RobiNZ CAD Blog

Curing 'phantom screen touches' on an old Surface Book?

My Surface Book 2 is old, well out of any warranty, but still performs really well for my own needs. It's a home machine but can still run CAD, Revit, even (just) Microsoft Flight Sim, well enough to not consider a replacement. It was a little tight for storage (only 500GB on board) but a card in the SD slot doubled that for storing Flight Sim (about 450GB on its own)! The then phantom touch arrived... I didn't get a screen shot (below is my reproduction) but the other day on start-up it looked like a phantom finger was permanently... Read more →

Breaking pinned taskbar shortcuts out of Taskbar Overflow Menu jail

If, like me, you pin a lot of commonly used shortcuts to the Windows 11 Taskbar it will eventually put excess ones into a ...Overflow Menu. How do shortcuts you want end up in there? If an application is updated it will be added to the end of your pinned apps. If a saved browser app update it will unpin from the taskbar, then when you re-pin it will be added to the end. Moving shortcuts out of Overflow confinement If Windows 11 were anywhere near finished you could just drag an icon from overflow to your preferred place on... Read more →

Alas Windows Phone, gone but not forgotten

I still miss Windows Phone, Niagara Launcher on Android is my current next best, and this is a great look back at most of what went wrong. What I find most annoying is Microsoft had the answer to the fatal 'app gap' with their Android Bridge, which allowed Android apps to run on Windows Phone, but chose not to use it. Ironic that today Windows desktop allows just that...? Read more →

Windows Quick Assist is now a Store App

If you use Windows Quick Assist to support remote users, they will now have to install an app for it from the Windows Store. Once done it behaves the same but will update etc just like other store apps. Not a big deal until you need to support a remote user through that initial store install. Below shows the old app and the new store app (right) once installed. The Open Microsoft Store button on the old app opens the install page in the store. Clicking Get downloads and starts the installer but it requests Administrator permissions to install. Read more →

Well, that's saved me a fortune! | Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio

As a Surface Book 2 (SB2) owner I watched the launch of its replacement, the Surface Laptop Studio (SLS), this morning with some interest. Although the specification mostly impressed* the new form factor doesn't really appeal. It looses the iconic Surface Book hinge and ability to detach the display that is, for me, a great feature of the current design. Detaching the display means the SB2 loses access to its graphics card, left in the base with secondary battery, but becomes a light weight high powered large tablet as the i7 chip, integrated Intel Graphics and storage are all in... Read more →

Enthusiasts can upgrade non-compliant older PCs to Windows 11?

Update: Mary Jo Foley reports: Microsoft leaves a loophole for those wanting to run Windows 11 on 'unsupported' hardware An "unsupported state," in this case, means your PC won't be entitled to receive updates via Windows Update. These may (or may not) include security and driver updates... It seems Microsoft are relaxing their security hardware requirements for Windows 11 a little: Microsoft Keeps Windows 11 Hardware Requirements, But Will Placate Enthusiasts | www.thurrott.com Microsoft said that it will not step back from its stringent Windows 11 hardware requirements, but it will make concessions to enthusiasts…. Behind the scenes, Microsoft will... Read more →

Seek and ye old PC shall die, only to be born again

I've been working from home (WFH) for 9± weeks using my old desktop PC to Remote Connect to a CAD workstation in the office with no problems. I purchased it in December 2009, and it has been used for intermittent CAD, gaming and general home computing ever since. I got a big (for the day) 1.5 Terabyte hard drive as it's my 'download everything' local backup for 800GB of OneDrive cloud stored documents, photos etc. On my mobile machines I just have the OneDrive folders I need set to off-line to reduce storage & sync data. It's an old PB... Read more →

AutoCAD & Revit mouse wheel unwanted zoom extents after panning

Not sure when it started but both AutoCAD & Revit started Zooming to extents after a 'hold the wheel' mouse pan. Maybe something changed (mouse driver) or working on a remote connected machine impacts timing... Bit of a searching I found an Autodesk forum post (about AutoCAD) but no real solution. There was a clue as a post mentioned it was probably a miss-detected mouse wheel double-click. After a bit of trial and error I found altering (speeding up) the Double Click speed setting sorted it. On Win 10 Settings > Devices > Mouse > Additional Mouse Options [link on... Read more →

Windows Quick Assist to help support locked in users | COVID-19 Lock In

If you are IT supporting locked in family, friends, & colleagues with Windows newer than the August 2, 2016 Anniversary Update (build 14393) Windows Quick Assist will allow you to see and/or control their PC over the web. It makes it much easier to train or troubleshoot problems. You can give assistance to someone or receive assistance with the same Quick Assist application. Giving Assistance to a remote user From Start > Windows Accessories > Quick Assist choose the Give Assistance > Assist Another Person option. Quick assist will generate a code to give the person requesting assistance to enter... Read more →

Remote Desktop tips

If working connected to the office machine using Remote Desktop set your home machine to a different Windows theme to the work one. Helps remember which is which when working full screen! If you can adjust BIOS Settings (or your IT Help desk might have to do) some machines have BIOS power settings to automatically restart after a power outage and auto restart if not running at a set time. In our case I set to 06:00 so if accidentally powered off at least you don't have to visit the office to turn on again. Also there are different shortcut... Read more →