To be perfectly honest, I haven't seen updates mess up Windows on any of my machines, and I do install them when they come out.
I'd take most of what the guy in the video says with a grain of salt. He calls Microsoft Edge a "search engine", and accuses Microsoft of installing spyware on machines, which I have my doubts about.
It is a bad policy for Microsoft to force updates on users. They are essentially saying the user is incapable of making their own decisions. I my case when I am running BIAB at a jam and the software that calls it I don't want the MS-update running. That is my decision to make. Not theirs. What they are doing with their update is completely unimportant relative to that decision.
That's really the difference between the "Home" version of Windows 10 and the "Pro" version of Windows 10. With the Pro version, you still ultimately have to apply the updates, but you can schedule them at a time of your own choosing.
Luckily, I upgraded from Windows 7/8 Pro on my computers, so that took me directly to Windows 10 Pro.
John
Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 2x2TB, 1x4TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 2x1.5TB, 2x2TB, 1x4TB SATA
Interesting. Pay more money and you get to make your own decisions. Sounds a bit like a protectionist racket where you get protected from the person you pay. Pay us money and we won't steal any of your CPU usage at your critical times.
I'm STILL on 1703 with Pro you delay almost indefinitely, with Pro you can change Group Polices and refuse updates until approved for release to business enterprises (deployments), which BTW still has NOT happened for Fall Creators update 1709, let alone current 1803.
Larry
EDIT
You can believe it or not, this is the internet after all, so I'm simply passing on some possible money savings info (loosely related to this topic) if anyone is interested:
You can a buy a full, legal, and yes Genuine license for Win 10 PRO for $32.99 from a MS partner - that's less than paying $50 direct to MS just to upgrade from Win 10 HOME.
Yes it's valid, MS legal, and not a scam that I can tell (at least for me it wasn't).
In last month I've bought four licenses: two Win 10 Pro's, one Win 7 Pro 64 and one Win 7 Pro 32 bit (the Win 7 licenses cost a whopping $18.99 each three weeks ago now I see they only have the expensive $28.99 copies - LOL).
ALL Win copies installed, all copies and product keys activated on-line and all are reported as as GENUINE by the OS. The installs were on four different PC's (one was a laptop). The two Win 7's belong to my brother and the two Win 10's were builds for my wife's friends.
I've already bought (set aside) another Win 10 Pro license for myself for upcoming new monster i9 XXXX bleeding edge gamer/DAW/general purpose work build. It's still possible I might go AMD Ryzen - but still looking at various MoBO's, configs, chips sets, gotcha's, current and future growth features, etc.
EDIT
Last edited by Larry Kehl; 06/07/1812:44 PM.
Win10Pro,i9,64GB,2TBSSD+20TBHDDs,1080TI,BIAB'24,Scarlett18i8,Montage7,Fusion 8HD,QS8,Integra7,XV5080,QSR,SC-8850,SPLAT,FL21&others,Komp.14,IK suite&others, just a guitar player-AXE FX III &FM9T, FishmanTP, MIDIGuitar2, GK2/3'sw/GI20
I wasn't aware a person can still obtain Windows 7; that's a surprise. I looked at the Instant Software Site and was surprised by the prices I saw, $214.99 for a single Windows 10 Professional 32/64 bit download and license key and $219.99 for a Windows 7 Pro download and license. That's way different than your report.
Windows updates aren't necessarily bad either. Often they fix security holes that have been discovered. They could save you.
Now I do understand there is marketing involved as well, but that's become a fact of life with computers.
I always install the updates, but I make a new back-up disk image first. I make an image before installing anything new, it's saved by rear a few times. But I've never had to use it on a MS update.
I use to take an image after every software install. I don't bother now. I take an image or two after a complete reinstall of windows and my software so I know the image is completely clean of any junk I don't want. From that point on I keep a record of what I install after that. So if I get a virus I just return the clean image, install all the stuff that I installed after then I take another double image and once again I keep a record of any software I install (I have a way to ensure I don't forget). This way I know for sure that the 2nd pair of images are free of any junk. I repeat this process any time I need to do an image restore due to a virus or whatever. This process eliminates the need for the MS updates because I can very quickly fix things. Of course data gets backed up very often (often several times a day). So again. It is not good policy for MS to force updates upon people. I would not trust MS to protect me from viruses etc. The people who write viruses, root-kits and ransomware are always trying to outsmart Microsoft. There is no way we can predict when they find another hole to sneak through.
