Windows 10 Benefits: 2 PCs, Upgrading from Win 7

[mathman]

I have 2 pc's (desktop and notebook), both on Windows 7. What would I gain (or lose) by switching to Windows 10?

 

[Borg]

I haven't heard much good about Windows 10. It cuts you off from being able to configure certain aspects of Windows Update and I have had several people tell me about issues after they have let it install (printers not being recognized, software no longer working, etc.). I personally won't go near it.

 

[jedishrfu]

You would gain a more potentially secure system on your machines. Windows 7 has been out there for a lot longer and there may still be zero days that have yet to be exploited. Windows 10 undoubtedly has zero days but they have yet to be discovered so you're in a race to stay safe as you stay current.

Personally, I would consider Ubuntu Linux if you're not tied to any windows specific applications.

There are far fewer users and the software is more secure meaning its less likely to be the target of hackers.

 

[phinds]

Just as an example of what borg mentioned, I just got my wife a brand new Windows 10 laptop, and it will NOT allow the side button (which I always use for magnify) on a Comfort Optical Mouse 3000 to work. I try downloading the proper driver to allow me to do that and Windows 10 INSISTS that it already has the best possible driver for the mouse and it won't download a new one, near as I can figure out. If I had bought this for myself, I'd have to send it back since I make heavy use of the magnify.

Now that Windows 10 has an automatic "Windows 7" (but not quite) mode, it's not nearly as obnoxious as it was when it first came out and most people hated it. Now only lots and lots of people hated it.

When I was researching new laptops in preparation for the purchase, I found that most of the negative reviews for all of them were not at all about the computer itself but rather about the awfulness of Windows 10.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

In my eyes Windows 10 is the best since XP. I upgraded from 7 early last year and am not looking back. No troubles here.

 

[ProfuselyQuarky]

I just got my wife a brand new Windows 10 laptop

What happened to the Chromebook?

 

[phinds]

What happened to the Chromebook?

Something in it died and I found a great deal on a new laptop so she decided to go with that.

 

[rcgldr]

One advantage for gaming is that Microsoft chose to only allow directx 12 on Win 10. I don't know if it will ever be added to Win 7. One complaint about Win 10 is related to privacy, such as data collection (including offline data), but I don't know how much of this can be turned off. You can do a web search on this for how to turn off some of these options and also how to turn off One Drive (a cloud service). Another complaint is forced automatic updates.

Currently I have a system with components (motherboard, video card, sound card, ... ) just old enough to run Win XP, and just new enough to run Win 10. I currently multi-boot between XP Pro, XP Pro X64, and Win 7 64 bit, each on a separate hard drive (I have 4 hard drives on my system). I did a clean install of Win 10 onto the system, it runs, but added an additional layer to the multi-boot menu system, in this case some type of graphical interface at boot up, that adds about 30 seconds to the boot time if I want to use any of the other operating systems. I did an image restore of Win 7 to uninstall Win 10 and it's boot menu. Since my system is a desktop, there's not much to gain from Win 10 other than directx 12 if I ever buy any games that use it.

You can try Win 10 for free with a clean install (if you have a spare partition). You don't have to purchase Win 10 until you activate it. Until it's activated, some features are disabled, but I don't know which ones. There is/was no time limit on when you have to activate after installing (this may have changed).

 

[mathman]

You can try Win 10 for free with a clean install (if you have a spare partition). You don't have to purchase Win 10 until you activate it. Until it's activated, some features are disabled, but I don't know which ones. There is/was no time limit on when you have to activate after installing (this may have changed).

I am under the impression that Windows 10 will be free until July 29. What does activation mean here?

 

[rcgldr]

I am under the impression that Windows 10 will be free until July 29. What does activation mean here?

Upgrading from Win 7 to Win 10 is free for a while longer, but if you want to dual boot Win 7 and Win 10 (which would be my case), you need to buy Win 10 (Win 7 is no longer sold). In this case, instead of an upgrade install, a clean install is done, and then you can decide if you want to buy and activate Win 10 after trying it out for a while.

Another annoyance is that Win 10 changes the partition letter it's installed on to C, but at least it doesn't affect the lettering of any other installed operating systems. Win 7 is similar, changing partition to C if booted from dvd-rom, but if you plan to multi-boot, by booting into XP X64 (required if installing Win 7 64 bit), then do a clean install of Win 7 from XP X64, then it will retain the current partition lettering. Unfortunately it's not possible to do a clean install of Win 10 from Win 7, without any prompting, it immediately starts the upgrade process. In the case of XP and XP X64, the partition letters are not changed, even if installing from dvd-rom.

 

[mathman]

Update: I tried to install Windows 10 on one of the PC's (desktop) and I got an error message. To complicate matters it asked me to try again, without an option to say no. Eventually I got out of the loop.

 

[ebos]

The introduction of Windows 10 was the final nail in the coffin for me. I took the plunge and now solely use Linux in all our computers. (In my case - Ubuntu.) Initially there were some problems but most of them were with me. The rest were some minor driver issues which I have fixed.

 

[mathman]

I did get Windows 10 onto the desk top (I won't on the notebook). The major nuisance is in transition. I had to hunt down the files containing bookmarks, so I could restore them to my browser. I haven't finished all retrievals.

I haven't attempted to use any new features.

 

[Fizica7]

The DirectX 12 is supposed to give a 30% boost to graphics.

 

[mathman]

Update on my experience. Pluses - none so far. Minuses - microphone needs to switch, Microsoft games gone.

