The Windows and Windows Software Megathread

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Pararoid: Dec 6, 2005; Te Waipounamu pride

This is a bit random, but I'm trying to remember a time in the 90s or early 2000s when Microsoft started requiring a registration, and a lot of users got upset about having to associate their real details with their accounts. Just seemed like a different world, and all the terms I'm using are too broad and just bring up recent Microsoft backlash stuff. Any thoughts?

# ? Jul 14, 2022 12:50

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# ? Jun 3, 2024 22:50

Klyith: Aug 3, 2007; GBS Pledge Week

Pararoid posted:

This is a bit random, but I'm trying to remember a time in the 90s or early 2000s when Microsoft started requiring a registration, and a lot of users got upset about having to associate their real details with their accounts. Just seemed like a different world, and all the terms I'm using are too broad and just bring up recent Microsoft backlash stuff. Any thoughts?

"Activation"? That started in Windows XP.

You didn't have to associate any personal info with it though. But you did have to call MS on the phone any time you did a big enough PC upgrade. And back in those days it wasn't a quick call talking to a robot, you got grilled by an actual person and had to pinky swear that this was the only PC you were installing on.

# ? Jul 14, 2022 13:04

~Coxy: Dec 9, 2003; R.I.P. Inter-OS Sass - b.2000AD d.2003AD

Could also be Microsoft Passport.

quote:

Microsoft Passport, the predecessor to Windows Live ID, was originally positioned as a single sign-on service for all web commerce. Microsoft Passport received much criticism. A prominent critic was Kim Cameron, the author of The Laws of Identity,[3] who questioned Microsoft Passport in its violations of those laws. He then joined Microsoft in 1999 after his company was acquired and was its Chief Architect of Access and Identity until his 2019 retirement, helping to address those violations in the design of the Windows Live ID identity meta-system. As a consequence, Windows Live ID is not positioned as the single sign-on service for all web commerce, but as one choice of many among identity systems.

In December 1999, Microsoft neglected to pay their annual $35 "passport.com" domain registration fee to Network Solutions. The oversight made Hotmail, which used the site for authentication, unavailable on December 24. A Linux consultant, Michael Chaney, paid it the next day (Christmas), hoping it would solve this issue with the downed site. The payment resulted in the site being available the next morning.[4] In Autumn 2003, a similar good Samaritan helped Microsoft when they missed payment on the "hotmail.co.uk" address, although no downtime resulted.[5]

In 2001, the Electronic Frontier Foundation's staff attorney Deborah Pierce criticized Microsoft Passport as a potential threat to privacy after it was revealed that Microsoft would have full access to and usage of customer information.[6] The privacy terms were quickly updated by Microsoft to allay customers' fears.

In July and August 2001, the Electronic Privacy Information Center and a coalition of fourteen leading consumer groups filed complaints[7] with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alleging that the Microsoft Passport system violated Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTCA), which prohibits unfair or deceptive practices in trade.[8]

Microsoft had pushed for non-Microsoft entities to create an Internet-wide unified-login system.[9] Examples of sites that used Microsoft Passport were eBay and Monster.com, but in 2004 those agreements were cancelled.[10] In August 2009, Expedia sent notice out stating they no longer support Microsoft Passport / Windows Live ID.

# ? Jul 15, 2022 04:12

fat bossy gerbil: Jul 1, 2007

I cannot for the life of me get windows to activate using one of the keys I bought from the SA Mart thread. It keeps giving me error code 0xC0EA000A claiming the hardware on my device has changed. This is a brand new build so nothing has changed since I installed it. Trying to activate it from command prompt gives me 0xc004f050 and claims the product key isn�t valid. I find that hard to believe since I�ve bought keys from that thread several times. What the gently caress is going on and how do I fix this?

# ? Jul 15, 2022 18:57

Thanks Ants: May 21, 2004; #essereFerrari

Have you contacted the seller?

# ? Jul 15, 2022 19:02

fat bossy gerbil: Jul 1, 2007

Not yet, I�m not sure if this is an issue with windows activation related to my hardware of if the key actually isn�t valid. I don�t know how to figure that out.

