But basics first. don’t run Unblock-File on the server. Your “Scans” share isn’t an Internet-downloaded file scenario, so there’s nothing to “unblock,” and doing it on the server won’t change what File Explorer thinks about a remote path.

Basically, Windows’ new behavior treats remote locations more strictly for previews. Mapped drives like G: (SMB/UNC) can be seen as Internet unless you mark the server/range as Local intranet. That’s why Preview is blocked even though there’s no MotW (MotW = inyternet downloaded files).

I recommend that you mark the file server as Local intranet (if you trust the server, it is safe thing to do):

1. Press Win + R > inetcpl.cpl.

2. Security tab > Local intranet > Sites.

3. Check Automatically detect intranet network (and/or Include all network paths (UNCs)).

4. Click Advanced… and add your server or IP range, e.g.:

   • \\fileserver (sometimes you must use the FQDN)
   • or 192.168.1.*

After changin, close all Explorer windows (or restart Windows) and reopen File Explorer.

I also have a POwershell script you can use if you don’t like the above approach (since you are not familiar with PowerShell, I’d recommend that you follow the above method):

$k = "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Ranges\Range1"
New-Item $k -Force | Out-Null
New-ItemProperty $k -Name ":Range" -Value "192.168.1.0-192.168.1.255" -PropertyType String -Force | Out-Null
New-ItemProperty $k -Name "file" -Value 1 -PropertyType DWord -Force | Out-Null

• Add a named host (if you use a DNS name/FQDN):

$host = "fileserver"   # change to your server name or FQDN
$k = "HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains\$host"
New-Item $k -Force | Out-Null
New-ItemProperty $k -Name "file" -Value 1 -PropertyType DWord -Force | Out-Null

(second potential workaround):

If you can’t change zones as I highlighted above, you need to copy copy to a local folder. (e.g., to Downloads\Scans) and preview there.

$src = "G:\Scan Folder"
$dst = Join-Path $HOME "Downloads\Scans"
robocopy $src $dst *.pdf /XO /R:0 /W:0

Preview works locally because there’s no “remote” classification., but I understand it defeats the purpose of quickly viewing files from the server in your File Explorer. So maybe, try changing the zones?

Any advice you can provide would be GREATLY appreciated!

I think they still work.

Open the context menu and hold “Alt”

Is that what you want?

Does it help?

To find user profile folder name, just open PowerShell and run echo $HOME

Still willing to help you out. Let me know your questions (we’re ALL beginners at some point!)

Would please do me a favor?

I have opened a feedback on microsoft feedback portal for Edge mobile and asked them to add custom DNS feature.

If you agree to this feature please go to the link below and vote for it. Thank you

Here’s what my users looks like, not sure which one to click

In this case, mayan is my username.

You have to replace it with your username

Go to C drive

Open Users folder

You’ll see a folder name you will recognise

That’s your username.

If you still don’t get it, I am going to update the story with new instructions, and better solution than doing this.

Please wait few hours.

?

Why do I have Notepad as an option when I right-click on an image? Why do we have so many options for the same task? Paint, Clipchamp, Photos. And ‘Ask Copilot’? While you can remove Ask Copilot from the context menu, it should have been an option in the Settings of the Copilot app.

I do remember that Microsoft admitted that the context menus from Windows 10 had issues, as they were too long. The whole point of the new context menu was to simplify it. What happened in recent Windows releases?

I can’t expect devs to do better when Microsoft has Notepad as an option in the context menu.

Microsoft can take notes from Quick Actions in Windows 11:

Just like how we can arrange or organize Quick Actions, perhaps there could be an option to do the same for the context menu?

What do you think?

What is “Compare info for both files”?

Compare info for both files is a contextual conflict-resolution feature in the Windows File Explorer. The option shows up when you copy or move a file or multiple files to a destination that contains a file with the same name.

The feature allows you to manually compare the source file and the destination file before you want to replace the latter, skip moving or copying, or to keep them both.

The dialogue box also includes the “Replace the file in the destination” option, which you can choose if you do not want the file in the destination, and selecting it would, of course, delete the file. The “Skip this file” option would simply avoid copying or moving the source file to the destination folder.

But if you want to check the file properties to decide which one to keep, you’ll need the “Compare info for both files” feature.

When you click the “Compare info for both files” option while pasting a file into a destination folder that contains a file with the same name, a side-by-side comparison window opens, asking which files you want to keep.

