NoelC

I use a fair bit of Gnu software in Windows actually. I don't know how people get along without a good set of command line filters. -Noel

A request to "please provide a source" implies more than the answer "I found it online", because we know that not everything you read on the Internet is true. Your statement, couching it as fact, just adds to the FUD. You're implying that further updates on a given system will cost money. That flies in the face of Microsoft's direct statement that a system that has been upgraded to Windows 10 will receive updates for free for the usable life of the device. I (and others I'm sure) would very much like to know it if a reputable source has made a statement that negates that direct statement. -Noel

That's one big nut. With a full 10 different Unix derivatives along the bottom (which per the graph labeling along the left is 3 years ago) how the heck could anyone reasonably choose a path to follow? I'm against oversimplification, but I'm also against overcomplication too. :-O >Perhaps the most adequate FreeBSD distribution to try (for a 1st contact with the OS) might be PC-BSD, >maybe the one using the KDE desktop environment. Thanks. I may try that. Is OS X really Mixed/Shared Source? -Noel

Why do you want to use that metered connection trick? To control updates? Another reason? -Noel

If that's a guess or personal prediction of the future, I suggest you present it as such. If not, please provide a source for the info. -Noel

Glad you like it. It really works, long-term. I set the "Caption colour" setting in Big Muscle's Aero Glass for Win8.x configuration tool to white. Seems to me that covers most cases. Download that tool here: http://www.glass8.eu/download.html (look for the Testing version of GUI application to modify Aero Glass parameters link) Beyond that, Big Muscle's UxThemeSignatureBypass64.dll, running via the AppInit_DLLs entry in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows, interprets that "Caption colour" setting and sets the ribbon-enabled window captions to white. More info here: And some instructions here: http://www.glass8.eu/guide.html -Noel

I never, ever used XP's "chicklet" mode myself. It was only Classic mode with the Classic start menu. I stayed with the Classic start menu in Vista, but migrated to Aero Glass right away, as it actually brought better things to usability, such as better differentiation of windows from one another (drop shadows, glass effects). -Noel

"Improvements" seems a little strong a description for "You can now enable paths with more than 260 characters for NTFS". Has this really been a problem? Yes, I have encountered "path too long" messages - but only maybe twice or three times in my career, and as I recall they were because a deep subtree accidentally got copied to another deep path, then couldn't be deleted. -Noel

Is there any reason whatsoever to think that Microsoft should pull back from their aggressive push to get people to "up"grade to Windows 10 just because it will start costing a fee to do so? In short: Does anyone really think they'll feel morally obligated to dial it back? I'm not sure there's a legal reason to do so. The precedent has already been set. All they've done is redefine "normal" so that everyone now just expects their aggressive adware tactics now. I mean, nowadays most folks just know that Windows Updates contain adware. That's "normal". I'm sure apologists and fanboys are preparing their canned responses already (e.g., "What? Crying over Microsoft's advertising now? Why didn't you upgrade for free when you had the chance?"). It's a sickening new reality. -Noel

For those who don't already have it bookmarked: http://changewindows.org/overview Click the vNext box for a bullet summary of what's coming out in the anniversary release of Win 10. -Noel

Sorry, I was a bit harsh. Just chill a bit - take the time to learn things, and the answers and results will come. -Noel

>Is there a method to find out which 32bit games those are? If you're interested in seeing what is currently running as a 32 bit application, you can look in the Task Manager in the list of Processes. In Win 8 and newer you have to enable the Platform column, which will then show either "32 bit" or "64 bit" because presumably seeing *32 in the older Task Manager next to the name cause some folks mental overload. It's so good that the Task Manager was re-written to give us a more "ignorance is bliss" experience. Yeah, that's why we would want to run Task Manager, right? >I wish I knew someone sophisticated enough to decompile this kernal so it can be forcibly eradicated via deletion. I realize it >would take them 5 to 30 minutes of their precious time to fix even if it was a crude work around stand alone tool, but they >wont be bothered. You might want to reign in the attitude a little. If I could reproduce the problem I'd share the fix, as would any number of others here. -Noel

