Microsoft mess up again

[D9020 Nimbus]

On 25/04/2019 at 15:18, melmerby said:

That was in the days when Apple were open and anyone could develop software and hardware for them.

 

Still possible on Macs, if not on iOS.

[Guest]

50 minutes ago, melmerby said:

Just found the Global market share by use for DEC 2018:

Chrome 71%, Firefox 10%, IE 5.4%, Safari 5%, Edge 4%, Opera 2.5%.

 

The only page that needs to work well on IE is the Chrome download page

[Reorte]

7 hours ago, melmerby said:

6502 and also used in the highly successful Apple computers of the day. Hardly dead ended and with it's expansion ports, a much better computer than many of the others . The add on x86 processor would run programs faster than the contemporay IBM PC they were written for.

Then of course they went ARM with the Archimedes, way ahead of the pack, the successors of which are in most Tablets, Phones and other bits of tech.

The company that evolved from that which designed the BBC micros now is pretty market dominant.

 

The odd BBC B still turns up every now and then chugging away, hidden and almost forgotten, but getting on with some useful job (the last time I fired mine up though it wasn't working properly).

 

I liked messing around with the Archimedes, moving up to that from the Beeb seemed like a universe of endless possibilities (and I've never encountered an OS user interface I like anywhere near as much as RISC OS - a pity that didn't go on to take the world in the way ARM did).

[tigerburnie]

I put things where I want them and the system works all day, I can switch it off and back on again and all is well, then overnight Microsoft must download something and wipe the whole lot clear again.

[Reorte]

One of the issues I've got with automatic updates is that I don't have a good connection. They don't get downloaded overnight because I don't have the computer turned on if I'm not using it (it sounds like they assume that people do, which is odd).

 

I wouldn't mind so much if it was only security updates that were automatic.

[melmerby]

45 minutes ago, tigerburnie said:

I put things where I want them and the system works all day, I can switch it off and back on again and all is well, then overnight Microsoft must download something and wipe the whole lot clear again.

If it's switched off it can't.

You don't leave it on do you?

[melmerby]

23 minutes ago, Reorte said:

One of the issues I've got with automatic updates is that I don't have a good connection. They don't get downloaded overnight because I don't have the computer turned on if I'm not using it (it sounds like they assume that people do, which is odd).

 

I wouldn't mind so much if it was only security updates that were automatic.

When things happen is up to you.

My PCs are off overnight, always have been, always will be.

The updates are downloaded in the background whenever the PC is on.

The restart (when the installs are completed) is up to you.

I usually do it when nothing else is happening (e.g. end of session) - "Update and shut down"

 

[melmerby]

2 hours ago, Reorte said:

The odd BBC B still turns up every now and then chugging away, hidden and almost forgotten, but getting on with some useful job (the last time I fired mine up though it wasn't working properly).

 

I liked messing around with the Archimedes, moving up to that from the Beeb seemed like a universe of endless possibilities (and I've never encountered an OS user interface I like anywhere near as much as RISC OS - a pity that didn't go on to take the world in the way ARM did).

Never had an Archie. went from BBC B to BBC Master to 486 PC

Most of the limitations of the BBC micros could be overcome by clever programming and use of the versatile OS & hardware.

I even saw a program where the screen was split into two different modes top & bottom.

 

[Reorte]

56 minutes ago, melmerby said:

When things happen is up to you.

My PCs are off overnight, always have been, always will be.

The updates are downloaded in the background whenever the PC is on.

The restart (when the installs are completed) is up to you.

I usually do it when nothing else is happening (e.g. end of session) - "Update and shut down"

 

The downloading at other times has a noticeable impact on slow connections if you're doing more than posting to a forum.

[tigerburnie]

57 minutes ago, melmerby said:

If it's switched off it can't.

You don't leave it on do you?

I always switch the pc off when not in use, always have, currently I do it during the day and for example, anything I save into the favourites is still there as is the history, I also added some photos just as a tester. Switch on in the morning and it's all gone, I changed the screen saver content and timer, that reverts back to a default, it's as if they are just over writing whatever I do, hoping it will be corrected as happened the last time. This obviously is downloaded to me and is then added(unannounced) during the boot up process in the morning.

None of the apps that are on the display after clicking on the windows logo work yet either, so still no mahjong for my daily amusement and here was me going for a "full house" for the month too lol.

[Reorte]

49 minutes ago, melmerby said:

Never had an Archie. went from BBC B to BBC Master to 486 PC

Most of the limitations of the BBC micros could be overcome by clever programming and use of the versatile OS & hardware.

I even saw a program where the screen was split into two different modes top & bottom.

 

Elite (the game where my name comes from) was one of those, a "high" resolution monochrome main display and a lower resolution 4-colour instrumentation set at the bottom of the screen. It was timed to change display modes when the scan line hit exactly the right place. It's a good test of emulators, unless they emulate the hardware perfectly the join can flicker somewhat.

 

Another one was the racing game Revs. That did the mode switch but also defined the palette to blue for half the picture (for sky), and because whatever went in there would look like solid blue it could use that memory to store data. Very ingenious programming, although it necessitated reliance on everyone having exactly the same hardware (and such tricks now even if possible would doubtless not gain enough to even be noticeable on modern computers).

[melmerby]

11 minutes ago, Reorte said:

Elite (the game where my name comes from) was one of those, a "high" resolution monochrome main display and a lower resolution 4-colour instrumentation set at the bottom of the screen. It was timed to change display modes when the scan line hit exactly the right place. It's a good test of emulators, unless they emulate the hardware perfectly the join can flicker somewhat.

 

Another one was the racing game Revs. That did the mode switch but also defined the palette to blue for half the picture (for sky), and because whatever went in there would look like solid blue it could use that memory to store data. Very ingenious programming, although it necessitated reliance on everyone having exactly the same hardware (and such tricks now even if possible would doubtless not gain enough to even be noticeable on modern computers).

