Well, time for a recap, I think.    Yes, this is just my tinfoil hat opinion, but I think I have shown it unfold pretty clearly.

<put on tinfoil hat>

Win 10 was a must do, as MS was being faced with irrelevance as PC lost market share in high single to low double digits every year for the past 6 years.   MS has lost approximately 25%-30% of their maximum market share from 8 years ago.    Becoming irrelevant was more than MS could take.

So, Microsoft envisioned Win 10 as sweeping up all existing PCs into a large enough single mass to put Microsoft back into the game as a MAJOR Player, suitable to compete in the future against Apple (iOS) and Google (Android).  

This Uber OS was supposed to run seamlessly across all platforms and give MS a tool to dominate computing again.

It was staged very carefully with cherry picked Beta Testers (with known good hardware that MS could find drivers for) and the Beta Test program was run for 6-8  months while MS worked out their data mining and download P2P torrent tricks.    Quietly, MS also worked out a program to extend data mining and download P2P tricks to the unsupported XP and Vista users with no intention of ever giving them the benefits of Win 10, but intending to use their personal data and internet bandwidth anyway.

Then they polished everything up and did the big launch, but only to a selected subset of users who had the good hardware (similar to the cherry picked Beta testers).   It went well for two weeks, until other users began installing Win 10 early before MS was "ready" for them.   Flaws began to be seen.

In an attempt to do damage control, MS locked down the descriptors on the nightly KB updates to hide the fact they were supposedly just re-re-re-peats of what went out last week, but actually the repeats were carrying extra code inside them to fix issues AND DO OTHER UNRELATED THINGS.   The old KB was just a convenient carrying package with minimal traceability.   Pundits began to write how to back out the "damaging" KBs and turn the features OFF ---  and MS was reinstalling them again nightly and flipping the switches back on again.  

Finally MS began locking down the users ability to remove the offending KBs and took away their ability to disable the various features.

MS then moved down into the larger mass of existing machines, for which  they had spotty drivers for this and that.   Issues multiplied.   Frantic MS fixes for this and that began to fly around the internet every night, incidentally rendering Mary Jo Foley and James Kendrick's test machines (in Kendrick's case a Microsoft built Surface 3 with only MS products on it) both twitchy and unreliable.

Mary Jo Foley and James Kendrick and finally spoke up and in doing so gave the press corps permission to beat on the family dog (criticize MS) and the press corps began to enthusiastically do so.  Mary Jo went back to her Mac and James Kendrick went back to his Chromebook (their alternate article writing equipment).   They are not going to chase a twitchy, erratic, malfunctioning Win 10 any longer.  Call us when you get it fixed.

MS has now been directly challenged to regain ground lost in the last 5 weeks, to repair what had been working correctly before and only then to carry forward with their program of total world conquest.

More importantly, MS has lost the trust and good will of the press corps, which will make their lying about anything any further very contra-productive.   Issue becomes that MS's roll out plan involved MUCH carefully weasel worded EULA tricks and many really vaguely worded click it approvals to get MS's program rolling in the first place.  

Now however, at each un-announced stage of that program it will be instantly challenged on legal and other grounds as people are ANGRY about what MS has already been doing.

Stealing customers bandwidth and causing them to have to pay overage charges to their internet providers has now been called what it is -- stealing --.

Pending legal and executive actions in the EU and Russia have put MS's grand plan into jeopardy and we are now waiting to see how it will all play out.     Misleading consumers and false advertising is the very least of the offences MS is guilty of at this point.  

People should be able now choose to opt out of Win 10 and GO BACK TO AN UNPATCHED UNTWEEKED  WIN 7 OR WIN 8/8.1 SHOULD THAT BE WHAT THEY WANT.

<remove tinfoil hat>

Microsoft the ARROGANT still exists in Redmond, and if you wish these folks to CONTROL your computer and MONITOR your on-line activities, LIST the contents of your hard drive for watchdog groups and STEAL your internet bandwidth then by all means, have at it.

