Replies

Personally, I use Flashblockin Firefox, which not only blocks Flash, but also HTML5 Video and Silverlight (in the options). It displays a clickable button to temporarily enable Flash/Silverlight/HTML5 Video. White lists for certain sites (e.g. YouTube, Netflix, etc.) can also be enabled with this add-on.

Instead of blocking advertisements, it blocks videos. (That being said, I also still use NoScript, Ghostery, and Adblock Plus in Firefox, but to block ads, not to block Flash.)

In other browsers, I use the click-to-run feature. (Click to run is also available in Firefox, but I like Flashblock much more).

11.0.13 is the “DC” version, which I downloaded also but haven’t installed on any of my systems (I’m not interested in “cloud storage”).

Version 11.0.13 is the latest update to Adobe Reader 11.x, it is not the “DC” version (and it doesn’t come with all of the baggage of the “DC” version”.) See the release notes.

The latest release for “Adobe Reader DC is “2015.009.20079”

I didn’t like Adobe Reader DC, so I uninstalled it and installed Adobe Reader 11.0.13 successfully in the following order (for EN-US):

11.0.10
11.0.11 Update (Patch)
11.0.12 Update (Patch)
11.0.13 Update (Patch)

(I don’t know if the patches are cumulative, so I installed them in order…)

That being said, to install the latest Adobe Reader DC properly:
Adobe Reader DC 2015.009.20069
2015.009.20077 Update (Patch)
2015.009.20079 Update (Patch)
(Again, I don’t know if the patches are cumulative, so I install them in order…)

Update
Apparently Adobe updated their FTP server policy, requiring a login to use their FTP servers too direct download their software; so these links no longer work (as of December 8, 20015) without an authorized login. Sorry… :(:
I guess Adobe doesn’t want users to have a direct download to the latest versions of their free readers. They instead prefer people to use their ridiculous download manager via a stupid installation stub.

Adobe is also decommissioning their distribution direct download page for Flash Player on January 22, 2016; probably for the the same draconian reason…

You can still download updates from their Adobe Reader Downloads page…

Frankly, if other third party companies produced software that caused so many problems, they would soon be out of business. Even if the problems are only 1% of 110 million installations, that is 1.1 million users experiencing problems. That is not a drop in the bucket, it is a deluge.

My personal experiences with Windows 10 are dreadful and required a downgrade to the previous OS via a system image (because not even a revert was successful).

User results may vary, because I know people with much older systems that upgraded successfully; my systems did not, even though they are less than 2 years old.

People that upgraded successfully are usually very pleased with the upgrade, but the 1.1 million people that could not upgrade successfully are not.

I absolutely won’t upgrade to a marginal system from a fully functioning system. This is supposed to be an Operating System. If it doesn’t Operate, then it is a bust. Somebody at Microsoft needs to be fired without a golden parachute.

Hey Y’all,

Just to help you better understand what J.G. did

“CaptionFont”=hex:f1,ff,ff,ff,00,00,00,00,00,00,00 ,00,00,00,00,00,90,01,00,00,
00,00,00,01,00,00,05,00,43,00,6f,00,6e,00,73,00,6f ,00,6c,00,61,00,73,00,00,
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00 ,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00 ,00,00,00,00,00

The characters in blue are then encoding of Consolas in UniCode as follows:

Code:

Letter  HEX  ASCII
C       43    67
o       6f   111          
n       6e   110
s       73   115 
o       6f   111 
l       6c   108
a       61    97
s       73   115

Note: the 00 preceding each character is because the registry is using UNICODE encoding.

With this understanding you should be able to use any font you want.

HTH :cheers:

Thanks, RetiredGeek, for explaining what I was doing here, especially defining the Unicode character definitions for certain letters.

