Microsoft dropping WordPad from Windows 10/11

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https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/whats-new/deprecated-features

..Occasionally, new versions also remove features and functionality, often because they’ve added a newer option…

Deprecated features

The following list is subject to change and might not include every affected feature or functionality.

WordPad is no longer being updated and will be removed in a future release of Windows. We recommend Microsoft Word for rich text documents like .doc and .rtf and Windows Notepad for plain text documents like .txt.

Over the past several years, internet standards and regulatory bodies have deprecated or disallowed TLS versions 1.0 and 1.1 due to various security issues. Starting in Windows 11 Insider Preview builds for September 2023 and continuing in future Windows OS releases, TLS 1.0 and 1.1 will be disabled by default. This change increases the security posture of Windows customers and encourages modern protocol adoption. For organizations that need to use these versions, there’s an option to re-enable TLS 1.0 or TLS 1.1…..

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NaNoNyMouse, Cybertooth, Microfix

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FYI: You can uninstall it now via..

1. Win+i
2. Apps
3. Optional Features
4. Type: Wordpad in search box
5. Click on Workpad
6. Click Uninstall

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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fernlady, NaNoNyMouse, Alex5723

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At times I would use Wordpad as a faster loading text editor because MS Office and Libreoffice were slow to load without an SSD.  I often use a Notepad alternative called Metapad.  I like that it uses the ESC key to close an unedited file with no popup of a dialog box.  Since it doesn’t get updates anymore I would like to find a Notepad alternative written in Rust, with the Esc feature.  I could use macro software I guess to add it to all programs, but I have heard that gaming anti-cheat can ban you if it finds macro software like X-Mouse or more advanced ones running.

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Alex5723 wrote:

We recommend Microsoft Word for rich text documents like .doc and .rtf and Windows Notepad for plain text documents like .txt.

Objection, your Honor! I don’t have Office, and – from all the hullabaloo and gripes concerning here it – won’t. $$$ and maintenance churn are uncivil.

Notepad (and Kedit) are fine for TXT.
But I use WordPad for more-than Notepad formatting. Occasionally refractory, but usable.

/s/ Oldtimer

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Charlie

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Although it is no longer being updated (current version is 6.2) Jarte Plus is an excellent rtf  or txt  alternative to Word or Wordpad. And it’s free.

See: https://www.jarte.com/?so=j&ed=p&ve=62

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PaulK

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I can’t remember the last time I used Wordpad.  Notepad I still use.  Wordpad, nope.

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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I use Wordpad for composing correspondence required to be delivered by the postal service.  It is more than adequate for such tasks.  I’m certainly unwilling to pay for Office to meet these simple and infrequent needs.  And if I need something more powerful than Wordpad I turn to LibreOffice portable.

Sorry Microsoft, you lose.  Removing Wordpad from Windows 10 22H2 will not bring me into the Office user base.

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Charlie, Microfix, NaNoNyMouse

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WordPad is no longer being updated and will be removed in a future release of Windows.

my bolding
W10 22H2 won’t be getting future releases up to EoS in 2025!

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

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EricB wrote:

I use Wordpad for composing correspondence required to be delivered by the postal service

Yeah, me too. I use it very infrequently (because, how many people use snail mail any more?) but I actually used it just the other day (because, corresponding with government agencies who still live in the age of quills and vellum)

But, mwah, if MS removes it I’ll just wait the extra few seconds for OpenOffice to load and use that instead. For personal use I really don’t understand why anybody would ever pay money to use MS Office

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EricB

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NaNoNyMouse wrote:

but I actually used it just the other day (because, corresponding with government agencies who still live in the age of quills and vellum)

Snail mail moves at the speed of light compared to the pace at which government agencies respond to the correspondence they receive.

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Cybertooth, NaNoNyMouse

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I guess I’m set in my ways but I use WordPad and Notepad enough to have shortcuts in my Win 7 Start Menu.  WordPad is really all I need to keep the RTF when required.  Not that it matters to me other than their stock price, but there goes another shot in their foot by Msft.

Being 20 something in the 70's was so much better than being 70 something in the insane 20's

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Same as Susan here, I can’t remember the last time I used WordPad. Notepad gets used a lot more but I always used Word or LibreOffice Writer if I needed anything more complicated than plain text.

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Setting aside the increasing cost (and, in this era of forced online accounts, increasing hassle) to install Office/Word, there’s a different reason so many security-conscious folks have used WordPad to open RTF files for so many years: to attempt to derail at least some attack vectors employing RTF files to compromise Word installations (not foolproof, certainly, but sometimes effective).

@peterdeegan

https://office-watch.com/2022/are-rtf-files-risky/

Any chance you’d care to weigh in on this topic, sir?

Hope this helps.

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