briantrumpet
Pharaoh
Will investigate, thanks.
Seemingly trivial things that elicit an emotional response of some kind
- Thread starter First Aspect
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Will investigate, thanks.
briantrumpet
Pharaoh
FFS, I'm cursed. Attempt no.3 at new laptop. Lenovo, so a better-known brand, and the Amazon reviews didn't have any dire warnings. But it won't let me turn of the S mode for Windows, which means I can't install *anything* that's not in the Microsoft Store, and that makes it a useless pile of shit if it won't. It's should be a simple two-click thing, but it keeps on saying no can do "Try again". I think it's a Windows problem rather than a Lenovo one.
Have looked on various forums, there are identical problems with lots of Windows users of late, so it might be a bug with the botched Windows 11 update. Talk about enshittifcation, and these are the people who want us to put our trust in A-fucking-I.
Have looked on various forums, there are identical problems with lots of Windows users of late, so it might be a bug with the botched Windows 11 update. Talk about enshittifcation, and these are the people who want us to put our trust in A-fucking-I.
Pblakeney
Guru
...and people wonder why I am happy to pay the Apple surcharge. 😉
briantrumpet
Pharaoh
I'm happy again now. I found one mention of changing the region and time zone to the US, and all of a sudden, success. I can now install all the apps I want.
Both Gemini and Copilot saying that lots of Windows users with the same complaint since their glitchy update... something about handshakes in the Microsoft Store. Anyway, at least I can post my solution in the threads where I'd asked.
Pross
Über Member
Meh, I’ve just had to set up two Dell Windows laptops - a Dell Precision for my new job and a Dell Alienware for home and had no issues despite me having no real clue when it comes to that stuff. The work one was a bit of a pain having to use Authenticator and it not working before realising it needed to be done via the boss’s login rather than mine. Other than that they’ve been fine.
briantrumpet
Pharaoh
TBF, this is the first time I've had any problem firing up new laptops: the first two duds were simply with products that were terrible, and the third one because of some authentication glitch which is so recent that the (in the end) easy solution has neither had time to be addressed by MS, nor to have been picked up widely enough for search engines just to say "There's a dead easy fix to your problem..."
Anyway, so far so good with my unblocked Lenovo, with three essential non-MS apps installed, and much faster than my trusty-but-old-and-small Asus notebook, which will remain a useful standby, and slips in a rucksack easily, if I want Windows stuff when I'm travelling.
C R
Legendary Member
Linux FTW
briantrumpet
Pharaoh
Sometimes a simple misstep like that can cause you hours of grief thinking there's some fundamental problem, when it's actually just a small bit of missing info... not unlike my problem... I've been grumping all afternoon and tried various almost-nuclear options, when it was only ever about three clicks away.
rakkor
New Member
I got myself a chromebook when I was laid up with my broken pelvis, I have my PC for gaming etc and work laptops, but I thought as I only needed something for consuming content a chromebook would do. I'm glad I made the choice as it's been brilliant, great touchscreen, excellent battery life and very light and portable. It lacks a bit in power apps and wireshark vpn doesn't work with it but apart from that it's excellent
Mr Celine
Senior Member
Windows is rapidly becoming unusable both at home and work.
At least at home I don't have to use teams or sharepoint and my 2003 version of Word is easier to use than the current bloatware.
I also have an old laptop that wouldn't 'upgrade' to win11. It now runs linux mint, boots quicker than the big PC and isn't plagued with inconvenient updates when I don't want them.
At least at home I don't have to use teams or sharepoint and my 2003 version of Word is easier to use than the current bloatware.
I also have an old laptop that wouldn't 'upgrade' to win11. It now runs linux mint, boots quicker than the big PC and isn't plagued with inconvenient updates when I don't want them.
briantrumpet
Pharaoh
I gather that if one is happy to stick within the Google/Chrome system, they do work well, though I'm a bit of an old fart who likes to be able to pick and choose various Windows 'programs' to run on the laptop. I realise that the ability to 'look under the bonnet' and install apps that haven't been vetted/approved by Microsoft might sometimes cause problems (avoided by Chromebooks, and at much greater expense for users by Apple, who effectively lock the bonnet closed to normal users and charge to open it), but I like the freedom to be able pick and choose the apps I want (and take the risk).
Obviously the 'S Mode' on Windows I've now permanently turned off is an attempt to mimic Chromebook/Apple by limiting bonnet opening, but as a lot of MS apps are pants, I can't see it gaining widespread usage.
C R
Legendary Member
I got a new work laptop last year. It included Skype for business, which our company doesn't use, and as far as I can tell it has been discontinued by MS. The kicker? It is marked as a windows default application, so it can't be uninstalled, and none of the tricks from the internet have worked to get rid of the barstard or remove it from auto start, so every morning I have to manually exit the blooming thing. Sums up MS to a T.
Our products are windows based, though, so no chance of moving out to a more reasonable environment.
At home I use Fedora.
PurplePenguin
Senior Member
briantrumpet
Pharaoh
All my fault we've gone off on tangent. I've starter a compooters thread here: https://ncap.cyclechat.net/threads/computer-corner.833/
OP
OP
