Windows 10

[bld999]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ejman An alternative to Ubuntu is Linux mint, I believe its also based on Ubuntu 14.04 and is just a derivative of that core. I've been using it for a few weeks now since "they" finally convinced me that my old computer with windows XP was no longer safe to use. The transition away from windows was actually painless . I find the Linux mint 17.2 Cinnamon version to actually be fairly similar to windows XP or Win 7 in the use of a menu and most things work just as I would expect them to coming from a windows environment. The version I use can be found here: Download - Linux Mint The version I use is the 32 bit Cinnamon since my XP computer is about 12 years old and has only 1 gig of memory. Maybe less resource intensive versions such as Mate would work better but I find the Cinnamon flavor works fine. I know there are even lighter versions of linux for even older computers but I find the one I picked to work just fine.

I have tried the version you mentioned with it loaded on a stick drive, and it is very similar to windows. Two things have caused a little consternation: 1] no "persistence" meaning you have to set up certain things each time you boot. 2] "kernel panic" which causes a hang, once so bad I had to pull the battery out of the laptop to get it's attention.

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ejman An alternative to Ubuntu is Linux mint, I believe its also based on Ubuntu 14.04 and is just a derivative of that core. ...

Right, and Mint has become very popular. I looked at it before upgrading from 12.04 to 14.04, I liked it but there were a few things I liked about the Xubuntu release better, so I went with Xubuntu. I'll probably take another look at Mint before I go from 14.04 LTS (Long Term Release) to 16.04 LTS.

-ERD50

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bld999 I have tried the version you mentioned with it loaded on a stick drive, and it is very similar to windows. Two things have caused a little consternation: 1] no "persistence" meaning you have to set up certain things each time you boot. 2] "kernel panic" which causes a hang, once so bad I had to pull the battery out of the laptop to get it's attention.

I've been able to set up a USB thumb drive/stick with persistence before, but for some reason I had trouble getting a thumb drive to boot at all on 14.04. So I just installed from a DVD I burned and went for it.

-ERD50

[ejman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bld999 I have tried the version you mentioned with it loaded on a stick drive, and it is very similar to windows. Two things have caused a little consternation: 1] no "persistence" meaning you have to set up certain things each time you boot. 2] "kernel panic" which causes a hang, once so bad I had to pull the battery out of the laptop to get it's attention.

I didn't try to run it from a USB stick, I just burned the ISO to a DVD and worked from that for a few hours and then I decided to go ahead and install it in my computer. At first I set up a dual boot partition, Windows XP/Linux. After using Linux Mint for a few days I just removed XP altogether. I found out I could run Quicken under Linux (using Wine) and that pushed me to just get rid of XP. I really haven't had any issues with hang ups so I can't comment there.

The only "problem" I've had so far is that the current version of Google Earth in the 32 bit version has a bug where pictures taken along trails and such don't show up when I click on them.

[Redbugdave]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bikerdude Here's a couple links to help you get back to your old OS and other tips. Change your mind about Windows 10? Here's how you can roll back - CNET Windows 10 - CNET

Thank you Biker! I am seriously thinking of rolling back and keeping my computers with 7. I will give it a few days and see. But, right now...they can have 10...I don't like it.

[Bamaman]

I downloaded Windows 10 yesterday, and it's working fine. The 'puter boots up faster, and it seems to work a little quicker.

My Win 10 operates like Windows 7 for the most part--and completely different than the original 8.1. It's been easy to figure out how to do basic things on.

We'll see how it works over the long run.

[johnsope]

My old notebook running an old Atom processor upgraded from Windows 7 to 10 yesterday.

Upgrade took at least an hour (due to my slow processor) and after completing the upgrade the Realtek sound driver was having problems (analog jack output to external TV would not work).

After a little investigation and checking on the web it turned out that the Realtek driver did not load completely due to a timeout problem with Windows 10 and the slow Atom processor needing more time (most other folks with newer/faster PC's should not see this problem). Manually reloading the Realtek driver that was already downloaded onto the notebook as part of the Windows 10 package took care of the issue.

