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Hey good news, SQL Server /is/ available on RHEL. https://blogs.technet.microsof...

As much as I am a vocal Linux supporter, the fact of the matter is that Linux has no comparable turnkey Office, Exchange, and Sharepoint killer. Oh yes, there are comparable applications - but none of them work together in an easily managed way.

Pretty much, this is all about Linux on the client. Red Hat, creators of all things terrible according to /. trolls is on solid, stable revenue growth going from 1.5bn in FY 2015 to 2.1bn in FY 2017 and if the last quarters go as well as the first two then ~2.4bn in FY 2018. Even Microsoft says nearly one in three Azure VMs are Linux. As for the latter part, Linux proponents have tried for 20 years but essentially it boils down to two problems:

1) It's not MS Office/Photoshop etc.
2) Catch 22, no Linux users = no market = no Linux version

I know at least a few users who would never take anything other than Excel. And to be honest that's by itself is okay, the problem is that it's owned by Microsoft so there's no incentive to offer it on Linux.

If Microsoft ported Edge to other major OSes, then I think we'd start to see its usage grow. A lot of us are sick and tired of Firefox and moz://a shitting all over us users, and we don't really want to use Chrome, either, because of Google's involvement. And we sure as fuck won't go anywhere near Opera, now that the Chinese are allegedly involved with it. Pale Moon destroyed its reputation during the AdNauseam debacle. So we're stuck using browsers like those until Microsoft gets Edge ported to other OSes.

Oh really?

Server 2008 R2 is, but IIS 7.5 is not.

Got a reference for that?

Everything I've read from Microsoft is that parts of windows (like IIS) have the same support policy as the rest of windows.

For example, here is a fix for IIS running on win2008, released in 2016: https://technet.microsoft.com/...

And win2008R2 came out after win2008...

Looking at the rest of the site (I am not a web architect but others reading this post who are please reply) show some red flags. Curl shows it uses IIS 7.5 which went EOL in 2015!

Not sure what you're talking about - IIS 7.5 is win2008R2, and Microsoft will be releasing patches for that for many years to come:

https://blogs.technet.microsof...

win2008R2 is out of "mainstream" support, but is in "extended" support.

Not that Equifax & Transunion don't have lots of other flaws...

Server 2008 R2 is, but IIS 7.5 is not.

Looking at the rest of the site (I am not a web architect but others reading this post who are please reply) show some red flags. Curl shows it uses IIS 7.5 which went EOL in 2015!

Not sure what you're talking about - IIS 7.5 is win2008R2, and Microsoft will be releasing patches for that for many years to come:

https://blogs.technet.microsof...

win2008R2 is out of "mainstream" support, but is in "extended" support.

Not that Equifax & Transunion don't have lots of other flaws...

OS dialog impersonation attacks are nothing new. I remember there one that popped on a browser that looked like a Fisher-Price Windows XP dialog. The first time I was on a Mac so it was obvious. The second time, it popped up on an XP machine. But the user had set their colors to the olive green XP colors and not the default blue one or it might be convincing to the user.

RR was a useful tool for me prior to M$ pwning it. It's still included in the SysInternals Suite but it's been dead for a long time. I wonder if it was castrated, too, you never know.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Last release - 1.7 / November 1, 2006; 10 years ago

"It is the same tool that triggered the Sony BMG copy protection rootkit scandal."

At first, not a single AV detected the Sony BMG rootkit. RR was the first to detect it. Does it surprise anyone that this useful freeware program was thrown in the virtual shitter?

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-...

They simply misspelled "Visual Studio". https://cloudblogs.microsoft.c...

More like Microsoft decided to preserve existing OEM code pages for CMD.exe even that meant that unicode characters outside those code pages won't display in a command prompt. It's a design decision.

Note that's it's not like this for GUI applications - they all use UCS-2. Or UTF-16 for Windows 2000 or later.

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-...

Which is means, given a suitable font, your steaming pile of poop emoji U+1F4A9 should display fine in a Win32 GUI app on Windows 2000 or later.

