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I can officially confirm that the OLD TRICK still works even for as new as Win11 25H2. The utility is called Windows Update Blocker v1.8 (last updated way back in 2023 - again, STILL WORKS for brand new Win11 25H2). It's just a run-as-is portable program, NO INSTALLATION, just extract and execute once then delete if you so desire. Yes, this was originally intended to block Windows Updates but it also works to disable an otherwise 'automatic' Windows Defender Firewall. YOU HAVE TO EDIT / ADD TO THE DEFAULT .INI FILE - Before: After:

I've trial-ran Phoenix in the past and again as recently as two weeks ago (when "Nexus" was brought to my attention). Phoenix, Tiny, Micro, Slim, Nano, X-Lite, Nexus, Chris Titus Tech - DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME WITH ANY OF THEM !!! These (all of them!) are targeted for the SPOON-FED CROWD too "lazy" (my opinion) of doing the legwork themselves. Not to be misread, there is a HUGE "MARKET" for that route (I applaud the endeavor, it's just "not for me"). You kind of sound like me - ie, YOU WILL NEVER BE 100% SATISFIED with these spoon-fed variations and the ONLY way to achieve 100% Satisfaction is to DO THE WORK YOURSELF. I cannot stress it enough, you need WINREDUCER-EX. Yes, takes time, but WELL WORTH IT in the end.

I should add that when I say "can be", I am referring to *ALL* versions of 10 and at least *early* versions of 11. I will have to REINSTALL a newer version of VirtualBox and a Win11 25H2 VM to see if the "old tricks" still work for *all* versions of 11.

I can post the How-To later today. Trust me, it CAN BE PERMANENTLY DISABLED. Admittedly, I would still be running XP if there was no way to disable Windows Defender "crap" in 10 and 11.

Windows Firewall CAN and SHOULD be DISABLED in Win10 and Win11. Not that difficult! You should also go one step further and disable one of its "dependencies" (ie, BFE Service [Base Filtering Engine]).

That is interesting, VL. I always learn something from your posts! Here in the US, cash transactions aren't quite so discouraged (thank goodness for privacy), but large cash transactions are nonetheless quite rare. Given the risk of theft or loss, I'd probably never plunk down $2000 cash for a new PC even if I had a money tree! I'd pluck those notes and deposit them in my bank account as fast as they grew.... I guess, for Eurozone residents craving privacy, there's still cryptocurrency, but that has its own headaches.

The English word "some" is not limited to "fewer than ten," as you appear to insist on believing. As with most words in most languages, its meaning depends on context. I already made the point that "some" is not synonymous with "a few," but you omitted that part of my post when you quoted me. If one could pluck notes from a money tree as easily as leaves from an actual tree, it would be quite easy to pluck a dozen, or even a score, of them, don't you think? I find this argument absurd, tiresome, and pointless. You are hereby ignored.

@roytam1, thanks for fixing the mailnews Outgoing Server settings. This app still works very well with gmail so glad to have that working again.

I installed the October 2025 update yesterday, and StartAllBack now has a weird problem – taskbar on secondary monitors isn't hiding, and it's also transparent: If I disable and reenable auto-hiding, the problem goes away until my monitors go to sleep (which causes the primary monitor to disconnect), then the problem reappears. Windows 11 25H2, 26200.6899