TAKE BACK CONTROL OF WINDOWS 10
Powerrun www.snipca.com/22350
In Windows, the Trustedinstaller permission is a step up from ‘Run as administrator’. If you run a program or open a file as Trustedinstaller, you can do whatever you want with it – even if Windows would rather you didn’t.
Powerrun, a new portable tool from Sordum ( www.sordum.org), lets you open files and tools with Trustedinstaller privileges. The program’s window is simple (in fact, when we wrote about Powerrun in Issue 484’s Best Free Software, it didn’t have a program window at all) and the portable program file is less than 1MB in size. But it packs a punch by letting you override blocks and limitations imposed by Windows in File Explorer, Command Prompt and Registry Editor. Having these permissions lets you perform services such as renaming system files in the Program Files folder and deleting the old Windows folder that’s created after you upgrade from one version of Windows to another.
There are huge risks to changing deep registry settings, so we recommend you create a system restore point before tinkering with them.
To get Powerrun, scroll right down the page and then click the grey Download button. Extract the contents of the ZIP file, then click ‘Powerrun_x64.exe’ to run the 64bit version. Drag any program shortcut or file on to the program window to open it as Trustedinstaller, or use the buttons to launch Command Prompt or Registry Editor (see screenshot above).
Wise Force Deleter www.snipca.com/22340
The error message ‘Cannot delete – file in use’ is one of the most annoying. In the worstcase scenario, it’s an indicator of data corruption, which can happen after a malware attack or a software installation that went wrong.
Wise Force Deleter (WFD), from the company behind PC- cleaning suite Wise Care 365 ( www.snipca.com/22341), may be able to help. You can either drag a stubborn file to WFD’S window to remove it, or use the ‘Force delete’ option that WFD adds to your right-click menu (see screenshot left).
WFD’S installer is junk-free. Sadly, the same can’t be said of another new Wise program, Wise Registry Cleaner, which featured in Named & Shamed in Issue 482 after we found it smuggling a PUP called Spyhunter 4.
Foldershredder http://foldershredder.com
What if neither Windows nor Wise Force Deleter can shift a file? And what if you’ve got a folder of corrupted data that needs blitzing – or a file containing secrets that you want to make sure no human can ever read? Then it’s time for the big guns, in the form of portable new tool Foldershredder.
Foldershredder deletes data by encrypting everything in a selected
folder, and then overwriting it multiple times to ensure it can never be read or retrieved – even by you. That data will be vaporised, expired and run down the curtain, joining the choir invisible. So you’d better make sure you really want to delete it.
10Appsmanager www.snipca.com/22349
Normally when a company sneaks software on to your PC without asking, we call it bloatware or PUPS and then complain about it on our Named & Shamed page. When Microsoft does it, we call it ‘Windows 10’.
Open your Windows 10 Start menu and you’ll find oodles of Microsoft apps you never chose to install. You can get rid of some by right-clicking, then clicking Uninstall. Others – including Onenote, Store and Xbox – won’t budge unless you use a third-party tool such as 10Appsmanager.
10Appsmanager’s new version (2), which came out just after the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, lets you uninstall all apps with one click of the Remove All button (see screenshot above). You can also now reinstall apps if you want.
To get 10Appsmanager, scroll down the page and click Download File. Extract the contents of the ZIP file, then run the portable program file.
Altplustab www.snipca.com/22353
Altplustab is a great example of a safe tool that Windows 10 doesn’t seem to want you to use. This free new program from the creator of 10Appsmanager (see above) has a simple but useful job – to configure Windows 10’s hidden ‘running tasks’ panel. To see this panel, press Alt+tab, then keep Alt pressed but release Tab. To tweak how the panel looks, click the buttons in Altplustab (see screenshot left).
It’s about as inoffensive as programs get. However, when we tried running Altplustab following its release a few weeks ago, we got a security warning (‘Windows protected your PC’). Our antivirus (AV) and online malwarechecker Virustotal ( www.virustotal.com) both confirmed it was safe. Windows 10 is no longer blocking Altplustab – but it regularly tries to block similar configuration tools.
This is an unfortunate trend. Microsoft dislikes certain programs for precisely the reason we love them. They get under the skin of the OS and put you in control, in a way Windows apps won’t and online tools can’t. To override Windows 10 when it blocks a file you know is safe, click ‘More info’ in the warning box, and then click ‘Run anyway’.
Ultimate Settings Panel www.snipca.com/22351
In Windows XP, the Control Panel had all the settings you needed, from Accessibility Options to Wireless Network Settings. (Feast your eyes and feel the nostalgia: www.snipca. com/22364). Windows 10 scatters settings all over the place - Control Panel, Settings app, System Configuration and more. To see all your controls in one window again, use the new Windows 10 panel in opensource program Ultimate Settings Panel.
Run the program, click the Windows 10 tab and then click any button to open that setting in Windows. The buttons include settings we didn’t even know existed, such as Magnifier, Video Store and Cleartype Tuner, which makes words easier to read on screen. Ultimate Settings Panel has other useful tabs - especially Tricks (click the right arrow).
The new version of Ultimate Settings Panel comes as a portable program as well as an installable program. Our AV initially tried to block the new portable version. It is safe, but to avoid worrying your AV you may want to stick with the installable version for now.