Other operating systems

[gemma10]

Slowly getting to the end of my tether with microhard and its sly ways of succeeding to disable my W7 and installing W10. Having goggled just about every way to prevent this happening, I find nothing works at all. I`m content with W7 for chrisakes and I fear any day now my background page will change. I refuse to power down. I`m seriously considering a Linux based system and did a quick search here on Zorin but not a lot to be read. Their website looks quite appealing; anybody got any useful thoughts on Zorin? I gather it can be run as well as windows until the user is more familiar with same.

[ExGrunt]

Hi Gemma,

There are many people in the same situation as you. The first question you have to ask yourself is what you use your computer for? Is there anything 'special' that needs a particular piece of software which runs only on win whatever?

In the linux world there are essentially two flavours: Red Hat or Debian. They differ primarily in the way software is installed (called packages in linux speak) and the desktop which is installed by default. The key thing with any open source software is how big and active is the community that uses the software as that drives how quickly problems are solved and how easy it is to get help.

Red hat is very popular for server use. The key flavours are: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 'RHEL'(paid for), Fedora, Centos and Scientific Linux. Fedora is a used by Red Hat to test features for RHEL and has a very short lifecycle, Centos is just RHEL without the Red Hat branding and paid for support and probably the one to go for if you like the Red Hat way (its the one I use).

In the Debian corner, there is Debian itself, but by far and away the most popular linux for desktop use is Ubuntu. others are Mint and MATE. Zorin is a derivative of debian/ubuntu, but given the look and feel of windows. The issue for me is that it may have quite a small user base so if you get stuck help may be limited compared with Ubuntu.

There is quite a controversy in the linux world about desktop interfaces, with Fedora /Ubuntu moving to towards a more tabletty interface whereas Mint or MATE have a more traditidional desktop by default. Of course with everything linux there is usually a choice - so depending on your appetite for geekyness change is possible.

Almost every flavour of linux offers a live desktop and if it doesn't that is a bad sign. This allows you create a bootable CD or USB stick and try it out without having to install it onto your PC.

So my suggestion would be to down load a couple of alternatives and try them out and see which one you like most.

HTH

EG

[Geordie_Expat]

Slowly getting to the end of my tether with microhard and its sly ways of succeeding to disable my W7 and installing W10. Having goggled just about every way to prevent this happening, I find nothing works at all. I`m content with W7 for chrisakes and I fear any day now my background page will change. I refuse to power down. I`m seriously considering a Linux based system and did a quick search here on Zorin but not a lot to be read. Their website looks quite appealing; anybody got any useful thoughts on Zorin? I gather it can be run as well as windows until the user is more familiar with same.

Have you bothered to look at other posts on this thread?


Judging by your use of silly phrases like Microhard and goggle, you aren't going to be happy with anything Microsoft based.


BTW - have windows 7 with no probs (have so far refused 10 with no probs).

[dazdaz1]

I'm W7 Apart from the odd small window inviting me to install W10 on a few occasions around February nothing since then. Having said that, I have read reports that if the processor (chip/s) are older than two years W10 won't install and will leave you alone forever with W7 :)

[FlightDetent]

The problem with placebo is that it actually works. How much, 40 % ?

If one's made to believe that W10 won't work, there's good odds that it actually will not. The reverse applies too.

[The Flying Pram]

I find nothing works at allHave you tried GWX Control Panel?

http://ultimateoutsider.com/downloads/There are further steps you can take, but they get a bit involved - searching for, and uninstalling about a dozen specific "Updates". I haven't been bothered by any pop-ups for ages, BUT you need to look at every update offered each Patch Tuesday, as one or two persistent ones will keep re-appearing...

[ExGrunt]

Hi Fd,

If one's made to believe that W10 won't work, there's good odds that it actually will not. The reverse applies too.

It is not necessarily that people think that W10 will not work, but that they can see that MS is repositioning itself as a cloud based Software As A Service provider and don't want to go down that route.

Even for free I don't see W10 adding value over W7. It's a personal choice and I accept that others can come to an entirely different view.

EG

[aerobelly]

I`m seriously considering a Linux based system and did a quick search here on Zorin but not a lot to be read. Their website looks quite appealing; anybody got any useful thoughts on Zorin? I gather it can be run as well as windows until the user is more familiar with same.

As far as I can see the claims on the Zorin website apply to pretty much all the varieties of Linux (known as "distros"). It may be easier to get used to, it may not. I have computers running Mint Linux, Manjero Linux, SUSE Linux and Fedora Linux and they are not all that different to each other. The choice for each installation depends first on what I would like to take a look at and secondly on whether all the hardware is recognised, particularly with the laptops which tend to have special hardware. One of them double boots into Windows 8.1 for the stuff that only runs on Windows -- and it is never connected to the Internet so it won't "upgrade" ;)

If you are willing to try Linux and your computer will boot from a USB stick use that to try it out, it will be much faster than booting from DVD which gives a poor impression of performance. In your position I would go for one of the very common distros, there will be a universe of advice on the net. Of the four I use Mint and SUSE are the more consumer-oriented distros, Manjero and Fedora are much more bleeding-edge for early adopters. But I've been a Un*x user since 1983 (and computers you've never heard of before that) so I'm used to loosing a certain amount of blood -- you won't need to these days.

Certainly in the UK, USA and Germany two or three Linux magazines have DVDs each month, so download capacity issues can be circumvented if you have poor connectivity or cost problems,

'a

[gemma10]

Apart from one inane input, thanks all for the valued contributions, I shall be spending today looking at my various options including Mint. ps aerobelly, Is that the decca bradford? Best valve tv made.

