10 Reasons Why I Hate Microsoft Windows
Ok, here is my 10 reasons why I have Mircorosft Windows in no particular order and my suggestions on how to cope with them. Now don’t get me wrong I like windows for playing my games. I do use Linux as my main operating system; however, it is inconvenient to reboot into windows just to play games. So, sometimes I find myself using windows for weeks at a time. Out of my recent frustrations I thought I would post my top reasons for hating windows.
1. It rots faster than a jug of milk left in a hot car.
If you are not formatting/re-imaging windows AT LEAST once every 6 months I would guess your computer is running at about 50% efficiency. For most people that are infected with spyware/malware you are probably running at about 10% efficiency.
I suggest making an image of your computer after you install windows and configure it to your needs so you can restore it whenever you can without a big hassle. Of course this means you need to save your files on a partition/harddrive other than the one Windows resides on.
2. Windows deceives the user and tries to hide the truth to “protect/help” the user.
The first example of this is the My Documents, My Pictures, etc… They make a folder on the start menu or in My Computer. Most users don’t even know where their files are being stored they just know that they can save them in “My Documents”. I guess Microsoft is trying to help computer users be more organized by making folders for them but they are only confusing them. The downside to this is most people have all their files and data on the same harddrive/partition as the OS (Windows). This makes it harder to format every 6 months because you have to move them out of there. Wanna know what is really lame? Try removing My Documents… it can’t be done very easily and almost every program tries to force you to save your files there.
Another example of this is hiding file extensions. I guess they are trying to help the user by hiding it so they don’t get confused and don’t have to worry about renaming off the extension. Problem is that a lot of users don’t know about the extension and open exes/viruses.
I suggest saving your files on another drive/partition. The option to show file extensions are in the folder options under ‘view’.
3. It has such a monopoly that game developers won’t code for other operating systems
4. You can’t uninstall Internet Explorer completely.
Install Firefox or Opera. I currently favor Opera over Firefox since it is most compatible with web standards according to the acid2 test, the Fastest browser, the most secure, and also made in one of my favorite countries, Norway.
5. They don’t play nice with the other kids. Windows is notorious for not providing support for networking with other operating systems.
6. All the default software that comes with Windows is bloated or unnecessary. An example of this would be Windows Media Player vs. Media player classic or VLC. I spend about 30 minutes after each fresh install of Windows XP just removing unnecessary programs and services.
7. It never activates by itself over the internet. I always have to call into to activate my windows software. The automated telephone service never activates it but the guy on the phone will activate it without asking me a single question about its legitimacy. This makes absolutely no sense to me. I waste about 15 mintues of my time every time I have to call in to Microsoft and sense I have to format every 6 months this is extremely annoying.
To bypass this headache I have resorted to making a ghost image of a clean install of XP.
8. Windows can’t delete a file that is in use (and sometimes can’t copy it). This is absolute blasphemy. Linux has been able to do this for years. Ever try copying over your/someone else’s 20gb+ My Documents? You start the copy then leave the computer for an hour or so only to come back and find a nice error that says it failed to copy a file. Thats nice and all but you didn’t have to stop in the middle of transferring all the OTHER files.
Thankfully there are programs out there that solve this problem.
9. End task doesn’t do anything (most of the time). Ever try to end a task in windows only to find yourself hitting the end task button a thousand times realizing the only way to end the task is to restart? When I was a Windows only user I thought this was normal. I thought sometimes things just go wrong and there is no way to end the program/processes without a good old fashion restart. When I was introduced to Linux I was amazed that their version of “end task” actually worked and was immediate. It is simple when you end a task in Linux it is gone instantly. Unfortunately I believe this has to do more with the way the core operating system works and I haven’t found a fix for this annoying problem in Windows.
10. Every time a windows programs crashes it wants to send a useless report to Microsoft. Thankfully this is one of the things I disable after a fresh format. To disable it go to start > run > type services.msc then find error reporting and disable it.
Why do you hate (love) Windows?…
Why do I love/hate Windows?
Love:
# Almost the entire PC universe is compatible with it: apps, peripherals, etc.
# Crisp fonts
# Graphics handling (GDI , DirectX)
# Can be customized with much tinkering
Hate:
> The repressive EULA! (I can’t even back up Windows XP more than once)
> Closed source
> Older versions break frequently (eg, the notorious Win ME). And to add massive insult to injury, I can’t recover from a recent backup because the EULA restricts me from making more than one backup. Ouch.
