Easiest thing to do his hit ctl-shift-ESC. It brings up task manager and appears to refresh memory somehow (learned that from Dhoomstriker).
Even I had forgotten that shortcut, so thanks for resurfacing that tip!
Windows 10 works great, in many ways better than 7. No reason to avoid it imo.
There are plenty of reasons to avoid Windows 10 if you value your privacy. Even the "Basic" Privacy setting, which is the lowest Privacy setting that Microsoft allows you to select, leaves 90% of the privacy-invasive features enabled.
And, if you don't value your privacy, seeing advertisements on your desktop computer and being forced to have unverified-by-Microsoft, third-party apps, such as Candy Crush, being automatically installed on your desktop computer, will possibly not rub you the right way.
I have been thinking about putting together a new computer, which will probably end up getting a lot of Civ 4 usage, so I did a lot of research into Windows 10, to see if it is right for me. Sure, some of my Civ 4 CDs with copy-protection (Vanilla and Warlords) might have trouble with out-of-the-box Windows 10, but other people have worked around that situation, so I figured that I'd look into the option of getting Windows 10. But, after doing enough reading, I have determined that Windows 10 is only worth it if I want to play DirectX 12 games (Civ 4 is a DirectX 9 game), and only as a secondary computer on which I do nothing else besides playing games, to avoid the complete theft of my data, thorough tracking of my preferences and interests, and the invasion of my normal-usage desktop with ads and unwanted apps.
But, since I know that some of you enjoy YouTube videos, I felt that I'd share some of the links that I had found on the subject of helping to secure Windows 10, as well as a link to one of the recommended-from-the-videos programs which is supposed to still work after the Windows 10 Creators Update.
Prevent Windows 10 Spying - Privacy & Security Matter
Stop Microsoft Windows 10 Spying & Forced Application Installs. How to Take Back Control of Your PC.
Windows 10 Creators Update Problems
ShutUp10: Free antispy tool for Windows 10, which has been updated for the Creators Update
https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10
Keep in mind windows 7 will not work on newer chipsets so unfortunately 10 is required for new computers.
Actually, after doing plenty of research, it is clear that Windows 7 will work on newer chipsets. However, it does take a little bit of technical inclination to get Windows 7 to work on modern computers. There are plenty of examples online about people installing and using Windows 7 successfully on Kaby Lake Intel processors.
Windows 7 may not use all of the advanced features of newer CPUs, but for people who want to play older games like Civ 4, that fact isn't likely to matter one bit.
You do, however, have to be someone who is willing to use programs to update your Windows 7/8 installer by turning it into a disc image and by putting drivers into the image, such as a USB 3.0 driver and possibly a driver for your hard disk, such as a SATA driver. You also have to be willing to search for and install drivers for your motherboard and your onboard graphics card. You also will want to either avoid getting a couple of recent updates from Windows Update or else install an unofficial patch that disables Microsoft's disabling of Windows Updates on newer chipsets.
So, it is very possible, and it is a process that I am looking to do in about a month, after having done some more research into which motherboard manufacturers are supplying Windows 7 drivers and then doing the necessary research on which hardware components to purchase.
Personally, after having seen the technical struggles that can be involved with shutting down the Windows 10 privacy-invasive features, I'll stick with Windows 7, where it will take some up-front work to get the Operating System and its drivers installed, but it won't require the much larger level of regular effort that it takes to maintain any semblance of ownership of my own data and my own desktop space on Windows 10.
Once the year 2020 comes around, when Windows 7 security updates are no longer offered, using wise Internet-surfing practices and good software firewall settings will probably be enough to keep the Operating System safe, and if not, then I'll likely switch to Windows 8 with the Classic Shell option until the year 2023. After that time, there will be bound to be gaming-related alternatives that can prevent the need to ever use Windows 10.
Microsoft Drops Windows 7/8.1 Support for AMD Ryzen & Intel Kaby Lake CPU & Lies About It - BUSTED!
As for AMD Ryzen CPUs, AMD did testing to ensure that Ryzen CPUs work with Windows 7, even if they got pressured into not officially supporting Windows 7. Since these CPUs are relatively newer than Kaby Lake ones, it seems to be a lot harder to find info on people having gotten Windows 7 to work, but I did find an article on working past the USB issue and another link that briefly discusses cases of people who have gotten it to work:
https://www.anandtech.com/show/11182/how-to-get-ryzen-working-on-windows-7-x64
https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/6f8dr3/window_7_ryzen/
