latest update to Windows 10 — yes, it can get worse

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I’ve regretted upgrading from Windows 7 Pro to Windows 10 ever since I did it about 10 weeks ago. Because of what seem to be driver problems, I can no longer record sound (very important!), the computer can hibernate but not sleep (not quite so important), and accessing Control Panel options is confusing and difficult. To balance those drawbacks, I see no advantages.

Then this morning Windows decided to to an update. Sounds good, I thought. Over TWO HOURS later it said it was almost done. Then for another hour it said it was updating personalized settings, until I finally pushed the reset button. Since then, all day I’ve pushed the reset button a half dozen times, once during the boot, other times seemingly randomly. The system no longer seems trustworthy.

Somewhere along the line Media Player Classic disappeared and Avidemux was removed from my Open With list.

Cortana offered to start and answer any question in the world I might ask — obvious BS. But when I thought I might experiment with it a little, it warned me that it is going to record so much of my habits and data that I felt like the Stasi wanted to take over my machine. Nope, not interested.

I hate it. When I get around to doing it, I’m going to take it into my local shop and ask them to re-install Windows 7. I might even experiment with Linux, using a boot-from-disk version to see how much I’d miss Windows. There was a time when I rather liked the challenge of working through the complications of Windows, but now I just find it frustrating and infuriating. I want to do things with my computer, not spend my time fixing it. My next computer may be a Mac.

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The rules
1/ Before upgrading an OS, create an image or a clone so you can restore your installation in case of problems.
2/ Always check for updated drivers for sound, graphics, printers etc. The ones you have may not work properly or may be replaced with generic versions lacking in functionality.
3/ Always check that your programs are compatible with the new OS and check for updates to the ones that are.

Unless there is absolutely no alternative, NEVER abort an update. You’ve seen the result.

Cortana is optional. You can turn it off. You can turn off most of the data collecting features. There are utilities available to make it easier.
The latest version of MPC is compatible with W10, just install it. Restoring a program to the “Open with” list is easy. Click on “Open with” and then on “Choose another app” and find the program you want to use. Open it and it will be added to the “Open with” list.

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I hear you, but unfortunately, Mac’s have their issues as well.

That’s a bit of a sweeping statement. What ‘issues’ are you referring to?

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I hate it. When I get around to doing it, I’m going to take it into my local shop and ask them to re-install Windows 7. I might even experiment with Linux, using a boot-from-disk version to see how much I’d miss Windows. There was a time when I rather liked the challenge of working through the complications of Windows, but now I just find it frustrating and infuriating. I want to do things with my computer, not spend my time fixing it. My next computer may be a Mac.

My feelings about Windows 10 are exactly the same. I “upgraded” on release day and eventually reverted to Win 8.1 a couple of weeks ago.

There were lots of reasons for that, the privacy and security settings, the lack of control over windows updates, the routine Video TRD Failure BSODs that kept recurring even after I had installed supposedly Windows 10-friendly Nvidia drivers, the lack of any benefits to offset those compromises. Then, when the Fall Update uninstalled some of my programs and changed some of the privacy settings back to their default settings, I decided that enough was enough and I reverted to Windows 8.1 Pro. I am so glad I did, because now I don’t feel as if I am going into battle every time I log on. I am still engaging in an ongoing struggle with MS, who are determined to sneak the Get Windows 10 app on to my pc and download the Windows 10 installation files; but that is a small price to pay for being able to enjoy computing again.

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I hear you, but unfortunately, Mac’s have their issues as well.

Creating a disk image before upgrading or making any major changes to your system, and backing up your personal data on a daily basis (incremental…changes only) is always a good thing to do.

You then have a safety net for getting back to a known good state.

Best advice today. I had to roll back one of my clients to Windows 7 after Quickbooks 2016 completely lunched Windows 10. I didn’t have a recent system image, and I wish I had. Took me two days to get him back in business. Screwed up two of my own machines as well. I’m 0 for 3 so far.

This is a bit off topic, but it’s worth mentioning: Quickbooks 2016 and Windows 10 does NOT work. If you think it does, look at your Windows error logs after you’ve installed the R3 update. Somebody at Intuit should be horsewhipped.

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Best advice today. I had to roll back one of my clients to Windows 7 after Quickbooks 2016 completely lunched Windows 10. I didn’t have a recent system image, and I wish I had. Took me two days to get him back in business. Screwed up two of my own machines as well. I’m 0 for 3 so far.

This is a bit off topic, but it’s worth mentioning: Quickbooks 2016 and Windows 10 does NOT work. If you think it does, look at your Windows error logs after you’ve installed the R3 update. Somebody at Intuit should be horsewhipped.

Tell me more! I have Quickbooks 2013 and was thinking of “upgrading!”

Don in Austin

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Tell me more!

http://www.intuitiveaccountant.com/general-ledger/windows-10-and-quickbooks-2015-and-2016/#.VoDh56u3y70

cheers, Paul

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I have had nothing but good luck with Windows 10. In my opinion Windows 7 is now obsolete. Best to move on, or plan on keeping your present computer for the rest of your life.

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In my opinion Windows 7 is now obsolete.

1) Define “obsolete”.

2) On what do you base your opinion that “Windows 7 is now obsolete”?

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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I can no longer record sound (very important!), the computer can hibernate but not sleep (not quite so important),

I am able to use Audacity to record audio on Win 10. What were you using?

Perhaps check into the Power state settings in the bios for the sleep issue, or maybe some drivers need update.

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But you need to do the upgrade to have the clean install recognized.
:cheers:

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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Had no incidents with W10 I’ve found it to be the smoothest upgrade yet from microsoft on a PC but I do know quite a few folks that have struggled with laptops. Just needs Edge sorting. As said though always backup especially on a laptop.
Kev

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I had a brutal time with failed updates (November release and this last preview build 11082) where even a reset from the downloaded iso could not repair. I ended up reverting back to the factory defaults (Windows 8) and progressively updating to this last build.

My last Windows backup was also not recognized, leaving me with 100’s of zip files to go through until I found what I needed. Needless to say, I was in deep in “ka-ka-land” for almost 3 days until everything was back to normal.

The root cause of my misery was not reading the fine print when installing the System User profiles on another drive/partition. I installed a 240GB SSD in my Toshiba Satellite P70, and kept the original 1TB HDD as a secondary drive to store my downloads, docs, pics, music etc. When I first installed Win 10 back in July, I followed instructions to use the SysPrep Tool to create the Users folders on the HDD. Everything went well with the security updates and minor patches until the “Big” release in November. This is where the upgrade started to repeatedly crap out.

To make a long story short: Before upgrading to a major release, you MUST put back the C:Users directory where Windows expects to find it. RTFM including the fine print and save yourselves a lot of grief.

John

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