Windows 10 - Deeper Impressions

[jaclaz]

Going (completely) Off-Topic, I just repaired a window handle.  (though we are still talking of windows )

Looking at it, there were no pieces broken, there is a counterplate fixed with two M5x10 screws to an aluminum "body", simply the thread had worn off and the screws had no more grip on it.

Looking at the thread on the body I saw that it was much deeper than the length of the screws, so I thought to try using a little longer screw, thinking to use a M5x15 , and went to the hardware store and bought 20 (twenty) M5x16 screws ( they had only these, slightly longer, ones) for the price of 0.60 Euro (VAT 22% included), i.e. 0.03 Euro each ( not so cheap per unit) .

I got back and re-assembled the thingy with the new screws (that fitted perfectly) and the window handle works and is perfectly solid.

Assuming that the hardware store price for a little quantity such as 20 for these screws is 3 or 4 times the cost to the window handles manufacturer (excluded VAT)  the original cost must have been around 0.007 or 0.008 each or less and the difference between a M5x10 and a M5x16 probably in the 0.001 to 0.003 Euro.

Evidently an engineer decided that in order to save 2*0.025=0.005 Euro in the manufacturing of a device that is sold for 12-15 Euro (to the window manufacturer) and which I paid actually more like 30 or 40 Euro (as part of the finished/installed window) he was allowed to introduce a defect/weak point.

This defect costed to me besides the 0.06 Euro (I still have 18 spare screws, so I will be able to fix another 9 handles when they will break in the same manner), almost an hour of time and a trip with the car to the hardware store (think of the pollution this caused).

But all in all it's fine.

What really troubles me is thinking/knowing that the next engineer will notice that the recessed screw hole is too d@mn deep for the M5x10 screw and - in order to optimize manufacturing time (saving a few hundredths of second when drilling and threading the hole) - next batch will have less deep holes, so that the handle will not be repairable in this simple way anymore.

jaclaz

Edited October 17, 2019 by jaclaz

[NoelC]

Repairable doesn't make profit from selling new ones.

Competition tends to pressure everyone to make better, higher quality products, but when EVERYBODY notices that if they ALL "save a little bit" on their manufacturing costs and lower quality, they sell more product.  It used to be possible to actually TELL if a product had higher quality.  Nowadays making things bright and shiny and still cheap is a science.

Light bulbs, for example...

In the latter part of the 20th century it wasn't uncommon to still find incandescent light bulbs that had remained working and in service since the early part of the 20th century.  Ever notice that lately - before the era of CFL and LED bulbs - incandescent bulbs would last EXACTLY the number of hours listed on the box (i.e., usually a few weeks to a few months of use).  That's not coincidence.  It's engineered-in.

We'll skip CFL bulbs, but then LEDs came out, promising tens of thousands of hours of service.   We all bought the ones that were 10x as expensive as an incandescent bulb thinking, "Gee, maybe I won't ever have to replace this again!"

Ever notice how you're now replacing your LED bulbs WAY sooner than you thought you should have to?  Sigh.

Don't get me started on plumbing and faucets.  Same deal.

Our parents (or grandparents if you're a young whippersnapper) loathed the idea of planned obsolescence.  They didn't want us to have to live in this world where our $#!+ just breaks all the time and is unrepairable.  Imagine what we could do with the world if we had the time to think instead of fixing stuff that shouldn't be broken.

Another thing they worried about, and which came to pass anyway:  Paying by the month for things, instead of just buying them once and owning them.  We still worry about software subscriptions, but make no mistake:  We're already there or well on our way there for just about every piece of tech we use, INCLUDING software.

-Noel

[win32]

Speaking of planned obsolescence, a recent Windows 10 update has blocked all versions of VMware Workstation below version 15.1 from running:

https://communities.vmware.com/thread/619878

That means that users of 14.x, which was released in September 2017, will have to purchase an upgrade licence in order to keep using software that is far from obsolete, given that even version 10 can run Windows 10 as a guest.

Edited November 25, 2019 by win32

[jaclaz]

11 hours ago, win32 said:

Speaking of planned obsolescence, a recent Windows 10 update has blocked all versions of VMware Workstation below version 15.1 from running:

https://communities.vmware.com/thread/619878

That means that users of 14.x, which was released in September 2017, will have to purchase an upgrade licence in order to keep using software that is far from obsolete, given that even version 10 can run Windows 10 as a guest.

Well, this is bordering with conspiracy theories, that would mean that VmWare paid Microsoft to force their (VmWares) users to update to a new version of VmWare, and that Microsoft took the money and did that knowing that everyone will blame them (Microsoft) for the issue.

 I would attribute the problem more to the usual stupidity (or rather increasing sloppyness/lack of quality control) of the good MS guys, with VmWare "innocent", so that there is not anything "planned".

jaclaz 

[Paraglider]

VMWare released version 14.1.8:

https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Workstation-Pro/14/rn/VMware-Workstation-1418-Pro-Release-Notes.html

with this fix:

Unable to run VMware Workstation Pro / Player 14.x after updates on Windows 10 1903

VMware Workstation Pro and Player versions 14.x and earlier failed to launch on Windows 10 1903, after Windows 10 KB updates were applied.

[UCyborg]

What did they do? Change version number in the .exe, disabled Microsoft's "fix" or what?

