EPIC Games
Jurassic World Evolution 2
store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/jurassic-world-evolution-2

Jurassic World Evolution 2 is the much-anticipated sequel to Frontier’s ground-breaking 2018 management simulation, Jurassic World Evolution, offering an all new narrative campaign voiced by cast members from across the Jurassic World film franchise, exciting new features, four engaging game modes, and an expanded roster of awe-inspiring dinosaurs.
An Original Jurassic Story

Learn what it takes to be a park management master in Campaign mode, a compelling, original narrative that puts you at the heart of the action following the earth-shattering events of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Work alongside iconic characters from the films, including Dr. Ian Malcolm (voiced by Jeff Goldblum) and Claire Dearing (voiced by Bryce Dallas Howard), and lead the efforts to control, conserve, and contain wild dinosaurs now rampaging across the USA.
Create your own Jurassic World

Take control with deeper management tools and creative options. Construct a range of customisable new buildings and hire new Scientists, and shape your park to meet the needs of both your guests and dinosaurs. Unleash your creativity in Sandbox mode, or test your skills in Challenge mode as you deal with diverse locations and environmental calamities.
Play with Chaos Theory

Play through key moments of your favourite films - with a twist. Experience ‘what-if’ scenarios from iconic Jurassic World and Jurassic Park films, each level set across eras and locations from all five movies. Dive into the Jurassic World franchise and see how events unfold when you take control.
Discover Awe-Inspiring Dinosaurs

Over 75 different prehistoric species come to life in Jurassic World Evolution 2, including highly requested flying and marine reptiles. These animals feel more alive than ever as they preside over territory, fight for dominance, and react intelligently to the world around them. Use bioengineering to customise dinosaurs with bold new colours, and alter their genomes to unlock traits.

bleepingcomputer[.]com/news/microsoft/microsoft-march-2025-patch-tuesday-fixes-7-zero-days-57-flaws/

bleepingcomputer[.]com/news/microsoft/windows-11-kb5053598-and-kb5053602-cumulative-updates-released/

bleepingcomputer[.]com/news/microsoft/windows-10-kb5053606-update-fixes-broken-ssh-connections/

I haven't read of any problems yet, and the only thing I encountered was the Defender update and Malicious Software Removal tool kept showing up when I checked for updates in Win10 32-bit on my tablet.

... includes security updates for 57 flaws, including six actively exploited zero-day vulnerabilities.

This Patch Tuesday also fixes six "Critical" vulnerabilities, all remote code execution vulnerabilities.

The number of bugs in each vulnerability category is listed below:

23 Elevation of Privilege Vulnerabilities
3 Security Feature Bypass Vulnerabilities
23 Remote Code Execution Vulnerabilities
4 Information Disclosure Vulnerabilities
1 Denial of Service Vulnerabilities
3 Spoofing Vulnerabilities

neowin[.]net/software/onlyoffice-832/

onlyoffice[.]com/download-desktop.aspx

OnlyOffice is another free alternative. Feature-wise I'd put it between FreeOffice & LibreOffice. It's more approachable [less daunting] at first glance than LibreOffice, but more features than FreeOffice. It takes up a bit less than 650MB, installs a copy of the Microsoft C/C++ runtimes,adds the program's folder in Program Files, plus folders in ProgramData & Users\ [UserName]\ AppData\ Local\. It adds an update service to the registry, along with many file type associations, but other than that only 2 keys, one for uninstall & one for the app itself.

It's exciting to see Google's Windows Android emulator coming out of beta! With the whole Play Store eventually accessible on PC, it's a game-changer for Android gaming on Windows. It's great that AMD CPUs are now supported too, addressing one of the earlier limitations. Looking forward to seeing how it evolves!

Vole Office Ultimate is a portable app taking up ~225MB of disk space. I was surprised at first, starting this light weight app, since you're presented with what seems to be a blank screen -- click one of the headings to start the word processor etc. Depending on what you're after, it's workable, though if you're expecting a full-tilt office suite you'll be disappointed. The online Google Docs is of course one alternative, as is the open source LibreOffice, which also comes in a portable version, though the latest version is currently not available as a portable app. There's also a new release of SoftMaker FreeOffice available, which like the regular LibreOffice is a full installation with multiple folders, lots of new registry entries etc. You can however choose to install just one or two of the included office apps during the install routine.

libreoffice[.]org/download/download-libreoffice/

libreoffice[.]org/download/portable-versions/

neowin[.]net/software/softmaker-freeoffice-2024-rev-f1224/

3/17/25 only -- ends 3/18/25 at 8 AM [Est?]

Party Club

store.steampowered.com/app/2796010/Party_Club/

Play solo or with up to 4 friends in couch mode or online co-op mode, and turn your venue into the hottest spot in the region.

Greet customers at the door, choose their seats, and manage their satisfaction. If someone’s too much to handle, you can always give them the boot—literally!

3/17/25 only -- ends 3/18/25 at 1 PM [Est?]

Scheming Through The Zombie Apocalypse: The Beginning

store.steampowered.com/app/813540/Scheming_Through_The_Zombie_Apocalypse_The_Beginning/

Join retired salesman rabbit, Hank, and his canine pal, Larry, in part one of this story-driven game series as they use their knowledge of influence and persuasion to make their way through the apocalypse—without having to risk their own skin.

With a mixture of dark comedy and the use of real-life influence tactics, this story-driven game puts you behind the wheel of the characters’ choices. Can you convince a timid animal to enter dangerous looting locations? Will you risk your scavenger’s life for more resources?

I had the two exe files, just those two files in the Defender exclusion list and one disappeared anyway. I have .zip extension on the exclusion list. If I didn't, the time for a full scan would be much longer as that type of file is used a lot and always has been. It does seem to leave them alone.

I'll try to make it a habit to look at the start menu each time I open it to watch those two icons. Usually, the first indication is they change to the default icon (looks like a newspaper page - blue center and lines on both sides).

neowin[.]net/news/google-announces-more-android-games-for-pc-users-on-google-play-games/

android-developers.googleblog[.]com/2025/03/making-google-play-best-place-to-grow-pc-games.html

play.google[.]com/googleplaygames

Google's Windows Android emulator is coming out of beta this year, & will be available to everyone. And while initially there was only a small selection of games, the entire Play store is supposed to be available, though individual devs can opt out. According to the FAQ, it now works with AMD CPUs -- earlier versions did not like AMD at all.

neowin[.]net/news/windows-1110-is-flagging-winring0-on-your-pc-monitoring-fan-control-apps-heres-why/

WinRing0x64.sys is a driver used by hardware monitoring software. It was determined to be vulnerable to exploits in 2020 -- the versions I have that are used by my current software [e.g., OpenRGB] are dated 1/7/23 with v. 1.2.0.5 . A scan with Windows Defender does not show any problems. The Neowin article says that users are currently reporting that Defender's flagging the file as malware, and a quick Google seems to confirm this. I do not know if this was a glitch in a now replaced Defender definition file, or if the newer version I have is OK.

windowscentral[.]com/software-apps/windows-11/what-is-dismtools-and-how-do-you-get-started-windows-11-and-10-image-gui-manager-explained

github[.]com/CodingWonders/DISMTools

github[.]com/CodingWonders/DISMTools/releases
[Click Assets for download links]

DISM is kinda a super duper Swiss army tool/knife for Windows. It's also a bit cryptic to use and there's not much in the way of comprehensive documentation -- mostly what you see online are various user-made tutorials on how to run scans to repair Windows files. Most users will not ever have a need to bother with it, but if you find yourself in a situation where it's suggested, DISMTool might make it a whole lot easier, as a GUI for the DISM tool. The Windows Central article talking about DISMTool gives directions on how to install it using winget, but DISMTool is also available as a portable version downloaded as a .zip file from GitHub.

