NoelC

Nope. They show up separately. -Noel

FYI, for those who use the theme atlas files I've created and published earlier in this thread, I've just put up a change to the .layout files that make the bottom border edges a little sharper, especially for displays that are scaled to more than 100%. -Noel

and: Anybody have insight as to whether these claims are true? --JorgeA As one who watches what Windows is doing quite closely, I can tell you (from memory) that normally (typically?) there ARE requests sent for every keystroke you type into the address bar of your browser. Whether a specific site is contacted at browser start, that's possible too. There are "features" that demand that these things be done. For example, if you have not deconfigured the "Smartscreen Filter", then every site you visit (including presumably your home page) is sent to a web server in order that it may be checked to determine whether someone (Microsoft?) feels you ought to be visiting that site. If you have not disabled "Search suggestions", a web server is sent every keystroke you type into the "everything bar", in order to pop up "helpful" suggestions, just in case you're typing random things hoping for your computer to try to relieve your boredom. These things can (and IMO should) be de-configured by people who actually THINK and CARE about their privacy. None of *MY* systems send anything as a result of my browsing, nor do they irritatingly pop things up while I'm typing! I searched my system for the file threshold.appcache and found none. Since I haven't deleted this file, specifically, since I first installed Windows (having only heard about it just now), I presume it must never have been delivered. Note that I do not run "Edge" as I deleted that POS as quickly as I could. I do think that I ran it once, some time last year during early Win 10 preview build testing. I can't honestly remember whether I managed to delete it before running it even once after the 10586 in-place "up"grade. Of course, with my settings (turning off the above "features" that interact with online servers as I type and browse), if it's related to them the explanation could simply be that the "features" are not running. My advice: Run O&O ShutUp10 and W10Privacy to control all the overt and secret settings, and you'll get most of the way there to having a very private Windows 10 system. If you really want to know how things work, research what each setting does. The next step, if you really, REALLY don't want Win 10 to connect to ANYTHING online without your knowledge, is to implement a deny-by-default firewall setup. I'm running such a setup, based on 3rd party Sphinx software, on Win 7, 8.1, and 10 systems right now, and while the initial setup takes some doing (and gains you some real insight into how things work), it's actually not difficult at all to run with from day to day. -Noel

got a shot both the same VM just one is updated Those are both insider builds. If you were to stop on 10240 or 10586 I suspect you'll see no expiration notice. -Noel

FYI, I've switched to a more tightly controlled Windows Update policy on all my Windows systems now. It requires a slightly more involved process to actually check for Windows Updates, should I want to do so, but significantly reduces the automatic attempts to communicate online. All along I have had Windows Update configured to the most manual mode possible (via gpedit.msc and other settings). Even so, my firewall (Sphinx) software has STILL been reporting occasional autonomous attempts by services to contact servers online that appear to be the system trying to self-update. A super-secret back door update? Who knows. For example, with nothing running and no jobs scheduled (and no malware) early in the morning bam, out of the blue it tries. I'm not going to stand for this! Microsoft does NOT run my computer systems! Now I don't even allow the Windows Update service to run AT ALL unless I start it. I found that it is actually necessary to DISABLE it, as Microsoft STILL automatically starts the Windows Update service even if you have it set to MANUAL! This necessitates a slightly more involved process for checking for Windows Updates, should I want to do so: My Check for Windows Updates process now goes like this: Go into services.msc and start the Windows Firewall service (a Windows Update won't complete without the Windows Firewall service running, even if you use a 3rd party firewall). Set the Windows Update service startup configuration to "Manual" (from "Disabled") then start it. Set the Windows Update service startup configuration back to "Disabled" so it won't auto-start later. Open the Sphinx firewall control GUI and reassign zones to allow appropriate services to successfully contact Windows Update servers. Normally such communications are blocked. This is a straightforward operation. Manually initiate a Windows Update check (for Win 10 I do this using the Windows Update Hiding Tool). Vet updates shown to be available via online research and hide those deemed to be problematic (e.g., GWX on older systems, hardware drivers on Win 10 that have been seen to cause trouble, etc.). Manually initiate the application of wanted updates. Using the firewall status display, note any attempts to contact Windows Update servers not explicitly already allowed, and maintain the firewall's "System Operations with Windows Update" zone as needed, and reinitiate Windows Update as needed. Normally Windows Updates require reboot, but if not, stop the Windows Update and Windows Firewall services. When all done, reassign zones in the firewall so that Windows Update servers are no longer allowed connections. Seems complex, but in practice it's pretty easy to get through, and this has greatly reduced the number of autonomous online connection attempts Windows is making (and thus fewer things the firewall has to block). The funny thing is that while Disabling the Windows Update service has really quieted things down on Win 7 and 10 systems, I still see an unwanted self-update attempt from my Win 8.1 system. I'm still working on why that system should be attempting communications even after being so thoroughly locked down. Specifically, that has been repeated (blocked) attempts by Win 8.1, svchost.exe -k NetworkService (CryptSvc, Dnscache, LanmanWorkstation, NlaSvc, TermService) to contact: TCP 23.1.117.231:80 Outgoing - a23-1-117-231.deploy.static.akamaitechnologies.com -Noel

