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It is possible to get a similar range of colours in Windows 7, by selecting Personalise and then Windows Classic. That then enables a similar menu of customization options as in earlier Windows OSes. That is absolutely what is missing in Windows 10, and means that I will be keeping W7 on my main system. I will not have an OS on my PC that does not allow me to control the screen appearance; any other aspects of W10 are secondary.
I have tried many ways to control W10 appearance, and the least worst is a basic black screen, but even there that is only a partial solution, for some screenshots, and which I do have on my tablet with W10 for limited use.
Garth

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Myst, Cybertooth

In listening to opera, a prime requirement is mostly to disregard the actual plot as much as possible. This was borne home to me many years ago by a critic commenting that her tiny frozen hand was large and sweaty, but that she sang like an angel! (I forget both now BTW.) Some plots are ridiculous, a few sublime, and the majority can be accepted as necessary for the sake of the music.

The link you gave to Gedda’s performance is fascinating, and whilst he is a little slow for my taste, it does show his remarkable artistry, and breath control second to none.

Garth

 

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migongo, OscarCP

You were definitely right first time. In the UK, both Elgar and Delius would be referred to as English, it somehow feels contrary to see them described as British although that is their ‘nationality’; I think probably that’s because British (in relation to music) might be considered non-British usage, if that makes sense. There is a definite genre of English music, which includes as well such composers as Finzey, Butterworth and John Field.

The whole question of nationality in the UK is complicated. I was born an Englishman, now live in Scotland, am a citizen of the country known formally as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK for short), and if I wanted to be more-or-less inclusive would refer to myself as British! Hope that’s comprehensible and not a hostage to fortune!

Garth

Thanks, that’s good, but it is not THE version! Couldn’t find it before, never needed to as it is a treasured recording, but here are Merrill and Björling in supreme voice!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PYt2HlBuyI

Around 2 million views I see, and the reviews are wonderful. “If I have ever in my life heard perfection, this was it.”

Garth

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OscarCP

I know what you mean! My moment of discovery came when slightly older, on walking into a record shop and hearing the Pearl Fishers duet with Robert Merrill and Jussi Björling playing, and thinking “whatever is that”. About the only time I recollect ever having that feeling of the hairs on my neck stand up!

I have always liked Glazunov as a composer because of his melodic gifts, possibly because he is one of the late romantics, and I understand that may not be your favourite approach to music.  At the moment I have the same ‘problem’ mentioned by Myst, that of a melody popping into my head – and staying there! I replayed some of Meistersingers Act3 recently, the Wieland Wagner version I mentioned earlier, and now simply cannot get the Prize Song out of my head! Don’t know whether that’s romantic or just overkill, labels are sometimes superfluous, but I’ll have to listen again now.

Garth

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Fred

Agree on many counts. Siegfried Idyll would easily make my top 10 list. For classic German music though, I prefer Richard Strauss, because of his ability to retain clarity and apparent simplicity, whereas Wagner can be heavy and ‘over-the-top’.

Neuschwanstein is very popular, in spite of (or even because of) its kitsch. Queues are regular, as with the other Bavarian castles, whether Ludwig-inspired or otherwise, so good taste is in the eye of the beholder!

Of your roll of great musicians, not much to disagree on, although I must confess Vivaldi leaves me cold. For example, Glazunov’s Seasons is infinitely to be preferred over the Vivaldi version, in my view. I suspect many will not agree, so we’ll have to agree to differ.

One I would add to your list is Korngold, who influenced (and arguably led) classical music into the film era. Try this (Schauspiel Overture) for quality, written in 1911 when he was only 14! Apparently based on Shakespearean subjects, it was supposedly composed straight into full score with no preliminary sketch, and was good enough to get into the 1912 London Proms season, where he still holds the record of the youngest composer to be performed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oo8MI3LDiQ

Garth

Moderator note: Please see this post #2136554 for instructions on how to link YouTube videos on this thread. Videos not linked in this manner will be removed.