EPIC Games
Mortal Shell
store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/mortal-shell

Possess Lost Warriors
The lost remains of defeated warriors are yours to discover. Awaken these Mortal Shells, occupy their bodies, and master unique combat styles.

Iron Sharpens Iron
Combat is strategic, deliberate, and unforgiving. Commit your sword only when an opportunity opens.

Face Formidable Foes
Your path is guarded by adversaries, devoted to inscrutable gods. Behold creatures both pitiable and grotesque and muster your courage and face them down.

Well, if you're OK with just having a zipped copy of the files for when they're deleted, there's nothing wrong with that IMHO. In theory you could just do a manual scan with Defender and that would tell you if Defender just doesn't like the files. In practice however, there just isn't much info on Defender's Cloud Delivered security, which is turned on by default I think. From what little I've found it *seems* to be separate from the basic Defender engine, and may or may not share notifications or history with Defender. And having a file Zipped does not hide it from Defender, so if it is Defender itself, and not the cloud based service, I'd think you'd have lost those zipped copies by now. If you wanted to try turning it off, if the files no longer disappear you know it's the culprit. If you find out what's happening, which is going to be a hassle if you used Process Monitor for example, you can deal with it, but otherwise it's gonna be trial and error. One other thing that occurred to me that you might try, and I've no idea if it would make any difference, would be to right click the folder with the app, click properties -> advanced, and check the box for encryption. I don't know if that would deny access to whatever app or process is causing the headache, but it would be easy enough to make a Zipped copy of the folder, and if encryption made no difference, get rid of it and restore the old one [or turn off encryption, whichever's quickest/easiest].

I don't use CCleaner. The PC Mgr alternative I mentioned gets installed with the other Store apps, while KCleaner has a fully portable version that can be stored anywhere.

I should have specified that you'd need to create the C:\temp directory if it didn't exist or simply change that part of the command to a directory that already exists.

However, it really doesn't seem like a Windows Update issue because Windows Update would remove everything. It sounds like a security program is deleting it. Are you running any other malware/spyware programs?

You could try re-installing the program, download and run AdwCleaner from Malwarebytes to see if it complains about the program being a PUP and then run a dedicated Windows Defender scan.

The only other suggestion I have is don't run CCleaner as part of your normal routine until you've isolated the problem. It might be "cleaning" the log files that you need.

Edit - I'm wondering if you don't have the Defender notifications turned off (or, they somehow got switched off). I can't find where the "turn notifications on/off" switch is for Defender but it's probably in such an obvious location that I'll never find it.

That didn't get me anything!

Defender -> shows NOTHING after 9/23/24 (that may have been before I updated to Win 11)

Powershell -> last item was 2/15/25 (not a time I lost either program) - had a message of "Office 16 Click-to-run Licensing Component". There were 4 or 5 other dates listed - exact same message.

The other Powershell message gave me nothing understandable.

File Explorer -> There IS NO FOLDER called C:\Temp! I turned on hidden files and could not find it. I found a couple of temp folders here and there but no just plain Temp.

Anytime that Defender has ever found anything, it quarantines it and tells me that it has done it to give me a chance to remove the file or release it from Quarantine. It's never taken just ONE file from a folder.

As I indicated, I do not install into Program Files or Program Files (x86) unless there isn't a way around it easily. Off hand, the only products that don't allow me to specify or don't have an easy way to work around it are kindle (installs in the user area) and CCleaner (Program Files). I install into C:\Products with sub-folders for Basic, Games, General, and Hobbies. In this case, the two products are from Epubor and are in C:\Products\General\Epubor. There are several other Epubor products in that same folder that have never been touched. None of the other products in any other folder there has been touched.

I can't figure it out and can hope that the idea of making zipped backups of the two .exe files will at least make it easier to get them back if they go away again.

Obviously, tagging them as exclusions for Defender was useless.

BTW - I did contact Epubor and they're only suggestion was to install a product for them to access my computer remotely (not an option AT ALL to me). If it's intermittent, not much chance of it working anyway.

You *might* be able to find a log entry for a deleted file, though *if* I remember correctly you *might* have to set policy to log file deletions. I did a quick Google and could only come up with this:
insiderthreatmatrix[.]org/detections/DT003

Process Monitor will work, but not knowing when the file is going to be deleted [or moved/quarantined] you'd be capturing an awful lot of useless data, though the filtering should make it doable.

learn.microsoft[.]com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/procmon

There's an easy to use Microsoft app in the Store called PC Manager that you might take a quick look at for deleting those cache files. Personally I like KCleaner PRO, a prior GOTD -- filecr[.]com/windows/kc-softwares-kcleaner-pro/ Neither will do anything with the registry however.

Win11PrivacyFix has 3 one-click settings -- the default turns off a handful of different data collection methods. The main window has a long list of options on the right side, each with an *i* icon that provides info when you hover the mouse cursor over it. I only tried the default plus a few added options, and for each disabled option Win11PrivacyFix just turned off that feature in the registry, e.g., turning a value from 1 to o. At the end of the list are a few options to tweak Windows appearance. EDY asked if one or more settings could effect Windows Update -- I can't see how, and saw nothing about this on the product page. That said, you can always check for an update when you know one's available, like after 1:00 PM Est on Patch Tuesday, and if it doesn't work, turn off whatever options in Win11PrivacyFix until it starts working, and you'll know what option not to use. Windows only updates once a month, with an optional update towards the end of the month.

Win11PrivacyFix adds the program's folder, plus a new folder in Users\ [UserName]\ AppData\ Local. It installs 1/2 dozen fonts, and adds an uninstall key to the registry.

CCleaner only removes junk files, it won't remove your program unless you use the uninstaller under "tools". It's most likely either Windows Defender or Windows Update that caused the program.

You've probably already done it but check Windows Defender first since it's easier:

Go to Start|Settings|Privacy & Security|Windows Security|Virus & threat protection|Protection history and see if your program is listed. (If you have a long list click "Filters" on the top right, select "removed")

If that doesnt work then maybe one of the following PowerShell commands will help.

Open PowerShell (type powershell in the search box and open the application)

Find Programs uninstalled with MsInstaller:
Copy and paste: Get-WinEvent -FilterHashtable @{LogName="Application";ID=11724;ProviderName='MsiInstaller'} | Select TimeCreated,Message (and press enter)

See if your program is on the list.

Convert and combine the WindowsUpdate logs
Copy and paste: Get-WindowsUpdateLog -logpath C:\temp\WindowsUpdate.log (and press enter)

Open Explorer, navigate to C:\temp and open the WindowsUpdate.log file in Notepad or your preferred text editor. Search the file for the program that's missing or the publisher.

If the program was uninstalled outside of MsInstaller then the first PowerShell command won't find it. I also don't know how programs that Windows Update uninstalls (or, more accurately, doesn't reinstall) are listed.

It didn't work!!!! I used one of the products yesterday. Last night I let the Patch Tuesday updates go and this morning I did my weekly full scan of the main hard drive. AFTER those things were done, I noticed that one of the two products had lost its .exe file again.

I've never run Defender and had it find something and remove/quarantine it without my notification! I don't think it was Defender clobbering those two files. I never have had both be removed at the same time, it's either one or the other.

At first, I was thinking that something went weird with the normal Patch Tuesday update but that didn't seem to make sense. Most of the removals are not timed that way.

I THINK the problem may be CCleaner! I always run it just before I run the full-disk anti-virus to clean out the garbage before the anti-virus has to bother with it. I have added the two installed product folders to the exclusion list of CCleaner to try to prevent this.

I have also created, in each folder, a "Protect me.zip" file with a copy of the .exe in it. If it happens again, I shouldn't have to re-install, just copy that out of the zip.

