JorgeA
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Here are the most important things Microsoft announced at today’s Windows 10 Creators Update event
Quote3D Design was a big focus during today’s keynote as Microsoft officially announced Paint 3D, an updated version of the legacy app that will allow everyone to design 3D objects.
So, dear Microsoft, can I design a 3D convex Taskbar to replace the flat boring one that you put in Windows 10?
--JorgeA
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7 hours ago, bigmuscle said:
Actually, I think it will be better to remove Win8 section completely, because this version (neither Win8 nor AeroGlass) is not maintained and supported anymore. For the other versions, the install procedure is always the same.
When you say Win8, do you mean the original Windows 8? I recently obtained a Windows 8 laptop (yes, 8.0, it was a very good deal
) and it's happily running Aero Glass on it. Supposing that I needed to reinstall Aero Glass on it and that section were gone, could one follow the instructions for Windows 8.1 to reinstall Aero Glass on Windows 8? If not, then there is still value in keeping the specific instructions for Win8. All that's needed is to clearly set it off from the rest
--JorgeA
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A small UI improvement in the latest version (14393.651) -- the File Explorer back and forward arrows are much easier to see now:
And the arrows get highlighted when there is something that can be done with them (see at left, below):
A nice little improvement. The thin arrows surrounded by a sea of white were a distinct annoyance.
I don't remember seeing these improved arrows before. Maybe somebody will enlighten me on that.
--JorgeA
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2 hours ago, Formfiller said:
Three months ago.
About the notebooks: Do Intel core i-6000 CPUs work without a fuss with Windows 8.1, still? I remember Microsoft's fear mongering that they would stop support for newer processors on 7 and 8.
I am a bit out of the loop, because the last months I haven't dabbled in all this at all.
I second what MTDirector said. A few months back, Microsoft backtracked on the decision to stop supporting Windows 7 on Skylake next year. Now they will keep supporting Win7 on Skylake until the general Win7 EOS in 2020. I think it also means that Win8.1 will be supported on Skylake until 2023 as one would have expected.
But neither Win7 nor 8.1 will be supported on more recent processors such as Kaby Lake. However, it's unclear at this point whether that means that 7 and 8.1 won't run at all; the linked article has some interesting point-counterpoint on that subject.
Note, though, the following clarification at the very end of the article:
QuoteMicrosoft's support strategy applies to the use of the chips within Windows PCs, not Linux or Apple Macs.
This will be interesting to Linux and Apple fans, and could become another argument for switching to one of those platforms instead of Windows 10.
--JorgeA
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20 minutes ago, bookie32 said:
Many of my customers experience problems with 365....but if you think about it in terms of you pay a monthly/yearly subscription for 365 then it isn't so strange that other office products don't work....another typical example is telling users that have Microsoft email accounts they can't continue using Windows Live Mail unless they have Windows 10....everything they do is centred around this crap or the fact that we should have subscriptions for their products!!
More and more of my older customers (pensioners) are going over to open source products for office such as Libre, Open Office and using Mozilla Thunderbird as their email client if they have Outlook, Hotmail etc instead of being bullied into upgrading to Windows 10.
Good for them!!
Personally, I recommend Softmaker Office, which is highly compatible with MS Office files -- much more so IMX than LibreOffice. It's not free (although they do offer a Softmaker Free Office version), but it's a lot less expensive than MS Office. Oh, and it doesn't have the stupid Ribbon interface. I've already switched to it on my business laptop and will make it my to-go office suite if 2007 becomes too incompatible to get work done.
--JorgeA
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21 minutes ago, BudwS said:
However, another IMO any laptop whose name begins with "Mac" gets multi-tier consideration because it just runs Windows software better that PCs and you have a stable OS X software that just runs and you control the updates. Just functional computing. If you can afford unstable software, buy a PC, pricing makes no difference. Sorry, JorgeA but the MacBook runs insider fast track W10 preview better than the Dell laptop. But both computers run W10. It's just an interesting journey.
"Multi-tier" is not what Formfiller was asking about. He was asking for recommendations for a notebook with mid-tier pricing.
--JorgeA
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21 hours ago, Formfiller said:
So, after a long hiatus, I am back.
