Windows 10

Post by **Marvin** » Sun Aug 02, 2015 9:07 pm

From post: 179502, Topic: tid=11974, author=Vice wrote:Half of my test systems are now running Windows 10 and everything is checking out well in terms of performance and compatibility.

Better performance? Is it worth risking the changeover? Btw, Accountant held steady on Starbuck's server the entire time he was logged on.

Post by **Vice** » Sun Aug 02, 2015 9:22 pm

Not necessarily better performance, but generally either the same as Windows 8.1 or still well within the margins of the hardware configurations being used with the OS.

akuma92802 · Post by **akuma92802** » Mon Aug 03, 2015 2:38 am

I'll check about the video drivers. Using an AMD HD 6970 since 3 weeks ago, updated the drivers then, had no problems. It's a good card, but not that recent. The rest of my hardware is the same since january. (Quad core Q6600 2.4 ghz with 8 gig ram) just 2 days ago, EM worked fine. I also tried the win7 compatibility mode. I will see if newer drivers are available.

akuma92802 · Post by **akuma92802** » Mon Aug 03, 2015 3:12 am

Well, I checked, my drivers were up to date, decided to try again anyway, and now it worked... no idea why, but as long as it works, I'm fine with a little mystery.

akuma92802 · Post by **akuma92802** » Tue Aug 04, 2015 7:06 am

To go back on subject of Win10 itself, I'll have to say I am pleased so far. There is a noticable performance increase on many games. Far Cry 4 and Dying Light especially.

SeeJay · Post by **SeeJay** » Tue Aug 04, 2015 7:55 am

Is this Win 10 a free update or just a demo?

(I have the update icon on my win 7 system, but not sure if I should update.)

akuma92802 · Post by **akuma92802** » Tue Aug 04, 2015 5:00 pm

It is the free update. It's offered to owner of legit copies of win7 and win8.1. In my case, I didn't wait for my reservation, I went straight to the download page and grabbed it there. Be aware that Windows 10 has many way to track what you are doing, officially to offer a better experience and targeted advertising. There are options in like 13 different setting pages to turn off if you don't want them to. Other than that, I'm very happy with it so far. I lost nothing in the upgrade, all my installed software/games previously installed still run fine and even better in some cases. It also boots up faster. I couldn't try Cortana, (not available in my country yet) but that just tracks everything you do thru it anyway. So I probably wouldn't use it anyway. But again, once the tracking stuff is off, love that OS so far.

Post by **Marvin** » Tue Aug 04, 2015 5:38 pm

Microsoft has been running a commercial for about a week, claiming that "these kids will grow up with Windows 10" ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gu6vmNz-PhE

My guess is they will need to grow up really fast, considering how quickly MS is likely to release the follow-on OS.

Nigel_Strange · Post by **Nigel_Strange** » Wed Aug 05, 2015 7:21 am

Orwell correctly predicted that in the future, the television would be watching you. Well, it's not television, but Orwell did not know about the internet.

Post by **Marvin** » Wed Aug 05, 2015 2:58 pm

He was right about screen sizes, though.

Rubber Chicken · Post by **Rubber Chicken** » Thu Aug 13, 2015 1:34 am

Well, Win(yeah right)10 has let me down.

I had to do a full system recovery to Win7. It installed, then froze and crashed multiple times and restarted at the blue "Hey there, welcome back!" screen. I knew instantly that I was headed for disaster when I saw that grammatically incorrect message. "Hey there. Welcome back!" or "Hey there! Welcome back!" would have been acceptable.

I would normally give such a petty thing a pass if it was posted in a blog or a forum, but come on! Really? A professional company selling what is supposed to be a 'top-of-the-line product' made by 'highly-skilled programming geniuses' and apparently they hadn't passed 9th grade English class? Even I did terribly, and could still spot this.
Needless to say, I'm not impressed.

However, being the glutton for punishment that I am, I think I'll complete the arduous journey of fully updating Win7 and if I'm offered Win10 again, see if it will work properly when given a 'clean' install. It's not too hard for me to revert to Win7 (yet again...) if Win10 fails me one more time...

[Edited on 8-13-2015 by Rubber Chicken]

Post by **DaveK** » Thu Aug 13, 2015 8:03 pm

From post: 179703, Topic: tid=11974, author=Rubber Chicken wrote:Well, Win(yeah right)10 has let me down. I had to do a full system recovery to Win7. It installed, then froze and crashed multiple times and restarted at the blue "Hey there, welcome back!" screen. I knew instantly that I was headed for disaster when I saw that grammatically incorrect message. "Hey there. Welcome back!" or "Hey there! Welcome back!" would have been acceptable.

