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Microsoft explains the lack of Registry backups in Windows 10

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Re: Microsoft explains the lack of Registry backups in Windows 10

#251

Post by mehrdadn »

andrewstuart wrote: post #250
mehrdadn wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it's a complex mess > sticky mess of spaghetti mixed with chewing gum and glue and it can't be unwound. This is not how you convince someone of a position. If I said your comment here was a spaghetti mixed with chewing gun would you find that informative, let alone compelling? > If you use Windows then you are probably used to Windows slowing down over time No, this is just your stereotype from over a decade ago. >…

Let's be clear - you're saying there's nothing wrong with the registry, it's a great aspect of the architecture of Windows, and it doesn't result in applications being tightly bound, interconnected, difficult to uninstall and that bits and pieces are never left in the registry, that the registry does not contain orphaned configuration elements, it does not slow down Windows and in the past 10 years it has never neede…

> that the registry does not contain orphaned configuration elements

How did you read my sentence "on any system programs will leave remnants on uninstall" and conclude I was claiming the above?

Re: Microsoft explains the lack of Registry backups in Windows 10

#253

Post by makomk »

grzm wrote: post #198
Razengan wrote: post #196

Can someone explain why a monolithic Registry is a good idea, compared to something like macOS's .plists? I can usually intuitively infer where the plist for a particular app or subsystem may be stored, or just search for it using regular file system tools, and I can use many tools to read, edit and selectively backup/restore plists as well as compress them (something I make use of often, to restore settings only for…

> "Can someone explain why a monolithic Registry is a good idea, compared to something like macOS's .plists?" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Registry#Rationale The Registry has been around since Windows 3.1. While it's not required to use the Registry, I can imagine there's a large installed base of applications that do use it, and migrating off of something like this can take concerted effort if they decide i…

The Windows 3.1 version really was just a registry though - it recorded COM object registrations and nothing else. The idea of dumping a whole bunch of unrelated system and app configuration in there was a Windows 95 thing. As for why they did it, that probably seemed like a good idea at the time and there's no way to get rid of it now even if we wanted to.

Re: Microsoft explains the lack of Registry backups in Windows 10

#254

Post by gambiting »

SmellyGeekBoy wrote: post #237
gambiting wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree - I have one with a quad core atom, 1GB of ram(!!!) And latest windows 10 1903 edition runs very nicely on it if you stick to the built-in apps. I usually have it next to my main PC as an additional monitor with the wireless projector functionality .

Windows 10 runs very nicely... If you only want to use the machine as an external monitor? Respectfully, this doesn't seem like a very realistic use case for most people.

That's not what I said. I said it runs really nicely if you stick to the built-in apps, and that I use mine as an external monitor. Those two are not mutually exclusive.

Re: Microsoft explains the lack of Registry backups in Windows 10

#255

Post by mruts »

SmellyGeekBoy wrote: post #243
derefr wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure it is. What home user even realizes they can change the clock time any more? Consider: can you change the clock time on your phone? I've never even considered doing so, personally. Seems like it'd screw up the GPS, if it was possible. Anyone whose first computer was a smartphone isn't going to think of changing their computer's clock time. To them, the time is a network feature, not a local feature.

> Consider: can you change the clock time on your phone? I've never even considered doing so, personally. You've never traveled to another time zone?

What phone doesn’t change timezones automatically?

Re: Microsoft explains the lack of Registry backups in Windows 10

#256

Post by MikusR »

andrewstuart wrote: post #141
jodrellblank wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The registry is a fantastic idea - it's a great pity software developers misused and screwed it up so badly, and a shame other OSs haven't copied it and built on it. Instead of every tool making its own incompatible, undocumented, non-standard config file/database/format/tools.

>> it's a great pity software developers misused and screwed it up so badly So the Registry is a great idea and great software design, but developers are "holding the phone wrong"? I think applications should be standalone and not tied into some giant central spaghetti shared knot of chewing gum. The beauty of Linux/Unix is that stuff is configured by text files. Windows was on that path i the early days when everyth…

Windows Store apps are exactly that - completely isolated with their own configuration and clean uninstall.

