Windows 10 turns 10: Dying OS just worked, lacked compatibility chaos

It has been ten years since Microsoft made Windows 10 generally available. With mere months left until the plug is unceremoniously pulled on support for many versions, let's take a look at how the last decade went for the one-time flagship operating system. Windows 10 arrived at a difficult time for Redmond. After riding high …

[Boris the Cockroach]

Always said

give me the boring stability of the windows 7 interface coupled with the fixes under the hood of windows 10, make it a bit snappier* and every windows user would be happy.

Sadly those in charge at m$ didn't (and still dont) see it that way. (we'll skip windows 8**). after all.. who can forget the 'free update' panel that no matter which button you clicked on, it would install windows 10, but grabbing every penny it can from windows seems to be the rule now at m$, the price we all pay for windows being a 'mature'*** product.

Oh look a 30 second unskippable ad when I just want to relax for a second with a couple of rounds of 'freecell' grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

*Is this a real word?

**everyone wanted to skip that abomination

*** IE windows 11 stinks before we've used it

[IGotOut]

Last sane version?????

So let's ignore shit like Candy crush; adverts in the start menu; the search bar that instead of searching for a file on the pc, went off to the web; the split personality control panel, that randomly moved stuff every update; the "sign into your windows account" that got harder to avoid each update; the hijacking of default browser option by Edge; the stupid adverts on the login page which would open up in edge once logged in for no apparent reason....and on and on.

Win 7 was the last sane version, not 10

[K555]

Re: Last sane version?????

Yup.

The article pins a bit of the affection for Windows 7 on the utter mess that was Windows 8.

To me, it's more that Windows 10 only looks sane in comparison to it's immediate predecessor.

Similar to how people thought the MK5 Golf GTi was great car because it followed the MK4 ;)

[AnonymousCward]

Even Windows 7 kinda sucked in some ways

Windows didn’t get full hardware acceleration back for older apps again until Windows 8.x. Microsoft has been playing catch-up ever since they shifted from NT 5.x to 6.x and with agile development “as a service” development, things seem to be getting broken more frequently with less attention to detail. Even things like resizing many common application windows still won’t work as fluidly as before, with no intention to fix it by the looks of things.

[Snake]

Re: Last sane version?????

That's... interesting. As a Local Account user and a Firefox user I never experience 85% of your complaints on Windows 10. No ads at all, I turned off web search (you know you can do that, right??) along with the entire Search box (icon only, please), etc.

My greatest gripe on current Win10 is MS's insistence on overriding my preferences on the News and Interests taskbar widget at every update; after numerous times of them doing this I simply ended my trial of the widget and removed it from the taskbar completely.

I'll never understand why [Linux] people complain so much about the Windows interface when, for many instances, the experience can be modified. "I hate the Start menu!" Why are you using the Start menu so much in this day and age? Shortcuts in the taskbar and customized app tiles should remove 90% of your Start menu deep-dives. If it's a "common", often-used setting it's in the new Win10 Control panel; more intrinsic settings remain in the old panel (it's that simple, really). If you don't want MS in your browsing experience...don't use an MS browser. Don't like Candy Crush? Uninstall it.

Etc etc etc. Are things really this hard for you guys?

[The Central Scrutinizer]

Re: Last sane version?????

No, things are not that hard.

It's just that I have a visceral hatred of Microsoft and Windoze. I'm in charge of my Linux box. not a bunch of assholes in Redmond.

You asked.

[The man with a spanner]

Re: Last sane version?????

Yes, things CAN be modified by people who understand how but for the rest of the 99% of users the out-of-the-box experience is what they get.

[Snake]

Re: 99% of users [get] the out-of-the-box experience

But that's different from Linux how, exactly?? Linux users spend dozens to hundreds of hours tweaking and configuring their UIX and desktop experience, and even jump distros (wiping the drive in the process) to get a different experience. Yet somehow, tweaking a Windows box to 1/10 of that level is an inexcusable level of 'hassle'. It has always left me confused (being polite)...or just to call out the hypocrisy (being direct).