You're probably too young to remember this, or maybe they didn't have computers in Canada back then, but Internet Explorer used to run on classic Mac OS and Mac OS X. And Internet Explorer used to run on Solaris and HP-UX, too. So Microsoft porting its web browsers to Mac and UNIX platforms isn't without precedent.

Maybe you're also ill-informed about how Microsoft has released .NET Core and has ported it to Linux and macOS. And maybe you're also ill-informed about how Microsoft's Visual Studio Core product runs on Linux and macOS. And although you probably don't know what SQL Server is, the reality is that Microsoft has been porting it to Linux, too.

I know it will fuck up your really shallow and pathetic world view, but Microsoft has a long history of porting their software to other platforms. It's quite reasonable to think that Edge could be ported to Linux and macOS at some point. If that did happen, it probably would mean the end of Firefox.

Microsoft doesn't have that responsibility in the PC realm.

Sure they do.

Windows 8 was killed off in its infancy.
Windows 8.1 is a neglected step child.
Windows 10 is an abortion that will only be properly supported if you're on the latest version of Windows 10, which will soon require an annual subscription, and are buying new hardware frequently.

We've already seen MS try to artificially kill off Windows 7 support based on hardware (but in the opposite direction, to force people to move to Windows 10). For Windows 10 it's worse. You can have new hardware but if the OEM (be it Dell or Intel) hasn't paid for the extended support packages, or MS decides they don't want to support certain hardware, you're fucked. Here's some of the specific language on the issue.

All Windows 10 editions are managed via the Windows as a Service (WaaS) model: Updates are cumulative, with each update built upon all of the updates that preceded it. A device needs to install the latest update to remain supported. Updates may include new features, fixes (security and/or non-security), or a combination of both. Not all features in an update will work on all devices. A device may not be able to receive updates if the device hardware is incompatible, lacking current drivers, or otherwise outside of the Original Equipment Manufacturer’s (“OEM”) support period . Update availability may vary, for example by country, region, network connectivity, mobile operator (e.g., for cellular-capable devices), or hardware capabilities (including, e.g., free disk space).

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

Windows 7 support ends in January of 2020. I do not look forward to Windows 10 being the only viable Windows option.

Holy fuck. The idiocy that we see here at /. these days is astounding! Have you ever actually used any sort of a cloud provider?

ISOs are a relic of the 1990s. The recommended best practice today is to upload a preconfigured VM image.

Here are some instructions for doing it using Microsoft's Azure platform.

And here is some information about doing it using Amazon's AWS platform.

The advantages of this approach should be obvious. But since you seem oblivious, let's look at some of them. First of all, you're not stuck using an ISO image as the installation medium. Many Linux distros and even other OSes offer network-aware installations that bring in only the software you actually need. So you can build your VM using only the software you want, and then upload it to your cloud provider. There are other benefits, like being able to configure the VM locally, rather than remotely. You inherently get a local initial backup. It's often quicker to upload a small 100 MB compressed VM image than it is to upload a 800 MB or even 4 GB ISO image.

And a local console is irrelevant in the world of virtual machines and virtual storage. If you have a problem with a VM, you can disconnect its virtual disk, attach the virtual disk to another working VM, apply whatever fixes are necessary, and then reattach the virtual disk to the initial VM. In the extraordinarily rare case that there's a problem with the VM, then you just spin up a new one and destroy the old one, after detaching any attached virtual disks to preserve the data.

You're literally stuck in the 1990s, from what I can see. The world has moved on long ago, but you're still dicking around with primitive approaches. The problems you're facing don't even exist for the rest of us because we moved past them over a decade ago!

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

Since its inception, Microsoft Windows NT was designed to allow environment subsystems like Win32 to present a programmatic interface to applications without being tied to implementation details inside the kernel. This allowed the NT kernel to support POSIX, OS/2 and Win32 subsystems at its initial release.

This is actually an NT subsystem, like the OS/2 subsystem. It's actually really cool engineering. Linux syscalls run through this subsystem and are translated into windows subsystems calls. This meant lots of interesting problems to figure out, like different behavior of fork. When there's no windows syscall to translate to, then the fake linux kernel has to implement the work itself

Quite accurate image recognition for one. Example: https://azure.microsoft.com/en... .

