NoelC

I'm sorry I don't know how to advise you to correct this, but it does bring a general question to mind... Is using a PIN with a few numbers somehow better than setting up an alphanumeric password, when used with a local account? I do understand that a PIN could be better for protecting an individual device when an ID / password that gets you into your entire realm of devices is used, and you feel your password may be compromised because it might be guessable or otherwise have become available to others. -Noel

And in 4 months (or 8 months, or...), in an OS coming to theaters near you, the old menus will no longer be available. Looking for the good in Windows 10 is like looking for the good in Kylo Ren. -Noel

Not really a welcome development, no. It seeks to propagate the myth that the "standard way" of blocking malware is to allow the user to do everything then at the last minute try to thwart an attack by asking Big Mother for permission. Better to locally blacklist some 30,000ish malware-hosting sites - which I do by compiling lists from various sources - and never ever let your system even get near those malware sites. Then also disallow the automatic running of software - which Microsoft configures into IE as enabled by default. No, that Microsoft wants you to send EVERYTHING you request online to them first for approval is exactly wrong. Microsoft has no business speaking on the subject of security. They can only see shit, because their heads are inserted firmly up their own asses. -Noel

New FUD being spread: The dreaded Drive-By-Download attack! SmartScreen Filter in Internet Explorer will now stop Drive-By-Downloads Bottom line: Make SURE you have Windows 10 and allow full privacy-invading cloud access because if you don't use the wonderful SmartScreen Filter you could be attacked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! -Noel

Sure they do. Microsoft cannot monetize incremental future improvements to Windows - again - if 1) you like it as it is now and 2) people can improve it themselves. The "free" version has to suck as much as possible to give rise to more decades of prosperity for Microsoft. If that seems silly, just think about this: Extrapolating your argument, NOTHING that's been changed in WIndows 10 has reason to exist. But EVERYTHING does per my point of view. -Noel

How is proof that data breaches occur in the real world OT (off topic)? To me it seems absolutely ON topic, in that those who would have us blithely send all our personal data to cloud servers want us to believe it could never happen. -Noel

Ah, so you're saying that if you choose to keep Catalyst control center then the functionality of being able to have it auto-load a preset that will calibrate the color of the Desktop Color at logon is still there? That's what I really need. Generally speaking I've kept up to date with things; it's just when the functionality is reduced that I tend to get conservative, until I'm sure that a new version of something will deliver all its predecessor would provide. Thank you for the info. Notably NOT ONE PERSON on the ATI forum has mentioned the ability to keep the Catalyst Control Center. -Noel Edit: It's not quite as I thought, but CCC.exe is installed as "Radeon Additional Settings". However, just starting it doesn't auto-load the last used preset. But no matter, they do include a command line program (CLI.exe) that can be used to manually load a preset. I've made a little batch file to do it on logon.

Hi iweksler, Thanks for your note. At this point, since I have a .layout file, I think it's up to Big Muscle to publish a version of Aero Glass that understands the new build and properly interprets the theme atlas (via the .layout file data) into the specific needs of the new build. Honestly, I've dropped off the insider list. I don't even think the "released" versions are impressive; I was just getting frustrated by the pre-release builds. I do hope Big Muscle isn't feeling too worn down by Microsoft continuously breaking his product. I know I would be. They're doing it on purpose in my opinion. They don't want people tweaking Windows because it's all about "Windows As A Service" now - and everyone MUST be happy with a single, unified operating system. Too fucking bad if you don't like the way it looks. -Noel

Did you know that there's now a Crimson 15.12? They claim to have fixed fan problems among a few others. A lot of folks are reporting problems with specific games still. I'm still on Catalyst 15.9.1 on the "if it works, don't fix it" strategy. For what it's worth, I've been running Aero Glass 1.4.1.240 on my Win 8.1 system (with Radeon HD 7850) since September and it's been flawless. -Noel

Well, it's been a couple of days since I booted up my Win 10 VM, and I was feeling more and more festive as the horrible memories were fading, but since it's you asking I'll make an exception and boot up the abomination... Here's the sum total of my current service configuration: The processes running: The services running: What's logged at startup: What Apps are installed / provisioned: Hm, I think Windows.PrintDialog may have come back on its own, probably with a recent Windows Update. Seems to me I had the list down to just two items at one point. -Noel

