Microsoft with real Windows Classic for 10

[ThinkPad560X]

I been using Windows 7 for years and still like it, I bought a key and installed a new drive in my old IBM ThinkCentre tower that has a Pentium 4 HT. Windows 10 Pro 64bit runs nice and smooth but don't like the layout of 10 nor the missing options and such. Is there anyway to contact and get Microsoft to make a REAL Windows Classic and not just a skin like I would download from classicshell. They did real full theme changes before so why can't they put time into it now being they said windows 10 is there last OS. This is how I liked it, basic and simple. https://www.google.com/search?q=WIndows ... 9447917901 with all the options I can view, now even the control panel is messed up. But I also keep hearing rumors Microsoft is slowly switching Windows 10 to a service and they already started with windows 10 for businesses.

[dr_st]

I doubt you represent a large enough customer base for them to care about. By now, I would bet there are more people out there that actively prefer the new UI, because this is what they are used to. Making a different UI isn't a one-time-thing, you have to constantly maintain it as well, which is an endless drain of resources for little gain.

Very few options are actually lost in Win10 compared to Win7. More are added. Many are changed, but ClassicShell and the like will get a lot of them back for you. It's not a battle worth fighting.

[Summilux]

I guess at this point your best bet is to back React OS

[ThinkPad560X]

Well heres something. Would it be easier to install Windows 7 back on it and then on a HDD of its own run virtualbox and install Windows 10 on it. and if I need to use anything Windows 10 requires would that work and run windows 10 from the windows 7 desktop? Never really used virtualbox. Or would it be easier to just dualboot 2 HDDs with 7 on one and 10 on the other? I am just getting somethings ready for when Windows 7 comes into XP status and will have to use newer browsers on 10 due to 7 not supporting them.

[Puppy]

Windows 10 UI isn't actually that bad if you customize it. It is has been always like that with Microsoft products (including Windows 7) that the default settings are terrible There are a lot of good (and bad of course) things.

What makes me worry is actually the quality of the product. Nadella hates Windows OS (he has already killed Windows 10 Mobile) and moves Windows development resources to other departments (Office 365, Azure). There is almost no Quality Assurance anymore because the latest bug that deleted files for some users was already reported a month ago by many people in Insider program via the official Feedback Hub channel, but had been completely ignored by the Microsoft team

Fortunately the Windows 10 core/kernel is still pretty good but it is rather a legacy from old times before Nadella started to dismantle the Windows team. You can see the actual Windows development quality on things more visible to users like many small (but annoying) UI bugs or bugs in the stock applications. It seems as he wants Microsoft to become another IBM

[dr_st]

The quality and consistency differences between the generally excellent Windows kernel core and the generally "so-so" UI has been there, seemingly since the earliest NT builds. It's worrisome if the discrepancy is getting worse instead of better.

[TPFanatic]

In my experiences with 10 I often noticed elements of the Metro UI not appearing. There is also some redundancy of applications between Metro and "classic"? For example there being both a Metro Settings App and a Windows 7 style Control Panel which both do the same things...

[pianowizard]

Windows 10 UI isn't actually that bad if you customize it.

What surprises me is that many people on this *computer* forum don't know that:
1) the preinstalled apps can be uninstalled;
2) the Start Menu can be resized;
3) the Start Menu icons can be resized or moved around;
4) >95% of the telemetry can be disabled;
5) there is an extremely useful right-click Start Menu;
6) you can add Control Panel to the Start Menu;
7) etc. etc.

I've installed Windows 10 on several dozen computers now, and each time I spend several minutes to do all these things so that the UI is optimized, and so that the amount of "spying" is acceptable (not much more than Windows 7). And of course I also do the same performance tweaks that I have been doing since the XP era.

IMO Windows 10's UI is the best ever, thanks to the new Start Menu icons, the right-click Start Menu, and several new keyboard shortcuts. So it's a shame that Windows 10 is ruined by Microsoft's increasingly lousy quality check of updates, which is exacerbated by the fact that most users can't control which updates to install.

It seems as he wants Microsoft to become another IBM

Spinning off the Windows division into an independent company might actually be a good thing.

For example there being both a Metro Settings App and a Windows 7 style Control Panel which both do the same things...

So just pick whichever you prefer.

[TPFanatic]

The Classic Control Panel does not show Windows Store apps (including Candy Crush) IIRC. There is really no reason for it to be there.

