I Was Forced To Install Windows 10

[stvdv]

I'm reminded why I avoid Microsoft whenever possible...

Microsoft (till W10) was perfect always (I have used it since W1998. 100 times more stable than Linux. But never rely on their backup and Restorepoints. I had just 2 programs that were the best replacement for this: Drivesnaphot (for imaging) + Timefreeze (for daily use).

 

[Mock Turtle]

Microsoft (till W10) was perfect always (I have used it since W1998. 100 times more stable than Linux. But never rely on their backup and Restorepoints. I had just 2 programs that were the best replacement for this: Drivesnaphot (for imaging) + Timefreeze (for daily use).

I've used Macrium and Acronis before that and had no problems with either.

 

[stvdv]

I hear that a lot; but, I have yet to see solid evidence to support it.

Seems you found your evidence.

Seems my feeling was not too far off. They have messed up in the past, I could easily tell. Now they admit this, I am sure they did similar things back then. Good to know. It's all about money; so I would be surprised if they did not use dirty tricks.

So why has Microsoft done this? In the company’s own words: “to help reduce the overall disk footprint size of Windows”. And how big is a registry backup? Typically 50-100MB.
In an extremely belated attempt to put things right, Microsoft has detailed a workaround. Ironically, it involves editing the registry but this will undoubtedly have come too late for users who, in their hour of need, discovered the registry backups Windows 10 told them were “completed successfully” were nothing of the sort.

In recent months Microsoft has intensified its attempt to move hundreds of millions of Windows 7 users to Windows 10. But it is actions like this, which is why many of them will resist to the bitter end.

 

[stvdv]

I hear that a lot; but, I have yet to see solid evidence to support it.

Here another "dirty" trick IMO:

Microsoft Introduces Windows 7 Update Charges And Upgrade Pop-Ups

Microsoft Windows 10 has its own problems, users who sat back and smiled from the relative calm of Windows 7 will soon have that smile wiped off their faces…

Spotted by the ever-alert Mark Wyciślik-Wilson for BetaNews, Microsoft has used blog post promoting its Microsoft 365 subscription service to quietly announce it will start taking payments for extended security support for Windows 7 users at the end of the month.

Why pay? Because Windows 7 is dying. Free security support will stop on January 14 2020 and the only way to continue using the operating system safely is to pay Microsoft up to $200 per year per PC – a fee Microsoft states “will increase each year.”

 

[stvdv]

I hear that a lot; but, I have yet to see solid evidence to support it.

Here another Microsoft "money" trick:

I think that one day, when all are unhooked from XP and W7 AND hooked to W10, they might charge (monthly) for it or have you pay for all the apps you use in W10. They will find tricks to double their income. But first of course they better make sure all people are hooked and addicted, so they can't live (with and) without W10.

But the good news is, that by that time Linux might be good enough to switch to "forever". I really hope so. Linux improved a lot in recent years.

When 'Free' Windows 10 Becomes Expensive, You Must Know This

From below, we don't have to worry about W10 price-updates; yet
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ho...dows-10-into-a-paid-subscription-service/amp/

What’s the alternative? Should Microsoft start charging average Windows users a monthly fee to use their PCs? The average person buying a $200 PC at Best Buy definitely isn’t going to tolerate a monthly fee just to use their PC. Many people would abandon Windows PCs for surprisingly capable Chromebooks, while others would cling to Windows 7 for dear life. Microsoft just can’t afford to do this.

But if/when they could then they would (rather sooner then later)

 

[stvdv]

I've used Macrium and Acronis before that and had no problems with either.

Yes, they are good. I tested them too. Third party software for Windows is really good. That's why I still use Windows.

 

[dybmh]

I can understand why they did it. W10 is too complex to keep it smooth with use of restore points.

They want to push people to use Cloud Backups. It's about $$$. Registry backups are actually small and simple.

I always like to have a "virgin" boot. I never used their option to go back in time. If I mess things up I reinstall image.

Smart. I do the same thing.

Thanks for the article. This was what I wanted to know. This was exactly why I still avoided W10. Microsoft took our freedom with W10.

It would be different, IMHO, if the backup utility did not say "Backup Completed Successfully". That's dishonest. As a SysAdmin, I may be counting on the registry backups, and if the backup says it completed and it didn't, that's a big problem for me.

