Comments?

http://www.zdnet.com/article/microso...on-off-switch/

Decent article, although it pretends that Microsoft is collecting information to improve the mechanics of Windows, when Microsoft is really collecting information to serve you advertisements. The ads you see in the "start menu" which is not a start menu, its a billboard where the squares are for sale and whose squares are meant to induce you to spend money on people's products who buy that space on your computer without any of the purchase price coming to you.

It is possible to simply sniff the packets being sent, find out which servers Microsoft is using and blacklist 'em. You can do that with your router, so Windows wouldn't even be able to prohibit your blacklisting. I would suspect that will be the direction that anti-malware programs will use to defang Microsoft's spyware/adware loop.

But frankly, once shattering the trust of your customers, how do you unbreak that glass. No matter how much glue you use the cracks will always be there, a relationship, millions of relationships really, that can never be the same as they were with Windows 7. Every single person is now open to alternatives they never would have considered two years ago.

We are all rape victims of a trusted member of the family we thought was above reproach. And we're never going to trust Microsoft again. There is no going back.

I suppose if they cleaned house of all responsible for those decisions, eliminated all Facebookization of Windows, acknowledged all the wrong decisions they have made and swore never to do it again, then gave everyone who wanted one a copy of a new operating system that demonstrated that they believe legitimate profit comes as a result of good faith service to customers, pledging that all future actions of Microsoft would be for their customers' benefit, I would reconsider. But they will never do that. The ascendancy of the bean counter is cresting. The fall is near. Treachery has consequences and they cannot be avoided. Sometimes through manipulation, coercion and threats the consequences can be delayed. But that only makes them more severe when they arrive.

Microsoft, change your heart, take out the rubbish, or you are doomed.

That data policy of W10 is what made me launching for Linux. That they reverse-installed sniffing software from W10 on W7, pissed me even more. That they were sneaking in through the backdoor while I slept, and did so not only without my consent, but against my deliberate and active resistance and measures I have taken to actively keep them away - this was unforgivable.

I had a good day yesterday testing Mint on that laptop, but today, the thing does not boot anymore, is caught in endless rebooting loops, even trying to boot from Mint Live Stick or DVD does not work, but leads to a loading that sooner or later gets interrupted again. I have no clue what is going on, I googled and see that the problem seems to be not rare, quite some people report it.

Whether Linux will make significant progress with the gamers, remains to be seen, I am sceptical. That it progresses and wins gamers I hear and read since over ten years, since 15 years or longer, but essentially they still are where they were 15 years ago, more or less. That a small number of mostly insignificant games are available for it via Steam, doe snot fundamentally change it. There is not even a decent chess GUI comparing to what is available for Windows both commercially or for free. Heck, with Android I get better chess software than for Linux. - Linux and games: I remain very sceptical, and will believe it not before the day I see it happening. None of the games I am interested in, runs under it, btw. The usability of Wine seems to be limited, it lacks in performance power, it seems, and demanding titles thus are a problem for it.

So for the most I go linux to piss MS, to protect my privacy a bit more, and hopefully to get a safer online experience.

But first I must get a stable and trustworthy Linux installation.

I have not had the boot loop experience with Mint. I wonder if it is hardware related and if there is a workaround.

I would download the base distro, Ubuntu, and give that a try to see if Mint is the problem. If you are running Ubuntu, you can download the Mint desktop if you like that better. If you find the boot loop problem recurrs with Ubuntu, then I'd suspect you have a rare hardware/software interaction causing the problem. That can be difficult to diagnose for any operating system.

I created new ISO DVD and stick with new downloads of both, and currently reinstall Mint 17.2. The booting failed maybe 5 out of 6 times, and so did the recognition of the Mint Live stick and DVD yesterday as well as today. It was the same on PC yesterday (tried Live on PC and installed it on USB stick). I also tried a book DVD with 17.1

However, googling it shows that I amj not alone, and that it is not just Mint. These booting loops and impossibilities to have installation media recognised, seems to be present under other Linux distributions, too, also that after installation the system just goes black screen.

For testing running the Windows installation in the laptop as if I wanted to install, went smooth. Drive condition was yesterday found by a checking software to be "good", the laptop just sat on the shelf for the last two years, and my mother did not use it that much at all in the time before. Its in good shape, I am quite sure.

