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Features That Windows 10 Will Deprecate

jones_supa writes: Microsoft announced that a Windows 10 upgrade will be free for users running Windows 7 and 8.1, but there will be a number of features that will no longer work after that upgrade. The features that will no longer work are listed on the official specifications page on Microsoft's website. Some of the deprecated features include: Media Center, out-of-the-box DVD playback and USB floppy support, desktop gadgets, deferring updates (Home edition), old versions of Windows games, and Windows Live Essentials version of OneDrive.

45 of 468 comments (clear)

  1. You Mean...? by MightyMartian · · Score: 5, Informative

    You mean someone uses Windows built-in DVD playback? The first thing I've done on a new computer for the last five or six years is install VLC.

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    1. Re:You Mean...? by TechyImmigrant · · Score: 4, Informative

      I tried to do that two days ago after I de-regioned my PC's DVD player so I could actually play the DVDs I had paid for.

      I could not get the windows 8 to play the DVD. I found no program that could do it. Media player certainly couldn't.

      I downloaded VLC.

      --
      I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
    2. Re:You Mean...? by ihtoit · · Score: 4, Informative

      in most cases you're looking at a firmware upgrade. Go here: http://www.doom9.org/index.htm...

      HTH.

      --
      Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel
    3. Re:You Mean...? by meglon · · Score: 4, Informative

      PC dvd players used to (and still do?) allow you to change the region 5 times before locking it permanently to the last one selected.... so your region 1 dvd player could be changed to play region 2 dvd's (but no longer region 1 ones). Good for a couple movies you want to watch once. VLC is a vastly better choice.

      --
      Fascism: An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. See also: NAZI's
    4. Re:You Mean...? by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 5, Informative

      "VLC doesn't let you play through a region locked DVD. At least it didn't for me and my DVD drive."

      There is a pretty succinct explanation of why you had trouble here.

      --
      Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
    5. Re:You Mean...? by Tailhook · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You mean someone uses Windows built-in DVD playback?

      Yes. The codec in Windows 7 (ultimate) and its integration with Media Player produces smoother playback with less system load than VLC. The difference grows (up to a point) when other activity competes for resources while playing DVD or Blu-ray video.

      You may not realize that, and it may not even occur for your particular collection of hardware. I didn't pick up on it for a long time, but at some point I noticed the difference and since then I've used Media Player. And I'm not some crazy 'phile that obsesses over imaginary minutia; I spend less than average on media gear and I'm not particularly sensitive to minor phenomena. But I can tell the difference between VLC and Media Player, and I can measure the difference in system load.

      So yeah, it kinda sucks that the DVD codec Microsoft provides is going away. Will I care enough to not just use VLC? We'll see. I also use VLC frequently; it's better when coping with with random media and does a lot of tricks WMP won't. I have no problem with VLC at all. But if I can get better results with something else then I just might do that instead.

      --
      Maw! Fire up the karma burner!
    6. Re:You Mean...? by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 4, Interesting

      This is also a fairly niche issue(given that most people shoving DVDs into computers either want them to Just Play, or want to rip the to some format that means never dealing with DVDs); but I'd assume that the MS codec that is being killed is a DirectShow filter; while everything in VLC's bag of tricks is specific to VLC(though some programs do specifically use VLC for various things).

      In practice, the words 'DirectShow Filter Graph' typically mean that somebody just opened an industrial sized box of incomprehensible pain; but the theory is noble: it's Microsoft's stab at a modular media handling system that allows a given application to painlessly 'inherit' codecs, effects, demuxing steps, and assorted other operations provided by other software without having to be built with them in mind. If the application uses DirectShow, and there is a set of filters that will get you from the item you are attempting to play to the format the sink requires, things are supposed to work.

      There are some atrocious complications(shitty 'codec packs' registering themselves as the most preferred codec for every possible situation, even ones they are horribly broken at, seemed to be a favorite), and much of the time the theoretical elegance of the system was excessive to the actual need, while the complexity was always lurking; but there probably are a few users who will find the announcement painful for this reason. VLC, ffmpeg, etc. are very good at what they do; but just as OSX-native applications expect Quicktime to handle media, and anything that isn't a quicktime plugin will remain isolated solely in the one playback program that it came with, Windows native applications expect Directshow, and if some piece of software is demanding a set of directshow filters that can take a DVD and do something useful, all the VLC in the world will not save them. Not VLC's problem; but one of the reasons why some users are going to be unhappy.

    7. Re:You Mean...? by networkzombie · · Score: 5, Interesting

      people still have optical drives on their computers?

      I use my Blu-ray burner all the time. Verbatim 25 GBs for about 30 cents each. Nice backup option compared to thumb drives, plus I don't accidently leave a Blu-ray disc in my pants pocket and have it go through the wash.

