Windows 10 - finally time to move?

Para Handy · Jul 17, 2019

I have been resolute so far with remaining on Windows 7pro but am now wondering if the time has finally come to shift to Windows 10. I would be interested to hear some informed opinions about methodology (upgrade or clean install), version (home or pro) and pitfalls (how to avoid bloatware, intrusive monitoring etc).

Apart from E D - I use three flight simulators which have a LOT of addons so a clean install would mean a lot of work re-installing. The other consideration is that I have twin computers networked - any issues about networking (both need W10 or can I keep W7pro on one)?

I am not a tyro in computing but I have not kept up with Windows 10 since the WX nag issue yonks ago.

~~Cheers~~

EDIT: Since some people people don't bother reading the thread before commenting I thought I'd edit this to point out that I made the transition to W10 in August (post #9 below). So no need to give me tips but of course feel free to add any information in the thread that others might find useful. Thanks for taking the time to do so if you have or will. Cheers

Abysinth · Jul 17, 2019

Win-10 is fine, I use it on my main laptop for Elite, Visual Studio, Libre Office, team viewer, and all the usual stuff and it's mostly OK, I still have that rubbish that comes from M$ like Cortana and films-and-tv and groove-music that cannot be uninstalled [anymore].

Home or Pro? Do you run a network with a domain [active directory or samba-LDAP server] if not then home will do, you can run mixed networks I have Linux, Win 8.1Pro, Win10-home and used to have win-7 pro until that laptop died.

I would always do a clean install by buying and fitting a new HDD then I have my old drv to go back to in case of disaster, that and SSDs are so cheap now.

HTH

Skip Rockbounder · Jul 17, 2019

Well Para,
You ask the question many of us worry and wonder about.
At the start of the year there were still 43% of businesses using Windows 7, and I can't see a mad exodus on the horizons... but, perhaps I should invest heavily in MS shares.
I dunno, for me, if it's still working it don't need fixing... though I wouldn't be surprised if win 7 installs started to unravel in 2020

Abysinth · Jul 17, 2019

Skip Rockbounder said:
At the start of the year there were still 43% of businesses using Windows 7, and I can't see a mad exodus on the horizons

You will, Win-7 support from M$ runs out soon. My employer [with ~100,000 employees] is migrating to Win-10 now, I'm still arguing with my Manager that 8GB is not enough RAM. Honestly, it's taken me 12 months to persuade him that 5G of free space on a 120G SSD isn't enough for my work

Morbad · Jul 17, 2019

Still have security patches for at least another six months, so if you don't have anything that really needs Windows 10, you shouldn't feel particularly pressured to rush.

Anyway, I'd always recommend a clean install with the newest install media, usually obtained from Microsoft's Media Creation Tool.

Home is vaguely usable, but without group policy it's annoying to modify many of the settings. Pro is noticeably better, but if you can get an Enterprise or Education version, they are the most customizable without having to resort to third party utilities.

Iskariot · Jul 17, 2019

Para Handy said:
I have been resolute so far with remaining on Windows 7pro but am now wondering if the time has finally come to shift to Windows 10. I would be interested to hear some informed opinions about methodology (upgrade or clean install), version (home or pro) and pitfalls (how to avoid bloatware, intrusive monitoring etc).

Apart from E D - I use three flight simulators which have a LOT of addons so a clean install would mean a lot of work re-installing. The other consideration is that I have twin computers networked - any issues about networking (both need W10 or can I keep W7pro on one)?

I am not a tyro in computing but I have not kept up with Windows 10 since the WX nag issue yonks ago.

Cheers

Just like you I decided to stay on Windows 7 (Ultra).
Sadly I will make the switch to W10 this year, as support for W7 will seize in jan 2020.
I believe it would be wise to install Windows 10 on all your PC's that have an outside connection, before Microsoft support ends.

I am really disgusted by various aspects of Windows 10, but I feel I have no choice in the matter.
I have already studied several articles on how to best mitigate some of the atrocities in W10, and I have collected some recommended software to address the various problems.