I returned 3 restores on my Win7 machine because it was not acting correctly (virus, driver went bad, whatever, it does not matter). I had to do a complete rebuild after I replaced a drive. It was after this rebuild I started the new procedure. Doing an image backup after each software install often means you are backing up junk that is slowing your machine or waiting to bite you such as a root-kit or maybe even ransomware. It is a good idea to turn off your backup disk or have some rotation where the backup disk is turned off as a way to protect against ransomware because it will compact things across the home network. This includes compacting your images. Keep your images on an external USB drive that you very rarely plug in (like only when doing the above procedure). The big concern these days is ransomware compacting critical data and how long ransomware sits on your machine before it bites you. The bigger your drive removed from the machines rotation the greater your protection from ransomware.
To be perfectly honest, I haven't seen updates mess up Windows on any of my machines, and I do install them when they come out.
I'd take most of what the guy in the video says with a grain of salt. He calls Microsoft Edge a "search engine", and accuses Microsoft of installing spyware on machines, which I have my doubts about.
Cheers Kent PG Music
I'm sure you are correct about the updates as well as the nonsense the "guy in the video" was saying. So many people talk about using to Linux, but it is usually just talk. Like others, I was reluctant at first, but I finally made the move to using Linux for "what it was good at" and using Windows for "what it was good at" around 2007, and I haven't regretted my choice. My Windows machines work great without being connected to the Internet, without downloading and installing Windows updates, and without having any anti-virus or other security protections to slow the PCs down. I built my XP machine in 2007, installed the basic necessary softwares I needed & used a lot, made an image of my base setup, and it has been running every day since then doing Excel programming, music production, recordings, videos, etc, all without being on the Internet and without the hassles of downloading & installing updates. The only thing I need to do is back my data files. My Win 10 machine has been running regularly since 2016 without Internet, updates, anti-virus, etc, and you confirmed what I already suspected about Win 10 functioning without an Internet connection... again, I thank you!
I bought my Internet PC (Lenovo) in 2012 to replace the old Pentium I used for the Internet back then. When I bought the Lenovo, I stored its Win7 HD, replaced it with a new HD, and installed Linux. With Linux the OS and program files are free and they are pretty good, many are excellent. Some things I use to do in Windows I now prefer doing in Linux. In addition, with Linux I can go anywhere on the Internet fearlessly and download anything for Windows that looks interesting. If I decide to use a software for Windows, I can have an on-line virus scanner check the file before transferring it over to one or more of my Windows machines. I've got the best of both worlds,
The bottom line is this... don't bash Windows, its a great OS and it has a lot of wonderful programs (like Biab) which run on it. If you don't want the hassles of updates and security software, make your life easier and disconnect it from the Internet... use it for "what its good at". If you've got an old machine around gathering dust, download a Linux distro, install it, and give it a try... you might like it!
Another option is use a Live CD or USB boot, it is just a basic bootable Win10 OS CD/USB that will run BIAB. Live CD/USB are use to recover/repair a crashed windows installation but I had it running Biab from the C:\bb drive. If you have the wma version of BB you can run it on a bootable usb stick.
I just searched using a different browser (chrome I usually use Firefox) for that name and clicked on it and got the one above (same one)?
Larry
ACTUALLY try it and report back. Using a different PC I get same site with an order of magnitude cheaper price than $200. Your not using a VPN routed through Mexico or Venezuela and getting prices in Pesos or Bolívar are you LOL
Last edited by Larry Kehl; 06/08/1811:40 AM.
Win10Pro,i9,64GB,2TBSSD+20TBHDDs,1080TI,BIAB'24,Scarlett18i8,Montage7,Fusion 8HD,QS8,Integra7,XV5080,QSR,SC-8850,SPLAT,FL21&others,Komp.14,IK suite&others, just a guitar player-AXE FX III &FM9T, FishmanTP, MIDIGuitar2, GK2/3'sw/GI20
The way updates should work in my opinion is like this. You get a new machine. You take a clean image of it (preferably two that are both verified). So a year or two later the machine is fairly dirty due to internet usage but not all that noticeable yet (strange things happen but a reboot fixes them and you do not know what the problem is or if it is worth returning the image so you continue on living with the small issues). You get an announcement that an update exists. They tell you it will take 6 hours tops to download and they tell you it is service pack #1 so you know rather than their keeping it a mystery. You leave your machine running overnight to do the download and you have a file which you can run at any time in the future which is called service pack #1. Because your machine is running fine you leave it there for future use. When you machine gets a virus or becomes slow to the point that you want to return the image you return it and your machine is running just like it is new again. This time you install the service pack #1 update (if you choose) then you install all your current software that you installed after the first image. Now you have a 100% clean up to machine and you take another two images to lock it in. This way the update should take no more than the 40 minutes that a full windows install typically takes. If the update has issues (and yes being a programmer I know this does happen) then you can roll back to the first image and leave the update off the 2nd time.
Here is another reason this makes sense. There are some software that openly state they will not run unless windows has a 2nd or 3rd service pack. If Microsoft was to tell you the download was a specific service pack using the method I describe above you could store it until you upgrade some of your software and it needs this service pack.
Another option should be to order the service pack DVD which is likely to be clean (sometimes downloads get corrupt). Maybe you pay $15.00 or something for this. That is fine.
The way they are doing it now with forced updates when you restore the first clean image the update is going to start over again. Of course many users do not know how to take an image or even know such a thing is possible.
For marketing reasons some of the manufacturers of software will want you to think their service packs or download updates are for security reasons. They are trying to hide the fact that it is very expensive to thoroughly test software and in a competitive environment they send their software out too soon so that the user can test it. So my best guess is that 90% and at times 100% of the service pack is bug fixes. There may at times be some small feature enhancements. We have no way of proving this since many bugs we do not experience. The better software manufacturers are transparent and publish a list of their fixes (this is smarter marketing because it also markets their software company as being honest and trustworthy). I would guess that service packs 2 and 3 fix bugs created by the attempts at fixes in service pack 1 which create new problems. That is the reality of programming. Why does this occur? Because programs are extremely complex. It becomes even harder to fix bugs for the company if they have a high programmer turnover since it takes a long time to learn a complex program and putting in fixes when you do not have a 100% knowledge of the program is risky (been there done that). Many years ago I read that Microsoft is a sweatshop (typically these create high turnover). I can not prove this but judging from the fact that their software quality is going downhill (file find is no where near as good as in XP, backup is no where as good as in XP) I suspect what I read may in fact be true.
I will agree that Lunix is good and MS-windows is good. Windows would be better if they followed the procedure in the above post. The fact that they no longer do what I describe in the above post is more proof in my mind that they are going down hill. They are struggling to keep ahead of Google and Linux.
Good Golly Miss Molly! I don't know what to say I didn't spend half that much on FOUR copies of OS' from them??
- Maybe trying clearing cache or using a different browser (but I'm also using FF Quantum 60.0.2), or doing a fresh Google search and get your own fresh link? However, I realize this not be worth effort just to try for grins and is probably just a curiosity to you, you aren't in market for NEW OS, OFFICE suite, VISIO, Project.
But your try would scare off anyone from even trying to look for a cheaper price at that site.
Maybe someone else can try and see? I know I'm not special (at least not in that sense - LOL) and I have no association with Instant Software Store, actually this was first time I ever bought from them. Wish I had seen them before two recent upgrades I had to make. I have to run multiple versions of some software, different customers. Unfortunately some MS SW is NOT fully backwards compatible (no matter what they say)
I couldn't consult without those tools and about $10K of other numerical, graphical, and statistical software so I am ALWAYS on lookout for cheap(er) but fully legal tools. I can't use or even be suspected of using pirated, shareware or even freeware SW in my line of work with USG and other contractors)
And I also realize I strayed way off topic of OP so I am done wasting folks time here on this one Good Luck
Larry
Win10Pro,i9,64GB,2TBSSD+20TBHDDs,1080TI,BIAB'24,Scarlett18i8,Montage7,Fusion 8HD,QS8,Integra7,XV5080,QSR,SC-8850,SPLAT,FL21&others,Komp.14,IK suite&others, just a guitar player-AXE FX III &FM9T, FishmanTP, MIDIGuitar2, GK2/3'sw/GI20
We’ve expanded the Band-in-a-Box® RealTracks library with 202 incredible new RealTracks (in sets 449-467) across Jazz, Blues, Funk, World, Pop, Rock, Country, Americana, and Praise & Worship—featuring your most requested styles!
