Downgraded to W10... better start menu available?

[Gasser64]

Well so far, this best represents my experience going from W7, to W10:





That right there sums it up.

Where do I start? When it updates, it says "Screw you, user. Screw you. We're changing all your settings". Next, they come up with some 1/4 brained idea for the start menu. Which, I thought I could fix. And I did, until one of their wonderful --forced up your ass-- updates came along. That ruined that for me. Now I'm back to their cluster fuck mess of a start menu. The "Classic Shell" program, no longer works you see. I can't figure out how exactly to blame them. Is it gross negligence, epic incompetence, or evil corporate greed? If they weren't so lazy I'd say it was all 3. But given their history, they can't even be credited with that. This feels pretty far beyond the standard "Learning a new OS blues". I used linux for a few years and even during that transition, it didn't feel this irritating.

Alright now that I'm done ranting, does anyone know of a good start menu changer for 2017? With the latest updates from microsoft (one wonders why the company is named after their genitals) you can't use the Classic Shell changer anymore.

[Tx Redneck]

10 took some getting used to for me, but I prefer it now to 7. I never used 8 on my own machines, but worked on other ppls and loathed every minute of it.

Look up Win10PrivacyFix It doesn't change the start menu, but it will bring back functionality that you're accustomed to. Also, you can uninstall most of the "ads" that M$ put in the start menu via CCleaner.

[Gasser64]

Thanks for the link. Another good one is Spybot Anti beacon. But I'm beginning to suspect that every time you run anti beacon, it triggers another windows 10 update. Which of course, turns most of those settings back on. I've had an awful lot of updates lately.

I even uninstalled some of the actual services via the command line. They don't want to submit this time lol. You kill it and it just keeps coming back. I wouldn't bother switching to W10, but finally at long last, W7 is beginning to show its age and some functionality is beginning to suffer. People playing some games, don't notice crashes in W10 and others using W7 are having the crashes. Some programs of course work better in W10, since that's the new baby and its what they're going to be working on instead of W7 or 8.

I do still play modern games and correct me if I'm wrong here, but iirc Direct X 12 (or is it 13 now) won't be available for W7. Like it or not I am finally getting forced to go to W10. Just need to figure out a way to wrench control of it away from M$. Which is becoming obvious to me, that users doing that is something they desperately don't want.

You can't even use the registry to reroute away from bing. It detects that and overrides the registry entry. That's a good example of their "its really our OS not yours" mentality. I'm starting to think that they only way I'm going to be able to live with W10, is if I use my router to somehow block it from being able to update.

[Tx Redneck]

You're correct in that DX12 isn't in 7 and to the latter about it being "their OS", with 10,they've gone the way of OSaaS, so it's a completely different model than before.

[Jose]

10 took some getting used to for me, but I prefer it now to 7. I never used 8 on my own machines, but worked on other ppls and loathed every minute of it.

Look up Win10PrivacyFix It doesn't change the start menu, but it will bring back functionality that you're accustomed to. Also, you can uninstall most of the "ads" that M$ put in the start menu via CCleaner.

If you are recommending it, I'm biting. Downloading and installing.

[Tx Redneck]

If you are recommending it, I'm biting. Downloading and installing.

I can't take credit for it, Tony(Roliath) turned me on to it a while back.

[Gasser64]

Beware, some of them actually install adware/spyware. I can't say if that one does, (likey not since its paid) but there was one guy who tested a boatload of them and all but a few turn off those settings in windows 10, and then proceed to install their own.

Check the settings once again, each and every time after you update. You'll notice most of them are back on.

[Tx Redneck]

I'm confident that it doesn't foist adware, I'd never recommend something that did.

[ram57ta]

I was very hesitant to upgrade from 7 to 10 so I did it only on one of my laptops...after a learning curve and figuring things out...I must admit that I eventually decided to go with 10 on all of my computers. It runs pretty good once you figure it out. I still have a Macbook Pro that I use..but I can't really complain about Windows 10 after using it for about 9 months.

[Gasser64]

I must admit that it does seem "quicker" than W7. Its also lighter, taking up less room on the hard drive. I want to like it. It does seem like a lot of people are just fine with it sending a bunch of data off to M$ for them to sell. Hell I'll tell you what, microsoft. You cut me a check, lets say 50% each time you sell my data, since I'm the one doing all the generating here. Then we'll talk about letting you monitor for advertising. It may have been somewhat less questionable when they were offering the OS for free, but now its $119.

[Tx Redneck]

It's a sad reality that pretty much anything we do is "tracked, tallied and monetized" these days if you participate in the reality that is this digital life.

There are some services I trust more than others, but I'm the end, I think it's a wash on who's more benevolent with our info.

[Gasser64]

Yes that is all true and I just don't like it.

So now I'd like to ask if know much about router firewalls? From my limited reading on that subject, it seems that you should be able to set up a "router firewall" and be able to block the OS from being able to send anything. And thus not have to care about their tracking or the settings the OS feels like turning on that day. Since none of it would be able to get through anyway.