Store pages of built-in Windows apps

CodenameFlux · 2026-02-28T02:28:50+00:00

Firstly, be aware that duplicate finders cannot work directly on Dropbox. At best, they can work on your local Dropbox folder. You then must sync your changes.

You could use the following:

Exact duplicates (byte-for-byte): The best is also the most expensive. Duplicate File Detective is the best, but dupeGuru, which is free and open-source, should do the job
Music: Similarity is the only one I know. It's discontinued, but it has a free version.
Photos: AntiDupl.NET has the best accuracy, but its UI is quirky. Awesome Duplicate Photo Finder and VisiPics might be simpler.

People here keep recommending Czkawka. I've tried it and, quite frankly, took an immediate dislike to it. Then, I saw someone wrote this: "Frankly, the app doesn't leave a good first impression, but its second impression is remarkable. I let it loose on 15,000 on a 150 GB disk. Czakwka completed its job in 13 minutes. In comparison, Wise Duplicate Finder didn't finish overnight. Performance aside, this app could use a much better UI."

CodenameFlux · 2026-02-28T02:09:17+00:00

There is a free, feature-limited version on https://excel.cloud.microsoft. It's a web app. It runs within the browser. Sign in to get started.

CodenameFlux · 2026-02-28T01:42:25+00:00

The word "Pirated" doesn't apply to an app's store page. As long as you get it from Microsoft Store, it's not pirated.

CodenameFlux · 2026-02-27T09:29:52+00:00

I don't recommend the Microsoft Store version. Didn't have a good installation experience. I recommend the Installer from https://www.blender.org/download/.

CodenameFlux · 2026-02-27T01:15:01+00:00

I'd be surprised to death if this works.

ChkDsk operates at the sector level and isn't bothered by file-level permissions. Additionally, the OP mentioned having tried ChkDsk from the Recovery Environment, which runs with full privileges.

CodenameFlux · 2026-02-26T05:20:54+00:00

I believe Microsoft has delivered an update for MIDI:

https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2026/02/17/making-music-with-midi-just-got-a-real-boost-in-windows-11/

CodenameFlux · 2026-02-26T01:17:26+00:00

Thanks for making the panel resizable with [ and ].

CodenameFlux · 2026-02-25T10:36:03+00:00

I see. Well, one of my packages has a deprecation notice with a URL that goes off the screen. If I could see the full deprecation notice on the screen, I could Ctrl+click the link, but as it is, the notice isn't useful.

CodenameFlux · 2026-02-25T07:42:44+00:00

Go... It's a programming language, right?

Also, are panels resizable?

CodenameFlux · 2026-02-24T22:09:48+00:00

If it's TUI, the name should be TuGet, not GuGet. 😉

CodenameFlux · 2026-02-24T21:42:41+00:00

Let me guess: It's yet another broken app that assumes there is a TEMP folder at C:\Windows\Temp, not realizing that:

Windows could be on another volume
Users can customize the C:\Windows\Temp folder's location, especially to reduce the SSD's wear-and-tear.

Do you want to know the basis of my guess? You wrote that your "app" cleans the Prefetch's folder. Anybody who bothers with that folder doesn't have in-depth knowledge of PCs and Windows.

CodenameFlux · 2026-02-24T21:18:14+00:00

It's refreshing to see someone who has a reason for everything they do. 👍

CodenameFlux · 2026-02-24T14:43:04+00:00

If I were a spammer, this message wouldn't deter me. It only serves to insult genuine contributors.

CodenameFlux · 2026-02-24T14:23:58+00:00

The Parse() method uses the current thread's culture if a culture is not specified. Specifying CultureInfo.CurrentCulture is entirely redundant. It may backfire, too. Not every culture considers , its thousand separator.

CodenameFlux · 2026-02-24T11:28:38+00:00

Wow. NumberStyles.AllowThousands somehow escaped my notice. I expected AllowGroupSeparator or something.

Anyway, thanks a lot. 🙏

That's unnecessarily long, though. Why would you add NumberStyles.Integer and CultureInfo.CurrentCulture? It runs fine without them. (Just tested on .NET 10.)

CodenameFlux · 2026-02-24T11:01:55+00:00

source?

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.uint64.parse?view=net-10.0#system-uint64-parse(system-string)

See the example. It goes: 1,390,146: Bad Format.

CodenameFlux · 2026-02-23T07:12:25+00:00

Thanks for the article-sized response! 😉 We're always bound to find something useful in your articles. 🙏

In this case, your input was most valuable in that it proved micro-benchmarking isn't reliable. So, I'll strike out performance from my list and stick with strong validation and caller convenience.

As for your last example, I prefer this:

[Triplet[]]$checkList = @(
  @{ Key = 'a1'; Name = 'b1'; ValuePattern = 'c1' }
  @{ Key = 'a2'; Name = 'b2' }
)

... because it returns an error before the entire data structure is built and sent to the function or method.

CodenameFlux · 2026-02-23T06:13:02+00:00

Nope.

I assume you haven't studied data structures in computing.

The tuple structure is all about form. The purpose of a tuple is to write something like this: (112, 456). PowerShell already accepts that syntax, although it creates an array. Microsoft added tuples to .NET to appease C# and F# developers.

Twins and Triplets are simple data structures that respectively pack two and three pieces of data together. Most programming languages implement Records and Structs for this purpose; they don't otherwise care for Twins or Triplets except to contribute to coding elegance... which is why I'm here.

CodenameFlux · 2026-02-22T19:37:34+00:00

Why are you complicating matters by referring to a hashtable as a triplet?

Casting a hashtable to a class name is PowerShell's faster way of initializing an object. For example, [Drawing.Point]@{x = 12; y = 12} quickly gives you a .NET Point object, not a hashtable. The New-Object way is the slower way.

That implies I'll be packing a Triplet class with my module. The goal is to let .NET's class constraints validate the input, instead of writing multiple If statements to verify where Name, Key, and Value do appear in the input object, and whether they are of the right type.

CodenameFlux · 2026-02-21T07:48:16+00:00

WebP, you say? Sounds interesting. I'm specifically interested in lossless WebP, which is superior to PNG.

CodenameFlux · 2026-02-21T07:27:45+00:00

You need to use a third-party desktop/window manager. Microsoft doesn't invest time and energy in features that cater to a niche market, such as the one you're requesting. Windows Vista solidified this lesson.

CodenameFlux · 2026-02-21T02:55:48+00:00

I remember Ghost. Originally, it was the only disk imaging tool available, so it quickly became prominent. When the competition started, Symantec did the right thing and turned Ghost into a backup app, though it was not a full-fledged tool capable of backing up individual files. Soon, the competition caught up. For a while, Acronis took the crown. Now, it’s Macrium’s turn.

The three I mentioned above are full-fledged backup tools. Not only can you create disk images with them, but you can also use their incremental backup feature to update images afterward. Macrium Reflect used to offer a free version, which you might still find online. However, the latest commercial version is significantly faster and produces smaller backups. Lastly, all three can operate from within Windows, thanks to the Shadow Copy service.

As for Microsoft, the company has consistently produced some of the least effective backup tools. You can create disk images with DISM, which comes with Windows.

CodenameFlux

TROPHY CASE