Daily Battles: 64GB USB Disk Not Recognized Correctly in Windows

So it all started from me trying to move some large files between computers and smart devices. I plugged the USB drive into Jane (a Windows computer and one of Philip Jane's many physical existences where Philip Jane is my virtual smart home butler), but the USB drive only showed a capacity of 200MB.

"What's going on?" I asked myself as I correctly ejected the drive safely (following proper Windows procedures) and plugged the USB drive onto my Mac, my main computer. It showed 58GB space.

"Maybe the drive is formatted into a Mac only format," I though to myself. And sure enough, it was in the Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format.

No problem for a tech savvy geek like me! Within one minute, I have successfully formatted the USB drive in exFAT format, a format that both Mac and Windows can understand.

I unmounted the USB drive (proper Mac procedure in handing USB drives) and plugged the it into Jane again. "What the heck?" It still only showed 200MB.

"Is something wrong with Jane?" I asked myself as I promptly unplugged the USB drive from Jane and plugged it into Philip (another Windows computer and one of Philip Jane's many physical existences). This time it correctly showed the USB drive as 58GB.

"Maybe Jane just can't read exFAT," I told myself, "and I really should make it FAT32, Window's favorite disk format.

I quickly launched the disk format utility in Philip. But wait? Why isn't FAT32 an option for format? The only option available is NTFS.

After reading an article named "Help Article – Fix for “Windows Format, no FAT32 option," I got it. Turned out Windows can't format any USB drive bigger than 32GB. The article suggested that I download a free utility which will let me format the drive even though it is big. But guess what, the link sent me to a page like this:

Hey, you can't fool me! Didn't I say I am a tech savvy geek? These are advertisements disguised as a legit web page! I clicked the back button and looked at the date of that help article. Yep, that article was written in 2014, 5 years ago.

I searched again, and this time I decided to open an article named "Solved: FAT32 Option Not Available in Windows 10/8/7." This one suggested that I download a free (for home use) utility called AOMEI Partition Assistant. This one looks okay. So I happily downloaded the tool and installed in on Philip. Upon opening the utility, I realized that the utility is not even recognizing the USB drive at all.

I guess I am back to square one.

I vaguely recalled that Jane recognized the drive with a volume name of something EFI, so I plugged the USB drive back in to Jane. I was correct, the volume was named "EFI System." So I started googling EFI System. Turned out an EFI System is a bootable windows partition.

Plugging the USB drive back into Philip, I opened Disk Manager so I can look at all the partitions. The USB drive actually had two partitions, an EFI System partition, a exFAT partition, and also an unused partition.

Maybe that AOMEI tool will correctly recognize the drive is there's only one partition. I quickly deleted the unused partition and the exFAT partition. Loaded up AOMEI again. Nope, still not recognizing the drive. When I tried to delete the last EFI System partition, I found out that Windows Disk Manager doesn't let me delete this partition. All options grayed out. Great!

More searching online landed on this article: "How to Delete EFI System Partition in Windows 10/8.1/8/7/XP/Vista." Didn't want to mess with rebooting Philip using a bootable disk (since Philip is a headless computer, meaning it doesn't have a monitor plugged into it), I went all commando. And this time, I was able to delete the partition successfully. Thanks Brithny!

Going back into Disk Manager on Philip, I created a single partition and a single volume and formatted it as exFAT and went back into AOMEI again. GUESS WHAT? AOMEI still doesn't recognize the drive. What a piece of junk. I am uninstalling this %&*!

"Let's try the drive on Jane again!" I decided. And as soon as I plugged it back into Jane, the drive was recognized correctly as a 58GB drive. I didn't need FAT32 at all!!

So what was really going on here?

First, since the USB drive had both a FAT partition and a Mac OS Extended partition, on Jane, a windows computer, it recognized the FAT partition only, and on my Mac, it recognized the Mac OS Extended partition only. Nothing strange here.

Secondly, once I reformatted the Mac OS Extended partition to exFAT, Philip decided to use the exFAT partition over the FAT partition because Philip is a Windows 10 machine. And Jane decided to use the FAT partition and not the exFAT partition because Jane is a Windows 8.1 machine.

