Windows 10

[Sammael Bard]

Vista was meant for office users. It has one of the best security measures in all of Win operating systems. Not a bad OS, really, but it eats up upto 1 GB of your RAM space, and that's not acceptable for me.

Win XP and Win 7 are great too. Although I like the Win 7's new looks and features, I still love the bland features of Win XP. Clutter-free and easy to use.

I haven't used any other Win products except these.

A few things to note about Win 10:

> Win, due to hard competition from Android in the smartphone section has attempted a software that is all-conclusive and works the same on desktop, mobile and laptops. They've developed a software so that the users won't have problems while switching from touchscreen to keypad on the same device.

> Project Spartan, Window's reply to Google's Chrome, was a secret project which is supposed to be released with Win 10. After the massive failure of Internet Explorers, this browser is supposed to hit it out of the park.

http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/facebook/000/268/820/aa0.jpg

http://i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/697/062/baf.jpg


> The start button is back, but they kept the tiles to the side. Don't know if Bill Gates has a tile-fetish or not, but the developers decided that tiles would be a good feature to include for the touchscreen users. Admittedly, it doesn't look that bad. As long as there's the start button, I don't care much about anything else.

http://blogs.msdn.com/cfs-filesystemfile.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-43-49-metablogapi/3223.image_5F00_54D58533.png

> The first obvious bug to be reported was the wifi password scam. Your wifi password is shared with all of your friends. Now, I don't know the exact details, but I think it needs an update to fix it.

> Unless a program is very old, you can use it on Win 10. Otherwise, you have to use compatibility options. Doesn't guarantee to run all programs available, but it's a start.

> After the initial period of 1 year or so, you have to renew subscriptions for MS Office. This is a major dealbreaker for me, so I'll stick to my copy of Win 7 as long as I can.

 

[HandsInTheDark]

The MS Office would be free for the initial period, but then you'd have to pay a subscription fee for the subsequent years to use it.

No, thank you. I'm sticking to Win 7 forever. When it gets obsolete, I'll fish out a pirated copy of Win 10 where the system updates are turned off.

You may not have the option. I'm told that in the consumer version of Windows 10, you can't disable updates.

Including device driver updates. Reports of driver updates bricking some people's laptops have already started to surface.

NEVER use a computer system where THEY tell YOU what software you will run. It's your computer, not microsoft's.

And, seriously? Rent Microsoft Office? Google docs is free and pretty functional. Open Office is free, and while I'm not as fond of it, it gets it done. Rent software? Are they serious?

If you fall for that they'll have you renting your browser next.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

This is my desktop. It is now on a Win7 machine. It was my desktop when the machine ran Vista. I was my desktop when it ran XP. I guess, not sure really, it could be my desktop on a Win10 machine.

http://connorgmadison.com/thumbnails/Image1.png

 

[someoneyouknow]

You may not have the option. I'm told that in the consumer version of Windows 10, you can't disable updates.

Including device driver updates. Reports of driver updates bricking some people's laptops have already started to surface.

NEVER use a computer system where THEY tell YOU what software you will run. It's your computer, not microsoft's.

And, seriously? Rent Microsoft Office? Google docs is free and pretty functional. Open Office is free, and while I'm not as fond of it, it gets it done. Rent software? Are they serious?

If you fall for that they'll have you renting your browser next.

You can disable auto updates in the Home version by turning off the service, but one of the higher ups at a conference said that after a while if you don't get the updates they will effectively disable your OS until the updates are applied.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2015/07/17/windows-10-forced-automatic-updates/

How comforting.

 

[HandsInTheDark]

It has seemed to me that for the last few years, Microsoft has not imagined that
computers would be used in the Home. Make a mistake and you get some message to the effect "talk to your system administrator".
Of all the stupid things to suffer, that's on a par with

"Keyboard failure; press F1 to continue".​

To be fair, in those days, no keyboard meant you weren't going to be doing anything at all with the computer; the message was there so you could plug in a working keyboard and continue. Sure it was pure irony if you didn't happen to have a spare keyboard handy, but some of us reasoned that the keyboard would wear out first, and had the spare ready.

The Sys admin message though... yeah. I've been around computers since before most of you were sperm and I still hate seeing that message.

 

[rjordan]

Sorry to be the one to tell ya but Linux does that. In fact it does windblows faster and better than Microshaft ever thought about doing it with far fewer exploits, holes, and the rest of the bullshit.

Not to mention it is free and you get the source code for everything. Want to write your own OS? It's easy and plug and play for the most part.

I'm not unfamiliar with Linux, though I haven't don't anything with it recently. I was a FORTRAN programmer on a PDP-8 and a PDP-11, the latter in a Unix environment. This was the early 70's. I wrote process control subroutines which were used by our customers to control manufacturing operations.

When PCs came out I went through TRS-DOS, Apple DOS, CP/M, and MS-DOS before deciding that computer guts were interesting when I was paid for it, but otherwise not so much. Now, I just want to turn my computer on, have it run whatever application I want and not intrude. Win XP, Win 7 and Win 8 have done that.

Windblows, Microshaft--cute.

rj

 

[Zeb_Carter]

You may not have the option. I'm told that in the consumer version of Windows 10, you can't disable updates.

Including device driver updates. Reports of driver updates bricking some people's laptops have already started to surface.

NEVER use a computer system where THEY tell YOU what software you will run. It's your computer, not microsoft's.

And, seriously? Rent Microsoft Office? Google docs is free and pretty functional. Open Office is free, and while I'm not as fond of it, it gets it done. Rent software? Are they serious?

If you fall for that they'll have you renting your browser next.

Actually the renting of software has been going on for a long time. Oracle started that way back when. You really don't purchase their database system...you rent it. If you don't pay that annual fee, they don't turn the thing off, but you will not get patches, etc. and no support.

Microsoft is just catching up. Office 365 is their first attempt in the software rental waters.

 

[rjordan]

You mean other than it was written for phones and tablets? With no thought to the PC users?

That doesn't answer the question. If you use Win 7, what is it about Win 8 that makes the experience any different for you? What makes it very fucked up for a Win 7 user?

Answering a question with a question is counterproductive.

rj

 

[desertslave]

I still miss the control the user had with 3.1. <pout> It hasn't been fun to mess with since the Registry was introduced.

But that was then....

I signed up for the upgrade the day it was offered to me. I got the download on the morning of 7/29 and let it start after a full backup.

I mostly like 10. I'm not a power user anymore so I don't require or expect much. I'm having an issue with the sleep settings, but I haven't spent much time troubleshooting yet. I think the laptop's settings are arguing with Win10.

Otherwise, I've done a few tweaks, like getting rid of the crap on the start menu and fixing the defaults. At this point everything is pretty much the way I had it with Win7, plus an added bonus of finally getting all of my font sizes larger.

This is an excellent article with lots of tips:
http://www.thewindowsclub.com/windows-10-tips-and-tricks

 

[rjordan]

The MS Office would be free for the initial period, but then you'd have to pay a subscription fee for the subsequent years to use it.

No, thank you. I'm sticking to Win 7 forever. When it gets obsolete, I'll fish out a pirated copy of Win 10 where the system updates are turned off.

Apache Open Office is free and works very much like MS Office. It was originally virtually identical to MS Office. I've been using it for about 15 years. Compatible (read and write) with MS Office files. Updated relatively frequently. Never had an issue with it.

rj

 

[rjordan]

This is my desktop. It is now on a Win7 machine. It was my desktop when the machine ran Vista. I was my desktop when it ran XP. I guess, not sure really, it could be my desktop on a Win10 machine.

http://connorgmadison.com/thumbnails/Image1.png

I don't know about Win 10, but it would look the same on a Win 8 machine. I hate Win 8 tiles, but that's no problem as I never see them. I boot up and it comes up with the "normal" Win XP/Win 7 desktop. I can hit the Windows key and get the tiles, but don't ever need to.

BTW, your graphic is stretching the screen to the point where I have to horizontally scroll the forum on other messages in the thread. Is that something I can fix locally or is it a "feature" of Lit?

rj

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I don't know about Win 10, but it would look the same on a Win 8 machine. I hate Win 8 tiles, but that's no problem as I never see them. I boot up and it comes up with the "normal" Win XP/Win 7 desktop. I can hit the Windows key and get the tiles, but don't ever need to.

BTW, your graphic is stretching the screen to the point where I have to horizontally scroll the forum on other messages in the thread. Is that something I can fix locally or is it a "feature" of Lit?

rj

Sorry. No lit doesn't let you use the resize on the fly in the image tag. And I forgot to resize the damn thing before I uploaded it to my website. Sorry.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

That doesn't answer the question. If you use Win 7, what is it about Win 8 that makes the experience any different for you? What makes it very fucked up for a Win 7 user?

Answering a question with a question is counterproductive.

rj

Win 8 had no start button and the tiles were there. 99.99% of PC's(Laptops, Desktops) aren't touchscreen.

