Windows 10: I know what I'm doing

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > Windows 10: I know what I'm doing

astral: Apr 26, 2004

less than three posted:

Another one I recently learned (but has probably been around forever)

Instead of navigating to a place in command prompt, just shift-right click the folder in explorer and Open A Command Window Here.

And if you want more options (admin command prompt, powershell, etc) you can open the file menu/ribbon in that folder.

# ¿ Aug 31, 2016 06:37

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# ¿ May 15, 2024 09:10

astral: Apr 26, 2004

Jewel Repetition posted:

Is there anything in Windows 10 that lets you set up alarms? Like a notification that comes up at a day and time you predetermined.

Calendar

# ¿ Sep 10, 2016 00:45

astral: Apr 26, 2004

Jewel Repetition posted:

The alarm and clock app doesn't seem to work for future dates, just for weekly or daily alarms. And I'm hesitant to turn on Cortana. What's Microsoft do with the info it collects? Does it use up processor time/memory? What is Microsoft Edge and how is that related?

Still sounds like you want Calendar.

# ¿ Sep 10, 2016 17:30

astral: Apr 26, 2004

A good poster posted:

What's the best way to transfer a Windows 10 installation (that's tied to a Microsoft account) from a 320GB HDD to a 256GB SSD, where the content currently on the HD will still fit on the smaller SSD?

1) Clonezilla wouldn't do a drive-to-drive transfer.

2) Started up a Linux live CD, set up partitions on the new drive with the same flags as the old drive, made sure the Linux desktop was displaying all hidden files, and manually copied everything over, wound up with a drive that errored on boot.

You could shrink the partition on the old drive to < 256GB first. Standard disclaimer to have a backup before attempting.

# ¿ Nov 25, 2016 05:01

astral: Apr 26, 2004

AbrahamSlam posted:

I -believe- you have 30 days from your initial upgrade to roll back. You had the option to do so with the GWX based upgrade, so I don't see why they wouldn't let you go back this way as well.

They reduced it to 10 days back in August.

# ¿ Dec 2, 2016 08:48

astral: Apr 26, 2004

Xarn posted:

Aaaand search broke on both my PCs, seriously MS, what the hell?

It happened to me for the first time last night; I ended the Cortana task to resolve it.

# ¿ Jan 7, 2017 20:30

astral: Apr 26, 2004

Maneki Neko posted:

Sounds like some Cortana server outage according to the internets

You wouldn't expect killing the task to fix it if that was the case. Further, all my online cortana features are disabled. That said, it wouldn't surprise me terribly if that were the root cause after all.

# ¿ Jan 8, 2017 05:40

astral: Apr 26, 2004

Lot of other nice things in the patch notes: https://changewindows.org/build/15002/pc

I remember this problem being posted here before:

patch notes posted:

Fixes an issue where Disk Cleanup would show 3.99TB of files to be cleaned up in Windows Update Cleanup

And some nice high DPI notes:

quote:

Performance Monitor now handles High-DPI screens better

In Properties for programs, a new setting has been added under Compatibility which will enable improved High-DPI rendering

My personal favorite (I can't say I've had any issues with its settings though):

quote:

Windows Defenders settings are now functional

# ¿ Jan 10, 2017 01:42

astral: Apr 26, 2004

Twibbit posted:

Every google page on the planet keeps telling me to use chrome

Either they gave up trying to tell me that or I have them adblocked.

# ¿ Jan 20, 2017 23:47

astral: Apr 26, 2004

Volguus posted:

Trip report, that will hopefully help others as well in the future:

I had windows 10 installed with a digital license since it was released. I upgraded from Windows 8.1, which itself was upgraded from Windows 7 which had a valid key (from an old technet account). I never had a microsoft account, always used a local one.
I bought a new drive yesterday and I unplugged my old one (after backing up stuff), popped the new one in, started the windows 10 install, entered the Windows 7 key when it asked for it, and it looks to be activated just fine. The only thing that changed in the computer is the storage (from a PCIe 3Ware RAID card to the new 960 EVO M.2 with a PCIe adapter). Both the old RAID card and the new adapter occupy the same PCIe slot.

In the past Windows used to get all cranky when changing hard-drives, but apparently now the computer signature is a bit more relaxed.