Thirdly, Windows won't let you format a USB disk to FAT32 when it is bigger than 32GB. But you can format it to exFAT and that should still work fine with Windows 8.1.

Mystery finally solved and I can finally move my large files in peace. Just another daily battle with technology, and I have come out triumphant once again! Hooray!!

Mind you that I did all these (and posted this blog) all without my Logitech wireless keyboard, which is out of battery!!

BTW: 58GB is the measurement in actual Gigabytes and 64GB really meant 64,000,000,000 Bytes. Manufactures like to call that 64GB to make it sound bigger and worth more!

Picture of the Day:

Don't ask me why I use a Mac keyboard on Philip and Jane, two Windows computers. But when this thing is dead, it is dead for a long while.

BTW: The easiest way to remember my blog address is http://lanny.lannyland.com

Daily Battles: How to Take Screenshot on Android When the Phone is Locked

For my previous post, I needed to take a screenshot of my Android phone (Samsung Galaxy S8), that's when I found out that my normal screen capture gesture doesn't work on a locked screen.

To capture a screenshot on an Android phone, the easiest way is to swipe the phone screen from side to side with your palm. But this method doesn't work if phone is locked.

Another method is use Google Assistant. You can say "Okay Google" to activate Google Assistant, and then command it to "take a screenshot." However, this method also doesn't work when the screen is locked.

In order to take screen shot while the phone is locked, you need to push two buttons together. For a phone with a Home button, hold the Home button and the Power button together until you hear a click sound. For a phone without the Home button (such as my Samsung Galaxy S8), home the Power button together with the Volume Down button until you hear a click sound.

That's it! Now onto my next daily battles!

Video of the Day:

BTW: The easiest way to remember my blog address is http://lanny.lannyland.com

Best App to Play YouTube Videos On Your Smart Phone -- YouTube Vanced

Admit it, we watch a lot of YouTube videos on our smart phones.

It has been really annoying when I started using my smart phone to listen to podcasts on YouTube, whether I was doing manual labor, or was driving my kids to various activities (and getting stuck in traffic). Why?

I tried using both the Android included YouTube app and the Chrome browser. Both of them:

• Do not remember what was the last YouTube video I was viewing and where I paused (e.g., in the middle of a two-hour long podcast).
  
  
• If I open another app, YouTube video stops playing.
  
  
• Stops playing the video when my phone is locked (whether automatically or when I do it manually).

If you are also super annoyed by these limitations, I have good news!! I have found a video player that addresses exactly those annoyances!!

Actually, some people got so annoyed (more annoyed than me) and decided to create a new YouTube video player based on the official YouTube app. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

The app is called YouTube Vanced, and you can download it from their web site. Features of this app include:

• Block all ads (togglable)
• Background Playback
• Force VP9 (or HDR) or vice versa
• Override Maximal Resolution
• Pinch to Zoom (for all devices)
• Casting Togglable (can be forced off)
• Toggle Themes (Black, Dark, White)
• PiP - Picture in Picture mode (Oreo only)
• Auto Repeat Feature
• Preferred Speed and Resolution

One extra benefit of this app is that while my phone is locked, I could still resume or pause the video play like how it is shown in the below screen capture:

Just download the APK file from the web site and install. That's it! Enjoy!

Sorry for iPhone users (which I am also one). This app is for Android only.

Do not pretend to be what you are not (and I am not a gardener)!!!

BTW: The easiest way to remember my blog address is http://lanny.lannyland.com

The Complete Guide on Monitoring and Parental Control on a Chromebook and Disabling Incognito Mode - Part 5

[This is a 5-part series. Here are links to Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5.]

Problem Statement:

Know what web sites my daughter wastes time on when she is at home with a school managed Google Suite account (because her school has monitoring of their own) without me spending too much time or spend any money on new hardware devices.

Option 4: Other Chrome Extensions

There are also Chrome extensions you can install from Chrome Web Store onto a Chromebook for additional parental control functionalities.

