“Show Desktop” on Windows OS

I use the Windows 11 Pro operating system for work, and one of my favorite features is “Show Desktop” which can be enabled in Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > “Select the far corner of the taskbar to show the desktop”. This feature has been around since Windows 7. I simply click on the lower right corner of my screen, and poof—all windows are minimized, and I have a clean view of my desktop. For decades, I have grown accustomed to flicking my pointer to the far lower right corner and clicking to show the desktop.

With a recent Windows 11 Pro software update, Microsoft has decided to make my life harder by moving the click target of the Show Desktop feature. It’s still in the lower right corner, but it’s no longer in the FAR lower right corner. The click target is a few pixels up and to the left of the lower right corner. So now instead of mindlessly flicking my pointer to the lower right corner and clicking, I have to go to the lower right corner and carefully reposition the pointer to hit the target. The feature is still there, it’s just harder to use and distracts my attention from what I was doing at the time. I found two alternatives to clicking the harder-to-locate Show Desktop target.

Option #1: Keyboard shortcut. Did you know that you can simply press “Win + D” to show the desktop? It’s so easy! This will be my new default method for showing the desktop, but I need to retrain my brain to use the shortcut because I am so accustomed to using the lower right corner. But if you’re not a fan of keyboard shortcuts, then…

Option #2: Create a bigger Show Desktop button. You can use a shell command that invokes Windows Explorer and tells it to show the desktop. To do this, create a shortcut with the following target:

C:\Windows\explorer.exe shell:::{3080F90D-D7AD-11D9-BD98-0000947B0257}

The alphanumeric ID in curly braces is the CLSID (Class ID) for the Show Desktop function. Name the shortcut “Show Desktop” or something similar, and pin it to the taskbar. You can optionally change the shortcut icon in its Properties settings if you’d like. A set of step-by-step instructions is provided here. By pinning this shortcut to the taskbar, you’ll have a larger target to hit.

If you have also found that the Show Desktop feature is now more difficult to use, I hope you’ll find one of these 2 alternative options to be useful to you. And maybe, just maybe, Microsoft will hear enough negative feedback that they’ll put the click target back into its original location in the far lower right corner.

Issues With Paramount+ Streaming

I subscribed to Paramount+ earlier this year primarily to watch UFC programming. While watching UFC events has become more affordable, my experience with Paramount+ has recently gone in the opposite direction. The service has developed several frustrating problems that make simply watching an event unnecessarily difficult.

The first issue is that the Paramount+ iPhone (iOS) and Apple TV (tvOS) apps are buggy. I frequently try to access a show only to get errors. When quitting and re-launching apps are unsuccessful, I find that I have to try a different method to navigate to the UFC event to access the content. I’ve never experienced this with any other streaming service.

The second issue is that watching content from the Paramount+ website on a Safari browser is unreliable. When I try to go forward or backward by 10 seconds, the website has difficulty establishing a connection and often simply freezes so my only recourse is to refresh the page. This never happens on YouTube.

The third issue is that in the past few weeks, the quality of live streaming UFC events has been extremely poor and looks blocky. Although I don’t have a way to measure it, the resolution is clearly worse than 720p. This has been discussed on Reddit, and the issue is not related to my internet connection speed which is more than sufficient to stream 4K content. From the thread, I discovered that I can install the Paramount Quality+ plugins for either Firefox or Chrome to force Paramount+ to deliver the stream to me in 1080p resolution. I shouldn’t have to install a plugin to fix the streaming service.

Paramount is a huge company, so it is surprising to me that its streaming service has so many problems. I've experienced occasional hiccups with other streaming services, but those have generally been temporary and haven't affected my overall viewing experience. With Paramount+, however, I can't seem to watch an entire UFC event without repeatedly fiddling with the controls, restarting the broadcast, switching browsers, or trying some other workaround. Paramount, please fix these problems. Customers should be able to spend their time watching the content they’ve paid for instead of troubleshooting the service that’s supposed to deliver it.