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: 99% of users [get] the out-of-the-box experience

It's about choice. On my Linux system, I don't get bombarded by adverts which are built into the Windows OS. I get to choose when I run updates and I get to choose when I upgrade my hardware - instead of being told when to do so by a corporation.

Which reminds me - I was, until very recently, dual booting Windows 10 on a separate SSD in a system I built in 2019. When I tried to 'upgrade' to Win 11, MS wouldn't allow me to do so. But when I tried Flyby11, I was able to 'upgrade' to Win11. Funny that, isn't it?

I have since wiped Win11 because it's bloody annoying and imo a steaming pile of horse manure.

I use Arch btw.

[werdsmith]

Re: 99% of users [get] the out-of-the-box experience

I don't see any adverys on Windows? Where are these?

I've never switched off any adverts, they were never there. Are you talking about Home edition maybe?

I have turned off the little stock ticker widget thing, is that what you mean? Took all of 3 seconds.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: 99% of users [get] the out-of-the-box experience

Really? A quick internet search took me 30 seconds to prove my point:

https://www.consumerreports.org/electronics-computers/computers/windows-11-how-to-get-rid-of-ads-and-other-shortcomings-a7800213441/

The fact that there are articles on how to get rid of ads in a commercial (paid) operating system, and which is supposed to be aimed at productivity should tell any sane person all they need to know about Windows 11.

BTW - have fun with having your data mined and sold to the highest bidder.

[Snake]

Re: 99% of users [get] the out-of-the-box experience

That's Windows 11. We're here talking Windows *10*, and like him I (pretty much) do not get any adverts. Except very, very recently, I get "Recommendations" from the Windows Store for games, and as I do not play games I find them irritating. Hopefully I've killed that update-enabled pain once and for all.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: 99% of users [get] the out-of-the-box experience

Windows 10 is dead, unless you're going to pay MS for their patches.

If you're unwilling to switch from MS and have a system with Win10 you'll either have to pay or upgrade to Win11 - Hobson's choice:

https://uk.pcmag.com/migrated-3765-windows-10/155118/want-to-stay-on-windows-10-after-2025-itll-cost-you

I choose freedom, and it feels good.

[AndrueC]

Re: 99% of users [get] the out-of-the-box experience

Or you can just continue using your computer without the tyranny and potential risks of Windows Update.

The device is not going to suddenly stop working or immediately become infected with something once support ends. It'll remain as useful and serviceable as ever just with a slight increase in risk over time.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: 99% of users [get] the out-of-the-box experience

Why take that risk with your data/money?

[Nematode]

Re: 99% of users [get] the out-of-the-box experience

"Why take that risk with your data/money?"

But, but, that's what you do every time you use a computer for such things. The main protections are a router, not going to dodgy websites, not even opening email that looks dodgy, and certainly not clicking links, doing proper backup cycles (and testing them), laughing at phone calls advising "we've found a problem with your computer", using separate passwords for every different site, being *very* circumspect about putting anything 'in the cloud' (which includes 'syncing' certain apps to other devices, which of course happens via the cloud), and certainly not storing passwords there, not putting anything private in emails through "free" providers such as Gmail who read everything, using 2FA or bank code machines for anything needing financial security, etc. etc., I could go on.

None of these practices are magically irrelevant with W11 (or Linux), the risk is of a slow security decline as W11 and W10 diverge over time, with 10 not getting holes plugged. Me, I shall be happy to stay on 10 and revel in the lack of annoying updates that take ages to install. I may go to Linux one day, but it'll be dual boot for the applications I need which have no Linux version or equivalent (nearly 20 at my last count).

[Doctor Syntax]

Re: 99% of users [get] the out-of-the-box experience

"jump distros (wiping the drive in the process)"

Who on Earth wipes a drive to install a new distro? Drives have these things called partitions. If you have to reinstall the OS you leave the partition that will be mounted on /home untouched. It really goes to show how little you understand things.

