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You still ain't shown anything to backup your incredible claims.

https://support.office.com/en-...

Office for Mac doesn't run correctly within itself. https://support.microsoft.com/...

Some ways to help - but not a complete list. http://www.officeformachelp.co...

A bad answer, but more problems http://answers.microsoft.com/e... As they say "most likely" That will take care of some issues but not all.

http://www.walternelson.com/dr...

Here you are told to do exactly what an above link tells you not to do http://presentationsoft.about....

Just general things https://support.microsoft.com/...

This one is cute - directly from Microsoft and I quote> "However, high compatibility workbooks/projects can be achieved", as well as "There may well be a solution or workaround." Hozabout that? High compatibility is not compatibility, and workarounds are not compatibility. http://answers.microsoft.com/e...

And with Office 365 in particular http://answers.microsoft.com/e...

So anyhow there is about as much as I'm willing to do for you, coward. Any more, and do your own research Which of course is a non starter isn't it?

Right from Microsoft, they speak of it's issues. Take it up with them. Sparky.

Meantime, I'm using a suite that doesn't have those issues.

They'd have to get the US Customs to stop anyone bringing back copies of the 'N' version. Otherwise, how could MS keep sending all that lovely data on US Citizens to the NSA.

Rather difficult since you can download the free Windows 10 ISO's including "N" and "KN" from Microsoft

I just run a personalized live system now. Boots factory fresh every time.

You mean factory fresh that has a whole pile of adware which most PC's appear to have when purchased brand new.

But with Microsoft, and Linux to an extent, they take a shotgun to your drive and then fill in the holes, splattering the application all over the place.

Microsoft Windows yes but I have never seen major Linux distributions do that.

If you really do need to run Windows 10, you must enjoy those gold plated chains, then it is very simple to get the ISO from Microsoft and go through the customized install, it is a real eyeopener. Even if you have just purchased a new PC which came with Windows 10 it is still a good idea to completely install from ISO which will remove all rubbish-ware although you may have some difficulty with the operating system phoning home (for your own good of course).

Of course, if you have a corporate PC then just use if for corporate and not private use since you don't really know who may be monitoring besides Microsoft and we all know that they would not betray our trust.

You've got to be kidding if you think switching on WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger give you more privacy. All it does is change who is doing the spying. Skype is Microsoft which seems to be cozy with the government. Facebook doesn't seem as cozy with the government in public, but I think that is probably all show anyways.

However, Facebook's apps are designed to be spyware, while Skype isn't last I checked. How is installing Spyware more private than non-spyware?

With Windows 10 and patches to earlier operating systems, Microsoft entered the spyware business big time. Maybe the Skype app is spyware now too, I haven't seen anything posted on that? Microsoft has always been cozy with the government like the daily scans for NSA provided keywords on all Microsoft OSes, but this move to being more like Facebook and Google has been more recent.

Skype's privacy policy:
https://privacy.microsoft.com/...
"However, we do not use what you say in email, chat, video calls or voice mail, or your documents, photos or other personal files to target ads to you."
Facebook messenger policy:
https://www.facebook.com/polic...
"We collect the content and other information you provide when you use our Services, including when you sign up for an account, create or share, and message or communicate with others."
"We use the information we have to improve our advertising and measurement systems so we can show you relevant ads on and off our Services and measure the effectiveness and reach of ads and services."

So Skype = NSA spying.
WhatsApp/Facebook Messenger = Facebook spying and almost certainly the NSA even though Facebook tries to imply otherwise.

What we need are more options like Signal Private Messenger that actually seem to care about privacy.

iMessage probably is one of the more privacy oriented messengers (with the exception of Signal). Apple hasn't seemed to be big on spyware other than the stint in Yosemite.

Microsoft has encouraged the rental of Windows since 2010. And businesses can lease Windows 10 through suppliers.

Also, Microsoft has said that Windows 10 is the last one you'll ever buy. So what happens when it ends mainstream support in 2020 and extended support in 2025? You really believe they're just going to fold up their tent instead of pushing everything to a lease in the cloud model?

Microsoft has encouraged the rental of Windows since 2010. And businesses can lease Windows 10 through suppliers.

Also, Microsoft has said that Windows 10 is the last one you'll ever buy. So what happens when it ends mainstream support in 2020 and extended support in 2025? You really believe they're just going to fold up their tent instead of pushing everything to a lease in the cloud model?

