Windows 10

[JB400]

Anyone reserved their copy of Windows 10 yet?  For anyone that doesn't know about it, there's a Windows icon in the lower right of your screen in the taskbar next to the clock.  Click on it, and you can reserve your free copy that comes available July 29.

  I haven't done it yet, but I've noticed my Windows 8.1.1 has been pretty glitchie lately with the last update that they done a week a go.  They must be really wanting me to upgrade.

[Mopar Nut]

Anything would be better than Windows 8.1, I don't have that icon, do you have a link?

[JB400]

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/features

You have to scroll down a ways to find it.

[Mopar Nut]

Thank you.

[Lighthorseman]

Weird.  When did that little "Get Windows 10" icon appear, I wonder?  I never would have noticed it, had it not been pointed out.

Thanks, JB...and curse you to hell if this turns out to be a total trojan-horse doomsday virusy-thing.   

[myk]

What was wrong with Windows 7?  I'm fine with that OS...

[Ghoste]

What was wrong with it?  It worked, how can they get you to buy new stuff if the old stuff works?

[John_Kunkel]

What was wrong with Windows 7?  I'm fine with that OS...

Shucks, I was happy with every previous version of Windows and generally kept them until they were unsupportable.

Windows 8 and above's claim to fame is their touch screen capability which I have no use for.

[thedodgeboys]

I wonder what the catch is, Microsoft giving something away for free? there has to be a catch 

[A383Wing]

still running Vista here on all 4 computers.....

[Troy]

I wonder what the catch is, Microsoft giving something away for free? there has to be a catch 

It's to keep you from dumping 8 and going to something else before they "fix" it in 10.

Seriously, I run Windows 7 in everything but I'd change operating systems before loading Windows 8 onto anything I own. I never have high expectations for Windows releases so I'm always at least 1 version behind (which works out when you consider "ME" and "Vista").

Troy

[grdprx]

I think it's free because 8 sucks ass. We got a new laptop with 8 pre-installed.  It is notorious for not being able to connect via WiFi.  My new laptop is regulated to a direct plug in to the modem for reliable internet (except when Comcast crashes).

[Steve P.]

My HOME VISTA puter died a few months ago.   I hated it when I bought it, but got use to it. I now have windows 8.WHAT THE F--- and HATE IT WITH A PASSION!!!!!! You can already get a Windows 10 TRIAL version and VegasMike is using it without issues, but I am doing the W-10 when it comes out as they will cover any issues with their FREE version upgrade.. From what I hear, 10 will give you back the likes of your VISTA OS. Suppppposssssedly without the issues or eating up everything your puter can put out..

The big problem I have with 8.WTF is that it is not stable at all and if it goes to sleep I have to reboot to get back the WI-FI.

To me, buying a new computer should be like buying a new car. You should be able to upgrade to power windows and have delay wipers, but I don't want to have to learn how to drive all over again!!!!

[Mopar Nut]

My HOME VISTA puter died a few months ago.  I hated it when I bought it, but got use to it. I now have windows 8.WHAT THE F--- and HATE IT WITH A PASSION!!!!!! You can already get a Windows 10 TRIAL version and VegasMike is using it without issues, but I am doing the W-10 when it comes out as they will cover any issues with their FREE version upgrade.. From what I hear, 10 will give you back the likes of your VISTA OS. Suppppposssssedly without the issues or eating up everything your puter can put out..

The big problem I have with 8.WTF is that it is not stable at all and if it goes to sleep I have to reboot to get back the WI-FI.

To me, buying a new computer should be like buying a new car. You should be able to upgrade to power windows and have delay wipers, but I don't want to have to learn how to drive all over again!!!!

Well said, I'll wait for the feedback on 10, win 8 and 8.1, what were they thinking.

[Pete in NH]

I'm typing this on a Windows 7 machine and it is the last version of Microsoft's operating systems I will ever use. Windows 7 is stable enough and for Microsoft relatively bug free. But, there is no way I'll go to anything newer they put out. Windows 8 was so bad people were buying new computers with 8 and installing 7 in place of it. I can only imagine what a mess 10 will be. Microsoft seems to be going backwards rapidly when it comes to the quality of their operating systems.

