Windows 10

[pnutts]

Yeah, I know. I just don't like the whole concept of "tiles". I don't want my laptop pretending to be a tablet. 

Then use Iobit's start menu 10, uncheck 3rd party stuff

[Stavro]

Then use Iobit's start menu 10, uncheck 3rd party stuff

 

Even with third-party add-ons unchecked, Iobit still brings pornographic popups on occasion.

 

I'm not saying you should or shouldn't use it, but it might be appropriate to give a disclaimer when recommending the software.

Edited August 28, 2015 by Stavro

[Musky]

As I mentioned. I customized it the way I want it using Classic Shell: Simple and safely.

 

http://www.classicshell.net/

[bohemian]

I have held off "upgrading" so far. I ask myself, why would Microsoft give away an upgraded operating system? They have never given one away to existing customers before; a sensible business plan would be to offer a discount to existing customers.

Then I read about the privacy document and basically all of your personal data becomes theirs to do whatever they want with it. Now they can probably make more money from the sale of one's personal data than from the paltry few dollars an upgrade would cost.

I believe it is possibe to refuse a lot of the data retention, but how many people are going to check through the document? And how sure are we that Microsoft will honour that choice?

Perhaps one of the computer-savvy brothers/sisters here can enlighten me on this?

[outwalkin]

Finally upgraded to Windows 10. All seemed to go well yesterday. Today I have effectively lost an inch or more on each side of my “full screen”. I am using a Surface Pro 2. My husband has the same and upgraded over a week ago and has no such issue. Any ideas…I have run out.

[outwalkin]

Found the problem. Display resolution.

[Sheep]

Reading through this thread, I am surprised how many brothers are so excited to try Win10 out. 

 

I feel very cautious about doing so.  It took me a long time to figure out Win8 and now to change again, I don't know if it is worth the time and energy to learn again. 

 

What do you feel are the advantages of Win10? 

 

Does this simplify anything in anyway?

 

I hardly ever use the Win8 menu screen, so am wondering if I should update and have everything together. 

 

I never had Win 7, I went from Win xp to Win8. 

 

Would love to know what problems I would have to look forward to if I decide to change and what are the plusses to changing?

 

Hi Deenna,

 

A brother I know had no problems installing it, but neither he nor I liked the results. Read about it in this post.

 

He finally did get the black-screen syndrome worked out, although he wasted all kinds of time trying to figure it out. I'm not sure what it was he did. Either way, his email still doesn't work and even his Internet supplier can't help him with it. He has no clue where to go for help with that. He has to use his Windows 7 laptop for email now, and has no intention upgrading that to 10.

 

An aquaintance of mine, who is a computer geek-wizard-expert-guru advised me: If you're happy with what you've got, leave it like that. You know the saying: If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[Sheep]

I have held off "upgrading" so far. I ask myself, why would Microsoft give away an upgraded operating system? They have never given one away to existing customers before; a sensible business plan would be to offer a discount to existing customers.

Then I read about the privacy document and basically all of your personal data becomes theirs to do whatever they want with it. Now they can probably make more money from the sale of one's personal data than from the paltry few dollars an upgrade would cost.

I believe it is possibe to refuse a lot of the data retention, but how many people are going to check through the document? And how sure are we that Microsoft will honour that choice?

Perhaps one of the computer-savvy brothers/sisters here can enlighten me on this?

 

Hhmmm. Interesting thoughts, Christopher. You're right: Who reads the fine print? It takes so much time to do that most of us ignore it and press "Continue." I'm going to wait until a few others weigh in on the thoughts in your post before I decide anything.

[train]

The privacy thing is overblown. Microsoft isn't taking your personal data willy nilly. Bits are used here and there to optimize Cortana and, of course, for advertising to a degree. But MS is not getting copies of your photos and documents.

Sheep: I try never to tell anyone "if it ain't broke, don't fix it.". You should always take advantage of the latest OS if you are able to do so. If you skip three generations because your current one works "fine", where will you be when your computer breaks and your only option is the newest OS? Moving to the new version each time ensures you can keep rolling with the changes and advances in technology. Not to mention the practical benefits of newer operating systems.

[Sheep]

. . .

Sheep: I try never to tell anyone "if it ain't broke, don't fix it.". You should always take advantage of the latest OS if you are able to do so. If you skip three generations because your current one works "fine", where will you be when your computer breaks and your only option is the newest OS? Moving to the new version each time ensures you can keep rolling with the changes and advances in technology. Not to mention the practical benefits of newer operating systems.

 

Thanks for your thoughts, Thomas. My Windows 7 "ain't broke," so I am not going to try and "fix" it anytime soon. That bad experience of that friend of mine has turned me off of upgrading just yet. I'll have to talk to the other guy, the computer expert-guru-wizard, and see what he says about those problems first. I will get to upgrading it eventually, but I'm not in a rush.

 

As for taking advantage of the latest OS, would you believe I have another computer here that still has Windows 98 on it?! It's my desktop computer (my Windows 7 is a laptop), and although I don't have any internet access on it, I still get a lot of use out of it. It never "broke," so I didn't "fix" it.

[train]

would you believe I have another computer here that still has Windows 98 on it?! It's my desktop computer (my Windows 7 is a laptop), and although I don't have any internet access on it, I still get a lot of use out of it. It never "broke," so I didn't "fix" it.

At least it's off the internet. It's users like you that make my job as a technician difficult. ;)

[Sheep]

. . . It's users like you that make my job as a technician difficult. ;)

 

Oh, thank you for the compliment... Er, umm, was that a compliment?

