tools, including MetaX,
but none of them seem to
offer an easy way to remove
existing tags, merely replace
them with other tags. What’s
the simplest way to remove
these tags? All my files are in
MP4 format.
—Bryn KolawskiTHE DOCTOR RESPONDS: The
solution is closer than you
think, Bryn. You can strip
title metadata from MP 4 files
using Windows Explorer.
Once you’ve identified a
folder containing these
items, select all the files
inside it, right-click them and
choose Properties. Switch
to the Details tab where you
should see the Title tag has
a Value, whether that’s a
single title across all files or,
more likely, (Multiple Values).
At the bottom, you’ll
see a ‘Remove Properties
and Personal Information’
link. Click this to open a
new window. Here, select
‘Remove the following
properties from this file’ and
tick Title before clicking OK.
A File Explorer window will
open and each file will have
its tag removed and then be
saved. The process can take
several minutes, depending
on the file size, so be patient.
Once complete, click
OK, then navigate to the TV
show’s entry within the Plex
web interface. Roll your
mouse over its artwork and
click the vertical ellipsis
button that pops up. Choose
‘Refresh Metadata’ and wait
for the process to complete.
Once done, navigate to the
show that was displaying the
wrong title and you should
see it now displays the
correct episode info.Can’t bypass login
I purchased and downloaded
a new copy of Windows 10
Home. During the install
process, I was forced to
create a PIN knowing that
post-install I’d be able to
use netplwiz to untick the
box ‘Users must enter a
username and password
to use this computer’ tobypass the login screen
going forward. Imagine my
surprise when I discovered
the option was missing, even
though the netplwiz hidden
Control Panel was otherwise
identical to older Windows
installations. Where has it
gone? —Ivars AkmenkalnsTHE DOCTOR RESPONDS:
Believe it or not, the option’s
absence is by design. Later
versions of Windows 10
introduced Windows Hello,
which offers a range of
password-less sign-in
options, including PIN,
plus facial and fingerprint
recognition. When you
choose one of these features
during the install process,
Windows flicks the ‘Require
Windows Hello sign-in for
Microsoft accounts’ switch
to On, which results in the
option being removed.
The good news is that
you can restore the option
without disabling Windows
Hello. Simply navigate to
‘Settings > Accounts >
Sign-in options’ and flick the
switch to off. When you next
open netplwiz, the option
should be available again.
If it’s still missing,
open Registry Editor and
navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_
MACHINE\SOFTWARE\
Microsoft\Windows
NT\CurrentVersion\
PasswordLess\Device, then
change the DevicePassword
LessBuildVersion value to- Close Registry Editor and
reboot—the option should
have been restored.
Boot Camp upgrades
What options do the millions
of Intel Mac users using
Boot Camp to run Windows
10 have for upgrading to
Windows 11? —Morris PomeyTHE DOCTOR RESPONDS:The
answer is, sadly, to look
elsewhere. With its switch to
M1 chips, Apple has phased
out support for Boot Camp
entirely as M1 Macs can only
run an ARM build of Windows- Currently, this is still
in preview, so not officially
supported. The problem with
older Intel-based Macs is
that while later models ship
with processors with TPM
2.0, the Mac motherboard
doesn’t support it. With
Windows 10 supported until
2025, and Apple moving away
from Intel chips, it looks like
official support for running
Windows on the Mac is
coming to an end.
Prior to its official release,
websites such as Apple
Insider (https://appleinsider.
com/articles/21/06/25/intel-
macs-cant-run-windows-11-
without-this-workaround)
revealed ways of hacking the
Windows 10 ISO installer to
bypass the TPM 2. 0 check
and make it possible to
install Windows 11 through
Boot Camp. But there’s no
guarantee the workaround
will continue to work.
If you’re looking to
run Windows 11 on an
Intel-based Mac to run
specific apps, then the most
realistic approach is to
invest in Parallels Desktop
($79. 99 standalone, $99. 99
annual Pro subscription,
see http://www.parallels.com).
This virtualization software
creates a ‘virtual’ TPM
chip to meet the Windows
11 TPM 2 .0 requirement.
Performance isn’t as fast as
a native install, but it can be
seamlessly integrated into
your Mac environment. And
when Microsoft releases the
Windows 11 ARM build, it will
work on M1 Macs too.Drive storage query
It’s time to replace the hard
disk I use for extra backup.
Due to over-provisioning, I
have two choices. Should I
use the WD Black dated 2013
or the WD Blue dated 20 20?
Both are still in their original
packaging and have the same
capacity. —Pete RequeTHE DOCTOR RESPONDS: The
Doc would not recommend
storing a hard drive for
eight years unused. Hard
drives have a finite shelf life,
depending on how they’re
stored and how often the
data is accessed on them.
Once a drive is in use, it’s
considered good practice
to power it up at least once
every five years to make
sure its moving parts are in
working order, and that the
data on the drive isn’t subject
to magnetic field decay (the
field is refreshed by reading
and writing data to the drive).
The longer a drive is left
unused or unopened, the
greater the risk it won’t
work. That said, there are
plenty of reports of people
firing up PCs that have lain
unused for ten years or more
with no apparent ill-effects.
Perhaps given your over-
provisioning you could use
the opportunity to use both
drives: the newer one to
replace your extra backup,
and then test the older drive
by using it for a few months
as a fail-safe backup for the
newer drive. If you’re able to
verify that it’s still working
after 3-6 months, you can
then decide whether you can(^) © trust it on its own merits.
ME
MT
ES
T^8
6
Memtest 86 doesn’t beat around the bush if it detects corrupt RAM.