NoelC

Personally, I'd put a few more $$$ into the system and upgrade to as much RAM as she'll take. -Noel

I'm replacing an old system for which I bought Win 7 Ultimate and installed it back in 2009. I still have the original installation disc and the product code that came with it. The system has since burned out and I have bought a new one. Of course I could install from the original disc and go through the zillion updates that have been released in the lifetime of Win 7, including the Service Pack, but... It would be nice if I can just install from a Win 7 Ultimate SP1 ISO (which I have). Should I expect problems (installing Win 7 SP1 media with an original Win 7 retail product code), and should I just install from the original media (which I'll have to transfer to a USB)? I'm assuming I'll have to ask Microsoft to allow the (re)activation because the hardware's different. -Noel

Dave seems to get an extra day for being on the other side of the International Date Line, but look carefully at the time. I'm thinking, though listed in the local time zone, the expiration time must be represented internally by a UTC-based time/date, so they all expire worldwide at the same instant. Mine expires October 1, 2015 at 7:59 PM Eastern Standard Time. -Noel

For what it's worth, My1, that's the kind of information most folks using licensing processes won't want to share, for obvious reasons. Some things off the top of my head that you can google on your own to become more familiar with the processes: "computer system identification", "hash codes", "trap door algorithms", "product activation". -Noel

Do you know that you want KB3022345, beyond the general principle (which is being called more and more into question lately) that Microsoft knows best what you need? For what it's worth, I've been running all the other optional updates noted above for 3 days now without downside. -Noel

I still can't go "Full Screen" in VMware with build 10061 (as with 10049). Apparently Microsoft has changed or broken the API that VMware tools uses to resize the display. It's unfortunate, because I'd really like to test multi-monitor support. My Win 10 TP Enterprise installation has now requested Activation twice. It's not supposed to need activation at all, per the documentation. The first time I just used the Enterprise activation key via the normal UI (e.g., SLUI 3), but the second time it required: slmgr.vbs -ipk PBHCJ-Q2NYD-2PX34-T2TD6-233PK Edit: Another observation. The Task Scheduler Library list is nearly empty - yet some things that were scheduled before the upgrade (e.g., Aerohost) are actually running. I wonder how... -Noel

Yes, it does open the Settings App on right-click, Open. Edit: Figured out why: You need to put the entire path (explorer.exe shell:Appsfolder\windows.immersivecontrolpanel_cw5n1h2txyewy!microsoft.windows.immersivecontrolpanel) in the Command field, which is what's executed when you left click on an entry. You're not defining parts of a command, you're defining the command to be executed on click, or the folder to be scanned to create a submenu. And yes, I got shell:Appsfolder\ to work. As an experiment, I was also able to add that as a menu, and it made one big honkin' menu with apparently everything that would normally appear in the All Apps start screen. That's not really that useful, except maybe in a pinch when you can't find something any other way, but it's an interesting curiosity nonetheless... -Noel

It's not feasible to affect ribbon-enabled window title coloration via DWMGlass.dll. But don't give up hope... Load Big Muscle's UxThemeSignatureBypass DLLs (via the AppInit_DLLs registry entry) and the problem is nicely solved... -Noel

Welcome to the era of "Microsoft knows best". Here's what you can do: Run gpedit.msc.Go into Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Update.Open Confitgure Automatic Updates.Set it to 2 - Notify for download and notify for install.I also enabled the Turn on Software Notifications setting, though I'm not sure that's strictly necessary. Thanks for the info, Tusticles, though for some reason all I could get Classic Shell to open with the suggested custom button was an Explorer window pointed to This PC. -Noel

I've upgraded two test systems to Windows 10 TP build 10061 - one a VM with "Pro" and the other a real machine with "Enterprise". Observations so far: There seem to be a few bugs. I doubt this version will be suitable for the slow ring unless they release a bunch of Windows Updates to fix basic problems. I don't use the Windows start menu (preferring Classic Shell) but when I tried to use it things didn't seem right at all. These build updates always undo a whole bunch of tweaks and registry changes that have to be re-done to make the system more useful. The ones I do seem to still apply. For some reason the Taskbar is now very thick, and doesn't seem to respond to the configured theme colors (nor do desktop window title bars seem to be able to be colored). This doesn't affect me much as I auto-hide the Taskbar anyway. The system tray bug where the hidden tray icons wouldn't show if the Taskbar was set to auto-hide seems to be fixed. Classic Shell seems to work okay, though I no longer see any of the Metro Apps listed. Not a big deal for me, I don't have use for such Apps. Aero Glass 1.3.2 DEBUG extension for Win8.1 Desktop Window Manager seems to work, but only in fallback mode after failing to find symbols online. This is usable, though occasionally renders a few artifacts in the title bars. I've had to redo my theme atlas file as the positions and sizes of some of the graphic elements have changed. But the good news is that there's still enough of the theming engine in place to actually be able to make the desktop elements look decent. I've had Internet Explorer crash (on this site, using this editor) with Experimental mode enabled. I haven't tried (nor am I particularly interested in) Spartan. I've had a fair bit of success trimming the number of running processes. I've got it to where my VM is running 50 or so just to have an empty desktop, using about 1.2 GB of RAM. I have installed some server software (Subversion Edge) on my Enterprise test system, and I have been able to settle it down to 63 processes running (roughly equivalent to the VM, since Subversion Edge starts quite a few processes), using about 1.5 GB of RAM. There are still a fair number that are candidates for further study, and ultimate trimming. All the Windows "legacy" desktop applications I've tried seem to work okay. I don't sense any changes in the Win32 environment. Overall performance seems just about the same as build 10049 to me. Not better as some have reported. Of course, everyone does different things. I don't run games, for example. I guess my observation still holds that if Microsoft doesn't mess too many more things up I could probably find a way to live with Windows 10 as it is to do my software engineering business work. -Noel

