Being asked to upgrade to Windows 10

[StevesTruck]

My Win 7 office PC was due a reinstall, and to be fair, I've never really been bothered about Win 7, so I stuck the Preview of 10 on as well as Linux Mint, having not used Linux in over 8 years. I gave Windows a fair hearing, but it just seems to be fussy and over helpful. On the other hand, Mint just does what you tell it.

 

I haven't used Windows on this machine for about a month now, and don't really miss it. I've still got XP on the (£20) laptop. It's fully up to date via a registry hack. There's a Linux install on there as well, but I don't really use it for anything other than autoroute and uploads under XP.

[Aspman]

I quite like Mint as well.

 

I've got it on an old laptop with a small SSD. Goes like a rocket.

[gadgetman]

So it's not entirely free?

[gadgetman]

Surprisingly the interface sucks if you've got a touchscreen as well. It's like having two virtual OSs running at the same time and they can't decide between them which you should be using at any time. It's possibly even worse with touch since you can't throw your lot in with the Classic Shell

 

After trying a windows 8.1 Tablet I could actually see the point of Windows 8 RT. In that everything was touch enabled, there was no breakout to a desktop. Just a shame it didn't take off in terms of the apps.

We've now got windows tablets in work and I hate it.

After android, and predictive keyboards, I seriously hate using the windows keyboard.

[JohnMcL7]

That is going to be my plan for the "upgrade" - try to do a clean install on a fresh SSD.

 

Like you I think Win 8 was actually pretty good under the hood, it was just that the interface sucked if you didn't have a touchscreen or tablet. Even before Win 8.1, I had it looking and feeling like Win 7  but on steroids (Classic shell to give the win 7 feel on top).

 

Not seen Win 10 up close and personal but if the interface sucks again, I will be looking straight at Classic shell (or similar)

 

Actually, I found it the other way around - it was great for a normal desktop/laptop (with the file associations set to use the desktop rather than touch interface) but a real pain in the neck for touch screen devices largely because the desktop mode is largely unusable on touch devices (doesn't even bring the keyboard up automatically for text boxes) and the touch mode isn't that well supported with odd omissions like no Silverlight.  I preferred the Windows 8 interface as it ditched the fairly clumsy start menu to replace it with a single power users menu and a one click program screen.  It is a slight change but nowhere near as big as claimed as long as you set the associations correctly which is one of the biggest mistakes Win8 made, on top of that you get a faster system, generally quicker access to most parts of the system, better hardware support, a proper task manager, individual hardware event logs etc.  I find it pretty much unusable on a tablet though, I bought a Dell Venue 8 Pro which has an 8in screen and Bay Trail Atom processor (much quicker than the last one) but I rarely use it, you frequently get kicked back to the desktop mode where the keyboard doesn't come up automatically and retract itself as in the touch version which is more annoying than it sounds, the keyboard is rubbish and the desktop interface is simply not designed for touch particularly on a small high resolution screen.

 

Given Microsoft have been offering isos of Windows 7 and 8 to download, I'll be surprised (and annoyed) if they don't do the same for Windows 10.

[GentleGiant]

I just did some major updating on a Win7 Pro box, no adverts listed in the downloads (yet).

[Machpoint005]

I've been running Windows 8.1 since upgrading from an early version of 8. I don't understand what all the fuss is about, and managed to adapt quite readily from Windows 98 on my previous machine. I do have a touch screen laptop, which is particularly good for reading pdf documents.

 

I won't be "upgrading" to Windows 10 anytime soon. 

Edited 3 June, 2015 by Machpoint005

[fabdavrav]

I've had a look at this & win 10 does without WMC & if like me you have win7 Ultimate you get downgraded to win10 Pro as "Ultimate " not done.........so thanks a lot MS!..................

 

I think I'll wait abit until they create a DVD/BD player...........

[djswivel]

I've had a look at this & win 10 does without WMC & if like me you have win7 Ultimate you get downgraded to win10 Pro as "Ultimate " not done.........so thanks a lot MS!..................

 

I think I'll wait abit until they create a DVD/BD player...........

 

You still use the built in Windows ones? Didn't realise anyone did these days! Even at work we push out VLC to make sure the machines can play anything...

[kilted]

I've had a look at this & win 10 does without WMC & if like me you have win7 Ultimate you get downgraded to win10 Pro as "Ultimate " not done.........so thanks a lot MS!..................

 

I think I'll wait abit until they create a DVD/BD player...........

That's not going to happen AFAIK - MS have decided not to feature this on any of their new OS versions. Better get looking at VLC or something similar.

[Fellwalker]

I'm running Win 7 Enterprise on my home laptops and work rig - None of these have this option....Not like I'm going to upgrade them anyhow!

 

Win 7 SP1 has become the new XP, reliable (ish) and stable (ish)

That's because it does not apply to Enterprise editions.  They are being sorted out differently.

[Fellwalker]

That's not going to happen AFAIK - MS have decided not to feature this on any of their new OS versions. Better get looking at VLC or something similar.

Microsoft withdrew Media Centre during the early days of Windows 8, due to licencing issues.  The last date you could get it as part of windows 8 was 31 January 2013. 

