i have an asus 4k monitor, 1 ms gtg 60hz on displayport

1ms gtg though means TN display right? If performance / gaming is your primary and only driving consideration that's fine.

But I wanted something that does better with picture quality and color representation than a TN will deliver. I ended up with Asus as well but selected a 27" QHD PLS based panel; (the pair of which so far I'm very happy with.)

But I know they'll be obsoleted with really good 4K stuff soon.

Still the fact that you are choosing to game at 2560 on 980GTX (a better card than I have) says a lot too (not about you personally; but about the current state of UHD gaming).

For 3840x2160 - Low end

Are there any good monitors at that resolution though? I bought a pair of 27" screens this holiday season and ended up opting for 2560x1440 because 3840x2160 were all terrible for gaming; with pretty much any video card it seemed.

So if you are going to shell out for a top-line nvidia card... what monitor are you pairing it with? A 30Hz QuadHD monitor with high lags, and latency?

I don't get the logic of that.

I couldn't find a good 3840x2160 screen that was remotely any good at least at the price ranges I was looking at? How much do you have to spend to get a good 4K screen - that's decent build quality, decent at gaming, and decent at picture quality?

I know they are -coming- but what is actually HERE?

I can touch start, type a specific sequence of keys (usually only 3, sometimes 2), press Enter, all without moving my hands from the keyboard and also without losing focus on what I'm reading or working on.

a) that does work in 8. But i agree the context switch is an unwelcome burden.

b) That sort of workflow is a power user thing to do. See below.

it still serves as a reminder that Win8 wrested-away a reasonable feature.

That's fair. I'm not arguing that 8 or 8.1 was an improvment in every way. But the old start menu was a disaster of legacy crap glued together. And it was replaced by a set of reasonable features too... the start screen caters to casual users search (and looks a lot like OSX launchpad) AND it supports real searching better than the start menu ever did being full screen.

The way you and I used the start menu ... it still works... but I agree there is a cognitive burden to the mode switch.

So the only loss was a mode-switch free way to keyboard activate programs quickly that you already knew the names of... doesn't that sound like a power users utility to you? It does to me... and its an itch that's been well scratched.

Launchy, Executor, FARR... and others all not only support that feature, but go beyond what windows 7 ever did. So why cling backwards with classic shell... when we should be looking forward; embracing the things 8.1 got right, and using a power tool like launchy for its shortcomings.

Don't get me wrong, I firmly believe something like launchy should be bundled with windows. But then I think calculator.exe and notepad.exe are pretty worthless too compared to speedcrunch and notepad++...

I realize I'm replying to you a second time here; but I this sub-thread sort of illustrates my point quite well.

In addition to windows, I use OSX and *nix. And OSX, most notably doesn't have a start menu. And I don't miss it there. I certainly don't miss it to the point that I feel compelled to find a "MakeOSX work like windows 7 please" start menu utility.

In OSX:
I have my most frequent apps on the dock (essentially pinned apps on the system tray).
I use launchpad if I need to browse and search for an app (its a full scree application launcher tool; essentially windows 8's start screen - but its more limited).

And finally I use spotlight if i know what I want and can just type a few characters (eg. to launch terminal.app on OSX users who don't have it docked, etc)

So when I was first faced with 8.1; my observation was pretty much ok. Last round OSX borrowed from Windows. This round Windows is copying OSX and the start menu is souped up OSX application luancher. Neat.
But what about the other stuff i did with the start menu ?
Access control panels, computer properties (system control panel), shutdown, etc... oh its all rightclick off the start button. Cool.
Start menu pinned apps --> custom tool bar. We've had this capability forever; just rarely needed it before. Solved.
And the search widget? Hmmm. ... ok... yeah I miss that for quick search program launching. I see I can still do it from the start screen, but like you noted the context switch is overkill for that.