4.1 Off the Record Chrome History

Off the Record Chrome History is an extension you can install that will allow browsing history to be remembered while in incognito mode. However, it is more of a convenience for the user of the Chromebook for look up, because as soon as the incognito window is closed, all history are erased. This can only work for me if I catch my daughter red-handed before she closes the incognito window. But she has really fast fingers from years of piano training. So it does me no good!!

Read more about the extension here:
How to Save the Browsing History of Incognito Mode in Chrome

4.2 StayFocusd

StayFocusd is actually a fantastic tool I frequently use myself. The Chrome extension lets me set time limit on how much time I can spend on web sites where I tend to waste a lot of time on (e.g., Quora, News web sites, Slashdot, etc.). Once my time is up for the day, I can no longer visit these web sites, thus limiting the amount of time I waste every day. It also works in incognito mode if you enable it in the settings/options page of the extension. If I want to change settings such as remove web sites from the blocked list, I have to type out this long article about not wasting time perfectly without making any mistakes. If a typing mistake is made, I have to start all over on typing the article. This tool also has a predefined list of websites to block, which includes web sites such as facebook, instagram, or YouTube. There's also a Nuclear Option, once used, prevents any setting changes for a long period of time.

I also put this on my daughter's Chromebook and blocked many websites, especially social media and video sites. She does get 15 minutes each day to do her Instagram thing or watch a YouTube video.

A small drawback on this tool is that you can't set time limit per web site. However, the biggest draw back is that your kids can actually simply disable the extension and then enable it again after their Internet spree (which my daughter quickly figured out). They can also remove the extension and then add it back in again. Also, sometimes Chrome OS update would break the extension and you have to click the repair button to get it working again. The developers of the tool said that they sent requests to Google on preventing people from turning the extension off. But we all know how apt Google is on user feedback and feature requests (10+ years), so that's not going to work soon. The developers recommended adding the chrome://extensions page to the blocked web site list. Not a great solution because during the allowed time, kids can easily go in and disable the extension.

So great tool for yourself, but only useable if your kids don't know how to work with extensions, which is probably unlikely because first thing they do is to google how to disable StayFocusd.

So how many times have I being saying this: Not a solution for me!!

4.3 Mobicip

Mobicip is a popular parental control tool many people recommend. For it to work on a Chromebook, you will need to use the Mobicip Parent Control with Screen Time Chrome extension. The tool claims that it offers the following features:

• Filter the internet & block objectionable content
• Limit screen time 
• Monitor browsing history & online activity
• Use intuitive web portal or mobile app in Parent Mode, 24x7 on the go 

I did not test this tool because it is not free and you have to buy an annual plan with price ranging from $49.99 for 5 devices to $159.99 for 20 devices. Some quick research also reveals that just like the two extensions I listed above, kids can easily turn the extension off and then back on, and you would be blind for that time being.

This video below is created by Mobicip to show you how to set it up on a Chromebook. Note that the comments are all disabled, which feels shady to me. There are probably a lot of complaints in the comments and the company didn't want to show them.

Anyway, if you want to give this tool a try, go for it. But for me, this is, again, not a solution.

So to conclude on this 5-part series of parental control on Chromebook, there are really no solution that is perfect. Pick the one that works best for you. And to my super delight:

I finally found the solution that works for me!! Hooray!!

The Solution For Lanny:

This tool is free (with limited history duration and you can pay for longer period); it is by device, so I can distinguish between my son and my daughter; it allows me to check web browsing history from my computer or phone any time I want; and it also works with her school assigned G Suite email address/Google account!

Since my daughter also reads my blog (I know you are reading this, Addy. 😜), I will not reveal the tool here. If you want to know what this solution is, contact me via email.

Of course, ultimately, I am also using many of the other solutions I listed as a combined solution (DNS, router, Google Family WiFi, StayFocusd, etc., etc.).

Parenting is a tough job!! So good luck to all parents out there. And hopefully you have found something that works for you after reading my blog. Leave me comments and let me know which one worked for you! Share the success story and share the frustration!!

Video of the Day:

This is how I feel after I finally found my parental control solution!

Now onto my next daily battles!

BTW: The easiest way to remember my blog address is http://lanny.lannyland.com

The Complete Guide on Monitoring and Parental Control on a Chromebook and Disabling Incognito Mode - Part 4

[This is a 5-part series. Here are links to Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5.]

