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Windows 10

Hi Eric,
The main difference with Windows 11 is a neater user interface and the Settings panel is slightly easier to use. Although Win 11 runs all the apps and programs I use, it does not run them any better than Windows 10 so as you say ... stick with Windows 10.

The 'Visual Search' box I previously mentioned only appears on the BHF website when I'm using the Edge browser. It does not appear on any other website. I think it is Microsoft experimenting with their Bing search.
 
cookie273uk said:
I am not very PC wise but have sushed Windows 10 out and am quite content with it, therefore is there any point changing to Windows 11 (I thought Windows 10 was supposed to be final) ? Eric
Click to expand...
I agree with oldMohawk although MS advises they will no longer support W10 after 2025. While I have used Outlook since the mid 90's I have never received any support from MS that they did not want an arm and a leg for!
 
my ps went weird yesterday. it come up showing firefox help and other straing things every time i pressed a key. i try'd every thing. even reloading windows but no it was still doing it after a while i gave up and got the other pc out. when i set it up arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr the prob was still there. it was a keyboard problem. i fitted a new one and bobs your uncle good as new again
 
Microsoft seem to be testing 'Visual Search' and comment as below
For now, Visual Search only works on a few sites. We're working on expanding our supported sites list.

I've been in Settings and switched it off ... didn't want it ...:)
 
Not sure about that OM, if it does as it says it could be useful. post a picture of some obscure garden plant and it will identify it...................well maybe.;)
 
cookie273uk said:
I am not very PC wise but have sushed Windows 10 out and am quite content with it, therefore is there any point changing to Windows 11 (I thought Windows 10 was supposed to be final) ? Eric
Click to expand...
Until they drop support for W10 no, there is no major need to upgrade. If your machine is newish you can upgrade for free now, just type check for updates in the search box and you'll get a message saying if your machine is capable of running Windows 11 which is what I've done on three machines at home just because I could and not because there was any real need to go to W11. It upgrades you online, its painless, go make a pot of tea and its done when your finished dunking hob nobs.

It looks a bit crisper but really when you open your programmes they look the same. In nutshell, if I had a machine I was happy with that could not run W11 I'd not scrap the machine.
 
My Logitech webcam on Windows 11 suddenly stopped working showing a blank white screen. No software adjustment or driver update would correct it so it looked like a hardwear fault.

A Google search advised me to dismantle the camera and slacken two screws which fix the circuit board to the camera case. As I slackened the screws the image reappeared.

I've left the screws slackened, reassembled the camera and all is good ...

Strange fault ... strange cure ... :grinning:
 
richardinwales said:
Until they drop support for W10 no, there is no major need to upgrade. If your machine is newish you can upgrade for free now, just type check for updates in the search box and you'll get a message saying if your machine is capable of running Windows 11 which is what I've done on three machines at home just because I could and not because there was any real need to go to W11. It upgrades you online, its painless, go make a pot of tea and its done when your finished dunking hob nobs.

It looks a bit crisper but really when you open your programmes they look the same. In nutshell, if I had a machine I was happy with that could not run W11 I'd not scrap the machine.
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FYI, if the manufactured date of your machine is within 4 years you should be upgradable. If you want to.
 
Richard Dye said:
FYI, if the manufactured date of your machine is within 4 years you should be upgradable. If you want to.
Click to expand...
Yep, your quite right.

There are ways around the block if you really want to do it, I potch about with technology so installed W11 on older machines I had kicking around at home and it not hard but that was for fun on a stormy afternoon ;)

My latest 'potch about' with (older) technology, 1949 2 pint paraffin pressure stove made by Monitor in Birmingham. Un-used I just replaced a rubber gasket on the filler tank and off she went :)

1645999144029.jpeg
 
richardinwales said:
Yep, your quite right.

There are ways around the block if you really want to do it, I potch about with technology so installed W11 on older machines I had kicking around at home and it not hard but that was for fun on a stormy afternoon ;)

My latest 'potch about' with (older) technology, 1949 2 pint paraffin pressure stove made by Monitor in Birmingham. Un-used I just replaced a rubber gasket on the filler tank and off she went :)

View attachment 167973
Click to expand...
I had one of those stoves when I was about 9 or 10 and used to light it because I could!
 
I've got some over 100 years old and they work, the technology is so simple and 10,000 BTU/3Kw they cook well.

Back on track, I've got an old AMD X4 620 PC base unit coming to me so let see if I can get W11 installed and working on this machine from about 2007 I'm told...give me something to do later this week.
 
I have Windows 11 in my Dell laptop and Acer desktop and realise that I run them just like I used to run Windows 7 some 10 years ago.

My screen background has a pretty pic with the recycle bin shortcut top left.

I have a taskbar at the bottom with the apps I use all the time.

On the Start I have apps and folders I don't use all the time.