Doubt it. http://betanews.com/2016/01/01/despite-microsofts-increasingly-aggressive-tactics-windows-10s-growth-continues-to-slow/ The adoption rate continues to fall each month, even in December. If this trend continues, W10 will peak soon and not gain much after that. The optimist in me hopes you're right. The realist says that we ain't seen nothin' yet from Microsoft's aggressive upgrade tactics! It's sink or swim with them, and either they'll put the company out of business by being outrageously aggressive and screwing up legally or they'll put it out of business by not meeting their adoption goals. It may actually be that there's no middle ground, but we can't ignore that well over 100 million computers already have Windows 10 and the world has not yet ended. Legal eagles are all about precedent. Left long ago on the wayside was the concept of actually making Windows better in order to get people to want it. They've proven they no longer have the expertise/talent on staff to do that. -Noel

Absolutely. I was talking about systems used interactively as engineering workstations, and we may well have had software that leaked resources. Also, don't forget that my XP experience is from "back in the day". The last time I ran XP in a production environment was probably in 2006. There may have been some bugfixes made since then. -Noel

From my experience, Windows XP was the last OS that would not run for more than days without a reboot. Maybe a few weeks. I don't think it was a design issue. I believe the NT kernel, which was Microsoft's first OS designed to actually release all the resources it used as a matter of course, has been fully capable of long-term operation since the start. It's the stuff tacked onto the kernel - Explorer (desktop), 3rd party software (drivers), etc. - that would leak resources until a reboot became necessary. Leak type bugs have been fixed - albeit slowly - all along over time, in addition to resource tables just being larger (because of more powerful hardware). Nowadays an abundantly endowed system, that doesn't happen to have a specific component that leaks resources badly, can run a very long time trouble-free. Sometimes I don't even log off for weeks. There are actually some pretty good tools now to help programmers find and fix resource leaks, though it is still quite possible that released software will have some. One has to be absolutely rigorous about doing good design in order to ensure software can run long-term on a machine that can execute billions of instructions per second. It's worrisome - but perhaps not terribly surprising - to hear that rigor (and thus long-term stability) is being dropped by the wayside by Microsoft with Windows 10. -Noel

I am fond of saying - and this is yet another case - that Microsoft is absolutely adept at managing mediocrity! -Noel

For what it's worth, though I've *never* been an advocate of in-place upgrades, my 10586 "upgrade" went in over 10240 without a reformat. It *did* require quite a lot of re-configuration and de-installs afterward. I haven't really detected any long-term instability as a result of doing the in-place install this time. But I haven't really tried to rely on Windows 10 for serious work. -Noel

Perhaps (in my haze of expecting words to mean things) I assumed they meant "keep accepting new insider builds", which I have not been doing since the day of release of build 10240. I *have* been accepting whatever Microsoft chums the "outsider" waters with. -Noel

And presumably you believe that the things you read are written to convey information. Welcome to 2016. Things are different. -Noel

I'm sure they did. There are probably fairly few of us "old guys" still around who understand that in a proper universe a computer operating system should just work, long term, without trouble (save for maintenance). Whatever. I only have to endure this life for another 20 or 30 years. Probably more like 20, because to go 30 I'll need health maintenance machines that actually work. -Noel

Already done, by Scott Adams... -Noel

I'm almost ashamed that my running of Win 10 in a purely test environment has contributed to Microsoft's supposed "success" in adoption. It is somewhat irresponsible not to know your enemy, however, so I'm glad to have the first-hand knowledge. Interestingly, my Win 10 setup is in a virtual machine that's licensed and activated only because it graduated from being the VM onto which the very first Win 10 preview was installed. And it still seems to be running fine, even though Gabe Aul promised the activation of such machines would expire, because we HAVE to have upgraded a valid Win 7/8 license to continue to use Win 10. Reimagine that. Nothing - NOT A STINKING THING - Microsoft says or does any more is to be trusted. -Noel

