Some of you know I hate Windows 10 with a passion. Now last night, Microsoft pulled a new bug on me - a new internet explorer called Microsoft Edge. Now I can’t even play videos on YouTube because of this new internet explorer. I cannot figure out how to unlock the site since then. I’m now resorted to using Chrome instead.
I’ve spoke to a former AF tech guy at my workplace about the latest Win 10 upgrade update. He has heard a lot of pretty upset folks of Microsoft doing these updates/upgrades without the consumer’s permissions. Now Microsoft is at it again with Microsoft Edge.
Since the upgrade of Win 10 and thanks to them, I can’t even print anything off my printer. However, the tech guy has figured out how you can disable the automatic upgrades/updates by Microsoft.
At this time I am using my iPad and have yet tried to sign in on FSM through Microsoft Edge. I wouldn’t be surprised if I can’t even sign in on my email account of my preference.
It looks like I’m going to have to take my PC in to get this mess fixed and activate the automatic upgrades/updates by Microsoft. It’s time we, as consumers, stand up to Microsoft and demand them to stop of forcing the upgrades/updates without our permission.
The next PC I’m buying will be a Mac. I’m fed up with Microsoft and Bill Gates’ monopoly of forcing consumers to these upgrades and updates.
When the Windows 10 update came out at the end of July, 2015, I updated and it stopped at 43%…for many hours! I restarted my computer and it had become an expensive paperweight as nothing worked. Microsoft wouldn’t even begin to help me, so I took it back to where I had purchased it and had Windows 7 reloaded and a friend of mine told me about the GWX Control Panel Monitor which prevents Windows from trying to update my computer to Windows 10. So far, so good! No Windows 10 BS.
The PC I had before this one had Chrome…I didn’t much care for it…even not being “techy” in any way, shape, or form. That PC died. I picked up an older, refurbished unit with Windows 7. Much mo better! I kept getting prompts to upgrade to 10…NOPE. They finally went away after a while. I do get a little pop up window, from time to time, prompting me to click for updates…NOPE. I got what I got, and it works for my simpleness!
My new-ish computer offered a free upgrade from Windows 8 (which I found thoroughly annoying) to 10, which I went for, figuring the writing was on the wall.
After battling for 12 or so hours, off and on, trying to get the handful of programs I actually use to function again—and/or torturously restore my functional settings…I threw in the towel and went back to 8. Life’s too short. 8 still annoys the bejeezus out of me—but at least I can make it function as intended.
(I’m not a Luddite—I love and happily embrace technology—but I’m of the opinion that it should serve us, rather than we, it. End of rant…)
Gang, it’s probably time to get a Mac. Initially more expensive but over the long run you get what you pay for. A clever system and equipment. All new Macs can run Windows but who would? Viruses are really difficult to get and you must give a password if you really want one. Figuring costs, aggravation and down time you’ll actually come out ahead. They are far superior when working with Photography and Graphic design. (My wife is a Graphic designer and I’m a Photographer.) The last Star Wars movie wasn’t done with Windows I must say. To each his own and just advice but at least something to consider. [:)]
Windows is one problem after another. One solution is to run the software you like on a virtual machine. I have an Oracle virtual box. I boot up with windows 10 and run my favorite software in a custom enviornment in the virtual box. I have 2 flavors of Linux, 32-bit Windows XP (running on a virtual 32 bit CPU) Windows 98SE, DOS 6.22, and FreeDOS. If you have an old DOS program you like there is dosbox.
DOSBOX: http://www.dosbox.com DOSbox is promoted for playing old dos games but it runs all dos software There are interfaces/front ends for dosbox you can download that make running it easier.
I’ve been tangleing with Microsoft since 1988. I made a nice bit of money writing autoexec.bat and config.sys files for people back then to deal with all the B.S. you had to setup to get dos to run properly back then, or to prevent the machines from running out of RAM memory.
Actually, I like a lot about Windows 10…but I also don’t like a lot about
Windows 10. I run Firefox as my browser, and have not run a Windows browser in years.
The thing that got me was the problems I had setting up email. I refuse to spend the $$ required for Office, so I ended up, once again, downloading a Mozilla product…Thunderbird.
I also don’t like how difficult it is to “tinker” with the system. When I go to settings, I want to see the ability to actually change the settings, not one or two options that really don’t mean anything.
(Other tutorials are available, your milage may vary, close cover before striking, at own risk & don’t bother suing, I’m divorced, the B!tch got everything!)
In Win7, there is a specific MS SP number that needs to be uninstalled from Installed Updates that prevents the Win10 auto-install running.
Edge is Cortana/Browser thingy, you don’t have to use it, use Chrome or Firefox instead.
MS also do a 1/2GB stand-alone Virtual Machine of XP, that can be run as an err… virtual machine…
IMPORTANT: info & links provided for INFO only, if you aren’t sure, get someone else to do it!
(Other tutorials are available, your milage may vary, close cover before striking, at own risk & don’t bother suing, I’m divorced, the B!tch got everything!)
I did discover one thing that may help some people, especially if you’re running in 32-bit mode (meaning that the OS can only address a maximum of 4GB of RAM).
Initially, when my laptop upgraded from 7 to 10, Edge was very laggy and frequently went “black screen” (occasionally it popped up an insufficient memory dialog box) from which the only real recovery was a hard reboot.
A bit of research led me to an innocuous seeming personalization setting.
Under Settings/Personalization/Colors you will find a category “Accent Colors”. Below the color palette, there’s a check box “Automatically pick an accent color from my background”
What this does is change the start menu tile color by picking a color from your desktop wallpaper. If you have your wallpaper set to a slideshow, then the accent color will change each time your desktop picture changes. By default, this option is selected and active.
For some reason, this seems to be a massive CPU and memory hog. De-selecting this option seems to have cured the problems listed above.
I have been using 10 for about a year and a half. I like it, except for the frequent and lengthy updates. In all that time I have only had the OS crash once. I find 10 quite stable.
The browser is another matter. I have never been a fan of Microsoft browsers. I think it is unreasonable to blame an OS for the faults of an application program. I use Mozilla Firefox as a browser. It is available free.
Lots of the windows NT utilities are still inside windows 10. you have to dig a little but I found them. All the wizards do is make it easier to mess things up.
I too have firefox as default browser, though many times it locks up when mozilla has an update, usually associated with shock wave player.
My only nit pick with win10 is that it did not agree with my sound card. Almost every time the computer started up, it would give no sound. Had to remove the driver and restart - then it would load properly. Seems to be better lately - finally!
Amen to that. Seems like when they work all the kinks out of the operating system they go and change it again. I suppose it’s like everything else, gets old just through it away.
So, not to get into an OS flame war here. I have and still use Win10, Linux, Android daily. Wife has iPad and some friend has a Mac. They all have their issues, different issues, pros and cons. All depends on your needs to see which best for you.
Specifically to your point.
if you are running win10 pro, you can change how, if, and when upgrades are done via group policies.
you can still use ie11 in win10, or chrome, Firefox, or opera. I have the first 3 installed and switch among them as the needs arise. Mac users also have the choice of switching to chrome or Firefox instead of using safari. Having choices are always good
Did the free upgrade to 10. I knew I wouldn’t like the forced updates - and I don’t!!! I Like having a choice. The only reason I use windows at all is for quicken. Have it all on an older notebook. Was tired of dealing with parallels on a Mac. PS hate the forced upgrades in quicken too and the pesky update reminders for iOS on macs too!!
I paid a premium for Windows 7 Pro when I built this PC and have been very happy with it so I refused all Mocrosoft’s blandishment to upgrade to 10 for free. I once even had to block an attempt by MS to sneak in a scheduled upgrade on me when I wasn’t at the computer for a while. Sounds like it was a good idea to stand pat.
I have had Mickey Soft PC’s for many years, now I have switched to iMac, and believe me, both systems are nothing but aggravating crap. I guess I just hate computers in general, maybe because I am a cranky old geezer.