Jazz, Blues & World (Sets 449–455):
These RealTracks includes “Soul Jazz” with Neil Swainson (bass), Mike Clark (drums), Charles Treadway (organ), Miles Black (piano), and Brent Mason (guitar). Enjoy “Requested ’60s” jazz, classic acoustic blues with Colin Linden, and more of our popular 2-handed piano soloing. Plus, a RealTracks first—Tango with bandoneon, recorded in Argentina!
Rock & Pop (Sets 456–461):
This collection includes Disco, slap bass ‘70s/‘80s pop, modern and ‘80s metal with Andy Wood, and a unique “Songwriter Potpourri” featuring Chinese folk instruments, piano, banjo, and more. You’ll also find a muted electric guitar style (a RealTracks first!) and “Producer Layered Guitar” styles for slick "produced" sound.
Country, Americana & Praise (Sets 462–467):
We’ve added new RealTracks across bro country, Americana, praise & worship, vintage country, and songwriter piano. Highlights include Brent Mason (electric guitar), Eddie Bayers (drums), Doug Jernigan (pedal steel), John Jarvis (piano), Glen Duncan (banjo, mandolin & fiddle), Mike Harrison (electric bass) and more—offering everything from modern sounds to heartfelt Americana styles
And, if you are looking for more, the 2025 49-PAK (for $49) includes an additional 20 RealTracks with exciting new sounds and genre-spanning styles. Enjoy RealTracks firsts like Chinese instruments (guzheng & dizi), the bandoneon in an authentic Argentine tango trio, and the classic “tic-tac” baritone guitar for vintage country.
You’ll also get slick ’80s metal guitar from Andy Wood, modern metal with guitarist Nico Santora, bass player Nick Schendzielos, and drummer Aaron Stechauner, more praise & worship, indie-folk, modern/bro country with Brent Mason, and “Songwriter Americana” with Johnny Hiland.
Plus, enjoy user-requested styles like Soul Jazz RealDrums, fast Celtic Strathspey guitar, and Chill Hop piano & drums!
With your version 2025 for Mac Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, Audiophile Edition or PlusPAK purchase, we'll include a Bonus PAK full of great new Add-ons FREE! Or upgrade to the 2025 49-PAK for only $49 to receive even more NEW Add-ons including 20 additional RealTracks!
These PAKs are loaded with additional add-ons to supercharge your Band-in-a-Box®!
This Free Bonus PAK includes:
The 2025 RealCombos Booster PAK:
-For Pro customers, this includes 33 new RealTracks and 65+ new RealStyles.
-For MegaPAK customers, this includes 29 new RealTracks and 45+ new RealStyles.
-For UltraPAK customers, this includes 20 new RealStyles.
Look Ma! More MIDI 13: Country & Americana
Instrumental Studies Set 22: 2-Hand Piano Soloing - Rhythm Changes
MIDI SuperTracks Set 44: Jazz Piano
Artist Performance Set 17: Songs with Vocals 7
Playable RealTracks Set 4
RealDrums Stems Set 7: Jazz with Mike Clark
SynthMaster Sounds and Styles (with audio demos)
128 GM MIDI Patch Audio Demos.
Looking for more great add-ons, then upgrade to the 2025 49-PAK for just $49 and you'll get:
20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums with 20 RealStyles,
FLAC Files (lossless audio files) for the 20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums
Look Ma! More MIDI 14: SynthMaster,
Instrumental Studies Set 23: More '80s Hard Rock Soloing,
MIDI SuperTracks Set 45: More SynthMaster
Artist Performance Set 18: Songs with Vocals 8
RealDrums Stems Set 8: Pop, Funk & More with Jerry Roe
New! Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Band-in-a-Box 2025 and Higher for Mac!
Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Mac & Windows Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) is here with 200 brand new RealStyles!
We're excited to bring you our latest and greatest in the all new Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Band-in-a-Box! This fresh installment is packed with 200 all-new styles spanning the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres you've come to expect, as well as the exciting inclusion of electronic styles!
In this PAK you’ll discover: Minimalist Modern Funk, New Wave Synth Pop, Hard Bop Latin Groove, Gospel Country Shuffle, Cinematic Synthwave, '60s Motown, Funky Lo-Fi Bossa, Heavy 1980s Metal, Soft Muted 12-8 Folk, J-Pop Jazz Fusion, and many more!
