Advertising is a powerful business model, and is there any better medium than demos that are directly embedded inside your users' systems? Yes. Yes there are. That is actually a terrible idea. Why would you do that? Oh. Right. Money. You know what? Fine. If it lowers the cost of commodity devices, then it is not entirely horrendous. Advanced users should have some method of opting-out, though.
Sure enough, Microsoft might have made that possible.
Paul Thurrott has compiled a little article that describes what you need to do to get clean installation media for your device. The procedure is fairly simple for Windows 8.1, although the Digital River download links for Windows 7 are good to know. The post is really more of a checklist to make sure you have your ducks in a row before attempting. Probably the most important advice (besides BACK UP!) is, especially if this is your only internet-capable device, make sure you have functioning network drivers. Also, if you have Windows 8.1 with Bing… sorry, you're stuck. Also, sorry in general.
Otherwise? Congratulations! You're now an enthusiast. Actually enjoy Windows.
or to cut down on all that
or to cut down on all that crapware that every one accumulates over the months use Sandboxie. it will install any software in its own section of the HDD and cannot effect the workings of Windows. once you are done with the program just tell sandboxie to erase all the data and it is gone with no trace that it was ever in your system, even those pesky registry keys because it can not even get to there with sandboxie.
also very good if you are pearonied about viruses and things, just run firefox/chrome inside the sandboxie and no viruses can get to you goods.
It could be worse. You could
It could be worse. You could be running Chrome!
Sounds useful article. I’m
Sounds useful article. I’m not much a Windows user but I guess it would be useful to clean up the machine time to time.
It is interesting to see if Windows 10 is more flexible than what Windows has been so far. One of the many advantages of Windows alternatives like Linux is their flexibility. It takes me around 5 minutes to install a new Fedora installation with development tools etc.
Windows 8.1 has been a lot
Windows 8.1 has been a lot more flexible. I can reset (start from scratch) or refresh (OS and apps refresh) Windows 8.1 in few minutes to 10 minutes or so. They part that takes long is updating the OS with the latest Windows Update since the OS version that is on your recovery partition. So not as fast but light years (seems to me) ahead of Windows 7/XP. I am hoping Windows 10 is even faster.
Windows 8.1 is definitely
Windows 8.1 is definitely much better and faster than Windows 7. I think it is still hugely inflexible but it is interesting to see if that is going to change in future.
A few seconds of extra boot
A few seconds of extra boot loading saved, at the expense of a terrible UI(wasting more time than was ever saved), If only they had kept the win 7 UI, and only done the under the hood improvements, while also not baking that TIFKAM/App Store, as well as Bing and the snooping, into the OS. People will keep 7 until 2020, and then see what options are out there, the enterprises will never upgrade until they have fully amortized the costs of going to 7 from XP, they will keep win 7 past 2020, and expect by that time PC, and laptop systems, will be offered with virtualization software out of the box, and will be able to run any OS, or group of OSs, that the user needs, talk about the ultimate sandbox, nothing beats running the OSs under a type 1 hypervisor, and isolating the entire OS, and OS image, from the users important data.
You need to use fewer commas,
You need to use fewer commas, and you should consider contrubiting better advice than to run an OS with a life cycle which already ended. I fear that you, anonymous, may have strayed from the discussion of security.
There is no security issues,
There is no security issues, other than windows being like that famous alpine cheese, with respect to security. Windows 7’s EOL is 2020, for security updates, no new features to be offered since 2015, but the security patches will continue until 2020(with exceptions, and wallets permitting after 2020). I have windows 7, and the features it provides will be the last features for any M$ OS, my laptop also ships with SUSE, supported by the OEM, so in 2020! I have plenty of options for the OSs that reside in the other disk partitions, I would prefer that I could get a laptop the ships with a VM/hypervisor arrangement, and the option of running any OS, new or old in a locked down VM installed IMAGE, or container, where I have, via the VM, the ability to control my data, and relegate the M$ bloat to its own little environment/world, where it happily thinks it is the only OS on the system, but in fact there are other parallel worlds out there, including the one in real control of my system, and permissions to the data that is hosted there. There are plenty of XP images running happily confined to their own little world, none the wiser to the larger universe that securely exists beyond the control of a mere OS, and XP’s “lapsed” life cycle.
It’s VM control that keeps many a M$ cheese wheel rolling along for legacy reasons, for many, lock it up and give it read/write permissions to the Bit Bucket, when needed, otherwise a simple pipe to transfer its needed output will suffice.
Do these downloaded images
Do these downloaded images have all or most of the updated rolled up? The amount of patches in 7 and 8.1 are getting out of control. What happened to more frequent service packs to keep from having to install 196+ updates?
I would say based on the MS
I would say based on the MS website it looks to be just Win 7 SP1 or Win 8.1 without any further updates. Slipstreaming was great option for those who have to install an OS more than once in a blue moon. I think slipstreaming died with the Windows Service Pack (Win7 is immensely overdo for one).
Another point to consider is that there is a distinction between Win 8 and Win 8.1 when it comes to accepting your license key during install. If you have a Windows 8 license key, then I can confirm that the best way I found to avoid having to install Win 8 and then upgrade to Win 8.1 is to initially install Win 8.1 by using the default 8.1 product key from the Windows ADK OEM partner center: http://www.microsoft.com/OEM/en/installation/downloads/Pages/Windows-8-ADK.aspx
Note the table titled, “Windows deployment training and related resources” and click the “Default Product Keys” tab to see the keys for each flavor of Windows 8/8.1
This default key passes the initial check during Windows 8.1 install process, but does NOT activate. You will need to replace the default key with your Windows 8 license key afterwards in order to active your fresh install.
Slipstreaming is still
Slipstreaming is still possible, it is just called offline servicing. Essentially, when you install Windows, it is simply copying a generalized backup of Windows. Offline servicing allow you to install to that offline image. You can install programs, updates or drivers using the dism tool, or their are many tools that automate this process. If you are interested, forums.mydigitallife.info has lots of info about how all this works.
Comment from the Bleeding
Comment from the Bleeding Edge aka Lunatic Fringe:
add a RUN command something like this:
RESTORE C: FROM [pathname]
This will re-start Windows into “interlude” mode,
read the image file at [pathname] and
write it onto the C: system partition.
A more general syntax would be:
RESTORE [drive letter] FROM [pathname]
Our workstations have multiple HDDs with identical primary partitions, all of which have a working copy of Windows.
It’s a simple task to boot from one of the backup partitions
and restore a stable drive image to the primary C: partition.
Windows “interlude” mode can be observed using PartitionWizard freeware e.g. CHKDSK C: /f
http://www.partitionwizard.com/
Conclusion: the speed of this RUN command will depend entirely on the speeds of storage subsystems hosting [drive letter] and [pathname].
good stuff!
good stuff!