Edit. Meanwhile the installation finished. It reboots - every second time.

Well, tomorrow afternoon I will have access to another system, a foreign one. :D I can test a Mint Live installation there via stick and DVD, and see how it goes.

The total and ultimate hijack. :D A thread on Windows 10 ending in discussing installation of Linux.

Sign of the times, Microsoft! :salute: You know you deserved this.

Actually, skybird, Linux IS what you need to know about Windows 10!:D:D:D

More bad news, the laptop sometimes boots, but most often does not, but stalls once I'm behind the Grub selection screen. And then it may work all of a sudden, and I have a stable session. Until I turn it off, and start new. Live sessions from stick or DVD - the same. I also tried an ISO of Ubuntu: it starts booting, and then breaks off.

I googled a lot, and only see that many users seem to have problems like these, with many different Linux distributions.

If Linux maybe has one shining bright weakness - I think I stumbled over it.

Think I put XP back on that laptop, the Vista stuff is gone, and that way I can at least use it as another backup drive.

The good news is that I have seen enough yesterday of what i needed to see and learn about Mint, how it works, and all its included applications. Funny it is that just weeks ago I had switched to Libre Office under Windows, too, I never liked OpenOffice. Seeing it under Mint was like meeting a newly found friend once again.

Ordering another hard drive and cable now, another new one already sits on my shelf. Next week is PC reinstallation frenzy.

Until then: Raceroom, and Assetto Corsa. Who knows if by the end of next week I still have a functional PC driving them. :)

So, while the those of us who are running Win 10 are doing so with little or no problems, others are struggling to get a dubious OS to even boot; interesting... :D


<O>

^ Different to you Win10 folks I do not need to walk around skin-naked. ;) We talk again by the end of next week when I am done with resetting the PC. My worries with that 6 year old laptop right now served exactly the intended purpose: a test environment to learn about Mint for the first time ever, and adapting to what to expect from Linux. Confusions and questions and decisions I had with the very first installation attempts two days ago, can no longer surprise me when doing it for real on my "mainframe". :03:

I want Win 10 to succeed, I really do. And it probably will... after a lot of open beta testing by us.


So far, after 5 days I have had 3 BSOD. Something I almost never got with Win 7. :shifty:

At least I was able to get Windows start menu under control.
With Classic Shell it looks like this
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/pict...pictureid=8434


instead of this freakin' cartoony hodge-podge of mess
http://cdn.bgr.com/2015/07/win10-start-menu.jpg?w=624


.
.
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Also, if you are like me, and you have a severely limited amount of bandwidth to use each month, you do not want Windows burning through itfor you with updates, and even worse, I discovered that Windows 10 uses your bandwidth to help other PC users update. :/\\!!




Here are details and how to put a stop to it.

http://lifehacker.com/windows-10-use...s-d-1721091469

http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2015...eople-updates/

Sheesh, no wonder I am 4GB over my limit this month. :nope:

I had the same BSOD problems at first, but they seem to have been resolved by the updates to the Win 10 system. So far, the only problems I'm having are related to some BIOS issues due to the PC's maker not having been fast enough to deal with some tweaks between Win 10 OS and the BIOS. The manufacturer just a few days ago released some new BIOS updates and it has drastically reduced issues; I have also been really carefully scrutinizing the web support sites for the add-on hardware/software so as to keep up-to-date on the latest drive releases...

I, also, am no fan of the "improved" UI that MS has been using lately. I changed the UI to more closely resemble the older UI and thus be something more familiar to me. I have old age and relentless stubbornness on my side: I will not be dragged into the 21st century... :D


<O>

It's not a dubious OS, it's a rare interaction between hardware and software, similar to those we sometimes wrestle with in Silent Hunter 4. I've run Linux on dozens of computers since 2004 and never had that problem.

However, for every problem Linux has, Windows has dozens. How many times has Windows Update had a crippled update that took millions of systems down? Too many times. And now updates are not optional and must be installed automatically. Do I have to paint the picture? This isn't an "if" situation, it's a "when."