    8. Re:You Mean...? by PRMan · · Score: 4, Informative

      You forgot to install AnyDVD. In fact, if you install AnyDVD, you probably don't need to change the firmware either.

      --
      Peter predicted that you would "deliberately forget" creation 2000 years ago...
    9. Re:You Mean...? by Puls4r · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yep. That's how I rate my apps too. I have a gay scale of 1 to 10, scientifically calibrated from 0 (Chuck Norris), to 10 (Richard Simmons). Your post is coming in at a 9. Do you work out to "Sweatin to the Oldies"?

    10. Re:You Mean...? by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 5, Funny

      I could not get the windows 8 to play the DVD. I found no program that could do it. Media player certainly couldn't.

      I downloaded VLC.

      And then what happened? I need closure on this anecdote!

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    11. Re:You Mean...? by TechyImmigrant · · Score: 4, Funny

      I could not get the windows 8 to play the DVD. I found no program that could do it. Media player certainly couldn't.

      I downloaded VLC.

      And then what happened? I need closure on this anecdote!

      I posted on Slashdot

      --
      I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
  2. No media center? Windows 10 is DEAD to me... by bobbied · · Score: 5, Funny

    Nope, not going to migrate up to 10 from 7 anytime soon if it means media center goes away...

    --
    "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
  3. Really, USB floppy? by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's rare that I need to read an old floppy, but if I do it's surely going to be on a USB device - I haven't had a 'real' floppy drive in a decade.

    I guess that driver was a such a bear to maintain. Oh, right, nevermind - I've got a linux box where the driver support is better. Oh, hai, 2015.

    --
    My God, it's Full of Source!
    OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    1. Re:Really, USB floppy? by AMDinator · · Score: 5, Informative

      FTFA: You can still get the driver from Windows Update. It's just not shipping with the driver on the system image.

    2. Re:Really, USB floppy? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      FTFA: You can still get the driver from Windows Update. It's just not shipping with the driver on the system image.

      I'm really grateful for Microsoft saving 75KiB of disk space by removing such basic functionality.

  4. Let's be realistic... by JMJimmy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You mean someone uses Windows built-in DVD playback? The first thing I've done on a new computer for the last five or six years is install VLC.

    First thing is install a new browser, second thing is install adblock plus, the third is to install VLC.

    1. Re:Let's be realistic... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I skip VLC and go straight for CCCP for Media Player Classic.

      Maybe it was a bad couple of years when I stopped using VLC, but I've had little reason to look back after ignoring it.

  5. How to get rid of the free upgrade icon? by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I have a win7 home machine. Suddenly this icon "free upgrade to Win 10" has popped up next to the clock in the notification area. It pops open a window that says, " it is not a trial version. It is the real deal. Click now and we will download and upgrade you to win 10 when it is released". There is no way to dismiss the icon and stop it. I am not going to upgrade, not with the subscription model they seem to be moving to. How do you get rid of this icon? Worried my better half might click ok by mistake thinking it is a good deal.

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    1. Re:How to get rid of the free upgrade icon? by TypoNAM · · Score: 5, Informative

      Here's an article that lists what Windows updates to remove to do just that. It's primarily KB3035583 that's responsible for the nag screen. However there's several other updates that are suspect to be causing performance and spying/'telemetry' that wasn't occurring until fairly recently.

      --
      This space is not for rent.
    2. Re:How to get rid of the free upgrade icon? by YrWrstNtmr · · Score: 5, Informative

      To remove:
      http://microsoft-news.com/how-to-remove-windows-10-upgrade-notification-on-windows-7-and-windows-8/


      And Win 10 will not be a subscription model.

    3. Re:How to get rid of the free upgrade icon? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      http://www.ghacks.net/2015/06/01/how-to-block-the-windows-10-update-notification-in-earlier-versions-of-windows/

      1.Tap on the Windows-key on the keyboard, type programs and features, and hit enter. This opens the list of software installed on the system.
      2.Switch to "view installed updates" on the left side of the window.
      3.If you are using Windows 7, locate the following updates: 3035583, 2952664, 3021917
      4.If you are using Windows 8, locate the following updates: 3035583, 2976978
      5.Right-click one update after the other and select uninstall from the context menu.
      6.Select Restart Later when the prompt appears and remove all updates first from the system.
      7.Once done, restart the computer to complete the process.

      To block these updates, do the following:
      1.Tap on the Windows-key, type Windows Update, and hit enter.
      2.This should open the Windows Update dialog.
      3.Select "check for updates" to find new updates to install on the system. Windows should find the updates listed above again.
      4.Click on the "important update is available" link.
      5.Right-click each of the listed updates above that are listed on the page and select hide update from the context menu.
      6.This blocks the update from being installed on the system.

