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Windows 10 for free, there has to be a snag??


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For anyone using Fuji cameras (other than XT-1), its seems a firmware update is required with Windows 10 for downloading images from camera to PC via a USB cable (http://www.fujifilm.com/news/n150811.html). As an XE-1 user, my firmware update is by December 2015  :o. I do have a SD card slot on my PC, but find it easier to leave the card in the camera and use the USB cable connection.

 

According to Microsoft, my PC is now ready for Win10 (system downloaded and ready to install). A 'pop up window' informs me: there will be a 10 second prep of my device, I then review the licence agreement, and choose when to upgrade. Re this latter point (when to upgrade) does anyone know the timescales available, eg days, weeks, or months? With the USB cable issue mentioned above, could I schedule the installation to happen in December 2015?

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  Phil you have a 1 year period to upgrade to Windows Ten.  One nice thing about Windows 10 is that it now creates thumbnails of my Canon CR2 RAW files in Windows Explorer.  This is really nice as Bridge doesn't recognize my network server so I can't use it to dig around for old RAW files.

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I updated a test machine today to see how it went. 7 year old Toshiba laptop.

 

Not overly impressed.

 

I did a clean install using the very latest ISO from MS website.

 

Almost all my hardware was recognised, but it installed a basic Microsoft VGA driver for my display which restricted the resolution to 1024 x 768 (the display is actually 1280 x 800). I tried updates, followed by update driver, but Windows 10 says this is the best driver for my display.

 

So I went and downloaded the Windows 8 driver and forced it to use it, now the display is fine.

 

Even though I used the very latest ISO from MS website, Windows update downloaded another 500MB of "Updates to Windows" and a "security update" which took 30 minutes to download and install. Feels like the same old Microsoft....  :(

 

The user interface is (in my opinion) still an uncomfortable mix of styles. Some menus and dialogues use regular Windows 7 sized fonts. But others use big "in your face" layouts with larger icons, fonts and line spacings (to suit touch screens?) and as a result the list of options often doesn't fit in the Window. It still feels like an inconsistent "kludge" to me.

 

I haven't yet spotted any reason to upgrade, except that my Windows 7 badly needs a reinstall.... Why didn't they just produce Windows 7 SP2?

 

Still actively considering moving to a MacBook Pro...

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Updated our Toshiba laptop yesterday, no problems to date. I chose not to have any of the new default Windows gadgets installed, 

 

After using it for a week on the big box, it does seem to start more quickly than Win 7 did, and LR and PS work as normal.  Malwarebytes and Avast appear to be happy in their new home too.

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..snip

 

The user interface is (in my opinion) still an uncomfortable mix of styles. Some menus and dialogues use regular Windows 7 sized fonts. But others use big "in your face" layouts with larger icons, fonts and line spacings (to suit touch screens?) and as a result the list of options often doesn't fit in the Window. It still feels like an inconsistent "kludge" to me.

 

I haven't yet spotted any reason to upgrade, except that my Windows 7 badly needs a reinstall.... Why didn't they just produce Windows 7 SP2?

 

snip...

 

I would echo these comments on the Windows 10 interface. I have upgraded my daughter's Windows 8 laptop and compared to that OS, Windows 10 is a joy to use and it seems faster. However, if I had just upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 10 without having ever seen Windows 8, I would be a very unhappy bunny  indeed. I would go into great detail on the things about it which I find annoying, but it would only bore you all to death.

 

I bought the full Pro version of Windows 7 so I could install it on successive hardware as I upgraded and rebuilt my machine over the years. For me, the decision to upgrade is looking like turning on how long Microsoft will support Windows 7 on new hardware and then before declaring it end-of-life. I'm afraid they will want to move to Windows 10 as their only OS product quite quickly and leave me with no choice (and no, I can't afford a Mac).

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..snip

 

The user interface is (in my opinion) still an uncomfortable mix of styles. Some menus and dialogues use regular Windows 7 sized fonts. But others use big "in your face" layouts with larger icons, fonts and line spacings (to suit touch screens?) and as a result the list of options often doesn't fit in the Window. It still feels like an inconsistent "kludge" to me.

 

I haven't yet spotted any reason to upgrade, except that my Windows 7 badly needs a reinstall.... Why didn't they just produce Windows 7 SP2?

 

snip...

 

I would echo these comments on the Windows 10 interface. I have upgraded my daughter's Windows 8 laptop and compared to that OS, Windows 10 is a joy to use and it seems faster. However, if I had just upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 10 without having ever seen Windows 8, I would be a very unhappy bunny  indeed. I would go into great detail on the things about it which I find annoying, but it would only bore you all to death.