Keep in mind that consumer editions cannot go below Basic telemetry. The default is Enhanced, which includes more than the list below.

From Microsoft directly (reformatted and edited for brevity since Slashdot hates multilevel lists):

• Basic device data, including device attributes (such as camera resolution and display type)
• Internet Explorer version
• Battery attributes (such as capacity and type)
• Networking attributes (such as number of network adapters, speed of network adapters, mobile operator network, and IMEI number)
• Processor and memory attributes (such as number of cores, architecture, speed, memory size, and firmware)
• Virtualization attribute, such as Second Level Address Translation (SLAT) support and guest operating system
• Operating system attributes, such as Windows edition and virtualization state
• Storage attributes, such as number of drives, type, and size
• Connected User Experience and Telemetry component quality metrics, including % of uploaded events, dropped events, and the last upload time.
• Quality-related information, such as the device characteristics of a Connected Standby device, the number of crashes or hangs, and application state change details (such as how much processor time and memory were used, and the total uptime for an app)
• Compatibility data. Helps provide an understanding about which apps are installed on a device or virtual machine and identifies potential compatibility problems.
• General app data and app data for Internet Explorer add-ons. Includes a list of apps that are installed on a native or virtualized instance of the OS and whether these apps function correctly after an upgrade, including the app name, publisher, version, and basic details about which files have been blocked from usage.
• App usage data. Includes how an app is used, including how long an app is used for, when the app has focus, and when the app is started
• System data, including the amount of memory, as well as information about the processor and BIOS.
• Accessory device data. Includes a list of accessory devices, such as printers or external storage devices, that are connected to Windows PCs
• Driver data. Includes specific driver usage that’s meant to help figure out whether apps and devices will function after upgrading to a new version of the operating system. This can help to determine blocking issues and then help Microsoft and our partners apply fixes and improvements.
• Windows Store, including app downloads, installations, and updates. It also includes Windows Store launches, page views, suspend and resumes, and obtaining licenses.

The default setting also includes crash dumps and system events, although consumers can disable that if they know how.

Reference https://technet.microsoft.com/...

Yes, and you can get it here...

https://developer.microsoft.co...

Although why you would want to is another question :)
*ducks*

âoeThis is an enormously important decision for Microsoft, allowing it to offer its well-known and trusted database to an expanded set of customersâ, said Al Gillen, group vice president, enterprise infrastructure, at IDC. âoeBy taking this key product to Linux Microsoft is proving its commitment to being a cross platform solution provider. This gives customers choice and reduces the concerns for lock-in. We would expect this will also accelerate the overall adoption of SQL Server.â

http://blogs.microsoft.com/blo...

I don't think the "Enterprise Edition" has this telemetry. Corporations won't allow it. Neither would DoD.

It does. Contrary to popular belief you can't disable telemetry on Enterprise. You can only set it to a lower level:

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/itpro/windows/manage/configure-windows-telemetry-in-your-organization

Well, the only thing people using W10 are satisfied with is the lack of an install-W10-now nag screen.

You are quite right, but little do they know is the Win10 now phones home every time you fire up the operating system which the average user is not aware off.

Wait I hear you say but I can lock down Win10 so that it does not phone home. My answer is "Are your really sure of that?". As a simple test, you need to be running an operating system that you can definitely be sure that it is not sending packets to miscellaneous sites. I use WireShark since it is very good and it's also free). A Linux distro is probably a safe bet but you can try Windows 7 or earlier if you can be satisfied that any network traffic is minimal and that means no web browsers running. Next, install Win10 via iso which you can get from Microsoft here in a virtual machine. You will need a legitimate license key to activate your copy of Windows 10. Don't forget to do a customized install and lock down all features that you think are intrusive (I actually turned them all off).

The next step is a little more complex since you have to log in to your Win10 virtual machine, open up the Security menu settings and turn off all additional intrusive setting (yes there are quite a few). Now go into the registry (refer to trusted web sites for this) and lock down other intrusive settings and hopefully you are done. Oh you will have to periodically check your settings in case mandatory Microsoft updates have turned some settings back on (for our own good, of course).

