Windows 10?

[Rick Danger]

Some chatter on the web concerning enabling "God Mode" in Windows 10 as a way of quickly uncovering hidden features and controls. I found the accompanying article on the website RedmondPie.com.

But "God Mode" is nothing new: it's been around since the rollout of Windows Vista. "God Mode", is also known as "Windows Master Control Panel shortcut" or "All Tasks". By creating a folder with a certain name, users have access to all of the operating system's control panels from within a single folder. The hack was published outside of Microsoft documentation in 2007.

There have been some reports that using this method may cause unexpected results or repeated crashes, e.g., with 64-bit Windows Vista versions. In 64-bit Vista, creating a GodMode folder will cause Explorer to repeatedly crash and restart, requiring that the user boot into Safe Mode to delete the folder. Microsoft stated that they were unable to reproduce this error.

I tried it on my Windows 8.1 laptop. The GodMode folder contains 249 controls grouped under numerous headings like "Action Center", "Administrative Tools", "Credential Manager", "Family Safety", "File History", "Power Options", "RemoteApp and Desktop Connections", "Sound", and "User Accounts". The "Ease of Access Center" has the most items (26), followed by "System" (21).



While at first glance there doesn't appear to be anything here I haven't seen before the fact that I don't have to use multiple clicks digging through Control Panel to me makes this a useful feature. That's assuming there are no hidden stability issues using it under Windows 8.1. Apparently one reason why "GodMode" isn't mentioned more frequently is that it has been speculated that it would be eliminated in every new version of Windows since Vista. Also, while I found mention that malicious software can exploit GUID-based shortcuts I haven't found anything referencing such exploits.

I am NOT recommending this. Certainly if something bad happens, I'll post it. Also, if you are uncomfortable with modifying system settings or have no familiarity with Windows Control Panel in any versions, this is definitely not for you.


How To Enable GodMode In Windows 10
By Paul Morris | August 4th, 2015

If you’re a hardcore Windows fan who likes to keep up with all of the features and functionality of Microsoft’s OS, especially those intricacies that the company has chosen not to tell you about, then the chances are that you already knew about the hidden "GodMode". This was the term given to a special folder containing links to a multitude of settings throughout the Windows system, and has been present in the last three major versions of Windows. Thankfully, especially for those that like to tinker with some forbidden settings, the rather powerful sounding GodMode is still present in Windows 10.

It’s also relatively simple to initiate GodMode in Microsoft’s latest OS as per previous versions of Windows.

Enabling GodMode in Windows 10:

Step 1: Right click on the Windows 10 desktop and select the option titled New, then Folder, to instruct the operating system to create a new desktop located folder item.

Step 2: Make sure the newly created folder is given this special name: GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

Step 3: Hit the Enter/Return key to create the folder with the given name. This will automatically turn the folder into a special GodMode folder.

Step 4: Double click as usual to enter into the newly created "GodMode" folder. Once created, this special folder will have a veritable smorgasbord of settings for over forty categories, including things like Work Folder, User Accounts, Windows Defender, Windows Mobility Center etc. Of course, it’s worth remembering that as with previous versions of Windows, an individual user’s mileage may vary from the settings included within the special folder depending on the hardware that’s running within the machine. It’s also worth noting that the system account used to create and name the folder will need to have full administrative privileges for this to work.

Windows 10 has been available as a free upgrade to Windows 7 and 8.1 users for the best part of a week now. It’s immediately apparent that the improvements within have resonated with users. The arrival of GodMode was an inevitable one given how power users have already started digging into the OS to unearth features that Microsoft would rather not tell us about.

http://www.redmondpie.com/how-to-ena...in-windows-10/

[tsunamiSD]

Has anyone already upgraded to Windows 10? If so, what do you think of it? All the early reviews that I saw really liked it, then I started hearing rumblings about privacy problems, with articles like this one:

Broken Windows Theory - A Privacy Nightmare...

Windows 10 is the operating system Microsoft needs. In other words, it’s not Windows 8, a Frankenstein’s monster of a tablet-plus-desktop OS that alienated everyone from PC manufacturers to corporate users. Instead, Windows 10 is an incremental improvement on Windows 7, one that is faster, slicker, and has some new bells and whistles, like virtual desktops and functional tablet support. One of Windows 10’s leaps, unfortunately, is straight into your personal data.