 

I bought the full Pro version of Windows 7 so I could install it on successive hardware as I upgraded and rebuilt my machine over the years. For me, the decision to upgrade is looking like turning on how long Microsoft will support Windows 7 on new hardware and then before declaring it end-of-life. I'm afraid they will want to move to Windows 10 as their only OS product quite quickly and leave me with no choice (and no, I can't afford a Mac).

 

 

I thought I couldn't afford a Mac too. Then I looked on eBay and realised that there's a lot of Apple owners who have to have the latest model and they then sell their old (but relatively recent models) at a more reasonable price. Same as iPhones, you can pick up perfectly good iPhone 4s (I've got one) and 5s at a fraction of the original price. Some of the refurbished Macs come with Ofice installed and a warranty. Still more expensive than a comparable Windows PC, but more robust and reliable (especially from a software viewpoint).

 

I fear you're right that MS is trying to force everyone onto Windows 10 and will discontinue support for 7. However, they may see a backlash from industry. It seems that even IBM is now swapping over to Apple Macs, see http://www.macrumors.com/2015/07/31/ibm-200k-macs/

 

In my opinion what MS need to do is to release SP2 for Windows 7, to stop the exodus.

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The other thing I'm very uncomfortable with is that users of Windows 10 Home cannot turn off, roll back or prevent automatic updates. Windows Pro allows you to delay some (non security updates) but not all of them.

 

If this had been true on Windows 7 I'd have had a disabled PC for days or even weeks, it was only by temporarily turning off updates and rolling back to an earlier restore point that I could use my PC until Microsoft fixed their own buggy update that had disabled my PC. This happened more than once.

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Just encountered another problem today.

 

I noticed that the icon for my Epson scanner had gone from the desktop, so I looked up Epson and there was a link to Windows 10 which I duly followed.

 

Well it got there in the end, but only after several iterations involving Updating Windows, restarting the machine, and then Undoing update. This was accompanied by warnings that I should not switch off the computer.

 

I was on the point of pushing the button for a hard reset when the process ended and the scanner worked. It must have taken maybe 30 minutes, during which time I was concerned that I would need to call in the experts to sort out my machine.

 

Maybe I should have used the aforementioned Drivethelife, (driver Updating program) but who knows.....

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The other thing I'm very uncomfortable with is that users of Windows 10 Home cannot turn off, roll back or prevent automatic updates. Windows Pro allows you to delay some (non security updates) but not all of them.

 

If this had been true on Windows 7 I'd have had a disabled PC for days or even weeks, it was only by temporarily turning off updates and rolling back to an earlier restore point that I could use my PC until Microsoft fixed their own buggy update that had disabled my PC. This happened more than once.

 

A helpful workaround.

 

http://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-releases-tool-to-hide-or-block-unwanted-windows-10-updates/

 

 

Jill

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The other thing I'm very uncomfortable with is that users of Windows 10 Home cannot turn off, roll back or prevent automatic updates. Windows Pro allows you to delay some (non security updates) but not all of them.

 

If this had been true on Windows 7 I'd have had a disabled PC for days or even weeks, it was only by temporarily turning off updates and rolling back to an earlier restore point that I could use my PC until Microsoft fixed their own buggy update that had disabled my PC. This happened more than once.

 

A helpful workaround.

 

http://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-releases-tool-to-hide-or-block-unwanted-windows-10-updates/

 

 

Jill

 

Excellent thanks. That might come in very useful. However, I note the following from the linked article

 

By default, System Restore has been turned off on every system I've tested throughout the Windows 10 preview program. If you re-enable this feature, Windows resumes the practice of automatically creating a restore point before installing each new batch of patches from Windows Update, making it easier to roll back an entire batch of updates while you investigate which one is troublesome.

 

Seems like Microsoft are pretty determined to make us install the updates and make it difficult for us to roll back the update if we have problems.

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It looks as if Microsoft will be supporting Windows 7 until 2020 as long as Service Pack 1 has been installed.

 

Info here.

 

Thanks. That's only partially reassuring... I'd like them to provide updated Windows 7 ISOs and/or SP2, SP3 etc. instead, so that re-installation is more practical. 

 

At the moment if HDD or PC dies we're effectively forced to switch to 10 (which won't be free if you haven't got a working Windows 7 or 8 system) because Windows 7 SP1 is now so out of date.

 

Also...you only get free Windows 10 if you do an in place upgrade of Windows 7 SP1 or 8. You can't just use your Windows 7 or 8 Product key to authenticate Windows 10.