Your old activation was a digital license based on an upgrade from your win8.1 install; your new activation is most likely a new digital license granted by using the win7 key.

If they ever stop allowing new activations from 7/8 keys, you'll actually need to skip the key entering phase of installation for it to pick up your existing digital license.

# ¿ Jan 29, 2017 03:16

astral: Apr 26, 2004

Fats posted:

In case anyone's curious, I had tied my key to my MS account, but it still told me to gently caress off when I tried to activate it on all-new hardware. Not that I thought it'd work, but it seemed worth a try.

You used the word key there, so I have to ask: you didn't accidentally enter a product key while installing, did you?

And you already tried the activation troubleshooter?

# ¿ Feb 3, 2017 06:56

astral: Apr 26, 2004

Fats posted:

No, left it blank while installing. I did try the troubleshooter, but it basically says that the device previously linked to my account can't be used to activate this one. vv

Not a big deal, win7 pro keys are still cheap, but it would've been nice.

It's definitely interesting to hear. Just out of curiosity, what kind of license was it on the old machine? OEM, digital license from an upgrade (from what, if so), etc.

# ¿ Feb 3, 2017 07:05

astral: Apr 26, 2004

Krakkles posted:

I've got a copy of Windows 10 that keeps losing all of the items pinned to the start menu - is there something I can do to prevent this?

I've got, basically, Microsoft office pinned, and every third or fourth restart, it goes back to only showing Settings, Store, and Microsoft Edge - 2/3 of which I have literally never used.

Potential complication: It is running virtualized in Parallels on a Macbook Pro.

Make a new user profile and see if it happens to that one too. If not, switch to that new one.

# ¿ Feb 6, 2017 19:55

astral: Apr 26, 2004

I've never had Windows 10 restart unexpectedly on me. I shut my computer down at night though.

What I have had happen was two shutdown or startups that unexpectedly took, like, 30-60 minutes while it was preparing updates (after the anniversary update, so it wasn't that). Kinda awkward when I needed to restart for another reason and it took ages. Note that I have a (good) SSD.

# ¿ Feb 7, 2017 20:08

astral: Apr 26, 2004

Bieeardo posted:

Does anyone have any idea why installing the Anniversary update would silently turn printer sharing off? I've got it working again, but I'm still trying to understand why it might have happened in the first place.

Because it's more or less going through the process of a full operating system upgrade. Lots of little things like that sadly fall through the cracks.

e: Allegedly, it's going to be remembering more of our settings in future big win10 build upgrades.

# ¿ Feb 8, 2017 03:59

astral: Apr 26, 2004

drunken officeparty posted:

I am so excited to wake up one morning and see my computer restarted, losing the spot on my paused videos, resetting every single option and customization I've ever made, and probably installing candy crush or some poo poo.

The upcoming build upgrade is supposed to remember more settings, for what it's worth.

# ¿ Feb 26, 2017 04:00

astral: Apr 26, 2004

isndl posted:

I didn't know this, and after I did some digging... it's supposed to? Or at least they had it working in an insider build, said they were going to roll it out as part of the Anniversary update, but never did?

It's not working on my machine, though I'm using the normal retail build and I think I have the 'defer feature updates' checked so I don't really know what update I'm on.

That's not working period, but there's a feature request for it:

feedback-hub:?contextid=68&feedbackid=23cdf6d2-c52d-467a-b840-4a84d02ca51d&form=1&src=2

Dan P, Microsoft engineer posted:

First, thanks everyone for using Windows 10!

We are aware of the demand for a way to control UWP app volume - this is a popular feature request. If you like, upvote it here.

We also know that the Volume Mixer has been around for a long time and is in need of a new look so that it fits in with Windows 10.

In case you're curious about why UWPs don't show up in the Volume Mixer today, here are the gory details (warning: geek-speak ahead):

Back in Windows 8, when we introduced the precursor to UWP apps (what were, then, called "Modern" apps), they looked very different.

In particular, they would take over the whole screen. There was a very large experiential change between the "Desktop world" and the "Modern world."

Also, there was really no way to *close* a "Modern app". So we got into the situation where every Modern app you had ever opened showed up in the Volume Mixer.

Rather than ship this way, we added code into the Volume Mixer to check whether the app was a "Modern app," and if so, hide it from the mixer.

We haven't touched the Volume Mixer since. But playing audio from a Modern/UWP app has changed quite a bit - especially playing audio "in the background."

