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Chocolatey package manager for Windows

Dave Farquhar Windows February 7, 2023November 3, 2025

There has been a recent spate of malvertising targeting popular downloads. These paid advertisements masquerade as legitimate download links for popular software packages. The files they serve up look legitimate, but they include software that you don’t want. Using a package manager is one way to avoid this problem. Chocolatey is the name of a good package manager for Windows. It sidesteps malvertising and solves other system maintenance problems for you too.

Dave Farquhar

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He has written professionally about computers since 1991, so he was writing about retro computers when they were still new. He has been working in IT professionally since 1994 and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He holds Security+ and CISSP certifications. Today he blogs five times a week, mostly about retro computers and retro gaming covering the time period from 1975 to 2000.

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Line count in Notepad

Dave Farquhar Windows February 1, 2022February 1, 2022

Sometimes you need to count the number of lines in a plain text file. And sometimes notepad is all you have. Here’s how to do a line count in notepad.

Dave Farquhar

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Update Windows third-party utilities semi-automatically

Dave Farquhar security, Windows January 17, 2022March 15, 2023

I used to have and recommend a tool for updating all your third party software on Windows machines. Unfortunately that tool went end of life several years ago. But Microsoft, of all people, has a tool that works suitably. Usage is similar to apt or yum on Linux. It’s called Microsoft App Installer, and at the command line, it takes the form of the command winget.

App Installer is a free tool that updates what Windows Update won’t. That means open source apps, but also some third party apps, and even some difficult-to-update Microsoft apps, like the Visual C++ runtime. It is capable of updating more than 3,000 apps.
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Dave Farquhar

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Move your user profile to a new Windows 11 PC

Dave Farquhar Windows December 30, 2021September 13, 2023

If you built or rebuilt a Windows 11 PC, moving your user profile to the new PC can be a pain. Here’s how to make it easier.
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Dave Farquhar

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Change your computer name in Windows 11

Dave Farquhar Windows December 28, 2021December 25, 2021

If you thought changing your computer name in Windows 11 was just a matter of right clicking on an icon on the desktop, I have bad news for you. It’s not. That option hides from you now, though you can find it again behind a completely different right click. Here’s where Microsoft hid it.

The quickest way to rename a Windows 11 PC is to right-click the Start menu and click System. Right-clicking the start menu is a good trick to remember when you can’t find something in Windows.

Dave Farquhar

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Mouse moves with arrow keys? The fix

Dave Farquhar Windows December 7, 2021April 1, 2023

My Windows mouse cursor was moving on its own on my work laptop and driving me up the wall. Here’s how I traced the problem and how I fixed it. It turned out the mouse cursor was moving when I pushed the arrow keys. I’ve seen this happen in both Windows 10 and Windows 11. The obscure problem where keyboard arrows move the mouse is easy enough to fix, fortunately.

Two things can cause the Windows mouse cursor moving with arrow keys. Those are an obscure feature called Mouse Keys, or the venerable Microsoft Paint app.

Dave Farquhar

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Install Windows 11 on an unsupported CPU

Dave Farquhar Windows November 30, 2021April 26, 2025

Ever since Microsoft announced Windows 11 would have much stricter hardware requirements than its predecessors, people who don’t want to go and replace all of their computers have been looking for work arounds. Here is the easiest way to install Windows 11 on an unsupported CPU, including virtual environments like VMware or Virtualbox. No need to edit files, mess with an ISO file or disk image or Rufus or the registry editor.

The easiest way to install Windows 11 on an unsupported CPU is to delete one file, appraiserres.dll, from your installation media. This trick will hopefully keep some usable computers out of landfills a little while longer.

Dave Farquhar

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Local account in Windows 11

Dave Farquhar Windows November 22, 2021June 7, 2022

I prefer to use local accounts on my home network. If you’re reading this, chances are you do too, so I don’t need to sell you on the idea. You already know Microsoft doesn’t want you to use local accounts and makes it hard to create them now. But it’s not impossible. Here’s how to create a local account in Windows 11, even when you’re doing a new install.

Dave Farquhar

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Add a TCP/IP printer in Windows 11

Dave Farquhar Windows November 16, 2021March 18, 2022

Adding a TCP/IP printer to Windows 11 is a little different from earlier versions of Windows, though not terribly different from adding one to Windows 10. But here’s how to add one in Windows 11, step by step, complete with screenshots. It’s been more than a few years since I was a professional printer administrator, but I guess I still have a little of that in me.

Dave Farquhar

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Cheap Windows 11 PC options

Dave Farquhar Windows November 10, 2021November 9, 2021

Microsoft caused a major hubbub when they announced that Windows 11 will not be supported on systems that are more than about 3 and 1/2 years old. That means a lot of still usable systems have to stay on Windows 10 until Windows 10 goes end of life. Here are some cheap Windows 11 PC options. I’ll mostly cover desktops here, as the market for laptops is rather different.

Dave Farquhar

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