    4. Re:How to get rid of the free upgrade icon? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      not with the subscription model they seem to be moving to

      Its amazing that people are still confused about the free upgrade. They are not going to charge you next year when the free upgrade offer ends. They aren't going be moving windows 10 to a sub model. You'll still be buying oem or retail copies of windows 10 when you are building a new machine - you can do so RIGHT NOW on newegg if you really wanted to. They've explicitly stated this.

    5. Re:How to get rid of the free upgrade icon? by zephvark · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Seriously people are super paranoid that Microsoft is being evil by releasing a new version of their OS that is substantially better than any previous version for a free upgrade. There is no trick here. Microsoft is sick of supporting old versions and wants people to get on the evergreen windows model.

      Perhaps Microsoft should create a version of Windows that people actually want to upgrade to, then? Personally, I loathe the "modern" /cough Windows 3 flat icons, and they keep dropping features that I actually use, and always, always re-arranging the furniture just so something Looks Different. Flat icons are just another ridiculous "change for the sake of change": flat, 3D this way, 3D that way, oh WTH, let's go back to flat again, we can use 3D icons in Windows 10... I mean, Windows 11, because Windows 9 is Windows 10, because, seriously... Microsoft.

      I'm fine with Windows 7, thanks. I'm on a Mac/Windows machine, and I dropped using OSX because of those damned flat icons and some intrusive "you have mail!"-type notices that can't be permanently shut off. Of course, if something goes wrong on a Mac, you're not going to find useful tech support, either. If something goes wrong on Windows, in the odd event I can't fix it offhand, I'll just have to pick from the first 500,000 googled solutions.

  6. What an upgrade! by RazorJ_2000 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Upgrade? Sounds like a downgrade to me.
    Seriously, what's the benefit to upgrade to a downgraded OS? Sounds like XP to Vista all over again.

    --
    pi=sigma{n:0-infinity}[(1/16)^n][(4/(8n+1))-(2/(8n +4))-(1/ (8n+5))-(1/(8n+6))]
  7. Re:No media center? Windows 10 is DEAD to me... by YrWrstNtmr · · Score: 3, Informative

    Direct from MS:
    "Windows Media Center is not part of Windows 10 and won’t be available after upgrading to Windows 10. If you use Windows Media Center, we will alert you during upgrade that Windows Media Center is not available on Windows 10. We know that some users use Windows Media Center to play DVDs, and we are providing a free DVD playback app in Windows 10 for Windows Media Center users."

    https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-10-faq

  8. deferring updates (Home edition) by phorm · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That one kinda sucks. As it is it's a bit of a pisser when I'm in the middle of something, have deferred an update, and the next deferral times out causing it to reboot my PC on me....

    1. Re:deferring updates (Home edition) by WryCoder · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What do you mean, "my PC"?

  9. Re:No media center? Windows 10 is DEAD to me... by dslbrian · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I really don't get their stance on WMC. I have two media PCs running Win7 essentially only for WMC (more specifically the Live TV + free scheduling it has, vs Kodi/XBMC). Lacking WMC there is really no reason I wouldn't run Linux and kick them out. If they are trying to increase their presence on HTPCs in the living room it makes no sense. I would consider Roku and such but I need web browser capability.

    There was some bizarre comment about people only using it for DVD playback. I don't know where they got that feedback from. I know several people who have WMC setups only for it's added Live TV PVR capability.

  10. Not quite dead. by westlake · · Score: 3, Informative

    Some of the deprecated features include: Media Center, out-of-the-box DVD playback and USB floppy support, desktop gadgets, deferring updates (Home edition), old versions of Windows games, and Windows Live Essentials version of OneDrive.

    If you have a USB floppy drive, you will need to download the latest driver from Windows Update or from the manufacturer's website.

    If you have Windows Live Essentials installed on your system, the OneDrive application is removed and replaced with the inbox version of OneDrive.

    Windows 10 Specifications: Feature deprecation section

    In a separate FAQ, Microsoft says it is ''providing a free DVD playback app in Windows 10 for Windows Media Center users.''

    Here Are the Features Windows 10 Will Remove When You Upgrade, Windows 10 Q&A: Will Windows Media Center be available in Windows 10?

  11. One huge reason by ArchieBunker · · Score: 4, Informative

    VLC has a real audio compressor plugin. No longer am I subjected to whisper quiet dialog and action scenes that cause hearing damage. No compression is not the same as normalizing either. Loud passages are toned down and quiet ones are amplified, like how movies used to be.

    --
    Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
    1. Re:One huge reason by ArchieBunker · · Score: 5, Informative

      Its already part of VLC. Click on Tools > Effects and filters > Compressor tab.

      --
      Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
    2. Re:One huge reason by JMJimmy · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Any recommended settings? It's not exactly intuitive for a non-audio guy.