> The software phones home
> Has to be activated; has to be tested as genuine for updates
> Viruses, spyware/malware, and endless security patches/updates
> Too expensive
> Forced hardware upgrade (eg, Windows Vista)
> Even more repressive EULA for Windows Vista (I can’t even run it on more than 2 processors unless I buy the more expensive edition)
> No quality control; some apps are a usability nightmare
> Insecure; poorly-designed OS
> Installing & removing apps will raise your blood pressure. “The following shared DLL file is no longer being used: somefile123.dll. Leaving this file behind will not harm your computer. If you remove this file then it might cause an application to stop working. Do you want to remove this file?” Jesus, please help us!
> Requires anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall just so it doesn’t get compromised
I tell you; if the EULA isn’t as repressive as it is I’d probably be more inclined to use it; despite the many other flaws.
I’ve been a DOS/Win 3.1/Win NT/Win ME/Win 2000/Win XP user on different IT jobs; for over a decade.
I’ve tried Mac OS X for a year – it makes Windows look like a joke. Apple is getting greedier however; they’re just a lesser evil.
Typing this on an Ubuntu 7.10 system. Very nice distro.
I agree that #9 is super annoying, but is also trivial to solve: Simply use the “Processes” tab in the Task Manager and it kills the process immediately. I have no idea why “end task” is so stupid.
You might want to just practice good optimization techniques. I used to reformat once a month, but now I never reformat. I just optimize. That means constant defragging (I analyze and defrag if the fragmentation rate is over 8%), uninstalling things you don’t plan on using, cleaning up your desktop, etc. It’s really not that hard. And I don’t know what exactly you’re complaining about when you say that you can’t uninstall internet explorer completely, you can remove any and all connections to it if you should so desire. Besides, it’s closely linked in to windows explorer (which you definitely need), so it would be counterproductive to remove it.
I agree that linux is a nicer OS in terms of having a few nice toy features, but that also ignores the incredible plug-n-play mentality that windows championed and still upholds. By the way, I’m running a pirated windows on my desktop, and debian on my laptop. Neither are favored by me.
Afndale,
Welcome to my blog. I first want to thank you for your comment and your arguments. It is always great to hear from a different perspective or experience.
For me, I don’t want to be bothered by constant defragging, analyzing, uninstalling things, cleaning up my desktop, etc… Even if I did those things my computer would not operate the same as if it was freshly installed. For this reason I like to set my computer up the way I like it, optimize it, and then ghost it.
You cannot uninstall Internet Explorer BECAUSE it is closely linked with windows explorer. This is the problem and one of the reasons Microsoft got out of the anti-trust lawsuit filed against them.
I am glad you enjoy Linux and I am even more grateful for the fact that you have something to compare Windows to. I am not sure of what toy features you are referring to with Linux however. I find Linux to have just the opposite. I find it has more productive tools and a powerful command line interface for more productivity. For example in Linux I can print out 10 PDF files in one command without every opening up a PDF viewer.
I think you are right in some ways about Windows having more plug-n-play compatibility over Linux but I can assure you that these are usually attributed to the manufacturers of the peripherals and not the Linux OS itself. I have yet to find any of my hardware to be non plug-n-play in the Linux OS. I have even found that with Linux all of my hardware has been auto detected and I don’t have to install any drivers. Except the proprietary Nvidia Drivers for my graphics card. I cannot say the same for Windows. In Windows My motherboard, on-board sound, Promise ATA133 controller card, graphics card, webcam, and network interface card all require my to install the drivers manually. In fact my hard drive is SATA and the drivers or generic equivalents are not included with Windows. For me to install Windows XP I have to insert a floppy disk each time I want to install or it won’t detect my SATA drive. Yes I said floppy disk because windows XP doesn’t support any other way of loading drivers during the install process. I don’t even have a floppy disk anymore. It wasn’t very plug-n-play to say the least.
So in my experience I found that Windows is actually less plug-n-play compatible to Linux; although, I have heard of people having great difficulty configuring their hardware with Linux. But again this is almost always due to the fact that the manufacture does not want to support Linux.
Mark
I have no love for Windows. I use it at work because I have to. All things being equal Linux/Unix or Mac is a far better OS in terms of getting the job done and using PC resources in a minimalist fashion. All too often Windows Lovers bash Linux over application availability. I hate that more than anything. It is not the OS’s fault. I would love to have all of the software available for Linux that is available for Windows. Then we could just let the best operating system win and I don’t even need to write which one would win. There is a reason why mission critical applications run on some form of an *nix based OS whether Unix/Linux. Open source software leads to better software for everyone involved with it. I’m babbling now but I wish someday that a hardware developer will have to write drivers for all major OS’s instead of just Microsoft. Its like this, say Microsoft is a car company. They are the #1 car company. The only reason is because they own the Roads. I want to start my own car company but I have to build my own roads. There will be some people who will drive my car but its not an easy decision to make. Windows isn’t the #1 OS in use due to anything good that it offers it users.
14SEP2008
1. An OS is there just to run the computer and manage data.
2. Why does Windoze Vistless fail to provide a dual-pane viewer despite the fact that almost everyone uses USB external drives or is downloading photos from digital camera memory cards. A dual-pane viewer is the number one productivity improvement that MS has neglected.
3. Why is there no back-up capability built into Windoze products? Again, assisting the user protect their most important IT investment, data (read time investment) should be the prime directive of an OS.
4. If a user opens a file browser and 80 percent of the time goes to c:\data, why does the OS not ask the user if this should be the default directory when opening the browser? Where is the AI that should be in the OS after nearly 20 years of home PC computing?
5. 10 years ago other word processors could intuitively follow the paragraph and sub-paragraph numbering conventions initiated by the user, MS Word still cannot replicate this.
6. Why is the Print Icon hidden by default in MS Office 2007.
7. Why is MS still in business? Seems like an easy target to be ran out of business. \
Craig Knapp
craig.knapp1@us.army.mil
Windows is a heap of junk and never ever works.
I don’t hate Microsoft, but I believe they have made many great mistakes, and started off with a mediocre base anyway. I prefer to run Linux, and use Wine if I ever need to run a Windows app. It’s not a “Windows Sucks” state of mind, more of a “Linux Owns.” I like to keep myself free from negative emotions.
I have had a PC my whole life. This has gone too far! I run a home recording studio and I cant have my computer freeze or crash in the middle of a recording and wait for my slow computer. I have been saving up and just ordered the new iMac. I’m 100% against Windows. They are terrible for music production (unless you buy the $3000.00 MusicX with several thousand worth of software and hardware). Then you still have to reformat and deal with horrible networking.
I LOVE APPLE! Also when you turn on a PC it shows ‘advertisements’ for the different companies that make parts for it. Its strange, even though Apple does the same thing. On my PC I see logos for ATI, AMD, Windows (gag) Toshiba, etc. On my iMac, I see a shiny little apple. What is more appealing? Also, go to Microsoft.com and Apple.com. What do you see? Apple is showing off their newest products, windows tells you to back up your PC, get their virus protection, offers tech support, etc. Who is more confident? APPLE! They are proud of their work, Microsoft offers “help” for their horrible errors! By help. I mean they give you 26 paragraphs with words nobody understands then asks “Was this helpful?” as if theres some chance anyone will EVER find their wretched software helpful.
On my PC, when I listen to music and load a web page, the music literally stutters and sometimes skips like cheap broken CD player. It also gets very hot, so hot I cant type on it. This heat is normal, even very light work like typing a Word document or playing music. It also doesn’t have any Firewire ports so most of the pro audio gear I want won’t work with it.
On Windows Media Player, the visualizers are laggy and not very good. iTunes for PC is the same way. Great animations, but choppy and look pretty bad. On the iMac, visualizers and screen savers are flawless. I have never witnessed a laggy Mac (except for slow internet at my school (filled with Macs) when we have over 100 Macbook’s on the same WiFi network). Our multimedia lab has 19 iMacs and 5 Mac Pro’s all running Final Cut Pro. It renders super fast and looks incredible. PCs are not so much. My friend has a really nice HP laptop running Sony Vegas pro (very expensive top-of-the-line video editing software) and it took about 40 minutes to render a 10 minute video in standard definition at 30 FPS. The iMacs render 30 FPS too, but its in full HD and very fast.
One last ting. PCs get viruses, Mac’s don’t. Enough said. I have spent about $500 on virus protection and removing 2 horrible viruses that almost destroyed my computer. Luckily, my dad bought the over priced Norton full security suite that discovered it only 4 days after I got it. Funny how a Mac will notify you instantly if any unregistered application is trying to run…. My rant is now complete. I hope my hatred of PCs has spread to you all so this horrible world might be able to live PC free.