ralcool

As I was writing my post, I thought to myself. Why Xbox.?... Why Windows 8/10 on Xbox?...... Uh, Oh. They got to the kiddies first... locked in goodness. They'll drink the kool-aid if that is the only way to play the games. Keeping current seems like nothing to them. Brainwashed. Then M$ had to find a way to get into mum and dads PC.. the ones they refuse to let go. "Parents hold the credit cards.. we need to get our apps from the games machines onto the desktop". (Seeing the rubbish people actually pay for on other devices- I can almost see the cogs turning in the hive of Redmond....) Once the kids work out that they can run their crap on the PC IF it has Windows 10.. kids have a way of wearing you down. Natural attrition and obsolescence will take out the luddites. Obviously none of this considers the uses of the Win32 platform in the wider world of real work, but that is why we charge for 'extended support' $9 Million dollars alone from the US Navy apparently to let XP continue running the ICBM department. Probably more income from some generic patches they can flog for several millions bucks per customer (Likely the same ones PosReady receives anyway) Than royalties from cheap angry birds app clones. As soon as Android gets some decent multitasking... I can see a Linux future for me too.

It isn't too hard to squint at the future and see Win 10 like the OS your satellite box runs. Locked in apps, limited time to 'own/rent' a movie or software/app. Subscription based. No access to the file system in the name of 'security'... or any folder directly for that matter. Any hardware possibly fitted to the box may not be functional for 'piracy or malware concerns', ala, USB ports disabled. Cannot mount a remote drive. Is it any wonder then Microsoft sell their own branded hardware now. Its a matter of time before Windows will install ONLY to approved motherboards at all- its already happening in reverse.

What is .47%?, another how many million systems online and running in twelve days? Just for Windows 7. Cool. Like NoelC suggested people, IT pros, Engineers, Schools, are happy to run a Windows version to suit their needs. Software is never obsolete.

Try reading the pinned thread "---READ THIS FIRST---" by the author. Might be a good place to start?

Well, I'm going to be the first to say I get flickering and blocking even without glass enabled. Two different systems, both run nVidia cards. Start menu, or notification panel So I think its a driver issue not aeroglass. It seems to be happening less often though.

I mentioned recently a client of mine... a lovely old widower lady who remains a favorite among the children, who brought me her laptop to be fixed. The very one she said she hated because of Windows 8. Initially I cleansed the machine of bugs and viruses, all the registries and cookies. Removed the crapware and toolbars. Disabled Win10 updates. I mentioned how an SSD would boost this Sandy Bridge level notebook to modern standards and with Classic Shell she would feel right at home. Well, she accepted to try and fit a proper Samsung 840Pro 256Gb SSD, cloned all 8! partitions off the original drive... jeez, recovery stuff is getting bigger. I received a text message last night that filled my boots. "Thanks Sean, The laptop is MUCH quicker now" She will be in Africa or something next week. Success! Oh, I had to edit this for two reasons. One, She isn't actually adverse to what Windows 10 might actually have to give..... we may upgrade the little Asus yet. Global Traveler that she is. Second, This is a true case of an actually real 'old' person that also appreciates 'hotting up' something. Hehe, She laughed at my car when I rolled in the driveway. Shitbox on the outside, awesome on the inside. Chatted about old times.

Funny how there is probably a dozen start menu wanna be's out there but only one aeroglass.

Sadly I already knew the answer, I was looking for some irony in the comment. Although I did see somewhere how the wifi bulbs could effectively form a mesh hub wifi repeater network in your home... and possibly wider with some creativity. It has potential to improve signal strength and throughput anywhere in the home/office...district.

I'll stand corrected, mastery of technology is something many folks enjoy- the best of technology does the mundane things easily so we get on with doing. Am I getting ambivalent in my age, I used to set the oven clock every time I visited the in-laws. Perhaps I caught their feelings on the clock. Let it be wrong. If you still allow java on your machine... is it still not the most annoyingly updated thing on the planet! Feel like a slave to the machine. Its like feeding a stupid tamagotchi. We tried to print a document at a clients house- turns out she bought some replacement ink cartridges.... the onslaught of messages for each ink tank had to be clicked through before we overrode all the warnings our $30 printer might suffer and die from non-geniune ink. Next our IoT connected printer will inform HP or whoever, and first void any useless warranty on a cheap product to begin with, and all but disable functionality for supporting a local cartridge refill operator trying to make a buck instead of buying 'Genuine'. These arguments are all old, the price of ink more than gold etc... "thats how they make their money... ", ha, My Canon MX850 Printer/Fax thing, won't allow any function after startup if it discovers there is an empty ink tank... no faxing or scanning... no, nothing. Great firmware) The only Winning game is not play it seems.

