Windows 10 . Anybody downloaded it yet?

[raymw]

It seems if you want w10 after end of July, you'll have to pay for it.     https://youtu.be/wVo9Vdpk23g

 

edit  http://www.winbeta.org/news/get-windows-10-app-will-removed-windows-78-1-july-29th-free-offer-ends  to add the good news for the fans of antiquity 

Edited May 6, 2016 by raymw

[BG John]

It seems if you want w10 after end of July, you'll have to pay for it.

Does that mean they'll stop trying to force it onto people who don't want it, or will they sneakily install it, then hold you to ransom until you give them the dosh?

[raymw]

Well, at the moment, w10 is the way it's going, like it or not. A few years down the road, newer kit - printers/scanners and the like- will most likely not have full functionality with older os, so you may as well bite the bullet now, while it's free, spend some time,if necessary getting it working the way you want, or update your mindset to work the way it wants, and then you can get on with the rest of your life.  Of course, it depends on why you need a pc, most folk could get by with an android  tablet, if all you need is web/email stuff.

[railtec-models]

Well, at the moment, w10 is the way it's going, like it or not. A few years down the road, newer kit - printers/scanners and the like- will most likely not have full functionality with older os, so you may as well bite the bullet now, while it's free, spend some time,if necessary getting it working the way you want, or update your mindset to work the way it wants, and then you can get on with the rest of your life.  Of course, it depends on why you need a pc, most folk could get by with an android  tablet, if all you need is web/email stuff.

 

I have major grave concerns about W10 for numerous reasons, largely because of the dumbed-down user experience, but mostly because of this: having updates and patches forced on a user base is a recipe for disaster. In a previous life I consulted for B2B software companies which had multiple blue-chip organisations amongst its customers. These included customers in finance, military, aviation and health industries to name a few. And guess what? Those companies would hardly ever adopt a .0 release. Why? Because they are riddled with bugs. They would wait for the .1 maintenance release. Ok, W10 has been out for a while but how soon will it be before a poorly tested patch or brand new version of Windows is forced on us which leaves a gaping security hole or at the very least has a significant adverse impact on our PC experience. I never want to be in that position. I want a choice. I want to choose how I use my PC, not how some MS college grad in Bangalore thinks I should use it. With each subsequent version of Windows there seems to be a never ending ton of stuff going on in the background, slowing me down. XP was, and still is in my opinion, the best MS offering. Lightning quick, intuitive and usable. What a shame they had to fix something that wasn't broken.

[D9020 Nimbus]

Agree with the point about forced updates. Ever since the February "patch Tuesday" update, I've been having an intermittent problem with File Explorer and file dialogs in all applications. From time to time these windows become unresponsive and the machine has to be restarted to fix things—restarting Explorer does NOT work.

 

This was a machine new with Windows 10 so I can't revert to a previous OS version, either.

 

I get the feeling that MS is doing a lot less testing of updates before they are issued, probably placing reliance on "insiders" instead. Hence the compulsory updates— to ensure bugs are found and fixed before business customers (who are paying for Windows) get them. The price for "free" Windows is to be a beta-tester and target for ads...

[raymw]

But, it is now the way it is, for good or bad. It may change, or it may not. The user experience is not much different than xp, unless you want it to be. There is stuff there that is not possible in xp, which some folk like, others don't see the point of. I use all my computers in exactly the way I want to, but some of the newer stuff allows me to do things in a better way, sometimes.

 

Like most changes, there will most likely be a few initial setbacks, but once you've solved them, everything runs fine, at least for me, and I guess a few million others out there.

 

There is no need to go to w10, if you don't need to, but sooner or later you will have to do something, when your existing system fails, either in whole or part. My thoughts, last year, was to get it over and done with. I  have not regretted that approach.

 

fwiw, I think there are likely to be more gaping security holes in running non maintained outdated systems compared to one that is updated regularly..

[BG John]

Well, at the moment, w10 is the way it's going, like it or not. A few years down the road, newer kit - printers/scanners and the like- will most likely not have full functionality with older os, so you may as well bite the bullet now, while it's free, spend some time,if necessary getting it working the way you want, or update your mindset to work the way it wants, and then you can get on with the rest of your life.  Of course, it depends on why you need a pc, most folk could get by with an android  tablet, if all you need is web/email stuff.

