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Windows 10 Will Reserve 7GB of Your Computer's Storage in its Next Major Release So That Big Updates Don't Fail (zdnet.com)

In the next major release of Windows 10, Microsoft will reserve 7GB of your device's storage to resolve a Windows 10 bug thrown up by Windows Update not checking whether a PC has enough storage space before launching after big updates. From a report: As Microsoft warned ahead of the Windows 10 October 2018 Update, systems that don't have enough space to install Microsoft's 'quality updates' or new versions of the OS will see an error message explaining there is insufficient storage space. That happens because Windows doesn't check if a device has enough space before initializing. Microsoft's current solution is for users to manually delete unnecessary temporary files and temporarily move important files like photos and videos to external storage devices to make enough space for the update. This problem is more acute for devices with little storage capacity, such as many of the cheap 32GB flash-drive PCs on the market today.

58 of 368 comments (clear)

  1. No they won't by 110010001000 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Because none of my computers run Windows 10. If you aren't running Linux in 2019, you aren't paying attention.

    1. Re:No they won't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I'm Windows 7/Linux mix until Windows 7 runs out of support. After that is 100% Linux.

    2. Re:No they won't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I spend 30% of my time maintaining Windows machines.

    3. Re:No they won't by 110010001000 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Data collection. Spying. Owning you.

    4. Re:No they won't by jellomizer · · Score: 3, Insightful

      True you are not paying attention, because things actually work so smoothly in Windows 10, that you don't need to focus on keeping your OS running.

      Ok, I am being a bit sarcastic here. But Windows 10, doesn't suck that much, and Linux isn't that much better of an OS. I have a system with rather new hardware (With hardware designed for Linux, from System 76), and it duel boots Windows and Linux. And oddly enough windows runs faster and smoother for most application then Linux does.

      No Linux runs well on the system, and Windows 10 has its issues too. But it isn't like a Windows 10 user is so far behind in 2019 a Linux user.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    5. Re:No they won't by ArchieBunker · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Can you point me towards the Linux builds for SolidWorks and Altium Designer as I need to get some work done. Also video editing is a hobby so how about Adobe Premiere?

      --
      Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
    6. Re:No they won't by fbobraga · · Score: 2

      Second-rate, third-rate FOSS that just makes productivity other than software deving a pain to use?

      More users / popularity will fix this in near future (today, several pro-software have native linux support - I worked in http://serpro.gov.br/ : most of the Desktops are linux-only [Ubuntu, today...], and the tech support people love it! [very few idiotic problems, like virus spread...])

    7. Re:No they won't by ArchieBunker · · Score: 2

      Pretty sure Ubuntu is sending your data to Amazon...

      --
      Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
    8. Re:No they won't by demon+driver · · Score: 5, Insightful

      There are valid reasons against Linux, but more maintenance time or hassle isn't one of them. On the contrary, with any popular distribution all of which employ mature, well-engineered package management tools, Linux system and application maintenance is at least by one order of magnitude easier and significantly less time-consuming to boot (pun not intended)...

    9. Re:No they won't by kramer2718 · · Score: 2

      I paid quite a bit for my Mac, but it's worth it...

      It's a Unix. It works well out of the box but I can configure it almost as well as any Linux.

      Not a gamer, so no reason for me to use Windows.

      But yeah, fuck Windows. If I couldn't afford a Mac, I'd sure as shit be running Linux.

    10. Re: No they won't by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 4, Insightful

      We get it. You've never used Linux and you like to parrot talking points from last century. Kindly do it somewhere else where you have a chance of not being recognized case a complete idiot though. Here most of us know how truly ridiculous your claims are.

      --
      Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
    11. Re:No they won't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I spend 30% of my time maintaining Windows machines.

      So do I. And by "maintaining" I mean continually uninstalling stupid crap (especially troubling is how much of it is 3rd party software like Candy Crush) that windows keeps installing on my user's machines, despite being told not to in Group Policy. Or re-assigning the default browser away from Edge, and back to IE. (I know IE sucks, but the primary software that is used by nearly every employee for 80+% of their job requires IE to be the default browser), or continually turning off all of the data collection because it all gets turned on after every software update...

      Windows 10 is the biggest piece of malware I deal with on a day to day basis.