An Expedia Car Rental Gone Wrong

I’ve written many times about issues with car rentals. Here’s another incident. Through Expedia, I booked a car rental from Sixt. My original reservation was for pickup on a Sunday at 5 PM with return on Friday at 2 PM, a 5-day rental. Due to a change in travel plans, I wanted to move the pickup to Monday at 9 PM while keeping the same Friday return, making it a 4-day rental.

I first tried calling Sixt and was able to speak to a live representative. I was told that because my booking was made through Expedia, they were unable to alter my reservation, although the representative left a note on my reservation that I had requested a pickup date on Monday instead of Sunday. I was instructed to call Expedia and ask to speak to their “Sixt internal account manager” who could make the change and also tell me if there was any price difference.

I then attempted to contact Expedia, but nowhere could I find a phone number to call. The only option I found was to invoke their Virtual Agent via chat. We sent messages back and forth about my request to change my pickup date from Sunday to Monday. It felt to me that the agent was assigned to chats with multiple customers simultaneously based on the time delays in the agent’s responses. In any case, I was eventually told that my only options were to keep the Sunday pickup or to cancel my non-refundable reservation which I had already paid in full. I already knew that my reservation was non-refundable, but I wasn't trying to cancel it. Furthermore, I did not see any language during booking or on my booking confirmation that no changes could be made. I was willing to pay the full amount I had already paid for five days even though I would only be renting the car for four, and I wasn’t asking Expedia to refund the unused day.

Sensing an unwillingness to help me, I asked the Expedia virtual agent to connect me with their “Sixt internal account manager” by typing into the chat the exact language used by the Sixt representative. The virtual agent eventually agreed to do so. After a long wait, I was told by the Expedia virtual agent that he was unable to reach the Sixt internal account manager or a Sixt representative and that he would have to send an email to Sixt. He told me to expect an email reply from Expedia in 48-72 hours. Right on cue about 2-3 days later, I received the following email from Expedia:

From: travel_expedia@expedia.com (travel_expedia@expedia.com)
To: (me)
Date: Sunday, September 13, 2026 at 09:45 PM PDT
Subject: Update on Your Refund Request with Sixt – Itinerary #xxxxxxxxxx

Hello Victor,

We’re following up regarding your request to cancel your booking and request a refund from Sixt.

Request type: Refund
Itinerary number: xxxxxxxxxx
Property name: Sixt

We spoke with Sixt to advocate for your refund request. Unfortunately, they have advised that the reservation was booked under a non-refundable rate, and they are unable to make an exception to their cancellation policy. As a result, no changes can be done for this booking.

Additionally, Sixt has informed us that the main driver named on the reservation must contact Sixt directly regarding any requested modifications to reservation xxxxxxxxxx.

We understand this is disappointing. We always strive to advocate for our travelers; however, Sixt has elected to uphold the terms and conditions associated with the reservation, and we are unable to override their decision.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reply to this email. We're here to help.

Regards,
Ipsita
Expedia US Travel Team

I can’t say for sure, but the response from Expedia felt inaccurate and potentially dishonest to me. The inaccuracy is that I never asked for a cancellation or refund. I had only asked to pick up my car a day later than originally scheduled. The potential dishonesty is that when I spoke to the Sixt representative, they seemed willing to allow the change and even left a note on my reservation stating that I had desired to pick up the car a day later. So it felt to me, based on my interactions with Sixt and Expedia, that Expedia was the one refusing to make the change, and they blamed Sixt. Lastly, Expedia wrote, “Sixt has informed us that the main driver named on the reservation must contact Sixt directly…” when in fact I had already contacted Sixt directly prior to engaging with the Expedia virtual agent. It seemed to me that Expedia may not have even contacted Sixt and simply gave me a boilerplate denial. Besides, how would the virtual agent know that emailing Sixt, receiving a reply, and responding to me would take 48-72 hours? I do not have definitive evidence for this, but my observations suggest to me that Expedia refused to accommodate a change and blamed their business partner for their decision.

