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Windows 10 - Deeper Impressions


xper

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I'm glad there are people who care about Windows communications.  I can confirm that they ARE numerous out of the box.  It's been so since Win 8.1, and even Win 7 did a fair bit of it in stock trim.

 

I have taken the approach one step further:  As I detect it trying to communicate, not only do I figure out who it's trying to communicate with, but also I figure out how to de-configure the attempt.

 

At this point I have Win 7, 8.1, and 10 (build 10586) to where they really don't try anything unexpected.  There ARE some normal communications that are expected - for example to check certificate chain validity.  I have those whitelisted.  Anything else it tries to do I will hear about.

 

The only limitation I'm running up against right now, and there's a fix coming, is that it takes a bit more than 40 whitelist rules to accommodate the needs of Win 8.1 in an ongoing fashion, and the Sphinx firewall has a limit of 40 (the author has promised to increase it).  I'm still working on a strategy for long-term whitelist maintenance (i.e., when do you know a server no longer needs to be whitelisted?  When Windows doesn't try to contact it for 6 months?  When it goes offline?  All of the above?).

 

-Noel

Edited by NoelC
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Then what's the point of running Windows any more if there is so many connections going back and forth, Its boring doing this all the time since I reinstall so much. And if Windows 7 and Windows 8 are not even safe what can any individual do expect run software that stops connections and various privacy options so there turned off.

Edited by Bakuchris
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Then what's the point of running Windows any more if there is so many connections going back and forth, Its boring doing this all the time since I reinstall so much. And if Windows 7 and Windows 8 are not even safe what can any individual do expect run software that stops connections and various privacy options so there turned off.

 

Exactly on point.

 

Windows can still give us value if you take the time to shut out all the value it's giving them at our expense.

 

This isn't really fundamentally new...  It's been a long time that a tweaked Windows setup can be a good bit better to use than a box stock Windows setup.

 

I strive to only ever install my OS once.  I don't see it as a given that it must be reinstalled all the time.  If you do a lot of experimentation that disrupts your system, consider getting a virtualization package.

 

-Noel

Edited by NoelC
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OK, now approximately how large would the Windows 95 OSR 2.5 installation kit would become if all of its icons would be replaced with scalable 256x256px images (assuming it could decode PNG)? No, better let's take Windows 98SE which is already larger. Would it get to the current size of Win10 which is about 6GB if I'm not mistaken?

 

Of course, you'd say there are lots of new drivers inside and all… but what else is it there that is actually useful? Actually, what else should it be in an operating system, other than rudimentary means to access local or remote resources? Because the OS is not obligated in any way to provide a full set of professional tools. It should only offer the ability for the user to navigate their internal/external fixed/optical/flash/etc drives as well as the local network and the Internet in order for them to retrieve the desired software and install it, at which point that software would take over the file types designated for it. That would be a normally set up system.

 

The user should have unlimited options to install/uninstall any applications as they see fit, without the operating system denying it or reverting the changes through a forced update, as Windows 10 does. When an operating system acts as if itself should be the only software running on a give computer then something is very wrong with whoever designed it. It's a cancer!

 

 

 

Actually, what else should it be in an operating system, other than rudimentary means to access local or remote resources?

 

THAT is the right question indeed!

 

It used to be the answer was "whatever would facilitate professional users' work".  Now it's "whatever will reap the greatest profits from consumers".

 

This single fundamental shift is what has got us all SO upset with Microsoft's change in direction.

 

I honestly don't know what really SHOULD be in there.  Certainly Windows accumulated a lot of stuff over time.  I'm sure I never used 80% of it, but it's nice to discover, say, just the right NET STOP command or Remove-AppXPackage when you finally do learn enough to want it.

 

-Noel

 

 

Until Windows XP, the user could tick/untick the features he wants, during installation. I wish they offered that option these days - that way people who want all that metro stuff and cortana can keep those, while others can have a slimmer system. (Believe it or not, there are people who actually like Cortana!)