I have a possible alternative to cleaning the registry. Is there an alternative to cleaning out the recycle bin, temp files, and cache for Firefox and Edge? I'm not all that happy with CCleaner for this and other reasons. I mean a free alternative - I am using the free version of CCleaner.

zdnet[.]com/article/google-chrome-is-killing-more-extensions-than-you-think-is-your-old-favorite-on-the-list/

neowin[.]net/guides/google-turned-off-ublock-in-chrome-but-you-can-still-enable-it-here-is-how/

With the rollout of the new platform, critics have complained that Manifest V3 is a way for Google to stifle ad blockers. This is because certain extensions depend on remotely hosted code that wouldn't be supported in V3. Both the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Mozilla have charged that Google's move to Manifest V3 helps advertisers more than users.

But ad blockers are only a small part of the picture. Many other types of extensions are now blocked because they don't work with the new platform. Like some ad blockers, most of these use remotely hosted code, which Google has forbidden because such code is unreviewed and presents a potential security risk.

Scouring the Web Store, I found a host of other disabled extensions, including the following:

360 Ads Blocker
Adblock Fast
Awesome Bookmarks Button
Block Ads
Bookmark All
Bookmark It
Bookmark Lock
Bookmark Manager Speed Dial
Bookmark My Tabs
Comodo Ad Blocker
Comodo Online Security Pro
Content Blocker
Delicious Bookmark Bar Sync
Domain Blocker
Ethical AdBlock -- Ad Blocker
Fast Bookmark
Ghostery Private Search for Chrome
Google Ad Blocker
Google Privacy Shade
Hover Zoom+
Little Bookmark Box
Location Guard
MalwareAI Browser Security
Pinboard Bookmark Bar Sync
Popup Fixer
Privacy Cleaner
Privacy Extension
Private Bookmarker
Private Bookmarks
Simple Site Blocker
Touch VPN
Trump Blocker
TunnelBear Blocker
Website Blocker
Wikipedia Popup
YouTube Anywhere Remote

neowin[.]net/news/microsoft-kills-windows-remote-desktop-app-in-favor-of-the-new-windows-app/

Windows has it's own Remote Desktop app, and there's one in the Store [for whatever reason], and Microsoft's killing off the Store version on May 27, 2025.

All users are now urged to move from the Remote Desktop app to the Windows App if they want to continue using Windows 365, Azure Virtual Desktop, and Microsoft Dev Box. After May 27, 2025, access to those features will be cut, leaving users no option other than to switch.

This was inspired by the ad copy for an app called SoftSkin Photo Makeup by SoftOrbits, a giveaway on SOS. They hint that using Photoshop layers is, well, bothersome. Truth is, layers are so useful they've been included in Windows Paint, along with quite a few photo editing apps. So, what are layers?...

Every image starts out on a layer, and you can add however many layers on top of it. Each layer starts out completely transparent, but can hold the complete image, part(s) of the image, or, depending on the software, some sort of adjustment you've applied to the image. You can turn any layer on/off, & change the settings if a layer holds an adjustment. A layer can hold the complete image, and because of that, changing the layers beneath it won't have any effect, but otherwise you can add, turn off, or readjust lower layers, and the result will show when you view the top layer. In Photoshop [& several other editing apps] each layer can also have a mask, which selectively blocks whatever is on that layer, so for example you only lighten / brighten a specific part of the photo, say the center.

A mask is the same size as the photo, & at least in Photoshop, is B&W. A selection shows up on the mask as a shape, with the selected area white, & the non-selected area black. Black blocks the layer from applying, and white allows it. Gray also works -- paint on the mask with 50% gray and the layer will apply at 50% opacity. If/when you use a pressure sensitive drawing tablet & stylus [they're cheap - I bought 2 for $25], you can set it so that the harder you press, the darker the paint stroke, so you can fairly easily blend the area you want to apply an adjustment to, rather than have an abrupt edge. You can turn a selection into a mask, & vice versa -- they're pretty much interchangeable, though since you can paint on it, a mask is more useful, especially if you want or need something besides 100% opacity.