What I need is "spotlight" for windows; and it doesn't have one. But lets be honest here, most non-power users don't use spotlight on OSX to launch programs. And while I'd like window to include one, I'm a power user... and just like the built in calculator is worthless and I always install a replacement (in my case SpeedCrunch is the one i like), I'd like a little desktop search / program launcher... So Launchy (which goes back to XP), but there are others such as Executor, and FARR (find and run robot).

And frankly that's what blows my mind. What windows 8 "needs" is Spotlight (or Launchy) built in; yet somehow that one little short coming that only power users even needed turned itself into "Lets stick our heads up our asses and re-create everything that was wrong with the start menu just to get at the one little thing it actually did well back" instead of "Lets just make something does that missing bit well"... oh wait... someone already did... years ago... for XP and they've been updating it ever since. Lets use that.

How would an end user discover A. that this is possible and B. what keywords to use on Google to learn how?

A)
First, we aren't talking about joe-average end user. We are talking about intelligent windows-savvy power-users.

So how do you discover it? Same way we power users discover most things about the user interface by clicking on things.

Right click on your taskbar. Its the first option... "Toolbars"... hmm... what's all this about a savvy power user might ask themselves for that is what savvy power users are apt to do?

what keywords to use on Google to learn how?

Well, having now discovered it: "windows 8 taskbar toolbar" works the 2nd result is pretty much a tutorial on them.

Although taskbar toolbars have been around for a while... Windows 7 has them too. And Vista. And XP. I kinda-sorta think even Windows 98 might have had them.

You can use Jump Lists from apps pinned to the Taskbar in Windows 8 but having 10+ apps pinned to your Taskbar tends to make it needlessly cluttered, especially when you have multiple non-pinned apps open at the same time.

Agreed. But how typical is that REALLY? And your most common 5-10 apps are probably open all the time anyway, and pinned apps are just a partial solution.

Toolbars the other part. The stuff you don't use THAT frequently should go in a toolbar... a toolbar is basically like the pinned list on the old start menu, which can hold another 20-50 apps depending on your screensize and icon settings etc.

Hell you can even point a toolbar to the "start menu" folder and get a hierarchical popup back. Although crafting your own smaller customized list is probably more useful.

You are missing the point.

No. You are. You can't have perfect security.

With the exception of point 5 and 6, which are simply just good advice (but #5 wouldn't have helped him here; and #6 makes it difficult to provide a criminal service -- after all someone else needs to know about it.)

All your suggestions have caveats and vulnerabilities. I'm picking on 1 and 4 in particular below, but there are issues with 2, 3, 5 too.

Step 1) NEVER carry incriminating evidence with you. Encrypted or not.

Good advice, but how exactly do you accomplish this? Either your data is somewhere with you. Or you have remote access to it, and there will be evidence that you do in fact have remote access to it if they seize your laptop WHILE YOU ARE USING IT to remotely access it.

Plus if YOU have remote access to it, then so does somebody else; if they can somehow convince the remote system they are you; or if there is some unpatched exploit they know about that you don't. (And you should assume there IS.)

After all what is it they say about stuff you don't EVER want leaked online? Oh right... DON'T PUT IT ONLINE. That runs directly counter to your advice to "always put it online".

You can't have it both ways.

4) use a dead-mans switch on that servers encrypted data

And then if the internet goes down due to a storm, beaver, or backhoe somewhere; all your records are gone and your now out of business. No idea who you owe what, or what people owe you; or where any of your assets and contacts nor how to reach them...Oh yeah. That's a great plan.

2) use a VPN/SSH Tunnel/etc (and/or both) to connect to the server where your data is. (make sure that server is located in a non-extraditing country, and filtered from you by a few shell companies)

If they have enough network surveillance at their disposal in place to unmask tor users, a couple VPNs and shell corporations isn't going to work. It might work to keep boris and igor from being able to find you. But I wouldn't rely on it to keep the FBI at bay if they are genuinely interested in shutting you down; and you live in the states.

This is nothing new. The 'exhaust sound' was part of the design criteria of the 1st Gen Mazda Miata. Trying to recreate British sports cars (Lotus).

