Here’s a slide making the rounds, posted by Michael Niehaus and cleaned up by Rafael Rivera. I assume some of you will have a few comments. Like this
[See the full post at: Windows 10 gets better with each release]
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Windows 10 gets better with each release
- This topic has 40 replies, 23 voices, and was last updated 6 years, 8 months ago.
AuthorViewing 18 reply threadsAuthor-
Hmmm.
In random order, what 10 Pro brought me over the months since it has been issued :
Loss of control over updating and general control over my PC
Loss of reliability and more time spent fixing important issues after some updates
Loss of privacy
Constant unwanted changes and resetting of settings, loss of productivity
Forced monetization of me
UI annoyances
A less good windows search, then forced Cortana with more clicks to look for what I want, then forced web searches with Cortana.
Loss of the beloved Windows Photo Viewer to a lesser new app, same for calculator and paint.
Loss of ReFS
Unwanted third-party games and trash apps
Annoying and unwanted presence of Onedrive, plus ads related in File Explorer
Announce of deprecation and disabling by default of system images and drive restore in the long run
Loss of Pro features such as some in group policies that end up only in Enterprise or Education version
Much more unneeded services running in the background
Increased use of bandwidth for things I don’t want
Much more tweaking needed to restore a bit of sanity to my experience with the OS
In exchange, what I got that I care for, as a Windows Pro user :
Integration of EMET features in the OS
Better command prompt, Win-X menu
That’s it, I guess? Can’t find anything else on the top of my head. In any case, I lost a lot more than I won, clearly.
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Can’t find anything else on the top of my head.
Redacted useful Win 7 programs (e.g. Windows Media Center).
Group A (but Telemetry disabled Tasks and Registry)
1) Dell Inspiron with Win 11 64 Home permanently in dock due to "sorry spares no longer made".
2) Dell Inspiron with Win 11 64 Home (substantial discount with Pro version available only at full price)2 users thanked author for this post.
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What about, hmmmmmm, “deprecated features”?
Fractal Design Pop Air * Thermaltake Toughpower GF3 750W * ASUS TUF GAMING B560M-PLUS * Intel Core i9-11900K * 4 x 8 GB G.Skill Aegis DDR4 3600 MHz CL16 * ASRock RX 6800 XT Phantom Gaming 16GB OC * XPG GAMMIX S70 BLADE 1TB * SanDisk Ultra 3D 1TB * Samsung EVO 840 250GB * DVD RW Lite-ON iHAS 124 * Windows 10 Pro 22H2 64-bit Insider * Windows 11 Pro Beta Insider1 user thanked author for this post.
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And the Calculator that I really liked…
Fractal Design Pop Air * Thermaltake Toughpower GF3 750W * ASUS TUF GAMING B560M-PLUS * Intel Core i9-11900K * 4 x 8 GB G.Skill Aegis DDR4 3600 MHz CL16 * ASRock RX 6800 XT Phantom Gaming 16GB OC * XPG GAMMIX S70 BLADE 1TB * SanDisk Ultra 3D 1TB * Samsung EVO 840 250GB * DVD RW Lite-ON iHAS 124 * Windows 10 Pro 22H2 64-bit Insider * Windows 11 Pro Beta Insider1 user thanked author for this post.
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Windows 10 actually makes me hate selling computers when CEO’s ask why “Candy Crush” is on their new machine!
I posted this in another topic a few days back:
Install Windows 10 – even the Home version – with no Internet connection. Turn off and remove the Start Menu tiles (not sure if this step is needed but as I have no use for tiles I do it anyway).
Result: No Candy Crush, Disney’s Magic Kingdoms, Bubble Witch 3 Saga, March of Empires, etc.
I’m guessing all of this ‘bloat’ isn’t included in the Windows 10 ISO and it is downloaded and installed during the W10 setup (if it is connected to the Internet). Doesn’t appear after running Windows Update either.
If you have other W10 accounts (I use a Standard account for normal daily use) make sure the computer is disconnected from the Internet when signing into the additional account(s) for the first time or those accounts will get Candy Crush, etc. even if the main Administrator account didn’t.
Other things like XBox, etc. which do get installed can be easily removed later (I use the Tools option in CCleaner).
3 users thanked author for this post.
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Wondering here if all these barnacles will eventually get attached to the OS anyway when Windows 10 gets “upgraded” to the next version (for example, 1709 to 1803), since that happens online.
