Topic: 2024 – Return of the Sneakerware @ AskWoody

2024 – Return of the Sneakerware
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- This topic has 23 replies, 13 voices, and was last updated 1 year, 5 months ago.
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Mike Cataldo
AskWoody Lounger

December 18, 2023 at 12:09 pm #2613011

More and more I’m beginning to think I’m too old for Windows. Granted I took electronics in high school, built HealthKit PC and once an Altair, played my first games on an Apple // and worked my way through graphics alphabets of CGA, EGA, VGA, XVGA and so on, and so forth. But Windows 11 is driving me crazy. This system cannot stay stable. Several times a month it needs some type of patch, tweak, fix, or 3rd party to keep the settings the way I enjoy them. It is so bad I am seriously on the verge of putting my data on a single SSD and wiping the computer once a month, on a day I choose, and simply restoring an image. The price for security and stability is getting two high to count. Every manufacturer wants a new more expensive update from Adobe to Malwarebytes and on a fixed retirement budget. I can’t afford the time, money and energy to keep on the “current version” bandwagon any longer. Not to mention that unless I pull the network cord every night my system (thanks to Microsoft and others) seems to use more data when I’m asleep than when I’m awake. I’d stopped asking myself why there are 500 processes running in the background when my antivirus, anti root kit, anti malware, anti adware and hitman pro all tell me all is well inside. Have I become senile because I don’t want to spend hours repairing, patching, updating my system to use email and word processing. Might be nice to see if there was a metric to show how much time a system is being used (by the user for the user) and how much time is being used (by the user to keep the system running safely). I’m pretty sure it is about 5:1. I’ve stopped being the “go-to” person about computers because Microsoft has broken me. I’ve started looking for an IBM Selectric typewriter and a rotary dial phone.

8 users thanked author for this post.

wavy, firstmerk, plodr, Cybertooth, WSbobby-p, Pepsiboy, Fred, Charlie

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- Charlie
  AskWoody Plus
  
  December 18, 2023 at 2:34 pm #2613074
  
  The sheer number of Windows 10 and Windows 11 problems that show up here on this site every week speaks to the ineptitude of Microsoft and its poor excuses for “Operating Systems” since Windows 8.1.
  
  Being 20 something in the 70's was so much better than being 70 something in the insane 20's
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- Susan Bradley
  Manager
  
  December 19, 2023 at 3:17 pm #2613356
  
  I would like to point out that no one comes to these forums and says “HEY I’m wonderful, my systems work, I can print”. These forums are here for help on your computer. Then I scour the Internet for side effects and corner cases. The VAST majority of computer systems reboot JUST FINE. So please do not equate to seeing possible side effects as having probable side effects.
  
  I GUARANTEE YOU that with Windows 8.1 I was telling people to rip out their antivirus nearly every month because it was stopping browsing, or using of their computer. Black screen of death issue in Windows 8.1 impacted quite a few.
  
  You guys forget past operating system pain.
  
  Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher
  
  1 user thanked author for this post.
  
  NaNoNyMouse
  
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  Charlie
  AskWoody Plus
  
  December 20, 2023 at 1:35 pm #2613919
  
  Understood. I stopped at Win 7 and never went further. I listed Win 8.1 because it is liked as much and is as reliable as Win 7. I never had operating system pain, but I did have to read all the information about bad updates and avoid installing them (while that lasted).
  
  Then came the “All in one roll up” Windows updates and I switched to Security Updates only. I give a big Thank You to those on this AskWoody site who made that possible! I didn’t have OS problems, but like everyone else, I did have that monthly headache with updates to deal with.
  
  Being 20 something in the 70's was so much better than being 70 something in the insane 20's
  
  1 user thanked author for this post.
  
  SueW
  
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- Fred
  AskWoody Lounger
  
  December 19, 2023 at 1:08 am #2613232
  
  Same here, Mike_Cat. Just repairing and trying to smooth things, and than another failure. Basicly it’s such a waist of time, so much to do. But in these ‘modern'(?) times one cannot do without a pc.
  
  * _ ... _ *
  
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- Pepsiboy
  AskWoody Lounger
  
  December 19, 2023 at 4:49 am #2613249
  
  Fred wrote:
  
  Same here, Mike_Cat. Just repairing and trying to smooth things, and than another failure. Basicly it’s such a waist of time, so much to do. But in these ‘modern'(?) times one cannot do without a pc.
  
  But in these ‘modern'(?) times one cannot do without a pc.
  
  I probably COULD, but I CHOOSE not to.
  
  Dave
  
  2 users thanked author for this post.
  
  Mike Cataldo, Fred
  
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- Ascaris
  AskWoody MVP
  
  December 19, 2023 at 10:58 pm #2613406
  
  Fred wrote:
  
  But in these ‘modern'(?) times one cannot do without a pc.
  