If I have multiple attached keyboards, how can I read input from each one individually?

The keyboard + mouse blows the gamepad away for any sort of precision.

Including for racing games and fighting games? How do you play, for example, 2-player Street Fighter series on a keyboard?

I'll seriously doubt we'll ever see StarCraft (1 or 2) on a console anytime soon

Command & Conquer: Red Alert: Retaliation (how's that for colon cancer) was ported to the original PlayStation, and the original StarCraft was ported to the Nintendo 64.

Everyone gets excited over "exclusives"

Sometimes "exclusives" can include an entire genre. What PC games in the platform-fighting genre are recommended for fans of PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale or Super Smash Bros. series who seek to abandon consoles?

You don't need some bullshit license to release your game on PC.

In what way?

I admit that I may have misunderstood what you meant by "bullshit license" when choosing these examples. If so, could you define it for me?

https://www.microsoft.com/net/...

Microsoft raised the white flag and surrendered to Linux a year or two ago.

Anti-FUD: Test signing mode will allow you to run code signed with a private cert, even a self-signed one made with MakeCert.exe. It puts a test mode watermark in the corner of the screen, but that's okay for Dev use.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-...

Answering the obvious "WTF" question, driver signing has been a "should" since before XP. It's now a must because it's a malware/APT vector.

While administrator access is needed to execute a Bashware attack, this is fairly easily obtained

Really? that sounds like more of a problem than some particular tool....

It's a classic example of a Raymond Chen airtight hatchway attack. In order to carry out an attack with admin privs, you first need to be admin. And then a sign lights up in black on a black background telling you you've done it.

It's not going to help now, but when you get the systems back up have a look at Microsoft LAPS >> https://technet.microsoft.com/...

It lets you set a unique local admin password on your AD joined workstation, store that password in AD, and automatically rotate it regularly. It's a pretty nice piece of kit.

For the machines losing their trust relationship, did you open a case?

Microsoft, Steam, Newegg, Overstock, Dish Network, and Expedia are a few well established companies you probably have heard of that accept Bitcoin as a payment method. You also can donate to the likes of Wikipedia or EFF with Bitcoin. Then you have places like Gyft or even CardCash where you can buy gift cards. There are plenty of places to spend Bitcoin

Sure enough it is serious enough and there is a Windows server patch available as of today. Koodos to Microsoft for getting it out quickly, now if it is applied effectively without updating the language packs by mistake it might make using bluetooth devices on your systems safe again. I doubt that the black hats have figured out how to exploit this hole remotely as of yet. But it would really be a PITA if the exploit could somehow be used over the web to compromise servers.

The Rich Text Format from back in the 20th century does not support macros and there are no known exploits for it in the last 18 years. The only time people run into issues is when a Microsoft Word document (.doc or .docx) is renamed to .rtf and loaded erroneously. But with e-mail the MIME types and integrated viewer and editor would avoid that file extension hole. (that same hole would exist for .txt if MS Office were the default program for that extension, mostly that's just Office being terrible)

Theoretically a safe subset of HTML is possible, but nobody wants to maintain some subset parser with no standard. (standard might be as simple as HTML3.2 without JavaScript or IMG tags to external sites). Perhaps W3C or others should create an HTML profile for safe email.

Myself I'd rather have the sender render and encode a highresolution bitmap file which compresses bilevel images very well allowing for high resolution (like DjVu format). And tag the image with a plain-text section for screen readers, search and OCR to deal with. You get perfect typesetting and good illustration for your email, with far less complexity of dealing with HTML or RTF layout, font differences between systems, etc. (again my example sucks because nobody standardized it)

1.) If the windows phone in question can be "upgraded" to windows phone 10, then upgrade the phone and all the apps, and keep using it as a smartphone, with limited apps. Is not diferent than using Sailfish phones, or bada phones, or BB10 10.3 phones (my case)... Also, remember that microsoft baked a lot of the "enterpisey" functions, like VPN connections right into the OS, no extra apps needed, so, while supported with security patches, they make decent enterprisey phones.

