Windows 10 [2014 - 2017]

[Silent_Buddha]

I'd happily pay for a retail pro version that is guaranteed to not get any ad suggestions or other similar shit.

Why pay for it when you get that for free? Just turn it off. Hell, I never even noticed the one in the start menu until Davros posted that screenshot. It's so unobtrusive that I never saw it prior to this. If Microsoft wants people to actually see it, they'll need to make it bigger or something.

Regards,
SB

 

[Malo]

If you notice when you do searches for programs, docs etc in the start bar it will show you suggestions from the Store as well

 

[Silent_Buddha]

If you notice when you do searches for programs, docs etc in the start bar it will show you suggestions from the Store as well

Must just be me. After being on the internet for so long, I just automatically tune out advertisements. Now that you mention that, I have seen those before, but they just don't register for me.

I suppose I'm the consumer that advertisers must hate. The only time I notice advertisements is when they interfere with the content I'm viewing. IE - full page Google advertisements that prevent me from seeing content, for example. I've recently started running into full page Google personal information surveys on some web pages that do not give you an option to skip the survey, making those pages/sites completely worthless to me. While irritating I don't mind watching an advert before viewing content (like YouTube), but not being allowed to view content before taking a survey data mining personal information is too much. I didn't think Google could possibly piss me off more on the web, but they've gone and done it. aa

Regards,
SB

 

[Ike Turner]

If you notice when you do searches for programs, docs etc in the start bar it will show you suggestions from the Store as well

All of those "ads" (app suggestions) and "tips" can be toggled off in the settings. As a matter of fact you get offered the option to do so the first time they appear after a clean install once they pop-up for the first time.

 

[Deleted member 2197]

What will be interesting is if you do turn it off does it also turn off the associated telemetry working behind the scenes.

 

[manux]

Microsoft removed any reasonable way to disable cortana/online search in anniversary update. Luckily it's still possible to do by editing registry

http://www.howtogeek.com/265027/how-to-disable-cortana-in-windows-10/

 

[Cyan]

 

[Deleted member 2197]

The recently released Windows 10 build 14965 features a number of changes which do not appear in the official change log. Enthusiasts discovered some interesting changes which show the progress of certain features being built under the hood. Let's see what they are.

http://winaero.com/blog/changes-in-windows-10-build-14965-which-were-not-announced/

 

[orangpelupa]

Microsoft removed any reasonable way to disable cortana/online search in anniversary update. Luckily it's still possible to do by editing registry

http://www.howtogeek.com/265027/how-to-disable-cortana-in-windows-10/

O keep forgetting to kill her.

She's exhausting my puny Intel y series cpu

 

[Kaotik]

Not sure if it's Windows 10, or something else in my machine, but since last night I've encountered unexplainable issues.

The computer literally just stops responding, the mouse might still move, but nothing else works - the bad part is that since it doesn't BSOD or anything, it's damn hard to start troubleshooting the issue.
Usually it happens soon after turning on the machine, but can happen after longish idle time too - and only way out is reset-button on the machine (or just turn power off and back on) - and hope it doesn't freeze on next start up.
Only thing that I've discovered that MIGHT affect if it hangs or not is how long it sits in login screen, the longer it sits there the better, it seems

Core i5-3570K @ 4GHz (has always been)
Asrock Z77 Extreme4-M + 16GB RAM (4x4GB DDR3)
MSI GTX 980 Gaming-something-or-another
Win10x64 Pro with all the latest updates, patches, whatnot

Samsung 830 SSD for Windows + most programs
Toshiba 3TB HDD for games and stuff like Steam
WD 2TB HDD for all the "My documents" etc folders
WD 640GB HDD for.. I'm not sure what, I think I might have Windows's pagefile there but that's about it

--

Any ideas where to start troubleshooting?

edit: also, if I end up on fresh install of Windows, is there any tool to get my Office 2016 settings stored and then restored on the fresh install? It's a pain to get all the e-mail addresses set up and to use all the right files with all the old emails

 

[Malo]

I'd start with your mechanical hard drives, perhaps one of them is dying and causing massive stalls.