    12. Re: No they won't by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 3, Informative

      It is far easier to keep a Linux system working smoothly than a Windows system. I installed and configured a Linux system for my mother a decade ago. I haven't touched it since and it continues to work perfectly. That's literally 0% maintenance effort. Since you seem to be bad at math I'll put it on more "touchy / feely" terms you can understand ... You are a fucking clueless moron with no idea what you are talking about.

      --
      Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
    13. Re:No they won't by tepples · · Score: 2

      Then let me rephrase it to sound less like "personal problems". If you were hired into a company that had standardized on SolidWorks, and it were your job to lead a company-wide transition to a replacement application that is compatible with GNU/Linux, which application would you choose to replace SolidWorks?

    14. Re:No they won't by bobbied · · Score: 2

      I'm running Windows Media Center with my cable card network tuner on Windows 7 until the guide updates stop, then I will likely just convert to another guide provider until I cannot buy Xbox 360's anymore or the hardware takes a dump.... At which point I will review my options and likely end up with some streaming service option and drop cable totally.

      But that's not because I don't want to run Linux.. Only that I don't have any other option but WMC as it's the only option for protected content unless I want to spend an arm and a leg on a TiVo DVR setup and pay the monthly fees.

      --
      "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
    15. Re:No they won't by BringsApples · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Microsoft model:
      buy the (correct) OS
      buy the user licenses
      buy the access licenses
      buy the software
      buy the user rights to use software
      find ways to get what you need done, done.

      Linux model:
      download the OS
      install/setup/configure the OS
      find ways to get what you need done, done.

      Functionality of each is irrefutable, but one is a real pain in the ass, the other is just irritating at times.

      --
      Politics; n. : A religion whereby man is god.
    16. Re:No they won't by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Informative

      I find Windows 10 needs to restart a hell of a lot. And it forces the restarts too. It will wake the machine up in the middle of the night just to restart without asking.

      While it's generally pretty good the lack of control over updates is immensely frustrating.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    17. Re: No they won't by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Really? Have you missed the numerous stories of Windows 10 updates doing truly horrendous things to people's systems, including but not limited to losing data and causing them to fail to boot at all? How about having your system's settings reset so that you are never truly sure that it is set up the way you thought it was? It is absurd to suggest that Windows 10 is easier to maintain then Windows, since you literally have no control over it, having relinquished all control to Microsoft.

      --
      Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
    18. Re:No they won't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      In the "near future", huh? Only been hearing that for almost 20 years.

    19. Re:No they won't by drinkypoo · · Score: 2

      SolidWorks dominates the low-end features modeling space, it's commonly used in modeling objects to be machined (which is what it's for) or 3d printed (it's good for that, too.) It also does the machining process, which is to say, it generates the code that's sent to the CNC machine. And there is nothing which is even vaguely close to it on Linux, and it does not work well under WINE. It's unfortunate that the developers haven't written a decently compliant application (those tend to work under WINE) but it's still something of a standard.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    20. Re:No they won't by I-am-a-Banana · · Score: 2, Interesting

      This is 100% what is wrong with the Linux scene. Every year for as long as I can remember I hear 20xx is the year of the Linux desktop. But the Linux desktop is never that close....

    21. Re:No they won't by hackertourist · · Score: 2

      I don't know if I'd characterize Solidworks as anything resembling 'low-end'. Maybe compared to CATIA...

    22. Re:No they won't by Shotgun · · Score: 2

      If by work you mean spend 20% of your time waiting for Windows to finish updating, then yeah, Windows is for you.

      Really, WTF is in those updates that would require 7Gb?!!

      --
      Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
      Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
    23. Re: No they won't by kenh · · Score: 3, Interesting

      So your mother is running a 10 year-old browser on a 10 year-old Linux kernel, on a 10 year-old PC?

      --
      Ken
    24. Re: No they won't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Worst yo-mamma joke. Ever.

    25. Re:No they won't by Immerman · · Score: 4, Insightful

      And so it has been. The Linux desktop has been thriving, it just hasn't gained dramatic market share, persistently hovering around the same tiny fraction as MacOS, for reasons that have very little to do with the Linux desktop itself.

      --
      --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
    26. Re:No they won't by 110010001000 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You don't know what they are sending! The system, the source code, is CLOSED. It could be sending a log of every website you ever visited, every keystroke, every document you have. You have no idea. And the data they collect can change at any time.

    27. Re:No they won't by Ormy · · Score: 2

      A few years after win7 stops supporting most new games it'll be dead to a lot of diehard users. Hopefully games will run on linux by then.

