NoelC

It went a couple of hours shy of 7 days before I decided to install Cumulative Update 10586.63. I'd have waited but someone elsewhere reported that it reinstalled Cortana, and I was at a good time for a reboot. It did NOT reinstall Cortana for me. This DOES however speak to a need to more carefully manage updates than Microsoft would have us do - or use of the Defer Upgrades setting that holds the system updates back a few months. I have jobs I schedule 24/7, so any reboot can be disruptive. I need to PLAN when to install updates, as I have done this time. The need to reboot after virtually every one of these Cumulative Updates, given their frequency, is unacceptable for professional use. I go a month or longer most cycles with Win 8.1 and 7 between update-mandated reboots. Windows 10 build 10586 has delivered cumulative updates (that mandate a reboot) every few days. In my case, I've set things up so that I can check for available Windows Updates using the Windows Update Hiding Tool Microsoft published, but this involves a little bit of reconfiguration every time I want to perform a Windows Update operation. FYI, neither O&O ShutUp10 nor W10Privacy have shown any privacy settings reverted with any of the updates to Win 10 build 10586 so far. -Noel

Tire of being nefarious? What do you think? That's easier than doing real work. -Noel

It's exactly as easy as *I* think. No nagware here on my multiple systems. I've been posting here about people needing to be wary of Windows Updates since I joined in 2013 (and certainly far before that elsewhere). Feels both bad to realize I am right and good to know the folks who tell me I wear a tin foil hat haven't got a clue what's real and what isn't. And I'll reiterate: It's time to think about whether you want to divorce yourself from Windows Update on any and all of your systems. What bugs have they left to fix? Do you want the same people who are willing to code "GWX" to be changing the system software you already know well? You might opt to keep getting "security" fixes, or not, but you at least need to THINK about it! And you CERTAINLY need to vet every update. Anyone who still has Windows Update on full automatic is irresponsible to say the least. -Noel

It's all local account for me - I have ZERO cloud integration. No OneDrive, no Cortana, no Settings Sync, no Bing. And a firewall that doesn't allow anything that still tries to get through. Adobe Photoshop and Acrobat run perfectly for me on Win 8.1, so I haven't been compelled to upgrade my hardware. I only still run Win 10 on a VM. Up 6 days+ now. Still fine. Interestingly, Microsoft has finally settled down the fast pace of the cumulative updates for build 10586, which were causing reboots every time. -Noel

To complete the thought... Can OpenWrt support the inclusion of an external hosts file (e.g. a large number of static name resolution entries)? I think I see that Dnsmasq is part of it, but I don't see anything about size limitations and I'm still unfamiliar with this whole realm of custom router firmware. -Noel

I think I may need to get one just like yours, Techie007. -Noel

Aero Frost... Very nice. I especially like the control treatment (e.g., the scrollbar thumb has depth and is easily recognized by the three little lines). Is there any evidence Microsoft is settling down with something that won't change all the rules of re-theming every 4 months? -Noel

Well, I'm a little closer, but I guess it's because I'm trying to balance the small gradient highlight that it just won't go deep, deep blue. I guess I prefer it a little more green than you've got it as well. This is probably good enough. At least it's as deep as the blue I have on my Win 8.1 desktop now. -Noel

Hm, I'll need to look at what's in my theme atlas again. Perhaps I've overdoing the "light from the top" look. Thanks for the info and sample, dhjohns and MrGRiM. MrGRiM, what's your transparency setting in the above example? -Noel

Do they give you any control whatsoever of the configuration? The providers will often tell you that plugging-in a router into the port they provide is "not supported". I think this is to reduce their service costs. The reality is that it really should and usually does work to plug a router into the Ethernet port they provide. I would not suggest trying to plug your router in between their device and whatever it goes to on their side, but rather on your LAN side. That's probably a good idea for a number of reasons. If you have no idea what functionality they're providing you, they might just forward every incoming connection request to your computer, which would open you up to additional risk. A router normally only supports connections that are initiated by your computer, or which you pre-ordain (such as a specific incoming port for game playing or something). For what it's worth, my router will even (if I so configure it) replicate my PC's MAC address (or any other I program) if the provider's device demands that the PC you connected be its long-term connection. I've never run across a need for this, but the capability is there. -Noel

