What's up with Windows 10?

dave lackey

dave lackey

Veteran
Local time
7:07 PM
Joined
Feb 20, 2007
Messages
9,487
Location
Atlanta, Ga
View My Gallery
Photography generally sucks.😱 I am a photographer not a computer geek but it seems that computers haunt me everywhere I go!!! I hate computers!!! I spent most of my life designing and building major projects so I have been through dozens of systems only to be constantly harassed... Did I say I hate computers?😀

Now, I get this little reminder that I can upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10 free for a limited time... Really? Izzat so?

Supposedly my LR 3.3 and Silverfast and CS2 or Elements will work on Windows 10? Really?

Can someone enlighten me on the wisdom of clicking to upgrade to Windiws 10? Or should I just stick with Windiws 7 now?

Thanks in advance... You guys are the best.
 
My advice Dave is don't upgrade to Windows 10 unless you have some software or hardware that will only work on Windows 10. If everything is working for you on Windows 7, stay with it. There is a free upgrade program, but there are always gotchas with upgrades in my experience - twelve years as an IT support person from Win95 to Win7.
 
I did an upgrade to Windows 10 from Windows 8.1. NEVER do it. The startmenu disapeared. Now I have a computer without e-mail, apps, agenda etc. Simply gone. I can't download Windows 10 again as I am afraid of loosing elementary customized files of Office 2013 that I need for my work.

Erik.
 
I for one am not impressed with the way Microsoft almost forces you to upgrade to Windows 10 with pop ups each time you start up your computer, so another "don't do it" here, Dave.

Windows 7 is supported by Microsoft until January 2020 anyway, so you've got plenty of time to think about an upgrade.

Oh and you also might want to read this: Windows 10 is possibly the worst spyware ever made
 
Another vote for staying with windows 7 ... it's on my laptop and has never given any issues so why upgrade.
 
Erik van Straten said:
I did an upgrade to Windows 10 from Windows 8. NEVER do it. Now I have a computer without e-mail, apps, agenda etc. They are simply gone. I can't download Windows 10 again as I am afraid of loosing elementary customized files of Office 2013 that I need for my work.

Erik.
Click to expand...
Plenty of free email and other apps that are superior to any of the in-built Microsoft stuff. The apps are there by the way, but not the same as you have been used to.
 
Microsoft lost its way with operating systems years ago. Each release is a new theory about what Windows should be. Windows 8 was supposed to bring phones and PCs to the same interface. We have Windows 10 for PCs with a phone interface, but still no Windows 10 for phones. Remembering that Microsoft designs Windows for Grandmas and gamers gives the right perspective on why Windows is so bad.

Unfortunately Apple now seems to be emulating Microsoft.
 
I think W7 goes out of support in 2020, so if it is working for you, I'd say stick with it.

W7 has unfortunate effects in some cases - it is not so bad where the hardware is modern and generic (e.g. my desktop) but with laptops the result can be - ahem - unexpected. My laptop refused to upgrade, I tried again some months later, and it did upgrade, but W10 sucked the battery dry in half the time W7 ever did. So I took the option to revert.

Having said which, my desktop is, according to MS, capable of upgrading, but it is clear that there are driver issues and I would be left without sound.

I would say W10 works well if you have a little 2-in-1 tablet cum keyboard, it is what W8.1 should have been but wasn't. So my Asus T100HA works very nicely because it was designed from the ground up to run W10.

However, for a desktop or laptop without touch, W10 offers nothing at all worth the upgrade and you have the risk that there will be some little incompatibility which will irritate the Hell out of you.

rjstep3
 
Win 8/8.1 was ugly, the install failed on half the machines or left them missing some important component, so that we downgraded everything and remained on Win7. But Win7 to Win10 went absolutely without a hitch for us - the few machines that could not upgrade already were stuck on XP since they could not be upgraded to Win7.

SOFTWARE in general never has been a problem, at least not within the Windows NT strain - the last time I had software fail over a Windows upgrade was between Win 98SE and XP. What you have to look out for are hardware issues - for example Adaptec in their infinite wisdom decided to cut off all legacy SCSI cards from 64-bit support with the introduction of Win7 (a simple edit of the Vista driver installer can restore that capability, but that may be no option if your corporate policy bans drivers with a invalid or missing signature).
 
