Windows 10 forced update troubles

Its almost here. The day that Windows destroys the world….. I am only kidding, sort of. I have been using the Windows 10 technical preview on my laptop for some time now and for the most part have had no driver related issues that weren’t already well documented. Such as the Intel HD graphics driver that caused graphical issues by the dozens. It has since been fixed. And I was apparently also not the only one with touch pad issues. Again, it was resolved.

Everyone knew about Microsoft’s forced auto update policy many weeks ago. Quite rightly many bloggers also suggested this might turn out to be a nightmare for third party driver makers and Windows 10 itself. Those predictions are now coming true.  And for once, its not just AMD video driver having issues. This one seems to really be poised to beat up the Nvidia SLI and Multi monitor setup users especially badly. Who should we be blaming here?  I am going with blame Microsoft. I am sure theNvidia Windows 10 driver issue be resolved before the July 29 release. But what about down the line?

I understand that Microsoft wants to keep security at an iOS like level of compliance but come on. Windows is nothing like Macinstosh and for a good reason. The ability to choose and to ‘hack’ our gear for better performance or personalization! Microsoft doesn’t seem to see it this way. Here is their current official comment on this ;

“The software periodically checks for system and app updates, and downloads and installs them for you. You may obtain updates only from Microsoft or authorized sources, and Microsoft may need to update your system to provide you with those updates. By accepting this agreement, you agree to receive these types of automatic updates without any additional notice.”

No dancing around the tri-bush ward on that one.

So last week I said that you should wait to upgrade your video hardware until Windows 10 drops. Now I think thatmaybe you should wait to update your OS until Windows 10 SP1 drops or they give back the ability to choose your updates.

In the meantime, if you do upgrade, turn off Geforce experience since its going to be the only thing that you can control.

Miqui
Unrelated .. Hey, you like working out at home? Check out or new website that curates quality fitness videos that you work out with. Hard Body Hub.

How to turn off Windows 10 tracking features

So you made the switch to WINDOWS 10 … here are the things you might want to do right now if you are remotely paranoid. And paranoid you might want to be since the moment you accepted that licensing agreement you became a unique number that does nothing but track every move you make so they can figure out how to sell you something. Thankfully you can turn pretty much ALL of this off. And don’t think for a moment this will affect how you search, that is all fear tactics to keep you opted in. Microsoft wants a piece of Googles advertising dollars. That is where the war is right now. They have given up the fight against Apple and are concentrating on software. So, here is how to turn off Windows 10 tracking features.

A – From the windows button go to – Settings – Privacy – The broadest settings are in the – General – tab. Turn off anything that you feel concerns you. But you are not done yet. There are about 13 different‘helpful’  opt-in switches to go through. They are on by default. Thank you for making up my mind for me Microsoft. Keep the calendar though. It is probably useful, as long as its not spamming you with ads when your relatives wedding anniversary rolls around.

Start here to opt out

B – Turn off Cortana. You will be stuck in their search engine and it will use processing power waiting for you to talk to it with voice commands. Unless you need to use voice commands, then go ahead.

C – Log into your Microsoft account and then go to this website https://choice.microsoft.com/en-gb/opt-out and turn off the tracking there.

D – Speaking of your Microsoft account, do not log into your computer as your Microsoft account or all this will be for naught. Log in as a local account.

I figured this was going to be the plan. I mean nothing is free on the web anymore. If its is ‘free’ there is a catch. There are even ads in the damn card games that Windows comes with now. Its a little too much. This is just a personal choice for me. If you also feel annoyed by this constant monitoring as well follow these instructions to try to minimize how much of your everyday activities are collected for profit. This doesn’t mean you will not see ads. But it will mean less of you is online than already is. This is too personalized for my liking what with Microsoft making you a unique ID number to be sold to advertisers.

Miqui

Never want to see ads again >90% of the time? Read this.

How to stop seeing advertising while you search

This is a short and sweet post about how to stop seeing advertising while you search. Quite simply, stop using Internet Explorer! Get Firefox and free your web browsing. Download it from here.

Once you have installed Firefox, open the tool box

Open the addons tab

Inside you will find a menu and a search box

Addons menu and search bar

Inside the search box type Adblock Plus, click to install it. While you are there, also install the Adblock Plus popup blocker. Restart the browser.

Once installed go to the Adblock Plus icon that is now in the top right corner of your browser and open it.

adblock plus preferences

Click the preferences tab and uncheck the allow non intrusive advertising.

Thats it! Enjoy pretty much AD FREE web browsing. If there is a moral dilemma in your mind about certain websites, understand that you can CHOOSE to allow these sites that add value to your online time to advertise to you.

As aside, there are literally hundreds of addons. Some more useful than others. My personal favorite is WOT. It has saved me from dodgy websites more than once.

And if you are a die hard Chrome fan, you can also add Adblock Plus to Chrome, it just doesnt work as consistently as Chrome’s sole purpose is to serve advertising. Get Adblock for Chrome from here.

Moved to Windows 10? Read how to stop tracking and data collection in the new Windows 10 here.

Miqui

The top 10 greatest games of all time?

So with the Christmas game release season fast approaching, we here at Neteffect Internet Cafe had a long hard talk about the best games we have ever played in our 15 years here. Baldurs Gate 2, Hitman, Psychonauts? Everyone has there opinion on the best game they have ever played. Thats what an opinion is, its all about what YOU like. I too have my top 10 greatest games of all time list.

# 10: Classic Doom 2

As much as i loved this game at the time, and i dont think there was ever anything like it. I cant go back. I tried. Doom 3 awoke nostalgia that was quickly extinguished as a false yearning for a better day that never actually existed. But you know what? If they made 4 i would be in it instantly. I am a sucker for punishment.

#9: Battlefield 2

Best team shooter? I think so. Counter strike was fun and replayable but didnt have the ummmph of the Battlefield games. Fully destructible environments in the newest Battlefield make my forays into it once in awhile plenty enjoyable. We wont even mention COD. Damn, i mentioned it.

#8: C&C Generals

The Command and Conquer games were a blast and a half without the skill level requirements of WC3 and Starcraft. Yes, you had to understand what you were doing but if you didnt, you still had fun. The online match making was broken, the spy was broken, sometimes the pathing was broken. I still had many hours of fun.

#7: Warcraft 3

Calling this the greatest RTS of all time is not too far fetched. Better than C&C, easier than Starcraft. For me that is a perfect sandwich. I played plenty of others, but always came back to WC3. To be fair, Company of Heroes got a fair amount of my attention as well. It just never held it like Warcraft 3 did.

#6: Max Payne

Max Payne, probably the originator of the emo shooter. Loved it.

#5: Mass Effect

There is nothing bad to be said about this series. Even the controversial ending wasn’t that horrible. Incongruous yes. Horrible? No. I actually plan on running through this series again soon enough. Unless something comes this season to take that urge away from me. Like Mass Effect 4 maybe.

#4: Elder Scrolls World Map

As an ever evolving persistent universe, this franchise doesnt ever do wrong. The world is MASSIVE, the story is yours. With time in all Elder Scrolls titles combined i think i have in excess of 1200 hours. (i know, pathetic) Skyrim was SO good. People lost their jobs from playing in this world.

#3: Fall Out New Vegas

The Fallout series rolled through 3 decades unbowed and unslowed. I can only think of one other game that brought me into its world more deeply. Fallout Tactics was the best of this series.

#2: Half Life 2

Half Life, people are still mad. And those same mad people would go clean Gabe Newells’ house every week if it made him get the next installment out. Never have i been so frustrated, saddened and suffering from withdrawal from a game as much as i was with Half Life 2. Gabe, if you are reading this. Please. PLEASE! Just one more hit man. Ill be good after that.

My #1 game: Everquest Classic

This, bar none, is the game that changed the world. Ya ya, Warcraft had more subscribers but it lacked the challenge and absolute clarity of class that the godfather of MMO’s needed for a player to be successful. The term ‘know your role’ might as well have originated there. Everquest, for all its first 3 months of buggy hell, ruined or enriched the lives of more people (depending on your point of view) than anything else to come out since. If Everquest Next gets finished and successfully pulls off this procedural world engine that they are trying to build. they will have created a new metric to be measured against for all other wannabe’s. I remember my first foray into Norrath like it was last week. If you were an idiot, you were punished. If you tried to be anything outside of what you were, you were punished. If you were a griefing dirtbag, you were pretty much done. But, if you played the game as if it mattered, the eRewards were great and felt earned when you got them. Unlike WOW which just pretty much gives you stuff when you pay them. The risk reward emotive connection in WOW disappeared the second they started pandering to the whiners. Vanilla WOW was close, for a clone.

This is my list of my favorite games. I am sure alot of people will disagree and others will have similar picks to mine. Spout off in the comments if you think my picks are stupid. You just might actually introduce games that others might not have heard of.

Should I upgrade my video card?

I am getting alot of this question lately. The answer is not simple. I personally think that everyone should wait for Windows 10 and DX12. That alone is going to be a major upgrade in rendering power what with the revamped API’s vastly superior efficiency in using CPU resources. On the other hand, if you have the money now and you want to enjoy The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt at something better than a slide show, buy a new card today. From a technical stand point, grabbing a new video card is not as easy as putting bread in a toaster, but its close. All you need to make sure of is that you have the room, and a suffient PSU to keep things running.

But lets say that you have a mid/high level last generation video card already, but a so-so CPU. In this case, the cheaper, smarter move would be to get an improved CPU for particular motherboard socket as DX12 is literally a forty-five percent plus increase in frame rate just from software. Be patient and just wait until after July 29th and your upgrade to Windows 10 and see what your particular PC improves into for gaming. That is the plan here at Neteffect. We are going to just wait and see what one of our PC’s gains in rendering power before making any purchasing decisions.

Miqui