Linux is more reliable, more stable, faster, more customizable. It is the source of Windows programs that we all love, Firefox, Thunderbird, Libre Office, Open Office, Inkscape, Chrome is developed there, the vast majority of Internet servers use Apache on Linux systems, there are dozens more programs, all come from and were developed under Linux before migrating to Windows. Most wireless and wired routers run Linux as their operating system, as do cameras, burglar alarm systems, telephone systems. Why? Because it's much more reliable, stable and customizable than Windows. Even NASA and ESA are using Linux instead of Windows. Why? For mission critical software, it's better. And they have ironclad assurance that THEY are in 100% control of their hardware.

No, Skybird is encountering a rare interaction of some kind which does not reflect on the quality of Linux. Dubious is the LAST word that can be used to describe Linux. Every improvement to Windows has been a copy of something long used in Linux. When Windows made the 8 to 8.1 transition it was accomplished by stealing just enough from Linux' Unity GUI (Linux has more than a dozen GUIs to choose from) to make Windows barely workable. Repositories mutating into the Windows Store are a prime example of tragic mutation of a 20 year old Linux accomplishment.

My problems with my old notebook must be hardware-related. I tested the same Mint-DVD that I used before on another notebook today - and it worked flawlessly, fast, and smooth like a breeze. Its the notebook my Mum is using. :D I planned to just test the Live mode (a demo setup that installs nothing on HD), but when I had it running after 5 minutes :D, it worked so smooth and flawlessly that I just hit the install-button on desktop and installed it right from there on top and right into the middle of the existing Windows 7 partition. :woot:Mayxbe not always recommended to do so - but it works.

All needed software comes with this install already, all that she needs, and Firefox that she already knows. I showed her Thunderbird, which looks and works a lot like Live Mail, I installed the usual antiscript-addons and such for Firefox, I updated the OS, and 20 minutes later she was already handling the whole thing all by herself. No more maintenance needed for her (antiVir, Firewall, MBAM, Sandbox,Windows updates that in parts must be deinstalled again, XP antispy and what else you need to run to make Windows a "tight" and halfway secure OS). No data migration needed, since Linux recognises all Windows stuf and files and folders.

Its hilarious, and a disgrace for Microsoft! :haha: :yeah: This week I really learned how much Microsoft cheats its customers and blinds them and sells us crap that smells beyond what you can believe!

Full setup, complete system, all tuning and addons set. In far less than 30 minutes. With all what is needed: its done, its present.

And just in case: the old Windows 7 installation still is there and can comfortably be switched to, too.

Another Hd is ordered, and when I have those twol new HDs next week, I reinstall as planned, everything. This weekend will belong to backing up data.

Vienna: who laughs last, laughs best. :salute: :har:

BTW, the laptop of my Mum boots four times as fast or faster than before, and the browser runs practically without any noticable delay now - click a page, and you are there. Turning the notebook down: 3-4 seconds at best. :haha: That thing is already over two years old and costed less than 550 bucks.

Neal,
consider to split your notebooks partition and go for a dual boot. The one thing I learned this week is this: installing Linux and getting used to the ordinary everyday working routines while using the old Windows data files, is incredibly easy. You could do this: get a Mint 17.2 ISO file, and a tool to burn it onto a bootable DVD (USB sticks can but must not cause troubles sometimes). Use that disc than to boot under Linux in a demonstration mode, and test it. It does not overwrite your existing HD and W10. Once you feel comfortable, install Linux 17.2 from right that demo mode running. You then boot the laptop of yours, and always get asked at the beginning whether you want to boot Linux or Windows. From Linux, you can access all your Windows workfiles - but from Windows you will not be able to see any Linux files. Really, its as easy as this. Just use that demo mode before.

Robbins,

what are good and safe Linux pendants to Skype Video Chat, Team Viewer, Bandicam, and how is it with Google Earth under Linux?

Stellarium is available under Linux, I see. ArtRage 4 unfortunately not, which is a shame.

What I cannot do in Linux, will find a place in the Windows 7 gaming setup.

Shredder 12 (chess) is also available for Linux, but expensive and not really eqivalent to Shredder under Windows, I read.

