WTF is happening with Windows 10? And nothing else
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The Old Blood came out about 4 months ago, so GeForce Experience has been broken at least that long.
Does that really surprise you?
GeForce Experience is the program that can't upgrade itself on my PC without killing the nVidia system tray utility on Windows 7... until I install/reinstall the nVidia drivers and choose "Clean Install" from the options.
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GeForce Experience is the program that can't upgrade itself on my PC without killing the nVidia system tray utility on Windows 7
does that on 8.1 too.
the only reason i installed it was to play around with shadowplay, and now i regret doing so....
it's a piece of turd!
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GPU drivers have always been close to unusable. Pretty much all 3D apps ship with driver blacklists and bug workarounds because otherwise things just don't work. For years things like WebGL (giving 3D capabilities to untrusted code) were considered impossible because the drivers had basically no security (I don't know how they solved that). And I seem to recall a statistic that almost 50% of Windows crashes (in the XP era) were caused by GPU drivers.
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GPU drivers have always been close to unusable.
they also have a history of lying to benchmarks.
several drivers have had custom code that detects wehn benchmarks are being run against them and do crazy things like noop out half the calls to give the apperance of faster rendering.
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It wasn't just one of the two either.
Both nVidia and ATI were caught doing this in the early 2000s... ATI by lowering texture quality if the executable was named
quake3.exe1 and nVidia by lowering the anisotropic filtering quality if the executable was named3dmark03.exe2.1Benchmarks/screenshots were compared based on
quake3.exevsquack3.exe.
2Benchmarks were compared between3dmark03.exevs3dmurk03.exe.
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that's not the only time they were caught at that IIRC.
but yeah. There are Lies, Damn Lies, and then there are Benchmarks.
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that's not the only time they were caught at that IIRC.
but yeah. There are Lies, Damn Lies, and then there are Benchmarks.
I was just quoting an example... a really obvious one for each at that.
Checking the executable filename? Really?
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Does that really surprise you?
Actually yes. The driver installer part is the only part of it that (until recently) actually worked.
The part where it downloads "optimal" settings for games is hilariously awful-- have you ever tried applying any of those settings? Every single game, it makes the graphics into a fucking MESS. And it almost always does that "render the game much higher than native, then have the GPU downscale it" option that makes every game simultaneously look like ass and run significantly slower.
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Checking the executable filename? Really?
There's a whole range of nasty things that rely on doing that; there's a long history of doing it.
I've yet to find an emoticon that conveys what I think about this.
and 
are too tame.
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I don't see why it's so objectionable. They do the same for actual games.
Every patch note, you'll see stuff like, "improves performance on Tomb Raider by 13% on outdoor areas", etc.
So since they're putting in specialized code for actual games, when people buy the card for game performance, why not let them put in specialized code for benchmarks, when people buy the card for benchmark performance?
The only problem in my mind is if they alter the benchmark so that it's "cheating" (for example, they change it somehow so it draws fewer polygons to the screen.)
Remember the old Blakeyrat motto that Boomzilla's going to come in here and blow a gasket over: the driver is the hardware. When you buy the NVidia card, you also buy the NVidia driver-- what's so wrong and objectionable about NVidia optimizing both?
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Anyway, there's a tool for blocking updates now, so problem solved.
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I've yet to find an emoticon that conveys what I think about this.
yeah. for me i think it's a cross between:
and
with maybe a little of
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When you buy the NVidia card, you also buy the NVidia driver-- what's so wrong and objectionable about NVidia optimizing both?
That doesn't bother me. Using the filename to decide what to do, that bothers me.
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I don't see why it's so objectionable. They do the same for actual games.
no they don't.
or rather they do but the reasons are different.
In the case of optimizing the games they are making those decisions in order to improve user experience on their hardware.
In the case of "optimizing" benchmarks by ignoring render requests x% of the time, is LYING to the user in order to inflate benchmark numbers.
the optimization efforts i don't object to . the lying i do.
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In the case of "optimizing" benchmarks by ignoring render requests x% of the time, is LYING to the user in order to inflate benchmark numbers.
I already said I'm against it if they do it to cheat.
Hey, maybe read ALL of my post before replying.
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Then maybe they should actually control the version numbers on their software?
Go tell them, not me.
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I already said I'm against it if they do it to cheat.
and good for you, but you'll notice that i didn't comment on that part of your comment, rather on the part that said the game optimizations and the benchmark optimizations were the same thing.