2.) If the windows phone in question is stuck in windows phone 7.5 or 8.x:

a.) Get it to the latest firmware supported. Do so before microsoft and/or the hardware maker elimitates the server infrastructure with said firmware...

b.) You can use it as a cheapo media player with VLC (Or any other software you like) : https://www.microsoft.com/en-u...

c.) You can use it as a cheapo DashCam with Dashcam GTX+ (or any other software you like) : https://www.microsoft.com/en-u...

d.) You can use it as a cheapo minitablet. For kids, for example.

e.) As Freizchutz said, you can use it as a cheapo LoJack.

f.) Put it in a drawer, and use only when your normal smartphone is damaged or out of commision (exploding batteries, water damage, cracked screen, botched OTA update...).

g.) Use it as the smartphone you use to go to places were you can lose your smartphone (clubbing, disco, festival/rave, dangerous parts of town)...

h.) Put it in the glove compartment of your car and use it as an emergency phone.

i.) Use it as a "better than a dumbphone worse than a smartphone" phone. Basicaly, as the phone you give to a person who needs certain smartphone apps (say, facebook, uber, and the like), but who will never ever use or install any other app. You customize it to their liking (using either apps, or pinned mobile websites [uber is a prime example]), and then tell them to not move anything.

j.) In the olden Nokia times, there was a hack were you coul make the phone take a call automaticaly without ringing, vibrating, turning on the screen, or turning on the speaker, just pick up the call and turn on the microphone in the highest sensitivity. It was called the "James Bond Mode". I am certain that an app can be had (or made) to do that.

k.) An app to use the phone to measure cell network parameters.

These are some of the possible uses...

1.) If the windows phone in question can be "upgraded" to windows phone 10, then upgrade the phone and all the apps, and keep using it as a smartphone, with limited apps. Is not diferent than using Sailfish phones, or bada phones, or BB10 10.3 phones (my case)... Also, remember that microsoft baked a lot of the "enterpisey" functions, like VPN connections right into the OS, no extra apps needed, so, while supported with security patches, they make decent enterprisey phones.

2.) If the windows phone in question is stuck in windows phone 7.5 or 8.x:

a.) Get it to the latest firmware supported. Do so before microsoft and/or the hardware maker elimitates the server infrastructure with said firmware...

b.) You can use it as a cheapo media player with VLC (Or any other software you like) : https://www.microsoft.com/en-u...

c.) You can use it as a cheapo DashCam with Dashcam GTX+ (or any other software you like) : https://www.microsoft.com/en-u...

d.) You can use it as a cheapo minitablet. For kids, for example.

e.) As Freizchutz said, you can use it as a cheapo LoJack.

f.) Put it in a drawer, and use only when your normal smartphone is damaged or out of commision (exploding batteries, water damage, cracked screen, botched OTA update...).

g.) Use it as the smartphone you use to go to places were you can lose your smartphone (clubbing, disco, festival/rave, dangerous parts of town)...

h.) Put it in the glove compartment of your car and use it as an emergency phone.

i.) Use it as a "better than a dumbphone worse than a smartphone" phone. Basicaly, as the phone you give to a person who needs certain smartphone apps (say, facebook, uber, and the like), but who will never ever use or install any other app. You customize it to their liking (using either apps, or pinned mobile websites [uber is a prime example]), and then tell them to not move anything.

j.) In the olden Nokia times, there was a hack were you coul make the phone take a call automaticaly without ringing, vibrating, turning on the screen, or turning on the speaker, just pick up the call and turn on the microphone in the highest sensitivity. It was called the "James Bond Mode". I am certain that an app can be had (or made) to do that.

k.) An app to use the phone to measure cell network parameters.

These are some of the possible uses...

Have you actually used Windows recently? Windows 10 is not the Windows 95 you might be thinking of.

In my experience, Windows 10 is much stabler than most modern Linux distros. I couldn't even install Fedora on my system, because the installer would lock up. Debian would install, but several times I did updates and then my system wouldn't boot. Systemd was responsible in one way or another when that happened.

