AI and Windows 11 (vs Linux)

davethebirder

Hi guys, I've been battling with Windows 11 for the last few months having issues with 4K screen sizing amongst other things until I thought I had sorted it out.....
Two days ago I was ready to switch off when I was alerted to a Windows FW update ..... I thought I'll let it run, it did it's thing and came back on with giant sized icons that filled the screen some on top of others ..... the next morning I noticed the graphics card no longer had 4K as an option, I reasoned that a restore system "may" sort the issue ... the whole process took just under two hours, the system seemed to operate normally again.
Searching on line it seems Windows had put out a rushed FW to sort out the last dud FW only to make things worse and temporarily "bricked" many users computers. Taking this info on board I decided to block FW updates at least until Bill Gates lifted his butt to sort it.
A few quite days past when I was watching a utube video, then, the screen froze and the computer no longer responded ..... after a series of unrememberable actions mostly with a black screen, "all by itself" it started updating another FW update which seemed to last ages, rebooting, that annoying circle turning ad infinitum until eventually the whole cycle restarted again with "yet another FW update" which after half an hour resulted in the computer having a correctly sized screen at least .....
...... then, oh great neither the mouse and the external Wifi now did "diddly squit" ie nothing, this latest "sort out your life" FW is yet another dud which now took out my new USB3 hub.
I had Windows 7 for years and still have it on my old laptop, it's stable and in spite of little use and no FW updates (it's pirated), it just comes on and works and with almost no pop ups.
So what's going on?
It is AI that is the issue, Microsoft have invested 25 billion dollars on AI and wants to incorporate it into everything ....... so there's pop ups à gogo, endless panels appearing that when you close them make way for another series of related or unrelated pop ups, or even worse "Windows has encountered an problem and cannot process your request, please try again" so you do and it just does the same.

This video just about sums it up, I seriously thinking of going Linux as they have been working on making it just work as opposed to taking on a virtual pop up sleigh ride ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RQ6pek3JoM

a Mac laptop vs a Windows equivalent .... out of the box you open the box lift the lid to turn on the Mac and in one minute it's ready to go ..... the Windows version required eight FW updates with the associated reboots etc which took nearly an hour only to suffer yup you got it ..... "endless worthless and super irritating pop ups and glitches"

I seriously thinking of going Linux as they have been working on making it just work as opposed to taking on a virtual pop up sleigh ride ...

Klaus

Microsoft has f***ked up quite a few Windows updates lately.
I think one important setting is to set Windows updates to be delayed by 4 weeks.

I still have a PC to run Imatest - and sometimes it stutters for no good reason - especially whenever I have to copy or process lots of files.

If it weren't for Imatest, I'd be Mac only. It's just not worth wasting time with "hiccup fixing".

davethebirder

Windows has allotted 25 billion to AI .... which means it employs lots of geeks who think the only important thing in this modern world comes in the form of binary streams ....

Window 11 is basically fine just don't throw in a million untested FWs weekly to f..k it up!

In the cazse of of promotion

davethebirder

Rover

Windows 10 receives no updates ...... I should have stuck with it !!

Rover

I'm always wondering, am I using the same environment as people do because the interwebz are full of complaints about Windows... but for me, the only really problematic one, once I went for NT-based systems in 1999, was Vista. That was really a bad one, very poorly optimized and slow, but I had to use it for some time because my old laptop came bundled with it (I upgraded to 10 later). All the others before (NT 4.0, 2000, XP, 2003, 7, 8, 8.1 and 10) were fine. I never upgraded to 11 because I saw it on my wife's laptop (it came bundled with this version) and hated the UI. I'm still on 10 which will have to end sometime, of course, but there's just too much oddball software that I'm using. 🙂

I'm never going the Apple route, for sure (YMMV).

mike

davethebirder

I'm still on w10 on my main PC. They've recently, to my surprise, sent out a few updates. I had a message stating that they are going to support security updates for some amount of time. Can't remember how long exactly. I'm still getting app type updates. Like Edge for example.

I'm always behind with these sorts of things. IMO, it was working good for me as is, so I'll wait for the dust to settle. I've also seen how Apple obsolete their old gear by virtually making it a boat anchor. I guess that solves the problem. Nothing is perfect.

BTW, I still have a W7 laptop running in my music room (musical instruments).

Rover

Yeah, that's why I'm talking about this having to end sometime. I do have a pretty good firewall / antivirus software so I should be reasonably safe for the time being. That the AV software aggroes against some of the experimental software I'm using for game modding is, of course, beside the point. 😃

davethebirder

I ran Windows 7 (pirated) for years on my tower with no updates just Avira antivirus free edition with zero issues .... it's still running on my laptop today with no updates... I've still got the program disc .....
hmmm .... maybe install it on my current computer alongside W11?

thxbb12

The last time I used Windows was over 20 years ago and I'd never ever go back to it.

Dave, as a first step in the Linux world, I recommend you try Linux Mint Cinnamon which you can download here: https://www.linuxmint.com/download.php
Do not hesitate to write me in PM if you have trouble or questions.

Klaus

Linux works but the app side is an issue. GIMP just isn't PS or DxO.

davethebirder

Thanks thxbb 12 ...
......provisionally all is well again ..... but it only takes another non fully tested FW to upset the apple cart ......

Yes, Klaus, I did look at Gimp on somebody's Linux computer .... it did nothing to inspire me .....

thxbb12

Indeed, if you requires apps that don't exist for Linux, you're out of luck.
For RAW development there is Darktable that's very popular. I'm using RawTherapee and it's enough for my needs. Both open source. Obviously, YMMV.
It's also possible to run a virtual machine with Windows in it just for a couple of missing apps, but it's not ideal (and you'll have to deal with Windows again).
There is also emulation, which works great for video games for instance - thanks to Steam (the rendering APIs are portable so it helps). In fact, several Windows games have better performance on Linux, which is pretty ironic ;-)