Making Windows 10 behave (apparently it is possible)

[Gumboots]

I've been setting up W10 to suit myself, which basically means getting rid of as much Microsoft crud as I can without stopping the computer working.

Found a couple of very handy things today. One is this page: How to Uninstall Windows 10's Built-in Apps

The commands here will nail most of the apps that can't be uninstalled by the usual right click > uninstall, or via the Control Panel. You just have to open PowerShell, paste in a command with a simple right click, and hit Enter. Hey presto, unwanted app vanishes.

The other thing is the new Windows 10 photo viewer. It's complete rubbish. Really laggy, with a poor interface. The solution here is to ditch it, then go and grab ImageGlass. This thing totally rocks. It's lightning fast and highly customisable, and it will even view DDS and PSD files just as easily as jpg's.

If you have folder with a mix of png, jpg, psd, dds and whatever else, ImageGlass will just merrily cycle through the whole folder without any problems at all. It evens loads PSD's faster than Photoshop. Obviously you can't edit them, but it's very handy for checking what's in a folder.

[Gumboots]

Found a couple more tricks.

Windows 10 wanting you to ok the use of applications you have installed, even though you know they are safe, is annoying. OTOH, turning off UAC entirely is not the best idea, and you can't whitelist 64 bit executables under DEP. So, what to do?

You can sneak around it by using scheduled tasks. This allows you to set a shortcut to a scheduled task, which will open and run any 64 bit .exe with no prompts. Easy to set up, and can be pinned to the start menu like any other shortcut. Instructions can be found here: Create elevated shortcut to skip UAC prompt in Windows 10

That only leaves "the whole screen flashes when I hover over the task bar and the default Windows off switch doesn't work" problem. That one can be fixed with a simple registry edit: How to Disable Taskbar Thumbnail & Live Preview in Windows 10

Last but not least, use this to tidy up any privacy holes you might have missed: O&O ShutUp10

[Hawk]

If I ever get into a position that I have to use Win 10, I'll certainly keep this topic in mind. You've given a lot of good information.

That said, if something were to happen to my install of Win 7, and the hardware was still OK, I would most likely switch to a distro of Linux. The only reason I don't use it now is because I don't really have the enthusiasm to learn how to play games in WINE or any of the other programs that let you play Windows games in Linux.
However, every day it seems like my enjoyment for gaming is diminishing. I'm bored with all the old games I used to play and most of the new games coming out don't interest me. That would, in effect, make the transition to Linux a lot easier.

Honestly, a couple of the main reasons I switched from XP to Win 7 is; 1) gaming 2) after a couple of years of reading peoples comments and experiences about/with Win 7 it seemed it wasn't that bad after all. Sadly, the same can't be said for Win 10. Especially in a lot of the gaming forums I go to.
Sure, you've got the fanboys out there that will readily accept and enthusiastically enjoy whatever lord Microshaft tells them too, but more and more I read of gamers having problems with games running on Win 10. Maybe it's their lack of knowledge, or maybe it's just related to the OS updates, or maybe it's Steam itself causing problems (which it does a good bit); whatever the case, it sure seems like there are more issues with Win 10 and gaming than I recall ever being with Win 7, or could that last item be due to my rapidly degenerating rememberer.

[Gumboots]

I've been considering running Linux Mint and Windows 10 as a dual boot. That way I could sandbox W10 from the web, which means no need for "upgrades", and still use it for playing games or whatever apps I want to run on it. Better performance this way, and running a dual boot is not likely to be any more hassle than running a VM of some sort.

My old drive is still is decent health and is installed as a secondary in the new box. I could partition it and throw Nix on one, to see if I like it enough to keep it. Most of my web use is pretty basic stuff, so likely there wouldn't be any problems using Nix for it.

[Hawk]

Linux Mint? Is that now considered the most Windows like, or is it considered the best?
I've heard about Mint quite a bit but haven't paid too close attention about it since I'm not quite ready yet.

[Gumboots]

From what I've read Ubuntu is the most idiot-proof, or so they say. The catch is I looked into what their support is like, and they're using Discourse for the support forum. I hate Discourse. I can use it if necessary, but I much prefer not to. It's annoying, and people who love it always have "clever" ideas about how to make it "better" than a normal forum. Drives me up the wall. So I figured that even though Ubuntu itself was supposed to be the most idiot-proof, getting support for it would be a problem.

OTOH, Mint is supposed to be almost as idiot-proof as Ubuntu. AFAICT the main difference is you might have to install some drivers with Mint. The good news they have a normal phpBB forum, and they don't want to change it to something "better". I figured I was more likely to get on with them then the Ubuntu crowd.

[Hawk]

OK! Thanks!

I'll need one that is idiot proof, for sure.

[Gumboots]

Tell ya what: if you give it a go I'll use that as a prompt for me to try it too. I keep toying with the idea but not getting around to it. They reckon learning new things keeps the brain working, and I think I'd rather learn Linux than Discourse. At least Linux is potentially useful.