 

[pnutts]

I liked windows Millenium ( tweaked a lot ) better than 98. I like 7 better than xp and 10 better than all previous windows,

except that since millenium they take a lot of disk space.

 

A suggestion.

 

Make an image backup of your windows 7 C:\ drive. Update to win 10, register it and make it activated. Make an image of it then put 7 back on.

 

Actually wait a month for new builds to be released. 10532 is in pipeline but with a couple of big bugs.

 

A free licence is better than $$$$ down the drain.

[train]

I liked windows Millenium ( tweaked a lot ) better than 98.

I no longer trust you.

[pnutts]

Had a lot of problems with win 98 and 98 2nd edition on Compaq machines.

Turns out, 98 would not work on Compaq at that time. It killed the company making it ripe for take over by HP, which has fixed the problems.

 

Millenium was tweaked a lot by moi.

Edited August 31, 2015 by pnutts

[Sheep]

I am liking it more everyday. I dislike the "cubes" or "cells"  in the start-menu, so I use "classic shell" and have the start menu and Windows explorer looking and working like Windows 7. . .

 

. . .

 

Does this imply Windows 10 does not have a list of programs in the start menu at the lower left like Windows 7?

 

The brother in my congregation who is having so much trouble with Windows 10 says he has to type in the name of any program or application he wants to use now; like he can't just find it in the list of programs and click on the icon for it. Is that how it's supposed to work now?

[Musky]

Does this imply Windows 10 does not have a list of programs in the start menu at the lower left like Windows 7?

 

The brother in my congregation who is having so much trouble with Windows 10 says he has to type in the name of any program or application he wants to use now; like he can't just find it in the list of programs and click on the icon for it. Is that how it's supposed to work now?

 

Windows 10 does have a "list of programs" on the start menu. Tell your friend to look to the bottom, left in the start menu and click on "All apps" for an alphabetical list of installed programs. 

[shali]

Millineum was the worst operating system I EVER had. It taught me a valuable lesson though - if it isn't broke - don't fix it! I never jump on the bandwagon when a new OS comes out since ME. That's why I was spared the awful consequences of being a Vista user. I love XP and think that Microsoft should of expanded on that OS rather than totally redesigning (although I heard 7 was pretty good). I have a laptop with 8.1 and HATE it but after reading this thread thoroughly, I think I'll keep on hating it - better a crappy 8.1 than a non working 10. I finally have it configured to print from a printer that isn't wifi even though my laptop is and JW LIB works on it as well as my browsers - that's all I need.

By the way, I've managed to keep up on the new technology and OS upgrades without having to actually own them because I have so many friends that do and then need my help afterwards - so I'm a big fan of "if it isn't broke, don't fix it" - just do what it takes to keep it working smoothly.

[Stavro]

Be careful with using XP on the internet, it has no security patches and it's very difficult to sufficiently secure it with third-party programs.

 

Personally, I'm a fan of "if Microsoft won't fix it, I won't fix it".

 

I did once make an exception to this for my COBE when a particularly nasty virus wiped out his system. I backed up his files, wiped the drive, put XP back, and told him to buy a router before getting back on the internet.

 

The following day I got a call that it was broken again, this time with CryptoLocker, and all his recently-recovered files were locked. He was able to recover everything off the CD I used for the initial backup (he has to reload the files every few weeks as CryptoLocker re-runs itself on the newly copied files), but he's still insistent on using XP connected directly to the modem, with no router or any other form of hardware security.

[shali]

I have anti-virus and malware programs running on my XP constantly and use ghost browsers as well.  So far, no problem.  I don't like the fact that I no longer get security patches but I run a scan on my computer everyday that I use it and so far nothing even remotely malicious has shown up.  I realize there are exceptions to every situation, but until I become one - it's XP for me.

[Sheep]

Windows 10 does have a "list of programs" on the start menu. Tell your friend to look to the bottom, left in the start menu and click on "All apps" for an alphabetical list of installed programs. 

 

Okay, do you have to scan through the entire alphabetical list of programs to find the one you're looking for? In Windows 7 I click on "All Programs" and I can look in the appropriate "folder" to find what I'm looking for. Does Windows 10 have that?

 

(Maybe I didn't word my question properly. )

[Musky]

The program folders are alphabetical just like they were in Windows 7.

Is that what you're asking?

[Sheep]

The program folders are alphabetical just like they were in Windows 7.

Is that what you're asking?

 

Yes. Perfect. Thank you.

[Sheep]

I have anti-virus and malware programs running on my XP constantly and use ghost browsers as well.  So far, no problem.  I don't like the fact that I no longer get security patches but I run a scan on my computer everyday that I use it and so far nothing even remotely malicious has shown up.  I realize there are exceptions to every situation, but until I become one - it's XP for me.

 

A few posts back, I mentioned I have Windows 98 on another computer. Back when I had internet on it, I never had an anti-virus program running, but never had any problems with any surreptitious or unruly viruses sneaking in to bother me. With Windows 7 though, I'm somewhat more cautious.

[train]

Windows:

10: works great. The upgrades don't always go smoothly, but clean installs run fantastic and are VERY worth the effort.

8.1/8: excellent, but you have to get past the clunky interface to be a fan.

7: a little bloated, a little slow, a lot dated and stodgy, but stable and capable.

Vista and anything earlier: out of date, horribly lacking in features, and downright dangerous to use.