Oh, and check out the two Easter Eggs by asking Cortana, "Where is Master Chief?" and "Where can I bury a dead body?"

Google's voice search answers those as well. As well as "What is the meaning of life", "Who are you?" and "Why do cats purr?"

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Oh, and check out the two Easter Eggs by asking Cortana, "Where is Master Chief?" and "Where can I bury a dead body?"

Google's voice search answers those as well. As well as "What is the meaning of life", "Who are you?" and "Why do cats purr?"

Hmmm....how does it answer 'Why do cats purr?'?
My kitties have never told me.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

I have BOINC 7.6.6 on my 4-core Windows 10 64-bit CPU. ATLAS@home sends me a maximum of 4 tasks, vLHC@home 2 tasks, CMS-dev 1 task. They all use Virtual Box, no GPU. When I allow the downloading of SETI@home tasks, I get about 27 of them, both CPU and GPU, so they overfill my CPU. GPU tasks are run one at the time, CPU tasks occupy one or two cores, leaving the other 2 to the CERN programs. but why does SETI@home sends me all those tasks? On my 32-bit Linux laptop I get a maximum of 2. I am running 4 CPU tasks plus one GPU task.
Tullio

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Hmmm....how does it answer 'Why do cats purr?'?
My kitties have never told me.

This is why your cat purrs when petted, instinctively giving the signal "all is well," a message you can both feel and hear. But this isn't the only message purring may signal: Older cats purr when they play or approach other cats, signaling they are friendly and want to come closer.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?aid=892

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Hmmm....how does it answer 'Why do cats purr?'?
My kitties have never told me.

This is why your cat purrs when petted, instinctively giving the signal "all is well," a message you can both feel and hear. But this isn't the only message purring may signal: Older cats purr when they play or approach other cats, signaling they are friendly and want to come closer.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?aid=892

The bit about kitties purring at the vet is also very true. That's how my Purrball kitty got her name. At her first vet visit, she was purring too loudly for the vet to listen to her heart, so the vet put her paw under the faucet.....

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

P.S. @ BilBg: The repair install did not go through. I was able to get past the first error 'Your current Winblows is a newer version...', but I ran into another stating that 'Winblows 7 Professional cannot be upgraded to Winblows 7 Professional'.
I tried 3 different ways to do it per that page you linked to...

Did you try:
Downloading Windows installation media
"Non-OEM (if Windows was not preinstalled) users can visit the Microsoft Software Recovery page and download the Windows installation ISO by entering correct product key. This seems to work for Windows 7 only..."
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download
https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download

Such disc image (ISO file) will have SP1 and maybe other updates embedded

P.S.
Year ago it was possible to Download without product key:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/248995/how-to-install-windows-7-without-the-disc.html
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/653d34d9-ac99-42db-80c8-6300f01f7aae/windows-7downloard

"UPDATE 2/25/15 Digital River no longer works; you can now download Windows 7 ISOs from Microsoft's Software Recovery website."

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- ALF - "Find out what you don't do well ..... then don't do it!" :)
 

Did you try:
Downloading Windows installation media
"Non-OEM (if Windows was not preinstalled) users can visit the Microsoft Software Recovery page and download the Windows installation ISO by entering correct product key. This seems to work for Windows 7 only..."
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download
https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download

Such disc image (ISO file) will have SP1 and maybe other updates embedded

P.S.
Year ago it was possible to Download without product key:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/248995/how-to-install-windows-7-without-the-disc.html
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/653d34d9-ac99-42db-80c8-6300f01f7aae/windows-7downloard
"UPDATE 2/25/15 Digital River no longer works; you can now download Windows 7 ISOs from Microsoft's Software Recovery website."[/quote]
The software recovery site did not work for me kept saying there was a problem even though my copy of 7 is retail it took 35-40 minutes chatting with a tech before I got the download links for 32 and 64 bit versions and another kicker I had to copy a file(bootsect.exe) from the 32 bit files to the 64 bit to make a bootable 64 bit disc which the tech failed to mention. Also I did try the one link for us and it is different than when I went to the recovery page so something has changed. NO WINDOWS 10 OR SPYWARE UPDATES FOR 7 AND 8 FOR ME.