[UCyborg]

Did they change how fullscreen works with newer DirectX versions? I don't recall Aero Peek being activated from the secondary screen having any effect on the primary one if it was covered by fullscreen DirectX 11 application/game in the past, 1809 and older at least.

[Comrade_Hajji]

I refused to move to Win10 up to the very end. Finally they installed it on my work laptop and I spent two days optimizing SW.

Some of weird stuff:

1. Win10 x64 refuses to run Calc x64 from Win7, but accepts Calc x32 from WinXP.

2. Also it refuses to run any version of Daemoon Tools (download from the official site, must be inept security settings);

3. It refuses to run CCleaner 5.32.

[cc333]

As with @Comrade_Hajji, I've resisted using Windows 10 in any form until about a month ago, when I realized that if I want a job nowadays, I better be at least somewhat familiar with it, because the world is moving on, and versions like XP and 7 (and their server counterparts) are rapidly being forgotten!

Therefore, I've done the following:

• Installed Windows 10 Pro for Workstations 1809 on my PC running a Core i5-6600k and 16 GB of RAM
• Installed OpenShell (for the classic start menu), 7+TaskbarTweaker (to get the taskbar to behave more or less as it does in XP and Vista), OldNewExplorer (for more sane File Explorer windows), and WinAero Tweaker (to make the rest of the OS more sane)
• And, of course, AeroGlass for nice transparency effects

All in all, I find it to be more or less bearable with all this applied to it (and I'm not even finished, because there's still Telemetry and Cortana to be disabled (I rarely use the search function anyway, and I beliewve with Cortana disabled, there's a basic fallback so searching in general isn't entirely broken, unless I'm mistaken?), and Metro stuff to remove), but I still like XP - through - 7 much better (even 8.x with most of the above tweaks is a bit nicer).  Be that as it may, it is now much more in line with older versions, with most of the obtrusive/invasive "features" turned off.

For now, however, I think I'll go back to my P4 machine running Windows 2000

c

Edited March 20, 2020 by cc333

[Mcinwwl]

Until the next "change" in update model

[Comrade_Hajji]

On 3/21/2020 at 3:02 AM, cc333 said:

more or less bearable with all this applied

Do you still use 'Photos' or made 'Photo Viewer' back?

M$ didn't delete it but hid, so you can set it as default viewer with PowerShell (then select in Propeties for each filetype).

If  ( -Not ( Test-Path "Registry::HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll")){New-Item -Path "Registry::HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll" -ItemType RegistryKey -Force}
If  ( -Not ( Test-Path "Registry::HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell")){New-Item -Path "Registry::HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell" -ItemType RegistryKey -Force}
If  ( -Not ( Test-Path "Registry::HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\open")){New-Item -Path "Registry::HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\open" -ItemType RegistryKey -Force}
Set-ItemProperty -path "Registry::HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\open" -Name "MuiVerb" -Type "String" -Value "@photoviewer.dll,-3043"
If  ( -Not ( Test-Path "Registry::HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\open\command")){New-Item -Path "Registry::HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\open\command" -ItemType RegistryKey -Force}
Set-ItemProperty -path "Registry::HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\open\command" -Name "(Default)" -Type "ExpandString" -Value "%SystemRoot%\System32\rundll32.exe `"%ProgramFiles%\Windows Photo Viewer\PhotoViewer.dll`", ImageView_Fullscreen %1"
If  ( -Not ( Test-Path "Registry::HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\open\DropTarget")){New-Item -Path "Registry::HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\open\DropTarget" -ItemType RegistryKey -Force}
Set-ItemProperty -path "Registry::HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\open\DropTarget" -Name "Clsid" -Type "String" -Value "{FFE2A43C-56B9-4bf5-9A79-CC6D4285608A}"
If  ( -Not ( Test-Path "Registry::HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\print")){New-Item -Path "Registry::HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\print" -ItemType RegistryKey -Force}
If  ( -Not ( Test-Path "Registry::HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\print\command")){New-Item -Path "Registry::HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\print\command" -ItemType RegistryKey -Force}
Set-ItemProperty -path "Registry::HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\print\command" -Name "(Default)" -Type "ExpandString" -Value "%SystemRoot%\System32\rundll32.exe `"%ProgramFiles%\Windows Photo Viewer\PhotoViewer.dll`", ImageView_Fullscreen %1"
If  ( -Not ( Test-Path "Registry::HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\print\DropTarget")){New-Item -Path "Registry::HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\print\DropTarget" -ItemType RegistryKey -Force}
Set-ItemProperty -path "Registry::HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\photoviewer.dll\shell\print\DropTarget" -Name "Clsid" -Type "String" -Value "{60fd46de-f830-4894-a628-6fa81bc0190d}"
#

 

Edited March 22, 2020 by Comrade_Hajji

[UCyborg]

On 3/16/2020 at 7:26 PM, Comrade_Hajji said:

1. Win10 x64 refuses to run Calc x64 from Win7, but accepts Calc x32 from WinXP.

Have you tried this installer?

[Comrade_Hajji]

No, I have not. At the moment I am satisfied with Calc x32 from XP placed in Program Files.

[UCyborg]

That explains is then. You probably only took the Win7's calc.exe, which won't work without accompanying language file.

[cc333]

13 hours ago, Comrade_Hajji said:

Do you still use 'Photos' or made 'Photo Viewer' back?

I reenabled Photo Viewer.  WinAero Tweaker has a simple "Enable Windows Photo Viewer" button, which makes it really easy!

c