Windows 10: yay or nay?
No potato option this time, and, please, think twice before answering, this is a serious question, after all!
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Except Microsoft can (and do) regularly uninstall apps from your PC when it deems them "incompatible" (despite running fine). How long before they start uninstalling apps like that?
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The poll is basically a tie...
Decisions, decisions...
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Come on, Steam Gifters, you're as indecisive as me!
I wonder if anyone actually got my reference to Shakespeare's Hamlet...
Keep voting!
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After exactly 600 votes, the result is essentially still a tie...
Bump!
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The interface and privacy is enough for me not to do it.
Though apparently there are ways to change the look, but windows 7 is fine the way it is, so why change?
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Exactly, the privacy aspect is what made me reluctant to upgrade since it was announced.
But thinking about it again, what's the meaning of privacy these days?
Just by having online accounts our privacy is compromised a bit every day...
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Yeah but doesn't make it an excuse, like the government having access to tap your phones, emails etc, with the reasoning if you got nothing to hide.. Maybe if people won't use windows 10, it might give microsoft some clue.
Upgrading just basically gives them an okay, and they go further and further each day, big brother is watching.
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Move along citizen, it sounds like you've had to much to think.
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Or for example, just about anyone using an Android smartphone (including me) (Apple probably does something too - I believe they have started to move into adspace - don't quote me). The amount of user data google gets from that and their various services (like gmail or search) is ridiculous.
Microsoft is far more benign with your personal data (doesn't go through your mail for instance - unless you tell cortana to).
TLDR:
If I can use android (google), I can use Windows 10 (microsoft)
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I update mine to windows 10 sometime ago and although i had some problem here or there but nothing too big or difficult. Basically, after I updated I searched many websites to chance the options on privacy and updates I needed. One big step to get your privacy back I you update is deactivate Cortana, because it tracks everything you do. And until now my pc never shutdown for updates. It only does it when I turn it off (and now they aren't that frequents anymore). Hope it helped!
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The day microsoft officially stops supporting 7 is the day i throw a shit fit.
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14 January 2020 is the day microsoft officially stops supporting 7. Put it in your calendar ;)
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That tends to be my sentiment also. Things could change, but I think I'm sticking with 7 for the long haul.
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windows 7 is fine the way it is, so why change?
Because there are better options? Most of the privacy stuff can be fixed, and Win 10 supports Direct X 12, which Win 7 does not.
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upgrade wont do you any good. so no point there, clean install is always a preference for me.
So buy an SSD, look up a win10 ISO and install it.
Regarding the privacy issues, google up how to shut them down. I think they have an app for that.
Im using 8.1 but thats because I had incompatible intel graphics driver when i upgraded before. Next time I format my pc i will put win 10 probably.
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I had a performance downgrade while moving from factory Win 8.1 to Win X =d
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I did the upgrade and don't really notice a difference. I only use the very basics so it's all the same to me, part from some visual changes and "new" functions.
If you do upgrade, during installation go with the small print, the custom (privacy) settings are in tiny print so MS hopes you miss them. :P
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Don't worry, I always read everything, especially the smallest prints.
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I still use Win7 and i'm still happy with it. I mean i didn't find any reason to install win 10.
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You can change privacy settings too with O&O ShutUp10.
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I actually force upgraded my PC to win10. BUT be WARNED. In my experience having 8GB RAM is not enough. 16 is the way to go if you want to play games as well. For slower machines I don't recommend it. I upgraded on my Old Dual-core Laptop...OMG was it slow...So I switched back to 7 there. But on my main machine I've been Win10 since the first week and I don't regret it, even more so since I got another 2x4GB sticks of ram.
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I have 6GB of RAM right now, and my motherboard support up to 8.
But if I got it correctly, the Windows 10 license would be tied to my Microsoft account, unlike the old OEM Windows that are tied to the motherboard, so I could reuse it with a new PC.
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i don't think the w10 licence is attached to your account, i think it attaches to your logic board plus some other hw bits of your current pc.
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Can't answer this really. I'm not that informed about this.
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No it still tied to your motherboard and I believe hard drive, though if its anything like previous windows you can get it connected to a new hardware setup if anything happens to your hard drive or system. It just requires you to talk to a tech or something. Been a while since I had to do it.
And no you are not required to have a Microsoft account, just make sure you read everything on a page before putting in info.
https://www.thurrott.com/windows/windows-10/4260/windows-10-drops-reliance-on-microsoft-account
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The license is still tied to the motherboard?
