Computing should adapt

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PATCH WATCH By Susan Bradley Even though the 21H1 version of Windows is not yet officially released, Microsoft is already planning on changes for the
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Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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7Natives, klang

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The trust divide starts with someone who is usually around 50 or 60 years of age or older. They want to know where their data is, who has access to it, and what is being done with it — at all times. They want to know who is tracking them.

I haven’t quite reached that age bracket, but that’s me (and it has been since I was in that other age bracket you mentioned, which has been a while). But I go much further. I don’t just want to know where my data is, who has access to it, and what is being done with it, all the time. I want those answers to be “on my PC, and nowhere else,” “no one but me,” and “nothing.”  I don’t want to know who is tracking me… I want it to be “nobody.”

I don’t want information. I want control. The information is a means to that end… if I know the source of the attempted tracking, I can be more ready to block it. So yes, I want to know all of those things, but that’s not the end of it.

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AlexEiffel, wavy, Nibbled To Death By Ducks, SueW, OscarCP, doriel, NaNoNyMouse, Pepsiboy, Cybertooth, WSDKS01

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Ascans,

For ME, (being 72+) I don’t want ANYTHING to do with “The Cloud” except for searching for information. My information STAYS on my computer and I do my best to keep EVERYONE but my wife and myself off of it. NO EXCEPTIONS ! ! ! !

Both of our computers are HP’s running Win 7 x64 SP1, with 0Patch.

Dave

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Nibbled To Death By Ducks, Cybertooth

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The Dev Channel for Windows Insiders (cue the unintentional beta tester snark) has many of the changes noted here already implemented. The all-new icons have been rolled out (Build 21343) for several releases (21364.1000 is current as I write this). File Explorer has been updated in subtle ways. As the changelog for Build 21337 says,

The default layout of File Explorer adds additional padding between elements. For users who prefer a more information-dense layout, there is a setting in View Options called “Use compact mode,” which will restore the classic layout of File Explorer. The UX for toggling this setting is not final. The level of padding is designed for better consistency with modern (XAML) experiences. This should also make it easier to work with File Explorer when using a touch screen.

Collaterally, this also helps those of us with Baby Boomer eyes.

 

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Hello,

I have recently turned 53 and am still have not updated my PC from Windows 10 version 2004 (I believe that is the version I am running). Are there any steps that I should take to upgrade to 20H2? I just read that version 21H1 is on the horizon. Should I even bother with version 20H2?

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Appreciate your consideration and comments for senior users.  Thank you for writing this.  I’m a senior who recently said goodby to my old computer with Win 7 and bought new Dell with Win 10.  Really tough to let go of Win 7.  Loved this OS.  Currently I’m holding up the auto updates for Win 10 based on Ask Woody which advised one to opt to use the “metered data” method for delaying updates until the latest update can be studied at Woody.  I have looked to see if it is now OK to allow the update to load but not sure where things stand at Ask Woody regarding this?   If you or someone might provide some words of wisdom about this subject and/or direct me to this area, I would appreciate it.

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Later on this week I’ll send out the status report for patching.

Susan Bradley Patch Lady/Prudent patcher

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Rush2112 wrote:

Are there any steps that I should take to upgrade to 20H2?

Set the TRV to 20H2 and let Windows Update offer you the update – it may take a day or two.
This is the easiest method, but it assumes you don’t have a Conexant audio driver. If you do, you need to delete the driver before running the backup, but do not reboot between removing the driver and the update.

As always, make an image backup first.

cheers, Paul

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Glad to see the screen contrast issue being addressed, though I don’t blame Microsoft for this.  Practically everything else, maybe, but they’re not responsible for web designers who think it’s a good idea to display light grey text on a white background!

As far as the other changes go, at least to the extent they’ve been identified, Microsoft is just giving me more and more reason to switch to Linux.

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Marcus Weldby

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A few websites are starting to be more viewable and readable, hopefully that trend will continue. Not sure why web designers thought it was a good idea to use light gray text on a white background. Must be the “in thing” with the “cool kids.” But it’s not just websites, for example, TV remote controls with black buttons with dark gray text on them. smh.

