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And here's another article that also mentions background app refresh; its introduction didn't change the fact that 'quitting apps' is a myth.

prompt before checking for updates, prompt before downloading updates

In Settings > Update & security > Windows Update > Advanced options > Choose how updates are installed, the explanation states: "Updates won't download over a metered connection (where charges may apply)." "Metered" is the clue for delaying update downloads, as explained in articles on Lifehacker and How-To Geek. In Settings > Network & Internet > Wi-Fi > (your SSID) > Advanced options, you should be able to set a particular SSID as metered.

The Lifehacker article does acknowledge a defect in Windows 10: it never lets the user set a wired Ethernet connection as metered, even if wired Ethernet's upstream is a satellite or cellular connection with a 5-10 GB/mo cap or a cable connection with a 300 GB/mo cap.

and prompt before rebooting

In Settings > Update & security > Windows Update > Advanced options > Choose how updates are installed, change the value to "Notify to schedule restart".

and yet every single "how to do X in linux" tutorial starts by telling you to open a terminal and type sudo XYZ

Are you sure you want to say every single? Because that leaves you open to a lot of counter-examples wrecking your case.

There are too many imbeciles that will brick their system by typing in random terminal commands they found on the Internet, like fork bombs or using wget to download a trojan. rm -rf / is only the most famous of this kind of command. Then they will complain that Linux is too fragile and dangerous to use for new users, blah blah blah.

I was thinking of a possible solution to this. Perhaps the distros meant for newbies (Ubuntu, Mint, elementary, Zorin, etc.) could lock by default the most well known terminal commands that fuck your system up. When trying to execute them (even with root privileges), they will get something like "ERROR: This command is extremely dangerous. To execute, go to [distro's website].org/foobar." This page will have the password in order to bypass the lock, but only at the bottom of some text that explains exactly what will happen, and if you do anyway, that the distro has absolutely 0% liability to what will happen to your system.

That's a fantastic excuse for a horrible model.

And if you were at all familiar with the restrictions mobile operators place on device manufacturers, you'd understand that's it's a factual one, as well. Even Microsoft recognizes that.

We work closely with our carrier partners, and encourage them to test our software as swiftly as possible. But it’s still their network, and the reality is that some carriers require more time than others. By the way, this carrier testing is a common industry practice that all of our competitors must also undergo. No exceptions.

That said, this only applies to devices which the carrier has customized in some way. As far as Nexus devices go, that only includes the T-Mobile Nexus 6 and, even then, the customization was done by Google and T-Mobile allows them to push updates directly and without approval. Every other Android device sold, by literally any carrier, is customized with carrier apps and features and requires the carrier's approval for updates.

You don't even have to disassemble the drive. The hole is marked on the top of the drive to make sure you don't block it. It's necessary for proper operation.

I thought laptop CPUs were likely to be soldered down rather than socketed. This article states that some still are this way, especially a MacBook, an Ultrabook, or a netbook. And even on those laptops with a socketed CPU, this forum post states that finding new CPUs compatible with the motherboard or new motherboards compatible with the form factor is difficult. What am I thinking of?

In the meantime, until Edge gains support for content-blocking plug-ins, you can keep the worst ad networks from resolving at the DNS level.

Android is built on the Linux kernel so actually if you hook a keyboard, a mouse or such in the micro-USB slot on your phone it should just work out of the box. I don't think there's that much consumer interest for hooking up a 10x sized a keyboard to a smartphone though. It wouldn't be a big push for Google to bring out a dongle-sized concept PC based on Chromium OS or Android if such devices prove popular, however.

And if you are willing to hack some there's of course the business-card sized Raspberry PI that has decent ARM CPU, HDMI out and USB in that can be flashed with your favourite Linux distro, Android or Win 10.

ublock-origins blocks sourceforge as a malware site now, and while I occasionally override it to peek at some actual source code, I'm glad for the reminder to never download anything from that site. There was a kerfuffle a while ago when they started doing this, and despite some backpedaling after some initial bad press, the site should probably be considered toxic.

http://www.howtogeek.com/21876...

Pairing non-Hue Zigbee bulbs generally isn't for non-techies, they often don't work quite right, and Philips is still supporting some of them.

Philips has a fairly good statement about the situation and what they are doing at http://www.developers.meethue....

Tried it, hated it, went back to 7 and MS is still nagging me to downgrade to windows 10 (10 is no upgrade). What's with TFS's "will resume"? They never stopped. I'd go Linux-only except all the magazines demand a Word file, and Oo and Lo can't save one properly.

It took me 30 seconds to google this. There's a registry setting to disable OS upgrades. Don't disgrace power users by being lazy. :) http://www.howtogeek.com/22855...

