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I'm starting to understand that I'll never win the battle against windows 10. Since iTunes ended support, everything is kinda all over the place for me. For how long do you think will at least browsers and steam support Windows 7/8 ? also Nvidia can end the support soon. I'm fully aware that no-one except you guys here cares about older operating systems and it is really sad People are happy with telemetry filled, ugly looking, unreliable crapdows 10. I think 2021 will be the last year I'll be able to enjoy 8.1 before downgrading to windows 10 Discord is already complaining about screen share ("For the best experience, Please upgrade to windows 10").

Same here. Very sad to see that the crappy, spying, crashing, bloated, FisherPrice-looking, user-unfriendly Windows 10 is being promoted by MS guys, who know the power users who used and loved Windows 2000, XP, Vista etc.etc. and still use it to this day. I hate its mobile first approach I'm planning to use Windows Vista and 7 and 8.x till atleast 2023, when full support for the three ends (Vista ESU, 7 ESU, 8.0 Server 2012 updates and 8.1 direct updates). Also, if I can use them for longer, I will certainly do so until either my hardware can't keep up or when these OSes become completely obsolete, and seeing as there are many wise members here at MSFN dedicated to keeping legacy Windows versions alive, that moment is set to come only long after, in the very far future. Also, I'm going to completely move to Linux when Windows Vista, 7 and 8 become obsolete and am never going to bother with Microsoft from that moment. If you've liked what I said, please do upvote. No compulsion intended though.

I see that MS stuffed Visual C++ with several functions that get called based on the OS they're running on; SetThreadDescription is one from 10, while GetCurrentPackageId is one from 8, and they infamously did the same with XP functions to shut out 2000. Firefox and Chromium browsers do not load on Vista if Application Verifier is set to Windows 8/10 on those applications. It's OK for now as they're not really needed, but they may be once Windows 7 is scuttled and they settle on a hard version check to shut it out. The thing that concerns me most is display driver support, because that changed significantly between 8.1 and 10 (WDDM 1.3 to WDDM 2.0). And as we found out, some of those version checks are hard to deal with. The only solution seemingly is to correct VerifyVersionInfo in ntdll and of course, that means making wrappers for 7 and 8.1 with that and RtlGetVersion.

A couple things to note here. 1. Why do you need iTunes? Make your music library local if you haven't already and ditch it. 2. 7 is definitely on its way out, but 8 is still kind of a special case since it will be receiving official security updates for a couple more years still. The real breaking point will be drivers, but if people can still find a way to make Windows XP work in this day and age, I don't think that will be too much of a problem. As to Discord, I use that in a browser and on my phone anyway, so no big loss there at all. NVidia/AMD would be a big factor, yes, but the 30 series of current NVidia cards all support 8.1 and even 7, and I know at least with NVidia, they don't start dropping OS support until at least a new line is launched. They could have ditched 8.1 for this 30 series, but they did not, so that also gives 8.1 a few more years of life behind it. 3. DirectX12 has been a bit of a thorn in the side of legacy Windows users, but Vulkan is starting to catch up fast, and Vulkan is OS independent. Perhaps the biggest standards that 8.1 is really missing is support for the latest Bluetooth standard of 5.2 (meh) and Wifi 6, or 802.11ax (more of a problem, but also not a big deal). 4. Finally, even if all this didn't apply, it's still not all doom and gloom. Quite the opposite. There's a reason that Valve has been on a rampage with providing Linux support. They got mad at Microsoft a long time ago and didn't like being beholden to them (think it started with the bul***** UWX), so they're now funneling their money and efforts into Linux to give it a massive boost in compatibility. And it's helping. A lot. This is also probably why Valve dropped Steam support for Windows Vista and below. They believe in and want those people on Linux instead. Back in the day, Linux used to be frustrating to use, and compatibility equally so, but those days are long gone, and in some instances, Linux actually works BETTER than Windows. And even further, it's only going to improve. The kernel has shown itself time and time again to be absolutely amazing for old hardware while still retaining full support for the latest hardware and drivers, now easily auto-detecting what needs to be used and doesn't and seamlessly applies the correct drivers without any input needed. At the very end of the day, even if Windows 10 didn't suck, we all knew this was gonna happen sometime. OSes get old. New standards are developed. That's just what happens. But just because 8.1 will reach end-of-life sometime is not the end of the world since Linux is now the looming behemoth over Microsoft's OS division, and if Microsoft doesn't shape its a** up, that penguin is gonna start stealing a lot of f****** market share.

IBM ThinkPad t60/t61 owners, hello! Share your experience with the t60/t61/any similar laptop such as an r60/r61 or even a Frankenpad (t60+t61) if you have ever owned one and share what you have done to make it usable even now and a system properties screenshot (if you still use it of course). Just for reference: I myself don't have a t60/t61 and have never had one but I have seen a plethora of YouTube videos on how these laptops are great and still usable now.

Software hangout unless you can craft the post to be relevant to a specific OS version then it can be put into the particular OS section. A lot of things in Windows crosses over so there really isn't any issue with a topic in say... the Win7 section and also applies to XP. We can always move a thread later on if you or a mod thinks it would better fit somewhere else.

I am essentially the same way. I love Linux and I think it will get big, but in my case, I just don't prefer anything that it offers. Windows 7 and 8.1 just worked when installed and are compatibile on great amounts of hardware.

Yes, @AeroSeeker, I agree with you that Linux is in many ways better than Windows 10, but one of the things I love about earlier Windows versions is that the UI was great (for example, Windows Vista's Aero UI and taskbar), but sadly, tweaking Linux to make it look just like a Windows Vista clone is impossible. I'm saying this because I'm not a fan on the Gnome, Mate, XFCE, LXDE etc.etc. themes in Linux.

This is my system properties page. I am running windows 8.1 though my computer doesn't support it.

Only for the record, SVCHOST.EXE is a sort of "catch all" for services. You will need process explorer (or similar) to understand which actual service is "behind" svchost.exe. https://www.raymond.cc/blog/identify-loaded-svchostexe-in-windows-task-list/ And, possibly this will also help: https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/process_activity_view.html jaclaz

Exactly! There are many wise folks on this wonderful forum who still use Windows 2000 or even Windows 95 today, by applying the necessary compatibility, security and usability patches and taking smart preventive measures against bad actors! So, whatever your OS may be, being smart is VERY IMPORTANT! Windows 10 is just useless and bloated and unstable, and even with "security" updates, it is not made as secure as older Windows versions, such as 9x-Vista, which very less number of people use today and which are highly unlikely to be targeted by bad actors. I did not mention 7-8.1 as they are still used by about 15-20% of the Windows population, but over time, usage will decline (partly because of Microsoft's intimidation) and they will also become more secure.

It installs after fooling the installer into thinking it's running on Windows 10. Installed programs seem to function without issues at first glance without any workarounds. No luck running the installer on Windows 7. It wants SetCoalescableTimer function (Windows 8 and up), which I could redirect to SetTimer, but then the exception is thrown in msxml6.dll and I don't know how to proceed further.

its like , if u have diabetics and u want to eat sweets, then sugarless sweets is only option for u, even knowing that there is no test in it. . same here for vista on 256 mb RAM.