Microsoft to Windows 10 users: No more feature updates for you

[RV_]

Excerpt:

The latest data from StatCounter shows Windows 10 with a 73% slice of the market and Windows 11 with a 21% cut. Will this move convince more people to upgrade?

In a move that signals the eventual end of Windows 10, Microsoft will not release any more new feature updates for its eight-year old operating system. In a Thursday blog post, Jason Leznek, principal product manager for Windows servicing and delivery, revealed that the current 22H2 version rolled out in 2022 will be the final one for Windows 10.

Due to reach end of support on October 14, 2025, Windows 10 still has more than a couple of years of life left. Until that time, it will continue to receive the usual monthly updates to fix security holes and other issues. But once that deadline arrives, the OS will no longer be in line for security patches or technical help. Of course, you'll still be able to use it but just without the support and protection provided by Microsoft.

The 2021 feature update known as 21H2 is due to reach end of support on June 13, 2023. As such, Microsoft is urging anyone sticking with Windows 10 to upgrade to 22H2, which you can do by going to Settings, selecting Windows Update, and allowing the latest update to install. To double-check your version, head to Settings > System > About. The Windows specifications section will indicate your current version of Windows 10."

Much more and related Windows tips here:

https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-to-windows-10-users-no-more-feature-updates-for-you/

[durangodon]

Thank goodness.  Every time MS comes out with a features "upgrade", another two or three of my old programs stop working or get flaky and some of the "old" features I enjoyed go away.  🙂

[RV_]

3 hours ago, durangodon said:

Thank goodness.  Every time MS comes out with a features "upgrade", another two or three of my old programs stop working or get flaky and some of the "old" features I enjoyed go away.  🙂

I get issues with my Hauppauge TV-HVR-955Q Over the air USB TV receivers too. About every other upgrade I have to download the latest drivers for them.

Don't celebrate just yet. Security updates can cause issues sometimes as well. 🖖

[Ray,IN]

I replaced my desktop 1TB, HDD (crashed) with a 1TB, SSD. While I was in there I added 8GB memory. Since I had a new SSD I thought it's a great time to install Linux Mint-Tina. It's so much faster than W10 it's amazing.

Now I want to go to Cinnamon since Tina has reached end of life, gotta figure out how to accomplish that.

 

Edited July 3, 2023 by Ray,IN

[RV_]

Linux guys, any answers? Ray sorry I have not done that yet. I would start from scratch and then load Mint with Cinnamon. If there is a trick to switching Linux versions I don't know it.

However bear in mind the speed increase may have been due to switching to an SSD. Windows 10 would have been faster on an SSD as well.

Ray no one will see it here in another topic. Why not post it in its own thread and then the Linux guys can see it and help?

Edited July 3, 2023 by RV_

[Ray,IN]

Ya, should'a been thinking. It didn't even occur to me Linux has links to their discussion forums in the menu setting. 🤦‍♀️

[RV_]

1 hour ago, Ray,IN said:

Ya, should'a been thinking. It didn't even occur to me Linux has links to their discussion forums in the menu setting. 🤦‍♀️

👍

[k4rs]

I have been using an LTS version of Windows 10 that never gets feature upgrades, only security updates.  I think this is a big plus rather than a negative.  The fewer things Microsoft messes with, the fewer things to break making it a more stable system.  Of course most of my computers run Linux. 

On the subject of upgrading Linux:

Most of the time upgrading minor point versions are really easy (ie 19.2 to 19.3).  In my opinion, upgrading major versions such as your Tina (19.2) to the current  21.2, it would be best to save your data and do a fresh install.  Fortunately Mint is based on Ubuntu LTS versions so they come with 5 years of support.   If doing a fresh install every 5 years is too much, there are rolling release distributions that install once and never worry about it again.  Here is a list from Distrowatch.com:

https://distrowatch.com/search.php?ostype=Linux&category=All&origin=All&basedon=All&notbasedon=None&desktop=Cinnamon&architecture=All&package=All&rolling=Rolling&isosize=All&netinstall=All&language=All&defaultinit=All&status=Active#simple

Safe Travels...