So when I needed to get a new computer, I got one that came with Windows 10. After using Linux for a number of years, I haven't looked back.

The Windows Subsystem for Linux makes it easy to use Linux software on Windows, too. I can also install Linux in a virtual machine if I really need to.

I know, you'll probably falsely accuse me of being a "paid shill" or some nonsense like that. But guess that? I'm not being paid by anyone to express this opinion.

I like what Microsoft has done with Windows 10, and I like how they've made it easy for me to use Linux software if I really need to. It's more than sufficient for my needs as a developer and a system administrator. It gives me the best of both worlds.

You'll probably start bleating on about Windows 10's privacy, but after the Ubuntu/Amazon debacle I don't trust Linux distros to be any more privacy-friendly.

There's a reason why Linux is only at 3% of the desktop market: it's lousy compared to Windows 10!

Native apps work

Only on one operating system. Good luck (legally) running a native app distributed as a .dmg on anything but a Mac.

Nope. Windows runs Linux binaries. FreeBSD runs Linux binaries. Linux, BSD, and macOS run Windows binaries. Windows 10 on ARM runs x86 Win32 binaries.

Then what else runs macOS binaries? I thought this was clear from "distributed as a .dmg", as .dmg is the archive format commonly used to distribute macOS applications outside the Mac App Store.

So until a particular developer can scrape together the budget to produce multi-platform releases, is the solution to test in Windows and in Wine on either FreeBSD or GNU/Linux, distribute Windows binaries, and expect users of GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, and macOS to use Wine? If so, this strategy still misses mobile.

And that's not even mentioning of cross platform native applications. I use the same web browser and email client on all three operating systems I regularly use.

That's because the Chrome and Firefox web browsers and the Thunderbird mail client have enough of a budget for multi-platform development and testing. A hobbyist or startup may not have enough financial resources to launch simultaneously on all native platforms. "Just use Qt" isn't enough; a developer still has to buy the appropriate hardware (namely a Mac with enough RAM to run the other operating systems in VMs) and spend labor on testing on all supported operating systems.

Native apps are also OS-specific. Only on one operating system.

Nope. Windows runs Linux binaries. FreeBSD runs Linux binaries. Linux, BSD, and macOS run Windows binaries. Windows 10 on ARM runs x86 Win32 binaries.

And that's not even mentioning of cross platform native applications. I use the same web browser and email client on all three operating systems I regularly use.

How are native applications only on one operating system again?

Yeah - really, this version of Windows 10 should be literally given away.

HOWEVER, Windows 10 S does support conventional Win32 applications/apps. Via Desktop Bridge (essentially, App-V used to sandbox existing Win32 applications.) Such desktop bridge applications are totally in the Windows Store (notably Inkscape and Evernote are both released to the store using this approach.)

There are constraints on what does work -- this is the testing, and there's a blog at here.

But it appears true Windows 10 S supports only what is in the Store (which is no longer solely UWP apps).

Still, fundamentally, there needs to be a drive for people to do this - making Windows 10 S literally free would help. As would Microsoft showing leadership and eating their own dogfood and releasing all their tools to the App Store as well. (After all, why is Visual Studio not in the store?)

Yeah - really, this version of Windows 10 should be literally given away.

HOWEVER, Windows 10 S does support conventional Win32 applications/apps. Via Desktop Bridge (essentially, App-V used to sandbox existing Win32 applications.) Such desktop bridge applications are totally in the Windows Store (notably Inkscape and Evernote are both released to the store using this approach.)

There are constraints on what does work -- this is the testing, and there's a blog at here.

But it appears true Windows 10 S supports only what is in the Store (which is no longer solely UWP apps).

Still, fundamentally, there needs to be a drive for people to do this - making Windows 10 S literally free would help. As would Microsoft showing leadership and eating their own dogfood and releasing all their tools to the App Store as well. (After all, why is Visual Studio not in the store?)

Yeah - really, this version of Windows 10 should be literally given away.