# ? Jul 15, 2022 19:06

CoolCab: Apr 17, 2005; glem

could be something as simple as an administrative error that meant you got a used code or something, I'd check with them. mistakes happen

# ? Jul 15, 2022 19:40

BaldDwarfOnPCP: Jun 26, 2019; by Pragmatica

Is it still the case that a quick phone call can resolve a hardware recognition issue?

It hasn't come up for me but IIRC it used to be pretty easy to fix when you can verify you're a real person and paying customer.

# ? Jul 15, 2022 19:51

Javid: Oct 21, 2004

have you rebooted since inputting the code? All my cheap keys have thrown an error and acted like they didn't work, but upon restarting it's activated.

# ? Jul 15, 2022 23:12

GreenNight: Feb 19, 2006; Turning the light on the darkest places, you and I know we got to face this now. We got to face this now.

I�ve also seen it where you have to enter the code via a cmd line and not in the gui.

# ? Jul 16, 2022 00:37

Boris Galerkin: Dec 17, 2011; I don't understand why I can't harass people online. Seriously, somebody please explain why I shouldn't be allowed to stalk others on social media!

I want my laptop to go to sleep when I close the lid except when certain apps are running either maximized or minimized. When those apps are running closing the lid should just turn off the screen or do nothing. How do I do this?

# ? Jul 16, 2022 12:38

AreWeDrunkYet: Jul 8, 2006

Boris Galerkin posted:

I want my laptop to go to sleep when I close the lid except when certain apps are running either maximized or minimized. When those apps are running closing the lid should just turn off the screen or do nothing. How do I do this?

I don't think so natively, but you could create a scheduled task that checked if those apps are running every few minutes and changed the lid close behavior.

code:

if(get-process "application"){
	reg add hklm\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Power\PowerSettings\5CA83367-6E45-459F-A27B-476B1D01C936 /v ACSettingIndex /d 0 /f
	reg add hklm\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Power\PowerSettings\5CA83367-6E45-459F-A27B-476B1D01C936 /v DCSettingIndex /d 0 /f
}
else {
	reg add hklm\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Power\PowerSettings\5CA83367-6E45-459F-A27B-476B1D01C936 /v ACSettingIndex /d 1 /f
	reg add hklm\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Power\PowerSettings\5CA83367-6E45-459F-A27B-476B1D01C936 /v DCSettingIndex /d 1 /f
}

AreWeDrunkYet fucked around with this message at 17:16 on Jul 17, 2022

# ? Jul 16, 2022 14:03

Klyith: Aug 3, 2007; GBS Pledge Week

Boris Galerkin posted:

I want my laptop to go to sleep when I close the lid except when certain apps are running either maximized or minimized. When those apps are running closing the lid should just turn off the screen or do nothing. How do I do this?

Ask in the request a tiny app thread with this reference material and see if anyone is interested. I'm pretty sure I could do this with autohotkey, but don't have time at the moment to help you out.

Windows event:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4486674/capturing-laptop-lid-closing-event-in-windows
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/power/power-setting-guids
C# example:
https://github.com/rowandh/lidstatusservice
Autohotkey example:
https://www.autohotkey.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=70645

edit: the request a tiny app thread: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3829017&pagenumber=7

Klyith fucked around with this message at 15:47 on Jul 16, 2022

# ? Jul 16, 2022 14:37

SEKCobra: Feb 28, 2011; Hi
Don't look at my site

I want to replace Picasa Photo Viewer with a still supported tool eventually, but so far nothing has been able to match the features. One feature I really want is the cached zoom level, where i can switch between pictures and it remembers the zoom level. IrfanView, emacs and ImageGlass all don't seem to be able to do that.

# ? Jul 17, 2022 17:03

mobby_6kl: Aug 9, 2009; by Fluffdaddy

What's the most painless way to join two adjacent partitions without wiping them or at least one of them?

When I got this new bigger SSD, i just cloned over the old one, which was 128Gb so I was left with the empty space but I'm now running into issues as Lightroom generates tens of gigs of preview cache and other junk so it's a huge pain in the rear end to manage space at this point.

