WHY is it so difficult to use software on a new device?

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WHY is it so difficult to use software on a new device?

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Started 6 months ago by Dragonlair
Latest reply from mikiem2

Dragonlair
Member

I have a laptop that has been driving me nuts! It's about 6 years old and ever since I had to have it repaired for a bad battery (still under warranty) it has been extremely slow! I would boot it up and it would take at least 30 minutes before it was usable.

A few weeks ago, I found a sale and bought a replacement (Win 11 Pro AND Microsoft Office PRO). It's a lot faster but driving me nut adding and configuring software on it.

My husband and I have always kept detailed notes on what we installed, where it is installed, and how to configure it the way we want. This time, those notes are next to useless!

For example, we have had FireFox installed on all PC for years (we started with version 3 on, I think, Windows Vista). We downloaded/installed it on the new laptop. We tried to configure it and found that many options have moved around and were not where we wanted, or maybe not there at all anymore. All the incremental updates took care of things and our settings were "grandfathered". That did not help configuring the new device. It also installed in such a way that when we cleaned up the desktop (preference is for ONLY Recycle Bin on a black background), Firefox no longer worked! I had to go find the .exe and make a new shortcut to put in the start menu to keep the desktop clean.

We've had similar problems with just about anything we want to install. They change and move all the settings so any notes we have are just flat useless.

What we've started doing is to have the laptop beside the desktop and play with the app until the two at least look and act alike.

Why do they make it so difficult? They want you to use their product but this defeats the purpose of using the same software!

Note - we haven't configured Office yet. We only use Excel and Word with Excel being the single most often used product we have and it has been since we first got it about 25 years ago. That was when FlashCalc (DOS) quit working because it was tied to the timer and got divide checks loading when the machines went above a certain level.

Posted 6 months ago #
mikiem2
Moderator

I would boot it up and it would take at least 30 minutes before it was usable.

FWIW... We had a similar experience with my wife's laptop with an Intel i3, 4GB RAM, and a conventional hard disk. Swapping in an SSD made a HUGE difference, then later when the battery went I replaced the battery, upped it to 16GB RAM, and a better SSD. Now it's Very usable & running Win11.

RE: Firefox, I've has browsers install everywhere -- in one copy of Windows files might be in one section of the User folders, and somewhere entirely different in another copy. *Maybe* the easiest way with Firefox is to install it from Windows Store, and let the Store take care of where files wind up. At least it should be consistent. And the new Firefox backup *might* make it easier to have it match across devices.

firefox.com/en-US/firefox/146.0/releasenotes/?redirect_source=mozilla-org&utm_source=firefox-browser&utm_medium=firefox-desktop&utm_campaign=about-dialog

We've had similar problems with just about anything we want to install. They change and move all the settings so any notes we have are just flat useless.

Today coders/developers aren't concerned about the quality of their work compared to the days of XP & Win7. Much of their tools automate stuff they used to do manually, and now with AI, the best they can strive for is "Good Enough" quality, i.e., if it seems to work, ship it.

What I do, and it's definitely not something I expect anyone else to do, is I monitor the installation of pretty much every app in a VM, files added, modified, and registry changes, before I even think about adding it to the regular copy of Windows I'm using right now. And about 8 or 9 times out of 10, if I add the software to this copy of Windows, I'll copy the necessary files and export & merge the necessary registry entries, skipping the installation routine entirely. But that's me. Half the time I don't even bother adding shortcuts to the Start Menu or Desktop.

Posted 6 months ago #
Dragonlair
Member

What I do, and it's definitely not something I expect anyone else to do, is I monitor the installation of pretty much every app in a VM, files added, modified, and registry changes, before I even think about adding it to the regular copy of Windows I'm using right now. And about 8 or 9 times out of 10, if I add the software to this copy of Windows, I'll copy the necessary files and export & merge the necessary registry entries, skipping the installation routine entirely. But that's me. Half the time I don't even bother adding shortcuts to the Start Menu or Desktop.

It's not the files or registry entries that cause my problems. It's the customization settings. Such as to tell CCleaner not to check cookies, or to clear the temporary files older than 24 hours. Or with things like PCStitch, What default display options to use. These things are in the settings and they keep changing where they're placed and what they are called. To be fair, PCStitch isn't that much of a problem since it hasn't changed for 6 or 7 years and I can contact the owner (I'm admin of the support forum). It's just one example of what I've been going through the past week or two. Firefox has been the worst so far but we haven't configured Excel or Word yet. The version we got, other than Pro, should be the same as what we have.

Posted 6 months ago #
ChrisS
Administrator

What you're talking about is exactly why I'm always reluctant, and slow, to upgrade my hardware. Getting the new equipment setup is an unnecessarily difficult task and greatly detracts from the "new PC" experience.

When you do an in-place upgrade of Windows it installs the new OS version and then re-installs as many of your programs as it can. So, if it can already collect all of the necessary data from "Add/Remove Programs" to do that then it could also create a file for you to move those programs to another PC. The claimed reason that such is not available is "copyright infringement" but all installed programs licensed to the hardware will become unlicensed on the new PC (or in a VM) so the actual reason is that they don't want to. Why should they make continuing to use their product easy?

You should be able to copy the configuration file for each program to the new PC - if you can find it. You could also just copy all of the program's files and see if that worked. You'd probably need to use "Everything", or equivalent, and search on the program's name since files are now scattered everywhere.

And, I should quit referring to the device as a "PC" since it quit being a "Personal Computer" when NT came along. Maybe you could get Corporate IT to look into the issue?

Posted 5 months ago #
Dragonlair
Member

Any computer that has the option of multiple users or profiles is not a PERSONAL computer. That includes fires!

If this new laptop were a true PC, then I would not be forced (and I do mean forced) to use a PIN. The fact that the PIN now allows alpha characters along with numbers doesn't change the "N" of "PIN". However, I think of it as a password.

I tried (using info from Google) to skip that PIN since I've never had to do it before and it's only used at home, but when I tried, instead of the PIN, I had to use my Microsoft password and that was NOT working right.

Posted 5 months ago #
mikiem2
Moderator

If Windows login bothers you, password, PIN etc., turn it off. That way when you start your PC/laptop it'll go right into Windows, no lock screen, no login screen.

learn.microsoft[.]com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-server/user-profiles-and-logon/turn-on-automatic-logon

You should be able to copy the configuration file for each program to the new PC - if you can find it.

Some apps store it in the program's folder -- *usually* after making changes to the configuration, if they're stored there, you can find likely files by sorting by date, selecting those closest to the current time. A few store configuration data in Documents or ProgramData, but most use Users\ [UserName]\ AppData\ Roaming\ & Local\. And some store everything in the registry.

What you're talking about is exactly why I'm always reluctant, and slow, to upgrade my hardware.

I've got a copy of Win11 that started life as Vista Pro, and has persisted over I *think* four or five CPU/Motherboard combos, plus one CPU only upgrade. Migrating Win7 to new hardware was an iffy PITA, even with software like AOMEI's that deleted driver entries in the registry, but 10 & 11 search for hardware on startup. If it finds it needs alternative drivers it'll do its best to download and install them. That's why Windows To Go [usually] works. That said, it's best to check Device Mgr. afterwards, including hidden components, because Windows doesn't always get things right, e.g., I've had Intel hardware shown on a pure AMD rig, as well as the wrong Bluetooth and WiFi drivers persist. I think the last time I provisioned a new copy of Windows was maybe 6 years ago -- I've just migrated a copy that was already set up.

The only other *trick* I suggest is backing up the Windows\ System32\ DriverStore\ Filerepository\ folder since it holds all the drivers a device is currently using. When you install Windows fresh, migrate an existing copy, and sometimes when you do a reinstall upgrade, I've had Windows *lose* some drivers for less common components.

Posted 5 months ago #
gergn
Member

Ashampoo is currently selling EaseUS ToDo PCTrans Pro at a discount. "Transfer programs, settings, and data to a new PC." Lifetime free upgrades / 2 PCs. Now €28 instead of €70 in the Netherlands. In the US the normal price is $69.95

https[:]//www.easeus.com/pc-transfer-software/pctrans-pro.html

I have no experience with this software.
See https[:]//www.techrepublic.com/article/easeus-todo-pctrans-review/

Posted 5 months ago #
mikiem2
Moderator

No reason an app like PCTrans Pro shouldn't work, assuming they copy over the necessary sections of the registry. Personally I just figure it's less work overall to migrate the entire copy of Windows rather than copy individual portions.

Posted 5 months ago #
gergn
Member

Re " ... migrate the entire copy of Windows..."

If you have just bought a NEW computer, wouldn't you prefer to use the original Windows of that new computer? Instead of re-using the Windows of your almost retired machine? Or do I misinterpret your comment?

Posted 5 months ago #
mikiem2
Moderator

The existing [old] copy of Windows would be fully up to date, so the only disadvantage would be whatever leftovers &/or trash that had accumulated. And if you keep your copy of Windows clean [as best you can], a fresh copy will likely have a similar amount of trash within 2-3 months. I've tested that with VMs, installing a fresh copy of Windows so the VHD would be smaller, and within 3 months it was just as large as the old one.

I always check Device Mgr. afterward [and after a version update/upgrade] looking for wrong drivers used, and uninstalling any old drivers with the Task Mgr. view set to show hidden components. For graphics drivers I use DDU, a free app to remove all traces of graphics drivers, then install the latest from the manufacturer. Drivers can be a PITA... I've had issues with Bluetooth, WiFi, touchpad, touchscreen, cameras, & audio, both from migrating Windows and as a result of regular Windows updates. Windows may use the wrong drivers, or it may refuse to use the correct drivers [something I cam across with the latest WiFi drivers from Asus, but just this copy of Windows, with the Insider copy of Win11 working just fine]. The component manufacturers often don't publish drivers, & when they do, the installation program may or may not work. I've taken to saving a copy of the Windows\ System32\ Driverstore\ Filerepository\ folder on every device as soon as I get it, so I have a working copy of every driver used. Of course after an update Windows may not accept it any longer, but I've found it worth a shot, e.g., this copy of Win11 will *Only* use the original WiFi drivers, currently refusing 4 or 5 later versions (?). [I rarely use WiFi so I haven't bothered trying to fix that.]

FWIW, one of the times I swapped this PC's motherboard & CPU I went from Intel to AMD, and while Win10 worked fine, I was curious if a fresh install would perform better. Intel to AMD was a significant change, and I'd already migrated Windows to new hardware a few times before that. So I installed a fresh copy alongside the existing one, expecting it might be a little faster, but I could never find any difference.

Posted 5 months ago #

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