KAY’SCORNER
10 OCTOBER2020|COMPUTERSHOPPER|ISSUE
Bossybootups
HHISMONTH’SCOLUMNis
deedicated todownright rudeness
onnthepartofsoftware
coompanies(OK,mainly
MMicrosoft) thatseemtothink
thheycandecidewhatyouought
toobe doing and what software
yoououghttoberunning,along
wiithacoupleofhintsonhow
toofightback.
Onethingthatreallyirritates
meiswhenthewritersof
ooftwaretakelibertieswithyour
((oorrathermy)computer.You
know the sort of thing: you
install anew application or an
update, anditautomatically adds
ashortcut icon to your desktop,
and adds itself to the taskbar,
even though you have no icons
on your desktop because you
preferaclean screen, and will
decide foryourself if you want
to clutter up your taskbar.
Youlaunch an application
and the first thing it does is
announce it’s updating, even
though you’re in areal hurry and
would much rather it waited half
an hour till you’ve written the
urgent email and sent it. Ionce
accidentally clicked to upload a
photoinamessaging app while
on aremoteScottish island with
hardly any mobile coverage,then
spentthe rest of the week
unable to do anything that
required asignal as this app
repeatedly grabbed the whole
of the signal bandwidth to try
to send the wretched photo
without giving me any option
to tell it to just forget the
whole thing.
The most recent example of
‘we know best’ that had me
shouting at the screen was
Microsoft’s updateofEdge,
its web browser.Despitemy
usingFirefoxandChromerather
than Edge,the first thing that I
(and millions of otherirate
users) saw when starting my
machine followingaWindows 10
updatewas Edge occupying the
full screen, with abutton for‘try
our latest version’but no wayto
close it. This would have been
annoying at the best of times,
but Ineeded to open aweb
browser foraZoom meeting
that was starting almost
immediately.Ihad to resort to
the Task Manager to shut it
down, which Iconsider the
height of rudeness on
Microsoft’s part. People who
didn’t know the Task Manager
option were forced to work
through awizardtoset up Edge
in order to move on to normal
use of their computer.How can
this be acceptable behaviour?
SHORTCUTTOTHE QUICK
In addition to installing Edge
and trying to force all Windows
users to go through a‘try how
wonderful we are’fest, Microsoft
had also added ashortcut icon
on the desktop and pinned Edge
to the taskbar –inthe prime first
location. Adding insult to injury,
people working through the
process were ‘encouraged’ to
sign in with their MicrosoftID
and import data from other
web browsers such as Firefox,
and to change the default
browser to Edge.Ifyou work
through the full-screen wizard,
Microsoftevenhas the gall to
ignore your preferred browser
setting. Once you’ve updated
and the wizard has finished,
when you open your preferred
browser,you get aprompt
asking if you want to use Edge
instead. Talk about pushy!
This isn’t just limited to
Windows 10 users. Those still
using Windows 8and 7, which
Microsoftisnolonger
supporting, are still getting the
Edge updateforced on them.
It’s acase of,‘nah, we’re not
going to fix any problems that
ariseorupdateyoursystem,but
youwillmovetoEdge’.
By the time you read this, the
opportunity to avoid this specific
bullying will have passed, but for
future reference,it’s worth
remembering that on Windows
systems, if you press Ctrl-Alt-Del
at the same time,you’ll get to a
screen with anumber of choices,
one of which is Task Manager.
If you click on this, you’ll get a
dialog where you can see the list
of appsthat are running, with
the option to End Task. Hah,
victory.I’m not going to sit
through your sales pitch, you’re
worse than timeshare salesmen
back in the 80s.
ACTIVE SERVICE
The other annoying habit
Microsofthas is installing
Windows updates at atimethat
it thinks is convenient, then
automatically restarting your
computer to completethe
update. If this causes you
problems, it’s worth knowing
that you can alter when updates
happen by changing the times
marked as being ‘active hours’.
If you type Active Hours in the
search pane in the Start menu,
you’ll get an option forChange
Active Hours. Select this, and
you can set the times when
you’ll be using your computer.
Microsoftwon’t automatically
restart your machine within
the times you set as your start
and end times. Youcan also
set an option to have Windows
work out from your use of the
computer what your real active
hours are.
One final plea: if apiece of
softwarebehaves so badly that
you resort to shouting at the
screen, find away to complain
to the company that produces it.
If you’re on Twitter,tweet about
it. Find the ‘Contact us’ email
address. Youmight only be one
person, but if theyget millions
of irateemails, next time they
might do things differently.
We can but hope.
KAYEWBANK
SoftwareguruandShopperlegend
[email protected]
KayEwbankissickandtiredof softwarecompanieschangingher settingswithout
herpermission. No prizesforguessing whothe mainculpritis...
The first thing thatIsaw when starting my
machine following aWindows 10 update
wasEdge occupying the full screen