 

Edited July 5, 2023 by k4rs

[RV_]

👍

[ErnestReilly]

Thanks for sharing this update about Windows 10. It seems like Microsoft is moving towards the end of feature updates for the OS. Windows 11 is gaining popularity, but there's still time before Windows 10 reaches its end of support in 2025. For those sticking with Windows 10, upgrading to 22H2 is a good idea to stay up-to-date with the latest improvements and security fixes. It's essential to keep our systems protected, even if feature updates are no longer coming. By the way, if anyone needs a genuine Windows key at an affordable price, they can find cheap Windows keys. Having a legit key ensures a smooth experience with Windows.

Edited August 2, 2023 by ErnestReilly

[Ray,IN]

My desktop machine received a W10(dual-boot with Linux 19.2 Cinnamon) feature update for 22H2 Friday night, along with 3 more various updates.

Seems like Cinnamon gets updates every day.

[2gypsies]

I got Windows 10 updates Friday night, also.

[Ray,IN]

Tonight I again got updates for 22H2 on the desktop. Perhaps Microsoft is re-thinking retiring W 10, given the dismal roll-out of W 11?

A couple months ago I read an article about Microsoft working on a Windows 12 edition.

[Chalkie]

On 7/30/2023 at 11:40 PM, Ray,IN said:

My desktop machine received a W10(dual-boot with Linux 19.2 Cinnamon) feature update for 22H2 Friday night, along with 3 more various updates.

Seems like Cinnamon gets updates every day./

Are you sure it was a feature update? I have not gotten a feature update since 10/28/2022. I do get monthly cumulative updates for 22H2 and NET framework and then the odd update for Office or a driver as well.

[Ray,IN]

10 hours ago, Chalkie said:

Are you sure it was a feature update? I have not gotten a feature update since 10/28/2022. I do get monthly cumulative updates for 22H2 and NET framework and then the odd update for Office or a driver as well.

Cut N paste from my settings:

Feature update to Windows 10, version 22H2

Successfully installed on ‎07/‎24/‎23

For some reason there is not a kbxxxxxxxx though.

All total it shows my computer has received and installed 84 updates since 05/07/22.

Edited August 4, 2023 by Ray,IN

[2gypsies]

My last Windows 10 22H2 update was a Feature Update, also.

[RV_]

I got feature updates today! Guess it's like musician's "Farewell Tours", they become annual.

[franco-bolli]

15 hours ago, RV_ said:

I got feature updates today! Guess it's like musician's "Farewell Tours", they become annual.

I thought they were retirement tours...  They ran out of funds, and now have to tour again...

 

I have a CNC tied to me Windows 11 machine.  I hope it speeds up when I clone the spinning HDD to a SDD!.

BTW, what's your favorite FREE cloner?  I have acronis that came with a Cruicial brand SDD, on this PC, but it's not clear if I can clone discs other than the primary drive in this machine.

[RV_]

I started with Norton systemworks and imaging to disks, then Acronis both paid for and both terrible. My favorite free imaging/cloning programs were EaseUS Backup todo while testing the developer editions of Windows 8 in 2011-2012. Then they started charging and I went to Macrium Reflect free.

Macrium free was great for the last few years or so. But they withdrew the free program and only have a paid software.

So in 2021 I bought Easeus todo lifetime license. They will reset the key so you can move it to your new computers as you go. I have cloned and upgraded three systems with it in the last year.

No favorite free program today. My favorite program is a lifetime license from EaseUS for about 50 bucks and I can move it to other computers as needed. No hassles for less than the cost of dinner with Lynn!

As far as your upgrade, does your computer have an M.2 slot for an NVMe drive?

Edited August 5, 2023 by RV_

[franco-bolli]

Hmm, I'll have to check for an M2 slot.  A while ago I inherited a plug in card that adapts M2 PCBs for computers that don't have a slot.   I would presume the transfer rate to the adapter card is a lot slower than having a slot on the motherboard.

Thanks for the tips on EaseUS, I may have an older copy hanging around.  

I've been distracted with having too many hobbies...  CNC, woodworking, Ham radio, Model railroad, photography, RV, tinkering with electronics, IT CRAP,  and some smaller side projects.  I only do a couple of those well.

[RV_]

On 8/5/2023 at 11:03 AM, franco-bolli said:

Hmm, I'll have to check for an M2 slot.  A while ago I inherited a plug in card that adapts M2 PCBs for computers that don't have a slot.   I would presume the transfer rate to the adapter card is a lot slower than having a slot on the motherboard.

Thanks for the tips on EaseUS, I may have an older copy hanging around.  

I've been distracted with having too many hobbies...  CNC, woodworking, Ham radio, Model railroad, photography, RV, tinkering with electronics, IT CRAP,  and some smaller side projects.  I only do a couple of those well.

YW,

yes the M.2 is way faster than the SATA. https://www.pcworld.com/article/558324/nvme-vs-m-2-vs-sata-ssd-whats-the-difference.html

I still have a Macrium reflect free copy too. Don't know if they are disabled.

When buying an SSD that uses an M.2 slot do be sure you have the right one. I use only NVMe no SATA for obvious reasons as outlined in the above link.

I too am distracted with too many hobbies and projects I have on hold. I am getting slowly caught up. Then I find TEMU and have gone crazy with them. Now am learning my wireless repeater/access point/with an option to make it a wired access point (fastest) as one of many waiting for an afternoon of my time.

I have good luck lately with eBay sellers of Microsoft Office 2019 and 2021 both of which I have running and activated on my systems. YMMV. I also have found some seemingly long lasting SSDs called Goldenfir (e missing intentionally)on TEMU for $26 for 1TB SATA 2.5" SSD. I read some reviews on them going back 4 years so they are mostly sold on the Asian market - I bought two and they work but long term will tell.

I am buying the few cheap 2.5" SSDs because I have 8 - 2.5" external drive USB 3.0 and 3.1 cases now filled with hard drives. I am selling them all cheap even though they are all 2018 and newer and great shape, but slooow.

I also bought a 2.5" SSD with Windows pro activated on it by the vendor and it is on a new Team group SSD. I sold my last two Windows 10 only PCs the venerable Dell XPS 1 2720 Quad HD 27" touchscreen i7/16GB/1TB WD SSD with DVD optical drive, and my HP G1 micro I upgraded with an Intel Pro SSD and 16 GB of RAM and sold with a 27" Acer FHD monitor and speakers.

I'll be ripping my BluRay and 4k BluRays to external drives in my drive docks so I can archive them in 2.5" SSD or HDD, and 3.5" HDDs in 3GB and 2GB sizes.

We share a lot of the same hobbies. I only do a few well and have to read watch YouTube etc. too when I do the others! 😉

 

Edited August 15, 2023 by RV_

[RV_]

For my main system M.2 NVMe drives I chose the WD Black SN 770 because while it does not do 7000Mbps it does do up to 5150MB/s. The reason I picked the slower drive is because the SN770 does not usually need a heat sink or thermal pad setup because of its own and the computer's thermal management:

Excerpt:

"The power-efficient drive (according to WD, it consumes 20% less power than its predecessor, the WD Black SN750) lacks a heat sink or spreader, relying on WD's thermal management technology and any thermal hardware on your PC's motherboard. This should be fine for typical use, though we prefer the added security of at least an optional snap-on heat spreader, which might only marginally add to an SSD's thickness.

Available in capacities ranging from 250GB to 2TB, the SN770 offers good value in a PCI Express 4.0 solid-state drive. Its price divides out to 13 cents per gigabyte for the 1TB drive we tested, which is just a penny per gig more than the 1TB XPG Atom 50, the only capacity currently available for that Editors' Choice drive (although ADATA says a 2TB version is due later this year). The 2TB WD Black SN770 doesn't offer any cost savings (on a per-gigabyte basis) over the 1TB model, also coming in at 13 cents per gig."

Source:

https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/wd-black-sn770-nvme-ssd

 

Edited August 7, 2023 by RV_

[franco-bolli]

I downloaded Macrium the other day after visiting the  EASEUS site and being tricked in to believing that the trial was free...  I think only the download of the file was free.. The activation screen kept popping up and if bypassed, it took you to a purchase page.  I only had the one machine to clone, and didn't need a month/year/lifetime subscription so I went looking and found Macrium.  It wasn't smooth sailing though... The software (free trial for a month) loaded just fine and it appeared to clone the HDD to the SDD, but the system wouldn't boot from the SSD no matter what the BIOS pointed to.   I ended up creating a rescue CD within Macrium and booted from that.  Oddly it took about 4 minutes or more to boot to the CD... After that, there was a routine within the repair/rescue program to "fix boot disk" So, 2 minutes later the system booted from the SSD.   I timed the boot up.  With the HDD, the login prompt appeared at about 45 seconds from button press.  With the SSD, it was 10 seconds faster.

The pc has a cheap i7 in it with 16Gb of ram, but it works fine as the Local machine to run the CNC while pulling the edited files from the main PC in the house.

For a period of time, I worked at Hewlett Packard in a capacity that I had to run qualifying runs of replacement HDD that were going into the printers for job storage and processing..  Most were 2.5" but a few were full size.  The qualifying was very limited, and mostly consisted of installing them in the printers in the life test area for 2 to 3 weeks. They were running 24 / 5 processing and pushing pages constantly to the printers to find something that would break either mechanically, software, firmware, or disk related.  The disks went through a rollover about once every 6 months, then the size would increase or some other feature was added. Needless to say, I ended up with boxes of 2.5" 80Gb Hdd and still have about 10 to 15 of them. Want one or two?? If you think USB 3.0 in a case is slow, you probably don't want any of these 80Gb drives..  I think I have 2 or 3 IDE drives too!

I had handed off the task of qualifying just after the SDD's became available. They upper management wouldn't allow them to go into test due to a read/write limit that many of the SSD's had in the early stages. I never did see any of them go into printers before I left HP in 2012.

You mentioned something about heat dissipation, and I had forgotten how important that was.  I'll need to consider adding some fins to the SSD I just added to the Win 11 PC.

I am right on the cusp of being able to create my first PCB on the CNC machine. I just need to find a reliable set of drill bits to mount the components through.

Lastly, I'm still messing with RV Trip Wizard for the right paths from SW Idaho to Maine and back. We plan on leaving Sept 14th and travel for about 42 days.

Cheers and Stay Healthy

[Ray,IN]

I had Macrium Reflect free (now eliminated) to make backups each day and clone my HD once a week.  The files are in an unrecognizable format to any other program.  I had a HD crash, installed a new SSD and without Macrium I was dead in the water, so downloaded it again and recovered my files before the trial ended.

Now I use Windows to do backups.  If anyone is running Windows, there is a link under settings/ updates and security/ backups.  My  backup drive is a 1TB Seagate external HD.  If I have a W10 crash I simply download a fresh copy from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10 

It gives me the option of retaining my files, pictures, and installed programs, or beginning anew. No need for cloning my HD now.

I have that installation on a USB stick; Microsoft remembers my computer and verification number, none needed during installation.

 

Edited August 9, 2023 by Ray,IN

[RV_]

Franco,

I finished my Dell AIO project today. It's a 2018 Dell 24" i7 touchscreen AIO. I cloned the 256GB SATA 2.5" SSD it had to my spare 256GB M.2 NVMe using my external M.2 dock and installed it and it booted fast and perfectly.

Then I pulled the 2X8GB Sticks of RAM and replaced them with 2X16GB DDR4PC 3200 sticks and it booted much faster.

Then I cloned that 256GB M.2 to my spare 1TB WD Black SN770 M2 NVMe, which is 2-3X as fast and it all worked perfectly. 

Now it screams!  And I have the 256GB clone put up in case my SSD fails to swap in and clone a bigger drive.

Tomorrow I finish the laptop project by putting a new battery which requires a disassembly below the mobo then upping the RAM from 8GB to 16GB. Then moving the EaseUS Lifetime license to it, then cloning the 600GB HDD to a 1TB 2.5" SATA III SSD and installing. It's an older Samsung 15" laptop with an i7 so it should go well too (knock on wood.) That one's for a friend. He's just paying for parts, a $10 power supply, a $26.99 1TB SSD, and $15 for the 16GB of RAM I just pulled out of the Dell I did today. It will be a new machine when I get done with it.

I remember using the early SSDs from CruciaI and experimenting with my first SSD in a 15" Windows 7 Toshiba laptop with 8GB RAM for all of 2011 doing the Windows 8 developer's editions until they released it to the masses in Dec 2012. I remember the warnings of limited read/write drive longevity.

I'll pass on the 80GB drives, I still have an 80GB and 100GB 2.5" HDDs too, and about 9 2.5" 1TB HDDs in external cases I'm going to military wipe and sell for like $10 each. They're 2017/2018 drives. They'll be replaced by 1TB 2.5" SSDs in the same cases. I got rid of every IDE drive too.

What kind of pcbs?

 

 

Edited August 15, 2023 by RV_