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Windows 10: Charms Bar Removed, No Start Screen For Desktops
jones_supa writes Late last week, Microsoft pushed out a new build (9926) of Windows 10 to those of you who are running the Technical Preview. The latest version comes with many new features, some easily accessible, others bubbling under, but two big changes are now certain: the Charms bar is dead, and Start Screen for large devices is no more. Replacing the Charms bar is the Action Center, which has many of the same shortcuts as the Charms bar, but also has a plethora of other information too. Notifications are now bundled into the Action Center and the shortcuts to individual settings are still easily accessible from this window. The Start Screen is no longer present for desktop users, the options for opening it are gone. Continuum is the future, and it has taken over what the Start Screen initiated with Windows 8.
Google Images search for windows 10 continuum brings up images such as this one from this page. It looks like a small chunk of a Windows 8 Start screen and part of a Windows 7 Start menu put together. I'm assuming that the appearance of the new Continuum start menu didn't change when Microsoft removed the option to use full-screen Start screen.
It's not much to look at, sadly, as the new build brings the start menu more in-lines with Windows 8. Also sadly, along with this change they require you to use Cortana in lieu of the normal start menu search. They replaced the regular WPF start menu with a XAML (metro app) start menu that depends on a bunch of metro stuff to work, and removing Cortana breaks it. There's a hidden registry setting to go back to the one found in previous builds, but I suspect Microsoft will remove it like they did the start menu from Windows 8.
Meanwhile I've found that you can presently "de-metro"ify this build with these three powershell commands:
Set-ItemProperty HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced -Name "EnableXamlStartMenu" -Value 0 -Type DWord
Get-AppxProvisionedPackage -Online | Remove-AppxProvisionedPackage -Online
Get-AppxPackage | Remove-AppxPackage
logoff # logs you off so you can log back in to see the effect
(The first two lines are actually one line; should be 4 lines total)
After you do that, it very much resembles the Windows 7 start menu. But again, I am doubtful that Microsoft will leave all of this intact for the final release, much as they did with Windows 8. One can only hope, or perhaps fill it in as a big petition in the feedback app (the code above removes that app, so keep that in mind.)
http://i.imgur.com/880f17Q.png
It was a joke, son. Please try to keep up.
Well, then you'll be very happy. Because after upgrading my Windows 7 laptop to Windows 10, all I noticed is that it's faster and the battery lasts longer and it's harder for stupid people to run untrusted stuff from the internet. Other than that, it's pretty similar.
Peter predicted that you would "deliberately forget" creation 2000 years ago...
It's too slow to be useful and will utterly kill network drives.
Actually, I do have one other annoyance: their seeming insistence that you have some kind of an Windows web account (outlook.com or whatever) in order to run the OS I understand that they're actually doing something kind of neat with that, but it's pretty annoying that they won't let you skip it during the Windows setup.
You need _an_ email account - nothing more. It doesn't have to be windows or live.com or outlook,.com at all - I use a throwaway on one of the domains I own.
If you want to have things shared across multiple devices (I am finding now that I do - and I suspect it will become more of a requirement not less) you need a common identity, and without a corporate domain, windows is simply doing what most websites and services do and using an email address.
Also, you can stop it requiring email account, even in 10 (tech preview) - simply disconnect the network during installation, it will allow local account - if you think about it there isn't much else it _can_ do...
I can't imagine that Microsoft's own developers are running their own development systems on Windows 8.1 - I wouldn't be surprised if it were a dirty secret within Microsoft that application development takes place on Win7 (and maybe WinXP)
I'm a Microsoft developer. I and most of my colleagues develop on Win8.1. I don't know why your imagination is failing you.
My team does much of our work on VMs running recent builds of VS, and those VMs typically run Win8.1 -- presumably because it has a lower memory footprint than Win7.
As an engineer who actually uses win8.1 for my daily work, the only main UI difference with Win7 is the start screen, and that has negligible impact because I launch apps either by clicking on the taskbar or by pressing Win and then typing by keyboard the name of the app. Exactly the same workflow and same number of keystrokes as before.
It's a sneaky option, because it isn't what is labeled. You click the button that says "Create an Account", and then on the next screen there is a button to "Sign in without a Microsoft account" (don't fill in any of the information above the button). Screenshots here: https://superuser.com/question...
1) The file: open, save, close is really designed around a dual floppy paradigm. It makes no sense at all with SSD hardware.
What would make sense? You still open files. You still save them. And you still need to close them (or have some means of releasing locks on them so that they can be moved/copied/backed up/etc).
2) As the number of system services require notification increase integrated notification handling becomes key
This is, essentially, what an idea "Event Viewer" should be doing.
3) As device types become much more variable (ranging from a watch to a 55+" TV) graphics need to switch more readily
You're mistaking form-factor for something that actually matters.
When you're talking about a 55" TV, you're talking about what? SD Widescreen? HD? SHD? 4K? What? Resolution's the issue, not the device itself.
And the answer isn't necessarily "waste more space so stuff remains clickable on high-res or touchscreens"
4) As input devices became more variable applications needed to take better advantage of them
So Microsoft and application developers should be building in NATIVE SUPPORT for my left-right testicle-twitch control unit?
And my retrofitted Atari Paddle controller should be AWESOME in Excel right?
Face it. Standard desktop is 1-3 monitors, a keyboard, directional controller (mouse or mouse simulant (rollerball, touchpad, or joystick)), speakers and a microphone.
If Microsoft wants to give the OPTION for new interfaces, great!
But forcing everyone (including enterprise partners, where retaining costs MONEY), over to a new UI paradigm when there was nothing intrinsically wrong with the old one, is Just Fucking Stupid.
There are basically NO functionality enhancements added to Windows 8 that required such a drastic UI revamp for desktop users. And there was DEFNITELY no reason behind applying that crap to Server 2012!
I've also used Win8 as a tablet interface. It works fairly nicely. But I STILL don't want it replacing my desktop UI!
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!