JorgeA

NoelC, what are the two OSes that are running just ahead of Win10 in that latest graph? The one that appears to be blue seems to have just recently dipped below the purple one. Which is what? And how about the three near the bottom, particularly the gray one that's been steadily climbing? --JorgeA

KB3035583 popped up again on my Win7 machine today, as an "Important" update. This is after declining and hiding the update. One true statement in the KB article: BTW, what exactly is the "problem" that KB3035583 proposes to fix on a well-working Windows 7 system? --JorgeA

Thanks for the detailed rundown, it looks like this is really the bottom line. One good thing coming out of this whole sorry mess is that it might encourage some Windows users to learn more about the technology as they try to defend against the constant assaults. (Many people won't know at all what's going on, and will care even less.) I know that in my case it was a weird PC problem that first got me digging into the nuts and bolts. Regarding whether users may not stop Microsoft from collecting all this data about them, I've heard this same point made by our dear friend SRFreeman (with the intent of shutting up the opposition to Windows 10, of course). I'll have to block out a chunk of time to find out what exactly it says -- the MSFT agreements are not a model of clarity, especially since the provisions are sprawled out over like three separate lengthy documents (EULA, MSA, Privacy Statement). --JorgeA

Thanks very much! It sounds like the KDE customization options have grown a lot recently. I'll take Netrunner 16 for a spin (I was on 12). --JorgeA

I agree with every single word in there. Like you, I freely alternate "work" and "fun" on my computer: maintaining separate, distinct desktops for each purpose would become just another chore and something getting in the way of moving from one type of activity to the other. --JorgeA

And for those who (as pushed by technology coming to Win10) are excited at the prospect of getting rid of passwords and using biometrics to sign into their computers (or anything, for that matter): Office of Personnel Mgmt: 5.6M estimated to have fingerprints stolen in breach You can change your password if it's stolen. It's a little more difficult to change your fingerprint. --JorgeA

Yeah, there's no reason the monitoring (and blackmail) would have to stop at the border. Things are probably not as bad as we think -- they're even worse. --JorgeA

^^ Just to be sure: the idea is that you're not getting Windows 10 "for free" in the same way that you might pick up a free thumb drive at the electronics store's promotion. You have to turn in another thumb drive in order to get the new one. Maybe you can return it and get the old one back later, but either way you have as many thumb drives (Windows licenses) at the end as when you started, rather than a free extra one. --JorgeA

Note that one of the requests actually got through the firewall (noting the green arrow), because it's an address required to successfully do a Windows Update. NoelC, what you do think are the prospects (technically speaking) for devising a user-friendly application to enable less-expert Windows users to do these sorts of things without having to "change their own oil," so to speak? Especially with regard to managing the firewall. Never mind that Microsoft might easily undo everything with the next set of updates, I'm wondering about the feasibility of creating a program (at all) that will do this for the user. If such a thing is possible, it could come to make a real dent in Microsoft's plans and maybe persuade them to back off. --JorgeA

A brief but interesting discussion about privacy in Windows 10. At about 5:05, the guest makes a provocative point about the political power that Win10 could give to Microsoft: --JorgeA

Well said! What makes it an even worse bargain is that it's not even a "free" OS as most people might understand it: we have to give up an existing Win7/8.1 llcense in order to activate Win10 (or else submit to even more comprehensive monitoring as an Insider). So not only does Win10 not bring to the table anything new that's of much value, as you said, but we have to surrender our previous OS installation in exchange for this dubious benefit. --JorgeA EDIT: typo

That sounds very appealing. I've been experimenting off and on (mostly off lately) with Netrunner, which uses the KDE desktop. Is there a tutorial somewhere to customize that desktop to look like Aero Glass, or is the process fairly self-evident in the customization settings? --JorgeA

Thanks for the explanation jaclaz, that covers it pretty well. It IS a strange issue with the board. I guess I had totally missed that thread about font rendering. --JorgeA

Terry Myerson tries to reassure the anxious masses that Microsoft will respect their privacy, but he gets skewered in the comments: --JorgeA

Google will let companies target ads using your email address No doubt this will give Microsoft ideas, now that so many Windows 10 users will be getting Microsoft Accounts tied to their e-mail addresses... --JorgeA

Hahaha, just to illustrate the dismal level of the folks who put that ostensibly professional video together, not only did they misspell "Jekyll & Hyde" (giving the first name as "Jeckyll"), but they also got "switcheroo" wrong, ridiculously giving it as "switch-a-roo." --JorgeA

Yep, it is (JFYI) a glitch in the parsing engine of the board: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/174184-this-link-only-goes-to-msfn/ jaclaz @jaclaz, did you do that on purpose? Here's the result I get by clicking on your link: I thought that I was going to a thread discussing the first glitch, but I seem to have landed on a different glitch. (The first two links @neville2 provided led to the MSFN home page rather than to an error page.) --JorgeA