Alternatively, to return the system back to the default Segoe UI fonts, the registry (.reg) file woulld be as follows:

---

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelDesktopWindowMetrics]
“CaptionFont”=hex:f1,ff,ff,ff,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,90,01,00,00,
00,00,00,01,00,00,05,00,53,00,65,00,67,00,6f,00,65,00,20,00,55,00,49,00,00,
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00
“SmCaptionFont”=hex:f1,ff,ff,ff,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,90,01,00,
00,00,00,00,01,00,00,05,00,53,00,65,00,67,00,6f,00,65,00,20,00,55,00,49,00,
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00
“MenuFont”=hex:f4,ff,ff,ff,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,90,01,00,00,00,
00,00,01,00,00,05,00,53,00,65,00,67,00,6f,00,65,00,20,00,55,00,49,00,00,00,
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00
“StatusFont”=hex:f4,ff,ff,ff,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,90,01,00,00,
00,00,00,01,00,00,05,00,53,00,65,00,67,00,6f,00,65,00,20,00,55,00,49,00,00,
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00
“MessageFont”=hex:f4,ff,ff,ff,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,90,01,00,00,
00,00,00,01,00,00,05,00,53,00,65,00,67,00,6f,00,65,00,20,00,55,00,49,00,00,
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00
“IconFont”=hex:f4,ff,ff,ff,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,90,01,00,00,00,
00,00,01,00,00,05,00,53,00,65,00,67,00,6f,00,65,00,20,00,55,00,49,00,00,00,
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00

---

where 00,01,00,00,05,00,53,00,65,00,67,00,6f,00,65,00,20,00,55,00,49 is Segoe UI. This trick does work for other fonts as well.

There are also other settings in [HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelDesktopWindowMetrics] that used to be accessible with the Display » Advanced Settings GUI that could be modified as well.

Aside from alternate programs, I am not aware of any GUI application to change the fonts in files explorer for Windows 8.1 ( because Microsoft removed “advanced settings” to support new desktop themes), but these changes can be changed manually in the Windows registry.

You will need to open the registry editor (regedit.exe) and navigate to “HKCUControl PanelDesktopWindows Metrics“. Here you will find some binary keys labelled “IconFont”, “MenuFont”, “MessageFont”, “SmCaptionFont”, and “StatuFont”. These were previously available in a GUI in the advanced settings for desktop, but arenot available in Windows 8.1.

Being binary values, these can be edited manually. You will need to know the name of the font that you wish to use. For example, to change all system fonts to “Consolas“, copy and paste the following into notepad and save as “Consolas.reg“:

===Start Registry File (Copy below)===
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelDesktopWindowMetrics]
“CaptionFont”=hex:f1,ff,ff,ff,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,90,01,00,00,
00,00,00,01,00,00,05,00,43,00,6f,00,6e,00,73,00,6f,00,6c,00,61,00,73,00,00,
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00
“SmCaptionFont”=hex:f1,ff,ff,ff,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,90,01,00,
00,00,00,00,01,00,00,05,00,43,00,6f,00,6e,00,73,00,6f,00,6c,00,61,00,73,00,
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00
“MenuFont”=hex:f4,ff,ff,ff,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,90,01,00,00,00,
00,00,01,00,00,05,00,43,00,6f,00,6e,00,73,00,6f,00,6c,00,61,00,73,00,00,00,
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00
“StatusFont”=hex:f4,ff,ff,ff,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,90,01,00,00,
00,00,00,01,00,00,05,00,43,00,6f,00,6e,00,73,00,6f,00,6c,00,61,00,73,00,00,
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00
“MessageFont”=hex:f4,ff,ff,ff,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,90,01,00,00,
00,00,00,01,00,00,05,00,43,00,6f,00,6e,00,73,00,6f,00,6c,00,61,00,73,00,00,
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00
“IconFont”=hex:f4,ff,ff,ff,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,90,01,00,00,00,
00,00,01,00,00,05,00,43,00,6f,00,6e,00,73,00,6f,00,6c,00,61,00,73,00,00,00,
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00

===End Registry File (Copy above)===

You will now need to install this into your registry (i.e. double-click the created .reg file).

These are the entries for setting all “System Fonts” to “Consolas“. Be aware that this does not set other fonts (e.g. in your browser), but will set System fonts (e.g. Windows Explorer).

You can do the same using other fonts, as long as you know the name of the font…

The older options are usually still available, just not always with a GUI…

Personally, my upgrade experience was terrible. How many have returned to the previous OS?

Windows 8.1 with Update 1 (and other enhancements, such as Classic Shell) work excellently on this computer (and so does Ubuntu). Windows 10 does not. Thankfully, I had a full system backup to which to revert (since the Microsoft method to revert to the previous sometimes doesn’t work properly).