Some editing software will let you change the way a layer blends with the layer(s) beneath it. Lets say you removed the background from a photo, leaving you with the subject of the photo on a transparent background the same size as the original photo. Underneath that layer you can have several different backgrounds, and basically see which one you like best by turning all but one of those layers off. This is a simple example that you can do in Windows Paint, and illustrates the basics. But let's say you have some text you'd like to add to the photo. With the text on the top layer, you can change the blending mode and the layer's opacity, leading to all sorts of effects. You can also do stuff like lighten parts of an image, then have it apply to the layers beneath it only when / where it's lighter than the pixels beneath it.

That said, you do Not HAVE to use layers. When you're using layers you can turn off or delete however many layers to get to an earlier point in your editing, starting over. You can save copies of your photo in an editor without layers, and just start working with one of those earlier copies. In photo editing you Very frequently select parts of the photo that you want to alter, say lightening up a face, and only that face. You can save each selection manually, calling it back up whenever you need it, saving you the time and effort of recreating the selection. In Photoshop OTOH you can save selections, &/or have your various selections stored as masks on different layers. And while you can copy/paste whatever onto your photo in an editor without layers, you generally can't go back and shift its position, or vary its transparency, which are both things you can do with layers.

The negative aspects to using layers are one, you usually save you work in the editor's native format to preserve those layers, merging them all together to export a .jpg for example. Two, it's something else to keep track of -- you need to be mindful of which layer you have selected to work with. And third, an image file containing layers can get pretty big, since you're storing lots more data.

I use McAfee for most of our stuff because it's Much less resource hungry than Bitdefender, which makes our laptop with an Intel i3 just crawl, and because I get it cheap -- I buy McAfee LiveSafe, which covers unlimited devices, at Office Depot during their Black Friday sale for $10. It didn't used to let me add the new key when a license expired, so I had to uninstall it using the normal uninstaller, then use their special tool to remove most [they claim all] traces, then reinstall & activate the new subscription. You are correct -- McAfee sends lots of roots deep into Windows.

EPIC Games
Them's Fightin' Herds
store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/thems-fightin-herds

Them’s Fightin’ Herds is a 2D fighting game featuring a cast of adorable animals designed by acclaimed cartoon producer Lauren Faust. Beneath the cute and cuddly surface, a serious fighter awaits!

Battle it out in local versus or online with rollback netcode. Streamlined combat mechanics blend accessibility and depth to create a robust combat system designed for both newcomers and veterans alike!

A macro creation tool with support for OCR, color recognition, and image recognition, you create a macro by selecting the actions you want to perform in order, e.g., open this app, move the mouse here, click once etc. In a very quick trial I set it to open an app and click the OK button, but *maybe* due to my having the app run in a windows rather than full screen, it didn't work, opening up many, many app windows -- it was easier to close the VM than try to close them all. Possibly troublesome, Bitdefender blocked the VM from connecting to howareutoday[.]com, with the warning: "Infected web resource detected". Cloudflare doesn't have much info -- radar.cloudflare[.]com/domains/domain/howareutoday.com

The app itself is rather large, at 759MB. By default it installs to the Users folders, but can be installed wherever you want using the custom dialog. Note that usually an app will install to the User folders if it needs special permissions, so you'll likely have to run as admin. if installed somewhere like Program Files (x86). Monitoring the installation I recorded New keys: 43, New values: 94 in the registry. In addition to the program's folder, new folders are added to ProgramData & Users\ [UserName]\ AppData\ Roaming\.

Since I NEVER let any install go to Program Files or Program Files (x86) unless I have to (CCleaner is a rare exception because I can't easily install elsewhere), I scanned the folders involved carefully and just put the two .exe files involved in the exception list. The folders are so clean of "garbage" that the main folder for each product is only about 3 files (including the exe and uninstall) plus a few folders.

I never had this issue before and I do thank mikiem2 for revealing that this sort of thing has happened to others. It's odd that it's just these two products. I have 3 or 4 others from this same company that haven't had this happen (knock on wood).

Since I did use one of the two this morning and saw the other file, I hope I'm safe for now.