 

[Svein]

Sigh. I cannot understand this tendency to whine about everything new. Personally I have used every Windows version since 2, and the only problems I have had is the inability of certain hardware vendors to read the documentation from Windows and create up-to-date drivers for their hardware. Every time the whiners blame Microsoft instead of trying to understand what's going on.

And, yes I have used Linux. In my opinion, it is OK for mail and web browsing. Trying to develop something in the Linux world can be a frustrating experience, however. Documentation is mainly at the hacker standard ("No need to document. The code is obvious"). I once spent a month trying to track down libraries that the code insisted on including only to find out that the missing code in question was in some graphical library. It had been included once and discarded, but the links had not been removed.

 

[mathman]

I wasn't whining, just observing that for my needs there didn't seem to be any value.

 

[harborsparrow]

Windows 10 advantages: (1) ongoing support from Microsoft, hence more secure, (2) good-enough built-in anti-virus for most folks (Windows Defender), (3) boots in under a minute, (4) uses memory better, so if you open multiple applications simultaneously, it will likely perform better, (5) resilient, few crashes, as compared with most prior versions of Windows, and (6) excellent back-ward compatibility for older programs, assuming you know what to do to achieve this (there are a few steps--I've been intending to blog that).

And finally, if you don't like its User Experience, you can run the $3 StartIsBack third-party utility to make the user experience almost identical to that of Windows 7. I've tried both and actually still prefer the Win7 UI but I'm using the Win10 one anyway to make sure I'm up-to-date on it.

 

[ebos]

And... the best part is that you get the good shepherd, Bill Gates, and company moving into your home keeping a watchful eye on you.
I wish there was a sarcastic font...

 

[harborsparrow]

Bill Gates, and company moving into your home keeping a watchful eye on you.

To keep your privacy, do NOT use a Microsoft logon. Instead, create a local account. It's that simple.

 

[mathman]

I had a short power interruption yesterday, so I had to restart the computer. Windows 10 took several minutes to start - much longer than my experience with Windows 7.

 

[harborsparrow]

I had a short power interruption yesterday, so I had to restart the computer. Windows 10 took several minutes to start - much longer than my experience with Windows 7.

It was likely installing updates. The one feature I dislike is that it doesn't ask you before doing that. Normally, the boot time should be quicker.

 

[Bystander]

Instead, create a local account.

How?

 

[harborsparrow]

Search on Control Panel and open it. Click on User Accounts. Dig around in there and create a local account (make sure it is an Administrator) for yourself. Switch to it. You may have to explicitly copy documents, music and/or photos from your current (Microsoft) account onto the C:\ drive in a temporary folder somewhere, then into your local account (each account tries to protect its documents under C:\Users, so don't put them in any system folder but in a folder you explicit create at C:\ level). But once you start using the local account (make sure you have copied over any files that matter), just delete the Microsoft account and decline to logon to Microsoft anywhere in Windows 10. That way, Microsoft won't record everything that you do.

Also, there is an option when upgrading to Windows 10 to use a local account instead of a Microsoft account. It tries to trick you into logging onto Microsoft, but if you're careful, you can just go straight into a local account and avoid that.

 

[Bystander]

Search on Control Panel and open it. Click on User Accounts. Dig around in there and create a local account (make sure it is an Administrator) for yourself.

Okay ... 'pears to have already been done. Thankee.

 

[1oldman2]

Just completed my "Anniversary update", after a year of trying to figure out Win10, I find I'm back to square one. Its a little soon to be listing impressions however the first thing I noticed was once again the update has reset my system to boot with only one core running for the (insert large number here) time. I highly recommend going into SysConfig and checking your boot settings as this is the third machine I've had this issue with after updates and it seems to be a common problem.
I might add that the previously mentioned tip about logging in with a local, as opposed to a MS account is a good plan, however controlling (if that is your plan) telemetry is much more involved than that. There are a couple of Win10 threads on this site with good advice for minimizing the "Info-mining" that 10 does and I would recommend looking at some of the links and reading the comments as people have tried to unravel this particular "can of worms". Of course as I mentioned the Anniversary update has likely made much of what has already been learned moot.
As a side thought I do see some potentially cool features on the new version, I'm curious about other users impressions, so if anyone wants to comment about them that would be cool.

 

[OCR]

I highly recommend going into SysConfig and checking your boot settings...

What are these "boot settings" supposed to be set to, or do they vary by computer, or whatever...?

Can you post a screen grab...?

I noticed was once again the update has reset my system to boot with only one core running...

Where can I see that... the bold part in your quote...?

It isn't any of this stuff, is it...?

 

[1oldman2]

Hiya, Try this and let me know how it goes.

Control panel > Security and Maintenance >Administrative Tools >
System Configuration > Select "Boot" tab, then select Advanced options, Check the number of processors box, drop down box allows you to select the number of processors > OK > Apply > OK
Close all programs and allow restart.

 

[OCR]

Hiya, Try this and let me know how it goes.

Yeah, I've been there before... if I see any thing that says Advanced, I click on it... I just love to Advance...

Thanks that was helpful... I hope...

 

[Planobilly]

I have not had very many issues with windows 10. Older Turbo Cad software I have did not run correctly. Some normal fishing around for where they moved stuff to.
Better use of memory I think. I was surprised that all my older music widgets worked without issue. Biggest issue for me is resistance to change in general.
I guess nothing will last for ever. Having said that I have a old system running just fine on Red Hat that still has a floppy drive, that I actually use...lol

For my use nothing in windows 10 stood out to make me say "wow that is really cool" plus the Microsoft guys need our money to run those 300 foot yachts

Cheers,

Billy