Converting to Windows 11

[LongTimeNikonUser]

4. Windows 11 can be configured to look like Windows 10 e.g. moving the start to the left hand side of the task bar but there are differences you will need to get used. The learning path is not very steep and and will only take a week a two for your memory to adapt.

What/how did you change/configure to make Win 11 look or behave more like Win 10?
The gratuitous changes from 10 to 11 have me concerned about doing the inevitable upgrade. Once Win 10 loses support, then I think the upgrade is mandatory.

6. Watch for a lot of Microsoft 'crap' that installs e.g. MSN news feeds, shopping hints etc. They need to be removed if you do not like this sort of noise. There are a lot videos and blogs about this

Can you recommend any videos? Tools that you used to remove the crap?

and it is a tedious but, in my opinion, necessary step to take.

7. Be careful to set up the Windows update options as you need them. I am subscriber to a blog feed called Ask Woody. It gives very useful advice on the updates you should install and when you should hold off. They even have a Defcon setting for the danger of new updates which I tend to follow rigorously.

I just checked out this newsletter and signed up. Thanks!

I hope this was helpful and not too repetitive with respect to information already provided. I have been using Windows since its first incarnation (1985, I believe)

I bought as part of my job then a copy of Win 1, but it wasn't very useful. When Excel came out, I used some version of Windows to launch this program. Earlier on I used MS Multiplan (as if anyone who hasn't retired remembers this program.)

 

[bakubo]

I updated my 2019 laptop from Win10 to Win11 this year. Smooth and easy.

 

[wh1tby]

4. Windows 11 can be configured to look like Windows 10 e.g. moving the start to the left hand side of the task bar but there are differences you will need to get used. The learning path is not very steep and and will only take a week a two for your memory to adapt.

What/how did you change/configure to make Win 11 look or behave more like Win 10?
The gratuitous changes from 10 to 11 have me concerned about doing the inevitable upgrade. Once Win 10 loses support, then I think the upgrade is mandatory.

6. Watch for a lot of Microsoft 'crap' that installs e.g. MSN news feeds, shopping hints etc. They need to be removed if you do not like this sort of noise. There are a lot videos and blogs about this

Can you recommend any videos? Tools that you used to remove the crap?

and it is a tedious but, in my opinion, necessary step to take.

7. Be careful to set up the Windows update options as you need them. I am subscriber to a blog feed called Ask Woody. It gives very useful advice on the updates you should install and when you should hold off. They even have a Defcon setting for the danger of new updates which I tend to follow rigorously.

I just checked out this newsletter and signed up. Thanks!

I hope this was helpful and not too repetitive with respect to information already provided. I have been using Windows since its first incarnation (1985, I believe)

I bought as part of my job then a copy of Win 1, but it wasn't very useful. When Excel came out, I used some version of Windows to launch this program. Earlier on I used MS Multiplan (as if anyone who hasn't retired remembers this program.)

I would review some of the old Ask Woody posts to get answers to your questions since I have not got a ready list of references for which you are asking. I will review my logs (I keep a log for all my machines) and will get back to you if I find the specific references for which you are asking.

And, yes, I remember Multiplan (I even have an original box for it) which ages us somewhat I suspect. I started with CP/M and some home built OS when the first Microprocessor was first announced (Intel 4004, 1972 I think). Now I feel really old.....

 

[LongTimeNikonUser]

I bought as part of my job then a copy of Win 1, but it wasn't very useful. When Excel came out, I used some version of Windows to launch this program. Earlier on I used MS Multiplan (as if anyone who hasn't retired remembers this program.)

I would review some of the old Ask Woody posts to get answers to your questions since I have not got a ready list of references for which you are asking. I will review my logs (I keep a log for all my machines) and will get back to you if I find the specific references for which you are asking.

Thanks. Not just for my benefit. Anyone who uses Lightroom Classic will be forced into a Win 11 upgrade in Oct. 25 with the release of Lightroom Classic 15.0

And, yes, I remember Multiplan (I even have an original box for it) which ages us somewhat I suspect.

8" floppies no doubt. I suspect you also collect Social 'Security. Either that or you started using PCs in kindergarten.

I started with CP/M and some home built OS when the first Microprocessor was first announced (Intel 4004, 1972 I think). Now I feel really old.....

Home Built OS. That's impressive. My first PC was a Z80 CP/M system with a hacked together SCSI subsystem with a big (for its time) 10 MB drive. Too bad CP/M didn't support directories.

 

[wh1tby]

8" floppies no doubt. I suspect you also collect Social 'Security. Either that or you started using PCs in kindergarten.

