Ha yes Total Commander, what a tool , used on many builds from back in the day as a addon and such, did not even know it was still being developed on, good to know.
Thank you for your kind advice and tips for keeping Winborg 7 updated. My use is perhaps not what most expect though. I am not a tinkerer or a gamer. My hardware remains very stable over long periods, only being replaced or updated when components eventually die or become faulty for whatever reason. Therefore, needing to find new drivers for peripherals etc. is not a common occurrence for me. As it stands, Winborg 7 still contains all the necessary drivers I need, so there is no reason to update anything. The only thing which has changed for me that I can't control is the forced obsolescence policy of Apple which is constantly working via app and iTunes upgrades to make everyone's iPhones become toxic landfill long before the devices cease being useable. My current situation with my phone is that necessary apps are starting to require a new iOS to be installed, which in turn will require a new version of iTunes to work with, which in turn will require Windows 10 to run. None of this forced upgrading is of course organically necessary, but rather cynically forced upon users by Apple, who just delight in making life difficult so you are encouraged to pointlessly spend more money on products you don't need and already have, but that's a discussion about modern free-market economics for another thread. iTunes is literally the only reason I currently have for changing from Winborg 7 to a version of Windows 10/11. To achieve that, I've restored a donated 10 year old computer, upgraded with an SSD and expanded the RAM with a 16GB set I had lying around doing nothing in a packet, and am currently investigating how to set it up with a dual boot Winborg 7 / Last11 v4 Lite dual boot OS, which is something I've never done before, so a bit of learning curve. The intention being that I will have a form of W11 for running iTunes so I can update my phone to get the apps I need, whilst having at the same time a backup Winborg 7 installation in case my main computer needs work at some point in the future. I've actually been using TC (or a version of its predecessors) for longer than that. It started as Norton Commander in the 1980's I think invented by Peter Norton of Norton Commander and Norton Utilities fame which morphed in Symantec Corporation. NC was the predecessor of a GUI for MS-DOS before Windows was invented. So from Norton Commander, the project got taken over by Christian Ghisler and renamed Windows Commander and then renamed again Total Commander when Microsoft didn't like him using the name "Windows". The latest version 11 was just released a couple of weeks ago. Total Commander is so fundamental and all-encompassing to how I use a computer, that I actually struggle to use someone else's computer that doesn't have it installed. Using the built-in Explorer program is so foreign a thing for me that you'd swear I'd never seen a computer before watching me try to use it. TC is in Startup and the first thing loaded and run, to the last thing that is ever shut down on my computers. There is never a time when TC is not running and absolutely essential. It is also the program you will see every professional corporate IT person in charge of large networks using on their own computers and equally, the program they most hate their company employees and staff using because of what they know they can access and see with it. That said, there are already plenty of customised versions of TC out there floating around made by others including all their "favourite" plug-ins and add-ons, that another one by me really isn't necessary. For anyone interested, I would simply recommend that you start with a vanilla install and build it up with the add-ons and plug-ins you want and need for your particular needs and use. My use will not be the same as another person's use.[/user]
The latest final version 11 was just released after many betas a couple of weeks ago. Still being actively developed, improved and added to, by both the author and a huge community of active plug-in and add-on developers to add ever more functionality and capability. Has a very helpful and active community forum.
Actually, I was not really referring to drivers when I mentioned updating, though I can see why you inferred that when I talked about the issues that were caused with even existing drivers due to a MS update which was included in the July release of Simplix. But rather that Simplix includes Windows 7 and corresponding server updates that can apply to Windows 7, (NT 6.1), which will continue to be released by MS for another year or more. See here for previous comments I had on the matter. Though I also perfectly understand the "if it ain't broke..." approach as well. @Dibrom, I truly feel your pain regarding iTunes. It's what also pushed me into adapting Win 10 - in order to fix my wife's iPhone. I had to do a DFU (Device Firmware Update) on my wife's iPhone SE. It requred the use of a later version of iTunes, which wouldn't install on anything less than Win 10. I ended up using iTunes_v12.12.8.2_Win10_x64_ssApp.apz, which worked great! I was also able to update iTunes to the latest version, though it took a couple of tries to get everything working the way I wanted - Apple issues, not LastOS.
@Dibrom Yes i was a great user pf NC / TC when i was using DOS and earlier versions of windows it was auseful tool but as IT guys we need to adapt to all sorts of environments. I used to work on servers with all sorts of UNIX flavours and Novell versions each with unique configuration and settings. Then there was all different versions of Windows from v1.0 then 3.1 and 3.11 ( network version) up until present day. I kept getting questions about Macs so i got a Mac which has a Linux foundation. So i have seen many many OSs in my time and learned a lot. So i suggest that you make use of a tool that can backup the drivers and see if they can work on a Vitual Machine (VM) of a later OS to test the compatability. Or perhaps make a VM of winborg and store it for when you upgrade so that the OS will not be lost. Like many things in life there are many solutions to a problem it just take time and money.
