List of features removed or deprecated in Fall/Autumn Win 10

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...-or-deprecated-in-windows-10-fall-creators-up

 

It was on the news this morning that so many people have been complaining about the deprecation of Microsoft Paint that Microsoft is reconsidering that decision.

I was surprised to see Outlook Express on the list. Though listed under the "Removed" column, I thought it was already long gone. Perhaps there was orphaned code.

I am also surprised about System Image Backup. It was always a really basic application, but it did work.

 

MS Paint has always been a valuable program for me. Hope it hangs around.

 

It will still be available from the Microsoft store - just not installed with Windows.

 

Has the Windows Briefcase been eliminated? I don't see that on the Microsoft list, but I tried to use a briefcase on a jump drive on my laptop that underwent the Win 10 "creator's update," and it doesn't recognize the briefcases as being briefcases, and all the functions like updating them are no longer shown on the right click.

 

Windows Briefcase ? Never used it or felt the need.

 

James, I have all the latest W10 updates installed on this drive and PAINT is still there. 3D Builder is the new one which can be used in both 2D and 3D form. The other stuff notified will not effect most Home users of W10.

 

Windows Paint is now officially not getting updated any more [Updated]

MS Paint will live on… in the Windows Store

 

It would be removed in Fall update from core & moved to Windows Store.

 

Windows Briefcase was still a good tool if you are sometimes in a non-Internet area (which means you cannot depend on cloud storage), and you need to work on files. Putting the files or folders on a jump drive, you can use any remote computer, laptop or other, and easily return only the modified files to your desktop environment by simply updating the Briefcase with the desktop computer.

Does anyone know of a good Windows alternative to that functionality?

 

Microsoft Paint Was Never Going to Die, But It Made for Good Headlines
HaHaHa

 

Alternative to Windows Briefcases for syncing folders on the computer with removable drives
USB File Sync options? Need a briefcase alternative
Any value here Terry?

 

The last time I worked with Syncing files was before I retired in 2009. Then I was syncing a laptop to a network drive where all of our work files were kept.

Is it possible to make a 32GB jump drive behave as if it was my laptop before, where I could sync selected folders from my desktop computer to the jump drive? And could I then plug the jump drive into another computer like my laptop, work on the files, and then sync the jump drive back to my desktop computer?

It seems like that would give comparable functionality compared to a briefcase, if all of that would work. Does anyone here have knowledge if it will?

 

I haven't done it, but I have read how to set up an OS on USB thumb drives which will work when plugged in to a comp.

 

I don't really need to have an OS on the jump drive, rather just the data files.

But I looked today and saw that I have enough space on my laptop that I could do a more conventional replication of certain directories from my desktop to the laptop. It wouldn't be quite as flexible as using the jump drive, but it would be enough for now.

The only thing I can see as an issue is that I've not set up a sophisticated network to tie the two computers together to do the replication. I do have a "Homegroup" network connection between the computers. All I've used that for up to now is passing one or two files between computers over a lan cable.

Is a Homegroup connection sufficient to do a large replication? I've got about a week to get this ready before I leave on a trip.

Also, I'm getting the notification now from Microsoft that they are going to do the "creator's update" on my desktop. That will kill the Briefcase dead.

 

To sync files you can use either of 2 built in windows commands: xcopy or robocopy

For instance I have my data files on the desktop in a folder called DATA various subfolders under that.
There’s a directory on the jump drive called data (don’t bother with subfolders – they’ll be created by the command).

To copy files from desktop to jump drive (in my case F) command is:
xcopy c:\data f:\data /d/s/y

/d = only copy files with newer dates
/s = include subfolders
/y= don’t prompt me to overwrite existing files.

Use notepad to create the command and save with a bat extension to the desktop.
(copy to jump drive.bat)

double clicking on it will copy files to the jump drive
reverse to copy files back ( xcopy f:\data c;\data /d/s/y)

if your data files are in various places you can add as many xcopy commands as needed in notepad
xcopy c:\data
xcopy c:\mypics
xcopy d:\docs

Robocopy is a newer command the main difference being that it doesn’t have the 255 char limitation for full path name

Goggle xcopy or robocopy and you’ll find lots of examples
Won’t be available again until Monday so will answer any questions then unless someone responds first.

Luck

 

I can see how that would copy everything. After you have made changes on the Jump drive files, do you then do a full Xcopy back to the desktop DATA there?

That strategy would work. I have about 9.5 GB in files that I've been syncing. With that much data being fully moved, it would take a while, even though my jump drive is USB 3.0.

But if I cannot find anything that does a replication (only moves the ones that change), I might go with this until I can find a better solution.

Thanks,

 

The switches: /d/s/y control what xcopy does.
The /d will cause xcopy to only copy newer files from the source folder to the destination folder.

google xcopy for the complete list. It'll do exactly what you want it to

 

That sounds like a good interim solution for me. For now I'll use it to bring a few key folders on the jump drive.

When I used the Briefcase, not only did I use those few key folders, I had a number smaller folder and even some individual files that were included in it. This was easy to do with the Drag and Drop feature. I think (correct me if I'm wrong), but that would be harder to do with Xcopy, because I would need a command line for every file or folder that I was moving over, and that would also include many Xcopy commands for sending changed files back to their original location on the desktop.

To deal with that more complex approach, I'm looking into a couple of utilities that seem to mimic the Briefcase functionality, at least to some extent (Allway Sync or FreeFileSync).