How to permanently disable libraries in Windows 8?

[HawkMan]

These guys aren't 'geeks'. Real geeks could find solutions to simple problems like this without recommending major reconstructed surgery. The true measure of a good admin is how many times you have to reinstall an OS on any given system. My count so far on this system in over 2.5 years is a big fat 0. That's the way I intend to keep it. I'm guessing the total combined of all of the guys here is probably in the 100's, if not more however.

So I must be a much better Admin than you then. my main computer and my laptop where both originally on windows 7 and have been upgraded to windows 8 without issues, the laptop was new, but the desktop was 1-2 years old when I upgraded it so it's at least 2.5 years old now without having to do a reinstall, and without weird library errors caused by myself messing with the libraries... since you know.. I didn't. before that my previous desktop hadn't been reinstalled since 7 released neither my old laptop, both running fine.

[jebus197]

ok, seriously jebus, i've read your previous topic and half of this one, and you REALLY need to step off of your arrogant perch and listen to people.

do you even understand fully what the refresh feature in Windows 8 does? your settings will still be in tact after performing a refresh, you will only need to reinstall your third party softwares (aka once you reinstall said softwares your settings will still be what they were)

refresh is good when you have random issues such as your file explorer issue

and you say that the explorer refresh bug is your only issue, but there's no way to tell, that may be the only issue you notice at the surface and other things could slowly start to go wrong before you realize

I have a mass of 3rd party software. Some of it I still have access to licence keys for, some of it not so much as I expected the computer to die before I would ever need to reinstall. It is a matter of pride that I have rarely if ever had to do a full reinstall in the majority of my personal and professional life and I am not about to change now. I will find a solution to this minor issue.

There are guys here who claim to work for MS who say that even for a minor issue like this you have to do major re-constructive work. I disagree. This is a problem that has as much chance of resolving itself, or an update randomly fixing it, or someone else coming up with a viable solution.

There is not a hell of a lot of difference between a desktop refresh and a full reinstall. Only some basic documents and settings are preserved. I have changed several things on Windows 8 (start 8 classic shell) and a few other small things, but it is simply not worthwhile for the level of work involved to trade off against a small bug like this to start again from scratch.

[HawkMan]

I admitted no such thing. I made some really quite standard adjustments. That was all.

Your definition different from every other professional's.

[jebus197]

Just for kicks, disable Defender and see if the issue goes away.

These are the kind of answers that make sense to me.

[Brandon H Supervisor]

speaking of Admins. no business ever uses the Upgrade feature. if they're going to upgrade to a newer OS they will create a new image from scratch and do through testing to make sure everything works correctly, then they distribute that new image to computers as fresh installs

[jebus197]

Your definition different from every other professional's.

And you are just in here sucking on hot air! I suggest you leave if you have no meaningful viable answers.

speaking of Admins. no business ever uses the Upgrade feature. if they're going to upgrade to a newer OS they will create a new image from scratch and do through testing to make sure everything works correctly, then they distribute that new image to computers as fresh installs

Clearly you haven't worked extensively in a variety of different business environments. What happens to the guy (or girl) who comes to me with their own personalised laptop with a similar issue and asks me for a fix? If I can give them a fix in a few minutes (often over the phone) then that works out well for everyone.

[jebus197]

Just for kicks, disable Defender and see if the issue goes away.

I can't confirm for sure at the moment as a few (well two people to be accurate) have made similarly sensible suggestions and I have continued reading various other forums while wasting my time with some of these guys, and as I said things appear OK for the time being. But whether it survives past a reboot or not is the question. If not then I will try your solution. Isn't it more interesting anyway to try to hunt down a bug? That's why I said that these guys aren't geeks.

It's sad really. This used to be a good forum with genuinely tech savvy people. Now it seems the advice for even very minor faults is just 'reinstall your OS', or 'start again from scratch.' So much so in fact that even people who claim to work for MS are giving this out as standard advice. I'll take my old fashioned bug hunting and solution finding approach over this any day. You learn nothing by simply repetitively reinstalling after the slightest thing goes wrong.

I know guys who do this. You are those guys.

[HawkMan]

You do realize if that works, you just proved that the libraries had NOTHING to do with your icon refresh issue in the first place.

