An unpleasant experience

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AndyMH
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An unpleasant experience

Post by AndyMH »

Just had my first encounter with windows 10 and I didn't like it! Hence short rant.

Daughter and spouse had bought an HP all-in-one PC and wanted me to install office (their trial had run out - there are some advantages to being a beneficiary of the MS HUP).
  • It was slow.............. A combination of inadequate PC (they didn't ask me before buying) and a clunky OS. Seemed to take forever to boot and same again to uninstall the existing office. Don't know what they paid, but low end processor (think it was a celeron, certainly not i3/5) and mechanical 2TB HDD, 4GB ram.
  • Hated the user interface - tiled like a phone and couldn't find anything (used to win7). Resorted to using search to find "My computer" and control panel. Is 'dumbed down' the right phrase?
  • Installed synctoy for them - it's okay, use it on my work PC, but thank you, I'll stick to BackinTime and home grown scripts running rsync.
  • Did several restarts, I think each time it insisted on doing an update.
  • Tried and failed to get it to boot from USB or CD, I wasn't that fussy either would do (not that I tried that hard). Wanted to use REDO to take a system backup before I left. Managed to get into BIOS (F10) and change boot order. Rebooted, it complained and booted into windows. Ended up using MS to take a system image onto a USB HDD they had and left it chugging away. I'm sure I could have spent more time and got it to boot from USB/CD, but not my PC.
All I can say is thank god for linux and mint in particular. But... when it comes time to replace my trusty T430 what kind of problems am I going to have getting mint installed?

Overall experience - Awful.
Thinkcentre M720Q - LM21.3 cinnamon, 4 x T430 - LM21.3 cinnamon, Homebrew desktop i5-8400+GTX1080 Cinnamon 19.0
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Pierre
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Re: An unpleasant experience

Post by Pierre »

Gee - - that brings back some Bad Memories: win-10
- this Lady bought a new / replacement HP Laptop
( you learn something new everyday - - it wasn't the Mug of Coffee that she split into her old HP Laptop,
that killed the machine, but rather the Sugar in that Coffee )

and likewise, the Time Trial for for M$ 2013 had run out.

simple, I'd thought, just log into her M$ account & pay for another License, and start the download . . .
- - WRONG - - WRONG - - WRONG --

& it took Two Days or about 15 Hours to achieve that simple goal:
- the above idea didn't work, too well
- trying to "direct download" the setup file, didn't work, too well either.
- use M$ Chat Support in Mumbai - - they really Had No Ideas at all :(
- UN-install the Trial Version & try to "direct download" the setup file, again - - Nope
- buying a "cardboard token" that has a Product Key, so that could be inserted into the existing Trial version - - Nope,
because that will only apply to the M$ 2016 version :lol:

in the end, it was a combination of Google / Bing / DDG searches,
and some guesswork, that finally got M$ 2016 installed onto that win-10 HP laptop.
:o
BTW: the New Laptop, now resides on a shelf, that is close to her table & chair,,
& she uses a Wireless Keyboard / Mouse combo to Remotely Control her new machine.
- - any Mug of Coffee can get nowhere near to that new machine . . . . . .
:)
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sdibaja
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Re: An unpleasant experience

Post by sdibaja »

two horror stories

1. Grandson got a new HP laptop, one year guarantee. At about 10 months it would not boot, some "no hard drive detected" error.
I brought it home to see what I could do. I put in a live USB of some sort, it booted. I checked the hard drive, found some files he might want, then copied them off.
Grandson "must have" Windows 10 for school. IT department told me that the school admins use some propitiatory software that they have not been able to figure out how to get around, so Yes, he Must Have W10 to submit papers and take tests.
I got on the phone with HP, they asked me to do several things, and declared "The Hard Drive Has Failed". I did not discuss that with the tech, why bother? Then he said ship it back and mailed me a shipping box.
A few weeks later it came back. Grandson was nervous about dual booting ("the warranty!) so done deal.

2. I installed W10 on one of mine, only use it to update software on a couple Windows Only peripheral devices. I did my best to turn off all updating etc.
I booted and started a Garmin GPS device map update. It was taking hours and indicate it had several hours to go, so I went out to the garden and puttered. When I came back in the Garmin was finished, good. BUT there was a big "congratulations" banner from MS. "we have updated your computer to the very latest!" Happy me.
Being a bit sceptical I first opened that My Computer thing and saw that now instead of showing C: and the the remainder as unallocated space (actually it Was my ext4 and swap partitions, aka Linux).... Now C: consumed the Entire Drive.
F Me!
Yes, it wiped my Linux things and expanded. IF I had sat and watched the progress bars for hours Perhaps I could have said NO but we will never know.

