back to article Microsoft's latest Windows 10 update downs Chrome, Cortana

Microsoft says it's looking into reports that apps including "Hey Cortana" and Google Chrome hang or freeze for those who have installed the recent Windows 10 April 2018 Update. The company suggests trying the Windows logo key + Ctrl + Shift + B to wake the screen or, for laptop users, opening and closing device lid, in an …

  1. Carl D

    Anyone else besides me still wondering why Windows 10 seems to be getting progressively worse nearly 3 years after it's general release despite all the telemetry Microsoft collects from insiders and millions of unpaid beta testers?

    For goodness sake Microsoft, stop adding more useless "features" to Windows 10 and start working on making a stable operating system that doesn't introduce radical changes every 6 months like you used to have with Windows XP and Windows 7.

    A nice big "Telemetry Off" button (that really works) would be good as well.

    1. joed

      Telemetry is here to piss off privacy minded people and not to help with debugging - "this will teach them" philosophy of sorts.

      At least Cortana can now be turned off, courtesy of MS. Enjoy while it lasts.

      1. Teiwaz

        Cortana turned off

        At least Cortana can now be turned off, courtesy of MS. Enjoy while it lasts.

        'turned off', you mean - people reading the comments without reading the article might actually think Ms had a change of heart regarding it's annoying assistant.

        She's 'turned off' 'cause the software surgeons at MS left a 'wrench' in the works they now can't find.

      2. rmullen0

        I agree that both telemetry and Cortana both suck. I didn't realize that you could now turn of Cortana because I was using the registry key to do it before. There aren't really a whole lot of new features though. There are a few nice ones like having SSH bundled, curl, and a more polished UI. Windows 7 was a steaming pile. As far as I'm concerned 10 is a lot better, other than Cortana and giving away all privacy. Though if one truly cared about those things, they wouldn't be using Microsoft software to begin with. They worked with the NSA on Vista. I have no reason to believe anything has changed in that regard since then. Therefore it is safe to assume the software is completely untrustworthy.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      I've outlined the reasons on El Reg countless times

      1) Insiders = nincompoops. Fanboys, not professional QA testers.

      2) Auto-push updates, 'ship it and we'll fix it along the way' mentality of CEO SatNad. Probably to also cut costs, refer to point #1.

      3) Win 10 is the last version of Windows, so Microsoft is constantly trying to 'reinvent the wheel' and cram in new features through updates (with fancy names e.g. Spring Creators Update) to make it seem 'fresh' and 'new'. While having scant regard for stability and compatibility in the code. In the old days, Windows would become progressively more stable with each cumulative update after RTM, especially with those milestone huge updates (Service Packs).

      4) SatNad is the Big Data/Cloud guy. He sees his main rivals as Google and Amazon. Slurping (telemetry) is going to continue unabated. Windows 'S' mode is a sneak preview of things to come.

      ----

      For me, thank goodness my Windows 10 refuses to update ("We couldn't complete the updates, undoing changes"), a blessing in disguise. So I disabled the Windows Update service and am sitting pretty at build 1709. It's a new machine assembled/bought in Dec 2017. One of the minor updates along the way caused this to happen. I looked through the various forums and found out that I'm hardly alone encountering such an issue. There are various workarounds suggested but frankly I can't be bothered. Microsoft can't even get the simple basics correct, so to hell with it.

      1. MrDamage Silver badge

        Re: I've outlined the reasons on El Reg countless times

        > "Win 10 is the last version of Windows, so Microsoft is constantly trying to 'reinvent the wheel' and cram in new features through updates (with fancy names e.g. Spring Creators Update) to make it seem 'fresh' and 'new'."

        Maybe they got their hemispheres mixed up. Down south it's Autumn, so it's only fitting the update is slowly killing everything.

      2. eldakka

        Re: I've outlined the reasons on El Reg countless times

        > 2) Auto-push updates, 'ship it and we'll fix it along the way' mentality of CEO SatNad. Probably to also cut costs, refer to point #1.

        While SatNad may be doing this for windows 10, it's really more Microsoft buying into the whole Agile, DevOps and Continous Integration schtick.

      3. bombastic bob Silver badge
        Mushroom

        Re: I've outlined the reasons on El Reg countless times

        " Insiders = nincompoops. Fanboys, not professional QA testers."

        Yes, Micro-shaft definitely made it VERY UNFRIENDLY for *ANYONE* who became an insider in order to improve the product by feeding opinions back to Micro-shaft, when such feedback did NOT fall in LOCK STEP with the FASCIST REGIME opinions of Micro-shaft.

        Dissension was rewarded with BANS and DELIBERATE+OBVIOUS BIASED TREATMENT of so-called "term of use" violations. Fanboi trolls would deliberately engage people, "a comment" that didn't even violate TOU would be issued from the target, and then *POUNCE* and BAN. They got REALLY BAD after a while, like they were DELIBERATELY trying to clean out EVERYONE who dissented, so they could have a nice "pleasant" forum of like-minded sycophantic groupies.

        One day 4 or 5 individuals commented to me in their forum about things that were irrelevant, but it was like 'sock puppet' posts, people who were CONSTANT violators of the TOU (they were frequent ad hominem attackers, for one). Next thing I get is a 'ban warning' (a "last warning" in fact) for allegedly doing something NOT COVERED by their TOU. At that point I abandoned their forum to their own folly. It was obviously NOT going to help any more to tell Micro-shaft why they were screwing up, with examples and specificity, in as many areas as I could think of [which I did for about a year, actually, and did NOT violate their TOU]. So yeah I saw it first hand. They didn't want dissenting opinions. Many other dissenters left the forum at the same time.

        Yeah, no @#$% this really happened.

    3. FuzzyWuzzys

      Sad really to see MS in such a state now

      I'm probably stating the bleedin' obvious but MS are now in a corner of sorts. In the 1990s they bullied their way onto the home desktop around the world and created this "monster", they saw the desktop as their own "1000 year reich". MS is now stuck in the 90's, they have no choice but to try to keep Windows desktop relevant despite the everyone slowly going mobile and cloud services. For the average person, a browser, keyboard and pointy device is all they need, it makes no difference now what the hardware of O/S is. Here I'm talking purely about granny and grandad, and Uncle Kev who simply want email, maybe a spreadsheet or word-proc type app, access to Facebook for keeping touch with rest of their family, that type of user couldn't careless what they O/S or apps they use, they can do that all online these days and they outnumber we geeks thousands to one.

      MS are going the way of IBM, they were top of their game at one point but sadly the world around them is moving far faster than they can possibly keep up with and while they'll remain relevent in the grand scheme of things, they will slowly have to be pensioned off. They're trying, they have Azure but it's not a patch on the rapidity and spread of services like AWS or Google clouds. MS, just like Oracle, are like that aged relative who refuses to leave their old home and go to a warden controlled housing block. Everyone knows they'll be well looked after, much happier and they'll make more friends, but they simply won't budge, clinging on to a past that's fading away fast.

      1. Mage Silver badge

        Re: MS is now stuck in the 90's,

        If only they were. Win98 & NT4.0 had decent GUIs.

        NT3.5 & NT3.51 so stable that even two years after NT4.0, some new server installs used NT3.51. NT4.0 was vulnerable to bluescreen via GDI.

        NT5.x wasn't bad (Win2K, XP and Server 2003). Then Office & Windows when downhill. Win7 was really only a bugfix/service pack of Vista, what Vista should have been and even so a SP on XP would have been better.

        1. LenG

          Re: MS is now stuck in the 90's,

          GUI is a sore point. Constantly changing the interface from release to release chasing some mythical "user friendly, easy to learn" ideal forgets that existing users have to relearn the UI and find where the hell the settings have moved to this time.

          For years I managed to keep the interface stable (more or less Win2k) with the aid of inbuilt customisation options and things like classic shell. However, from 8 onwards M$ have deliberately made this more and more difficult. Which brain dead idiot decided that all title bars should be the same colour? Eventually they relented on that, slightly. You can now make the active title bar the same colour as the task bar. Actually, you can also set the inactive title bar colour if you are willing to use the registry editor to add a new hex key.

          Nowadays my big powerful Windoze box is basically a sophisticated games machine (the best computer games still require more than a console). All my "real" computing, except one or two video apps which require the extra grunt, is done on an Intel NUC running linux. In the last 15 years I've never had a significant (OS induced) problem with a linux box and I have a choice of desktops to suit my tastes not the trendy ideas of some spotty nerd in the M$ customer experience development department.

        2. Zippy's Sausage Factory

          Re: MS is now stuck in the 90's,

          "If only they were. Win98 & NT4.0 had decent GUIs."

          You make me wish I could find my NT 4 install disk now. Lost in a house move years ago.

          /me quickly searches eBay...

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Sad really to see MS in such a state now

        "MS are going the way of IBM, they were top of their game at one point but sadly the world around them is moving far faster than they can possibly keep up "

        Every decade or so people start to write IBMs obituary. Well its still going, mainly IMO because unlike a lot of large corps that divested divisions to concentrate on "core strengths" (whatever that means), it has kept fingers in many pies, the only noticable sell off being its home PC division. MS OTOH is by nature a one trick pony despite various attempts to saddle other horses, and that pony is becoming increasingly lame. Whether it'll still be around in 20 years time isn't something I'd want to lay money on frankly.

      3. Updraft102

        Re: Sad really to see MS in such a state now

        MS is now stuck in the 90's, they have no choice but to try to keep Windows desktop relevant despite the everyone slowly going mobile and cloud services.

        Not everyone. Not every computing-related task lends itself to one of these toys people call smart phones... real work is still done on real hardware, and a lot of us still (and will always) prefer PCs instead of "fondleslabs."

        I question how much "going mobile" is happening these days. How long have smartphones been around? It seems to me that everyone who was going to go mobile would have done so by now. My doctor's office has PCs in every exam room, and so does my pet's veterinarian, and my dentist. They're used for everything now, including the display of X-ray images on their large screens. Am I supposed to believe that these are going to go away and be replaced by a six inch smart phone, with the older-than-a-millennial doctor squinting at the tiny screen? Mobility, in this case, isn't needed; the exam room is a fixed location, and trying to cram a smart phone into that setting because "the world is going mobile" would just be stupid.

        So yeah, PC sales are declining. PCs used to be obsolete in a year, and now a six year old PC is still competitive with brand new gear (I am using one that old to write this). People don't buy PCs every year or two now... they're like any other mature market, where people only buy new when the old one no longer works. Like toasters, microwave ovens, and refrigerators-- none of which are considered obsolete or "in trouble" because people use them until they die instead of replacing perfectly good kit every other year just because.

        These PCs still need an operating system, and until recently, that would usually have been Windows... but now Windows is a "cloud service," not an OS, so what is a person who doesn't wish to be "serviced" by Microsoft (aka "everyone") to do?

        If Windows 10 is supposed to be Microsoft's attempt to keep desktop Windows relevant, I have to laugh at the irony-- I've been one of the Windows/PC stalwarts who has used Windows for approaching three decades now, and now that I've done my bit to make MS what it is today, they give me... this? I'm using Linux Mint to type this right now, and that's wholly because of Windows 10. If their desperate attempt to keep Windows alive is killing Windows, what then?

        I'm not certain that MS wants Windows to be relevant or alive. None of the antics of Microsoft make any sense if you presuppose that MS wants to keep Windows vibrant and healthy going forward. If you consider that perhaps MS is trying to monetize Windows and squeeze Windows customers for all they are worth in the short term, while giving it the bare minimum of maintenance and testing possible so that they can save even more money, with the eventual goal of destroying Windows so they can simply write it off and forget it ever existed... then it makes perfect sense. Revenues from Windows will go up, stock prices will rise, and people will cheer as the new CEO struts around and pats himself on the back for getting Microsoft's groove back, while the product that got MS to where it is now is chipped away and sold as scrap, bit by bit, until nothing's left. Most analysts will not notice this... they will just see the increased Windows revenues and pronounce Windows healthy, even though the revenues are only up because it's being liquidated. Microsoft has a lot of lock-in, and people (including the corporate decision makers) will initially tolerate the monetization abuse, so it will take a while to reach the breaking point and for the exodus to begin. Only when it does will the analysts begin to catch on to the liquidation of Windows. They'll think it was a recent thing; they will never realize that the intentional destruction of Windows began in 2015.

    4. Sphynx
      Linux

      Try Linux. Once I did, I never looked back . I use Windows so that I can use Adobe's Photoshop and Lightroom, otherwise, I can do everything else in Linux and enjoy it. I ran out of time waiting for Windows to update every Tuesday. Linux Mint is my favorite, solid as a rock. Manjaro/Arch Linux is good, too.

      1. getHandle

        GIMP is pretty good

        As a linux-based alternative to Photoshop...

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: GIMP is pretty good

          As a linux-based alternative to Photoshop Paint...

          Jokes aside, GIMP, unluckily, still does too little compared to Photoshop - AFAIK adjustment layers are not implemented yet, CMYK support is not yet adequate for professional work. Can it record actions and replay them? Not long ago it couldn't. When you have a lot of repetitive tasks, it helps a lot.

          Nor you can't use the large number of Photoshop plug-ins, many of which are excellent at specific tasks (i.e. noise reduction in photos).

          Even low cost alternatives on Windows do better than GIMP, and support Photoshop plug-ins.

          Sure, as a free application for a few images to be used only on-screen, GIMP works, with some limitations. For many professional tasks, especially those that require a printed image, GIMP is still not a solution.

          Maybe it was better to add missing features, instead of wasting time to allow for it being skinned...

          1. trog-oz

            Re: GIMP is pretty good

            No CMYK, but if you know what you are doing, GIMP can record and replay actions, there are a shed load of plugins available, and you can get some PS plugins to work. At work I have the latest version of Adobe Suite available to me but I prefer to use GIMP as I find the user interface much better. The price is unbeatable too!

            1. frank ly

              Re: GIMP is pretty good

              If you want a free alternative to Photoshop, or GIMP; I'd recommend Krita. You can get the Linux appimage or the Windows version in installer or portable/standalone mode. There is an active forum where the actual developers take part and they listen to ideas for future improvements and additional facilities.

              1. Anonymous Coward
                Anonymous Coward

                Re: GIMP is pretty good

                If you're really dependant on Photoshop for your livelihood and don't want to run Windows, it's probably better to bite the bullet and get a Mac. I see a lot of those creative arty-farty designer people using Macs as their default daily driver OS anyway.

                I'm not against Microsoft Windows per se; pick whichever OS you perceive to help you get the job done. But the recent trends of Windows is troubling. Microsoft needs to rethink its philosophy when it comes to Windows.

              2. Anonymous Coward
                Anonymous Coward

                Re: GIMP is pretty good

                @ Frank ly

                Am I looking at the right product. I looks more of a drawing package rather than a photo editing package. Yes I know there is overlap...but in my experience art packages are used to start from scratch and Photoshop etc are to edit existing.

                1. Anonymous Coward
                  Anonymous Coward

                  "Photoshop etc are to edit existing."

                  No, Photoshop despite its name is a full art package - many people use it to create from scratch iwhen hey don't need Illustrator features, or along Illustrator for a more "handwork" approach when needed. With a graphic tablet or monitor it's fully equipped to create images from scratch.

                  Still, Photoshop provides also powerful photo editing capabilities - that's why it became so widespread for most "bitmap images" work. Lately anyway many photographers like also to work in non-destructive editing tools like Lightroom, which are faster to use across multiple photos than Photoshop, which is essentially designed to work on a single image at a time.

                2. Anonymous Coward
                  Anonymous Coward

                  call me a sceptic, but ..

                  Gimp's UI sucks - but howcome everyone whinges about so much about Photoshop ?

                  are there *really* that many creators using it, (i doubt it) or are there just too many normal farty users (like me) who just use it (GIMP) but are too afraid to change over from their cracked version of Photoshop to put the time in to learn GIMP ?

                  *Most* of what you can do in PS can be done in GIMP - if you spent time learning it, sure, Pro users won't generally use GIMP but most of what us non-pro's need, is doable in GIMP, even though it's UI is in-intuitive & early-90s ish.

            2. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              "there are a shed load of plugins available"

              The problem is they are GIMP plugins, not Photoshop ones. My quite expensive printers come with specific plug-ins for Photoshop, not GIMP (nor they have drivers for Linux, for the matter).

              If you rely on some commercial specific plug-ins i.e. to prepare output for halftone printers, etc you make not like to have to find a replacement (and retest for output), especially if little supported.

              Not everyone just makes websites - other graphics business can be fairly more remunerative - but you need the right tools.

              And let's not speak about the GIMP UI... Photoshop is outdated and ugly, but GIMP is no better.

              Price is irrelevant, when it is a very small percentage of the cost of running your business. As posted elsewhere, a free tool may cost you more in wasted time and lost customers.

          2. eldakka

            Re: GIMP is pretty good

            > As a linux-based alternative to Photoshop Paint...

            I can't comment on the differing capabilities of GIMP vs Phosotshop, however this is exactly what virtualisation is for.

            If you can't do without a MS app, run it up in a virtualised Windows machine just for that app. You don't need to use Windows (or any other O/S) as your core O/S just to run one or 2 specific apps anymore (well, for a long time now).

        2. BobChip
          Linux

          Re: GIMP is pretty good

          Note that it also runs on Windows as well (if you must stick with MS). And it is FREE, as well as being powerful.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            "And it is FREE"

            Who cares if it is free? Unless you are an hobbyist with little or no money (maybe after having spent lavishly on hardware beyond your needs...), really, being FREE is very, very low priority when you look for a tool.

            If it requires more time to perform the same task, or can't do something at all, and that means less work done in a given time and less customers, it means you LOSE money - probably more than the cost of a tool that actually does what you need in less time and less issues.

            Some people think FREE is magic word - the hard reality is what is important - professionally speaking - is PROFIT - and if you're smart, an increase in costs for better tooling can deliver a far higher profit, while compressing costs just for the sake of it may hamper profit as well.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: "And it is FREE"

              Who cares if it is free? Unless you are an hobbyist with little or no money (maybe after having spent lavishly on hardware beyond your needs...), really, being FREE is very, very low priority when you look for a tool.

              You have good point, very good point. When running a business, profit is what really matters, and cost of software is just part of the operation cost.

              But there are people who care if it is free, especially in the startup markets and none software specialized markets. Startups with a low starting budget will look at the cost of their business by a lot. Perhaps not photoshop with their now cheaper subscription fee, but other proprietary software license will be reviewed with free alternatives before being purchased. None software specialized markets is obvious. They don't need photoshop or the likes for most of their operation, but they need just that one feature from a software for a day or few more. They will take advantage of the 14/30 days trial and other free alternatives.

              1. Anonymous Coward
                Anonymous Coward

                "especially in the startup markets"

                Some startups are expensive to bootstrap anyway, and if you want to have a good chance to become successful, you have to start the right way. I'm not against free software, I'm against the idea that something is the best just because it's free. That's a dangerous assumption, if you don't understand the ramification, and the impact it will have on building and sustaining your business.

                It's IMHO pretty stupid, for example, to start a company with fancy and expensive furniture, thinking you can save on actual tools and the like. Sure, it could be a con man way to lure in investments, and deliver little or nothing.

                Finding that you've got the wrong tools, and having to retool in the middle of a project, can be far more expensive than starting with the right tools from the beginning, even if it costed more.

                If you're startupping and you don't have the money for the right tools, probably you planned it wrong - and most startup fails for many reasons including this one.

                You don't choose Linux or any other open source tool just "because they're free" (but greed is often a powerful driver...). You choose them if they deliver what you need - at least in a fully acceptable way.

                I'm not against GIMP - but the idea it is a full alternative to Photoshop is laughable, and just shows a lack of understanding of the graphics business.

                It's this attitude that keeps Linux away from many desktops, and I'd really like to see more alternatives - even non free ones - to Windows and macOS applications.

                Just I won't ever cripple my business to assert a faith in a business model as long as it doesn't fit mine.

                The turn Windows took under Nadella could be a great trust for Linux adoption - but it needs applications that can FULLY compete with Windows/macOS ones.

                Being free, is not enough, I'm sorry, maybe you're monks and live of river waters and woods fruits and roots, I'm not and I like good profits and a comfortable life... I ask good money for my work, and I'm OK to pay others as well.

                1. TVU Silver badge

                  Re: "especially in the startup markets"

                  "It's this attitude that keeps Linux away from many desktops, and I'd really like to see more alternatives - even non free ones - to Windows and macOS applications"

                  I do understand where you're coming from. For me, I use Corel Aftershot Pro, Pixeluvo, Polarr and Photomatix for photos on Linux (I quite like Pixlr too) and I don't have to go anywhere near GIMP (the 2.10 version does appear to be a significant and upgrade and improvement though). I know of other photographers who are successfully using versions of Photoshop and Photoshop Elements via Wine and it is possible to use Adobe CC apps online too (look up This Script Helps Install Adobe Creative Cloud on Linux).

        3. Gene Cash Silver badge

          Re: GIMP is pretty good

          No, it's not. I've used it for about 10 years now, and it's still pretty shite, and nowhere near the capabilities of Photoshop. I simply refuse to use Adobe so I just soldier on.

          1. TVU Silver badge

            Re: GIMP is pretty good

            "No, it's not. I've used it for about 10 years now, and it's still pretty shite, and nowhere near the capabilities of Photoshop. I simply refuse to use Adobe so I just soldier on"

            I'd suggest looking at the Affinity and Skylum/Macphun ranges of softwares to see if they meet your needs. They get good reviews and, best of all, they are available for a one off purchase cost.

        4. Anonymous Coward
          Linux

          Re: GIMP is pretty good

          @getHandle: "GIMP is pretty good As a linux-based alternative to Photoshop"...

          Only on here can a suggestion to try Gimp can get a minus twenty six vote :]

          You should also try out RawTherapee.

      2. Nimby
        FAIL

        Try Linux. - Or DON'T! (My love/hate Linux rant.)

        I use Linux at work, on Dell PCs. It's great. In a corporate IT environment which can lock into a common hardware platform and vet all kernel and driver updates before pushing to end-users.

        For over a decade I have been trying to use Linux at home. Every time I build a new home PC I attempt to set up a dual-boot of Linux / Windows. Last time I tried, I even went to do Linux-only with Windows in a VM with VGA passthrough. The _only_ reason I have to keep Windows around at home is for gaming.

        In theory.

        In practice, the REAL reason I seem to keep needing Windows at home is that it is the only OS that actually works without tons and tons of continual effort.

        E-v-e-r-y ... s-i-n-g-l-e ... t-i-m-e, for over a decade, Linux lets me down. It has destroyed my Windows partition, or (my favorite) destroyed itself and the Windows partition by suddenly accessing my RAID 5 array as individual disks due to a crap driver, or reverses my eth list post-install, or when I update my graphics driver to the "suggested" one, after compile and reboot it segfaults, et cetera ad nauseam.

        Something ALWAYS goes horribly wrong! And that is not even counting the myriad of minor bugs that I am willing to overlook like fixing when some numbnutz sets the console foreground and background colors to both be black?! Ubuntu, Mint, Fedora, Suse, etc. Every new PC build I try again. Countless distros go into the attempts. The closest I ever get to a working is with openSUSE. I don't know why. Lucky lizard?

        I keep wanting to use Linux at home. And it keeps not wanting me to use it. I want to spend my time USING my PC, not administering it. And this is where Windows (unfortunately) seems to be the only game in town. For better or worse, Windows just works. It installs. It runs. No fuss. Have a nice day.

        It is a shame with Windows 10 that MS is eroding that.

        My kingdom for Apple to start selling Mac OS for non-Apple x86 PCs. (Yes, with careful choices in hardware, you can hack it on. But I build PCs because I want an open choice in hardware.) Because Linux just is NOT filling this role. If a software engineer and hobbyist system builder with regular Linux experience absolutely CANNOT get his home PC to work RELIABLY using Linux for over a decade, what chance do regular consumers have?

        Unfortunately the problem with large open-source software projects is that far too many people get to work on whatever whim they want to, and NOT what the software actually needs. Linux is just too fragmented for its own good, so will never be able to compete with Windows for simplicity of working with ANY hardware with a minimum of effort.

        I will NEVER build a PC for a friend or family member that uses Linux. I will ALWAYS pay the MS tax. Not because I want to. ONLY because I do not want to spend the rest of my life ADMINISTERING the PCs of my friends and family members. Saving the hundred bucks just ain't worth it!

        1. Teiwaz

          Re: Try Linux. - Or DON'T! (My love/hate Linux rant.)

          I've been using 'Linux at home for 18 years.

          Suse, Mandriva, Ubuntu Archlinux.

          The occasional issue - due to poor or impatient choices in Hardware - but mostly it's a joy of total control.

          You can't buy the latest GPU or even CPU hot off R&D - the drivers are never up to it. Not the OSS ones 'cause the devs haven't had time (and rarely enough help from the manufacturer), and not the proprietary drivers (if there are any) 'cause the manufacturers couldn't give a monkeys.

          The Linux kernel team does an amazing job, and the distros do their best to try to ensure the most amount of hardware is recognised, but even MS mostly relies on the hardware companies, and Apple don't do other hardware than their own curated machines because of the enormous headaches.

          As well as having to settle for slightly older hardware to ensure best operation, you also have to research any hardware you intend to buy more closely than you would normally,

          You have to accept when you choose to use 'Linux, you are mostly buying things on your own knowledge, up to recently, there was never a little penguin logo on the box guaranteeing compatibility with 'Linux.

          1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

            Re: Try Linux. - Or DON'T! (My love/hate Linux rant.)

            "As well as having to settle for slightly older hardware to ensure best operation"

            There's the opposite side to this coin. If you have some particularly aged piece of H/W that needs to be supported you're apt to find that someone else with the same H/W has made sure the drivers are kept going in more recent kernels. Users have a motivation to do that whilst manufacturers don't once it's gone out of production.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Try Linux. - Or DON'T! (My love/hate Linux rant.)

              " If you have some particularly aged piece of H/W that needs to be supported you're apt to find that someone else with the same H/W has made sure the drivers are kept going in more recent kernels."

              I'm still using a perfectly functional 14 year old Samsung laser printer at home with my 3 linux based laptops. Understandably, it's no longer supported by the manufacturer, and unfortunately, my wife insists on windows, so we had to buy a new printer to work with her laptop. I'm still going to keep the Samsung going until I run out of Toner though...

              1. Hans 1

                Re: Try Linux. - Or DON'T! (My love/hate Linux rant.)

                My wife insists on windows, so we had to buy a new printer to work with her laptop. I'm still going to keep the Samsung going until I run out of Toner though...

                Why not simply buy a raspberry pi, hook up the printer, there, network printer ... then if you tell us on stackexchange.com what printer model it is (which language it speaks), we should be able to point you at one of the generic printer drivers in Windows to speak to it ;-).

                Fun project, espectially if the result is a 90's printer that support wifi-print ;-)

              2. Anonymous Coward
                Anonymous Coward

                Re: Try Linux. - Or DON'T! (My love/hate Linux rant.)

                You could walk into a shop tomorrow and buy off the shelf a computer that is not supported by the manufacturer not fit for the operating system it has on it regardless of brand/manufacturer, and since the Linux kernel team has dropped much support for old hardware you're going to have to rake thru old source code and edit up your own bug fixes.

                Mind you re:the Linux kernel team there is so much junk in the kernel they would have been better supporting old hardware and leaving out the junk.

                1. Danny 14

                  Re: Try Linux. - Or DON'T! (My love/hate Linux rant.)

                  thing is, windows 10 doesnt have to be shite. windows server 2016 is quite bearable and doesnt have all the fucking tripe 10 has. The exact same with vista, server 2008 was fine, no problems with 2008 at all.

                  if games ran properly on server editions then it would be worth ponying up for server.....

          2. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Every OS sucks..

            I started Linuxing in the 90s - my first distro was, as was common at that time, Red Hat 5.1,

            I'd not too long moved away from my extensive BBC Computer system (retro huh) and moved over to IBM-PC clones. after a few years of playing catch-up and deciding that Windows was crap even then - before switching to NT - it didn't cut the mustard or i thought, and i thought the OS was er, boring. Red Hat was cool.. though i even tried to like Solaris and OS/2 back then, but nothing was as exciting as Linux. I ended up compiling stuff & took great delight and pride in tuning my OS to my needs, and it was ok. The next few years i continued swapping between Win & Linux to get things done and saw Linux maturing and Windows bloating.

            I ditched Windows completely (apart from occasional radio programming and music production use) back in the early 2000s and went Linux only. I was happy enough, especially that i wasn't tied down into the sorry Windows world that i saw, as i kept all my friends & families PCs maintained and running for those years as well, which made me doubly happy i was out of that rat race.

            New hardware was bought and things subtly started to change, i bought the most expensive, huge laptop i could, and Linuxed it. the expensive laptop went away 3 times in the first 6 months for new keyboards, which were, i discoverd, just cheap black, plastic crap that most laptop keyboards had., but i digress... i had several different laptops, and was never happy with the dreadful power management and the overheating with Linux installed on them.

            It ended up as Linux distros got more bloated that most distro's wouldn't actually install onto these laptops as the conked-out during install due to overheating, so the only way was to install the distro with the laptop on it's side and a powerful mains powered house fan blowing it's forced air into the bottom of the laptop to avoid overheating - so i could successfully get the distro installed as, strangely, Linux was much less prone to overheating the laptop once the distro was properly installed to the HD, then i would screw around with the desktop's limited power management tweaks and would end up trying several kernels and eventually building my own.. yes, that was a huge pain in the ass, but i learnt a lot having to do this.

            Once i overcame that pretty important hurdle, Linux distros started cramming their desktops with dozens of background services i didn't want or need, worse still, many of these packages couldn't be uninstalled as they were complied against some needed dependencies, so i just made what troublesome trash that i could into non-executable, then disabled daemons and modules, and scripts and got somewhere that was ok i guess, even fully deleted system apps and edited scripts and a lot of general pissing around to get a decent laptop OS going with no bloatware. It became too much.

            Not even going to mention the Pulseaudio debacle - it was broken as shipped, un-intuitive, and shipped on almost all distro's before being declared fit for purpose.. Quality control went down further. Yes i tried submitting long & detailed and honest reports and entered into several dialogues, but i was ignored, as the dev's know better and already have their roadmap.

            I tried a few hackintosh's, i didn't initially care for OS X as i knew nothing much about it, and had only heard what the haters said, until i found that it ran way better than Linux on my hardware, even after the messing about trying to shoe-horn it on the hardware, it was *still* less pissing about than cleaning up & de-bloating a newly installed linux distro. and i could also transfer most of my music work (I'm a musician) to OS X and i ended up totally jumping ship totally from Linux to Mac OS X and it seemed okay too, It wasn't Windows (but could dual boot it if needed) and it wasn't Linux - a disjointed, hairy mess with poor power management and other flaky hardware support, When new hardware time came around again i bought 2 (cheap & old) iMac aluminiums & a (old) Macbook for travelling & went through a couple of (not new) Macbook Pro upgrades and i can run any OS on them, though Linux and BSD hardware support still sucks on them - i mean it works, but even on older Mac's (which remember, still has pretty generic PC hardware inside) Linux cant do power management properly, the damn screen *still* goes dark as some kernel level PM event kicks in and completely ignores the (whichever) desktop's system settings PM controls.. even ignoring xset - s off and that kind of stuff, so i kissed goodbye to linux, they cant get this basic stuff right yet in 2018, bloatware and desktop search and other unneeded, unwanted daemons and services are slurping CPU and RAM still and still no way to uninstall these properly or cleanly, it's a nightmare.

            Mac OS is now dreadful - Apple always *nearly* got things right, but often infuriatingly close, but still wrong... Mac OS too is now a unreliable, data-slurping dumbed-down privacy and bloated UI and security mess - Apple thinks hiding OS features is a good thing.. while at the same time slimming down their hardware until it's a too-skinny-to-be-strong, port-less, glued-in mess too.

            I think I've covered Linux already :) as they've lost the plot too, i mean, what kind of distro decides to hide features inherent in every desktop OS up until i guess,several years ago, then screws the UI and UX up, hides discoverability and expects users to bring a bash terminal up to do basic things - then has the insanity to say it's new user focussed - WTF ? are they expecting new users to know what a terminal is, where to find it, what command to type to start their desktop apps ?

            Linux fail.

            I hate Android and IOS too, they're dumbed-down consumer OS with total abstraction from the OS.

            What this thread is about is Windows 10. You already knowwhat i think of recent Mac OS and the last decade of Linux failure, so i'll leave it up to you to decide what i think of Win 10.

        2. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

          Re: Try Linux. - Or DON'T! (My love/hate Linux rant.)

          "I will NEVER build a PC for a friend or family member that uses Linux. I will ALWAYS pay the MS tax. Not because I want to. ONLY because I do not want to spend the rest of my life ADMINISTERING the PCs of my friends and family members."

          Oddly enough I take exactly the opposite course of action but for the same reason.

          E.g. I managed to recover a cousin-in-law's files from ransomware but I'm not going to rely on all ransomware authors to make the daft mistake of that one. She now runs Zorin and the Windows partition was left there as a frozen relic in case there's some needed file there that didn't get transferred to her home directory.

        3. codejunky Silver badge

          Re: Try Linux. - Or DON'T! (My love/hate Linux rant.)

          @ Nimby

          It sounds like you had a real bad run of luck there with linux. I have upgraded a number of people (not IT savy) to linux who got sick of windows 10 borking their machines (or windows 8 interface. People seem happy with win7).

          I personally use linux at work and home with a win7 partition for games only. I even resurrected an old XP machine for someone and installed ubuntu with Unity on it (I intended to change it but she said it looked nice and kept it). No device issues and no problems beyond basic questions of 'where has this gone' for a short time for all of these people. Maybe its worth giving another go.

        4. Barry Rueger

          Re: Try Linux. - Or DON'T! (My love/hate Linux rant.)

          E-v-e-r-y ... s-i-n-g-l-e ... t-i-m-e, for over a decade, Linux lets me down.

          Ah yes, the inevitable "I tried Linux and it wrecked my computer, burned down my house, neutered my dog, and left town with my wife" guy.

          I did a fresh Linux install yesterday. It took fifteen minutes, including updates and disabling Caps Lock. It's rock solid stable, has everything I need on a daily basis, and has a UI that is completely free of the Win 10 mess. By which I mean it's essentially like Windows XP, VISTA, 7 etc.

          My computers get updated more or less daily without incident, don't break things, and don't demand a reboot every time.

          For the vast majority of people with the vast majority of hardware a move to Linux will be fast, safe, and painless. Unless there's a specific application that you need - accounting, Photoshop (Web based now, does it even it need Windows?), gaming, there is no reason whatsoever for most people to stick with windows.

          And, as I speak, Win 10 has translated half the programs on my wife's computer to Slovak language instead of English. I dread trying to fix that mess.

          1. doublelayer Silver badge

            Re: Try Linux. - Or DON'T! (My love/hate Linux rant.)

            If you want to change the language back, you should be able to do the following steps:

            1. Open the new windows 10 settings thing. If typing "settings" in the search box won't access it for you because of the language change, try using the quick tools menu. Press windows+x, which should pull up a menu of some more useful tools. Settings should be sixth from the bottom. Second from the bottom is a submenu with shutdown options, so settings is four above that.

            If that doesn't work, try to use the command prompt. The system settings executable is well-hidden. First, cd into

            c:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\SIH\bin\cbs

            Then, try any subdirectory of there. Hopefully, you're like me and you just have one subdirectory. Once you've entered it, you need to enter another subdirectory. It starts with "amd64_microsoft-windows-i..ntrolpanel." and includes some numbers, so enter that much and press tab for the rest. Then, try to run the command "start systemsettings.exe". Hopefully, you'll never need to do that.

            2. Select "Time and Language" from the settings screen. On build 1709, it's the third element of five on the second row. On 1607, it's the one in the middle (second row, second column).

            3. Select "Region and Language". That is the second of three.

            4. This screen should have a list of languages, all of which are written in their own script, so your desired one should be available.

            5. After clicking it, if it is not set as ddefault, there should be three buttons. The first one is the one to set as default, so click that.

            6. At that point, you may want to click the other language and remove it from the system.

            If these instructions are not helpful enough, you can describe what has happened and I'll try to correct them. Otherwise, I believe I have a friend who speaks Slovak, so she may be able to help me provide exact translations of UI elements you will need on your way.

            1. Barry Rueger

              Re: Try Linux. - Or DON'T! (My love/hate Linux rant.)

              @doublelayer

              If you want to change the language back, you should be able to do the following steps:

              I'm trying to find time to jump down that rabbit hole. It's truly bizarre. She enabled another keyboard briefly to type in an eastern European composer's name with the appropriate diacritical marks. I believe she changed it back to US English, as that's what the little widget in the tray says it's set to.

              What baffles me is why changing the keyboard language would change some (but not all) of the application names in the Start Menu, and cause some (but not all) applications to operate entirely in Slovak. Logic says it would either change the entire OS to the new language, or just leave it alone.

              1. doublelayer Silver badge

                Re: Try Linux. - Or DON'T! (My love/hate Linux rant.)

                The language indication in the task bar refers only to the language of the keyboard at the time. It is possible that, while enabling the Slovak keyboard, the Slovak language pack was downloaded too and set as default. I'm not sure why that could set only some of the labels, but it's the best theory I can think of for the result.

            2. Barry Rueger

              Re: Try Linux. - Or DON'T! (My love/hate Linux rant.)

              @doublelayer And here's where the problem came from:

              Windows, apps, and websites will appear in the first language in the list that they support.

          2. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Try Linux. - Or DON'T! (My love/hate Linux rant.)

            Linux nowadays, sucks.. hardware support, power management and os bloat now.

            Dev's dont care.

            Mac is increasingly bloated & privacy buggering & data slurping, getting filled with unwanted daemons & bloat

            Windows *always* was, apart from the Win 3 era

        5. jerryboam
          Linux

          Re: Try Linux. - Or DON'T! (My love/hate Linux rant.)

          At last, another reader with balls.

          Linux is crap, I have installed every version since I started in the industry and although I worked for some time with Ubuntu 9 it regularly fell apart and required rebuilding.

          I have only ever supported one company using non-Windows PC's and I fired them at the start of last year as they turned into Time Bandits requiring more and more support as the OS caused loads of problems also Windows users do not like or get on with Linux (or anything non-Windows).

          If it wasn't for the Real Ale drinking, Windows hating old farts out there these fringe OS's would have died the natural death decades ago (the down vote button is below).

          Just thought I would add my opinion.

          1. TJD

            Re: Try Linux. - Or DON'T! (My love/hate Linux rant.)

            If you don't like Linux, that's fair enough - but I'd like to point out a few things that you have wrong.

            1. "Windiows hating old farts" are not the people using Linux.

            I'd grant you that there are a lot of vocal Linux people out there who don't like Windows, but the people who really use Linux do not care about Windows, just as they do not care about Apple. IT professionals use Linux as a tool, just as they use Windows, when it is appropriate.

            2. Linux and others are not "fringe" operating systems.

            You have more people using Linux than Windows on any specific day. Everything from phones to tablets, to cars, to ATMs, to kitchen appliances run on Linux or software derived from Linux supported projects. Your Apple computers use source code derived from MACH and BSD. Android devices use Linux code.

            If anything Microsoft is a fringe operating system, with less than 15% of the world computer device market outside of the desktop. Even Microsoft admits this.

            https://www.computerworld.com/article/2490008/microsoft-windows/microsoft-gets-real--admits-its-device-share-is-just-14-.html

        6. Anonymous Coward
          Facepalm

          Linux destroyed my Windows partition ;]

          @Nimby: "If a software engineer and hobbyist system builder with regular Linux experience absolutely CANNOT get his home PC to work RELIABLY using Linux for over a decade, what chance do regular consumers have?"

          Straight from the 'I like Linux but' trolling manual. Maybe you're not compatible with 'Linux'.

        7. Updraft102

          Re: Try Linux. - Or DON'T! (My love/hate Linux rant.)

          Wow, what are you doing to get these results?

          I've only been using Linux a lot since the last part of 2015, and I've found Linux to be easier to work with than Windows. Windows considers any file system that is not its own to be unallocated space... it refuses even to acknowledge that data exists in non-Windows formats. If you try to set up a dual-boot by installing Linux first, then Windows, Windows will stomp all over Linux and refuse to accept it was even there. Linux, by contrast (in all the versions I have tried), will gracefully offer to install itself next to Windows, and I have yet to have the dual-boot setup it creates fail. I've put Linux (mostly Mint) on a bunch of Windows PCs by now in a dual-boot setup, from the single-core ATA laptop that's a dozen years old to Kaby Lake, MBR and GPT setups, and they all work.

          Of course, none of those machines had Windows 10 on them after I was finished, so that may have something to do with it. Windows 7 or 8.1, not a problem.

          No offense, but it's probably good that you refuse to build Linux PCs for friends and family so that you won't have to work on them. I wouldn't want to have the kind of bad luck you describe to befall my machines either! I've got five Linux PCs that I use for various tasks, four of which dual-boot Windows, and they just keep right on working. Windows has often made me go hunting across the web looking for drivers that will work with various bits of hardware and the version of Windows in question, while (without exception) Linux just works. For the video drivers, I've had to open the Ubuntu/Mint driver manager and click the radio button for the proprietary driver and hit "apply changes," but that's still a lot easier than going to the nVidia web site and downloading the installer for "regular" people.

          That's not to say that Linux is always easy, of course, but then neither is Windows. Overall, Linux seems far more robust than Windows... Windows is really quite fragile, and the slightest little thing will break it.

          I've never tried to be the go-to "fixit" guy for a novice user on Linux, and I'd always assumed it would be an endless stream of "help!" requests, but people who have done that generally say that the number of requests for assistance drops sharply when Windows is gone, and that's gotten far worse since Windows 10 has been inflicted upon us all. I know that keeping people's Windows machines working is pretty labor intensive... by the time they get to me, they're screwed up beyond all belief. Of course, now all you need to do to bork a Windows machine that badly is to turn it on and allow the broken Windows 10 patches to install.

          No way would I want to be the person responsible for people's Win 10 machines. In a professional capacity, if the pay was good enough, it might be a nice source of job security, but for friends and family? The best advice I can give is "avoid Windows." With MS doing their best to sabotage Windows 7, even that's not a safe bet to suggest to people as an alternative to 10.

          I agree with you on wanting MacOS to be sold as a standalone for PCs. I'll never buy into Apple's severely limited hardware choices, but I would definitely give it a shot if I could use it on my existing hardware. I don't know if I would end up using it myself, but at the very least, it would give me something to recommend to people... right now, I have no good answer for a non-techie type of user who has a PC and who wants to know where to go now. Linux... it's good for me as a tech-savvy type, but for the regular user? I don't know. Windows isn't any good for anything anymore. There needs to be another choice.

        8. RandSec

          Re: Try Linux - Try Peppermint Linux

          If you want a simple, clean, Linux OS for the family, try Peppermint OS, but on older computers. One possibility is to install Peppermint to a 32G or larger USB 3.0 or 3.1 flash drive.

          Linux always has problems supporting new hardware, so if you build a new state-of-the art hardware system, you can expect Linux software problems.

          Peppermint works surprisingly well as a basic browsing / email / streaming / editing / research OS. With the Chrome browser, it supports Netflix. For the family, it will play browser games, Linux games, and even some Windows games (given some effort with Wine), but absent support for the latest GPU it cannot be a true gaming machine. Since Peppermint is Linux, It will support code development, but the family probably does not care.

        9. solv

          Re: Try Linux. - Or DON'T! (My love/hate Linux rant.)

          You are either extremely unlucky or just not very smart.

          I have been using linux for 14 years on home PC's, Work PC's, servers etc etc you name it.

          I deployed a ubuntu 12.04 box 6 years ago for someones office. Just 3 days ago I upgraded it from 16.04 to 18.04....went smooth as silk. Time I touched it before that...upgrade to 16.04....time before that...you get the picture. The person I've set it up for can't believe how much more stable it is than Windows.

          At work I made my technician switch his one year old laptop to running linux (elementary OS) after the Windows installation he said he wanted on it just stopped working and couldn't get it to start booting again. He wanted a day off to get Windows reinstalled and configured to his liking. I said we don't have time for that kind of crap. He now runs Windows in a VM and we haven't had a problem since.

          I repair Windows for a living....it doesn't "just work"...it breaks itself all the time.

          Sure linux has plenty of problems...but I'm sick to death of people trashing it....and I'm also tired of supporting people with Windows problems that shouldn't exist in mature O/S run by one of the biggest companies in the world - Windows should be bloody unbreakable, rock solid, secure as it comes and innovative....the funding that goes into it warrants it to have to live up to a MUCH higher standard than linux desktop IMO

      3. wallaby

        "Try Linux. Once I did, I never looked back "

        ARRGGGHHHHHHH

        Was this article about Linux or MS?????

        Once again it has been hijacked by the penguins

        they are like some nasty disease, out they come again

        WE KNOW - STFU!!!!

        1. doublelayer Silver badge

          Yes, this has been derailed by discussions of Linux. Yes, the discussions aren't exactly covering new ground. Yes, said discussions are relevant. The article is discussing a windows problem that breaks components, and people are commenting with a suggested alternative, albeit one that is a tad unoriginal. Is your preference that more people just comment on all the other microsoft problems of the past? Many posts here are doing just that.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            " .. derailed by discussions of Linux ? "

            a discussion about the dis-satisfaction of an OS is not really being derailed by mentioning alternatives.

      4. Anonymous Coward
        Linux

        Once I tried Linux I never looked back

        @Sphynx: "Try Linux. Once I did, I never looked back . I use Windows so that I can use Adobe's Photoshop and Lightroom, otherwise, I can do everything else in Linux and enjoy it. I ran out of time waiting for Windows to update every Tuesday. Linux Mint is my favorite, solid as a rock. Manjaro/Arch Linux is good, too.

        Only on here can a suggestion to try Linux can get a minus twenty vote :]

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Once I tried Linux I never looked back

          Crick in the neck, happens from bad posture hacking all night to set it up or fix Linux, or alternatively falling asleep at the desk after of hours trying to overcome a merry-go-round of faults and errors.

          1. grumpy-old-person

            Re: Once I tried Linux I never looked back

            Sounds like my wife's laptop running Windows 10!

            Just installed Ubuntu MATE 18.04 on 4 machines - 2 laptops, an old HP microserver and Raspberry Pi and all are working flawlessly - and fast, and updates actually work, and, and, and . . .

            Have fun with Windows :)

      5. MCG

        I would switch to Linux without a moment's hesitation if it wasn't for all the applications I use that only run on Windows.

    5. Frank N. Stein

      Was wondering about this, myself. It arrived and was rock solid Stable, but these creator's updates have not been stable for my machine. If this is some trick to get us to buy new PC's, that trick isn't working on me. I won't do it. I recently bought a re-conditioned Panasonic Toughbook that runs Windows 7 and is NOT compatible with Windows 10, so I can avoid that crap-fest, at my laptop. THIS creator's update installed, and then Windows 10 decided to restore "back to my previous version", so at least I didn't get a Blue Screen of Death or have to re-install Windows 10. So, in my case, Windows 10 spotted something wrong with the May Creator's Update, and restored itself to the previous version. This is more a problem with the Creator's update, than Windows 10, installed before that. Nadella sucks as Microsoft CEO and his attempts to force Windows 10 on us all, is the stupidest decision ever made....

    6. -maniax-
      Black Helicopters

      the telemetry isn't to help them fix things it's to let them know what they can get away with

    7. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      remove the Win10 spyware, or you will face GDPR

      > Telemetry is here to piss off privacy minded people and not to help with debugging - "this will teach them" philosophy of sorts.

      @Microsoft: remove the spyware (keylogger, audio recorder, ...) from Windows 10 or you will face the full storm of EU GDPR

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Microsoft’s business models require stealing and reselling personal data

    ....."When we talk about why we're upgrading the Windows 10 install base, why is that upgrade free? MS CFO asked during a meeting with Wall Street analysts. These are all new monetization opportunities once a PC is sold. Microsoft's strategy is to go low on consumer Windows licenses, hoping that that will boost device sales, which will in turn add to the pool of potential customers for 'Advertising'".....

    ....."CEO Nadella has referred to the customer revenue potential as 'lifetime value' in the past -- and did so again last week during the same meeting with Wall Street -- hinting at Microsoft's strategy to make more on the back end of the PC acquisition process. The more customers, the more money those customers will bring in as they view 'Ads'".....

    https://www.computerworld.com/article/2917799/microsoft-windows/microsoft-fleshes-out-windows-as-a-service-revenue-strategy.html

    1. Mark 85

      Re: Microsoft’s business models require stealing and reselling personal data

      There's no "value" if the system keeps crashing as they'll just piss of the users who will find a new operating system. Their execution stinks.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Devil

        "There's no "value" if the system keeps crashing"

        There's a lot of values, since after it crash it sends a full crash report to MS.... lots of data about what you were doing...

      2. nematoad
        Unhappy

        Re: Microsoft’s business models require stealing and reselling personal data

        "...the users who will find a new operating system."

        Sadly, the truth is that most users don't even know that there are alternatives. As far as they are concerned Windows is the only way due to the bundling of Windows with a new PC. Remember the bullshit being spouted when it was said that buying a PC without Windows was illegal?

        So, much as I wish people would go out and get an alternative, due to the brainwashing and FUD most people won't/can't get off the MS treadmill.

        Oh, I agree that MS's execution leaves a lot to be desired but when did that ever change?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Linux

          Re: Microsoft’s business models require stealing and reselling personal data

          @nematoad: "Sadly, the truth is that most users don't even know that there are alternatives"

          I keep getting requests for help from Windows users. They ask me how I do it, I tell them I don't use Windows and a glazed look come over their faces. You are not of the body ..You are NOT of the body! ..

    2. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge
      Facepalm

      Re: Why is the udate free?

      Because if the charged for it the number of class action lawsuits filed would exceed even the vast number of suits filed against Apple.

  3. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

    Sounds like a useful bug?

    Or a feature, if you will.

    1. Voland's right hand Silver badge

      Re: Sounds like a useful bug?

      Not really. It signifies a major problem with the driver for Intel IGP in that chipset. It may bite you any time with something else.

      1. Dan 55 Silver badge

        Re: Sounds like a useful bug?

        Which only strikes on the latest version of Windows 10?

        And why didn't the insiders find this one? Chrome and Cortana, hardly exotic.

        Their lack of QA and hoping telemetry will fix the problem isn't working.

        1. Julian 8 Silver badge

          Re: Sounds like a useful bug?

          Insiders = fanboiz = no chrome - Edge only

  4. Phil Kingston

    Can almost cut the hate for Windows in here today.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      'almost cut the hate for Windows in here today.'

      Honestly its fear! The Facebook-Emerdata-Palantir clusterfuck showed how easy it is for data, even telemetry, to become weaponized metadata.... To be used anytime / anywhere against users in ways they never expected or ever consented to.

      Microsoft is building a war chest of data on users right now. Some people are seeing Ads, others aren't. Some users are concerned, other aren't... As they see Microsoft making too much money to 'pull a Facebook/Google'. But how will that silo be used long term? No one knows, but we know data never forgets. We also know anonymization means little if just one rogue or inept employee gets involved. Plus all Cloud data leaks / gets hacked, not just S3 buckets. Azure is just as much at risk!

      As techheads all we can do is look out for friends / family. Overall, the less data that's out there on users, the safer we all are. Anything else is misplaced overconfidence. GDPR still has to be enforced. Plus, once the data-genie is out of the bottle - that's it - people are exposed! Expect Palantir/Emerdata to use shell-companies outside EU/US law, to keep getting their vampire squid tentacles around people's data and lives.

      Where does Microsoft stand? Well, they've made promises to Wall Street. So don't be surprised if a whirlwind happens... You can't trust Apple any more. But at least their CEO has made some public Anti-Facebook statements. Whereas, Microsoft has remained strangely silent! All it takes is a senior executive at Microsoft to become Pals-with-Palantir or play golf with the Mercers. What a cosy circle they all make: Eric Schmidt family / Mercer family / Everdata-Palantir.

    2. hplasm
      Meh

      Re:Can almost cut the hate for Windows in here today.

      Neither hate, nor fear.

      Just contempt. Just like they show for their 'customers'

      1. el kabong

        micro$oft despises me as much as I despise them, they despise all of us.

        They started it. I keep trying to kill the deep contempt I feel towards micro$oft but they work so hard to keep it alive that I've lost all hope now. I'd rather not feel the deep contempt I feel towards micro$oft but they are so committed to keep it going that I now fear all hope is lost.

        1. wallaby

          Re: micro$oft despises me as much as I despise them, they despise all of us.

          as soon as I see micro$oft I expect the ire rather than reasoned argument - and it comes

          1. This post has been deleted by its author

          2. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

            Re: and it comes

            The questions are...

            Do they deserve all the downvotes?

            Does Nanny SatNad really know best for each and every one of us?

            etc

            etc

            Yes (1)

            and he might think so but those at the coal face who have to fight their madness on a daily basis really do know better.

            A lot of that angst gets translated into people using anything but windows at home. I got fed up with the fight almost 10 years (for personal use) ago and have never looked back.

            I still shudder as I remember my last W10 work system that got borked by a crap update. I just hauled up the white flag and installed CentOS on the device and then relegated W10 to a VM. Said VM hardly gets used these days. I've moved on but MS hasn't.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      No Windows

      in general, just for Windows 10.

      I tried it for 3 months, Classic shell makes it usuable, but as the developer has dropped support due to the constant changes MS make for no good reason, he's gotten pissed off with it.

      Which is where I was, it was just so annoying that I couldn't be arsed to invest time in it. I'll just stick with win7. Even after 2020.

      1. Updraft102

        Re: No Windows

        Which is where I was, it was just so annoying that I couldn't be arsed to invest time in it. I'll just stick with win7. Even after 2020.

        Windows 8.x was/is a disaster out of the box, but you can de-stupidize it. Install Classic Shell (since 8.1 is not getting any feature additions, it should keep working), install Old New Explorer to kill the ribbon, use install_wim_tweak to deep-six all the apps, give it a custom theme of your choice, and you've got yourself a pretty good setup. It's the only version of Windows I still have installed (I mostly use Linux these days, but all but one of my Linux PCs are dual boot), and I'm very demanding when it comes to UIs... I have no time or tolerance for any of this tablet crap they're trying to push on us lately, but Windows 8.1 isn't so far gone that it's a lost cause. Win 10 is, and even if you did manage to get it de-stupidized, your changes could just as easily be undone by the next build that comes rumbling your way.

  5. aregross
    Thumb Up

    Still on Win7 Pro, so glad

  6. W.S.Gosset

    the "Fix"

    > Windowskey + Control + Shift + B

    Dr Google[DDG] suggests this restarts the graphics driver.

    1. Hans 1
      Joke

      Re: the "Fix"

      Windowskey + Control + Shift + B

      Don't Apple have a patent on Twister-style keyboard shortcuts ?

      Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twister_(game)

  7. P. Lee

    >trying the Windows logo key + Ctrl + Shift + B

    *MS tips hat to Spectrum*

  8. W.S.Gosset
    FAIL

    Forced updating

    One feature of Win10 that always fills me with a frisson of sheer pleasure, is the way you can no longer stall auto-updates if a bug in one comes to light. Instead of being able to wait for a restart ("Later"), even if you click Later, Win10 forces the restart next time you sleep-or-hibernate your box: it performs a shutdown instead. Cheers, guys. Way to rack up the exposure to error/unwonted changes in behaviour.

    1. mark l 2 Silver badge

      Re: Forced updating

      Set your network connection to a metered one and I Windows won't automatically download updates only security patches, so you can avoid having to install these 6 month features updates.

    2. Duncan Macdonald

      Re: Forced updating - disable the Windows Update service

      If you want updates to occur only when you want then disable the Windows Update service. Then when you want the updates to occur re-enable the service and perform a check for updates. Once all the updates have been installed, disable the service again.

      1. Updraft102

        Re: Forced updating - disable the Windows Update service

        Windows 10 has "self healing" features that re-enable the Windows Update service. If you want to defy Microsoft's wishes for your PC, you're going to have to fight them for it.

    3. Whoisthis

      I'm with you on that.

      The only good thing is that you can roll back the update without losing settings.

      Bring back the notify of update and choose to install.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Boffin

    And how is this MSFTs fault?

    Sounds like the devs of Chromium have poorly coded the driver so it relied on a particular memory layout or undocumented API and have been caught out. Obviously they never bothered testing Chromium on the Insiders build of 1803 that have been available for months.

    1. Dan 55 Silver badge

      Re: And how is this MSFTs fault?

      And what were the insiders doing all this time with the Insiders build?

    2. fandom

      Re: And how is this MSFTs fault?

      Indeed, how can you blame Microsoft if Cortana doesn´t work?

      1. a handle

        Re: And how is this MSFTs fault?

        Edge still works. What a pity Chrome doesn't work, sorry about that, we'll see if we can find a fix, but fist it's time for my long lunch break.

        1. Fungus Bob
          Devil

          Re: And how is this MSFTs fault?

          Windows ain't done until Chrome won't run...

      2. Updraft102

        Re: And how is this MSFTs fault?

        Indeed, how can you blame Microsoft if Cortana doesn´t work?

        That's not a bug. It's a feature.

  10. Jason Hindle

    No issues so far

    I do use Chrome for a couple of thibgs, on W10, and haven't seen any issues since the big April update.

    1. el kabong

      Good for you!

      It is such a pity your report can't be more helpful to the many others who were not so lucky.

    2. doublelayer Silver badge

      Re: No issues so far

      Are you running one of the affected GPUs? It seems the bug will not affect many users, as these GPUs are only some of the many intel make. If indeed you are running one of the mentioned chipsets, then maybe it requires more specific stress.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It it ain't broke, you're not trying

    It's the nature of software development to cram in more and more features without properly investing in cleanup. All the big players are hurting. Windows 10 is always broken. A number of companies have recently prohibited Apple purchases because High Sierra is impossible to manage and too buggy to maintain, if it even installs at all. Android updates aren't gaining much traction because the OS is getting complicated by Google's odd technical whims. Desktop Linux remains impossible to install without searching online for cures to cryptic configuration bugs. (Using Linux 18.04 right now and the Super key works fine on one computer but only semi-works on another)

    The fix is always a new OS. The question is who will deliver it.

    1. Twanky

      Re: It it ain't broke, you're not trying

      Ubuntu != Linux

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: It it ain't broke, you're not trying

      "Desktop Linux remains impossible to install without searching online for cures to cryptic configuration bugs."

      I installed Slackware on my laptop. The only issues I've had are with printer drivers. But then frankly, who hasn't had problems with those at some point?

      "(Using Linux 18.04 right now and the Super key works fine on one computer but only semi-works on another)"

      There's no such thing as Linux 18.04. You mean Ubuntu. And that doesn't work for you try another distro, there are plenty to choose from. Ubuntu tends to have a lot of bleeding edge stuff in it which can be less than reliable at times.

      1. Not That Andrew

        Re: It it ain't broke, you're not trying

        Yup Debian or Slackware are best and most stable. Once you Slack, you never go back.

    3. elgarak1

      Re: It it ain't broke, you're not trying

      "A number of companies have recently prohibited Apple purchases because High Sierra is impossible to manage and too buggy to maintain, if it even installs at all."

      Please provide a link. Unless I have non-existing google-fu, I cannot confirm this on my own.

      That said, I happily run High Sierra, and it does not a single annoying thing of the many I experience on my Mom's Windows 10 laptop. But then, I'm not a corporate user and do not know what kind of weird requirements corporate IT have developed in order to maintain Windows.

      1. doublelayer Silver badge

        Re: It it ain't broke, you're not trying

        High sierra installs have become very unreliable. Some people have no problems at all. Others have some difficulty getting the install back into working order but once that's accomplished, everything works perfectly. That's my sister, whose mac I had to reinstall and restore from backup but there has been no problem since. Others have noted frequent application crashes and operating system instability. And then there's me, where something that happened at the update has put my machine into a seemingly endless loop of bricking itself for about two weeks before restarting fine for about a week before starting again. This issue did not happen before the high sierra update and it persists through clean installs of high sierra, sierra, and el capitan, so I'm presuming some kind of firmware problem. In addition, various security bugs have been found in High Sierra which has led to questioning of the quality control on this release. I assume some corporates are dealing with these problems and have become perhaps excessively irritated due to a small sample set of machines that failed. Then again, I'm the same--I'm not sure I could buy another mac, given the fact that apple has failed to make any change or diagnose the problem that my machine has.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    Not a problem here.

    These issues don't bother me because I can't even upgrade to version 1803. It fails on final reboot and restores 1709, and all I get is an obscure error code - 0xc1900101. And then it proceeds to install itself again, and fail and ...

    Plenty of people having the problem but no clear indications what is wrong.

    1. Fading
      Coffee/keyboard

      Re: Not a problem here.

      One of my laptops has this behaviour - looks like it is an issue if you have a dedicated GPU as well as an iGPU. There is a solution - run the install but when it begins "installing" after downloading the update turn off the internet connection. Elegant it is not and I for one would have delayed the install had I known (foolishly updated the laptop after my desktop update with no problems (I don't use cortana or chrome on my desktop).

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Happy

        Re: Not a problem here.

        @Fading - Thanks for the advice. I don't think it's GPU-related as this is a Linx tablet, though I note that in many instances the problem seems to be driver-related.

        It's just failed for the 6th time so I'll try turning the network off after downloading, as you suggest.

    2. JWLong

      Re: Not a problem here.

      https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/deployment/upgrade/resolution-procedures#0xc1900101

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Not a problem here.

        Unfortunately the article on resolving "0xc1900101" errors didn't help as I didn't have a matching secondary code.

        So I had a look at "https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4089834/windows-10-troubleshoot-problems-updating". Tried everything suggested and no luck.

        I thought I'd have a go at using the 'Microsoft Virtual Agent'. I told her I was having trouble upgrading to 1803: she pondered for a minute then crashed and told me I'd better talk to a real person.

        So, after the 14th failure, I gave up and downloaded the "Media Creation Tool" and ran the upgrade from the media.

        Upgrade was smooth, and only took an hour or two.

        Subsequently I've had problems.

        Perhaps next time I should just cut the crap and go straight for a clean upgrade rather than relying on what seems to be an increasingly broken Windows Update.

  13. Roger Greenwood

    Killing cortana . .

    . . is a feature I would almost pay for.

    1. Kevin Johnston

      Re: Killing cortana . .

      It's the Rampancy, I predicted this a looooong time ago when they first used the name in Windows10

  14. mrmond

    Not Chrome specifically.

    Chrome and a combination of other apps like Discord plus a combination of any 3D apps.

    I've got Intel 620 & Nvidia on the main laptop and thought I'd fixed it by turning transparency effects off, for a little while things seemed ok and then I turned transparency back on and instant lock up again, CPU not even at 50%.

    However I tried again on the next reboot with it off and still locking up so I rolled back and things back to normal...BUT...updates downloading again. Other Win touch tablet downloaded and applied update overnight, immediately rolled back as the 25gb free dropped to 15 then even after rolling back and cleaning up install files still only had 18, again, downloading updates!

    Somebody stop this nightmare!

    If they give us an option to rollback, why do they immediately force it on us again!

    1. Dan 55 Silver badge

      Re: Not Chrome specifically.

      Because they're clever like that.

      Set your WiFi as a metered connection. If you're on an Etihernet cable, switch over to WiFi and set it up as a metered connection.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Not Chrome specifically.

        If it was exclusively Chrome then it would look bad. But as it effects another product it looks like an accident. Pity about the FUD it puts on Chrome.

        It's a bit like the accident last month where monthly updates caused servers running 2008r to lose their static ip address details if virtualised under VMware. Pity about the FUD it puts on VMware.

  15. big_D Silver badge

    Not here...

    I've not noticed it here (Firefox). I have half a dozen Kaby Lakes here and none are showing this freezing. At home my Ryzen 1700 hasn't shown any effects, neither has my Skylake laptop.

  16. Elmer Phud

    I don't mind about Coratana . . .

    . . . but now I have to find a replacement Freecell.

    Bastards have really gone OTT with the 'pay us to remove annoying shit'.

    Others may not look so good but I can ignore the adverts.

    1. fran 2

      Re: I don't mind about Coratana . . .

      You can get the win 7 version of freecell for win10 at the winaero website

    2. Steve 114

      Re: I don't mind about Coratana . . .

      Can't you copy Freecell off an old XP HDD like the rest of us? (don't forget the 'cards' DLL' too).

  17. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Paris Hilton

    Apps including "Hey Cortana" and Google Chrome hang

    So it's the Windows "Bye Cortana & Google Chrome Hang From Lampposts" edition?

  18. 0laf
    Windows

    "Oh Cortana is broken" notice no one.

  19. mrmond

    Turned off updates on the tablet...

    And discovered I can't update any store apps. Any suggestions how I update those without 1803 downloading again?

  20. BillBam

    I keep getting a dead system on reboot

    I have a HP Pavilion laptop with an I7 processor (Kaby Lake). When I updated twice in the last few days it looked like it worked properly but when I reboot, after a few seconds I have a dead system and had to revert back to the previous version.

    However, once I have the previous version running, the upgrade downloads again so the next time I reboot, it gets installed, and then on rebooting I ended up with a dead system again. I had to stop the automatic updates.

    I "chated" to a Microsoft support person and he provided the following instructions to turn off the automatic updates. Once I am ready again to try it I am to select the "Check for updates" button in Windows Update.

    1. Open the run box (windows key + R key), type in it " services.msc".

    2. It will open a box, search for " Bit driver locker encryption ". Right click on it and change the automatic/ manual to disable > hit Apply and Ok.

    3. Now, search for " Cryptographic services ". Right click on it and change the automatic/ manual to disable > hit Apply and Ok.

    4. Now, search for " Windows installer ". Right click on it and change the automatic/ manual to disable > hit Apply and Ok. (Note: for me, it was set to “manual” and I could not change it so I was told to ignore it)

    5. Now, search for " Windows updates ". Right click on it and change the automatic/ manual to disable > hit Apply and Ok.

    So I will try in a few weeks again to see if it improves.

    1. DJV Silver badge

      "So I will try in a few weeks again to see if it improves."

      It won't...

    2. Dan 55 Silver badge

      Re: I keep getting a dead system on reboot

      3. Now, search for " Cryptographic services ". Right click on it and change the automatic/ manual to disable > hit Apply and Ok.

      WTF?

  21. StuartFawcett

    Intel patch fixed mine

    I had this issue for about 2 days, finally the ststem prompted me to install this:

    "Intel Corporation - Display - 2/28/2018 12:00:00 AM - 23.20.16.4973 "

    and then all was OK, so far 30 hours good.

    Alse page 7 here:

    https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-performance-winpc/computer-freezing-after-installing-windows-10/74a3a9e3-8bbb-4149-a146-fd12ff19b075?messageId=b2e2e4e6-09a4-4a20-99c1-f79ea80a245c&rtAction=1525428829917

  22. StuartFawcett

    "Intel Corporation - Display - 2/28/2018 12:00:00 AM - 23.20.16.4973 "

  23. Avatar of They
    Mushroom

    Sigh.

    Just made the jump to win 10 after much animosity and hatred - because of games (still a Linux fanboy for everything of importance) and need for new hardware.

    I have read how pretty much every release has crashed, bricked or burned one or two things in Windows. and it is always someone elses fault, but I always thought how it can't all be true. Despite supporting my families laptops who actually have crashed at 100% CPU for 2 days and then eventual death and roll back with each major release.