[Snake]

Re: 99% of users [get] the out-of-the-box experience

Are you still reformatting the OS partition? Yes? You are, of course, 100% technically correct but my point was that you wipe the OS from your computer to install a new one - sorry if I didn't imply that clearly enough.

[K555]

Re: Last sane version?????

I might be able to modify it easily but I can only ever really be bothered to turn Window borders back on (so I don't randomly click on the wrong program because 2 have overlapped some white space and I don't know which if foreground and which is background) and give up there because, modify as I may, I can't get it so I actually LIKE using it.

Unless I'm missing something and it's easy to just install another desktop environment entirely. Is there an OS out there where I can just do that? ;)

[ICL1900-G3]

Re: Last sane version?????

You are Satya Nadella and I claim my £5.

[Doctor Syntax]

Re: Last sane version?????

"Shortcuts in the taskbar and customized app tiles should remove 90% of your Start menu deep-dives. If it's a "common", often-used setting it's in the new Win10 Control panel; more intrinsic settings remain in the old panel (it's that simple, really)."

Ah, yes. Windows is so starightforward. Nothing arcane about it.

[Snake]

Re: Windows is so [straightforward]

So right-clicking on the icon and click "Add to Start", or even click-and-dragging the icon of your favorite application and moving it to the right into the pinned App Tiles area, is not simple?

Is that what you're saying?? o_O

https://youtu.be/Umw4j2x-miI

smh Really guys. Really.

[Doctor Syntax]

Re: Windows is so [straightforward]

Yes, commonly used applications certainly get put in the tesk bar. But then there's only so much room on there so a logically organised menu is essential. And app tiles? Those weird things compensating for the fact that some utter dweeb decided that, contrary to all previous experience, alphabetical was the best way to arrange a menu?

[werdsmith]

Re: Windows is so [straightforward]

I want notepad?

I click the Windows Start icon and type "n" and there is my notepad app.

I much prefer this to stepping through old fashioned menus.

[K555]

Re: Windows is so [straightforward]

If I want notepad, I click start, type 'notepad' too quickly and it dishes up a load of web results for 'notepad'

If I then take the 'd' off the end, it has another good think about it and finds me thing program it has called 'notepad'... handy!

The fact that I've learned to type 'n o t e p a d backspace' as second nature is testament to how long the start menu search has been shit. It even used to go to pot in Windows 7 if you had DNS resolution issues.

(why I still use it rather than just start->run (which they hide by default) I don't know)

[jdiebdhidbsusbvwbsidnsoskebid]

Re: Windows is so [straightforward]

"I've learned to type 'n o t e p a d backspace..."

OMG I thought that was just me. At work we have a system based on wiki and the search works in the same way. Type part of the word and as you type, it returns meaningful results, one of which is probably the thing you were looking for. Type the whole thing and it takes an age to do a search returning loads of stuff that isn't what you were looking for.

[MJI]

Re: Windows is so [straightforward]

You want notepad?

It has now gone and there is this weird program instead.

[Snake]

Re: Windows is so [straightforward]

The idea: you are free to pin an app in a Tile and then arrange them in any order you see fit, you are free to pin an icon on the taskbar and sort them as you see fit, *and* you are free to place an icon on the desktop and organize them as you see fit. The Start Menu is alphabetical as when you have a Biiiiig list (as I do), it makes sense.

One is 'convenience', the other is 'reference' (as in a library of your applications). When does a library list of your applications become "wrong", when they give you a minimum of 3 other ways to access and sort your applications to your liking (desktop / Tiles / taskbar)? The only thing I can think of...is that people aren't willing to change and accept the new paradigms. MS tried to reduce the use and dependence on the Start Menu in Windows 10, they now give you 3 different options to get to what you want, much faster - but, somehow, *you're not using them* and you blame Microsoft for it.

[cookiecutter]

Re: Last sane version?????

windows peaked with XP SP2

literally nothing that's come after has added anything TRULY revolutionary.

the same with Office , which peaked with office XP if not office 97

[LybsterRoy]

Re: Last sane version?????