I don't know, honestly. Win 8(.0) users are a pretty small group. Still, they're a significant, single group under Microsoft's services agreement, so they could presumably do whatever they want to start pushing such a user ever harder onto the new system. Now, it might be that GWX or its henchmen don't think the hardware is compatible. I can STILL imagine that Microsoft could do a lot of subtle things to make your computing life worse on an older system, making you want to buy, say, a sexy new Surface or something. Microsoft has proven to be a determined, wealthy adversary, where once they were an attractive partner. I don't believe we've even begun to see what they'll pull to push people into their brave new world. They've been planning all this for a while. It's entirely possible everything they need to push us around is already installed on our systems! I brought a new computer online with Windows 7 in April of this year - well before Windows 10 was released. I found GWX on it, apparently having been installed in the big blob of Windows Updates required of a new Windows 7 SP1 system back then. I didn't start looking for updates that would "ease the upgrade to a newer OS" until May or so. -Noel

Exactly. Windows "Pro" is for, well, pros, right? That's what Microsoft says. Yet its rules are essentially the same as those for "Home" users. "Pro" gets the ability to delay installing upgrade versions for 3 months - presumably the time it takes for the "Home" user community to report all the nasty "can't get there from here" bugs. Just what we need, "Home" users driving what happens to the "Pro" version. Anyone see anything wrong in this strategy? -Noel

It gets old, Bud, trust me, because it's an ongoing challenge where you're fighting a huge, rich adversary who wants to deliver the operating system as a very specific service that you pay for by the month. And you've already agreed to have it their way. They could prosecute for tweaking it via any means other than the 7 or so settings they have provided. -Noel

^ This! Ad absurdum indeed. It is crafted to divert attention away from the fact that the OS can and WILL now be changed every 4 months or sooner to have different functionality. That's why it's not really a EULA any more but a Services Agreement. You are now expected to agree to accept whatever Microsoft chooses to do. And why not? They're doing everything you want to do... There is a special version, "Long Term Servicing Branch", offered to Enterprises willing to $Pay$ for the privilege of NOT having Microsoft update it all the time and drop features at their whim. In other words, if you want to work you have to pay. We can all try to hang onto our existing, working operating systems as long as possible, but it will ultimately become futile. You have already agreed to allow Microsoft to change it at their whim. -Noel

Why it's the "worst ever" for me... I *know* I'm very likely going to be stuck with upgrading, sooner or later (preferably later). I *know* Microsoft hasn't even begun to make it difficult to run the older systems that give me value now. I *know* I'm supposed to love their new direction. I *know* I should be developing awesome Universal apps for a billion+ users. I *have* been an early adopter and a Microsoft proponent, for as long as there was a Microsoft. I *have* tuned up - successfully and beneficially - every one of their OSs. Ever. I *do* have Windows 10 tweaked and running in a VM as well as Windows 10 could possibly run.But now it just feels like it's lost the magic. The thrill is gone. The party's over. The hangover's setting in. Even though I would probably be productive with all the tweaks I already know how to do, it just feels like I would be giving in to mediocrity and all that's wrong to put it on my hardware. And I would certainly be giving in to the uncertainty about what I WON'T be able to do in a mere 4 months (or maybe 7 if I were to turn on the 3 month delay). That's just not long enough to justify all the work! I guess I've suddenly gotten old (and keep in mind this is from someone running 8.1 and liking it). It can't really be the software that's bad. How could such a huge company be wrong? It must be me. Am I just tired of it all? Or has Windows really crossed a threshold? At the end of the day it doesn't matter what forum I'm on (though it's certainly nice to be among thoughtful, like-minded people). I don't give a rat's a** what shills or fanboys say, and I suppose that's part of my problem - I think objectively, entirely for myself. What matters to me is the reality of the system; what it is, what it does. What it can be made to do. Is it wrong to want at least as much as before? It's not like I've loved every release ever made before. I've had a lot to say about all past Windows releases too. In some cases a lot of negative. But... The key thing was that back then the policies of Microsoft didn't preclude tweaking and augmenting to make what was wrong better, or at least tolerable. I've complained during beta, and I've adapted after release. I've even enjoyed teaching others how to make theirs nicer. Thing is, I *always* ended up with a system that was better, more useful, and more stable than what had been delivered by Microsoft. In some cases a whole lot better. Then I was able to use it and have it be better for years. My customized Win 8.1 system is right now the best I have ever had. Who'd have ever thought a company that got rich off doing things the way they did would change their policies to close off the practicality of making those tweaks? That the 10586 in-place upgrade did everything we feared and then some - destroyed tweaks, reinstalled junkware, undid privacy settings, introduced even buggier code that Microsoft isn't able to fix even after a constant stream of cumulative updates - is the straw that broke the camel's back. And now to hear that the new "Restroom" (er, what was it? "Redstone") pre-release is going to do all that's bad again, and push junkware to users again. All remaining glimmers of hope, how ever much they had already faded, are finally lost. I'm depressed. -Noel