BTW - I don't want McAfee because of its overhead. The last computer I had that came WITH it took me FOREVER, even using their tools, to get all of it out of the system! I've had one computer literally hang because of the anti-virus taking to many resources.

Hmmm... led me down a bit of a rabbit hole... I haven't done much with V/Box networking -- haven't had to -- as using a paravirtual network driver & NAT have done what's needed & served me fairly well. 4-6 versions back I think the V/Box default NAT network stopped working after the version update. While I was trying to get it working again -- had to install a new NAT network -- sharing a folder on the host didn't work. I assumed [wrongly it turns out] that the network connection had to be working for folder sharing to work, but it looks like it's deeper than that. Folder sharing works with the NAT disabled, and with the V/Box network adapter disabled. So far it doesn't look like there's a way to isolate V/Box, and thus a guest OS from seeing files/folders on the host OS -- removing the NAT network may or may not do it, but I'll wait until I do the backup after next Tuesday's update to try that. If it does isolate the VM then I can look at the other network modes, e.g., bridged. If it doesn't, and it may not since, from the manual: "... VM has access to the host's loopback interface and the network services running on it.", I think I might use Windows sandbox instead if/when I want to test apps etc. that I feel are a bit sketchy. Software that plays by the rules wouldn't be a problem, but I'm afraid malware might be able to jump the gap.

In VirtualBox, which is what I use, you get files into and out of the VM using a network connection to the host copy of Windows

If you install the "Guest Additions" then you can use the 'Settings | Shared Folders' feature which allows you to access files on the Host without any networking in the Guest. The mapped folder will show up under "This PC" or "My Computer", depending on the OS you're running, rather than under "Network".

FWIW I agree with Chris -- I've had Defender remove an app's .exe file silently. We've got McAfee on some devices, and Bitdefender on our main copies of Win11 that we use daily, and both of those will notify you that they're quarantining whatever. When you open Windows Security -- click the icon in the notification area of the taskbar -- then click Virus & threat protection, the page has links for Allowed Threats, Protection History [where you'd confirm the file was removed], & Manage settings. Clicking the last one, at the bottom of the page you'll see a link to Add or remove exclusions, where you can tell Defender to leave selected files alone.

As far as figuring out if the .exe file is a threat, I have less faith than Chris in VirusTotal -- if it's a false positive there's a chance that's VirusTotal's response too, since if it's an older app no one might complain to set the record straight. You should however be able to find out its threat status just by Googling the app's name and something like security vulnerability or CVE. You can also check CVE, searching on the app's name -- cve[.]org or cve.mitre[.]org

If there is a vulnerability that you're concerned about -- you may find it has a CVE but someone needs hands-on access to exploit it, so you're not too worried, or OTOH you might find it's a critical threat -- a VM can be a good solution to isolate the effects if it is exploited. In VirtualBox, which is what I use, you get files into and out of the VM using a network connection to the host copy of Windows, so it's not normally useful to turn off networking for the VM -- I think you'd block it from the internet at the firewall instead if that's what you wanted. You can also limit things using the firewall in the VM's OS [Windows]. And you can isolate it a bit further by using a USB WiFi adapter connected solely to the VM.

It sounds like your anti-virus is removing the software and, if so, there should be notification to that effect in the anti-virus software.

If that is the issue then I'd upload the files flagged as "suspicious" to Virustotal and see if it's a false positive.

If you want to keep using it then you can:

a) As you mentioned, white-list the software

b) Make it portable. These instructions generally work for me How to Create Portable Version of Applications for Windows. However, making the program portable won't really get around a concern for malware. You'll likely just get a notification when you try to run it and you can then decide what to do.

c) Install the program in a sandbox and any bad actions will be limited to the sandbox. You can still transfer data in/out but the sandbox will keep your system safe. I use Sandboxie-Plus and deny the program access to the internet unless it's actually needed.

d) Install the program in a VM. A sandbox is a mini-VM, it contains the program files but doesn't have the vast majority of your system files. If you're trying to run older programs then a VM can be very useful because you can prevent updates and security issues by not allowing it access to the internet.

