Windows 10 free?

[Noa Put]

I might not shut down every attempt but it does seem to close down quite a lot, in any case, I don't understand why people get so upset about this, it's wishful thinking that you can protect your privacy once you go online, if you want to be 100% in control then disconnect your pc from the internet.

[Bryan Worsley]

It doesn't upset me at all. As both articles conclude I think it's more the lack of transparency that concerns a lot of people:

"But the time for transparency is running out. By 2018 Microsoft aims to have one billion devices running Windows 10 and with that comes truly global reach and insight. The world deserves to know exactly what it is signing up for…"

"If Microsoft wants to earn our trust, we need a lot more transparency and a lot less hand-waving".

Should these things not be brought to light?

[Dave Blackhurst]

The minute you are connected (or for that matter out and about in virtually any outpost of civilization), you are "exposed" to some degree...

Security is actually mostly an illusion, as the challenge to crack an uncrackable lock will always be "game on" to both nefarious sorts, and those who just like to take things apart and see how they work!

Accept the technology for what it will do for you, and be aware of the risks. Generally though, most people open their own "security holes" by their own actions. Things like responding to the nice Nigerian prince, sharing or using low grade passwords, downloading every piece of crapware that is offered.... etc., etc....

Aside from my old desktop that has some sort of problem that's keeping it from updating (identified, but haven't yet found a fix...), I've been switching to 10 across the board, and so far no problems aside from a few oddities (trackpad software for gestures is a bit finicky, and I've got a program or two where the scroll bars appear 100% black....). Overall, it's a faster OS, and somehow fairly easy to get used to (unlike 8/8.1 with the PlaySkool interface...).

Of course YMMV, and one always has to be aware of older programs that aren't being updated that may have "special" problems, but I'll happily take a "free" upgraded OS that makes my computers run faster and mostly better....

Now about that "Edge" browser....totally a piece of garbage, at least at this stage of development, use Chrome or IE! Some things aren't "new and improved", and Edge is one of them!

[Bryan Worsley]

Originally Posted by Dave Blackhurst

Accept the technology for what it will do for you, and be aware of the risks.

Which is precisely why I brought attention to that article.

[David Barnett]

Well I did something remarkably stupid...

I have a 6 year old laptop, which I rarely use anymore, but I thought let me upgrade it to Win 10 to test it out. Also, the laptop does have my Adobe CS4 software on there, which I've read mixed things about whether they work on 10 or not. It would be a good way to test it out. So I began the upgrade, took hours. First to download, then to install. Finally it was getting late, midnight on Saturday. My place is older so the electrical isn't all that great, and seeing those hoverboard fires this past holidays I had a slight fear of leaving it plugged in overnight. Plus, as I didn't expect it to take so long it was laying awkwardly & on my couch.

So, typically when I'd unplug the laptop it would switch over to battery mode. Maybe that's a Windows setting that doesn't work in boot mode, I dunno. So it was at about 71% installed, moving about 1 % per minute, but I thought I would unplug it from the outlet & either allow the battery to finish out, or move it into my kitchen where the outlets are a little stronger (washer/dryer) and less fabric/burnable material like carpeting, sofa etc.

Only, when I unplugged it, zoinks! It was off?! At first, I thought it was toast, and the electronics were fried. But I plugged it back in & it powered on, but its now stuck in limbo-land of not having Win 7 or Win 10, and I just get an endless loop of unable to start Win 7 & 'It looks like your already installing Win 10' (with no way to get back to finishing it). I downloaded a Win 7 & 10 boot disk, but neither worked & thats a bit beyond my scope on computer knowledge, but I was glad to have tried some of the things I was trying. Also spent about an hour with MS tech support, she was nice, but just reading from a script of "Start up your computer, do you have the Start menu?" Uhmmmm, no. I was hoping for some eureka! moment solution, something like pressing f10 to start in Safe mode or something, but it never came. It ended with I'm sorta screwed & blow it out & reinstall 7 again then upgrade to 10.

So, in the end I took it to a local Microsoft store. It's a waste, as like I said I hardly ever use it, but at this point after being so close & making such a stupid mistake I just want it completed & to check it out. Sucks it's so complicated now, for something so easy & all I needed to do was nothing. Oh well, I'm sure worse things could've happened to me that day, or maybe a fire could've started. So it's just a petty little nuisance. Plus, as I said it would've sucked if it was my main PC and this happened, so it was a learning experience for if I do want to go thru with the upgrade. TBH, probably not. They had sample PCs & laptops there while I was waiting, seemed good for personal fun use, but I don't think it's for me business wise. I like things more structured, like XP, not all floaty.