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As one who has been tweaking Windows 10 versions back toward being serious and useful all along, I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that I have to leave more and more of the “new, useless add-on junk” enabled in every version or important things just stop working.
The first Windows 10 could be COMPLETELY returned to be a desktop computing platform. I was able to get the “idle desktop process count” into the 40s. Now (and keeping in mind that 30+ new processes showed up because of the way svchost is now run) I see between 100 and 110 processes – basically to support an idle desktop. Bloat is not a good kind of progress, but it does sell new hardware.
-Noel
7 users thanked author for this post.
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Yeah I really dislike Microsoft using upgrades to push games on my PC’s I don’t want just because they get some sort of compensation. Heck I re-imaged two systems yesterday and had two Candy Crush installs which is really messed up. Right now, I have to use Windows, but when I can find a way out I will.
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The phrase “gets better” is loaded with hidden meaning.
Gets better for whom? Check the agenda.
On permanent hiatus {with backup and coffee}
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online▸ Win11Pro 22H2.22621.1992 x64 i5-9400 RAM16GB HDD Firefox116.0b3 MicrosoftDefender6 users thanked author for this post.
Surely you jest.
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The replies to William Hilsum’s comment make me want to smack kittens.
“IT Admin didn’t do his job.” [because Candy Crush is on the CEO’s top of the line Surface].
“You should be using Enterprise.”The audacity and arrogance towards end users is astounding. Deflect, deflect, deflect!
“The problem is not with Windows 10, the problem is you/your environment!”
Uhh, no it’s not…the problems are with Windows 10, and the dumb as **** decisions you’ve made with it.
Like the saying goes: the first step is admitting that you have a problem! Augh!7 users thanked author for this post.
For those of you not feeling like they have a Crush on Candy Crush give Winaero Tweaker a go.
On clean install’s and existing installs. It works a treat lots of other “Toys” and customisations in there most may find of use like Disable Cortana and Windows update to name but a few.
During a clean install Don’t Connect to the net install this plough through all the settings to your satisfaction before connecting, and no more unwanted UWP apps can even remove them all if you want, obtw in settings or Power Shell line you might want to uninstall them as well just to be sure. Not sure how to prevent them installing before install maybe there’s something in ADK (the new Version of the old WAIK tools) you could use although I haven’t used it in ages.2 users thanked author for this post.
Wondering here if all these barnacles will eventually get attached to the OS anyway when Windows 10 gets “upgraded” to the next version (for example, 1709 to 1803), since that happens online.
I’ve done clean installs of 32 and 64 bit Windows 10 version 1803 in the past couple of weeks – disconnected from the Internet, tiles turned off and removed and all privacy settings, etc. done before connecting to the Internet. No Candy Crush, etc. installed on either. Even after doing Windows Updates.
But, yes – perhaps we shouldn’t ‘spread the news’ too much. Wouldn’t surprise me if MS decided to devote time and effort to ensure everyone gets the unwanted bloat in the next W10 release, Internet connection enabled during install or not (as opposed to devoting more time to testing their monthly updates).
2 users thanked author for this post.
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We should not have to “game” the install just to avoid things like having video games installed.
-Noel
6 users thanked author for this post.
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Once Windows 10 (any version) is installed, it sounds like the only way to avoid the bloat when moving to a new version is to discard the current version and do a clean install of the new version–that is, instead of “upgrading” via the Windows Update process. Would that be right? If it is, then we’d have to reinstall the third-party programs that we do want. What a [pain]… by design, no doubt.
1 user thanked author for this post.
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Someone at Microsoft trying to encourage reinstallation of Windows? At the twice-a-year pace a fresh reinstallation means that the user will ultimately give up on trying to customize Windows to their needs.
We see what you’re doing there, Microsoft, and we don’t like it. You’re not as smart as you think you are; many of us have been able to make Windows into much more than what you deliver or even can conceive, going all the way back.
-Noel
3 users thanked author for this post.
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It should not be forgotten that Microsoft will probably count these reinstalled versions as new to boost their active device statistic.
1 user thanked author for this post.