There goes my only positive view of Windows 10.
I'll make some more research on it before the end of July then...
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All Windows OEM keys were tied to the motherboard. I believe the only ones that was not is the retail versions of the games, but they also cost like twice what the OEM does and you don't actually get anything extra with it other then a box and manual which... most never use anyway.
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it's tied to your hardware. you don't lose your old licence with the Win10 update, so doing it now is the right thing to do, even if you don't like it and go back to Win7 (if you make an image of your hard drive before the update, you can go back in a few minutes). you make sure you have the free update for this computer that way. no downsides (except the time you need for the update and for going back to your old installation).
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7 is superior in my view, and with your hardware you would be best off to stay on 7, save 10 for when you upgrade and they've worked the bugs and garbage out.
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Try O&O ShutUp10 https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10 for privacy issues and Classic Shell for Windows 7 look :-).
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Seeing how desperately Microsoft have been shoving that update in my face (I've hid the windows update that adds the annoying task bar icon 6 times already but they keep re-releasing it) I'd say it's quite suspicious and you should stick to 7.
It really doesn't have any amazing redeeming features to counter the downsides you mentioned. And 7 works just fine.
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New updates make it keep coming back, there is a piece of software for it, and taking control of folder permissions and delete that gwx folder in c:\windows\system32 makes it stay hidden a bit more. But yeah annoying.
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GWX Control Panel google it up and thank me later ;)
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Should I think optimistically, I'd say that they're forcing us to upgrade to Windows 10 to reduce market fragmentation.
And they probably want to make the Windows Store into a Steam competitor (but we know what happened with Games For Windows Live in the past, right?).
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as a gamer, the big feature is of course DX12, which will get more and more important over time. and the free Win10 update has no downsides. you can still go back to your old version, but you always have the option to install Win10 on the pc you did the update on.
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If you want to play new microsoft games like Quantum Break or Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, upgrade to Win 10. If not, stay with Win 7. There are ways to fix Win 10, but why to bother.
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Get the upgrade so your hardware ID is registered for a future installation. Then go back to Win7. Who knows, maybe MS puts out a useable upgraded Win10 in a few month/years ;)
Btw: Win7 has a lot of telemetry under the hood too.
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Can you explain to me how to upgrade to 10 and then go back to 7? I'm not very handy in this sort of things so very simple words would be very appreciated.
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You install the upgrade as you would normally. Then you have the option to reverse it for 30 days I believe. You can find that in the update section...
edit: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10/going-back-to-windows-7-or-windows-81
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Yes I have seen that option but did not realise you had your copy of windows 10 registered after you go back.
If that's the case I should do this on my pc's just to make sure I have it when I want it.
Thank you very much this sounds as something even I can do :)
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I know about the telemetry, and I did all necessary tweaks to disable it in Windows 7.
Rather than that, it's the mandatory updates that worry me the most about Windows 10 Home.
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There are billions of tweaking tools for Win10, there is absolutely no reason to stick with W7 right now. Those who voted for 7 are definitely ignorant people.
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I am taking a master in IT right now , does that make me an ignorant and I also have windows 8.1 does that make me double the ignorant :V ?? Also tested win 10 from beta, it is not that better than win 8.1 but those tools embeded in the kernel of the SO make me puke for this "freeeee" OS .
Also had to install a 3rd party program that let me delete the free pop upgrate of windows 10 that what do you know was putted in system 32 so the majority of the user don't go there , that is what I call bulshit from MicroShit and let's not talk about directx 12 locked on win10 just because :)) LOL .
But you can skip all this text because I don't think I know what I am saying :V
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There really isn't any reason to go 10 either, unless you specifically need DX12 for brand new games.
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It uses less resources. On an old machine like that it can be important.
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The diference for usage is I think smaller than that of win7 - win8.1 so not that interested and I also have 16GB of RAM and SSD :D
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Yes, the difference is smaller, it is an optimised Win8.x boot sequence. You need new hardware that was manufactured with Win10 in mind to see any actual improvement over Win 8.1—the owners of that OS usually switch because they want to get rid of the Metro interface.