You are, of course, correct. I am quite old but by the time the first PCs came out they were 5 1/4" disks. The 8" drives were Shugart of which I still have an example for my museum.

I started with CP/M and some home built OS when the first Microprocessor was first announced (Intel 4004, 1972 I think). Now I feel really old.....

Home Built OS. That's impressive. My first PC was a Z80 CP/M system with a hacked together SCSI subsystem with a big (for its time) 10 MB drive. Too bad CP/M didn't support directories.

I wrote my first OS for use on the 4004 and then the 8008. I adopted CP/M as it became easier to maintain. I purchased the source from Digital Research and adapted it for 16 Bit (it originally ran on the Z 80, 8085 and 8080 I believe. Anyway memories, memories. Meanwhile I hope your Windows 11 migration goes well.

 

[Austinian]

8" floppies no doubt. I suspect you also collect Social 'Security. Either that or you started using PCs in kindergarten.

You are, of course, correct. I am quite old but by the time the first PCs came out they were 5 1/4" disks. The 8" drives were Shugart of which I still have an example for my museum.

8" floppies! The only time I used those was with our company's Micro-PDP11. I had an Atari 400/800 (6502 chip) and later an original 128K Mac at home.

I started with CP/M and some home built OS when the first Microprocessor was first announced (Intel 4004, 1972 I think). Now I feel really old.....

Home Built OS. That's impressive. My first PC was a Z80 CP/M system with a hacked together SCSI subsystem with a big (for its time) 10 MB drive. Too bad CP/M didn't support directories.

I wrote my first OS for use on the 4004 and then the 8008. I adopted CP/M as it became easier to maintain. I purchased the source from Digital Research and adapted it for 16 Bit (it originally ran on the Z 80, 8085 and 8080 I believe.

Impressive indeed!

Anyway memories, memories. Meanwhile I hope your Windows 11 migration goes well.

Ah, memories...best of luck with 11; I've had very few problems so far.

 

[BobKnDP]

8" floppies no doubt. I suspect you also collect Social 'Security. Either that or you started using PCs in kindergarten.

You are, of course, correct. I am quite old but by the time the first PCs came out they were 5 1/4" disks. The 8" drives were Shugart of which I still have an example for my museum.

I started with CP/M and some home built OS when the first Microprocessor was first announced (Intel 4004, 1972 I think). Now I feel really old.....

Home Built OS. That's impressive. My first PC was a Z80 CP/M system with a hacked together SCSI subsystem with a big (for its time) 10 MB drive. Too bad CP/M didn't support directories.

I wrote my first OS for use on the 4004 and then the 8008. I adopted CP/M as it became easier to maintain. I purchased the source from Digital Research and adapted it for 16 Bit (it originally ran on the Z 80, 8085 and 8080 I believe. Anyway memories, memories. Meanwhile I hope your Windows 11 migration goes well.

In the early 1980s, I worked for a US FFRDC (federally funded R&D center). Some committee decided to standardize on Philips Micom word processors. The earliest models used 8" floppies.

The daisy wheel printers they used were so noisy that they were kept in Plexiglass enclosures.

They were all discarded after Macs and PCs came in. (At least one group had their office staff running LaTex on hand-me-down Unix boxes. Seriously nerdy.)

But then, in 1981, they still used a telephone switchboard, with operators. Their one fax machine looked like 1950s technology. (Some sort of coated paper, manually loaded onto a drum. The faxes stank, and faded in days.)

 

[XiaoDeer]

8" floppies! The only time I used those was with our company's Micro-PDP11. I had an Atari 400/800 (6502 chip) and later an original 128K Mac at home.

You had floppy disks? You were lucky

Our programs and the assembler we used were on all paper tape. Actually, this was for the military and paper is a bit fragile for the average squaddie so we used mylar tape instead.

 

[Austinian]

8" floppies! The only time I used those was with our company's Micro-PDP11. I had an Atari 400/800 (6502 chip) and later an original 128K Mac at home.

You had floppy disks? You were lucky

Heh. Actually, my Atari 400/800 started out with a cassette recorder for data storage. It wasn't till later I could afford a floppy drive. 88K per disk as I recall. Considerable patience was a requirement in the early days. Whiners and moaners nowadays don't know how good they have it. Etc.

Our programs and the assembler we used were on all paper tape. Actually, this was for the military and paper is a bit fragile for the average squaddie so we used mylar tape instead.

Our CNC machines were still using paper tape as late as the middle 1980's to load programs. We didn't use Mylar tape as it was reputed to put more wear on the tape punch.

 

[XiaoDeer]

Our CNC machines were still using paper tape as late as the middle 1980's to load programs. We didn't use Mylar tape as it was reputed to put more wear on the tape punch.