Currently I am in the process of selecting my components for a new high end game PC. Windows 10 will be installed on that machine.

shadowhand · Jul 17, 2019

I upgraded to windows 10 in 2015. All my old software works just fine, although I have to admit it's much easier to set up a network in windows 10. And the updates being cumulative is a nice touch.

The only big difference in the UI is that the start menu has a couple of grouped apps in it, which you can edit or disable, if you want the windows 7 look.

For gaming, I seem to have much better performance with (mostly) the same hardware I had in 2015 with Windows 7 Ultimate.. But of course that could just be the 64 gbs of RAM, the newer GPU, and the support for directx 12, etc.

For Elite... Uh.

I honestly don't know what the difference would be. I've always played Elite: Dangerous, and Horizons on Windows 10. It uh. Works fine.

My current monitor is limited to 120hz so the game runs fine in 3440x1440 @ 120 fps with all detail settings cranked to the max.

Of course I haven't got any old flight sims, so I have no idea if they'd work, but all my old games that worked in windows 7 and earlier work just fine for me. Mods and all.

[PS4] Lorenzo Waringos · Jul 17, 2019

I hate Windows 10. It has been designed as an OS for people who probably shouldn’t use computers. It turns your PC into a desktop tablet. It tries to hide the background stuff. It now calls a program an ‘app’.

It might run ok but it’s an OS designed by Tomy my first computer designers. I lost 30 IQ points when I installed it.

Para Handy · Aug 18, 2019

I don't like to necro threads but I'll make an exception in this case.

I finally bit the bullet and went for W10 - quite a seamless upgrade as I decided against a clean install due to the amount of flight simulator scenery etc I have installed (FSX, P3D and X-Plane). I am happy to report that all my installed stuff works with no issues (well apart from Links2003

). The only thing that I have had to do is make my EDlauncher(s) "run as administrator" since the Elite installation is in the default location (I need to reinstall it outside program files really). What annoys me about that is that I have the UAC slider set to off - so no doubt I have to go into the registry to properly disable it.

One interesting thing - I bought a full retail licence for W10 "Home" from Microsoft but found that the installations on both my PCs upgraded W7 Pro to W10 Pro and were "activated with a digital license" so I had not had to use the product key and was pleasantly surprised when the support chat with Microsoft resulted in an immediate full refund.

I wonder if this "activated" thing was a result of trying W10 back in days of yore or if there is another explanation - saved me £120 anyway!

Morbad · Aug 18, 2019

Para Handy said:
I wonder if this "activated" thing was a result of trying W10 back in days of yore or if there is another explanation - saved me £120 anyway!

While the free upgrade offer has officially been expired for more than two years, any legitimate Windows 7 Pro/Ultimate key will work for Windows 10 Pro. In an upgrade scenario, you automatically get Windows 10 Pro, while in a clean install you can just use the Windows 7 key and it will activate Windows 10 Pro.

Microsoft would much rather give away licenses than lose market share. This is especially true with Windows 10, where the revenue from consumer installs is mostly based on advertisements and data mining.

RELSPI said:
I'm no paranoid crypto nut, but even I know that Win10 is no good. Win7 is hardly any better but hey, at least I have the proper start menu.

Windows 7 is considerably better on privacy, especially by default.

Para Handy said:
They're going to steal all your data somehow anyway.

There are always ways to mitigate this. It's just a matter privacy vs. convenience...people just tend to overlook the former until something happens that reminds them of it's value.

Iskariot · Aug 18, 2019

Para Handy said:
One interesting thing - I bought a full retail licence for W10 "Home" from Microsoft but found that the installations on both my PCs upgraded W7 Pro to W10 Pro and were "activated with a digital license" so I had not had to use the product key and was pleasantly surprised when the support chat with Microsoft resulted in an immediate full refund.

I wonder if this "activated" thing was a result of trying W10 back in days of yore or if there is another explanation - saved me £120 anyway!