 

Apple apparently make life much easier, see http://arstechnica.co.uk/information-technology/2015/08/its-time-for-pc-companies-to-copy-one-of-apples-best-features/

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It looks as if Microsoft will be supporting Windows 7 until 2020 as long as Service Pack 1 has been installed.

 

Info here.

 

Thanks. That's only partially reassuring... I'd like them to provide updated Windows 7 ISOs and/or SP2, SP3 etc. instead, so that re-installation is more practical. 

 

At the moment if HDD or PC dies we're effectively forced to switch to 10 (which won't be free if you haven't got a working Windows 7 or 8 system) because Windows 7 SP1 is now so out of date.

 

Also...you only get free Windows 10 if you do an in place upgrade of Windows 7 SP1 or 8. You can't just use your Windows 7 or 8 Product key to authenticate Windows 10.

 

Apple apparently make life much easier, see http://arstechnica.co.uk/information-technology/2015/08/its-time-for-pc-companies-to-copy-one-of-apples-best-features/

 

 

MS do provide Windows 7 ISOs. I created one to clean install a Windows 7 machine prior to upgrading to windows 10.

 

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-recovery

 

Why do you think you are being forced to switch to Windows 10 if a hdd fails?

 

For what it's worth, I think Windows 10 is a huge improvement over Windows 7 and 8.1. To me having virtual desktops are worth it alone. Installed it on several machines which include legacy printers and an old Imacon scanner without a hitch. By far the simplest OS upgrade I've ever done. Old windows 7 and 8.1 drivers seem to work where no specific Windows 10 driver exists too.

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It looks as if Microsoft will be supporting Windows 7 until 2020 as long as Service Pack 1 has been installed.

 

Info here.

 

Thanks. That's only partially reassuring... I'd like them to provide updated Windows 7 ISOs and/or SP2, SP3 etc. instead, so that re-installation is more practical. 

 

At the moment if HDD or PC dies we're effectively forced to switch to 10 (which won't be free if you haven't got a working Windows 7 or 8 system) because Windows 7 SP1 is now so out of date.

 

Also...you only get free Windows 10 if you do an in place upgrade of Windows 7 SP1 or 8. You can't just use your Windows 7 or 8 Product key to authenticate Windows 10.

 

Apple apparently make life much easier, see http://arstechnica.co.uk/information-technology/2015/08/its-time-for-pc-companies-to-copy-one-of-apples-best-features/

 

 

MS do provide Windows 7 ISOs. I created one to clean install a Windows 7 machine prior to upgrading to windows 10.

 

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-recovery

 

Why do you think you are being forced to switch to Windows 10 if a hdd fails?

 

 

I believe the ISO you refer to is for Windows 7 SP1, which is massively out of date? If you install it it, updates will then spend ages downloading and installing numerous updates, and each time you reboot, it will find some more. This makes reinstalling a fully updated Windows 7 from that ISO a complete PITA. It's easier to overwrite with 10 (as you have done), but then you have Windows 10 - which has just been patched again  :(

 

See http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/08/17/microsoft_replaces_windows_10_patch_update_wont_say_why/

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Almost three weeks since I did the switch to Win 10 on three computers (my main, oldish desktop, a few years old laptop and my daughter's couple of months old laptop). I can't recommend it enough. Stable and robust. Intuitive, similar to Win 7 in "feel" and function, but sleeker, more streamlined, simplified, Zen-ed. There are virtually no problems, no crashes, no conflicts, no issues with anything not working. 

 

I've only positives to say about it, such as;

 

- I haven't measured or anything, but it "feels" like a more efficient OS and less taxing on the computer(s).

 

- I'm using the sleep function now. Think I have it on 20 mins or so on desktop and 5 mins on laptop. With Win 7 this always seemed to cause issues (not as much on the laptop but on the desktop), often things would be "unhappy" after having been woken up, forcing me to do a re-start. Now it works fine, computer goes to sleep if it stays unused for a set time and is ready as soon as I'm back and without issues - been leaving it "on" for days. No longer do I feel bad for having forgotten to turn it off and it has been on for hours wasting energy. I can now reap the benefits of having computers that are instantly on.

 

- Virtual desktops - fantastic if one is dealing with many different things at the same time and can keep them separate (less confusing).

 

- I haven't looked that far into widgets/apps, but I've kept one - the weather app. It is fantastic to have constantly updated weather info right there in the Start Menu - with even more detailed info if I click on it. Yes yes one has all this stuff on the iPhone now-a-days, but having it there I find excellent.

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Just installed Windows 10 on my laptop. My first reactions:

  • Norton antivirus ..... gone!
  • AdAware ...... gone!

