John - I believe what has happened is that you accidentally changed the AutoPlay setting. When a device (flash drive, camera, etc.) is plugged in, Windows asks what you want to do. You can select "Nothing, Open Folder, Import Photos, etc." What you select changes the AutoPlay setting for this device. Therefore, Windows will know what you want to do the next time you plug in that device.
To change or review these setting go to"
Windows 11:
Settings -- Bluetooth & Devices - AutoPlay
There you will be given the choice of what to do when plugging in a device

Windows 10:
Control Panel -- Hardware & Sound -- AutoPlay

I hope this fixes your problem. You don't need a Mac!

Sorry, it is sold. I do have a 1964 catalog that I would sell for $15 shipped

I use Handbrake occasionally (Windows version) and Blender is fairly well known. You can install Linux it 2 different ways in Windows. You can use Virtual Box or Windows System for Windows (but I don't care for that installation as it doesn't give you a GUI desktop. Linux Mint is very similar to Windows. I am very much a novice in Linux but am trying to learn it.

It's already here. -- cell phones.

My backup drive is much larger than my computer storage. I have a couple of 1 TB SSD drives on my computer but my backup drive is a 6 TB. I typically keep 4 full backups and maybe a dozen incremental. I can go back 13 weeks and find a file. I use Macrium Reflect backup software. And I have plenty of room for other files.

For virus protection, I would suggest Windows Defender and Malwarebytes.

I would strongly disagree. Virus protection doesn't have anything to do with the need for a good backup. All hardware is subject to failure.

I don't understand this since I'm not an Apple person. Sorry, I can't help.

First, I am not familiar with Apple and Time Machine. I know about PCs and some Linux.

I would ask why you think the info is not in the backup. Can you find the other files in the backup? In the PC world, you would look in the backup to find the various Users. Find your User name and drill down until you find Desktop which contains the desktop data and program shortcuts. I would think Apple would have a similar structure.

Also, it is not true that you have to Clone a drive to provide a backup. All the backup programs I have seen allow one to backup the files and generate a System Image. You can take a blank drive and restore a System Image to it and have it run like the original.

I think you must be mistaken about 4G going away. I would think it would be with us for another decade. However, 3G is going away (date depends on the carrier) this year.

No. But they could probably have the one we left in Afghanistan.

The Skinwalker Rance series is on the History Channel. Very strange things happen.

Guns or not - What kind of person decides to go k**l a bunch of young children? As we remove God from our homes and schools, evil continues to grow.

That's ridiculous.

Open Settings.
Click on Devices.
Click on AutoPlay.
Under the "Choose AutoPlay defaults" section, the Removable drive drop-down menu and select a new default action when connecting a USB drive: