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How To Format USB Drive Using Command Line

Written by adminoftechnize in System Management Last Updated April 12, 2021

Sometimes Windows does not permit formatting a USB drive using File Explorer. It gives an error message of not being able to format the drive continuously. In this situation, the user can format a USB flash drive using command prompt or PowerShell. 

Here are the steps involved in formatting a USB flash drive using command line tools:

Format the USB drive using CMD (Command Prompt)

To format a USB drive using command prompt, open Command Prompt as Administrator and run the following command:

C:\> format D: /FS:NTFS /A:4096 /V:itechtics-data-drive /Q

Replace D: with the Flash drive letter.

/FS:NTFS means that the drive will be formatted with NTFS filesystem. You can also use other filesystems like FAT, FAT32, exFAT, NTFS, UDF and ReFS.

/A:4096 means that the cluster size will be 4 Kilobytes. The following cluster sizes are supported:

ReFS supports 4096, 64K.

NTFS supports 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16K, 32K, 64K, 128K, 256K, 512K, 1M, 2M.

FAT supports 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16K, 32K, 64K, (128K, 256K for sector size > 512 bytes).

FAT32 supports 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16K, 32K, 64K, (128K, 256K for sector size > 512 bytes).

exFAT supports 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16K, 32K, 64K, 128K, 256K, 512K, 1M, 2M, 4M, 8M, 16M, 32M.

Format the USB drive using PowerShell

To perform the formatting operation using PowerShell, use the following commands:

PS C:\> Format-Volume -DriveLetter D -FileSystem NTFS -FORCE -NewFileSystemLabel itechtics-data-drive

Replace the -DriveLetter D with the USB flash drive letter in your system. The -FileSystem switch will take the same inputs as discussed in the CMD section.

-NewFileSystemLabel will change the label on the flash drive.

Download WinRAR 6.01

Written by adminoftechnize in File Management Last Updated April 12, 2021

Version 6.01 of WinRAR has been released, which is the first update since the release of version 6 in December 2020. There are a few new features and some bugs that have been fixed.

WinRAR 6.01 comes with a 40-day free trial but in actuality, you can use it for an unlimited amount of time. The only caveat is that it displays an annoying purchase dialog box at every start. Other than that, the trial continues without any limitations.

Purchase WinRAR dialog box
Purchase WinRAR dialog box

What’s new in WinRAR 6.01

A few new features have been added to WinRAR 6.01. Here is the summary of these features:

  • By pressing CTRL + A in WinRAR’s comment window the entire comment will be selected.
  • If the -idn switch is used in conjunction with the -t or -df switch when archiving with the console version of RAR, all messages such as “Delete “Or” Test ” will not be output.
  • When extracted into a directory that does not exist, the -idn switch now suppresses all messages for creating directories.
  • By design, WinRAR and ZIP-SFX do not unzip the ZIP-SFX archive if its central directory is located after the start of the digital signatory. The behavior change prevents possible attack scenarios in which the signature is embedded in a ZIP archive.

Bugfixes in WinRAR 6.01

  • Conversion of RAR archives using the “Convert Archives” command may result in the incorrect conversion of comments in Unicode.
  • When two archive information windows open from the Explorer context menu, the compression ratio bar in the first window can show an incorrect value.
  • The text information and ratio column on the right side of the window were not affected. It was only the vertical bar on the left was incorrect
  • In the unpacking dialog, while the option “Wait if other WinRAR copies are active” is enabled, the title “Waiting for another WinRAR copy” should not be shown.
  • In previous versions, when an extracted symbolic link was extracted, no non-existing symbolic links were overwritten.

Download WinRAR 6.01

Download WinRAR 6.01 32-bit for Windows

Download WinRAR 6.01 64-bit for Windows

Download WinRAR 6.01 for MacOS

Download WinRAR 6.01 32-bit for Linux (tar.gz)

Download WinRAR 6.01 64-bit for Linux (tar.gz)

Download WinRAR 6.01 for Android

These links are for the English version. If you want to download WinRAR in any other language, you can visit this link.

How To Disable Background Apps In Windows 10

Written by adminoftechnize in Windows 10 Last Updated April 10, 2021

In Windows 10, it’s possible to prevent apps from running in the background to save battery, data, and (some) system resources.

Windows 10 comes with an array of apps pre-installed.

Apart from the preinstalled apps, one or more apps may have been installed  from the Microsoft Store.

It goes without saying that many of these apps run in the background, even when they are not being used.

Many of these apps are serving no useful purpose by running in the background, but they do have a couple of major disadvantages:

Background applications use some of your system resources (RAM, CPU cycles, etc.), and that makes your machine run just a bit slower than it would have if they were not active.

A couple of private background apps are able to communicate with Microsoft or the company that provided them in order to check for available updates or to provide usage information.

This uses some Internet data, and that isn’t a good thing if you are on a limited plan.

Even worse, sending data back to a remote server can potentially compromise your privacy.

You will be able to see how it is not advisable to keep all apps running in the background all the time.

Some apps need to run in the background, such as an email application which periodically checks the mail server to determine if new messages have been received.

This is true for the majority of installed applications, however many do not require background running.

It’s fairly straightforward to prevent apps from running in the background. In fact, you can disable all the background programs in one go, or just those that you have never used. That’s entirely up to you.

In my opinion, blocking an app from running in the background doesn’t mean that you can’t use it; it means you will not be able to use it when it’s not open.

In order to launch and use an application on your computer you must click its icon in the Start Menu.

  1. Go to Start Menu , then select Settings  > Privacy > Background apps.
  2. Under Background Apps, make sure Let apps run in the background is turned On.
  3. Under Choose which apps can run in the background, turn individual apps and services settings On or Off.

To stop most apps from running in the background

  1. Go to Start , then select Settings  > Privacy > Background apps.
  2. Under Background Apps, make sure Let apps run in the background is turned Off.

There’s nothing more to it. The background apps you disabled should no longer run.

How do you make the Window full screen with the keyboard shortcut?

Written by adminoftechnize in Tips/Troubleshooting Last Updated April 8, 2021

If you find yourself working with multiple windows on your screen frequently and you have trouble dragging them all to make them look perfect, then these keyboard shortcuts will come in handy.

Here are a number of different keyboard shortcuts that can help you easily manipulate your window sizes and locations on the screen to save you time, effort, and frustration.

Full-Screen Mode

Although Windows 10 is completely user-friendly with a mouse, including resizing windows to your preferred setting, there are times you may want to use the keyboard. The method of switching to full-screen may differ depending on which application you are using. In addition, other shortcuts may be disabled with each use.

A simple shortcut to full screen mode, particularly in browsers, is to press the F11 key. It allows you to switch quickly between full-screen and normal mode.

If you are working with a document application, like Word, you can maximize your window by pressing the Windows key and the up arrow at the same time. Alternatively, the down arrow will reduce the window’s size for a closer look as to what lies behind.

In addition to these shortcut keys, the Windows key with the left or right arrow is another excellent option. This will shift the screen you are working on to either the left or right side of the screen so you can access other windows at the same time.

These are instructions for Windows-based systems. Macs require a different set of keyboard shortcuts. On a Mac, the shortcut for full-screen mode is CTRL + CMD + F.

Other Great Shortcuts

You may find the following keyboard shortcuts useful as you strive to increase your productivity.

Resizing windows

In addition to full screen minimization, you may also want to resize your screen. Once again, press ALT and SPACE together, and then click S. You will now see four arrows, allowing you to use the arrow keys to adjust the size of your window.

Media in Full Screen mode

If you are watching a movie or playing a video game on your computer, you can play the video or play the game in full screen mode instead of in a window by pressing both the ALT and ENTER keys at the same time.

Download Chrome 86 Offline Installers

Written by adminoftechnize in Chrome Last Updated October 7, 2020

Google Chrome 86 for desktop (Linux, macOS, Windows) is available for download. The complete version no. will become Chrome 86.0.4240.75. This is a major update with 35 vulnerability fixes and new features.

Here are some of the new features available:

Chrome gets .well-known/change-password support

This is a security feature that helps reset breached passwords in Google Chrome. If you save passwords in Chrome vault, then Chrome will continuously look for these passwords being involved in data breaches and will let you change the password if detected.

Increased security on Android and iOS

Safety check feature is already available on Chrome for Desktop. Now Google has also released it for mobile. This feature is to make sure Chrome is always up to date in terms of security updates, secure passwords and safe browsing.

