Windows 10!

[Legendary Silke]

Note

If you want to use Cortana, you must have Getting to know you turned on.

While it may be nice to sync between devices like your pc / lapto and a winphone, by logging in to ohh lets say a MS account.. I still disagree that this info needs to sent to MS. It should all be local, handled at the local level either by usb connecting phone/devices, or via lan wifi. MS has no business knowing wtf you do.

most of these neat new features REQUIRE to login to MS and send your data.. DO NOT WAMT. I want to use these features but only at a local lan or (my) network level.

Mmm hmm. Though having things to be cloud processed does preclude most local usage, at least if you don't want to have a copy of whatever they do have directly on your PC. And I would suspect you'll need it if it's something that's relatively weak and doesn't have much storage space.

Either way, I think of personal assistants as something more of a curiosity at this point.

By the way, I believe the data is anonymized at their end when merged, though don't quote me on that. Good thing you can disable it.

The balance between features and privacy is fun. :)

 

[Sir Codin]

>Digital piracy is bad, m'kay.

I didn't realize people still buy this.

 

[Legendary Silke]

>Digital piracy is bad, m'kay.

I didn't realize people still buy this.

No comment on this one! (Though I might be saying things differently if I'm an actual software developer that's making paid software...)

 

[Sir Codin]

No comment on this one! (Though I might be saying things differently if I'm an actual software developer that's making paid software...)

Oh, sorry I'm not willing to pay $460+ to play Bloodborne "legally" because From Software decided to be cunts and make it only available on PS4 (bonus points for the game being the only reason the console is even worth looking at).

Also, past bad experiences with Adobe has also made me sour about paying for programs.

 

[Legendary Silke]

Oh, sorry I'm not willing to pay $460+ to play Bloodborne "legally" because From Software decided to be ****s and make it only available on PS4 (bonus points for the game being the only reason the console is even worth looking at).

Also, past bad experiences with Adobe has also made me sour about paying for programs.

Um, disregarding console exclusivity, but yeah, I can see that. I'm guessing that Adobe has decided to give you a hard time, no?

(I wouldn't even bother with the first part since console exclusivity is a completely different beast. I don't see anyone complaining about Nintendo games being on Nintendo consoles.)

 

[Sir Codin]

Holy shit, actual capitalists on PokeCommuinty????

I'm proud of you guys....

Actually, in all seriousness, I don't really pirate much of anything (usually only music). If there's a kind of program I want to use that I don't feel like scrounging up cash for, I find a freeware alternative; they usually get the job done well enough. The occasional awesome Steam sales have also made pirating games unnecessary, though I still hate console exclusivity with a passion, especially in the case of Bloodborne.

 

[Legendary Silke]

It appears that more customization is coming our way if the latest Insider build is of any indication. I welcome our coloured title bars soon. Maybe next month it'll hit stable.

 

[Mewtwolover]

In addition, there is a modification you can make to your hosts file if you do not like this telemetery stuff - it'll essentially block Windows from being able to do its own reporting.

Editing hosts file doesn't help, use firewall for blocking the reporting.

 

[Morkula]

I think the privacy concerns are mostly overblown. Any application in this day and age is going to need access to information, if for no other reason than technical reports and the like. And as it's already been pointed out, Cortana is a personal assistant. In order to be such, she needs to learn how you behave so she can adapt to it and assist you - the same way your phone does, Google does, etc. That said, when I had Windows 10 installed, I did disable some of the more intrusive privacy stuff since I do think there are some things that are concerning.

But I wound up rolling back to Windows 7. I still think the interface of 10 has a long way to go in terms of usability and cohesiveness, and it didn't seem to run as well as even 7, and I have a good computer. I'll probably wind up trying again once some updates roll out and it gets through the growing pains.

 

[Alexander Nicholi]

I think the privacy concerns are mostly overblown. Any application in this day and age is going to need access to information, if for no other reason than technical reports and the like. And as it's already been pointed out, Cortana is a personal assistant. In order to be such, she needs to learn how you behave so she can adapt to it and assist you - the same way your phone does, Google does, etc. That said, when I had Windows 10 installed, I did disable some of the more intrusive privacy stuff since I do think there are some things that are concerning.

If it's really any consolation, it's not like I (or any other sane person) trusted Microsoft any more before WIndows X or probably after XP for that matter. The privacy concerns that Windows X brought are, in comparison to 7 or 8 or 8.1, are overblown. That said, there are larger concerns of privacy with Windows in general, and that's what all of us tried to outline in this thread.