When I need a new computer, and if I'm not able to give up using Windows when that happens, I'll accept Windows 10, if that's what it comes with. I've got better things to do with my mind and my life right now than mess about with a new operating system, when the one I have still works.

[antrobuscp]

When I need a new computer, and if I'm not able to give up using Windows when that happens, I'll accept Windows 10, if that's what it comes with. I've got better things to do with my mind and my life right now than mess about with a new operating system, when the one I have still works.

This would normally have been my policy, particularly as I used some very old software in my business. Having retired, owning two young laptops which Dell approve as candidates for upgrade, and not wishing to purchase new machines in the foreseeable future(historically my laptops have lasted around 10 years), it seems sensible to at least consider the "free" upgrade. There are such mixed comments about the efficacy of the upgrade, and I don't like the new updating methodology, so it's not a clear cut decision for me. The alternative is to sit with W7 until support ends and then see what is on offer from MS or switch to, probably, Linux. I'm probably going to upgrade one machine and, if it goes ok, do the second.

 

Colin

[BG John]

I was half way through changing to Linux several years ago when I decided I needed to stick with Windows for business reasons. If the business need goes, it will make it easier to give up Windows. I think the only Windows software I'll need then is Silhouette Studio, for the far more important purpose of railway modelling. And it just so happens that I've just got an old laptop set up to use with my Silhouette, as I was having trouble using it with my USB hub. I'm sure the not exactly brilliant Vista will do for that purpose! So Windows 7 may well be my last ever version, which is why I'm not wasting time on 10.

[Butler Henderson]

What if someone on Win 7 does a complete backup of their pc, installs Win10 whilst its free does a backup of that, then reinstalls the W7 backup. They can then install the W10 backup at a future date and the pc knows it was installed while free.

 

They can charge for a download or DVD copy but what about all the ISO copies of W10 that people have?

[melmerby]

What if someone on Win 7 does a complete backup of their pc, installs Win10 whilst its free does a backup of that, then reinstalls the W7 backup. They can then install the W10 backup at a future date and the pc knows it was installed while free.

 

They can charge for a download or DVD copy but what about all the ISO copies of W10 that people have?

The problem is that once you have registered for Win 10 if you go back to Win 7 you won't have a legal Windows and Windows update will recognise the fact.

It's not the PC that knows it is Win 7 or Win 10 it's MS!

That's how you can upgrade from Win 7 to Win 10, wipe the HDD (or in my case replace it completely) and install Win 10 again as a completely new install from an ISO. MS knows you already have a registered Win 10.

 

Keith

Edited May 6, 2016 by melmerby

[Butler Henderson]

Update time again, another big one to can be what is described as  Win 10.1.12. KB3156421. Took 15 minutes together with an Adobe Flash update on this laptop last night.

 

http://www.infoworld.com/article/3068612/microsoft-windows/good-news-regarding-win10-v-1511-cumulative-update-12-kb-3156421.html

Edited May 12, 2016 by Butler Henderson

[antrobuscp]

Well, that went well!!

 

I went ahead with the upgrade to Win 10 last weekend. The upgrade actually went smoothly and Win 10 seemed fine. Unfortunately, I hadn't done my preparatory homework properly. DiskCryptor, which I use to encrypt portable drives was not removed before the upgrade and it needed updating to a new version after the upgrade. After the required re-boot, the machine failed to start and I could not see how to correct the error which related to a DiskCryptor system file.

 

I tried a couple of repair options but could not climb back on and decided to try to re-install Win7 from my installation media - would not run. At this point I discovered that I had made a clone of the HDD several weeks ago - before an extended holiday, which is why I had forgotten it - as a precaution against problems. Today I swapped the drives and the machine is up and running Win7. I'll re-run system and hardware updates before trying the upgrade again. Sadly, despite trying to re-initialise the swapped out drive, it is not recognised and won't reformat - cyclic redundancy error.

 

A couple of lessons learned along the way, and I'll do the upgrade again in a week or two.

 

Colin

[melmerby]

Well, that went well!!