# ? Jul 19, 2022 18:05

Klyith: Aug 3, 2007; GBS Pledge Week

mobby_6kl posted:

What's the most painless way to join two adjacent partitions without wiping them or at least one of them?

When I got this new bigger SSD, i just cloned over the old one, which was 128Gb so I was left with the empty space but I'm now running into issues as Lightroom generates tens of gigs of preview cache and other junk so it's a huge pain in the rear end to manage space at this point.

There is no painless way to merge 2 nfts partitions.

What you will need to do is move data off one partition, delete it, then expand the remaining one. Disk Manager (right click start -> disk management) can expand a ntfs partition into empty space "to the left". Partition editing software can expand in both directions. A live linux usb stick gets you gparted, which will do that for free.

# ? Jul 19, 2022 18:24

mobby_6kl: Aug 9, 2009; by Fluffdaddy

Klyith posted:

There is no painless way to merge 2 nfts partitions.

What you will need to do is move data off one partition, delete it, then expand the remaining one. Disk Manager (right click start -> disk management) can expand a ntfs partition into empty space "to the left". Partition editing software can expand in both directions. A live linux usb stick gets you gparted, which will do that for free.

All right, thanks! The second larger partition was mostly just a bunch of game installations so I could safely nuke it and then extend the main volume directly from the disk manager. Pretty cool!

# ? Jul 19, 2022 19:56

fletcher: Jun 27, 2003; ken park is my favorite movie; Cybernetic Crumb

Why is the start menu search such a turd? I see something like "Dell Command | Update" when I open the start menu. But when I search for "dell" it's nowhere to be found??

# ? Jul 22, 2022 01:48

astral: Apr 26, 2004

Step one: turn off web search.

# ? Jul 22, 2022 02:10

Fruits of the sea: Dec 1, 2010

Step two: download a third-party search indexer if you ever want to search for a directory instead of a file

# ? Jul 22, 2022 20:56

Internet Explorer: Jun 1, 2005

Despite the gnashing of teeth, Windows Search should "just work." If you're having problems with it, try resetting your search index. Troubleshooting advice here - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-client/shell-experience/fix-problems-in-windows-search

# ? Jul 22, 2022 20:58

fletcher: Jun 27, 2003; ken park is my favorite movie; Cybernetic Crumb

astral posted:

Step one: turn off web search.

Fruits of the sea posted:

Step two: download a third-party search indexer if you ever want to search for a directory instead of a file

Internet Explorer posted:

Despite the gnashing of teeth, Windows Search should "just work." If you're having problems with it, try resetting your search index. Troubleshooting advice here - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-client/shell-experience/fix-problems-in-windows-search

Am I crazy for thinking that not only should this not even be an issue, but that I should be able to fix it in 2022 without having to use regedit, downloading some third party tool, or running some powershell scripts?

# ? Jul 22, 2022 22:27

Klyith: Aug 3, 2007; GBS Pledge Week

fletcher posted:

Am I crazy for thinking that not only should this not even be an issue, but that I should be able to fix it in 2022 without having to use regedit, downloading some third party tool, or running some powershell scripts?

Well, the web search part is because Windows is now free. Which means you're gonna be advertised to and get data collected via the start menu search, Powered by Bing! Get used to it, and be glad that you can still turn it off.

The Windows Search part is because Windows Search is both pretty good at giving fast & accurate results *and* occasionally fragile in its indexing & database back-end. Sometimes Search will start taking up 100% of a CPU because it gets wedged on something and the only cure is to reset the index. It's been around forever; I can only assume nobody now at MS knows the code anymore and that fixing the quirks is therefore impossible.

# ? Jul 22, 2022 23:08

Internet Explorer: Jun 1, 2005

fletcher posted:

Am I crazy for thinking that not only should this not even be an issue, but that I should be able to fix it in 2022 without having to use regedit, downloading some third party tool, or running some powershell scripts?

Did you try running the Windows Search Troubleshooter, which is the first step? That is the fix you're referring to.

# ? Jul 23, 2022 00:03

Computer viking: May 30, 2011; Now with less breakage.

Klyith posted:

Well, the web search part is because Windows is now free.

