Mike – Mike's Windows

The age of the favourites bar…

Remember Internet Explorer 6? I do. It was the browser which defaulted to a favourites bar that was never much use as I could see, but we kept it anyway. When Internet Explorer 7 appeared, it was more minimalist than an empty white room, and I hated it, re-instating ‘6’ very quickly. After a couple of days, I scolded myself for being stupid, and installed ‘7’ again, but with no favourites bar showing. I adopted Netvibes as my start page, filling it all up with junk for the most part. Well, you never know, do you, and junk has its … Continue reading The age of the favourites bar…

Protopage…

By Mike

My favourite ‘Ajax’ Home (Start) page, Protopage, has changed. At first, it was clear of ads, and then it wasn’t and they wanted to charge $2.49 per month to supply it ‘ad-free’. Now they have an even better plan to get funds. They only supply the ‘mobile’ version as seen on smart phones unless they are paid $2.49 per month. I am assuming that they want almost $2.49 per month for the full customisable version in ad-free form. Not happening. It is too easy to use Edge’s Favourites function for free. I accept that we should not expect everything for free, … Continue reading Protopage…

Classic Shell gets a reprieve.. and other stuff

By Mike

This is good to see. After a major update, Windows 10 no longer kicks CS to the kerb, choosing instead to reconfigure it instead. Thank you for listening.. One of my other major gripes is the proliferation of ads on websites. This is NOT going to get any better, can only get worse. There are now some places on the Internet to which I NEVER go. I flatly refuse to wait seemingly forever while all of the crap loads into a page, and a lot of it is just that… CRAP. In marketing, if one gets three positive responses for … Continue reading Classic Shell gets a reprieve.. and other stuff

A general update..

By Mike

I haven’t been very active here recently, or in the Microsoft forums. I don’t feel any excitement anymore and have had enough of people whinging about Windows 10. To some degree, my lack of interest is as much down to health issues as anything, with me re-assessing priorities after having recovered from one cancer to then be told that I have another. It never ends, just like the Windows 10 haters don’t seem to be able to give it up. Windows 10 breathed new life into my little Toshiba netbook, and for that am eternally grateful. It received a new battery … Continue reading A general update..

It wasn’t always this way…

By Mike

For those of us who use 3rd party start menus, upgrading to Windows 10 1607 can be a shock. The upgrade removes Classic Shell which would be fine if all users knew how to put it back. My clients do not know. They ask me to give them something they recognise, and I do it for them because they are not interested in technicalities. A question … What is it about Classic Shell that is so bad that it has to be removed? Removal just sets in panic and some users call bogus ‘help’ companies, turning a bad situation into something much worse…

The Windows Anniversary Update..

By Mike

Last night, I manually installed the update on a six year old desktop PC and also my Toshiba Netbook. I have to report that while the update took a while to install, it did so successfully on both machines. There are reports that it craps some machines out, but mine can’t be included in those statistics. I didn’t install the update for new features, by the way. It was purely done to keep them both as current as they can be.

July 29, 2016..

By Mike

If you haven’t upgraded to Windows 10 for free already, you are fast running out of time. Holding onto Windows 7 is not a good thing to do, however used to it you are. It gets no more full support, no more improvements, and will start to lose support from 3rd party manufacturers and software. Here is an article on why you should upgrade. I suggest that you do it now..

It all happens..

By Mike

.. on August 2nd or thereabouts. The first major update of Windows 10 is upon us, and if it changes my hardware drivers. I will not be happy. For the last few weeks, I have had display driver problems and sound as well. Yesterday, I re-installed sound and today I will re-install the AMD screen drivers. The PC locks up now and again, very annoying when I am in the middle of a short story writing session. Don’t get me wrong, I like Windows 10 but I wish that updates would leave some stuff alone..

Refresh Windows..

By Mike

It’s a new ‘program’ coming in the July update.. I wonder how much use this will be to the average Windows user. Option #1… lose everything but files Option #2… lose everything Isn’t this what has been happening with the Windows 10 forced upgrades? And Microsoft wants the end user to deliberately pick one of these options? And in a bid to do what exactly? After Windows 98, the need to refresh the OS at regular intervals faded away, XP being able to keep itself on track and running. I told people this and, for many, it worked well. That … Continue reading Refresh Windows..

Windows 10 isn’t entirely free? Zut alors..

By Mike

This is terrible news. Look see.. Those mean ‘Softies’ want to promote games and stuff for which we will be charged MONEY. Wahhhhhh. They even want MOMEY for making Solitaire a better game. Is it not bad enough that I am being asked to pay $2.99 per month to remove the header ad from my Protopage home page. Whether t’is nobler to pay up and look happy or just hit the ‘x’ is NOT open to question at all. I hit the ‘x’. Monetize, monetize, monetize is all I have been seeing for a considerable while, for blogs, webpages, and crappy Android apps. Microsoft … Continue reading Windows 10 isn’t entirely free? Zut alors..