ME was the "home user" edition of Windows when most people were opting for Win2000 which was essentially the next step to Win NT.

I remember installing Win ME on a computer in a comp shop I used to hang out with ... and quaintly watched it self-destruct as it kept reproducing system restore points until the entire HD chocked to death with zero space and the system locked solid.

So bad the only solution was reformat.....

You aren't going to get a defense of Windows ME or Vista from me. I skipped both of those OS's myself.

Between 1995 - 2001. Microsft Released 5 different operating systems in a 6 year time frame. It is very possible Windows ME was released too quickly 

Replace that with "Windows Me should never have been released at all" and I'll agree.

All those releases were a money making substitute pogenitor of the Beta channel.

Fair enough. I suppose that would be like paying 200 dollars for the 24h2 update.

ME was the origins of "Windows Restore" and they simply hadn't got it right yet.

Conversely Win2000 was regarded as 'bullet-proof' but I'm thinking that was relative....relative to ME.

I could crash 2000 at will, though that was partly thanks to some alternate shells...  Explorer.exe was for "girlie-boys"...;)

Quoting Jafo, reply 24

Meanwhile back at the ranch...Windows 7 is still going strong.......

I agree. I am still using windows 7.

If it ain't broke don't fix it. I would not be able to run windows 11 on my old computer anyway.

Ahh, got'a miss the good old days when at least two crashes a day was normal, and you forgot to save the document you had been working on for an hour.   

Definitely me too Jan!

Tom and Jan...think 0Patch.

Already bought the Enterprise edition of 0Patch the other day Doc. 

I find it pretty strange that Windows 10-22H2 is set to reach it's end of support on October 12, 2025; and Windows 11-23H2 will reach it's end of support on November 11, 2025. In fact Windows 11-24H2 is set to reach end of support on October 13, 2026.

It seems like the Windows Life Cycle is getting shorter and shorter. Will there be a 25H2, or will we get Windows 12 next?

You don't need it yet, Tom. Windows 10-22H2 is set to reach it's end of support on October 12, 2025.

https://blog.0patch.com/2024/06/long-live-windows-10-with-0patch.html?m=1

That's OK Doc, at least it's doing its job.

Windows 10 will have had 10 years of support by the end of its life, the exact same as Windows 7.

Windows 11 on the other hand is a different beast altogether. It is designed to be a very fluid operating system that changes often. Each annual update has a lot of changes so without the end of life it would be similar to maintaining a new operating system each year. Once you get to 4 or 5 updates that becomes a lot to maintain all at once. I believe Microsoft's aim is that the big annual updates are supposed to be drawing people in. The allure is that Windows 11 will feel fresh every year.

Of course the biggest frustration with Microsoft's Windows 11 strategy is the hardware push side of things. Microsoft wants people to buy new pc's like they buy new phones hence the new hardware requirements for copilot plus devices.

Well, its finally happened! I opened Excel this morning and this pesky little Copilot cursor kept appearing when I hovered over a cell. Then I opened Word, and yep, it was there as well. I went to my Microsoft account page and sure enough, the cost has risen from $99/year to $129/year. You get 60 Copilot credits per month to use Copilot. I despise Copilot being added to these apps. You can turn it off, but you still have to pays the increased price.

I spent half a day in a chat with MS to have my Microsoft 365 subscription degraded to what they call the Classic version. MS has a support article on how to do this, but it's very misleading. You have to actually cancel your subscription and then subscribe to the Classic version. It is not clear how to purchase the Classic versions. MS is concealing the access, which is why I had to go thru MS Chat. I have the Family version that I share with four other people, and they all lost their ability to use the MS 365 apps. I had to painstakingly re-add them to my account and spend time with each on the phone coaching them how to get things working again.

I am really pissed! But then what do I expect from Microsoft. They are desperate to monetize their investments in AI.

I do have the Copilot app on my computer, but I think I have used it a total of two times.

Thanks for listening to my rant.

Pelaird

I agree. I know you probably know about these, but I feel better knowing I tried to help you and others...

https://www.techradar.com/news/best-microsoft-office-alternative

Hitch your wagon to a different star.

I have been looking at these, but until I'm totally retired I can't make the switch. I have too many business records and use OneDrive to sync all these files between devices.

I wonder myself, why I don't move to those free Office app such as LibreOffice, FreeOffice etc. I have LibreOffice installed in my system, yet I keep using MS Office due to habit. Anybody else having this too?

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

Yes, though I'm always using Office 2007 ... and like PSP6   I stick with the actual stuff I know and refuse to jump ship for no good reason.

Eg, being 100% fluent in PSP6 gets far better results than the average person with a vague understanding of whatever the latest PS is.

People are too infatuated in getting the latest and greatest as if their life depends on it...;)

Ps has 10 gazillion tools the average photographer never needs nor uses. I use it because all my other stuff works with it...NIK, and On1's extensions...and its AI, etc. LightStar does his skinning in PSP, also. Sort of like camera brands or OSs...Nikon vs. Canon vs. Sony. Each has its devotees.

Yes to that, my friend.      For me it's Word and Libre Office. Btw there's a mod to make it look more like Office, lol.

They do seem to be like proprietary hardware in a way, don't they?     

After I installed the 24H2 KB5050094 update on my computer - when I clicked on the folders on my desktop - they would no longer open. Neither did shortcuts to my drives or to "My Computer". Direct shortcuts - or files (photos/videos/music etc) that were on the desktop and were NOT in a folder still worked for some reason.

Something seems to be interfering with Windows Explorer as far as I can see. 

I tried shutting down - Deskscapes, Start 11, and Fences - but that didn't seem to fix the issue.

My only "fix" was to remove the Windows Update (KB5050094) - reboot my system, and then turn off 'Automatic Updates'.

Has anyone else had an issue after installing KB5050094? 

This is the first time anything like this has happened.

Please let me know.

You need to install the beta update to WindowBlinds 11 which is 11.04 which should be going live as a release vs beta soon.

Personally I would recommend against installing preview patches as let someone else have the headaches

Thanks Neil. Apparently Ive been told that there is a full version update available now too.