Love Win8.1…why not Win10?

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Ian Paul on PC World just made a statement that I was curious about. It had little to do with the article he wrote but it struck me. He said Win8.1 users were very happy with their free upgrade to Win10. I do not know the source of data behind such a claim, but assuming it is true–and I can certainly see the possibility it is–raises a question for me: Why are you remaining Win8.1 users still using Win8.1 instead of upgrading to Win10?

IMHO Win8 is a superior implementation of Windows than Win7, but the arrogance of the user interface ticked me off. I wasn’t alone.

When Win8.1 (free upgrade) came along I was horrified by the cloud implementations and reporting back to MS servers from a security standpoint. Which reinforced my rejection of Win8. But clearly my concerns do not trouble Win8.1 users which is fine.

Win10 is really a better refinement of Win8.1 and brings back to a point the Win7 user interface (sort of). So I must admit if you are happy with 8.1, and enough time has passed so that Win10 seems stable to you is it not time to upgrade? Or is there something holding you back?

I am seriously curious for your opinions….

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I got a little excited and decided to upgrade earlier than I thought I originally would, but the entire
upgrade process went “slicker than snot”, at least for me anyway. It preserved just about all my personal settings from 8.1.

Window 10’s Windows Update is still a major issue for me, although not enough to not upgrade.
I don’t care at all for the forced updates with absolutely NO information about them whatsoever, after all,
I’m a PC user, not a MAC user.
The privacy concerns in W10 are a pain but not much of an issue since they can easily be circumvented.

In my opinion W10 is a better OS than anything that came before it and all it takes a bit of tweaking.
Wait, didn’t we say this about every other OS MS has ever made?

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I got a little excited and decided to upgrade earlier than I thought I originally would, but the entire
upgrade process went “slicker than snot”, at least for me anyway. It preserved just about all my personal settings from 8.1.

Window 10’s Windows Update is still a major issue for me, although not enough to not upgrade.
I don’t care at all for the forced updates with absolutely NO information about them whatsoever, after all,
I’m a PC user, not a MAC user.
The privacy concerns in W10 are a pain but not much of an issue since they can easily be circumvented.

In my opinion W10 is a better OS than anything that came before it and all it takes a bit of tweaking.
Wait, didn’t we say this about every other OS MS has ever made?

I agree with everything here, which mirrors my position, with the possible exception of the snot analogy:eek:

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I got a little excited and decided to upgrade earlier than I thought I originally would, but the entire
upgrade process went “slicker than snot”, at least for me anyway. It preserved just about all my personal settings from 8.1.

Window 10’s Windows Update is still a major issue for me, although not enough to not upgrade.
I don’t care at all for the forced updates with absolutely NO information about them whatsoever, after all,
I’m a PC user, not a MAC user.
The privacy concerns in W10 are a pain but not much of an issue since they can easily be circumvented.

In my opinion W10 is a better OS than anything that came before it and all it takes a bit of tweaking.
Wait, didn’t we say this about every other OS MS has ever made?

I can certainly agree with this. I am happy with Win10 but I know I am not using all of its functionality because of those pesky privacy issues. I sign in only with a local account and NEVER with a Microsoft account because when you read the EULA, you are agreeing to give them everything but your first born child (and that might be somewhere in there too), all of your searches, web sites visited, essentially everything and I just won’t do that. I only used Edge to download FF, then that to download Chrome and Pale Moon. I don’t like the forced updates, coming to the machine in the morning with a message to reboot so something can finish installing is disconcerting still and I’ve been using Win10 since early August. All in all though, coming from Win 7 pro, I’m happy with it.

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Maybe those Win8.1 users do love Win10, or at least are interested. However there is a very old rule with Microsoft that states, “Wait for the first Service Pack”. Thousands of people learned this rule and want to protect themselves against early adopter problems.