4 days so far with no trouble to speak of. The only thing approaching a glitch was that SysInternals Autoruns hung when I tried to scroll it with my mouse wheel. -Noel

I have nothing against DWS_Lite - it's just that I've never tried it so far. In my experience, all these tools bring something unique to the party. I'll be sure and try DWS_Lite and see whether there's some settings the other two haven't dealt with. Thanks for the tip! -Noel Edit: Tried running the "final version" of DWS_Lite from wzor.net, and the first thing my system did was try to contact a couple of sites I'd not seen my system access before, and it put up an error message ([ERROR] Error get icon). Not exactly a glowing first impression from an "anti-spying" software package. I'll continue looking it over. Edit 2: I see that earlier in this thread MaxXPSoft mentioned DWS_Lite. I noticed it at the time but completely forgot about it after. I made a VM snapshot and started working through the "Utilities"... I unchecked the "Add spy domains to hosts file, and block in Windows Firewall" setting and skipped the "Open and edit HOSTS file" button, as I already have my hosts file and firewall setups in good order. For "Delete all windows 10 metro apps"... LOL, since I've already pried all Metro/Modern/Universal Apps out, it said "Press OK and wait 15 minutes", but the operation took exactly 4 seconds to complete. Having already removed OneDrive, I did the "Delete One Drive" function anyway, and it completed quickly, though interestingly the onedrivesetup.exe application tried to call the mothership (ssw.live.com, 207.46.7.252 port 80). I have already disabled UAC so I skipped "Disable UAC", which was grayed-out anyway. It's good to see that others think this is important. I have already disabled the Windows Update service to support my "user always in control" goals, so I skipped "Disable Windows Update". I don't have (and don't plan to get) Office 2016, but I figured I'd try the "Disable Office 2016 Telemetry" feature. The warning "Office 2016 may stop working after these actions" came up, which I smiled at (thinking, "that's not a bug, that's a feature!"). But I never found any msosync.exe on my VM (which is not surprising, since I haven't installed Office there) so I guess it's just a non-applicable feature. I have no idea why there's a "Fix screen rotate" feature, but I don't have any problem with any kind of screen rotation, so I'm going to avoid that.Noted unwanted side effects: The Settings App was completely removed, even though it's not listed in the list of Apps to be removed. That makes little sense, since Settings is actually needed in Windows 10 for a few things. This single issue caused me to revert to my pre-DWS snapshot and end the testing. I'll try again some time when I have more time.

I'm glad to hear you say that, actually. I have considered on and off trying to "go it on my own" and flash Tomato into my router, but every time I get cold feet because if I brick the thing suddenly my whole house/home office is offline. Even flashing Linksys/Cisco's own software is pretty iffy with the thing. I really need to bite the bullet and just buy another router, then play with that until I have this name resolution setup just right. If / when something goes wrong, I could just plug in the old one to restore service. Thing is, I really LIKE the one I have (Cisco E4200v2, which has powerful wifi, excellent uptime, and is easy to configure to do everything else I want). I really do want to assert better control over name resolution LAN-wide, as that seems to be a sticky point with the my non-Windows systems here (well, one in particular: My wife's iPad 2 has grown nearly impossible for her to browse with since so many extra things are being done on virtually every web page). -Noel

>Does removing gwx and related windows ten files off of earlier OS count? It would if this thread were in the Windows 7 or 8 forum. But for now, let's talk about whether Win 10 systems are getting malware infections at any less rate than Windows 8.1 or 7 systems. I've heard in passing that some people are still managing to get infections, but I have no idea whether there's been a drop in infection rates, a rise, or no difference amongst the unwashed masses who don't really know how to do safe computing. Such actual information would be good to test claims by Microsoft that Windows 10 is the "most secure OS yet". -Noel