Google now blocks mixed content downloads

If a website is loading resources through HTTP, these resources will be blocked in Chrome by default.

New experimental features

The following new experimental features have been added to Chrome 86:

  • Edit passwords in settings
  • Disable autofill for mixed forms
  • Mixed forms interstitial
  • Enable Incognito Desktop Shortcut
  • H.264 Decoder Buffer Is Complete Frame
  • Content settings page redesign
  • Enable AVIF image format

Changelog

  • [$N/A][1127322] Critical CVE-2020-15967: Use after free in payments. Reported by Man Yue Mo of GitHub Security Lab on 2020-09-11
  • [$5000][1126424] High CVE-2020-15968: Use after free in Blink. Reported by Anonymous on 2020-09-09
  • [$500][1124659] High CVE-2020-15969: Use after free in WebRTC. Reported by Anonymous on 2020-09-03
  • [$N/A][1108299] High CVE-2020-15970: Use after free in NFC. Reported by Man Yue Mo of GitHub Security Lab on 2020-07-22
  • [$N/A][1114062] High CVE-2020-15971: Use after free in printing. Reported by Jun Kokatsu, Microsoft Browser Vulnerability Research on 2020-08-07
  • [$TBD][1115901] High CVE-2020-15972: Use after free in audio. Reported by Anonymous on 2020-08-13
  • [$TBD][1133671] High CVE-2020-15990: Use after free in autofill. Reported by Rong Jian and Guang Gong of Alpha Lab, Qihoo 360 on 2020-09-30
  • [$TBD][1133688] High CVE-2020-15991: Use after free in password manager. Reported by Rong Jian and Guang Gong of Alpha Lab, Qihoo 360 on 2020-09-30
  • [$15000][1106890] Medium CVE-2020-15973: Insufficient policy enforcement in extensions. Reported by David Erceg on 2020-07-17
  • [$7500][1104103] Medium CVE-2020-15974: Integer overflow in Blink. Reported by Juno Im (junorouse) of Theori on 2020-07-10
  • [$7500][1110800] Medium CVE-2020-15975: Integer overflow in SwiftShader. Reported by Anonymous on 2020-07-29
  • [$7500][1123522] Medium CVE-2020-15976: Use after free in WebXR. Reported by YoungJoo Lee(@ashuu_lee) of Raon Whitehat on 2020-08-31
  • [$5000][1083278] Medium CVE-2020-6557: Inappropriate implementation in networking. Reported by Matthias Gierlings and Marcus Brinkmann (NDS Ruhr-University Bochum) on 2020-05-15
  • [$5000][1097724] Medium CVE-2020-15977: Insufficient data validation in dialogs. Reported by Narendra Bhati (https://twitter.com/imnarendrabhati) on 2020-06-22
  • [$5000][1116280] Medium CVE-2020-15978: Insufficient data validation in navigation. Reported by Luan Herrera (@lbherrera_) on 2020-08-14
  • [$5000][1127319] Medium CVE-2020-15979: Inappropriate implementation in V8. Reported by Avihay Cohen @ SeraphicAlgorithms on 2020-09-11
  • [$3000][1092453] Medium CVE-2020-15980: Insufficient policy enforcement in Intents. Reported by Yongke Wang(@Rudykewang) and Aryb1n(@aryb1n) of Tencent Security Xuanwu Lab (腾讯安全玄武实验室） on 2020-06-08
  • [$3000][1123023] Medium CVE-2020-15981: Out of bounds read in audio. Reported by Christoph Guttandin on 2020-08-28
  • [$2000][1039882] Medium CVE-2020-15982: Side-channel information leakage in cache. Reported by Luan Herrera (@lbherrera_) on 2020-01-07
  • [$N/A][1076786] Medium CVE-2020-15983: Insufficient data validation in webUI. Reported by Jun Kokatsu, Microsoft Browser Vulnerability Research on 2020-04-30
  • [$TBD][1080395] Medium CVE-2020-15984: Insufficient policy enforcement in Omnibox. Reported by Rayyan Bijoora on 2020-05-07
  • [$N/A][1099276] Medium CVE-2020-15985: Inappropriate implementation in Blink. Reported by Abdulrahman Alqabandi, Microsoft Browser Vulnerability Research on 2020-06-25
  • [$N/A][1100247] Medium CVE-2020-15986: Integer overflow in media. Reported by Mark Brand of Google Project Zero on 2020-06-29
  • [$N/A][1127774] Medium CVE-2020-15987: Use after free in WebRTC. Reported by Philipp Hancke on 2020-09-14
  • [$N/A][1110195] Medium CVE-2020-15992: Insufficient policy enforcement in networking. Reported by Alison Huffman, Microsoft Browser Vulnerability Research on 2020-07-28
  • [$500][1092518] Low CVE-2020-15988: Insufficient policy enforcement in downloads. Reported by Samuel Attard on 2020-06-08
  • [$N/A][1108351] Low CVE-2020-15989: Uninitialized Use in PDFium. Reported by Gareth Evans (Microsoft) on 2020-07-22