--JorgeA Well, it's not like it's the first time (just to put things in context) and it happened not that much time ago: http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2013/01/22/microsoft-announces-release-date-for-most-expensive-tablet-ever.html Anyway even this new laptop notebook tablet phablet noteblet booklet *whatever* is nothing a "serious" user could not afford, that is if it provided a "serious" OS, maybe that would be an interesting deal, you pay a premium price for MS's own (BTW most probably very good) hardware and they give you in exchange for your trust in them an actually working OS without all the crap/ads/spying/whatever . Wait a minute , this sounds a lot like what Apple has done for the last what, thirty years? Let me uncheck the "innovative marketing model" in the feature list. jaclaz There exists a point of contention that Xbox tried to go there... but it was a locked down limited use console built from off the shelf contemporary hardware. Instead of setting new standards of media viewing, we had to wait for the likes of XMBC and others to make it happen. Custom bioses and larger hdds. It is equally useless today. Xbox proves there is a solid division within Microsoft. Hipsters vs's Gangsters. Instead of having native support in windows for things like Kinnect, we get media frenzy over menus and tiles. Behind the scenes is new trackers and DRM. Microsoft are always late to the party, and fail at innovation. History tells it all. When Ballmer would speak, it sounded like your uncle trying to explain cold fusion- and that as soon as someone invents it, we'll be there to file a lawsuit to own it. 2c

This is from a guide on how to connect your new Honeywell Thermostat to a wireless network. If said SSID has been present "for a while" then it is likely a case where a technology is enabled by default where it probably shouldn't be. Maybe it's a case where the user never did the Wi-Fi Setup but just hooked it up and figured they didn't need to if they were only going to use it "manually"? Of course, that is possible. Now consider this one example and apply it to all the other network-integrated devices that is being sold. What percentage of those are being setup (not to mention secured) properly? I'd wager...anyone who still owns a VCR, probably still hasn't worked out how to set the clock. So, using it 'manually' is not out of the question. But then, many of these devices are simply "solutions to problems I don't have". I'm waiting for the f'kin genius who invents a wireless light bulb that texts me when its blown. Ya wouldn't know otherwise.

What if Microsofts' own SKU system made any sense. IF, Windows 8 > 10 Professional meant just that. Home editions were enabled by default to freeware ad supported mode. OEMs install for free since its a traditional platform OS for lap/desktops. Professional Edition however is a paid classic configurable Windows environment for a new age. From DIY gaming monsters, home theater, POS, folding farms- or any other serious computing systems in unique roles using built off the shelf hardware. Surely they have spent all this time making the core of Windows modular enough for this to be cake. Or, we open source XP... perhaps reverse engineer x86?..nah..., We could never emulate all the expected bugs to run anything reliably. Hehe

Worryingly, A client was talking to me yesterday about her laptop. Win8.1, running slowly since holidays..... do you still fix computers?..... She said, "Oh its the Windows 8 that everyone hates, I'm thinking about getting 10 since a friend told me it has a start MENU". I quickly advised her of classic shell and that I'd install it as soon I saw the machine. Also she told of how even though living with the new Windows 8 for some time... it still made no sense, and she gets completely lost. Sanity will be restored. A little SSD could wake up this decent Sandy Bridge Celeron, but not in the budget apparently, and hard to argue. Just another day.

Yes well not a single user feature upgrade or meaningful bug fix has ever been deployed through Windows update. Like yes why does Windows insist on reloading the thumbnails for folders it frequently visits.. can't it remember anything. The sheer weight of data issued for the updates we do receive makes me sit and wonder what the heck they actually do. Most of the silly GUI changes we've seen in Win10 could easily be back ported as a theme to earlier editions, so the big push for the OS upgrade is all back end stuff we can't see. From where I sit, its looks like they've bolted a coin slot into the start menu.

So why not include a blacklist feature BM? A simple editable text file in the aeroglass folder to disable glass for applications that seem incompatible. A bit like vista basic mode.

http://betanews.com/2015/09/18/windows-10-10547-release/ @NoelC, This would make your day wouldn't it Sarcasm highly intended. They also claim to have fixed realtek audio... can't be bothered to try it... lack of faith, lack of want... cheers!

--JorgeA Dang if that isn't identical to the menu in preview build 9841. Or its an old picture They need to make that update available for normal Win8.1

Well yes but, while running the almost 'Premium' versions of the Penryn/Nehalem generation cpus with appropriate MBs + decent ssds, I feel future proofed for some time yet. Speed isn't my issue. I also pick between an old supercharged V6 or a small block V8 to drive daily. Visualization gives back things like Win16 support using a licensed copy of XP, or that time I drank white wine and ran OSx on the HP laptop in hacked VMware. Its fun, but it also too much for something as simple as a serial or parallel connected contrivance that needs an OS as basic as DOS to run. So DOS isn't dead. But that is the message. The sheep in the paddock don't know it isn't still 1950. Code is never obsolete. An Atari ST is still usable today. You should see mine, things we did, upgrades we risked... that's a whole different forum. Now a retired project. Hang on to real hardware.. M$ should release XP as open source, or make it essentially unsupported and free from activation. All security is on the user IF the machine is connected to the internet... browsers and firewalls should be 3rd party. Now image how right now, there are kiosks in India running simple windows for the kids.. this is where the waste technology filters down to occasionally..... an old Packard Bell 486 can connect a community. A solar panel and a cell phone for internet. Care to laugh? bleh