They've been sucking us into a cloud-integrated life, and have now chosen to leverage it against us in every way possible. No half measures, nosiree. Once "they wouldn't dare do that" is left behind, the sky (complete with clouds, some of them dark) is the limit. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely. It's proof that when a company crosses over the threshold to the dark side, there's no being conservative about it. The phrase "all in and heavily armed" seems to apply. -Noel

Correction: You'll stay with Win 7 SP1 until such time as Microsoft's persistence and subversiveness exceeds your ability to block them. There will likely come a time when they will not longer allow your older system to remain activated. I don't mean this as a criticism. I believe they can and will overwhelm us all sooner or later, no matter what our skill levels. They are a determined, motivated adversary who have something we don't: The source code. Don't kid yourself, if we're here, online, clearly we need our systems to work online. That will be more and more difficult with an older system until such time as our hands will be forced. Though I've advocated a complete cutoff of Windows Updates, I'm now starting to re-think that, since there are things that absolutely must be done online. For example, if you install new software, its certificate may need to be validated online for it to work properly. -Noel

That's what's available here: http://www.glass8.eu/win_future.html -Noel

Someone who's afraid of winches? -Noel

I don't mean to be overly critical, but uninstalling for "the current user" seems a bit toothless. Wouldn't it be cool if Classic Shell were to provide, possibly behind a warning/confirmation dialog, all the power and might to uninstall ANY App, completely (e.g., as described using PowerShell directly)... The collective knowledge of how to do this is around, though for those of us going through it there are still the occasional loose ends. Hey, we can dream. -Noel

You found one way. Another is to run WinVer.exe. I'm appalled at the version confusion Microsoft has created, clearly on purpose. Who does that help, exactly? -Noel

Given that this is a holiday season for many religions, isn't it pretty clear that Microsoft deems the least of their own desires more important than anyone else's needs? All the bitching and moaning we've been doing since around the time Win 8 pre-released has been vindicated 100 times over. Maybe 1000. -Noel

You forgot: This PC is compatible For now. -Noel

Nothing in those keys for me. The only error I see at this point for Cortana is in: Applications and Services Logs > Microsoft > Windows > Apps > Microsoft-Windows-TWinUI/Operational At every logon: ActivateApplicationForContractByAppIdAsUserWithHost of the app Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_cw5n1h2txyewy!CortanaUI for the Windows.Launch contract failed with The package could not be installed because the Windows Firewall service is not running. Enable the Windows Firewall service and try again. Not really a problem since I don't run the Windows Firewall, having replaced it with a better tool, so my system is stable. But I'm curious... MaxXPsoft, just for clarity, are you saying you don't see this message logged in the place I described? I would like it not to be there. -Noel

Technology has advanced. It has grown out of fashion to pay well for highly-trained employees. Thus the hackers (who still DO care how things work) have many advantages over the slow-witted, uncaring members of companies who want to pull all our personal information into their cloud server farms. You want to "sync" my WHAT? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho. -Noel