Important mission-critical programs that I have work great in Windows 8.1, but not in Windows 10 (yet). Driver problems caused black screens and overheating in Windows 10, but not in Windows 8.1 (and Ubuntu). I was forced to revert.

On the other hand, my brother upgraded his computers rather successfully to Windows 10, even though they are much older. Perhaps “Results may vary” is the proper term.

I was mostly wondering how many mission critical programs were hosed by the update to Windows 10, and how many had to downgrade due to these problems. Albeit, Windows 10 seems relatively promising, there are many documented hardware driver incompatibilities (this being a major OS upgrade) and program inconsistencies that caused one to revert to the previous OS.

In my experience, not all programs and new (Metro) apps made the cut. Blame it on the software developers not being ready for this inevitable change, not all Windows 8.1/Windows 7 (and earlier) programs have been ported to this OS yet. Even with the advent of compatibility mode, I was forced to reinstall much of my software after the upgrade and I still had to downgrade for other reasons, such as hardware incompatibilities (even after GWX reported I was good to go).

This free upgrade had cost me plenty until I restored from a backup where the software ran normally (i.e. the previous OS). I experienced similar with all major Windows upgrades…

Other than the fact that Windows 10 rocks, how many reverted to a fully functional system that doesn’t rock just to get a truly fully functional system? Think mission critical…

For most Win8 users, upgrading is a virtual no-brainer …

Please stop saying that upgrading to Windows 10 is “a virtual no-brainer” for Windows 8 users. Not upgrading is a virtual no-brainer until its problems are fixed. I still haven’t found a compelling reason to “upgrade”. All of my software works just fine on Windows 8.1 Update 1. (Not so much on Windows 10…) All of the enhancements (vice Cortana) can be achieved (or even surpassed) without Windows 10 without the problems.

I, too, would be happy if I could install and run Windows 10.

After trying to perform an upgrade (to activate my machine), the install failed miserably, After disabling non-Microsoft startups, I was finally able to perform an upgrade and activate, only to be followed by my laptop overheating and shutting down. The Overheating problem continued on reboots and restarts.

After that, I performed a clean installation. Still plagued by constant overheating. Searching the web shows that this is a common problem with many laptops. Windows 10 is not laptop friendly, at all, among many different hardware vendors and hardware configurations.

At least I had a good system image prior to installing Windows 10, because Windows 8.1 and Ubuntu run perfectly on the same machine. Windows 10 is an enormous fail. It just doesn’t work out-of-the-box.

Personally, I haven’t seen a compelling reason to upgrade to Windows 10. I have downloaded the Windows 10 ISO (using the Media Creation Tool), but I haven’t found a good reason to upgrade from Windows 8.1…

PRO: Start Menu.
CON: I already have Classic Shell, which is more like the Start Menu to which I am accustomed, and much more configurable.

PRO: Edge Browser.
CON: I’d rather use Firefox.

PRO: Cortana.
CON: This is a security risk just waiting to happen; that being said, this may be a pro… Then again, maybe not. I’m on the fence…

PRO: Multiple Desktops.
CON: Already available to XP and above from Microsoft Sysinternals Desktops 2.0.

PRO: Windowed Universal (Metro/Windows Store) Apps.
CON: I haven’t found any Universal Apps that are any better than the desktop programs I already have installed.

PRO: Comes with Solitaire:
CON: You can get solitaire in Windows 8.1 also, from the Windows Store.

PRO: New Mail and Calendar Apps.
CON: Not even as capable as Microsoft’s Windows Live Mail 2012 with Microsoft Accounts, and relatively useless with some other accounts. Where are my local folders? Why is the Spam from the junk folder archived forever, it’s Spam!?!

PRO: New Photos App.
CON: Better photo editors are out there.

PRO: DirectX 12.
CON: I can’t think of a con to this one, except I don’t really play games on this computer. That’s what consoles are for. (And I don’t really care about the XBox App…)

PRO: Unified Settings.
CON: Thanks for moving around the Control Panel again…

PRO: New Task Switcher.
CON: Alt-Tab

PRO: Schedule Restarts.
CON: Forced Windows Updates. Because Microsoft never fudges updates…

PRO: Hello.
CON: Like I have an infrared 3D camera…

etc.

I’ll probably upgrade one of these days, just not until some installation and compatibility problems are fixed.