Fortunately as a retired home user I can stay with W7 until my email, web browser & anti virus/malware no longer work.

[hoola]

Re: Last sane version?????

Yet on many other articles and comments people are screaming at the stupidity of people who don't keep the OS and software updated......

This is irrespective of the actual OS or software.

[steviebuk]

Re: Last sane version?????

The searching the web despite what you're searching for clearly being on the local PC.

Edge including a Buy Now, Pay Later "feature" that everyone got mad about on the Windows forum but they just ignored those complaints and left it all in. It DOES put people into debt. It seems since SatNav has taken over he gives no shits about quality and just goes for profit. Well as long as it makes SatNav and Microsoft more money he appears to not give a shit.

[werdsmith]

Re: Last sane version?????

What is this buy no thing? First I've heard of it, can you tell me where I can find it?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Last sane version?????

I'm curious about adverts in Windows - I have Win 11 as a VM and don't get adverts (perhaps because it's the ARM version). It might also be because I rarely fire it up more than 2/3 times a month.

As already said, a good OS lets you get on with what you want to do, and keeps out of the way when you don't need anything from it (other than helping the applications do their stuff). I recall the early days of DOS when it had two main functions:

• Look after the disk storage, and

• Provide a platform on which other programs and drivers could run.

I won't deny it was a positive step when the OS started to take control of drivers, so each application didn't need its own (e.g. for the display, printer, etc), nor that a good GUI doesn't make things easier for the majority of users, but the OS shouldn't dictate too much.

[jonha]

Define "sane" :-/

For some the last "sane" version was Win2k Pro and who am I to disagree? And yet, I kept the faith until 7... but after that the pain to move my workflows, automation, macros, offixce documents etc etc to Linux was lower than moving to 8 (not to mention the abominations that followed). Never looked back.

[ITMA]

Insanity

The least "sane" version?

The Windows 8 "metro" shite interface imposed on Windows Server 2012. Which lobotomised fool thought that was good?

[kmorwath]

AFAIK Wn10 just enabled the TRIM command on SSDs by default

That's what makes it a little more performant. - IIRC it could be enabled on Windows 7 too, but was not on by default.

[PRR]

Re: AFAIK Wn10 just enabled the TRIM command on SSDs by default

> TRIM command on SSDs .... more performant. - IIRC it could be enabled on Windows 7 too, but was not on by default.

??? I simply cloned HDD to SSD and swapped cables on my Win7 machine. Much faster boot, MUCH faster FireFox loading (FF does some kinda busy-work at start and mine was clogged on HDD, snappy on SSD).

And my DisableDeleteNotify is 0 which seems to be the good setting.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: AFAIK Wn10 just enabled the TRIM command on SSDs by default

Huh?

Obviously your PC will be much faster booting and loading with an SSD rather than a HDD.

And disabledeletenotify=0 basically means "enable trim"

And the OP was just saying that the SSD works better with trim enabled.

[Anonymous Coward]

> Dying OS just worked, lacked compatibility chaos

No. It was a terrible cesspit of spyware. Slower than Windows 7 which was still absolute bloated shite compared to Windows 2000 (or XP which was probably more memorable due to its long product lifespan).

Just because Windows 11 is even worse, doesn't mean you should look at this piece of crap with fondness XD

AC: Because I really don't want to sit here discussing Microsoft's products.

[Mage]

Win10 vs Win7

If Win7 was Win 3.11/Win95, then Win 10 was like a combo of WinME and Win2.0 on Hercules. So inflexible, messed up and flat. Too many versions of Win7 & 10 (Home to Ultimate/Enterprise etc).

So Jan 2017 I wiped the Windows partition on my November 2016 laptop.

I have XP, Win7 & Win 10 on VMs, on Linux (1 laptop and 1 WS, the other laptops and Pi4B don't have VMs due to less RAM), just in case. A win10 laptop is occasionally spun up. It was replaced by Linux laptop. Windows 10 updates are totally broken compared to NT4.0 Hot Fixes or Linux Mint updates and upgrades (17.3 to 22.1) here.