I'm sure it was hard on the punch.

Our tapes had to undergo a "software QA" protocol. This involved men in brown coats coming by to measure the length of the blank leader and trailer as well as checking that the ID and version label was attached in the exactly the correct position.

 

[Sean Nelson]

8" floppies! The only time I used those was with our company's Micro-PDP11. I had an Atari 400/800 (6502 chip) and later an original 128K Mac at home.

You had floppy disks? You were lucky

Our programs and the assembler we used were on all paper tape. Actually, this was for the military and paper is a bit fragile for the average squaddie so we used mylar tape instead.

You were lucky to have paper tape! When I started it was punch cards, and what a mess if you dropped them!

 

[BobKnDP]

8" floppies! The only time I used those was with our company's Micro-PDP11. I had an Atari 400/800 (6502 chip) and later an original 128K Mac at home.

You had floppy disks? You were lucky

Our programs and the assembler we used were on all paper tape. Actually, this was for the military and paper is a bit fragile for the average squaddie so we used mylar tape instead.

You were lucky to have paper tape! When I started it was punch cards, and what a mess if you dropped them!

If memory serves, some keypunch machines could print numbers in sequence on the cards. (I never had the use of such a machine.)

But, before that, I used APL via a 2741 IBM terminal. (Based on Selectric typewriter technology.) Some of my fellow high school students failed to lock down the type balls properly. The balls tended to get damaged if they flew across the room. (Hard, and brittle, alloy.)

 

[Austinian]

8" floppies! The only time I used those was with our company's Micro-PDP11. I had an Atari 400/800 (6502 chip) and later an original 128K Mac at home.

You had floppy disks? You were lucky

Our programs and the assembler we used were on all paper tape. Actually, this was for the military and paper is a bit fragile for the average squaddie so we used mylar tape instead.

You were lucky to have paper tape! When I started it was punch cards, and what a mess if you dropped them!

Fortran IV, Computing 101, 1968, university. Punched cards, endless loops that took a day to even be told about. No fun. Not my finest hour. :-(

Last computing experience till I got my own in 1980. Instant gratification!

 

[wh1tby]

8" floppies! The only time I used those was with our company's Micro-PDP11. I had an Atari 400/800 (6502 chip) and later an original 128K Mac at home.

You had floppy disks? You were lucky

Our programs and the assembler we used were on all paper tape. Actually, this was for the military and paper is a bit fragile for the average squaddie so we used mylar tape instead.

You were lucky to have paper tape! When I started it was punch cards, and what a mess if you dropped them!

This sounds like a Monty Python sketch where we all go back to how modest our beginnings were (Something like "You were lucky, I lived in a cardboard box in the middle of a motorway" or something like that).

I too started with punched cards on an ICL machine in the maths building at Manchester University. Editing consisted of removing an old card with a line of Fortran or Algol and putting in a new one. And yes, don't drop them. I was a scientist so never used COBOL. Algol 66, Fortran and Atlas Autocode (a form of Assembler for Atlas) were my original programming environments until the Intel 4004 came along and then we did everything in Assembler until we wrote a cross compiler for PL/1 and so it went on.

Gone are the days when we loaded the microcode for Digital machines PDP 8s and 11s via punched tape (we used the high speed reader to fire the loader tapes across the room).

I think the benefit we had from being in at the early stages is that we actually understand how all the stuff worked (programming UARTs in Assembler teaches you a lot about hardware and software) and do not take for granted the layers and layers of libraries that people use these days to achieve results. 'Hello World' used to be done in 20 bytes, now it takes 1 GB of libraries and 10 MB of code. Such is life. I enjoyed it while I could but still get a kick out of the stuff we use today, but I and many others like me understand how they work underneath the hood.

And yes this thread has gone way off track.....

 

[Austinian]

8" floppies! The only time I used those was with our company's Micro-PDP11. I had an Atari 400/800 (6502 chip) and later an original 128K Mac at home.

You had floppy disks? You were lucky

Our programs and the assembler we used were on all paper tape. Actually, this was for the military and paper is a bit fragile for the average squaddie so we used mylar tape instead.

You were lucky to have paper tape! When I started it was punch cards, and what a mess if you dropped them!

This sounds like a Monty Python sketch where we all go back to how modest our beginnings were (Something like "You were lucky, I lived in a cardboard box in the middle of a motorway" or something like that).

"Walked through waist-deep snow to school every day, uphill both ways!"

I too started with punched cards on an ICL machine in the maths building at Manchester University. Editing consisted of removing an old card with a line of Fortran or Algol and putting in a new one. And yes, don't drop them. I was a scientist so never used COBOL. Algol 66, Fortran and Atlas Autocode (a form of Assembler for Atlas) were my original programming environments until the Intel 4004 came along and then we did everything in Assembler until we wrote a cross compiler for PL/1 and so it went on.

Gone are the days when we loaded the microcode for Digital machines PDP 8s and 11s via punched tape (we used the high speed reader to fire the loader tapes across the room).

I think the benefit we had from being in at the early stages is that we actually understand how all the stuff worked (programming UARTs in Assembler teaches you a lot about hardware and software) and do not take for granted the layers and layers of libraries that people use these days to achieve results. 'Hello World' used to be done in 20 bytes, now it takes 1 GB of libraries and 10 MB of code. Such is life. I enjoyed it while I could but still get a kick out of the stuff we use today, but I and many others like me understand how they work underneath the hood.

And yes this thread has gone way off track.....

That's all right; the original topic appears to have been adequately covered, and that done there's nothing wrong with a bit of entertainment now and then.

 

[Sean Nelson]

8" floppies! The only time I used those was with our company's Micro-PDP11. I had an Atari 400/800 (6502 chip) and later an original 128K Mac at home.

You had floppy disks? You were lucky

Our programs and the assembler we used were on all paper tape. Actually, this was for the military and paper is a bit fragile for the average squaddie so we used mylar tape instead.

You were lucky to have paper tape! When I started it was punch cards, and what a mess if you dropped them!

This sounds like a Monty Python sketch where we all go back to how modest our beginnings were (Something like "You were lucky, I lived in a cardboard box in the middle of a motorway" or something like that).

I was intentionally setting the stage for someone to come along and talk about something even earlier, like doing plugboard wiring for IBM unit record machines (actually, I did a bit of that, too...).

If you're hardcore enough, you could keep going back all the way to Ada Lovelace.

If memory serves, some keypunch machines could print numbers in sequence on the cards. (I never had the use of such a machine.)

FORTRAN and some other early languages only used the first 72 columns of the card so that the remaining columns could be used for a sequence number. You don't actually need the card to have the contents printed along the top, if you spilled a card deck you could put it through a card sorter (which ignores the printing and only senses the punched holes) to get it back in sequence.

But I've seen and used a lot of punched card decks and I've never seen one with sequence numbers. They're too cumbersome to deal with when you revise the program and add, remove or shuffle statements around. You just learn to be very careful with the cards...

When I was at college we had an open house and we had a multicoloured card deck where we punched a "1" into all the blue cards, a "2" into all the green cards, etc. etc. Then we'd have visitors shuffle the cards and put them into the card sorter which would rifle thorough all of them at high speed and deposit each colour into its own bin. People were very impressed - that was what passed for high technology in those days.

 

[Emphyrio2]

As OP I approve of these digressions and I encourage forum members to keep the off track comments going. (I too started with Fortran on punch cards. Those were the days).

 

[nail33]

Started with punch cards and Fortran on an IBM 360. For personal use, a Commodore 64

 

[XiaoDeer]

But I've seen and used a lot of punched card decks and I've never seen one with sequence numbers. They're too cumbersome to deal with when you revise the program and add, remove or shuffle statements around. You just learn to be very careful with the cards...

Not as tricky as editing paper tape

And yes, we did make edits with a manual (one hole at a time) punch. Also cut and splice tapes.

In addition we'd have contests to see which members of the lab could write simple programs with the minimum number of holes on the tape.

That frugal attitude to the bits and bytes is deserving of respect and I wish today's programmers would make a little more effort to conserve memory and storage.

I'm curious what other old timers consider to be some of the greatest breakthroughs in computing.

For me, it was the Pr1me Computer interactive source level debugger in the late seventies. By then we had disk storage and graphical editors. The addition of that debugger made life so much easier. I loved it so much I went to work for Pr1me in 1980 where I would demo the debugger to customers and blow their minds. The ability to easily set breakpoints, inspect variables and more was a huge breakthrough.

 

[Austinian]

That frugal attitude to the bits and bytes is deserving of respect and I wish today's programmers would make a little more effort to conserve memory and storage.

This. For example, it's astonishing that the Atari Star Raiders game fit in an 8K(!) cartridge.

I'm curious what other old timers consider to be some of the greatest breakthroughs in computing.

I'd say, simply the availability of a wide variety of reasonably affordable personal computers. I do miss that variety; I'd love to have a choice of systems that were wildly different, like in the 1980's.

Another candidate might be the BIOSes that made IBM-PC clones cheap and plentiful.

(I'm aware that those two things might tend to be incompatible. )