I've been trying to find an alternative solution to having to upgrade to Windows 10 just to upgrade iOS on a phone, because frankly, having to build a whole new computer to install a whole new OS just for the purpose of upgrading iTunes because Apple say so, is really quite ridiculous. But sadly that's what you end up with when you give one company too much power to dictate how the world works. I've tried iMazing and Fonetrans as alternatives to syncing with iTunes, but neither can integrate with Outlook contacts as seemlessly and easily as iTunes does. They both require the contacts address book to be exported and manually synced with the phone. Way too complex a task to repeat daily or even weekly for incremental changes/updates. The one thing Apple is really good at is locking down their systems so that you can't do exactly what you want to do without using their software in their designated environment. So yes, I am actually building a whole new computer with a whole new OS just so I can easily and conveniently sync Outlook contacts with a phone. Please don't bother telling me how batsh!t crazy this is, because I already know, trust me!
what if you blocked the iOS updates? or revert back to a previous version of iOS that worked with your version of iTunes. Or perhaps even get an Android phone that would solve some of your issues.
I don't have anything automatically updating on my phone. Never have. I prefer to maintain control - exactly the kind of user Apple hates and doesn't consider. My current version of iOS 14.4.2 is the very last one that will work with iTunes v12.10.10 which is the last iTunes that will run under Windows 7, so I've gone as far as I possibly can without invoking Windows 10. I was hoping there would be a hack or a loader or something that would get around the iTunes' Windows version check and allow it to be installed on Windows 7, because I'm damned sure it has nothing to do with actual real compatibility with drivers or anything like that, it's just a check Apple have written into the software to stop it working, not for any technical real reason. If the check could be killed, I'm 100% certain iTunes would still work under Windows 7. Alas though, that hasn't happened and we all remain slaves to what Apple wants. As bad as iPhones are, an Android phone would be a thousand times worse! A friend has a Samsung S5 (or something like that) and I cannot use it. Whenever she asks me to fix something on it she can't figure out, I almost end up throwing it out the window into the street. There simply cannot be a more annoying OS than Android.
Apple is the worst company, I'll never buy a Apple device for multiple reasons (except the intel based stuff as that isn't as locked Hardware level and if the OS goes batsh!t crazy as IOS then I'll run Windows on it. Because I am the computer repair guy for all my family and friends I never adopted using TC or FreeCommander due to it not always being available on every PC I used daily, so I got used to just using Explorer - I never use snap or tabs etc, I simply do it all manually and managed to get most of it done, if I ever need to copy from multiple sources I have been known to install TeraCopy - which allows queueing from the same disk instead of it trying to copy all at once, this with Paste As File and Sanitize (My tool) installed, MediaInfo Lite and Hash Check I am able to do everything I need with explorer, Having our context menu tweaks really does make it more usable and when I don't have them tweaked on my Windows OS, I do get as lost as you do in a TotalCommanderless OS Android has so many options for Front Ends that you can't really say Android isn't usable, as you can install one that you do like, many costing under $20 after using their trial modes. I mostly use Chrome on my phone and that runs better than on iPhones, I don't sync etc except using the google tools, like Keep, Photos etc and the browser and these tools work seamlessly with PC's Phones and even iPhones, I use Outlook and an app just called eMail, that is the best and simplest client I have ever used and I just enjoy everything about my Android, I got a RealMe as it was a mid level phone with a good camera, I couldn't use a Oppo or low end phone as these ARE unusable, they are slow, crash, hide settings and just suck. Last7 has the EXACT options as Winborg 7 as Sop and I collaborated which ones to include, the only difference is I made them optional, you can pick from the boot menu to include the SATA/RAID drivers and he didn't (he left them out as the Intel chipset drivers BSOD PC's that don't have that or have nVidia chipsets), I don't expect you to change over now you have things running as you need, just want to be clear incase your ever finding you have free time and want to try it again. BTW always keep a Terabyte Image (or Image of your HDD) that way you can experiment with as many OS mods as you can make time for and there is nothing stopping you using LastOS Tweaks/Apps etc in any Windows OS, I made sure to make things stand alone and available from ssWPI, so at the end of the day, it is all collaboration and feedback directed. That said, I no longer use anything Less than Windows 10 (except on really old hardware or 32bit CPU's), so I don't have a need for them myself, as such I wont do a good job modding them anymore. That is why all my tools have been shared (even though I lack documentation for most of it), modding a mod or updating it isn't too much trouble for anyone to do if they have the need though.
here is a link to an article i found that allows you to download the latest version of itunes without having to go through MS store that requires win10 to access. Find it here The reason i mention Android is that when you have a gmail account it will sync your apps, photos and contacts etc, when you login to google on the phone and will sync when you are commected to the internet either with wifi or mobile data regardless of the version of Android on the phone. There are apps that allow transfer of all files between phone and computer wether Mac, Win or i think even Linux. Instead of being locked into Apple's ecosystem giving more flexability.