Apple and Google may have ignited the trend of collecting increasing amounts of their customers’ information, but with Windows 10, Microsoft has officially joined that race. By default, Windows 10 gives itself the right to pass loads of your data to Microsoft’s servers, use your bandwidth for Microsoft’s own purposes, and profile your Windows usage. Despite the accolades Microsoft has earned for finally doing its job, Windows 10 is currently a privacy morass in dire need of reform.

[grudie]

have windows 10 enterprise on my sons alienware laptop and its ok .......boots quicker than 7 (i skipped 8 and 8.1) prefer the look of 7 tho

tried it on my mac pro with bootcamp and no dice after a few seconds it blue screens with a cache_memory error..... not sure what causes it and not going to waste any more time trying to work it out..... its either the 2 raid cards or the mac drives themselves i think but as i need all the drives accessible then its back to windows 7 for when i really really have to use it ...which thankfully is not often :-)

[Rick Danger]

Self explanatory......................

MorningStar.com

Microsoft Turns In a Big Loss
07/21/15 04:35 PM EDT

Microsoft Corp. turned in an upside-down financial report for its fiscal fourth quarter, showing weakness in its usually robust corporate-software division but strength in some consumer-technology areas that are traditionally middling.

It also reported a $3.2 billion quarterly loss, a departure for a company that typically generates reliable profit. The loss resulted from $8.4 billion in previously announced charges and layoffs in the company's struggling mobile-phone operation, which Microsoft acquired last year from Nokia Corp.

"I am proud of the results we delivered," Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella said on a conference call with analysts.

Indeed, beyond the mobile carnage, results for the three months ended June 30 were better than analysts had expected—but sales growth came from less-profitable areas that Wall Street cares little about.

The company's shares were down 3.9% to $45.45 in after-hours trading on Tuesday. In 4 p.m. trading, Microsoft's shares were up 36 cents to $47.28.

Revenue was strong from some products targeted largely at the consumer market. Sales of the Surface tablet, for instance, more than doubled from a year earlier to $888 million, and sales of Xbox game consoles and associated videogame revenue rose 27%. But that wasn't enough to generate increases in consumer divisions in total, as revenue fell 13%. Windows revenue took a hit as fewer people bought new personal computers and sales sagged in the unprofitable mobile-phone business.

Investors tend to overlook Microsoft's consumer divisions, where profit margins are lower than in its business products and services. But Microsoft needs its consumer-focused areas to do well as it prepares for next week's launch of Windows 10, the latest version of its operating system for PCs, tablets and smartphones.

For the first time in the company's history, Microsoft is letting many people with existing computers upgrade to the latest Windows free of charge. To make up the lost revenue, the company is counting on selling those customers add-ons like PC videogames, Office and Web-search ads. This will be a test for Microsoft, which historically hasn't been successful selling add-on services to consumer PC users.

Most of Microsoft's profit comes from sales of Windows, Office, databases and other corporate software. Total sales of those and other products sold to businesses rose 0.2% to $13.53 billion in the fourth quarter—the slowest growth pace in at least two years. The revenue growth was undermined in part by a strong U.S. dollar and tough comparisons to a Windows sales surge last year.

Revenue growth cooled a bit in Microsoft's closely watched "cloud" software business, including Web-friendly versions of Office for businesses and the Azure computing infrastructure service. Cloud software sales rose 88% from a year ago, but those big gains represent a slowdown from prior quarters' greater-than-100% growth rates.

"Cloud was strong in the quarter, although some of the bulls were hoping for a bigger number, and that could be weighing on shares," FBR Capital Markets analyst Daniel Ives said in an email Tuesday.

Overall in the quarter, Microsoft's loss came to $3.2 billion, or 40 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier net income of $4.6 billion, or 55 cents a share. Excluding the Nokia-related accounting charges and some costs for prior layoffs, Microsoft said earnings came to 62 cents a share. The average estimate of Wall Street analysts called for the company to post earnings, excluding the Nokia charges, of 56 cents a share.

Revenue fell 5.1% to $22.18 billion. Excluding effects from the strong U.S. dollar, revenue fell 2%. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected revenue of $22.03 billion.

