Ask Paul: February 23 (Premium)

Happy Friday everyone. Here is another installment of Ask Paul.

An Xbox Game Pass follow-up

Two weeks ago, dave.erwin asked whether Microsoft would bring existing exclusive titles to Xbox Game Pass rather than just upcoming new titles. I responded that I would ask Microsoft about this. Which I did.

I was told that several current Microsoft Studios games—including Gears of War 4, Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, State of Decay: Year One Survival Edition, Halo Wars 2, and Halo 5: Guardians—are already available in Xbox Game Pass. No word on the one game (Forza 7) he asked about, however, sorry.

High-DPI nightmares and a local meetup

Polycrastinator asks:

I know HighDPI/Display scaling is a constant bugbear for apps, but why can’t Microsoft get this to work when changing between scales, why require logging off and back on. This feels particularly acute now I have a laptop with dock where the laptop screen requires scaling, but the monitors do not. I’d love to be able to pop the laptop off the dock, show something to a colleague, then put it back on, but if I do, things look like garbage because I need to log off and back on to get the scaling right. With a lot of applications open, this is completely impractical, and I don’t understand why this is a problem that even exists. Which I guess has stopped short of a question. Is Microsoft ever going to fix this?

Short answer: No, not completely. But they were, for a while at least, issuing fairly regular updates tied to UI scaling issues. I suspect that where we are at today is pretty much it, however. And that the “why” of it is tied to the legacy roots of Windows.

Also, how about a meetup in Philadelphia since you’re now so close?

I suppose this will happen eventually. In the meantime, I’ll be attending the developer-focused Philly .NET user group meetings and events each month unless I’m traveling. Their next event is a two-day code camp in late March, and I’ll be in the PWA session that Friday.

Cheap cloud backup

ianceicys asks:

I had been storing [a lot of] content on external HDs and a sonology NAS. I still have ~20 TBs of content on external drives yet to back up. It’s gonna be a pretty penny to back up that to amazon cloud drive, costing ~$1200 a year, so nearly $100 a month, a year. Paul you have a ton of content you backup, have you found a cheaper solution that Amazon Cloud Drive, any recommendations? Any idea if just going to AWS S3 as a personal user might be possible? I don’t want to use another NAS as I’ve had 2 apartments flood, and 1 electrical fire…so offsite is a must for peace of mind.

I’ve been looking for a solution to this problem as well. The one I’m currently experimenting with—and this will be part of a second CloudBerry Backup write-up that’s coming in March—is Backblaze. Their business solution lets you backup directly from a NAS for just $50 per year. Seems solid. And it works with CloudBerry.

PWA limitations

craigsn asks:

You are advocating for PWA to replace those native applications where appropriate. My question is about the limitations of progressive web apps. I understand that graphical and performant applications may not be candidates, but what are the other limitations of the technology?

I’m not aware of a detailed list of “things that Windows apps can do that PWAs cannot.” Obviously, native apps will always have advantages. And yes, some apps will always be native. File Explorer and any system apps. Things like Hyper-V. Whatever web browser you prefer. For now, high-end games, though I believe those will be streamed in the future, in which case the front-end you’ll use could absolutely be a web app.

But the way I think of this is to look at each app I actually use every day and think, could this be done as a web app?

In many cases, the answer is, it’s already a web app. I use the web versions of Google Inbox, Google Calendar, and Twitter Lite on Windows 10 today as “apps” that are pinned to my taskbar.

On my own taskbar, I see Microsoft Store, MarkdownPad (a text editor) Notepad, OneNote, Photoshop Elements, Paint, and Skype. Each of those could very easily be a web app (some already are). Or replaced with an equivalent web app.

PWAs are still new and this will be a transition. But I think this is going to happen a lot more quickly than some believe.

Android vs. iPhone

AnOldAmigaUser asks:

While you seem to have settled on Android in general and the Pixel 2 in particular for your daily driver, you also regularly bemoan both the Pixel 2 and Android. I believe you recently called some interaction with Android, soul deadening. What specifically, about Android causes you agita? …

Everything. Android is a dumpster fire.

Obviously, this is a big topic. And it’s something I have been thinking about writing on formally. I’m worried it will get out of control.

The short version: If you want the best possible experience, just get an iPhone. For all of its hubris and ego, Apple really does provide a reliable and consistent experience across the board and the iPhone experience is night/day compared to Android. What you get from Android is what we get from PCs: Choice and freedom, yes, but also complexity, unreliability, unpredictability, and performance slowdowns over time.