Now comes the big test. With your Win10 virtual machine off, start your network analyzer and make sure there is little network activity on your machine. Now start your Win10 virtual machine and if you have a locked down Win 10 you should not see any additional network activity except for router acknowledgment. Next, try logging into your Win10 machine and note down any IP addresses that your virtual machine tries to talk to. If you do get any IP addresses you can do a search for them here . Guess who will own them?

I actually tried the above on my Fedora machine and before I even logged in Win10 was talking to a few sites and guess who owned those sites.

You can skip all the above and actually just run a network analyzer on Win10 but you definitely want to make sure there is little network activity which means no web browsers (especially Edge) running. What is important here is to look at all packets going out and where they are going to.

Even if you decide to persevere with Windows 10 (most will) it is a very good idea to get the ISO install file and keep it on a USB stick in the event you need to recover your Win10 OS for whatever reason. BTW: Don't fire up a network analyzer outside your own home unless you have written permission do so, otherwise you could be accused of "cracking" which is a criminal offense. Please note the difference between "hacking" and "cracking" since so-called IT professional writers have been getting it wrong for well over 20 years.

I always hear "Well I have nothing to hide." said when I mention what Win10 by default does and my reply is "Oh! Why don't you give me or any social media site all your personal details such as Bank, credit card information, sexual preferences etc, after all, you have nothing to hide right!".

For those that think what I said is all too difficult well, there is is a saying "You have nothing to lose but your chains" even if those chains are gold plated. After all, gold plating usually rubs off and all you are left with are rusty chains and by then it's too late.

Ah yes, here comes the Linux apologists trying to deflect any blame from Teh Liuxxxx!!!!!!

That's a fair point, since Microsoft's products are totally immune to SQL injection -- oh wait, no they're not, you knob.

So where is the link to download and install Edge for my Android device? Or my friends iPhone?

I assume the Netflix app for these platforms uses the platforms's native DRM.

My customer's Mac?

Edge for Mac

or my neckbeard brother's Linux box?

Edge for Linux

So where is the link to download and install Edge for my Android device? Or my friends iPhone?

I assume the Netflix app for these platforms uses the platforms's native DRM.

My customer's Mac?

Edge for Mac

or my neckbeard brother's Linux box?

Edge for Linux

KB3168965 is this month's fix for the ever-slowing Win7 update process. Download whichever one applies to you, then reboot and immediately run the installer, before Windows Update has time to fire itself up and hog half your CPU for the next few hours. After rebooting again, Windows Update should do its thing more quickly until they break it again next month.

https://download.microsoft.com...

https://download.microsoft.com...

KB3168965 is this month's fix for the ever-slowing Win7 update process. Download whichever one applies to you, then reboot and immediately run the installer, before Windows Update has time to fire itself up and hog half your CPU for the next few hours. After rebooting again, Windows Update should do its thing more quickly until they break it again next month.

https://download.microsoft.com...

https://download.microsoft.com...

I don't need Windows Update turned on to download this.

Untrue, this is for the actual desktop OS as well.
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.c...

Good question: How does Mozilla Foundation spend $300,000,000 each year?

I understand that Mozilla Foundation now gets most of its money from Microsoft: Microsoft pays Yahoo. Yahoo pays Mozilla Foundation to make "Yahoo search" (actually mostly Microsoft Bing search) the default search engine in Firefox. That means Microsoft gets more money from advertisers when Firefox users do a search.

Firefox is now, apparently, mostly controlled by Microsoft, who is apparently trying to destroy it. In the past, Google paid Mozilla Foundation $300 million each year to make Google search the default search engine in Firefox. Google apparently didn't cause problems in the design of Firefox, even though it paid a shocking amount.

The Thunderbird and SeaMonkey Composer GUIs have been damaged, apparently deliberately. File saves in the newer versions of both ask for a new file name, and don't suggest the last one chosen. The damage was reported several months ago, but has not been fixed. Is that another example of Microsoft's Embrace, Extend, Extinguish? People who feel forced away from Thunderbird may choose Microsoft software to replace it. Is that something Microsoft is trying to accomplish?

In my opinion, dishonest people should not be employed in management. In my opinion, the managers and members of the board of directors of both Microsoft and Mozilla Foundation who approved the dishonesty of sneakily re-configuring Mozilla Foundation products should be immediately fired, and not allowed to have management positions in the future.

The browser situation is very, very ugly.