Looking at the specs, one is GM/PM965, the other 945. That would likely be of sufficient difference for boot failure. The northbridge chipset is the most critical for Windows transfer compatibility.. Then southbridge ICHx. Windows cares less about cpu type or video.. but main board is vital... Preinstalling drivers may help. HTH

The other message here might be... although you CAN buy little stickers to fit a socket lga771 xeon into a socket 775, and hack the BIOS for support...its doable, but. Maybe running a top shelf X5470 is a little too hard on the VRMs.. even if it was a 3rd Gen 8 Phase Asus.. , ran for a year before it blew. Back to a spare E8200 and a replacement motherboard. (I sold my prized Q6600 for some daft reason). The new board locks up at login with the xeon... it took some bios tweaks last time I can't seem to replicate. C-States or Load Line Cal... Lesson learned.. but the media center has the same mod and runs 20hrs a day... Borrowed time perhaps (And where the spare cpu came from- they were upgraded almost at the same time). Sigh.

A supportive argument of maintenance for an OS goes like this, One of my systems (not in my Sig..) is Windows 7, 32bit. Roughly 8- 9years old, Grandfathers' axe. It has the horsepower to do what it does. Run Win32 programs. Lots of collected stuff over many many years. Hex editors, screen grabbers, iso rippers, Eprom burning tools, sizable pron collection... whatever. Now....not first time.... a motherboard failure put the machine out of action, it actually blew the fuse in the psu as well. Nasty. Okay, Well normally I'd use the opportunity to perform an upgrade. A shiny new i5 or 7... No. I hunted about to find the exact same board to replace! (Although anything in the P4x series would've sufficed probably) And the primary reason was because Windows 7 wouldn't care- and boot again normally like nothing happened. The true value of my machine is its contents- not the OS.. but the OS is imperative to operate the contents. And for those who would suggest a simple matter of reinstalling Windows and contents really doesn't appreciate how non-trivial that can be. Linux will never run any of my old/abandoned/unsupported, totally useful software I have- and know how to use. No 'app' will ever have the depth or complexity of good well written Win32 programs. Scale up my situation to larger businesses or technical operations. I can see the friction. Cheers.

@JorgeA Is it of any irony that link for ad-blocking being 'immoral' -- is chock full of ads?, even the comment section,er commented on it. However, the little mention of 'unskippable' youtube ads isn't entirely correct. I, for matters of convenience, often download stuff off youtube for future viewing. save once,. play many times. Saves bandwidth, etc. Noticably, if you use a site like keepvid.com to extract download links from youtube, you get the option of size and format- but the best part is it manages to avoid the ads that load before the video you wish to see. It only downloads the video you asked for... and as a bonus- if you never click on what you've searched for, just cut and pasted the url into keepvid... then the video will also NOT show up in the play history. I'm sure there are other downloaders that get the same result.. but this is my experience to share. Cheers!

Innit interesting how of all the tweets put out by Gabe during the insider program- not one mentions bolting all this new telemetry gathering. It was/is a perfect bait and switch, the lure of 'new and improved', yet i can only see a lick of white wash paint. The real Windows 10 isn't a refined insider honed operating system- its a megaphone shouting your every move. Every app you run, how often. Devices you connect or disconnect.. its utterly outragous, and us lemmings are finally learning this goes back years already. Privacy may be at the heart of the issue for some, but I even question the purpose of this gathering. Does it help M$ to know that "Hey, telemetry shows that a certain app or program has been installed/run a bilion times- maybe we should buy them out or block them if they are competition"? Should I be suprised that the Win8.0 (or 7) machine is able to operate on data capped internet okay, but the Win10 machine crawls. I feel violated.

While it doesn't look too distracting, you idea sounds good, the captions could be tweaked down a touch. Awesome work as always.

Yup, I use 8.1MCE on my TV/HTPC and its all but identical that I can see to 8.0. If we disregard a start icon, and lockscreen wallpaper. With updates disabled and GWX removed from the system, it will continue to be a fine media centre for years to come. The reason 8.0 is running on the laptop is because I managed to convince everything to work. SDreader/Realtek sound/WebCam When I tried to update it to 8.1, it removed all user installed programs and drivers. Possibly I could dig around in my archives to find which drivers it lost. But then also install everything else again. Screw that. Annoyed, I retrieved a system backup from the external hdd and reloaded 8.0 Its still supported by M$, is immune for now from GWX... and with classic shell it bypasses the lockscreen and provides an start icon. I see no further gain from any newer version of Windows at this time. Windows 10 broke the audio worst, and that was a deal breaker. 8.1 was just mind games from marketing thinking they could leverage the trust (or fond memories) found in Windows 3.1 to undo some damage 8.0 caused. Whats' in a number eh folks?! 8.0 even manages to run the latest metro version of the 'Microsoft Solitare Collection'. Keeping the missus is happy too. Bonus! Windows 10 will infect only one computer left in this housefold... but it doesn't do any serious work and I installed that firewall NoelC has been playing with. This whole experience has taught me only to install an operating system that will do what I want, and stop undoing my good work! But to stay on topic... I think Noel should forward his stock appearance RP style default theme to BM for inclusion in the automated glass installer. It is the most polished compared to the offering on BMs site. Never to be an insider again. -sean