HOWEVER, Windows 10 S does support conventional Win32 applications/apps. Via Desktop Bridge (essentially, App-V used to sandbox existing Win32 applications.) Such desktop bridge applications are totally in the Windows Store (notably Inkscape and Evernote are both released to the store using this approach.)

There are constraints on what does work -- this is the testing, and there's a blog at here.

But it appears true Windows 10 S supports only what is in the Store (which is no longer solely UWP apps).

Still, fundamentally, there needs to be a drive for people to do this - making Windows 10 S literally free would help. As would Microsoft showing leadership and eating their own dogfood and releasing all their tools to the App Store as well. (After all, why is Visual Studio not in the store?)

I think that the store only supports Metro except for the exceptions

Then I foresee a lot of exceptions. Windows Store supports both Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps, which are the apps formerly associated with the "Metro" name, and Desktop Bridge apps, which use a safe subset of the Win32 API. Thus Win32 apps can be packaged for Windows Store using Desktop Bridge, provided they aren't a web browser, game emulator, programming tool, system utility, companion app for a custom peripheral, or other specialized apps that exceed Desktop Bridge's limits or violate Windows Store Policies.

I think that the store only supports Metro except for the exceptions

Then I foresee a lot of exceptions. Windows Store supports both Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps, which are the apps formerly associated with the "Metro" name, and Desktop Bridge apps, which use a safe subset of the Win32 API. Thus Win32 apps can be packaged for Windows Store using Desktop Bridge, provided they aren't a web browser, game emulator, programming tool, system utility, companion app for a custom peripheral, or other specialized apps that exceed Desktop Bridge's limits or violate Windows Store Policies.

Reminds me of this gem from the Windows Insider forum:
Discussion: Use photos of hamburgers for the hamburger buttons

Edit: Captcha is 'hungry'

People are leaving the Microsoft toolset. [citation needed] Seriously though, .net is hugely popular and powerful. C# is getting really interesting.

This agreement only gives you some rights to use the features included in the software edition you licensed.

REF: http://download.microsoft.com/...

Things are much more complicated than what you both think. A big proportion of the .NET Framework code has been public for a while now. As far as it is a huge reality (different languages, platforms, implementation types, versions, etc.), they divided it in different repositories. The one you are linking, CoreCLR, includes the most basic parts (e.g., contents of mscorlib.dll in Windows), but there are others like CoreFX (newer parts) or Roslyn (compilers and Visual Studio).

The .NET Framework has been systematically evolving and including more and more options and sub-types. Core refers to one of these classifications, although a quite big one: it aims to allow a somehow homogeneous management of the big number of supported platforms/formats. Here you can find a detailed description about it.

See subject: Increase cpu core count @ hardware level (OS can use it for starters ala this in Windows for example) using regedit.exe:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Executive]
"AdditionalCriticalWorkerThreads"=dword:00000008
"AdditionalDelayedWorkerThreads"=dword:00000008

* I.E. - How much extra cores will help BEYOND today's CPUs for the OPERATING SYSTEM itself (in Critical Worker Threads) in juggling threads in itself & for other processes (in Delayed Worker Threads) per https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc615012(v=bts.10).aspx/

Here I use 8 for an Intel Core I7 as shown above (both in 1st a 920 & currently a 4790k, since they're quad core (& hyperthreaded) & it was lesser based on physical core count of earlier systems I had (this setting has been around since, iirc, Win2k (correct me IF I am off/wrong - it's been SO long since then)...

(Those are settings in WINDOWS you can adjust to take advantage of added cores as you upgrade to CPUs w/ more cores, for example).

ANYTHING/EVERYTHING, in theory, gains there alone (less "process scheduler thrashing" in other words) - I don't care so much about applications/programs (they are probably written to their practical limits anyhow as to what threadwork will gain them) but again, MORE about how the OS will utilize them (per the 2 TUNABLE PARAMETERS in the .reg file I note above as a way to REALLY use the extra cores, almost guaranteed - Windows allows it, not sure of other OS like *NIX based ones).

