![](\"https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2015\/12\/shutterstock_320894498.jpg?w=738\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I did a bad thing.<\/strong> I opened a bad file and it borked my PC. So now, in concordance with the grand tradition of frustrated tech bloggers calling on enormous companies to conform to their wishes, here is my rant on how terrible computers are \u2014 Windows ones, this time anyway \u2014 and how they ought<\/em> to be.<\/p>\n Now, I\u2019m no PC spring chicken. I build my desktops, I seat the CPU, I fiddle with the registry and fiddle with the BIOS (even though it isn\u2019t really a BIOS any more). Most importantly, I use Winamp. I\u2019ve cleared out more than a few malware infections, worms, trojans and the like on my own computer and others \u2014 it\u2019s just part of the whole cool lifestyle I lead.<\/p>\n This time was different. For one thing, it was the first time I\u2019d dealt with this stuff on Windows 10. Normally I\u2019m pretty careful but I was just lazy this time. And the malware itself \u2014 WinVMX as far as I can place it \u2014 was perhaps more sophisticated as well. (I don\u2019t recommend you try your luck.)<\/p>\n But as I was methodically eliminating the various sub-services and adware the original attack had installed, I found myself grappling with a second adversary: the immense ball of trash that exists at the heart of every Windows install.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t mean to slander Microsoft\u2019s engineers here. Windows is perhaps the most complex piece of software ever built. It\u2019s just that it\u2019s like a rubber band ball of versions, updates, patches, aborted toolsets and standards, and so on. They\u2019ve never stopped adding to it, and while some of the examples of consistency and reliability are beyond compare \u2014 running the same version of DOOM on 25 years of OSes is great, and hints at why Windows is so hard to leave behind for so many \u2014 it\u2019s really gotten to the point where the cart is going before the horse. And also the cart is full of trash.<\/p>\n In going through the various systems and recovery methods I found so many things broken or misleading, so many critical system items compromised, hidden, or neglected, so many dead ends built in, so many workarounds from the 90s that still worked and present-day tools that failed utterly, so many contradictions and redundancies \u2014 that I finally have flipped over to the side that believes Microsoft needs to cut this trash cart loose.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not suggesting they abandon Windows or anything absurd like that. But for the love of god, I shouldn\u2019t have to be using DOS commands I learned on my friend\u2019s 386 to get the computer to boot normally. I shouldn\u2019t be told that Windows can reinstall itself, then watch as it fails to even launch the tool that does so (it had been deleted (!)). I should<\/em> be told when it tries again and formats the wrong drive without prompting<\/em>. (Yes, I do back up my files, thanks for the suggestions.)<\/p>\n Why do I have to search through \u201clegacy\u201d control panels to find disk management? Why are there two sets of control panels in the first place? Why is the first thing I\u2019m told when reinstalling Windows, that if I am reinstalling it, to say I don\u2019t have a product key? Why does the installation process employ terminology and interfaces that are actively hidden from users in the OS itself?<\/p>\n In a lot of ways, Windows 10 is great. I plan to continue using it. It was rightly lauded for striking a happy medium between the exposed nuts and bolts of XP or 7 with the modern conveniences and interface of 8. (I still think they should have called 10 Windows One, a la Xbox and OneDrive). I think keeping this compromise alive is important, especially as their rival Apple continues their practice of circling every square and removing every vestige of meaningful user choice.<\/p>\n But the company isn\u2019t half done. They made the sensible decision to work from the outside in, because you don\u2019t leave something like Windows 8 alive for long, and they made the surface layer of the OS more than palatable. But beneath that surface is decades of cruft, features and code that, while once necessary or even innovative, have been compacted with time and great pressure to create\u2026 yes, a hot ball of molten trash.<\/p>\n Of course, Microsoft is stuck between a rock (a small one, me) and a hard place (millions of customers who rely on legacy systems in one form or another). So much depends on little nuggets buried deep in the garbage fire that they can\u2019t throw it all out at once. But who are they going to detail to audit a hundred million lines of code to find them and save them? Then, on the other side, how long can they keep shipping a product that\u2019s deeply compromised by carrying this burden, which wrecks user experience and increases the hackable surface area by orders of magnitude?<\/p>\n I realize I\u2019m not the first one to say this, and I\u2019m pretty sure I won\u2019t be the last, but it\u2019s worth saying nevertheless (plus, I\u2019m angry because my desktop is still dead). Many people smarter and better informed than me work at Microsoft, and they have certainly been contemplating this problem for longer than I have. I hope that part of Microsoft\u2019s new direction is freeing Windows from the fetters of its previous iterations, but with the knowledge that hidden among the links of those chains are jewels worth salvaging.<\/p>\n Featured Image: ronstik<\/a>\/Shutterstock<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Party like it\u2019s 98SE<\/h4>\n
Lipstick on a pig (that\u2019s eating trash)<\/h4>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2015\/12\/shutterstock_320894498.jpg?w=680\")
I did a bad thing. I opened a bad file and it borked my PC. So as part of the grand tradition of frustrated tech bloggers calling on enormous companies to conform to their expectations, here is my rant on how terrible computers are — Windows ones, this time anyway — and how they ought to be. Read More<\/a><\/p>\n\n<\/img><\/a>
<\/img><\/a>
<\/img><\/a>
<\/img><\/a>
<\/img><\/a>
<\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5817,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[59,66,26],"class_list":["post-337006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology","tag-media","tag-techcrunch","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5817"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337006\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}