Upgrading to Windows 10 anyone?

[DBT]

Bloody hell, this wasn't just an upgrade but a whole new version of Windows10. I topped up with $200 in prepaid credit and after over an hour of downloading and installation and several restarts it was installed....checked the credit and found a balance of $67, at least 3 months of personal computer use chewed up by Microsoft... thanks a lot. How many more times do we need to install this program?

Cripes you pay a lot for data. I believe that my Comcast plan provides nominally 250 gigs a month but we only use about 1/3 of that. This update should have no noticeable impact on our monthly usage.

I used to pay $40 a month for quite a while and that met needs, but recently I had to shift to $50 a month. How many gigs you get depends on how much you pay. The more you pay the better the rate and it also extends connection time, one month, three months, six months or a year for $180.

I use Telstra but there are other providers, like Optus, that offer better deals but their coverage is not as good.

 

[DBT]

Bah, sorting through the settings looking for privacy issues I somehow managed to lose the spell check function even though the 'underlining spelling errors' option is still turned on.

 

[DBT]

My latest glitch is the letter 'n' - repeatedly clicking on the n key produces no immediate result but eventually see a veritable procession of n's suddenly appear and dance across the screen as if the dam that held them back had finally burst. Weird.

 

[DrZoidberg]

And to any of you who are annoyed by the Win 10 nagware here is a free and virus free tool to block it.

http://blog.ultimateoutsider.com/2015/08/using-gwx-stopper-to-permanently-remove.html

I have a computer I don't want to upgrade, because of compatibility problems. I don't want to accidentally uppgrade to win 10

 

[DBT]

Bah, yet another round of Win10 updates, upgrades, downloads, installs and restarts....and the result? Yet another crop of software glitches. If only I had had the sense to stick with Win8.

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

I use Linux and see no reason to change. I seems to me if I insisted on using Windows, I would use Windows 7, download Virtual Box and run the other windows OSs as guest OSs. That way, when it craps out, one can roll back to a working snapshot, and blow away the crappy new borked system. For those who have limited bandwidth or expensive band width, one can order the latest and greatest Linux distros on DVD for cheap. Why can't MS do something similar?

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Bah, yet another round of Win10 updates, upgrades, downloads, installs and restarts....and the result? Yet another crop of software glitches. If only I had had the sense to stick with Win8.

There's a strong pattern with Windows of good update/bad update. 7 was good, 8 was bad. It's looking like their skipping 9 meant they skipped the good update. The worry about old code barfing on detecting "9" as 95 or 98 was just a smokescreen.

 

[C_Mucius_Scaevola]

And to any of you who are annoyed by the Win 10 nagware here is a free and virus free tool to block it.

http://blog.ultimateoutsider.com/2015/08/using-gwx-stopper-to-permanently-remove.html

I have a computer I don't want to upgrade, because of compatibility problems. I don't want to accidentally uppgrade to win 10

Thanks. I have one laptop I upgraded to 10, and another I want to keep on 7. The nagging on the one I keep on 7 was beginning to get annoying, but this has cut it out completely. Again: thanks.

 

[J842P]

I use Linux and see no reason to change. I seems to me if I insisted on using Windows, I would use Windows 7, download Virtual Box and run the other windows OSs as guest OSs. That way, when it craps out, one can roll back to a working snapshot, and blow away the crappy new borked system. For those who have limited bandwidth or expensive band width, one can order the latest and greatest Linux distros on DVD for cheap. Why can't MS do something similar?

I recently switched over to Ubuntu and I can't imagine going back.

 

[DBT]

Bah, yet another round of Win10 updates, upgrades, downloads, installs and restarts....and the result? Yet another crop of software glitches. If only I had had the sense to stick with Win8.

There's a strong pattern with Windows of good update/bad update. 7 was good, 8 was bad. It's looking like their skipping 9 meant they skipped the good update. The worry about old code barfing on detecting "9" as 95 or 98 was just a smokescreen.

If they know enough about what makes a system like Win7 good, and get it right, I wonder why they can't improve on the things that they know work rather than go backwards.

I mean, what is the problem? Do they forget which features make a good system? Do they not test the first instalments of Win10, instead just presenting the product to the consumer half baked?

 

[DrZoidberg]

I mean, what is the problem? Do they forget which features make a good system? Do they not test the first instalments of Win10, instead just presenting the product to the consumer half baked?

That's Microsofts entire raison de etre. Feature bloat is why Microsoft has been successful. They've always shipped buggy half-arsed products but with all bells and whistles. They've always included some killer function that has kept people forgiving them and kept them coming back. It's their niche. So obviously they'll keep on this road. If I were them I wouldn't stop. It's worked for them so far

 

[DBT]

I see that I'm going to have to seriously look at installing Linux mint over the Xmas break.

 

[bigfield]

I see that I'm going to have to seriously look at installing Linux mint over the Xmas break.

Since downloading the ISO and creating a bootable USB are the most confusing steps for new users, here is what you need:

1. Save to USB or external hard drive any files that you want to keep after Windows is gone.
2. Get yourself another spare USB drive and plug it in. This one will be the Linux Mint USB.
3. Download Linux Mint 17.3 Cinnamon from Internode's server: http://mirror.internode.on.net/pub/linuxmint/testing/linuxmint-17.3-cinnamon-64bit-beta.iso
4. Download Rufus: https://rufus.akeo.ie/downloads/rufus-2.5.exe
5. Run Rufus (no need to install).
   
