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WINDOWS VERSIONS
WHAT IS S MODE?
James Flynn, Milborne Port Computers
Since Windows XP, Microsoft have always released a Home version and a Professional version of their operating system software. When they released Windows 7 they added into the mix other versions – Starter, Home Basic, Enterprise and Ultimate which carried on until Windows 10 where they dropped the Starter, Basic and Ultimate versions. I think I may have had 1 or 2 customers on Windows Enterprise, but they didn’t even realise this. These days they have gone back to Windows Home and Professional and I would say 95% of our Windows customers use Windows Home and 5% use Windows Professional.
In the days of Windows 7, the only real difference for Pro users was you got the ability to use ‘Windows Remote Desktop’ where you could set up your computer to be accessed from somewhere else via the internet. Microsoft say the Pro was more secure than Home but for the normal user, I don’t think we noticed much difference.
Now with Windows 10 Pro, you start to have a few more benefits like privacy tools and BitLocker. Although it has been available since 2007, BitLocker encryption only really came to light when Windows 10 was released, and we started to become more security conscious.
BitLocker enables users to encrypt everything on the drive Windows is installed on, protecting that data from theft or unauthorised access. In simple terms, all your information and files are encrypted with a computer password when you lock your computer in case you lose it or someone steals it. For this to work properly you’ll need a Microsoft account (free) as they store a very long recovery key which is the other way to un-encrypt your files if you forget the password – a very handy advantage of Windows Pro over Windows Home.
Fast forward to 2017 and Microsoft released ‘Windows S mode’ although this is not to be confused with ‘Safe Mode’ which is a completely different thing. Only available on Windows 10 and now Windows 11, Windows S mode is a version of Windows that’s streamlined for security and performance while providing a familiar Windows experience. To increase security, it allows only apps from Microsoft Store, and requires Microsoft Edge for safe browsing. In simple terms, you cannot install any of what I would call ‘normal’ programs and only simple apps from the store. They make you use Microsoft Edge for browsing and only the use of the Bing search engine. Microsoft restricts users from using other Windows configuration tools, such as Command Prompt, PowerShell, or the Windows Registry. Now all computers which come with S mode are either Windows Home in S mode or Windows Pro in S mode – meaning you can go to the Microsoft Store and sign in with a Microsoft Account and turn S mode off, which is what we have to do all the time as 99.9% of our customers require software to be installed outside the Windows Store. Microsoft claim S mode increases battery life by up to 15% and boot-up speeds of 80% but S mode is very much limiting the computer’s and user’s use by being led by what Microsoft want you to do and use. But that’s just my simple opinion.
THE QUEEN IS DEAD. LONG LIVE THE KING.
Chris Carver, Sherborne Scribblers
Iwas bemused by the media saying most people only knew one monarch. I remember George VI and the late Queen Mother very well when they visited the boys’ school in Sherborne. I thought 1950 but it may have been 1949. I also had a great affinity for the Queen Mother. She was Honorary Commissioner to the regiment I served in for over 22 years – the BSAP [British South Africa Police] − and sent us a Christmas card every year despite being told by Harold Wilson to stop because of UDI [Rhodesia’s Unilateral Declaration of Independence]. In 1999, she attended our Centenary celebrations at Grosvenor House in London. We were told she would only be there an hour, not to talk to her unless she spoke first and not to shake hands. In fact, she was there for well over two hours and spoke with everybody. In the interim, if you moved from one group to another, she would recognise you, ‘We met earlier didn’t we?’ she asked. Amazing. I think she was 96 at the time.
I am and have always been an avowed royalist and held our late Queen in the highest degree of respect and admiration for the way she kept the ‘mystique’ of the royal family alive despite all the brick-bats and insults thrown by anti-royalists and others; and the inter-family problems that have arisen. The British royals command respect from around the world and all world leaders wanted to meet the Queen. This was due entirely to the example set by her. No other nation can match it, even though some try. Even Putin has sent a message of condolences addressed to ‘The King’ and asking him to convey his commiserations to the British people. King Charles has a huge reputation to maintain. I’m sure he and The Queen Consort will do so, and with William and Kate to follow, the future of the monarchy is assured.
Even though we knew the inevitable would happen, and at 96 it was going to occur sooner rather than later, I was surprised at the speed with which it happened. 48 hours earlier she had held audiences with Boris Johnson and Liz Truss for an important constitutional change in the country in which she played a crucial role. She obviously regarded it as her duty to play her part and 48 hours later she had gone. The mobility problems they said she had were obviously more serious than we realised and she may have paid the price for carrying out her duty. She was a wonderful, wonderful woman and Queen and a great loss to the nation. She put the ‘Great’ into Great Britain.