Yep. That's where I was. I simply let it go and then tested my apps. Everything seems to still work but there wasn't a clean way to prevent the upgrade. I'm still checking some of the third tier apps I use (don't run very often but want to check) and can just reinstall Windows 7 if I find something horribly bad (yes, I have regular backups as well).

[John]

See here: http://www.howtogeek.com/22072...

It may not help like you think it would.

Interesting list of alternative OSes, including some I'd never heard of.

http://www.howtogeek.com/19021...

There's more information on the WPBT (Windows Platform Binary Table) entries here:

Zombie Crapware: How the Windows Platform Binary Table Works
http://www.howtogeek.com/22630...

Basically, if you have a C:\Windows\system32\wpbbin.exe on your system then your computer's manufacturer is using this technique to Root Kit your system. Haven't found a useful tool yet that lets you examine WPBT and delete its contents, though.

You get the lower power and lack of versatility of consoles

I was under the impression that SteamOS supported community-created mods, unlike consoles, and had an Exit to GNOME option unlike consoles since the release of PlayStation 3 system software 3.21.

Windows is free nowadays.

It's only 'free' if you already have a Windows license (that you paid for), and it's inextricably tied to the hardware you activate it on, even if the base license was a full retail key.

Modern games are DRM'd to hell. Nevertheless most of them aren't actually copy protected by strong encryption. That is the only reason most of them will still be around in 30 years. Some games are too old to sell but too young to even be in a state of quasi-public-domain. Steam DRM is adding volumes to that list. With most games now sold as DRM'd downloads the future of this data is very much in doubt.

If Steam is sold who will still have the unencrypted programs and game assets? Who will bother to re-assemble games from loose files? Society could lose hundreds of games forever. If I were king I would insist that copies of all source code be kept in an archive somewhere, to be released when the copyright term expires.I think bitrot is one of the most evil forces on the internet. Are there any more practical ways to stop it?

Unless Valve wants to pull a little "Chromebook" move, say a switch that swaps between console mode and desktop mode and suddenly you have an alternate desktop for basic use.

Last time I checked, SteamOS had exactly such a switch: Exit to GNOME.

Well...

• On the OSX side - if you stick strictly to the App Store (the walled garden), *somebody* had to pay to get that dev license and the app submitted, so while not as excellent as a GPG trail, it does track back to some known entity... and while not perfect, the track record is pretty damned solid.
• On Linux - unless you strictly limit your downloads from trusted and known YUM/APT/etc repos, you're just as much at risk in Linux as you are on any other OS. The good news is, nearly everything you need can be found on the trusted and known repos that come with your distro. That said, not everything a person wants will be found there.
• On Windows - if you are sufficiently careful about where you get your executables (e.g. buy them at a trusted store, load them from known good media that you bought earlier, etc), you, well, nevermind... even the Microsoft app store isn't fully trustworthy yet.

Long story short? It all boils down to only installing things that you got from fully trusted sources (no, CNET's download.com is not a trusted source in my opinion, specifically because of the crapware/shovelware that they foist on the unwary user.) That, and avoid using fscking Windows, apparently...

Don't you wish!

http://www.howtogeek.com/75470...

Oh, well, if the proprietary system says it's disabled, then it must be disabled!

Unfortunately, you are wrong.

No license is required, and there's good evidence that disabling AMT in the BIOS does not really disable it. Exploits for AMT have been published and only fixed very slowly by Intel.

It's not hidden from the public; as with all encroachments by Big Brother, it's marketed as being useful and convenient. Here, have some fun. Any fool could follow those instructions.

Greenify has been around for a couple of years and does this wonderfully:

http://www.howtogeek.com/19813...

E

Thank you, I will be using this in the future.
For others here is a link to a HOWTO: http://www.howtogeek.com/51477...

http://www.howtogeek.com/22479...

Uninstall Store: Get-AppxPackage *windowsstore* | Remove-AppxPackage

> Citations or screenshots please.

Fuck off citation-needer AC shill. It is well documented that these things are an absolute shit parade. At this point, the burden of proof is on any apologists.

But, here's some articles, shillfuck!

The lockscreen assault...
http://www.extremetech.com/com...
http://www.theverge.com/2015/4...

OP claimed that he's getting advertised Office. You claim he needs proof. While this debate rages, here's tutorial on how to make Microsoft STOP advertising Office. Which, of fucking COURSE it does.

http://www.howtogeek.com/22632...

Presumably, the "Get Skype" app is the one to disable to stop the Skype stuff he complains about.

Oh, and if you NEED Skype, here's how to disable ads in Skype. Uh, this worked a year ago? I don't know if it is current.
http://community.skype.com/t5/...

