[Duke of Hazzard]

Forge, on 16 November 2015 - 07:44 AM, said:

careful.
those start menu folders are (supposed to be) write-protected, even though the system lets you write to them. Dragging and dropping shit into those folders could break your start menu and metro interface
(which pretty much renders everything windows 10 related in your taskbar inoperable).

you're supposed to use their stupid 'pin to' under the right-click on object menu.

It's probably a hybrid mode because you can modify the shortcuts in the Start Menu folder to use arguments or run as admin.

[Forge]

i don't know the exact nuts and bolts of how they have it set up. those folders are supposed to be write protected (read only), but you can write to them. Micro$oft just wanted to be dicks and not let the user directly modify the start menu from the start button. I installed classic shell and changed the ownership of those folders from system to my account - i can drag&drop, and modify/add/remove things from those folders and the start menu itself without any problems.

[Duke of Hazzard]

It's strange because in theory adding crap to the Start Menu shouldn't really matter. The Start Menu folder should've only handled the Start Menu itself and the Start Screen should be its own thing. The problem is that they wanted to rid the system of Start Menu in W8 but adding it back in W10 seems to have created a mess because the Start Menu has the same functionality but probably isn't programmed the same into the system like in W7.

[MusicallyInspired]

Arrggghh every time I hear the latest news of Windows 10 it causes me no end of frustration at their complete lack of foresight and knowledge of what in the blue avatar they are doing.

[Duke of Hazzard]

MusicallyInspired, on 16 November 2015 - 02:42 PM, said:

Arrggghh every time I hear the latest news of Windows 10 it causes me no end of frustration at their complete lack of foresight and knowledge of what in the blue avatar they are doing.

Hahaha expecting good things from MS is not healthy. They'll always take the most contrived path possible when introducing a feature and solving problems. They also have incredible talent for breaking things that worked flawlessly before.

[Forge]

Duke of Hazzard, on 16 November 2015 - 02:51 PM, said:

Hahaha expecting good things from MS is not healthy. They'll always take the most contrived path possible when introducing a feature and solving problems. They also have incredible talent for breaking things that worked flawlessly before.

kinda sad that this is considered 'common knowledge'

[DustFalcon85]

Should I get a laptop w/ Windows 10 or stick w/ Windows 7 Pro?

[Hendricks266]

Windows 10 for the sole reason that Windows 8 implemented a tickless kernel, saving you battery life.

[Person of Color]

It looks at your dick, and it's glitchy as shit. Just run 7. My battery life is great and I have an ultrabook.

[Striker]

Forge, on 16 November 2015 - 07:09 AM, said:

You are absolutely right! Thank you so much for sharing your infinite wisdom and knowledge with us poor misinformed computer illiterates.
No changes or additions to any installed software / hardware. no changes to the bios. no changes to any settings in the OS. The only thing that changed with the static system was microsoft updates. The system went all fucky immediately after the update and restart.
Couldn't be the updates. Musta been the magical computer faeries that live under my power supply. Little bastards.

Thank you ever so much for educating me.

Don't be a fucking dickbag.

Got any partition managers like TrueImage Home, or Partition Magic? Some have been known to perform operations you may not want during boot. Hard drive going bad? Ever checked the SMART information of the drive? (Twice I've seen people blame their drive dying on Windows 10 when their own drive was showing symptoms of dying long before it. A massive change of disk content usually is just what's needed to push it over the edge into the click-of-death or data corruption when it's close to mechanical failure. Installing updates on a faulty drive is also a recipe for disaster.)

A lot of the symptoms you've been describing with the GPU drivers screwing up and whatnot also tells me there's something up with your disk. Same shit that I've seen happen before. Lastly, is this a fresh install, or an upgrade from a long-standing Windows 7 install?

Windows Update doesn't make alterations to the MBR or the structure of your partitions. Like I said before, it doesn't do that. It also has no reason to do it. The only time I can see this changing down the road is if they need to make some kind of big alteration to how the OS boots, or a major OS upgrade. (Such as the next big iteration of the OS. Like the switch from 7 to 10 for example.)

