Windows 10

Well, I'm sure most of you who use Windows have upgraded to v10 like myself.

I love the new Microsoft Edge software. It is so much like Internet Explorer, but so much better. I especially love the fact that it does not support add-on, so none of those stupid coupon or netsaver things that cause all those ridiculous popups. I intentionally went to a site that I knew added them to the browser and sure enough they installed on my computer under the program files area. And, the add-ons (extensions) were added to a copy of Chrome that I had installed just to see.

But the Edge program was uninfected, so nothing happened...no website redirection, no popups, no nothing. This is something I always wanted, a web browser that was more impervious to that crap.

Plus the Edge program also has built in flash video support as well as PDF file handling. Both nice features.

Anyways, I plugged in my USB devices to the computer, and Win10 went to the Microsoft Website and automatically installed the WMDC latest version. That was nice too.

One drawback is that Windows 10 does not support my old PL2302/PL2303 USB to serial adapters. They come up with errors in the device manager and no driver I tried will work with them.

It does however support the newer PL2303HXD or PL2303TA adapters...and I just happened to have one of the HXD variety and tested it out, and it works great for serial connections. I was able to plug in my old MP790 and using the terminal program, send data to and from the serial port to my desktop. I was even able to transfer a file from the desktop to the 790 using XModem.

Anyways, just thought I'd share that little bit of stuff...I LOVE EDGE SO FAR!

I am not going to update to Windows 10 in the nearest future. Various problems were reported so far, I do not want to be a beta tester.

Have you already heard about opt-out P2P Windows 10 update sharing, the persistent (in non-Enterprise versions) background collection of data, the statement of that Microsoft may disclose the collected data upon the court request?




I have no doubt in that sites try to install browser extensions. I also have no doubt that a browser should ask you about these attempts every time.

I cannot understand why the fact that some version of Chrome doesn't do it makes the absence of addons support in Edge positive.




Is that really different from Windows 7?

Edited by Alt Bass 2015-08-18 9:04 AM

Or even XP?

Me neither, privacy cannot be exchanged for free OS version update...
My friend had issues with Windows 10 too.

But, it is tempting I must admit, but I think I won't update until Microsoft clears the privacy issue. period.


Edited by stingraze 2015-08-18 10:42 AM

Well, I did disable the P2P update sharing, though bandwidth isn't a problem for me with my Charter cable...I mean I'm getting download rates of 80+ mb/sec, decent upload rates as well.

As far as background collection...well I have nothing at all to hide, so they can collect the data on websites I visit all they want. I mean, so what? I figure the NSA, FBI, CIA, Scotland Yard, SIS, Mossad, and others are already watching all the internet traffic flagging keywords such as "bomb", "drone", and "PTHC" already. I think the most damaging thing anyone could find on my computer might be some ugly remark about our president's policies on immigration, or some insult about my wife. (BTW, anything I ever said about my wife...it's true!)

As far as WMDC, with my older operating systems my computer never automatically downloaded and installed it for me...I mean it told me that it needed it, but that was it. On this version of Windows, it just did it all automatically, and it kept all my old settings I had on Win7, so I didn't have to reestablish any connections for my various handhelds.

I know there are always going to be problems with a new OS, bugs to work out, and some people don't want to mess with that...but so far, my experience has been totally positive for the most part. A few quirks, like trying to get Oracle Virtualbox to work with Win10, and the PL2303 hardware stuff...but to have a browser like Edge that so far seem impervious to all the nasties out there that both Chrome, IE, and Firefox were susceptible to...well for me the upgrade has been sweet.

1) What do you mean?
2) Why do you think that it will be this way for long after release?

Edited by Alt Bass 2015-08-18 4:48 PM

Well, the one thing that gives me trouble is web browser add-ons. I can't seem to avoid them. Sometimes they seem to be hidden in web pages I visit, other times they seem to be embedded in files I download. I'm not sure why I am plagued with this feature.

Normally I can run IE without add-ons and delete them. Sometimes I can uninstall them if they are installed in the c:\program files folder. Other times I have to open the registry and search for the file name and delete it in several spots in the registry.

It drives me nuts to be using IE 11 and to open a page to have a bunch of "you have been infected" crap with links to buy their software.

Edge doesn't support add-ons right now, and I don't plan on updating my version of it even if they do in the future.

Both Opera and Firefox ask about any addon which is suggested.

This is all IMO of course:

I've been on the test programme since day 1 and have been through the beta process of general pain and frustration and for it I put in quite a few bugs as well as general feedback.

The OS is great, yet the shell is still a dogs dinner. The start menu doesn't do what I want and the massive non-cascading vertical scroll box of doom is just a bad idea for anyone who actually installs anything on their device. It's fine for a tablet - not that there are any apps in the app store still. Once android app integration arrives, that'll change I hope.

For the £4 of it, something like Start8 may have to do.

To fix VirtualBox install a nightly test build Rich, solved all of my problems from about April of this year.

Edge is horrendous as far as I'm concerned. Bing integrated and in the UK changing it is neigh impossible because the UI modules won't load properly. No plugins, so I can't ad block or control what MS want it do to. As with Chrome I don't want a PDF reader in the web browser and turning it off is like jumping through hoops. The worst thing, the utter waste of screen space that the title bar, search bar, tool bar take up. On a 4k screen it is taking up the top 2 inches of the display?!?! I get it, if I'm using a touch device I need finger sized buttons: I'M NOT USING A TOUCH SCREEN. Worse, uninstalling it has gone back to the bad old days of pre-anti-trust.

Control Panel / Settings dichotomy is still a disaster of confusing proportions and now apart from Windows Update you can still get away with never touching Settings. It's all slow and unnecessary.

The VPN UI is worse than in Windows 8

The default burnt in apps are just dire and a sleuth of them you cannot uninstall (XBox? Really? No!) Fortunately I don't care for them so much that I worked out how to delete them


They still haven't fixed font scaling 9_9

If you want to disable the tracking:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DataCollection
[DWORD] AllowTelemetry == 0

Then disable the tracking services, open an elevated PowerShell and run:


So nope, still running Windows 7.

Well C:Amie, could it be that because you are a professional with this stuff that you are just too damn demanding?

Actually I use the Foxit PDF reader and have that set as default, so when I click on a PDF link, that is what it open in, not a new browser window.

And FYI, I like the Solitaire Collection

One thing I don't like is the default mail program doesn't integrate the contacts...

So now they are monitoring hpcfactor 24/7 because of you dropping these words?

They've had C:Amie in their radar for years...not that it makes much difference

I see you finally posted a pic of yourself, C:Amie.

Try not to fall in love