    28. Re: No they won't by djbckr · · Score: 2

      I don't have mod points, so I'll just add a "me too" post: An old family friend got fleeced by one of those "Microsoft Support" scams and not only did he lose some money, his computer was pretty much useless. He was otherwise frugal and didn't want to get a new computer, but his computer took - not kidding - five minutes to boot up to be usable. After discussing with him his habits, I put Linux Mint on his computer. It's a slow computer, so it does take a minute for it to boot up, but it runs flawlessly and has for years. He's happy as can be and is able to talk to his kids/grandkids regularly now.

    29. Re:No they won't by Immerman · · Score: 2

      Yes, if you need to use specific software then Linux may not be for you - but MacOS is in the same boat, and nobody mocks "the year of the MacOS desktop"

      When you get right down to it, most people don't actually need much software to get their job done. A web browser, a word processor, maybe a spreadsheet and a smattering of other job-specific programs. Linux has all of that, just maybe not the exact same software you're used to using on Windows.

      But that has nothing to do with Linux, or MacOS. That has to do with a certain company engaging in decades of often illegal abuse of their monopolistic position. If you insist on supporting their monopoly, then no - Linux is not for you.

      --
      --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
    30. Re:No they won't by harperska · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Linux model:
      download the OS
      install/setup/configure the OS
      Configure the OS
      Configure the OS again
      Break something
      Google which config file might control the weird behavior you are seeing.
      Search message boards for a possible solution
      Wade through countless 'me too' posts to see if anybody actually has a fix
      Try a solution someone gave for a problem that looks like it might be similar to yours
      Try a different proposed solution because the first one only made things worse
      Break something else
      Give up
      Reinstall the OS
      Repeat

    31. Re:No they won't by Per+Wigren · · Score: 2

      the primary software that is used by nearly every employee for 80+% of their job requires IE to be the default browser

      I would quit if I were you.

      --
      My other account has a 3-digit UID.
    32. Re:No they won't by hairyfeet · · Score: 2

      Uhhhh you DO know that it takes less than 30 seconds to turn off the crapware in 10...right? They even have free programs like "Shutup10" that will do it for you, its literally "clicky clicky" simple.

      Personally I'm sticking with 8.1 Pro plus ClassicShell, not because I can't take the 30 seconds to go "clicky clicky" on Win 10 but because 8.1 with ClassicShell gives me the nice UI of 7 with the speed and better SSD support of 10 with updates that are rock solid instead of alpha quality. Everything is fast, everything just works, and the only packets leaving my PC other than the ones I personally send are things I have authorized like my AV and program updates.

      You should really try it, purrs like a kitten and has been the most hassle free OS I've seen since XP X64 aka Win2K3 Workstation, just a great OS for getting your work done with the least amount of BS.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
  2. is that a way to disable updates? by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 4, Interesting

    by manually ensuring that you don't have that 'required space' ?

    I bet there will be nag dialogs endlessly until you 'let them' do an update to your system.

    man, I hate win10. we are forced to use it at work but thankfully I can do 99% of my daily stuff with linux. those who must use win10 - I feel sorry for you. its not a fun experience having to be the 'operator' of a computer you don't really own anymore..

    --

    --
    "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
    1. Re:is that a way to disable updates? by ctilsie242 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It is funny how Windows 10 has differed from Windows 7 as time has gone by. For example, Windows 7 ran OK on a regular hard drive. Windows 10 -needs- a SSD to be able to function. The minimum size has grown as well, where W10 pretty much needs 120+ gigs of space with all the Market and user installed shoverware, and that's before adding relevant apps.

      Maybe if Microsoft made this a whole new OS release, this would be understandable. They could set requirements where they could have a hidden partition with 20+ gigs tucked away for both recovery and updates. This also would make a reset/reinstall easier, as the entire C: filesystem could entirely be blown away, not just deleting c:\Users, program directories, and the Windows directory, ensuring that no malware is on the new filesystem. In addition when the machine is reinstalled or refreshed, all updates can be copied, so the machine doesn't need to go through multiple Windows update and reboot cycles to work.

      Best of all would be having Windows be entirely hypervisor based, so a Windows desktop would be a VM, and a "reinstall" would just be starting, loading and provisioning a VM image. No fretting with bare metal.

  3. Yippee! by petes_PoV · · Score: 4, Funny
    So by the simple act of ensuring there is less than 7GB free for Microsoft to reserve, I can put a stop to all these annoying and inconvenient updates that keep getting in the way?