As for setting up on a UEFI BIOS, Windows 8.1 has the same issues as 10... it needs to be done a particular way, or you'll risk screwing everything up. See here: http://windowsitpro....-i-built-myself

[Forge]

a lot more informative than that worthless blanket statement you made last time.

the GPU issue was conflicting drivers - which was resolved by letting windows install the driver it wanted instead of forcing the Nvidia driver. After windows installed it's driver, it took the Nvidia driver with no issues.

A brand new hard drive - (those have been known to be bad out of the box, but this one isn't - as it's still functioning quite well and has been checked [ wmic | diskdrive get status ]
UEFI bios. GPT format, fat32 boot partition
I installed a clean windows 7, then did an upgrade to windows 10

I formatted the 1 TB of unallocated space on the 3 TB HDD to NTFS and had all my backup files sitting in it waiting to get installed / moved to the OS partition
the system was static for over two weeks - no installs, no updates, no system tweaks - nothing
windows update - reboot required - effed up system.
tossed in my linux HDD and the boot partition had changed to EFI/MBR NTFS

could no longer boot into windows 10. Using the iso I made with the media creation tool right after the initial windows 10 install - i still couldn't rescue or repair the install as it no longer recognized the HDD format.


real slow like, let me repeat - ABSOLUTELY NOTHING changed on the system other than a windows update - somewhere during the reboot process it assed up the system (outside the bios - which didn't change). The windows 10 policy of forced updates and forced reboot can shove itself up it's own arse.

But thanks for your concern and opinion that i have absolutely no clue what i'm talking about. Your vote of confidence makes my day.

[Forge]

I've re-installed windows 10 the EXACT same way as before. I have the EXACT same software installed now as I did then (and then some).
# of problems since the last fresh install? ZERO
the only difference? I've suppressed the windows update.

statistically speaking - this is the longest i've had windows 10 running without having to do a restore, refresh, or re-install.
Since i first installed windows 10 back in august, i've had to repair or reinstall the OS 4 times due to it not getting along with my hardware configuration or it was just being buggy & twice because it disagreed with some software I installed and had a meltdown.

I prevent the system from automatically updating, and voila!, no problems.

If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck...


Face it. It's job security for those micro$oft tech monkeys to push shit out the door a fast as possible, then field all the calls from pissed off end-users.

[Paul B]

Forge, on 25 November 2015 - 11:01 PM, said:

I've re-installed windows 10 the EXACT same way as before. I have the EXACT same software installed now as I did then (and then some).
# of problems since the last fresh install? ZERO
the only difference? I've suppressed the windows update.

statistically speaking - this is the longest i've had windows 10 running without having to do a restore, refresh, or re-install.
Since i first installed windows 10 back in august, i've had to repair or reinstall the OS 4 times due to it not getting along with my hardware configuration or it was just being buggy & twice because it disagreed with some software I installed and had a meltdown.

I prevent the system from automatically updating, and voila!, no problems.

If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck...


Face it. It's job security for those micro$oft tech monkeys to push shit out the door a fast as possible, then field all the calls from pissed off end-users.

Well you're a windows 10 expert now! I was faced with a similar problem when i upgraded my laptop. After the Windows 10 updates it took out my sound card. I had to prevent that driver from receiving updates from windows update and re-install an older driver to get my sound driver to work with Windows 10. Now i've set my wireless card to metered connection so it doesn't automatically download shit. Like hell I'm signing up to be a Microsoft Beta Tester with their updates I have enough problems in a day. I have had endless problems with automatic updates breaking Office 365 functionality.

[MrBlackCat]

Forge, on 25 November 2015 - 11:01 PM, said:

I've re-installed windows 10 the EXACT same way as before. I have the EXACT same software installed now as I did then (and then some).
# of problems since the last fresh install? ZERO
the only difference? I've suppressed the windows update.

statistically speaking - this is the longest i've had windows 10 running without having to do a restore, refresh, or re-install.
Since i first installed windows 10 back in august, i've had to repair or reinstall the OS 4 times due to it not getting along with my hardware configuration or it was just being buggy & twice because it disagreed with some software I installed and had a meltdown.