XP (or maybe Server 2003) was last sane Windows NT, but at least Win7, (really service pack for Vista) worked with some flexibility and settings not too hidden. Win10 is a flat mess.

Using NT since 1994 NT.3.5, Linux since Redhat in 1998, CP/M (on card on AppleII, RM380Z and S100 homebrew), DOS since 1981, Windows since 3.0, and UNIX from 1986, so not a typical user.

Home Editions progressively more crippled.

[Anonymous Coward]

Cleanup

Windows 10's goal was to clean-up the mess Windows 8 made by attempting to marry a mobile OS to a desktop operating system. It did away with most of the junk and reverted back to what Windows 7 already had, disguised that as a new release.

I find it particularly vexing that after 25 years Windows still doesn't have disk encryption in all its versions, including the basic Home version. Yes, Windows 11 now finally adds it to Home but I've been using Truecrypt and Veracrypt for almost a quarter of a century now. I'd say that's a little late.

And Windows 11 is such a steaming pile of excrement that I predict large numbers of Windows users defecting towards Linux Mint coming fall.

[druck]

Re: Cleanup

I find it particularly vexing that after 25 years Windows still doesn't have disk encryption in all its versions, including the basic Home version.

An omission only too readily solved by ransonware providers.

[kmorwath]

Re: Cleanup

No, Win10 removed the tile interface but kept most of the tablet/mobile UI of Windows 8, notably the new Settings UI. And the Start Menu wasn't Win 7 one, nor most of the UI. Meanwhile it became a ugly OS to use on a tablet.

I never understood why MS couldn't code a OS that switches UI from tablet/desktop mode.

That said, people use applications, not OS. As long as people need Windows application, they will run them on whichever versions is available - even if Nadella is working hard to move them elsewhere.

[CorwinX]

Win 7 got it right..

Win 8 was a disaster, and Win 10 & 11 are bloatware.

Advertising platforms masquerading as operating systems.

I just want an OS that runs my chosen apps without interference.

Been using Windows since Win 286/386 days but a Linux distro with a Win7-alike interface is looking increasingly tempting.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Win 7 got it right..

Do it. Take the red pill.

Here are some links you might be interested in:

https://archlinux.org/download/

https://youtu.be/oUHq8MyDfZo?feature=shared

NB: If you're not feeling as brave, check out https://endeavouros.com/

Good luck!

[Altrux]

Ugly

But it was (and is) just so ugly - that horrible, flat, dead-looking interface with incredibly wasteful space usage. At least Win11 is slightly nicer to look at. But yes, what the world actually wants is Win7 with updated drivers and tools, all the data-harvesting telemetry ripped out, and nothing more. But the world, of course, won't ever get that.

[has been]

Re: Ugly

I've been running Classic-Shell/Open-Shell on Win8 and Win10 since I found out about it. Win7 appearance with Win10 drivers/tools etc. Telemetry/adverts is just configuration.

Tried Win11 on the spare laptop. Classic-Shell immediately made the user interface usable (i.e. removed the M$ abortion)

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Ugly

Windows 7? No, don't you remember Windows 200/XP? Vastly better.

[collinsl]

Re: Ugly

I only really liked the XP theme in it's "Royale Noir" variant which was available for download from Microsoft. They also offered a Royale version in the standard blue colours of XP's Luna theme.

Otherwise I personally found the default Luna theme too "childlike" - large, bold colours which seemed out of place to me. I always turned on the classic theme wherever I could.

[Anonymous Coward]

Win 10 Did *NOT* 'Just Work'

A neighbor running Win 8.1 on new hardware upgraded to Win 10. Symptom: black screen, no video. She rebooted, did the Safe Mode thing, verified the video driver was the last thing Win 10 loaded, rebooted, loaded latest nVIDIA drivers, rebooted, same symptom.

She said, "I don't want to debug my computer, I want to use my computer!"

She wiped the disk, re-installed Win 8.1, restored her data, and ignored Win 10.

[K555]

What depresses me here...