Write to Shira Ovide at shira.ovide@wsj.com


Business.FinancialPost.com

Microsoft Corp to axe 7,800 jobs, take US$7.6B writedown on Nokia business it acquired just 14 months ago

Adam Ewing and Dina Bass, Bloomberg News | July 8, 2015 12:09 PM ET

Microsoft Corp. plans to cut as many as 7,800 jobs and write down about US$7.6 billion on its Nokia phone- handset unit, wiping out nearly all of the value of a business it acquired just 14 months ago.

The company also will record a restructuring charge of about US$750 million to US$850 million as it reorganizes its phone-hardware business under Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella, the Redmond, Washington-based company said in a statement Wednesday. Microsoft had about 120,000 employees at the end of March.

“In the near-term, we’ll run a more effective and focused phone portfolio while retaining capability for long-term reinvention in mobility,” Nadella said in the statement. The company will scale back its mobile ambitions from focusing on selling as many mobile devices as possible to concentrating on a narrower mission and set of customers to support the Windows device market, he said. Nadella wasn’t more specific and spokesman Pete Wootton declined to comment further.

The latest round of job cuts — which include 2,300 in Finland, where Nokia is based — come a year after Microsoft said it would let go of 18,000 employees, and less than two weeks after the company announced plans to exit the Web display advertising business. Since becoming CEO last year, Nadella has been acquiring mobile and cloud software makers, and cutting units not central to his strategy.

Last month, the 47-year-old executive made his biggest overhaul since taking over, revamping his leadership team to reflect a focus on three areas: personal computing, cloud platforms and productivity and business processes. As part of that announcement, Stephen Elop, the former CEO of the Nokia handset business that Microsoft bought last year, would step down.
Akos Stiller/Bloomberg

Nokia Purchase

Microsoft purchased Nokia’s handset business in April 2014 for US$9.5 billion, including US$1.5 billion in acquired cash. Seven months earlier, then-CEO Steve Ballmer announced plans to acquire the Finland-based unit as a last-ditch effort to gain users for Microsoft’s Windows Phone software, which had been languishing at less than five per cent of the market for mobile operating systems.

The deal hasn’t boosted Windows Phone’s market share, however, and Microsoft loses money on every phone it sells, even before accounting for research and development and sales and marketing. Before Wednesday, the business had cut more than 10,000 jobs.

The writedown is Microsoft’s biggest since a US$6.2 billion charge in 2012 on the purchase of Internet ad company AQuantive Inc. It took five years for the Redmond, Washington-based company to record the AQuantive charge.

[Rick Danger]

Windows 10 upgrade spam contains malware

Hackers are taking advantage of the waiting list for Windows 10 upgrades by sending spam containing an attachment with what is supposedly the upgrade, but actually is a form of ransomware called CBT-Locker. The malware encrypts the user’s hard drive, and demands payment in Bitcoin within 96 hours to receive the encryption key.

Cisco Talos researchers have published a blog that describes ways of identifying the malicious messages. Any such messages should be deleted; Microsoft does not distribute its software via email.

[pigulici]

I am not sure if this was posted, but here are some for those who have Win 10 and want privacy(I am still not sure if this block all):

https://fix10.isleaked.com

[Rick Danger]

While this article was written back in February of 2012, it does shed light on how the lack of forward thinking at Microsoft dictates today's strategic direction. Microsoft's misreading of the smartphone industry, it's being two steps behind Apple and others first in rolling out new products and technologies like the iPad and then in recognizing and championing fundamental change in the marketplace (smart apps, app stores). Leaders become winners by crossing the finish line first. Nobody has even won a race by bringing up the rear.......

Even now at this critical juncture it seems Microsoft would rather rely on catchy marketing slogans and a squad of cheerleaders proclaiming how great they are (and howling down anyone who dares to question..........) then facing up to the challenges at hand and it's customer base with truth and real effort.

Like so many US companies in both technology and non-technology industries Microsoft has committed the fundamental error of holding on to long and too hard of prior success, too long standing in the mirror and patting themselves on the back while totally missing dynamic changes in both technology and product delivery paradigms. But as I have said before, we've seen this before time and time again: IBM, DEC, Lotus. So many companies in the past that you wonder DOES ANYONE EVER LEARN FROM HISTORY ?

It amazes me that "Captains of Industry" can amass personal fortunes while running good companies into the ground. In Microsoft's case 25,000 employees and eventually it's customers will wind up paying the bill........