There are check boxes that allow you to choose the files from the source folder or the destination folder, or both.

If you choose the file from the source folder, it will replace the file in the destination folder, and if you choose the check box with the Files already in the destination folder option, it will skip the Copy or Move action.

Selecting both the check boxes and clicking Continue will add the source file to the destination with a new name. It’s actually the same name with a “(n)” added at the end of the name, where “n” is the number of times the file has been copied or moved.

You can make an informed decision from the comparison window, as it shows the Date and Time when each file was created, and also has the File size as well. This proved very useful while I was copying and moving edited photos, which had similar names to the raw photos.

The window also shows previews of both files, but not all files are supported, and the previews for images are too small for my liking. Also, it’s in the legacy design with the white background, despite my system using dark more, but we expect that to change soon.

Windows 11 KB5065789 or newer updates broke the button for some users

In Build 26200.6725, or newer, “Compare info for both files” button does nothing. It won’t show the second pop-up that actually compares the two files.

There’s also a Feedback Hub post on the topic, and Microsoft is likely aware of it already.

But if you’re affected, try removing KB5065789 and directly installing Windows 11 October 2025 Update.

Do you have other issues after recent updates? Let me know in the comments below.

When the October 2025 Update for Windows 10 (KB5066791) and Windows 11 (KB5066835) shipped, we noticed that File Explorer’s Preview Pane stopped working. This was very odd. I mean, you can still turn on Preview pane from the options menu (see the screenshot below), but it’ll not be able to preview downloaded files.

If you try to preview the files, let’s say, a PDF, it’ll display a security alert: The file you are attempting to preview could harm your computer. If you trust the file and the source you recieved it from, open it to view its contents.

See the screenshot below. I can no longer view the file I downloaded from an external source. In this case, I downloaded the file from SharePoint:

But what about the PDFs I created on my PC? They still load.

Turns out it’s NOT a known issue. But it’s a feature. Microsoft disabled the Preview pane in File Explorer for download files to limit potential security risks.

The reason behind this move is to stop possible leaks of NTLM credential hashes when previewing downloaded files. When Explorer tried to show a preview of a file, it could indirectly allow the system to send sensitive authentication data to remote servers.

MIcrosoft’s solution is to disable previews in Explorer. This will prevent the attack method.

You can turn off this security feature by modifying your registry, but I don’t recommend doing that. Instead, if you trust the folder where you save your downloaded files, you can just unblock it by running the following script in PowerShell:

 Unblock-File -Path "C:\Users\admin\Documents\*.pdf"

Let me know if you’ve a question. I’ve asked Microsoft for more details, but for now, this is the only workaround.

As for other issues in Windows 11 October 2025 Update, Microsoft confirmed LocalHost problems are fixed via a server-side patch. For Windows Recovery issues, we’ve a new emergency update (Windows 11 KB5070773).

Are you aware of other issues in the update?

While it was not really offline, we never posted anything. This changes today. We’ll be posting on the forum, actively encouraging discussions, and perhaps… some news/how-to/interesting tidbits will now be exclusive to the forum.

We have also added the forum to the homepage, so you can now see the most recent discussion.

Also, the login process has now been updated. If you already had an account, you’ll now need to link it to the new process. You just need to enter the same username, and it should be good to go. But if you run into problems, send me a private message. I’ll look into it.

Admin:

tips about Windows 11

Yes, here’s my tip: only ever install Windows 10 LTSC (it’s Volume License, Enterprise); because Windows 11 is too-convoluted - and filled with trash, like Appx Modules and all that. The direction which they have taken isn’t for me..

EDIT: Everything’s a Service now, instead of neatly separate (little) apps and software, like things used to be, and so on and so forth

P.S. You know, how Microsoft is adamant about Permissions… security. Only problem is that it’s non-existent on the NTFS file system, doesn’t matter if the disk [partition] is MBR, GPT. If you mount it anywhere - such as a Linux system - files can be simply read, and that’s that; so, >everything< that they do is kinda retarded, meh ;$

EDIT: Even BitLocker can be [easily] defeated; ok, granted there is physical access to machine, but still. Aanyway

@

Network Activity Indicator for Windows 7-10 - IT Samples

Hi o/ guys! Remember normal forum software… such as phpBB, vBulletin, Invision -Community- right?

