Windows 10 - A Warning

Thank you Russ B

Roy

I think Linux would be the best option too. Mint seems to be easy to set up and updates don't have the slowly slow down windows have always used. They usually don't involve a reboot either but when they do it can be done when the user feels like it. On very rare occasions a reboot may be needed in order to install more updates. Update time - it can be fully installed in less time than one or two windows updates I have come across.

If office type software is needed currently that should be libreoffice not openoffice. I would suggest installing foxit reader for pdf's as well and setting that to the default. It's small and fast. The linux one I have is slow and adobe may come with all linux distro's = big and cumbersome.

I use an ssd but only keep software on it. Can't get one small enough. All of my data files go to disk. Saves wearing the ssd out. As it's been used for a long time now and I want to upgrade I wish I had partitioned it to be sure of a new fresh unused area for the upgrade. It's 100gb and has rather a lot of software on it, it only takes up 17% of that.

John

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Linux Mint has (default) a PDF Reader called Evince - if you simply click a pdf file, it will normally open quickly in Evince - there is no need to waste time installing Foxit Reader. Adobe does NOT come with Mint, although I agree it is big cumbersome (and a security risk).

LibreOffice is also the default installation for Mint (using the Cinnamon desktop). OpenOffice disappeared long long ago. Note that Linux usually comes with a default list of Apps installed by default, so you get networking, browsing, office tools, music and graphic tools from the install - you don't have to buy them, unlike MS.

It is also possible to install almost any Linux distro as a dual-boot option to Windoze - you then get the option to boot either Linux or Windoze at startup.

Note you can also try most Linux distros to see if it would suit you by downloading onto a USB stick (most distro sites will tell you how to do this), then you can run Linux from the stick, without loading it onto your computer.

For those who insist on using Windoze, there is an app known as WINE for Linux which allows many Windows apps to run in Linux - it is NOT an emulator - it works by redirecting Windows calls to Linux. This means not all Windows apps will work. Personally, I find WINE fairly useless, but another alternative is to run a virtual machine under Linux, such as Oracle VirtualBox. This is available for free download for almost all OSs (Linux, Windows ,Apple, etc), and sets up a virtual machine under your OS. You can then install any other operating system (or even multiple OSs) in the VM, and it runs exactly as if it was installed on your machine, usually with the added advantage of access to the Hosts files if set up for that. I have been running Mint for years now, and still run XP in the virtual machine because I am stuck with some work-related software which does not run on Linux.

The best move I ever made was to dump Windoze - it is slow, cumbersome, far too bloated, too slow too update (ref this thread), too buggy, and prone to virus attack. (are there any good things about WIndows?).

I should note that some software/hardware producers apparently will not support Linux, despite its growing user base. I recently had trouble setting up an Acer netbook - the video drivers were not made openly available, so the Linux install had to drive the display in software rendering mode - a bit slow, but at least it worked.

RussB,

You say it is the way of the world. May I say, only if you let it! Unfortunately, that website reference re wired.com you gave gives a good example of what is going wrong with today's IT world in that it puts up an advert which totally blocks the text you are trying to read - unless you do something like pay for the privilege of not receiving the advert.

It is a fact that big business wants to control you, your equipment, your money, and everything else - at your expense of course - and Microsoft is merely joining in. It is up to us to oppose this by whatever means possible - in my case by using Linux.

Windows 10 is the best OS out there. Really? When it does all those sneaky things so ably highlighted within this thread? It works, it maintains compatibility etc. So does Linux, and in some respects Linux set the standard which Microsoft is only now trying to emulate - I refer, for example, to the way Windows up to and including XP always gave full administrator privileges to the user, something Linux has never done.

In respect of software, unless you have a specialist program which requires the use of Windows, there are indeed equivalent Linux programs which again are free, and which, although perhaps not perfect, seek to provide all the equivalence to Windows programs. And even if you have a "must have" Windows (or DOS) only program, use of Wine or a Oracle Virtual Box can assist in running the program.

There is also the fact that if people continue to use Windows "because it's there and everyone uses it" etc, then there is little incentive for software writers to make Linux versions of software available. I am using old versions of DesignCAD 3D via Wine for this very reason, yet there is actually a thread on the DesignCAD forum about the use of DesignCAD under Linux so maybe IMSI or whoever might start thinking about it.

