Replies

Over the years, my opinion of the Surface is that it is the worst execution of one of the better recent ideas Microsoft has had.

Given the battery issues, the battery that can’t be replaced by a user, less-than-stellar keyboards, a display I’ve found to be too high of a resolution for its LCD size, Marvell Wifi on a premium device, a kickstand that’s worthless for use sitting on a hotel bed (unless you get a lapdesk; an Ultrabook ends up being more functional there) and the price, I just can’t recommend them to anyone.

It’s a shame too.  With proper quality control, a 1080p screen (higher res on external monitors), better keyboard/trackpad setups, and appropriate pricing for RAM and storage levels (considering those aren’t upgradeable either), and I could be impressed.

We are SysAdmins.
We walk in the wiring closets no others will enter.
We stand on the bridge, and no malware may pass.
We engage in support, we do not retreat.
We live for the LAN.
We die for the LAN.

2 users thanked author for this post.

NateHillX86, AngryJohnny75

My greatest issue when running 2004 was that in the upgrade process, it broke something upgrading to the new, non-Cortana Windows Search. I couldn’t type in the Taskbar search box, and I couldn’t type in the File Explorer search box either.

DISM would report no issues and SFC would report errors that either couldn’t be repaired, or eventually, that it repaired errors every single time (wash, rinse, repeat).

I tried a number of different things, and finally managed to fix it by completely reinstalling all Windows Search components through PowerShell (which also included needing to manually kill multiple in-use processes).

Since then, I’ve gone back to 1909 as a clean install, and I’d hesitate to go to 2004 without installing clean.

We are SysAdmins.
We walk in the wiring closets no others will enter.
We stand on the bridge, and no malware may pass.
We engage in support, we do not retreat.
We live for the LAN.
We die for the LAN.

[LoneWolf]

I used a TRS-80 Model III in 7th grade for fun, I believe my teacher brought it in.

I basically learned enough to type in programs from magazines and save them to the “tape” drive (shoebox recorder) plugged into or floppy drives on the unit. And to print things.

It was fun to plink with, but the Commodore 64 was far more fun by then, and the TI-99 4/A with color and the speech synthesis module was too.

And then I went to high school, where the computer lab was…a bunch of dilapidated Apple IIes…

We are SysAdmins.
We walk in the wiring closets no others will enter.
We stand on the bridge, and no malware may pass.
We engage in support, we do not retreat.
We live for the LAN.
We die for the LAN.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 9 months ago by LoneWolf.
• This reply was modified 4 years, 9 months ago by LoneWolf.

Carl D wrote:

After many, many years I’m still waiting for them to put an ‘Any’ key on the keyboard.

Then, I’ll finally know exactly what to do the next time I see an onscreen message which says “Press any key to continue”

(I know… I know… its as old as the hills but still a good one)

I want “Esc” to help me do what it actually says.

We are SysAdmins.
We walk in the wiring closets no others will enter.
We stand on the bridge, and no malware may pass.
We engage in support, we do not retreat.
We live for the LAN.
We die for the LAN.

2 users thanked author for this post.

rc primak, Graham

BobT wrote:

LoneWolf wrote:

While I don’t normally use Internet Explorer 11, there is one troubling thing about this.

Newer HP MFP devices allow you to Scan to Sharepoint; this will work with OneDrive for business.  However, to supply the appropriate path for the printer (which one inputs into the WebUI) requires Internet Explorer 11.  There is a function on the OneDrive site, “Open in File Explorer”, that only shows on IE11 (it may even use an ActiveX add-on IIRC) and the path in File Explorer is what one inputs into the printer’s configuration.

Microsoft has not made this option available in newer browsers; this is something I had to find out from a copier technician to make things work. I hope the situation doesn’t remain this way; every other way I have tried to get the appropriate path has failed, the other path options don’t work with the HP units.

Microsoft and others killing off featu..sorry, “streamlining services” is nothing new. They get rid of options and replace with inferior versions all the time, it’s infuriating.

As to IE being slowly killed off, I finally made the move off it when Youtube stopped supporting it. I’m now using Brave as my full-time browser and it works great. Missing a proper Menu Bar though.

I’m not disagreeing with you. I go between Firefox and Brave myself.  I generally hide Internet Explorer from people unless there’s a banking site so curmudgeonly as to require it.

It’s more a “why is this particular feature, involving two Tier-I vendors, only possible with IE11? Why hasn’t Microsoft coded OneDrive for Business to allow this another way, or HP to allow their configuration another way?”

We are SysAdmins.
We walk in the wiring closets no others will enter.
We stand on the bridge, and no malware may pass.
We engage in support, we do not retreat.
We live for the LAN.
We die for the LAN.

[LoneWolf]

I understood the Windows Phone; I’m sad Microsoft killed it once it was finally a good (aside from the telemetry) product, though the fact that it took them so long to get it good was probably the real issue.

I understood the SurfaceBook, and kinda-sorta understood the Surface (despite its many flaws) until the quality control went into the waste bin, rendering it a high-priced useless device.

I didn’t really understand Microsoft Fitness, as it was far outside their core and really didn’t make sense for who they were, any more than Windows 8.1 made sense as a desktop operating system.

This…this is just sad.

We are SysAdmins.
We walk in the wiring closets no others will enter.
We stand on the bridge, and no malware may pass.
We engage in support, we do not retreat.
We live for the LAN.
We die for the LAN.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 9 months ago by LoneWolf.
• This reply was modified 4 years, 9 months ago by LoneWolf.

2 users thanked author for this post.

GoneToPlaid, Biiljoy

While I don’t normally use Internet Explorer 11, there is one troubling thing about this.

Newer HP MFP devices allow you to Scan to Sharepoint; this will work with OneDrive for business.  However, to supply the appropriate path for the printer (which one inputs into the WebUI) requires Internet Explorer 11.  There is a function on the OneDrive site, “Open in File Explorer”, that only shows on IE11 (it may even use an ActiveX add-on IIRC) and the path in File Explorer is what one inputs into the printer’s configuration.

Microsoft has not made this option available in newer browsers; this is something I had to find out from a copier technician to make things work. I hope the situation doesn’t remain this way; every other way I have tried to get the appropriate path has failed, the other path options don’t work with the HP units.

We are SysAdmins.
We walk in the wiring closets no others will enter.
We stand on the bridge, and no malware may pass.
We engage in support, we do not retreat.
We live for the LAN.
We die for the LAN.

I’ve done quite a bit of this over the past fifteen years for people who needed a quality system, but didn’t have the budget for a new one.

I either find a reputable refurbisher who cleans up off-lease business systems, or I go to the Dell Outlet for Business.  The key is -business systems-. They’re built more sturdy, last longer, have better parts (e.g., wireless adapters), and they’re easy to find parts for.

I bought two Dell Latitude E5470 laptops last week for $280 each. Quad-core Skylake i5 processors, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSDs, webcams, and batteries in excellent shape. They’ll be good for almost anyone for years to come, and have all of the important features for what I need.

 

We are SysAdmins.
We walk in the wiring closets no others will enter.
We stand on the bridge, and no malware may pass.
We engage in support, we do not retreat.
We live for the LAN.
We die for the LAN.

Susan,

As someone who has followed you for years as the SBSDiva, then Small Business Susan, I’d like to thank you for these surveys, and the opportunity to bring much-needed feedback to Microsoft. While we can’t guarantee they’re always listening, you really unite us in a way that lets the people in the trenches bring combined feedback in a way that may really count.

I’ve always had a great amount of respect for you, and your work has greatly benefited me. If you’re ever in the Mitten State, first, second, and third round is on me.

@DougTerborg (aka LoneWolf)

Senior Automation Engineer (IT since `95)

We are SysAdmins.
We walk in the wiring closets no others will enter.
We stand on the bridge, and no malware may pass.
We engage in support, we do not retreat.
We live for the LAN.
We die for the LAN.

Steven Sinofsky.

The same Steven Sinofsky who said Windows 8 should work the same whether on a phone, a tablet, or a computer, and was proven wrong (Phone? Awesome. Tablet? meh. Computer? GETITAWAYFROMME). That Steven Sinofsky?

The same Steven Sinofsky who tweeted in the last two years that Windows 10 had crashed on him for the nth time that day, when he was part of the direction that eventually produced Windows 10 (albeit after he left)? That Steven Sinofsky?

Yeah. I look on him as yet another “visionary” type. Crystal-ball readers don’t always get things right, especially because they often ignore the nuts-and-bolts and their vision doesn’t always match the way everyone else works -case in point, “everything touchscreen”.

Phone? Well, yeah.

Tablet? A lot of the time, until you need applications that involve typing.

Computer? Not for anyone serious and capable of typing 70wpm or higher.

I have yet to see anyone serious in the computing industry who can eschew a keyboard completely for a touch interface.

As for the Mac-to-ARM bit, I see Apple’s profit margin going up if their sales stay the same. I see their usability in the enterprise networking environment going down even further, and the walls of the walled garden becoming a domed half-sphere, locking in app sales. I see the Mac becoming even less of a computer that I’d want to use than the butterfly-keyboard models, and I see virtual machine capability going to zero. Machines for individuals, but not for work; and I see C-levels who Apple didn’t tell this fact to going to their IT departments and expecting them to make it work.

We are SysAdmins.
We walk in the wiring closets no others will enter.
We stand on the bridge, and no malware may pass.
We engage in support, we do not retreat.
We live for the LAN.
We die for the LAN.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Cybertooth

For my SO’s mainboard, yes, an MSI Z390M Mortar.  And I had never turned off automatic driver updates on her. I didn’t update them manually.

