Pros and Cons of Windows 10

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rfrazier

Well-known member
Sep 30, 2020
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187
Over on this thread:


Replies to some of my comments drifted into a discussion of the pros and cons of Windows 10. I decided to give that topic a thread of its own so as to not hijack the other thread too much.

@DanR had stated in the other thread how much more secure Windows 10 would be than Windows 7. I continue below with comments on that and a few other things.

:eek: Just lost several paragraphs I had already typed due to copy and paste screw ups. I'll try to recreate it from memory.

I'm not so sure that Windows 10 is more secure, especially while Microsoft Security Essentials and Windows Defender are being updated. Considering that they're patching 100 or more things each month, and are breaking a few more, that tells me that the internals of Windows 10 may not be more secure. Also, even though Windows 7 is accumulating some unpatched bugs, it is also becoming less and less of a target over time. I ALSO run my browsers with javascript off unless I approve a site. For Firefox, I use noscript for that. For Brave, I use it's internal site settings and shields. But, to each his own.

The bottom line for me is that I consider all the Big Tech companies at this point to be the enemy of the users. That includes Microsoft, Google, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. They've all gone political, spy on users, and overbearing control, in my opinion.

@DanR Were you able to disable Cortana? The last thing I want is for that to be monitoring every word I say and sending it to Microsoft. In fact, I've always disabled my microphone and camera in case a virus got in. The last thing I want is them active all the time.

I've only had one or two hours of actual usage of Windows 10, plus a few hours helping my wife with her work computer, plus some discussions here and @Steve and Leo on SN, some YouTube viewing.

Here are the things I dislike or even hate about Windows 10:

* The "flat UI" design instead of the 3d textured one. I can't stand it. I think even Windows 95 had a better UI.

* Telemetry / spy functions reporting back to the mother ship all the time. I've gone to lots of trouble to disable those patches in Windows 7 that relate to that.

* Cortana, as mentioned above.

* The "you're too dumb to look under the covers" philosophy. That's why you have to click a dozen times to get info that should be one or two clicks, even if you can get it at all.

* The "hiding things on the screen" philosophy. I've had to deal with some of this on Windows 7. NO I don't want my scroll bars disappearing. NO I don't want my title bar disappearing. NO I don't want my system tray icons disappearing. NO I don't want my menus disappearing. NO I don't want my task bar disappearing.

* "Fixing things I didn't ask to be fixed." I've had to deal with some of this on Windows 7. NO I don't want my window to maximize if I move it to the top of the screen. I'll maximize it myself.

* Not specific to Windows 10, but I've never liked "the ribbon" in office. It takes up way too much vertical real estate on the laptop screen.

* Apps that have less function and take more screen space. As an example, I like to park the task manager in the corner of the screen to monitor memory and the usage of EACH processor core. As far as I can tell, I cannot do that in Windows 10. It shows only TOTAL CPU usage and the app takes up 20% more screen real estate.

* Finally, I hate the rent software forever model that everyone is going to.

Those are the main things I can think of for now. Not being disagreeable, just having dialog. To those who like Windows 10, that's fine.

May your bits be stable and your interfaces be fast. :cool: Ron
 
Last edited:
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This post copied here from the OP's original thread for a different topic.

rfrazier said:
Can you share more information and or links about that?
Open Shell

github.com

GitHub - Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu: Classic Shell Reborn.

Classic Shell Reborn. Contribute to Open-Shell/Open-Shell-Menu development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com
github.com

rfrazier said:
That sounds cool. Howz it work?
O&O ShutUp10

O&O ShutUp10

www.oo-software.com
www.oo-software.com

This is a stand-alone tool. I.E. it installs nothing. Just run it and under Actions, select Apply only recommended settings. That's it. You can scroll down to see what is now turned off (green - safe) and what is left on (yellow and red - I do not touch these). Exiting the tool leaves the settings intact.

rfrazier said:
You must have Win 10 Pro to do that if I recall correctly.
Of course! :)

Win 10 Home pretty much gives MS carte blanche freedom with Windows Update, with one small exception. It is possible to use a registry tweak to target a desired version of Win 10, which will prevent WU from advancing to a newer version (feature release).
 