Am I the only one who hates that the direction of tech in the world is now defined by i d i o t s? Not that I've never done anything idiotic. But at least I try to think a little bit from time to time. I actually LIKE learning new things. Big click bait buttons, happy face icons, Fisher Price font sizes, oversimplified lumps of er, ah, stuff that are anything but transparent and actually do have nefarious payloads... Sigh. What i d i o t said that these things are better? Hard work, intelligence, patience, diligence... -Noel

Why do there have to be SO many tools? Don't people realize they just need to take charge of the Windows Update process? With 7 and 8 we have complete capability there. Is there something terribly difficult with doing updates when YOU want them and VETTING EACH UPDATE offered? Is that just too complicated for all the poor dears? My God, if a person is not already watching Microsoft like a hawk what would it take to wake them up? The answer to most things is not "more software!" It's "more learning" and "more attention!" -Noel

(Rocking on my front porch reminiscing...) heh heh heh, I remember the old days, when the OS didn't need to apologize to you. -Noel

It's more complex than you may realize. Don't confuse "64 bit memory address capability" with "large address awareness". This page, scrolled about 2/3 of the way down to the Windows section, gives a good overview: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86-64 -Noel

Heh, thanks. The output looked so similar I thought it was the same program. -Noel

Decent. Maybe "Supersonic Web Sanitizer". Wow, I was just doing a little browsing. Those little Raspberry Pi 2 devices are seriously powerful! Name-based firewall management is the future, since so many things are today delivered by CDNs or banks of servers. My Windows 10 test system has just completed at least a month without having tried to contact anyone online that I didn't know about and pre-approve. The only thing it does on its own is update its virus database (and presumably engine). Even without Windows Update being running it'll do that. I've set up to allow C:\program files\windows defender\mpcmdrun.exe to access its data sources. I haven't had an AV or MBAM catch any potential infections for years. A box like the one we're discussing here could really put a steel lid on the "unprecedented security" of Windows 10. -Noel

Hm, could be very popular as a turnkey "plug it inline" product with a UI no more complex than, say, O&O ShutUp10 or similar and with at least the capability to be set up to automatically update from a central, managed source. Market it as both a security-enhancing and performance increasing product - and that would be no lie because it would actually accomplish both. Most folks don't realize how much extra crap is tacked onto their web communications. Some possible names... Chaff Blocker Surf Cleaner Web Sanitizer Inline Online Ad Killer Browser Filter Probably the word "Secure" should be in there somewhere too. -Noel

Hm, maybe we should invent a soup-to-nuts complete cloud-integrated device that blocks all other cloud integration... -Noel