    Great news to start the year.

    --
    politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
  4. Trying to create a more stupid user by brxndxn · · Score: 4, Insightful

    As a computer enthusiast since the DOS days, I so much hate Microsoft's Windows 10 philosophy. Every move they make is one where Microsoft attempts to chip away at a user's ownership of his or her computer. Microsoft creates a new problem by taking away a user setting - like deciding exactly when he or she has the time to update the computer or their work is sufficiently at a stopping point to risk an update. In doing so, Microsoft introduces a whole host of new issues such as temporarily bricking users' devices, rebooting in the middle of their work, running the hard disk full, or causing updates to run when a user really needs to get out of the office. Then, in order to fix the problem they created, they take more control away from the user and allocate unusable user space just for Microsoft to have extra space for more bloated updates.

    The paranoid part of me doesn't believe Microsoft is doing this to fix the update problem at all. Instead, they're allocating 'hidden space' on the drive to capture user sensitive data and store it for later uploads to Microsoft when the laptop/desktop is connected to the Internet.

    --
    --- We need more Ron Paul!
    1. Re:Trying to create a more stupid user by ITRambo · · Score: 2

      It seems like Microsoft is unwilling to fix lame code let into the OS because they fired 10k QA engineers to save money. Instead, they're patching the patches that were created with useless crap was put into Windows 10. Windows 10 is becoming as unreliable as Windows 3.1.

    2. Re:Trying to create a more stupid user by Narcocide · · Score: 2

      The paranoid part of me doesn't believe Microsoft is doing this to fix the update problem at all. Instead, they're allocating 'hidden space' on the drive to capture user sensitive data and store it for later uploads to Microsoft...

      You're on the right track but there's no reason it has to be this clever of a reason. Most likely they're just reserving 7GB of free space because they've targeted that as the demographic most likely to be prodded into buying a whole new machine when Windows Update soaks up 100% of the free 6GB on their harddrive for a 7GB update that would brick their computer anyway.

  5. ms incompetence by NikeHerc · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is a perfect example of why I have been ms-free since July 4th, 2018, and a big shout-out to Ubuntu for helping me be ms-free.

    If a company as big as ms can't check for free space prior to an o.s. update, they don't deserve to be in the business of providing operating systems.

    --
    Circle the wagons and fire inward. Entropy increases without bounds.
    1. Re:ms incompetence by fbobraga · · Score: 2

      I'm in a Windows-free (except for desktops on some works...) since 2007 - I'm an ex http://serpro.gov.br/ worker: even the desktop on my work there was Ubuntu-based!

  6. 32gb flash drives? by citylivin · · Score: 4, Interesting

    With SSD's being around $100 for a samsung 256gb drive, i doubt anyone is deploying less than 128 these days.

    Who the hell would ship a computer with a 32gb ssd? windows itself needs that much to even install! much less run. 128gb has been too small for a few years now!

    There are also some tricks you can use to free up space. One i learned recently will clean up the stupid windows installer directory pretty well. i personally freed up 40gb on my work machine.

    Download the windows installer cleanup utility, then run MSIZAP.exe G! to clean the directory

    If you get an error, delete all the registry keys under:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData

    reference: http://wyang0.blogspot.com/201...

    --
    As a potential lottery winner, I totally support tax cuts for the wealthy
    1. Re:32gb flash drives? by Blue23 · · Score: 2

      Who the hell would ship a computer with a 32gb ssd? windows itself needs that much to even install! much less run. 128gb has been too small for a few years now!

      I won a Win10 Trekstor Primebook, little notebook with the specs of a wimpy chromebook or tablet. 32GB ssd, 4GB RAM. It don't want to have to invest more than the thing is worth to me in order to keep up with Windows updates.

      Had to connect a USD drive to get the 2018 April update on. No way there's 7GB free space on it even after an aggressive cleaning.

      --
      LITTLE GIRL: But which cookie will you eat FIRST? C. MONSTER: Me think you have misconception of cookie-eating process.
    2. Re:32gb flash drives? by Deathlizard · · Score: 2

      If I remember correctly, Microsoft had this OEM deal on Windows 10 where the OS was free if the hardware met certain minimum specs. I believe that 32GB of HDD space was one of the requirements. Because of this, a ton of desktops and laptops were made with this spec in order to maximize profits. That's why there's so many of them out there.