Lesson learned. Backup! (I actually lost nothing but my time, everything was already properly archived on an external unplugged device)

PS: this is where I plug LuckyBackup with scheduled automatic backups, and also cloning your partitions to another device with Gparted... full recovery was probably only a couple hours.
Peter
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JerryF
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Re: An unpleasant experience

Post by JerryF »

I wonder if people are going to start suing MS for things like you experienced sdibaja. How dare they overtake the whole disk! Unfortunately, it's probably written in the "agreement" (read hijack statement) that updates would use the whole disk and partition it the way it wants to.

I still use Windows 10 at work and have Windows 10 at home as a VirtualBox machine. I'll never do a dual boot, so that I can keep my precious Mint away from the bad boys!
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sdibaja
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Re: An unpleasant experience

Post by sdibaja »

JerryF wrote: Mon Mar 12, 2018 12:03 pm I wonder if people are going to start suing MS for things like you experienced sdibaja. How dare they overtake the whole disk! Unfortunately, it's probably written in the "agreement" (read hijack statement) that updates would use the whole disk and partition it the way it wants to.

I still use Windows 10 at work and have Windows 10 at home as a VirtualBox machine. I'll never do a dual boot, so that I can keep my precious Mint away from the bad boys!
"I wonder if people are going to start suing MS" I hope not. Such legal manoeuvring and possible court action would greatly drive up the cost for everyone.
People need to take personal responsibility.

"VirtualBox"? I have little experience with that. I did use it a bit to test distros, but bare metal installs were rather different. Last I tried I had difficulty getting the session to reflect my actual hardware. And if I tweaked something and wanted to adopt it I had to start from scratch.
I wonder if I could get the connectivity needed in my use case. Is anyone here doing that now?
Peter
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wallyUSA
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Re: An unpleasant experience

Post by wallyUSA »

JerryF wrote: Mon Mar 12, 2018 12:03 pm I'll never do a dual boot, so that I can keep my precious Mint away from the bad boys!
+1
> If your query has been resolved, edit your original post and add <SOLVED> to the beginning of the subject line. This may help others find solutions. <

Dell Latitude 7490 Mint 21.3 Ker 5.15.0-101 Cinn 6.0.4
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Arch_Enemy
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Re: An unpleasant experience

Post by Arch_Enemy »

sdibaja wrote: Mon Mar 12, 2018 11:05 am two horror stories

1. Grandson got a new HP laptop, one year guarantee. At about 10 months it would not boot, some "no hard drive detected" error.
I brought it home to see what I could do. I put in a live USB of some sort, it booted. I checked the hard drive, found some files he might want, then copied them off.
Grandson "must have" Windows 10 for school. IT department told me that the school admins use some propitiatory software that they have not been able to figure out how to get around, so Yes, he Must Have W10 to submit papers and take tests.
I got on the phone with HP, they asked me to do several things, and declared "The Hard Drive Has Failed". I did not discuss that with the tech, why bother? Then he said ship it back and mailed me a shipping box.
A few weeks later it came back. Grandson was nervous about dual booting ("the warranty!) so done deal.

2. I installed W10 on one of mine, only use it to update software on a couple Windows Only peripheral devices. I did my best to turn off all updating etc.
I booted and started a Garmin GPS device map update. It was taking hours and indicate it had several hours to go, so I went out to the garden and puttered. When I came back in the Garmin was finished, good. BUT there was a big "congratulations" banner from MS. "we have updated your computer to the very latest!" Happy me.
At this point it would have gone through a window...
Being a bit sceptical I first opened that My Computer thing and saw that now instead of showing C: and the the remainder as unallocated space (actually it Was my ext4 and swap partitions, aka Linux).... Now C: consumed the Entire Drive.
F Me!
At this point the sledge hammer would have made an appearance...
Yes, it wiped my Linux things and expanded. IF I had sat and watched the progress bars for hours Perhaps I could have said NO but we will never know.

Lesson learned. Backup! (I actually lost nothing but my time, everything was already properly archived on an external unplugged device)

PS: this is where I plug LuckyBackup with scheduled automatic backups, and also cloning your partitions to another device with Gparted... full recovery was probably only a couple hours.
And at this point the installation media would be an unsuable pile of bits.