I know we've been asked by Neil (on another thread) not to go into anti-Microsoft rants, but it really is difficult not to do so when we discover just what Microsoft are doing. I feel quite strongly that we should all be able to do what we want, and when we want, with our computers without Microsoft placing restrictions in our way. Furthermore, I object strongly to any attempt by any organisation to garner information about me. What business is it of Microsoft, Google, or indeed anyone what I do with my equipment?

In respect of problems with Linux, may I point out that there is a support forum for (in my case) Linux Mint. Furthermore, the main programmer, Clement Lefevre, appears actively on these forums. Therefore, there isn't really much of a problem in this respect.

This is why I am now a happy user of Linux Mint.

Peter G. Shaw

Edited By Peter G. Shaw on 28/03/2016 19:53:24

Reading this thread reminded me that I haven't update my software (Linux Mint) for over a month. So I told it to get all level 1, 2, and 3 updates. It downloaded just under 150 MB of updates and installed them all in a few minutes. During that process I was able to continue working normally. Nothing slowed down as normal running is given processing priority. Why can't MS with all their resources do that?

Russell.

Russell,

Because MS are only concerned with their bottom line, and don't give a damn about the users who are only there to pay up and keep the MS board in the luxury to which they have become accustomed.

Sorry about this particular rant.

Peter G. Shaw

Another happy Linux Mint user, althought not yet on this machine, on my laptop

Peter G Shaw, you're knickers are so far twisted I think you might need an Ambulance. Linux is a great operating system for simple users who want no more than a bit of email, internet and basic stand alone work tasks.

Sorry about the adverts, I didn't even know they were there (AdBlockPlus, which is free, sorts that out, I forget its even there)

For the record it took me 5 minutes or less to reconfigure Win10 to work how I wanted it to and that's longer than you've spent ranting about it and significantly less time that it would take me to work out either how to run the software through a VM or how to learn another piece of software - or learn this, that or the other, lifes to short.

Edited By Russ B on 28/03/2016 21:17:12

I wonder why so many people complain about Windows but continue to use it?! There are alternatives out there. For surfing the net and email I find a tablet far more convenient, as long as it's not got Windows on it.

Since the gales my adsl has been mostly off or lucky to get 100kb/s. Now realise how irritating the login to this site is in having to open a new window, download a bunch of ads then refresh the thread to get in a reply. Even the empty box for this text took 15s to appear and threads with photos are time for tea. So 2GB in 20 mins is not happening. The real world is not on fibre to the home so it is quite hard for me to reach my limit.

Meanwhile all this bandwidth available to townies some seem to think is a 'right' is costing the ISPs a packet. The Cable back end equipment is completely changed out in less than 10 years, DOCSIS 3 is already obsolescent, and only 20 years ago the phone system was based on only 1 in 50 houses on the blower at a time so has had a massive upgrade. When Openreach trundle out here to find the damp connection it will probably cost them £100 as rural maintenance is a two man team.

Now there's an utterly useless device if I ever I saw one. My other half got a "windows" tablet for presentations and what a worthless piece of (expensive) junk that is. There is absolutely no good reason why anyone should have windows on a tablet - and that is thoroughly reflected in the sales of the irritating little things. Now, on the other hand....

I've done more than my fair share of anti-windows protests, but the reason people continue to use it is quite simple, and no where near as sinister as their policies.

Edited By Russ B on 28/03/2016 22:02:21

Most people like me are very glad when they finally have there machine working and are afraid to change anything. It is frustating that it is not possible to have a basic and simple OS for those who have little knowledge or have no interest in al the extras. Niko.

There is, Android or IOS.

> I know we've been asked by Neil (on another thread) not to go into anti-Microsoft rants,

That was a vain attempt to keep the other thread focused on my original question.

Please rant away, you Linux fans need something to do cheer you up*.

Neil

*A few times in my life I have been asked to 'put my money where my mouth is'. Two examples: Once by reading a nameless political party's manifesto (which proved to me they couldn't organise a party in a brewery), and once to try out Ubuntu (which proved that a linux machine starts up really fast before you discover that it takes ages to actually figure out how to do anything - make CP/M look user friendly if you ask me!)

I dunno .... 2GB is awfully small - 67 MB / day. It would take a lot of discipline to stay within that. It would pretty much involve never opening most websites. A lot of the sites these days - trying to get 10 sales-pitches in your face at once - are highly data intensive and could knock out a few days in one go just about.

