New Windows 10 - Discussions

[Pretzel]

I upgraded to Windows 10 tonight and found the process to be much more painless than expected. My only big issues were graphics drivers (it reinstalled my old windows 7 drivers from the system restore point), needing a reinstall of Microsoft Office (which is being as large of a pain as it was the first time), and Solidworks 2014 having a hairy conniption about compatibility and licensing(as I expected it would, I just forgot to uninstall it before updating). The only unpleasant part of the whole process is this Microsoft Office issue, but that's more an issue with the Office software than anything else since I had massive problems with it the first time.

I'm a fan of the redesigned notifications system and the improved system search. I also prefer the sort of up-front design of the file manager now, since all the tools are readily available at the top as opposed to being potentially hidden in menus. We'll see how I feel about it after a couple of days.

[Wally]

I'm not-so-patiently waiting for them to let me upgrade my desktop computer with it. It looks nice, so I'm looking forward to fooling around with it since they'll let you go back to what you had if you don't like it in a month.

You can just download it manually from Microsoft. That's what I did. I will probably dual-boot it on my Mac at some point. I did use the Windows 10 Technical Preview and I definitely liked it better than Windows 8. You can read about how to download Windows 10 on Cnet so you don't have to wait for Microsoft to push the update to your computer.

Here's the link: http://www.cnet.com/how-to/jump-the-line-and-get-windows-10-right-now/

[matth157]

I upgraded my machine from Windows 7 and then also did a clean install of it. The upgrade was pretty easy and did not have any issues with it. I like the overall look of it and I like the multiple desktops that they stole from Apple. I work in IT so I deal with this stuff daily.

[nevets88]

The upgrade (from 8 and 8.1) took forever though. Something like 3 hours? When I upgraded to Yosemite, it was like, 20 minutes.

[matth157]

The upgrade (from 8 and 8.1) took forever though. Something like 3 hours? When I upgraded to Yosemite, it was like, 20 minutes.

The upgrade from 7 took forever too. Probably 3-4 hours

[Pretzel]

The upgrade took me a total of maybe an hour and a half? 1 hour to download and 30 minutes to install sounds about correct. I had to try twice though because the first time I downloaded it, which was faster and took only 30 minutes, I had forgotten about a registry edit made that set my default installation location to the F:\ drive instead of the C:\ drive (since my C:\ is only a 128gb SSD I have to save space) and the installation failed because of it. It made me redownload the whole thing from scratch again, which was annoying but it eventually finished.

[nevets88]

The upgrade took me a total of maybe an hour and a half? 1 hour to download and 30 minutes to install sounds about correct. I had to try twice though because the first time I downloaded it, which was faster and took only 30 minutes, I had forgotten about a registry edit made that set my default installation location to the F:\ drive instead of the C:\ drive (since my C:\ is only a 128gb SSD I have to save space) and the installation failed because of it. It made me redownload the whole thing from scratch again, which was annoying but it eventually finished.

The actual time I spent sitting in front of the computer to do the upgrade was like, 5 minutes? Once I hit the start install button and came back to see it was done, it was ~3 hours. Laptops aren't exactly the fastest though, but they had plenty of free space and not many apps.

Microsoft is charging for solitaire (per month/annum) and dvd drive app. Lame. I don't use much of either, so I don't care, but will it start charging other apps/services? Hope not.

[isukgolf]

I am waiting for it download in the background apparently ... then I will be notified I can install it.

[danL]

My gripes so far: No ability to use start page instead of start menu as promised Edge is awful - performance is still worse than Chrome even after being bloated with add-ons for years No clean installation - must be an upgrade to an existing OS WTF is with that search bar by the Start icon?

[nevets88]

Install killed GRUB. Think my Linux boot is kaput. Oh well, not really a surprise.

[Pretzel]

My gripes so far:

No ability to use start page instead of start menu as promised

Edge is awful - performance is still worse than Chrome even after being bloated with add-ons for years

No clean installation - must be an upgrade to an existing OS

WTF is with that search bar by the Start icon?

What's the downside to no clean installation if you're upgrading? Isn't it beneficial to have all your files and programs stay on the computer? You also can do a clean installation if you'd like, following these directions: http://www.howtogeek.com/224342/how-to-clean-install-windows-10/

The search bar is mainly used for Cortana, but it basically allows you to search your computer, microsoft directories, and the web all at the same time. I've found it fairly useful myself, but your mileage may vary.