I wonder what else is missing.

Would the built-in "Windows Defender" be good enough to replace Norton and Adaware?

 

Cheers,

Philippe

I would use m,ore then Defender. If you cannot reinstall them you could try Microsoft Security Essentials (free download) as recommended by some serious tech guys I have worked with. I think they also recommend Avast (free version) - in their opinion Norton, McAfee are intrusive, resource hungry and not as effective.

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Having played with Windows 10 as a fresh install on a separate PC, I thought I try a Windows 7 to Windows 10 upgrade to see if I got my free licence. The process seemed to go well. All settings preserved except it overwrote my screen driver with a Microsoft generic driver that only allowed 1024 x 768 resolution. Forcing it to use the Windows 7 driver soon fixed that.

 

But.... my big bugbear is that Windows 10 refuses to activate. Even though I upgraded from a genuine validated Windows 7 SP1, my new Windows 10 installation is not validated. It seems that I've joined an enormous pool of others suffering the same problem. Hey ho!

 

I should have waited until they'd sorted more of the bugs... Fortunately it's not my main PC (I wouldn't dare upgrade that one at the moment)

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Just installed Windows 10 on my laptop. My first reactions:

  • Norton antivirus ..... gone!
  • AdAware ...... gone!

I wonder what else is missing.

Would the built-in "Windows Defender" be good enough to replace Norton and Adaware?

 

Cheers,

Philippe

I would use m,ore then Defender. If you cannot reinstall them you could try Microsoft Security Essentials (free download) as recommended by some serious tech guys I have worked with. I think they also recommend Avast (free version) - in their opinion Norton, McAfee are intrusive, resource hungry and not as effective.

 

I'm not knowledgeable enough to make any recommendation on Avast or any other malware protection, but it's worth noting that Avast have a free business version which protects servers as well as workstations (most domestic anti-virus packages won't install on a MS server). Avast for business also covers mobile devices (Android and iPhone).  I can offer no opinion on how good or bad this packages is, except to say I have used in on my Windows 2003 server and Windows 7 workstation for about a year and have no cause to complain so far. I understand that it is also compatible with Windows 10.

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Having played with Windows 10 as a fresh install on a separate PC, I thought I try a Windows 7 to Windows 10 upgrade to see if I got my free licence. The process seemed to go well. All settings preserved except it overwrote my screen driver with a Microsoft generic driver that only allowed 1024 x 768 resolution. Forcing it to use the Windows 7 driver soon fixed that.

 

But.... my big bugbear is that Windows 10 refuses to activate. Even though I upgraded from a genuine validated Windows 7 SP1, my new Windows 10 installation is not validated. It seems that I've joined an enormous pool of others suffering the same problem. Hey ho!

 

I should have waited until they'd sorted more of the bugs... Fortunately it's not my main PC (I wouldn't dare upgrade that one at the moment)

 

My experience has been that a number of drivers revert to generic catch all drivers during the upgrade process but after 30mins or so on line everything sorts its self out and windows downloads the correct and latest drivers.

 

As for the activation, yeah I had that too but after a day or two it had sorted it's self out.

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Having played with Windows 10 as a fresh install on a separate PC, I thought I try a Windows 7 to Windows 10 upgrade to see if I got my free licence. The process seemed to go well. All settings preserved except it overwrote my screen driver with a Microsoft generic driver that only allowed 1024 x 768 resolution. Forcing it to use the Windows 7 driver soon fixed that.

 

But.... my big bugbear is that Windows 10 refuses to activate. Even though I upgraded from a genuine validated Windows 7 SP1, my new Windows 10 installation is not validated. It seems that I've joined an enormous pool of others suffering the same problem. Hey ho!

 

I should have waited until they'd sorted more of the bugs... Fortunately it's not my main PC (I wouldn't dare upgrade that one at the moment)

 

My experience has been that a number of drivers revert to generic catch all drivers during the upgrade process but after 30mins or so on line everything sorts its self out and windows downloads the correct and latest drivers.

 

As for the activation, yeah I had that too but after a day or two it had sorted it's self out.

 

 

After 1 hour online with Microsoft support they took over my PC and used a "one time only" activation key to activate my copy. Seems that their "activation servers" have been overloaded and as a result there a lots of problems with activation.

 

As a result of the shambles I played with a MacBook Pro for a while today. In my opinion the OSX user Interface is loads more consistent and polished than Windows 10, which looks decidedly scruffy and inconsistent in comparison. It's a shame Mac hardware is so expensive or I'd swap over in a heartbeat.

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