I prevent the system from automatically updating, and voila!, no problems.

If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck...


Face it. It's job security for those micro$oft tech monkeys to push shit out the door a fast as possible, then field all the calls from pissed off end-users.

Having worked in PC Networking before and during (and hopefully after) the monster that is "Windows", I have never viewed Windows ANY other way than exactly what you describe here. I will state again... this is the reason "real" businesses who need "stuff that just works" control update deployment on Windows PC's, since the dawn of the Windows PC. It has ups and downs, but has NEVER worked "over all".

I remember when some government systems went to early versions of Windows... back then, the number of logins were commonly limited in any of several ways. For instance times per hour, per day, no login after logout after a certain time of day. Windows computers failures were the cause of this layer of security being destroyed by admins pulling their hair out trying to "fix" something we didn't know was just how Windows was. In the 3.11 days, you were running DOS level drivers for most network connectivity, and total failures were less, but most changes someone made required a reboot. Result, control user changes. (e.g. screen resolution locks) Then Windows 95 was pushed upon us... the IT staff (when replaced, because some just "quit", had to double in size because of all the support needed to keep those systems secure and running. In retrospect, they never really achieved this, only reduced it with a sort of Damage Control.


Anyway, the point is that when people speak highly of Windows, they are almost always speaking from an individual basis, and I don't challenge their experiences, as I too have had some success with Windows computers of all versions. But any company (and some "power users") that use Windows for anything "serious" or even "mission critical" invests a WHOLE lot in it... like update control/testing and deployment, and user option control management systems.

I don't doubt your experiences... (Forge)

MrBlackCat

[Duke of Hazzard]

I feel bad for Forge because my experience with W10 in all my three machines has been mostly smooth. The only problems I had were from features MS hasn't made work right, like tablet mode.

[MusicallyInspired]

I have s couple interesting features about my computet lie an ancient Sound Blaster Audigy zs which I use as a MIDI interface because it's the only good one. I don't trust Windows 10 anywhere near it.

[Striker]

Forge, on 25 November 2015 - 10:55 PM, said:

a lot more informative than that worthless blanket statement you made last time.

the GPU issue was conflicting drivers - which was resolved by letting windows install the driver it wanted instead of forcing the Nvidia driver. After windows installed it's driver, it took the Nvidia driver with no issues.

A brand new hard drive - (those have been known to be bad out of the box, but this one isn't - as it's still functioning quite well and has been checked [ wmic | diskdrive get status ]
UEFI bios. GPT format, fat32 boot partition
I installed a clean windows 7, then did an upgrade to windows 10

I formatted the 1 TB of unallocated space on the 3 TB HDD to NTFS and had all my backup files sitting in it waiting to get installed / moved to the OS partition
the system was static for over two weeks - no installs, no updates, no system tweaks - nothing
windows update - reboot required - effed up system.
tossed in my linux HDD and the boot partition had changed to EFI/MBR NTFS

could no longer boot into windows 10. Using the iso I made with the media creation tool right after the initial windows 10 install - i still couldn't rescue or repair the install as it no longer recognized the HDD format.


real slow like, let me repeat - ABSOLUTELY NOTHING changed on the system other than a windows update - somewhere during the reboot process it assed up the system (outside the bios - which didn't change). The windows 10 policy of forced updates and forced reboot can shove itself up it's own arse.

But thanks for your concern and opinion that i have absolutely no clue what i'm talking about. Your vote of confidence makes my day.

Does your motherboard give you the option for classic boot? I know my ASUS Motherboard uses a UEFI BIOS, but supports booting from both GPT and EFI/MBR boot partitions when configured correctly.

Anyhow, I'm still bewildered as to why it would fuck with the partitions to begin with, or why it would need to, barring a new OS install. It's just seems really strange to me.

[Forge]

yes.
when i seen what happened to the boot partition, the first thing i looked at was the bios (since it was only thing I had access to until i popped in the linux hdd) - it was still set to UEFI only.

