The Windows and Windows Software Megathread

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Computer viking: May 30, 2011; Now with less breakage.

I was going to say that I'm in 11 right now and it doesn't bother me, but uh this is Fedora Linux. Shows how much I notice, I guess.

But yeah, with the above huge caveat about me apparently being desktop blind, 11 is fine. There's a few annoyances, mostly around the task bar, but it's not hugely different. No really appealing reason to upgrade either, except for a few specifics; the HDR thing was mentioned, and WSL on 11 has WSLg, so you can run graphical linux applications. Niche, but nice if you're that sort of person.

# ? Jul 30, 2022 05:12

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# ? Apr 19, 2024 01:57

Uthor: Jul 9, 2006; Gummy Bear Heaven ... It's where I go when the world is too mean.

Canine Blues Arooo posted:

Other then that, it's a pretty major regression unless you really wish your desktop operating system was more like an iPad.

So my "I want my iPad to be more like Windows" wish is coming true in an ironic way?

# ? Jul 30, 2022 12:39

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

11 handles high dpi displays much better and I like that. It�s why I upgraded.

# ? Jul 30, 2022 15:53

CatHorse: Jan 5, 2008

Computer viking posted:

but it's not hugely different.

No drag and drop. No ungrouped view. Almost feels like it was made for touch only dual screen devices.

# ? Jul 30, 2022 19:17

doctorfrog: Mar 14, 2007; Great.

I do scheduling as part of my job and I have at least six chrome windows fighting for screen real estate, all represented by a single icon with a line under it on the taskbar. It's so useless that I just hide taskbar now to get a few extra pixels. Many of these windows have similar looking previews in alt tab, but unique window titles, hilariously enough. The browser tabs are more helpful than the operating system's taskbar.

In my view, the Windows 11 taskbar is ideal for people who do not perform work on their computer.

# ? Jul 30, 2022 20:25

hooah: Feb 6, 2006; WTF?

I've almost never had more than one window of any given program open, so the grouping thing doesn't bother me. I also never even knew that you could drag files to a taskbar icon to open them; for me it's faster to use the open dialog.

# ? Jul 30, 2022 20:31

Ynglaur: Oct 9, 2013; The Malta Conference, anyone?

doctorfrog posted:

I do scheduling as part of my job and I have at least six chrome windows fighting for screen real estate, all represented by a single icon with a line under it on the taskbar. It's so useless that I just hide taskbar now to get a few extra pixels. Many of these windows have similar looking previews in alt tab, but unique window titles, hilariously enough. The browser tabs are more helpful than the operating system's taskbar.

In my view, the Windows 11 taskbar is ideal for people who do not perform work on their computer.

Stardock has a program called Groupy that let's you tab almost any app. https://www.stardock.com/products/groupy/

# ? Jul 30, 2022 20:45

Fruits of the sea: Dec 1, 2010

Ynglaur posted:

Stardock has a program called Groupy that let's you tab almost any app. https://www.stardock.com/products/groupy/

Nice that could come in handy. I usually just winkey+arrow identical windows but as I�m often away from home with a laptop there isn�t screen space.

# ? Jul 30, 2022 21:03

codo27: Apr 21, 2008

MikusR posted:

No drag and drop. No ungrouped view. Almost feels like it was made for touch only dual screen devices.

Duo doesn't run Windows, I'm sorry to say. This narrative is entirely overblown regardless.

# ? Jul 30, 2022 23:06

jokes: Dec 20, 2012; Uh... Kupo?

Ynglaur posted:

Stardock has a program called Groupy that let's you tab almost any app. https://www.stardock.com/products/groupy/

I use it, it could use some work on Win11 but it�s functional

# ? Jul 30, 2022 23:06

Medullah: Aug 14, 2003; FEAR MY SHARK ROCKET IT REALLY SUCKS AND BLOWS

I built an arcade cabinet with 4 joysticks. This is awesome. What's not awesome is that Windows has the order of them all wrong (1 is player 4, 2 is player 3, etc). I know the last time I played around with this there wasn't an easy way to reorder them in Windows so I just had to bite the bullet and reconfigure everything in the various emulators, which worked fine with 90% of them, but some programs just looked at joystick 1 and 2.

Is there any better way to set joystick order? Even a pay program.

# ? Jul 30, 2022 23:17

CatHorse: Jan 5, 2008

codo27 posted:

Duo doesn't run Windows, I'm sorry to say. This narrative is entirely overblown regardless.

It was made for https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface_Neo

The Intel CPU for that thing was so bad that they canceled the device. The simplified/containerized OS they made for it Called Windows 10X they retargeted to laptops. Turned out the OS also was poo poo. Windows 10X was canceled and the new taskbar/start menu was repurposed for Windows 11.

CatHorse fucked around with this message at 23:26 on Jul 30, 2022

# ? Jul 30, 2022 23:21

Computer viking: May 30, 2011; Now with less breakage.

MikusR posted:

No drag and drop. No ungrouped view. Almost feels like it was made for touch only dual screen devices.

The drag/drop is annoying, true. I stick to grouped view and a mix of alt-tab and win-tab to change windows, though.

# ? Jul 31, 2022 00:14

Saukkis: May 16, 2003; Unless I'm on the inside curve pointing straight at oncoming traffic the high beams stay on and I laugh at your puny protest flashes.
I am Most Important Man. Most Important Man in the World.

Medullah posted:

Is there any better way to set joystick order? Even a pay program.

Have you tried to unplug them, reboot and them plug them in order?

# ? Jul 31, 2022 01:25

Tesseraction: Apr 5, 2009

Medullah posted:

I built an arcade cabinet with 4 joysticks. This is awesome. What's not awesome is that Windows has the order of them all wrong (1 is player 4, 2 is player 3, etc). I know the last time I played around with this there wasn't an easy way to reorder them in Windows so I just had to bite the bullet and reconfigure everything in the various emulators, which worked fine with 90% of them, but some programs just looked at joystick 1 and 2.

Is there any better way to set joystick order? Even a pay program.

Not sure how helpful it is but I used devreorder to force order of device enumeration https://github.com/briankendall/devreorder

# ? Jul 31, 2022 01:27

Medullah: Aug 14, 2003; FEAR MY SHARK ROCKET IT REALLY SUCKS AND BLOWS

Tesseraction posted:

Not sure how helpful it is but I used devreorder to force order of device enumeration https://github.com/briankendall/devreorder

Thank you! This was what I used last time and I couldn't remember the search terms that found me there.

Saukkis posted:

Have you tried to unplug them, reboot and them plug them in order?

Yeah it's a hard wired device so it's kind of funky. If I can't get devreorder to work I'll just rewire everything.

# ? Jul 31, 2022 01:52

doctorfrog: Mar 14, 2007; Great.

Ynglaur posted:

Stardock has a program called Groupy that let's you tab almost any app. https://www.stardock.com/products/groupy/

Thanks, I'll check this out.

# ? Jul 31, 2022 08:23

Node: May 20, 2001; KICKED IN THE COOTER; Taco Defender

Canine Blues Arooo posted:

I mean, I wouldn't (and haven't). The one big item that is vastly improved is HDR support, so if that's a big deal for you, then it at least offers something. Other then that, it's a pretty major regression unless you really wish your desktop operating system was more like an iPad.

Are we pretty much stuck with upgrading, eventually, to 11, since Windows 10 will stop being supported/updated/whatever in 2025?

The reason I ask, is that Microsoft has made pretty crappy operating systems in the past, and they quickly turned around and released a decent OS after a bad one. Like Windows ME. I wonder if it might be a decent decision to hold on 11 in hopes of something better, unless we're going to be stuck with 11 for a decade.

Sorry if this argument has been beaten to death already. This thread is big, and old.

# ? Aug 1, 2022 17:33

CoolCab: Apr 17, 2005; glem

they have in fact already announced that 11 will be on a 3 year cycle and 12 will be out 2024 or 2025, just in time for windows 10 security updates to finish (wild huh). my honest expectation is that like ME, vista and 8 before it they saw their low adoption numbers, will compromise on the things people whined about particularly UI and 12 will be the tolerable OS.

# ? Aug 1, 2022 17:59

CatHorse: Jan 5, 2008

Node posted:

Are we pretty much stuck with upgrading, eventually, to 11, since Windows 10 will stop being supported/updated/whatever in 2025?

The reason I ask, is that Microsoft has made pretty crappy operating systems in the past, and they quickly turned around and released a decent OS after a bad one. Like Windows ME. I wonder if it might be a decent decision to hold on 11 in hopes of something better, unless we're going to be stuck with 11 for a decade.

Sorry if this argument has been beaten to death already. This thread is big, and old.

Microsoft announced that they are moving to a major Windows update ever 3 years. So it seems safe to avoid the crap (UI wise) Windows 11.

# ? Aug 1, 2022 18:01

Klyith: Aug 3, 2007; GBS Pledge Week

CoolCab posted:

they have in fact already announced that 11 will be on a 3 year cycle and 12 will be out 2024 or 2025, just in time for windows 10 security updates to finish (wild huh). my honest expectation is that like ME, vista and 8 before it they saw their low adoption numbers, will compromise on the things people whined about particularly UI and 12 will be the tolerable OS.

The bad news is that MS has been following the Star Trek Movie Rules:

code:

TMP             95
II              98
III             ME
IV              XP
V               Vista
VI              7
Generations     8
First Contact   10
Insurrection    11

Which means that the next OS after 11 is Nemesis, breaking the good-bad pattern and establishing the new pattern of "always bad, if not terrible".

# ? Aug 1, 2022 18:23

Node: May 20, 2001; KICKED IN THE COOTER; Taco Defender

MikusR posted:

Microsoft announced that they are moving to a major Windows update ever 3 years. So it seems safe to avoid the crap (UI wise) Windows 11.

Thank you, that helps a lot.

# ? Aug 1, 2022 19:52

Arivia: Mar 17, 2011

Klyith posted:

The bad news is that MS has been following the Star Trek Movie Rules:
code:
TMP             95
II              98
III             ME
IV              XP
V               Vista
VI              7
Generations     8
First Contact   10
Insurrection    11
Which means that the next OS after 11 is Nemesis, breaking the good-bad pattern and establishing the new pattern of "always bad, if not terrible".

15 will be pretty good if this keeps up though.

# ? Aug 1, 2022 19:57

xzzy: Mar 5, 2009

Microsoft also changes their strategy every few years. So run whatever makes you happy now and keep at it until it stops working or a new version seems better.

# ? Aug 1, 2022 19:57

CatHorse: Jan 5, 2008

Klyith posted:

The bad news is that MS has been following the Star Trek Movie Rules:
code:
TMP             95
II              98
III             ME
IV              XP
V               Vista
VI              7
Generations     8
First Contact   10
Insurrection    11
Which means that the next OS after 11 is Nemesis, breaking the good-bad pattern and establishing the new pattern of "always bad, if not terrible".

Where is 2000, NT 4, 8.1?

# ? Aug 2, 2022 00:37

Klyith: Aug 3, 2007; GBS Pledge Week

MikusR posted:

Where is 2000, NT 4, 8.1?

First 2 aren't consumer OSes. Yeah, I was running a pirated 2k to escape the horror of winME too.

8.1 was a service pack, not a new OS. As a whole, they are Generations: Shatner is 8 (terrible) and Stewart is 8.1 (doing his best to save a bad project and not really succeeding).

# ? Aug 2, 2022 00:53

Medullah: Aug 14, 2003; FEAR MY SHARK ROCKET IT REALLY SUCKS AND BLOWS

I have a PC in an arcade cabinet hooked up to a 4k TV for emulation. I'm working on setting it up mostly via RDP. Every time I connect via RDP then disconnect, I have no video on the main TV it's connected to until I reboot. My assumption was that it has something to do with the resolution changing but even setting RDP at the lowest resolution it happens.

It's a SSD so it reboots super fast, but it's annoying. Any suggestions? I figure this probably belongs in Haus of Tech Support but figured I'd ask a quick question here.

# ? Aug 2, 2022 12:36

Icept: Jul 11, 2001

Medullah posted:

I have a PC in an arcade cabinet hooked up to a 4k TV for emulation. I'm working on setting it up mostly via RDP. Every time I connect via RDP then disconnect, I have no video on the main TV it's connected to until I reboot. My assumption was that it has something to do with the resolution changing but even setting RDP at the lowest resolution it happens.

It's a SSD so it reboots super fast, but it's annoying. Any suggestions? I figure this probably belongs in Haus of Tech Support but figured I'd ask a quick question here.

Someone will probably have a better solution but maybe running a batch file to disconnect your RDP session and after a few seconds use something like ChangeScreenResolution to reset the video output to your desired default.

# ? Aug 2, 2022 13:11

Toast Museum: Dec 3, 2005; 30% Iron Chef

Medullah posted:

I have a PC in an arcade cabinet hooked up to a 4k TV for emulation. I'm working on setting it up mostly via RDP. Every time I connect via RDP then disconnect, I have no video on the main TV it's connected to until I reboot. My assumption was that it has something to do with the resolution changing but even setting RDP at the lowest resolution it happens.

It's a SSD so it reboots super fast, but it's annoying. Any suggestions? I figure this probably belongs in Haus of Tech Support but figured I'd ask a quick question here.

To clarify, which computer's display is going blank after the RDP session, the one you're remoting into, or the one you're sitting at?

# ? Aug 2, 2022 13:26

Medullah: Aug 14, 2003; FEAR MY SHARK ROCKET IT REALLY SUCKS AND BLOWS

Toast Museum posted:

To clarify, which computer's display is going blank after the RDP session, the one you're remoting into, or the one you're sitting at?

