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Windows 10 Upgrade Experience


Jack Mayer

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I upgraded three of our machines from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10. Unlike some others, I let Microsoft do the job - I did not load the sw to a USB drive to force the upgrade. I let the automatic system do everything. But I did do them all in one day.That meant three downloads, but I'm on fast park wifi so that is not an issue.

 

The machines were all fairly modern, and all have touch screens. My Asus T100 hybrid is the oldest. The other machines are an Asus Ultra portable 13" with i5, my new Toshiba 15.6" with i7, and the T100 with the old processor line.

 

All updates proceeded without issue. No driver issues to date. And all machines operate "normally" under W10.

 

I have not formed a complete opinion on the upgrade yet - it is too early. But I do like Cortana, and it seems to work fine. The user interface is "different" and I suppose - being an old human factors specialist - that it is better. But it is driving Danielle a little crazy since it is so different. Her response is "why do they have to change things EVERY TIME they update". She says the same thing about Google, though. I won't repeat what my response is.....

 

Some people find the speed is better on W10. I don't find that to be the case on the i5/i7 machines. But the T100 is snappier. But those are subjective opinions - I have not measured speed.

Jack & Danielle Mayer #60376 Lifetime Member
Living on the road since 2000

PLEASE no PM's. Email me. jackdanmayer AT gmail
2016 DRV Houston 44' 5er (we still have it)
2022 New Horizons 43' 5er
2016 Itasca 27N 28' motorhome 
2019 Volvo 860, D13 455/1850, 236" wb, I-Shift, battery-based APU
No truck at the moment - we use one of our demo units
2016 smart Passion, piggyback on the truck
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See our website for info on New Horizons 5th wheels, HDTs as tow vehicles, communications on the road, and use of solar power
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Thanks for sharing that info, Jack. I have been wondering about the broader experience. I have a 8 year-old desktop that upgraded easily from Win 7, no hitches, and seems to run a tad faster. My wife's 3 year-old laptop pretty much the same. But the changed interfaces have us scratching our heads. And I have put Cortana off for a while.

 

So far, so good.

Jim

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We also had no problems at all going from 8.1 to W 10. We also have a older LP on W-7 and IE 11 and I think I will keep it that way.

Helen and I are long timers ..08 F-350 Ford,LB,CC,6.4L,4X4, Dually,4:10 diff dragging around a 2013 Montana 3402 Big Sky

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That is all the opposite of my experience. I have a 3-year-old Dell Vostro and windows 10 tells me it needs updated. I have Windows 8.1 and Windows update finds no needed updates. The 'Get Windows 10 app' says some updates are missing but I check and they are in the list of installed updates.

 

I used to work on the Microsoft campus and quit to be a retired person so maybe they don't like me. :wacko:

 

John

John and Sharon
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I am up to 11 upgraded. Four Win 7 the rest Win 8.1.

 

Found my BU-353 GPS Mouse didn't have a driver for 8, 8.1 or 10. The truck PC was Win 7. New BU-353S4 and away we went.

 

Found some issues with Windows DVD Player. Some systems had is installed but not enough codecs to play all movies. Some didn't have the DVD Player. A download, VLC seems to fill the job.

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Thanks Jack,

That was my experience with my one laptop test bed I tried it on. I haven't turned it on since. Still busy stupidvising contractors. Got electric today and the A/C tomorrow.

 

I have a second really old native Windows 7 laptop that uses DDR2! It will get it next and once my new house and main systems are up and running 8.1 and 7 (hers) in the new house then I will do the tablets. They are our main computers now in the RV. This ASUS T200TAC, Z3795, 64 bit Windows 8.1 system with 4 GB of RAM and a 64GB SSD, a 64 GB SD Card, and a second 120GB SSD in the keyboard dock, with an 11.6" screen size that works essentially the same as the smaller ASUS T100TA, is truly a laptop replacement. There is something to be said for just opening the top and start typing on a nice keyboard. But in my recliner when we are not existing on an RV booth table it is only used as a tablet without the keyboard. I prefer the smaller size relative to other laptops for travel, and the relatively large size screen for a tablet. It is the same size screen as the Surface pro screens, They call them 12" when they are actually 11.6" So I could say this is a 12" screen too.