Of course Microsoft also states that Service Packs are old hat and will no longer be issued. The thing is, I don’t quite believe that and I’ll bet lots of other people don’t either. They may not call them Service Packs, but as the bard said, ‘A rose by any other name…” Seriously, what do people believe that Redstone is? And if Redstone isn’t an SP then what about Threshold?

Yet let’s play along and pretend that Service Packs don’t exist in name or function. It’s still valid to not want to have to deal with random failures caused by the newness of the system. From that perspective waiting a few months or even a year can be a smart move.

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Maybe those Win8.1 users do love Win10, or at least are interested. However there is a very old rule with Microsoft that states, “Wait for the first Service Pack”. Thousands of people learned this rule and want to protect themselves against early adopter problems.

Of course Microsoft also states that Service Packs are old hat and will no longer be issued. The thing is, I don’t quite believe that and I’ll bet lots of other people don’t either. They may not call them Service Packs, but as the bard said, ‘A rose by any other name…” Seriously, what do people believe that Redstone is? And if Redstone isn’t an SP then what about Threshold?

Yet let’s play along and pretend that Service Packs don’t exist in name or function. It’s still valid to not want to have to deal with random failures caused by the newness of the system. From that perspective waiting a few months or even a year can be a smart move.

I actually have come to love Windows 8.1. I presume what most people hate is the metro-style screen which replaced the Start Menu. I’ve found it to be a real boon. I am a software developer consultant and photographer and I have a lot of programs installed. My start menu and desktop were a mess in previous versions of Windows. I would reorganize my start menu to my liking, and then updates to programs would put a second copy of links in the “standard place”.

The metro-style screen lets me organize my programs in groups. I have two monitors, and it’s smart to only switch the monitor I want for the metro-screen. I really like that as a “start menu”. And the alphabetized alternative is also great. (Of course, I also use “Search Everything”, and so from the desktop I can find any program or file instantly just by typing the beginning of it’s name. Best enhancement/add on to Windows EVER. The search in windows pales in comparison, particularly for speed.)

In fact, I used to use a program that let me do the same thing on my desktop…create groups, put the icons in there, etc. Metro is easier and built in.

Underneath the interface, functionally, I run for weeks without rebooting and windows 8.1 seems to do well with that.

What’s not to love?

I don’t use ANY metro apps…no need to. I boot straight to the desktop and stay there except for Metro. I’ve had it that way since the beginning and nothing has forced a metro app on me. Well, Skype tried, but I just installed the desktop app of that and never have had a problem, even with updates.

So, at this point, I really saw no upside to spend the time upgrading. I surprise myself there — in the past I’ve upgraded and installed new systems many times–for many years I was a beta tester for Windows. But why risk a perfectly good install of windows 8.1, with all my software setup the way I like it, and my development environment tools all working perfectly, for an upgrade focused on getting rid of the feature I like most about Windows 8.1?

I do as a rule upgrade my hardware every two years…seems like that would be the best time to switch when I have to do the setup work anyway. Though my high spec’d computer (best part is the 32GB of memory) is humming along nicely and I’m not feeling the need even though I’m a few months away from the two year mark. I may push it off to 2.5 or even 3 years this time.

As an early adapter and long-time beta tester, I surprised myself in this behavior!

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Neil,

Certainly if I replaced my hardware every 2 to 3 years (I typically do NOT) then I would NOT upgrade to Win10. As you do the replace hardware method, I would do as you suggest…update to Win10 at that time. Why do the work twice?

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Given the horror stories here about the upgrade I’m happy to wait a little longer.

cheers, Paul

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I’m running 8.1 on a desktop machine that shipped with Vista and that I subsequently upgraded to 7 and then 8. The reason I haven’t upgraded to 10 is simple: I use Windows Media Center and Windows 10 doesn’t include it.

I will say that I like 8.1 much better than 7, which I guess makes me unusual.

Fafner

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What do I do with WMC? I use it to record the occasional TV program, via cables connected to my satellite receiver, and then to play the recorded program. I don’t use it for playing DVDs.

Fafner

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Fafer,

For what do you use WMC? What do you do with it? Windows 10 does come with a DVD player for those who had WMC in 8.1. Also, things like VLC are available for W10.

And folks VLC is also available in Linux!!!
:cheers:

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

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I just now updated two of my PCs to Win 10; the reasons for the delay is that I use both PCs to connect to by company’s VPN network and until our IT department provided the necessary software for Win 10, I had to stay on Win 8.1.

I still have to update my Sony ultrabook that is running 8.1; Sony recommended waiting until the drivers are available and they promised them for this month.

I suspect these are the typical reasons for delaying an upgrade: lack of drivers for specific (perhaps old or unique) hardware, and lack of compatible versions of required software. And it doesn’t hurt to wait for others to find the problems so that you can benefit from the fixes (e.g. don’t upgrade until Service Pack 1).

In contrast, for Windows 7 I upgraded my desktop and laptop on the day that the ISO became available on the MSDN download site (I had purchased discounted upgrade licenses for both), but at that time I wasn’t using my company’s VPN network and I had been using the Win7 previews on my laptop for many months so I was confident I would not have any issues. With Windows 8, I had to wait, at least with my desktop, because now I was using the VPN.

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What is the rush? Keep to the healing edge, don’t risk the bleeding edge for important stuff (work is important, telecommuting is a lot cheaper than driving even w/ cheap under $4/g gas:cheers:

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

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I think you used “eg wait for SP1” figuratively speaking since with the advent of Win10 there are no (more) Service Packs.

But there will be equivalents. Redstone (the Windows 10 release following Threshold) is considered by many to be the equivalent of a SP.

Jerry

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I’m a computer geek. I love Win 10 and upgraded as soon as I could.
My wife hates computers, but guess what, she figured out Win 8 with no help from me and was amazingly proficient at navigating on her touch screen laptop, way faster than me. She says Win 10 is the same old unintuitive interface that she hates.

There must be other people out there like her who would prefer to delay the update as long as possible.

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The upgrade process to Win10 from 7 by on my laptop started automatically and failed then I could not revert back to 7.
I’m now left with a Win10 desktop which is nice and no Microsoft programs. After finding several drivers for items I used which no longer worked and a day of my life trying to figure it out I refuse to upgrade my Win8.1 computer. Once bitten, twice shy!
It functions and fortunately there are other programs I can use to accomplish what I need.
Nice move Microsoft but I will now protect my King with more guards!

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I’m a computer geek. I love Win 10 and upgraded as soon as I could.
My wife hates computers, but guess what, she figured out Win 8 with no help from me and was amazingly proficient at navigating on her touch screen laptop, way faster than me. She says Win 10 is the same old unintuitive interface that she hates.

Interesting. I have 2 laptops and an iPad Air. I hated win 8, but love 8.1 as I have configured it to just about the same interface as win 7, which I have had on my desktop since day 1. Now, I love/hate my iPad and was not thrilled when win 8 turned my PC into a %##*^@ Apple-wannabe. I use my iPad for reading books, watching Netflix, TWCable, Amazon movies,etc. But trying to do any real work is frustrating at best, impossible at worst. I find the touchscreen very hard to work with (big fingers, I guess). And Win 8 apps are all pretty worthless to me. 8.1 allowed me to get back to work on my laptops. I upgraded to win 10 on one of them and I’ve found nothing that will not run as it did in 8.1 In reality, 10 is pretty much what I hacked 8.1 to be. But I’m still loath to upgrade the 8.1 to 10…maybe after the threshold non-service pack.
But I can understand that your wife doesn’t want to go to 10. If I were as proficient with my fingers as she is, maybe 8.0 and my iPad would be more useful to me. But alas, to me, mouse and keyboard are still the way to go.

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I am on the road in an RV and use cell phone data to keep two laptops and two phones connected. I need to control updates and any other downloads to avoid expensive data over-runs. Win 8 and Start-8 works for me.

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I am on the road in an RV and use cell phone data to keep two laptops and two phones connected. I need to control updates and any other downloads to avoid expensive data over-runs. Win 8 and Start-8 works for me.