Skype is available on Linux. You just have to add the repository it lives in and it just works really well. Teamviewer is a native Linux application and works flawlessly under Linux--no alternative necessary. Google Earth runs really well in Linux.

My astronomy program du jour is a French program they unfortunately called Sky Charts in English. I prefer the French hame Cartes du Ciel. It is just a flawlessly extraordinary astronomy program with databases including all stars down to about magnitude 14. Patrick Chevalley is a total genius and has made a masterpiece there. It works better in Linux than it does in Windows and it runs wonderfully in Windows. I use it to plan my cell phone astrophotography sessions. I believe I have the world's first cell phone photo of galaxies. I'm working on the Cygnus area now, featuring the North American nebula. If I get it I'll be outperforming $1500 DSLRs. That would be fun!

http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/a...psmrtrlvo3.jpg

I'm not really sure about a Bandicam replacement. I haven't done any game recording in Linux, but after I get Silent Hunter 4 working there I'll be checking that angle out myself. And ArtRage4 is a real niche program with no real analogs, even in Windows software. Since they make an OSX version, that is very, very close to Linux I'd bug 'em about making a Linux version. Linux will blossom when commercial software is sold for it, both games and other applications.

You also might be able to get ArtRage to run in Wine. The fallback is a Virtualbox installation of Windows XP. You can shut off the Internet access of a Virtualbox client and make Windows XP perfectly safe to use. Of course, Virtualbox is a native Linux application that migrated to Windows long after it was a polished app far superior to commercial virtual computing in the Windows world.

I wonder if Arena (a GUI for chess engines) will work with your Linux OS Skybird.

The Arena site says, "it runs on Windows XP or higher or on Linux with Wine 1.0 or higher."
- http://playwitharena.com/?Welcome_to_Arena

I have used Arena (free) on Windows for many years.

Thanks for the software recommendations.

I know Arena from PC and wondered whether it would run under Wine, I have no idea how well Wine performs or not. I do not expect complex super-charged graphics-wonders working too well in Wine, nor do i think things like FSX-PMDG or Assetto Corsa or Raceroom or soon Fallout 4 would run via Wine.

Arena is the best free chess GUI out there. Even better are only payware GUIs - and that is mainly about looks.

My mother will like to hear Team Viewer running under Linux, although I expect her to run into much fewer problems when i must help on the fly, than before.

Whether it is wise to use Skype anymore, is another question, now that either Google or Microsoft bought it. In the end it is an open channel into systems and I have no idea whether it is wise to arrange oneself with that anymore, even under Linux?! I would like to cut all links to US-based server stations and US corporations completely. :) Is there an unsuspicious replacement service available?

Stellarium I like for the quick overview on what'S up in the sky currently, other such software may do even more ( I have two or three others...), but it does not look so beautiful and also is not that sweet to handle.

Space Engine - running under Wine...?

Bandicam - I forgot that I will not run comploex sims and games under Linux, so it is not needed at all for Linux.

P.S. That old laptop. I just does not like Linux, and Linux doe snoit like it. I installed an old XP onot it, and to works stable. I tried to seal it off as good as possible with free stuff and set options extremely paranoid. That way it should serve as a backup if I need access to the web for information when my main syswtem goes on strike. And if that old thing gets infested - who cares. I will not attach it ever to USB sticks, external drives or anything. Just being able to do researches if needed - a safety measurement. Good to know its there, just in case, handles more comfortably than virtual keyboards on an Android tablet.

Well now! If it's Stellarium you wish it is Stellarium you shall have! The authors of that software are not American so are not Microslothcentric. And they have an Ubuntu version. Since Mint is Ubuntu based, any Ubuntu program will run flawlessly under Mint.

I wouldn't be surprised if Stellarium were not available already in the Synaptic Package manager. If it is not this link will set you up with connecting Stellarium's PPA to Synaptic, which will treat it just like all your other software. If, when you log on in the morning, there is an update available, Synaptic will offer you the ability to download the update, or even install it automatically if you configure it that way.

You CAN have your cake and eat it too! Wonder what the translation of that looks like?:D

Neal,

This might be the answer to saving your limited bandwidth.
http://www.zdnet.com/article/how-to-...spying-on-you/