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Is the Windows 10 upgrade a good thing to do?


Kirk W

What is your opinion of W-10?  

49 members have voted

  1. 1. If you have done the W-10 upgrade, are you happy with it?

    • I regret that I ever did the upgrade. W-8.1 was better.
      1
    • I regret that I did the W-10 upgrade, butnever used W-8.1
      1
    • W-10 is far better than W-8.1
      9
    • W-10 isn't great, but is better than 8.1
      3
    • I have w-10 but am not sure it is an improvement
      2
    • I bought a new computer with W-10 and like it.
      2
    • I bought a new computer with W-10 and do not like it.
      0
    • I love W-10
      6
    • I hate W-10
      1
    • W-10 is a step in the right direction and has good features.
      11
    • I am not going to upgade to W-10 from my old OS.
      10
    • I have not yet made my decision.
      11


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Interesting way to put it. I enjoyed the perspective.

 

Perhaps it isn't sufficient even to be a monk. Look how fast the Catholic Church is moving.

 

Geo

Yes. A good Point is that not all change is perceptable if it spans lifetimes. The weathering of mountains and headstones take decades to recognize. The virtual world now extends our "memories" beyond single lifespans and we can see Glaciers melt and the changes to the rest of the world as it is being reshaped by weather and tectonics.

 

Like a tree falling in the woods, all of these things carry physical attributes with them whether anyone actually sees them in real time or not. To learn how and why they change requires a certain record of data to understand the changes and more important, to plan for them. In no case is the individual tree important or even known. What's remembered are the dynamics of the event and what it influences and that is important to planning. This is called metadata and, like a shadow, is cast by everything, whether being observed or not. No one owns a shadow nor has a right to have or not have one. It is part of the universe and not a possession.

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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As aggravated as I get with MS, they do have the corner on the cheap stuff pretty much. Family pressure is to Apple and cheap they are not. Perhaps I should just be the rebel and join Jack with an Android! :P

I'm not at the point YET where I would recommend an Android-only experience. There are a few things that are not available on Android, or that work better on W10. However, the Google experience and ecosystem has come a long way and is pretty compelling. We will see what they do with the Android OS going forward, now that the chrome OS focus has shifted to it. There is a LOT that could be done to make the entire thing more compelling. Mainly having to do with transition between machines and cleaning up their apps. The entire Drive/Photos thing is a debacle in my tiny mind. The two do not play well together, and when they created the Photos app they did not bring forward all the main features of Picasa. But those are relatively minor gripes.

 

One the comment on Surface Pro 4. I had occasion to use a SP4 for a few hours the other day. I was "gobsmacked". It literally blew me away. I have never used a device that was that nice and efficient. The keyboard was great, the screen size was just right, and the quality was oozing out. What a great machine to use. And W10 on it was superb. They are not cheap, but for me, I now know what my next machine will be. I'll still want a 15" conventional laptop for development, but honestly that may not continue. The SP4 was that good. Too bad that more people do not try it.

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Evolution is sometimes painful to the beasts of the field to insure their survival. The vision for the evolution of Windows since the announcement of Windows has been targeting what windows 10 is based on. Most of the growth process has depended on technology, not lack of foresight. The foundation principal of Windows growth has always been to have a single scalable operating platform across all technology devices. We have that today... mostly. However, bear in mind that Microsoft has gone for the big Whopper by building for all programmable devices, regardless of the OEM. Same for LInux and Android.

 

Apple has always limited tech knowledge and flexibility to their own marketable product line. This has made them more of a niche product line. Their marketing has focused on convincing the public to buy their products with the subliminal message that they don't need anything more. They just need to have it before anyone else. In a way, Apple has created the markets that everyone else plays in but very often, do not do a better job, technically.

 

For me, I have beta tested (prerelease tested) every version of windows and DOS, CPM and DRDOS. My vision was always to be more productive and help guide others to be more self sufficient and empowered. This is very hard to do with products that don't help you help them because you can't learn enough to understand the best fit of a product to a user. Microsoft has gone out of their way to support this process of fitting the tools to the individual hand and job.

 

The much improved flexibility and security of Windows 10 over previous releases has finally given Pinocchio life. As a real boy, it must be tended to in real time and be constantly monitored to keep that growth timely and protected. This means that as the technology within changes, so must the way it is applied if it is expected to become autonomous beyond a command line and icon controlled interface.

 

Technologies are like clothes. They will be outgrown, worn out, fall out of fashion and if not upgraded, will become a dated albatross around the necks of the users and impair rather than benefit their lives.

 

Windows 10 is not a savior nor a panacea. It is just another step towards improving human accomplishment. The individual benefit depends on the ambition and anticipation of growth that prevails and a willingness to grow with it.