I know becasue I was trying to update my laptop to 8, and had bought a copy.  It insisted I had not removed an Intel Proset driver (supposedly incompatible) that Dell had put on, but I couldn't find any trace of it anywhere.  Anyway, I ran out of time and by February, if I had installed 8, it would have been without Media Centre. 

[David 8]

Nothing wrong with 8.1, just boot too desktop and it's no different to anything else right click on the start button and you hardly ever need to use the the tiles screen, on the odd occasion you have to go in there use the search box which works really well compared to any other MS search facility(remember the dog) It's definately leaner, and task manager is a lot more useful 

 

I'll take a shot with as long I can do a clean install with it. Like the rest of you I don't like doing upgrades.

[FUBAR]

Accidentally clicked on that icon that wont go away a couple of days ago and it now has a roll out date of 29th July for downloading Win 10 it seems. 

[kilted]

Nothing wrong with 8.1, just boot too desktop and it's no different to anything else right click on the start button and you hardly ever need to use the the tiles screen, on the odd occasion you have to go in there use the search box which works really well compared to any other MS search facility(remember the dog) It's definately leaner, and task manager is a lot more useful 

 

I'll take a shot with as long I can do a clean install with it. Like the rest of you I don't like doing upgrades.

I'm going to do it but will probably wait a while to allow any bugs to be sorted before I get it.

 

Accidentally clicked on that icon that wont go away a couple of days ago and it now has a roll out date of 29th July for downloading Win 10 it seems. 

From reading a few things, the download date is 29 July but you have to actually initiate the install.

[Aspman]

I've read around and there might also be an option to do a clean install.

 

Hopefully it'll be a downloadable ISO but I'm not holding out much hope on that one.

 

Servers will be overloaded for a while I expect

[kilted]

I've read around and there might also be an option to do a clean install.

 

Hopefully it'll be a downloadable ISO but I'm not holding out much hope on that one.

 

Servers will be overloaded for a while I expect

Yes form the information available it appears that once you have agreed to the upgrade there will be a downloadable ISO available - will have to wait and see as knowing MS there will be some issue we don't know about yet.

[gadgetman]

I think it's a staggered update as with Android.

 

So it'll be a random download slot allocation FROM the launch date onwards?

[TheWanderer]

I've cancelled the upgrade until such time as they come clean with the pricing structure of Win 10, I want a copy of it on tangible media such as DVD/Blu Ray disc or USB stick (depending on how they want to distribute it), so I can decide whether it's a straight upgrade or fresh installation.

 

The problem I have with a download installation is that if the SSD or HDD crashes you won't have any way of reinstalling Windows! For that you need tangible media.

[gadgetman]

Is anyone running 10 on a tablet?

Please tell me that it's better than 8.1

[djswivel]

Running 10 Home preview on my linx 8.

 

Much better than 8.1 but couple of bugs I've found. The one that's annoying me the most is that it won't auto-rotate despite knowing the accelerometer is installed correctly...

 

Also the start menu in tablet mode is the same as 8.1 (take over the entire screen but missing power button, etc) and no obvious way to get to desktop mode. Take it out of tablet mode in the settings and boom, straight to desktop mode...

[Aspman]

From what I've read it's not really ready yet.

 

Might want to sit on the download for a while unless you're going to try it on a  second disk.

[langers2k]

I've cancelled the upgrade until such time as they come clean with the pricing structure of Win 10, I want a copy of it on tangible media such as DVD/Blu Ray disc or USB stick (depending on how they want to distribute it), so I can decide whether it's a straight upgrade or fresh installation.

 

The problem I have with a download installation is that if the SSD or HDD crashes you won't have any way of reinstalling Windows! For that you need tangible media.

 

Depends what you mean by pricing structure?

 

My understanding is that any machine that is being offered the upgrade that passes the genuine validation test will be able to use Win10 for the life of that device for free. If you don't upgrade within the first year then it won't be free, current costs look to be $109 for Home and $149 for Pro so I'd guess at abut £100 and £140 given how these things tend to compare in the UK.

 

I'd very much expect that when you do upgrade you'll be given a licence key or confirmation code so that you're able to reinstall if needed. I've also heard rumours that you will be able to do a clean install rather than an upgrade which suggests an ISO will be available.

 

When I grabbed my current laptop it was during the Win7 -> Win8 changeover so I was able to upgrade for $15. (can't remember the UK price) I was provided with a key and able to use a standard Win8 DVD to install. Even now I am still able to use a Win8.1 DVD and correctly licence etc. I'd be very surprised if this were any different for Win7/Win8.1 -> Win10.

[TheWanderer]

I'll wait a while and see what happens to those who've opted in, when it kicks in at the end of the month.

 

I still want to know if I can have some tangible media (which I prefer to have) for obvious reasons, or whether you'll be able to do an ISO file to a USB stick and do a clean install from the USB stick or ISO file to a DVD so you can do the same from the DVD.

[djswivel]

With regards to media player - just been fiddling and it turns out songs with open in the Music app (which also collates all songs on your machine and puts them in) and movies open in the Video app. There's no need for WMP as the separate apps deal with them.