Check out complete change log here.

Download Chrome 86 offline installers

Download: Google Chrome web installer

Download: Google Chrome offline installer

Download: Google Chrome MSI Installer [Enterprise Edition]

Download: Google Chrome for macOS

Download: Google Chrome Offline Installer for Linux

Download: Google Chrome for Android

Download: Google Chrome for iOS

Download: Google Chrome Portable

Download KB4577063 For Windows 10 Version 2004 and Version 20H2

Written by adminoftechnize in Windows 10,Windows Updates Last Updated September 23, 2020

Microsoft has released a new optional update for both Windows 10 Version 2004 and Version 20H2 which is the upcoming feature update for Windows 10.

When you install KB4577063, the new build no. will become 19041.541 for Version 2004 and 19042.541 for Version 20H2.

Changelog

  • We have fixed the issue where the WSL does not start with an “Item not found” error.
  • We’ve added a notification to Internet Explorer 11 that tells users that support for Adobe Flash will end in December 2020.
  • We’ve improved the system’s ability to detect when Microsoft Edge IE mode stops responding.
  • We fixed an issue that in some cases prevents the language bar from appearing when the user logs on to a new session. This occurs even though the language bar is configured correctly.
  • We fixed an issue where the first East Asian language character entered into a Microsoft Foundation Class Library (MFC) DataGrid is not recognized.
  • Fixed an issue that prevents you from reconnecting to a previously closed session because that session is in an unrecoverable state.
  • We’ve fixed an issue that causes games that use room sound to stop working.
  • We have resolved an issue that prevents the deletion of outdated user profiles when you configure a GPO for profile cleanup.
  • We fixed an issue where selecting I forgot my PIN under Settings>Accounts>Sign-in options in a Windows Hello for Business On-Premise Deployment fails.
  • We have updated the time zone information to 2021 for Fiji.
  • We fixed an issue that affects the ability of Microsoft’s System Centre Operations Manager (SCOM) to monitor a customer’s workload.
  • We have fixed an issue that causes random line breaks when you redirect the PowerShell console error output.
  • We fixed an issue with creating HTML reports with Tracerpt.
  • We have made it possible to run the DeviceHealthMonitoring Cloud Service Plan (CSP) on Windows 10 Business and Windows 10 Pro editions.
  • We’ve fixed an issue that prevents the content from being transferred to HKLM-Software-Cryptography for Windows feature updates.
  • We fixed an issue that, under certain circumstances, causes an access violation in lsass.exe when starting a process using the runas command.
  • We’ve fixed an issue where Windows Defender application control enforces rules for package family names that should only be checked.
  • We fixed an issue that displays an error stating that a smart card PIN change was unsuccessful even though the PIN change was successful.
  • We fixed an issue that might create duplicate Foreign Security Principal objects for authenticated and interactive users in the domain partition. As a result, the configuration files (.cnf) for the original objects are corrupted. This problem occurs when you promote a new domain controller with the CriticalReplicationOnly flag.
  • We’ve updated the configuration of Windows Hello Face Detection to work well with 940 nm wavelength cameras.
  • We’ve reduced distortions and discrepancies in Windows Mixed Reality Head Mounted Displays (HMD).
  • We made sure that the new Windows Mixed Reality HMDs meet the minimum specification requirements and have a 90 Hz refresh rate by default.
  • We fixed an issue that causes a stop error on a Hyper-V host when a virtual machine (VM) issues a specific Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) command.
  • Fixed an issue that could cause attempts to bind a socket to a shared socket to fail.
  • We’ve fixed an issue that can prevent applications from opening or cause other errors when applications use Windows APIs to verify Internet connectivity and incorrectly display the network icon in the notification area that “No Internet access.” This problem occurs when you use Group Policy or a local network configuration to disable active search for the Network Connectivity Status Indicator (NCSI). This problem also occurs when the active probing does not use a proxy and passive samples cannot detect Internet connectivity.
  • We fixed an issue that prevents Microsoft Intune from syncing on a device that uses Virtual Private Network Version 2 (VPNv2) Configuration Service Provider (CSP).
  • We have suspended uploads and downloads of peers when a VPN connection is detected.
  • We have fixed an issue that prevents Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) management tools, such as IIS Manager, from managing a ASP.NET application that has configured SameSite cookie settings on the web.config.
  • We have fixed an issue with ntdsutil.exe that prevents you from moving the Active Directory database files. The error is: “Move the file failed with source and destination with error 5 (access is denied.)”.
  • We have fixed an issue that incorrectly reported that Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) sessions in Event ID 2889 are unsafe. This occurs when the LDAP session is authenticated and locked using a Simple Authentication and Security Layer (SASL) method.
  • We’ve fixed an issue that can cause Windows 10 devices that enable the Credential Guard to fail on authentication requests when they use the machine certificate.

