Do you hate the looks Windows 10/11 - WindowBlinds might be the solution, look like Mac or anything

[BONES]

The point, though, is you used to be able to just unplug a portable HD on Windows without worrying about losing your files. And Microsoft pretends that you still can.

No pretense, it always just works for me. It has been years since I used the "safely eject" feature and I haven't had to change the setting to make sure it's OK since Microsoft changed the default, in Win8 IIRC. As soon as the progress dialog box closes, it's safe to remove the drive. I've never lost anything.

Also, I forgot to mention this one earlier: Windows frequently stops detecting my SATA hot-swap drives when I pop one in after awhile, until I reboot.

Never needed anything like this so I'll take your word for it. Is it even a thing you can do with a Mac?

Anyways, the biggest problem of all regarding Windows is it is a schizophrenic mess that has no unity in its design, whatsoever. Microsoft keeps inventing new menus to stack on top of old menus.

That's why every software application I own still works with the latest, cutting edge build. 32 bit, 64 bit, everything still works. It's what makes Windows unbeatable. If that means you have to put up with a few unsightly visual features, it's a small price to pay.

There's the Start menu when you left click the Start button. But you get the older, more useful menu if you right-click it.

That menu only appeared in Win10, AFAIK. In older versions those things were more accessible from the Start menu itself. But right-click is one of the best things about Windows when compared to macOS.

there is the Taskbar, which they keep moving around.

Mine is right where it's always been and I didn't need any 3rd party app to make that happen.

[jamcat]

Also, I forgot to mention this one earlier: Windows frequently stops detecting my SATA hot-swap drives when I pop one in after awhile, until I reboot.

Never needed anything like this so I'll take your word for it. Is it even a thing you can do with a Mac?

Yes.

I have 2 of these in my Windows workstation:



And one of these for my MacBook Pro, which I plug in as needed:

But right-click is one of the best things about Windows when compared to macOS.

MacOS has right-click. It's called "secondary click" and you can setup your trackpad or mouse in a variety of ways to access it, including setting it to right click. That's how I have my MacBook Pro's trackpad set.

[BONES]

Macs didn't even have a right mouse button until a few years ago, and probably never would have if Jobs didn't die, their right-click workflow is pretty poor.

BTW, how long since you updated the drivers on your hot-swap drives?

[JamminFool]

This is another common occurrence on Windows.

Not on my machine for as long as I can remember.

nor any of mine, ever.

[jamcat]

BTW, how long since you updated the drivers on your hot-swap drives?

They are just normal SATA drives. Mostly Barracudas.
I don't think there are any drivers to update for hard drives. Hotswapping is done though AHCI. And the drivers for the Intel chipset that controls that should be handled by Windows Update, right?

[masterheavy]

back to topic.... MacStyled Windows..

if one really needs a proper replacement for that windows look and feel without to
much schnick schnäck and with productivity in mind
everything starts with the FREE! Cairo Shell

--> cairoshell.com
--> github.com/cairoshell/releases

and then use OneCommander V3 to get a finder like explorer
--> use the Free Portable Version to keep a clutter free windows
--> onecommander.com

looks like this:

MacStyled_Desktop_720.jpg

[revvy]

Macs didn't even have a right mouse button until a few years ago

Mac computers OS supported it first in 1997, the year Jobs returned.

probably best to just let that one go now.

Was it you or ‘Nando that was able to get Finder to crash? I still find that impressive.

[BONES]

Mac may have supported it but no Mac mouse actually had one, which meant nobody bothered to do anything with it. Even today, most Mac users are pathetic when it comes to doing stuff with a mouse.

Returning to the post before yours, Dog, I hate the default GUI for Finder. It's f**king useless and takes up far too much screen space. What if, for example, you have a folder six layers in, with several hundred files in it? 90% of the window will be taken up with all the columns and there'll be bugger-all space to actually display the files. OTOH, in Explorer, you get a very efficient tree view that only takes up a sliver of space, maximising the window area for actually looking at files.

Hotswapping is done though AHCI. And the drivers for the Intel chipset that controls that should be handled by Windows Update, right?

Absolutely no idea. It's 20 years since I've felt the need for anything beyond what comes built into my laptop. But I'm wondering if Windows loses the drives when they spin down to save energy? It's possible that could make it show as an empty drive bay and there is definitely software you can get to control them - https://www.ghacks.net/2009/04/05/enable-sata-hot-swap/.

[jamcat]

I hate the default GUI for Finder. It's f**king useless and takes up far too much screen space. What if, for example, you have a folder six layers in, with several hundred files in it? 90% of the window will be taken up with all the columns and there'll be bugger-all space to actually display the files. OTOH, in Explorer, you get a very efficient tree view that only takes up a sliver of space, maximising the window area for actually looking at files.

There really isn't a default for Finder. There's just different ways to display the folders and contents at the click of a button in the toolbar. Just like Windows.

I don't have Finder set to column view, but I am familiar with it. Mine displays just like Windows, and I have the Path tool in my toolbar, so I have my folder hierarchy available at the click of a button, so it looks like this:


(no, this isn't my image)

I'm wondering if Windows loses the drives when they spin down to save energy? It's possible that could make it show as an empty drive bay

No, that’s not it. It happens when I pop a drive in. Or doesn’t happen, I should say. A typical situation is I have a hard drive in the bay and I remove it and put a different drive in its place. But the new drive doesn’t show up. Maybe the old drive I removed with disappear, or maybe it will continue to show as if it’s still plugged in. But either way, the new drive I just swapped in doesn’t show. Sometimes I can force a rescan from Disk Management (in the old right-click Start menu.) But Windows will continue to not detect a new drive until I reboot. I think it’s a driver issue, and the drivers just aren’t very stable. That’s typically the problem with these things in Windows.

[dellboy]

You are referring to the problem of files not being on an external drive after copying them, correct?

Not particularly.

I have not had the problem of a spinning thingy for any reason for maybe 15 years. It used to be a common problem on windows machines before XP and pre SSD and NVME drives, but i can honestly say it no longer ever happens on my modern win 11 machine. By the way, I am OS agnostic. I think all three main operating systems are great, and can work happily in any one of them.

[fmr]

The only problem is it only fixes it cosmetically. Underneath it’s still Windows, which means randomly shitting itself when you open a new folder, not actually writing files to an external drive despite pretending that it did, the Windows registry…

You must be living in some parallel universe

You're seriously telling us you've never tried to open a folder only to have Windows hang and spin, and spin, and spin... until Windows Explorer finally restarts itself? That's a common occurrence. On Windows.

And you've never copied a bunch of files to an external drive, then unplug it without waiting some indeterminate amount of time, only to find the files aren't on the drive when you plug it back in?
This is another common occurrence on Windows.

And please, tell me, in which universe does the Windows registry not exist?
Because I would like to go there!

Rarely experienced the first occurence, and NEVER experienced the second. If you did, you were probably using a faulty external drive or hardware (it's common for users to blame Windows for ANYTHING, including their own mistakes)

Any OS gives problems every now and then, after some time using it, and requires maintenance. Usually, an experienced user is able to solve that easily.

Regarding the registry, yes it is there since Windows 95. So what?

I had plenty of time to learn to use it, take advantage of it, and even solving problems through it. It's not an issue for me.

[jamcat]

It’s not a faulty drive. It’s that Windows is doing disk caching on the drive even though it shouldn’t be.

It will show the files as being copied when they haven’t actually been, yet. Waiting a long time or using the Eject media button forces Windows to finally commit them.

[fmr]

It’s not a faulty drive. It’s that Windows is doing disk caching on the drive even though it shouldn’t be.

It will show the files as being copied when they haven’t actually been, yet. Waiting a long time or using the Eject media button forces Windows to finally commit them.

As I and several others already said, we are not experiencing that so it's not Windows fault. I suggest you look elsewhere for the source of your problem.

[jamcat]

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/top ... 4e032a1cc4

[JamminFool]

hi jamcat.

i'm just wondering why you hate the registry so much? normally, users would not ever deal with the registry directly. if a user DOES mess around in the registry, it is best if they know EXACTLY what they are doing. if not, it can lead to real problems. maybe like the ones you are seeing on your system.

just a thought. maybe it does not apply to you.