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Useless Windows 10 Features

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Re: Useless Windows 10 Features

#321

Post by Macha »

ilaksh wrote: post #45
HeWhoLurksLate wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Still Ubuntu, honestly. If you want something like Ubuntu with more continuous updates, there's Manjaro.

I am sort of getting used to pacman with msys2. Do Arch or Manjaro package registries (are they the same thing?) have good availability in general? What I mean is, in Arch or Manjaro, how often are there already packages available for things that people normally want to do, versus needing to compile something manually or work around broken dependencies?

Can't speak for Manjaro, but basically every software I use has an Arch package.

This extends to some closed source projects other distros don't include on principle, like Steam [1].

Additionally, the AUR is basically a wrapper around "manually compiling" where users can submit scripts to do it for you. If you install a helper like `yay`, it's as seamless as installing from the official repo and extends coverage to things like the OpenTTD modpack I play [2] and its latest git commit [3]. That said, the AUR is still ultimately running user provided scripts so do make sure to take the offer to read the install script beforehand, most are maybe 5-10 lines.

[1]: https://www.archlinux.org/packages/multilib/x86_64/steam/

[2]: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/openttd-jgrpp/

[3]: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/openttd-jgrpp-git/

Re: Useless Windows 10 Features

#323

Post by Macha »

teddyc wrote: post #322

Nobody mentions: "Hi, I'm Cortana. A little sign in here, touch of wifi there..." Not now. Not ever. https://www.reddit.com/r/iiiiiiitttttttttttt/comments/a36m6j...

The first time I saw in the win10 update screen with "don't worry, your date is safe", I panicked thinking I had got some ransomware. The opposite of the intended effect.

Re: Useless Windows 10 Features

#324

Post by beatgammit »

harrygeez wrote: post #257
projektfu wrote: post #19

How about all the ways windows goes out of its way to hide the home folder, and then is now generating multiple places it calls “Documents”, “Pictures”, etc so you’re never really sure where anything is?

I think this is godsend. Before they do this people litter their files all over the filesystem. These magic folders reside in a user's home folder by default anyway. Most Windows users don't really have much clue about the filesystem like everyone here does.

And is that desirable? Why do we want users to know less about how their computer works? Is it really a problem to know that you have a user directory with a bunch of other directories inside that hold certain classes of information by default?

When I open a command prompt (yes, I'm not the average user), I'm in my home directory, and if I create any files or folders, they'll be there by default. To access those files/folders, I used to go through the root of the filesystem (Users -> ), but I eventually just made a link in the file explorer to my home directory. Why doesn't that link at least exist by default? I've used enough GUI tools that default to that directory (i.e. WinSCP IIRC) that getting to it should be easy.

I think the reason that "most Windows users don't have a clue" is because Microsoft wants it that way for some reason. People were able to figure out DOS, yet these days giving them a link to their home directory is "too complicated"?

Re: Useless Windows 10 Features

#325

Post by criddell »

aphextim wrote: post #294
throwaway8941 wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers | Remove-AppxPackage This is the first thing I run on any Windows box I am forced to interact with. Removes all the junk in the Start menu in one command.

I just take all the ones I want form this list and you can copy/past them in PowerShell and they execute one after the other. I would not do what he suggests as that will remove every app. To uninstall 3D Builder: get-appxpackage *3dbuilder* | remove-appxpackage To uninstall Alarms & Clock: get-appxpackage *alarms* | remove-appxpackage To uninstall App Connector: get-appxpackage *appconnector* | remove-appxpackage To…

Most of those you can right click on and select uninstall now. It takes longer, but it feels safer to me because I have to take a second for each to think if I want it or not.

Re: Useless Windows 10 Features

#326

Post by lordgrenville »

jayalpha wrote: post #14
windexh8er wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The entire consumer oriented line of Windows 10 feels like a bad trip to a US strip mall. It's preinstalled with loads of junk you can't remove easily. For a while I spent some time putting together a small workflow to clean up Windows 10 builds for a project I was working on. If your hand is forced and you need a minimum amount of tools to get rid of as much bloat and telemetry there are two tools you need: 1) Geek…

Great post. I don't use windows but my girl does. Her compi (Win 10, SSD, 8 GB Ram, i7) has become unusable slow. She does not much besides watching Movies, surfing and using Word. I installed a free reliable antivirus (Avira) when she got it. I will have to look into this problem soon. Any further suggestion? I will definitely try your recommended programs.

From years of experience dealing with "slow Windows machine" complaints for family, I can tell you that in 2019 the builtin Windows antivirus is much better (performance + security wise) than any of the free services. Uninstalling Avira (and especially crap like CCleaner) will probably improve performance on its own.

Re: Useless Windows 10 Features

#327

Post by skocznymroczny »

Macha wrote: post #305
skocznymroczny wrote: post #198

> They all have one thing in common: No one wanted them. Who wants a Windows PC that can’t run standard Windows applications? People who want a tablet experience. Surface Go is tablet first, it can be used as a laptop substitute, but only a substitute. I can imagine there are many people who would be satisfied with a Windows S only device, using only the Microsoft Store apps.

Even on the surface go the first thing I did was unlock it so I could run apps like Firefox, OpenTTD and Steam.

So did I. But more casual users would be completely content with Edge, Netflix and Facebook apps. And they'd get longer battery life too in exchange.

Re: Useless Windows 10 Features

#328

Post by gruez »

josefx wrote: post #295
michaelmrose wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are pirating windows. They could be fined anywhere from hundreds of dollars to 150k per installation. They are also participating in a commercial piracy endeavor that the company who was issued the key AND Microsoft have an interest in shutting down. Ms because such endeavors attract customers who could otherwise trivially be converted into buyers. Companies because they could get audited and fined. This is as i…

Depends on the country. I think the EU declared the resale of Windows licenses legal a few years ago. Microsoft trying to fight that doesn't make it illegal.

Source on this? I think that only applies to retail licenses.

Re: Useless Windows 10 Features

#329

Post by lordgrenville »

locusm wrote: post #183

Worst thing in Windows is still search, it doesnt work unless you type the exact letters in order.

There's an amazing OS program called Wox [0], which uses Everything [1] (an infinitely better search program) to produce an experience similar to Spotlight on Mac. Can't recommend it highly enough. (No affiliation, just a fan)

[0] http://www.wox.one/

[1] https://www.voidtools.com/

Re: Useless Windows 10 Features

#330

Post by beatgammit »

mehdix wrote: post #307

After switching to Archlinux and putting Windows 10 in a Qemu VM my life got way easier. One is driven by the corporation behind it to form and change user behaviour in order to make more money, and the other is made by like-minded hackers.

I just keep a crappy Windows laptop next to my desktop and use that whenever I absolutely need Windows for something. I don't need heavy software, just sometimes a program to reproduce an issue a consumer has. I have a Windows VM, but it stays off most of the time, and I have a separate disk in my desktop running Windows in case I need something more serious than my laptop can handle (I boot to it once a month or so to run updates).

I've tried making WSL work for me, but I just find Windows gets in my way more than it actually helps. I'm a little sad that I can't use Visual Studio (the number of times I've had to hack together a CMake build to make small change is way too high), but it's not worth the pain of using Windows. How to do X on Linux is usually much easier to remember and faster than the equivalent on Windows, and I spent enough time on WSL/git bash that I just stopped bothering.

Now, if I can get a hackintosh VM going, my life will be complete.

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