Problem Statement:

Know what web sites my daughter wastes time on when she is at home with a school managed Google Suite account (because her school has monitoring of their own) without me spending too much time or spend any money on new hardware devices.

Option 3: On the Chromebook Computer

There are ways you can control things right on the Chromebook laptop itself. But the first thing you should do is to make sure you set yourself as the owner of the Chromebook before you add your kid in as a non-owner account. The first user to set up the Chromebook becomes the “owner” of the Chromebook and can set up special privileges. Factory reset if your kid already has an account so you can start fresh and set yourself as the owner.

The very next thing to do is to turn off Guest Browsing on the Chromebook. Only the owner can change the setting.

3.1 Chrome History and Incognito Mode

Chrome browser can remember history of web pages visited, even though the user can still manually delete history entries, which my daughter had done. But if I walk in while my daughter is using her laptop, she would have no time to delete history.

However, if my daughter opens Chrome window in incognito mode, history is not logged, and all it takes is one click to close the incognito window even if I walk in on her. This is actually by design and it is almost impossible to defeat that (there is one "workaround" that's not very useful, which I will discuss in part 5 of the series).

So the next logical question to ask is: can we disable incognito mode on the Chromebook? Luckily, the answer is yes, and there are several ways to do it.

The first option is to disable incognito mode in Chrome's underlying configurations in the file system. What you have to do is to first get the Chromebook into developer mode. Note that you will be wiping the Chromebook clean when you enable to disable developer mode. Also while in developer mode, you might not be getting all the Chrome OS updates.

How to enable developer mode on your Chromebook

Once in developer mode, you need to create a folder /etc/opt/chrome/policies/managed, and then create a JSON file and put this in the file: (as described in this web page)

{
    "IncognitoModeAvailability": 1
}

By the way, if you notice there's a Linux (Beta) option in your Chromebook, don't let that fool you. That is running a docker container version of linux in a sandbox. In laymen's terms, it means the Linux you run is completely separate from the Chrome OS Linux powering your Chromebook.

Great solution if you have a new Chromebook to set up and if you don't care much about the Chrome OS updates. In my case, since my daughter already had many things customized on her laptop, wiping it clean is not an option for me. Also I do want Chrome OS updates, so once again, not a solution for me.

Another way to disable incognito mode is to use Google Admin Console. However, the laptop has to be part of the Google Device Group for that to work. This is a way for Google to make money from like schools so it is not free. When I contacted my daughter's school's IT department, turned out that my daughter's laptop is not part of their device group, so they can't disable incognito mode for me. They suggested that I can get a loaner Chromebook laptop from them, which is part of the device group, and they can disable incognito mode on that one for me, at a price of $150 per semester. Since I don't plan to spend any extra money, this is also not a solution for me.

How to disable incognito mode in Chromebooks with Google Admin Console

There is one more way to disable incognito mode (I heard), which leads to the next section.

3.2 Google Family Link

Google recently released Google Family Link as a tool for Parental Control. In order to set up Google Family Link, you need to download and install an app called Google Family Link for parents onto your smart phone, and then download and install another app called Google Family Link for children & teens onto the Chromebook you want to control through Google Play Store on the Chromebook. Google Family Link allegedly enable you to:

• Restrict or block access to apps from the Chrome Web Store and the Google Play Store.
• The ability to disable Incognito Mode.
• Parents can manage the websites their children can visit on Chrome.
• Parents can limit a child’s ability to grant permissions to websites.
• Be default with Family Link, Chrome browsing tries to block sexually explicit and violent sites from being shown to children.

You can read this online guide on the features and how to set up Google Family Link.

However, one devastating limitation of Google Family Link is that it doesn't work with Google accounts set up with G Suites, which is exactly my daughter's scenario, because she has a school assigned Google email address and account.

Bummer!! Another solution that doesn't work for me!! 

Part 5 of the Complete Guide ⬅ The last part

If a woman says she is not feeling well, offer to go shopping with her. If she declines, then she is really not feeling well.







BTW: The easiest way to remember my blog address is http://lanny.lannyland.com