Thanks, @pacav69, I don't know if that would have solved my problem, but I will be very interested to see if it works for @Dibrom. To solve other apps not working on Win 7, it would be helpful if there was a way to get QT 6 running on Win 7, but that's a discussion for another day. As a slight aside, I found this link very interesting and possibly helpful for some - Web Browsers compatible with Windows 7.
Other than the Chinese characters being either an OS- or file explorer-related thing, iPhones are good devices but the way they are locked down for PC users is a deal-breaker for me. The device should exist to serve you, not you serve their monetizing schemes. I can understand why they do that, but I can also understand why I won't play along with it Last time I had iPhone it was iPhone 11 and it was a good device in itself. iPhone's face unlock is very good for example, whereas Android phones generally aren't all that great at biometrics in my opinion. If Win10+ then LTSC is the way to go for stability (even though the snapshot the OS is based on is still a UI patchwork quilt but that's another story). When running Win7, yes, it makes sense to keep it updated unless you're not going online with it or otherwise introducing new programs or files to it which would be kind of a very exceptional scenario. Then again I know people that are still running an non-updated Win7 from 6 years ago, but then there's no argument to be made for that as being more stable or secure of course
I've seen in China some companys still running windows XP, i asked "why" their response "company software only runs on win xp" and they have never upgraded. Confusis says (paraphasing) "if computer work no need fixing "
Unfortunately, @pacav69, though that did hold out some hope, and that solution might work for some folks in some circumstances, it didnt for me. We tried that last year, but with no success. [read on from that link for the next dozen or so posts for the full story]
Totally agree with you, unfortunately for me, the only alternative being Android, is many times even worse! Like you, I am the family computer/phone repair guy and that means in order to maintain my own sanity to an acceptable level, I need Fisher-Price phones for people who don't care about phones just so long as they can do what they need to do on them easily and intuitively without having to become overnight experts. This means Apple iPhones. For consistency and ease of management/problem solving, I keep them all the same make/model/iOS and a lot of the same installed apps too. It's just simpler and easier this way. I too fit into this category of phone user. I have multiple desktops if I need to do something extensive or tricky, that is not what my phone is for. I just need a phone that works, is easy to navigate and manage, and is reliable. I don't need to land a lunar explorer on the surface of Mars by remote from my phone. I know Android phones can do this and so much more, but I just won't live long enough to work out how to do it, so it's pointless for me. If you take a look at the configuration options within Teracopy, you will find it is built with Total Commander use in mind and has a routine within it to be auto-configured within a TC installation as the default copy method. The two programs co-exist together perfectly seemlessly like they belong together. I use Teracopy all the time, but never from the Teracopy front-end GUI, it is always called from within TC. TC can also be carried around in a portable format to be run from a USB stick. This works quite well and is what I tend to do when confronted with a computer that for whatever reason either doesn't already have TC installed, or doesn't have the permissions to install a native copy of TC on it.
Yeah I found that too. The problem is not with being able to download it, that's easy enough, the problem is installing it. The first thing the install routine does is check for what OS it's being run under, and anything less than Windows 10 doesn't allow it to proceed. Yep, understood, but that doesn't help when your contacts are kept locally, offline in the computer's address book via Outlook and not (for security reasons) within Google's cloud-based, online mail system. I really don't want a copy of my 3,000-odd contact details held by Google in an online database for any random hacker to get access to. I'm weird like that.
That's not just China, not by a long shot! In Australia, a great many automatic teller machines (which admittedly are an endangered species disappearing faster every day as we hurtle towards a cashless society) run on XP very reliably. They aren't connected to the internet though obviously and no-one does any browsing with them, but they work just fine for what they do. I have a recently restored old computer maxed out with 2GB RAM, new cooling fans, running Paragon GPT DIsk Manager with multiple 4TB HDD's in it connected to the two SATA ports the Mobo has, all running XP SP3 and is perfectly reliable. Again, it doesn't connect to the internet and I don't browse or collect e-mail from it, but as a network computer it works just fine. It even works as a TV server for watching content on network connected screens in the house and does so just as well as a Windows 7 computer. It runs a modded version called XP Black Edition, which I think I also got in here some time back. There's nothing wrong with XP, in fact, you could arguably claim that XP is in fact one of the more secure operating systems these days because no hacker is still bothering to target it for exploits anymore. My local computer repair shop has a customer who runs a small business with 50-odd employees across a few sites and he is in the same position as your Chinese example. Has business software that will only run on XP that his employees all know very well and are happy with. He doesn't want the upgrading and staff retraining bill, so instead he has a deal with the computer shop owner that he gets a call everytime he gets a traded-in old computer Mobo that someone else wants rid of when they upgrade. He then buys it for a few $$$ and rebuilds it up with a new XP install and keeps it as a business machine for his company software. Works well for him and saves him a heap of costs and heartache upgrading for no real benefit.
I used to repair / modify and build pc,s for the longest time. When it became available I used Bob Obs's Modified on a usb drive, that solved so many troubles and made life a lot easier. I have seen business's and medical building's use xp or 7 still, I almost envy them rofl.