I recall reading all through the times of past operating systems about people who managed their systems so poorly that they had to reinstall the OS every so often. I even ran across one who said he did it every month, like clockwork. I always thought that was pretty weird, but then the Win 8 started sporting the new "Refresh" capability, implying even Microsoft was becoming convinced that the OS needs to be reinstalled every so often. Now with Win 10 it's codified that THOU SHALT reinstall every 4 months at least. I guess we have a similar recognition that it needs to be rebooted daily - which was a design constraint that was originally lifted by the advent of Windows NT. We already have Windows Updates that cause us to reboot every few weeks at most. What ever happened to the "zero reboot" initiative? Another valid concept has fallen quietly by the wayside. What's next? Booting to a command line first, then layering the OS on top? Programming in Basic (*cough* XAML *cough*)? By contrast (note specifically the uptimes)... Seen recently on Win 7: Seen recently on Win 8.1: I think I'm going to leave a Win 10 VM running starting today just to see how long it can go... -Noel

Your video is flash? You might want to try to find a less intrusive way to share your photos. -Noel

Yes. I don't believe there's any separate control of the inactive frames any more. That's Microsoft's doing, as far as I know. -Noel

That's what you should expect. Microsoft moved everything around, so if your Theme Atlas .png file doesn't have a companion .png.layout file and if someone hasn't taken the time to craft it to exactly match the needs of whatever Win 10 build you're currently on, the graphics elements just won't be in the right place. I have published an alternate theme atlas with .layout file that works on the newest Win 10 builds, and does a little better with the borders and caption buttons, but it may or may not be to your liking as it tints the active title bars blue. You're welcome to try it. http://Noel.ProDigitalSoftware.com/ForumPosts/Win10/10586/SquareCorners10586.zip I did create an alternative without the tint, but personally I don't think it differentiates the active vs. inactive windows well enough. http://Noel.ProDigitalSoftware.com/ForumPosts/Win10/10586/SquareCornersNoExtraColor10586.zip -Noel

I blocked the ads (and tracking), save for the banner generated by that site itself, so what was left was blank. This is all I saw there: I imagine not everyone else has their system quite so tightly managed. If you're into Microsoft, how about uploading your videos to your OneDrive space? My original point is that it's not other people's responsibility to try to dig your data out of the dirt in order to help you on a forum. Rest assured for every post you put up defending it I'll respond, so maybe if you'd rather not keep hearing about it you *could* just find a way to be a better netizen. Look I only commented initially because I wanted to try to help you and instead I find myself at some dead-end "social" sharing site with pictures of morons. I told you the truth, and I'm terribly sorry I didn't candy coat it for you. But since you continue to keep coming back with an attitude I can be just as big a jerk and talk about this all year if you'd like. -Noel

No worries, and I'm sorry. My patience with Microsoft is simply wearing thin, and I'm sorry if it spilled over and offended any of you fine folks here. -Noel

A quote: Beyond the obvious red flag that NO ONE IN THE WORLD is ever going to call you to help you without your first BEGGING them to (and escalating two or three times)... This is a good reason to know your system inside and out, and just maintain it so it is running perfectly. Then you know anyone calling you and telling you they've detected a problem is full of s***. I know I'm preaching to the choir here on MSFN. -Noel

Keep in mind OS Support is a very arbitrary thing. Boil it down to real-world terms, and it's basically this, from Microsoft: (paraphrased) We built a buttload of bugs and vulnerabilities into the operating system we sold you before, and we occasionally fix a few of them and call that "support". We expect that you forgot already that it wasn't good enough to buy initially without our promise to "support" it. We leave as many problems in it as we can so we can hype up the next operating system, into which we're building all new bugs, and tell you how the old one is now perilous to use. We regularly release "security updates" where we maximize that fear, uncertainty, and doubt. We tell you when "end of support" is so that you can plan to send us more money. Now we also download nagware onto your system to make sure you don't forget to do so, because some of you have been lax about sending us your money and information from which we can make money. We won't tolerate that! -Noel

If you feel you need Weather and Twitter Apps more power to you, but you really aren't doing anything useful with your time, and everything you do could be done with a web page. That you choose to be happy with the App garbage Microsoft is pushing is why they can push garbage and still be successful. I have no problem with the concept of Microsoft introducing a whole new paradigm. Programming a desktop application that's worth a **** is hard! However, I *DO* have a problem with them pushing out one that's not good for anything. Metro/Modern/Universal is not something that will take the world through the first century of the new millennium. We need to demand MUCH better. We've already SEEN much better. I'm sorry - call it trolling, but it's 2016 and I'm sick and fucking tired of having to put up with the dog crap that Microsoft sees fit to call a new operating system. I'm demanding better. -Noel

"You might want to try to find a less intrusive way to share your photos." isn't condescension. Here's some condescension: How about going and finding something better to do than hassle someone on a forum who followed your link with intention of trying to help you about advising you to use a better posting service. I don't know what, maybe like finding a better posting service. Someone who can't be bothered to post more than a one word question and a link to a site laden with ads shouldn't be pointing fingers about who's rude. -Noel