APK

P.S.=> The rest will be done @ compiler level (already good, only depends on HOW you can leverage it OR if internal-to-program itself datasets AND PROCESSES (imo, a Gannt chart illustrates this well) allow for it - not all do) & it's always that way, pretty much - hardware 1st, software catches up (& it does, mostly inefficiently @ 1st, sucking up the CPU cycles/efficiencies gained)... apk

"Hey, why am I on this mailing list? Remove me please."
"Yeah, me too"
"Why am I on this thread?"
"What mailing this?"
"Everyone, stop responding to all"
"Autoreply: Mark G is out of the office until next Tuesday"
"Lol, you first!"
.
.
.
Bedlam!"

Not at all. There are plenty of legitimate uses for function hooking outside of malware. I know for a fact that the Windows driver for my audio card does it. And there are tons of examples of hooking code that predate his examples. Including Microsoft's own Detours: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/project/detours/

Microsoft is the world largest malware supplier.

Hear hear - Although I don't have as much problems with sleep mode as I do with dead wifi or dead camera coming out of sleep mode.

I've been trained to expect that from windows PC manufacturers as MS and the hardware vendors go back and forth. But here, MS produces both the hardware AND the software and you'd think they could at least resolve the problems after 2 years (SP4 user here).

I have a Surface Pro 4 as well.

I noticed early on that Bluetooth and WiFi were enabled during sleep by default and that they would drain the battery. I set these to be turned off during sleep. Now my battery life changes little during sleep mode. I haven't experienced a problem with WiFi not coming back up after sleep but I have seen occasional camera problems.

I also tend to update the drivers as new releases come out. You can find the latest drivers at the link below. Looks like the latest version is from July 24th.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-u...

Really. It is. New machine, battery lasts barely 3-4 hours doing SIMPLE stuff (windows has the worst power management possible). Even in SLEEP MODE it manages to deplete a battery from 100% to 40% overnight (did I mention that windows has the worst power management possible?). Touch interface and pen randomly stop working (requiring a reboot). To top it off, machine fell from 20 cm to a wooden floor and the screen shattered, costing hundreds of $ to repair. MS had always complained that windows was unreliable because they worked with so many brands and models, but they can't even get their own sh*t to work.

Change the settings so that WiFi and Bluetooth are turned off when it is put to sleep. By default these are left on when in sleep mode and drain battery life. Mine lasts 4 to 6 hours no problem.

Also, have you updated the drivers?
https://www.microsoft.com/en-u...

See subject - The OS process scheduler itself can use the extra cores for BIG overall gains ala e.g. in Windows:

Increase cpu core count @ hardware level

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Executive]
"AdditionalCriticalWorkerThreads"=dword:00000008
"AdditionalDelayedWorkerThreads"=dword:00000008

* I.E. - How much extra cores will help BEYOND today's CPUs for the OPERATING SYSTEM itself (in Critical Worker Threads) in juggling threads in itself & for other processes (in Delayed Worker Threads) per https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc615012(v=bts.10).aspx/

Here I use 8 for an Intel Core I7 as shown above (both in 1st a 920 & currently a 4790k, since they're quad core (& hyperthreaded) & it was lesser based on physical core count of earlier systems I had (this setting has been around since, iirc, Win2k (correct me IF I am off/wrong - it's been SO long since then)...

(Those are settings in WINDOWS you can adjust to take advantage of added cores as you upgrade to CPUs w/ more cores, for example).

ANYTHING/EVERYTHING, in theory, gains there alone (less "process scheduler thrashing" in other words) - I don't care so much about applications/programs (they are probably written to their practical limits anyhow as to what threadwork will gain them) but again, MORE about how the OS will utilize them (per the 2 TUNABLE PARAMETERS in the .reg file I note above as a way to REALLY use the extra cores, almost guaranteed - Windows allows it, not sure of other OS like *NIX based ones).