It seems that for the majority of arguing ITT, those who supported Microsoft's privacy invasions said that "Windows X's privacy concerns are overblown," which is true for what Windows X added compared to previous versions. Then they pretty much talked past each other to avoid having to rebuke the arguments made by those against the privacy invasions, and the discussion went absolutely nowhere. Talking past someone in a debate is a really easy way to avoid surrenduring your arguments at the cost of stagnating discussion (which is great if you're more interested in being right than discussing something).

Honestly, I just wish Windows wouldn't cost so fucking much. At least it's not as bad as Hex-Rays' IDA Disassembler which is an amazing program with an absurd price-tag. Look at the bottom of the page – $10K for the Software Development Kit Support Plan. Are they mad?

Good thing I can buy used keys on Reddit, or else we'd have a major problem.

 

[Touched]

If it's really any consolation, it's not like I (or any other sane person) trusted Microsoft any more before WIndows X or probably after XP for that matter. The privacy concerns that Windows X brought are, in comparison to 7 or 8 or 8.1, are overblown. That said, there are larger concerns of privacy with Windows in general, and that's what all of us tried to outline in this thread.

It seems that for the majority of arguing ITT, those who supported Microsoft's privacy invasions said that "Windows X's privacy concerns are overblown," which is true for what Windows X added compared to previous versions. Then they pretty much talked past each other to avoid having to rebuke the arguments made by those against the privacy invasions, and the discussion went absolutely nowhere. Talking past someone in a debate is a really easy way to avoid surrenduring your arguments at the cost of stagnating discussion (which is great if you're more interested in being right than discussing something).

I like to call them Microsoft Apologists.

Honestly, I just wish Windows wouldn't cost so fucking much. At least it's not as bad as Hex-Rays' IDA Disassembler which is an amazing program with an absurd price-tag. Look at the bottom of the page – $10K for the Software Development Kit Support Plan. Are they mad?

Good thing I can buy used keys on Reddit, or else we'd have a major problem.

The reason these licenses are priced like this is because they make the majority of their money by selling to people who view that kind of price tag as negligible. This is particularly true of IDA. I don't think any sane individual has bought IDA Pro; it's basically only security companies who do malware RE that fork over that kind of cash to buy it. They get really hit hard when their licensed copy is leaked (why is it only Windows leaks?), because those companies are Hexrays' only clients.
Students usually get significant discounts on these sorts of products (this is especially true of Microsoft products, and even Hexrays offers student discounts). Schools also get special programs where they can distribute these programs to their students for free. I tried lobbying for an IDA license in this way but I couldn't get enough people interested to have much of an effect.

 

[obZen]

I have to admit, after installing Windows 10 (VBox), I can't help but think, "Why couldn't they have just done THIS instead of Windows 8?"
I don't get the point of Edge, but for an OS that has such minimal effects, it sure looks beautiful.
I give major props- Microsoft got it right.
Though, hidpi scaling improved, it still has a ways to go

 

[countryemo]

Is there any truth to the Windows forcing Windows 10 thing? I mean I wouldn't mind it but prefer to stay on 7 for at-least a while. I looked for the update in the installed updates section (well the 3 files), but couldn't seem to find any of them.

 

[Legendary Silke]

Is there any truth to the Windows forcing Windows 10 thing? I mean I wouldn't mind it but prefer to stay on 7 for at-least a while. I looked for the update in the installed updates section (well the 3 files), but couldn't seem to find any of them.

It never forces you to install it. The most it does is to download it in the background...

Whether you like it or not (unless you're on a metered connection).

Though, that "feature" can be useful when you're on a connection with unlimited bandwidth, but have it to be narrow. Leave computer running, download Windows 10 when nobody's using it, much smoother upgrade experience (instant).

 

[mew_nani]

Is there any truth to the Windows forcing Windows 10 thing? I mean I wouldn't mind it but prefer to stay on 7 for at-least a while. I looked for the update in the installed updates section (well the 3 files), but couldn't seem to find any of them.

Unfortunately there seems to be some truth to it. My brother never opted for Windows 10, but the installer is on his computer. Allegedly it's downloaded onto your computer if you allow automatic updates and downloads in the background. Then once it's on there it attempts to install Windows 10 every time the PC is booted. That means every time you turn the computer on or restart it, it attempts to install Windows 10. The installer itself is located in a folder called $Windows.~BT, and it's 3-6 GB in size.

I haven't been able to confirm the installation attempts but it does download it on your computer if Automatic Updates are allowed, whether you want it or not. I never thought I'd see a malware OS like this. It shouldn't download and attempt to install itself without your imput.

