Monday, June 27, 2016

Microsoft sued over forcing Windows 10 on users


In reading tech news this afternoon, I ran across an article from The Seattle Times about a Windows user who was forced to upgrade to 10.

Before I share that article with you, I just wanted to explain that Microsoft is trying to create a "unified user experience". They want everyone, whether a Xbox, PC, Tablet or Smart Phone user to be using the same OS. (OS stands for Operating System, in case you are not a tech geek like me.)

So by having the same OS, in this case Windows 10, everyone will be on the same page and some content will be portable to all these systems. In theory, you could play an Xbox game on your PC (as long as your PC meets the standard minimum specs for said game) and vice versa.

While I like the idea, Microsoft's forcing Windows 10 on PC's has been nothing but a nightmarish disaster for a lot of PC users.

Non functional or severely crippled computers have been a serious issue. I personally have had the start bar mess up so bad that I ended up replacing that bar with classic shell on at least 10 of my customer's computers.


While non of this effects me personally, (I have been running only Linux for a long time now) this is effecting a lot of Windows users.

Here's a quote from The Seattle Time's article I referenced earlier:

"A few days after Microsoft released Windows 10 to the public last year, Teri Goldstein’s computer started trying to download and install the new operating system.

The update, which she says she didn’t authorize, failed. Instead, the computer she uses to run her Sausalito, Calif., travel-agency business slowed to a crawl. It would crash, she says, and be unusable for days at a time.

“I had never heard of Windows 10,” Goldstein said. “Nobody ever asked me if I wanted to update.”

She won. Last month, Microsoft dropped an appeal and Goldstein collected a $10,000 judgment from the company.

The company denies wrongdoing, and a spokeswoman said Microsoft halted its appeal to avoid the expense of further litigation."

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Turn off crash reporting in Xubuntu

If you are a fan of Xubuntu like me, one of the most annoying things you can have is a apport box to deal with every time you turn your PC on.

While it's purpose is a good one, the program that handles crash reporting, apport, can be a relentless nuisance, asking you to report the same bug you have already reported time and time again.

To stop apport in it's tracks, we need to change this file:

/etc/default/apport

It will look like this:

# set this to 0 to disable apport, or to 1 to enable it
# you can temporarily override this with
# sudo service apport start force_start=1
enabled=1

Change enabled to a 0 with your favorite text editor. (You have to be root or sudo)

My choice was just to use nano, since nano is always pre-installed in Xubuntu.


So I typed sudo nano /etc/default/apport in the terminal, then my password, and then changed the 1 to a 0. If you use nano, control O saves. (Not zero, 0, but the letter o.)

You will see the results next reboot.
-Denny