News Microsoft's cancelled February Patch Tuesday releases rolled into March

I also got this:

Makes me very very nervous

 

Whyso? I read it as "we're checking what percentage of the install base is using old and crusty HW/SW to decide when to stop for development for certain things"

 

KB2952664 (Windows 7) and KB2976978 (Windows 8) have a long history, they started out as compatibility update for upgrading Windows 7… [that] helps Microsoft make improvements to the current operating system in order to ease the upgrade experience to the latest version of Windows.

That was almost 2 years ago and they've been reissued multiple times, the general consensus seem to be they add the sort of telemetry gathering capabilities found in Windows 10 to older versions of Windows.

Microsoft isn't exactly instilling confidence in their updating process, between mystery patches appearing and disappearing, release notes being absent, and forced updates I'm not sure if it's better to take my chances with Microsoft or the ne'er do wells.

 

I hope the update isn't going to put me into another infinite repair loop like it did last time it updated, 4 or 5 times in a row I had to restore Windows because of that and wasted 2 days.

 

I really don't get why the EU STILL doesn't make a new case against MS, they have been breaking so many rules for such a long time now and they add more and more to it.

When I say I don't get it I do of course mean I do very well get it, it's called 'money and bribes'.
And you have to say, they have made huge leaps in their bribing prowess, so many are on-board now and none reject them, if you look at all the evidence of all companies playing along with all their dubious trickery like all the efforts done to strongarm people into adopting windows10.

Anyway I guess we really have no option and will have to resign we eventually have to go linux. Or Apple but I really am not compatible with Apple's control of things policy either. Plus you don't get wide game support there either, plus their hardware in really weak in terms of processing power and GPU.

I wish there were more options, but I have no hope for the future in that regard.
But at least you can make a steambox with linux now.

 

Breaking what rules? If MS said tommorow screw you all we not making windows anymore, the worlds major governments would likely have to bribe them to continue.

Apple is worse both In security lock down and lack of supported hardware.

Steam box game support is limited, I would be shocked if it's 1% of steams total library.

Microsoft are a private company and Apple another private company has enough market share to stop any monopoly intervention.

EU took them to court on web browsers, can't really take them to court for not supplying updates to a 7 year old operating system, Apple cuts you off at 2 years for OSX. 10.5 for example was launched In 2007 by the end of 2009 it had received its last security update.

 

Even if the EU decided to do anything it would take so long 7&8 would be distant memories, the web browser thing took over 10 years and even then Microsoft got fined years later for not complying.

 

I am shocked its that high gareth. Only way would be to break it down into specific segments,

Microsoft has little reason to change though, Web Browser thing was Argued that it removed choice. As it was default, Technically you have a choice if you install Windows or not.

If Intel cannot get them to support chips under windows 7 ( assuming they even asked) Then what hope do AMD have. Which is the main reason this topic has reared its head again after all

 

I would of thought at most 5-10% I must say, be fun if Linux takes off.

 

Just put Linux on one of my boxes. Very nice (Ubuntu). Had some issues with Steam running but found out I needed to switch the GPU driver via the software menu to the actual Nvidia one. No probs since. Installed Bioshock Infinite and gave it a test, worked great.

I also seem to have lost all of the streaming issues I had with three versions of Windows (7, 8.1 and 10). I heard there was a pretty serious "downdate" a few months back that screwed up the internet but I thought that was only with 10.

Only problem is two of my PCs use proprietary daughter boards that only work with Windows, and if you install anything else on them the fans all set themselves to 100%.

Still, I don't need much more power than what this rig has, so it's a nice change

 

Still getting my head around it but a lot of the commands are familiar. Getting Steam on was a pain, I wish there were more .deb installers around. Still, nothing insurmountable and got there eventually. The rig is definitely far snappier than it was on Windows 7. Browers for example fly (well, apart from Firefox which is a bit chuggy like its Windows sibling).

I don't really need to do that much more now. Just get Trillian on. Just fired the deb but it doesn't seem to have worked so Terminal here I come again.

 

Well it just wouldn't boot. Firstly it did not give me a desktop short cut which obviously is a problem if you don't know your way around Linux (fixed by typing Steam in terminal or finding the shortcut in /usr/bin). I think most of the problems were due to my GPU driver, which of course it doesn't tell you it just refuses to run. Windows usually gives you a reason, which you can then Google.

Then of course the Nvidia driver is not a deb either, so you need to pull it all manually via the terminal. That was easier though, because obviously there are plenty of guides online. In the end after pulling seemingly everything from the internet I was able to choose my driver through the software section of the settings thingermebub.

Just installed Trillian. Again, no shortcut ETC but I knew the drill by then. Still learning really, but love it so far. Oh and I have installed Chrome now too (So Chromium, Chrome and Firefox all running) and it does the job of the other two it seems (IE plays all 6 main streams for my footy). Still not quite got my head around why it's made such a difference but hey, I'll take it.

It's nearly there tbh. Now I just need something akin to Photoshop and it can be my daily rig. It's the quietest of the three too. And the furthest away

BTW, any reccs for an external sound card/dongle? it's not picking up my Azalia audio (very old AM2+ board) and tbh? I don't want to fight with it. The last thing I want to do now is kill it with so many hours invested. The Nvidia HDMI audio is working brilliantly with the monitor, but obviously I have nowhere to poke a set of headphones. Just something P&P would be lovely.

Oh yeah, last thing.. I also switched from wireless (which is crap on this old thing, the speed fluctuates like mad) to wired (my home made Killer NIC card..) Which has really made it so much better.

 

Doh I keep forgetting about the search thing. Could have saved me a lot of time.

Currently doing some research, but I think with the sound card it's going to be suck it and see and return if it doesn't work. No idea why the onboard sound isn't being detected tbh. It's enabled in the bios and it definitely worked under Win 7.

 

Oh yeah one last question, G. Is there a good system monitor tool/app that shows temps etc?

Also - sound feex. Basically it doesn't show the device until you connect something to it. Then it works fine and I can switch. Noice !