   
6. Set Device to the USB drive (if you aren't sure which drive letter it is, look in My Computer). If you only have one USB drive plugged in, Rufus will probably select it for you.
7. Set Partition scheme and target system type on it's default, which is 'MBR partition scheme for BIOS or UEFI computers'.
8. Set File system to 'FAT32'.
9. Click the weird little disk icon next to Create a bootable disk using, highlighted in red in the figure above. This will bring up a file chooser dialog. Go to your Downloads folder and select the linuxmint ISO you downloaded before.
10. Click Start. It will show you a warning message saying that the disk will be wiped; this is normal procedure. The operation will take about ten minutes to complete, after which the green progress bar will be full and the little status box will say 'READY'.
11. Restart the computer. If your computer is configured to boot from USB before hard disk*, then it should boot into Linux Mint and show you a screen that looks a bit like this.
    
    
12. At this point your computer is running off of the USB. You can use the interface as it it were actually installed on your computer, so feel free to play around with it a bit.
13. When ready, click the Install Linux Mint icon to actually install Mint to your hard drive. This will take you through Ubiquity, the Ubuntu/Linux Mint installer. Follow the prompts and you will be using Mint in about an hour.

*If you computer didn't boot into Linux Mint when you restarted, you have two solutions:

1. Change the system's boot order to boot from USB before HDD. The procedure differs between motherboards.
2. Use a blank DVD-R or DVD+R instead of a USB: http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/burn-a-dvd-on-windows

 

[bigfield]

How to Uninstall Windows 10’s Built-in Apps
http://www.howtogeek.com/224798/how...-10s-built-in-apps-and-how-to-reinstall-them/

Unfortunately, can't uninstall Edge or Cortana.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

There's a strong pattern with Windows of good update/bad update. 7 was good, 8 was bad. It's looking like their skipping 9 meant they skipped the good update. The worry about old code barfing on detecting "9" as 95 or 98 was just a smokescreen.

If they know enough about what makes a system like Win7 good, and get it right, I wonder why they can't improve on the things that they know work rather than go backwards.

I mean, what is the problem? Do they forget which features make a good system? Do they not test the first instalments of Win10, instead just presenting the product to the consumer half baked?

The basic pattern is they introduce major new features and get them wrong, then the next version fixes what they did wrong. Rinse and repeat.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I mean, what is the problem? Do they forget which features make a good system? Do they not test the first instalments of Win10, instead just presenting the product to the consumer half baked?

That's Microsofts entire raison de etre. Feature bloat is why Microsoft has been successful. They've always shipped buggy half-arsed products but with all bells and whistles. They've always included some killer function that has kept people forgiving them and kept them coming back. It's their niche. So obviously they'll keep on this road. If I were them I wouldn't stop. It's worked for them so far

Wha? No one chooses Windows. Windows is a monopoly. Sure there is Mac, but... sorry... can't continue that statement without breaking out laughing. Sure Mac is better in the sense it is centralized and there are fewer dogs out there, but Mac puts you in a cult. It isn't an alternative to Windows, that'd be Linux. Linux gives you options, Windows gives you options, Mac is a cult.

So in conclusion, no one chooses Windows, it is just a reality of owning a computer that Windows must be on it, unless you are savvy enough to use Linux... and even then it is probably dual boot.

- - - Updated - - -

There's a strong pattern with Windows of good update/bad update. 7 was good, 8 was bad. It's looking like their skipping 9 meant they skipped the good update. The worry about old code barfing on detecting "9" as 95 or 98 was just a smokescreen.

If they know enough about what makes a system like Win7 good, and get it right, I wonder why they can't improve on the things that they know work rather than go backwards.

The truth is Windows 7 wasn't a new OS, it was Vista without the shackles of the 32-bit wall.

 

[DBT]

Bought a new HP two in one tablet/netbook to replace my old Tab3 8'' and it has Win10 (no choice). So it goes into the huge downloads, updates, upgrades, installs, restarts routine as soon as I connect it.

I reckon that somebody should %$#^*&# sue Microsoft. Maybe a class action. The Bastards!

 

[blastula]

"'All your files are exactly where you left them" is the most badly worded update installing message ever.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

"'All your files are exactly where you left them" is the most badly worded update installing message ever.

You mean they're still in Windows 7?

 

[crazyfingers]

Microsoft still hasn't fixed a bug that presents itself on both of my Win10 machines. Perhaps once a week for know particular reason and at random it seems it screws up my wife device driver in such a way that I am still on the router but it shows the router has not connected to the web. I know that the router is fine because my phone and tablet stay connected. I have to reboot and then go in an enable wifi. Vor my home personal computer this isn't huge but if I used these for work and it cut out during a skype or Skype for business call when I was also doing a webcast it would be intolerable. Fortunatelt I don't expect work to install Win10 for quite a while and it's the first thing I would have IT find a fix for before letting them do it. VioP and screen share are crucial to my work.