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migongo, OscarCP

In furtherance of my wish for more vocal music, I offer Wagner and his Meistersinger von Nürnberg. I know Wagner is not everyone’s choice, partly because of his political beliefs, but let that be, great music should transcend that. Meistersinger is possibly the most approachable of his operas, and definitely my favourite. Several choices then
– for the best music, but no video – Staatskapelle Dresden and Karajan:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKG8ZxEOdwE

– ditto, but with score – Vienna Philharmonic and Solti
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k087xPVBMA8

– for an overall appreciation, music and visual appeal – Netherlands Philharmonic and Albrecht
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tG9lOL_1Xk
slight downside is Dutch subtitling, upside is a rather faster take

and finally the rather controversial Wieland Wagner version from Bayreuth in 1963, Act 3 only. Music and visual quality are certainly not the best, but with English sub-titles and Josef Greindl as Hans Sachs, this is nevertheless most rewarding.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsHtqVTJ_6k

Garth

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migongo, OscarCP

Thanks. I did see most of these items in my quick reading, but missed the Mass in time of War. I tend to find choral works as more rewarding than soloists, with Haydn’s late works most satisfying. My favourite Haydn oratorio is The Seasons, so here is a great performance by the Berlin Philharmonic under Rattle:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5ezhcLfv94
I suppose I have been influenced by the English taste for oratorio, for which we have initially to thank Papa Haydn of course! That led on in turn to my liking for his string quartets, and thus to the Mozart quartets and quintets. (In the end, everything leads to Mozart!)

Garth

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OscarCP, Myst

Having just read through this long but most interesting thread, to the sound of Debussy playing his own music on piano roll (grateful thanks), I can’t help thinking there is a slight imbalance in the recommendations, to my ear at least. You have had the human voice, to some extent, in opera and song, and I did enjoy the Four last Songs greatly – one of my true favourites – but there is a genre which deserves wider coverage.

I therefore bring to your attention Vaughan Williams: Serenade to Music, that most beautiful and noble arrangement of Shakespearean text. The original (1938) version is sublime, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tq8sczVU5o8
and whilst there are no doubt technically better modern performances, my preference is still for the original.

The second choice is from Elgar, that 19th century Englishman who composed some of the best English music – The Dream of Gerontius, with Janet Baker, Richard Lewis and “Glorious John” Barbirolli. I count myself lucky to have heard him live with the Halle orchestra once in Sheffield, not the Gerontius but some lesser (?) Elgar and Delius (a Yorkshireman by birth but a Frenchman by adoption, I think).
Anyway, the YT recording is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eJmnemMWfY.

Thanks for all the performance links.

Garth

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migongo, Fred, OscarCP

I sidestepped the issue!

In an earlier post, I explained:

“I originally installed a lightweight version of Win7 on a separate (smaller) partition on the SSD when I acquired the PC, but only had a very few programs installed – in effect using it as a backup Win7 ‘just in case’! Well, I think ‘just in case’ has now arrived, so I have now adjusted my partition sizes and am now expanding that version so I can in future use it as my main operating drive.”

I did expand that, and what was formerly my backup Win7 is now my normal operating system. I then wiped my previous system, and replaced it with a new backup (lightweight) version. Obviously I had to adjust the partition boundaries, as I said, but that is very easy nowadays with EaseUS Partition Master or similar.

To a degree I was fortunate to have the scope and size to do that change, although it is also an illustration that one has to be aware of the possibility of system failure  before it happens, and make arrangements accordingly. It was a situation where a simple system backup would probably not have worked, because of the type of problems. No doubt there are other ways of doing this that involve more technical solutions (and ability) but this was within my capabilities. I’m also interested in what is possible, as an amateur!

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satrow

Thanks to all who have continued to respond on this. Whilst I have moved on, and have an entirely stable system now, this  thread is becoming quite a repository of possible solutions to my original difficulties.

To pick up on some suggestions, I too run Opatch as a paid subscriber, and it is effective, and provides some assurance that my Win7 system is as up-to-date as possible given my decision to retain it.