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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Poor choices there, I just voted and you had no choice that was I upgraded to Windows 10 and like it and am glad I did it. You had all making comparisons to 8.1 as better or not com[pared to 8.1 which is of no use to Win 7 folks who never used 8/8.1. It seems like you funneled everyone into a wishy washy or extreme. I love Windows 10 was closest for me as I don't care how it compares to 8/8.1 as I want it to stand on its own as a natural and logical progression from the previous versions.

 

MS is cool again.

Interesting perspective. Looks almost like the Applefication has already begun to limit the choices available.

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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BTW Kirk,

What Model Mac and version of OSX do you have?

 

Jack,

I second that about the Surface Pro 4. I got the local Best Buy to unbox one as they are late with the display they promised for the 26th. I had it to myself for about an hour I was also blown away by the SP4, especially since I have been putting money aside from selling all my older systems but my Dell Giant tablet on a stick XPS 2720. I was planning on a Surface 3 or a Surface, not Pro, 4 if they come out with one this month as some thought was possible.

 

But you are right. The light weight of that 12.2" tablet with that kind of power and run times is amazing. I liked the Surface Pro pen too. Now I have to wait for Threshold 2 a week from Tuesday and start looking for the best deal out there with the new x7 series SoCs. Have you noticed the X5 SoCs being advertised on the newest Atom tablets? This year will be a watershed, especially since we are expecting Windows 10 Mobile for our phones any week now. Everyone is looking for that upgrade to come this month and I am not waiting as I did for Windows 10 on my computers and tablets.

 

Roger,

I rarely used Windows Media Center. It was always slow and buggy on both my Windows 7 systems and my windows 8/8.1 desktops and tablets. I always just used third party software for video burning and editing and Windows Media Player for ripping and playing music and videos, or VLC, which I have on all my systems from new. So the lack of Media Center is not an issue for me. I am no big fan of the new Windows music program either with their Xbox emphasis and iTunes approach. I am very glad they still have Windows Media Player on Windows 10, and I have it pinned to the taskbars of all systems, along with snip, CCleaner, Task Manager, control Panel and a few others.

 

Privacy concerns are not much of an issue with Windows as they have not yet given a change of privacy policy allowing them to read all data on all Microsoft programs including using my Skype conversations and emails in outlook to better enhance my experience. I avoided pretty much all Google apps and programs because all I was interested in were voice calls and navigation and those were releasing info by their privacy policies. I am more comfortable with MS using my info for each part by opting in or allowing an opt out. For example Cortana, no way she will be at all useful if I do not let her have all my location and user info. She has to be able to "learn" that when I say call my wife to call Lynn, which she does fine. I also use Here+ for navigation and some data has to be given over to know where we are. So I weigh each supposed convenience and so far MS has not violated my trust. I have tablets and sure don't want them running on Windows 7 as they are touch and 7 was never much good at that. So 8 and above are absolutely required for my 27" touch screen all in one, and my two tablets. But Windows 10 is indeed a great move forward for MS to assuage the hard feelings folks had for 8/8.1 who never switched. To have a smart phone of any brand, or tablet, it is necessary to let Apple, Windows, or Google via the vendors and in some cases Amazon for the Android based Fire Tablets. I got the Fire 7" HDX a few months back and lately started using it when we were living in the RV for a couple of months and our bed had no individual reading lights. Then I realized it was Google And Amazon and I went back to my old click button Kindle, and found the perfect reading light for it for a dollar. I agree with your privacy concerns. But we can choose. I choose to stay with one vendor and trust that one not to litter my screen with tracking and ads for any website I visit. I also recently installed the newer Windows Internet Explorer version of Ad Blocker + free, and it is doing a wonderful job on all my systems.

 

Guys,

for decades I dreamed of being able to actually watch movies and content without minutes of buffering all through them, and to have my programs show Standard definition pictures and movies , let alone HD 1080p and more! My goodness, my TV is similar to the viewer on the helm of the Starship Enterprise no one ever actually thought would be in our homes. My tablet like theirs. Several years ago I was posting here that I bought a netbook to have a small and fast way to look things up while watching TV. Now I can run any number of options to show all info inside the screen. I still prefer the tablet for that. But the changes are all for the better as long as we vote with our wallets. I personally have a Roku 3 on this desktop, both a smart LG BluRay player and a full size Fire TV on my main LR entertainment center, as well as a full blown dedicated Voyo micro computer running Windows 8.1. That is going to be sold because they are now coming out with some really great micro computers with Windows 10 native, and the x5000 SoC chipsets. See we can stream all our waking days and nights at 75Mbps and still not go over our 350 GB limits set by our cable provider. See we dropped cable in September for our new house. Streaming is where we get the other half of our content after the perfect HD content we get OTA.

 

We already sold our old 60" Plasma TV and are temporarily watching the 40" from the RV, and are getting a new 4k 65/70" machine on Black Friday or Cyber Monday. Each budget has been allotted for by savings and sales proceeds of our old stuff at half original price.