Missed something important?
By the way, need some advice: What new notebook model works with Windows 8.1 without any fuss? Price range is mid tier.
When did you last visit? I could give you a quick rundown of developments since then on this thread. The last few months have focused mostly on building upon and deepening the known unwelcome aspects of Microsoft and Windows 10, plus some welcome news such as the flattening of the Win10 adoption curve despite MSFT's pushy and even ethically questionable efforts to get everybody on that OS.
--JorgeA
P.S. I don't know what you count as "mid-tier" pricing, but IMO any laptop whose name begins with "Mac" is automatically disqualified from "mid-tier" consideration.
(Sorry, NoelC. )
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On Friday, October 21, 2016 at 9:51 PM, NoelC said:
I've wondered that myself.
Could it be that Microsoft is paying them handsomely, yet somehow, for some reason they've passed Woody over - perhaps because he has too much integrity?
Nothing would surprise me anymore.
--JorgeA
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42 minutes ago, xman charl said:
complained about ads on site, couple of days back...
seems like a professional is needed to help the site?
Charl
Do you mean on Woody's site?
He did seem to have some initial issues with questionable advertisements being served by his ad broker, but supposedly that's been taken care of now. We'll see.
Malvertising is going to be the downfall of ad-supported computing, unless sites and especially ad distributors get on the ball. I remember one magazine site started blocking people who used ad blockers, then those who unblocked ads for that site promptly got malware-infested ads. It simply can't go on like that.
Wonder how long before we get a scenario where Microsoft cripples Windows 10 for users who block ads in the Start Menu and notification center, then as a reward for allowing ads the users get malvertising.
--JorgeA
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Bugs in latest Windows/Office patch bundles create confusion
Woody is about the only major tech journalist around who's not meekly accepting the foul Windows stew Microsoft is serving.
Today my Win10 test laptop downloaded a new update. It took well over an hour to finish downloading, slowing down Internet access to a crawl for every other PC on my network. Of course Win10 doesn't tell you the size of the update: had I known how enormous it was, I would have waited to download the update 'til late in the evening.
And then, when it (finally) was done, Win10 announced that a reboot was scheduled for "outside active hours." It took some digging to figure out just what time that reboot was scheduled for. Why can't it simply give that time on the same line as where it announces that a reboot is scheduled?!? What's the BFD?
And yet, no tech journalist that I can think of is questioning this maltreatment of the Windows customer. Where is the outrage??? When did the tech press become so contemptibly submissive??
--JorgeA
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3 hours ago, BudwS said:
Classic Shell asks to update configuration to the new operating system and with a click on 'yes', it just does it and says all is well. How's that for functional software?
BudwS, that's just too easy and sensible!
--JorgeA
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John C. Dvorak strikes again...
The Massive Windows 10 Update Failure
QuoteSo here is what we can expect, something that could easily happen in the next few years: Instead of a simple reboot issue, a patch goes out that fries the machine dead. There is no reboot problem because the machine will not boot at all and you cannot get far enough to even revert to the previous install. We are getting a glimpse into the future if Microsoft persists with forced upgrades; the company needs to rethink its strategy immediately.
...and swipes at the UI while he's at it:
QuoteWhat annoyed me was a not-so-subtle change of the Start menu. On two of the machines, the "File explorer/settings/power/all apps" buttons are now gone, replaced by small icons with "all apps" pre-clicked and "all apps" showing in the start menu. Exactly why this change did not occur on a third machine I do not know.
If Microsoft is going to constantly toy with the UI, then I am fearful. The company was completely stubborn about the idiotic start screen with Windows 8, forcing me and others to revert to products like Classic Shell so we could get an efficient experience. Windows 10 was a compromise I thought was perfect. But now Microsoft—or factions within the company—want to slowly revert back to Windows 8, and the Anniversary Update was step one.
Of course, this is only a suspicion, but the way the company defended the huge page of massive square icons and idiotic full-screen apps obviously reflected a corporate opinion. The company refused to admit that the layout was crap, especially on a system with multiple monitors. Someone high up liked the UI and feels hurt by the Windows 10 compromise.