Microsoft-Nokia: A Tale of Two Broken Business Models
The launch of the Lumia line marks the pivotal point in the Microsoft-Nokia partnership. But how successful will it be? VisionMobile Strategy Director Michael Vakulenko voices his concerns about the partnership between Nokia and Microsoft.

By Michael Vakulenko - VisionMobile.com

VisionMobile: Nokia + Microsoft: A tale of two broken business models
[updated] Nokia and Microsoft are fighting two very different battles: Microsoft is trying to protect its aging PC software licensing business. Nokia, on the other hand, fights to survive as a as a handset manufacturer, hoping to see profits of the smartphone business. There is one thing in common, though: Both were disrupted by fundamental shifts in the mobile industry.

The basis for competition in software and mobile has changed – the once-successful business models of Microsoft and Nokia can no longer ensure profitable growth. The partnership between the two companies cannot change that. Vic Gundotra of Google once cynically said that two turkeys don’t make an eagle. Or do they?

Microsoft: A PC company in the mobile age
Reports about “Microsoft making more money on Android than on Windows Phone”, make for a catchy headline, but miss the point. Microsoft’s mobile strategy is about reducing ecosystem churn, i.e. protecting revenues from Windows and Office licensing. Every iPhone or iPad sold, represents a user who might choose to move away from a PC or Office license. Every iPhone developer represents a developer who adds value to Apple ecosystem and not Microsoft’s.

As of January of 2012, Microsoft Windows & Windows Live, Server & Tools and Business divisions were responsible for over 75% of the revenues, but, more importantly, practically all of the operating income. The company reported weaker than-expected PC demand in the last quarter of 2011. Revenue of Windows & Windows Live Division fell 6 percent year over year (and this is during the lucrative holiday quarter!), and yet worse – operating income declined by 11 percent.

The company’s core business is challenged at multiple levels. iPhone and iPad users are increasingly choosing Mac as their next computer – Mac success means less Windows licensing revenues. Moreover, tablets are displacing netbooks and laptops, which were the hope of the PC industry until recently. Google and a slew of Internet startups are opening cracks in Microsoft Office defenses by pushing migration of productivity tools into the cloud. The end result is ecosystem churn, which means less and less Windows and Office licenses sold.

Microsoft badly needs to renew its growth. See this excellent analysis by Adam Hartung, Forbes. But, Windows Phone is a “loss leader”, not a growth engine. It’s daydreaming to expect that Windows Phone license revenues will be able to pay back all the investment that was made and is being made into the platform. Even at a $20 license fee. As reported in March 2010, the Windows Mobile R&D team headcount back in FY 2009 was 2,000 staff with a total OPEX of $900 Million. The numbers could only have grown since then.

Partnering with a fast-declining Nokia buys Microsoft neither market share nor new revenue engines. First and foremost, Microsoft needs to establish significant market share for Windows Phone in North America — the hotbed of mobile innovation.

However, Nokia is traditionally weak in North America in both market share and brand awareness. Plus the European reception of Lumia was lukewarm with slight above one million devices sold during the Christmas launch season. Instead of placing so much faith in the partnership with Nokia, Microsoft could have focused their efforts on a close alliance with the faster-moving Samsung as the key OEM for the Windows Phone platform.

Microsoft will be challenged to find new growth engines. Up until now, Microsoft has been losing money in Internet and mobile. In the last quarter of 2011 alone, the company’s Online Services Division lost $458 Million adding to mounting multi-billion loses in the last six years (see this revealing Business Insider chart).

Throwing boat-loads of money at mobile and Internet without a winning business model can only work for limited time for Microsoft. Mounting costs will inevitably raise the concerns of impatient investors over the viability of its mobile strategy.

Nokia: a handset maker in the software age
Apple has outpaced Nokia not only because of better products, but because it changed the basis of competition. The competition has changed from a competition of devices to a competition of software ecosystems. Nokia understood the challenge back in 2007, but in a classic case of Christensen’s Innovator’s Dilemma, was late to respond.

Today, the mobile handset market is driven by owners of software ecosystems, companies like Apple, Google and Microsoft. The role of handset OEMs has been reduced to that of a foot solder in the broader battle between ecosystems. OEM business has become a commodity business, where OEMs have little room for differentiation, besides price.

Since Nokia was slow in fostering its own software ecosystem, the company had little choice but to join Motorola, Sony-Ericsson, Samsung, LG, ZTE, Huawei and a host of smaller OEMs in the fierce “competition to the best”. Michael Porter calls competition to the best “the granddaddy of all strategy mistakes”.