 

I don't suggest everyone upgrade as much as I do, but mine are for pleasure, my own. Most of my peers here spend many thousands a year for a couple hundred pounds of Deer and wild Hog meat after guns/ammo/hunting lease/hunting lease improvements/4 wheelers/tree stands and blinds, ammo, and processing fees. My BIL is a tournament fisherman and his boat costs more than most cars.

 

My hobbies for new tech in screens and computers as well as recording devices and mobile ones, are pretty cheap by those standards. Just traveling to New Orleans for Saints Home games costs a lot more than my electronics. We each choose.

 

The key is being happy with our choices. If not. then simply make different ones. Whatever platform you choose, others will make different ones.

 

 

 

Safe computing.

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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  • 2 weeks later...

I noticed after upgrading one of our laptops from W-8.1 to W-10, that you can "restore to W-7". Has anyone ever done that? My wife makes many, many cards, calendars, etc., w/pictures on a program called "The Printshop 23.1", purchased in 2010. It worked on Windows 8.0, but when upgraded to 8.1, it would no longer work, and could not restore to 8.0. After working on it for hours, we called for a Printshop upgrade, and was told it was not possible with the old program, and you would not like the new program as well. Purchased the new one anyway, but not happy with the new program(not their fault). Now, she uses my laptop with W-7, and edits the pictures from her laptop, then prints from the wireless network. In other words, I now need a "kitchen pass" to use my computer. I just barely know how to use the internet, but was told that the new Windows systems do not have one of the netframeworks(?) or something like that, and was wondering before doing a W-7 restore, if you "Geeks" think the restore would be a complete restore, because her laptop came with W-8.0? I also can't get the Homegroup network to work correctly from one laptop to the other. I have managed a work around to get them to shares files though. Thanks, Dick T

2006 Volvo VNL 630(VED12 400HP)
10 speed autoshift,3.58 gear 236" twin screw, w/ET, Jackalopee, Blue Dot
2016 Space Craft 37'

Blu/Dot, Dexter 8K triple axel, HD Drum hydraulic brakes

Feather lite air ride
2005 Jeep Rubicon
2007 Suzuki DR 650

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Dick,

If you don't like Windows 10 you can revert to the last version on your system. If it originally came with Windows7 and you still have the recovery/restore partition, you can do a full factory restore and set it back to like it was new with none of your current programs on it.

 

I do complete system images before upgrading so if a reversion fails I can restore the image and have it all back as before the upgrade. Of course that means that I must back up everything data wise that I made on 10 since the image of 7 or 8 was done.

 

Was the computer originally 7 or 8, or 8.1?IT is my understanding that when you upgrade it only makes an image called Windows old, of the version you had on it at the time of upgrade so the only full restore if you had Win 8.1 on it when restoring would be to the last one, 8.1.

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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...you can "restore to W-7". Has anyone ever done that?....

I guess the best answer is kinda, sorta.... BTDT If you upgrade from 7 to 10, then you can "restore" back to 7. You won't have to reload all your programs and your data will still be there. HOWEVER, your drivers will all revert to original 7 and various problems will arise until you go back and update all the drivers for all the devices. Some of these may be difficult to find by now.

 

I upgraded my big desk system (an AMD athlon) from 7 to 10, it takes longer to boot, runs programs much slower, the display is screwed up and has a big black border around the outside (so far an MS / Nvidia unsolvable issue), a few programs won't run at all, no real benefits at all and lots of problems. At least support should last beyond 7. I would not recommend upgrading 7 => 10 for an AMD Athlon.

 

My Dell notebook (i7) finally became acceptable and I upgraded it from 7 1o 10. Easy, Peasy. The only real issue was the fingerprint reader didn't work and it wouldn't accept the logon password I have used since dirt. Getting on the first time was challenging, but since everything has been okay. It is a little faster, I will get used to the user interface and would generally recommend the upgrade, but obviously back up all your stuff carefully and verify the backup before upgrading.

 

My HP notebooks will stay at 7 for now and my old Dell I keep for running stuff that won't work past XP will stay at XP.

 

I'm not a big fan of Unix et. al., but may have to start considering it.

 

Si

F-250 SCREW 4X4 Gas, 5th NuWa Premier 35FKTG, Full Time, Engineer Ret.

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Windows 10 has compatibility settings that go back to Windows XP service pack 3 level. I have a lot of things that are "old" tech software and I have not found anything that ran on windows 7 that does not run on windows 10. I did have a couple of old tools that balked but they were dated in the late 1990s. Even so, I was able to set the compatibilty mode for them to Windows XP and they have worked fine.

 

To try compatibility modes just right click the executable and select whether you want it to try to figure it out or TROUBLESHOOT it yourself. Under that item you can test it on every level of windows from XP up until you find one that works.

