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Sumatra PDF is a light, fast, regularly updated and safe alternative to Adobe Reader. Don’t expect frills, just excellent PDF rendering and printing. I replaced Adobe with Sumatra on all my computers years ago and have never regretted it for a second.

The way Microsoft keeps botching updates since they moved to “Windows as a service” brings to mind this quote from the immortal Casey Stengel: “Can’t anybody here play this game?”

@Nd60:

You can ease into your transition to Linux by starting with a dual-boot Windows and Linux system with a shared data partition.

It’s been a while since I checked this, but there are several sites (such as lifehacker.com. makeuseof.com and howtogeek.com) that have published detailed guides of exactly how to configure your computer to do that.

It actually involves 4 partitions as I recall, one for each OS, one for your data, and one shared swap partition.

I have actually tried this myself on an old netbook I used to have to make it more useful to me. There are some rough edges in doing this, but if set up properly, such a system does work remarkably well with a little attention to detail.

The benefit is that you still have access to your Windows and all your data files while you are learning how to use Linux.

I’d suggest visiting/searching any of the sites I mentioned above or just doing a general search on this topic.

But before you make any changes whatsoever, make sure you make a complete image backup of your existing setup in case anything goes wrong.

Hope that’s of some help to you.

Merry Christmas, Woody.

Thank you for all of your great advice over the past year.

May 2016 bring you peace, health and happiness.

Take care and be well.

support.microsoft.com/en ··· /3112148 is up now.

December 2015, cumulative time zone update for Windows operating systems

I much prefer your subtle, useful changes to the jarring overhauls that have happened on other sites only to confuse and annoy readers.

Thanks, Woody!

@David – It’s bad enough having to check if MS has “pulled a fast one” every time they issue updates for Windows 10… What bothers me just as much is the apparent desperation with which Windows 10 is being pushed on Windows 7 and 8.1 users even after they’ve made it clear they don’t want it now, or possibly ever… And MS has already stated that harassment is going to get worse in 2016 … It’s enough to make me decide move all of my workhorse computers to Linux by next summer and keep Windows on just one or two occasional use machines just in case I really need it for something… I might even put Windows 10 on one of those machines some day.

The folks at BetaNews are reporting on this as well: http://betanews.com/2015/11/20/windows-10s-privacy-invading-features-arent-gone-in-threshold-2/

I wonder how long it will be before Microsoft renames and reissues the Windows 7 and 8.1 tracking to sneak it past those who have uninstalled or disabled it thus far?

Regardless of whether that happens or not, Microsoft’s behaviour the last several months has completely destroyed any trust or benefit of the doubt I may have given them in the past.

@Woody… Microsoft is apparently irony-impaired.

“Win10 FU”… Perfect!

Given Microsoft’s apparent desperation to push Windows 10 on every device, I was expecting to read that users will get more generous storage allowances if they switch to Win10 immediately. And I will not be surprised if that still happens. In the meantime, Microsoft continues to give me reasons to distrust and question virtually everything they say about improving customer experiences with their products.

Thanks for the tip!

Woody: I’m with the majority of posters on this issue in thinking that your site is very good the way it is. Unless “modernizing” it brings you huge advantages in terms of presentation and site management, and/or gives your readers an easier to use interface, then there’s nothing to be gained by changing it just be different. But regardless of what you do, I am sure that your regular readers will still be here for the long run.

@Woody – I like your optimism even if I don’t share it.

Woody: Paul Thurrott is now reporting on his website that the much anticipated Threshold 2 release of Windows 10 will be pushed out as a cumulative update itself via Windows Update. Seems to me that Microsoft HAS TO get this one right the first time or their whole update philosophy going forward could require a complete rethink.