Tech: Interesting stuff (issues) about Windows 10

Subject: RE: Tech: Interesting stuff (issues) about Windows 10
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 13 May 16 - 01:47 PM

Several months after my problems, I'm becoming aware that some users are reporting success after flash updating Bios for Lenovo Win 8.1 [bing] PCs,
so thanks, I'll check out your link.

I'm up to my neck looking after my old mum at the moment,
so the exasperations of fiddling around with computers might be quite therapeutic in comparison....

Subject: RE: Tech: Interesting stuff (issues) about Windows 10
From: ragdall
Date: 14 May 16 - 01:22 AM

After attempting in vain to resuscitate my Win 7 machine, I bought a new Acer with Win 10 factory installed (not an upgrade). I was thrilled when I loaded my old programs, tested them and all worked.

Enter the MS Upgrade Monster. (insert appropriately sinister music here)

The updates appear to be automatic with no provision to prevent them. Now none of my MS Office 2000 applications will respond to a "Save" or "Save as" command. (Yes, I realize that it's a 16 year old program, but it worked fine on Win 7 and also worked fine on Win 10 before MS installed an upgrade that apparently blocks it.)

MS has kindly allowed me a 30 day trial of Office 2016 which they will gladly rent to me for the paltry sum of $10/month.   

Other than that, and that this machine seems to have issues staying turned on, first try, in the day, (Yes, I turned off all power saving options), I'm pleasantly surprised at how painless it was to switch to Win 10 from Win 7.

I open the File Explorer at the beginning of my sessions and work from there. It looks pretty much the same as in Win 7. I've been able to find where to put the files I saved from Win 7 with all my passwords, bookmarks and email addresses. All the applications that use those run as before.

I'm not thrilled with the photo viewer replacement in this version, but I'll learn to love it with time.

If only I can find a way to go back to using a Microsoft Office that I won't have to rent for the rest of my days, and this particular machine will turn on and stay on, first try, I'd be a big fan of Windows 10.
rags

Subject: RE: Tech: Interesting stuff (issues) about Windows 10
From: Stanron
Date: 14 May 16 - 04:39 AM

Check out Libre Office. It's a free Office suite which can handle files created under Windows.

It seems to me that some of the objections to changing to a Linux system centre around the problem of learning a new operating system.

Well you all do seem to have these problems with Windows now and you are paying for it, and you have no control of it's hidden agendas and automatic updates. Remember it's whole purpose is to relieve you of money, not give you a pleasing computing experience. Try Linux.

Subject: RE: Tech: Interesting stuff (issues) about Windows 10
From: ragdall
Date: 15 May 16 - 10:04 PM

Stanron,
I know nothing about which programs are available to run on Linux. Will it run the programs I use that run on Windows? I'm past 70 and not likely to be able to learn how to use entirely new programs that will perform the various tasks ahead of me, photo editing and web page creation/maintenance among others.

Thanks,
rags

Subject: RE: Tech: Interesting stuff (issues) about Windows 10
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 16 May 16 - 12:42 AM

Maryanne, OpenOffice (put out by Apache, I think) also works with doc and docx files. It's a whole bunch of programs lumped together and works like Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, etc. It's close enough in how it works that for writing you should have no problem.

Subject: RE: Tech: Interesting stuff (issues) about Windows 10
From: ragdall
Date: 16 May 16 - 02:24 AM

Thank you, Acme,
I looked for OpenOffice, but couldn't find a version for Windows 10. I looked just now and it appears that OpenOffice 4.1.x will run on it. :)

I'll try that when the 30 day free trial of MS Office 2016 expires.

rags

Subject: RE: Tech: Interesting stuff (issues) about Windows 10
From: DaveRo
Date: 16 May 16 - 03:33 AM

LibreOffice and OpenOffice are essentially different versions of the same suite of programs5. Libre is a bit more developed. Open is a bit more stable. Both work in Windows 10.
http://openoffice.org
http://libreoffice.org

Subject: RE: Tech: Interesting stuff (issues) about Windows 10
From: Stanron
Date: 16 May 16 - 04:44 AM

I know nothing about which programs are available to run on Linux. Will it run the programs I use that run on Windows? I'm past 70 and not likely to be able to learn how to use entirely new programs that will perform the various tasks ahead of me, photo editing and web page creation/maintenance among others.

There are definitely programs that do photo editing and web pages but as to whether they work the same way or not I can't say. What you could do is load an old computer up with a Linux system and experiment.

To try an operating system, such as Linux Mint Cinnamon (the one that I like) you go to the web page and download the file. Burn it to a DVD and boot up with it. It will run from the DVD. It will be slow because it is running from the DVD but it will give you an idea of what it looks like and how it works.

Subject: RE: Tech: Interesting stuff (issues) about Windows 10
From: ragdall
Date: 18 May 16 - 04:53 AM

Thanks for the instructions, Stanron,
I'd like to try Linux when (if ever,) I'm not struggling with too many other things that a deteriorating brain has difficulty wrapping itself around.

I returned the Win 10 machine to the shop where I bought it, Monday, and got a refund. It was having serious problems booting. I didn't get another one. For now, I'm using a Win 7 laptop that is able to run all the programs I normally use.

rags

Subject: RE: Tech: Interesting stuff (issues) about Windows 10
From: GUEST,Eddie1 - Sans cookie as ever
Date: 18 May 16 - 06:17 AM

A couple of years ago, I bought an ASUS tablet. I wanted something smaller than a laptop for accessing internet & e-mail on the road and to use it for playing out music/recorded interviews on my radio show. It was loaded with Windows 8.1 which I hate but it did do the job. When Windows 10 appeared I went for it, keeping the backup option if I didn't like it. Pleasantly surprised to find I was happy with Windows 10! Much more intuitive than 8.1 and all my programmes worked just fine so, in the interests of space economy, deleted the back up option. All was fine for several months until!!!! a couple of weeks ago I lost the ability to play out any audio! Tried all the driver replacement tricks, troubleshooting etc without success then entered into a chat session with a M'soft Techie. He went through all the things I had already tried with the the same success level as me then announced I needed a complete reload of Windows 10! Problem is, I don't. even after deleting all programmes, have sufficient spare hard disk space to do the reload! Only solution seems to be to buy increased hard disk space and get back to them. Might give up and go for Linux!

Subject: RE: Tech: Interesting stuff (issues) about Windows 10
From: GUEST, ^*^
Date: 18 May 16 - 09:14 AM

You don't need to "reload" Win10. The system has recovery options of reset and restore (I think those are the names, I'm typing on the fly, not looking it up as I go). I did what I think was called a "reset" on my neighbor's computer for her when some files were corrupted by malware. The reset allowed a clean re-write of the Win10 files over the existing ones and no data was lost. The restore takes the computer back to square one and you lose all data and installed programs.

Subject: RE: Tech: Interesting stuff (issues) about Windows 10
From: GUEST, ^*^
Date: 23 May 16 - 01:31 PM

Finding your Windows 10 Product Key and how to Activate it.

http://www.techworm.net/2016/05/how-10-find-windows-10-product-key-activate.html

Subject: RE: Tech: Interesting stuff (issues) about Windows 10
From: Vashta Nerada
Date: 26 May 16 - 01:44 PM

Never10 Easily Control Automatic and Unwanted Windows 7 & 8.1 Upgrading to Windows 10

Subject: RE: Tech: Interesting stuff (issues) about Windows 10
From: GUEST,LynnT
Date: 29 May 16 - 06:58 AM

Micro$oft is doing it again! I have Win7 and do not intend to migrate to Win10 any time soon. Thanks to your assistance, I successfully evaded that pop-up that if you just close the window, proceeds to launch the update -- there was an option there NOT to schedule the change if you follow the menu to a secondary window. But this morning I have a pop-up that does NOT offer any disengage/cancel option -- only change now, change tonight, or set one of six specific dates in future. How do I keep this update from happening -- I guess the answer is Never10 -- or do I need to keep the damn computer turned off and off the internet for the next month?

Subject: RE: Tech: Interesting stuff (issues) about Windows 10
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 29 May 16 - 01:36 PM

Here is a two part article about a Windows program called Process Explorer, that you can apparently set up in lieu of Task Manager, and it does more things. IT worked in older versions of Windows and can also be used in 10.

Part 1:
https://blog.malwarebytes.org/101/2016/05/process-explorer-an-introduction/

Part 2:
https://blog.malwarebytes.org/101/2016/05/process-explorer-part-2/

When Microsoft acquired Sysinternals in 2006, one of the most famous tools it gained was Process Explorer. For Windows operating systems (OS), especially those up to and including Windows 7, Process Explorer is an excellent replacement for Task Manager. It offers a much clearer view of what is going on and has a lot more options. Besides the options the regular Task Manager has to offer, there are a few extra ones that are particularly interesting when you suspect your machine to be infected. We will discuss a few of these below.

Replace Task Manager

If you would like to replace Task Manager with Process Explorer, it offers an easy way to do this. On the Process Explorer window, under "Options" menu, you will find "Replace Task Manager", which requires Administrator privileges. Using this will open Process Explorer with every call to taskmgr.exe, including the key combination "Ctrl-Alt-Del".

Subject: RE: Tech: Interesting stuff (issues) about Windows 10
From: bobad
Date: 29 May 16 - 04:31 PM

Another useful hack to Windows 10 is God Mode. It basically puts all customization and management options on one page. Very simple to do, just create a new folder (desktop is a good place) and name it this string GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}. More info about it HERE.

Subject: RE: Tech: Interesting stuff (issues) about Windows 10
From: DaveRo
Date: 30 May 16 - 03:48 AM

GUEST,LynnT wrote: -- I guess the answer is Never10 -- or do I need to keep the damn computer turned off and off the internet for the next month?

This_PC_World_article endorses Never 10 or GWX Control Panel. I've no personal experience of either.

I have used Process Explorer, though not since Win 7. It's good for finding unwanted processes that are running and stopping them from wasting resources - updaters and quickstarters for example. A bit like speeding up a car by throwing bits away - works if you know what you're doing;)

Subject: RE: Tech: Interesting stuff (issues) about Windows 10
From: Brian May
Date: 30 May 16 - 06:15 PM

I run a new MacBook Pro.

I run Win 10 and XP in a virtual machine - both at the same time if required, even with OS X (the Mac) working too.

Frankly, if Win 10 had emerged when Vista appeared, I wouldn't be on a Mac. It's really very good (Win 10). Very stable.

However, if you get used to a Mac, it's unlikely you'd return to Windows (Linux perhaps as that's reliable and robust AND free).

My Mac boots from cold into ready-to-go in about 20 seconds, so you'd have to make your tea first.

Subject: RE: Tech: Interesting stuff (issues) about Windows 10
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Dec 17 - 05:14 PM

Microsoft just pushed out a big update for Win10 - and a new "people button" appeared in the small tray on the lower right side of the desktop. They are trying to make the Windows platform part of my social media domain - I turned off the people button. I'm sure there are other rude surprises awaiting my discovery.