 

I am running a 64 bit version of WIndows 10 so my system is a worst case test for compatibility problems.

 

Hope this helps a bit.

 

 

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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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RV, & Si,

This computer came with 8.0, we upgraded to 8.1, then to 10. I don't think I we attempt a "restore to 7" after your comments.

 

Biker 56,

We did purchase the Printshop Pro 3.5,for $99, she was NOT happy, but after checking out your link, I see they now have Printshop Pro 4.0,will check that out.

 

Budd,

I might do a major backup, then play around with your suggestions. Will let you know.

 

Thanks guys for all the comments, and suggestions, now tomorrow, I will have to chose between golf, or updates, what do ya think. I'm not good at either one.

 

Dick T

2006 Volvo VNL 630(VED12 400HP)
10 speed autoshift,3.58 gear 236" twin screw, w/ET, Jackalopee, Blue Dot
2016 Space Craft 37'

Blu/Dot, Dexter 8K triple axel, HD Drum hydraulic brakes

Feather lite air ride
2005 Jeep Rubicon
2007 Suzuki DR 650

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Dick -

Golf and OS upgrades are about equally frustrating in my mind. Maybe a golf course in Louisiana along the swamps with snakes and alligators or Scotland along those awful cliffs, islands and vicious winds would be the worst. But there are certainly plenty of hazards and challenges with upgrades. If you can get yourself to believe it is all in fun, and keep referring back to that mindset, then either one can fairly pleasant.

Good Luck

Si

F-250 SCREW 4X4 Gas, 5th NuWa Premier 35FKTG, Full Time, Engineer Ret.

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Kinda' cold here today 61*-F(Brackettville, Texas) so I tried all of the suggestions with no luck. :angry: We had ordered the Pro 3.5, last year, and have now looked at the Pro 4.0, but don't think it would compare with The Printshop 23.1 Deluxe. Broderbund says it is a Windows issue, because the newer OS doesn't include NET framework V1.1. Looks like I'll have to put on more clothes and go golfing, she goes also, and makes me count EVERY stroke. Oh well, with all the real problems, this is minor. I also can't buy a new car with points & condensers, so will just have to get along. Just to show how slow I am, all these years I thought BLM stood for Bureau of Land Management, and IS-IS :ph34r: , was when someone was stuttering.

 

Thanks for all the suggestions though. Dick T

2006 Volvo VNL 630(VED12 400HP)
10 speed autoshift,3.58 gear 236" twin screw, w/ET, Jackalopee, Blue Dot
2016 Space Craft 37'

Blu/Dot, Dexter 8K triple axel, HD Drum hydraulic brakes

Feather lite air ride
2005 Jeep Rubicon
2007 Suzuki DR 650

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Dick,

There are free Print Shop alternatives that only take a bit of time experimenting with to see if you can find one that does what she wants. Here are some lists and linkjs for you to try:

 

http://desktoppub.about.com/od/findsoftware1/tp/freedtpsoftware.htm

 

http://www.techradar.com/us/news/software/applications/best-free-dtp-software-6-programs-to-help-you-create-top-quality-documents-1139625

 

http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/articles/pages/cmvq94x7so/Free-Print-Shop-Alternatives.html

 

I enjoyed looking these up. I remember back in the 80's and 90s using Printshop. But Office Pro Brought MS Publisher which took over as I bought Office pro anyway it was essentially free.

 

Several of them look a lot like I remember Print Shop. If I were doing this today I'd try these two first:

 

Page Plus Starter Edition Free review: http://www.pcworld.com/article/231980/pageplus_starter_edition.html

download from the maker: http://www.serif.com/desktop-publishing-software/

 

Scribus review: http://www.trustedreviews.com/Scribus-Open-Source-Desktop-Publishing-review

Scribus home page download site: http://www.scribus.net/

 

I have not tried these so can't make any statements to the results in trying them. I have some other projects ahead of trying these but I will get back to this thread and try some later. If you find a perfect one from those lists, post back here and let us know which because I am sure there are more out there looking.

 

Safe publishing!

 

 

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 upgraded one machine to W10 from W8.1. Didn't like it much. Of course, I run W8.1 with something Shell, can't remember the name. Makes it almost like W7. I am very suspicious of W10. How does a company make any money giving away their product? Microsoft has never been generous in the past, why start now. I think something is coming that a lot of people won't like, just don't know what it is yet.

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Kirk,

You are aware that W10 monitors all your usage/habits, and then sends this data back to their servers? Unlike previous versions of windows, it's now mandatory in W10 and you can not opt out of this reporting.

 

http://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/computers/item/21400-windows-10-is-spyware

Exactly why I did not install Cortana and the other snooper stuff - THEY did away with my start menu and file associations - nice huh ? My computer says I'm running W8.1 and I'm just techie enough to move around without the start menu. Take THAT MS Windows !!

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