Also, how does the isp count data? Certainly they count the data sent as well as the data received but (self servingly) they probably also count the data overhead (handshaking etc) which can be quite high relative to the actual data. If you're adding up the bytes in a few emails I certainly wouldn't reckon on getting much more than 1 GB /month of that free allowance.

The ability of Microsoft to remotely turn on a web-cam or microphone by default is a bit worrying. Why is this built in? Is it a 'Feature' just to satisfy the paranoid security agencies?

It took a 15 year old work experience person to tell me this when I asked why her tablet cam and mic were taped over.

Are the kids paranoid or do they have a point? Smart kids anyway, that's why I hire the geeks.

* Danny M *

Edited By Danny M2Z on 29/03/2016 10:14:14

Well if a 15 year old said, it, and you read it on the internet, it must be true!

I guess there is 2 sides to every coin Danny M, consider that since your webcam doesn't have a physical hard wired switch it MUST be controlled by the operating system, further more, you wouldn't want it running all the time as it would burn out the CCD after a few years. So the operating system MUST respond to software and turn the camera on and off when requested to do so.

My laptop (a Clevo) has control built in to the motherboard and bios and has extra buttons so I can turn anything on or off using keys regardless of what the OS wants.

Oh Dear, Russ B has got a problem. He makes a lot of adverse comments about Windows, then tells people it is the best, and insists:

(Quote Russ B) I'm green with envy at Linux users, because the software and CAD packages I use require me to have Windows. I'm not green when it comes to working out Linux system problems, it is an alien language to me, once it stops working, I'm lost and unable to help myself (Unquote)

So - you know nothing about Linux, but feel free to criticize? At least the Linux users on this thread appear to have used Windows, and rejected it because of its short-comings.

(Quote Russ B.) Also, there are other options in win10 that make your machine a host for updates to other machines, Microsoft have reduced their data hosting by making its users share updates with oneanother, so they just plant the seed and the update availability grows exponentially.

Again, you can disable all these options. (Unquote)

(Quote Russ B) So start here with regards to the major download offences: etc, etc (Unquote).

The Linux Users on this thread have pointed out that the steps necessary to make Windows work as required are simply not necessary with Linux, reducing the necessity for an inexperienced user having to mess about with the OS, and possibly cause more problems.

(Quote Russ B) My other half got a "windows" tablet for presentations and what a worthless piece of (expensive) junk that is. (Unquote)

So Windows is marvellous, eh? I guess you are welcome to your opinion, confused as it seems to be - try and remember that other people, possibly with more experience and knowledge than you, have expressed their opinions without abusing yours.

Edited By An Other on 29/03/2016 10:33:45

I make clear the fact that I make adverse comments but still think its the best OS becuase of what it delivers.

But you need to go though and list it all for others?

There's 15 minutes of your remaining lifespan your not getting back - for what little its worth.

Plenty of people have expressed their opinion without abusing mine, some did abuse mine.

While you're making these observations that I feel are angled at me, you neglected to mention that I didn't abuse anyone's opinions either, nor did I abuse Linux.

So just because I'm not 100% a windows fan boy,  or not 100% die hard linux, I'm somehow wrong, confused or inexperienced?  I think that's actually because I have the ability to look at the situation with experience and intelligence, rather than cutting off my nose to spite my face, making false or sugar coated statements or ignoring the many benefits of a product just because I don't agree with a few things they do - I have praised Linux, and Windows. I have criticised Windows, and Linux. I offer productive advice and a balanced opinion on the strength and weaknesses of both.

Edited By Russ B on 29/03/2016 11:01:44

There are a lot of urban myths out there but at the end of the day every computer is hackable because every computer is a finite product relying on pseudo randomness for its security

I notice that uncrackable Iphone has been cracked and it didn't take them long

Nowadays we have 80 core chips and gigabytes of direct memory to brute force hack anything we want to

If you want to be safe and not get run over, then stay in your house and never leave

If you want to be safe and not get hacked, then switch your computer off

Windows has a handy feature if your computer starts to behave differently called "system restore"

(start/ all programs/ accessories/ system tools)

You can "go back" to a previous configuration and it's great for when any weirdness suddenly appears

As far as operating system arguments are concerned it's very much a case of each person has their own needs and opinions, a bit like politics and religion