All the Xtra Styles PAKs 1 - 20 are on special for only $29 each (reg $49), or get all 209 PAKs for $199 (reg $399)! Order now!
Note: The Xtra Styles require the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box®. (Xtra Styles PAK 20 requires the 2025 or higher UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition. They will not work with the Pro or MegaPAK version because they need the RealTracks from the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition.
New! XPro Styles PAK 9 for Band-in-a-Box 2025 and higher for Mac!
We've just released XPro Styles PAK 9 for Mac & Windows Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) with 100 brand new RealStyles, plus 29 RealTracks/RealDrums!
We've been hard at it to bring you the latest and greatest in this 9th installment of our popular XPro Styles PAK series! Included are 75 styles spanning the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres (25 styles each) that fans have come to expect, as well as 25 styles in this volume's wildcard genre: funk & R&B!
If you're itching to get a sneak peek at what's included in XPro Styles PAK 9, here is a small helping of what you can look forward to: Funky R&B Horns, Upbeat Celtic Rock, Jazz Fusion Salsa, Gentle Indie Folk, Cool '60s Soul, Funky '70s R&B, Smooth Jazz Hip Hop, Acoustic Rockabilly Swing, Funky Reggae Dub, Dreamy Retro Latin Jazz, Retro Soul-Rock Fusion, and much more!
Special Pricing! Until July 31, 2024, all the XPro Styles PAKs 1 - 9 are on sale for only $29 ea (Reg. $49 ea), or get them all in the XPro Styles PAK Bundle for only $149 (reg. $299)! Order now!
XPro Styles PAKs require Band-in-a-Box® 2025 or higher and are compatible with ANY package, including the Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, and Audiophile Edition.
New! Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Band-in-a-Box 2025 and Higher for Windows!
Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Windows & Mac Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) is here with 200 brand new RealStyles!
We're excited to bring you our latest and greatest in the all new Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Band-in-a-Box! This fresh installment is packed with 200 all-new styles spanning the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres you've come to expect, as well as the exciting inclusion of electronic styles!
In this PAK you’ll discover: Minimalist Modern Funk, New Wave Synth Pop, Hard Bop Latin Groove, Gospel Country Shuffle, Cinematic Synthwave, '60s Motown, Funky Lo-Fi Bossa, Heavy 1980s Metal, Soft Muted 12-8 Folk, J-Pop Jazz Fusion, and many more!
All the Xtra Styles PAKs 1 - 20 are on special for only $29 each (reg $49), or get all 209 PAKs for $199 (reg $399)! Order now!
Note: The Xtra Styles require the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box®. (Xtra Styles PAK 20 requires the 2025 or higher UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition. They will not work with the Pro or MegaPAK version because they need the RealTracks from the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition.
New! XPro Styles PAK 9 for Band-in-a-Box 2025 and higher for Windows!
We've just released XPro Styles PAK 9 for Windows & Mac Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) with 100 brand new RealStyles, plus 29 RealTracks/RealDrums!
We've been hard at it to bring you the latest and greatest in this 9th installment of our popular XPro Styles PAK series! Included are 75 styles spanning the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres (25 styles each) that fans have come to expect, as well as 25 styles in this volume's wildcard genre: funk & R&B!
If you're itching to get a sneak peek at what's included in XPro Styles PAK 9, here is a small helping of what you can look forward to: Funky R&B Horns, Upbeat Celtic Rock, Jazz Fusion Salsa, Gentle Indie Folk, Cool '60s Soul, Funky '70s R&B, Smooth Jazz Hip Hop, Acoustic Rockabilly Swing, Funky Reggae Dub, Dreamy Retro Latin Jazz, Retro Soul-Rock Fusion, and much more!
Special Pricing! Until July 31, 2024, all the XPro Styles PAKs 1 - 9 are on sale for only $29 ea (Reg. $49 ea), or get them all in the XPro Styles PAK Bundle for only $149 (reg. $299)! Order now!
XPro Styles PAKs require Band-in-a-Box® 2025 or higher and are compatible with ANY package, including the Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, and Audiophile Edition.
Video: Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac®: VST3 Plugin Support
Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac® now includes support for VST3 plugins, alongside VST and AU. Use them with MIDI or audio tracks for even more creative possibilities in your music production.
Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Macs®: VST3 Plugin Support
Video: Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac®: Using VST3 Plugins
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