That's why MS had to scramble to get 8.1 out. 8.1 fixed the problems, somewhat.

Personally, I don't want the hassle. I guess I'll just have to learn Linux now.

 

[rjordan]

Win 8 had no start button and the tiles were there. 99.99% of PC's(Laptops, Desktops) aren't touchscreen.

That's why MS had to scramble to get 8.1 out. 8.1 fixed the problems, somewhat.

Personally, I don't want the hassle. I guess I'll just have to learn Linux now.

You can get a Start button from Stardock, but I don't even remember what it was for. That's how much I miss it.

I have a touch screen desktop and a touch screen laptop. I don't use either as a touch screen. No need. Everything works exactly as Win 7 worked.

If you want a hassle, learning curve for Linux will satisfy that. If MS ever goes to strictly tiles without the Win 7 look alike mode, then I might be tempted to try Linux again. I tried two versions around 2004 and was not impressed. There was a lot of software I could not use without something called WINE, and WINE brought it's own problems to the table. There was always some installation hassle or driver problem that required talking to Linux fanboys who were as smug as fuck to deal with. May not be that way now. But as soon as they start referring to "Windoze", I would find someone else to help.

rj

 

[Learin]

You may not have the option. I'm told that in the consumer version of Windows 10, you can't disable updates.

Including device driver updates. Reports of driver updates bricking some people's laptops have already started to surface.

NEVER use a computer system where THEY tell YOU what software you will run. It's your computer, not microsoft's.

And, seriously? Rent Microsoft Office? Google docs is free and pretty functional. Open Office is free, and while I'm not as fond of it, it gets it done. Rent software? Are they serious?

If you fall for that they'll have you renting your browser next.

Apache Open Office is free and works very much like MS Office. It was originally virtually identical to MS Office. I've been using it for about 15 years. Compatible (read and write) with MS Office files. Updated relatively frequently. Never had an issue with it.

rj

I'll switch to Linux if Microsoft keeps pegging customers with traps like these. I've used it once and was quite satisfied with its fast performance.

I use Google Chrome as my default browser. When I tried downloading the Apache Office Software from its official website, it shows a "malicious file" alert. Haven't tried downloading it ever since.

 

[oggbashan]

A report in the UK's The Times newspaper today:

The default setting for privacy allows Win10 to access everything including hidden files, address books and password files - to improve your internet experience - i.e. to target advertising to you. They can pass that information on to anyone.

If I were to upgrade to Win10 I would expect more adverts for Viagra, services for the elderly, and many erotic sites based on my writing.

Or not? The bots trawling my stories might decide that I'm one sick fuck that should be avoided.

Edited for: One of my neighbours has installed it and disabled all the data mining options BUT the options to turn them off weren't easy to find, and the small print was very small indeed.

I'm staying with Win 7.

 

[RoyceConnors]

I downloaded Win10 and everything was better in usage, except I now have no sound at all and can't figure out why. All system checks say it's working fine, but no sound comes out from anything. Brand new Acer computer too.

 

[TxRad]

I downloaded Win10 and everything was better in usage, except I now have no sound at all and can't figure out why. All system checks say it's working fine, but no sound comes out from anything. Brand new Acer computer too.

This is the reason I dumped 8. No sound but everything checked out as fine. The next set of updates brought the sound back but it was spotty. Sometimes you had it and sometimes you didn't.

I loaded my recovery disk and was told my sound driver was corrupt. I replaced it and the sound worked for about a week and cratered again. The driver was corrupt again. I sent Microshaft a heads up and was told to contact the sound driver company, that wasn't their problem.

That was the last straw. I hadn't wanted 8 in the first place but couldn't find a laptop with 7 anywhere locally. I couldn't even find a copy of 7. It's my damned computer but some people don't see it that way.

 

[rjordan]

I use Google Chrome as my default browser. When I tried downloading the Apache Office Software from its official website, it shows a "malicious file" alert. Haven't tried downloading it ever since.

As I said, I've been using it for at least 15 years. It was originally called Star, I think. I got on board when Sun Microsystems took it over. It then went to Oracle and now Apache. Each new sponsor has updated and improved it while maintaining the close compatibility with MS Office just because Office has such a huge installed base.

Also, Open Office is a suite like MS Office. It includes spreadsheet, presentation and other apps (can't remember them because I don't use them). I've found them both to be compatible with their counterparts (Excel and PowerPoint). Even though I'm now retired, I occasionally do training materials for motorcycle companies. I write and illustrate them directly in OO Presentation because it is fast and easy. The manufacturer opens them directly in PowerPoint with no problems. We trade revisions back and forth with no problems. We use PowerPoint because the manufacturer can distribute near-camera ready looking documents so that higher ups don't have to imagine what the layout will look like. It's weird to write drafts in presentation software, but you get used to it when it saves time and money that can be spent on fun things.

I suspect the alert was an artifact of Chrome, not Open Office. Also, you probably know to always download free software directly from the source, never from a third party most of which are just trying to trap you into downloading their "downloader".

rj

 

[TxRad]

For those of you who are considering Linux, I'd suggest starting with Zorin OS-9. It comes with a windows 7 style desktop as the default. It even has XP and 2000 as an option. It also comes with just about all the software you would need pre-installed and access to thousands of free programs. It even runs java and Flashplayer.

The only problem I've had is with routers. If you connect directly to DSl or have wifi, then you are home free. Most routers are set up software wise for windows. Some of the newer ones have added Linux. The older ones you have to set up in the router software settings.

You can download the OS as a live disk and run it from your CD/DVD drive. A good way to look it over and try it out without loading it. There are four different ways of installing it. The Lite version works great on older systems. There is a college version and a business version. The ultimate version is the only one that is not free. I think it costs like 10 euros. Not sure what that is in dollars.

 

[Handley_Page]

About $10.

 

[RoyceConnors]

This is the reason I dumped 8. No sound but everything checked out as fine. The next set of updates brought the sound back but it was spotty. Sometimes you had it and sometimes you didn't.

I loaded my recovery disk and was told my sound driver was corrupt. I replaced it and the sound worked for about a week and cratered again. The driver was corrupt again. I sent Microshaft a heads up and was told to contact the sound driver company, that wasn't their problem.

That was the last straw. I hadn't wanted 8 in the first place but couldn't find a laptop with 7 anywhere locally. I couldn't even find a copy of 7. It's my damned computer but some people don't see it that way.

I got a hold of the Geek Squad and they said I had to download a sound driver from Acer for Win 10 and it's working great. The one from Realtek wasn't the right one for mine. All issues resolved....so far, lol

 

[someoneyouknow]

The hits just keep on coming for Windows 10:

http://www.siliconbeat.com/2015/08/04/windows-10-upgrade-bug-makes-some-pcs-unusable/

In short, some people trying to upgrade are having their systems become completely inoperable.

 

[desertslave]

A report in the UK's The Times newspaper today:

The default setting for privacy allows Win10 to access everything including hidden files, address books and password files - to improve your internet experience - i.e. to target advertising to you. They can pass that information on to anyone.

If I were to upgrade to Win10 I would expect more adverts for Viagra, services for the elderly, and many erotic sites based on my writing.

Or not? The bots trawling my stories might decide that I'm one sick fuck that should be avoided.

Edited for: One of my neighbours has installed it and disabled all the data mining options BUT the options to turn them off weren't easy to find, and the small print was very small indeed.

I'm staying with Win 7.

Yup, I told it NO several times during the initial startup. Hopefully it will mind its manners.

My only persistent problem so far has been getting sleep to work properly. I had the same problem with 7. It would go to sleep and require a restart to wake it up. I HAD gotten 7 to the point where, as long as my mouse was turned off, it would sleep and wake properly, but I had to hit the sleep/wake key combo if I forgot to turn the mouse off. That was strange, but this new version is annoying. The only way I can get it to pseudo-sleep is to put all of the power/idle settings to never. The screen will go dark when I close the lid, but everything else is still running, which builds up a noticeable amount of heat.

I continue to search forums and troubleshoot this conundrum.

 

[tolyk]

I don't understand all the hate for Windows 98... Windows 98 SE was quite good from my recollection. I used it for quite some time in fact.

As for Windows 10, I installed it on my laptop and played around with it. Seems alright. My photo editing computer is currently running 8.1, my gaming machine is on Windows 7, and my Laptop was 8.1 before I switched it to 10.

I have nothing against 7, 8, 8.1, or 10 so far. Yes, I dislike the Metro screen, but I use the run command to access mostly everything anyway. So, no it doesn't actually bother me.

Tiles being on the new start menu on 10? Whoopie. I can live with a little bit of GUI "flair". And if I can't, you can modify it anyway.

I was able to set up everything as I wanted on Windows 10, yes some things were a bit more hidden/difficult to tweak. If I couldn't figure it out, others have and I easily found the answers with a quick search.