I would normally give such a petty thing a pass if it was posted in a blog or a forum, but come on! Really? A professional company selling what is supposed to be a 'top-of-the-line product' made by 'highly-skilled programming geniuses' and apparently they hadn't passed 9th grade English class? Even I did terribly, and could still spot this.
Needless to say, I'm not impressed.

However, being the glutton for punishment that I am, I think I'll complete the arduous journey of fully updating Win7 and if I'm offered Win10 again, see if it will work properly when given a 'clean' install. It's not too hard for me to revert to Win7 (yet again...) if Win10 fails me one more time...

[Edited on 8-13-2015 by Rubber Chicken]

Perhaps that's why they're trying to give it away free!

Roughalloy · Post by **Roughalloy** » Fri Aug 14, 2015 1:19 am

I've been using Windows 10 for a couple weeks now with no problems with any games. I've decided that I like it way better than windows 7. I really like Microsoft edge. Any way's you don't have to wait just go to Microsoft website and download this small program and install windows 10, that's what I did. "w-10mediacreationtoolx64.exe". I didn't wait for them to offer it to me. Hope that helps.

SeeJay · Post by **SeeJay** » Fri Aug 14, 2015 6:00 am

They also collect tons of information in many different ways. Maybe that's why it's free. Everyone installs a spyware!

I know you can probably turn most of it off, but it's a mess. No thank you, until they've fixed it!

PaulB · Post by **PaulB** » Fri Aug 14, 2015 6:32 pm

From post: 179710, Topic: tid=12037, author=SeeJay wrote:They also collect tons of information in many different ways. Maybe that's why it's free. Everyone installs a spyware!

I know you can probably turn most of it off, but it's a mess. No thank you, until they've fixed it!

I knew there was a catch someplace. Microsoft doesn't give anything away just out of the kindness of their hearts.
Never have and never will.
Just the thought of automatic WIndows Updates has always griped me. That why I've always turnewd it off and done manual updates of the things I choose.

Even if one is a perfect, model citizen I don't like any entity tracking my internet use anymore that I would like people standing over my shoulder watching as I read a novel or track what I watch on TV.
Just leave me alone. A good example is that scumbucket OpenCandy a lot of programs are using in their install process.
Any I see I just say goodbye to the developers and look for an alternative or do without.
I will say I ran across one SW developer that was honestt enough to state on their website that they used OpenCandy. It didn't help them with me though - I just left.

Rubber Chicken · Post by **Rubber Chicken** » Fri Aug 14, 2015 8:32 pm

I never heard of OpenCandy, so I looked up the wiki. I'll be sure to watch out for programs like that from now on.
It says that Chester Ng is the Chief Business Officer of OC. I wonder if he's any relation to Charles Ng the serial killer.

Anyway... I reinstalled and re-updated Win7. The offer to get Win10 has appeared on my taskbar again, but I've decided to leave it this time.
Sooner or later I'll probably get stuck paying for it as Win7 gets fully phased out.

Marvin is correct - there IS a tiger behind both doors.

I think it's time for me to seriously start learning the pros and cons of alternative operating systems for pc. Does anybody have any good links to check out in that regard?

Post by **DaveK** » Fri Aug 14, 2015 9:59 pm

From post: 179714, Topic: tid=12037, author=Rubber Chicken wrote:I never heard of OpenCandy, so I looked up the wiki. I'll be sure to watch out for programs like that from now on.
It says that Chester Ng is the Chief Business Officer of OC. I wonder if he's any relation to Charles Ng the serial killer.

Anyway... I reinstalled and re-updated Win7. The offer to get Win10 has appeared on my taskbar again, but I've decided to leave it this time.
Sooner or later I'll probably get stuck paying for it as Win7 gets fully phased out.
Marvin is correct - there IS a tiger behind both doors.

I think it's time for me to seriously start learning the pros and cons of alternative operating systems for pc. Does anybody have any good links to check out in that regard?

Reading the above I think that RC, SeeJay, Marvin, Pual B and I agree - we'll wait for other suckers to do the W10 alpha and beta testing and then if it looks worthwhile install. Of course the disadvantage is that by the time the 'other suckers' have sorted the problems out Microsoft will be pushing the next 'fast moving disaster just looking for some where to crash' aka W11 or W12 (depending on what a disaster W10 proved to be) on the resigned public!