Reallyh, M$ has always had a bit of arrogance, but now it has gone way too far. I believe in God, but he doesn't work at M$
I have travelled 37629424162.9 miles in my lifetime

One thing I would suggest, create a partition as a 50G partition as /. Partition the rest as /Home. IF the system fails, reinstall and use the exact same username and all your 'stuff' comes back to you.
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Re: An unpleasant experience

Post by Arch_Enemy »

I'm forced to ue W10 at work. Luckily it is the "Enterprise" version so I get to skip all those cute little tiles and "suggestions".

Maybe I have just become jaundiced at Windows, but I'll just stick with Mint, thanks.
I have travelled 37629424162.9 miles in my lifetime

One thing I would suggest, create a partition as a 50G partition as /. Partition the rest as /Home. IF the system fails, reinstall and use the exact same username and all your 'stuff' comes back to you.
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Re: An unpleasant experience

Post by sdibaja »

Arch_Enemy wrote: Mon Mar 12, 2018 1:34 pm
sdibaja wrote: Mon Mar 12, 2018 11:05 am two horror stories
<snip>
Reallyh, M$ has always had a bit of arrogance, but now it has gone way too far. I believe in God, but he doesn't work at M$
I minimized my reactions, in one word Outraged
Peter
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Arch_Enemy
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Re: An unpleasant experience

Post by Arch_Enemy »

sdibaja wrote: Mon Mar 12, 2018 1:43 pm
Arch_Enemy wrote: Mon Mar 12, 2018 1:34 pm
sdibaja wrote: Mon Mar 12, 2018 11:05 am two horror stories
<snip>
Reallyh, M$ has always had a bit of arrogance, but now it has gone way too far. I believe in God, but he doesn't work at M$
I minimized my reactions, in one word Outraged
:lol: Indeed!
I have travelled 37629424162.9 miles in my lifetime

One thing I would suggest, create a partition as a 50G partition as /. Partition the rest as /Home. IF the system fails, reinstall and use the exact same username and all your 'stuff' comes back to you.
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Pierre
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Re: An unpleasant experience

Post by Pierre »

but, wait - - this gets even better:
Microsoft again forced upgrades on Win10 machines specifically set to block those updates
https://www.computerworld.com/article/3 ... dates.html
:roll:

January’s patches were horrible. February’s were a little better.
Take a moment now to make sure you aren’t tossed in with the cannon fodder, and wait to see what tomorrow will bring:
https://www.computerworld.com/article/3 ... tches.html
you certainly don't wish to be running any win-10 systems At The Moment.
:(

and I'd though that installing Microsoft Office was bad enough . . . . . .
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Arch_Enemy
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Re: An unpleasant experience

Post by Arch_Enemy »

Pierre wrote: Tue Mar 13, 2018 3:35 am but, wait - - this gets even better:
Microsoft again forced upgrades on Win10 machines specifically set to block those updates
https://www.computerworld.com/article/3 ... dates.html
:roll:

January’s patches were horrible. February’s were a little better.
Take a moment now to make sure you aren’t tossed in with the cannon fodder, and wait to see what tomorrow will bring:
https://www.computerworld.com/article/3 ... tches.html
you certainly don't wish to be running any win-10 systems At The Moment.
:(

and I'd though that installing Microsoft Office was bad enough . . . . . .
If I could only get my Canon Pro-100 to print... :(

I used to really like M$, but got away from them at Vista. I was working with Windows ME machines for a short while... :evil:
That's when I went to Linux full-time, I think it was SuSE or Arch. Then tried Mint but after Arch it was too "simple". Back again now and diggin' it.
I am so happy I do not have to deal with the current iteration of Microsoft. They have really gone off the deep end.
I have travelled 37629424162.9 miles in my lifetime

One thing I would suggest, create a partition as a 50G partition as /. Partition the rest as /Home. IF the system fails, reinstall and use the exact same username and all your 'stuff' comes back to you.
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Re: An unpleasant experience

Post by BG405 »

Win7 was an unpleasant experience due to its agonizingly sluggish performance, although it did, usually, get the job done (eventually) and looked quite nice. Xp's file management was terrible; hit one error and it simply aborted the process leaving a partial copy with randomly copied or missed files. Win8.1 useable only with the classic start menu added back in (not the screen-hogging tiles) and Win10 belongs in a chamber of horrors. :mrgreen:
sdibaja wrote: Mon Mar 12, 2018 11:05 am Being a bit sceptical I first opened that My Computer thing and saw that now instead of showing C: and the the remainder as unallocated space (actually it Was my ext4 and swap partitions, aka Linux).... Now C: consumed the Entire Drive.
F Me!
Yes, it wiped my Linux things and expanded. IF I had sat and watched the progress bars for hours Perhaps I could have said NO but we will never know.
That is TOTALLY outrageous! :shock: So, MS has decided that controlling what apps & data are stored in Windows is not enough, and they claim a right to overwrite non-Windows partitions? If that had happened to me, I'd be billing them for a data recovery service. Sure they'd be happy to pay the £400 or whatever it costs these days.

