Windows 10, Yay or Nay?

[Xyro]

And while pirated versions may update, they are not legitimately licensed versions of Windows 10. Using them is still illegal.

Yup, there was some misunderstanding in the press a while back about it, I believe. Lots of people were reporting that inactivated systems would be activated by the upgrade, but that's not the case:

Counterfeit software
If you have a counterfeit copy of Windows that wasn't published and licensed by Microsoft, activation won't work because Microsoft won't be able to create a match between your PC's hardware profile and your 25-character product key.

 

[bjacks12]

Well I bought a computer and windows came installed on it so.......
If somebody makes something and you want to use it, you ought to pay for it.

 

[PrinceCorwin]

Just did it. So far very happy with it. Start menu back and charms bar out. Woohoo! Feels like what the successor to Win 7 SHOULD have been. Reminds me of when Win 7 finally kicked Vista to the curb

 

[dmzman4696]

I jumped on the upgrade as soon as it was available - even before the midnight "release" since I'm an impatient nerd. So far, I love it. A lot of the menus and animations feel very Materialish to me. It looks mostly great, and most everything is smooth and fluid. And I have a start menu again without resorting to any hacks.

I still have to figure out what's going on with my Bluetooth (or, more specifically, the magical way in which the computer refuses to see any Bluetooth devices), but that's the only lingering problem I have from the in-place forced upgrade.

Had the same problem with my bluetooth in windows 10. You need to go to the device manager and
update the driver manually.

 

[Deleted User]

I upgraded and like it. I do not like the pin idea though

 

[starkraving]

So far I haven't had any program incompatibility but I did have the "critical error" regarding Cortana and the Start button. Booted to safeode and rebooted and it was fine.

 

[GameTheory]

Not sure if this has been mentioned yet, but here is how to set up "GodMode". If you like keeping a clean desktop you can set it up in any folder you like. Then do what I did and pin GodMode to the start menu for quick access...

http://www.redmondpie.com/how-to-enable-godmode-in-windows-10/

 

[Deleted User]

Just curious. Has anyone here used Windows 10? If so, does it interact with root commands? Thanks.

 

[AZgl1500]

I downloaded the ISO and saved it to a folder.....maybe one day in the future.

 

[AZgl1500]

Not sure if this has been mentioned yet, but here is how to set up "GodMode". If you like keeping a clean desktop you can set it up in any folder you like. Then do what I did and pin GodMode to the start menu for quick access...

http://www.redmondpie.com/how-to-enable-godmode-in-windows-10/

I have GodMode on my Desktop as well, but to give you a chuckle, I found a really "clean desktop once".


http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u421/Dryheat2012/Rogers County Equipment/Clean Desktop.jpg

I'll just let you follow the link, rather than waste screen space here

 

[DonB]

Wish I could help but have not updated as of yet, and I'm not happy that in Windows 10 now Microsoft is monitoring everything that you do on it for big data. It’s a way to see trends for them, I’m not very happy with that. I have not checked if that can be disabled as of yet, so I will wait before I update.

 

[Unforgiven]

Similar topics merged.

 

[Crashdamage]

Wish I could help but have not updated as of yet, and I'm not happy that in Windows 10 now Microsoft is monitoring everything that you do on it for big data. It’s a way to see trends for them, I’m not very happy with that. I have not checked if that can be disabled as of yet, so I will wait before I update.

I've done some looking into it in preparation to upgrade my wife's Win7 Pro workstation to Win10 Pro. It can be disabled - the keylogging, sending search results, browsing history, etc etc - I think it can all be disabled with a little research and effort.

But really, this is nothing new. Microsoft has collected data for many years. Only difference now is they're collecting more than ever, but being somewhat more upfront about it. It sucks. More than ever I'm glad I use Linux.

 

[Deleted User]

OK. I've got a MacWindows Pro. Partitioned the hard drive with BootCamp, and have 400gbs. for Mac, and 100gbs. for Windows 7 Home Premium. Since Android uses mostly windows for rooting, i figured that this was the "best of both worlds" for me. I just need to know if i take the free upgrade to 10, will it effect anything with the rooting processes. I believe that i can go back to 7, if i don't care for 10. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks.
P.S. Man, i wish that i could put these emojis on my phone. They're great.

 

[jefboyardee]

I tried restoring my w10 load just to see what I was missing. It never got to the load twirly so I went back to good ol' W7. I read wunnerful w10reviews but I just smell money.

 

[Davdi]

Win 10 on Desktop and work-issued laptop, the privacy thing concerns me (see the rockpapershotgun.com link above)
But hey, I'm a cyber security trainer, so a little paranoia goes with the territory.

It's more responsive and a much improved UI than 8.1, so far I like it, except for the way it hibernates instead of shutting down properly which makes it hard to access the Windows partition from Linux (Did I mention I dual-boot?).

