Well, Thanks Microsoft, for slowing down my day.

[MineralMan]

I just got the latest Windows 10 Fall update installed. Boy, did that take a long time. Then, when I looked at all the new features added, I discovered that not a single one has anything to do with how I use my Desktop PC. It seems that unless I'm using 3-D graphics, use Edge as my browser, and some other fancy stuff, this update will be useless to me. But, Microsoft used up an hour of my time, changed my desktop background, and who knows what other stuff it changed.

Yeah, Microsoft, thanks a bunch. Seeya next time you have some more stuff to load onto this computer, which is used only for web browsing and Microsoft Word. Great job, guys and gals!

[marble falls]

1. And they updated their catalogue of useless products and apps, adding more. I hate 10.

[MineralMan]

3. I don't mind Windows 10. I don't mind Office 16.

Classic Shell takes care of the Windows 10 interface and some customization makes Word work the way I want it to.

This year, I bailed from my Windows Vista machine and Office 2000. I liked that combination just fine, and I had all sorts of customized features in Word set up. I got a shiny new Dell with gobs and gobs of RAM and more data storage than I'll ever use. I've fixed Word 16 up now, with most of the shortcuts and macros I use regularly. The stuff they left off the user interface is now back on the screen.

Chrome is working just fine, too.

I'm just mildly annoyed that Microsoft used up an hour of my day to install a bunch of stuff that is useless to me. Oh, well.

[LAGC]

2. Why do people put up with Windows 10?

Just stick with Windows 7 or switch to Linux.

[MineralMan]

5. Microsoft has made sticking with Windows 7 difficult.

I didn't change over until it was time for a new PC. Then, I just did it all at once. Since my data file structures are well-designed, moving everything over just required a 16 GB USB stick and a few minutes. Classic Shell let me ignore the Windows 10 interface changes and Word still has all of the stuff it has always had. They took some stuff off the ribbon-style interface, but I've added it all back.

I don't care what runs on my box. It's all the same to me, frankly. Chrome looks like Chrome, and Word looks like Word, now that I've customized the interface to my liking. I don't use the Cloud. I have no reason to do that. I back up my data regularly, and just get on with my work and play.

My wife's a Mac person. Her computer doesn't bother me, either. It has Chrome and Office 365 on it, too, so I don't really care what's under the hood.

These things are just tools to me. I've been using PCs since 1984, and have gone from MS-DOS 2.0 to Windows 10 without ever breaking a sweat. I've been using Microsoft Word since Version 1.0 for DOS. It's all the same stuff. It just looks a little different with each major version change.

[still_one]

11. I agree, Windows 7 is great, but new machines are sold with Windows 10, and it is getting harder for

most people to find a Windows 7 OS machines, and not everyone is comfortable with building their own machines. Microsoft will be supporting Windows 7 up to January 1, 2020, and companies are being pushed to move to windows 10. A lot of issues with windows 10 relate to the drivers.

What bothers me the most is the Microsoft policy of pushing the latest updates to the users, and that can cause problems. While they do allow rollbacks to the previous version, and or, that push policy can be modified somewhat, a lot of time can be wasted with less than satisfactory validation of their latest updates.

[still_one]

4. I was having major problems with their tool tips, and other features. I restored to the previous

release

[MineralMan]

6. I have all that nonsense shut off.

I hate being interrupted by my operating system. So, I've just unenabled everything that annoys me.

I wouldn't have updated, but they've been annoying me for about a month to install the already-downloaded update. So, I did that this morning.

[still_one]

12. They try to automatically push their updates whether you are ready for it or not, and that is

disruptive as hell

[MineralMan]

14. Oh, you can turn off the automatic update feature,

but that also prevents you from getting security updates. So, I just put major OS updates off until I have time for them.

Still, MSFT seems to think you're just sitting there impatiently waiting for the next update release. I'm not. I don't care, really. The security updates get installed a 2 AM on Sundays, so I don't actually see them happening. This Fall update, though, was a PITA, in terms of time. Fortunately it installed cleanly and didn't screw anything up that I can detect.

[customerserviceguy]

7. I used to be a big champion of Microsoft

especially when I lived in Washington State, and was getting my network administrator's associate degree. But as time has worn on since that date in 2003, I've become very disenchanted with them.

At one time, they were a cutting edge force in the world, now I can't think of anything significant they've done in the 21st Century.

[MineralMan]

9. Well, I still use their stuff, but don't really care much any more.

It appears to be reasonably reliable in its current versions, so I'm OK with that. I'm a customizer of interfaces, etc., so I spend about a day making Office apps look and behave like I want them to, and then get on with what I'm doing.

I stopped caring about operating systems a long, long time ago. I never change them until I replace my desktop box. Then, I make whatever comes with that box do what I want to do. I've been screwing with PCs since almost the very beginning. I just McGyver them until they do what I need them to do.

[customerserviceguy]

13. Same here

I'm typing this on a Dell Inspiron 1720 that is officially ten years old this month, that I picked up for a hundred bucks when it was only three years old. I souped up the RAM, the optical drive, and added a second hard drive. Last year, I was able to ghost the old hard drive on to a factory reject drive that I picked up for dirt cheap, and blocked off the bad sectors that caused the reject.

Still, I may need to upgrade the OS from Vista to Win 7, which is as high as this puppy can handle. I love the big clunky thing, even though about five years ago, a TSA agent made fun of it while I was taking it through airport security. The keyboard is standard-sized, 19 mm between key centers instead of 17 for a typical laptop. I've done a ton of genealogy work on it for the last two years, and while it never travels on an airplane again, I don't ever want to give it up! It has a full Office 2007 suite pre-installed on it, and all that software works great. Microsoft really hasn't done any practical improvement to Office in the last decade, as far as I know.

[MineralMan]

16. My favorite Office Version was 2000.

For how I use Office, it was ideal. Fast, familiar and I had customized a lot of features. I've got Word 16 all back to my customized interface now, but it took a while to deal with all the little changes Microsoft does for reasons unknown to mankind.

Sadly, Office 2000 isn't compatible with Windows 10. If it were, that's what would be on my new machine.

[customerserviceguy]

17. Yep, 2000 was what I trained on

back in geek school. 2007 may have a few more features, but I've successfully been able to ignore them.

You are certainly right, Microsoft takes the useful stuff and hides it in future versions, but it apparently is not limited to them. My tablet upgraded from Marshmallow to Nougat, and I see that there are some unnecessary changes there, too.

[MineralMan]

18. I think they make user interface changes to make it appear that

they have actually done something useful in the latest version. I mean, it looks different, so it must work better, right? Otherwise, people would say, "Why do I need a new version? The new one looks just like the old one." That's my theory of interface changes, anyhow.

There's a secret about Microsoft Word. Everything that was ever in Word for Windows is still in there. For example, Word 2000 had browser-style forward and back arrows up on the ribbon. If you're like me, you could use them to jump back to where you were if you clicked on a bookmark link in a long document. Microsoft, in its infinite wisdom, removed those from the interface in Office 365. However, the commands and tiny little arrow icons are still there in the list of All Commands in Words Customize menu. You can just drag the icons up onto the toolbar and drop them. Bingo. Same goes for the Insert Bookmark command. Gone in Office 365, but it's there in the All Commands list, too, complete with a nifty little icon.

Word for Windows has never lost a single feature. If you used to use a keystroke combination from the old drop down menus to do something, that keystroke combination still works in the latest version, even if the menu item has disappeared. Everything is still imbedded in the code. You just can't see it any more. It's all there so VBA, the Office macro language, can use it. But, you can still use those commands on the interface, if you take the time to add them back into it.

[still_one]

15. That is not only Microsoft but also Apple. Both companies are sure not what they were

when Gates and Jobs were running the show in my view, and though there were definitely working condition issues under them both, I believe their products were more innovative.

[Cuthbert Allgood]

8. I had to uninstall the update.

I have a Dell that is less than a year old with an i7 processor and 12GB RAM and the new update slowed the processing down to basically nothing. It took 15 minutes on boot up for it to even be usable. Plus it screwed up my sleep settings so that I couldn't put it to sleep. I had to restart every time. That stayed even after the update was removed.

This update is a bust, for sure.

[MineralMan]

10. Hmm...no such problems with mine.

I haven't gone looking at setting changes yet. If they monkeyed with my settings, I'll fix them later.

I was looking at Task Manager just now. Everything seems fine in terms of resources being used, so...

[MyNameGoesHere]

19. Here you go

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1095

[OnDoutside]

20. I loved Win 7, but detest Win 10. As for Edge,I've just downloaded Chrome and am using that instead.

[cwydro]

21. It is awful.

It’s why I finally broke down and bought an iPro Pad. I love it.

I still have my Microsoft puter, but it’s neglected these days.