Their OS not being able to determine what is on our ext formatted drives is NO excuse, to assume there is nothing there and just take it without asking.

External hard disks probably aren't safe either, unless disconnected when left unattended.
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Re: An unpleasant experience

Post by AZgl1800 »

When Vista showed up on my brand new HP laptop, I formatted it to Win7 Pro and that ended that. Then that HP laptop suffered a huge mechanical error that borked the screen...

I have a Gateway Win7 Pro desktop machine here that I blocked all updates on a year or so back.
It is cloned to stay where it is.

It is totally reliable, and never fails me.
So far, with it behind two firewalls, and only used for finance and a few utilities, it does quite well.

So far, my unpleasant experiences are mostly relegated to trying to fix family and friend's problems.... but I always get the job done.

loving my 18.3 Cinnamon.
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Re: An unpleasant experience

Post by BG405 »

AZgl1500 wrote: Wed Mar 21, 2018 3:27 pm So far, my unpleasant experiences are mostly relegated to trying to fix family and friend's problems....
I've recently had to state to certain rellies that I no longer support Windows issues! Not strictly true, but it has mostly put a stop to the nuisance support requests. ("Sorry, I can't remember how I resolved the driver issue with those Broadband dongles, it's been a couple of years since I used Windows ..")
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killer de bug

Re: An unpleasant experience

Post by killer de bug »

Today my company is upgrading our Windows 7 machine to Windows 10. :cry:
michael louwe

Re: An unpleasant experience

Post by michael louwe »

There will likely be many more surprises and unpleasant experiences with Win 10.
.
[–]siclik Sysadmin 2 points 3 days ago

Suspicion? Today I was talking directly to a Microsoft licensing specialist and he told me it’s a sure thing. There are internal memos stating this will start in June 2018. Win 10 Enterprise, Server OS, and the likes WILL be subscription-only soon enough, guaranteed.
https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comme ... ur_months/ (8 days ago)

If true, this means companies will no longer be able to buy or lease Win 10 Ent Volume Licenses together with the additional 3-year Software Assurance or Upgrade Insurance.

Wonder whether Win 10 Ent LTSC/LTSB will also be subscription-only.

Win Win 10 Home and Pro also be subscription-only.?
.
.
.
According to https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/win ... 97db79bf2c and https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/win ... 70e7195e40 , it seems, some 4 to 5 years old computers could not be upgraded to the latest Win 10 Home and Pro Version 1709, likely because their hardware devices are no longer supported by the OEMs.

If so, affected users will have to buy new OEM Win 10 computers = more profit$ for M$ and the OEMs = Planned Obsolescence.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _

Anyone who tolerates being forced by M$ to upgrade their OS twice-per-year or once-a-year on their work-machine is likely a sucker for punishment or unpleasant experiences.
Last edited by michael louwe on Thu Mar 22, 2018 9:28 am, edited 2 times in total.
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sdibaja
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Re: An unpleasant experience

Post by sdibaja »

" it seems, some 4 to 5 years old computers could not be upgraded to the latest Win 10 Home and Pro Version 1709, likely because their hardware devices are no longer supported by the OEMs."
Cool! more inexpensive eBay machines for me!
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Re: An unpleasant experience

Post by JerryF »

killer de bug wrote: Thu Mar 22, 2018 3:05 am Today my company is upgrading our Windows 7 machine to Windows 10. :cry:
My condolences. :cry:
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Re: An unpleasant experience

Post by JerryF »

The latest Windows 10 update:

I disabled Fast startup in Windows before the update. Here's what's happening:

I shut down the computer
Restart it
Keep it on at the sign in screen for 5 to 10 minutes
Log in

My account has started all its startup programs and opened Outlook---this appears to take place before I log in.

Anyone else experiencing this?

P.S. Not a happy camper.
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