I spent a couple of hours playing with the new OS and am quite impressed. I didn't like that I had to remove Windows Media Center as part of the upgrade but that has been discussed elsewhere.

Peter

[kcowan]

Save your bandwidth quota. Disable rebroadcast of Win10 software

[explanade]

Beware, W10 resets your default applications to MS applications, including changing your default browser from Firefox or Chrome to the new MS Edge browser.

[Birdie Num Nums]

Beware: Microsoft Money (if you are still using it or its "Sunset" version) doesn't work in W10 without a registry edit.

[easysurfer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by explanade Beware, W10 resets your default applications to MS applications, including changing your default browser from Firefox or Chrome to the new MS Edge browser.

Old habits die hard?

[kcowan]

Maybe Edge and Bing do not fall under their judicial losses and so The Borg will get away with anticompetitive behaviour for a while? When The Borg becomes generous, be very careful about what you may be giving up...

[jim584672]

Windows 10 is very intrusive when it comes to privacy. I would never use this OS for any important personal information.

[imoldernu]

Perhhaps there should be a linux thread.

At my age and with 7 different computers,I have no intention of changing over or learning a new system.

The subject is Windows 10... not how dumb some of us are...

[googily]

I upgraded a 5-year-old Win 7 desktop yesterday. The OS and application part of it went fine--but the upgrade somehow hosed the partition info on my second internal drive, a 4 TB Western Digital green drive where all of my photos/documents/music/videos are. (It's all mirrored and backed up, but the drive was the primary location.)

Miraculously, a program called TestDisk was able to diagnose and rewrite the partition data, and the drive is back in business.

Other than that....

I'm a power user--so Win 10 may be a bit too simplified for me, but I imagine I'll stick with it. My #1 annoyance is the dang title bars are now a boring white, and can't be changed without a kludgy workaround.

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by imoldernu Perhhaps there should be a linux thread. At my age and with 7 different computers,I have no intention of changing over or learning a new system. The subject is Windows 10...

Perhaps, but if you think about it, moving from one version of Windows to another version of Windows is learning a new system (to a degree). One of the advantages I have had with Linux is, with each upgrade it was easy for me to configure everything pretty much the same as it was. I could take my time trying out new set ups to see if they were better for the way I work.

I agree the linux stuff should not overwhelm this thread, but it's maybe a good way for Windows types to get some exposure to linux from people they 'know'. They are unlikely to read a linux-only thread.

-ERD50

[Car-Guy]

Just downloaded and upgraded to W10 yesterday. The download is huge and it took a coupe of hours to pull it down from Microsoft over a 3 meg DSL. Took almost another hour for the computer to overlay the new OS over W8.1 but everything worked as advertised (at this point).... So far I like it a lot better than W8. Seems to be as intuitive to use as W7 was. Also, downloaded the latest version of Firefox. Not a problem to use on W10.

[Birdie Num Nums]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jim584672 Windows 10 is very intrusive when it comes to privacy. I would never use this OS for any important personal information.

How to opt out of W10 default "spying" settings.
"First, you’ll want to open Settings and click on Privacy. There, you’ll find 13 different screens — yes, 13 — to go through, and you’ll want to disable anything that seems worrying...."

[Car-Guy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Birdie Num Nums How to opt out of W10 default "spying" settings. "First, you’ll want to open Settings and click on Privacy. There, you’ll find 13 different screens — yes, 13 — to go through, and you’ll want to disable anything that seems worrying...."

I configured most (maybe all) of them when I went through the upgrade from W8 to W10 yesterday. The install upgrade/process asked many/most of these "security/privacy" related questions and most were intuitive. I just checked them again in the privacy settings and they all seemed to be set like I selected. Of course who really knows if they work as presented.

[jim584672]

I have been playing around on it. Once it gets configured and the display is set better it is not that bad. I hated Windows 8 since I didn't need touch ability on a desktop. Seems very responsive. SSD makes it blazing.

As far as trusting the privacy settings, I have a hard time trusting MS.