Google is becoming more and more abusive, and more and more incompetent. Want to download the Google Chrome Browser? The download file name does not give the version number. Even the badly managed Mozilla Foundation puts the Firefox version number into the file name. (But the file names for the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Firefox are the same.)

An earlier version of the Google Chrome browser installs 3 system services. Google has more control over computers than limited rights users. Is Google paid by the U.S. government to include software to control computers?

I would like Slashdot stories about:

1) The fact that most people aren't technically involved enough to know that their Firefox browser search was hijacked by Microsoft, or how to change back to Google search.

2) Bad and sneaky management. One of the many examples: Microsoft will make more money if it arranges that people are discouraged from using the Firefox browser. Another example: Why was this pastebin script removed?

3) Counteracting abuse. We need stories about web sites like this:

Remove spyware in Windows 10.

Disabling Windows 10 Tracking.

Destroy Windows Spying - Windows spying removal tool.

4) How do download a Windows 10 ISO file: Windows 10 Tech Bench Upgrade Program.

I just turned the laptop on.

Well, actually, in System, it says: "Windows 8.1 with Bing" 2013 Microsoft Corporation

Dell Inspiron 3531
Celeron CPU N2830
2.16GHz (dual core)
64-bit

A little Googling says planned mainstream EOL for Windows 8 is 2018 while mainstream EOL for 10 in 2020:

Extended support includes security updates:
Extended EOL for Windows 8 is 2023 while Extended EOL for 10 in 2025:

https://support.microsoft.com/...

I guess I might just stick with Windows 8.1 (security updates till 2023) and turn the laptop into a Linux then if it is still working...

I do not need any Windows 10 "nifty features" ;-)

They have done a few ground breaking things.

1. XBOX Kinect
2. The BING search engine featuring pretty background images.
3. The Developers, Developers, Developers song by Steve Balmer, ex CEO.
4. Visual Studio, Visual Basic, and .NET
5. And who could forget Clippy and Microsoft Bob?
6. The Ribbon Interface.

and let's not forget about Microsoft Movie Maker. but they still didn't include it in Windows 10. :(

So while it is a mixed bag, they are trying and experimenting. Oh and don't forget they own MINECRAFT now!

Process Hacker? How does it compare to Process Explorer?

See https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/dotnet/2016/06/28/the-week-in-net-6282016/

In short, more cross-platform libraries for .NET while Java EE may be stagnating.

As some people have commented on ArsTechnica, if this goes on Oracle risks that more corporate users switch to the .NET ecosystem. Which will not make Java obsolete overnight, but such trends tend to be self-perpetuating.

Windows 10, according to Microsoft, has always had mainstream support ending October 13, 2020, and extended support ending October 14, 2025. Various sites reported this a year ago, but people forgot, I guess.

Since this was the "last windows you'll ever buy", that meant that the next one would have to be a "rental-only" version.

I wouldn't be surprised if 10 includes a time bomb to deactivate at it after it goes out of support.

I get the impression from "Activation in Windows 10" that when you upgrade to Windows 10 or install Windows 10 with a Windows 7 product key during this offer, your digital entitlement is stored with Microsoft. So if you upgrade before the end of July, go back to Windows 7, and then reinstall Windows 10, it will access the same digital entitlement.

Anyone have any advice on the best way to rollout OS X to 1,500 Dell OptiPlex computers?

Quite simple, actually.

1. Fill out Purchase Requisition for 1,500 Mac mini computers. You should be able to use the bottom of the line version, but I would suggest the BTO RAM upgrade option to 8 GB, just because. Other than that, if these are being used for typical front-office applications, you should be absolutely fine. Contact Apple for a Governmental and Large-Purchase Discount.

2. Fill out Purchase Requisition for a volume license for Microsoft Office for Mac. Again, Microsoft is likely to give you a large-purchase Discount. And you will likely be able to install Office from a single Server-based copy.

3. When the hardware and software comes in, take the Dell computers' Hard Drives out and recycle the now-useless carcasses of the Optiplex computers. But don't forget to retain the Monitors, Mice (ewww! Dell mice!) and Keyboards (ewww! Dell keyboards!) for use with the newly-purchased Mac Minis.

4. Unbox and setup the Mac minis, using the existing Monitors, mice and keyboards; setup to join your Domain, then install MS Office. ProTip: If your setups are similar, you can even set your Macs up to NetBoot from a single image. But most non-educational users find that approach a little too restrictive for individual users.