Yes, everyone knows that the exhaust 'note' is engineered and tuned like everything else. And since the engine is going to make some noise, it should be a pleasant noise.

What is new is faking it outright. Its one thing to alter the length, diameter, thickness, and shape of an actual exhaust pipe transporting the actual exhaust to get a more pleasing sound. Its something entirely different to play engine-noise-track-1 through the speaker system. Or to add an air pump which just takes fresh air and pumps it through a tube to make extra noise.

That is new. And nobody really wants that.

For document searches, and other REAL searches, the start menu in win7 is too small.

But, yes, your right about it as a handy tool for launching programs, and if you dig back in my posting history about win8, you'll find that the search widget as a quick launch program shortcut is the only thing about the windows 7 start menu I think was really lost and doesn't have a proper replacement in 8. (yes the start screen works, but a full screen UI just to launch CMD or gpedit or mstsc, putty, ... etc, etc, is silly.

If they added that search widget functionality (and/or just gave it better autocomplete/history) to the Win+R ("Run" shortcut); or gave us that search functionality as a standalone taskbar gadget optimized for launching programs (not documents etc) we wouldn't really need the win7 search function.

"I would remind a lot of people here that windows division brings in a lot of revenue for Microsoft in form of infamous "windows tax" and I seriously doubt they're willing to just lose this revenue stream after investing as much as they did into it to keep it."

You mean that paragraph? How is giving away upgrades for one yeear to existing customers "giving up the revenue"?

Every single new computer from the day it launches are going to still be paying for it. All enterprise / corporate customers are still going to be paying for it.

All the free upgrade for a year does is, they hope, transition a big bunch of people with windows 7 and 8 to over to windows 10. Most of those people wouldn't have upgraded if if it wasn't free. So they aren't even giving up that much revenue by giving it away.

Everyone knows historically very few people don't buy operating system upgrades. They get the new OS when they get a new computer. Due to the computer replacement cycle slowing down as cpu and graphics advances have slowed down this would have the effect of slowing the adoption of Windows 10.

Microsoft clearly hopes to jump-start windows 10 adoption by giving it to a pile of existing users for free. Users who wouldn't have upgraded, and certainly wouldn't have paid to upgrade. And frankly, at that price, it might well work. And a year is long enough even for cautious people with windows 7 (especially) to see what the reaction is like before deciding to upgrade.

Its a pretty good move by Microsoft. Quite frankly, I've got a mix of windows 7 and 8 computers at home for example, and I'd have been happy to standardize on 8.1 but I wasn't willing to shell out several hundred for several Windows 8 pro upgrades. But I might well just take everything to windows 10 at release.

Sure, I'll be on the look out for new fine print before I make a final decision. That's just common sense. But your reading of the current situation is entirely unjustified.

Every new computer with windows 10 will be paying for windows. Every corporate / enterprise VLA is still paid. Microsoft clearly hasn't just thrown away their wholesale/retail/volume licensed windows revenue stream to chase rent.

The fact that it's forced full-screen rather than snapped is the problem. At least with the Windows 7 Start menu, I could see a bit of what I was working on in the corner of my screen, which provided some subconscious continuity. In fact, if I had a program snapped to the right side (Windows+Right), I could see all of it while the Start menu was open. But with Windows 8's Start screen, everything is covered up. The full-screen context switch imposes a cognitive burden similar to going through a doorway and forgetting what you came in for.

All true. No argument.
Now, as you are clearly both intelligent and a power user: why exactly do you use the start screen so much in 8.1?

Create custom taskbar menus and pin the apps you use. Documents folder is pinned. Control panels, system properties, etc is right-click on the start button? I can go days without using the start screen on windows 8.1. And when I do use it to search for some obscure thing I rarely use, the fact that its full screen instead of crammed into a corner of the screen is actually a benefit.

Don't get me wrong, I think bringing the start menu back with 10 is the right move for a LOT of reasons. And primarily I completely agree that the way the OS throws them back and forth between the classic and modern UIs is a problem; that shouldn't happen unless they want it to.

You don't need classic shell; you just need to pin and create custom toolbars.

The reason I don't like classic shell, is that while it rejects the mistakes of Windows 8; it PRESERVES the mistakes of Windows 7. The classic start menu is an abomination. Clearly what they did with win 8 isn't the correct solution; but at its heart the startmenu is a fixed size POPUP window stuck in the corner containing 2 operating modes, with an arbitrarily deep nested folder heirarchy, and then a bunch of widgets (search), pinned apps, automatically adding frequently/most used apps, and so forth all bolted onto it. It is categorically a terrible bit of user interface.

Windows 8 got the start screen wrong. But Classic Shell clings to a UI that's at least as terrible but is "familiar". We need to try something new. Maybe windows 10 will get it right... i haven't tried it yet.

VB.NET is nothing like BASIC of old, and Dijkstra's observations about BASIC simply do not apply to VB.NET.

Feature availability may vary by device. Some editions excluded. More details at http://www.windows.com./"

There is no information on windows.com at this time

Sure there is, scroll down to the bottom:

So "excluded editions" are enterprise versions etc; most of which are already separately covered by Software Assurance etc.

And the feature availability may vary by device? I expect that simply means if your device doesn't have a camera no 2-way skype calling, if there's no microphone no 2-way voice, and cortana won't work. If there's no touch screen... there's no touch features. Etc etc etc.

I would not be making bold claims like yours just yet - we don't know their business model yet

Claiming they are moving to a subscription model for the OS is what needs evidence here. Yes, they already have a subscription model for Onedrive, and office 365, etc and yes it wouldn't be surprise to see that expanded. But there is no evidence of that here, YET.

"free for a year" in this context is pretty clearly an upgrade window, after which if you are still running 7 and want to upgrade you will have to pay. Just as if you are still running 7 you can't get 8 for $15 or $45 or any of the other launch deals that were available.

And if you build a new PC, and want to install 10 on it, you will have to buy it in some form. That is not going to be free.

Maybe but she WAS being harassed so she was only reacting (poorly) to a situation; I suppose that helped to allow it to balloon out of proportion.

But individual people cannot "make" something go viral... that's on the larger community to collectively make happen.

So why did we collectively CARE enough to make it happen? Is her gender a factor to why we (as a society) cared enough about the story?

Would we have cared as much if an ex-girlfriend of a developer posted about her former boyfriend having slept with a journalist that resulted in some slightly extra coverage? Could he have cried foul and QQ as Zoe did? Or would we just roll our eyes and moved onto the next story?

He's the right color so the greatest PR money could buy convinced tons of poor innercity blacks that this [successful person] really understands what life is like in the ghetto, is truly one of their own, and really wants to help them gain opportunities and is not a member of the monied political class at all. Automatically getting about 13% of the vote is a great start to any campaign, that plus the approximately 50% who vote [Republican] anyway and you get to be president.

It's so simple, kids, and that's why we have President Herman Cain. And its why all the last six presidents have been black. black vote + 50% partisan vote... its just an unbeatable combo.

Nice theory you got there, but reality turns out to be just a little more complicated. Now if voters were frictionless spheres in a vaccuum... then maybe you'd have something.

If it's not going make a difference, then why use a language that only works on one platform, rather than an open one, like Python or Ruby?

He explained why python wasn't suitable. Declaring variables and types is part of the curriculum.

I don't know Ruby myself; so I can't comment on that one.

Does he have to use VB? No. I'm sure he doesn't HAVE to. Pascal would probably be fine too for example. (Many Highschools have used it.) And I'm sure there are other suitable languages. But VisualBasic is a perfectly reasonable choice too. Plus its free and it only has to run on the school's computers so what difference does it really make? Complaining they chose VB is like complaining that the school has Windows computers, or taught them spreadsheets using excel instead of openoffice.