However, I had heard MSI was not the only one with issues. Her board has a relatively simple ALC892 codec. I have heard other custom control panels are available, though not necessarily for every vendor using Realtek audio on their mainboards.

While I didn’t have it for my Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Pro WiFi board, I had assumed that might be because I blocked driver updates on my system.

We are SysAdmins.
We walk in the wiring closets no others will enter.
We stand on the bridge, and no malware may pass.
We engage in support, we do not retreat.
We live for the LAN.
We die for the LAN.

[LoneWolf]

If no-one has an answer for this yet, I believe I do, because my wife had the same issue this past week, and it was a real head-scratcher.

This issue occurs with people who have Realtek audio; which of course, means 3/4 of those with on-mainboard audio out there. It’s likely that you had a driver update from Microsoft, and there’s an issue there. Symptoms:

-Your Device Manager once showed “Realtek High Definition Audio”; now it shows “Realtek(R) Audio” instead.

-You also see in Device Manager a new Audio Device entitled “Nahimic mirroring device” or similar

Realtek’s latest driver includes these Nahimic software drivers for some future 3D audio enhancement (likely done in software and provided by this third-party vendor). What *didn’t* happen with the driver update is that the Nahimic control panel didn’t get installed. This is a UWP application you can get from the Microsoft Store; search for “nahimic” and you’ll get this app that’s a blue square with a squiggly white N.

In my case, installing this app and rebooting the system resolved the issue. Also note that Realtek has gone to a UWP application as well; if you don’t have this, you may need to install theirs from the Microsoft store as well.

Sadly, Realtek’s own latest driver download from their website seems to have the same problem, which explains why my installing it didn’t fix the issue either. I think it’s the exact same package Microsoft bundled in their driver updates.

I hope this helps you all; it was an hour of my life I’ll never get back figuring it out.

EDIT: I posted it in reply to @SwiftOnSecurity -I’ll out myself as @DougTerborg on Twitter. ;^)

 

We are SysAdmins.
We walk in the wiring closets no others will enter.
We stand on the bridge, and no malware may pass.
We engage in support, we do not retreat.
We live for the LAN.
We die for the LAN.

• This reply was modified 5 years ago by LoneWolf.

1 user thanked author for this post.

woody

[LoneWolf]

After seeing the multiple quality control and support issues Microsoft hardware has had in recent years, there’s no way I would do it. Combine that with display resolutions too high for me to use easily on a small display like the Surface (especially when Windows 10 doesn’t scale well past 1080p), keyboards I can’t stand, Surface dock issues with clients I couldn’t fully resolve, too small for a real Ethernet port, non-Intel wireless (at a price point that should have it), limited storage and RAM, and a “Oh, you’ve outgrown its capability or the battery died? Better chuck it because you can’t change it” philosophy -I can find an Ultrabook for 2/3 the price that will be better in every way.

Funny, this sounds almost like my (non-phone) rants about Apple hardware.

(Edit: Currently using a ThinkPad T460p with 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD; discrete graphics)

 

We are SysAdmins.
We walk in the wiring closets no others will enter.
We stand on the bridge, and no malware may pass.
We engage in support, we do not retreat.
We live for the LAN.
We die for the LAN.

• This reply was modified 5 years ago by LoneWolf.

I fully predict this will go the way of Windows Phone (which just started to be excellent when Microsoft killed it), Microsoft Fitness, Microsoft OneNote (non-UWP), and Cortana.

I have trouble believing they’ll manage to make it work the way people want/need, and after Microsoft Surface, I won’t trust hardware made by Microsoft for the purpose; it would need adoption by Dell/HP/Lenovo, with solid construction for schools, and the kind of centralized user management and control IT admins have come to expect from a Chromebook domain.

Microsoft’s greatest problem in the past few years is that Microsoft has tried to be Google when they should try to be themselves.  Go back to the drawing board and innovate new things rather than copying what made someone else successful.

We are SysAdmins.
We walk in the wiring closets no others will enter.
We stand on the bridge, and no malware may pass.
We engage in support, we do not retreat.
We live for the LAN.
We die for the LAN.

1 user thanked author for this post.

woody

I really hope the File Explorer Search function is fixed with this release. It would be lovely to tell clients this is finally resolved.

I’m honestly glad Cortana has been deprecated. A great feature for Windows phone; useless in any open office environment, and mediocre at best for tablets or home environment. I’d much rather see Microsoft development effort put into other things, even if they aren’t flashy.

We are SysAdmins.
We walk in the wiring closets no others will enter.
We stand on the bridge, and no malware may pass.
We engage in support, we do not retreat.
We live for the LAN.
We die for the LAN.