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Can you give example of hardware that is manufactured with Windows 10 in mind or any kind of hardware that is made with a specific OS in mind ?? Also my hardware is pretty new, 1.5 years old to be exact :D
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Pretty much any laptop/mini-PC/motherboard that offers you Windows 10 mode. It mostly just means Win10's version of ultra fast boot and assuming you don't need any legacy support. It is more interesting when the drivers don't even have a Win7 version, like some of the barebone mini-PCs and laptops. Or when you can see people complain on forums that they cannot install Win7 on something that only has USB3 connectors. :)
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What do you know I have a laptop and all my usbs are 3.0. What you say is not hardware that is made with an OS in mind but lazy manufactured that make drivers for their products only for the current generation OS and that is made also with usually sponsorship from MIcroshit . So this is only marketing at best the same with win10. Interfaces i don't really care, can mod it to my liking if I want, the same as for steam :D. My BIOS boot is 3-4 s :D
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I had to do a paper on GPU's and saw a lot of directx 12 benchmarks so for now directx 12 is insignificant, I saw that opengl for Doom was very good so maybe they can implement vulcan for it and we don't need directx12.
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You can change the interface and it's less resource intensive
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Having upgraded several hundred PC's (For a med-sized business with lots of independent computers), I'll put this out there.
Windows 10 will on most hardware perform as well as 7, and in my experience more than half the time will outperform it. This is true across the board. From Pentium Duo's on up. Even older Atoms.
Driver issues are rare, most of them come from laptops, and most of those issues are the OEM's not providing the drivers on their site. Often times other OEM's have provided them and you can use them. Out of all the computers I upgraded only one had a serious missing driver (Laptop), and two or three had minor ones for something like an old Serial or Parallel port. Probably could of found working drivers for them too but given those ports aren't used, it wasn't something I was gonna spend much time on.
As was mentioned above, Clean installs are always best. With that said, you can claim your free upgrade, do it, then nuke it and do a clean install. Because you already upgraded that computer with that hardware, MS's activation servers will recognize it and activate it.
Like wise, you can upgrade, then roll back. You'll still be able to reinstall 10 any time even in August+ and it'll be activated.
Mandatory updates.. ya some of us know what we're doing. The problem is, everyone thinks they know. Almost every home computer I've worked on has been set to "I'll manage updates" and it was never run once. Now that I'm running the insider build on half my comps, where I can specify my "active time" to ensure it won't install/reboot then, I've been very happy with it.
UI.. well thats personal pref. Personally I like 10's interface. Sure took a few weeks to get use to it, but once I did going back to 7 or something seems so oldfashion..
Not even gonna bother with the spying paranoia.
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could you explain more on how to "upgrade" then roll back and keep the windows 10 license?
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When you upgrade your computer registered itself with MS, much like the product keys used too, only now rather than having to re-enter a product key, and asking it to check against your existing hardware profile on MS's server, it does it automatically. So from that point on, however many times you reinstall Windows 10, it will always activate itself, as MS's servers recognize the hardware.
HDD changes should be fine. GPU and the like are fine. Change the processor and/or Motherboard though and you'll have to call them up to get re-activated..
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They are reading this while I'm typing, I'm afraid, I must not be typing anymore, they are reading this, and this, oh and this. Well I'm enough important they are 'spying me'. So le me write some few lines more.
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The interface is fine, you just have to get used to the removal of the old Start menu, which is replaced by a Windows Phone type program list. I actually like the new one as I can pin the stuff I want to where I want, essentially creating a miniature version of the desktop icons stashed away in a separate menu.
It is better than Win7, but not as good for its time as Win7 was seven years ago.
it is also using resources a little better, so it may be beneficial even on such an old hardware. Don't expect miracles, but maybe you can shave off some boot time.
I would strongly suggest an SSD though.
Also, do a clean install, don't upgrade. Most negative feedback comes from upgrades, and Windows never really managed to do that properly. Win Vista/Win7 had the exact same issues for those who went from XP. A clean version performs just fine and doesn't need more or less tweaking and personalisation than any other Windows before it.
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The interface, well... let's just say that I'm used to the "classic desktop".
I used Win98, XP and 7, in the last 15 years, and I know them as well as my pockets.
On Windows 10, on the other hand, I have trouble finding even the simplest things, but maybe I just need to get acquainted with it...
And I would surely do a clean install, after the upgrade process.
I had lots of troubles when reinstalling Windows 7, so this one might be even worse.
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Eh, I've been using Windows since '97, and I got used to the interface of Win10 under a week. Although it helps that I'm old-school enough to still use an orthodox file manager (Total Commander) and keep the Start menu for seldom-used programs
Yes, most any things are put into new places, and the Control Panel and similar configuration utilities are a bigger pain to dig up. The good news is that they are still a ton more accessible than in Win8.
Also, try to look at it like that: Windows 7 is already 7 years old and won't get younger. The more you try to keep using it, the more you'll be like those who couldn't let go of Windows XP for very similar reasons. You'll have to switch unless you want to get stuck on an outdated OS. The sooner you get used to the new interface, the better.
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My laptop starts like 3 seconds now compared to 20 seconds in the past :D I'm not interested on cortana though i'm just all in for the performance.
Go for win 10 !
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I don't find the user interface to be unfriendly at all. In fact, I find it quite nice.
I've upgraded both my desktop and my laptop to Windows 10, and I got a Yoga Ultrabook that came with Windows 10 on it, and I wouldn't use anything else. I did leave Windows 7 Pro on my old Alienware M11xR3, only because I like to have a backup of one iteration behind...
The mandatory updates CAN be a pain, but if you have Pro, you can change the group policy on those. And just do some Googling to see how you can turn a bunch of stuff off to make your computer less privacy invasive.
I just really don't get the interface gripe, though. Windows 10 is sexy.
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As I explained in a previous comment, I literally grew up with the "classic Windows desktop", so I'm naturally used to it.
But I'm not completely opposed to learning something new that will be useful in the future...
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Came from Win7, all I can say is that what I don't like about Win10 is that it will force you to put password on your computer and the mandatory updates. The updates are only an issue if you have a very slow download speed, That's about it.
I upgraded by accident. I ended up liking it. I wished I upgraded sooner than later.
2 Win7 are now Win10. It's that good.
Changes in UI is easy transition.
Boot up became faster and smoother.
Faster shutdowns.
No issues so far in terms of sofware and hardware compatibility for me.
I only installed 360 security and Web of Trust
Verdict: you should upgrade too.
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I remember when Win 7 came out, and I was still using XP. I resisted it for years until I finally said, "yeah, everyone is using 7, so let's install this ****". No regrets in doing so. I quickly got used to the UI, didn't suffer from any performance decrease, and a whole new world of games was open to me (at the time, imo). I also remember a lot of friends of mine were also resisting to install Windows 7 whenever they got a new PC, preferring to stick to XP. Needless to say, they all use 7/8.1/10 today, and they can't even imagine going back to XP.
Now, fast forward a few years, and now we have all this ruckus over Windows 10, with all the privacy issues, ugly UI, blablabla. I, for one, upgraded to 10 (although I didn't do a clean install, and suffered a bit some time later for not doing so), and I can honestly say, to this day (imo), 10 is the best Windows released so far. I couldn't care less about whether MS spies on my PC or not (heck, Google, thanks to my Android phone, knows a lot more about me...), after all, I don't keep anything illegal on my PC or OneDrive, so I don't see why should I worry if MS has some info about me (which is only a drop of water in the middle of the ocean that is the internet).
And about the interface, don't worry, it's not bad, and if you do think it's bad, I'm sure you'll get used to it ;).
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Why people are afraid of 10?
3 home computers upgraded no one of them is failing me. Do it, that way your upgrade copy keeps safe.
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i have 250+ pcs under my support and all i can say is that w10 issues exist and incompatibilities on pro software, i had to revert most of them to w7.
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With a good computer yes, but your computer is not very good so you don't need windows 10 or dx12.
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There are absolutely no reasons to upgrade. Gaming performance isn't improved, at all
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I can think of some reasons; faster, more stable, most updated windows OS for security & for latest tech, dx12! stuff
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...that is the question:
Whether 'tis better to put paranoia aside, and take advantage of the free upgrade before July 29th,
Or to forget about it, and stick with the old but gold Windows 7.
My current setup is the following:
Basically, that's an Acer Aspire X3400 to which I added a new GPU.
My main gripe about Windows 10 Home, are against the mandatory updates, and the user-unfriendly interface.
I have experienced it on my brother's laptop, as well as my school's PCs, and it's... hmm... quite awkward, to say the least.
And the privacy concerns, of course! But that was implied, right?
Switching to a Linux distro is out of the question, as that would lock me out of most of my library.
Update July 29th: I upgraded to Windows 10 (followed by a clean install), but I'll keep my Windows 7 product key handy, should it be needed.
I'll keep the thread open just for the poll, and then leave it to die naturally.
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