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Why was the first thought that popped in my head as I read ‘Win 10-land’, ‘Never Never Land’? I am trying just to think happy thoughts about w10.

You know, a year or so ago I wouldn’t really have been that interested in a swap – I thought this would just be another one of those manageable m$ storms that would eventually blow over. Weed out the odd duff patch, be cautious about settings, keep on top of current info articles and generally adopt a default deny policy. It’s always worked before.

After all, my work uses windows, all 3 universities I graduated from used windows – heck, I’ve grown up with windows for nearly 25 years. Admittedly, we haven’t always got along, but we always found a via media, a common ground that always seemed fair and honest, as best as I could tell. ‘Transparent’, ‘trustworthy’ and to a degree, dependable.

That was then. Now, it has turned into something altogether different. How something works the way it does, has become less important than the fact that it just works. It’s accepted that the end product should always look newer and shinier and is therefore, probably, more helpful, or efficient. Even if we don’t know quite how we got there, it’s an improvement, right?

Unfortunately, for me, it just doesn’t work like that. In the midst of it, you end up with these ever expanding grey areas. Forced upgrades, purposefully misleading information, collection and use of data and in all honesty, precious little information on where it’s all actually headed.

Sadly, overarching this m$ debacle, there remains an immutable truth – whether you pay now, pay later, or both, ultimately nothing in life is for free – it comes with a price tag. I guess the question is how much am I – are we – willing to pay?

From the paper – 1st page – yes, you read it right, 1st page:

‘Our commitment to transparency and trust is clear…’

After the foul ups by m$ that I’ve seen many go through here these past months?

It physically turned my stomach just to read it. In the end I just had to walk away from the laptop.

I had a dig around earlier to get the skinny on these 2 new arrivals. At the time, I had the lowest number of hits I think I’ve ever had on a google search, grand total : 1

(other web browsers are available and individual results may vary, terms and conditions apply 🙂

I did exactly the same on a laptop the other day. As much as it pains me to say it, it was the easiest install I’ve ever done. It sorted out the partitions, drivers and authenticated itself with no help from me.

However, what I would say is this: If you plan to shut down a lot of the intrusive elements of W10 -telemetry, spying, location services and Cortana, you will save hours of time if you choose ‘Custom Settings’ on the ‘Get going fast page’. It’s easy to miss because it is in tiny letters, at the bottom left of the screen. Whereas ‘Use Express Settings’ is a big button on the bottom right.

If you choose ‘Custom Settings’ you can turn most of the rubbish off before you even start using your shiny new W10.

A handy video, from an ex M$ programmer of 15 years:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1kGMCfb2xw&list=PLEbaEyM-xt9lDOWimRcUjcbvzcOqSFi6C

All true, Woody. There was a modicum of satisfaction that I could at least get rid of something I didn’t want. A rare experience with Win10.

Your grateful follower and disciple.

Hi Woody

It’s not directly related, but it’s relevant. For some reason W10 installs a stand alone version of Flash Player – see ‘System & Security’ – at the bottom. It doesn’t appear under the Install/Uninstall list. IE11, Edge & Google have it baked in, so I wanted to delete the stand alone version. It was a pain, but I followed this :

https://eksith.wordpress.com/2015/08/06/how-to-remove-flash-from-windows-10/

And I’m free with no ill effects.

Regards,

Lee

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00Y0R9D6G?ie=UTF8&tag=pric097-21&linkCode=xm2&camp=1634&creativeASIN=B00Y0R9D6G

£44.50

Which works out at:

$64.40

I use Pricespy for a lot of stuff – I sourced a Lexar Jumpdrive P20 – USB3 – 64gb for £24.99 ($36.16) and that’s for one of the fastest flash drives on the planet (In fact I bought 2 but she doesn’t need to know that…)

I picked it up from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1kGMCfb2xw

‘Disable Windows 10 Spying – Privacy & Security’

I found the video very helpful – the Spybot section starts at about 9’00. He discusses other telemetry blocking software and explains the reasons why he uses Anti-Beacon.

Any thoughts on Spybot Anti-Beacon 1.5 for blocking telemetry & CEIP?

Nowt this side of the pond yet. Ye olde faithful 3035583 (recommended) still hidden and tucked neatly away in the closet. Win 7 x64 HP.

Sometime in the future…

“This is your last chance. After this there is no turning back…”

“You take the blue m$ pill. The story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe.”

“You take the red m$ pill, you stay in wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes…”

“Remember, all I’m offering is the truth, nothing more.”

Erm. I’ll stick with the blue m$ pill thanks. Oh wait, you already forced me to take the red one. Yikes.

The whole thing stinks. What next? Start charging for win 7 updates?

Has m$ finally dropped the big one?

From computerworld – article 3023533 – tech sites are reporting the same all over the net…

“Microsoft makes an unbelievable “clarification” to the Windows support policy. With no notice, older versions of Windows have lost support status on the latest PC hardware—your downgrade rights have effectively been ripped away.

Yeah, you heard right: You can’t use Windows 7 nor 8.1 on Skylake CPUs or later—only Windows 10.”

Heads up…

Our old friend KB2952664 ‘Recommended’ disappeared from hidden updates tonight and reappeared on the update list as ‘Important’

[W7 64bit]