--JorgeA
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On Wednesday, October 19, 2016 at 3:17 PM, NoelC said:
So THAT's how the pro football players get concussions. I have heard this is a big problem.
--JorgeA
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^^ Ditto (same for me). Weird.
OTOH, I was going to come in to this thread anyway to report that e-mail notifications have spontaneously started to arrive once again. Maybe MSFN's new server successfully passed some trial period required by Verizon.
--JorgeA
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Protecting our pre-Win10 systems from Win10-style snooping is about to get a lot more difficult:
Microsoft previews telemetry push with new Win7/8.1 patches KB 3192403, 3192404
QuoteYesterday Microsoft released seven new patches through Windows Update. Three of them -- KB 3192403 for Windows 7, KB 3192404 for Windows 8.1, and KB 3192406 for Windows Server 2012 -- confirm a trend we've long expected: Microsoft is adding new telemetry/snooping capabilities to Win7, 8.1, and Server 2012 by growing out its Diagnostic and Telemetry service subsystem, DiagTrack. The big push will come in November.
Much to Microsoft's credit, we have many details about the new subsystem. We also have tools to help you avoid installing this enhancement to DiagTrack. But in order to use those tools effectively, you must start installing Windows 7 and 8.1 updates manually -- using Windows Update will ensure that your PC starts sending more info to the mothership.
[emphasis added]
No doubt part of the plan is to make it such an onerous task to stay free of the snooping, that people will give up and go with the path of least resistance.
@dencorso: more Win7/8.1 updates to place on the list.
--JorgeA
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Patriots coach Bill Belichick benches Microsoft's Surface, says it's undependable
"Score" another win for Microsoft!
QuoteIn a six-minute rant captured by NESN reporter Zack Cox, Belichick opened his Tuesday press conference by declaring himself “done with the tablets”—presumably referring to Microsoft’s Surface tablets, though he never identified them by name.
“As you probably noticed, I’m done with the tablets,” Belichick said. “They’re just too undependable for me. I’m going to stick with pictures, which several of our other coaches do, as well, because there just isn’t enough consistency in the performance of the tablets. I just can’t take it anymore.”
[source: https://cms-images.idgesg.net/images/article/2016/01/czg7nqbuaaazgfi-100639913-orig.gif]
--JorgeA
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What is the future of Windows 10 and what will happen to UWP: Part I
Generally a cheerleading writeup, but the following passage caught my eye:
QuoteIt’s not a secret that Microsoft is now focusing on UWP and the API expansion. Microsoft is now focusing mostly on UWP apps...
Good to know that someone on the other side believes, as I do, that Microsoft aims to kill off Win32.
As for what would replace it, the writer offers this
bad dreamvision:QuoteImagine Windows 10 in ten years. It will most probably be called just “Windows.” You won’t have a traditional desktop PC in your room, but rather all you will have is a HoloLens. If you need to sit down and work in front of a desk, you just fire up Word and use your Bluetooth keyboard and mouse to do what you have to do. Think of it like Continuum for Phones, but a step further. You won’t even need a screen anymore. You will have all your files in the cloud, and by using the glasses, you will just edit them wherever you go without begin limited to any device except your head.
[emphasis added]
Cool -- just make sure that you don't keep any naughty pictures in that cloud thing, or documents expressing opinions that Microsoft or thugs with badges might dislike.
If everything goes to the cloud, your digital freedom will go up in smoke. Prepare to live a fully generic life as approved by the proper authorities.
--JorgeA
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The PC market freefall continues, here is how to fix it
Unfortunately, the prescription sits behind a paywall, but the diagnosis is interesting:
Quote...Since Windows 8’s triumphant launch to much fanfare by sites that depend on Microsoft ad revenue, sales have cratered. Most [analysts] belittled the awfulness of this OS and said sales would rebound, consumers actually loved it, and other counter-reality claims.
[...]
...Make PCs that people want to buy, not PCs that make higher margins or follow fashion trends gleaned from self-serving surveys. The problem is simple, people want certain functionality from their computers and the industry actively precludes anyone from making or selling exactly that.
[emphasis added]
Huh, almost makes me want to shell out for the subscription price to find out what it is that Charlie says the PC industry is precluding.