(and to everything else that follows the above quote) +1 I, too, was excited about the prospect of a new Windows that would fix what was wrong with the Windows 8 UI. Sadly, over time I realized that they went barely a quarter of the way in that respect (with a half-baked new Start Menu), while ignoring other areas for improvement (such as optional Aero Glass customization) and then actually making things worse in other respects (with forced updates and all the extra "phoning home" that can't be turned off by non-expert users). Pretty frightening. As I was reading the paragraph about sneaking "law enforcement software" into OS updates, I was saying to myself, "Well, that's the best reason I can think of to disable updates altogether," and then sure enough that's what the text goes on to discuss. BTW, very nice first post. Welcome to the forum! --JorgeA

Has Norton/Symantec joined the "sneaky forced upgrade" trend? Check this out: I have set all my machines using Norton to not look for new program versions and so far they've all held. But this report gives me pause. Will monitor for additional reports of another vendor ignoring its customers' explicit preferences. --JorgeA

As I understand, I think they're complaining loss of control in tuning how the text is rendered. In older versions of Windows components (Explorer shell, IE8, Office 2010), text is rendered by GDI and it has ClearType RGB antialiasing. Plus this is tweakable so people can completely turn off ClearType or adjust its contrast/crispness. Most people were satisfied with its rendering. Because ClearType utilizes the physical layout of the red, green and blue pigments of the LCD screen, it is sensitive to the orientation of the display. When tablets arrived, they found that for rotated displays, in which the subpixels are arranged vertically rather than horizontally, using ClearType on these display configurations will actually reduce the text quality. So they replaced it with DirectWrite grayscale antialiasing. In all Microsoft apps like IE9 onwards, Microsoft GarbEdge, Office 2013, and all of Metro, ClearType RGB antialiasing is gone. Plus, all user control over tuning the text is also removed because DirectWrite provides no end-user tunable parameters. Some people have trouble reading the text, some don't find it as easy to read, hence the complaints, while some actually prefer it. Many of them would have wanted RGB anti aliasing to remain at horizontal orientation but Microsoft as we all know doesn't believe in giving choices any more. @xpclient: Thanks a bunch for the details, that was very informative. Sounds like it was yet another degradation of the UX for the sake of mobile. Love the name. It fits well! @NoelC: Thanks for the additional details. Evidently this has been in the works since Windows 8. @neville2: I'm heading off to view the Device Manager in Win10 to see what you're saying for myself. BTW, the link leads to the MSFN home page. Maybe it got changed? --JorgeA

What, are you afraid of change, eh?? What are you moaning and groaning about, anyway -- the cow-dung house is FREE!!! --JorgeA

Take a look at the OP in this thread: I've heard some complaints off and on about font rendering in Windows 10, but have never had a clear handle on what they're talking about. Could the above be an example of what people are complaining about? --JorgeA

The writer of the following post has it just about exactly right. Discussing the topic of forced Windows Updates with little or no usable information about them, he/she said: IMO one of the greatest impediments to Linux becoming a major player in the desktop market is its developers' policy of issuing revamped new versions every six months. Even the "long" term support versions are for -- what, 3 years? Sorry, but the idea of reinstalling your OS twice a year just doesn't cut it. Life is too short. Recognize that operating systems are not the focus of most people's lives! Until Linux developers get their heads out of their geeky a$$e$ and decide to come up with something that people out there will find practical to use, Linux will remain but a guppy in the desktop lake. Is the point to feel oneself superior for being an expert on an OS that few know -- let alone give a hoot -- about, or is the point to challenge the supremacy of Windows by offering a viable alternative to it? You can crow all you want about how Linux is technically better, but that's worthless until and unless you make it accessible to a wider audience. The automobile was little more than the plaything of hobbyists until Henry Ford came around and made it more affordable and simpler to operate. No doubt a lot of these hobbyists sniffed at the technically inferior, standardized product Ford made, but their smug attitudes were quickly rendered irrelevant as the auto revolution took over and changed society. We could use a Henry Ford of Linux. --JorgeA

Wow, thanks NoelC, I'm glad I asked. I'll let that update sit there. Will be interesting to see if it magically graduates to "Important" status at some point. That might even tell us something about Microsoft's designs for Universal apps vs. Win32 applications. --JorgeA

Is this anything that Windows 7 users trying to avoid getting dragged into the Win10 muck should be concerned about? I see that "Universal" part and immediately think that MS is trying to infect inject Universal apps into Win7. I think it should be OK to install this, but am checking here just in case. --JorgeA