Gonçalo, did you change any hardware? I believe the machine signature comes from your hard drive info among possibly other things. Did you plug in a different drive? -Noel

Yes, that's what I meant; thanks for clarifying, bphlpt. Abstractions can be quite useful, but they simply have to be well-implemented. When they bring along negative baggage that makes using the computer less deterministic they're less than useless. Like you, I don't touch Libraries after having given them their workout, then digging out of a host of problems they caused. I find avoiding all the Explorer abstractions entirely (which I consider distractions) works best: There's a kernel of goodness in Windows that makes it useful, but it's no wonder a lot of people think Windows overall sucks given all the unfinished junk Microsoft has hung all over it. This "get it 95% done" philosophy Microsoft has always followed just doesn't yield an elegant experience. -Noel

You can install Classic Shell to run "legacy" desktop applications. It seems to work, except now for me the Metro "Apps" are missing from its menu (not really a problem for me). Anyone know a good way to start the Settings App from a shortcut (e.g., by running a particular executable)? Just running SystemSettings.exe seems to do nothing. I can get there indirectly through Programs > Windows System > Devices, which starts something like Windows.immersivecontrolpanel_sw5n1h2txyewylm. This gives me an incentive to try out the system without UAC (EnableLUA = 0). Some things, like clicking the gear icon at the bottom of the Notifications slide-in emit an error "can't start with UAC disabled", but pretty much everything else seems to work. -Noel

But not really available to mere peons like us. -Noel

And a pretty bad feature, I might add. Among other things, using Libraries can get File Explorer into a condition where it doesn't update as you change things. Nothing wrong with organizing things into folders on hard drives. -Noel

Here's a theme atlas that works with 10061, if you're running Aero Glass in "fallback" mode... http://Noel.ProDigitalSoftware.com/ForumPosts/Win10/10061/RoundedCorners.png Since the system seems to want to color the active and inactive window borders similar shades of light gray, I've tweaked the theme atlas to make the active window title a shade of blue, as you can see above. Other tweaks to achieve the above appearance include stting the DWM key FrameMargin DWORD value to 3, and reducing the sizes of the title bars / caption buttons by importing WindowMetrics registry entries saved from a Windows 7 system. -Noel

Several of those optional updates might affect me, though I've not seen any actual problems. Other than that one (KB3022345) that's reported to be problematic, I've tested them all in a VM without problems, and so I've just gone ahead and installed them on my workstation. KB3022345 specifically I've avoided installing and hidden instead as I don't see any advantage for me in Microsoft collecting data about functional issues in Windows components from my systems. I think it's ridiculous that they publish what looks like an entire page of documentation, but which really only contains a couple of vague sentences. All the rest is boilerplate. -Noel

Symbols are not available for build 10049, nor will they be apparently (someone said they only post symbols for Slow Ring builds). So just [Cancel] the pop-up dialog for now and Aero Glass will do its best to hook the system without them. It works after a fashion, and appears to be stable - though there are visible artifacts that show up in the translucent areas. -Noel

That's very encouraging, Dave - thanks for posting it. I was starting to worry that Microsoft would make it impossible to re-theme. -Noel

Just to be clear I don't see evidence (up through 10049) that you can pick and choose updates to apply or ignore, but that there's just slightly more control given to the user. It's a hard read, but I'm sensing the Windows Update process is unfinished. We'd all like to think Microsoft is executing to a fully vetted design, but the fact that things just get moved around and features come and go between these preview releases supports my theory that Microsoft is - more than ever - just throwing code up against the wall to see what sticks. -Noel

A Domain Controller. A close look at that script implies it will skip advertising the free "upgrade" to Windows Enterprise editions and systems connected to a domain (on the theory that enterprises often use non-Enterprise versions and connect them to their domains). -Noel

No, I haven't had time yet. -Noel

Today a big list of optional updates showed up. Reading the KB articles seems to imply that they're all relatively small bugfixes (sometimes bugfixes of previous bugfixes) or slight feature improvements. But they're mostly quite vague. Not that bugfixes aren't usually welcome, but what's up with this? Usually bugfixes get "rolled up" into bigger packages. Is Microsoft trying to drive home the thought that we don't really want to be managing updates microscopically, and therefore will start to welcome the "hands off" approach Windows 10 is delivering? What worries me is that they're optional. Have they been tested less? How can we really know whether it would be beneficial or detrimental to install such optional updates? I don't really know whether most folks always install all the optional ones or never do... -Noel

I find it a bit disconcerting to think how Microsoft might build in a requirement that all these updates be present. Nothing says they have to make future Windows Updates for Win 7, 8.1 work properly without having installed these. Most - but not all - are optional at this point and Microsoft has already advised against hiding the important one. That one (KB2990214 for Win 7 and KB3044374 for Win 8.1) could lead to a potential catch-22: A. Hide it and have the Windows Update process stop working properly. B. Keep it and one day boot up the computer to Windows 10. More info on that in the link Jorge posted before... http://blogs.technet.com/b/joscon/archive/2015/04/14/windows-servicing-releases-april-14-2015.aspx -Noel

FYI the plug-in didn't work in identifying that WUDFHost was running because of a USB drive being considered a "Portable Device" on a Win 10 Enterprise test system I just put together. The "Drivers:" section was just empty. -Noel