I have been trying out another operating system on some older Windows XP era computers. It's a Linux based system called Ubuntu. It's an open source free system developed so people in developing countries can have a decent, stable computer operating system without paying huge amounts of money to Microsoft. My experience with it has been nothing short of absolutely great. It installs flawlessly, runs faster than XP, and did I mention it's FREE. Also, being a Linux based system without all of Microsoft's Holes, flaws and patches that hackers and viruses exploit, there is no real need for an anti virus program and indeed there don't seem to be any for use with Ubuntu. It comes bundled with a program called Open Office which gives you Email and word processing. It also comes with a web browser called Firefox that often outperforms Windows Explorer, and did I mention , it's all FREE.

As I said I've found Ubuntu 10.04 LTS works great on older Windows XP era machines if you want to keep them around a bit longer. There are newer versions of Ubuntu and on a newer, faster machine I would give them a try. So, do an internet search on Ubuntu and download and burn an installation disk if you have a spare older machine around. It's well worth trying.

[JB400]

Well, I just got done installing Windows 10.  First complaint so far, all my settings and passwords got set to default.
Somehow, I no longer have the scroll feature on my touchpad, so I'll have to use keypad buttons for now until I figure out how to fix it.  It's too early to make an assessment of Windows 10 just yet.  I'll have to play with it for a while.

Anybody else installed it yet?

[myk]

I'm going to wait until I'm certain that the guinea pig phase of the rollout is over.  Windows 7 has worked beautifully for me and I have no need to change anything...

[oldcarnut]

I installed last night.  Took a while.  No issues yet but I'm no a pc guru either.  No default password issues on mine.  I would love to be able to get rid of that hpessentials load up that doesn't work.  I've tried all kinds of stuff posted to no avail 

[Steve P.]

They have not gotten around to me yet..   I HATE 8.1. I've had it for about 4 months now and I am more use to it, but still hate that I cannot quickly get to anything I was able to on last computer....

[oldcarnut]

One thing I did notice was that it tries to get you to accept loading apps that forwards all kind if information about your uses and internet browsing.  I manually set it and left a lot  unchecked.

[Dino]

I reserved a copy but forgot all about it, I never got the message it was ready for download.  My laptop needs replacing so I figured this is a good time to test the new OS.  No issues with Windows 7 though..

[Lord Warlock]

Having 5 computers in the house, it gets expensive to upgrade every time a new OS gets released, so I usually skip a generation if I can.  I do not own any screens with touch capability, except on phones or tablets and they don't use Windows.  I was happy with Windows98, then windows XP and Vista ultimate before going to Win7.  I did not like the feel or look of windows 8, and the only pc's I bought that have it were two laptops, one for each daughter while going to college.  I've stayed with 7 professional on my own PC, and the wife has 7 on her laptop, my backup laptop also has 7 on it.  Right now they all run fine.  BUT I do have a reserved copy of 10 for my PC, as it is the only one that shows its ready for the download, so I'm waiting for my notification. 

If you're missing the windows 10 icon in the tray, you probably need to download all the available updates, mine is missing one file from one of the updates and it won't let me reserve a copy on the laptop.

[myk]

One thing I did notice was that it tries to get you to accept loading apps that forwards all kind if information about your uses and internet browsing.  I manually set it and left a lot  unchecked.

That's a big reason to stay away from '10 in itself...

[oldcarnut]

Last night I tried to list in to slacker radio which plays to speakers in the garage.  Had to reconfigure the stereo settings to get the PC and external.speakers to play.  Not to big a deal but that's when I noticed it had uninstalled the Nortin AV also.   Had to redownload it from Comcast to get it functioning  which forces an uninstall of Mac AV. 

[Steve P.]

Hell, I don't like Norton or McDaffy...    Seems like that would be a  (+) for me!!

[Lord Warlock]

finally got notified the upgrade was ready to install, figured I'd get the important stuff done before the switch.

[NHCharger]

I think it's free because 8 sucks ass.

Yup. When my old computer died last year the sales lady sold me a new one with 8.1 already installed. wouldn't wish this mess on my worst enemy. 

[b5blue]

  I'm on 10 now. My Toshi ran 7 and crapped out last month so I've a new HP that crashed one week out of Walmart's return 2 week guarantee. Rebooted to out of box I installed 10 2 days ago just to ditch 8.1 ASAP.  I "offed" many auto settings from the get-go.
  Never having a tablet or smart phone much of 10 is useless so far, but as I add them it might pan out?  (We'll see how it does in the months to come?)