 

[Kaotik]

I'd start with your mechanical hard drives, perhaps one of them is dying and causing massive stalls.

I already ran CrystalDiskInfo which claimed "Good" for all my drives, I can paste more detailed data a bit later when I have time

edit:
Images from CrystalDiskInfo in spoilers:

Spoiler

I have no idea why it doesn't report any transfer modes for the last HDD, since I can still browse the files on it etc just fine

edit:
sfc /scannow didn't find anything wrong

 

[Kaotik]

Further digging into problem, Windows' memory tester in the default mode ran through without issues.
Event viewer doesn't show anything that I can see that could in any possible way be related to this (there was 1 warning which shouldn't be critical in any sense, and 2 errors which again shouldn't be critical (1 was related to bluestacks which I now uninstalled, had it's startup just disabled before, and 1 is a common error after anniversary update, but no crashes reported related to it)

I'm doing a little test tonight, since it only seems to crash when idling - I'm leaving hearthstone on for the night and see if it's still running normally in the morning

 

[Malo]

Maybe disable any HDD powerdown and sleep timers and see if it still occurs?

 

[Lightman]

Further digging into problem, Windows' memory tester in the default mode ran through without issues.
Event viewer doesn't show anything that I can see that could in any possible way be related to this (there was 1 warning which shouldn't be critical in any sense, and 2 errors which again shouldn't be critical (1 was related to bluestacks which I now uninstalled, had it's startup just disabled before, and 1 is a common error after anniversary update, but no crashes reported related to it)

I'm doing a little test tonight, since it only seems to crash when idling - I'm leaving hearthstone on for the night and see if it's still running normally in the morning

Had similar problem once on earlier Windows 7/8 laptop after migrating to Windows 10. From what I remember it only affected Haswell or newer CPU's and was to do with deep C states and it's BIOS support for Win10. Try disabling power saving features in BIOS and Windows, see what happens.

 

[Kaotik]

Hearthstone-trick worked, computer didn't hang during the night. Today I'm getting drunk, but I'll try that tomorrow (even though I have Ivy, not Haswell or newer)

 

[Deleted member 2197]

Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14971 for PC was released to the fast ring and made a change to a long standing constant in Windows - PowerShell became the default command line utility.

If PowerShell doesn't appeal to you, you may be happy to know that Microsoft has included a way to opt out of the change.

http://hexus.net/tech/news/software...-build-makes-powershell-default-command-line/

 

[Kaotik]

Forgot to update my issue - I still have no clue what caused it but it seems to be history now

 

[Deleted member 2197]

Microsoft gives third-parties access to Windows 10 Telemetry data

Microsoft struck a deal with security company FireEye recently according to a report on Australian news magazin Arn which gives FireEye access to all Windows 10 Telemetry data.

The report states that FireEye in return will provide Microsoft with the company's iSIGHT Intelligence software for Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection on Windows 10 devices.

http://www.ghacks.net/2016/11/23/microsoft-gives-third-parties-access-to-windows-10-telemetry-data/

 

[Deleted member 2197]

Windows 10 Pro: Store apps installation without account

It appears that Microsoft has had a change of heart in regards to the requirement. If you have opened the Store recently on a device with Windows 10 Pro installed on it, you may have noticed that you can install the majority of apps and games just fine without an account.

1. Only apps or games that are free can be installed without account. This is likely done to avoid situations where apps or games would not be available anymore if the system is installed again.
2. This new option applies only to Windows 10 Pro versions. Windows 10 Home editions still require a Microsoft Account sign in before any apps or games can be downloaded.

http://www.ghacks.net/2016/11/27/windows-10-pro-store-apps-installation-without-account/

Step in the right direction ...