    3. Re:One huge reason by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      It's a bit old but lifehacker had a story on it a while ago:

      http://lifehacker.com/5920290/how-to-fix-movies-that-are-really-quiet-then-really-loud

  12. Solitaire by tverbeek · · Score: 5, Funny

    I know a whole bunch of people who are going to be upset about Solitaire going away. I work for a retirement community, and the second-most-used application on the computers in the activity center (after "The Internet") is Solitaire. We're going to have to install a substitute on these machines (or their replacements) when we switch to WinX, or we'll never hear the end of the complaints.

    --
    http://alternatives.rzero.com/
  13. In Soviet Windows by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    CCCP Media plays you!

  14. What do we get? by WaffleMonster · · Score: 3, Insightful

    What does someone upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 10 get out of the deal? A different UX and minor performance improvements only noticeable on low memory systems? Is there a list of substantive reasons for users to care other than 7 10?

    I go through Microsoft's website and google.. all I see is BS about a new browser, Cortana and Xbox. Is there a list of useful changes somewhere?

    1. Re:What do we get? by PRMan · · Score: 3, Insightful

      3 more years of support?

      --
      Peter predicted that you would "deliberately forget" creation 2000 years ago...
  15. Icon Madness by westlake · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Windows 1.0 was released in October of 1985. Twelve years before the launch of Slashdot. In 2015, the geek may fret and fume, but Windows remains a force to be reckoned with.

    If the geek wants to "talk tech" on Slashdot, that is a fine with me. But the stained glass icon isn't an invitation to talk sensibly about Windows --- it is an invitation to rant and rave, and that wastes time.

  16. Backups by Brianwa · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If 10 is anything like 8.1, the upgrade will silently stop your backups and remove your ability to access any backups made in the Windows 7 backup utility. I discovered that one the fun way.

  17. Re:It's just weird. WHY? by damnbunni · · Score: 3, Informative

    Money saving. DVD playback software has to be licensed, and that's an extra cost.

    Since not many people used the built in software for it, MS stopped including it in 8. Most PCs that ship with DVD players come with PowerDVD or some other third party DVD player tool anyway.

    Solitaire is now part of a free download from the Windows store, and has been since Windows 8. Putting it there gets people to create a Windows account and check out the store.

    I'll be updating to 10 just to get DirectX 12. Games aren't using it yet, but they will be.

  18. Re:Loud then quit by Zaelath · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ^ that's complete bullshit.

    Surround is tuned for theatres, and you don't care that it's loud when the music/explosions are going off and quiet for dialogue because you don't have a child sleeping in the next room in the theatre. It's not that the music/explosions are painfully loud at home, it's that they're still too damn loud for night viewing with children/neighbours/etc.

  19. Re:Loud then quit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    You're right. They're not sleeping in the next room. They're wide awake and screaming in the theater.

  20. GWX is fucking shady as shit M$!!!! by n3r0.m4dski11z · · Score: 3, Interesting

    That GWX is so shady, I will now never upgrade to windows 10, whereas i had no opinion on it before. Can you imagine that they thought they could get away with abusing the trust of windows update like this? Well it just got windows update turned off on all my machines.microsoft. theres no way in hell im trusting that anymore. Fucking advertising bullshit. we aren't god damn mac users who are used to having things thrust down our throats like this. I wait at least a year before upgrading to ANY os... when SP2 is released is a good rule of thumb with MS.

    If they are such dicks to use windows update this way, can you imagine what kind of shit they would pull with 10? not to mention how much of a bait and switch offering a free update like this is. The wording is so fucking scammy i felt like i had been violated. They snuck in the back door!!!
    Fuck you and your unremovable tray icons!!! deny security on GWX folder, suck it SYSTEM, suck it trustedinstaller!!!! they even hid a bunch of scheduled tasks just like a god damn spyware would do!!!

    --
    -
  21. Re:Forced Updates? by gnupun · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This is what I warned about before: major OS upgrades that turn your PC/mobile device into a slow, fat pig. For example, Google Android forces you to upgrade your OS (say from KitKat to Lollipop with nag screens every 5-10 minutes if you refuse to upgrade). New OSes are designed for new, faster hardware. If you install a new OS update on an older machine, it becomes very slow and unusable.

    This is the same (forced obsolescence) strategy used by OSX, iOS, Android and now Win10. You don't have much choice against this strategy:
    a) You install a major OS update: your machine becomes very slow and unusable although you can still install the latest apps.
    b) You refuse to install the OS update: On OS X/iOS you can't install new apps because they are compiled for the latest OS update. On Android you get a nag screen every few minutes to "upgrade" your OS.
    c) You give up and sell/throw away your perfectly working machine to purchase a new one so you can run the latest OS and therefore the latest apps.

    As you can see, we need to protest against deprecating deferred updates. Non-deferred updates = forced obsolescence. We need to separate bug fix upgrades from major OS (feature) upgrades.