I've no experience with pi-hole, but blocking just "meddlesome MS addresses" is not likely to be as simple as you might hope. A "deny outgoing connections by default" firewall is a good way to go. In my case I'm using 3rd party package (Sphinx) along with the disablement of the stock Windows Firewall. Just for example, from my own wildcard DNS server list: # # Special Microsoft addresses to block # *vortex.data.microsoft.com=0.0.0.0 *vortex-win.data.microsoft.com=0.0.0.0 *settings-win.data.microsoft.com=0.0.0.0 *vo.msecnd.net=0.0.0.0 *telemetry*microsoft*=0.0.0.0 a-*.a-msedge.net=0.0.0.0 *.bing.com *.bing.net There are others that you might want to block as well under some conditions, e.g., go.microsoft.com www.microsoft.com statsfe2.update.microsoft.com I've found these must be allowed in order to succeed a Windows Update: ctldl.windowsupdate.com sls.update.microsoft.com sls.update.microsoft.com.akadns.net fe2.update.microsoft.com fe2.update.microsoft.com.akadns.net ds.download.windowsupdate.com au.ds.download.windowsupdate.com fg.ds.download.windowsupdate.com v4.download.windowsupdate.com au.v4.download.windowsupdate.com fg.v4.download.windowsupdate.com fe2.ws.microsoft.com download.windowsupdate.com And there's a whole gaggle of security certificate management sites that the system in general needs to be able to contact, otherwise things tend to get sluggish... [g,h,s,t].symc[b,d].com [g,h,s,t]?.symc[b,d].com crl-ds.ws.symantec.com.edgekey.net crl.apple.com crl.certum.pl crl.comodoca.com crl.entrust.net crl.geotrust.com crl.globalsign.com crl.globalsign.net crl.godaddy.com crl.microsoft.com crl.omniroot.com crl.startssl.com crl.thawte.com crl.trustwave.com crl.usertrust.com crl.verisign.com crl[0-9].digicert.com crl2.alphassl.com csc3-2010-crl.verisign.com ctldl.windowsupdate.com evcs-crl.ws.symantec.com evcs-ocsp.ws.symantec.com EVIntl-ocsp.verisign.com EVSecure-ocsp.verisign.com gtglobal-ocsp.geotrust.com gtssl-ocsp.geotrust.com gtssldv-ocsp.geotrust.com mscrl.microsoft.com ocsp-ds.ws.symantec.com.edgekey.net ocsp.comodoca.com ocsp.digicert.com ocsp.entrust.net ocsp.geotrust.com ocsp.globalsign.com ocsp.godaddy.com ocsp.int-x[1-3].letsencrypt.org ocsp.msocsp.com ocsp.omniroot.com ocsp.startssl.com ocsp.thawte.com ocsp.trustwave.com ocsp.usertrust.com ocsp.verisign.com ocsp.ws.symantec.com ocsp2.globalsign.com pca-g3-ocsp.geotrust.com pki.google.com rapidssl-ocsp.geotrust.com seal.verisign.com sealinfo.verisign.com sealserver.trustwave.com secure.globalsign.com secure.softwarekey.com timestamp.verisign.com tss-geotrust-crl.thawte.com vassg14[1-2].crl.omniroot.com vassg14[1-2].ocsp.omniroot.com www.startssl.com I CAN tell you, because I've done it, that a balance can ultimately be struck that will allow you to initiate Windows Updates with only a small amount of system reconfiguration, yet keep the system unable to be altered by Microsoft when you're not looking. But then, after all that R&D, I've decided to just stop taking Windows Updates on older systems entirely. -Noel

It may well be that the older version was a lower resource user, I don't know. I can't help but notice that our Process Hacker output is somewhat different... I'm guessing either I have not installed all the components or the versions are different. I just checked - I'm up to date, but as I recall I avoided adding the permanent Process Hacker driver... -Noel

Everyone's threshold of pain is of course different. SHOULD we have to do such backflips to protect ourselves from the OS vendor? ABSOLUTELY NOT. But in my case I already do the same things for my Win 8 and 7 systems, so it's really no different. I don't sense Win 10 as a major new pain, just a general worsening of the pain across the board. The process I described above would probably be worth going through IF Win 10 actually brought new value to offset it. It just.... Doesn't. On the other subject... I reported a handle leak problem to the Sphinx author a while back, and he fixed it right away. I haven't been tracking what he's released, though, since I've been beta testing his newer builds. He has betas available on his site, but if I were you I'd write him and ask whether an updated version is available to fix that handle issue. Right now the software running on my Win 8.1 system has 377 handles and the service has 241. I don't know what memory stats you usually use, but all the important ones are listed here (by Process Hacker 2)... -Noel

Bud, is your MacBook's system name by chance "DEFECTOR" or "DOUBLEAGENT? -Noel

That has to be the most appropriate use of the "barf" smiley I've seen in a long time. And Microsoft's actions, where they have co-opted their Windows Update foot-in-the-door for nefarious purposes, are a Very Good definition of "starting down the slippery slope". Woody Leonhard is a good guy with a decent audience who's still willing to tell it like it is in today's world. Bravo! Seeing that there are people like him still out there tells me there is some hope for the high tech world. -Noel