APK

P.S.=> The rest will be done @ compiler level (already good, only depends on HOW you can leverage it OR if internal-to-program itself datasets AND PROCESSES (imo, a Gannt chart illustrates this well) allow for it - not all do) & it's always that way, pretty much - hardware 1st, software catches up (& it does, mostly inefficiently @ 1st, sucking up the CPU cycles/efficiencies gained)... apk

Protect yourself vs. WanaCry easily

From MS - SMB Ports 445/139 (TCP) & 137/138 (UDP) protection via regedit.exe:

Disable SMBv1 on the SERVER, configure the following registry key:

Registry subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters Registry entry: SMB1

REG_DWORD: 0 = Disabled
REG_DWORD: 1 = Enabled

Default: 1 = Enabled

Enable SMBv2 on the SERVER, configure the following registry key:

Registry subkey:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters Registry entry: SMB2

REG_DWORD: 0 = Disabled
REG_DWORD: 1 = Enabled

Default: 1 = Enabled

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Disable SMBv1 on the CLIENT, run the following commands:

sc.exe config lanmanworkstation depend= bowser/mrxsmb20/nsi

sc.exe config mrxsmb10 start= disabled

Enable SMBv2 & SMBv3 on the CLIENT, run the following commands:

sc.exe config lanmanworkstation depend= bowser/mrxsmb10/mrxsmb20/nsi

sc.exe config mrxsmb20 start= auto

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* The above is per https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2696547/how-to-enable-and-disable-smbv1,-smbv2,-and-smbv3-in-windows-vista,-windows-server-2008,-windows-7,-windows-server-2008-r2,-windows-8,-and-windows-server-2012/

(THIS HAS BEEN PATCHED but you can protect this way too & it works...)

Not sure if this works in a "mixed-mode" network though (check MS link) using older Windows (e.g. XP/2000 etc.).

APK

P.S.=> For a SINGLE 'standalone' non-networked PC (no home network/LAN but TCP/IP connected online) turn off Server & Workstation services.

That shuts off any "handles" (port 445) this thing propogates thru + turn off NetBIOS over TCP/IP in your internet connection & uncheck/disable Client for Microsoft Networks + File and Print Sharing. Port 139 & 445 always pop up issues over time. It also makes your packet trains smaller (no encapsulation of LanMan)

I covered all this 11++ yrs. ago in a security guide I wrote for users with a single system & apparently, its advice STILL STANDS THE "TEST OF TIME" https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&biw=&bih=&q=%22HOW+TO+SECURE+Windows+2000%2FXP%22&btnG=Google+Search&gbv=1/ vs. even today's threats like this one.

* This effectively makes this threat a non-issue + saves you CPU cycles/RAM & other I/O wasted on services you don't NEED as a single PC user only... & you don't. They're just wastes with a single PC really. Many services are (covered in guide above based on CIS Tool guidance (who took fixes to their ware from "yours truly" too, no less)) & again, no more encapsulated packet bulk... apk

So I checked the official docs for this, and I came across a rather interesting statement: The WOW64 subsystem does not support kernel-mode programs that are compiled for 32-bit operating systems, and WOW64 is used to execute 32 bit programs on 64 bit Windows XP. If this piece of spyware relies on some kind of kernel functions, perhaps this could explain it? Maybe my idea is stupid however, I confess to not having very much experience with Windows' internals.

Which black, which blue? :-)

Read the actual Microsoft information, it's actually conhost.exe (which is the actual 'console renderer' -- think 'xterm' in linux terms); used by powershell AND cmd (and any other console-mode program).

And it's about redefining the ANSI colours to RGB value mapping (e.g., DARK_BLUE goes from 0,0,128 to 0,55,128. lightening it somewhat to be appealing on today's higher contrast displays.) It's still blue, it's just a different blue.

And it's the default mapping being changed (so you won't see any difference unless you clean-install until they release a management tool. (See, you've been able to customise this mapping since the beginning on Windows NT 3.1; right back at the beginning.)

Surface Pro, yes. Surface Laptop, not so much.

You really ought to learn how to use Google. Changing one word (removing "pro") in the Google search that resulted in info on how to turn secure boot off on a Surface Pro yielded this link, which covers Pro, Book, and Studio. Microsoft themselves are telling people how to turn secure boot off on their Surface devices.

Tell us all again how Microsoft is preventing people from bypassing secure boot.