You will get "the operating system you deserve" by allowing all this sort of stuff to happen to your machine.

http://www.zdnet.com/article/troubleshooting-and-repairing-windows-10/     by Ed Bott



As we choke along the Windows 10 saga, we need to remember to look at the viewpoint of people like ED BOTT (widely acknowledged as the most "in their pocket person" that Microsoft has ever owned).

Ed has his annual full set of computing equipment GIVEN to him by Microsoft, a new set every year, so he can report on how wonderful it is as he writes his endless flow of gushy how to books.    

Even his peers consider Ed to be somewhat bought and paid for ..... and they make jokes about it.

Why read Ed's article?    Because he does say things need fixing without actually ever admitting how they were broken.   And since his stuff is proof read by MS employees, you can be assured that the places he sends you to are still there and the toggle switches mentioned will still let you actually change them.

And I find it totally amazing when he says  "Occasionally, the return on your troubleshooting investment simply isn't worth it. Rather than spend hours trying to track down some weird bug or software interaction, I use Windows 10's Reset option to perform the equivalent of a clean install. The process is quick and extremely robust, and the results allow you to get back to work much faster than the old-school "clean install from a Windows DVD" option."

Ed then goes through the 6 major areas where Win 10 is falling apart (carefully avoiding any of the real privacy or bandwidth stealing issues of course) and he keeps saying repeatedly to use the reset option.  

AND THEN AT THE VERY END HE SAYS THIS LITTLE DITTY, WHICH MADE ME LAUGH A BIT.

"If basic troubleshooting doesn't work, I strongly recommend the Reset option, which does the equivalent of a clean install without the hassles associated with that option in earlier Windows versions. I've seen this option turn troublesome systems into well-behaved PCs, and the process of restoring apps and data is relatively quick, especially if your primary storage is in the cloud.

And there's always the option to roll back to your previous OS and wait for a few months. Troubleshooting is all well and good, but sometimes being productive means allowing someone else to be the pioneer."

What Ed is saying is that MS has really really hacked your computer up by uncontrolled randomly patching it to death, so you should just go RESET it repeatedly until you happen to hit a RESET mixture that pleases your hardware mix.  

Kinda like a monkey with a typewriter, given enough time eventually the monkey will inevitably type you up some Shakespeare.  Luck of the draw will win out in the end.

And no, Ed, these poor souls cannot go back to their Win 7 because the 30 days is up and MS just now got around to screwing their machine all sideways.

Since Old_Rider has mentioned about MS Win 10 phones of late, I thought we might start discussing them also since they too have hit the news.  

I mean, it is all Windows 10, right?  Same stuff working on all platforms, right?

http://www.engadget.com/2015/09/17/microsoft-working-on-fix-for-phones-borked...

 hey, you need to click on this and read Gabe Aul's words -- it's worth the effort as the people he is writing to cannot even see his words on their bricked MS Windows phones that are totally borked, broken and NON_FUNCTIONAL.

Microsoft working on fix for phones borked by Windows 10 update

"When Microsoft released Windows 10 Mobile build 10536 to Insider users earlier this week, it probably didn't expect it to break user's phones. It did. Turns out,the update was only meant for certain devices, but a device check glitch allowed non-support devices to see, download and apply the new build. That's bad -- but Microsoft is trying to fix it."

Trying to fix it ---- what the heck does that mean?   How can Microsoft fix a BRICKED cell phone ?????
Send you a pre-paid UPS mailer, I guess.    Ship it off to a repair house.   Weeks with no phone, gee, don't cha jest love it?

"According to Microsoft's Gabriel Aul, installing the update on non-supported devices will essentially break the phone -- and the only way to fix it is to reflash back to the factory image, which most users probably don't have. There's no fix available for users who have already installed the mislabeled build, but Microsoft says it's on the case.

"We're working on repair options for the devices that were not supported but got the latest build," Aul said on Twitter. "This is a high priority for us to solve and have a team dedicated to it. We will let you know as soon as we have info on recovery."