Shills shilling, shills shilling, shills shilling.....

Citations or screenshots please. I have Win10 on three PCs I use all the time and have not seen any of the bs you're talking about.

Is three citations enough? Or do you require more?

http://www.pcworld.com/article...

http://www.howtogeek.com/22632...

http://www.addictivetips.com/w...

I was looking at this recently; this should turn off and block much of it:

Turn off CEIP, Uninstall updates, and then hide telemetry updates to prevent re-install:
http://www.pcworld.com/article...
Note: my "CEIP" setting was opted-out, but I still received two of those updates. So the "you don't get these updates if you're not in CEIP" assertions are incorrect, at least in my case.

Turn off CEIP reporting services:
https://pubs.vmware.com/view-5...

I kept having that "Update Windows 10" (GWXUX) service crash, so I turned it off using the registry update at the end of this article, leaving myself the opportunity to reverse the process and upgrade later if desired:
http://www.howtogeek.com/21885...

If you want to block windows 10 telemetry using a quick and dirty private DNS server, along with ad and malware blocking, install dnsmasq on a computer (maybe a raspberry pi if you're going for cheap, I'm using a VM on a test bed computer in bridged mode for this experiment):
https://www.linux.com/learn/tu... ...and block using an amalgamation of HOSTS files from here:
https://github.com/StevenBlack...

It's a python script that gets a few HOSTS files on the net and de-duplicates them into a mega crap-blocker list. The resulting list includes tens of thousands of DNS lookups that will be blocked at the perimeter of your network, so it could cause some web pages or software to break they depend on sites blocked by these lists. You can prepare you own windows 10 specific HOSTS file using entries from http://someonewhocares.org/hos... and those listed in articles about this issue if you feel paranoid. Windows can side-step your hosts file, but not your DNS server!

Stating the obvious: you'll want to leave the quick and dirty DNS behind your firewall/router, not expose it to the Internet.

Linux also has a GUI available. Many, in fact.

Also, command line is not difficult to learn or use; and it is incredibly powerful.

As for being evil.. command line is about as evil as a swiss army knife. It is the person using the tool who decides whether or not to use it for good or evil; not the tool itself.

The only thing close to evil here is the persistent "malware" (imho) that Lenovo is pushing on their systems.

I saved you the trouble of googling - move down to the heading "Be Careful of Links" to see where the problem still lies:
http://www.howtogeek.com/13554...

Clicking on the wrong link will helpfully open IE which will then helpfully run the script that installs and runs cryptolocker - hence the problem discussed here!
In news reports it has been links that are supposed to be about speeding fines, parcel tracking and tax refunds. I've seen a couple where the link said "here is your invoice", and the sort of people that are responsible for making sure you get paid the correct amount are the sort of people who fall for that one click infection.

A workaround is that antivirus companies are now providing web proxies so they can block IE getting the one click infection (or two click for everything else), but it's hard to keep the list of malware sites up to date with the number of malware bots multiplying out there

Funny you mention that. Windows 10 includes OneGet which is a repository system that supports custom Chocolatey repos.

Is Google going to disable it's hooks into the OS and use it? Doubtfully.

http://www.howtogeek.com/200334/windows-10-includes-a-linux-style-package-manager-named-oneget/

Nobody said that macs are immune to viruses

Plenty of fan boys have, actually (including you, 2 posts up). And Apple certainly tried to make that implication, with lines like "immune to PC viruses" in their sales pitches. While it's true that Macs don't execute Windows code (wow, really?), Apple still didn't have a problem with blurring that technical line in their advertisements aimed at non-technical people. The reason why there are so many results for "are Macs immune to viruses", and why it looks like the vast majority of results for "are PCs immune to viruses" are articles about Macs, is not because "nobody said that macs are immune to viruses."

macs are not vulnerable to the types of malware that antivirus software could protect against

So if antivirus software protects against viruses, and you're claiming that Macs are not vulnerable to that type of malware, then aren't you claiming that Macs are immune to viruses? Are you just using the same kind of doublespeak that Apple used in their marketing?

Here's a question: if Macs are not vulnerable to viruses, then why are there antivirus programs for Macs? What exactly are those programs protecting against if not viruses? Do they "scan" the machine against an empty threat database and then say it's all clear?

Looks like I will be doing a bit of copying and patching...

http://www.howtogeek.com/12214...

Since Windows 8, Windows Defender has treated changes to %windir%\System32\Drivers\etc\hosts as possible infections, because they often are, unless the administrator adds the file to a list of files that Windows Defender will not monitor. And I imagine that DNSSEC validating resolvers will skip the hosts file because entries aren't signed.

