Windows 10 Warning: Anger At Microsoft Rises With Serious New Failure

Forbes ^ | Feb 6, 2020 | Gordon Kelly

[dayglored]

Windows 10 may now be essential but users new and old have had a rough ride in recent weeks. And it has just gotten a lot worse after a new, high-profile Windows 10 failure has left more questions than answers and some seriously angry users.

The drama began yesterday [2/5] as Windows 10 users suddenly found that Search was broken with a black bar showing where search results should be, even for those who tried to perform a local search of their files. Breaking with tradition (1,2,3,4,5), Microsoft was fast to act blaming “a temporary server-side issue”. But the explanation instead kicked a hornet’s nest. First, the fix doesn’t work for everyone. Second, and more worryingly, Microsoft’s explanation doesn’t add up and it has prompted serious questions to be asked about how the operating system works and what personal data it is sharing.

Popular Microsoft pundit Woody Leonard led the charge, writing: “If you believe that yesterday’s worldwide crash of Windows 10 Search was caused by a bad third-party fiber provider, I have a bridge to sell you.”

In an open letter to new Windows head Panos Panay, Susan ‘Patch Lady’ Bradley was similarly sceptical, noting that today “we all found out that our local search boxes are somehow dependent on some service working at Microsoft.” She attacked the company for a lack of transparency and gave it a maximum ‘Pinocchio score’ for a lack of trust.

“Microsoft has been working to unify search experience across Windows, Bing, and Office 365 products...Microsoft’s efforts to supercharge the search box has many advantages, but such problems are ruining the company’s reputation,” said Windows Latest, in a stark warning.

[Note: Embedded links and more text at the source]

[Chode]

don’t blame you...

i have a brandy new W7 workhorse for when the XP box dies

[Wuli]

I (a) keep Task Manager open, (b) keep killing Cortana until it stays killed (usually for a good amount of time), and (c) kill it with repeated kills again when it shows its ugly head.

Why? I don’t trust Microspot with the fact that my Cortana settings say Cortana cannot collect any data.

[Hardastarboard]

Windows Search was broken? Gee, how could a person tell?

And no, I'm NOT an Apple fanboi. I use the Search feature all the time. It's weak, at best.

[newfreep]

Thanks.

I’ve also used Task Manager but Cortana just keeps coming back like the walking dead.

[gattaca]

bump

[RainMan]

Autosave is a sharepoint, not office feature. If you are saving local there is no autosave.

[Mastador1]

Microsoft needs to start asking people what they want rather than forcing things they think we ‘need’... Of course Microsoft is run by liberals so the ‘bully’ the little people comes naturally to them.

I don't think Apple is any different than Microsoft in that, THEY know what's better for us and damnit we will like it whether we want to or not!

[Trot]

This search engine, "everything.exe", is excellent. You may never want to use MS' searcher again.

https://www.voidtools.com/downloads/

[wastedyears]

This is why I will always use Win 7.

[cherry]

just got a new puter too with win 10.....not nearly as friendly as win 7 but I didn't trust the old puter to be safe for income taxes, banking, etc....

but I am too dumb to know if problems occur..

[Brian Griffin]

Microsoft programmers need to understand that in many parts of the USA Internet access is expensive and that Windows PCs are not always online.

This very morning Windows Explorer locked up on me and the Start button locked up too.

Unplugging my PC and restarting it solved the problems.

And please don’t turn my PC into a “snail” or cause it to get hot while “upgrading”.

[Brian Griffin]

Indians, like Americans, come in a very wide variety of skill and personality types.

[Grimmy]

Hey, Microsoft!

You know what will fix this?

Fire the last few actual programmers you have and hire more H1B visa sweatshop labor!

[TexasGator]

“I don’t see how that is possible.”

Self-Interference cancellation

[TexasGator]

“Does anything Word does, no hassels”

Wrong.

[Salamander]

Embrace the suck.

/Win10 motto

[GBA]

I’m wondering what folks know about an Apple Mac

^+1^

Is a Mac the best long-term solution to Windows problems?

If I can get a Mac to speak and share with Win7, I’d be in computer utopia for a good long time.

< insert YUGE smiley face here >

[dudemack]

I have an old 2006 macbook pro and it is able to share folders with my windows 7 desktop. It is using a very old Mac OS so I would think the latest OS would be more compatible.

Whether it is a long term solution it would depend on what you do. If you only write or use Word/Excel/PowerPoint like documents and surf the Internet than yes. If you want to play most PC games or use many engineering softwares than probably not.

Personally I like Apple’s OS but I have been disappointed with their continuous removal of hardware and upgrade options for their laptops released in the last several years.

[Sacajaweau]

I am too dumb, too....but I have a 55 year old son in NYC...and I email him with my usual.......HELP

[daltec]

JonPreston, based on my own experiences. I can second ProtectOurFreedom's comments.

I am a web developer by trade but also handle all the "normal" IT stuff for the non-profit I work for. This includes end-user tech support, desktop and app support, servers, networking, other hardware like printers, buying and setting up new hardware and software, supporting remote users and road warriors, and so on. I've even had to support a Linux machine for some weird mapping software a guy wanted to use.

Like ProtectOurFreedom, at this moment I am typing my post on my 2014 MacBook Pro. I bought it in April 2014. I bought the top one they had. You are right, they are going to cost more than most of the Windows computers you see advertised. But take a close look at what you are getting -- does the Windows computer come with a solid-state drive, for example? What about screen quality? How heavy and clunky is it, compared to a Mac?

But here I sit with a six-year-old laptop, which is my daily driver and handles every task I need it to do. I do not do heavy video editing or 3D modeling, but I do run some pretty heavy-duty web software including servers and IDEs, all of which run in virtual machines.

If you want a fast, clean, elegant machine that works very well and does not have a bunch of stickers and weird buttons all over it -- one that is not made of plastic but is trim, lightweight, and still pretty tough and robust -- do take a close look at Macs.

And yeah I am totally with ProtectOurFreedom on Linux too. I run OpenSuse on my home "lab," mostly to wrangle a bunch of virtual machines I run on another server. I really like OpenSuse, it is fast and stable, it is totally free, and I like learning about how to operate it and get it to work well with various other systems.

But when it is time to cut a board, I do not want to learn about the inner workings of the saw, you know? And I've had to do that a few times too many with Linux to use it as a daily driver. :-)

I would be interested to know what you end up with! Good luck!