Why is Windows 10 Being Offered for Free?

[Mike Cl]

Whenever my computer decides to upgrade, I'll probably just go with it. Most of the games I care about work just fine on my SteamOS rig, and the ones that don't I can just jerry-rig to work on something. Anyone who has seen the lengths I go to in order to get my older games working knows I have the stubbornness of a bull and the patience of a saint when it comes to computers.

I envy you that trait.  There is just something about working with computer problems that just drives me bat shit crazy when I try to fix them.  Drives my frustration level to the max!!

[SGOS]

Whenever my computer decides to upgrade, I'll probably just go with it. Most of the games I care about work just fine on my SteamOS rig, and the ones that don't I can just jerry-rig to work on something. Anyone who has seen the lengths I go to in order to get my older games working knows I have the stubbornness of a bull and the patience of a saint when it comes to computers.

Perhaps my favorite game, the original Fry Cry, needs a special patch to make it work on Windows 7 and 8, and it works fine.  Except that it does something to a couple of other programs I frequently use, and makes them unusable.  The only thing I've found that restores the other programs, requires uninstalling Fry Cry, and then doing a system restore.  Granted, I haven't tried everything there is to try.  I would if I knew what else there is that might fix this, but it's an aggravating hassle.  But I do love that game.  Fry Cry II is OK.  I like it too, but that came on PlayStation.  Subsequent Fry Cry games didn't interest me much, and I quit buying them.  I don't buy many games anymore.  I've been doing Flight Simulator for 20 years, building addon scenery, and adding boat traffic, and that occupies enough of my time during the winter.

[SGOS]

For anyone who is interested, there is a free tool out there called GWX Control Panel which will let you (probably) prevent your computer from automatically updating and remove the annoying nag update Microsoft installed a few months back.

I'm a bit leery of some of these types of programs, because they often come with annoying unrelated malware.  So far I've been able to rid my computer of the malware without too many hassles, but I'm like other posters here; A small hassle, although this description is relative, is still a hassle, and I don't like to be annoyed.

Since I tweaked the Microsoft updating settings, I've had only one annoyance, but I think I'll look into this GWX Control Panel, because that one annoyance last week from Microsoft was designed to trick me into saying yes to the update.  When they do that, even knowing what they are doing, it's too easy to click the wrong button, and start the install, especially when they start hitting you with it 3 or 4 times a day, and that is not a small annoyance.

[_Xenu_]

I'm a bit leery of some of these types of programs, because they often come with annoying unrelated malware.  So far I've been able to rid my computer of the malware without too many hassles, but I'm like other posters here; A small hassle, although this description is relative, is still a hassle, and I don't like to be annoyed.

This is why I have become extremely leery of installing anything from the Internet that isn't open source software. It seems that pretty much everything these days, even from once respectable sources, comes with some sort of scumware.

Of course, if you get Linux and just install stuff from the repos, this is never an issue to begin with.

[Baruch]

Perhaps my favorite game, the original Fry Cry, needs a special patch to make it work on Windows 7 and 8, and it works fine.  Except that it does something to a couple of other programs I frequently use, and makes them unusable.  The only thing I've found that restores the other programs, requires uninstalling Fry Cry, and then doing a system restore.  Granted, I haven't tried everything there is to try.  I would if I knew what else there is that might fix this, but it's an aggravating hassle.  But I do love that game.  Fry Cry II is OK.  I like it too, but that came on PlayStation.  Subsequent Fry Cry games didn't interest me much, and I quit buying them.  I don't buy many games anymore.  I've been doing Flight Simulator for 20 years, building addon scenery, and adding boat traffic, and that occupies enough of my time during the winter.

This is because of basic architecture issues.  Usually applications either share specific subprograms (that are installed with Windows) or they install their own special version of one of the Windows subprograms.  Since there is no "versioning" of patches in Windows, the older version is simply overwritten.  If one of the apps depended on details of the original subprogram, or the one that came with the app, then that screws with anything else that would use some version of that subprogram.

Another problem with games is, for performance or other tricks, the code works directly with the hardware, rather than abstracting thru the OS or utilities.  Then if you try to port it to a different or newer hardware, the game performance is off or the coding tricks stop working, because the hardware isn't compatible.

[widdershins]

I'm a bit leery of some of these types of programs, because they often come with annoying unrelated malware.  So far I've been able to rid my computer of the malware without too many hassles, but I'm like other posters here; A small hassle, although this description is relative, is still a hassle, and I don't like to be annoyed.

Since I tweaked the Microsoft updating settings, I've had only one annoyance, but I think I'll look into this GWX Control Panel, because that one annoyance last week from Microsoft was designed to trick me into saying yes to the update.  When they do that, even knowing what they are doing, it's too easy to click the wrong button, and start the install, especially when they start hitting you with it 3 or 4 times a day, and that is not a small annoyance.

I should have mentioned I'm a computer technician.  This is what I do for a living.  The program is safe.  In fact, I have a list of great software which is useful in different times.

If you need some powerful spyware removal, bleepingcomputer.com is the place to go.  This software SHOULD NOT be run on a regular basis, just when you have tough spyware/viruses to get rid of.  It's pretty powerful and has a chance of removing something important to you.  The software to get from there is JRT, ADWCleaner and, if you're adventurous and running Windows 8 or below, Combofix.

If there's something wrong with Windows and you just can't seem to fix it then you want Tweaking.com's Windows Repair utility.  It fixes a TON of problems, all automatically.

These last couple of weeks I've seen a problem with Windows 10 where the clock and several icons next to it are missing and clicking on the Start Button does nothing.  This appears to be a problem with an update getting only half installed, but the fix is simple.  Hit CTRL+ALT+DEL and bring up the Task Manager, click on File in the top left, then New Task (Run) and type this command without quotes, "shutdown /r /t 0".  Tick the box to run it as Administrator and hit Enter on the keyboard.  The computer will reboot, finishing the update install as it does, and will come up just fine again.  At least, that has worked twice now for me.