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Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard
Windows Update came roaring back today [Mar 7] after more than a month in a semi-comatose state, and the chute filled up quickly this morning. Windows Update seems to be working well -- even more reason to check your Win7 and 8.1 systems and make sure it's turned off
[...] More disconcerting are the re-re-releases of KB 2952664 (Win7) and KB 2976978 (Win8.1). As I explained last month, those two patches have, in the past, triggered a new Windows task called DoScheduledTelemetryRun.
Even proponents of installing all Win7 and 8.1 patches balk at those patches, which were born in the crucible of the Get Windows 10 (GWX) marched upgrade madness. The series was renumbered, with no explanation: KB 2852664 was renumbered from revision 25 on Oct. 4, 2016, to revision 12 today. Microsoft states:
This update performs diagnostics on the Windows systems that participate in the Windows Customer Experience Improvement Program. The diagnostics evaluate the compatibility status of the Windows ecosystem, and help Microsoft to ensure application and device compatibility for all updates to Windows. There is no GWX or upgrade functionality contained in this update.
Yet it appears as if the scheduled task runs whether CEIP is enabled or not. If there's a reason for installing the patches, other than increased telemetry, I haven't heard about it.
(Score: 2) by JeanCroix on Friday March 10 2017, @05:38PM (9 children)
It's been probably twelve years since I had linux on any of my personal machines (it was Ubuntu back then), so I'm kind of out of the loop when it comes to "what's good" these days. I'm more of a clued user, not really an admin type, so what's out there now that's robust and relatively easy to install and maintain, for the non-expert?
(Score: 2) by NewNic on Friday March 10 2017, @05:51PM
My personal preference is Linux Mint with MATE. This is the a (fork of GNOME2) desktop, not one of the desktop styles that want to force you into having only one window occupying all the desktop space.
lib·er·tar·i·an·ism ˌlibərˈterēənizəm/ noun: Magical thinking that useful idiots mistake for serious political theory
(Score: 2) by Nerdfest on Friday March 10 2017, @06:06PM (2 children)
The Mint recommentation above is good. I don't use MATE, but loved Gnome 2. Might be light enough on that older machine too. If not, try Xubuntu. Ubuntu variants are great for supporting hardware. I've actually had better support than Windows in most cases (but with a small sample size). I don'tlike the full-scree apps thing either, and use Kubuntu, but your machine may be a touch old to get great performance. It's both functional an pretty, but definitely a heavier desktop than Xfce.
You can always just install Ubuntu or Mint and install all of the desktops to try them out. They're not that big and you just pick one to use at login time.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Friday March 10 2017, @06:27PM
Gonna pop in here with Manjaro, and xfce.
Gonna pop out with..... oh, you don't want to see that.
:)
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by julian on Friday March 10 2017, @07:27PM
Ubuntu variants are great for supporting hardware.
They use newer kernels compared to more conservative distros like Debian and aren't so ideological as to not include "non-free" firmware. It does help a lot to get things up and running at first boot.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday March 10 2017, @07:46PM
If you can handle the install, Arch is excellent, and despite its supposed instability I've never had it crash on me. Haven't had it break anything irreparably for over 6 years either, and that was my own fault for not keeping on top of the documentation. You can make something stupidly quick and lean if you know what you're doing. My work machine is an old HP laptop a customer donated. It runs Xfce with some custom work and looks very much like OS X 10.9. Zippy as hell, especially with the CK kernel installed :)
Debian is also always a good choice, though you may prefer Testing to Stable; don't worry, in Debian speak Testing means Stable and Stable means "I've got vinyls newer than that."
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 10 2017, @08:24PM
Mint has been mentioned multiple times.
By the count at DistroWatch, it's the most popular and has been for ages.
There are millions of current/former users who will tell you that you can't go too far wrong starting with it.
Going from most-resource-demanding to least, the "editions" offered go something like this: Cinnamon, KDE, MATE, Xfce.
Another distro that is popular with refugees coming from Windoze is Zorin.
To finance what they do, they also offer a payware version with some extra bells and whistles.
A bunch of folks have called elementary OS the most beautiful distro.
All 3 of those are based on Ubuntu.
Q4OS is Debian-based and some refugees coming from Windoze find it a nice comfortable fit.
.
Recently, I've seen Manjaro called the most beautiful distro by some folks.
It's based on Arch Linux, so that's going a different direction.
.
For other folks with a similar question but less/no previous hands-on with Linux, martyb asked a similar question in July 2015.
There was a particularly useful comment there by AC #207045. [soylentnews.org]
There was another good one by frojack. (Same page) [soylentnews.org]
My reply to him is pretty good too.
The whole (meta)thread is a good read for Linux beginners.
...and, of course, use live media to try several and see what tickles -your- fancy without having to install anything.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by inertnet on Friday March 10 2017, @10:22PM (2 children)
I made that switch a little over a year ago and picked LMDE (Linux Mint Debian Edition), originally with Cinnamon desktop but I moved to the Mate desktop after that. Recommended.
(Score: 2) by zeigerpuppy on Saturday March 11 2017, @03:51AM (1 child)
Mint Debian edition is really good.
Debian has had plenty good driver support for ages.
I tried elementary OS, It's nice but not as polished as mint, and you'll need to configure some settings using config files.
Try to stick with popular hardware, especially graphics cards and read a few reviews before purchasing peripherals.
Most newer printers, for instance, support linux but occassionally drivers can require a bit of knowledge to install. I've had good experiences with mid range Lexmark and Brother Laser Printers.
You'll love linux after a bit of ititial frustration. Get onto forums and use your search engine, nearly all problems have already been encountered and linux forums (esp. Debian ones) udually provide sane advice.
(Score: 1) by terryk30 on Saturday March 11 2017, @05:53PM
...nearly all problems have already been encountered and linux forums... udually provide sane advice.
I'll underscore that by contrasting it to Windows problems: many of them have also been encountered, but it's seemed to me that for any given problem the advice on forums often varies significantly enough that I no longer have much confidence that any given solution will work, and due to the often sketchy explanations or discussion of what's really going on, it's hard (as a reasonably competent but non-guru of Windows) to even judge which ones are worth trying.
For those times I "have" to use Windows, it's gotten to the point where after a bit of googling I now trust my sense of when trying to solve a problem would be an hours-down-the-rabbithole waste of time, and just work around it instead (as just another annoyance).