Microsoft are probably disappointed with me because I don't use their new 'Widgets', or their Windows Search, or their Photos App. I continue to use Chrome rather than Edge and Google search rather than Bing. All the 'bloatware' which came with Windows 11 was deleted ...

but it presently runs trouble free so I'm happy ... :)
 
oldMohawk said:
I have Windows 11 in my Dell laptop and Acer desktop and realise that I run them just like I used to run Windows 7 some 10 years ago.

My screen background has a pretty pic with the recycle bin shortcut top left.

I have a taskbar at the bottom with the apps I use all the time.

On the Start I have apps and folders I don't use all the time.

Microsoft are probably disappointed with me because I don't use their new 'Widgets', or their Windows Search, or their Photos App. I continue to use Chrome rather than Edge and Google search rather than Bing. All the 'bloatware' which came with Windows 11 was deleted ...

but it presently runs trouble free so I'm happy ... :)
Click to expand...
Did you use a bloatware script to clean windows 11?
 
Morturn said:
Did you use a bloatware script to clean windows 11?
Click to expand...
I had not noticed that there were apps/scripts to remove bloatware. I actually used the Windows Admin terminal/powershell.

I recently needed a Blender 3 download and was surprised when the site suggested I download it from the Microsoft Store. I did download it from there and also a nice little utility which makes my taskbar look neat.
 
Bloatware are unwanted apps which Microsoft inserts into Windows 11 etc. Some I remember removing were
Candy Crush Saga
Disney Magic Kingdoms
Groove Music.
There is nothing wrong with them ... it was just that I did not want them using space on the C: Drive SSD in my laptop.
 
Software. A set of instructions in a computer to make it do what you want.
Bloatware. Unnecessary software in a computer.
Malware. Malicious software that you don't want in a computer.
Wetware. Software running in a persons brain, usually required for proper functioning.

Andrew.
 
oldMohawk said:
Bloatware are unwanted apps which Microsoft inserts into Windows 11 etc. Some I remember removing were
Candy Crush Saga
Disney Magic Kingdoms
Groove Music.
There is nothing wrong with them ... it was just that I did not want them using space on the C: Drive SSD in my laptop.
Click to expand...
Are those apps actually installed? Aren't most of those just links to download the apps? Windows 10 must be very confusing for a new user as there is all that flashing stuff on the desktop 'out of the box', none of which I have on my machine now.

Given that a PC operating system used to fit on a 360k floppy I might argue that 99.999999% of Win10 is 'bloatware'! In theory all that we should get is a file handling systen topped off with a 'graphical user interface' i.e. icons and mice.

One could make an argument for making a browser the interface, why do we need 'apps'? Surely a backward step? A 'smart' web page can run in any browser on any platform whereas an app is platform specific. I assume it is to 'capture' the user rather than let them find something generic 'off the web'.

Some things go around in circles, 'cloud computing' looks an awful lot lot like dumb terminals connected to a 'mainframe', which is all we had before the computer went 'personal'. I remember when it was said that computing would 'take off' when the price of core memory fell to a cent per bit. Looks like we are all digital billionaires now!
 
Spargone said:
One could make an argument for making a browser the interface, why do we need 'apps'? Surely a backward step? A 'smart' web page can run in any browser on any platform whereas an app is platform specific.
Click to expand...
The direction that Chromebook wants to take. Also office365 probably could dispense with a heap of W10/11.
Spargone said:
I assume it is to 'capture' the user rather than let them find something generic 'off the web'.
Click to expand...
Yes. Computing has to be paid for at some point.
Spargone said:
Some things go around in circles, 'cloud computing' looks an awful lot lot like dumb terminals connected to a 'mainframe', which is all we had before the computer went 'personal'.
Click to expand...
The mainframe was running the company program that the users were constrained to. The cloud is someone else’s computer running the program that users are constrained to. OK, your point stands :).

Andrew.
 
oldMohawk said:
Bloatware are unwanted apps which Microsoft inserts into Windows 11 etc. Some I remember removing were
Candy Crush Saga
Disney Magic Kingdoms
Groove Music.
There is nothing wrong with them ... it was just that I did not want them using space on the C: Drive SSD in my laptop.
Click to expand...
Thanks
Bob
 
Spargone said:
One could make an argument for making a browser the interface, why do we need 'apps'? Surely a backward step? A 'smart' web page can run in any browser on any platform whereas an app is platform specific.
Click to expand...
The apps that run in browsers are cloud based so, if you have a file that you want to work on, you would need to have the app accessible. The larger that app is the more likely it is to fail or hang if your connection isn't stable. Some apps are so large that they could not work on the cloud as they are now.
If you are writing something as just text then that's not going to be much of a problem. When you start putting things into a document that aren't text and you want them positioned in a certain way then it's going to start to cause a strain. The more different kinds of things you put in the slower things will get and that is going to be even worse if the editor you use is on the cloud. Taken to the extreme - things like video editing and 3d construction just aren't going to work.
 
