Microsoft takes back Win 10

Yeah, Microsoft's "support" forum is horrible -- fascist moderators who toe the party line and do nothing but recite scripted answers like a first-tier phone support droid despite supposedly being "experts".
 
And I thought it was just me.

The Microsoft forums are hideous and next to useless. The layout sucks, and quite a few ‘answers’ are just links to threads from people with similar problems that are either outdated or irrelevant. There was more than one occasion where I’ve had some bizarre problem pop up at work, found someone posting a very similar or exact same problem, there was a few back and forths and then the thread was abandoned with no resolution posted.

When I first started working where I do, the outgoing retiring IT guy told me about a specific problem with Exchange Server 2010 and the Address Book. I ran into threads from people who had similar problems but no real solution, just some suggestions to try. I posted my exact problem, outlining in specific detail about four or five things I tried from the suggestions I found on TechNet and the MS employee responded back with a link basically saying to try everything that I did. I responded saying I already did what was suggested and then it went silent. To this day the problem isn’t solved, but it’s not a big issue, just an annoyance.

Spiceworks, Exchange Experts and Tom's Hardware are my go to sites for a lot of this stuff.
 
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But this dummy would like Microsoft to work on their troubleshooter section of windows. Every time I try to use it I always get the same response. I launch it and the gears turn, the wheels spin and after 30-60 seconds the response comes back as: " I'm sorry I can't figure out what is wrong." So next, I go to Google and do a search on the problem in in under 2 seconds, I get a web page that offers 3-5 possible solutions to the problem with step by step instructions and in 99% of the time one of them works. So tell me, why is it that Google knows more about Windows than Microsoft?

Google doesn’t really know more than Microsoft. The text in your search query was matched up with text from webpages indexed by Google’s bots. Google doesn’t know anything, they just extract the data that’s provided to them and displays it to the end user.
 
The original author of Classic Shell decided that it was just to much work to keep up and turned over the program to Source Forge late last year. Whether or not they can make a go of it remains to be seen. My installation exploded with 1703 and started morphing into a monster.Consider yourself having dodged a few bullets.The question remains as to how long that trick will work and how Microsoft will further lobotomize the control panel in the future.

This still doesn't explain why we should have to seek such tricks and workarounds to get back to something that works and doesn't bury things under a half-dozen different names that may or may not be found using the included search features.

Yes, I am aware that Classic Shell is an orphaned product, but I expect it to keep working for a long time.

What are the exact problems you've had with Start Menu replacement applications?

As long as functionality can be reproduced in some way I really don't care what MS does or what they change. I'll take tricks and work arounds anyday. People complained when Google removed the ability to go back to the previous page visited in Chrome by using the Backspace key. I've been using that feature on web browsers for years. There was an extension that added that functionality back within days of the update that removed it. Problem solved.
 
Google doesn’t really know more than Microsoft. The text in your search query was matched up with text from webpages indexed by Google’s bots. Google doesn’t know anything, they just extract the data that’s provided to them and displays it to the end user.

Yeah, I knew that but was being sarcastic. But usually I do get good answers on something on the first page of a search but if that doesn't work, then you will see me here for you guys. My new computer build has been quite the humbling experience. Spent several days just reading on sites like Toms hardware and spending a day at NAB talking to engineers from companies that make the software I planned on using was well worth the time.
 
Yes, I am aware that Classic Shell is an orphaned product, but I expect it to keep working for a long time.

What are the exact problems you've had with Start Menu replacement applications?

As long as functionality can be reproduced in some way I really don't care what MS does or what they change. I'll take tricks and work arounds anyday. People complained when Google removed the ability to go back to the previous page visited in Chrome by using the Backspace key. I've been using that feature on web browsers for years. There was an extension that added that functionality back within days of the update that removed it. Problem solved.

Is that listed in the apps section of Google browser? Do you recall the name?

Just so my lazy ass doesn’t have to search for it!
 
People complained when Google removed the ability to go back to the previous page visited in Chrome by using the Backspace key. I've been using that feature on web browsers for years. There was an extension that added that functionality back within days of the update that removed it. Problem solved.
I, for one, was glad to see the Backspace restored to text editing duty and not page navigation. Haven't you ever been editing a text field on a Form and reached a point where you get navigated away from ten minutes worth of work just because you typed the backspace once too often?
 
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Google doesn’t really know more than Microsoft.
I was speaking of Google the company. They're laying waste to all but Microsoft's business software (Office not included) in terms of the landscape of the computing future.