[Noa Put]

I have read that extremely long installation times can be caused by a in the BIOS activated 1.44 mb floppy disc, when this was set to "none" the installation time returned to normal, it also seems that pc's with special chipsets where affected by it (p35 and 45 from intel and 600/700 series from amd.)

[Bryan Worsley]

They're at it again, now planting a Windows 10 upgrade hook in a critical windows update:

Windows patch KB 3139929: When a security update is not a security update | InfoWorld

[Dave Baker]

Despicable stuff indeed!

Is it not possible to uninstall IE and use Firefox or Chromium instead so the "security" patch is not needed? Just curious.


Dave

[Steven Davis]

I trust Windows 10, like I trust Windows Vista, like I trust Common Core.... all from Mr. Gates who obviously wants to rule the world and still has Steve Jobs envy.

[Bryan Worsley]

Originally Posted by Dave Baker

Despicable stuff indeed!

Is it not possible to uninstall IE and use Firefox or Chromium instead so the "security" patch is not needed? Just curious.


Dave

I'm honestly not sure what the ramifications of uninstalling IE are. I've preferred to take what I consider to be a passive avoidance approach for now. When I know I'm going to be just browsing, emailing or Skyping, I'll use Firefox in linux Mint. Otherwise, if I'm in Windows, Firefox only. And avoiding installing non-critical Optional updates, unless it is to fix a specific issue that I'm experiencing - as I have always done.

I just wonder now what's coming next. If Microsoft can get away with this, what's to stop them planting other trojan devices (which is what this is) in in any critical system update, as it suits their purpose and agenda, and I wouldn't at all put it past them:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear,_...oubt#Microsoft

[Battle Vaughan]

Further, Microsoft has a plan to disenfranshise your CPU --- removing support for processors after Skylake which would require Windows 10 to even function. The same for AMD processors:

Microsoft: Skylake owners must upgrade to Windows 10 within 18 months, future CPUs will require it | ExtremeTech

Your legacy devices will, according to the article (which information is available in multiple places, it's not just an internet rumor) not have drivers available....or support for such things as USB3.1, etc. unless you drink the Microsoft kool-ade.

[Bryan Worsley]

The concluding remarks in that article convey some sense of optimism that linux will still be an option, quote:

"Long-term, however, the trend is clear: Microsoft intends to move the entire Windows ecosystem to Windows 10, and those who prefer older versions of the operating system will either have to make do with current hardware or switch to Apple or Linux".

I would really like to believe that's true.

[Dave Baker]

Amazing isn't it? The EU made a fuss about Internet Explorer being included in Windows because it was an almost monopoly situation, but I have yet to hear anything about this much worse situation from them.

Bryan, I am reasonably sure that the Linux and BSD developers will find ways to be compatible with whatever hardware turns up. I certainly hope so especially since, as you know, I only keep Windows (7) as a VM on my editing computer for running scoring software. Otherwise I use Linux for everything and I could do without the scoring software at a pinch.

My wife has Windows 8 or 8.1, she has kept Microsoft updates turned off since she got the machine and has yet to have any problems, just updating Firefox, Thunderbird and firewall, antivirus etc. now and then. I guess the crunch will come when something like Adobe Digital Editions (the main reason she sticks with Windows) gets updated and will no longer run on her machine and that will be a pile of sh*t I do not want to get involved in!

Dave

[Bryan Worsley]

And now....

Windows 10 automatically installs without permission, complain users | Technology | The Guardian

BTW - I rolled back to a full-disc backup that I created the day before the March "Patch Tuesday" updates (as is now my habit) and went on to install all of the pending Critical updates except KB 3139929.

[Ron Evans]

Originally Posted by Battle Vaughan

Further, Microsoft has a plan to disenfranshise your CPU --- removing support for processors after Skylake which would require Windows 10 to even function. The same for AMD processors:

Microsoft: Skylake owners must upgrade to Windows 10 within 18 months, future CPUs will require it | ExtremeTech

Your legacy devices will, according to the article (which information is available in multiple places, it's not just an internet rumor) not have drivers available....or support for such things as USB3.1, etc. unless you drink the Microsoft kool-ade.

Well I support Microsoft for this. Why should they support new hardware with an old OS ? Creating drivers for lots of new hardware cost money and I think that should fall to the hardware manufacturer not Microsoft. If these hardware manufacturers do not want to do that then Microsoft shouldn't either. I have a HP laser printer with no driver support after Win XP !! Of no use to anyone I know !! If you buy a new PC with new features why would you expect it to work on an old OS ? Certainly true if you buy a Mac.

I have 2 PC's with WIN 10 now, loaded Shutup 10 and turned everything off except critical updates. They run great a little faster in my experience. I will make a new PC in a few weeks and it will certainly be WIN10.

Ron Evans