With 1500 machines, I would DEFINITELY put in a Requisition for a copy of the most-excellent Apple Remote Desktop's Admin Console (the "server" side is built into OS X/macOS). It is QUITE nice for managing a googolplex of Macs (and it reportedly can do limited Windows and Linux admin. tasks, too).

5. You're done.

The "free upgrade" window closes at the end of July. https://support.microsoft.com/...

Using old, potentially-vulnerable versions of Windows long after they're no longer supported isn't a real option, of course.

See here: https://support.microsoft.com/...
Windows 7 end of mainstream support: 2015-01-13 (extended is 2020-01-14)
Windwos 8 end of mainstream support: 2018-01-09 (extended is 2023-01-10)

How is that "long after they're no longer supported"?
And yes, I know 2015 is less than now, but it's not long after, and it's still in extended support. For that matter, vista is still in extended support until Q2 2017!

I shouldn't be feeding the trolls at all, but continuing to use those *should* be a valid option. That said, I'd still recommend GNU/Linux or MacOSX.

Discussion thread about this: https://github.com/dotnet/cli/...

Blog post detailing the why, how, and what: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.c...

The telemetry is only in the tools and does not affect your app.

The data collected is anonymous in nature and will be published in an aggregated form

You can opt-out of the telemetry feature by setting an environment variable DOTNET_CLI_TELEMETRY_OPTOUT (e.g. export on OS X/Linux, set on Windows) to true (e.g. “true”, 1). Doing this will stop the collection process from running.

The feature collects the following pieces of data:

• The command being used (e.g. “build”, “restore”)
• The ExitCode of the command
• For test projects, the test runner being used
• The timestamp of invocation
• The framework used
• Whether runtime IDs are present in the “runtimes” node
• The CLI version being used

Except Windows 10 is not a security update: the computer in question had Windows 7, which is still in extended support and will still get "proper" security updates until 2020.

Yes, Windows 7 will get security updates in the form of patches that correct already known defects. Bandaids, in some sense.

Windows 10 has a list of actual security improvements, not just bandaids. Better ASLR and DEP, better support of harddrive encryption, more secure default browser, and other goodies. Microsoft maintains a page of Windows 10 security improvements over Windows 7/8. In theory, Windows 10's features mean a reduced attack surface. Maybe it still has issues but it is certainly more hardened than Windows 7 in general.

I'm sympathetic to both sides. I don't like things being pushed on people; it's their right to decide what to do with their own property, and maybe they have special needs that require an older version of Windows (some mission-critical software is known to have bugs on 10 for example).

But I also know that Microsoft is trying to improve the security of its products and the Internet as a whole by trying to get everyone updated. They don't want Windows 7 to be a repeat of people clinging to Windows XP, clinging to old technologies that are broken when new tech/implementations are available to prevent security problems. Not just security, but also think features: new protocols might be developed that weren't supported in the old OS, and so until majority of the Internet moves on, that protocol can't be rolled out. Many computer users are pretty clueless and need automatic updates for that reason, or they'll never do it themselves, and bring down the security of the Internet as a whole. Of course, it doesn't help that Microsoft's marketing team wants to take advantage of the security updates by also collecting info and all that stuff.

I hope we can find a good balance between the competing interests soon.

"update" != "upgrade". She complained about an upgrade. You Googled why you should update.

Nah. Nobody has done that. Oh, no, never!

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us...
https://edudownloads.azureedge...

(If I ever met a fairy granting me the fulfillment of but *one* wish, that would be to kick one of those lobbiysts in the nuts. Really hard.

They're probably concerned with windows phone's rather high return rate. If they only make them available to people who specifically ask for them, then they can reduce the return rate.

If Microsoft wants to solve that problem, then they should have taken their own UI design advice, which the tile interface completely ignores:

https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.c...

No, it doesn't. There's no VM at all - it's really a re-awakening of the NT subsystem technology. (NT has supported many subsystems from day one; of which Win32 was only one of the subsystems. Over time, the need for the OS/2 or the hardly used POSIX subsystems has petered out, and 64bit was done by moving the 'win32' subsystem to 64 bit rather than two separate subsystems; so the overwhelming majority of NT installations purely run the Win32 subsystem.)

Windows 10 is just, really, the latest version of NT. The difference is usually immaterial; except when occasionally discussing NT Kernel vs Win32; which we're doing here.