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ME AND MY BOY LOOKING FOR ET

In light of a new pile of updates today, my Win 7 machines had a pile of them today. Most were security updates and stuff for Office, but there is one in particular that is.....mysterious and questionable at best.

3083324 is was optional, but InfoWorld suggests avoiding it.

Some time between the InfoWorld article and later in the day on Tuesday, it became important.

There's not enough info about it to know if it is really a bad update to avoid, but until there is more information, I'm avoiding it.

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Linux laptop:
record uptime: 1511d 20h 19m (ended due to the power brick giving-up)

I'm just going to leave this one here.

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2425381/microsoft-is-downloading-windows-10-to-your-machine-just-in-case

Seems you can avoid it if you don't have the necessary updates to get the upgrade. There just seems something criminal about forcing a 3-6gb download on everyone, when not everyone has uncapped, unmetered internet connections.

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Linux laptop:
record uptime: 1511d 20h 19m (ended due to the power brick giving-up)

In light of a new pile of updates today, my Win 7 machines had a pile of them today. Most were security updates and stuff for Office, but there is one in particular that is.....mysterious and questionable at best.

3083324 is was optional, but InfoWorld suggests avoiding it.

Some time between the InfoWorld article and later in the day on Tuesday, it became important.

There's not enough info about it to know if it is really a bad update to avoid, but until there is more information, I'm avoiding it.

Since I dumped 10 & went back to 7, I don't install anything regarding the update client, except the initial update that was required after installing win 7. It's gotten so bad that I don't trust anything that is coming out on update Tuesday anymore and only install it if I think it would benefit me and after doing much more research than I've been doing in the past.

I didn't wait for the 28 day limit when I reverted, it barely lasted a week if that. The system was so corrupted that I couldn't do what should have been a normal backout via the system restore, and that's after the 2nd go-around installing Win 10. I had to completely reformat the system disk and do a clean Win 7 install, and I didn't have a problem with getting it re-activated online. Unless M$S cleans up their act, I won't get off 7 until I'm too senile to know what I'm doing, or the day after I leave this world, and seeing that I'm 70, it won't be that long.

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I don't buy computers, I build them!!

From Softpedia News:

As part of the switch to Windows as a Service, Microsoft has also changed the way it documents updates for Windows 10 PCs, providing almost no information about the improvements they bring unless there’s something really important included.

It turns out that the very same strategy is now being used for Windows 7, as Microsoft has just shipped an update to computers running this OS version that brings improvements to the Windows Update client. What kind of enhancements is yet unknown though, as Microsoft is once again providing us with updates without actually offering any kind of release information.

KB3083324 is specifically aimed at Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 machines and “contains some improvements to Windows Update Client,” according to the information posted by Microsoft in the official KB article.
No change log unless there’s something big

The secrecy around Windows updates is happening because of Microsoft’s decision to detail the patches it releases to users only if they provide significant changes, so cumulative updates, bug fixes, and small patches are very likely to ship without any information.

“As we have done in the past, we post KB articles relevant to most updates which we’ll deliver with Windows as a service. Depending on the significance of the update and if it is bringing new functionality to Windows customers, we may choose to do additional promotion of new features as we deploy them,” a Microsoft spokesperson was quoted as saying last month.

This isn’t obviously the best approach, given the fact that users need to know what they install on their computers, so posts on UserVoice that call for the company to provide change logs for every update have already received thousands of votes.

In the meantime, Microsoft doesn’t seem to be willing to change its strategy regarding Windows update information, and it has only said that, at some point in the future, enterprise customers could indeed get some release notes, but only for certain updates.

Keep the masses dumb. We will decide what's good for you(r machine). Microsoft has gone Leninistic?

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Cosmic_Ocean

Thanks for posting that article. Read through it and decided to check my c: drive, and sure enough, there was $Windows.~BT and $Windows.~WS. Did a little checking and it turns out that Disk Cleanup is the way to get rid of the BT directory. Disk Cleanup, then hit the Clean System Files button. It left the WS directory, I think because some of the files were compressed, I decompressed those and then just deleted the $Windows.~WS directory manually.

I also deleted C:/ProgramData/Microsoft/Diagnose. Files in the BT and WS directory were trying to write to the ctllog directory there. The Diagnose directory was created at about the same time as the other two.

Thanks for the info, keep us all posted.

Bruce

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Bruce

Last year I bough a HP minitower with Windows 8, soon upgraded to 8.1. RDP was working. This year it was upgraded to Windows 10 Home edition. RDP is not working, so I cannot see the CERN jobs running in VM consoles in vLHC@home, ATLAS@home and CMS-dev. For the rest it works with Virtual Box 4.3.30 and BOINC 7.6.6.
Tullio

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From Softpedia News:
It turns out that the very same strategy is now being used for Windows 7, as Microsoft has just shipped an update to computers running this OS version that brings improvements to the Windows Update client. What kind of enhancements is yet unknown though, as Microsoft is once again providing us with updates without actually offering any kind of release information./quote]
Keep the masses dumb. We will decide what's good for you(r machine). Microsoft has gone Leninistic?

One of which bypasses a user's update settings. I have mine set to Check but allow me to download & install which has been set since installation of windows. Shut down system Wed evening & 23 updates installed. Shut down again yesterday evening & a further 2 installed. Today system showing updates ready for installation on shutdown icon.

Also, Win 10 upgrade was hidden, yet keeps coming back. Very nasty M$, carry on like this & Linux Mint is getting closer to kicking your butt!

Last year I bough a HP minitower with Windows 8, soon upgraded to 8.1. RDP was working. This year it was upgraded to Windows 10 Home edition. RDP is not working, so I cannot see the CERN jobs running in VM consoles in vLHC@home, ATLAS@home and CMS-dev. For the rest it works with Virtual Box 4.3.30 and BOINC 7.6.6.
Tullio

Has anyone with this problem tried using the Microsoft Remote Desktop Preview App?

Thanks Richard. I tried to download it but I should have a Microsoft account on my Windows 10 PC, while I have only a local account. My mail client is Thunderbird.
Tullio

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Can anyone assisted me with how to add the updates that install windows 10 on Windows 7/8.1 to the exclude list/installing blacklist for wsusoffline 9.8?

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Thanks Richard. I tried to download it but I should have a Microsoft account on my Windows 10 PC, while I have only a local account. My mail client is Thunderbird.
Tullio

You can set up a MS account with any email address you want. I have several MS accounts of different computers (not sure if that is what they want or not) some using a outlook.com address and some using my local ISP address. I do not think the address really matters.

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SETI@home classic workunits 4,019
SETI@home classic CPU time 34,348 hours

Referencing http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/forum_thread.php?id=77121&postid=1724353 I successfully deleted the Window$~BT using file cleanup and deleted Window$~WS but when trying to delete Diagnosis from the program data file I ran into the old "Permission required from 'Trusted Installer'" message and even though logged in as Administrator it would not let me continue.

Any suggestions would be appreciated to remove this infection from MY(NOT M$'s!) system.

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"Sour Grapes make a bitter Whine." <(0)>

I see I have the $Windows.~BT and $Windows.~WS folders and contents as well. Both made on the first of August 2015. This despite me always checking and rechecking I didn't have any of the KBs installed. Well, in the end it appeared I did have KB3022345 installed, and from this I only removed the tracking service.

Yet I still ended up with the folders and contents.
I'll have to check the other systems now.

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