 

  • We restored the constructed attributes in Active Directory and Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS) for msDS-partdistname.
  • We fixed an issue that caused queries against large keys on Ntds.dit to fail with the MAPI_E_NOT_ENOUGH_RESOURCES error. This issue can cause users to see limited availability of the meeting room because the Exchange Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI) cannot allocate additional storage for meeting requests.
  • We’ve fixed an issue that temporarily generates OSCP Responder Audit Events (5125) that indicates that a request has been made to the OCSP Responder service. However, there is no indication of the serial number or domain name (DN) of the issuer of the request.
  • We’ve fixed an issue that displays strange characters before the day, month, and year fields in the output of console commands.
  • We fixed an issue that causes lsass.exe to stop working, which triggered a system restart. This problem occurs when invalid restart data is sent using a noncritical paged search control.
  • We fixed an issue that caused events 4732 and 4733 to not be logged for domain-local group membership changes in certain scenarios. This occurs when you use the Permissive Modify control; for example, the Active Directory (AD) PowerShell modules use this control.
  • We fixed a problem with the Microsoft Cluster Shared Volumes File Systems (CSVFS) driver that prevents Win32 API access to SQL Server Filestream data. This occurs when the data on a cluster shared volume is stored in a SQL Server failover cluster instance that resides on an Azure VM.
  • We fixed an issue that causes a deadlock when offline files are enabled. As a result, CscEnpDereferenceEntryInternal holds parent and child locks.
  • We have fixed an issue that causes deduplication jobs with stop error 0x50 to fail when you call HsmpRecallFreeCachedExtents().
  • We have fixed an issue that causes applications to stop working when they use Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Sharing APIs. The breakpoint exception code is 0x80000003.
  • We removed the HTTP call to www.microsoft.com that the Remote Desktop client (mstsc.exe) makes when logging off when it uses a Remote Desktop gateway.
  • We fixed an issue evaluating the compatibility status of the Windows ecosystem to ensure application and device compatibility for all Windows updates.
  • We’ve added support for certain new Windows Mixed Reality motion controls.
  • We have fixed an issue that causes applications that use Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) to stop responding when you try to close the application.
  • We’ve added an Azure Active Directory (AAD) device token that is sent to Windows Update (WU) as part of each WU scan. WU can use this token to queries membership in groups that have an AAD device ID.
  • We fixed a problem setting Group Policy to restrict disqualification to remote servers with the Restrict Delegation of Credentials mode on the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) client. As a result, the Terminal Server service first attempts to use Require Remote Credential Guard mode and will only use Require Restricted Admin if the server does not support Require Remote Credential Guard.

Download

KB4577063 for Windows 10 Version 2004 and 20H2 64-bit

KB4577063 for Windows 10 Version 2004 and 20H2 32-bit