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Not sure about that, depending on what you mean. I used group policy on Pro version 1607 to disable the installation of Candy Crush and the likes and then when I updated to 1703, nothing was added and the setting was respected. It seems there is still some value to group policies on the Pro version, but Microsoft keeps removing them from the Pro version to reserve them for the Enterprise version, the latest one that made me quite mad being the one about disabling web searches that isn’t working no more on 1803. At first, it seemed like some said it wasn’t sure if it was a bug or not, but my guess is they try it and if there is no uproar, they don’t fix it… I can’t imagine a situation where a programmer would create that bug involuntarily by trying to do something else, the how that would happen knowing enough about software development escapes me. To me, it is more like that dumb restrict searches to only certain folder while ignoring indexed locations you chose “feature” of Cortana that they finally acknowledged and fixed in 1709.
1 user thanked author for this post.
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…the latest one that made me quite mad being the one about disabling web searches that isn’t working no more on 1803. At first, it seemed like some said it wasn’t sure if it was a bug or not…
It would be a very convenient bug that would allow MS to collect telemetry on every search performed by ensuring each of them would be sent to their servers, and it’s even better that it would provide the opportunity for MS to serve up sponsored links every time a person searches too. It would be like so many other bugs that always seem to favor Microsoft’s interests, like the one that reset everyone’s telemetry settings back to “full,” or that other one that made it ignore the upgrade restrictions and just do what it wanted anyway. It’s no wonder MS no longer sees fit to have a dedicated team to find bugs– they’re so convenient and beneficial if you don’t remove them!
Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/32GB & GTX1660ti, Kubuntu 24.04
Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, Kubuntu 24.04 (and Win 11)1 user thanked author for this post.
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When I read Nadella’s interview where he talked about how he added all those metrics tied to satisfaction, usage and things to remuneration because he wanted Windows to be really loved, I couldn’t help but think although it is done with good intentions I suppose, lots of managers and employees much more down below would have a huge incentive to make mistakes to boost the numbers they probably struggle to get. Bing’s not used enough? Forced web searchs. 1709 adoption too slow? Oops, we had an issue honoring your preference regarding updates. I just hope Nadella is sincere and will see the unwanted side-effects of those policies. They need a better connection to their customers. Don’t they do surveys of real consumers?
1 user thanked author for this post.
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“Enhanced security”… “More tools”… Really?
Anyone who would top a “better features” list with one or more “Windows Defender” entries is pandering to the public. With far more efficient mechanisms in place and a bit of intelligence and care exercised it’s possible to be and remain infection-free (even with an older version of Windows) without any typical active antivirus/antimalware solution chewing up computer resources at all.
Somewhere a Marketeer once thought, “Gee, naive people get infected by stuff, and they don’t really understand how or why, which leads to worry… Whoa! Market opportunity!!!!”
How is “Windows Information Protection” a feature? Put simply, it blocks users from doing things, on the assumption that they’ll just screw things up if allowed. How is that a feature? Do any of us really NEED a tool that just refuses to work?
Reading more of the details…
How is Microsoft Edge making Windows better? Windows had a fully capable web browser going all the way back, and for a long while Internet Explorer was better than Edge. It may still be. Rebranding something (not to mention removing controllability) doesn’t automatically make it better.
Mail, Calendar, Photos, Maps, Groove, Skype… How are these new features? Is it because they’re now Apps? How are Apps better than applications? We have had a mail application to use in Windows out of the box going WAY back, any number of choices for calendar management, photo viewers (many of them free, Microsoft and non-Microsoft, and generally just better), a web browser through which we can see maps (though I’ll admit, navigation is relatively new and nice, though who really uses Windows on a mobile device?), the ability to play music (what was that called, Media Player?), and don’t look now but Skype worked on Windows 7, Macintosh…
Ooh, night light. Seriously? Remember the ability to change UI colors? How is removing something then adding it in another way with a catchy name an improvement?
What is “Advanced hunting”? It’s in the middle of the last list, so nobody will question it there taking up room. “Logon health?” “Nearby Sharing?” Whoa, the last list is full of basically BS terms.
The ONLY USEFUL NEW THING I’ve personally sensed from Windows 10 – and it’s really an evolution of a feature that was started almost 20 years ago – is the ability to handle multiple monitors with different display scales.Stuff like this chart makes me sad, remembering the days when we saw legitimate advances in the state of the art… It treats people as though we’re all executives, that we’re all 100% TL;DR, as in, “Wow, look at all the shiny new features! Windows 10 must be improving! Let someone else worry about the details. Durr.”