And, so, I’ve opened [Profile] Preferences here to configure whatever and this is what the “Interface” section is showing me; I’m just posting for kicks, because it’s amusing how I’d need to RTFM in order to [even try to] comprehend what these are:

Enable defer to mark topics unread

• Dafuq does that mean?

Automatically unpin topics when I reach the bottom.

• Yeah, ok; unpin, from where? Why?

Hide my public profile and presence features

• Huh? The CIA’s trying to kill me?

Show counts on browser icon

• As opposed to showing it, somewhere (else)? What, which counts? Why, ffs? LOL

Background page title displays count of:

• Ugh, background page?.. title? Whaa??

After a bookmark reminder notification is sent:

• Um, fixing to mess with more of my options? xD TF, LOL!

Skip new user onboarding tips and badges

• WHAT?! :o

Alright, cool! That’s it, not even going to try and talk about the “Tracking” section of Preferences as it is >entirely< unreadable… especially when compared to that other ^^ forum software, where everything is laid out nicely and perfectly understandable (as well as easily manageable)

Vividprofessional:

do you have KB5062553 installed? that is causing us some rather groovy issues atm

Yes i have KB5062553 installed, but i had this problem since i installed 24h2 back in late february early march. I think my solution is as @Mayank mention, a fresh install of Windows 11.

What you’re experiencing cannot be fixed without OS refresh. It’s a performance issue.

Or you can just try your luck and download KB5062660 - see if it helps. There was a bug in the May 2025 update that affected system stability. It’s now resolved in KB5062660.

If that doesn’t help, just refresh Windows. Worth your time. I’m also planning to do it this weekend

Have you tried rebuilding the search index?

Have you tried using the Index Troubleshooter?

Also, is there any chance you’re using a script to block requests to Bing/Microsoft or anything?

Fixed: This update enhances the reliability of Windows Search and resolves an issue that prevented users from typing in Windows Search in some cases.

To answer your questinn, Microsoft is not aware, and instead, they’ve confirmed the search issues that other people had are actually resolved in your update.

Unless you’ve an AI PC, the AI related privacy or firewall changes do not affect your installation.

We are seeing some strange issues with Windows 11 24H2 and in particular KB5062553.
This has been set up as a new build over a number of machines, various Makes and Models. The only true common part is the fact that all the machines have Intel CPU’s, but again different generations and Office 365 installed.
We are seeing issues where if you type in the windows search on the task bar or the start menu it sits with a blank menu with a blue bar over the top as if it is searching but nothing at all ever comes up.
We have tried to clear the search via various methods, turning on/off advanced search etc, all machines are fully up to date (26.100.4770)
These machines seem to work find for a few hours/days and then this issue starts.
If we re-install the issue returns within a few hours or at the most a day.
We have tried local users, removing and adding local users, user levels (admin/user) as well as domain joined users (admin/user).
THE only way is to remove KB5062553, but as this is not removable a new Windows Image has been created.

Is MS aware of any issues or has anyone seen these issues out in the wild or is it just us?

Could something have changed around the AI Search which need additional Firewall Ports.

VP

Asus Rog Strix B650E-F Gaming WIFI || Gigabyte GeForce RTX 4080 16GB Gaming OC || Amd Ryzen 7 7800X3D || Corsair 32GB DDR5 5200MHz CL40 Vengeance RGB Amd Expo || Samsung 990 PRO M.2 NVMe SSD 1TB & 2TB || ASUS ROG Strix Aura 850W.

Ive been thinking about reinstall windows 11 like you mention. Just need to find some time

i dont have this issue, but i do an have issue where the Settings page (Home) loads slow, and sometimes it’s stuck on loading. I’ve a perfectly capable PC. What might work in your favour is clean install. use Media creation tool and reinstall Windows. Make sure you keep all files and settings option checked.

Does someone else have this issue, have you somehow fixed it to behave normal and fast? Fill me in

Slow pop-up meny on start-meny

Therefore, I would like to request your assistance in downgrading my system to Windows 11 Version 23H2 (OS Build 22631.5335), which was more stable and compatible with my workflow.

I’ll check the optional updates next week, and try it. I can always go back (even though it takes several hours, sigh).

I suggest pausing updates for now.

I can’t find any reliable information about this problem anywhere, and have no idea what Microsoft plans to do about it (if anything). Hoping Windows Latest can help!

There is a simple and useful tool for windows 10/11 that shows network speed and cpu/gpu temprature.

Give it a try:

I hope microsoft create a widget for taskbar to show network speed like this app.