So why do I use Android? Honest to God, I wonder myself. If the iPhone X came in a Samsung Galaxy S8/Note8-type form factor (without the notch and with a fingerprint reader on the back), I would have moved back already. But my goal with Android is to be educated about the system that most people use. It’s painful, frankly. I don’t know why we hurt ourselves this much. It makes no sense.

Just to head this off, the functional things that people complain about with the iPhone are as pointless to the day-to-day as the things that people claimed to love about Windows phone. For example, the inability to place app icons wherever you want on the home screens. Whatever. We don’t use a phone to look at a home screen. We run apps. And the apps on iPhone, almost universally, are better than the same apps on Android.

Just get an iPhone. You’ll be happy you did.

Switchmate for inexpensive home automation?

seabass722 asks:

In one of your Tech Makeover articles you mentioned that you would be experimenting with the Switchmate Motion Activated Snap-On Instant Smart Light Switch. I don’t believe I’ve seen anything on the site describing your experience with this product so I was wondering if you were still planning to do so? I am interested in reading a review as it looks like it could be a good option for me as a renter to add some smart capabilities to installed lights that can’t be “smartified” via a smart outlet or where upgrading all the bulbs would be prohibitively expensive.

I’ve not reviewed it yet, no. I have a few issues that are particular to my situation.

The device attaches magnetically to a switch plate. But we spent many thousands of dollars replacing every switch in our house, and we chose screwless plastic plates for their clean look. But because these plates add a bit of separation between the front surface and the metal underneath, the Switchmate can’t stay attached: When you flip the switch (say, to turn a light on), the Switchmate falls off.

Second, I wanted to use this device for its timer functionality: We have some outdoor flood lights, and I want them to come on at a certain time each day (ideally at sunset) and then turn off by the time we go to bed (say, 11 pm). Well, the Switchmate app lets you do that, and it even has a setting for “sunset.” So on whatever day in January, I set it to turn the lights on at sunset. Here’s the thing: Every day, at 4:45 pm, the things switches. Because that was the time that sunset was on the day I programmed it. It doesn’t adjust the time to match each day’s new time for sunset. So now it is switching on about an hour before the sun sets. Doy.

All that said, I do think this is a nifty idea and a good product. It’s a bit big and bulky, and I think it’s weird that it that its own switching mechanism is a slider and not a mechanical switch; this means it works differently than the switch it is covering up and differently from every other switch in the house. (See the photo at the top.)

To your point, this is definitely an inexpensive way to get into home automation (the version with motion detection is only $35) and it is particularly well-suited for an apartment or home you do not own. For my own purposes, I think replacing the underlying switch in the wall with a connected smart switch is the better approach. So I will be doing that for the floodlight switches instead of using this. I’m still researching which product to use.

A modern File Explorer

rob_segal asks:

Taking you back to your article about unlocking the UWP File Explorer, this still works, but it’s still as basic as it was before. What is Microsoft planning to do with this UWP File Explorer (other than keeping it hidden for the rest of eternity)?

I don’t know what Microsoft is planning, if anything, sorry. But this speaks to something I am becoming more and more vocal about: That Microsoft needs to focus less on new nonsense in Windows 10 (Windows Mixed Reality, 3D) and focus more on the fundamentals. And that has to include modernizing the shell, for sure.

Cortana questions

cybrtitan asks:

Can you get Cortana to launch via Bluetooth activation (button hold) on Android because I can only get google assistant or Hound (sound hounds assistant .. which MSFT should buy FYI) to do this. This is the one thing that is making my Android transition hard as I used Cortana in the car this way a lot for voice texting people or making calls.

If I understand what you’re asking, you want to do a hands-free, voice-based activation of Cortana … over Bluetooth. Oddly, I don’t have a way to test that. But I don’t believe this works because in order to activate Cortana on Android with voice (“Hey Cortana”), you have to be in the app. You can’t do it when you’re in another app, or when you’re on the home screen. Adding Bluetooth to the mix won’t help with that, of course. So you’re going to be touching the phone regardless.

Does this work on iPhone?

Nope. Sorry. Cortana will always work better on Android than on iPhone because it is able to integrate more deeply with the OS. For example, you can configure an Android phone to launch Cortana instead of Google Assistant when you press and hold on the Home button. You cannot do that on the iPhone.

How is the Invoke doing update wise? I got Microsoft credit for my music pass and was looking at picking it up as it would be effectively $60 for me. Is there a good forum to follow for this device yet? Thoughts?

If I had answered this question a week ago, I would have said that nothing has changed: The speaker quality is excellent, but Cortana was lacking from a capabilities perspective, especially for home automation tasks. But Microsoft just updated Cortana to support IFTT and more smart home devices, and the situation has improved pretty dramatically. So I will be writing about that soon.