Apart from the part where it costs $150 for a license if you're not comfortable with a third party selling keys from their enterprise allocation, and where picking Ubuntu over Windows 11 on a dell workstation knocks off $55? Yeah, then it's free.

E: these may well be reasonable prices, but they're not significantly different from any previous versions of Windows - as far as I can tell, the only difference between 11 and XP (if used as intended by MS) is that 11 has a generous "trial" period.

Computer viking fucked around with this message at 01:56 on Jul 23, 2022

# ? Jul 23, 2022 01:52

Fruits of the sea: Dec 1, 2010

To be fair, Windows search is excellent for finding and launching executables 99% of the time with just a few key presses and that�s what most people use it for. After disabling web results, that is.

I complain but that�s because it isn�t good for edge cases like finding weird file types, returning results that can be sorted by date or retrieving documents containing a given string :v:

# ? Jul 23, 2022 03:15

powderific: May 13, 2004; Grimey Drawer

Is there a good software raid option for Windows I should look at beyond storage spaces? I'd like to have 3-4 drives in an array with parity and ideally performance at least close to the single drives. I've read that you have to mess around with storage spaces interleave size and pay attention to some disk/pool/column relationships to not tank performance, but that if you set it up right it can work well. Wondering if there's anything else I should look?

# ? Jul 23, 2022 05:09

Klyith: Aug 3, 2007; GBS Pledge Week

powderific posted:

Is there a good software raid option for Windows I should look at beyond storage spaces? I'd like to have 3-4 drives in an array with parity and ideally performance at least close to the single drives. I've read that you have to mess around with storage spaces interleave size and pay attention to some disk/pool/column relationships to not tank performance, but that if you set it up right it can work well. Wondering if there's anything else I should look?

The windows software raid from before storage spaces still exists, but it doesn't do raid-5 unless you have enterprise. For a 3-4 drive pool you should either use storage spaces or move the drives to a NAS.

You know about the potential performance issues (mostly interleave / stripe size vs NTFS allocation unit size), a bit of reading to avoid the worst mistake is all you need to have it acceptable.

Computer viking posted:

E: these may well be reasonable prices, but they're not significantly different from any previous versions of Windows - as far as I can tell, the only difference between 11 and XP (if used as intended by MS) is that 11 has a generous "trial" period.

The trial period is infinite. You can install 10 and 11 without a key, dismiss the thing asking for activation, and use it forever with zero downside other than not being able to change your desktop background. (Though the part I was thinking for "it's free" is how any key from an old 7 or 8 will still work, so anyone who has bought a PC in the last decade plus has one.)

# ? Jul 23, 2022 06:01

AreWeDrunkYet: Jul 8, 2006

One of the neat tricks with unactivated Windows is that registry settings still generally work where the GUI is greyed out. So want to hide your taskbar or something? Just do it in the registry.

# ? Jul 23, 2022 12:23

Cumdog Millionaire: Jul 21, 2022; Whoever told you not to kink shame had a shameful kink.

I read the friendly windows general on 4chan and they have github links to windows activators. I don't know if anyone is aware of the existence of these or maybe you guys are privy to something about them I am not aware of? My windows build isn't my daily driver so I am not super concerned...it does work though.

Cumdog Millionaire fucked around with this message at 23:44 on Jul 23, 2022

# ? Jul 23, 2022 23:21

repiv: Aug 13, 2009

sure it's possible to steal windows but we don't post about doing piracy on here

grey market windows keys are so cheap that it's not even worth risking installing dubious cracks

# ? Jul 23, 2022 23:27

Javid: Oct 21, 2004

What you're missing is the rule about :filez:

but honestly I cannot imagine efforting using an activator for as long as cheap windows 7 keys still work.

I think this is a goon but I forget where I got the link https://lodgenorth.com/ - I can vouch for those $5 windows 7 keys which I have used on a bunch of devices at this point

Javid fucked around with this message at 23:31 on Jul 23, 2022

# ? Jul 23, 2022 23:27

MarcusSA: Sep 23, 2007

Javid posted:

but honestly I cannot imagine efforting using an activator for as long as cheap windows 7 keys still work. $7 to get activation to gently caress off forever? SOLD

repiv posted:

sure it's possible to steal windows but we don't post about doing piracy on here

grey market windows keys are so cheap that it's not even worth risking installing dubious cracks

Yeah both of these.