This marks ten years of Windows being what I'd consider intolerable in daily use. Five years since support ended for the version I found just about did the job (most of my grumbles with 2008R2 being it's bloated update system, so when patches ended it became MORE reliable!).

Although I find Windows 10 a visual mess and find it's pre-loaded crap pretty ridiculous, I can largely tidy that up out just accept In now 8 clicks of confusing menus away from what was 2 clicks. I shouldn't accept it... but I do.

It's maybe not anything fundamental about the OS underneath that I hate.

No, it's ten years since I've had the confidence to run Windows and not have to start work early every morning in case I need to fix my PC first. The quality control is non existent. And if they'd kept Windows 7 on, I'd probably now feel the same about that.

[Dave K]

Windows 10 was not a "good" operating system. At its best, it was "okay" - which isn't exactly a glowing endorsement.

I often think it gets remembered more fondly than it should due to what came before (Windows 8) and after (Windows 11). But let's be honest, the ads, the increasing pushes for a "Microsoft account", the way MS forced it on people in the early days - including downloading it without permission and over metred connections, the way it was *way* too trigger-happy to reboot after installing updates, none of these were good things.

That's before you get to all the other issues. The flat, boring, lifeless and utterly depressing UI, the split between Settings/Control Panel (*still* not resolved), the annoying and cheap-sounding "bingy-bong" sound effects, the broken throbber (only OS I know where it isn't a smooth, looping animation), Metro applications that ignore accessibility settings. In essence, it constantly felt like a piece of unfinished, beta software. Never like a finished and polished product. Way too much of it felt like half-finished "placeholders" that were still awaiting the final code/sounds/design.

Don't get me wrong, I prefer it to Windows 11 - even if Win 11 does look nicer, but it was not a "sane" or good OS. You've got to go back to Win 7 for that.

[kmorwath]

"it constantly felt like a piece of unfinished, beta software"

Fully correct. The "openess" of Windows 10 is really the effect of Nadella firing too many developers and testers working on Windows. The flat UI is far easier to code, it requires less devlopers and less skilled ones. The badly designed Settings too, and it now hides a lot of configurations and data that were available previously. If you're lucky they are available using some arcane command line tools.

Windows Insider program is just a way to get free testers - not to make Windows development more open - and of course none of them work like a professional tester. The intersection of many free testers won't cover the full set that needs to be tested.

Meanwhile they thrown at users more and more Win32 (badly designed) replacements, none of which fina, being their only reason to exit to close Windows development down to MS tools only - with the effect that now Windows looks like Linux with each application with its own UI, since MS itself has not decided which tool are their own.

Most problems of Windows today are not technical - technical issues can be resolved, and under many aspects Windows is far ahead of Linux - but Nadella sees Azure only, and is willingly to sacrifice everything to it (and shareholders short-term profits).

[hoola]

Re: "it constantly felt like a piece of unfinished, beta software"

Not short-term, this is all long-term with the genetic progression of everything in tech or requiring a tech layer in the cloud to operate being a subscription.

This is not just Microsoft but all tech companies. Pretty much everything now is on subscription with more and more becoming "As a service ".

[jdiebdhidbsusbvwbsidnsoskebid]

"it constantly felt like a piece of unfinished, beta software. Never like a finished and polished product."

Totally this, that's the best summing up I've seen for a while. Previous OSes will always have things for individuals to grumble about but at least they were "finished". Even if you didn't like something, they were done and self consistent.

I too dislike the flat gui design of win10, where it's only a colour change that tells you if a setting is on or off. I blame iOS for starting that design trend but I may be wrong. I interact with win10's flat gui a lot with my work laptop and surface. I usually plug it into a desk monitor and have two screens, but every single time I have to find my way to the display settings page and set them to the same settings as before. Why the default option is to duplicate desktops I have no idea (who deliberately plugs in an external monitor every day just to have two identical displays running?). And the virtual location of the desktops is always the same for me because of the office desk layouts and my own personal preferences. I'm not saying everyone should do the same as me but it seems a simple thing for the OS to go "this user always selects this particular setting, maybe I'll set it up that way for them now". Unfinished.