There is no Linux kernel, it is actually an emulation of the Linux Kernel ABI (syscall interface). There's no vlinux being loaded here? In fact that page explicitly states, "emulate the Linux kernel."

(Trivia; there are a handful of 'native NT' applications too; that run purely against the NT API. This includes subsystems themselves; the registry (I think); file systems; and most user-visible, AUTOCHK, the program that checks disc integrity at boot; and others.)

BTW, how many more versions of windows will continue to "hide extensions for known file types"?

I don't expect that to change in any future version of Windows. Here's a link to fix your problem.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/show-hide-file-name-extensions

People actually like Microsoft Edge as they got sick of Google Chrome losing its simplicity and lightness and becoming a very large security issue itself thanks to the amazing amount of functionality given to its extensions. Chrome has become a very successful platform for malware, you will notice it once you try to help ordinary end users.

There is a legitimate, non troll thread on MS Insider forums which explains why Microsoft needs to port Edge to the Android if it wants it to succeed. You may need a MS account to view it though.

https://answers.microsoft.com/...

Here is the page in PDF form:
https://dochub.com/ilgazocal/l...

A gang in Microsoft coming from 90s will never allow it to happen though. It is good for open source/free software.

Visual C++ depreciated a number of fundamentally unsafe C library functions, replacing them with _s versions, does some rudimentary analysis of stack and array safety, and a few other things, if you compile with the Security Lifecycle Development checks.

IIRC it all started with Windows 7/Server 2008and some features that *required* IPV6. You didn't really have to be running IPv6 running on your network because MS was enabling tunneling and IPv6 by default so things would work automagically.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
https://technet.microsoft.com/...

You're wrong:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/safely-remove-devices-from-your-computer

Windows (7 at least) allows it and won't complain that you've unplugged your device before you've ejected it. I hate this so much on my Mac though.

Frankly, I don't get why it's just a big deal or discussion topic. We have already solved the exact same problem with animals a long long time ego. Animals are the property of the owner, and the owner is responsible of them and any harm those animals do. Also, parents are responsible for their children and the harm they do. AI will not get more complex or more intelligent than animals or a child anytime soon (maybe in 100 years, assuming exponential advances in technology). So, what's the big deal? The only reason it is made such a big deal is because companies want to avoid responsibilities, and hoping to shift the blame on a non-entity (the software or the robot). Just like software companies already got out of any responsibilities by including an EULA, for example the Windows EULA ---- "10. Binding Arbitration and Class Action Waiver if You Live in (or if a Business Your Principal Place of Business is in) the United States. [...] Microsoft excludes all implied warranties and conditions, including those of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement." https://www.microsoft.com/en-u...

"Telemetry" is a misnomer, since data isn't actually collected remotely. It writes out ETW events, which is a well-documented way to instrument an application for very-low-overhead tracing, using the appropriate tools. You need to explicitly start a tracing session for those events to even be logged, and then of course the log itself is local.

Watson crash dumps give you the state of the system at the point when it died. Sometimes it is sufficient to diagnose the issue, but in many cases, enough state has been lost by then that the root cause is not identifiable, and then you need to have some pre-mortem logs to figure out what the hell happened.

When Windows 10 first was released to the public (via the automatic updates fiasco) I put it on an older laptop to see how it handled older hardware. The laptop had a synaptic-powered touchpad. It would BSoD on a regular basis if I used the touchpad. Yes, it was a bad driver from Synaptic and MS did update the driver, but the point still stands. https://answers.microsoft.com/...

Expect them to resurrect the BSOD any day now...

It never went away - still an integral part of the Windows experience. http://answers.microsoft.com/e...

http://answers.microsoft.com/e...

http://www.computerworld.com/a...

W10, 8.1, and 7. BSOD - suposedly long gone.

I've had zealots declare me a liar while cleaning "There is no BSOD any more!" with great conviction. It stil happens, even as documented on Microsoft pages.

Watch me get marked as a troll for pointing out the truth.

Expect them to resurrect the BSOD any day now...

It never went away - still an integral part of the Windows experience. http://answers.microsoft.com/e...

http://answers.microsoft.com/e...

http://www.computerworld.com/a...

W10, 8.1, and 7. BSOD - suposedly long gone.

I've had zealots declare me a liar while cleaning "There is no BSOD any more!" with great conviction. It stil happens, even as documented on Microsoft pages.

