Because Shiny Things Are Fun - The New New Windows v Linux Thread

Originally Posted by rokytnji Might wanna turn off Cortana if running it.

Good Luck! I tried with no success...You can turn it off but you can't disable it. A friend of mine had a win10 pc that gave an error at login that prevented the start page/menu from opening. I found if I login and quickly kill cortana(via taskmgr) that would fix it until you logged in again. I tried disabling it in the registry and everything with no luck.

Cortana WILL start when you log in...

Quick search: https://www.lifewire.com/turn-off-co...ows-10-4165920

may do?

For now the registry method still works to disable it.

REG ADD "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search"
REG ADD "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search" /v AllowCortana /t REG_DWORD /d 0

But just how "disabled" remains to be seen. You will still see the cortana process running, because it also handles the windows search functionality.

The control to turn it off was removed in an update, so this method could eventually be rendered obsolete in the same way...

The Pro/Enterprise users can disable it via a group policy.

Originally Posted by cynwulf For now the registry method still works to disable it. REG ADD "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search" REG ADD "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search" /v AllowCortana /t REG_DWORD /d 0 But just how "disabled" remains to be seen. You will still see the cortana process running, because it also handles the windows search functionality. The control to turn it off was removed in an update, so this method could eventually be rendered obsolete in the same way... The Pro/Enterprise users can disable it via a group policy.

Exactly, and when an internal cortana error renders the start menu unusable, there is no way to fix, I finally installed a different start menu. So now you boot, login, drag the error that stays on top of EVERYTHING off the edge of the screen where it's still there but you can't see it, and use the alternative start menu to do stuff.

Originally Posted by Mill J Exactly, and when an internal cortana error renders the start menu unusable, there is no way to fix, I finally installed a different start menu. So now you boot, login, drag the error that stays on top of EVERYTHING off the edge of the screen where it's still there but you can't see it, and use the alternative start menu to do stuff.

I've not seen this problem with cortana just disabled via the registry.

There is no "start menu" in Windows 10 regardless. It has the Windows 8 style "start" screen condensed in the bottom left corner and accessible by the logo button - this defeats the object of the start screen and it's better to just configure it "Windows 8 style".

But if you just avoid the start screen altogether, as with 8/8.1, or just delete all the clutter and crap and add just the common things you want, then it's usable enough.

Haven't used windows in a while but this just got emailed to me: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/serv.../upcoming.aspx

Vs:

... The four essential freedoms A program is free software if the program's users have the four essential freedoms:*[1] The freedom to run the program as you wish, for any purpose (freedom 0). The freedom to study how the program works, and change it so it does your computing as you wish (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this. The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help others (freedom 2). The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others (freedom 3). By doing this you can give the whole community a chance to benefit from your changes. Access to the source code is a precondition for this. ...

https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.en.html &see.

Originally Posted by jamison20000e Haven't used windows in a while but this just got emailed to me: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/serv.../upcoming.aspx Vs:https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.en.html &see.

So you're saying that the dollars handed over for permission to borrow the software is just a tiny part of the total cost? Not a good business strategy (for the user) to my mind.

That's monopolies...

From previously linked MacroShaft "agreement":

Your Content. Many of our Services allow you to store or share Your Content or receive material from others. We don’t claim ownership of Your Content. Your Content remains Your Content and you are responsible for it. ... blah, blah, blah ...you grant to Microsoft a worldwide and royalty-free intellectual property license to use Your Content, for example, to make copies of, retain, transmit, reformat, display, and distribute via communication tools.

Freedom does not come a license, agreement, terms or any other document, binding, legal or by any other name.

Freedom, especially Software Freedom comes only from mutual respect among equals.

There is no equality, nor respect between Microsoft and their poor enslaved users, as is obvious from all their EULA's, terms and conditions and agreements, such as the one above.

We don’t claim ownership of Your Content. Your Content remains Your Content and you are responsible for it. ... blah, blah, blah ...you grant to Microsoft a worldwide and royalty-free intellectual property license to use Your Content, for example, to make copies of, retain, transmit, reformat, display, and distribute via communication tools.

So if anything bad comes of your post, it's your content and you are responsible for it, not Microsoft. But any profit that can be made from it is theirs, not yours. What a con!

Originally Posted by hazel So if anything bad comes of your post, it's your content and you are responsible for it, not Microsoft. But any profit that can be made from it is theirs, not yours. What a con!

Oldest con in the book of Socialism. "What's ours is ours and what's yours is negotiable"

Originally Posted by enorbet Oldest con in the book of Socialism. "What's ours is ours and what's yours is negotiable"

I think this is quite amusing as it recalls one of Linus's comments about Linux being about being selfish not about being "socialist" as such. That is to say that, to move away from direct politics, creating and participating in open source software isn't about being in a charity it's about getting what you want done done and helping others is a great benefit. With closed-source people are so busy worrying about who owns what aspect of what to actually get on and do things.

Incidentally I had a weird bios failure recently on not one but two PCs (one of which is on a UPS so not likely due to power outtage/bad shutdown) which reminded me that I have numerous drives lying around, some installed and some not that have some data I don't want to lose. Some of that data is Windows-specific like *.gho Ghosted backups, *.docs, etc and much of it is on PATA drives. Rather than clog my Main up with many Gigs of stuff I only occasionally access, I decided to make one solid old box, preferably one with both SATA and PATA capability as well as XP64 (the last serious windows use I ever fell for) and of course, Slackware if only for all the great tools.

I had forgotten what a hassle PATA was with just 4 drive Master/Slave relationships selected by jumpers often differing in position not only by different manufacturers but models of the same brand. However that was a walk in the park compared to trying to switch motherboards and run a pre-existing Windows install. I had completely forgotten it was necessary to boot it up on the original mobo and delete all of the Motherboard Resources entries as well as Graphics, etc in Device Manager before installing in a different PC. That is further complicated if one switches from an AMD-based mobo to an Intel-based mobo. What a nightmare!

This resulted in attempting a new install of XP on hardware unsupported in XP including not having any floppy ports for the F6 "Add Drivers" thing. With Slackware I just copied over an existing install, booted the Install disk and used that Huge kernel to boot the needed partition, run LILO and done! Now I recall how often Windows made me want to drive semi-sharp stakes through my eyes and rinse with salt water.

Originally Posted by 273 I think this is quite amusing as it recalls one of Linus's comments about Linux being about being selfish not about being "socialist" as such. That is to say that, to move away from direct politics, creating and participating in open source software isn't about being in a charity it's about getting what you want done done and helping others is a great benefit. With closed-source people are so busy worrying about who owns what aspect of what to actually get on and do things.

You're actually right. It is much deeper than an economic system. It's simply unrestrained human greed.

It could be worse, if you were running modern Windows, by all accounts, you'd need to go through a long, drawn-out, telephone "verification process" to ensure that you were not using your license to run the OS "illegally".
The number of reboots necessary for Windows updates and the like during install is terrible also, not to mention the horribly-slow update servers they have. I swear Debian can be installed and updated in half the time of Windows and Slackware probably takes a third of the time or less.