NoelC

Hey Big Muscle, I've just been tidying up my theme atlas file a little, and I noticed a small glitch that isn't from the atlas. It might be in your code, I'm not sure... As you can see, I have the FrameMargin setting to 2, yet I'm getting a different number of pixels blurred in active windows vs. inactive windows... That theme atlas is: http://Noel.ProDigitalSoftware.com/ForumPosts/Win10/10162/RoundedCornersBlueActive.png -Noel

Oh, has that list already been published by hackers? I didn't think it would take them long to steal. -Noel

Seems like 10162 uses the same theme atlas layout of 10159. Aero Glass has occasional artifacts (for the reasons Big Muscle identified above) and ModernFrame doesn't yet work (symbols are not yet available). -Noel

What's it been, 2 days? Now another new build (10162) is downloading. Every time one of these things installs a whole buttload of stuff gets reset back to they way they want it. Is this aversion therapy? -Noel

Ignorance is bliss. It'd be hilarious if at the end of the month they release a really serious OS, completely different than the one we've been seeing. -Noel

Except that Ivo has just removed that setting from Classic Shell version 4.2.2, and he seems so far convinced it doesn't need to be put back, because apparently he gets the blur on his own system from Windows itself. I posted a link to a discussion on that about 10 posts up in this thread. -Noel

I lowered the height of the title bar via the following registry entries, which were originally saved from a Windows 7 system: http://Noel.ProDigitalSoftware.com/ForumPosts/Win81/SetWindowMetrics.reg And I admit I didn't experiment with those values - I just made the button graphics a few pixels shorter in order to leave a little room above the client area. The positioning of the -, [ ], and X graphics inside the button outlines isn't perfect in build 10159... Sometimes it's centered vertically and sometimes it's a bit below the centerline. -Noel

I wonder what will be the number of people who will truly be duped by Microsoft into upgrading an otherwise working system. At this point Aero Glass and the theme replacement tools work well enough to make me think those who adopt it will have options when it's released. But it's possible Microsoft will tear out something necessary right at release. Let's not forget when they removed Aero Glass entirely from the Win 8 build. Who'd have thought we'd be looking back fondly at all the many new features added in Win 8 (rewritten Task Manager, ability to mount an ISO, er, um, ehhh, surely there were others...) as things you could really sink your teeth into as compared to the new system. Oh, wait, you can start multiple instances of the Calculator App. And to think I had almost forgotten that watershed event. -Noel

A chat message wouldn't normally interfere with audio operations, but who knows. I did an audio recording as well as screen grabs, and did manage to get a relatively poor recording (because it was done via a portable shortwave receiver across the room and the microphone on the PC), regardless of the Skype intrusion. -Noel

Maybe Microsoft is just looking to see if you complain about it being gone. But seriously, what makes you think you should see it work the same way in two different builds? 50% random chance doesn't mean you'll see it every other time, either. FYI, I disabled Big Muscle's Aero Glass entirely and the Windows native Taskbar blur is still not there. If it's a bug, it's not with Big Muscle's code. -Noel

FYI, to the best of my knowledge Microsoft has delivered their "native blur" to only about half the recipients of the Win 10 preview builds. I guess they're looking to get overwhelmingly more positive feedback from one group than the other, before they choose to abandon the concept. But it's a flawed test. Without a full Aero Glass theme implementation - which anyone who knows anything realizes goes beyond just the translucency - what Microsoft has done is just stupid. They didn't bother with Window borders, and their implementation is poor by comparison to that from Windows 7 or Big Muscle's Aero Glass. It's a bit like "throwing users a bone" with no meat on it. If you're one of the folks with no blur, I suggest using the Feedback App to request the resurrection of Aero Glass - though chances are it'll make no difference. Microsoft is confusing having their heads up their rear ends with leadership. For Classic Shell users, see also: http://www.classicshell.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=4755&p=20064#p20064 -Noel

I'm not sure what part of my post you're referring to. I use Skype quite beneficially to collaborate with engineers not co-located with me. With Skype (essentially, a speaker phone that actually DOES work), and other software available for sharing screens, one can sit virtually with someone else to research problems, develop designs, discuss plans... Your posts seem to seek to discredit my positions on various subjects. If that's what excites you, please feel free to keep prodding. I've nothing to hide. I know how to make the tech I've chosen to use work. That doesn't mean other folks have no trouble with it. If you're having trouble seeing the benefit of the usage of a particular bit of tech, please just ask about it and I'll let you know how I've configured it and use it. -Noel