Starting from Windows 8 and through Windows 10, we�ve introduced new ways to play audio in the background depending on the type of app (browser, music, VoIP, etc.).

These differences introduce application compatibility challenges with the Volume Mixer, and we want to get those right.

Fortunately, in the Anniversary Update we�ve taken big steps to simplify everything.

At //build, Steven Willsens demoed using Capability Name="backgroundMediaPlayback" to get the coding simplicity of a one-process model with the memory savings of a two-process model.

https://channel9.msdn.com/events/Build/2016/B876 - jump to timestamp 0:18:36 for the background audio stuff.

With some of these ways to play audio, the Volume Mixer "just works" � it recognizes the audio session as coming from a Modern/UWP app, and the slider is hidden.

But with others, the Volume Mixer gets confused, and the slider slips through.

This is why, in build 14316, you see Edge � because it plays audio in a way that confuses the Volume Mixer.

It is also why you see *half* of some apps, like Candy Crush - because Candy Crush plays its background music in a way that confuses the Volume Mixer (so you see a slider), but it plays its game effects in a way that the Volume Mixer recognizes as coming from a UWP app (so the slider is hidden.)

Therefore, in builds after 14316 we pulled UWPs to no longer show up in the Volume Mixer while we try to design the best solution to this problem.

# ¿ Mar 15, 2017 18:55

astral: Apr 26, 2004

jokes posted:

Also, this is a fun thing I felt I'd point out to everyone here since adblock chat is going on: Adguard is the poo poo on Windows and you can buy a lifetime license for like $8 by buying it with foreign currency (I just did it with my paypal account). A lifetime license is normally like $80 or something. Also I used a coupon code: adguard4vip to get another 30% off.

Buy it here if you're too lazy: https://m.adguard.com/en/purchase.html?currencyId=1#1/36500/MOBILE

It blocks every goddamn ad including those annoying ones that don't get blocked on porn sites, and it has next to no memory/processor footprint. You can get it for android too (and iOS but not through this page).

Highly recommended

e: for clarification, Adguard is a program you install on your computer that blocks ads everywhere by modifying your hosts files and actively doing whatever-the-gently caress. It's not just a browser extension, so you'll block ads everywhere including, for example, apps that shove ads in your face via the windows store.

On the other hand, something about paying a company whose website reeks of broken English to have administrative access over my computer and redirect my browsing requests without any oversight doesn't set well with me. To each their own, though.

# ¿ Mar 21, 2017 18:39

astral: Apr 26, 2004

Shibawanko posted:

Just had to do a clean format and reinstalled Windows 10. I used powershell to rip out all of the retarded default apps including the store, renamed the Cortana folder to get rid of that crap, but still this piece of poo poo called "paradise beach" keeps reinstalling itself. I hate this. The app itself doesn't bother me, whatever it is, but I just don't want it to decide things by itself like that. What program or part of windows is it that can just install poo poo like that?

It gets better - manufacturers can even embed programs in the firmware that run at boot time (though that's not what's happening to you). You may have heard that Lenovo did it with their super-vulnerable crapware a couple years back.

# ¿ Mar 22, 2017 17:32

astral: Apr 26, 2004

Node posted:

God damnit. I'm trying to delete the Windows and Program Files folders from an old hard drive which had an old version of Windows 7 on it. I'm on Win10, of course. Every time I try to delete it, it says I 'need to provide administrator permissions to delete this folder.' I click continue, with the shield icon on it, then another popup says 'You need permission to perform this action. You require permission from Administrators to make changes to this folder.'

I set the owner of that folder and its child folders to Administrators. I'm the only account Windows 10 has and I'm pretty drat sure I am administrator. I've read various sites that explain how to fix it, but they all don't actually change anything. They tell me to set the folder permissions to the administrator account, which I've already done. I really don't want to reformat this drive just to delete three folders. Is there any way it can be done?

I can post this in the help forum if necessary, I'm just hoping there is a quick fix I can get here. Thanks.

Did you try to set the owner of those folders to your normal user account instead of Administrators? Then edit permissions so your user account has read+write permissions for those folders.