    However with hope my new machine arrived and I have been hit by the seemingly very common fault that games don't play in full screen. You have to use 'windowed mode'. And none of the fixes so far (11 and counting) work. Surely someone at MS realises games are a key use of computers? Even a half dead lobotomised monkey from Mars knows that games are played on computers, but not MS apparently.

    Now I realise win 10 is garbage and all the negative reports are true.

    1. agatum
      Pint

      Re: Sigh.

      Even a half dead lobotomised monkey from Mars

      So there IS life on other planets, I KNEW IT!

      1. hplasm
        Coat

        Re: Sigh.

        "Even a half dead lobotomised monkey from Mars"

        The POTUS uses Win10?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Sigh.

      > Just made the jump to win 10 after much animosity and hatred - because of games (still a Linux fanboy for everything of importance) and need for new hardware. .. Now I realise win 10 is garbage and all the negative reports are true.

      Just install Windows 7 on your new PC. Win7 works very fine also on new 2018 hardware without problems, and yes ALL games from 1995 to 2018 works as they should.

      Hint for Win7: better deactivate windows update and remove some phone-home updates (released after 2014), to be 100% spyware free

  24. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Nadella has been trying to convince world plus dog to use Edge, as their default browser. I refuse to do that, as I can't stand Edge. It makes perfect sense for Microsoft to break any installation of Chrome, in order to coerce people into using Edge. Not me. Screw Edge. And you can delay the installation of this update crap fest, but not for long. After I manually disabled the Windows Update Service, it STILL tried to download and install this May Creator's Update, so I had to do the "Metered Connection" thing to delay it. Forced automatic updates, with automatic reboots are ridiculous. This isn't giving anyone the warm and fuzzies...

    1. 0laf

      I struggle to understand why bundling IE resulted in a massive EU court case and new version of Windows yet forcing Edge down everyone's throat is fine. Ditto for Chrome on Droid

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        No one but the suits at MS likes Edge. They _want_ to like it, but they're mostly using Chrome any way because it works. It also has the benefit of having overwhelming market share.

        The real problem was the capricious axing of QA in the O/S division, that has been compounded by a reorg that essentially erased the division itself. This update is pretty much the experience you can expect from "Devices and Experiences".

        As a Unix sysadmin and sometimes developer a Linux desktop (Fedora for around a decade, more recently Ubuntu for "stability", just before its benevolent dictator gave up on convergence) has been all I've needed for a long time. Unfortunately, in the corporate world there's always some new thing that requires Windows before you can find a workaround. Due to the recklessness of most users the security types have (rightly) been able to force uniformity in everything on the desktop, including the O/S. As a result, I now do most work in a Linux VM on Windows instead of the opposite.

        Lately, the fam have been complaining about Win-instability but don't press it because they know what my answer will be. Unlike me, they're heavily invested in Windows only games and so are held hostage by that. I've given up on the never quite ready yet GPU pass through stuff after wasting hours on it. So, like politics, I've come to the conclusion that this is another problem the next generation is going to have to sort out.

  25. Anonymous South African Coward Bronze badge

    Real reason for Cortana gone walkabouts - she's over in Sugar Rush with Fix-it Felix and Wreck-it Ralph looking for something they all need to win the game...

  26. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    FreeBSD FTW

  27. rmullen0

    They need to make it more modular, trim features, and reduce the Windows updates

    I have felt this way for a long time. Microsoft needs to trim Windows down so that it is more minimal. The worst thing about it are the Windows updates. I have several computers and a couple of them are low end NUCs. It is a huge chore keeping them up to date. I probably spend at least an 8 hour day updating them every month. There's patch Tuesday, but, they also throw in at least 1 or 2 other unscheduled updates every month as well. The stinking AV software is a huge tax on the system as well. It probably adds a good 40% slowdown overall. Also, OneDrive, Office updates, and .NET updates slow things down a lot.

    1. 0laf

      Re: They need to make it more modular, trim features, and reduce the Windows updates

      A significant push to update my home pc was to cope with W10 updates. It was a cheap but perfectly serviceable i3, 8Gb with SSD, rig which handled pretty much everything I threw at it for years including games. The only thing that brought it to its knees was the WinUpdate service.

      I'm now running a Ryzen 7 1800 with 16Gb and it can just about cope with W10 updates. They now take 30min rather than a whole evening.

      1. shawnfromnh

        Re: They need to make it more modular, trim features, and reduce the Windows updates

        I prefer Manjaro with a 5 minute update and no reboot and no nasty surprises so far and it's blazing fast compared to windows so I don't miss WU or anything else windows like antivirus and shit that shouldn't be needed for a user with enough experience to know what no to click and where not to go.

  28. Tezfair

    3 hours and went back

    Some personalisations were lost but the biggest issue was windows flagging up with 'windows license will expire soon' every few minutes. Yet go into activation and its all activated and happy and has been for about 3 years. Gone back to the previous build and all is calm again.

  29. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    EEE - force users to Edge/IE

    Anti-competitive behaviour, business as usual by them. When will "US vs. MS" finally split up this ugly company

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: EEE - force users to Edge/IE

      It's all about docx. Transitional docx anyone? Microsoft Office is still using the transitional version almost 10 years later. But worse, each version of Office has some bits of the transitional format implemented differently, is this due to a poor spec or ms mistakes? I dont know, but how confusing! Let alone the c fonts.

  30. Scroticus Canis
    Devil

    Windows 10 April Fools' 2018 Update.

    FTFY.

  31. shawnfromnh

    Because on May 8th MS has an entire new set of fuckups to present you on that windows update.

  32. Anonymous Coward
    Windows

    "Winnix"

    You cannot call it Windows any longer as it stopped being that with Vista its a 'Nix' with run levels and all.

    I have a long list of Hardware that Linux has destroyed, all since rise of Ubuntu, on the other hand Microsoft kills my subscriptions and access to other programs and hardware and time. I have a list of the hundreds of pointless hours spent working around Windows faults only to have the workarounds rendered useless with a change to Windows via updates.

    For many years Microsoft staff could not even refer correctly to updates, often in documents calling them updates, upgrades, packs, patches, service, security, and so many other things I just cannot remember them. I stopped updating and only then downloaded administrative service packs manually going thru them bit by bit.

    With much software(Softwire) an update means a design change to keep up with operating systems, for their fashion conscious fanbois. Only serving to remove access to essential portions of the software I rely on or kill it altogether. Reminds me of the motor vehicle industry shuffling designs to seem relevant and sell models.

    1. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

      Re: "Winnix"

      Quote

      I have a long list of Hardware that Linux has destroyed, all since rise of Ubuntu,

      Ubuntu <> Linux <> Ubuntu

      There are plenty of other Linux Distro's that even have a 10 year support cycle. Ubuntu is not the only game in town and has not been for a long, long time.

  33. Kapudan-i Derya

    "Microsoft's latest Windows 10 update downs Chrome, Cortana"

    Must be a privacy update then:-)

  34. AstroCam

    Yay. I do not use Chrome and hate Corty. This is the update for me.

    Though Chromium works fine on my Linux browser.

    Just another yearly browser update to give us more woes. Thanks, MS. You have the power to annoy everyone with your updates.

  35. aqk
    Windows

    Wow! Thanx, Bite-the-hand-that-feeds-me!

    The last coupla days, I noticed all my Firefox pages in Win-10 looked really crappy,

    I searched Firefox (they're always updating, as is Win-10) for answers, but to no avail.

    I happen to be nowusing Win-10 Version 1803 Build 17133.1

    So I tried the Win-Ctrl-Shift-B and suddenly everything cleared up!

    Apologies to Firefox, and thanx, TheRegister!

  36. martinusher Silver badge

    If it aint broke don't fix it

    Windows 7 works and is relatively stable. Windows 10 has been problematical and its regular updates are a bit of a nuisance -- you never know what's going to stop working. The solution is straightforward.

    It would also be helpful if Microsoft didn't try to tie all their components together in one huge, festering, heap. It creates too many unforeseen inter-dependencies.

    1. ADRM

      Re: If it aint broke don't fix it

      Absolutely agree with you 100%. Sitting here with all the machines in our home running Windows 7. No strange six monthly update feast and setting reset here. Just rock solid stability. Like a good OS should do Windows 7 just runs for weeks at a time. Come 2020 I'll continue to use it as a VM in a Linux Mint installation. I own VMWare Workstation so use that for numerous Virtual Machines back to DOS and through 95 to NT4 to 2000 and XP and so on. My laptop dual boots 7 and Mint Mate. I hope the crapfest that is windows 10 just goes away and dies. Me I have tested it on hardware and in VM since the first betas and like Bombastic Bob I used to comment about the awful "look and feel" and the lack on Aero or Windows 2000 type display mode for lab machines and PC's for work and was shouted down by numerous wierdos. Same on Tenforums, the haven for the 10 love fester. So I gave up decided it was not ready for prime time. Most of the family has stayed on 7 or 8.1 and 10 is unusable. I have used M$ products since 1996 in my home. Before that the Amiga 1200 and 500+. Still have an Amiga emulator. To me Windows 2000 was M$ best ever OS. NT4 was also awesome. Liked XP and 7.

  37. Ph2tstor

    GPT vs MBR

    MBR formatted disks are the real issue here. The 1803 update won’t apply if you have rolled out your workforce’s images on the old disk formatting standard. This update will force it admins to convert to uefi pure booting and get rid of legacy boot for good.

  38. MJI Silver badge
    Stop

    This update is fucking us over!

    We have just had to put out a customer wide email as it prevents the client side of our database software communicating with the server.

    Been using it for over 20 years, very stable, until W10.

    And the company was bought by SAP who have ruined support.

    A few 10 PCs in our office have been "updating" for a few hours and not yet usable.

    FDISK and Windows 7 would be a great cure.

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