[Paul G]

I got on the upgrade list.

[Lord Warlock]

loaded the upgrade, everything seems to work ok except bluestacks player on the pc.  games open but eventually lock up, haven't figured it out yet, been trying new video drivers but no such luck.  Tempted to just ditch the two 7800 cards i'm running in crossfire and go with a newer card that could outperform the current matched pair.  Just not sure I want to spend 200 bucks or not.  would rather spend that on the car instead. 

[BrianShaughnessy]

Upgraded the desktop and laptop yesterday.    Both seem to be running OK.  The laptop downloaded some more stuff tonight from windows update.

[polywideblock]

saw a segment on aussie TV  yesterday  didn't paint a very good picture of win 10 said its a new "low " in monitoring your usage  apparently doesn't just tell them where you go and for how long but monitors "key strokes" too  . not a computer tech head so have no idea what that means but they were getting all in a fuss about it ,just thought I'd pass it along

[Lord Warlock]

According to what I've read, Microsoft is doing the same thing that google does, reports any activity back to them.  You have to figure out where to go to disable the reporting levels, i'm sure its mentioned somewhere. 

Uninstalled bluestacks and reinstalled it and it works fine now.  Now its only figuring out easy stuff like how programs are called apps now, and where links are stored without the menu bar I was used to in the new browser. 

Think 10 isn't as happy with my crossfire'd 7800s, disconnected one of the cards just to see if I could tell any difference, and so far not in any of my current games.  So I'll keep my eyes open for a newer video card, but shouldn't really need one yet.  These have lasted over two years with no problems, and that's usually around when I start looking for a replacement.

[Paul G]

I have been notified that the 10 download is ready for our laptop. Not going to do it just yet.

Upgrading anything from MS, it's like sticking my self with a knife so I can oversee the healing of the wound.

[Dino]

I tried updating twice and twice it failed.  I give up.  I'll stick with 7.

[JB400]

It's getting better, for me anyway.  My computer isn't freezing up as much as it was under initial install.  I'm not liking their Internet program though.  I can't select which webpage I want to go back to by right clicking the Back button, which is a pain.  They also changed the Favorites icon on the top right of the program, so that is taking some getting used to.  I'm not sure why I need a Share icon or a Web Note icon either.

[John_Kunkel]

According to what I've read, Microsoft is doing the same thing that google does, reports any activity back to them.  You have to figure out where to go to disable the reporting levels, i'm sure its mentioned somewhere. 

Takes an app.

http://bgr.com/2015/08/05/window-10-privacy-settings-how-to-stop-spying/

[oldcarnut]

It looks like they voted themselves to be the new pc sheriff 
http://www.dailydot.com/technology/microsoft-eula-piracy/?fb=dd
http://www.pcauthority.com.au/News/407894,microsoft-can-disable-your-pirated-games-and-illegal-hardware.aspx

[Lord Warlock]

I don't have an issue with them catching people stealing software and using it for free, probably 3/4 of china gets it for free.  Microsoft got harder to cheat on over the years, eventually they got smart enough to stop many of us.  At some point you say screw it and buy the software the right way.  I just wish we only had to buy office once.  Luckily office 10 still works with windows 10. Glad I don't have to get office 360.  Office XP was the last software I used inappropriately.

So far, 10 has been very stable, and easy to get accustomed to, I still run into a missing menu list or a program I know is there but can't find it, or a shortcut that was there before, but realized it has nested folders in the favorites list so will get used to it.  Graphically everything seems to work fine if not in crossfire mode,  I need to figure out how to execute a batch process where it enables crossfire when starting a game, then disables it when exit the game.  While i'm going back and forth, I will look for hardware upgrades as I can afford them.  The wife and kids will have to keep themselves updated from now on.  I'm done with their pc needs. 

[bull]

Changes for the sake of changes IMO. Nothing has ever been better than XP.

[A383Wing]

Changes for the sake of changes IMO. Nothing has ever been better than XP.

  XP was the best ever

[John_Kunkel]

XP's 2 GB memory limit is the only reason I changed from it.