Well there you go. I had both of them and they weren't the ones I was thinking about

 

[Harlequin]

I understand the frustration when things go wrong but remember that Microsoft are genuinely trying to do their best for all their millions of customers and they do a pretty good job given that they have to make Windows work with almost infinitely different combinations of hardware and software.

 

If you approach the problem calmly and logically you can almost certainly get everything working again.

 

P.S. I’ve used Windows professionally and privately since my company stopped developing for the Archimedes, starting with Windows 3.1, and IMHO Windows 10 is far and away the most stable and well-sorted version so far.

Edited April 26, 2019 by Harlequin

[raymw]

talking about the trs80, which I and one other mentioned. I won it in a competition. When it powered up It displayed my name , 'RAY', I thought they'd made it special. It was some time later that I realised that it booted with a 32 character display, but could also run 64 char. In 64 char, it powered up and displayed 'READY'.

[antrobuscp]

25 minutes ago, tigerburnie said:

I always switch the pc off when not in use, always have, currently I do it during the day and for example, anything I save into the favourites is still there as is the history, I also added some photos just as a tester. Switch on in the morning and it's all gone, I changed the screen saver content and timer, that reverts back to a default, it's as if they are just over writing whatever I do, hoping it will be corrected as happened the last time. This obviously is downloaded to me and is then added(unannounced) during the boot up process in the morning.

None of the apps that are on the display after clicking on the windows logo work yet either, so still no mahjong for my daily amusement and here was me going for a "full house" for the month too lol.

This does not sound like normal behaviour by any standard I've seen. If I had the problem you appear to have I would be researching it on the web and seeking solutions. I couldn't/wouldn't put up with it for any length of time. Some setting(s) somewhere need attention/changing, I would guess.

 

I may have updates install after I have given the "go ahead" and this may be done on shut down so that the process is completed on the next start up. Rarely does it happen more than once and certainly I do not have updates on a daily basis. I have had short spells in the past when my desktop was re-arranged, but a little program called DesktopOK took care of that, and I have not needed to use it in a long time. For me, the Win10 update process has improved a lot over the last 12/18 months.

 

On the general point of switching of a pc, I always normally turn mine on in the morning and turn it off at night - my practice for near enough 30 years. This reduces the number of heat cycles, and provides time for background downloading without materially affecting what I'm doing. My business partner used to turn his office's machines on and off as needed, and he had far more hardware problems than I did - just our experience.

 

Colin

[Tim V]

59 minutes ago, tigerburnie said:

I always switch the pc off when not in use, always have, currently I do it during the day and for example, anything I save into the favourites is still there as is the history, I also added some photos just as a tester. Switch on in the morning and it's all gone, I changed the screen saver content and timer, that reverts back to a default, it's as if they are just over writing whatever I do, hoping it will be corrected as happened the last time. This obviously is downloaded to me and is then added(unannounced) during the boot up process in the morning.

None of the apps that are on the display after clicking on the windows logo work yet either, so still no mahjong for my daily amusement and here was me going for a "full house" for the month too lol.

Are you logging in as 'Guest'?

[tigerburnie]

2 minutes ago, Tim V said:

Are you logging in as 'Guest'?

If you are talking the games then yes, but I can't log on now, click on the icons or on the list and nothing opens, regarding the continuous "repairs", this has happened on more than one occasion, I am getting messages on the screen telling me about "amazing" apps coming my way, this is clearly not your "usual" upgrade for security or even running better, this is games and the like and most seem to be aimed at phones and tablets, not for a pc user at all, big push for Cortana as well.

[melmerby]

10 minutes ago, tigerburnie said:

If you are talking the games then yes, but I can't log on now, click on the icons or on the list and nothing opens, regarding the continuous "repairs", this has happened on more than one occasion, I am getting messages on the screen telling me about "amazing" apps coming my way, this is clearly not your "usual" upgrade for security or even running better, this is games and the like and most seem to be aimed at phones and tablets, not for a pc user at all, big push for Cortana as well.

I don't get any of that, quite clearly something is not set up to your choice.

I have removed all the apps from the desktop and also deleted as many as I could from the app program menu

[tigerburnie]

I tried removing stuff I knew I wouldn't want, "Candy Crush" games for example, uninstalled them and they went, next day...………..yep they're all back again. As I said it's now broken, they have done this before and then eventually they fixed it, so once I am happy with the running and I can bin stuff I don't want, then I will switch off the upgrades, I note they have now added a Netflix icon, maybe they are hoping I will buy stuff.

[Tony_S]

Apparently my PC updated to 1809 last month. I must have not noticed. 

 

[melmerby]

17 minutes ago, tigerburnie said:

I tried removing stuff I knew I wouldn't want, "Candy Crush" games for example, uninstalled them and they went, next day...………..yep they're all back again. As I said it's now broken, they have done this before and then eventually they fixed it, so once I am happy with the running and I can bin stuff I don't want, then I will switch off the upgrades, I note they have now added a Netflix icon, maybe they are hoping I will buy stuff.

Candy crush went ages ago on mine and didn't re-appear, a Netfix app has never appeared.

 

If you type winver in the search box what do you get?

Mine says version 1809 (OS Build 17763,437)

 

 

[tigerburnie]

Doesn't say anything, just icon and command switches to "open' Or "run"etc

[raymw]

hit the run,...

[melmerby]

Are you using Edge?

I've just noticed whilst monitoring all activity that there are loads of pictures/text etc being downloaded into Edge for the purpose of advertising, news etc.

I'm using Firefox so don't see any of it.

[Harlequin]

Slightly off-topic but: The new Zimo MS decoders have an ARM core.