I wonder how many actual new, better features they could claim if they’d just fire the staff of Marketers and pay some legitimate OS engineers to code them.
-Noel
13 users thanked author for this post.
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I imagine that real things like, I dunno, enabling ReFS for the boot volume could be considered a substantial improvement.
I’ve already given up on their continuing Good Things like theme support and desktop UI guidelines that made Windows 7 et. al. integrated and as such greater than the sum of its parts.
Someone at Microsoft apparently thinks that custom App programming can take the place of a suite of tools that all work together (but which may not all have been obtained from the same vendor). The stunning level of naivety of that thought is, well, stunning.
-Noel
4 users thanked author for this post.
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I think we basically agree in that there new technologies that come available that would be useful for the OS to support going forward on. But it should not at expense of perfectly good older gear. You mentioned ReFS, good point. But I think we agree this should be done cautiously and over time there will items that need to be added.
Also, there are some ‘features’ that could be better done as separate application than as an integrated part of the OS. To me the tight linking of IE to Windows is a class A stupidity. Web browsers should be standalone applications from the OS though obvious any modern OS needs to be supplied with one. Thus, a new web technology will impact the a standalone application can not affect the OS itself. And if a particular browser is hosed the OS is not endanger of being hosed. I think this fundamental design stupidity badly infects W10; too many of its ‘features’ would be better as a standalone application.
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Here is my naïve opinion: Perhaps the ultimate use of Windows 10 could be: (1) to provide a check list for how not to design an operating system for people who use their machines as work tools and for more than emailing, being on social media, as a source of entertainment, or for performing more than some basic office tasks; (2) to give enough Linux developers a sufficiently robust kick in the seat of their collective geeky pants so they make Linux realize its full potential of being a serious practical alternative for those discontent Windows users as they migrate away from the latter, as many of them will soon be looking for more suitable alternatives; (3) eventually, to convince the bosses to accept Linux as another, or even as the the main, OS to be run on their company’s computers. Or on the computers of their government agencies.
Of course, much the same could be said about Apple’s macOS, but I suspect that Linux might offer for many a better, non-proprietary way to the future, now that Windows is being thrown headlong into the process of definitely not being that.
Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).
MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV2 users thanked author for this post.
I have Windows 10 Pro locked down as much as is practical, using a combination of Group Policy, firewall rules, and disabling certain scheduled tasks.
In the end I feel like I have the most stable, useful, best performing version of Windows ever.
Though I would really prefer if they just gave us a one-click button to give us our machines back. 😉
Windows 10 Pro 22H2
1 user thanked author for this post.
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Here is a thought: Maybe you should write a book about how to do that. With lots of pictures.
As they’ll be really needed.
Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).
MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV2 users thanked author for this post.
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Windows 10 is definitely getting better all the time.
It is constantly reaffirming my decision to have Windows 7 be the LAST MS PRODUCT I WILL EVER BUY. And, hopefully, I will never again have to use any MS product for anything.
1 user thanked author for this post.
Windows 10 is the best ally GNU/Linux could have. A lot of people are switching to Mac, true, but as more video games get ported or tools like Wine add compatibility layers, more users are arriving to Mint, Ubuntu, Manjaro, Fedora…
All thanks to Windows 10 and its features getting better.
4 users thanked author for this post.
Ugh, so out of those listed, I can see maybe one or two things that are useful, but the statement “Windows 10 gets better with each release” is a bit bold AFAIC. I’m sick of the pointless feature updates, lack of control and loss of productivity when using Windows 10. In fact, I’ve carried out rollbacks to Windows 7/8.1 for a number of friends and family (close to 50 now).
I’ve also binned my Windows 10 Pro installation on my laptop – switched over to Ubuntu (which I used for many years in my previous employment). In fact, I would never have installed W10 on my laptop in the first place, but fell foul of GWX when the missus was using the laptop and decided to close the dialog with the X… 🙁
As for my desktop machine, still got Windows 7 Ultimate running on there, and once January 2020 rolls around I’ve got a copy of Windows 8.1 lined up for install which will take me through to 2023. After 2023… probably Ubuntu on my desktop as well. I’d go to Ubuntu now, but there are so many games that simply will not run that I still love to play.
Will I ever go back to W10? Maybe, but Microsoft are going to have to work *hard* to get my respect back. I have to use it in the corporate environment in which I work, but that’s just how it is.
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