I upgraded to Windows 10...

[Brovo]

Wow. Can't believe I might be defending Windows 10. Here we go.

Now. Lets look a the unoptimized ram hijacking monster W10 is annnnnnd Nope.jpeg

To be honest it's using less ram than I thought it would. I'm running at about 4 gigs used out of 16 with everything running. Turning off Chrome alone drops it to 2.3. If I drop Skype & Steam it drops to around 2.1, and turning off Cortana drops it beneath 2 gigs used. All other system features are on.

So it's not really using much more than 7 or 8 did. No worries there. The main issue is that not all graphics cards have Windows 10 drivers--I'm running on beta drivers on a newer nVidia card, for example. So if you're an avid gamer like myself, upgrading right now will fuck up some of your older games. Newer games run just fine.

I still have a bunch of hardware in this PC that doesn't have a Windows 10 driver or has shit drivers, so I have to wait unless I like not being able to hear anything that's going on. D:

Ask me any questions about it, I can take a look at it for you seeing as how my hardware is up to spec. (Save the graphics card, which is running beta drivers--yuck, but hey, I decided to adopt early. That's on me.)

Also, turning the entire fucking OS into spyware and taking away your ability to turn off Windows Update are dick moves.

On Spyware: If you turn on Cortana, it needs to gather some of your browsing information and data usage to be able to personalize itself to you. Regardless of whether you turn on Cortana, you can toggle nearly every single data gathering method Microsoft has by simply searching for Privacy in the control panel.

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You can even disable applications from using your microphone or webcam system-wide. It's actually more privacy-centric than Windows 7 was, assuming you aren't an idiot who uses express settings.

On Windows Updates: You can set it to notify a scheduled restart, so you can still put them off for ages.

Oh lawrd large

Also keep in mind that Windows no longer updates if you are using the machine. It waits until there are no active programs and there hasn't been any user activity for a certain amount of time before updating. It updates while you sleep, whether that's during the day or during the night. As far as I'm aware, they had to force updates as well, to ensure that everyone has the same version of Windows 10--as this is the last version of Windows there will ever be. From here on out, you buy a licence, and get all major updates from then on, forever.

I'm thinking they're probably going to make subscription services ala Office 365 to make their money instead. We'll see.

That Windows Update thing is the real sticking point for me. I'm sure I'll grab a copy at some point, but I think I'll try to wait a bit longer.

Surprisingly not that bad. Windows 10 is stealing "borrowing" an idea from Linux: The OS is modular. So it can update a piece of the system and restart that module without having to restart the entire operating system. Right now, drivers are the worst. Its default drivers are horrifyingly awful and a lot of companies are still playing catch-up. So I'd wait a couple months for patches and drivers. Then you should be fine.

Time to do more testing. C&C3 had weird graphical errors. I wonder if that's been fixed with the beta drivers...

 

[Alan]

Surprisingly not that bad. Windows 10 is stealing "borrowing" an idea from Linux: The OS is modular. So it can update a piece of the system and restart that module without having to restart the entire operating system. Right now, drivers are the worst. Its default drivers are horrifyingly awful and a lot of companies are still playing catch-up. So I'd wait a couple months for patches and drivers. Then you should be fine.

Time to do more testing. C&C3 had weird graphical errors. I wonder if that's been fixed with the beta drivers...

Be that as it may, I wouldn't be surprised to find Microsoft restarting the entire operating system after every update anyway. I will likely end up with Windows 10 in the near term anyway, as I've been asked to write for a tech blog for a local company. Since my current computer has some problems, I'll be grabbing some new parts this month (perhaps even this weekend) as a first step.

The beef I have with the Windows Update issue, as it's been written thus far, is that you can't pick and choose what updates you want to install -- other than being able to opt-in to receive beta builds (aka "Insider Builds"). I have had worlds of trouble with Microsoft breaking devices by shoving their device drivers onto my system in the past, and I do not look forward to troubleshooting technical problems caused by Microsoft's sub-par driver updates.

Sure, I'm going into this whole Windows 10 thing with a healthy dose of skepticism and prejudice. The reason for that is, I saw first hand what Microsoft did with Windows 8, and 8.1 was not a very big improvement. You could argue that my opinion has been tainted without having experienced what Windows 10 has to offer, but all I really want is to be proven wrong by what I experience.

By the time I actually get my hands on a copy of Windows 10, I expect I will find that some of my concerns have changed, while others weren't ever really valid concerns at all. I am eagerly awaiting to find out what happens next... but that will have to wait a little while yet.

 

[Brovo]

The beef I have with the Windows Update issue, as it's been written thus far, is that you can't pick and choose what updates you want to install -- other than being able to opt-in to receive beta builds (aka "Insider Builds"). I have had worlds of trouble with Microsoft breaking devices by shoving their device drivers onto my system in the past, and I do not look forward to troubleshooting technical problems caused by Microsoft's sub-par driver updates.

This is true. The update service is also forcibly trying to update my graphics drivers, which may end up causing more harm than good at this stage.

Still, for the laymen (rather than you or I), it should be fine in a month or two.

PS: Microsoft "Edge" (ugh) doesn't run plugins, like Java. It comes with an older copy of IE but I'm not sure how long that'll remain relevant, so you'll need a browser alternative to run any plugins on Windows 10. Like Firefox, or Chrome. Also, when I initially upgraded, it crashed the start bar and explorer.exe locked up. I'm sure it'll be fixed by the time you upgrade, but just in case, reboot the machine a couple times. I don't know why that fixes it, it just does.

 

[Alan]

PS: Microsoft "Edge" (ugh) doesn't run plugins, like Java. It comes with an older copy of IE but I'm not sure how long that'll remain relevant, so you'll need a browser alternative to run any plugins on Windows 10. Like Firefox, or Chrome. Also, when I initially upgraded, it crashed the start bar and explorer.exe locked up. I'm sure it'll be fixed by the time you upgrade, but just in case, reboot the machine a couple times. I don't know why that fixes it, it just does.

I've used IE maybe a dozen times in the past 15 years. It was a sad and broken web browser in 2000, and the only thing that's changed since is the version number. However, it's definitely interesting to note that their rebranded browser doesn't run plugins. That's one way to prevent rogue browser plugins from installing themselves, right? It reminds me a lot of how mobile browsers, such as Android's implementation of Google Chrome, and the iOS implementation of Safari don't support plugins.

I have to wonder, though, how soon that will change? Or, will the community simply move on to other browsers, such as Chrome and Firefox (that'd be my suggestion, but I might be a little biased)?

 

[LVL1337N00B]

..Well, I told Cortana that my name is Senpai.

/adds no other relevant input

 

[Hana]

... and now I'm scared to upgrade to Windows 10. :/ Can anyone tell me the possible pros vs cons? A while back, there was this 'Get Windows 10' thing and now it says it could upgrade. I scheduled it at 11 pm later, but now I kinda want to back out of it...

 

[Brovo]

I have to wonder, though, how soon that will change? Or, will the community simply move on to other browsers, such as Chrome and Firefox (that'd be my suggestion, but I might be a little biased)?

Definitely encouraged to move onto Chrome & Firefox, I think Edge's only purpose now is to be a super secured but functionally basic browser. You can doodle on web pages with it though. It's as silly as it sounds.

Also, somewhat surprising, but it's accessing files from my slower HDD's just fine for tasks like executibles. I figured it might have some issues with the slower drives, but it's fine. I still wouldn't recommend installing it on anything short of an SSD, though. At present, while it isn't a RAM whore, it is a hard drive whore--specifically in speed, since it likes to archive and index every single file on your system for its search function. Without the SSD, when it searches my older HDD's, it slows the whole system down. It'll technically work without an SSD, it'll just be bogged down with Microsoft's insistence to archive goddamn everything.

Also, on slow Internet connections, disable Cortana. She's a big fat e-piggy and she doesn't give a shit.

... and now I'm scared to upgrade to Windows 10. :/ Can anyone tell me the possible pros vs cons? A while back, there was this 'Get Windows 10' thing and now it says it could upgrade. I scheduled it at 11 pm later, but now I kinda want to back out of it...

Depending on your system specs, it may be for better or for worse. I'm liking the search bar, and it's backwards compatibility to an impressive degree compared to previous generations of operating systems. Installing it didn't even require formatting my hard drive, and it rediscovered all my installed programs. So stuff like Steam still works perfectly, and I didn't have to reinstall any of the games on Steam either. Even my porn work files survived. My desktop icons, even, survived.

The main issue with it so far is drivers. The hardware (namely graphics cards) hasn't caught up to the software quite yet.

Aside from that? It should be fairly painless. You might need to reboot a couple times to get it to work and you'll spend a couple hours changing the settings, because its default settings are horrible. Once it's up and running though, it purrs like a kitten. Just be sure to replace their basic apps with stuff you actually like and change the privacy settings--all of which you can do via the search bar.

Still. Might want to wait a month before you take the upgrade. They're still working out some kinks: Namely the drivers. Plus, there will be more online tutorials by people who make a living doing this stuff that you can use to troubleshoot the system. It's free to upgrade for an entire year, so there's no rush. The only reason I did is so I could tell my family whether or not to grab it. So far though, Windows 10 seems to try and marry concepts between Windows 8 & Windows 7. It does it admirably, since a lot of the system's settings are configurable.

 

[MurderDeathKill]

If you guys really hate all the spying Microsoft does, there's this little guide that helps block all of that. There's also programs that claim to do the same thing in one go, but those are use at your own risk.

Also, that forced Windows Update thing is already fucking some people over. Why all of the internet was able to foresee why forced updating for Home users was a bad idea and not Microsoft is beyond me.

 

[Brovo]

If you guys really hate all the spying Microsoft does, there's this little guide that helps block all of that. There's also programs that claim to do the same thing in one go, but those are use at your own risk.

I dunno. Some of the stuff in that guide you can just... Do through windows menus rather than command prompt. Like all the power saving options are available, including the hybrid ones. You can even set more advanced ones, like telling windows to never reduce power usage to inactive hard drives--I don't know why you would do some of them, but you can.

The powershell commands are useful, though. I'm hoping a service pack will come out at some point that will render the need to use them irrelevant.

Also, that forced Windows Update thing is already fucking some people over. Why all of the internet was able to foresee why forced updating for Home users was a bad idea and not Microsoft is beyond me.

Yeah, well, Microsoft has already released a tool to uninstall and block specific updates. They're predictably recoiling on this unpopular principle. Microsoft is prone to changing in the face of public backlash--assuming the voices are strong enough in unison. It's a reason I generally don't mind them as a company: Yell loud enough and they'll eventually reverse a decision.

 

[unanun]

PSA: RAM is meant to be used. It is orders of magnitude faster than hard drives and even solid state drives. Putting programs into there and frequently accessed data is part of the reason an OS can feel responsive to the user.

 

[ᴛᴏᴄᴋᴀ]

I just put a new HD in my laptop, and it automatically updated my from Windows 8, which was the original OS to 10. I like it a lot better! I'm so glad they got rid of that damn Start page. I was getting annoyed having to switch from my desktop to the Start Page in order to go to my apps, unless I wanted to overload my taskbar. (By the way, all the apps for Windows 8 are still working perfectly. I even got to watch Jurassic World! Soooo happy about that. :) )


The only thing that annoys me is that my default browser is Chrome, yet whenever I download anything, like my virus scan, or Calibre, it opens up at damn Microsoft Edge page. Annoying as fuck, but I can ignore it since I'm finished with all my downloading.

I will say, I do like Windows 10 much better on my tablet than on my laptop. I think it's actually better for a touch screen than Windows 8 was, since you constantly end up accidentally swiping off the page your on and going to one of the random apps you have open.

 

[Brovo]

The only thing that annoys me is that my default browser is Chrome, yet whenever I download anything, like my virus scan, or Calibre, it opens up at damn Microsoft Edge page. Annoying as fuck, but I can ignore it since I'm finished with all my downloading.

Click on the Search bar in the lower left corner and search "Default App Settings." Scroll down to web browser and click on it. Choose Chrome. Web links will now always open as Chrome.

 

[Brovo]

Cortana is not very smart, but she tries. Admirably.

 

[Windsong]

Wife upgraded the Asus laptop, can't comment on it there but she likes it.

Last night I upgraded my Venue 8 Pro to Win10. Besides having to CONSTANTLY sign back in right after closing it. Performance wise it's a fair bit slower for a while but it seems to have smoothed out after a few hours with a defrag and drive cleaning.

Also it plays Tales of Maj'Eyal pretty well.

 

[Hana]

; _ ;

I left my laptop for a moment then it upgraded. It was scheduled at 11 pm and I kept on pushing it back everytime I get the 1 hour notice, but it upgraded at 10... And I had unfinished drafts and reports left open and now they're gone. Going to go cry now while I wait for it to finish.

 

[Gwazi Magnum]

Is it bad that I'm now imaging a pop-up ad like this each time they ask you to upgrade? :3

 

[Hana]

I don't really think there's much of a difference... except it's slower? The Start menu is back and all, and that's great, but the taskbar sometimes ends up screwing up and stopping. It gave me the option to choose what my default apps would be at first, too, so I didn't have trouble with the downloads and using Chrome as my default browser. All my media and installed apps were also still okay to use.

Cortana isn't available in my country yet, but I think that's fine, since the opinions about 'her' aren't exactly glowing. I like that I can search from the Start menu, though, and how I can have different 'desktops'. Overall, it looks neater and cleaner, too.

And for the Windows Updates, I haven't gotten the bad parts of it yet, I guess? Sometimes a notice would pop up and say Windows couldn't update something because my internet connection is slow, but that's it. There hasn't been any forced restart since the actual upgrading process.

It's slower when I turn my laptop on, though.

 

[Brovo]

And for the Windows Updates, I haven't gotten the bad parts of it yet, I guess? Sometimes a notice would pop up and say Windows couldn't update something because my internet connection is slow, but that's it. There hasn't been any forced restart since the actual upgrading process.

I finally got a forced update on my end. If you set it to schedule updates, it lets you choose when the computer reboots to do them. You can delay it for several days, so it's not as bad as most make it out to be. It also has stopped trying to replace my graphics drivers.

 

[Surrender To Hope]

I had reserved the free trial or whatever they had but my computer stopped working before the day it would be available. Wouldn't cut on at all.

 

[Alan]

That's unfortunate. However, any computer you buy now will either come with Windows 8.1 (plus free upgrade to Windows 10), or Windows 10 itself. Either way you slice it, you should be up and running with Windows 10 when you get your new system.