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Firefox not using default File Manager

28/11/2021

Problem: When using Firefox or Chrome and File Open or File “Save As” the desktop (KDE) default file manager (Dolphin) is not used
Operating System: Kubuntu 18.04
Browsers: Firefox 94.0, Chrome 96.0.4664.45

Solution:

  1. In Firefox go to about:config and set “widget.use-xdg-desktop-portal” to true. This provides support for the XDG Desktop interface. This is disabled in Firefox by default
  2. Install xdg-desktop-portal-kde Qt backend and xdg-desktop-portal frontend portal as follows
sudo apt install xdg-desktop-portal-kde
sudo apt install xdg-desktop-portal

Notes:

  • xdg-desktop-portal-kde provides back end implementation for xdg-desktop-portal using Qt
  • xdg-desktop-portal is the front end xdg-desktop-portal for desktop frameworks,

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Windows 11 Registry Hack for Unsupported CPU and TPM

21/10/2021

This patch will allow the Windows 11 to install and run on machines without the required CPU,e.g. Intel 7th generation and lower and with TPM chips less than version 2.0

Type the following address into the address bar in the Registry Editor window (or navigate to it in the left pane):

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup\MoSetup

Right-click in the right pane, select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value, and enter the following text as the name:

AllowUpgradesWithUnsupportedTPMOrCPU

Double-click the “AllowUpgradesWithUnsupportedTPMOrCPU” value here,

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Enable USB Quick Removal

09/10/2021

In order to safely remove USB in Windows you can enable the Quick Removal feature in Device Manager

  1. For example in Windows 10 right-click the Start button (Windows Logo) and select Device Manager.
  2. Double-click Disk drives to expand it to see list of disk drives including your currently usb drive
  3. Right-click the usb drive and select Properties
  4. Click Policies tab and select “Quick removal (default)” radio button to enable it and click OK to save changes

This disables write caching to allow it to be remove without having to use “Safely Remove Hardware”

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Windows 10 Quick Assist

27/05/2021

Run Windows 10 ‘Quick Assist’ to remotely assist someone with their PC.

‘Quick Assist’ , available from version 20H2 onwards, requires a Microsoft account.

  1. Right-click the Start button
  2. Click Search
  3. Type Quick Assist and hit Enter on your keyboard
  4. Ask remote user to do the same
  5. On your PC, click Assist another person
  6. Select your Microsoft account and login
  7. Give the six-digit code (see screenshot above) to the remote user to enter into the ‘Code from assistant’ box
  8. Remote user then clicks Share screen
  9. Assistant then chooses either Take full control of their PC or View only their desktop
  10. Remote user then clicks  Allow

Once connected,

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Windows 10 Edge New Tab Redirect

24/05/2021

Google “Edge New Tab Redirect” to find Microsoft page to install extension

Edge New Tab Redirect Overview
Allows a user to provide the URL of the page that loads in a new tab.

Allows you to change the new tab page to the New Tab Redirect app page, or a custom URL of your choice!

Choose from chrome’s about pages, *NewTab, Extensions, Downloads, History*, a few popular URLs, or provide your own. Your custom tab can also be a local file,

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Blacklist or Whitelist WiFi Network Names

24/05/2021

Windows terminal commands to Blacklist WiFi names (SSID’s) from view or Whitelist your own name (SSID) and block all others from view

Blacklist method

Block WiFi name:

netsh wlan add filter permission=block ssid="name" networktype=infrastructure

Unblock WiFi name:

netsh wlan delete filter permission=block ssid="name" networktype=infrastructure

Show all the Filters:

netsh wlan show filters

Whitelist method

Allow your own WiFi:

netsh wlan add filter permission=allow ssid="name" networktype=infrastructure

Deny all other WiFi:

netsh wlan add filter permission=denyall networktype=infrastructure

Delete deny all other WiFi filter:

netsh wlan delete filter permission=denyall networktype=infrastructure

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Wine Dotnet install conflicts

03/05/2021

If, for example, when installing  dotnet40 via winetricks you get the following error:

$ winetricks dotnet45
Executing w_do_call dotnet45
------------------------------------------------------
error: dotnet45 conflicts with dotnet40, which is already installed.

Run the following command to override and force through change

$ winetricks --force dotnet452

Chrome Remote Desktop Client Set Up

02/05/2021

  1. On client PC open Chrome (or New Edge) and log into client Google account
  2. Browse to Chrome Remote Desktop Set-up page URL below: 
    https://remotedesktop.google.com
  3. In section titled Set up remote access and click download icon
  4. In Chrome Web Store click Add to Chrome to add extension
  5. In Add “Chrome Remote Desktop” dialog click Add extension
  6. Close “Chrome Remote Desktop has been added”

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