[I recently got involved in repairing/preparing laptops for the family, using W7 for them and also my own workstation. (I use Linux 99% of the time, hosting W7 or XP in a 'network air-gapped' virtual machine or running Win programs on Wine/Crossover when necessary.) ]

Anyway, I swapped-in a disc and loaded W8.1 just to test out the upgrade to W10 from there.
W8.1 activated OK once I went through the MS automated on-line procedure.
I then allowed W10 to download and install. Seemed to go OK until ... it demanded a re-activation !
This time the product key wasn't accepted, I had to go on to the interaction with a human operator ... who was a fast-talking, non-native-English speaking lady, and I'm not at my best talking on the 'phone anyway; it was a fiasco :bang:. So I've left that on one side for the time being.

If you get W10 ready installed on a new machine, it might be OK running old programs in 'legacy emulation' mode. But anyway, best to check out and adjust the privacy and such-like configurations!
 
citizen99 said:
I then allowed W10 to download and install. Seemed to go OK until ... it demanded a re-activation !
Click to expand...

The nuisance of telephonic re-activations has grown extremely common. It affected all our computers where we had done any significant hardware upgrade (pretty common in the emerging SSD era). I suspect that Microsoft do that intentionally to hamper (legal, at least by EU court rule) resellers of used Windows licenses from scrapped computers. But if you can handle twenty digit numbers by phone, it is generally easy going - but if you mistype a single digit, you will only get notified at the end, must start again from scratch and have wasted at least ten minutes...
 
Avoid Windows 10! It's a total mess. The installation destroyed one of my most important databases. In disgust I reverted back to Windows 7.
 
I took the risk and upgraded it, and the only thing sucky so far is the fact that it simply refuses to detect my DVD drive. I cannot 'burn' files for clients etc. LR5, iPhone works, iTunes had to count as a 'new PC detected'.

The DVD simply cripples my workflow. I have contacted Microsoft support but till today there is no solution. Absurd!
 
Tejasican said:
Windows 10 is worth the upgrade from 8, but if you are on 7 I would stay there until you know what you need is available on 10.
Click to expand...

yes 8 users might actually be happy about 10. although upgrade process can do havoc for customised files, as some comments above indicate.

to get rid of persistent notifications requires some geek work but is possible: link.

best is to get rid of Windows altogether and upgrade to Mac :angel:
 
Dave, I make computer chips for a living, and can relate to your frustration. When it was time to get a backup computer I got a refurbished Lenovo from Newegg for a song, with a fresh install of Windows 7, minus all the bloatware. Yes, Windows Updater wants to keep reminding me about the upgrade to Windows 10; and yes, I keep ignoring it. Why should I, when it works the way I want it to now?

Funny enough, but some of the fab equipment that is used to make chips are themselves powered by some pretty antiquated computers. Industrial machine controllers above all else have to be reliable and compatible with an existing software ecosystem; there's no technology treadmill here. In fact, the older the machines are, the better chance that they've been fully depreciated, making the cost per chip even lower. The sweet spot is in putting money into upgrading the processing chambers on these machines; but the software and computers can often be pretty ancient by consumer standards.

~Joe
 
Isn't there an analogy here between Windows x and digital cameras? You are pressed into taking the latest, the greatest, the device with the feature you have always wanted.

With anything digital, I always wonder why, if the latest feature is so essential, why wasn't it built like that in the first place?

I mean: look at USB. A simple connection, right? Now they are touting USB-C as ending all those problems we had with micro-USB cables trying to force a cable in upside-down. In which case: WHY MAKE IT THAT WAY ORIGINALLY? It was obviously a dumb design.

Beautiful old mechanical cameras were made to last a lifetime - they served a whole family for decades. Now, we buy something digital, we are on the upgrade cycle every 18 months.

Sorry to rant, but it feels better now it is off my chest. I am going to take my medication now.

rjstep3
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom