Windows 10 'game mode' settings uncovered in insider update

[Saracen]

This isn't new to Windows 10 though - over a decade ago I got called out by a client and ended up having to charge them for rolling back an automatic driver update. That was on XP.

I haven't had to do it yet on Win 10, but next time I have to roll back a driver I'll check whether you can still disable driver updates for individual devices.

I've never had WinXP force-install anything, UNLESS I have update ootions set to allow it. Which I don't.

I always turn auto-update off, and then install security patches as and when they come out, and/or doesn't conflict with my usage, and other patches selectively. The difference is I know enough to be proactive about it, and am disciplined enough to actually do it.

[scaryjim]

I've never had WinXP force-install anything, UNLESS I have update ootions set to allow it. Which I don't. ...

The default option was always to install recommended updates, so the vast majority of users won't notice the difference. Great for you that you know how to change that setting, and annoying from Microsoft that they're steadily removing the options to control your own system, but that vast majority of users really aren't going to notice the difference, and they've spent well over a decade blaming Microsoft for breaking things when they should be blaming device manufacturers. Continuing to blame Microsoft because device vendors can't write stable drivers isn't going to fix the problem...

[Saracen]

The default option was always to install recommended updates, so the vast majority of users won't notice the difference. Great for you that you know how to change that setting, and annoying from Microsoft that they're steadily removing the options to control your own system, but that vast majority of users really aren't going to notice the difference, and they've spent well over a decade blaming Microsoft for breaking things when they should be blaming device manufacturers. Continuing to blame Microsoft because device vendors can't write stable drivers isn't going to fix the problem...

Agree on all that.

My personal stance on auto-forced-updates isn't an objection to the auto bit, or even it being the default. It's the lack of an option to, at my discretion, defer or completely disable .... without resorting to unofficial hacks.

It's not only device vendors that write drivers that break things. MS do not have a 100% perfect patch record.

I have 'sacrificial goat' systems on which I will try brand new patches, updates and bug fixes secure in the knowledge that I can always drop an image back over the drive to restore it. But for live, working machines, I want them doing wgat I have them for, not acting as an unwilling MS beta tester any time they feel like pushing an update out. Hell, no.

[Corky34]

Looks like Game Mode is, as people assumed, going to be restricted to UWP (Windows Store) games.

Previously, we were unable to ascertain whether Game Mode would be a feature restricted to games built for the Universal Windows Platform (UWP), but it does appear that this could be the case. Our information states that games developed for the Windows 10, Xbox One, and Project Scorpio ecosystem specifically need to be "Game Mode enabled" Universal Windows Apps (UWA)

[TheAnimus]

But that one control, of updates that is, gives them ultimate power to change the functionality of my PC, whether I like it or not.

If I don't feel I can rely on MS getting the updates right to the same standard as their competition, then they have a problem.

I think both of you are looking at this through the eyes of a "power user". The problem is this catagory, at least in my experience, includes the people who really know their stuff as well as those who erm, gosh darn it, complained that vista used RAM. What I mean is there are a significant number of people who know jack about computing but dagnabbit think they are the second coming. That they know more than the people who made the default settings.

MS have the horrible situation of having the most non portable machines running their system, they need to be good neighbours. Remember back in 2002 how long a machine sans firewall would last before Blaster had a crack at it? Maybe ten min by my recollection.

Updates are essential for todays connected internet world. I almost think ISPs should blacklist users who fail to patch.

MS need to force this on most types. Having an option hidden away isn't enough, the kind of people who'd tick that and never patch it are those who it actually must be forced on. These are the same idiots that complain that an OS which isn't running any applications uses gigabytes of RAM because it's caching stuff, they don't understand how quickly memory can be cleared. They are the power users. God I hate my power users.

[Saracen]

I think both of you are looking at this through the eyes of a "power user". The problem is this catagory, at least in my experience, includes the people who really know their stuff as well as those who erm, gosh darn it, complained that vista used RAM.... .

I'm not sure I'd count as a power user. Very long, and moderately deep user, yes, but power user? Not really.

I mean. I was writing programs for mainframes in the 70s, and first experimented with Windows in, oh, 1985-ish. I knew enough to get DOS systems running when to to so meant writing config and batch files, loading drivers in the right order and running QEMM-type memory managers.

But my use of Windows has been about getting systems set up how I want them, or clients want them, to do specific jobs, not as a techy-user per se. That job might have been running SCSI scanners and high-end (for the day) printers, or it might have been video production systems. My first CD writer was a £4500 hardware/software combo in the days when a single CDR disk cost £15, and you needed hard drives that didn't do a TCAL in the middle of a burn and turn your £15 CD disk into a mug coaster.

Nearly always, the job was about getting systems stable and tuned for the task, and then short of essential and often security-based updates, not messing about fixing it if it weren't broke.

This is one of the reasons I've increasing taken systems off my public-facing network and have them behind my airgap - if they don't, and cannot talk to the internet, they don't need protecting from the internet so even security patches aren't needed.

But systems that are publuc-facing are kept security-patched, hardware and software firewalled and I do keep AV and malware software up to date.

Through all that, the extent to which I need to fiddle around 'under the hood' of Windows is VERY limited.

I wouldn't call myself a power user, but I am very mych looking through the eyes of someone that knows what I need of my systems FAR better than MS, and I am NOT ceding control to them. Ever.

[Tonedef]

"yes that crappy piece of MS free junk"

Yay... why not, complain about something that's FREE!

Hey, I just flushed something that was free. I didn't realize there was a market for free crap though. I can make another for you. Let me know.