 

I went ahead with the upgrade to Win 10 last weekend. The upgrade actually went smoothly and Win 10 seemed fine. Unfortunately, I hadn't done my preparatory homework properly. DiskCryptor, which I use to encrypt portable drives was not removed before the upgrade and it needed updating to a new version after the upgrade. After the required re-boot, the machine failed to start and I could not see how to correct the error which related to a DiskCryptor system file.

 

I tried a couple of repair options but could not climb back on and decided to try to re-install Win7 from my installation media - would not run. At this point I discovered that I had made a clone of the HDD several weeks ago - before an extended holiday, which is why I had forgotten it - as a precaution against problems. Today I swapped the drives and the machine is up and running Win7. I'll re-run system and hardware updates before trying the upgrade again. Sadly, despite trying to re-initialise the swapped out drive, it is not recognised and won't reformat - cyclic redundancy error.

 

A couple of lessons learned along the way, and I'll do the upgrade again in a week or two.

 

Colin

After you have upgraded, if you need to re-install Win 10 the best thing to do is to download the .iso file and do a clean install (after having done a back-up!) That way everything starts anew in Win10.

I had to do it with a failing HDD. The new install to a fresh HDD was much, much faster than an upgrade from Win 7.

 

Keith

Edited May 11, 2016 by melmerby

[OldSutt]

As Microsoft has informed me that their Cloud storage was only free up to 5GB, I thought about backing up any excess on to DVD. Only to find out that my DVD drive was apparently not recognised by Win 10. It did not show up in This PC and there was no indication in Device Manager that there was any DVD drive. I hadn't used the drive for ages.

Looking at the Internet, I discovered I was not alone and many people had the same problem. Loathe to play about with registry changes, I tried a fix suggested of uninstalling  ATA channel 0 and 1 in the  IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers. This prompted me to restart the computer afterwards. It worked and now the DVD drive has been found and I have been able to view a relative's CD of their trip to Darjeeling.

Surely Microsoft could have forseen this happening?

[melmerby]

Surely Microsoft could have forseen this happening?

 

Maybe, maybe not.

The task MS are faced with is the almost endless combination of motherboard, processor, memory, disk drives, graphic cards etc. etc. that the modern PC consists of.

Whilst they are supposedly compatible with one another clashes and undesirable interactions inevitably happen.

I'm surprised that MS manage to get Windows working well on as many PCs as they actually do.

 

I wonder whether Apple would make such a good job of it if they were faced with a free for all in specs for Apple computers rather than the tightly controlled, limited options you actually get?

 

Problems with Win 10 are very much in the minority, whatever many people on this forum might suggest.

If you look at the trade write ups there are plenty of computer engineers who have updated many PCs to Win 10 from Win 7 with no hassle whatsoever!

 

Keith

[Silver Sidelines]

Hello Keith, I have to agree

....Problems with Win 10 are very much in the minority, whatever many people on this forum might suggest.

If you look at the trade write ups there are plenty of computer engineers who have updated many PCs to Win 10 from Win 7 with no hassle whatsoever!..

A desk top and laptop from 7 to 10 without a hitch.  An old Vista machine to 7 and then to 10 with only two hiccups.  First when I initially tried to instal 7 and overlooked the fact that there were Vista updates still pending and second when I had to manually find and update the video drivers in 10.  The latter is interesting as the Nvidia drivers are for Vista and have not been updated for 10.

 

Ray

Edited May 14, 2016 by Silver Sidelines

[Butler Henderson]

One thing I have noticed with previous versions of Windows is programs and devices that did not work with it sometime later do as MS releases patches. One program that refused to work on Vista and 8 was a very elderly copy of Paint Shop Pro which remarkably does work, albeit with a bit of squealing over registry errors, on W10

Edited May 14, 2016 by Butler Henderson

[melmerby]

One thing I have noticed with previous versions of Windows is programs and devices that did not work with it sometime later do as MS releases patches. One program that refused to work on Vista and 8 was a very elderly copy of Paint Shop Pro which remarkably does work, albeit with a bit of squealing over registry errors, on W10

I'm surprised some of the programs that do work

Office 2000 pro wouldn't install (not compatible with this version of Windows - update Windows!!!) but a stand alone copy of Word 2000 will.