[Striker]

Ah, good that it gives the option then.

To be honest, UEFI is a box of rats testicles. An attempt to patch a problem that didn't really exist to begin with, only creating new ones along the way. Not to mention it's other problems... Not really necessary for the average end user, and not even so much for power users either. You're probably better off setting it to boot from both types, or just traditional EFI/MBR.

[Forge]

i'm not having any problems right now, but to avoid any future issues i'll take your recommendation and set the bios option to what it calls Legacy Only.
(of course if i have to do another fresh install for any reason I'll have to revert to either dual or UEFI only - seems the HDD won't format to GPT with the bios set to only Legacy)

[MrBlackCat]

UEFI reminds me of the original interfaces for FiberChannel controllers in massive volume data servers (of the early 90's)... the drives came with their own controller of course designed with the drive. One of these systems of the day had 8GB of disk space on a single full height drive though... and was $8500.00. These were in demand/required by large scale systems like ATM servers etc.
The reason it reminds me of those is actually an inverse relationship... they worked... because they had only to adhere to a very specific specification. When I first read the specification for Intels EFI (which later became UEFI) it seemed like a good idea at the time. (late 90's maybe?) But in retrospect, it just isn't a real solution... like Linux/Unix. It has a place maybe, but isn't a solution for all they are trying to do with it, because the effort it takes for vendors to catch every single application and situation of it, just isn't going to happen... like Windows itself, trying to be "everything". Metaphorically speaking, a Swiss Army knife with too many gadgets becomes impractical for its intended purpose(s).

Look how long it took to get USB truly working... 15+ years... UEFI is more complicated, so honestly I see it being superseded by something else. Besides, vendors who need to push their products have come up with some excellent solutions for drive size and bios limitations over the years, while UEFI just hasn't ever come to be what it should... in my opinion. In custom tailored situations it seems to work well, but not for something as diverse as the average PC Power User is going to want. Maybe on mass data storage (NAS's maybe) and other single purpose machines.
I still blame Windows/MS for this of course, as keeping anything compliant with their crap requires way too many resources.



Sure it can do a lot, but does it really do any part of it well? If you need to carve a wooden <anything> is this the right tool?

MrBlackCat

[DustFalcon85]

Person of Color, on 24 November 2015 - 10:21 PM, said:

It looks at your dick, and it's glitchy as shit. Just run 7. My battery life is great and I have an ultrabook.

I just purchased a customized Laptop w/ Windows 10 Pro. Good thing a/b Pro is that you can choose what updates you want on there. Anyways, I'll be looking forward to the NSA watching me ridin spinnaz!

Spoiler

Also spywares

Spoiler

And also dicks too!

Spoiler

And I ain't gay. I'm straight. Don't get any ideas now. Just being goofy!

[Person of Color]

Didn't you just buy a laptop like a year ago?

[Hendricks266]

DustFalcon85, on 27 November 2015 - 09:01 PM, said:

Anyways, I'll be looking forward to the NSA watching me ridin spinnaz!

They better not try Testin' My Gangsta.

[Person of Color]

Every time I hear "Ridin' Spinnaz" I think of Meatspin back when it was on YTMND. Good times.

[DustFalcon85]

Person of Color, on 28 November 2015 - 12:44 AM, said:

Every time I hear "Ridin' Spinnaz" I think of Meatspin back when it was on YTMND. Good times.

[Person of Color]

You have sat through ₄₆ spins!

YOU ARE OFFICIALY GAY :-)

[Paul B]

Duke of Hazzard, on 23 September 2015 - 03:06 PM, said:

Actually for some software it's such a hassle to crack that it's much easier to just buy. You need to modify files, block internet, add to firewall, do some mumbo jumbo so the software doesn't update itself. It's far more annoying than to just buy it.

Since there are a lot of tech savy people frequenting this post and it relates to a previous conversation I had about software activation services I am posting this here and hopefully it helps anyone who might be in the same position.

Here is what happens when you spend thousands of dollars on paid software. Doing things by the book, only to get a Fuck you from Microsoft after installing their garbage.