      If this is true then its a problem of their own doing.

    3. Re:32gb flash drives? by mejustme · · Score: 2

      With SSD's being around $100 for a samsung 256gb drive, i doubt anyone is deploying less than 128 these days.

      Bought my teenage son a DELL 3-in-1 laptop in October 2018. Came with a 32 GB SSD.

      After he turned it on, Windows attempted to download some updates. Filled up the hard drive. We spent a couple of days trying to fix it, removing default installed apps, rolling back updates. In the end it was a lost cause. I finally convinced him to let me install Ubuntu on it, which makes me happier since all my home computers run Ubuntu.

      Now most of the disk is free versus having zero disk space available. I found it incredible to see Windows take up 100% of a 32 GB drive and then complain it had run out of room.

  7. Finally...! by ddtmm · · Score: 2

    A way to prevent automatic updates.

  8. Will this 7GB be added to disk requirement specs? by QuietLagoon · · Score: 2

    Or will it be something that the consumer "finds out" after starting to use Windows 10?

  9. Just delete something temporal by Gabest · · Score: 2

    Like hiberfil.sys or empty the browser cache. If you can't find 7GB, you are doing it wrong.

  10. Re:Flash-drive PC's? by nctritech · · Score: 2

    Windows 10 with compactos enabled and the program files folders manually compacted with /EXE:LZX uses something like 9GB total; then add pagefile, swapfile, hiberfile and whatever is in the Users folders. Base Win10 can be cut down pretty far if you know what you're doing, especially if you're dropping to PowerShell and using Remove-AppxProvisionedPackage to toss out all the extra non-store non-important crap like ZuneMusic and ZuneVideo and OneNote and People that are all otherwise non-removable. Toss in a generous dose of admin-run cleanmgr and a little "dism /online /cleanup-image /startcomponentcleanup /resetbase" to discard all update uninstallers and backup files and you'll have a neatly trimmed system. I've gotten a "32GB" (29.8 GiB minus boot/recovery partitions = more like 28.5 GiB) to have about 14 GiB of free space with all the things mentioned above, no user data, and no software installed.

    It's possible to reduce this further by turning off paging, hibernation, and fast startup (which should lose all three of those big hidden special files I mentioned) but there are several reasons you probably should not do those things unless you're ready for extra grey hair.

    With newer Win10 builds they're shoving an 800GB recovery partition at the end of the disk; you can delete this in diskpart or Linux, expand the main partition in Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc) to suck up the extra free space, then in an admin command prompt go "reagentc /enable" to have Windows fix recovery mode by putting the recovery files in the main Windows partition instead, reclaiming a decent amount of unused space and overhead in the now-gone recovery partition.

    Of course, once the machine is in the hands of someone that can't babysit the toddler that is Windows 10, it's going to fill up faster than you can say "how big were hard drives in 1992 again?" and Microsoft will rape Nanking way too hard, where Nanking is the name of your capacity-free HP Stream 11.

  11. Wow, got a problem fix something else? by kamakazi · · Score: 3, Interesting

    So Window Update doesn't check the size of the update and make sure there is enough space before downloading and installing it, so instead of fixing Windows Update we will just reserve 7G (SEVEN Gig!?!?! I had a full OS, and all of Microsoft Office, and my other software on a 105MB hard drive back in the day - but I digress) which will only be used when there is a major update instead of JUST FIXING WINDOWS UPDATE.

    It is simple math. I realize with dynamic updates you probaby can't make an exact prediction of the space needed for the rollback repository etc., but you can know the actual update file sizes, and you can make a conservative guess on the in-process size, just check, if there isn't enough space don't even do the download. Nag the user about it all you want, just don't actualy start the process until you have room.

    And if they actually need 7G now, what happens next year when the updates are bigger?

    It's funny, I am sick of MacOS as they continue to de-Unix and get in my way with every update, so I am switching, but for some reason I never even considered switching to Windows.

    --
    "Proximity to wonder has blunted our perception and appreciation of it" --Tim Hartnell in 'Exploring ARTIFICIAL INTELLI
    1. Re:Wow, got a problem fix something else? by PsychoSlashDot · · Score: 2

      So Window Update doesn't check the size of the update and make sure there is enough space before downloading and installing it, so instead of fixing Windows Update we will just reserve 7G

      To be fair, this does make sense.