[Boothy]

Quote: "the way it was *way* too trigger-happy to reboot after installing updates"

That was one of the things I hadn't really thought about until a few weeks after switching to Linux as my main driver (Mint in my case).

Updated Windows, reboot needed, update some 3rd party drivers (GFX card, control software etc), reboot needed, updates even to some applications/programs, reboot needed! FFS, you're a games launcher for a specific publisher, why the heck do you need a reboot!!

I'd fresh installed Mint (about ~19 months or so ago), was told a reboot was needed after running the initial updates after the first boot. Okay, fair enough I thought.

It was only weeks later, perhaps 2 months, that I got another notification, stating a reboot was needed for the change to take effect. This was after updating fairly regularly, at least once a week, and I use this machine daily. Not once for weeks was I asked by the system that a reboot was needed, until that point! It was only then I realised just how bad Windows is for updating!

The other related thing I also then realised, was that Linux (Mint) never does the Windows type 'Installing updates, please don't power off your system' screen, locking you out of your system like Windows does! This can sometimes take multiple minutes in Windows, even on a fast system! Locking you out of your own PC during that time!

Updates in Linux just install while you are logged in and using the system (desktop), not during shut down or start up. Kick off the updates (when I want) and just carry on using the system as normal.

The other thing is when you do the reboot in Linux when asked, is there is no patching phase like Windows, there is no slow down to the shutdown or start up process, just the same as any regular reboot and you are back up and running in seconds.

It was, and still is (as I have to use Windows for $work still), one of my pet peeves with Windows, that I can hit the power button on a Monday morning for a cold boot, and be greeted with an 'updating' screen! FFS, do the updates while I'm using the system, or at least at the end of the day when I shut down and I've done with the machine, or give me a 'skip for now' button! For years now I hit the power button, then go get a coffee.

Edit: Typo.

[Fred Daggy]

Only in …

W10 is good only if you compare it to 11.

For all its interface faults, under the hood 8/8.1 was a brick outhouse. The server equivalent, 2012/r2 was, for me, stable and just worked. Demanding services like Exchange or SQL could work and keep on working until the next patch (and quite a long time if you didn’t patch. Ahem)

Can’t say the same about 10 nor 11. Server 2016 works, sorta and the Service Pack, aka 2019, a touch better, but no. Just no. “Good” just does not cut it. Neither does “just works”.

Just too many things that should be “I’ll decide that, thank you very much” but are rather “here are some things with dumb defaults and you can’t change at all or only after lots of hair and beard pulling and gnashing of teeth”

[K555]

Re: Only in …

One of the longest running servers I've run into was a bare metal install Server 2008 server running an SQL for sage back end. When I came to it, it had started to randomly fail to make network connections.

I can't find the KB on it now, but it had a bug specific to non R2 2008 that caused it to run out of ephemeral ports after a specific period of time. This only happened after the server had been continuously up for somewhere in the region of 3 years. This one had done so and not been patched as the whole network was air gapped from the internet.

[Anonymous Coward]

Seems to be a case of rose-tinted glasses here! I don't think W10 is any better than W11. I don't massively dislike either, but equally am not a fan of either. They are tolerable, after a bit of pissing around with settings, but no better than that.

[werdsmith]

Exactly. They are just OSes.

So many Register readers are filling their Tenas every time Windows is mentioned.

Or SystemD, or RUST, or AI or .....

[jdiebdhidbsusbvwbsidnsoskebid]

Windows 10 turns 10: Dying OS just worked...

I presume the author means "just" as in "only just", "barely" or " nearly didn't".

At home, win10 for me was my desperate attempt to move on from win 8 which came pre installed on my laptop. Win 10, like 8, came with so much rubbish that I had to spend lots of unrewarding time purging. Even once I removed all the by-default web searches (I don't mean the search tool, I mean widgets or whatever they were called that insisted the first thing I wanted to do when powering up was to see news, sports and weather about things and places I had no interest in) and advertising etc. it was still an ongoing battle to keep it that way. Until one day I threw in the towel and gave up on Windows. My home computing life now simply "works".