# ¿ Mar 30, 2017 23:36

astral: Apr 26, 2004

Ularg posted:

This is kind of weird question, but does anyone know what happened to typing into windows start to use the search function? I'm way too used to hitting the windows key and typing in "Snipping Tool" "Firewall" "Updates" to quickly get around some programs and today it's just completely gone. I hit windows key and type and nothing happens. I see now there's buttons on the top left to switch from pinned apps to "All Apps" but the ability to use the search is gone.

What version (number, not edition) of Windows 10 are you using?

# ¿ Apr 8, 2017 18:58

astral: Apr 26, 2004

Doctor_Fruitbat posted:

Boy, the Creators update really did a number on my display, first with the screen failing to display at all, then turning into a kaleidoscope of digital static, then only refreshing the screen in games when they weren't in focus, and now it seems to have settled down to normality apart from a couple of games suddenly having some horrendous screen tearing. I may have to reinstall my graphics driver, see if that fixes it.

I thought something was going to be off when the welcome screen at the end of the update process was offset by a hundred pixels and spilling onto my second monitor, and I wasn't wrong.

Yeah, that sounds like a driver issue.

# ¿ Apr 9, 2017 00:38

astral: Apr 26, 2004

FallenGod posted:

Ah, a half hour long update that basically reimaged my computer and enabled all the stupid poo poo that I've turn off over the years. Precisely what I wanted to deal with after a long day of work.

if you're on pro

# ¿ Apr 12, 2017 04:44

astral: Apr 26, 2004

Klyith posted:

delaying it does nothing to help the fact that the major updates reset all sorts of things, particularly any os-level settings

While it remains to be seen whether they do any more to adjust that, deferring the update does allow you to handle it on your own schedule, which was part of the complaint.

Not to mention that, with some extra time, we can hope some of these bugs will get squashed.

# ¿ Apr 12, 2017 18:38

astral: Apr 26, 2004

Photex posted:

so just completed the windows update and now I cannot activate my copy of Windows (Windows 10 Enterprise, legit key from work) any ideas?

Contact your work IT department.

# ¿ Apr 16, 2017 18:32

astral: Apr 26, 2004

jokes posted:

I have a problem. I disabled Cortana because it's dumb and useless to me and I don't particularly care for it to collect my info if I never use it. However, I do want to search the internet via the Windows search icon but it too is disabled. What do?

"Cortana & Search Settings"

# ¿ Apr 21, 2017 20:19

astral: Apr 26, 2004

Im_Special posted:

Aaaaand got my first ever BSOD! So generic too! It's a little too convenient that it happened so close after updating to the latest Creators Update, no changes on my side like radical driver or hardware changes either... Haven't happened since either. Also I think what I was doing when it happened was just coping some files from one explorer window to another.

Any Ideas? (This might be outta place and not the thread to discus this, I don't want to turn this into some huge tech support derail. Sorry)

The Haus of Tech Support forum might be good too.

# ¿ Apr 24, 2017 00:33

astral: Apr 26, 2004

Jeb! Repetition posted:

So what's the deal with the creator's update? Should I skip it? Is it possible to?

If you are using w10 pro, you can defer it for several months if you'd like:

# ¿ Apr 26, 2017 06:01

astral: Apr 26, 2004

Van Dine posted:

Is there some decent way to disable Windows Update for a while? Some kind of reliable free program. I want to wait a few weeks until the Creators' update has had more of the bugs ironed out of it, but I can see my computer is already trying to download it.

Edit: ah, I think I found something that might work. I set its startup type to disabled in the services list. I'll just have to remember to turn it back on in a couple of weeks.

yes

# ¿ Apr 28, 2017 02:55

astral: Apr 26, 2004

Jan posted:

Is it actually possible to have Windows Spotlight (the randomized pictures on lock screen) without having the dumb text over it? Everything I find from searching either suggests disabling Windows Spotlight (durrr) or changing group policies which don't actually seem to achieve this.

e: vvvvv
Ugh, how dumb. If it was just a little blurb in the corner, it wouldn't be so bad, but some of these are just so heavy handed and tacky. No, I don't give a poo poo that flamingos are found all over the world (and on some people's lawns!!).

It was much better before they added those "tips" to it.

# ¿ May 8, 2017 18:34

astral: Apr 26, 2004

dont be mean to me posted:

Many Office 2013 and most* Office 2016 deployments are Click-to-Run (C2R); they handle their updates internally and don't hook into Windows Update.

