How bad is Win 10? Options

[pandy]

My computer has broken down. Yeah, again. I just bought a very slightly used one with a lot better components that I would otherwise afford.


It comes with Win 10 (Pro), I think. The guy hated it himself and recommended me to install 7 or 8 instead. 7 seems the least annoying, but support ends in less than 3 years. 8 seems pretty horrid too. So maybe I should just go with 10?

I've read about the murder of the start menu, that updates are forced and that you have no control of what and when. Is it as bad as I've heard?

[pandy]

Oh, I decided on win10. The guy will format and make a fresh installation so we can test run before putting it in a box.

I think the best thing will be to use a real keyboard again and to see what I'm writing...

[pandy]

Well, the computer is fast. But the look and feel of Windows 10... My eyes hurt already - not joking. All this verbose text everywhere, the colors, no proper borders, program windows float into eachother *visually*... I don\t even manage to choose the color I want on the desktop. And yeah, the keyboard settings are screwed up somehow. That\s next.

Isn\t this supposed to be fun. It isn\t. And to explain, I can\t type a question mark, prim or paranthesis.

[Christian J]

Well, the computer is fast. But the look and feel of Windows 10... My eyes hurt already - not joking. All this verbose text everywhere, the colors, no proper borders,

Not sure if this one's any better: https://www.howtogeek.com/133405/how-to-get...k-on-windows-8/ (I've become used to the flat theme myself though).

But first of all clean up all the bloat and spyware which comes enabled by default, I used https://www.safer-networking.org/spybot-anti-beacon/ (though it has not been updated for a while). A couple other sites I've used for manual checking:

https://www.ghacks.net/2017/03/20/turn-off-...a-double-click/
https://www.cyberpunkforums.com/viewtopic.php?id=3692

You can also re-enable Photo Viewer in the registry: https://www.howtogeek.com/225844/how-to-mak...-on-windows-10/

program windows float into eachother *visually*...

When does that happen? I think I've experienced something like that during Taskbar operations.

I don\t even manage to choose the color I want on the desktop.

That should work once you've entered the license key.

Isn\t this supposed to be fun.

The real fun is that this new mobile/touch screen design was done because Microsoft wanted the same Windows look on both PCs and smartphones. Then nobody wanted to buy their smartphones anyway. Oops.

[pandy]

Not sure if this one's any better: https://www.howtogeek.com/133405/how-to-get...k-on-windows-8/ (I've become used to the flat theme myself though).

Yeah, I saw that. Maybe I'll try it later. The most annoying now is the limited number of colors I can choose from. I found the Control Color setting that's hidden somewhere. There is a color mixer that lets me change 15 patches. But those colors are only used for window borders, start menu and taskbars. For the desktop I'm stuck with the presets.

See, I've got used to having my desktop in a special shade of gray. An image editor I use have the interface in different shades of gray only, even icons. That's so your perception of color won't be tinted. I found it so restful that I made windows like that too, as far as possible, different shades of gray for everything I could change.

[Christian J]

Did you find the Metered Connection setting? I'm getting a bit worried since I'm about to change ISP.

The most annoying now is the limited number of colors I can choose from. I found the Control Color setting that's hidden somewhere. There is a color mixer that lets me change 15 patches. But those colors are only used for window borders, start menu and taskbars. For the desktop I'm stuck with the presets.

Not sure what you mean here, I can just right-click on the desktop, chose Personalize, and change Background Picture to solid color. You can make custom colors too.

See, I've got used to having my desktop in a special shade of gray. An image editor I use have the interface in different shades of gray only, even icons. That's so your perception of color won't be tinted. I found it so restful that I made windows like that too, as far as possible, different shades of gray for everything I could change.

If all else fails I guess you could create a solid color background image.

[pandy]

[quote]
Did you find the Metered Connection setting? I'm getting a bit worried since I'm about to change ISP.
[/quote]

Yeah, I that's what I meant. It leads to exactly the same page as I posted a screen cap of before.


[quote]Not sure what you mean here, I can just right-click on the desktop, chose Personalize, and change Background Picture to solid color. You can make custom colors too.[/quote]

There's just 24 patches for the background and 48 for the chrome. No custom colors.



I found though google though that you can type "color control" in the Run box and you get to customize 15 patches for the chrome.



[quote]See, I've got used to having my desktop in a special shade of gray. An image editor I use have the interface in different shades of gray only, even icons. That's so your perception of color won't be tinted. I found it so restful that I made windows like that too, as far as possible, different shades of gray for everything I could change.[/quote]
If all else fails I guess you could create a solid color background image.
[/quote]

That never gets really solid.

[Christian J]

Yeah, I that's what I meant. It leads to exactly the same page as I posted a screen cap of before.

I get to "your" page by clicking "Change adapter options" further down.

I can also go to my page by clicking Ethernet (in the left column in my screenshot) after next clicking the connected network shown on the right.

There's just 24 patches for the background and 48 for the chrome. No custom colors.

That's very odd. Have you activated the product key yet? That and the Spybot utility are the only things I can think of that makes my installation unusual. Try both those things, maybe they unlock hidden menus. Did you actually install Creator's update, or just download it? Have you rebooted afterwards?

[pandy]

I have rebooted, but not done anything actively. Now they have announced a major update, so big that they let me schedule it... Maybe that's the thing?

I misunderstood you before. I did click Adapter Options. That's all I've got. I don't have the option you used.

[Christian J]

Now they have announced a major update, so big that they let me schedule it... Maybe that's the thing?

Don't think so, if you already got Creator's, I got another one too the other day.

I misunderstood you before. I did click Adapter Options.

Don't do that.

That's all I've got. I don't have the option you used.

What happens when you click on "Ethernet" in the left column, and then click on the connected network that shows up to the right?

[pandy]

[pandy]

Now to my next question. I suppose there is no way to review and choose the updates I want? It's nothing or all?