Haven't there already been reports that recent Windows Updates have slowed systems down? Certainly there's this one that recently showed up, and has no use I can discern other than to use a lot of system resources to help Microsoft herd us onto Windows 10. Update for customer experience and diagnostic telemetry: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3068708 It's interesting that the proposal of the above update is to "add benefits from the latest version of Windows to systems that have not yet upgraded." The decision to hide this update became easier once I realized I had not actually detected any benefits from the latest version for my needs. There may be some there, but I haven't run across them yet. -Noel

Sure, it could be distracting if you're not selective about who you allow to contact you. In that case it was an old friend who's a Ham letting me know he'd started a digital audio recording of radio station WWV for the minutes surrounding the one with the leap second. We had been having an active conversation on the subject. But speaking of tech that doesn't work... Unfortunately his copy of Windows proceeded to botch the recording and all he got was a WMA file with 3 minutes of silence. Another practical disappointment from the tech that's supposed to help us. -Noel

Another user wakes up and smells what they're shoveling. He'll probably be banned soon. You're not allowed to be critical of Windows 10 there. But Microsoft's not worried. They have no competition. Yet. Windows as a service most certainly means the system is all theirs and you pay for the privilege of being a part of their world. Too bad if it's not as good a world as you once experienced. Those were the good old days. Time to get over it or be brushed aside. We will complain and complain, and ultimately be assimilated. Perhaps we can find a away, one more time, to "opt out" of the invasion of privacy, of the forced diet of mush, of the our way or the highway. Or maybe not. We still have the older operating systems we can continue to run. For now. But we'd better start being wary of Windows Updates on the systems Microsoft most certainly doesn't want us using. It is not a Good Thing when the OS vendor goes in a different direction than you need. I noticed another person in that thread (TheresaNietfeld) also got the phishing survey I got. -Noel

Right. I changed it to a future with 0.0023% less chance my data will be taken. I already let Microsoft know what I thought about Win 10. Even though I didn't overtly break any rules, they focused on my use, exactly twice, of the term "Metrotard App" and chose to ban me from the place where insiders discuss what they think of Win 10. I have also let them know - many times - what I think about Win 10 via their Feedback App, among other avenues for providing input. I'm pretty sure they have applied some of that feedback, which surely I wasn't the only one providing. For example, I now see clarification in the build 10159 wording about what the peer to peer file sharing settings do regarding outgoing communications in Windows Updates. Mostly I posted this thread to let people know not to be blindsided by an obvious attempt to glean personal info. -Noel

Well it was right on until after the leap second, at which point it was off a second - until the next time it contacted Microsoft for the accurate time. Windows systems normally do that once a day as I recall. Microsoft's servers got it right. Today it's on track again. Unfortunately in my 23:59:60 screen grab my Taskbar opened just before I did the screen grab because someone sent me a chat message via Skype just at that moment. The OS and virtually all software know nothing of these leap seconds. This is part of the reason the ITU is considering eliminating them. For some of us, it happens at night, when time disparities can be less important. For others it happens in the middle of, for example, a trading day in a financial market. My understanding is that far eastern markets suspended trading for significantly longer than 1 second yesterday. -Noel

You can be sure I am not going to be entering any of those things just for the "privilege" of filling out a survey! -Noel

Heh, I got an eMail message from Microsoft requesting I complete a short survey. It explicitly states, "Survey results are anonymous unless you choose to provide your name". First page of the survey, in ridiculously large fonts, requires entry of a bunch of personal information before continuing. And no, it's not possible to get past that first page without entering anything, or even partial data. So... Is this just Microsoft being downright stupid? A phishing attack based on theft of the insider database? -Noel

Looks as though now they're drawing the caption buttons taller, relative to the title bar height. I really liked them shorter, so I've changed the graphics a little. I've had ZERO time to test this, but it might make the caption buttons a little less awkwardly positioned... Chances are I still need to move some things around, but here you go: This is for builds 10158 and 10159: http://Noel.ProDigitalSoftware.com/ForumPosts/Win10/10159/RoundedCornersBlueActive.png Aero Glass seems to work, for the most part, but does have some visual glitches, accompanied by errors reported in the debug.log... -Noel

Rebooting restarted it at 97%. It's now done decompressing/decrypting and is ready to restart. We'll see... -Noel

Speaking of technology that doesn't quite work... Latest windows update on build 10130 to a version no one else seems to have (10159) got stuck in downloading at 98% for 3 hours (didn't need the VM for anything, so I let it sit there). After a reboot, it restarted at 97%, then finished the download. Who knows what'll happen after the install. That used to be exciting... Now it's just dread... -Noel

Something you don't see every day... -Noel

I have the same theme atlas as I published before. I haven't generated one for the latest build yet, nor do I know I need to. My unexpected 10159 update has stalled at 98%, even though I have left it several hours. It was probably a mistake by Microsoft. -Noel

The one I see updating is 10159. Was 10158 a typo made by two three different folks? Or something odd going on? -Noel