[jebus197]

You do realize if that works, you just proved that the libraries had NOTHING to do with your icon refresh issue in the first place.

Well these things as someone else pointed out are all connected. Besides one of the reg fixes I tried when attempting to disable libraries on Windows 8 appears to have done something and files and folders are now being cleanly deleted. The point is if it will last. Besides I have encountered this in Windows 7 before, as have many other users (search via Google if you wish) and the standard work around to resolve it in Windows 7 is/was to disable libraries. My experience is that it worked perfectly. So you are probably wrong in your assessment that it has 'nothing to do with libraries.'

It is also perfectly possible that it might be the result of an interplay between Windows defender and Libraries. This is the fun part of bug hunting. Sometimes you can actually figure these things out, without reinstalling your entire OS.

It may take me a few days to confirm if the Windows Defender thing is an issue, as I have no plans to reboot any time soon. I am kind of funky and old fashioned that way. I believe very strongly in maximising my uptime, an idea I suspect is completely alien to many of the people here. Reboots and reinstalls are for heathens, lol! I think a lot of guys here have just become so used to using Windows, that they think that it's perfectly normal to do this.

[MikeChipshop Member]

I have a mass of 3rd party software. Some of it I still have access to licence keys for, some of it not so much as I expected the computer to die before I would ever need to reinstall. It is a matter of pride that I have rarely if ever had to do a full reinstall in the majority of my personal and professional life and I am not about to change now. I will find a solution to this minor issue.

There are guys here who claim to work for MS who say that even for a minor issue like this you have to do major re-constructive work. I disagree. This is a problem that has as much chance of resolving itself, or an update randomly fixing it, or someone else coming up with a viable solution.

There is not a hell of a lot of difference between a desktop refresh and a full reinstall. Only some basic documents and settings are preserved. I have changed several things on Windows 8 (start 8 classic shell) and a few other small things, but it is simply not worthwhile for the level of work involved to trade off against a small bug like this to start again from scratch.

Do you not keep any backups? If not, i'd do so asap.

[metallithrax]

Well these things as someone else pointed out are all connected. Besides one of the reg fixes I tried when attempting to disable libraries on Windows 8 appears to have done something and files and folders are now being cleanly deleted. The point is if it will last. Besides I have encountered this in Windows 7 before, as have many other users (search via Google if you wish) and the standard work around to resolve it in Windows 7 is/was to disable libraries. My experience is that it worked perfectly. So you are probably wrong in your assessment that it has 'nothing to do with libraries.'

It is also perfectly possible that it might be the result of an interplay between Windows defender and Libraries. This is the fun part of bug hunting. Sometimes you can actually figure these things out, without reinstalling your entire OS.

I'm not a "geek" or "admin" or "super user", but I do know that windows 7 isn't windows 8. What works in windows 7 may not work in windows 8.

And if, as you say it is a "minor fault", why hasn't a solution been found? Maybe because one isn't available?

I hope you find your solution, because I hear that this seasons humble pie may contain horse meat. :D

[MorganX]

FWIW, my sudden Explorer refresh issue, which drove me nuts till I put together several recommendations from Googling, ended up being a corrupt index which Defender would hang on every time you opened Explorer.

Even then, just disabling indexing wasn't enough. Had to disable indexing, defender, clear index, move the index, then enable indexing, then turn defender back on. haven't had a problem since but it took a while.

My solution to the MicroAngelo issue was to uninstall it, and start using Iconpackager 5.x which works fine with Windows 8.

Do you not keep any backups? If not, i'd do so asap.

I concur, and I highly recommend Macrium Reflect Free for imaging, which someone here recommended to me. Uses WinPE 4.0 and the boot recovery is therefore, quite nice and full featured.

File history works quite well too.

[siah1214]

I feel bad for whomever you're "sys admin" for. I hope they're not paying you too much, if they are, let me know so I can take your job.

Here's how you can refresh your PC while losing nothing you have installed:

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/create-custom-refresh-image-in-windows-8/

I hope this isn't too complicated for you, it even has pictures. It's very effective, you can even use that WIM file to move to a new computer if you so desire.

[Noir Angel]

Something my years of "tweaking" taught me is that if you attempt to use software products in ways that are unintended and unsupported by their designers sometimes they break. Now I will only apply minor tweaks that are supported. Modern computer hardware pretty much negates the need for "extreme tweaking" it's simply more trouble than it's truly worth.

Instead of blaming Microsoft, just take the hit on the chin and learn a lesson for next time

[jebus197]

Yes I do keep backups. Well at least at home I use the standard built in Windows backup feature and back up to a NAS. However I have ran into the need to use this before on someone else's system and the results were pretty variable. So it's matter of risk and time. In any case, guys on here have claimed that restoring from a backup will somehow provide a magic solution to all my issues. But there are no guarantees of this at all.

The thing is that these guys are making claims that backups and desktop refreshes are always a 100% reliable methodology for resolving problems. I think however that anyone with any meaningful experience will tell you that they are not. They are about as reliable and as predictable as any other major operation, including upgrades. Sometimes things can go wrong. Sometimes they can go horribly wrong and you may end up in a worse position than you started with. Maybe your initial problem will be resolved, but you could end up with any one of a billion other headaches to contend with. That's why major reconstructive work should be your last resort rather than your first. These troubleshooting methodologies are intended to be the most drastic form of action, something you turn to when you are out of all other choices. I am by no means at that juncture yet. I confess I do find it preposterous to be told that I'm the one lacking in knowledge and understanding, simply because I refuse to accept that this should be my first course of action for even a relatively small and slightly irritating bug. There are probably a million other things that can be tried before that should ever become necessary.

[jebus197]

FWIW, my sudden Explorer refresh issue, which drove me nuts till I put together several recommendations from Googling, ended up being a corrupt index which Defender would hang on every time you opened Explorer.

Even then, just disabling indexing wasn't enough. Had to disable indexing, defender, clear index, move the index, then enable indexing, then turn defender back on. haven't had a problem since but it took a while.

My solution to the MicroAngelo issue was to uninstall it, and start using Iconpackager 5.x which works fine with Windows 8.

I concur, and I highly recommend Macrium Reflect Free for imaging, which someone here recommended to me. Uses WinPE 4.0 and the boot recovery is therefore, quite nice and full featured.

File history works quite well too.

You see this guy's the real deal! The rest of you are just wannabes lol. I'm sure you all mean well. But this is the real kind of answer you should all aim for.

[xendrome]

You see this guy's the real deal! The rest of you are just wannabes lol. I'm sure you all mean well. But this is the real kind of answer you should all aim for.

It's not that we are wannabe's, we just don't want to help you at this point because your attitude is sucks and your so close minded.

And to prove you don't know what people are talking about, Refresh has been mentioned a few times in this thread and once in the last, and your response was

And the guy who keeps going on about 'doing a desktop refresh' if you mean hit F5, then please re-read my initial post.

:pinch:

[MorganX]

You see this guy's the real deal! The rest of you are just wannabes lol. I'm sure you all mean well. But this is the real kind of answer you should all aim for.

I appreciate that but not really. I just happen to have experienced something similar. Neowin can be a tough crowd, you'll get used to it. I must say, it's abnormal for this type of thread. Don't know what you said early on to make them jump you like a piece of chicken in a piranha tank ... lol.

[xendrome]

I appreciate that but not really. I just happen to have experienced something similar. Neowin can be a tough crowd, you'll get used to it. I must say, it's abnormal for this type of thread. Don't know what you said early on to make them jump you like a piece of chicken in a pirhanna tank ... lol.

Read the previous thread here, where people suggested a Refresh in windows 8 and he pops off with "are you on drugs mate"

here: http://www.neowin.ne...t__p__595621186

I think that is what set the tone for the threads, his attitude.

The concensus here on both threads has been "Refresh" or "Reinstall" but that isn't what he wants to hear, so I dunno what else anyone can tell him.

[jebus197]

Read the previous thread here, where people suggested a Refresh in windows 8 and he pops off with "are you on drugs mate"

here: http://www.neowin.ne...t__p__595621186

I think that is what set the tone for the threads, his attitude.

The concensus her on both threads has been "Refresh" or "Reinstall" but that isn't what he wants to hear, so I dunno what else anyone can tell him.

No what happened was I got the same largely useless advice there as I got here. The responses in both cases are identical. I came here looking for solutions. Not to have my time wasted, although I suppose in some cases it was well meaning enough.

See my comment above. I have no problem with suggestions like this. That guy's answer was well thought out, well considered, and informed by meaningful experience. I again invite you all to attempt to emulate this.

BTW a viable solution is not one that entails me expending vast amounts of my time, or losing vast amounts of money, which would be likely to be the case if I went down either the refresh or reinstall route.

[xendrome]

No what happened was I got the same largely useless advice there as I got here. The responses in both cases are identical. I came here looking for solutions. Not to have my time wasted, although I suppose in some cases it was well meaning enough.

Your proving my point, ask question.... get answers.... not answers you were looking for.. insult those answers... repeat.. Obviously we aren't intelligent enough here to hep you, including someone who designed the element at Microsoft that you are having an issue with. So I guess you should go ask somewhere else?

[jebus197]

Your proving my point, ask question.... get answers.... not answers you were looking for.. insult those answers... repeat.. Obviously we aren't intelligent enough here to hep you, including someone who designed the element at Microsoft that you are having an issue with. So I guess you should go ask somewhere else?

I may well have gotten my answer here. But not from you. Clearly.

It's not that we are wannabe's, we just don't want to help you at this point because your attitude is sucks and your so close minded.

And to prove you don't know what people are talking about, Refresh has been mentioned a few times in this thread and once in the last, and your response was

[/color]

:pinch:

Yeah you are so hep! It's a new feature of Windows 8. I get it. Pretty much exactly like Windows easy transfer, which sucked major balls and was about as reliable as my local crack dealer. I'm not about to gamble everything on a maybe. These things are there as a last resort and might get you out of a jam. They are not intended as front line tools.

[metallithrax]

No what happened was I got the same largely useless advice there as I got here. The responses in both cases are identical. I came here looking for solutions. Not to have my time wasted, although I suppose in some cases it was well meaning enough.

See my comment above. I have no problem with suggestions like this. That guy's answer was well thought out, well considered, and informed by meaningful experience. I again invite you all to attempt to emulate this.

BTW a viable solution is not one that entails me expending vast amounts of my time, or losing vast amounts of money, which would be likely to be the case if I went down either the refresh or reinstall route.

I'm pretty sure there are a few people on here that have "well considered", and "well thought out" responses, but you probably wont like them.

A few posts above you said "There are probably a million other things that can be tried before that should ever become necessary."

And while you are trying the "million other things", a normal person would probably follow the advice given in this thread be a person that actually worked on the OS you are having problems with. Or would at least furnish him with more detailed information about the problem so that he may be able to help out.

[jebus197]

I'm pretty sure there are a few people on here that have "well considered", and "well thought out

" responses, but you probably wont like them.

A few posts above you said "There are probably a million other things that can be tried before that should ever become necessary."

And while you are trying the "million other things", a normal person would probably follow the advice given in this thread be a person that actually worked on the OS you are having problems with. Or would at least furnish him with more detailed information about the problem so that he may be able to help out.

Yeah well I'm not out to repeat information. Someone else already did that for me by providing a link to the thread that described the issue in detail. For all I know my problem may already be resolved. In between 'wasting my time here' as you have correctly inferred, I have been reading other forums and other possible solutions, and so far I'm happy to report that things are looking good. Whether it will last is another issue. I already said there were a couple of answers here that were quite well thought out. The rest is just hot air and guys who think they know something but clearly don't.

[MorganX]

Read the previous thread here, where people suggested a Refresh in windows 8 and he pops off with "are you on drugs mate"

here: http://www.neowin.ne...t__p__595621186

I think that is what set the tone for the threads, his attitude.

The consensus here on both threads has been "Refresh" or "Reinstall" but that isn't what he wants to hear, so I dunno what else anyone can tell him.

I see. Troubleshooting can be frustrating in and of itself. Being frustrated in a contentious Neowin tech thread will probably end the way this one seems to be, lol.

Without a doubt a more mellow approach next time around will probably be more productive. :D