      Just because there are 7G+ of free space at the start of an upgrade process doesn't mean that the user isn't busy copying/moving large files around, or otherwise changing the amount of disk space available. OS installs - which these are - should be reliable above all other considerations.

      Also, the fine article makes it clear that the reserved space is in fact used by the OS for temporary files and other ephemeral content, so the space isn't actually lost.

      --
      "Oh no... he found the .sig setting."
  12. Re:Not such a terrible concept .... by willaien · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That ignores that cheap, budget devices are sold with 32GB or 64GB of storage. They aren't expandable. Remember that Windows 10 is _supposed_ to run on more than just high end desktops.

  13. And how we laughed at that Win 95 joke! by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 2
    Remember the good old days? "It is called Windows 95 because it is going to ship in 95 floppy disks, haa haah haa!" And we thought it was funny.

    95 Floppy Disks would store less than a quarter of a Gig.

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
  14. Incremental updates are a lost art at Microsoft by hackertourist · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Like the last time I needed to make a change to MS Office: I wanted to install a Czech language pack for MS Word. This should be a few MB worth of dictionary and hyphenation info. The Office installer proceeds to remove my entire MS Office installation, redownload 500 MB and reinstall the entire fucking Office suite. IIRC it nuked all my preferences too.
    The icing on the cake was that it replaced the Start menu shortcuts for all Office programs with new versions in Czech, even though my system language is set to English.

    1. Re:Incremental updates are a lost art at Microsoft by qubezz · · Score: 2

      Which is how Windows 10 "updates" work, your entire OS is nuked and a new installation is installed, with fresh "app store" hardware drivers and game cruft, and barely the settings that the upgrader understands restored.

  15. Get me the software and I'll switch by sjbe · · Score: 2

    Because none of my computers run Windows 10. If you aren't running Linux in 2019, you aren't paying attention.

    Really? Or maybe it's that linux literally doesn't have critical software I need to do my job nor any suitable substitutes. I'm an accountant and an engineer. (not as weird a combo as it sounds) There literally is no functional equivalent to even something as basic as QuickBooks on linux. Never mind our MRP software, CAD software, various other engineering software and other tools that are indispensable to our work. Even when there are substitutes they generally are crap.

    Believe me I'd switch to linux in a heartbeat if it were actually practical to do so but it isn't and very likely won't be any time soon in my day job. Works great for some of our servers though. At work we run Windows 10 for our desktops and while it has its warts, it gets the job done. Don't love it but linux desktop options aren't making me swoon with envy unfortunately.

  16. Made up "facts" by sjbe · · Score: 5, Informative

    For example, Windows 7 ran OK on a regular hard drive. Windows 10 -needs- a SSD to be able to function.

    Don't know where you got this made up fact. I'm typing this on a PC that has Windows 10 and does not have an SSD and it runs just fine. (well... as fine as Windows ever runs)

    The minimum size has grown as well, where W10 pretty much needs 120+ gigs of space with all the Market and user installed shoverware, and that's before adding relevant apps.

    More bullshit. I'll agree it's pretty bloated but it demonstrably does not require that much space. If you have that much shovel-ware installed, switch PC vendors. On the machine I'm running right now Windows takes about 45GB of space. You can argue that's still too much and I'd probably agree with you but it's 1/3 of what you are claiming.

    If you want to bash Windows there are plenty of opportunities that do not require making up nonsense.

  17. Re:Worse than Chrome OS or Android? by hairyfeet · · Score: 2

    But for how long? I gave up on running Linux on my laptop because you could never tell from one update to the next which parts would work and which wouldn't. One update my broadcom wireless would work fine, next nada, one patch my APU worked great, next YouTube felt like trying to watch video on a Via Chrome from 1997, and the Asmedia USB 3 was as unpredictable as the weather.

    Linux is great on servers because server hardware is old and barebone, no wireless, if it even has a GPU or sound its some ancient chip that has been in service for ages and is as common as dirt, its really not that hard to support servers as its about as bog standard as bog standard can be. With laptops and desktops where there is just a constant stream of new chipsets, iGPUs and APUs, a bazillion wireless variants? Its damn hard to support that much gear reliably and consistently and frankly with Linux the money just isn't there as the big corps like Red Hat have zero fucks to give about desktop support.

    So sorry but with laptops and desktops you are just better off with Windows or ChromeOS where the driver support and stability is just better, there just isn't enough manpower dedicated to all the funky chips to make Linux a good choice for many.

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    ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.