[ThinkPad560X]

Well I finally went back to my Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit and its nice being back on it. I had all the settings switched off in Windows 10 Pro and it kept reinstalling candy crush saga and candy crush soda saga and some other kid games plus unwanted software, I even went under turn OFF auto update apps and they still kept trying to install after 5min. Even some software I don't want by going under apps the Uninstall is greyed out and probably can't fully uninstall them. So I just wiped the HDD and reinstalled a clean Windows 7 Ultimate back on. I don't really play any games and if I do have the time, none of them are newer for DX12 so DX11 on W7 is still fine for me.

I was thinking once the end of support for Windows 7 comes in 2020 would 7 still last as long as XP did after its end. And that Microsoft could still give security updates and critical updates. Or would they just dumb 7 really fast.

[pianowizard]

it kept reinstalling candy crush saga and candy crush soda saga and some other kid games plus unwanted software

Windows 10 does not normally do that. Did you install Windows 10 on a fairly slow computer, e.g. with a Core2Duo-era CPU? After installing Win 10, you may have to wait for a while to let it finish installing all apps, before you can uninstall them correctly. I don't know exactly how long "a while" is, but it might be a couple hours or even longer. If you try Win 10 again, install all Windows updates first, and leave all the apps untouched for a week, after which you should be able to uninstall them for good, i.e. they won't automatically reinstall themselves ever again. It's true that Windows 10 lets you uninstall only some of the apps, but you can uninstall nearly all the apps within CCleaner, under the "Tools" tab.

Had I been unable to uninstall Candy Crush etc. permanently, I would have stopped using Win 10 long ago, and I would also have been saying "Windows 10 is garbage" at every opportunity on this forum and elsewhere. The fact that I like Win 10 and have been using it as my primary OS for over 3 years tells you that I was able to uninstall Candy Crush and other useless apps permanently.

[madicetea]

Ugh what a troublesome series of steps we are made to undertake.

[pianowizard]

Even then, there is a limit to what can be uninstalled

That's why I said "you can uninstall nearly all the apps within CCleaner". The ones that I can't install, I hide their icons from the Start Menu, and also change the Privacy settings to prevent them from doing anything in the background.

OneDrive esp has a way of returning from the grave and then bothering you with promotional offers (localised!) to buy an Office365 subscription for yourself.

I have never seen promotional offers of any kind from any of Windows 10's apps. I don't uninstall OneDrive, but instead go to settings to tell it to not start automatically. After that, I never see it again.

I don't understand why so many people have all these issues with Win 10. Am I just so much better at configuring operating systems and apps than most people, even on this forum full of computer wizzes? If these issues affected me, I too would avoid Win 10 like the plague. It's true that Win 10 is harder to configure than previous versions of Windows, but it's not rocket science either. BTW, I use Windows 10 Pro, not Enterprise, and I change settings simply through Win 10's and the apps' menus. I don't do anything fancy such as modifying the Windows registry.

If Windows 10 really is so difficult for most users to set up, Microsoft should publish step-by-step instructions.

[GomJabbar]

I have never seen promotional offers of any kind from any of Windows 10's apps. I don't uninstall OneDrive, but instead go to settings to tell it to not start automatically. After that, I never see it again.

I don't understand why so many people have all these issues with Win 10. Am I just so much better at configuring operating systems and apps than most people, even on this forum full of computer wizzes? If these issues affected me, I too would avoid Win 10 like the plague. It's true that Win 10 is harder to configure than previous versions of Windows, but it's not rocket science either. BTW, I use Windows 10 Pro, not Enterprise, and I change settings simply through Win 10's and the apps' menus. I don't do anything fancy such as modifying the Windows registry.

That's similar to my experience with Windows 10 Pro. It took a little getting used to, navigating to places and features that I used in Windows 7. After that, I really don't mind Windows 10.

I do not use Cortana, One Drive, or the games, but I have not done anything special to disable them either. I have not mucked around in the registry at all. I have not seen any advertisements that I recall, and I do actually enjoy the interesting world nature scenes that appear at login, and that change every few days.

[GrifterGuru]

For the main part my issue is not with the UI **, it is with the need to constantly chase and keep switched off all the "call home" crap that M$ insist on within W10.

That, and the fact I have better things to do than mess with an install that should not have needed so much attention in the first place.


** I used ClassicShell and Shutup10 when I tried it after my E5500 "auto updated" to 10 when it was first pushed.