[Lord Warlock]

I still think Win95 and 98 were best, xp was ok, vista wasn't bad.  Anything was better than using dos. Its almost funny listening to kids complain about an OS, dos was better than hand typing, but not much, Windows was a light years advance, and win95 made it easy to use.

I'm open to improvement, make something better and we'll all thank you.  Or pay you money if you prefer. 

[451-74Charger]

I loaded Windows 10 onto my desktop Tuesday, did a clean install.

I use box that for Games and eBay only, so no big dealt to me. I had a hell of a job with the SLI GTX 670's, but figured the ports on the card are active and thus windows assigned primary monitor to a port that wasn't used.
Took about 30 minutes to find the command line to force all screens to mirror.
Now i swear my games are clearer.

[Lord Warlock]

I've noticed text in games is clearer on mine too, and games work fine in crossfire mode but app type games do not like crossfire mode so I have to enable or disable it often.  Drivers will improve i'm sure, just giving it time.  It does have me considering a single card solution, since my cards are a bit dated (amd 7850's) don't want to spend much  yet though.  PC's are a lower priority these days.

[Paul G]

I did the 10 upgrade on our laptop. It is an Asus running 8.1. It had a hard time in the begining finding the downloaded 10 files to do the upgrade. Had to manually go find the files, then it went smoothly just took a very, very long time. So far the laptop is working very well. It is an internet machine mostly. No complicated games or heavy computing. So far a big improvement from 8.1.

The problems with wifi just not being there and having to restart the machine all the time are gone. The feel of 10 is better, no big tiles on multiple screens to fight my way through just trying to get back to the desktop screen. Tiles are smaller. Ease of use, navigation between programs seems to be simplified. I have not put much time on the laptop yet, but so far no complaints with 10. Time will tell on that machine. I will wait a bit longer yet before doing the desktop.

A friend did the 10 upgrade to his 7 machine and it crashed on him a few days later. Totally buggered up his machine. He had to source an old win 7 disk to reboot his machine and get back to 7. He lost most of his contacts, and some files were corrupted. He is our club webmaster, so he is not too happy having to manually restore all the old contacts and some of the club info. He does not recommend doing the win 10 upgrade. I dont know if the crash was win 10 related or just the age of his machine, or going from 7 to 10?

[Dino]

The Windows 10 files downloaded to my laptop twice and it was unable to install it.  On our desktop it installed fine but after using it for two days we really didn't like it all that much.  There's an option to revert back to your previous os within 30 days of install so we did.  Windows 10 may be nice if you have several devices and want them all connected and such, but we really don't care for it.  I have a tablet and a laptop but that's it, we don't even have smart phones so there was no point in all of this.  For us Windows 7 is still the best option currently.

[polywideblock]

I'm sticking with 7 , isn't it annoying to get the "get windows 10"  window in a window every time you start your computer ? how do I remove the get win 10 crap ?

[Lord Warlock]

still going good with 10 on mine, I did finally just ditch one of my video cards to avoid crossfire issues, still plan on just getting a more up to date card and going single card for a while. 

My laptop didn't have the upgrade to 10 notification until today, had updated everything before but never got the icon, started the laptop up again after a month and the notification was finally where it was supposed to be, but it still makes you wait for the upgrade...thought the waiting was for the initial release, not forever.  Had hoped to update it before giving the laptop to my daughter, (won't see it again) Decided I would just go out and get a SLI powered gaming laptop with the i7 in it instead of the i5 that was in the current one. 

Still don't need half of what 10 offers, not really into the 8.1 look, preferred 7's look, but 10 isn't drastically different than 7 is and now will continue keeping a new OS up to date.  7 was getting old for me. 

[myk]

The Windows 10 files downloaded to my laptop twice and it was unable to install it.  On our desktop it installed fine but after using it for two days we really didn't like it all that much.  There's an option to revert back to your previous os within 30 days of install so we did.  Windows 10 may be nice if you have several devices and want them all connected and such, but we really don't care for it.  I have a tablet and a laptop but that's it, we don't even have smart phones so there was no point in all of this.  For us Windows 7 is still the best option currently.

Another vote for 7 here...

[John_Kunkel]

Got Windows 10 up and running, I like it a lot better than 8.1 and about the same as 7. First thing I did was to open up Windows 10's Settings app and head to Privacy > General...shut off every box to prevent snooping. No need for 3rd party software.