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Susan:

Bravo!  The older generation has been just recognized as relevant!!  Great article, covering visual, tactile, trust divide and more related topics among these.  I, too, have had much to do with helping elder PC users in my IT Support business.  Now, as of November 2020, after 25 years as an IT business owner, I am retired, and as of March 2021 am 71 and definitely in the elderly age bracket. This personal perspective has helped me with increasing my compassion for many of the issues you raised.

I get increasingly annoyed myself at the rate and frequency of change, more so with my Android phone but Windowsupdates as well. Quite often preferences change familiar items, as the updates quickly take away the comfort and confidence of knowing what, where and how apps/programs behave and expect me to behave or respond.

I am especially frustrated at the lack of good reference or help information when installing a new app.  Seems that most developers think that we all are experts at knowing “… it’s easy to do: just swipe left and double press the sound-lower button simultaneously”.  Sorry for being so wordy!

The contrast issue has been a problem for me for over 5 years, especially when using mapping websites such as Google Maps.  I’ve sent in comments asking for the contrast to see the smaller streets increased many times, but no hopeful response in the replies.

I’d love to see this topic repeated, and done so regularly.  Your growing audience in this category will appreciate it too!

 

 

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klang, Marcus Weldby, doriel, Nibbled To Death By Ducks

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Great article, Susan…nice to see”Change for the sake of Change,” taking a back seat…that game is is mostly for keeping Programmers/”Devs”*  employed, and Marketing tossing out “B” Ark material in your face_.  Android is horribly good at this; we just got hit by a not-ready-for-prime-time AOS 11 that has a new “feature” that only “Devs” will use, but hey, they made a debugging log file that bloats the OS another 1.6-1.7 GB that logs and bloats the OS for everyone, Dev or not! (Thank God it’s self-truncating @ + or – 1.6GB!) “Hey, go out and buy a new phone with more internal memory!!” (It’s really destabilized a one-year old Nokia phone that ran like a knife through water on AOS 10.)

But Win 10 as a whole? No, even this old-timer will go down that road, no matter how “Geezer Friendly” it becomes.

Truly, to paraphrase Bo Diddley, loving Win 10 is like “trying to put sneakers on a rooster.”

*(I can’t get used to that word “Developers”…I used to work in a commercial photo studio, all I keep seeing is dark bottles of fluid on a shelf when I hear that term…)

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--
"The more kinks you put in the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the pipes." -Scotty

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Cybertooth

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In re: Visual acuity issues vs. elderly users — I must respectfully disagree. This is not an issue of “age” and casting it as so reduces both its complexity and urgency. When I was crafting pseudo sites in the 1980’s and award winning web sites in the 1990’s and 2000’s we weren’t crafting the display for “elderly” users, we were crafting them for all users.

Corrective lenses are not elderly-exclusive, color blindness is not elderly-exclusive. In fact, no visual impairment is elderly-exclusive. All of them, every single one, can occur, attack, or present at virtually any age under the right circumstances including glaucoma, macular degeneration, night blindness, astigmatism, etc. Even so-called age-related infirmities can and do strike far earlier than statistical norms.

The current issue is design ignorance + design arrogance.

There are numerous sites on the web that directly address this issue if designers are willing to look. They demonstrate proper uses of simple things like color wheels, contrast, coding to allow adjustment, etc. They are not hard to use… but they are useless when not used as is so popular today.

Take the current vogue of “grey” text on white backgrounds. What idiot thought this was good? A talented designer with decent eyesight who not only does not suffer from issues of defining contrast, but is not related to anyone nor knows anyone closely who does. Simple, arrogant, and sad; and we all pay for it every single day.

I don’t care if Apple “invented it”, or Microsoft, or the man-in-the-moon. It is a visually demeaning design which instantly makes all people who suffer from—and may not even have known they did—visual contrast issues into second-class citizens. Think about that the next time you see the smartest, or richest, or nicest, or most attractive, or (fill in the blank) person in the room wearing glasses.

There is a reason text has been printed by hand or machine black on white for millennia. It works. It has always worked.

Hear, hear to you, Susan Bradley, for bringing forward this very important issue. I hope you keep it up!

7

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wavy

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