 

Lots of decisions today between Windows versions, computer form factor, and processor power versus heat and speed.

 

From what I am seeing, Windows has its juju back. This version is a winner. I liked 8, really liked 8.1, and will learn 10 eventually on all my systems. The laptops are getting sold or given to my kids once I am done testing/learning 10 on them.

 

Good feedback Jack. Remember when you were trying to talk me into upgrading to 7 from XP in 2009? Then I was gung ho doing the early Windows 8 and you held back? now it seems it is my turn to be too busy to do the learning curve at the moment. I already trust it to work better than any previous version of Windows this soon after release.

RV/Derek
http://www.rvroadie.com Email on the bottom of my website page.
Retired AF 1971-1998


When you see a worthy man, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy man, look inside yourself. - Confucius

 

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ... Voltaire

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I'm using 10 for over 2 months on my old Acer Aspire 5551 (about 4 years old) and it runs perfect. No trouble as everything when auto. Found Edge being alot more faster than Explorer and that's very good. Rest is OK. I'm also running Linux on a 2nd partition and it's a charm as it when on pretty good. Linux is free and you will add apps free also.

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garth33: Set your 5GB wifi to "metered" and Windows 10 will not force the updates. Here is a simple guide from an RVer - http://bitsnbytespicsnews.blogspot.ca/2015/09/how-to-setup-windows-10-metered.html.

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Well, I tried to update an HP Stream. Unsuccessfully. It aborted and put itself back on W8.1. No real reason why. I'll have to investigate more. It DOES require that you use a USB drive for that machine, since it has limited local storage.

 

ALSO, I am finding that on ALL of my machines that the wifi interfaces are really much more flaky than 8.1. And 8.1 was pretty bad. Microsoft has somehow gotten that interface totally screwed up. Often the available networks will not show obviously available APs. Often. W7 shows them fine as does a "finder" tool. It is particularly annoying since you have to wait and wait and try and try before your desired AP shows in the list of available. This is on 5 machines with different hardware - and they all behave consistently. Granted, I am in an area that has almost 25 APs showing on WiFIanalyzer....but this stuff is not rocket science. I'm shocked that Microsoft could not do a better job.

Jack & Danielle Mayer #60376 Lifetime Member
Living on the road since 2000

PLEASE no PM's. Email me. jackdanmayer AT gmail
2016 DRV Houston 44' 5er (we still have it)
2022 New Horizons 43' 5er
2016 Itasca 27N 28' motorhome 
2019 Volvo 860, D13 455/1850, 236" wb, I-Shift, battery-based APU
No truck at the moment - we use one of our demo units
2016 smart Passion, piggyback on the truck
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
See our website for info on New Horizons 5th wheels, HDTs as tow vehicles, communications on the road, and use of solar power
www.jackdanmayer.com
Principal in RVH Lifestyles. RVH-Lifestyles.com

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  • 4 weeks later...

Wifi anomalies continue on ALL W10 machines that I can get my hands on. It works, but not well. The user interface is lousy, and sometimes it will connect to an AP and sometimes not. It is seemingly random. I can put two machines side by side and sometimes one will connect to a Verizon 6620, and other times it will not, saying "Cannot connect to this network". While another machine will connect and reconnect without issue. Reboot helps but it appears on all machines from time to time. Same thing with other APs.

 

I bought my sister a brand new HP with W10 native on it. It will connect to her cable modem but continually gets dropped after 15 min to an hour and will not reconnect until the modem is rebooted. Other machines in the household that are not 10 have no issues, and even Apple products connect and hold the connection without issue. All these machines have different wifi hardware, so I know it is W10 doing it. All are current on updates.