 

[Legendary Silke]

Unfortunately there seems to be some truth to it. My brother never opted for Windows 10, but the installer is on his computer. Allegedly it's downloaded onto your computer if you allow automatic updates and downloads in the background. Then once it's on there it attempts to install Windows 10 every time the PC is booted. That means every time you turn the computer on or restart it, it attempts to install Windows 10. The installer itself is located in a folder called $Windows.~BT, and it's 3-6 GB in size.

I haven't been able to confirm the installation attempts but it does download it on your computer if Automatic Updates are allowed, whether you want it or not. I never thought I'd see a malware OS like this. It shouldn't download and attempt to install itself without your imput.

It indeed does download without permission if you leave automatic updating enabled. :)

It won't install on its own, though - so if you find yourself unexpectedly seeing Windows 10 installed on your computer, someone else's probably on it.

 

[mew_nani]

It indeed does download without permission if you leave automatic updating enabled. :)

It won't install on its own, though - so if you find yourself unexpectedly seeing Windows 10 installed on your computer, someone else's probably on it.

Except according to The Examiner one of the guys working there looked at his Windows Update log and it said over and over that Windows 10 update failed to install. He's not alone; if you look it up on Google there's lots of people with the same issue.

Why is Microsoft doing this? Windows Update is supposed to be for just that; updates. It's not supposed to be downloading a huge gigantic OS upgrade and attempting to install it every time you restart or turn on the computer. And sure it only does that if you have Automatic Updates enabled but the average computer user is going to have that by default because they're not really tech savvy enough to know which updates to get and which updates not to get. An upgrade to Windows 10 that attempts to execute itself every time the computer is booted is borderline akin to malware, and it eats up your bandwidth unless you specifically meter it. People are getting overage charges because of it.

 

[Legendary Silke]

Except according to The Examiner one of the guys working there looked at his Windows Update log and it said over and over that Windows 10 update failed to install. He's not alone; if you look it up on Google there's lots of people with the same issue.

Why is Microsoft doing this? Windows Update is supposed to be for just that; updates. It's not supposed to be downloading a huge gigantic OS upgrade and attempting to install it every time you restart or turn on the computer. And sure it only does that if you have Automatic Updates enabled but the average computer user is going to have that by default because they're not really tech savvy enough to know which updates to get and which updates not to get. An upgrade to Windows 10 that attempts to execute itself every time the computer is booted is borderline akin to malware, and it eats up your bandwidth unless you specifically meter it. People are getting overage charges because of it.

A quick look at this particular installation failure indicates that its by design on Microsoft support. If it fails, nothing happens.

 

[mew_nani]

A quick look at this particular installation failure indicates that its by design on Microsoft support. If it fails, nothing happens.

But what if it doesn't fail? I doubt it just fails repeatedly by design. I've read at least one post where it DID install itself on a computer. If it's attempting to install over and over it'll succeed on at least a few computers.

And even if it fails it slows the computer down for some people. This really shouldn't be a thing. The update is already on my brother's computer, so I'll get the chance to see if it really DOES attempt to install itself, but from what I heard you have to hack the registry to get it to stop, and that's a major problem. Very few average computer users are going to know to do that, let alone feel comfortable in doing so. It shouldn't be listed as an update at all, let alone download and attempt to install itself repeatedly without your permission.

 

[Legendary Silke]

But what if it doesn't fail? I doubt it just fails repeatedly by design. I've read at least one post where it DID install itself on a computer. If it's attempting to install over and over it'll succeed on at least a few computers.

And even if it fails it slows the computer down for some people. This really shouldn't be a thing. The update is already on my brother's computer, so I'll get the chance to see if it really DOES attempt to install itself, but from what I heard you have to hack the registry to get it to stop, and that's a major problem. Very few average computer users are going to know to do that, let alone feel comfortable in doing so. It shouldn't be listed as an update at all, let alone download and attempt to install itself repeatedly without your permission.

It can't succeed without anyone actually installing it. So most of the time, if someone claims Windows 10 installed by itself, I'm going to ask if someone else's been using the computer. You need to rule out everything else before you can start blaming things.

Also, on this desktop computer that I've never reserved Windows 10, I've never seen failed attempts to install it. It is offered as an option in Windows Update, though. (There might be a difference between people that didn't reserve it and people that do - either way, it might download anyway, but for the former, it never attempts to "fail" to install. For reserved people, though, it will fail. :))

Either way, I'm still happily on Windows 8.1 right now. I'm in no rush to move onto Windows 10 yet, at least not when the operating system is still too new.