 

OK, but then MS wants some things to be installed forcefully, so they can make money by spying. Even in such a scenario, they could offer a choice of drivers and accessories that one can choose during installation. Why install so many drivers and languages and accessories unnecessarily? The OS setup environment could scan the system before installation, and automatically check only the drivers required for the hardware. That's a few Gb we are talking about.

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Using Windows since 2015 feels like living in a warzone: You need to be alerted all the time and watch every step, or you might step on a mine. You need to always listen to the news to be informed of new attacks against your area and take precautions.

 

That's a very apt way to look at it. A related analogy would be to walking down a city street late at night. You need to be on the lookout for muggers and other unsavory characters jumping out in front of you from behind every corner.

 

--JorgeA

 

 

 

“Like one, that on a lonesome road

Doth walk in fear and dread,

And having once turned round walks on,

And turns no more his head;

Because he knows, a frightful fiend

Doth close behind him tread.”

The experience of Windows 10 users. Windows update is the "frightful fiend".

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... Until Windows XP, the user could tick/untick the features he wants, during installation. I wish they offered that option these days ...

 

But allowing such a degree of choice and freedom to the user is so XX century! We must get 'modern' and 'embrace change'!

 

12736465-Portrait-of-prisoner-behind-bar

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...meanwhile in Cupertino ...

 

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/feb/05/error-53-apple-iphone-software-update-handset-worthless-third-party-repair

 

A software update that retroactively checks the otherwise and until then prefectly working device hardware and irreversibly bricks it (making you lose ALL your data).

Not even the good MS guys have managed (yet ;)) to do something like this (or maybe they have it on the Lumia's, but that doesn't really count :whistle:)

 

jaclaz

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MS wants some things to be installed forcefully, so they can make money by spying.

 

I'd also suggest that they want allow a minimum amount of customization to SAVE money on support, but that's just a guess.  Windows as a Service works best (at all?) if every system everywhere is the same, and only a limited set of applications are allowed to run.

 

We've seen the golden age of general purpose computing.  That will probably be shifting more and more over to Unix.

 

-Noel

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...meanwhile in Cupertino ...

 

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/feb/05/error-53-apple-iphone-software-update-handset-worthless-third-party-repair

 

A software update that retroactively checks the otherwise and until then prefectly working device hardware and irreversibly bricks it (making you lose ALL your data).

Not even the good MS guys have managed (yet ;)) to do something like this (or maybe they have it on the Lumia's, but that doesn't really count :whistle:)

 

jaclaz

 

IMHO any device displaying such behaviour should be tested inmediately for gliding ratio capability.

 

uk_mob_phone_championship_tn.jpg

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“Like one, that on a lonesome road

Doth walk in fear and dread,

And having once turned round walks on,

And turns no more his head;

Because he knows, a frightful fiend

Doth close behind him tread.”

The experience of Windows 10 users. Windows update is the "frightful fiend".

 

 

Very nice.  :thumbup

 

--JorgeA

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New details emerge about forced Windows 10 upgrade -- and how to block it

 

If "Upgrade to Windows 10" is checked in your Windows Update list, you're in for a rollicking good time. According to an anonymous poster:

 

After BITS completes the download, the install starts automatically usually on a restart or reboot. A few operations get underway then the EULA appears. If you reply 'yes' the install continues until W10 is installed. If you reply 'no' it auto reverts back to your previous OS.

 

Microsoft has long promised Windows 7 and 8.1 customers they would have a chance to opt out of the Win10 upgrade installation. It appears that accepting the EULA for Windows 10 is the only checkpoint -- if you accept the EULA, Windows 10 gets installed on your PC. Since most Windows users are accustomed to accepting EULAs (when's the last time you declined a EULA?), we're in for a flood of new Windows 10 users as systems reboot over the next few days.

 

Not accepting the EULA doesn't disable the upgrade, though. As best I can tell (these are still early days), the EULA comes back on every reboot, even if you turned it down previously. Once the "Upgrade to Windows 10" update appears as checked on your PC, you're stuck in an endless installer cycle that kicks in every time you reboot. All of the installation files stay on your system, and Windows 10 is ready to be installed, again and again.

 

 

--JorgeA

 

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