Awful Win10 user interface makes Win10 management a nightmare  

Recently a neighbor asked me to help him troubleshoot a printer problem on his Win10 Lenovo laptop, since I've used Windows for decades and am fairly computer-savvy.

But his Win10 user interface was incomprehensible to me. On my Win10 Dell laptop, I have Windows configured with the 'legacy' Windows user interface. But his is a bewildering artificial interface that totally isolates the user from Windows - it took me 45 minutes just to figure out how to make "My Computer" show up on his desktop, and even when it did, it would not even show me his Drive C "Users". His user account is set as Admin, which is not good, so I wanted to create a new 'standard user' account for him...but couldn't figure out how to do it.

His printing problem might have had something to do with the brain-damaged PDF reader app that came with the OS from the Microsoft Store, because the same PDF printed just fine on my Dell laptop. So I tried downloading Acrobat Reader from Adobe. But It would not install because the OS was locked in "S" mode prohibiting installing any non-Microsoft Store apps.

In the end I was totally unable to help him; All my time was spent trying unsuccessfully to figure out his awful user interface.

Now I'm worried about whether some future Microsoft Update is going to wipe out my 'legacy' user interface and automatically impose the same hellish interface on my PC. How can I make sure that doesn't happen?

My Dell runs Win10 Pro 64-bit version 20H2, OS build 19042.804.
Unfortunately I don't know what version my Neighbor's Lenovo has, but his Lenovo is less than a year old.

Al Nonymous said:

Recently a neighbor asked me to help him troubleshoot a printer problem on his Win10 Lenovo laptop, since I've used Windows for decades and am fairly computer-savvy.

But his Win10 user interface was incomprehensible to me. On my Win10 Dell laptop, I have Windows configured with the 'legacy' Windows user interface. But his is a bewildering artificial interface that totally isolates the user from Windows - it took me 45 minutes just to figure out how to make "My Computer" show up on his desktop, and even when it did, it would not even show me his Drive C "Users". His user account is set as Admin, which is not good, so I wanted to create a new 'standard user' account for him...but couldn't figure out how to do it.

His printing problem might have had something to do with the brain-damaged PDF reader app that came with the OS from the Microsoft Store, because the same PDF printed just fine on my Dell laptop. So I tried downloading Acrobat Reader from Adobe. But It would not install because the OS was locked in "S" mode prohibiting installing any non-Microsoft Store apps.

In the end I was totally unable to help him; All my time was spent trying unsuccessfully to figure out his awful user interface.

Now I'm worried about whether some future Microsoft Update is going to wipe out my 'legacy' user interface and automatically impose the same hellish interface on my PC. How can I make sure that doesn't happen?

My Dell runs Win10 Pro 64-bit version 20H2, OS build 19042.804.
Unfortunately I don't know what version my Neighbor's Lenovo has, but his Lenovo is less than a year old.

Hi there

What are you actually trying to do.

Post some shots of your desktop so we can see what you actually mean.

I use Linux a lot with a myriad of GUI's - some good, some hideous, some downright evil but they are all "decipherable".
KDE, GNOME and some others would also be easily understandable and useable by the typical Windows user. Some GUI's on that platform are almost "More Windows than Windows" !!!!.

I also use some different Windows systems - including some servers where I've got them to run as "Desktop Workstations" - my favorite one being Windows 2019 server.

The base Windows GUI - if you ignore the mess that was Windows 8 (and to a lesser extent Windows 8.1) is perfectly understandable as well and if you want to "Freeze" your system why not create a Virtual Mchine and run it on a Free version of VirtualBox or VMWare's VMplayer -- then you can keep your old system until the end of the "lifetime of the Universe" if you so want.

Cheers
jimbo

Windows 10 in S mode is a version of Windows 10 that's streamlined for security and performance, while providing a familiar Windows experience. To increase security, it allows only apps from the Microsoft Store, and requires Microsoft Edge for safe browsing.

Switch from Windows 10 in S mode to Windows 10 Pro tutorial

Megahertz said:

Windows 10 in S mode is a version of Windows 10 that's streamlined for security and performance, while providing a familiar Windows experience. To increase security, it allows only apps from the Microsoft Store, and requires Microsoft Edge for safe browsing.

Switch from Windows 10 in S mode to Windows 10 Pro tutorial

Hi there

@Megahertz

If you want "Mega secure Windows" try W10 LTS Enterprise version or run W2K19 server as a desktop -- it runs rings around any W10 system that I've seen so far -- of course getting a license isn't cheap - I got a VL one via Work as a training exercise but if there's trials out there grab them - they work for 180 days. Ensure at install time whether as a VM or on a physical machine that you select the version (either standard or datacenter edition --standard is better for the "Desktop conversion") that includes the "Desktop experience" -- I.E the one with all the extra bits and pieces in it.

Here's my W2K19 server running as a desktop OS !!!



Cheers
jimbo

jimbo45 did you understand the OP issue on first post?

Windows 10 scroll bars are so understated as to be invisible. They make it very difficult to remotely talk people through a procedure when manipulating almost invisible scroll bars is required. I support quite a few Windows 10 home users including consultations by phone. Bring back the lovely Windows 7 UI and Windows 8.1 isn't bad either.

hake said:

Windows 10 scroll bars are so understated as to be invisible. They make it very difficult to remotely talk people through a procedure when manipulating almost invisible scroll bars is required. I support quite a few Windows 10 home users including consultations by phone. Bring back the lovely Windows 7 UI and Windows 8.1 isn't bad either.

Do these tutorials help?

• How to Turn On or Off Automatically Hide Scroll Bars in Windows 10 UWP Apps
• How to Change the Size of Scroll Bars in Windows 10

Hope this helps...