Since I upgraded to Win 11 some months back, most of my existing software has worked fine. However, there are two products (from the same company) that intermittently just disappear! Sometimes, I notice it because the shortcut changes it's icon from the normal product to the generic Windows icon (like a newspaper page). If I try the icon (in either normal or generic situation), I get a message that the file I'm trying to execute has been removed or moved. When I look, the sub-folders are there and the uninstall is there but the main executable is GONE!

I never get a message beforehand. Just in the past few days, I ran one of the products and it was fine. Two days later - with NO change in my system other than data files added - it was gone.

I can usually get it back (at least to a slightly earlier version) by using the backup copy of the install executable but I shouldn't have to do that. I also often have to install twice because of updates. One of the two sometimes loses it's "registration".

Why is this happening and how do I stop it? I don't want "white-list" the two products in case they are somehow "infected" later.

This never happened with Win 10. I've had these two products for a couple of years with no issues. This only started AFTER I upgraded to win 11.

Any ideas on what to do? Their software support wanted me to install anydesk and I refused. It's intermittent so that wouldn't help anyway!

tomshardware[.]com/peripherals/printers/brother-accused-of-locking-down-third-party-printer-ink-cartridges-via-firmware-updates-removing-older-firmware-versions-from-support-portals

If it's not too late already, the advice is to make sure your Brother printer is Not connected to the internet so it cannot receive the new update. The router we have lets us block any device from connecting to the internet, but also allows communication with any device on our home network. Brother is apparently following in the footsteps of Epson, HP, and to some extent Canon. If it is too late, and your printer has already updated, *hopefully* 3rd party ink that works with the new firmware will become available soon.

EPIC Games
Mages of Mystralia
store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/mages-of-mystralia

In a world of magic, your mind is your greatest weapon. Learn the ways of magic and design your own spells to fight enemies, navigate treacherous terrain, and right past wrongs in the kingdom of Mystralia.

The kingdom of Mystralia, it takes more brains than brawn to succeed. You will face down giant, powerful creatures and navigate treacherous terrain. You will encounter puzzles that confound even the wisest of the old sages. And you must overcome obstacles put in place by people who do not want you to succeed.

sharewareonsale[.]com/s/free-hasleo-disk-clone-professional-100-discount

This is available for 4 more days as I type this. My stance used to be that disk cloning apps were unnecessary, since most every image backup app also does disk cloning -- after all, they work by cloning one or more partitions to a VHD, so cloning to a physical disk shouldn't be a stretch. But when I had to clone a 2.5" SSD to a slightly larger NVMe SSD late last year I had problems. Macrium Reflect, O&O Diskimage Pro, and AOMEI Partition Assistant all failed (!). I wound up restoring an image backup of each partition individually, using AOMEI Partition Assistant to enlarge an individual partition as needed before restoring the next partition backup, resizing that one and so on. So when this offer came around I decided to grab it in case for the next time.

Hasleo Disk Clone Pro installs only to the program's folder, takes up ~112MB, and adds minimal new entries to the registry, though it does add a driver & service.

bleepingcomputer[.]com/news/security/ransomware-gangs-exploit-paragon-partition-manager-bug-in-byovd-attacks/

paragon-software[.]com/us/home/hdm-windows/#patches

I don't know how many people still have Paragon software installed -- they used to be a GOTD regular, but they haven't updated their consumer software for years now. The file at fault is biontdrv.sys, a kernel driver that's being actively exploited as well as included in malware campaigns or attacks. Microsoft has added the abused version of the driver file to it's blocked driver list. The small [216KB] patch, Paragon-PSP-25001-DL_x64.msi, adds a "Driver Security Patch" folder to the Program Files\ Paragon\ folder with a new version of that driver. It replaced the old files in HDM 17 Advanced & HDM 25 Anniversary LE, but Not in HDM 16 Advanced, so you need to check and copy/paste the new driver file manually if necessary. A copy of biontdrv.sys is stored in the bluescrn & program subfolders.