$100 is a great price for the Invoke. If you can get it for less than that, I’d check it out.

Anti-virus, anti-malware

johnlavey asks:

Every time I have a problem with my computer (laptop or desktop) and I contact HP or Dell Support…..they tell me that I need another virus/malware program in addition to Windows Defender. Are they telling me the truth or trying to get me to buy another virus detection program? Should I be using MalWare Bytes? Should I believe the web sites that tell me who sells the best virus detection/malware program? Am I asking too many questions?

Is Windows Defender enough protection for my needs?

My standard line here is that all you need is “Windows Defender and common sense.” Certainly, Windows Defender is enough for my needs. And for my family’s needs. My wife and kids just use Defender too.

But I have friends, smart friends, who routinely seem to run afoul of viruses and malware. I don’t know what they (or you) are doing. But having an anti-malware scanner at the ready is a solid idea. It’s not something you need to run continuously or even regularly. But every so often, it’s not a bad idea to scan your PC. And as Jim Champlin noted, Defender with Malwarebytes is indeed a good combo.

On a semi-related note, I was surprised to see that Defender flagged some malware, on Windows 10 S, no less, recently on one of my PCs. (Even odder: This PC is the one I use for the book, so it’s as clean as it can be.) But Defender took care of it without any drama.

Resubscribe to Outlook.com Premium

Darekmeridian asks:

Could Brad or Paul clarify the situation with Outlook Premium. I thought it was becoming part of Office 365 but I am getting first a cancellation notice then a renewal (30 day grace period) notice from Microsoft. Not sure if I should renew or just wait until it’s integrated?

Like you, I received a rather alarming email about my Outlook.com Premium subscription expiring recently as well. It noted that I will lose my premium benefits, including my personalized email address (custom domain) if I did not renew it.

But like you, I am an Office 365 (Home) subscriber. And I know that Microsoft last Fall announced that it was killing Outlook.com Premium and rolling some “premium Outlook.com” features into Office 365 Home and Personal.

The question is … which features?

Looking at the Office 365 website, I see that it mentions a “premium Outlook.com experience” with “advanced protection against phishing and malware for up to 5 Outlook.com accounts, plus no ads and a 50 GB mailbox.” So if that’s all you needed from Outlook.com Premium, you will not need to resubscribe.

If, however, you were using the custom domain support, and you acquired that domain through Outlook.com Premium, you will need to resubscribe.

I am using the custom domain support. But I did not acquire it via Outlook.com Premium; this is a domain I’ve used for years. Do I need to resubscribe to keep the custom domain working with Outlook.com Premium? That, curiously, is unclear. But since it is so inexpensive, i decided to just renew it. What the heck.

And then it failed when I tried to do so. Classic. So I’m not sure what will happen when my 30-day grace period expires.

Microsoft’s first PWA?

hrlngrv asks:

If PWAs are going to be the future of the MSFT Store, if MSFT were going to lead by example, what do you predict will be the first MSFT PWAs?

We know that Microsoft Teams will be released as a PWA sometime this year. But if I’m dreaming and Microsoft really was going to lead by example, it should have first-class PWAs in-box in Windows 10, perhaps starting with RS5 (version 1809). My first choices would be Mail, Calendar, and People.

That said, I don’t see this happening.

Will Microsoft try to compete in the phone market again?

MartinusV2 asks:

Since Microsoft is adding support for PWA in the next update of Windows, would Microsoft this time, decide to make another attempt in the phone market? And succeed?

No. That ship has sailed: Android and iPhone collectively have several billion users and strong ecosystems, and they will support PWA just as well as anything Microsoft could make.

But Microsoft isn’t giving up on mobile. And while I don’t think this is a good idea necessarily, there is every indication that the company is set to release some device, running some version of Windows 10, that sits somewhere between a traditional smartphone and a traditional PC. So they will almost surely try to create some new category of mobile device. One that is not a phone, but could have some phone-like features.

Windows 10 “full” light mode

jimchamplin asks:

Have you heard anything giving an idea on when the full light mode with white Taskbar is arriving?

I guess the question here really is whether Microsoft will ever let users fully customize the Windows 10 user interface. There are weird limits to which UI elements can pick up the accent color in the selected theme/app mode today, and after seeing some minor improvements early on, that work seems to have ground to a halt in the last few Windows 10 versions. (For example, you can use the accent color in Start, the taskbar, and Action Center, but it has to be all three; you can’t individually choose where it appears.)

This is semi-related to my fundamentals thing (above). And you could even make an accessibility case for this type of customization. Maybe doing so would get them moving on this.