 

[dybmh]

Here another Microsoft "money" trick:

I think that one day, when all are unhooked from XP and W7 AND hooked to W10, they might charge (monthly) for it or have you pay for all the apps you use in W10. They will find tricks to double their income. But first of course they better make sure all people are hooked and addicted, so they can't live (with and) without W10.

But the good news is, that by that time Linux might be good enough to switch to "forever". I really hope so. Linux improved a lot in recent years.

When 'Free' Windows 10 Becomes Expensive, You Must Know This

From below, we don't have to worry about W10 price-updates; yet
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ho...dows-10-into-a-paid-subscription-service/amp/

But if/when they could then they would (rather sooner then later)

However... SQLserver2019 runs on Linux... that's a big deal. That means that SQL based applications may start to be developed that will run on Linux desktops without emulation. Once that happens, Business and Gov't organizations will be unchained from the Windows desktop.

Overview of SQL Server on Linux - SQL Server

 

[stvdv]

They want to push people to use Cloud Backups. It's about $$$. Registry backups are actually small and simple.

Smart. I do the same thing.

It would be different, IMHO, if the backup utility did not say "Backup Completed Successfully". That's dishonest. As a SysAdmin, I may be counting on the registry backups, and if the backup says it completed and it didn't, that's a big problem for me.

True, I agree that was plain stupid and dishonest

With taking our freedom I meant this (they pledged to give users more control, transparency, means they took it first):
Microsoft pledged to give Windows 10 users more "control, quality and transparency".

 

[Milton Platt]

Windows 7 came with my current computer, which replaced my previous computer that had XP, which replaced the computer previous to that, which had Windows 95.


.

Sure. And today they come with Windows 10, so in the same way, you would have been moved to a new version the next time you bought a new computer. But at each instance that they stopped supporting the previous version, you would have been forced in the same way to go to the next version anyway, if that is the criteria for upgrading. It could be argued that the cost added to the new computer was less than the cost of a retail version of Windows, perhaps.

Anyway....I have a sister who is still running Windows XP on an old computer. I upgraded about a year after 10 hit the market. I like to let others work the bugs out.. Although I do like Windows 10, There are some annoying things, as there were in all the other versions.
I had a bigger spasm when the current version of Office came out with the new "Ribbons" containing all the functions. I could not find anything, and still get lost sometimes.

 

[Skwim]

Sure. And today they come with Windows 10, so in the same way, you would have been moved to a new version the next time you bought a new computer. But at each instance that they stopped supporting the previous version, you would have been forced in the same way to go to the next version anyway, if that is the criteria for upgrading. It could be argued that the cost added to the new computer was less than the cost of a retail version of Windows, perhaps.

Actually, the impetus to upgrade from Win 95 and XP was the promise of a better operating system. In the case with the upgrade to Win 10 I would have been quite satisfied staying with Win 7. Win 10 held no allure whatsoever, but Microsoft kneecapped me with their refusal to keep supporting Win 7.

.

 

[Aupmanyav]

Hello @dybmh, Good Afternoon from India. As I said, computer is not the problem. The problem is me. Last time I erased the MBR. Yesterday I erased the boot-loader while trying to remove one linux distribution. But I have corrected it. Now I plan to load five distributions with a common Home Dir. That is a good suggestion, for example /home/lubuntu. I think I will not face any problem.

I was never fully satisfied with Windows. I would always tie it up with my experimental bent. That is why I changed to Linux, no payment, always the latest. If I mess up something, getting a free download is quick through torrent and not costly in India.

 

[dybmh]

Now I plan to load five distributions with a common Home Dir

I'm not sure about this part....

 

[dybmh]

Yesterday I erased the boot-loader while trying to remove one linux distribution.

Are you still using VirtualBox? Was this distribution you removed a HostOS or a GuestOS?

 

[Aupmanyav]

Yes, I am still using VirtualBox. It was another OS (Antix) which I did not want, because its cross-bars covered the options to choose the OS I wanted to boot. It looked ugly. Though at one time I liked Antix, especially its wallpaper depicting a railway station. Perhaps I will search for that image on internet and use it as a wallpaper for some other OS.
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRYzIuvCWRwhd8Y5dWTq8Q9DTJX6l6WduBkOv5CWiDcK09esvop

Having all /Home Dirs in one partition will perhaps save space. Well, space is not a problem with 320 GB, but I am a minimalist.
Yeah, I got a better image than what is linked below and have put that as my current wallpaper.
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSPIoJtNoLJaX2LlUNU2awDi7fAncDBi5W0a2EEdj6MibP51QYa

That led me to find the image of a railway station tea-shop belonbging to the father of the current Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. As a boy, he would fill a kettle with tea that his father prepared and would sell it to the passengers of the train that passed through his city, perhaps two or four times in a day, in disposable earthen cups. Vadnagar in not on a main line. That was 60 years ago.