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With Windows 10 Pro you can use the Group Policy Editor to set Windows Update to notify if there's an update. Then you can choose to update or not.
One of the five PCs that I look after (family and friends) is current with Windows Updates, sort of a test machine. I hold the rest of them back to make sure there's no "bonus features" of an update. That's saved me from the "REFS volume showing as RAW" feature and the "disable Brother printers" feature. Yes, I do realize what it leaves me open to.


* Apps that have less function and take more screen space. As an example, I like to park the task manager in the corner of the screen to monitor memory and the usage of EACH processor core. As far as I can tell, I cannot do that in Windows 10. It shows only TOTAL CPU usage and the app takes up 20% more screen real estate.
I have a second monitor for this but similar idea.

Screenshot 2021-09-25 165654.jpg
 
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I'm not so sure that Windows 10 is more secure, especially while Microsoft Security Essentials and Windows Defender are being updated. Considering that they're patching 100 or more things each month, and are breaking a few more, that tells me that the internals of Windows 10 may not be more secure.
Updating MSE and WD is not the same thing as patching Windows vulnerabilities. While updated MSE/WD can cope with certain things, I do not see either as being able to cope with unlatched vulnerabilities. Win 10 is being patched for vulnerabilities. Win 7 is not. So . . .

In hindsight, my use of the word "much" may have been inappropriate. That said, I do consider Win 10 more secure than Win 7.

@DanR Were you able to disable Cortana?
Yes, of course. I never hear/see "her".

To Turn off Cortana completely on Windows 10 Pro press the “Start” button and search for and open “Edit group policy“. Next, go to “Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Search” and find and open “Allow Cortana“ in the displayed list. Click to open, Click “Disabled“, and press “OK“.
Telemetry / spy functions reporting back to the mother ship all the time
Agreed. See previous post re O&O ShutUp10.

Not specific to Windows 10, but I've never liked "the ribbon" in office. It takes up way too much vertical real estate on the laptop screen.
Finally, I hate the rent software forever model that everyone is going to.
I completely agree with both points. That's why I still use Office 2003. It does what I need it to do . It runs just fine in 20H2.
 
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@Tazz Nice monitoring setup. 2nd monitors are handy for that.

This is what task manager looks like when I'm displaying the full image as small as possible. I'll admit, if you have 16 logical processors, having individual graphs gets more cluttered.

task manager full.jpg


This is what task manager looks like if I have part of it off screen.

task manager partial.jpg


And, here's what it looks like if I have an application on the screen and only a little sliver of space at the bottom.

----------------------------------------------------------------
task manager tiny.jpg


There may be better ways to do this, but it works for me.

May your bits be stable and your interfaces be fast. :cool: Ron
 
not so sure that Windows 10 is more secure
Windows 10's Kernel has more memory protections, including against Spectre and Meltdown. Windows XP and then 7 used to have a a Microsoft application for advanced security features. Most (if not all) of the EMET https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...idelines-b529d543-2a81-7b5a-d529-84b30e1ecee0 features which were a bolt on in older versions of Windows are now built into Windows 10 (with more added with later editions.)
 
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Have any of you used the good old Sysinternals tools, which also include a Task manager replacement, Process Monitor, that works in general better in all respects. Now owned by Microsoft, but still a good useful set of utilities as well.


Still being updated, and in general they all do as they say, and do it quite well.
 
@SeanBZA - Since the Windows XP, pre Service Pack days. Before I learned to run as non-Admin, I was making regular use of,
psexec -l -i -d "%ProgramFiles%\Internet Explorer\IExplore.Exe"​
to run IE11 on restricted privileges. Zero-days against the browser would always fail. Back then, could hit the MP3 download sites without worry. I was also using it to test run and monitor programs that I didn't want changing my system.