After 31 Years, Why Does Microsoft Windows still _______?

[Ketchup]

Fill in the blank. What is it that Windows has done forever that drives you up the wall.
- Could be something it just started doing.
- Could be something it's done ever since you started using it.
- It can be any version of Windows (desktop, server, mobile, etc).

I'll start. After 31 Years, Why Does Microsoft Windows still come to a standstill during large network file transfers? In my case, it would be from the SSD in my desktop through gigabit connection on the desktop, router, and server, to the mechanical hard drive on the server. Sometimes it is using all the bandwidth of the connection, sometimes it's not. But try to do something on the local computer while the transfer is processing, FORGETABOUTIT. Things like opening the start menu, which should be in memory anyway, aren't happening anytime soon. The other computers on Wifi will do it do, but I do most of these on the desktop, so that's where they are both noticed. The only nice thing is that now, with the gigabit connection, these don't last long unless I am doing a major backup.

I mean c'mon! With unused memory just sitting there, and neither the SSD now the CPU working hard, I should theoretically be able to play a FPS while this is going on, not struggling to open the start menu!

What else do all have? I'm sure there are some good ones out there! Maybe we can even solve some of each other's problems along the way

 

[lxskllr]

Glacial updates that treat hardware resources like a bleeding edge game. High cpu, high io. and long periods of appearing frozen. Did it hang? Is it thinking? WTH knows?!

 

[William Gaatjes]

Still no build in smart copy functions.

CTRL+ C and CTRL + V options are still basic.
No recognition of common filetypes or smart menus.
No copying of text and copying of another file in the parallel while not losing the text.
And now that touch is part of windows, i expect it not to happen.
I mean why make a really usefull function.

Another thing that has gotten worse is proper use of screen realestate in explorer.exe.
Quick access already shows the common used folders.
Why does the pc icon when clicked upon also have to display the same folders again in the side view of explorer ?
Why this useless double view.
I can imagine someone disables quick access but why not a check in explorer.exe to prevent this double view.
If no quick access, display when unfolding pc icon.
If quick access, do not double display quick access folders when unfolding pc icon.
How hard can that be.

 

[bbhaag]

I do not like the fact that showing file extensions is off by default. That makes no sense to me.

 

[sandorski]

Taskbar Auto-Hide still inexplicably stops working now and then.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Pretty much all the stuff mentioned.

And why is it that windows update TAKES FREAKING FOREVER! And requires so many reboots and different steps. Like seriously, what the hell is it even doing that it should take that long? Replacing binary files with newer ones should not take hours and this many steps/reboots. I can install and update an older Linux distro in less time than it takes to update a fairly up to date existing install of Windows.

One thing that also absolutely annoys me, and it's not just windows (but it is worse), but Linux too, is the way newly created windows, dialogs, menus etc are treated in a multi monitor environment. If I launch a program from monitor 2 then I want it to appear on monitor 2. Don't try to remember when it was last closed from, don't try to guess what is a better placement - I opened it on 2 this time, then open it on 2. But noooo, each program has to do it's own thing, sometimes the dialog will fly all the way to monitor 3, sometimes 1, who knows! In some cases you need to "train" the program to open on the proper monitor, but god forbid you decide to close the window differently next time as you'll have to go through the training process again. How about just open stuff where it was launched from, that's it! That would make multi monitor so much more usable. For dialogs that were launched from inside a program, then it should open over the program window. Simple!

Office programs are by far the worse for this. You have an Excel spreadsheet open and hit search, and half the time the search box will go on another monitor. So freaking annoying.

 

[John Connor]

Spy.

 

[sweenish]

Provide a more consistent desktop experience for typical consumers where things generally just work than Linux? Am I doing this right?

I need the tools that Linux provides, but the ability to hot plug the projector would be nice. Before that, it would be nice if I could even get to the desktop when the projector is connected. That's not a consistent experience, either.

I'm using Fedora, which has so far been the best doing this simple, simple task. But it still fails often enough that I am just done with Linux after the summer. Again.

 

[JackMDS]

Not capable to generate meaningful Errors feedback.

 

[vailr]

Hasn't macOS transitioned more or less completely to "All 64-bit" operating system processes?
Then: why Microsoft can't do the same, forcing "All 64-bit" Windows 10 for future O.S. builds, leaving 32-bit Windows 10 versions in the dust?
Would it be all that terrible to: no longer be able to buy some cheap 32-bit only Intel Atom tablet with only 2 Gb of RAM & Windows 10 32-bit Starter Edition, for example?

 

[C1]

One of the things that might explain what is going on (at least for me) comes from operation of real-time military systems (hardware and programming). Mainly, only one CPU at a time can access a given memory space.

I suspect that this is true for multiple cores/threads (in pipeline - modern Intel system). In addition, there's the issue as regards task priority and frequencies as relates to "interrupts".

Think about it. Your downloading stuff via NIC that must be managed (processed and stuffed into memory) while other stuff such as keyboard & mouse need to be continuously monitored for input. Now if you want to pull up an OS screen that (better reside in memory), then you're tying up memory access for other things which may require memory access so presumably those other things need to be buffered in order to keep going, but eventually buffers need to be transferred/cleared.

The whole thing is obviously lots more complicated with multiple processes & cores/threads & much more stuff going on, but if you try to do a thought experiment then you should begin to realize the issues.

What you really want is access to parameters of the OS (such as interrupt priorities and frequencies, buffer sizes, etc.) to tune/customize it to your individual preference.

You might have better luck with Linux in that regard.

 

[pmv]

The way it will insist some file, folder, or attached drive, is 'in use by another application' when it isn't.

In fairness, that is presumably down to a bug in some application not releasing the resource correctly, rather than to Windows, but could Windows not at the very least tell me what application it is that it thinks is still using the thing? And maybe allow me to just tell it that that application is _not_ using it, so unflag it and rip it out of the faulty application's grasp and let me delete it or rename it or unplug it or whatever I'm trying to do with it (I'm in charge here, not that badly written application!).

Likewise I don't like how it still sometimes has difficulty terminating failed processes. When I tell you to kill that frozen/fallen-over process, just kill the thing, don't ask it's permission to be killed and then get all confused when it won't cooperate. Admittedly this seems to be less of a problem than it was in earlier versions of windows, where you'd end up with unclosable windows and such like. But I still don't seem to have the level of dictatorial life-or-death power over processes that I feel I am entitled to.

 

[C1]

Those are some of the things "Task Manager" is for.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/mg/sortname/processmanagement.html

 

[Red Squirrel]

Not capable to generate meaningful Errors feedback.

An error has occurred. The operation completed successfully.

The newer versions of windows have super lame BSODs too. Not that the standard BSODs generated much useful info for an average user, but at least they had SOMETHING. Now it's just a sad face. lol. They are also graphical, which means it requires to run at a higher level, I wonder if it happens where the BSOD itself crashes. lol.

 

[whm1974]

I do not like the fact that showing file extensions is off by default. That makes no sense to me.

This one biggest goofs Microsoft has done from Windows 95 since.

 

[Ichinisan]

$&@“$ autohide taskbar. It often won’t come up or won’t hide when you need it to.

 

[Ichinisan]

This one biggest goofs Microsoft has done from Windows 95 since.

Agree 100%

We wouldn’t have this user confusion about the difference between a harmless data file and a potentially harmful executable. Malware that spreads through gullible users of peer-to-peer file sharing would have been severely diminished.

 

[whm1974]

Agree 100%

We wouldn’t have this user confusion about the difference between a harmless data file and a potentially harmful executable. Malware that spreads through gullible users of peer-to-peer file sharing would have been severely diminished.

When I first installed Windows 8 on my system I forgot to unhide the file extensions and almost ended up with malware on my system. And I almost forgot to that do with my dad's system as well

If I was still using Windows I wouldn't use P2P file sharing anyway.

 

[Mike64]

Hasn't macOS transitioned more or less completely to "All 64-bit" operating system processes?
Then: why Microsoft can't do the same, forcing "All 64-bit" Windows 10 for future O.S. builds, leaving 32-bit Windows 10 versions in the dust?
Would it be all that terrible to: no longer be able to buy some cheap 32-bit only Intel Atom tablet with only 2 Gb of RAM & Windows 10 32-bit Starter Edition, for example?

God forbid. Among the many things wrong with Microsoft's SOP, not adopting Apple's "you can open your wallet whenever we tell you to or you can just just f&^$ off and die" mentality is not one of them.

 

[mikeymikec]

Fill in the blank. What is it that Windows has done forever that drives you up the wall.
- Could be something it just started doing.
- Could be something it's done ever since you started using it.
- It can be any version of Windows (desktop, server, mobile, etc).

I'll start. After 31 Years, Why Does Microsoft Windows still come to a standstill during large network file transfers? In my case, it would be from the SSD in my desktop through gigabit connection on the desktop, router, and server, to the mechanical hard drive on the server. Sometimes it is using all the bandwidth of the connection, sometimes it's not. But try to do something on the local computer while the transfer is processing, FORGETABOUTIT. Things like opening the start menu, which should be in memory anyway, aren't happening anytime soon. The other computers on Wifi will do it do, but I do most of these on the desktop, so that's where they are both noticed. The only nice thing is that now, with the gigabit connection, these don't last long unless I am doing a major backup.

Are you talking about transfering files over SMB / the Windows file sharing system here? It's been a while since I did that a lot (though I don't recall it ever happening to me), but I often FTP files to my server over the LAN and the system multi-tasks exactly as I'd expect it to.

Ooh, I can think of one: Set up a network drive letter, then put a shortcut to it on the desktop. At some point the network drive won't be available, then the desktop shortcut icon will change to a 'network drive disconnected' icon, but would it be gracious enough to automatically change back when the drive is available again? That would be too much to ask, wouldn't it?!?

 

[ElFenix]

I want the default view for everything to be 'general items' and 'details.' I can go through the menu to set the defaults, but it just doesn't stick. windows keeps thinking I want some folders to be set to video or pictures, which makes it load thumbnails or previews, and then also to load up metadata which can take forever, rather than just name/date/size/type. so each new directory needs to be set back to general items and details. I should probably go tweak the registry, but i'm lazy.

worse is search. at least with new folders, once you set them to general items and details, the setting sticks. not so with search. search wants to present its findings with thumbnails and all sorts of other lag-inducing garbage. and I have yet to find a way to tell it, no I want details. and only details. name/date/size/path. that's it.

I don't know why it just can't trust me that the thing I want to be default, I actually want to be the default.

 

[lxskllr]

I want the default view for everything to be 'general items' and 'details.' I can go through the menu to set the defaults, but it just doesn't stick. windows keeps thinking I want some folders to be set to video or pictures, which makes it load thumbnails or previews, and then also to load up metadata which can take forever, rather than just name/date/size/type. so each new directory needs to be set back to general items and details. I should probably go tweak the registry, but i'm lazy.

worse is search. at least with new folders, once you set them to general items and details, the setting sticks. not so with search. search wants to present its findings with thumbnails and all sorts of other lag-inducing garbage. and I have yet to find a way to tell it, no I want details. and only details. name/date/size/path. that's it.

I don't know why it just can't trust me that the thing I want to be default, I actually want to be the default.

I think that started with Vista. Never had an issue on xp, but with vista I was constantly resetting folder views.

 

[Mike64]

I think that started with Vista. Never had an issue on xp, but with vista I was constantly resetting folder views.

Not that it really excuses it, but this actually isn't a "bug", it's a…………… no, I wasn't going to say "feature"<lol>, but rather a modifiable "setting", albeit one you have to go into the registry to change.

Apparently Microsoft decided, back in the Middle Ages of personal computing, that no one would ever really need to deal with more than 5000 "folders". Possibly with some justification in the earliest days of Vista, when hard drives were rarely if ever anywhere near as big as what fairly soon became "standard equipment", but still annoying that they never changed the default even when it became obvious that would be/was no longer the case. Especially since it didn't involve any backward compatibility issues. But at least unlike the infamous "no one will ever need more than…" 640KB barrier, this one's easily enough dealt with once you know that it can be dealt with: e.g., www.geekscribes.net/blog/2011/06/05/solved-windows-doesnt-remember-folder-view-settings/.

 

[Chaotic42]

I want the default view for everything to be 'general items' and 'details.' I can go through the menu to set the defaults, but it just doesn't stick. windows keeps thinking I want some folders to be set to video or pictures, which makes it load thumbnails or previews, and then also to load up metadata which can take forever, rather than just name/date/size/type. so each new directory needs to be set back to general items and details. I should probably go tweak the registry, but i'm lazy.

worse is search. at least with new folders, once you set them to general items and details, the setting sticks. not so with search. search wants to present its findings with thumbnails and all sorts of other lag-inducing garbage. and I have yet to find a way to tell it, no I want details. and only details. name/date/size/path. that's it.

I don't know why it just can't trust me that the thing I want to be default, I actually want to be the default.

Yeah, this is my big sticking point. I'll also go with:

-Come to a halt when accessing the CD/DVD/BR Drive
-Not come with a decent text editor by default
-Not come with a decent PDF viewer (no, the one in Windows 10 does not count)
-Have issues with selecting a default audio output - It keeps jumping back to DisplayPort

Windows 10 introduced a whole host of new headaches, especially Cortana. They really need to make the Pro version truly professional by default.

 

[andy2000]

Auto reboot after a BSOD turned on by default.

Depending on how fast your monitor can re-sync, It barely gives you enough time to see the BSOD before it reboots. There's never enough time to make a note of the error so you can fix it before the next reboot. I can't think of a reason you would even want the system to sit there rebooting over and over again rather than just halting. Post-Win Me, a BSOD is almost certainly a real problem that will continue until you fix the offending hardware or driver.