[Geordie_Expat]

Assuming that my post was the 'inane' one, I was trying to point out that there is already another thread about this very subject a couple of slots down on the list.

[WeeJeem]

To answer last things first :cool:

I`m seriously considering a Linux based system and did a quick search here on Zorin but not a lot to be read. Their website looks quite appealing; anybody got any useful thoughts on Zorin? I gather it can be run as well as windows until the user is more familiar with same.

If going down the Linux route, there are a couple of useful things to know:1) Without getting bogged down in too much detail, I think the key thing to understand is that, basically, the different flavours of Linux (well, relating to the GUI desktop versions, at any rate) are typically different graphic interfaces on top of the same operating system.
Hence "Ubuntu" has its own style of interface, as do "Mint" and "Zorin"; however, the underlying operating system of "Zorin" is itself "Ubuntu", as is that of "Mint".

2) The best way to figure out which style of interface you like is to create boot disks or sticks of the various distributions, and use the "boot but don't install" option.
This will at least give you some hands-on feel of what a given user interface is like, without having to trash your current W7 installation.

3) If you're not already "Linux-literate", then moving to Linux will take time and effort in various areas, and if you're prepared to put that time and effort in, you might want to redirect your energies to preserving your W7 installation instead.
Slowly getting to the end of my tether with microhard and its sly ways of succeeding to disable my W7 and installing W10. Having goggled just about every way to prevent this happening, I find nothing works at all. I`m content with W7 for chrisakes and I fear any day now my background page will change. I refuse to power down.

If you want to nail down your W7 before it's too late, there are some hoops to jump through, but once done successfully, your W7 should ( no warranties impled or expressed :8 ) stay stable and free from unwanted Win10 nonsense.

There are some keys steps to perform, with an optional one if you happen to think that your machine boots and or runs slower than it did before all the Win10 stuff surfaced (most people suspect this but can't quite put their finger on why) :1) As mentioned previously, go to
Ultimate Outsider: Using GWX Control Panel to Permanently Remove the 'Get Windows 10' Icon (http://blog.ultimateoutsider.com/2015/08/using-gwx-stopper-to-permanently-remove.html)
then download the "GWX Control Panel" software, and follow the guide on that same page on how to use it to get things under control.
Once you've done this, things are at least stabilised, and you can breathe again ;)

2) Read and follow "Weejeem's GWX Sneakware Removal - Notes" that I've attached.
By the end of performing all that, you should now be safe from Win10, and anything that's explicitly Win10-related and has been downloaded should now have been removed from your installation.

3) (Optional) Also uninstall all the patches that are listed in "Weejeem's GWX Sneakware Removal - Extended Lists".
Whilst not seemingly Win10-related, a lot of these are described rather dodgily as things like "enhanced telemetry" and "for upgrade readiness".
Rather a long-winded post, I know, but at least now you can preserve your W7 if you want to :ok:

[Saab Dastard]

Weejeem's GWX Sneakware Removal - Notes is reasonably comprehensive, although I would take issue with setting Windows Update to Never check - much better to set it to "check but allow me to choose", or whatever the wording is.

If you really want to eradicate all traces of the Windows 10 malware, do a simple search on C drive - dir /s *GWX*.* and be prepared to take ownership and change permissions on all the files it finds related to "Get Windows X" prior to deleting them.

You may also want to trawl the registry for GWX and remove as necessary - taking ownership and changing permissions are again necessary prerequisites.

It is tedious but immensely satisfying! :)

SD

[Ancient Observer]

My brain works tolerably well with wordy topics such as English, History, Adventure Yarns and Sociology. However, it cannot deal with computer stuff.
So back in Jan/February, when a lot of us on W7 were being attacked by "buy your Win 10 for free now" (???) there was a thread on here with computer-moron readable words which told me what to do. I did what the good folk said, and the cheap Win10 special offers have all hidden themselves away in the back of my pc.
It's a shame that the search function on this website is not helping me find that thread.............Sorry!!

[finfly1]

That's at least three of us then, now looking for that thread with the step by step directions for stopping W10 from sucking up and selling all your stuff.

[The Flying Pram]

I would take issue with setting Windows Update to Never check - much better to set it to "check but allow me to choose", or whatever the wording isI agree, but note my observation earlier that at least one GWX related update (and possibly more) will KEEP REAPPEARING, regardless of being marked as "hidden". Hence the need to go through the Patch Tuesday list, highlight each one in turn, and click the "More Information" link on the right. Any that suggest "Telemetry", "Upgrade" or "Improved User Experience" should be unticked, and then right click and "Hide".

TFP

[The Flying Pram]

That's at least three of us then, now looking for that thread with the step by step directions for stopping W10 from sucking up and selling all your stuffI used that other "Data Slurper" (Google) and found this:

http://www.pprune.org/jet-blast/566386-have-you-downloaded-windows-10-a.htmlPost#19 has a link to step-by-step instructions. Alternatively, just search "disable telemetry windows 10"

TFP

[aerobelly]

ps aerobelly, Is that the decca bradford? Best valve tv made.

No, it's a reference to the Decca Navigator System, developed during WWII and finally shut down in 2000/1.

Another thought on Linux: depending on where you live there may be a Linux User Group (LUG) nearby, so a search on "hometown LUG" could
get you some hand-holding for the basics.


'a