 

Also, all W10 machines that I can test - over 15 of them - do not show all access points. They randomly will drop out showing APs, and have no easy "scan" mechanism, to force a scan. Yet an app (Acrylic WiFi) running on W10 (same machine) shows the AP's without an issue. EVERY TIME.

Jack & Danielle Mayer #60376 Lifetime Member
Living on the road since 2000

PLEASE no PM's. Email me. jackdanmayer AT gmail
2016 DRV Houston 44' 5er (we still have it)
2022 New Horizons 43' 5er
2016 Itasca 27N 28' motorhome 
2019 Volvo 860, D13 455/1850, 236" wb, I-Shift, battery-based APU
No truck at the moment - we use one of our demo units
2016 smart Passion, piggyback on the truck
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
See our website for info on New Horizons 5th wheels, HDTs as tow vehicles, communications on the road, and use of solar power
www.jackdanmayer.com
Principal in RVH Lifestyles. RVH-Lifestyles.com

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Yes. The Wifi interface in win 8 was terrible but it would refresh if you hit F5. Can't really tell on Win 10 if it ever refreshes on demand.

 

However, there is a solution. Run the free Basic Wifi-Scanner from LIzard Systems and it will repeatedly refresh the wifi list while you watch.

RVBuddys Journal Our progress into full-timing.
Budd & Merrily ===-> SKP# 088936 Other Websites:---> Hub of all my blogs
Clifford - 2000 VNL64T770 :: DakotR - 1999 C40KS King of the Road :: $PRITE - 2013 Smart Passion w/cruise

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  • 4 weeks later...

All,

Have your W10 machines gotten the WIFI issues resolved as yet? Just curious because I'm considering updating my laptop this week.

Later,

J

The wifi works but the interface is less than desirable. IF and WHEN the AP list is "crippled" a reboot resolves it for me. I still get times when trying to connect to one of MY hotspots W10 will come back and say "This network is not available". Yet another W10 device connects OK. It does occasionally get confused. Again, a reboot solves that issue. No issues at all with W7. Is it enough of an issue to stay off of W10? Not for me.

Jack & Danielle Mayer #60376 Lifetime Member
Living on the road since 2000

PLEASE no PM's. Email me. jackdanmayer AT gmail
2016 DRV Houston 44' 5er (we still have it)
2022 New Horizons 43' 5er
2016 Itasca 27N 28' motorhome 
2019 Volvo 860, D13 455/1850, 236" wb, I-Shift, battery-based APU
No truck at the moment - we use one of our demo units
2016 smart Passion, piggyback on the truck
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
See our website for info on New Horizons 5th wheels, HDTs as tow vehicles, communications on the road, and use of solar power
www.jackdanmayer.com
Principal in RVH Lifestyles. RVH-Lifestyles.com

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Had a new one on my son's desktop. Upgrade from w7 to w10. First failure was due to not enough space (the old 100mb partition problem). FIxed that , cleared more than enough space from his install drive. Retried update.

 

Worked this time but..... he has 2 HDs. 1 is an older SATA drive and though it is there, it was not being seen nor could be mounted on w10.

 

Turns out that in his MB bios, AHCI was set on and W10 had compatibility issues with the driver for the feature and would not migrate the drive to w10.

 

Fix: Turn MB AHCI to IDE for the time being until driver can be found or replace HD with current tech HD (better choice). meanwhile, all is good, now. His first comment was about how much faster W10 boots on his system than w7. About 1/2 the time it used to take.

 

All is now good.

RVBuddys Journal Our progress into full-timing.
Budd & Merrily ===-> SKP# 088936 Other Websites:---> Hub of all my blogs
Clifford - 2000 VNL64T770 :: DakotR - 1999 C40KS King of the Road :: $PRITE - 2013 Smart Passion w/cruise

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Yes, it boots quite a bit faster. It is also very stable. At least all of mine are.