My comment was directed at a single part of your comment, a part that happened to be in the beginning of your comment and was not significantly modified by later statements.
would it make you happier if i quoted something from the end of your comment next time too, jsust to show you i actually read the whole thing?
Hey, maybe read ALL of my post before replying.
I did. did you read and understand mine?
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would it make you happier
No.
I did. did you read and understand mine?
Yeah, you're making excuses for not reading my post the first time. Got it.
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No.
well then, i guess i'll just keep quoting only the relevant sections of your posts when i reply to them
Yeah, [snip]. Got it.
No, i don't think you do. Either that or you do and you're just trying to wind me up again.
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Either that or you do and you're just trying to wind me up again.
That is, after all, his raison d'ĂŞtre.
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Just finished installing it. Pretty painless.
It feels quite smooth so far but has already committed the far-too-common mistake of setting the store's currency based on my language rather than my location.
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I'm installing it now in a VM. The thing I want to know is how deep do I need to let MS stick its cock into my mouth in terms of integration with their cloud. And is it worth it.
Will let you know.
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Very good first impressions so far.
Best looking Windows to date. Modern apps can finally be used normally in a Windowed mode. They got rid of all the mouse gesture crap. I was afraid they'd leave the awful network interface sidebar (see my first post on WTDWTF), but they fixed that too. Even fucking IE in new clothes is nice.
Problems? Some modern apps glitched a bit, but that was probably due to VM. One Get needs more work. Also:
Come on, Microsoft! Don't hide the sound mixer. Nothing to be ashamed of there!
Seems like you can still use "local account" without issues. I might even give MS integration a try, if Cortana turns out useful.
Unless bad reviews start poring in, I'm switching as soon as possible.
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Cortana turns out useful
It's pretty nice. I think Win+I or something launches in voice mode, and Win+S in text mode, and there's some kind of crazy browser integration in Edge (Type weather in the URL bar or something).
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It's pretty nice. I think Win+I or something launches in voice mode, and Win+S in text mode, and there's some kind of crazy browser integration in Edge (Type weather in the URL bar or something).
Sigh. I restarted the machine and was immediately reminded why I opted out of this crap in the first place. I hate Hate HATE the idea of logging into my machine using an online account.
I wouldn't mind it if I could work under a local account and use MS account in parallel. Gather my data, whatever. Just let me have my own account for my own PC.
But noooo. As usual, Microsoft HAD to take that one step too far and shoot themselves in the foot. So now I'm switching over to local account, even though I'm genuinely interested in their online ecosystem. Idiots.
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So far I've seen one minor bug (Cortana microphone button background shows old colour when you click an empty space on the Start menu) and one big one (Skype can't be closed without using Task Manager) but the rest is nice. I haven't restarted since the install finished though so they might fix themselves.
Not too fond of the new UAC noise, though, and the photo app doesn't move through the pics with the left/right keys like it used to.
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Seems like you can still use "local account" without issues. I might even give MS integration a try, if Cortana turns out useful.
Cortana is amazingly useful on Windows Phones, I can't imagine it'd somehow be worse on a desktop.
I understand you need a mic that can noise-cancel, though. (Meaning: a stereo mic. Most modern computers and webcams have these, but a significant number of cheap laptops still do not.)
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Here we go, the upsell begins...
Why couldn't Microsoft manage to become a gadgets company like Apple, and instead had to settle for a services peddler, like Google?
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.... whose else's?
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Why couldn't Microsoft manage to become a gadgets company like Apple,
Right because it's so possible to use Apple products without an Apple ID.
Meanwhile, here in the real world, Apple required an Apple ID to log into to their OS (by default) long before Windows 8 was even on the planning board. But obviously Microsoft is worse. Because... reasons.
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Good to know the Win95 cruft is still there, underneath the shiny surface. Unchanging. Eternal.
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Dude. Deprecated shit isn't worth effort to improve.
We've discussed this before. What feels like a dozen times.
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Right because it's so possible to use Apple products without an Apple ID.
Meanwhile, here in the real world, Apple required an Apple ID to log into to their OS (by default) long before Windows 8 was even on the planning board. But obviously Microsoft is worse. Because... reasons.
Bottom line, they don't make me wonder if I'll be able to log into my computer if internet goes down or there's an attack on their servers. They make it feel like services are an extra, on top of the offline computer that is mine.
MS account branding makes it look like I logged into their site and am just a guest there. Like they own my entire environment. I wouldn't mind it too much on a phone, but desktop needs to feel more like a home.