Best course of action right now? Turn off Windows Insider updates, follow @GabeAul on Twitter, and wait."

Anyhow, an illustrious beginning for the Win 10 phone effort, huh?    It is good that MS gets the return for repair pre-paid mailer system all set up up front before the main roll outs begin, as if Win 10 PC is any indication they may well need it.

And you actually think I am a Microsoft basher?    Pulleese ..... let me introduce you to the real McCoy (so you can tell the difference between an amused watcher and a real hard core basher)

http://news.changewindows.org/windows-mobile/god-dammit-microsoft-screwed-up-...

This is a windows insider .org that lists all changes made to Win 10.  The organizers want to document if MS EVER actually listens to and takes some of the suggestions they have been given by their Beta preview people.

This is for the Windows Faithful Windows lovers who want MS to at least listen to what users want instead of going their own merry way and saying "the users told us they wanted that" after the fact every time ......   they are documenting feedback given and ignored, in other words.

There is no hate like love gone rotten.

Let's be clear -- of the ~80 million Windows 10 users only a quarter of them were originally having serious problems with the update system and/or drivers.    These problem folks generally use more than a handful of old style programs and a browser or two and they are the kind of hands on users that would try to customize their machine to suit themselves.

The remainder ~55 million or so hit it lucky on their hardware and already have adequate drivers and really can't understand what the fuss is all about.    The vast majority of users use their computer just to browse and hit social media sites and THAT'S IT.    They are happy as a clam with Win 10.

As time rolls on the ugly quarter has become more like an ugly third are that are having some unresolved issues of some sort  (generally with more modern app style softwares) with the increase coming from all the buggy "fixes" recently put out through the update system.    And from all the user attempts to cut off the objectionable stuff, etc. etc. etc. that MS is always having to turn back on all the time.

Microsoft, through all its tech sites and captive tech writers are all now saying the exact same stuff now -- please RESET your machine and reload everything fresh and let us start over fresh, please.    

Then PLEASE don't mess with it.

Issue I have is you having to reload all your software and set it all back up over again if you do it by the "you do it RESET method"  --   me, I'd wait until October when Microsoft is going to functionally reset it for you automatically and MS will preserve all your installed softwares and settings when they do it.


    ...... yup, and they will do it with zero issues and no fall out, just like they do Windows 10 phone upgrades .....  

You are running what is now called a Windows honey-trap.

Many pundits and other people have done likewise, sitting up a place to check for Borg tracks each day.

Mine is my Wife's Vista Machine, on the theory they'll go after a Vista machine before they go after the XP machines.

We shall see, now won't we?


=========================================   Honey trap results so far


Verslagen has caught them pre-staging Win 10 on his Win 7 machine, as has at least one other list member.   This Borg Win 7 activity has been admitted to by MS, so this isn't news any more.

No Vista (other than suspicious resuming of a large chunk of security upgrades after no upgrades for a while)

No XP (other than Serowbot getting a large chunk of security upgrades after no security upgrades for a while)

The fact is that your Vista and your XP MIGHT be primed now for some future activity  is pretty meaningless until it is triggered and the activity actually takes place.

I haven't seen any action on any of my Window 7 machines at home.
Is there anything to look for besides that hidden folder off the root of the Windows drive?

I am running XP 32 bit, even IE 9 won't run on this thing!  I believe this machine is now 100 percent safe!

Well, the browser isn't supported anymore (IE7) and the pages look like poop... but, well, 10 ain't gettin' IN!

Guess i'll try firefox or what was that old one? started with an O ... Opera! yeah... is that still around?

Loaded Firefox, works great.... went through settings and disabled all the prying eye software.
Went back to the new forum graphics... works great.... guess, i'll use this machine to do little stuff (cause its old and don't want to work)....

Still doing the experiment though.....

So XP is still supported by firefox....  I tried using my mint 16..... finally got the video settings working, but the internet didn't work. I will delete and reload it and see....
Does mint 17 work with a 32bit system? Maybe i'll go there too.