Is Windows 10 Good To Upgrade To?

[Outerlondonguy]

My experience is very much like Manters’.

I "upgraded" my desktop and laptop to Windows 10 Pro on the day of release and spent the next 4 months trying to convince myself that it was an improvement on Win 8.1. Being English and relatively old, I am very much towards the share nothing end of the spectrum and it took me a while to overcome all the risks that MS had deliberately built into the OS and achieve an acceptable (to me anyway) level of privacy and security. Soon after I had done that, a couple of third party apps were released that would have done the job for me. Good for whoever wrote them; but you really shouldn’t need to install apps to achieve a reasonable level of privacy.

I never really came to terms with the new windows update and MS’s determination not to allow users the same control over updates as in earlier OSes. I didn't use Cortana, because I refused to have a machine listing to everything that happened in my home just in case I want to ask it about tomorrow's weather. Edge wasn't that great because of its lack of apps and it wasn't that fast anyway. Virtual desktops? Didn't use them. The new UI? Since I only ever used it in full screen mode, the return of the start menu was no big deal for me and anyway I preferred Win 8.1’s lateral scrolling.

Quite early on I started routinely getting BSODs citing VIDEO TDR FAILURE, which I eventually found were caused by some incompatibility between Windows 10 and my Nvidia drivers (even the updated ones). The last straw was when the so-called Windows 10 Fall Update uninstalled a couple of my programs and reverted some of the privacy settings to the original unsafe settings without permission or prior warning. At that point I asked myself what I was getting out of this deal and the answer was, not a lot.

So last week I decided to come home to Win 8.1 Pro. It was a pain, because I had to reinstall everything from scratch; but it was so worth the effort. Now I don't feel as if I am going into battle with my computer every time I log on: once again I feel in control. (That isn't entirely true. I do have to watch out for MS trying to sneak the Windows 10 installation files on to my pc; but there's an app to stop that too.)

By all means give Windows 10 a try; but having used it for 4 months, I don’t think there is anything MS could do that would persuade me to try it again.

 

[MilesAhead]

I refused to have a machine listing to everything that happened in my home just in case I want to ask it about tomorrow's weather.

That's because you already know which way the wind blows.

 

[Outerlondonguy]

I refused to have a machine listing to everything that happened in my home just in case I want to ask it about tomorrow's weather.

That's because you already know which way the wind blows.

True enough, you don't need a weatherman.....

I see the typo gremlins were at work earlier, although, on my rickety desk, my computer would have been listing even as it listened.

Seriously, though, MS's direction of travel with Windows 10 ought to give people pause to think about where they might end up. They could find themselves locked into an OS that they wouldn't have touched with a barge-pole, if they had known what it would ultimately turn into.

I've given myself the option of changing my mind, by placing discrete partitions on my desktop and laptop, which contain system images of Windows 10 installations activated with my original Win 8 serial numbers. If I ever need to, I can use the images to get back to Windows 10 without having to pay for the privilege. I doubt I'll need them though.

If I was moving to Windows 10 now for the first time, I would save a system image of my existing installation, reinstall Win 8.1 on a separate partition on the same hard drive, using the same serial number, and upgrade that installation to Windows 10. Reverting to Windows 8.1 using the system image would be far simpler than reinstalling the OS from scratch. You just need to be able to sacrifice 60GB of your hard drive space, until you finally make up your mind that you want to stay with Windows 10 permanently.

 

[MilesAhead]

USB sticks are finally getting cheap. I have a nice AData 128GB USB 3.0 stick. 100MB/s read 50MB/s write max. I think I paid nearly $70 for it. Now you can get the same stick for about $43 shipped if you live in the contiguous 48 U S of A. I use Macrium Reflect to do incremental backup images onto it.

It is not the fastest stick but the s102 has a metal body that is pretty rugged. I carried the 32GB version around in my pocket and it took my 200+ LBS without cracking. The little tab fell off the back but it would glue right back on if I wasn't too lazy to buy some glue.

 

[DavidY]

A lot of the variation in people's experience with Windows 10 is down to drivers.

If the OEM/ hardware manufacturer has written updated Windows 10 drivers for your hardware, then Windows 10 generally works well. If you're trying to use older drivers then you may be lucky or you may not.

I would always start by taking a full backup as mentioned earlier though.

My experience with older and slower hardware (with some old drivers where I can't find updates) is that Windows 8.1 is solid and stable, but Windows 10 isn't quite so stable on very similar hardware. Startup is slower to populate the taskbar etc. and every so often I'll try to open some app or software which tries to open but then closes again.

 

[mart4494]

I updated to Win10 and got intermittent screen flickering which was eventually traced to an updated BIOS required from Lenovo. In the meantime I had reverted back to 8.1 with classicshell. Being a masochist I upgraded again and all was okay although I couldn't see what the fuss was about - the latest and greatest marketing junk from MS. Then after a couple of weeks the laptop started freezing intermittently - was it an auto update? No idea and frankly not interested. You can own the most expensive car in the road but if it doesn't start on a cold morning then it's not worth pennies IMO.

Tried to revert back to 8.1 and even though I hadn't deleted the old 8.1 backup files created when 10 was installed and was well within the 4 week deadline - it was a no no situation. So had to do a complete system restore from the hidden partition - plus all the updates then eventually got 8.1 offered. So that's where I'm going to stay.

Whether it was one of those auto updates that caused the problem I have no idea but until there are real world benefits (for me) then I'll stay as I am. If I had a choice I'd upgrade this laptop to Win7 as per my desktop but there are no 7 drivers available.

 

[tinmar49]

I've been running W10 from a week after the TP came out, since then I have upgraded three pc's with only a few hiccups. I still have W7and 8.1. W10 is closer to 8.1 than it is to 7 but you can get used to it. The Edge browser promises to be more secure than IE11. If in doubt, I recommend that you hold off till next summer when 10 will have had more time to mature.

 

[Jody Thornton]

By all means give Windows 10 a try; but having used it for 4 months, I don’t think there is anything MS could do that would persuade me to try it again.

I spent the early months of the Technical Preview (at that time it was just like Windows 8.2 to be honest). I went back and tried the 10240 build, and even though it boots quickly, I just think Windows 8.1 runs better.

 

[Steve C]

There are many issues with Windows 10 and I'm unconvinced by Microsoft's lax QA standards. I would wait a while longer before upgrading - we have until July 2016 to get the free upgrade.

 

[TomBrooklyn]

The Windows 10 offer popped up on my screen about once a week. A few weeks ago, when closing my laptop lid in a hurry, or something similar, I must have accidentally clicked on accepting the Windows 10 offer, because before I knew it; it was loading up. I didn't want to shut the computer down in midstream of this, as who knows if that would have screwed both the new and old OSs up. I hadn't done a proper recent backup; but there was no good way to stop it I know of.

It's been OK for a while, but I just found my Start Menu doesn't work. I'm off to the Windows10 forum to see if anybody knows how I can get that working.

 

[TrustMe]

The Windows 10 offer popped up on my screen about once a week. A few weeks ago, when closing my laptop lid in a hurry, or something similar, I must have accidentally clicked on accepting the Windows 10 offer, because before I knew it; it was loading up. I didn't want to shut the computer down in midstream of this, as who knows if that would have screwed both the new and old OSs up. I hadn't done a proper recent backup; but there was no good way to stop it I know of.

It's been OK for a while, but I just found my Start Menu doesn't work. I'm off to the Windows10 forum to see if anybody knows how I can get that working.

The good news is the hardware ID of your computer is now registered with Microsoft's servers.

 

[MilesAhead]

If you have trouble getting it to work you can try replacing it with the free version of Start Menu 10