Watch me get marked as a troll for pointing out the truth.

https://support.apple.com/ipho...

Yeah they do not gather telemetry AT ALL.

I would say they are even worse than MS.

Care to post a link to something OTHER THAN the Top of the iPhone Support site?

How about THIS, for example? Simple, no legalese, all layed-out in one easy to read document.

Now, wanna compare that to Microsoft? Let me know when you get done chasing down all Links on that page...

Mainstream support for XP ended in 2009 - 5 years.

Extended support was available until 2014, but that basically means security updates, they keep the online help pages online, and you can pay them if you want their help troubleshooting something.

It looks like Microsoft guarantees security updates for 10 years, but stops other updates after 5 years. Google OTOH doesn't guarantee updates (security or otherwise) after 5 years, but so far has still been providing them. Six of one, a half dozen of the other.

According to the quickstart guide the Windows "nanoserver" docker image is 817MB. The Alpine Linux image is 5MB. Which is more "nano"?

The idiocy around IPv6 is astounding.

IPv6's reputation? Really? Just because you think you understand IPv4 does not qualify you to judge what is relevant in v6 even if 128 bit addresses are hard for you. The issues surrounding IPv6 deployment have nothing to do with "Oh Joe won't understand these long IPs in his home device assignment plan" but most ISP's delaying rollouts.

NAT provides security? Get over it, the CPU overhead alone isn't worth it, something even the likes of you will fathom when you start to hit 100 Mbit or faster connections on ye old home router. Stop using IPv4 hacks. Lookup IPv6 privacy extensions, something Windows enables by default.

The "P" in VPN stands for Private, implying encryption. While it's possible to setup a VPN to use null encryption, it's not the standard case. A tunnel, 6in4 or other, is not a VPN or a proxy while it might seem like that to what appears to be the average Slashdot user today.

Downgrade Netflix to IPv4 in your firewall as suggested by others to work around this, if you're v6 only, yell at Netflix.
An even worse hack is to prefer IPv4 over v6, this is so bad that even MS recommends against disabling IPv6 or changing preferred order.
Linux - /etc/gai.conf
Windows - https://support.microsoft.com/...

"Turn your PC into an Xbox" is nothing more than coded language for "sabotage your perfectly good general-purpose computer by infecting it with even more DRM than it already has." The thinking at Microsoft clearly must be "well, the consumers are resisting our attempts to force them to use the Windows Store, so maybe we can force them to the Xbox Live store instead?"

To get an idea of the type of information Windows 10 will send to Microsoft just select your Security settings and peruse them. By default all the settings are turned on unless you explicitly turn them off and even if you turn them off there are other settings that can only be changed in the Registry and good luck with that.

Sure there are third party tools that can help you lock down your Windows 10 machine but now you have the problem of trusting them. Don't just take my word on this do a simple search with the words "Windows 10" and "Privacy", you will get about 18 million hits in Google (Note: I quoted "Windows 10").

For those people that are using a different version of MS Windows (aka. Win7, Win8.1 and back) well except for Windows 8.1 all other versions of Windows are out of mainstream support. You can find this information here. If you are a gamer on Widows OS's like it or not you will have to upgrade especially if you want to play Microsoft-centric games that support DirectX 12.

I am well aware that Google effectively "phones home" but at least you can turn this off or just don't use their browser. With Windows 10 the "phone home" capability is turned on by default and while it is possible to lock down the OS you or your third party software will most likely miss something and turning off an operating system rather defeats the purpose of the operating system.

Windows 10 is a combination of Win7 and Win8.1 (it has tiles on the start menu). It is pretty (ie. subjective) and it appears to work quite well as I would expect it too. If you like that and you don't mind your computer computing usage being sent to the cloud (ie. Microsoft) then be my guest.

Set the connection as a metered connection. Windows Update will not pull updates over the connection.

Yes it will.
Had the metered setting in Win7 and put in some group policies, but after one of the 'required' updates in March Win10 got downloaded.
It happened 2 times so I disabled windows update, defender, and neutered GWX.

The first time it cost me $45 in overages on my wireless bill since I live in a rural area and have no usable internet.
The second time I cost only $15 dollars.

Since 62% of the homes in the u.s. are in an area with data caps and without high-speed internet, the win10 ploy cost users a lot of money.