Installing Office365 ProPlus on a RDS Server (Terminal Server) using Shared Computer Activation
Microsoft have announced the ability to run Office 365 ProPlus on a RDS Server using a new feature called Shared Computer Activation.
Pre-Requisites: Requires a minimum of a Microsoft Office 365 E3 License.
After the installation of Office 365, and applying the E3 license to a user account in the Office365 Admin console and signing into the Microsoft Office program with said account on the RDS Server you will be presented with the following error message:

"This copy of Microsoft Office 2013 cannot be used on a computer running Terminal Services. To use Office 2013 on a computer running Terminal Services, you must use a Volume License edition of Office".

This is a result of the Microsoft Office installation not installing a necessary registry key after the install. (A perfect example of Microsoft not testing their software before releasing it).

Solution:
1) As a Domain Administrator of the RDS\Terminal Server open “regedit”
2) Locate the following Key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\15.0\ClickToRun\ Configuration
Add a new registry string: <REG_SZ> called: SharedComputerLicensing and give it a value of “1”
3) Reboot the RDS\Terminal Server
4) If the user is signed into the Microsoft office desktop software and the E3 license has been applied to said account from the Office online admin portal then the software will run activated for that account. Each Remote Desktop User account that plans on running the Microsoft Office suite on the same RDS\Terminal server must have a Microsoft online account associated with an E3 Office365 license before the software will run in an activated state.

Using non activation software is so much easier and there is your proof. Like the average users know what random registry key needs to be updated to make their paid licensed E3 Office subscription work when it doesn't work right out of the box! Thanks Microsoft!

[Duke of Hazzard]

Paul B, on 08 December 2015 - 06:36 PM, said:

Since there are a lot of tech savy people frequenting this post and it relates to a previous conversation I had about software activation services I am posting this here and hopefully it helps anyone who might be in the same position.

Here is what happens when you spend thousands of dollars on paid software. Doing things by the book, only to get a Fuck you from Microsoft after installing their garbage.

Installing Office365 ProPlus on a RDS Server (Terminal Server) using Shared Computer Activation
Microsoft have announced the ability to run Office 365 ProPlus on a RDS Server using a new feature called Shared Computer Activation.
Pre-Requisites: Requires a minimum of a Microsoft Office 365 E3 License.
After the installation of Office 365, and applying the E3 license to a user account in the Office365 Admin console and signing into the Microsoft Office program with said account on the RDS Server you will be presented with the following error message:

"This copy of Microsoft Office 2013 cannot be used on a computer running Terminal Services. To use Office 2013 on a computer running Terminal Services, you must use a Volume License edition of Office".

This is a result of the Microsoft Office installation not installing a necessary registry key after the install. (A perfect example of Microsoft not testing their software before releasing it).

Solution:
1) As a Domain Administrator of the RDS\Terminal Server open “regedit”
2) Locate the following Key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\15.0\ClickToRun\ Configuration
Add a new registry string: <REG_SZ> called: SharedComputerLicensing and give it a value of “1”
3) Reboot the RDS\Terminal Server
4) If the user is signed into the Microsoft office desktop software and the E3 license has been applied to said account from the Office online admin portal then the software will run activated for that account. Each Remote Desktop User account that plans on running the Microsoft Office suite on the same RDS\Terminal server must have a Microsoft online account associated with an E3 Office365 license before the software will run in an activated state.

Using non activation software is so much easier and there is your proof. Like the average users know what random registry key needs to be updated to make their paid licensed E3 Office subscription work when it doesn't work right out of the box! Thanks Microsoft!

We put up with Microsoft and this bullshit because it became the standard, sadly. And they're not alone in this.

A lot of issues people have with cracked software is because they don't read the instructions provided by the scene group. I've never had any problems installing cracked software. It's just that the DRM can get so obnoxious that you need to do a lot of crap to run it.

[Forge]

microsoft products are like the gaming industry products - they have the mentality that everyone is on the network, wants their crap, and will tolerate b.s. just to have their crap - so they shove shit out the door half functional and issues patches later.