From the above article, a quoted quote: Just imagine trying to create a secure and reliable experience BEFORE unleashing the software on the public. Last century thinking. My IP address can be used to identify where I live (visit http://www.ipfingerprints.com/geolocation.php some time and see where the pin drops on the map). These anti-privacy idiots ignore the fact that with just a bit more collected information anyone with a brain could identify you and exactly where you live. And they'll of course know when you're online there as they watch the login database, the sites you surf, the keystrokes you type... I can say this with confidence: If they can't collect any data, then no data can be lost, stolen, or misused. Period. I have an idea: How about building a system without a million latent problems, and WE report to them what we want to when there's a problem. Nah, that's just SO last century. -Noel

Looking closely at the daily statcounter numbers, it seems Win 10 usage is off some since the holidays (and back to mid-December levels), while Win 7 has picked back up. Win 8.1 continues to decline, albeit very slowly. That's not at all surprising, and still says, VERY clearly: Win 7 is for real work, later versions are more and more for fluff. -Noel

Since all the hype and hoopla lately is that Windows 10 is SO much more secure than its predecessors, is there really any difference? For those of you who work on others' computers: Are you cleaning infections off Windows 10 systems? I and others suspect it's no more than the usual hype, but it would be interesting to hear some actual experience, now that Win 10 has been around a while. -Noel

I've found that if you caulk the leaky edges and clean the glass you can still use your existing Windows a while longer, and save having to tear out half the walls to mount new windows. Maybe that will be long enough for a serious Windows replacement to emerge. -Noel

Notably: >Built on the Android-x86 project >Android re-engineered for PC Beware: Nothing about Google is good. I don't care if you like Android, I stand by my statement. They are the original "fuzzy and inaccurate results are sufficient" company. And they're ad mongers. Don't be glitzed into thinking someone's building a wonderful new OS just for you. It's not surprising alternate operating systems should come out of the woodwork in the time of Microsoft's implosion. That doesn't mean they're good. -Noel

I have been hearing various folks claim Win 10 isn't very stable. I'd have to say my experience is different, but it's pretty clear the stability of any OS can of course depend on the hardware and software installed on that hardware. I'm running Win 10 Pro in a VMware VM only (I have chosen not to adopt it for now to run on my hardware). As a test, 3+ days ago I booted up Win 10 and decided to leave it up, just to see what happens. This tests against reports that Win 10 just locks up when idle, or runs shy of resources. The system is running pretty smoothly. An installation of Adobe Creative Cloud with Photoshop / Lightroom stressed the system, and left a couple of errors when I forcibly closed all the components I don't want running. Plus every week at bootup it detects a USB error. I need to disable whatever driver has gotten in because of past VM configurations. I will keep monitoring it like this for as long as I don't need to reboot the VM or my host Win 8.1 system. I'm holding off initiating Windows Updates in the VM for now as they all seem to want a reboot after. What's been your experience regarding Windows 10 stability? -Noel

I should add that I answered the way I did because I had a lot of those entries in a hosts file for quite a while and didn't have any problems updating a Windows 8.1 system. It's possible it will be different - though I doubt it - on a Win 10 system. -Noel

That's interesting. Does it do that if you activate the 3 month update deferral? If that really is happening on all 10240 systems, it seems to me this is a confirmation that Windows 10 will no longer be viable without staying on the update train. That seems pretty significant! -Noel

Short answer: No. Windows Update uses its own methods to determine what servers to contact. But an even better answer is: Try it for yourself. Keep good notes on what you do, save original files, that sort of thing. The knowledge gained from the experience of seeing how things work is invaluable. Use O&O ShutUp10 and W10Privacy and you'll get 99.44% of the way there without hacking files. Use a deny-by-default firewall setup to go that extra 0.56%. -Noel

I'm not talking about the flat window border color the toddlers at Microsoft are proud of implementing. I'll look over that link - thanks. I'd like my active windows WITH Aero Glass and high translucency to look deeply colored by comparison to inactive windows. Like looking through deep cobalt glass - clear, but very, very blue. It's not been possible to colorize an active window border deeply for quite a while now. If you've achieved it, please share an image. I can certainly miss things right in front of my face. Here are examples of what I'm talking about: Just so it's obvious... -Noel

Let us know when we can test a new Aero Glass GUI tool. I'll be happy to give it a test. Seems to me there's a real problem with the current set of software getting enough color in the borders, which is why I've created theme atlas graphics with pre-tinted borders for active windows. Is there something more that can be done about it? -Noel