^{*Maybe all? I haven't actually done an MUI or ISO install of 2016.}

VLSC Office 2016 is MSI-based and uses windows update.

# ¿ May 19, 2017 01:22

astral: Apr 26, 2004

xamphear posted:

I keep UAC enabled but I install the LAVFilter codecs. I hope this is okay.

That's less of a pack and more of a good idea, though.

# ¿ May 22, 2017 01:28

astral: Apr 26, 2004

redeyes posted:

I just ran into the oddest problem ever. System has a Z97 based ASrock mobo, GTX 1060, WIndows 10 64bit Pro. Uptime of around 2 months. Suddenly when scrolling down in apps both dual monitors go to sleep. Shake the mouse, screens turn back on. I could make it happen instantly by scrolling the volume control down.
Reboot, all is fine. .. what a weird goddamn problem.

Update your drat computer.

# ¿ Jul 18, 2017 19:23

astral: Apr 26, 2004

redeyes posted:

It's not my drat computer. It's a odd bug. And gently caress you pal ^^

It is the drat computer associated with you and your post, hence 'your drat computer'.

I hope you updated your drat computer. :cheers:

# ¿ Jul 19, 2017 01:23

astral: Apr 26, 2004

Niwrad posted:

Probably. But if someone does Shut Down and Update at the end of the night, they're kind of hosed in the morning. Like why does an update take 90 minutes? Why is this version of Windows the only one that seems to have to go through this?

If it's the 1703 feature update, it's more or less a full windows upgrade install.

Your IT dept still sucks.

# ¿ Aug 3, 2017 00:50

astral: Apr 26, 2004

Combat Pretzel posted:

You know what bugs me a drat lot lately? The goddamn Photos UWP app not decoding JPEGs at full resolution. I always need to zoom in (--edit: I run the app in windowed mode) and move it, for it to decode and display the full resolution. I was always wondering why Lightroom output was that lovely when reviewing exported pictures with the drat app. What the gently caress is Microsoft thinking? We're talking files with 2048px on the longest edge with ~1MB file size, not some lossless 8K pictures or whatever.

Also, UWP text boxes are hilarious. If you try to edit a phrase that ends with a period, i.e. set the cursor to the end of the sentence and hit space, it inserts a whitespace and moves the period behind it. I'm currently fighting the drat feedback app's detail field.

Might I recommend Windows Photo Viewer, or is that doing the same thing for you?

# ¿ Aug 14, 2017 03:04

astral: Apr 26, 2004

Zero VGS posted:

Hey you know what would be great... if Win 10 Pro didn't pop up reboot reminders in the middle of the loving screen on our dedicated videoconferencing NUCs.

I though setting "Active Hours" was supposed to fix this poo poo?

Is this an " :argh:

the IT department" or are you the IT department in this scenario?

# ¿ Aug 22, 2017 05:49

astral: Apr 26, 2004

silence_kit posted:

I figure that the posters in this thread might be able to help me with my problem with performing a backup to an external hard drive using Macrium Reflect. Macrium seems to be getting confused about how much disk space I have on my external drive. If anybody would be willing to check out link to the tech support thread below and help me out, it would be much appreciated.

https://forums.somethingawful.com/s...hreadid=3832882

that link needs some tech support

here: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3832882

# ¿ Sep 3, 2017 16:16

astral: Apr 26, 2004

an skeleton posted:

I upgraded my windows 10 (well, windows upgraded for me) to the creator's update, and immediately my 2nd monitor starts causing me issues (when its plugged in I get various BSOD, either MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION or CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT). Seemingly no issues if I just keep the 2nd monitor unplugged. Haven't tried playing games yet. Thoughts? I guess there's no easy way to roll back to pre-creator's update?

Have you already attempted to update (or downgrade, if updating them doesn't work) your display driver? Bonus points for the "clean install" option if the driver installer allows it.

# ¿ Sep 8, 2017 04:15

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# ¿ May 15, 2024 09:10

astral: Apr 26, 2004

codo27 posted:

Am I the only techy/goon/power user who doesn't use VLC? I relied on the klite codec pack forever with MPC, I dont even bother with it anymore now with Kodi.

You don't need klite anymore. MPC-HC comes with internal LAVFilters nowadays, which are great.

# ¿ Sep 13, 2017 23:24

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