Re: Microsoft explains the lack of Registry backups in Windows 10

#257

Post by toyg »

jodrellblank wrote: post #193
toyg wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The minute you make third-party developers potentially responsible for the overall stability of your system, the fault is yours, sorry. Microsoft simply did not grok security principles when building Windows 95, and they have been paying the price ever since. > your /home/.program/program.conf file is from a newer version and the program doesn't run. But a problem in program.conf would sabotage the program, not the e…

Windows 95 wasn't multi-user and was from a time when the only software most people would install was some they bought from a company you trust. I hazard a guess that with NT4 and Windows 2000, the user hive was unlikely to be able to crash your system - sure something probably could, but it was at that point separate between what a user could do and what an admin could do. At that point, giving an installer root acc…

> Windows 95 wasn't multi-user

Indeed, at that was a major mistake. Multi-user systems had existed for 20 years, Windows 95 was a huge step back.

> I hazard a guess that with NT4 and Windows 2000, the user hive was unlikely to be able to crash your system

... you wish.

> A bad user hive stored on a network drive, can stop a terminal server from booting?

Maybe, I honestly have no idea - I've only seen it happening locally. I wouldn't put anything past registry corruption anyway.

> Like a kind of "safe mode" that can boot after something has screwed up the registry?

Access to Safe mode requires hardware action at boot. The worst you can get from a userland program in unix failing on logon is that you have to log on via shell.

> Yeah, I've never had to fix character encoding issues in text files

The difference is that you can fix all that yourself, with a shell and an editor, whereas if Windows says the registry is borked, the registry is borked and you have no recourse.

Re: Microsoft explains the lack of Registry backups in Windows 10

#258

Post by HeWhoLurksLate »

justapassenger wrote: post #190
rrix2 wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But do they need to?

Does advertising needs to exist at all? Do businesses need to exist at all? Does economy needs to exist? There're issues with current state of online advertising, but when was last time humanity said "improving this would be a great business, but you know what - we don't want it to be better"?

Personally, I only ever go to Harbor Freight when they send out mailers- not because I can't spend money other times, but because their mailers are such a constant thing that it doesn't make sense to buy it not on sale.

Re: Microsoft explains the lack of Registry backups in Windows 10

#259

Post by HeWhoLurksLate »

snazz wrote: post #158
blattimwind wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are still dialogs for configuring 56k dial up connections in Windows 10. NETBIOS is probably somewhere in there, too.

Dial up isn’t dead yet. I’m okay with old functionality, but it should be more consistently designed so that everything looks at least somewhat cohesive.

   it should be more consistently designed so that everything looks at least somewhat cohesive.
Honestly, I think that having Device Manager and the like function the same way [it does have new icons, but that's about it] is good enough for me- I know how to use the tool, and it would be rather frustrating to techs if they replaced it and dropped even one little thing.

Personally, I'm okay with old functionalities- but replacing the stock Windows 98 icons with the new design scheme and making the background window color white [personally, I prefer black, but I'll take what I can get] is enough fresh paint for me.

EDIT: I also want to say that for "old people" that specifically use "old functionalities" and replace their machines with new ones but want to use those same tools, it would be somewhat frustrating to them to have to re-learn a new UI, and we really don't want them running Windows XP anymore.

Re: Microsoft explains the lack of Registry backups in Windows 10

#260

Post by Wowfunhappy »

zbentley wrote: post #95
Wowfunhappy wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft is a big company and Windows is a big product. Is fully remaking the Control Panel really such a monumental task? The Control Panel isn't that deep. It's not as though Microsoft needs to create a UI for every advanced Group Policy setting. The new Settings app was introduced with Windows 8 in 2013. That means Microsoft has had six years to complete the transition.

> The Control Panel isn't that deep. It really, really is.

If that’s really the case, they should have left the control panel as-is. It would have been preferable to the duplicate functionality.

Either do something right, or not at all.

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