Windows 10

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound [...] because the computer is so important in our life, yet can be so unreliable because of software, we often have a backup for it.

I guess I missed that train!

I haven't had two computers for a long time. After I got my laptop and wireless network, it became just a place to store my backups and little else.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ziggy29 Seems like every other Windows release is a hit, and the others a big miss. XP, 7 and 10 appear to be solid, worthwhile and robust upgrades. But Vista (between XP and 7) and 8 (obviously between 7 and 10) were massive clunkers for the most part.

ME was another Windows that people hated. Actually, I remember all the moaning and groaning when XP first came out. People said it was AWFUL (until they got used to it, and now the same people don't want to let it go). I suppose they missed NT at the time, or maybe Windows 2000. I don't recall the order in which they were released.

It is very common for people to be resistant to change and I can't blame anyone for that. Still, I thank heavens that I am not, because I love exploring new Windows operating systems. I don't regard a Windows computer as an appliance like a toaster, solely to allow me to run other programs without having to think. To me Windows operating systems are a work of art in themselves and fascinating to explore.

[Dave J]

I signed up at least 1 1/2 months before Win 10 release date. I still have not got notification it is ready. My wife signed up a day later and got her's the 2nd day. My son signed up a week later and got his the 4th day. I'm on Win 8.1. Anyone heard of any delays for 8.1? Funny I told 3 people to sign up and they got theres way before me.

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R To me Windows operating systems are a work of art in themselves and fascinating to explore.

On a bad day, this work of art looks like this to me.

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R I guess I missed that train!

Seriously, what can be infuriating is that user's experience can vary greatly. A different set of hardware, a different app installed, and the results vary greatly.

Notice how this Win 10 upgrade went smoothly for some posters, while causing much grief for others. It's crap shoot, and I don't think it should be this way in the digital world. Some users did the same thing as others, got snake bit, and of course they have to ask themselves why.

[NW-Bound]

Ah, and here's another thing that I am sure other posters have noticed too.

You set up your machine just right, and everything works smoothly. Then, a Windows popup says that you'd better install this critical update or you will get infected by some virus boogey. Of course you agree. Yes, thank you. Please do!

Then, your machine is hosed. And you spent mucho time to undo that update. Gah!

To be honest, this has not happened to me recently with Win 7. But I still have scars from the past mishaps. Of course I am holding a grudge, even though I have used MS software back from the days I have to run my PC from a single 360K floppy.

[zinger1457]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave J I signed up at least 1 1/2 months before Win 10 release date. I still have not got notification it is ready. My wife signed up a day later and got her's the 2nd day. My son signed up a week later and got his the 4th day. I'm on Win 8.1. Anyone heard of any delays for 8.1? Funny I told 3 people to sign up and they got theres way before me.

I received the update notice on my W8.1 laptop a couple weeks ago but haven't done the update yet. Check your C drive for a folder called '$Windows.~BT', it's a hidden folder so make sure 'hidden items' view box in file explorer is checked. That's where the Windows 10 update is loaded, it should be ~5G in size with the update.

[jim584672]

Microsoft now has virtual machines available:

Virtual Machine (VM), Windows Virtual PC & Browserstack : Microsoft Edge Dev

Good for 90 days activation.

[rbmrtn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound My wife's PC running Win 7 Professional got bitten by a virus. I exorcised it by a 3rd party software, but a peculiar problem remained. After a boot up, she could not log in to her user's profile.

Virus and removal of the virus can corrupt the user profile. You need to delete the profiles from the registry, delete/rename the use folder. Then recreate the user again.

How to Remove a Corrupted User Profile from the Registry - TechNet Articles - United States (English) - TechNet Wiki

[rbmrtn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave J I signed up at least 1 1/2 months before Win 10 release date. I still have not got notification it is ready. My wife signed up a day later and got her's the 2nd day. My son signed up a week later and got his the 4th day. I'm on Win 8.1. Anyone heard of any delays for 8.1? Funny I told 3 people to sign up and they got theres way before me.

None of mine have updated, but you don't have to wait for the online update. Get the windows 10 media creation tool, you can use it to create a dvd for installing W10

Installing Windows 10 using the media creation tool - Windows Help

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound On a bad day, this work of art looks like this to me.

Well we'll see! I may see things your way after battling with Windows 10.

Still, I am so totally thrilled to be getting it. My new computer didn't arrive yesterday after all, so I am expecting it today and running to the door every time I hear a car or truck pass by.

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rbmrtn Virus and removal of the virus can corrupt the user profile. You need to delete the profiles from the registry, delete/rename the use folder. Then recreate the user again. How to Remove a Corrupted User Profile from the Registry - TechNet Articles - United States (English) - TechNet Wiki

I do not recall if I try to create a new user profile to see if it works.

But when I was examining the event logger after boot to get the diagnostic messages, then use them to get directions from the Web to correct the problem, I was running in my profile with administrator privilege. I applied all the patches and registry and system edits as found from MS site. It did not work.

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R Well we'll see! I may see things your way after battling with Windows 10. Still, I am so totally thrilled to be getting it. My new computer didn't arrive yesterday after all, so I am expecting it today and running to the door every time I hear a car or truck pass by.

Chances are that you will be fine. It's only cheapskates who try to use old hardware with the new software that get snake bit. It's an industry collusion to get us to spend money.

[kcowan]

Even with all the answers NO, Win10 keeps in touch
and
Windows will search your machine to disable things.

We must hope that the Borg remains benevolent...

[wmc1000]

If you don't want to create media you can go to Microsoft's windows 10 page and download direct to your hard drive and do the upgrade. That is how I did my 3 computers I didn't wait for Microsoft to tell me it was ready even though I had signed up.