I kept my existing reservation for a Sunday 5 PM pickup. I showed up to Sixt on Monday at 9 PM, and I asked if they would accommodate my rental. They did in fact give me the car, with a caveat. They explained that if a customer does not pick up their vehicle within 8 hours of their scheduled pickup time, they release the reservation. However, without much hassle, they did note that I had already paid in full, and the agent said he did his best to give me a new 4-day rental and credit me for the amount that I already paid. The best deal he could find for a similar vehicle type was about $73 more than I had already paid, and I thought that was a fair price given the situation.

In summary, Sixt seemed willing to accommodate my change when I called them on the phone, and they accommodated my change when I showed up in person. On the other hand, Expedia was uncooperative at best, contrary to their claim that they “always strive to advocate for our travelers”. It also felt to me that Expedia couldn’t get its facts straight and was possibly dishonest to me, as well as bordering on slanderous to Sixt. This experience has eroded my trust in Expedia.

Downloadable National Park Maps

If you’ve planned visits to US national parks, you probably know that each National Park Service (NPS) site has its own dedicated page or sub-site. Each page typically has a “Plan Your Visit” menu item where you can select from choice such as Basic Information, Things To Do, and Directions & Transportation. As I plan my visit, one of the first things I do is to view maps of the national park to understand the location of the visitor center(s), trails, and other features. In the past decade or so, various NPS sub-sites began transitioning their online maps from static downloadable PDF or JPG maps to interactive web maps that allow users to pan, zoom, and click on map features within their browsers.

If you’re old school like me, you might prefer downloading static maps, printing them out, and keeping a hardcopy in your backpack. Interactive maps are convenient while at home, but downloadable maps have a major advantage: they work when you don't have connectivity which is often the case in our national parks. If the NPS site does not provide downloadable maps, check out these alternatives.

National Park Maps is a passion project by a guy named Matt who has meticulously organized his website so users can look up maps alphabetically or by state. It’s an unofficial collection of free maps. I’ve often found maps on this site that are not even featured on corresponding NPS sites. Kudos to Matt!

NPS has its own official GIS, Cartography & Mapping site where you can download maps in PDF, JPG, or Adobe print production file formats. They can be searched by keyword, state, or park. Rather than providing the static maps in a separate website, it would be nice if each NPS sub-site offered options to view both interactive web maps and to view and download static PDF/JPG maps.

If you’re interested in learning more about the technology behind the interactive web maps, there is a National Park Service Web Maps site for that too. They discuss their open source NPMapJS code library.

While NPS has embraced interactive web maps, you don’t have to give up the good old fashioned downloadable map. Whether you prefer exploring a map on your screen, downloading a PDF for offline use, or stuffing a printed map into your backpack, there are still plenty of options. Happy mapping and happy exploring!

DROP Service Interim Update

Earlier this year, I wrote about how your can protect your privacy using California’s Delete Request and Opt-out Platform (DROP) service. DROP launched on January 1, 2026, and data brokers began processing requests on August 1, 2026. Given that data brokers are required to delete data within 45 days of receiving a request, I wanted to see how things were coming along at day 29. Here are my current stats, as reported on my DROP account:

And here is the DROP website’s glossary of deletion statuses:

When browsing the full list of data brokers, I see this:

Unfortunately there are 66 pages to scroll through on my account, and there does not appear to be a way to export the full list of data brokers along with my request statuses. It would be nice for them to add that feature later.

The DROP website provides the following information: “Data brokers will begin accessing DROP soon. Processing becomes mandatory beginning August 1, 2026, but status updates can take up to 90 days to appear in DROP depending on data broker workflows. Your status for each data broker will update once your request is processed.” My interpretation is that either (1) a majority of data brokers (490 out of 656) have not processed my deletion request yet and/or (2) some of those 490 data brokers have actually processed my deletion request, but the statuses have not yet been updated in DROP due to data broker workflows.

While the DROP website says, “Under law, data brokers have 45 days to delete your data after they receive your request,” it seems hard to determine if the law has been broken if the statuses can take 90 days to be updated. In the worst case scenario, a data broker could delete my data on day 45, and then it could take up to 90 days to update the DROP website, so that would be 135 days after August 1 which would be December 14, 2026. Maybe I’ll check back again toward the end of the year to see how well data brokers are complying with DROP requests.

University of California Acceptance Rate Data

If you have a high school senior who is getting ready to apply to University of California schools, you may have seen acceptance rate statistics such as the ones from Money Magazine a few months ago which I wrote about in my “LLM Analysis of College Ratings” blog. For convenience, I am re-posting the graphic here.

The acceptance rate statistics are from a nationwide sample, but what if I told you that you could look up University of California acceptance rate statistics for students at a specific high school? The University of California Information Center publishes data on Admissions by Source School and segments data into several subcategories as shown here:

The data tables show applicants, admissions, and enrollments by California high schools and community colleges for freshmen and transfer entrants by source school, mean GPA, ethnicity and school. Of particular interest might be “Single high school lookup” under the “Freshman admission by source high school” section. Data tables are provided for:

• Counts of fall freshmen by race/ethnicity
• Counts of fall freshmen by gender
• Average freshman GPA

After clicking on any of these 3 options, you will need to enter the high school name in the “Search for school name” field. Depending on the name of your school, the exact high school name could be tricky to find. If you come up blank, then go back to the home page and click on any of the 3 options under Freshman admission by source high school > All source high schools. Then filter by city and/or county and browse for the name of the high school of interest.

Back to the “Single high school lookup” section… After selecting a data table for counts by race/ethnicity, gender, or GPA, you will have the option to filter by year. You’ll also see breakdowns by campus, fall term, and applications/admissions/enrollment.

If you prefer to sort and filter data in Excel like I do, you’re in luck because there is a download button that gives you the option to download as an image, data, cross tab, PDF, or PowerPoint. Selecting “data” will result in the download of a .csv file which you can then play with in your favorite spreadsheet or database application.

I found this data to be useful because although the national acceptance rate statistics are good to know, being able to see acceptance rate statistics from my child’s high school provided a slightly different perspective. I hope you’ll find it as useful as I did. And if you found this data interesting, there are plenty of other data tables to explore at the University of California Information Center.

Citi Costco Visa Identity Verification

Last year our family visited several Asian countries, and we managed to get by with eSIM data-only plans. The only setbacks occurred when our Citi Costco Visa card flagged some transactions as suspicious (which I wrote about here and here), and because Citi attempted to notify me via voice and SMS text—which we did not receive—it prevented our purchases from being made. This year, I made sure to add my Google Voice number to my Citi Costco Visa card in hopes that I would be given an option to verify transactions using a data-only eSIM plan. It worked. When making a transaction, I was presented with the following options for identity verification:

You may have noticed that there were options to call or text me at the …2505 number, the the only option for the …2516 (Google Voice) number was to call me. I am not certain, but my phone contact information on the Citi website are:

• Home Number: …2505  → I think Citi uses this for calls
• Primary Mobile: …2505  → I think Citi uses this for text messages
• Alerts Mobile: …2516  → I think Citi uses this for calls

If my assumptions above are correct, then I think Citi should also present an option to send text messages to the alerts mobile number. While calling me at my Google Voice number worked for identity verification, I would have preferred getting a text message at my Google Voice number so I could copy and paste the code.

In any case, if you have a Google Voice or another VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) service, consider adding that contact number to your Citi card so that you can easily verify your identity using data-only eSIM plans when traveling abroad. I assume that this approach may work for other credit cards, but you’ll need to review your options and/or ask customer support.