Rubber Chicken · Post by **Rubber Chicken** » Sat Aug 15, 2015 12:34 am

^ I can't really say for sure whether Win10 is a disaster on the whole. I -personally- had an off-putting time with it right off the bat, so... deal breaker for me.

Another disadvantage is that once Win10 is ironed out and becomes the minimally required OS, the "get it free" offer will have been expired. Late bloomers like us will have to shell out actual ducats to "get with the times, man!".

- Hence my sudden interest in learning about alternative OSes.

Post by **Marvin** » Sat Aug 15, 2015 4:21 am

I checked OpenCandy on Wikipedia and found I had one of its listed program installed on my desktop computer. Not sure if it's too little, too late ... but I deleted it anyway.

Noesis · Post by **Noesis** » Sat Aug 15, 2015 8:48 am

Hi Guys, This is a little off topic with regard to win 10 but a little tip regarding help with avoiding OpenCandy is to add the following lines to your "hosts" file (found in C:\\Windows\\System32\\drivers\\etc on a 64-bit machine). The file is called hosts without an extension of any kind and is a read only file, to edit it copy it to some place like the desktop, remove the read only attribute from it's properties, open it in any text editor and add these lines:

127.0.0.1 tracking.opencandy.com.s3.amazonaws.com
127.0.0.1 media.opencandy.com
127.0.0.1 cdn.opencandy.com
127.0.0.1 tracking.opencandy.com
127.0.0.1 api.opencandy.com

save it and re-check the read only attribute, then copy it back to the original folder and tell windows to overwrite the old file.

You can find info about the hosts file by doing an online search, essentially it points the listed domain names to your computer (IP address 127.0.0.1), meaning when any program tries to go to those sites they go to your computer instead so they're effectively blocked from doing anything.

Naturally you still need to make sure you pay attention during clicking through install options and don't accept any offers or recommendations etc.

AcePalarum · Post by **AcePalarum** » Sat Aug 15, 2015 3:37 pm

Based on history (both mine and that of various other folks I know) I refuse to jump on any Microsoft bandwagon until it's been rolling for a couple of years at a minimum. I've had my current Windows 7 desktop for not quite four years now, so at my usual ~6 years/computer, by the time I'm ready to replace it, Windows 10 *may* qualify as stable by my standards.

Until then, I just keep telling the little prompt to bugger off whenever it pops up.

Noesis · Post by **Noesis** » Sun Aug 16, 2015 12:26 pm

Yeah I'm also in the "it can wait" crowd.

I'd also completely forgotten about that annoying nag prompt. If you want to get rid of it, it's the scheduled tasks in "gwx" and "GWXTriggers" that start it up. Both can be found under Microsoft\\Windows\\Setup in Task Scheduler - just disable them all and it will stop it's nagging and stop the icon showing up in the tray.

Rubber Chicken · Post by **Rubber Chicken** » Sun Aug 16, 2015 10:36 pm

From post: 179748, Topic: tid=12037, author=Noesis wrote:
I'd also completely forgotten about that annoying nag prompt. If you want to get rid of it, it's the scheduled tasks in "gwx" and "GWXTriggers" that start it up. Both can be found under Microsoft\\Windows\\Setup in Task Scheduler - just disable them all and it will stop it's nagging and stop the icon showing up in the tray.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

PaulB · Post by **PaulB** » Mon Aug 17, 2015 4:17 am

Windows 10 articles on Facebook - Microsoft can uninstalled pirated software and games and block illegal hardware

[Edited on 8-17-2015 by PaulB]

Rubber Chicken · Post by **Rubber Chicken** » Mon Aug 17, 2015 2:20 pm

From post: 179776, Topic: tid=12037, author=PaulB wrote:Windows 10 articles on Facebook - Microsoft can uninstalled pirated software and games and block illegal hardware

[Edited on 8-17-2015 by PaulB]

Well, I have none of the above, so... good to go in that respect.

On the front of my desktop case I have a LED display that shows internal temps and fan speeds and offers a few buttons for auto/manual fan control. It was there when the guy sold it to me - it's extra fluff... I know. There's no point in removing as far as I can see.
The Device Manager shows it as "! unidentified hardware", and there seems to be no driver for it either. I wonder if that sort of thing would make W10 freak out.

Also:

A). How long before W10 starts arbitrarily blocking programs from companies Msoft simply doesn't like regardless of legality?

B) How long before someone comes up with a hack that turns this feature against itself and devices start 'eating themselves from the inside out'? If Msoft fails to prevent such an event, how badly will it affect major financial and security networks?

I'm not sizing-up for a tin foil hat here, but it seems to me these things could be plausible in the not-so-distant future.