--JorgeA
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4 hours ago, NoelC said:
That would make insiders the what, unit testers and alpha testers? The shoe seems to fit.
Everyone at Microsoft seems to have forgotten it's an operating system, not an application. An operating system needs to be the cornerstone, the foundation, the facilitator. The focus CANNOT be on Windows itself. It has to be on what the users want to DO with Windows.
Yeah, that would make the Insiders the initial cannon fodder for whatever bugs Microsoft introduces each month.
Funny you mention the bit about the focus needing to be on applications rather than the OS. I remember not so long ago (~2013) when MSFT was offering a vision of the OS blending into the background so that people could focus on what they needed to do. It was part of the rationale for simplifying (dumbing down) the UI. Of course, under the WaaS (Windows as a Service) model, the focus is almost exclusively on the OS and whatever changes or mistakes each new sub-sub-version brings with it.
--JorgeA
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ROFL
--JorgeA
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And speaking of fixing (or not fixing) the problems:
Problems continue with Windows 10 Anniversary Update 1607, KB 3194798
QuoteMicrosoft's getting closer, but I still don't recommend that folks move to 1607, the Anniversary Update. Wait for the kinks to get ironed out. If you're using Win10, you'd be well advised to stick with the Fall Update 1511 and continue to block the Anniversary Update. Or you can join the unpaid beta team on 1607.
[emphasis added]
--JorgeA
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I woke up early this morning, so rattled that I couldn't get back to sleep.
Dreamed that I was happily working away at my computer, when all of a sudden the familiar Word 2007 blue interface starts changing into various colors for no apparent reason. Huh?
Next, I notice that the name of the program is changing from MS Word to something like "Vert-Word." WTH??
Panicking, I try opening other programs, and they are all undergoing the same transformation. Excel becomes "Vert-Excel" and so on.
At this point, I discover that I can no longer get into my document files, as they are all getting encrypted.
In the dream, I think to myself, "Great, for all the good my overlapping and redundant security software has done!!!"
Finally, a message in thick black lettering over a red and purple background comes into view on the monitor: "Your files are being encrypted..." and the message trails off as I'm shocked out my slumber after barely 5 hours of sleep. Spent the whole day in a twilight state of
as a result.
Thanks, dream hackers...
Maybe I need a vacation.
--JorgeA
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Excellent, detailed reply, Noel. Thank you.
I'll give that software a try when work permits.
--JorgeA
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) and it's happily running Aero Glass on it. Supposing that I needed to reinstall Aero Glass on it and that section were gone, could one follow the instructions for Windows 8.1 to reinstall Aero Glass on Windows 8? If not, then there is still value in keeping the specific instructions for Win8. All that's needed is to clearly set it off from the rest
as a result.
Windows 10 - Deeper Impressions
in Windows 10
Posted · Edited by JorgeA
clarification
More about that new MacBook Pro and other new offerings by Google and MSFT:
How Google, Apple and Microsoft just saved the PC
Some impressively arrogant, patronizing attitudes being displayed by the writer:
Check that -- we welcome improvement, but reject novelty for its own sake.
From a psychological standpoint, this is a nightmare in gestation. Yes, I do have a cluttered desk. But the pens, papers, thumb drives, and so forth that ring my monitor and keyboard sit outside my focus of attention, which is the screen. If you bring all that onto the screen, then there is no avoiding (ignoring) it. Why would I want to litter my screen with extraneous crap? That hardly sounds like a way to improve productivity.
And then there's the ergonomic angle. Touch-enabled desktop and laptop computers have been around for years now, and PC sales keep declining. The reason is simple: when it comes to manipulating items on a screen, touch is awkward and unnatural. Tablets had a brief heyday because you could hold them on one hand to bring the device to a comfortable height and angle, while the other hand did the digital work. Imagine trying to type that way, be the keyboard real or virtual. Don't work. And now this guy envisions people reaching out their arms to hit something on a distant corner of a giant screen, or constantly leaning forward over the touch surface. There'll be a healthy market for chiropractic services if his prediction comes to pass.
BTW, the commenters are not impressed:
--JorgeA