dates are 32 coded
alphabetic characters, which is a lot more than the 8 numbers it takes
to give a date. I don't know why they encode the dates anyhow.

BTW, the copyright on this free version 5 is 2002, but it's free
forever, if anyone wants me to send them a copy. IIRC correctly it was written by another company that VCOM bought. OTOH, currently their
page for PowerDesk https://www.vcom.com/power-desk-pro , just says for
Win 7, 8, and 10. So no one is updating it for 11, and the copy I bought
and returned for 10 had 2 big flaws. OTOH, v.5 had no flaws in 10, and
and so far, none in 11,

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

XPost: alt.comp.os.windows-11

On 2025/7/10 10:6:29, Andy Burns wrote:
[]

files/folders have multiple datestamps, if you view properties, you see
the created timestamp rather than modified

When I look at properties, I see three dates, for Created, Modified, and Accessed. And not infrequently, those dates are impossible based on my
normal interpretation of those three words. For example, I just pulled
them up for a file, and they're

Created: 2025-May-26, 12:20:30
Modified: 2023-May-6, 02:11:59
Accessed: 2025-June-14, 18:57:41

in other words, it's saying I created the file after I modified it (or
modified it before I created it, take your pick). [And I'm pretty sure I
never accessed it last month, either.]

(The file is DesktopOK_2023-05-06_2-11-40_1366x768.dok, which suggests
that's when I created - not modified! - it, though that wouldn't have
been on this computer; so the "Created" date _might_ be correct.)
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

An act like Morecambe and Wise happens once in a lifetime. Why did it
have to happen in mine?
- Bernie Winters quoted by Barry Cryer, RT 2013/11/30-12/6

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

XPost: alt.comp.os.windows-11

J. P. Gilliver <G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote:

On 2025/7/10 10:6:29, Andy Burns wrote:
[]

files/folders have multiple datestamps, if you view properties, you see
the created timestamp rather than modified

When I look at properties, I see three dates, for Created, Modified, and Accessed. And not infrequently, those dates are impossible based on my
normal interpretation of those three words. For example, I just pulled
them up for a file, and they're

Created: 2025-May-26, 12:20:30
Modified: 2023-May-6, 02:11:59
Accessed: 2025-June-14, 18:57:41

in other words, it's saying I created the file after I modified it (or modified it before I created it, take your pick). [And I'm pretty sure I never accessed it last month, either.]

(The file is DesktopOK_2023-05-06_2-11-40_1366x768.dok, which suggests
that's when I created - not modified! - it, though that wouldn't have
been on this computer; so the "Created" date _might_ be correct.)

Your scenario happens if you *copy* an existing file. I.e the
*original* file has Created: on or before 2023-May-6, but the *copy* of
the file was created on 2025-May-26.

Just as a test, I copied (with File Explorer Copy/Paste) a file which
was Created/Modified/Accessed at 10:46.

The copy has Created/Accessed at 14:39 (now), but Modified is still
10:46.

Because the file was copied, Accessed of the original file is now also
14:39 (can't copy a file without accessing it).

N.B. There are some tools which can set/reset certain timestamps after
the fact, but a simple copy will do what I desrcibed.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

XPost: alt.comp.os.windows-11, alt.comp.freeware

On 11 Jul 2025 12:47:31 GMT
Frank Slootweg <this@ddress.is.invalid> wrote:

J. P. Gilliver <G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote:

On 2025/7/10 10:6:29, Andy Burns wrote:
[]

files/folders have multiple datestamps, if you view properties, you see the created timestamp rather than modified

When I look at properties, I see three dates, for Created, Modified, and Accessed. And not infrequently, those dates are impossible based on my normal interpretation of those three words. For example, I just pulled
them up for a file, and they're

Created: 2025-May-26, 12:20:30
Modified: 2023-May-6, 02:11:59
Accessed: 2025-June-14, 18:57:41

in other words, it's saying I created the file after I modified it (or modified it before I created it, take your pick). [And I'm pretty sure I never accessed it last month, either.]

(The file is DesktopOK_2023-05-06_2-11-40_1366x768.dok, which suggests that's when I created - not modified! - it, though that wouldn't have
been on this computer; so the "Created" date _might_ be correct.)

Your scenario happens if you *copy* an existing file. I.e the
*original* file has Created: on or before 2023-May-6, but the *copy* of
the file was created on 2025-May-26.

Just as a test, I copied (with File Explorer Copy/Paste) a file which
was Created/Modified/Accessed at 10:46.

The copy has Created/Accessed at 14:39 (now), but Modified is still
10:46.

Because the file was copied, Accessed of the original file is now also 14:39 (can't copy a file without accessing it).

N.B. There are some tools which can set/reset certain timestamps after
the fact, but a simple copy will do what I desrcibed.

I have 'Attribute Changer' by Romain Petges:

https://www.petges.lu
(Mine is an older vn: 6.0a)


Xposted to acf,acow-10,acow-11

--
Bah, and indeed Humbug.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

XPost: alt.comp.os.windows-11, alt.comp.freeware

On 2025/7/11 14:5:58, Kerr-Mudd, John wrote:

On 11 Jul 2025 12:47:31 GMT
Frank Slootweg <this@ddress.is.invalid> wrote:

J. P. Gilliver <G6JPG@255soft.uk> wrote:

[]

Created: 2025-May-26, 12:20:30
Modified: 2023-May-6, 02:11:59
Accessed: 2025-June-14, 18:57:41

in other words, it's saying I created the file after I modified it (or
modified it before I created it, take your pick). [And I'm pretty sure I >>> never accessed it last month, either.]

[]

Your scenario happens if you *copy* an existing file. I.e the
*original* file has Created: on or before 2023-May-6, but the *copy* of
the file was created on 2025-May-26.

Hm. I see where you're going. I still think modified-before-created
looks odd, but I suppose it actually could be more useful the way it is.

[]

N.B. There are some tools which can set/reset certain timestamps after
the fact, but a simple copy will do what I desrcibed.

I have 'Attribute Changer' by Romain Petges:

https://www.petges.lu
(Mine is an older vn: 6.0a)

Xposted to acf,acow-10,acow-11

I have https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/bulk_file_changer.html .--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

... behaving morally does not require religious adherence.
- The Right Rev Nigel McCulloch\Bishop of Manchester (Radio Times, 24-30 September 2011

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

XPost: alt.comp.os.windows-11

In alt.comp.os.windows-11, on 11 Jul 2025 12:47:31 GMT, Frank Slootweg <this@ddress.is.invalid> wrote:

N.B. There are some tools which can set/reset certain timestamps after
the fact, but a simple copy will do what I desrcibed.

I had failed to set the time in my camera (before I had a phone which
took pictures) and after the pictures were taken and on the PC, I tried
to reset the dates to be correct, and I made a real mess of it. I
should have made a written plan before I started. And maybe the
software was not obvious either -- let's blame that too. Don't remember
what it was but it was free and simple and small, and I guess it
required me to do to the thinking.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

XPost: alt.comp.os.windows-11

micky <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote:

In alt.comp.os.windows-11, on 11 Jul 2025 12:47:31 GMT, Frank Slootweg <this@ddress.is.invalid> wrote:

N.B. There are some tools which can set/reset certain timestamps after
the fact, but a simple copy will do what I desrcibed.

I had failed to set the time in my camera (before I had a phone which
took pictures) and after the pictures were taken and on the PC, I tried
to reset the dates to be correct, and I made a real mess of it. I
should have made a written plan before I started. And maybe the
software was not obvious either -- let's blame that too. Don't remember
what it was but it was free and simple and small, and I guess it
required me to do to the thinking.

You're talking about the 'Date taken' attribute of a *picture*. But
that is an (EXIF) attribute *in* the file, not the Created/Modified/
Accessed attributes *of* the file (*any* file), which are being
discussed in this part of the thread.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

XPost: alt.comp.os.windows-11

On 2025/7/12 14:8:45, Frank Slootweg wrote:

micky <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote:

In alt.comp.os.windows-11, on 11 Jul 2025 12:47:31 GMT, Frank Slootweg
<this@ddress.is.invalid> wrote:

N.B. There are some tools which can set/reset certain timestamps after >>> the fact, but a simple copy will do what I desrcibed.

I had failed to set the time in my camera (before I had a phone which
took pictures) and after the pictures were taken and on the PC, I tried
to reset the dates to be correct, and I made a real mess of it. I
should have made a written plan before I started. And maybe the
software was not obvious either -- let's blame that too. Don't remember
what it was but it was free and simple and small, and I guess it
required me to do to the thinking.

You're talking about the 'Date taken' attribute of a *picture*. But
that is an (EXIF) attribute *in* the file, not the Created/Modified/
Accessed attributes *of* the file (*any* file), which are being
discussed in this part of the thread.

True: the EXIF data is _inside_ the file (though at least one of the created/modified/accessed dates _of_ the file will be the same, when it
was created by the camera).

One date-changing utility I used recently had _four_ lines it offered to
let you change - the fourth one being the EXIF. It also let you change
for each one the date and the time; this was handy for me, as I had a
block of photos (it let me change several files at a time) where the
times were right (a spread, as taken at different times) but the date
was wrong, as I'd set the wrong date but the right time when setting the camera's clock. (Probably switched the month and day.) I'm irritated
now, as it _isn't_ BulkFileChanger, and that was useful. (It let you
change the "real" dates as well as the EXIF one.) Any idea what it was?
(I'm puzzled, as I can't find it in my downloads, at least not by any recognisable name.)

--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

"The right to be heard does not include the right to be taken
seriously." - Hubert H. Humphrey

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)