Few people seem to be aware of this, but you can still get w10 for free. You can install on a new system and use your win 7 serial nr and you should be good to go.

Raal · Aug 19, 2019

Going to warn you right now, setting up a joystick properly is a royal pain in the side on windows 10. Rather than hunting thoruhg 10 damn sub menu's, you'l lwant to memorize "joy.cpl" for the search bar command ,it'll save you a lot of trouble trying to set it up.

Para Handy · Aug 19, 2019

Raal said:
Going to warn you right now, setting up a joystick properly is a royal pain in the side on windows 10. Rather than hunting thoruhg 10 damn sub menu's, you'l lwant to memorize "joy.cpl" for the search bar command ,it'll save you a lot of trouble trying to set it up.

Well it isn't that bad really - I have learned a bit since last week. I used the search box to open the "traditional" Control Panel (which is now "pinned to start") and from there of course much is more readily available, including the familiar Devices and Printers. Finding that has made W10 much more accessible to me and less like a preschool game.

Raal · Aug 19, 2019

Para Handy said:
Well it isn't that bad really - I have learned a bit since last week. I used the search box to open the "traditional" Control Panel (which is now "pinned to start") and from there of course much is more readily available, including the familiar Devices and Printers. Finding that has made W10 much more accessible to me and less like a preschool game.

that's actually agood advice. Going to pin that myself now...

sgurr · Aug 19, 2019

Raal said:
Going to warn you right now, setting up a joystick properly is a royal pain in the side on windows 10. Rather than hunting thoruhg 10 damn sub menu's, you'l lwant to memorize "joy.cpl" for the search bar command ,it'll save you a lot of trouble trying to set it up.

Windows key, type 'joy', click 'setup USB game controllers"

Yes it takes you to joy.cpl but it involves no sub menus.

Win 10 works best using the Win key and search terms to get directly to what you need rather than menu navigation.

Wocham · Aug 20, 2019

Morbad said:
Still have security patches for at least another six months, so if you don't have anything that really needs Windows 10, you shouldn't feel particularly pressured to rush.

Anyway, I'd always recommend a clean install with the newest install media, usually obtained from Microsoft's Media Creation Tool.

Download Windows 10

How to Create Bootable USB Drive from Windows 10/8/7 ISO File

www.androidphonesoft.com

Home is vaguely usable, but without group policy it's annoying to modify many of the settings. Pro is noticeably better, but if you can get an Enterprise or Education version, they are the most customizable without having to resort to third party utilities.

Useing the Media Creation Tool is a great way to install Windows 10,i did.

Glen Fiddik · Aug 20, 2019

I find that Stardocks Start 10 works well as it allows you to have a Win 7 start bar and the phone style desktop disapears

https://www.stardock.com/products/start10/

Lee Taylor · Aug 27, 2019

Windows 10 really is utter garbage. Every new feature that is adds is itself broken and breaks two others things. If you can, always stick with Windows 7. You don't really need Microsoft's "support". It works just fine out of the box.

Gibbon · Aug 27, 2019

Lee Taylor said:
Windows 10 really is utter garbage. Every new feature that is adds is itself broken and breaks two others things. If you can, always stick with Windows 7. You don't really need Microsoft's "support". It works just fine out of the box.

Really? For me it's just as stable as Win7 was, by that i mean it runs everything fine, not had a single issue with it since i installed it. If the definition of garbage for you means everything works and runs ok, i'd hate to know what you'd call it if it actually worked for you. Trick with W10 is to turn off everything in the options menus which are on by default, plenty of vids on youtube to show you how to do that, and on you go.

Rubbernuke · Aug 27, 2019

Windows 10 is good. Its light for a modern OS, MS are slowly adding decent features and so far its cost me nothing to upgrade to. As others have pointed out W7 support is about to expire so its a good time to swap. My only annoyances are with MS itself and not Win 10- the update fiasco(s), its move to subscriptions on things like Office and the lingering "exactly who's computer is this?" feeling I get.