[Just4pLeisure]

CE Me and NT were the best

Until they were put together and all we got was CEMeNT :-P

[Dan 55]

Farewell Windows 10

We liked you as much as we did Windows Vista, for different reasons.

[herman]

2009

I just stopped using Windows in 2009. Been using Macbooks, Linux and OpenBSD since. If anyone asks for help with a Windows machine, I tell them to buy a Macbook Air since the screens are great for old eyes and the ones who actually do quickly get over the initial confusion and never have any issues again.

[Luiz Abdala]

Can I get Aero Glass back?

- Please? Pretty Please?

- And hooking up the Start Menu to any corner?

- And an original bootable media that can't be infected, that comes in a box?

- And no Ads?

- And is compatible to WHATEVER I got, from a 486 to the last Ryzen.

- And runs all the Windows stuff I throw at it, from any era. Not a single .ini or .conf file in sight.

- I will pay for it.

- Match those and I will pay, no matter if its called Windows 12 or Linux.

[hoola]

Re: Can I get Aero Glass back?

The media is simple, you just use the Media Creation Tool and bingo, a bootable ISO you can even burn to a DVD.

You don't even need a Windows license.

Exactly the same as all the other OS types.

[Anonymous Coward]

When it first came out and they had appified everything, it was considerably broken. New user profiles (and sometimes even old) won't load because wsappx wouldn't work properly to provision the apps? All the horrendous crap that screwed everything up on release was very much not my idea of a good operating system that just worked. The Frankensteins monster that was the grappling between control panel and the settings app is the change that even today I hate with a passion. No longer can professionals have more than one window open to change something because the settings app insists on you only having one instance of it.

Basically we have got used to mediocre and whatever they force on us, simply because we are stuck with it (yes, we really are in the corporate world Linux fans). As for the windows insiders, those that don't have the time to actually provide decent feedback are busy working and maintaining Windows in some way shape or form. Hence you get features like windows recall that some Microsoft fanboi or girl thought was amazing.

Even setting Windows up on a domain is painful now. Having to skip through a bunch of options that are there simply on Microsoft's whim and not because they're actually useful to the end user in any way. You even have to know the hidden way to get the bloody thing on a domain in the first place. If you have to go looking for that kind of thing in Windows Pro just because Microsoft desperately wants you to sign in to a Microsoft account, then they've done it wrong.

[LA The Younger]

'nuff said

praised be the mighty penguin

[Dan 55]

Re: 'nuff said

May the file open.

[MJI]

Windows went wrong.

When they removed seconds from the file manager.

If a lot of files are being written in a short time, it is a total nightmare to check them.

[frankvw]

Time to move on

Last Tuesday I replace W10 on my wife's laptop with Linux Mint. She feels nothing but regret... about not letting me do that years ago. There's nothing she can't do today that she couldn't do last week, and her machine (a one cylinder two-stroke Celeron with 4GB RAM and spinning rust for storage) is infinitely faster than before.

'Nuff said.

[frankvw]

WIndows Mobile was never going to happen

"In 2015, there were still glimmers of hope that Windows Mobile might yet take off, and that Windows could become a credible multi-platform proposition"...

Are you serious? Mobile devices have limited resources available, and therefore call for a light-weight, lean-and-mean, well written OS with an efficient architecture, that is also highly portable given the wide range of devices on the mobile market.

Those requirements are the direct opposite of what WIndows has been since day one. If you ever had any hope that that was ever going to work, contact me; I've got a great deal for you that you might be interested in. (Not many people know this, but seaside real estate in the Sahara is dirt-cheap now!)

[Piro]

Still no good

Search is still broken and terrible, and the interface lacks any of the charm from 7.

7 is still where they peaked, but there are admittedly, and naturally, some advances in the 10 codebase that help with support for newer hardware, for example.

Still totally unloveable, but they're making it more attractive every day that passes due to the forced transition to something even worse (11).