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Dude. Deprecated shit isn't worth effort to improve.
We've discussed this before. What feels like a dozen times.
Tell that to 100 popular technologies that make you go there and enter things into these tiny textboxes.
Right or wrong, this is what a bunch of people decided to use. MS better de-deprecate this pretty quickly if they want me to work using their platform.
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I think you have psychological issues if you have this many emotions around logging in.
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Tell that to 100 popular technologies that make you go there and enter things into these tiny textboxes.
I haven't had to do that in probably a decade. Maybe you're using shitty broken technologies.
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So, my computer has two sata cables, but three ports. I thought I'd get one more so I can keep my old hard drive inside the thing. Figured, BestBuy sold me an SSD, and they have the things on their site, they've GOT to have SATA cables!
...Nope. You can buy hard drives. You just can't install them.
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But noooo. As usual, Microsoft HAD to take that one step too far and shoot themselves in the foot. So now I'm switching over to local account, even though I'm genuinely interested in their online ecosystem. Idiots.
Fortunately, you can log in to store apps individually. The downside is you have to log in to them individually.
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Bottom line, they don't make me wonder if I'll be able to log into my computer if internet goes down
Hey, here's a crazy idea: unplug your network cable and try to log in.
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igured, BestBuy sold me an SSD, and they have the things on their site, they've GOT to have SATA cables!
Urrrr?
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SATA cables are the responsibility of the company that sold you the disk controller (99.9% of the time, your motherboard provider.)
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https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/3f10k0/things_to_removedisable_in_windows_10/
Noting this for future reference
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Bottom line, they don't make me wonder if I'll be able to log into my computer if internet goes down or there's an attack on their servers. They make it feel like services are an extra, on top of the offline computer that is mine.
FWIW, Windows 8(.1) did allow you to log in to your computer with an online-enabled account even if there was no internet connection (and assuming you had set up/connected that account to the machine at least once before).
I can't imagine that they changed this for Windows 10, that would be ridiculously stupid.
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Apple required an Apple ID to log into to their OS
Wut?
(by default)
The main difference seems to be that they're more subtle about the upsell than Win 10 appears to be (going by reports here). I certainly don't remember ever having to tell the system to not ask about it, but I might have said that I didn't want to make/use one during initial setup.
The thing you need it for is accessing the Store (or one of the more optional services) for things other than updates to OS components. I don't like their store, but there's a few things in there that it was useful for me to get (notably a compiler suite, unfortunately part of Xcode). You also need one if you use their online storage or the itunes store. All these things are âwell duhâ.
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<aside class="quote">http://winaero.com/blog/get-colored-title-bars-in-windows-10/Before we start, let me explain why window title bars are white in Windows 10. Inside the uDWM.dll file, there is a check which compares the theme file name to aero.msstyles. If it matches aero.msstyles, it ignores the color and sets it to white.
</aside>
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why window title bars are white in Windows 10. Inside the uDWM.dll file, there is a check which compares the theme file name to aero.msstyles. If it matches aero.msstyles, it ignores the color and sets it to white.
That explains how. Not why.
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Wi-Fi Sense in Windows 10: Yes, it shares your passkeys; no, you shouldnât be scared
You have to manually opt into every Wi-Fi network that you want to share.
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Wut?
Way back on OS X 10.4, and I installed this on my own computer so don't try to bullshit me, the account setup was a gigantic link that said, "USE APPLEID TO LOG IN" and then there was a tiny-ass link in the corner that said, "log in without AppleID." The exact same thing people were bitching about in Windows 8, except for 4 years earlier.
The main difference seems to be that they're more subtle about the upsell
What upsell? Both AppleIDs and Microsoft Accounts don't cost anything.
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Remember the old Blakeyrat motto that Boomzilla's going to come in here and blow a gasket over: the driver is the hardware.
<stage_whisper>Line?</stage_whisper>
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If you run a Wi-Fi network and you want to prevent Windows 10 (or Windows Phone) users from sharing the passkey via Wi-Fi Sense, you can add _optout to the end of the network SSID. Microsoft notes that, even if you opt out in this way, "It can take several days for your network to be added to the opted-out list for Wi-Fi Sense."
This is where they got it all wrong.
It should be that only networks with SSIDs ending with_optin opt in to Wi-Fi Sense (still a retarded mechanism but oh well); there shouldn't be a blacklist of networks opting out, but instead a whitelist of networks opting in.
But no, they've put the burden of not having to deal with their shit out on everyone else.