The problem I had was not related to the power source, nor were they short freezing events; after I once left the system on for an hour it was still powered up but frozen!

I’m still running BitDefender, until my subscription runs out when I will probably switch to something like Malwarebytes, as BitDefender has a couple of downsides for me. The downsides are how it operates, though, and not an issue with the freezing problem.

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GoneToPlaid, Elly

Thanks both.

With Win7 64bit, I have 24Gb of memory, which should be ample for most circumstances. I was originally planning on running Win7 within a W10 VM, but couldn’t get the appearance and clarity right and gave up on that, so am left with much more memory than I actually need. In normal circumstances, use doesn’t exceed about 3½Gb.

I had already decided to reorganise my use of the SSD, so have been rearranging things such that I will have around 15Gb spare for each operating system, in addition to creating a separate Pagefile available to whichever system is in use. I have also been generally cleaning things up, and whilst I have been in and out of the different ops systems quite a lot recently, at present things seem to have stabilised. Still a work in progress though!

Garth

Thanks all for the responses.I was investigating a couple of the suggestions, when away it went again. It is so frustrating!
I haven’t noticed any particular CPU Usage and Disk Activity spikes when freezeup has happened, simply because it is so unpredictable an occurrence, that’s why I was wondering if there is anything which would record such activities.
All of the normal system activity takes place on the SSD which I believe is quite modern. I do have a large spinning disk but essentially that is purely for storage or regular backup activities. (I do also use external for backups as well BTW.) I’m pretty sure therefore I can rule out anything involving the disk, as that use is only by exception.
Thanks in particular to bratkinson, your experience seems to match mine very much. I have halfway determined to go with a similar solution. I originally installed a lightweight version of Win7 on a separate (smaller) partition on the SSD when I acquired the PC, but only had a very few programs installed – in effect using it as a backup Win7 ‘just in case’! Well, I think ‘just in case’ has now arrived, so I have now adjusted my partition sizes and am now expanding that version so I can in future use it as my main operating drive. Only partway there yet, but so far I haven’t experienced the same problem thank goodness.
Gary, I will investigate your suggestions further, although I will say I now have Bitdefender installed on the other partition and no problems so far.
Thanks again for all the advice. Like I say, frustrating, because normally I have (and like) everything happening just so, with no inexplicable events! I’ll let you know how I get on.
Garth

Thanks both.

I normally use Process Hacker, and that has enabled me to clear out a couple of unused or not required programs, which I thought might help. Does not seem to have had any effect though.

Using Task Manager, there does not seem to be anything unduly consuming resources. The four heaviest users are Opera and Pale Moon browsers, Bitdefender security and one Svchost program. Apart from the latter, which I have no idea what it is running, all is as I might expect. Memory use is about 3.5Gb, out of 24, so nothing there.

I don’t think there is a problem with either disk space or defrag. I have about 10Gb unused on the main drive, regularly run disk cleanup via a specific cleanmgr Sage setting, and don’t expect to defrag, given I have an SSD. Trim is turned on, but out of interest I just did an analysis which shows 2% defragmented, so nothing there.

Garth

I’ve found that when emails go into the junk folder it’s the email provider doing it rather than Tbird. To fix it I logged into my email via the browser and marked them as not junk there. They then get moved into the inbox in Tbird – perhaps that’s what’s causing the problem. My email provider is Yahoo.
My annoyance is that Tbird marks some senders as possible scams and there doesn’t appear to be any way of telling it otherwise – the message says that Tbird is saying they’re scam emails, not just putting them in a particular folder.

I use FossaMail which is a derivative of Tbird, and I get a similar problem. FM says mail is junk, I mark it not junk and for the moment everything is fine. However, if I switch off, or even reset, the message reappears marked as junk. I also use Yahoo Mail, and like you thought that resetting the mail in Yahoo via the browser should get over the problem, but then found that Yahoo Mail did not appear to mark the offending message as junk. Given the scenario, I do suspect that Yahoo is actually marking messages as junk without saying so. At present I just have to live with it.