It�s cheap enough that it shouldn�t be an issue.

# ? Jul 23, 2022 23:30

Cumdog Millionaire: Jul 21, 2022; Whoever told you not to kink shame had a shameful kink.

Javid posted:

What you're missing is the rule about

but honestly I cannot imagine efforting using an activator for as long as cheap windows 7 keys still work.

I think this is a goon but I forget where I got the link https://lodgenorth.com/ - I can vouch for those $5 windows 7 keys which I have used on a bunch of devices at this point

Did I break a rule? I don't remeber reading about posting files? Was it in the general rules for the thread?

# ? Jul 23, 2022 23:44

Cumdog Millionaire: Jul 21, 2022; Whoever told you not to kink shame had a shameful kink.

repiv posted:

sure it's possible to steal windows but we don't post about doing piracy on here

grey market windows keys are so cheap that it's not even worth risking installing dubious cracks

If there a rule about piracy here I was not privy to it and I apologize.

# ? Jul 23, 2022 23:45

Klyith: Aug 3, 2007; GBS Pledge Week

Gainax posted:

If there a rule about piracy here I was not privy to it and I apologize.

Nah you weren't super out of line. The hard rule is not to link to poo poo.

You'll get probed in the Games forum for advocating piracy, and I'd bet a mod might throw a probe here if someone was talking about pirating, I dunno, some small dev's commercial software. But nobody gives a poo poo about stealing from megacorporations like MS. Especially when MS is functionally treating their OS as a permanently free upgrade for anything but new OEM PCs.

OTOH using a 10/11 activator hack when there are a zillion other ways to get a "legit" key that will activate 10/11, including free methods like finding old PCs with key stickers, is dumb and worth being made fun of.

# ? Jul 24, 2022 00:31

Cumdog Millionaire: Jul 21, 2022; Whoever told you not to kink shame had a shameful kink.

Klyith posted:

Nah you weren't super out of line. The hard rule is not to link to poo poo.

You'll get probed in the Games forum for advocating piracy, and I'd bet a mod might throw a probe here if someone was talking about pirating, I dunno, some small dev's commercial software. But nobody gives a poo poo about stealing from megacorporations like MS. Especially when MS is functionally treating their OS as a permanently free upgrade for anything but new OEM PCs.

OTOH using a 10/11 activator hack when there are a zillion other ways to get a "legit" key that will activate 10/11, including free methods like finding old PCs with key stickers, is dumb and worth being made fun of.

I don't remember reading anything about dropping links. 😮‍💨 Obviously if it's against the rules I won't talk about piracy but I have my own opinions on the matter but we can leave it at that. I am always down for a conversation of opposing ideas though. Thanks for the advice.

# ? Jul 24, 2022 00:36

AreWeDrunkYet: Jul 8, 2006

Part of it is SA trying to avoid any legal exposure, not any moral judgment. No one wants to deal with DMCA requests. Similarly, TCC (reasonably) doesn't allow discussing or sharing sources, even if probably every poster and mod on these forums is anti-prohibition.

# ? Jul 24, 2022 02:35

Internet Explorer: Jun 1, 2005

Gainax posted:

I don't remember reading anything about dropping links. 😮‍💨 Obviously if it's against the rules I won't talk about piracy but I have my own opinions on the matter but we can leave it at that. I am always down for a conversation of opposing ideas though. Thanks for the advice.

It's against the rules. Between that and mentioning reading 4chan be glad I'm in a good mood and not in front of a computer.

https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3800661&pagenumber=1&perpage=40

quote:

Don't mention whether any of your software is illegally acquired. It is assumed all software you are using is licensed and any thinly veiled attempts at indicating you have warez will likely get you a probation

# ? Jul 24, 2022 03:01

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# ? Jun 3, 2024 22:50

xzzy: Mar 5, 2009

You know when a rule uses the word "warez" it's been around for a while too.

# ? Jul 24, 2022 03:28

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > The Windows and Windows Software Megathread

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