A 2002 version of Photoshop elements works fine as does my Lotus Smartsuite also from 2002.

 

ABBYY Fine reader (OCR for scanner) from 2002 works fine but Silverfast (also scanner tools) from the same period didn't so I had get an upgrade. Both were supplied with the scanner when new.

The scanner also has Win 10 drivers so it all works just as it did when new.

 

The only games I have tried are Lode Runner MMR, which says it can't run becuse it needs Win 95 or better but runs just fine as admin, and Chuckie Egg which works fine as it is.

Trainz 2006 works better than it did in Win XP or Win 7

 

Keith

Edited May 14, 2016 by melmerby

[antrobuscp]

I re-ran the upgrade to Win 10 over the last 24 hours. The upgrade and subsequent updates seem to have largely gone smoothly and quick tests of the main programs I had concerns about seem to suggest they will work ok. I will have to check the remaining hardware/software over the next week or two. The one thing I haven't yet done is to re-install DiskCryptor, which is the program that caused me to have problems the first time I upgraded - not because of problems directly with the software but because I did not uninstall the program before upgrading.

 

I will get everything else settled before installing DiskCryptor, but I'll take a clone of the HD before doing so.

 

I don't like the update process - as others have mentioned - it seems singularly uninformative. The way it is being done now seems potentially more risky for users than the old system.

 

Colin

[JCL]

A quick heads up from my iPad. A massive update took well over an hour to install last night, after being able to use the computer last night, I can't currently log in to Windows - a bit of a blow as I need to send some plans off. I don't appear to be able to log in via safe mode at the moment either. I'll let you know when I get in and what the problem is (other than its Windows 10).

 

Update: finally got a repair/restore screen. The only way I can do this is to pull the plug on the laptop (with the battery removed) a couple of times while booting. A bit nasty, but there you go.. Tried startup repair, no dice. It also seems my system restore points have been deleted. Trying startup settings to go into safe mode with default options. Got the spinning circle again, so time for a tea.

Edited May 30, 2016 by JCL

[antrobuscp]

I did an upgrade on another laptop, and have re-installed DiskCryptor and PGP encryption. All seems to be ok except that the virtual machines in VMLite won't recognise a network adapter to bridge into my network.

 

Colin

[melmerby]

. A massive update took well over an hour to install last night,

What massive update?

I haven't had one for a while. Current WinVer = 10586.318

And system information shows it as up to date.

 

Keith

Edited May 30, 2016 by melmerby

[cravensdmufan]

A quick heads up from my iPad. A massive update took well over an hour to install last night, after being able to use the computer last night, I can't currently log in to Windows - a bit of a blow as I need to send some plans off. I don't appear to be able to log in via safe mode at the moment either. I'll let you know when I get in and what the problem is (other than its Windows 10).

 

Update: finally got a repair/restore screen. The only way I can do this is to pull the plug on the laptop (with the battery removed) a couple of times while booting. A bit nasty, but there you go.. Tried startup repair, no dice. It also seems my system restore points have been deleted. Trying startup settings to go into safe mode with default options. Got the spinning circle again, so time for a tea.E

Exactly the same just happened to me.  Put laptop to sleep when I went out for an hour.  Then came back to it and just a blank screen with just the words Press ESC to continue.  Nothing happened when pressed.  Tried switching off and on a few times.  No luck.  Then unplugged, took battery out, reconnected mains adapter and switched on.  This time - repair screen pressed enter to start and it's now up and running normally.

 

Never happened before. Bit worrying.

 

The joys of Microsoft Windows 10!

 

Edit - in all fairness it's the only problem I've had since upgrading from Windows 7.  But that was only a week ago!

Edited May 30, 2016 by cravensdmufan

[JCL]

Hi Keith, same as you, 1522, build 10586.318.

 

Hi Cravensdmufan, I wish mine had repaired, would have saved me a few hours today.

 

I'm in in safe mode, and managed to backup my documents (my other backup was a week old), so now I'm going to restart in safemode with Internet and have a go at updating any driver that's slipped past me. If that doesn't work, then maybe go back to a previous build... Living life on the edge.