Posted on 12/05/2017 9:16:46 PM PST by dayglored
Windows has been knocking around in some form or another for a grand total of 32 years now, and in that time its amassed a lot of featuresnot just the newest bells and whistles but long-standing features you might have forgotten about or never even discovered in the first place. Here are 10 really useful tricks that Windows 10 is capable of that you might not know about, but should definitely know about.
[dayglored note: This is just a list; in the article, each one is an entire section with illustrations.]
I have Anti-virus software installed. Don't recall if I've ever used it. I can definitely say I haven't needed to at all.
Not really. It's the famous Microsoft "every other release is a good one" effect.
Win2000 was not received well, because it changed a lot of stuff for the folks using prior versions. But its successor WinXP was a huge win, because it was done right.
WinVista was not received well, because it changed a lot of stuff for the folks using prior versions. But its successor Win7 was another huge win, because it was done right.
Win8 was not received well, because it changed a lot of stuff for the folks using prior versions, and it was really egregiously bad.
Unfortunately, a few years after release, Win10 is still doing battle with the huge success of Win7. Why? Because although the Win10 UI is better than Win8's, it's still an impediment to productivity for most users, who find Win7 a better interface.
Will Win10 eventually succeed? Of course it will. But only because Microsoft will burn Win7 to the ground and sow salt into it, to force everybody over onto Win10. I predict the user base for Win7 will remain for at least a few years after 2020 when the updates stop. I'm guessing by 2020 it'll still have >25% share and it won't drop appreciably for a few years after that.
I had a meeting with Microsoft this week. They told us Windows 10 is the last version of Windows desktop as a product. They will release updates twice a year going forward much like Apple does for OS X. Windows desktop is now a service.
>> I wish theyd simply let us use Linux with a Virtual Box VM for Windows.
> Everyone should be doing that. If your Windows gets Pwn3d, you just toss the VM and put the backup in its place. You just have to make a copy of the VM every so often as a backup.
AMEN!!
You’re just a puppy. I used virtual sessions to run many DOS sessions to run my BBS modems. And then the WWW happened, and my BBS dried up. LOL. 3rd biggest BBS in the state! With a 650 MB CD loaded up with many files that many peeps wanted to download. You could do a lot with 20 MB back then. C64. AMIGA....
WWIV!
ATH0+
336-744-1333
Winston-Salem, NC Empire! BBS
(1991-1994) Highlander WWIV
Ah, you must be one of those rare Windows users who desires to get work done, instead of gaming. :-)
Just kidding, mostly...
Yeah, and it's pretty usable. Not as good as the Linux or MacOS implementations, but a d@mn sight better than none.
Yep, and they'll move it into the cloud if they can figure out how.
Actually the "last version of Windows" mantra is BS. They're just substituting the word "update" for "release". Apple did the same thing, more or less, many years before that. It's just Marketing's answer to the fact that most customers DO NOT like to change major releases -- it's scary for a lot of reasons. But "updates" sounds more friendly, less scary.
SSDD (same sh^t, different day)
11. The OFF button.
Use and love it. Each version of Windoze gets worse.
Today's i3 processors are fast enough. i7 is unnecessary 2TB hard drive is way more than you need unless you are storing lots of video on it which I doubt. 500Gb hard drive is more that enough usually. 16GB memory is legitamite if you open lots of tabs on Firefox and Chrome which I do.
I prefer desktops with a 24" LCD monitor over laptops. I own both. Two laptops and two desktops. My desktops are both assembled by me with a Pentium processor from three years ago. Both w SSD drives. And like I said, one has 8GB memory installed, the other 16GB memory
But eventually the complainers move over to the new edition of Windows. Though it might take 2-5 years
BM
Thanks so much for the advice. It looks like I won’t have to spend as much money as I was planning. I’m good with software and apps, but clueless about hardware.
And I’ve been looking at desktops only; for me, they seem more reliable. I have a little ol’ Samsung netbook I travel with.
Again... thanks!
You are welcome. Really i3 is good enough. Then 8-16GB memory. If you see a desktop with an AMD processor that you like just ping me and I will give an opinion.
As far as hard drives go...usually the lowest you see is 1TB. That’s just how computers are made these days. But you could get by with half that....a 500GB hard drive.
The reasons most of the complainers eventually move to the new edition are simple:
Everybody else knows better, and waits for at least Service Pack 1. Which is why Microsoft stopped doing Service Packs.
Windows XP is STILL in considerable use. How many years has it been unsupported?
Windows 7 is STILL the most popular release, last time I looked. How many years has Windows 10 been out?
Yeah, eventually pretty much everybody will have moved to Windows 10, or dropped Windows and gone to Mac or Linux, or stopped using a real computer and switched to a tablet running something else.
But if you think the complainers will become happy, just read the comments on these Windows Ping List threads from Windows users. There's a lot of unhappy people out there who are running Windows 10 and don't like it. The past times I saw an effect like this was with Windows 8, and Vista. Win7 became extremely popular, and XP beccame legendary for the way people took to it. Windows 10 has a long way to go before it reaches that status.
It’s a good idea to reinstall windows once a year or every few years. Do you think the Windows 10 repair function acts like a re-installation?
I remember windows XP was slower and bloated by the time it had service pack 3
In 2020 when windows 7 cannot be updated..... My understanding is that Microsoft will still provide updates for corporate customers. They will have to pay for this service
Just give me a Windows start button and I can deal with any edition of Windoze. 98, 2000, XP, 7 and 10 have start buttons. 8 did not. A really dumb move/
Indeed it is.
> Do you think the Windows 10 repair function acts like a re-installation?
No idea. If I had to guess, it probably isn't as clean as a true re-install.
> I remember windows XP was slower and bloated by the time it had service pack 3
If you started with an earlier release and layered the SP's onto it, yes that's true. But if you got a "slip-streamed" installation .ISO that had that stuff already installed, you skipped most of the bloat and only got the stuff that mattered.
> In 2020 when windows 7 cannot be updated..... My understanding is that Microsoft will still provide updates for corporate customers. They will have to pay for this service
True. Unsurprisingly, Microsoft responds to bags of $100 bills deposited on its doorstep by large customers.
> Just give me a Windows start button and I can deal with any edition of Windoze. 98, 2000, XP, 7 and 10 have start buttons. 8 did not. A really dumb move/
Which is why Win8 died the gooey death.
Unfortunately, although Win10 restored something that looks like the Start button, it's not a Start Menu, it's just another way to get to all the freakin' tiles.
I swear, the MS focus groups who come up with this shite are on bad drugs.
Thanks much!!! You could get rid of the start button tiles by unpinning them all. I am going to do a search on that.
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