Sorry, the remote one (the TV it's connected to).

# ? Aug 2, 2022 13:28

Thanks Ants: May 21, 2004; #essereFerrari

Could you use something like Quick Assist rather than RDP? Do you have enough of a keyboard/mouse on the arcade machine to type in the code from the machine you're connecting from?

# ? Aug 2, 2022 15:08

Medullah: Aug 14, 2003; FEAR MY SHARK ROCKET IT REALLY SUCKS AND BLOWS

Thanks Ants posted:

Could you use something like Quick Assist rather than RDP? Do you have enough of a keyboard/mouse on the arcade machine to type in the code from the machine you're connecting from?

Yeah, I'll probably just reinstall Teamviewer and set up unattended, was just hoping someone might have a "You dummy you need to do X" simple solution.

# ? Aug 2, 2022 15:26

Thanks Ants: May 21, 2004; #essereFerrari

You could reboot the machine from the RDP session instead of logging out, it depends if the problem was having to reboot at all or having to open up the cabinet to push a button

# ? Aug 2, 2022 16:54

Medullah: Aug 14, 2003; FEAR MY SHARK ROCKET IT REALLY SUCKS AND BLOWS

Thanks Ants posted:

You could reboot the machine from the RDP session instead of logging out, it depends if the problem was having to reboot at all or having to open up the cabinet to push a button

Yeah that's what I usually do if I remember, hit restart then close the RDP session.

# ? Aug 2, 2022 16:56

BaronVanAwesome: Sep 11, 2001; I will never learn the secrets of "Increased fake female boar sp..."

Never say never, buddy.
Now you know.
Now we all know.

Is there an easy-to-use program to capture audio from what's playing through speakers/to an audio device and save it as a wav or mp3? Bonus if I can clip or edit bits of it, but not mandatory.

Double bonus if it can also chop up existing wav or mp3 files. The clips wouldn't be longer than a few seconds.

Free is best, though I don't mind paying a few bucks for a good solution.

# ? Aug 2, 2022 18:10

CatHorse: Jan 5, 2008

BaronVanAwesome posted:

Is there an easy-to-use program to capture audio from what's playing through speakers/to an audio device and save it as a wav or mp3? Bonus if I can clip or edit bits of it, but not mandatory.

Double bonus if it can also chop up existing wav or mp3 files. The clips wouldn't be longer than a few seconds.

for cutting:
For mp3 there is https://mpesch3.de/ MP3DirectCut.
In general https://github.com/mifi/lossless-cut

As for capturing, https://obsproject.com/ can help. But if you need to capture something from a Tube site there are better alternatives. Like https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp or https://streamlink.github.io/

# ? Aug 2, 2022 18:31

BaronVanAwesome: Sep 11, 2001; I will never learn the secrets of "Increased fake female boar sp..."

Never say never, buddy.
Now you know.
Now we all know.

MikusR posted:

for cutting:
For mp3 there is https://mpesch3.de/ MP3DirectCut.
In general https://github.com/mifi/lossless-cut

As for capturing, https://obsproject.com/ can help. But if you need to capture something from a Tube site there are better alternatives. Like https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp or https://streamlink.github.io/

Thank you, this all looks great! Appreciate the tube tips, it'd be sweet to be able pull from there for bits and bites

# ? Aug 2, 2022 22:36

Javid: Oct 21, 2004

Is there a way to record all sound activity on the device, or at least one program? I would like to be able to record voip calls i make on it, which the voip software itself doesn't do

# ? Aug 2, 2022 23:37

Medullah: Aug 14, 2003; FEAR MY SHARK ROCKET IT REALLY SUCKS AND BLOWS

Javid posted:

Is there a way to record all sound activity on the device, or at least one program? I would like to be able to record voip calls i make on it, which the voip software itself doesn't do

OBS should handle that.

Though make sure you're familiar with the legality of recording calls in the state you and the caller are in

# ? Aug 2, 2022 23:38

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# ? Apr 19, 2024 01:57

mcbexx: Jul 4, 2004; British dentistry is
not on trial here!

BaronVanAwesome posted:

Is there an easy-to-use program to capture audio from what's playing through speakers/to an audio device and save it as a wav or mp3? Bonus if I can clip or edit bits of it, but not mandatory.

Double bonus if it can also chop up existing wav or mp3 files. The clips wouldn't be longer than a few seconds.

Free is best, though I don't mind paying a few bucks for a good solution.

Voicemeeter (Banana) also has a "record" function, skeuomorphically represented by a cassette player :laugh:

# ? Aug 4, 2022 18:44

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