Using some sort of search operator to select/toggle or filter certain customization options

[Hvergelmir]

Hi, consider the Remove/Components "tab": it would be awesome to be able to be able to select and toggle:

• by color code (green, yellow, red, blue)
• checked/unchecked state

Something like this could also be achieved by some sort of search operator in the search filter. Another extension of this would be the ability to hone in on items locked for compatibility reasons or unsupported etc.

Meaning I'd have the option to filter the list as mentioned, then acting on the visible items from the filtered view, such as toggling them summarily. A tristate checkbox near the filter field would be one way to achieve this toggle ability.

Thanks for reading.

 

[nuhi]

Hi,

basically you're suggesting a filter.
Then the normal operations of the page would operate on the listed filtered components only.

I like it in general, had the need myself for only Checked (Kept) for a while now.
It could be a simple dropdown added to the page, like Filter: Checked/Unchecked/Privacy/Gaming/Lite

One thing that makes this complicated and wasn't done due to the component nesting.
For example let's say there are
Component 1
- Component 2
- Component 3

Filter shows only Component 1.
You uncheck it and that unchecks the sub-components (that were not shown in filtered mode) 2 and 3.
Prompting a user to confirm it is also not very readable, maybe by making a sort of a report and including the descriptions under them.

What would you expect to see in regards to this nesting issue?

 

[nuhi]

Hm, thinking a bit more on this we need to go deeper.
Filter:
- checked, subcomponents not shown only if already unchecked, does not matter for unchecking
- unchecked, subcomponents are also already unchecked, does not matter. When Checking, then you already get the prompt summary of what is also to be checked
- coloring is the main issue for clutter, it would need to show sub-components if they belong to the same or level above, basically all sub-components would be shown for colored filters

For example:
Component 1 (Lite/Yellow)
- Component 2 (Gaming/Blue)
- Component 3 (Privacy/Green)

If filter is show all Lite, it must show Gaming and Privacy as they are included in Lite.

I hope that's clear, if agreeing with the above clarification, then the filtering is doable.
Do let me know if you see some other edge cases lacking visibility in filter mode.

 

[tharri]

Really not trying to be rude, but the preset filters are so bad that in my opinion they should be removed altogether. They may have been fine in the past, but even for versions as old as 20H2, they tend to remove things that break very basic functionality and keep things that are absolutely unnecessary.

Case in point... the gaming profile deletes GS Wavetable Synth and Legacy Components, both of which are needed for many legacy games. It also removes Speech Recognition, which the notes field says is needed for Hogwarts Legacy, along with games like Microsoft Flight Simulator.

 

[garlin]

The built-in templates are not filters, they're just hand-built lists of component removals.

As you probably guessed, nuhi isn't the biggest gamer. For better or worse, I'd follow the GamerOS preset. Not because it's the best gamer preset, but as the most visible NTLite preset out there, it gets the most user feedback on what it breaks.

It's hard to track feature changes over the different Windows releases. And you would end up with "Gaming W10", "Gaming W10 22H2" and "Gaming W11" templates... I see the templates as more of a starting point, rather than a complete preset.

 

[Hvergelmir]

That sounds nice, nuhi. I don't see edge cases, but this could be more of a me-problem in this case.

Does one preclude the other? Example, what if there were:

• kind: ...
  • lite
  • gaming
  • privacy
• state: ...
  • default
  • keep
  • remove
  • ... anything missing?

The thinking here being that a combobox/dropdown could be used for some oft-used selections, but those ending up in the filter field using some sort of operator. The operators would be extensible going forward.

garlin my main concern with anything breaking is always: can it be mended? If it can, even if it's cumbersome, it's acceptable. If it breaks and requires a reinstallation or in-place upgrade or a third-party tool like NTLite on the target machine ("family IT") that is much less desirable already. But good thinking regarding the gaming preset. Never thought of it this way. Thanks.

 

[nuhi]

Really not trying to be rude, but the preset filters are so bad that in my opinion they should be removed altogether. They may have been fine in the past, but even for versions as old as 20H2, they tend to remove things that break very basic functionality and keep things that are absolutely unnecessary.

Case in point... the gaming profile deletes GS Wavetable Synth and Legacy Components, both of which are needed for many legacy games. It also removes Speech Recognition, which the notes field says is needed for Hogwarts Legacy, along with games like Microsoft Flight Simulator.

Constructive feedback is always welcome.

Let's make the 'Legacy games' compatibility option for those that want to protect it, it would be enabled by default.
Other than these two, anything else comes to mind?
GS Wavetable Synth, Legacy Components

Moved Speech TTS to the Lite template, good point as it was already shown as needed by some games.

Does one preclude the other? Example, what if there were:

• kind:...
  • lite
  • gaming
  • privacy
• state:...
  • default
  • keep
  • remove
  • ... anything missing?

The thinking here being that a combobox/dropdown could be used for some oft-used selections, but those ending up in the filter field using some sort of operator. The operators would be extensible going forward.

Let's start without filter combinations to keep things simple.
A single-selection combo to show only:
- checked
- unchecked
- lite
- gaming
- privacy
- untagged

If there is a need to multi-select, we can expand later, first stage is already covering majority of its usefulness.

 

[tharri]

My primary concer

Constructive feedback is always welcome.

Let's make the 'Legacy games' compatibility option for those that want to protect it, it would be enabled by default.
Other than these two, anything else comes to mind?
GS Wavetable Synth, Legacy Components

Moved Speech TTS to the Lite template, good point as it was already shown as needed by some games.


Let's start without filter combinations to keep things simple.
A single-selection combo to show only:
- checked
- unchecked
- lite
- gaming
- privacy
- untagged

If there is a need to multi-select, we can expand later, first stage is already covering majority of its usefulness.

My primary concern about the templates is that new users likely expect them to work. In my opinion, they should be very minimal when it comes to removing things. As Hvergelmir inferred above, someone should be able to trust that everything a typical home user does is still going to work as normal if they simply choose a preset and apply it. It should be a starting point for additional removals. A user should only feel the need to add something back in extreme use cases.

Here are a few more examples:

Internet Explorer is removed from all of the presets. Last time I checked, the Roblox installer (one of the most popular gaming platforms in the world) still requires it (I have not checked recently, though I have read recently about workarounds.)

Removing Asian fonts and Input Method Editor are removed from Gaming. Asians love to game too, lol.

I'm not sure what the global market is like, but here is the U.S., most homes still own printers. Removing printing support seems excessive.

Anyway, thank you for listening. Just my two cents.

 

[Hellbovine]

I've commented on the templates a lot too, because they definitely need some minor cleanup at the very least. I've seen the confusion they cause over the years while I've been helping here, and I believe a few simple changes will make the templates more intuitive to prevent a lot of the questions and uncertainty. I have more suggestions and other ideas, but the problems in these links should be fixed first.

- Bugs in templates (link1)
- Info on how templates work and community notes (link2)
- Updating templates to be more intuitive (link3)
- People confused by a gaming template breaking games (link4)
- My full wishlist for NTLite's templates (link5)
- Installation delay using templates (link6)
- Considering NTLite templates and GamerOS (link7)
- More people being confused by template naming (link8)