C is for 'Careful now', D is for 'Download surprise': Microsoft to resurrect optional Windows 10 updates as 'Previews'

As Microsoft continues to fling fixes at the world and its dog, the firm has also expanded Teams grid to allow teachers to gaze upon 49 little faces and despair as well as tweaking Edge to provide, er, heaps better memory munching. They're baaaack – 'optional non-security updates' return to Windows 10 Because, heck, it's not …

[Version 1.0]

Fixed it for you

Once connected, users can are sliced, diced and view their finances are viewed in a variety of ways

Windows 10 spends a lot of time sending "diagnostic" information back to Microsoft, would you really trust them with all your financial information and bank accounts? So maybe you feel OK trusting Microsoft but what about next weeks Excel hack?

[razorfishsl]

Re: Fixed it for you

you should quit whining......

In Asia we have "translation" software, written in china...

and it sends EVERYTHING back to central servers over HTTP........

that includes all your banking details when on banking sites........

Reported it to the directors........ and was told that HR overrode the IT dept. blocking it..... becasue they need translation and can hire cheaper staff

[Anonymous Coward]

Optional updates?

Too little too late. Bye.

[vtcodger]

intelligent data lake

I don't know what an intelligent data lake is, but it doesn't sound like anything I'd want to have anything to do with. I'll be happy to provide a lengthy list of people and institutions that I'd like to see try it out first.

Are there sharks? crocodiles? leeches?

[Tigra 07]

Re: intelligent data lake

"Are there sharks? crocodiles? leeches?"

Nope, this is Microsoft, so the lake contains bugs.

[Ken Hagan]

Re: intelligent data lake

Plasmodium?

[Drew Scriver]

Refunds for repairs?

My dad (who is old enough to have been on sentry duty on the East German border during the Cuba crisis) is rather computer-challenged.

Last week he called me in a panic because he couldn't print anything. I remoted in and lo-and-behold: the items were leaving the print queue as if they had been printed. Scanning worked fine on this three-in-one Brother. Status and ink levels were reported accurately.

He really needed to print some documents so he took the computer and the printer to a computer store. They're now up to €39 and they're apparently re-installing Windows - even though I had called them ahead of time to alert them of the Microsoft update issue.

I highly doubt Microsoft will reimburse my dad for the costs he incurred due to their ineptitude, though.

[ovation1357]

Re: Refunds for repairs?

It's seriously time to set your dad up with Linux - I'd recommend Ubuntu or Mint with MATE which is what my mother and mother-in-law now both use.

Neither of them is computer literate and neither ever calls me for support because it just works. We're talking nearly a year for my mum and about 4 or 5 years for the mother in law (who actually asked me two things recently which were both 100% OS independent: How to cancel her trial Amazon prime and the other that BT WebMail has completely changed suddenly and they've basically cocked up the transfer of contacts from their old system).

As printing is a relevant topic here - there is of course a change that a printer could have problems with Linux but CUPS (developed by Apple) is truly excellent and easy to use, and HP provides proper Linux support - even for its £30 bargain combo printer-scanners.. Seriously, in about 5 years the only things my mother in law has asked for help with is installing said 'bargain' printer, which worked straight out of the box, and to connect a new monitor.

On the previous Windows system she was always having some problem or other and it was a pain in the ass.

[JJKing]

Re: Refunds for repairs?

Drew Scriver said, My dad (who is old enough to have been on sentry duty on the East German border during the Cuba crisis) is rather computer-challenged.

Linux is not then an option in this case. The GUI is totally different to what he is presently using. It is bad enough trying to find shit when MS used to release a new O/S. A significantly/totally different O/S will just add to the man's stress levels.

If Linux, in all the different flavours, was the answer, then surely they would have a massive market share of the desktop operating system and not just the present fanboi users.

[jake]

Re: Refunds for repairs?

"Linux is not then an option in this case. The GUI is totally different to what he is presently using."

Perhaps. Perhaps not. Presumably he started with Windows several years ago, before the current atrocity existed. Maybe a Linux based solution will feel old & comfortable to him ...

Me DearOldMum (mid-80s and computer incompetent) & Great Aunt (105 years young and computer illiterate) have been using Slackware-stable + KDE for over a decade now.

Please note that I understand their needs ... THEY didn't install the cut-down, customized version of Slackware. I did, based on how they use their computers, in real life. Nor do they handle the (scripted) update schedule. I take care of that from my own home. Also note that I didn't customize KDE for them. It's box-stock as shipped with Slackware, except I placed a few icons on their desktops, because that's the way they used to use Windows.

Mom & GreatAunt's "help, please" phone calls have dropped from several times per month each to one total in the last couple of years ... and that was to install yet another new printer for Mom. To be fair, I'd have been called in for that regardless of OS; she's afraid to plug anything new into the computer by herself. These days when I visit either of them it's for tea, not tech help, which is a much nicer state of affairs, don't you think?

Now if I could only get them to call it Linux instead of "that version of Windows that jake gave me". ::sighs:: One hill at a time.

(For the record, I'm nearly old enough to have been on sentry duty during the Cuban Crisis myself ... Some of us old farts have been using computers for a long time.)

[logicalextreme]

Re: Refunds for repairs?

I'm going to be forever pronouncing "fanboi" as if it was a French word after reading it in italics. fan-bwah

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Linux Mint 20 'beta'.

I've just been testing Linux Mint 20 Beta. It has to be the easiest OS of any, to find and run things, and importantly has a software update that just works and is measured in seconds, not minutes or hours.