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound Chances are that you will be fine. It's only cheapskates who try to use old hardware with the new software that get snake bit. It's an industry collusion to get us to spend money.

Hey, laptops with Windows 10 pre-installed aren't cheap this soon after the OS release, especially if you want all the hardware bells and whistles that I needed wanted. I spent twice the amount I had intended on spending.

I guess I was lucky because my present laptop is getting pretty beat up and needs to be replaced. So, I had to buy a laptop in any case. In fact, I probably would have replaced it in June had the Windows 10 release not been imminent.

[Midpack]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R Hey, laptops with Windows 10 pre-installed aren't cheap this soon after the OS release, especially if you want all the hardware bells and whistles that I needed wanted. I spent twice the amount I had intended on spending. I guess I was lucky because my present laptop is getting pretty beat up and needs to be replaced. So, I had to buy a laptop in any case. In fact, I probably would have replaced it in June had the Windows 10 release not been imminent.

After my two weeks or so with Win 10, I'd be willing to bet you're gonna really like your new rig, hardware and software. I don't discount the bad experiences some users have had, but there are mitigating circumstances some times (old hardware, specialty or highly customized applications/software, etc.) AND people with good experiences are FAR less likely to take the time to report. Unhappy customers are just way more motivated to speak out, understandably. Makes it very hard to keep feedback in proper perspective, people who cite 'all the horror stories' can lose perspective...

[Nodak]

About a week and a half now with Windows 10 and everything is working very well. However, this laptop is quite old and I am considering a replacement. I think I will go back to a desktop system since there are some very good deals on now. Along with that I plan on purchasing an Android tablet (probably an 8.5 inch unit) for interent, email, and travel use.

[harley]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R Well we'll see! I may see things your way after battling with Windows 10. Still, I am so totally thrilled to be getting it. My new computer didn't arrive yesterday after all, so I am expecting it today and running to the door every time I hear a car or truck pass by.

I suspect that with a new laptop you will be very happy with Win10, assuming you don't care about the privacy issues. I think that's pretty much the breakdown for satisfaction. If it works and you don't mind being assimilated, you'll be fine.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kcowan Even with all the answers NO, Win10 keeps in touch and Windows will search your machine to disable things. We must hope that the Borg remains benevolent...

Good articles. Thanks.

[Midpack]

Quote:

Originally Posted by harley I suspect that with a new laptop you will be very happy with Win10, assuming you don't care about the privacy issues. I think that's pretty much the breakdown for satisfaction. If it works and you don't mind being assimilated, you'll be fine.

Microsoft still isn't gathering any more data than Facebook, Google, Amazon or Apple, if anything they're late to the data monetizing party. And Microsoft and the other big name providers are going to be far more responsible with your info than the thousands of no name "free" (and many paid) app providers like Angry Birds, Brightest Flashlight that duped millions of users out of private data.

Have you seen any specifics on Win 10 privacy changes? I know Microsoft is getting some bad press re: Win 10 and privacy, but I've read several articles that say there's really not much change WRT privacy vs Win 8.1 (or even Win 7) unless you use Cortana - and you have to consciously turn Cortana on. I don't plan to use Cortana, since I have little need and I am already used to Siri when the need arises. From just one source I've read:

Quote:

My opinion is that the “privacy issue” in Windows 10 has been overblown, partly because of a perfectly understandable ignorance about what’s going on. You will probably want to change several of the defaults, as I did. However, you should view these settings in the context of the direction almost everything is heading. Even Microsoft is now a “mobile first, cloud first” company. First, Windows 10 has not introduced a lot of new privacy changes: most of the things being complained about were already in Windows 8 or 8.1. The only really new thing in Windows 10 is Cortana, a conversational personal assistant based partly on AI (artificial intelligence) and deep learning, and even she had already appeared on Windows Phone. Cortana requires the same sort of trade off – some privacy risk in exchange for useful functionality – as Apple’s Siri and Google Now, and for the same reasons. For example, Cortana cannot help you with your next meeting if she doesn’t have access to your calendar, contacts, location and so on. But Cortana is not on by default, and can’t be turned on by accident. She comes with a Notebook, so you have some control. If you change your mind, you can simply log on to Bing’s “personalization” page and clear all Cortana’s data, along with your personal info.

Windows 10: should privacy problems worry me? | Technology | The Guardian

[explanade]

FWIW Apple has made it a point to note that it doesn't collect your data to serve you better ads.

It does process Siri through its data centers, to use processing power and to improve voice recognition. But Siri works without you having to set your address, identify relationships, etc.

Cortana requires MS account, which is also used to track your Bing searches. And whatever other activities on your computer that it's tracking and sending back to their servers.

MS has to monetize their OS some way while Apple makes money by selling the hardware which comes with their OS.

Apple isn't doing search so it's not doing display ads nor is it collecting data which would be a treasure trove for advertisers.

Make no mistake, Google's customers are the advertisers while Apple's customers are end users.

Who are Microsofts customers? They'd love for their search and ad products to have more market share, so they can transition to software as service (with subscription revenues) business model.

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by harley I suspect that with a new laptop you will be very happy with Win10, assuming you don't care about the privacy issues. I think that's pretty much the breakdown for satisfaction. If it works and you don't mind being assimilated, you'll be fine.

You're probably right!

So far, so good. It seems to work and it is kind of slick. I went through the available information about tightening up Windows 10 security and privacy, and did all I could. Then I went through all the settings to see what was there, and that was fun. There are a lot of settings to evaluate and adjust.

I have installed essentially all of my software, set up the default file associations the way I prefer, and so on. So far, so good, so I guess it is time to bring in my backed up material now.

Basically, I am having a ball.