  PC, of course, means personal computer, and if you mean PC in the broadest sense, a smartphone, a tablet, a Mac, or a Chromebook, as well as the obvious ones like a Windows laptop, are certainly personal computing devices. Living without any of them now would make things a lot more difficult . Not impossible, but I would not want to try it in 2023.
  
  If, though, you mean “PC” to refer to the hardware platform whose lineage dates back to the computer that gave the platform its name, the IBM PC, then certainly a lot of people do without. How anyone could find a smartphone to be even close to being a decent alternative to a PC with a real keyboard, a decently sized screen (even a small laptop has a display far larger than any phone), and a discrete pointing device that doesn’t give you gorilla arm when used on a non-handheld, I cannot fathom, but many people do find them sufficient, even when they are at home or in the office, when the extreme portability of the phone is not needed.
  
  I would not want to give up my PCs in the x86 sense of the word either. But giving up Windows? Already done; not a problem.
  
  Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
  XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/32GB & GTX1660ti, Kubuntu 24.04
  Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, Kubuntu 24.04 (and Win 11)
  
  3 users thanked author for this post.
  
  Cybertooth, WSbobby-p, Fred
  
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  Fred
  AskWoody Lounger
  
  December 20, 2023 at 1:19 am #2613432
  
  Right you are!
  Does heaven has a mainfraim , or just fishing rods?
  Have a good Xmas
  
  * _ ... _ *
  
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- RetiredGeek
  AskWoody_MVP
  
  December 19, 2023 at 8:34 am #2613275
  
  If all you’re doing is email and word processing get a chrome book.
  
  May the Forces of good computing be with you!
  
  RG
  
  PowerShell & VBA Rule!
  Computer Specs
  
  2 users thanked author for this post.
  
  Fred, Mike Cataldo
  
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- SB9K
  AskWoody Lounger
  
  December 19, 2023 at 9:20 am #2613280
  
  Or, considering the fixed retirement budget: Make the PC you already paid for actually be yours (and stable) without spending any more money.
  
  https://www.linuxmint.com/
  
  6 users thanked author for this post.
  
  driftless, WSbobby-p, Fred, Mike Cataldo, Charlie, Microfix
  
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- Microfix
  AskWoody MVP
  
  December 19, 2023 at 12:44 pm #2613307
  
  RetiredGeek wrote:
  
  If all you’re doing is email and word processing get a chrome book.and put linux on it.
  
  FTFY
  
  Windows - commercial by definition and now function...
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- Susan Bradley
  Manager
  
  December 19, 2023 at 3:13 pm #2613353
  
  Have you tried doing that? Some of them are such that you can’t do that.
  
  Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher
  
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- Susan Bradley
  Manager
  
  December 19, 2023 at 3:19 pm #2613357
  
  Define “not being stable”
  What’s the specs on the machine?
  What tools are you using to tweak?
  
  Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher
  
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- Mike Cataldo
  AskWoody Lounger
  
  December 19, 2023 at 10:03 pm #2613402
  
  Not sure if this was intended for me or not but here goes.
  
  System is an Asus Edition 30 Prime X299 / CPU Intel Core I7-7800EX / 64gn RAM (2 x 32GB – 3TB capable). The system has quite a bit of storage because I am a data hoarder. The main drive (C) is a Raid 1 with 3 M.2 SSDs (Intel 1TB each)
  
  c: (NTFS on drive 4) *
  1.02 TB
  549.98 GB free
  
  d: (NTFS on drive 3)
  1.02 TB
  998.12 GB free
  
  e: (NTFS on drive 0)
  18.00 TB
  11.69 TB free
  
  f: (NTFS on drive 1)
  18.00 TB
  874.37 GB free
  
  g: (NTFS on drive 2)
  18.00 TB
  8.31 TB free
  
  D: is another 1TB SSD M.2
  
  the other 3 drives are Seagate mechanical 18TB each. I also have a 100TB Synoptic NAS attached to the network.
  
  The GPU is a Nvidia Asus RTX 3060
  
  Or as Windows 11 sees it.
  
  Device name Hypermass
  Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-7800X CPU @ 3.50GHz 3.50 GHz
  Installed RAM 64.0 GB (63.7 GB usable)
  Device ID BDA3499B-B143-4239-94FD-A49C69929D46
  Product ID 00330-80000-00000-AA489
  System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
  Pen and touch No pen or touch input is available for this display
  
  Edition Windows 11 Pro
  Version 22H2
  Installed on ‎5/‎1/‎2023
  OS build 22621.2861
  Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.22681.1000.0
  
  Microsoft worked on this machine last week (remotely) because file explorer continues to freeze and hang forcing regular restarts of the program. <<- main problem. They claimed it was a cache issue (I clear cache every week so I think they were spitballing it). They escalated to 3rd Tier without any luck. They suggested I wipe the machine and start all over again (3rd time in 2 years they’ve suggested this. I’ve done it twice).
  
  As for “tweaking” tools
  
  Revo Uninstaller Pro / Malwarebytes / Windows Defender / Hitman Pro
  
  Normally, I would blame this on a possible hardware issue considering I use this machine for so many things. However, I have a second computer with even higher specs (Asus hero MB, 64GB DD5 RAM I-9 12900k, RTX 3090 and all solid state m.2 drives that I only use for gaming and it has the exact same issues with random reboots and File Explorer running slow or freezing.
  
  I should mention that other programs that use files (MS Paint, MS word, MS Excel, VLC, have no problem accessing the files.
  
  I’ve also tried the following workarounds
  
  Restarting file explorer / Restarting the machine. Running Scan (SFC Scannow from DOS box [CMD prompt] as admin) / clearing file explorer cache/ changing file explorer options / and last (and worse) calling Microsoft and letting them run through days worth of their scripts)
  
  Like I said, all of this just to get file explorer to work. Something that worked on Windows XP (and Bob) with ease. I plead insanity at this point.
  
  This reply was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by Ascaris. Reason: HTML tags removed
  
  1 user thanked author for this post.
  
  Cybertooth
  
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  Susan Bradley
  Manager
  
  December 19, 2023 at 10:36 pm #2613405
  
  Are all of those other than defender not running? If you have all of those running in the background as services, I guarantee that they are fighting with one another.
  
  Is there any other third party file explorer tools running?
  
  List the running services/or do a screen shot of the running services if you wouldn’t mind?
  
  Also I would also try detaching the OTHER hard drives as a test. Just pull off the power cable so they won’t be active in the system as it boots up.
  
  Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher
  
  1 user thanked author for this post.
  
  Mike Cataldo
  
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  PKCano
  Manager
  
  December 20, 2023 at 8:10 am #2613600
  
  You might also consider menu tweaking and Windows blocking tools (examples: Open Shell, Start11, StartAllBack, O&OShutup, etc., etc.). They may make Registry entries that also affect Explorer.
  
  1 user thanked author for this post.
  
  Mike Cataldo
  
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  Mike Cataldo
  AskWoody Lounger
  
  December 20, 2023 at 4:03 pm #2613931
  
  Actually not using any of these that I’m aware of…
  
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  Mike Cataldo
  AskWoody Lounger
  
  December 20, 2023 at 3:57 pm #2613927
  
  Susan
  
  Thank you for the response.
  
  No, only Defender runs full time. I run Malwarebytes on occasion and run Hitman and Revo uninstall as needed.
  
  No other file programs in use.
  
  The services list ran four pages. Here is the link to my collection of screen shots for it. https://gyazo.com/collections/677d43996c101621f445287b28d7acb6
  
  I have rebooted without the mechanical drives, and without the NAS being linked, same results. (I was planning to permanently disconnect them now that the NAS is functional. I really don’t need the extra 55 TB they add so I was going to move them to a JBOD collection I use for games.
  
  If it helps, I have a Belarc Advisor shot of the entire system. I offered it to Microsoft but they “claimed” their tools were superior. lol.
  
  Mike
  
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  EricB
  AskWoody Plus
  
  December 20, 2023 at 9:11 am #2613650
  
  Another possibility is a misbehaving shell extension that is loaded into the explorer process.
  
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- Duh
  Guest
  
  December 20, 2023 at 10:06 am #2613700
  
  Ok boomer what’s the thread title mean?
  
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- Susan Bradley
  Manager
  
  December 20, 2023 at 10:53 am #2613730
  
  Sneaker net. What we used to call peer to peer networking back in the day. You’d “walk” floppy disks from machine to machine in order to share the information.
  
  Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher
  
  1 user thanked author for this post.
  
  Mike Cataldo
  
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- Mike Cataldo
  AskWoody Lounger
  
  December 20, 2023 at 4:01 pm #2613929
  
  I had to laugh at this one. The first time I heard the term it was actually with cassettes for an Apple, but we used 8″ floppies at work. We also used “disk packs” that were 80mb we ran between the mini-comps and looked like big cake dishes for the Motorola Four Phase and Wang Systems. Guess that dates me.
  
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- Alex5723
  AskWoody Plus
  
  December 20, 2023 at 11:53 am #2613827
  
  Mike Cataldo wrote:
  
  Like I said, all of this just to get file explorer to work.
  
  Read this thread a solution is here
  
  Have you tried restoring from Image backup to a date before the problem started ?
  
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- Mike Cataldo
  AskWoody Lounger
  
  December 20, 2023 at 4:02 pm #2613930
  
  I’ve actually done that a few times. I’d just like to know what I’m missing that Micro$oft can’t find.
  
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