 

[Xyro]

It's more responsive and a much improved UI than 8.1, so far I like it, except for the way it hibernates instead of shutting down properly which makes it hard to access the Windows partition from Linux (Did I mention I dual-boot?).

I believe you can turn that off if you disable "Fast Startup" in the power options.

 

[jefboyardee]

Because I have nothing better to do, I reinstalled W10 again, this time as an update of my existing W7 setup. Gotta say, they did a pretty amazing job of keeping everything intact. I might go back to W7 someday, but meanwhile...

I have taskmgr in the tray so I can quickly see who's eating the memory. In W7, the biggies were expected; Firefox, Thunderbird and Dropbox. In W8, there's a new one named System. I right-clicked to see the actual file and it's called 'ntoskrnl.' Someone can enlighten me on that? I can see what it stands for but don't know why it's gotten so important.

 

[jefboyardee]

Never mind. Loaded Mint flash, then loaded W10, no boot twirly, back to W7.

 

[funpig]

I have an HP mini netbook; N450 single core CPU 1.66GHz, 2GB RAM, SSD. It is more than 5 years old running Windows 7 Starter.

I was able to upgrade without any difficulties. Everything is running smoothly, as fast if not faster than before. Runs all my old software including Office 2007, WordPerfect X5, Adobe Acrobat 9, DropBox, Netflix. Only Windows Live 2012 email needed a reinstall.

Afterwards, my windows update kept stalling, possibly because of backed up servers or some messed up settings from Win 7. I ran a Norton removal tool which may have also messed up Defender. Finally, I did a full reset which got rid of all Win 7 (no way to go back now) and windows update is now working.

I always liked Win 7, but the Starter version was quite limited. It is nice to have a brand new full versioned OS on this little old netbookk.

We have updated 5 other PC's including a 9 year old desktop which was originally Vista and updated to Windows 8 in 2012. I have always hated Windows 8/8.1, so Win 10 has been a real improvement.

 

[jefboyardee]

I suppose a free upgrade from a starter to a full version is likely to be noticeably better, glad it eventually worked for you. In my case, having tried W10Home and returned to W7Home several times, I never same across a noticeable improvement. But I keep trying because I keep thinking I must be missing something wonderful. That the upgrade went so smoothly is commendable, but all that for what?

 

[wooky69]

I have an HP mini netbook; N450 single core CPU 1.66GHz, 2GB RAM, SSD. It is more than 5 years old running Windows 7 Starter.

I was able to upgrade without any difficulties. Everything is running smoothly, as fast if not faster than before. Runs all my old software including Office 2007, WordPerfect X5, Adobe Acrobat 9, DropBox, Netflix. Only Windows Live 2012 email needed a reinstall.

Afterwards, my windows update kept stalling, possibly because of backed up servers or some messed up settings from Win 7. I ran a Norton removal tool which may have also messed up Defender. Finally, I did a full reset which got rid of all Win 7 (no way to go back now) and windows update is now working.

I always liked Win 7, but the Starter version was quite limited. It is nice to have a brand new full versioned OS on this little old netbookk.

We have updated 5 other PC's including a 9 year old desktop which was originally Vista and updated to Windows 8 in 2012. I have always hated Windows 8/8.1, so Win 10 has been a real improvement.

Hmmm I have a dual booted NC10 that's running Xubuntu and Windows 7. I wasn't going to bother upgrading but I've had the pop up and I'm tempted now. I just wonder if the update might trash the Linux partitioned.

 

[jefboyardee]

I just wonder if the update might trash the Linux partitioned.

I never had any problems dual booting W7 and distros, but once I install W10 and it seems happy, I choose a flash bios of Linux Mint. Mint is unharmed but W10 never starts up again. So I always wind up restoring my known-good Win7 setup.

 

[Crashdamage]

I just updated my wife's Asus AIO PC from Windows 7 Pro to Windows 10 Pro. I've gotta admit, much as I can't stand Microsoft they seem to have done a pretty good job this time. The update went without a hitch. Just one reboot. All I had to do was reinstall her printer. It even saved her desktop almost totally intact. Did a little tweaking for appearance here and there, disabled and deleted the friggin' live tile silliness in the Start menu and she's up and running with everything pretty much as it was.

The privacy stuff I've heard about kinda bothers me, but I trashed everything in sight and let's face it, it's not like Microsoft has never messed with our privacy before.

If I didn't know better I'd say it even runs a bit faster and smoother than before. Nah, can't be...this is Windows we're talkin' about...

 

[Xyro]

I never same across a noticeable improvement. But I keep trying because I keep thinking I must be missing something wonderful.

There's no monumental difference between any of the latest versions, really. I don't think there has been since the XP -> Vista shift. Sure, stuff has changed under the hood, but in terms of user experience we could well be running windows 7.3 now - they're more incremental updates than anything. And that's speaking from the perspective of someone who has eagerly updated to 8/8.1 and 10.