Site software?

[Smitty]

Something about this site is giving a weird effect when some of us put quotation marks around words that we post. Here, I'll try it, and hope it does what I'm talking about; I'll try to put the word weird in quotes: "weird."

Dang, wouldn't you know it, THIS time it didn't mess it up!! So all I can say it that if you keep an eye open, you'll spot the effect I'm trying to describe, not just in my posts. FWIW, I'm running Win 10.1 with all the current upgrades.

Thanks

[blueskyracer]

Something about this site is giving a weird effect when some of us put quotation marks around words that we post. Here, I'll try it, and hope it does what I'm talking about; I'll try to put the word weird in quotes: "weird."

Dang, wouldn't you know it, THIS time it didn't mess it up!! So all I can say it that if you keep an eye open, you'll spot the effect I'm trying to describe, not just in my posts. FWIW, I'm running Win 10.1 with all the current upgrades.

Thanks

I guess thats why when Microsoft askes us to convert to windows 10 we say no frigging way

[Big Don]

It could be if you write it in let's say word and copy and past? Just a thought.

[Smitty]

Ditto that sentiment, Mike!

[Mrs blueskyracer]

Haven't seen and problems on posts that I have read "don't read them all however" and I am so not upgrading to Window's 10 although my computer keeps begging.

Can you describe what you are seeing? Tell me what post specifically you are seeing the problem in so I can look and see what I see with my Windows 8, Windows 7 and Windows XP computers.

Some computer code is written within quotes and maybe Windows 10 is looking at it as code versus quotes.

[Ram4x4]

I know what he is talking about. Sometimes the quotes appear as HTML ANSI/ASCII code for the characters instead of the actual character itself. It's not a Windows 10 thing, I've seen it here on this forum on Windows 7 and 8 as well. It's not unique to this forum either, it happens on plenty of others too.

So, instead of actually seeing, say the quotes as in "weird", you'll see &quotweird&quot. Initially I thought it might be due to Firefox as I use that as my main browser, but it does show up under IE and Chrome as well.

It most likely has to do with the code of the forum software itself in how it is handling the codes for various special characters, especially when it is embedded in quotes or if a user has a different language key mapping on their end when they make the post.

Unicode is supposed to be a standard world wide for these things, but you never know what the end user's combination of OS, browser and key mappings might be.

[Smitty]

That's it. And an explanation, too! You guys are so smart!!

[Ram4x4]

I'm using Windows 10 and find it to be decent. So far it has been stable (hasn't crashed once), everything has loaded and worked fine.

The interface is a bit of a cross between 7 and 8. I liken it to what happened with Vista and 7. Vista was a disaster, 7 was the fixed version. 8 was a disaster, so 10 is the fixed version.

The new browser is soooo much better than any of the old Internet Explorer versions. Fast and stable. I was a big fan of Firefox for a long time, but I keep having issues with Firefox and Flash Player. I don't know why Firefox can't get Flash Player to integrate and run smoothly...then again, I'm not a fan of Adobe anyway.

I may be switching to IE is my primary browser, it's working quite well in Win 10. Chrome I just don't use at all. Google has decided not to integrate support for Java (or any NPAPI based plugins) starting with version 42, or at least makes it difficult to use them. Starting on December of 2015 (this past year), Chrome will not support NPAPI plugins at all (not just turn support off by default and force you to find the setting). Things are in the works for alternatives (across the board, not just at Google) as NPAPI extensions are notorious security risks, but I think they should have at least waited until the fixes are ready.

My biggest gripe with Windows 10...there doesn't seem to be any way to set updates to completely "off", so you can check and download updates manually when you want and to select the ones you want. The best you can get is to have it notify you with no method to select which updates you want or don't want (but I'm not done tinkering yet).

Other than that, I really like it over all. The only caveat I have is, if you want to upgrade to Windows 10, make absolutely sure Windows 10 drivers are available for all the hardware in your PC. If you have a pre-made system from a company, such as Dell, or HP, you can go to their website, look up your model of PC and they will have a drivers page where you can find out if they have Windows 10 drivers for it.

Mrs Blueskyracer, you can get rid of that Windows 10 nag in Win 7:

1. Go to Control Panel, click on Programs and Features.
2. In the left side of that window, click "View Installed Updates"
3. Scroll through all the updates and find "KB3035583", then right-click it and remove it.

The Windows upgrade notice thing is actually loaded on your system as an update. Just don't forget and end up loading that particular update again...Sneaky Microsoft...

[Mrs blueskyracer]

I have several programs that outright don't work with Windows 10 so will have to stick with eight at least for now. I am tired of all the changing. Heck we only just moved on to windows 7 at work. Then I had to buy a new computer and it had 8.1. So I will be a couple years behind you all there.

[Ram4x4]

That's odd. If the program works on Win 7 or 8, it should work on 10. There haven't been any major changes in the compatibility area.

[ricochet112]

I have several programs that outright don't work with Windows 10 so will have to stick with eight at least for now. I am tired of all the changing. Heck we only just moved on to windows 7 at work. Then I had to buy a new computer and it had 8.1. So I will be a couple years behind you all there.

Updating a new PC from 8.1 to 10 will be seamless, for the most part. It's when your hardware is 6-8+ years old will you find the most glitches on Win10.
I updated my work PC (one I built in 2008) from XP, to 8 to 10, it did OK, but it takes just over 1 minute to boot. While my new build in 2015 takes about 13 seconds to cold boot.

Newer software requires newer hardware to properly run it.

Having better security is why I like Win10 the best. Not having to spend money on anti virus software is worth any upgrade hassles. All the major ones bloat and slow down any system, as does any major PC builder,they're loaded with bloatware.

[Smitty]

I don't know beans about any of this stuff. My ASUS laptop came loaded with 8.1 but then 10 came along in a few months, and I had to get my guru to help me load it, and upgrade to 10.1 not long after. My other advisor (who does contract work for Microsoft) tells me it's all pretty sad and that I should switch to some version of Puppy Linux. Anyone have experience with that?

[Ram4x4]

Ehhhh...Linux. If you "don't know beans about any of this stuff", it would be advisable to just stick with Windows.

Windows has been the target of hate since its inception, and sometimes for good reason, but it's generally gotten better over the years. It's also the "standard" for the end user in the world. More people have a "common knowledge" on Windows than any other OS.

Linux has its place, to be sure, but as an end user OS, it's a bit niche and typically best left to someone fairly well versed in computers. Certainly some proponents of Linux will argue otherwise, but you have to understand the nature of Linux to see why it presents certain pitfalls. There are literally hundreds of different distributions of Linux (i.e. versions, types, etc) and each is typically aimed at certain computing specifics, such as performing audio or video manipulation, or very specific types of environments, such as military, or system administration. Within each type of distribution there are also "flavors", modified versions of the primary type, again to attempt to make them better for any given number of reasons.

Linux is generally "open source"..that means anyone can download it, use it, modify it or even create their own entirely new version...that explains why there are so many types and flavors. To add to it, there are tons of downloadable extensions, applications, etc that can be used to alter characteristics of whatever version you have, like an entirely new desktop environment, or expansion or modification of the command structures.

If you aren't into computers, even a little bit, better to stick with Windows.

[Smitty]

I have had a hunch that the situation was as you describe. My advisor on this is a thorough geek, and I suspect that like so many of his breed he doesn't realize that what is intuitive and obvious to him is very far from intuitive to clueless old guys like me. But it does seem (I've no way to quantify this) that I run into a lot more hiccups and glitches with every version that succeeded the 2000 XP Professional that was loaded into my previous laptop. It also seems to me that the Apple owners were and continue to be less troubled with their computers than the rest of us

[ZUL8TR]

We are all Beta testers for MS without pay & fringe benefits.