Have you tried the instructions at Mozilla Support: How to disable the built-in PDF viewer and use another viewer?

FWIW, I set it to Always Ask on my machine. When I click on a link to a PDF document, it defaults to Save, where I open it from the folder to which I downloaded the PDF…

I also disabled the Adobe Reader plugin in Mozilla, so that it opens in the native program instead of in a window/tab:

•In about:config change plugin.scan.Acrobat from the default 5.0 to 12.0 (i.e. a number greater than the installed version of Adobe Reader). This is one place where Firefox scans for the plugin.
•Backup (export) and delete the entire registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMozillaPluginsAdobe Reader. This is another place where Firefox looks for the plugin.
•Restart Firefox.

There may be similar registry entries at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMozillaPlugins for other PDF viewers.

I find that Windows XP Classic search is better for file and folder names, and Windows Search 4.0 is better for file contents (using iFilters). I tried to describe how you can have functionality for both in this thread (at post #4).

In that case, you have a couple of other options:

The “F3” key defaults to opening a search window from the desktop (or inside Windows Explorer). The “F3” key will also usually open application specific search, like in your internet browser window (e.g. Find) for example. You might be able to remap the special key to this.

You could create a blank text document anywhere named “Search.fnd” (although it doesn’t matter what it is named as long as it has the .fnd extension). This will also open the classic search window. You could possibly point the special key to this created file.

If you installed Windows Search 4.0 from Microsoft Update, then the target to open a Search Windows is:
“C:Program FilesWindows Desktop SearchWindowsSearch.exe” /launchsearchwindow

If you use Classic Search from Windows XP, then it is integral with Explorer (AFAIK, there are no command line options to do this). Just open an Explorer Windows (e.g. double click My Computer, My Documents, etc.), navigate to the folder/drive you want to search, and click on the Search button in the top bar.

If you install(ed) Windows Search 4.0 but still want the classic search when you click “Search” in an Explorer window without removing (uninstalling) 4.0, a simple registry edit will allow this:

===Begin .reg file===
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTCLSID{FFAC7A18-EDF9-40DE-BA3F-49FC2269855E}TreatAs]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorer]
“WebFindBandHook”=”{68F2D3FC-8366-4a46-8224-58EFA2749425}”
“FileFindBandHook”=”{FFAC7A18-EDF9-40de-BA3F-49FC2269855E}”

===End .reg File===

This will allow you to have both Classic Search and Windows Search 4.0 available. To restore Windows Search 4.0 functionality when you click the “Search” button in Explorer, another registry edit is needed:

===Begin .reg File===
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTCLSID{FFAC7A18-EDF9-40DE-BA3F-49FC2269855E}TreatAs]
@=”{9A674A84-2281-445E-AE8C-87764E43397D}”

===End .reg File===

You can use Classic Search within Explorer and still have a shortcut to open a Windows Search 4.0 window with the first registry edit… :^_^:

Then I started regedit.exe and found the following:
There appears to be the following entry in the registry for Excel:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.xlsExcel.Sheet.8ShellNew with a value of excel9.xls, which seems to be correct, according the note from jgstanley.
Same thing for Publisher:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.pubPublisher.Document.11ShellNew with a value of mspub.pub,
Same thing for Powerpoint:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.pptPowerPoint.Show.8ShellNew with a value of pwrpt11.pot

It may be in the finicky way Windows searches for these entries.

Windows searches for these sub-keys directly under the file type extension. It will search for the new .xls document at:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.xlsShellNew
but not at:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.xlsExcel.Sheet.8ShellNew

Even if the key you have exists, there needs to be a duplicate key directly under the file type extension. So, for the publisher document, you would need to duplicate the information contained in:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.pubPublisher.Document.11ShellNew
in the registry at:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.pubShellNew

In this way, Windows knows what to use as a new document for a .pub (Publisher Document) or .xls (Excel Spreadsheet). The same would apply to other documents that are defined in the registry.

It’s cumbersome, but that’s just how the Windows Explorer shell is coded…

EDIT
There can be multiple
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.xxxSomething.Some.thingShellNew
entries, but Windows Explorer shell only cares about
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT.xxxShellNew
when building this menu. This is to alleviate problems when installing new software that covers the same file type.
:rolleyes: