Ask Paul: December 11 (Premium)

Happy Friday! In this week’s Ask Paul, we look at locally store music, account sync, Microsoft 365, Outlook.com and Outlook on the Web, and a lot more.

Local music

Cdorf asks:

Have you settled anywhere with your local music collection? I know with Google changing to YouTube they changed the auto-upload feature that was available. I have music that I ripped that isn’t available on Spotify (my go to streaming service). I used to use Groove to stream from OneDrive and then Google Music after that. I have been experimenting with different options like Roon, Plex, Synology, etc to come up with a hybrid approach where I can play any of my local music collection or stream. I like Roon but it is ridiculously expensive at 14.99 a month which only gives you the option to stream your own music. Plex is cheaper but isn’t as intelligent — constantly reading incorrect tags in the FLAC files. Synology is just kind of meh.

I don’t really play locally- (or home network-) stored music anymore, but I do have my pre-streaming/ripped MP3 collection on my NAS, and it’s uploaded to iTunes Match (for which I pay $25 per year). I could access that content in a variety of ways—Plex, as you note, and others—but it’s kind of archival at this point.

What I did do years ago was upload all of it to Google Play Music. This was probably unnecessary as most of my collection is available via the services, which I was paying for. Google Play Music, of course, evolved into YouTube Music, and I am using that now. So that music I uploaded is still there, and any music I may want to upload in the future would go there as well.

Regarding uploading to YouTube Music, Google allows non-paying users to upload their music to the service, and they can “play uploaded songs in the background, ad-free and offline – even if you are not currently a YouTube Music Premium subscriber.” Premium subscribers (like myself) “can also cast uploaded content or play it from smart speakers and Sonos.” I recommend giving it a shot. Even if you end up paying for it, it’s just $9.99 per month and that includes ad-free YouTube video playback, which is amazing, plus access to all the music videos on YouTube, also amazing.

Windows 10 account sync

brothernod asks:

Is there an official way to easily migrate users, data and installed applications from an old laptop to a new one? I recently migrated my entire family to new iphones and the experience (where the new phone notices the old one nearby, then pairs and grabs all the stuff) is just shockingly good and I’m struggling to believe Microsoft doesn’t have something similar. Recognizing that’s giving them too much credit, do you have any suggestions for the easiest way to do this? I always worry about missing something when doing this for friends and family.

This sort of came up on First Ring Daily recently, the notion that Windows 10 has a very vague and limited set of settings that it syncs, and that, because of that, every time one signs-in to a new PC, they have to manually reconfigure numerous settings. The problems here are obvious: Only an arbitrary and limited set of settings actually sync, Microsoft doesn’t explicitly document which settings sync, the number of settings that do sync hasn’t changed in several years, and there’s no web portal in the Microsoft Account website that lets you revert to factory defaults or micromanage which settings sync on the fly. Because I review so many PCs, I run into this dozens of times per year, so I’m perhaps overly-familiar with the problem.

To answer your question, there’s no good way to fix this. That said, it’s somewhat mitigated by the fact that most people don’t switch PCs (buy a new PC, reset a PC, etc.) all that often, and if they have to configure some settings once every several years, that’s not too onerous.

What I’ve found in my use is that syncing data via OneDrive solves the bigger issue, which is making sure that the documents and other files you need every day are always available, no matter which PC or device you use. Other issues, like the settings sync and application install issues you mention, are just never going to get the same level of attention from Microsoft, especially for consumers.

For whatever it’s worth, this is a problem with Office, too. When you sign-in to Office with your Microsoft account, some limited number of settings do sync. But it’s not documented at all, and the vast majority of settings just don’t sync.

Ultimately, mobile platforms—not just Android and iOS, but also Chrome OS—just do a better job with this, in part because they’re newer and simpler.

Microsoft 365 apps

staganyi asks:

I haven’t looked at the installer for MS365 office desktop apps in a while but does it still force you to install all apps in the suite? For example, I do not need Access, Outlook or Publisher. I know the impact is minimal but I like to keep my PCs clean.

Not for consumers: You have to install it all. But as wright_is mentions, commercial customers have access to an Office Deployment Tool that, among other things, lets you “define which products and languages are installed” and “exclude specific applications” when installing the Microsoft 365 desktop applications. (You can also remove previously-installed applications if needed.)

Follow up, has MS ever given a roadmap update on the “go-forward” version of OneNote we should be using?

To my knowledge, Microsoft has never explicitly stated that it will only support one version of OneNote on desktop, and it currently supports two (with both security/quality and feature updates): The OneNote desktop application (which was previously called OneNote 2016) and OneNote for Windows 10.

When Microsoft announced one year ago that it was bringing back OneNote 2016 from the dead, so to speak, I speculated that it was possible that OneNote for Windows 10 might fall by the wayside. But that hasn’t happened, and both versions have been updated throughout the intervening time. And publicly, Microsoft just says that both are supported and that it’s your choice.

I happen to prefer OneNote for Windows 10 and do use that version daily.

Custom domain: Outlook.com or Outlook on the Web

SherlockHolmes asks:

I am using outlook.com with a personal domain that comes with my Microsoft 365. Just wondering are there some major differences to Microsoft Exchange Online aka Outlook on the web? Or is it nearly the same. When it is the same feature like, why keep both services around? Thanks.

The two services are similar in that they share the same underpinnings and the same basic web user interface. The biggest differences are tied to their respective audiences: Outlook.com is obviously aimed at consumers where Outlook on the Web is for commercial customers and so the latter has additional management/policy features that don’t apply to consumers. Plus a different set of mostly web-based applications.

But as an individual, there’s no advantage I’m aware of in moving from Outlook.com to Outlook on the Web, which would require a Microsoft 365 commercial account. Your Outlook.com account is already a Microsoft account and is tied to OneDrive, Xbox, and whatever other data. And using a Microsoft 365 commercial account is much more complex.

Also, if you moved that domain to Microsoft 365 commercial, you’d probably pay more, unless you don’t need the Office desktop applications. Microsoft 365 Business Basic is just $5 in the U.S. (or £3.80 in the UK) per month, but the other SKUs are more expensive than Office 365 Personal or Family. (The consumer versions of Microsoft 365 make even more sense if there are two or more users.)

Edge bloat

MikaelKoskinen asks:

Why is Microsoft adding features like Coupons and Collections into Edge instead of releasing them as extensions? I mean things some users would call “bloat”? Don’t they worry that they alienate their pro users by adding these features? For me, less is more when we are talking about browsers. Performance, security and sync experience are the deciding factors. I really like Edge and have been using that as my main browser since last year and the newly added history sync was the only thing I was previously missing. But I worry about the direction where Edge is going.

I’m with you and I worry about this as well. And I agree that Microsoft is adding bloat to Edge and risks turning it into something undesirable.

That said, I suspect the rationale here is that typical consumers might benefit from these features, which I’m sure Microsoft sees as differentiators when compared to Chrome. And if they were extensions, few users would install them, even if they were somehow promoted during an Edge “first-run” experience. Microsoft is trying to gain usages by simply making them part of the product. I disagree with this approach.

But for power users such as yourself, the good news, at least so far, is that all of these new features can be disabled.

That said, there’s a secondary problem, and it’s tied to this week’s second question, about Windows 10 account sync: Edge likewise only syncs some subset of settings, and if you had previously disabled Coupons and Collections in Edge and then signed-in to a new PC, those features would be back. If Edge simply synced our preferences with regards to new features, we would only need to disable them once.

Configuring Windows 10

JustMe asks:

Back in December 2018 (hard to believe it was that long ago) you wrote an article detailing how you configure windows. I was wondering if in the intervening years between then and now you had changed that at all or kept it the same? Along the same lines (and in a similar time frame) you wrote an article about desktop applications, web apps and Store apps you rely on. Has that changed?

The basics are the same, but, yes, the overall process has evolved a bit as the Windows 10 Setup experience has changed in the intervening time. The article you refer to was derived from an update I had made to the Windows 10 Field Guide. I’m updating that book for version 20H2 right now, and this will be part of an upcoming update.

Recently bought a new Dell laptop for my wife which came with Windows 10 Home. After updating the OS (laptop came with 2004 Home, updated to latest 20H2 via Windows Update) and apps (via the store), I wanted to upgrade the OS to Windows 10 Pro. After logging in with my MSA, going to the store and purchasing the upgrade, it asked me if I was ready to install, which I was. The install, however, told me repeatedly to try again later when I attempted to install as there was an error or unexpected issue. Fine. Several iterations of trying to install later, I rebooted the laptop. Lo and behold, new features were installed and windows updated (even though the Store insisted there was an issue and to try later). Yay. EXCEPT – when I checked Settings -> System -> About, Windows tells me (for some reason) I am running Windows 10 *Enterprise*. Have you seen anything like this before or know what might cause this?

I have not, sorry. That’s … amazing.

I would try resetting it again, and possibly choosing to cloud download of Windows 10 to get it back to the right Windows 10 SKU. Unless, of course, you wish to stick with Enterprise.

Remove Microsoft advertising

wright_is asks:

Is there any way to disable the “advertising” in Office 365? This week it has started popping up a strip below the ribbon in, for example Outlook, advertising other Microsoft 365 services or to use Outlook Mobile. We already pay for Microsoft 365 and use the services we need. This is annoying our users and we keep getting calls. I’d some way of disabling this unwanted advertising.

I raised a stink about this some months back, but I’ve not seen this kind of advertising—a yellow message bar at the bottom of the ribbon—for quite some time. I recall someone from Microsoft arguing that this wasn’t advertising. I disagree.

You link to a potential fix, which appears to be specific to Microsoft 365 commercial. That interface isn’t available in the Office applications if you have Microsoft 365 Family or Personal, but if you navigate to Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Message Bar, it looks like unchecking “Show Policy Tips in the Message Bar. Turning this off will disable all Policy Tips unless your organization requires it” is a step in the right direction. And that, in turn, suggests that there is a policy that admins can configure in managed (commercial) environments like yours. But I’m no expert with that interface and searching for “Message Bar” turned up nothing, while a search for “Policy Tips” didn’t turn up anything relevant that I could see. (I wonder if your users can disable this manually in Outlook or whatever applications.)

Chris Cap

AnOldAmigaUser asks:

Are you going to request questions for Chris Capossela on Windows Weekly?

I asked Mary Jo about this, and … No. We only have Chris for a short period of time, and he always prepares a list of things to discuss in addition to the questions that Mary Jo, Leo, and I will have, so that doesn’t really leave any time for additional questions, sorry.

The future of cinemas

StevenLayton asks:

With the recent intentions and movement from movie studios of putting new movie releases straight to home streaming, what do you see for the future of cinemas in the long term? How do you think this will play out? Has Covid-19 changed that industry forever?

I think that the pandemic simply accelerated trends that were already in place, much as it did with working from home. In this case, many people already have home theater setups, elaborate or otherwise, and were, are now, and will continue to watch most content at home, and not in theaters. But I don’t see cinemas going away (like drive-in movies basically have). I just think it will be a smaller business overall, and that moviemakers will put more promotional emphasis where it belongs, creating a more heterogenous movie release schedule while moving away from the current tiered system where cinema had the first release window followed by physical and digital media.

I happen to prefer this new approach, and I’ve long said that I wish I could rent a first-run movie at home when it was being seen in theaters just so I could avoid the theater. What’s interesting is that we can do this now, and the cost is less than I imagined (usually about $20 vs. $30). Surely, this is better for movie studios over the long haul. Not better for cinemas, I guess, but they were always middlemen anyway. Now they’re much less necessary.