wam said:
The apps that run in browsers are cloud based so, if you have a file that you want to work on, you would need to have the app accessible. The larger that app is the more likely it is to fail or hang if your connection isn't stable. Some apps are so large that they could not work on the cloud as they are now.
If you are writing something as just text then that's not going to be much of a problem. When you start putting things into a document that aren't text and you want them positioned in a certain way then it's going to start to cause a strain. The more different kinds of things you put in the slower things will get and that is going to be even worse if the editor you use is on the cloud. Taken to the extreme - things like video editing and 3d construction just aren't going to work.
Click to expand...
I think that rather depends on what one calls an 'app'. As Windows 10 For Dummies says "In an effort to sound young and hip, Windows now refers to traditional desktop programs as apps." There are lots of small programs could easily be run from within a browser, either client side or server side. For instance internet radio can be 'broadcast' via a browser but the likes of the BBC uses apps, with the results that everytime they make a change users on the 'wrong' platform lose service. The app, though, does give the BBC control over what one gets offered and to track what gets 'received'.

Cloud computing doesn't have to be done on the server. Many moons ago when dumb terminals were the norm 'diskless workstations' started to be used. We had a DEC VAX that downloaded 'apps' like Wordperfect onto a standard PC, albeit one without a hard drive. I am aware of computer systems that, in theory, allow any authorised user to log on to any computer on the intranet, anywhere in the world that it exists. Their authorised 'apps; are downloaded as required. (Their data, however, lives on the intranet 'cloud', which can cause problems if the network isn't up to it.

Given that Windows 10/11 are regarded as a 'service' by Microsoft how long will it be before a fresh copy of the operating system is downloaded each time the PC boots-up. Not so much a personal computer then!
 
Spargone said:
I think that rather depends on what one calls an 'app'. As Windows 10 For Dummies says "In an effort to sound young and hip, Windows now refers to traditional desktop programs as apps." There are lots of small programs could easily be run from within a browser, either client side or server side. For instance internet radio can be 'broadcast' via a browser but the likes of the BBC uses apps, with the results that everytime they make a change users on the 'wrong' platform lose service. The app, though, does give the BBC control over what one gets offered and to track what gets 'received'.

Cloud computing doesn't have to be done on the server. Many moons ago when dumb terminals were the norm 'diskless workstations' started to be used. We had a DEC VAX that downloaded 'apps' like Wordperfect onto a standard PC, albeit one without a hard drive. I am aware of computer systems that, in theory, allow any authorised user to log on to any computer on the intranet, anywhere in the world that it exists. Their authorised 'apps; are downloaded as required. (Their data, however, lives on the intranet 'cloud', which can cause problems if the network isn't up to it.

Given that Windows 10/11 are regarded as a 'service' by Microsoft how long will it be before a fresh copy of the operating system is downloaded each time the PC boots-up. Not so much a personal computer then!
Click to expand...
Spargone, I think your comment in your last paragraph is closer than most think!
 
I don't bother deleting 'bloatware', I just don't use them and if your machine is half decent they don't slow it down. Programmes I use daily are pinned to the task bar and its rare I need to touch the search box. I do change my desktop image pretty much weekly, usually mountains or film stars, here is this weeks, the beautiful Hedy Lamarr.

1646343946986.png
 
richardinwales said:
I don't bother deleting 'bloatware', I just don't use them and if your machine is half decent they don't slow it down. Programmes I use daily are pinned to the task bar and its rare I need to touch the search box. I do change my desktop image pretty much weekly, usually mountains or film stars, here is this weeks, the beautiful Hedy Lamarr.

View attachment 168222
Click to expand...
Removing bloatware is not about performance of your machine. Microsoft uses it to gather telemetry and personal data about you the user.
 
My Dell 5770 Laptop (bought 2018) has a 128GB SSD C: drive and a 1TB HDD D: drive. On one occasion a Windows feature upgrade stopped with the message 'Update can't continue because insufficient space on C: drive' - it could not store Windows Old.

I then started to remove bloatware but realised that moving default items from the small SSD to the large HHD would be better. I moved the Recycle Bin, Documents, Pictures, Videos to the D: drive and then had space on C: for the upgrade.

I've just looked at my 'All apps' list and removed some bloat named 'Microsoft Teams' - it probably won't make much difference but I just don't want it.
 
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Morturn said:
Removing bloatware is not about performance of your machine. Microsoft uses it to gather telemetry and personal data about you the user.
Click to expand...
Removing 'unnecessary' files from hard drives has always been a stock suggestion from computer magazine writers to 'improve performance'. As long as there is enough spare space on the drive that shouldn't be a problem but it is easy copy to keep writing and it 'sounds right', a bit like 'de-junking' ones house.

The real problem is that increasingly Windows comes with software that runs 'in the background' that we aren't aware of and if we do go looking for it some of it might well be essential, part of Windows 'housekeeping'.

Things get even more complicated when we consider Microsoft and Google 'services'. Is it a plus or a minus when picking up a different computer, tablet, phone etc. we find that we are 'recognised'? I wonder if we all need our own 'firewalled' machine, different room, different user name and wired, disconnectable, internet access? (Only to find that 'Alexa' has been listening to us all the time!).
 
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