Some would assert that they're simply attacking Microsoft but given how little real progress that Microsoft has made in the last 30 years, maybe they need to be forcibly removed.

Why is it that Microsoft can't seem to answer the earnest questions and like some forum software packages, suggest existing threads? Why is it so hard to find existing threads without a third-party search engine? I know they don't really want to but that's certainly no way to promote what they're selling if what they're offering to support it can't find the answers you need.

As for expertise, I would imagine they consider anyone who has replied more than 20 times without disparaging Microsoft an "expert".
 
Is that listed in the apps section of Google browser? Do you recall the name?

Just so my lazy ass doesn’t have to search for it!

The one I have installed is an extension called To Back With Backspace. I believe it's from Google themselves. There are a few others that do the samething
 
I, for one, was glad to see the Backspace restored to text editing duty and not page navigation. Haven't you ever been editing a text field on a Form and reached a point where you get navigated away from ten minutes worth of work just because you typed the backspace once too often?

Probably happened to me a few times over the years but not enough for me to really notice of care. This is what I mean. I love that feature, you didnt. It's great to have choices to customize applications and operating systems as the end user sees fit. I don't care if it's a native feature or a third party solution is needed, as long as I can make the customizations I desire, I'm cool .
 
I don't care if it's a native feature or a third party solution is needed, as long as I can make the customizations I desire, I'm cool .
And when your ability to do that fades away?

With a few notable exceptions, Microsoft usually follows through on their dumbest ideas and never quite gets there on their greatest (database-based file system???).
 
I had everything working great with my new win 10 computer until I let it update to the latest update of win 10 thinking it just added some security anti virus stuff. WRONG! Seems the latest update I took was one that also disabled the Homegroup that allowed me to work seamlessly between my win 7, win XP, and win10 machines. Now I discover Microsoft decided to prevent a windows 10 machine from seeing the Home Group. My new computer can only see the internet but nothing shows up on my LAN except network printers. No computers, no folders. I search for a solution and learn that I can share my windows 10 drives with other win 7 so in a win 7 machine can see everything on the win 10 but not the other way around. What nonsense is this? Before I had my computers set up for push pull but now I can only push pull from the win 7.

Another solution I found in Google search is to set up a cloud based service and save everything to the cloud. That only works well in fantasy-land, not here.

Microsoft, stop breaking stuff that works. Bring back Home Group. It worked great. The fire the moron who came up with the latest update.
 
Here is what Microsoft has to say about HomeGroup for win10:

Homegroup. Once an easy way to share files across a home network, Homegroup disappears in Windows 10. Instead, Microsoft prefers that people store their files on the Internet through its Cloud service, OneDrive. There, people can email links to others for them to download the information.

What a bunch of crap! I now use Drop Box, Google Drive, and icloud. This OneDrive is nothing better just another hand in my pocket.

Thank God I have a win 7 machine that can push - pull files from the win10 system. I shut off auto updates on my win 7 computer. Use AVG for the antivirus and internet firewall. Imagine if all my computers were win 10. I'd be dead in the water to do my work. I guess I could still use the time tested sneaker-net.
 
And when your ability to do that fades away?

With a few notable exceptions, Microsoft usually follows through on their dumbest ideas and never quite gets there on their greatest (database-based file system???).

Tell that to Microsoft Bob!
;)
:oldwink
 
Microsoft, stop breaking stuff that works. Bring back Home Group. It worked great.
The release notes clearly stated that the HomeGroup feature is done. The reasoning is that it didn't work with Linux, Mac and many non-computer devices and that's a show stopper in this day and age.

Workgroup doesn't need to be installed and has worked well with pretty much everything since Windows Workgroups back in 1992.
 
Does this mean I can no longer use, or set up, a NAS on my home LAN?
Not in the least. The NAS, has, was and always will offer SMB (CIFS) that is the Windows for Workgroups scheme. It may also offer Sun's NFS but that has limited application in home networks.
 
SMB v1 is a security nightmare (Eternal Blue exploit that let WannaCry(pt) spread) so Microsoft shut it down in Windows 10.

You dance with the Devil, you take your chances...
 
Oh I know why they shut it off. Just a shame these hardware makers won’t update their firmware on their NAS units to SMB2. I have a Netgear Readynas and a Seagate (something) that is only a year and a half old and both are now non functional because of this.
 

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