Windows 10 in S-Mode

My first thoughts about S-Mode was that I would have to switch out of it before I could do what I wanted with a PC. Looking on the Microsoft Store I see that there is an (unofficial) Notepad++, FileZilla and VLC (video player). If they work then I don't need to switch.

All I want to do is to run a simple text editor and be able to upload those files to a webserver. The ability to play video files would also be good. I have a large collection of 4k video that I have shot on my Mavic Pro drone. My old computer was too slow to be able to play them.

On the subject of FTP clients there is an alternative on the Microsoft Store - it looks like it does what I want as I am not doing anything that complex. All I need is to be able to upload html files to my webhosting servers.

I am not "wedded" to Filezilla

Looking in the microsoft Store I see that there is a Filezilla (guide) app. It is not clear whether this is actually an FTP client or just a guide for those that want to use it. It is also not clear when making a search that this is or is not the case. There is much rhetoric on the filezilla forum about maintianing two versions of the code, one especially for the Windows store (or that could have been in realation to Notepad++).

In any case I think that it is worth giving S-Mode a try out and not be "blinkered" to just automatically switching it out before checking what I can and cannot do with S-Mode.

Doing some tests

I downloaded the VLC and the Notepad++ apps to my old Lenovo Windows 10 computer. So far I am not impressed!

VLC seems to want to only open files from the system directories, i.e. My Documents/ Pictures and Videos.

Notepad++ only seems to open a single file at a time. All in all, I will have to try this on the Medion.

I think that I will have to kill S-Mode

Reading some reviews of laptops with S-Mode configured I am not sure what the problem that some have in switching it out. I guess I will find out.

From some of the experiments I have carried out on my current Windows 10 computer I getting the feeling that S will disappoint. I am not sure that I can see any benefit for me to run in S-Mode. I can see that not being able to install apps that are not on the Microsoft Store maybe a protection for those that are in the habit of opening emails and messages that have executable files embedded. Those that would fall for Social Engineering attacks.

How-to to disable S-Mode

This is pretty straight forward, Microsoft give pretty good instructions on how to do this. Just follow their directions.

You will be told that you will be exposing yourself to increased security threat if you do so. This is pretty much where you would be if you had spent a little more money on a computer that was not running Windows S. Microsoft want you to purchase all the software that you use from their store so they are hardly unbiased.