[nevets88]

[QUOTE name="danL" url="/t/83585/new-windows-10-discussions/18#post_1181039"] My gripes so far: No ability to use start page instead of start menu as promised Edge is awful - performance is still worse than Chrome even after being bloated with add-ons for years No clean installation - must be an upgrade to an existing OS WTF is with that search bar by the Start icon?[/QUOTE] What's the downside to no clean installation if you're upgrading? Isn't it beneficial to have all your files and programs stay on the computer? You also can do a clean installation if you'd like, following these directions: [URL=http://www.howtogeek.com/224342/how-to-clean-install-windows-10/]http://www.howtogeek.com/224342/how-to-clean-install-windows-10/[/URL] The search bar is mainly used for Cortana, but it basically allows you to search your computer, microsoft directories, and the web all at the same time. I've found it fairly useful myself, but your mileage may vary.

That piece says you have to upgrade from an existing install.

[Pretzel]

That piece says you have to upgrade from an existing install.

It also gives instructions for resetting it to a fresh install once the upgrade has been completed. A bit of a pain, but I was pointing out how it can be done.

[nevets88]

[QUOTE name="nevets88" url="/t/83585/new-windows-10-discussions/18#post_1181267"] That piece says you have to upgrade from an existing install.[/QUOTE] It also gives instructions for resetting it to a fresh install once the upgrade has been completed. A bit of a pain, but I was pointing out how it can be done.

I wrote that in my post, that at least you could do a fresh install after the upgrade but edited it out for berevity. Should have left it in as my point was the same as yours, at least you can do one. I just did a clean Yosemite install and it's similar to Windows in that it knew my original setup, how much memory I had when I bought the machine w/the original OS. It wouldn't install until I put back in the memory that came w/machine out of box. Wonder how 10 will handle that. Call Microsoft?

[JazzFatCat]

Here is my Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 tale of woe in case it helps anybody else.

I tried to update 5 times. Everytime I tried to do the update it would spend an hour downloading the files and every time the update would fail by either stalling at different points or giving me different error codes that pointed to network problems. Eventually I figured out that the update was dropping my wi-fi connection. Once I connected my laptop to my router with a cable the update worked OK. The actual install took about one hour and once windows 10 was installed I still had to do more updates. So attempting to do the update probably took me 2 days, and the actual install and further updates to get where I am probably took 2 hours.

My first impressions of it:
- I like the multiple desktops (I first ran across that concept 20 years ago on a UNIX machine). It is odd that the multiple desktops aren't mentioned in the "what's new" help pages
- I find it odd that the active window isn't in a highlighted color
- Edge looks terrible

- I hate Bing but it looks like there is a way to get the Cortana web searches to become google searches ( http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/microsoft/windows/11776236/How-to-make-Cortana-search-Google-in-Windows-10.html)

[nevets88]

Got the clean install in, had to reboot a couple of times during the install as it just froze. I really hate this fugly login screen. Already tired of seeing it. I managed to get rid of it on one machine. Did the same exact thing on another, didn't work. Simple enough to undo all the spy on you settings. There's a lot of them. The way updates work is different. Boot up is slower. Logging in and out is slower.

[Pretzel]

I've been booting faster than Windows 7 myself, but I have noticed slightly slower login times (though I can wait the extra half second or second). I totally agree that the login screen is fugly. They really should give you the option to change it.

[nevets88]

Going from 7 to 8/8.1, boot up was considerably faster. I remember how noticeable it was. 8/8.1 to 10, a tad slower. Hot corners are gone. Those were annoying. Not only is the login window fugly, the look and feel of the interface is still inconsistent. The icons are ugly. The mix between old Windows rendering and the Metro rendering is just, clashing. Very Frankenstein. Battery saver seems to add a decent bit to battery life. The command window is finally resizable. OS X had that for ages. Chinese TTS - two new voices. Before, this was only in Professional. Not Home. The TTS interface is in the dark ages compared to OS X though. So clumsy. Narrator is a pain. You can just select text and right click to be read to in OS X. I hate that I still have to update the registry to get rid of the OneDrive link in file explorer. Having to remove all those video news widgets is a pain. Wonder how much backup has changed. In the past week, I went from crashy Yosemite, to speedy and robust Yosemite. Ubuntu 14 to 15. Windows 8 to 10. Lots of changes to adjust to. Again. People pile on 8, but it was fast. Vista was a dog. As was ME. And both were way, way buggier. 8's mix of touch and non touch interfaces threw people for a loop, but I didn't have much of a problem with it. It was flakey to navigate, yeah, but it was fast and not as buggy as its predecessors.