Windows 10 will support a Linuxesque package manager. You can read more here albeit a bit out of date, but good information none the less.

I'll be happy to provide. A simple search on Windows 10 Free strategy found these two links. Was it that hard to be informed before putting BS online like all the trolls of this world?
http://www.winbeta.org/news/st...
http://www.howtogeek.com/22095...

Perhaps you misunderstood. I was asking for primary source material. Would you happen to have a link to internal strategy documents?

The howtogeek.com article had no citations to internal strategy memos and the winbeta.org article reiterated a PR tweet.

My entire point of asking for these memos was that what the PR machine or third-party analysts say is not the same as the actual process Microsoft used to make it's choice. That's what I'm after. Why did Microsoft make the choice, not why do others think they made the choice and not what did Microsoft say to clarify the choice.

I never said it wasn't inflammatory. It was. I don't disagree with the moderators.

Great, so the attacks to his comments were perfectly justified.

What is a founded opinion? One where one uses something, like say Microsoft adding subscription options to Office, to found an opinion, such as they might add subscription options to Windows?

He didn't quote that. He just blurred some random anti MS BS.

I had not seen these internal strategy memo links. Would you care to provide a citation?

I'll be happy to provide. A simple search on Windows 10 Free strategy found these two links. Was it that hard to be informed before putting BS online like all the trolls of this world?
http://www.winbeta.org/news/st...
http://www.howtogeek.com/22095...

WIndows isn't moving to the subscription model. That has been debunked over and over again.

TFA has the wrong screenshot. This is the important one: http://cdn5.howtogeek.com/wp-c...

When you connect to the network there is a box that very clearly says "share network with my contacts". It could be a bit clearer, but it does at least make it obvious that the network details you are entering are going to be shared.

First, we're only talking Windows 10 PHONE

ERROR: INCORRECT

First: This is in Windows 10 desktop, as detailed here, complete with screenshots: http://www.howtogeek.com/21970...

Second: Even if this were only confined to Windows Phone 10, it would still be monumentally stupid.

Are you sure Apple doesn't do the same bullshit on OS X as they do on iOS?
Third-Party Browsers Are Crippled

You might want to have a look at Deja Dup

I would vote you up if I had modpoints today.

The upgrades from the full systems pop up whether the useraccount is linked to the microsoft account or if you simply created a user on Windows 7.

And yes, if someone signs up specifically for a beta program were every click is analyzed and any feedback linked to an account I think it is OK to get the free copy connected to that account. Because this copy is free (as in beer, but not as in speech).

It does not upgrade a bought copy. The alternative would be that every installation of the beta gets a free copy, even if the user did not participate in the beta program.

I hated MS for diversifying the directx-bases because every new directx was only available if the user bought the newest windows. They nearly destroyed the pc as a gaming machine in order to push their xbox. They were evil in general and their monopolistic behaviour was illegal. They tried to kill Linux by FUD.

The free copy is the right thing to do to atone for the abomination that was windows 8 or even 8.1 (two different userinterfaces for account settings, nuff said). And a free copy for every one who beta tested seems fair. Even non genuine windows installs get the upgrade, but there will be nagging.

I don't see much change in their behaviour myself. Could be wrong but way it looks to me is free isn't a usable experience liked genuine (business) customers will get. Testing is going to be the suckers who buy into it and updates forced on those users with MS stating after months of testing on home versions it will be rolled out on the real customers machines. Months makes it sound liek they are releasing it with barely any testing done inhouse. Way to make people work for free, not sure that is how it will work but my gut says maybe ;)

http://www.howtogeek.com/21916...

I mean, it's an announced negafeature already. You have to get one of the non-home versions to do this. What version do all these "free" upgrades give you? The one where you can't turn off their binaries, advertisements, and whatever the fuck else they think is good for you to have.

Virtual desktops are already supported. http://www.howtogeek.com/19596...

None of the other things you mention are inherent features of an OS. Edge (codename Spartan) will almost certainly be available on older OSes. Cortana will probably be tightly integrated, but there's no reason it has to be except to drive adoption. Not impressed.

I'm just repeating what I read, I can't find that specific article but this one provides similar details: http://www.howtogeek.com/12927... so in actuality it is true.

No, but Minecraft has. ;)

http://www.howtogeek.com/21090...

I think it refers to the fact that not all builds of HandBrake for all variants of all platforms include the DVD and BD decryption code. This page states that Windows users have to install Kodi (formerly XBMC) and dig the CSS library out of that. On which platform are you running HandBrake?

I don't care about systemd (i understand some of the criticism, but not the "riot" against it, usually from people that don't understand any of the criticism...) - i care about the Unity desktop... so much that i change it immediately to Gnome Classic !