The partnership with Microsoft might not be able to save Nokia from the perils of commoditisation. Windows Phone is a very attractive product, but it arrived to the market two years late. Apple and Google had enough time to establish strong network effects for their iOS and Android platforms. These network effects between users and app developers ensure explosive growth, user lock-in and multi-billion dollar investments by developers (see our recent post on how platforms are not created equal). In these hyper competitive conditions, Windows Phone devices will be challenged to command premium prices – like it it not, Nokia will have to compete on price with Android devices.

In retrospect, Nokia associated itself with a fledgling software ecosystem that is yet to build strong network effects. With both profitability and volumes in question, Nokia finds itself in a one-way street, depending on Microsoft to help support its smartphone business (see how Microsoft paid $250 Million to Nokia in Q4 2011).

Given the new market conditions, Nokia’s real competition is not iPhone or Android, but Samsung. Samsung is not only the largest, but also the most profitable Android OEM. Its true competitive advantage lies in its vertical integration across the most expensive smartphone hardware components: the display, application and baseband processors and memory. Samsung even owns the fabs that manufacture many of these components. Samsung’s superior business model has launched the company to the second place of the industry in terms of profit share, second only to Apple.

Nokia’s business model of high-margin, branded OEM is in question and its dependency on Windows Phone alone is a weakness. Nokia would be much better off if the company manufactured both Android and Windows Phone devices. Nokia, with its economies of scale and strong brand name, could auction placement of either OS to the highest bidder on its devices.

Nokia is running out of time and Samsung is gaining market share eagerly. How soon will Microsoft need to knock on Samsung’s door offering to pay billions for promoting Windows Phone on millions of Samsung devices?

Insisting on sailing upwind
In this partnership, Nokia and Microsoft insist on sailing upwind with their sails flapping (those of you who’ve had any experience sailing will know how boring this can be). Combining two business models of the 1990’s won’t help the two companies regain their positions in the new world order, dominated by companies with Internet-age business models, like Apple, Google, Amazon and Facebook.

As it seems, the only way out for Nokia and Microsoft would be the acquisition of Nokia’s smartphone business by Microsoft, as Andreas Constantinou predicted a year ago on this blog.


Michael Vakulenko is a Strategy Director at VisionMobile, where he focuses on mobile platform research and mobile ecosystem economics. Michael has been working in the mobile industry for over 16 years, starting his career in wireless in Qualcomm. Michael has a broad experience across many aspects of the mobile industry, including smartphone ecosystems, mobile services, handset software, wireless chipsets and network infrastructure. He can be reached at michael@visionmobile.com]

[EsotericKnave]

Originally Posted by rlg118

Some more stuff from Windows Secrets:

http://windowssecrets.com/top-story/...t-good-enough/

Win10 is undeniably more secure

Except from Microsoft

[DTravel]

Originally Posted by EsotericKnave

Except from Microsoft

More secure for Microsoft.

[pigulici]

What I find another problem for customer security , are the ads(like one from solitaire game), just read some days ago that the ads from yahoo mail was infected with virus software, at least for a week before the yahoo admins find and stop(and it is not first time, if you search about it), and today I read about : "Major Firefox vulnerability lets hackers steal your files using dodgy web ads" (link: http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/c...09-givb77.html ), so this is another hole in my security pc, just that M$ get more money...
I understand why M$ did the new OS as a tool to gather info about all a user do, especially when you remember how close are M$ to NSA(or any agency of any "free" state), they do same thing Ceausescu did in my country in communism era: gather any info about anybody, encourage anybody to speak about anybody, use police for that if people don't give themselves enough nasty info, put all in folder, so anybody in that period have a personal folder with info about them, and if anybody don't want to do something(most because of moral decision), the secret police get out some nasty info to convince you(like:"what your wife or familly will say about some declarations we have, that at a party, 5 yrs ago , when you was drunk and your wife home and pregnant , you said to a friend that you just bang the secretary and was better than with your wife"), before put you a gun on head if still not want to do it. Think about, what power can have someone who knew(and have some proofs) about some of your mistakes from past, some you even don't remember, and even if you don't care much or shame about it, the others will banish you if knew about it, and the change of place will not help you to start a new life...dark times are come for human soul...