Vadnagar Railway station and the tea-kiosk of Mr. Modi's father. It is a tourist attraction now.

 

[dybmh]

Having all /Home Dirs in one partition

Using Virtual machines means no longer sharing partitions. Everything is virtual, including the virtual MBR on the virtual hard disks.


Question:. Was Antix a host or a guest? The reason I ask is: removing a guestOS should never interfere with an MBR on the hostOS.

Also,

I would also caution against sharing Home folders at all between different distributions. The home folder stores per user settings similar to the Hkey_Current_User hive of the windows registry. Different distros may have differing ( potentially buggy ) subroutines for writing changes to these config files. Imagine trying to run Windows XP 32 bit and Windows 10 64bit with both sharing and writing to the same registry. If the reg keys have the same names then writing to those reg keys ( which is a common function of the registry ) in Windows XP 32 bit will leave the registry corrupted when Windows 10 64 bit needs to read the settings. And the converse is true too. This same thing might happen while testing different distros in Linux if the Home folders are shared in the manner you are describing.

There's a couple of ways to approach the desire to consolidate the disk space shared among the hostOS and all the virtual machines. But all of them but involve a "data" folder for saving documents, downloads, etc..

My vote? Use Samba. It's mature, easy to install, easy to secure, cross platform. Your host OS acts as the Samba Server, all the.virtual machines connect to the shared folder on the hostOS. This shared folder is the "data" folder not the "home" folder.

 

[Aupmanyav]

Question:. Was Antix a host or a guest?

This same thing might happen while testing different distros in Linux if the Home folders are shared in the manner you are describing.

There's a couple of ways to approach the desire to consolidate the disk space shared among the hostOS and all the virtual machines. But all of them but involve a "data" folder for saving documents, downloads, etc.

My vote? Use Samba. It's mature, easy to install, easy to secure, cross platform. Your host OS acts as the Samba Server, all the.virtual machines connect to the shared folder on the hostOS. This shared folder is the "data" folder not the "home" folder.

Dybmh, It did not happen using VirtualBox. I was using Antix as host.

Well, I have a a partition with home folders of four distributions. I realize that I may face problems, but let me see. That is why the person who mentioned this way (internet info) said that we have to give it as /home/distribution. That will keep them apart. The total Home partition of four distributions is 1GB (Mint not included yet). One big difference between serious computer users and myself is that I use computer only for forums and fun.

At the moment I am not taking up sharing on VirtualBox machines. My concern is about sharing of the Home data between the four distributions that I have in one partition. Do you think Samba would be able to do that? Will I need Samba installed in all distributions or just one will do?

 

[dybmh]

Dybmh, It did not happen using VirtualBox. I was using Antix as host.

Well, I have a a partition with home folders of four distributions. I realize that I may face problems, but let me see. That is why the person who mentioned this way (internet info) said that we have to give it as /home/distribution. That will keep them apart. The total Home partition of four distributions is 1GB (Mint not included yet). One big difference between serious computer users and myself is that I use computer only for forums and fun.

At the moment I am not taking up sharing on VirtualBox machines. My concern is about sharing of the Home data between the four distributions that I have in one partition. Do you think Samba would be able to do that? Will I need Samba installed in all distributions or just one will do?

OK.

Assuming that the filesystems are compatible across all 4 distriubtions, it's just a matter of editting the /etc/fstab in each of the 4 different distributions. It's not that bad.

I can probably do something like that here..

Lubuntu, Solus, Suse, CentOS ... hmmmm...

 

[Aupmanyav]

I have used compatible OSs. That is why Manjaro and Solus in VirtualBox. Don't know yet about Suse or Centos. But there is a way that non-compatible OSs could also be included. Manu Jarvinen had Mint and Fedora on the same computer. I would also like to do that.

 

[dybmh]

I have used compatible OSs. That is why Manjaro and Solus in VirtualBox. Don't know yet about Suse or Centos. But there is a way that non-compatible OSs could also be included. Manu Jarvinen had Mint and Fedora on the same computer. I would also like to do that.

OK.. Mint and Fedora.. I'll add those to the list. Just to be sure I understand:

The goal is to have four ( or more ) distributions with shared Home folders between them all?