Windows 10...

[generator12]

Well I imagine that by now there are a number of you who have some experience with Windows 10. I've got a desktop running Win 7 and a laptop running Win 8. On the Win 8 unit, I work exclusively off the desktop - even boot to it.

My computer use is mixed among work (Excel, Powerpoint, and Word stuff), email, and general browsing. No gaming or Autocad or anything like that. And my two questions are simple ones:

1. Have you seen any reason to avoid 10?
2. Is there a compelling reason to go to it?

Thanks guys.

 

[JASinIL2006]

I see no advantage in Win10 over Win7. If you like to hunt for hours to find settings and features that are easily accessible in Win7, go for it! If you enjoy reducing your expensive computer's interface to that of a $500 tablet, go for it.

I switched one of my machines to Win10, but I won't change any of the others until I absolutely must. I don't see any gains in going to Win10.

 

[MTboatguy]

A lot of the gains are in the background in the form of better stability, I have been playing with it some and it is not a bad OS. That said, if you have a good working copy of 7 or 8, there is really no reason to upgrade right now.

 

[GA_Boater]

I'm with MT. While W10 is better than W8 or 8.1, I saw no real performance difference over W7 and the learning curve is insane. I migrated from XP to 7 because It was becoming tiresome with the nags about no XP support, no IE upgrades (not that I used it much anyway) and some websites didn't like that I was a potential virus passer. Psst - I would rather still be on XP

 

[MTboatguy]

XP was a good system, its downfall these days is the lack of support they put into the 64 bit system, I do have a copy of 64 bit XP running on one of my computers, but there has never really been an industry wide support structure for it by the mainstream companies, but it is a very stable platform that could have further XP for years to come. It is not hard to update the skins on an OS to make it look modern, but it takes background support to keep it going. The problem with Microsoft, is they keep thinking they need to re-code the core system, which they don't, what they need to do is keep working with the core of the OS and build on it with modern improvements. Also trying to incorporate mobile OS and making them work on full blown computers is not going to work very good for a while to come. The infrastructure of the two computers is different. If you want the full blown mobile and desk to work together a whole new hardware platform is going to need to be invented, right now there are a few companies working on that issue with good success. The Raspberry Pi is a good example of what may be the future of computing.

https://www.raspberrypi.org/help/wha...-raspberry-pi/

http://rayhightower.com/blog/2012/12/03/ruby-on-raspberry-pi/

 

[JASinIL2006]

I used OS/2 for a number of years until IBM pulled the plug on it. That was a nice operating system. Stable, fast, good at multitasking... And the upgrades didn't feel like they had fired all the old programmers and started from scratch, like it does with every new MS operating system.

 

[MTboatguy]

Boy, I hated OS/2 but life was a whole bunch different in that day and age, things have changed radically since the internet came into being and most of the development has been catered to online connectivity. it would be interesting to see which direction computers went, if there were no internet.

 

[generator12]

Thanks guys. I've researched it a bit and find mostly good comments (CNet and others), but nothing that indicates a "REASON" to make the switch. Also, there is mention of the fact that you can't decline updates in Win 10. If you're on-line, you'll get them automatically and have no control over the function.

Some suspect that MS will eventually begin to allow advertising into the system with these upgrades. And that would naturally be followed by the offer of another upgrade to void this function - but the upgrade would not be free.

Good old Microsoft - the most self-serving purveyor of a major product ever known.

 

[MTboatguy]

Good old Microsoft - the most self-serving purveyor of a major product ever known.

No, just one of the most successful capitalistic companies ever founded, just like Apple, IBM and a host of other technology companies.

 

[generator12]

Boatguy, I agree, it is that. And as technically proficient as any. But I can't recall ever seeing a major international company so successfully manipulate and control its customer base. That manipulation is central to everything Microsoft does, and it's very much self-serving.

 

[MTboatguy]

I would expect it to be, and really I have no problems with it, since the first days of the industrial revolution, it has been happening, at least Gates is now spreading the wealth he made around for the good of others. Chase, Morgan, Carnegie, they have all done the exact same thing, every single one of the major industrialists have been self serving, that is what a capitalistic society does.

 

[NYBo]

I went from 7 to 10 on my laptop a few weeks ago. Two hours later, I went back. I did keep 10 on my desktop; no apparent glitches on the desktop but a few on the laptop.

 

[thumpar]

I upgraded my laptop the day it came out and have done many more for customers. So far it has been the smoothest upgrade of a Microsoft upgrade I have done.

 

[WIMUSKY]

Just bought a LT because I cracked the touch screen on my 7mth old one. Got the same one, but a newer version with upgrades like voice control. They discontinued our other one. It comes with 10. I was completely happy with 8. I guess we'll see.....

 

[lakelover]

Glad I came across this thread, I've been wondering the same thing.For my money, XP was the best I ever used, and Windows 7 is OK, but does not perform as well in my experience.

There's nothing that frustrates me more in using a computer than when I know I can change some setting or customize it the way I want, and I have to hunt through obscure layers and categories to find how to do it. I think I'll stick with 7 as long as I can.

 

[poconojoe]

My adult daughter's 5 year old Dell laptop, Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit, was acting up. Running real slow, WiFi wasn't working, blue screen of death every so often. Last resort was Windows 10 and since it was a free (shocker alert!) upgrade I gave it a try. It's been working great with no problems at all.
I just did the upgrade without wiping everything clean first. So, being a Mac user and Windows basher... I'm impressed.

 

[bassman284]

I find the File Explorer in 10 to be really annoying. I have a helluva time figuring out where anything is or getting it to do what I want it to do. Operations that were a flick of the wrist in XP are a major pain in 10. The last couple of days I have been trying to make a copy of a DVD I had recorded, something I've done a number of times in the past. Flick of the wrist with XP, apparently not even possible with 10.

 

[JASinIL2006]

After a couple months using Win10 at work, I still see no advantage to it over Win7. The file explorer is less useful, the control panel features require more clicks to access, etc. I will wait as long as possible before my remaining computers are switched to Win10.

 

[thumpar]

After a couple months using Win10 at work, I still see no advantage to it over Win7. The file explorer is less useful, the control panel features require more clicks to access, etc. I will wait as long as possible before my remaining computers are switched to Win10.

If you want the old style control panel like windows 7 has hit the windows key and x. It will give you an alternate menu that has all the admin stuff in it. You can do it from anywhere. You don't have to be in settings. It actually saves time getting to the admin tools that are normally in the administration tools folder in Win 7.

 

[JASinIL2006]

If you want the old style control panel like windows 7 has hit the windows key and x. It will give you an alternate menu that has all the admin stuff in it. You can do it from anywhere. You don't have to be in settings. It actually saves time getting to the admin tools that are normally in the administration tools folder in Win 7.

None of my keyboards have a Windows key...