I run Windows 7, Windows 10 2004, MacOS High Sierra, MacOS Catalina (I prefer/tend to use the macbook with HS more), and Ubuntu and Mint. In terms of updates, all have had issues with updates except Linux Mint, and Linux Mint 20 is the one that is supposed to be 'beta'.

With Windows 7, it's virtually impossible to install all the updates without some failing.

Automatic updates, fail out of the box on a new fresh install (you need to manually install several updates beforehand). Some updates (mostly 3x Remote Desktop Protocol ones) that require to be installed one at a time, are the ones that always fail to install.

Windows 10 2004 has lost both the new search box and the start menu, from recent installs on different hardware, so there is clearly an issue with the start menu/search box. It's not awful though, once working, turn off all the privacy leeching, it's getting more like the old Windows 7. The problem is, with Microsoft constant updating policy, it can be working today, but broken tomorrow again. Also, Microsoft just don't let up on trying to force Microsoft Edge onto your desktop, when it's not wanted.

Updating macos High Sierra with security updates is a pain in the arse, they take forever, and don't always install first time and Catalina, where do you start? The worst release to date for Apple. Apple just seem to be adding more and more hoops to jump through to get their software to work, especially on older kit.

Linux Mint, on the other hand, has a great clean new interface and just works. The only interface that looks promising aka. 'cleaner' is MacOS Big Sur, and it's mostly a rearrangement of the deck chairs, having watched Yesterday's Apple Keynote.

[Ken Hagan]

Re: Refunds for repairs?

"Linux is not then an option in this case. The GUI is totally different to what he is presently using."

Browsing, email and basic office-y stuff is identical, the Linux update mechanism is faster and more reliable, and the number of threats to privacy and security is much lower. We don't know what his workload is, but I would guess that "totally different" is almost totally wrong.

[Hubert Cumberdale]

Never mind Edge's memory use...

...will they ever fix that thing whereby periodically my machine gradually and inexplicably has its committed memory creep up to the point where things start suddenly disappearing. I have no pagefile, and turning it on may well stop things going pop. But go on, fight me about why I should have any of my memory contents written to disk when I've got 24GB on a standard workstation that day to day is used for little more than surfing and document editing. The only way I can fix this is by rebooting – not even closing all applications and manually killing background tasks will make any difference. I have literally no idea what is eating the commit, and believe me I've tried Process Explorer et al. to try and get to the bottom of it, but to no avail. Suggestions welcome (other than to turn on my pagefile).

[jake]

"This hack has many fond memories of educators struggling to operate overhead projectors and those newfangled VCR things."

This hacker has many fond memories of operating the slide projector, filmstrips (with separate audio tape ... ::beep!::) and movie projectors for various teachers who caouldn't even figure out how to load them ... starting in first grade.

Grade school teachers are there to teach the basics (Readin', Ritin' and Rithmatic, or so they told me). They are not now, nor have they ever been, technology proficient, much less tech instructors. Why they haven't collectively stood up and shouted ENOUGH! over all these useless distractions in the classroom is beyond me.

Kids need to learn to walk before they can run.

[ovation1357]

It'll never cope!

Teams can't handle a call with 4 simultaneous videos without cooking my CPU (on a fairly new i5-based Lenovo ThinkPad) and stalling and dropping out so how the hell do they think they're going to manage 49 :-O

To be fair, Zoom is also CPU intensive but it always handles a boat-load of simultaneous live videos plus screen sharing flawlessly and is reasonably pleasant to use.

It seems to me that as usual Microsoft are just copying everyone else's features, making a poor copy at that, and claiming innovation.

I use Teams because I'm forced to (Zoom client is not on the extremely limited list of permitted apps on the corporate desktop). But for team meetings and everything outside of work it's Zoom all the way unless I find something even better.

[razorfishsl]

D = Dominate

C = Compliance....

All we need now is wonder woman to turn up.....

[AndrewB57]

Good plan

Oh

[Tigra 07]

Ahem...

If "C" is for "Careful Now", then "D" is for "Down With This Sort Of Thing".

[Povl H. Pedersen]

ADRM

Oh, I thought AD RM was ReMove Active Directory ?

Maybe Microsoft did too, and wanted to remove the threat.

[AMBxx]

Microsoft Money

Still going strong on my PC. 16 years of data and runs much better now it's on Windows 10 (though I think it's the SSD that's fixed the stalls).

Freely available now - just search from MS Money sunset edition.

Only things broken are multicurrency (I think that's a data corruption on just mine) and the online updates as they've expired.

No longer any need to login to MS security either.

[chriskno]

Re: Microsoft Money

Have a similar amount of data on MS Money, the best program (we didn't call them Apps in those days) I've ever bought.

[Marco van de Voort]

Recent Edge update seemed to set all fileassociations to "query"

Recent Edge update seemed to set all fileassociations to open a dialog. Some however, like for html seem to have no option to make it permanent as it was.

disclaimer: initial impressions only, I haven't tried to reproduce yet.

[worldtraveller2]

Microsoft Money

Probably like many millions of others I never understood why MS ditched Money and believe that rather than messing with Excel spreadsheets they should do the job properly and release a new and updated version of the product, last updated 15 years ago!

[Anonymous Coward]

onedrive

Windows 10 Onedrive is a strange program, from windows I can see my files in documents and on the desktop. But if I look with linux on that drive,

I only see 25 byte symlinks even if offline availability is checked...