Jack & Danielle Mayer #60376 Lifetime Member
Living on the road since 2000

PLEASE no PM's. Email me. jackdanmayer AT gmail
2016 DRV Houston 44' 5er (we still have it)
2022 New Horizons 43' 5er
2016 Itasca 27N 28' motorhome 
2019 Volvo 860, D13 455/1850, 236" wb, I-Shift, battery-based APU
No truck at the moment - we use one of our demo units
2016 smart Passion, piggyback on the truck
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
See our website for info on New Horizons 5th wheels, HDTs as tow vehicles, communications on the road, and use of solar power
www.jackdanmayer.com
Principal in RVH Lifestyles. RVH-Lifestyles.com

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Bill,

The updates have the Wi-Fi Realtek drivers wrong for many machines. If you have issues with your WiFi go to Device manager, Network adapters, and uninstall the drivers there by right clicking on them and clicking on properties. Then reboot and the drivers will automatically be reinstalled. It will always reinstall. That should fix the Wi-Fi issues if any. If not, you will need to go to your vendor to get the right ones like HP support etc. and get the updates.

RV/Derek
http://www.rvroadie.com Email on the bottom of my website page.
Retired AF 1971-1998


When you see a worthy man, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy man, look inside yourself. - Confucius

 

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ... Voltaire

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Bill,

The updates have the Wi-Fi Realtek drivers wrong for many machines. If you have issues with your WiFi go to Device manager, Network adapters, and uninstall the drivers there by right clicking on them and clicking on properties. Then reboot and the drivers will automatically be reinstalled. It will always reinstall. That should fix the Wi-Fi issues if any. If not, you will need to go to your vendor to get the right ones like HP support etc. and get the updates.

Nope...I'm not going to install or mess with ANYTHING. If MS cannot get this right on a NEW MACHINE with W10 on it natively then I am NOT going to be their IT dept. If it stops working and cannot fix itself with regular upgrades then I'll ditch the machine AND the OS. I'm fed up with brand new things that do not work correctly right out of the box. They get returned or sold. I'm not spending my life on vendors issues. And, yes, I fully understand what is involved in "getting it right".

 

As it is, at least on my machines, it is usable. So I can tolerate it. Eventually it will correct itself or get so bad I'll ditch the machine. But I'm not messing with it AT ALL.

Jack & Danielle Mayer #60376 Lifetime Member
Living on the road since 2000

PLEASE no PM's. Email me. jackdanmayer AT gmail
2016 DRV Houston 44' 5er (we still have it)
2022 New Horizons 43' 5er
2016 Itasca 27N 28' motorhome 
2019 Volvo 860, D13 455/1850, 236" wb, I-Shift, battery-based APU
No truck at the moment - we use one of our demo units
2016 smart Passion, piggyback on the truck
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
See our website for info on New Horizons 5th wheels, HDTs as tow vehicles, communications on the road, and use of solar power
www.jackdanmayer.com
Principal in RVH Lifestyles. RVH-Lifestyles.com

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Jack, why don'tcha tell me how ya really feel! ;)

 

I had the realtek driver issue with my tablet running 8.1.

 

I've always been that way about updates. I just do them all. The few times they goofed it did not lock up my machine but they usually caught it and fixed it out of cycle fast.

 

I know you are totally into Google and Android so that might just work for ya too without Windows.

RV/Derek
http://www.rvroadie.com Email on the bottom of my website page.
Retired AF 1971-1998


When you see a worthy man, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy man, look inside yourself. - Confucius

 

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” ... Voltaire

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So far, no one platform does it all for me. Maybe I am just a masochist but when I get tired of being beaten up by one platform, I switch to another one for awhile to heal and let the bad one evolve. That does not mean I like it, just that I am motivated by it.

 

One of these days I will replace this motherboard that keeps giving me blue screens. Til then, I will plug on. I figure that if these frequent BSODs that I am getting are not able to break win 10, then it is pretty good.

RVBuddys Journal Our progress into full-timing.
Budd & Merrily ===-> SKP# 088936 Other Websites:---> Hub of all my blogs
Clifford - 2000 VNL64T770 :: DakotR - 1999 C40KS King of the Road :: $PRITE - 2013 Smart Passion w/cruise

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