Being a full time RVer I’ve gotta agree. I’ve only got a 4g limit on my WiFi. If I use 3.5g at the end of billing cycle I get charged fees which I know that MC (Microcaca) won’t reimburse me for and that assumes I do not loose a connection, have problems with an install and have to redo it, etc. I DEMAND the option of not downloading automatically like I have the option in 8.1. I don’t want to do it until I have a land line such at son’s house. I also do not want to have to figure out on the road what caused problems that cause me to loose ability to use computer or internet.

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Thanks to everyone who has replied so far. Interesting responses to why happy Win8.1 users are delaying the free upgrade to Win10?! Feel free to keep them coming.

Seems like the main “objection” is they ‘are just letting others beta test Win10 for them, but they will upgrade eventually.’

To those who love the Win8.1 interface and reject the Win10 interface I would think there is a registry change to set the Win10 interface to Win8.1 appearance. Am I wrong … anyone?

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Don’t know about reverting the look to Win8.1, http://www.classicshell.net will revert to looking like Win7. I use this on Win8.1 systems but do NOT have a Win10 system to try it on yet.

Thanks to everyone who has replied so far. Interesting responses to why happy Win8.1 users are delaying the free upgrade to Win10?! Feel free to keep them coming.

Seems like the main “objection” is they ‘are just letting others beta test Win10 for them, but they will upgrade eventually.’

To those who love the Win8.1 interface and reject the Win10 interface I would think there is a registry change to set the Win10 interface to Win8.1 appearance. Am I wrong … anyone?

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I mistakenly installed 64 bit firefox after going to win10. Mozilla was unuseable after that. Reverted to 32 bit and could not use it. Went back to 8.1 and mozilla was fine. Went to win10 and mozilla was again unuseable. Went back to win8.1 and am staying here for now.

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Ian Paul on PC World just made a statement that I was curious about. It had little to do with the article he wrote but it struck me. He said Win8.1 users were very happy with their free upgrade to Win10. I do not know the source of data behind such a claim, but assuming it is true–and I can certainly see the possibility it is–raises a question for me: Why are you remaining Win8.1 users still using Win8.1 instead of upgrading to Win10?

IMHO Win8 is a superior implementation of Windows than Win7, but the arrogance of the user interface ticked me off. I wasn’t alone.

Like MANY, I hated the new Metro interface of Windows 8. It didn’t take me long to find a utility like Start8 or Classic Shell to fix that. *I* have a tendency for almost ANY new OS to tweak it to MY liking rather than what some Microsoft Software Engineer *thinks* I should like. With any new release, those smarter than me usually come up with a fix or workaround that suits me.

When Win8.1 (free upgrade) came along I was horrified by the cloud implementations and reporting back to MS servers from a security standpoint. Which reinforced my rejection of Win8. But clearly my concerns do not trouble Win8.1 users which is fine.

You and I were on the same boat, but again, tweaks and workarounds were soon forthcoming.

Win10 is really a better refinement of Win8.1 and brings back to a point the Win7 user interface (sort of). So I must admit if you are happy with 8.1, and enough time has passed so that Win10 seems stable to you is it not time to upgrade? Or is there something holding you back?

I’ve played with the Win 10 Insider Preview since it was first available. I have upgraded several of my systems without any undue problems, but still have a couple of Win 8.1 Pro laptops that I *haven’t* upgraded and may not. I happen to like Win 8.1, and don’t really see any compelling reason to upgrade something that is working just fine now. I’ve upgraded both of them using a spare drive so they are registered with MS and I would still have the opportunity to upgrade later if I change my mind, but then put the original drives back in them. MY philosophy is that if it works, then why “fix” it?

I am seriously curious for your opinions….

I’m sure a lot of the reasons boil down to familiarity, like those who have refused to upgraded past Windows XP. LOTS of people simply don’t like change, but unfortunately in the digital world things are changing rapidly, and it’s not usually safe to stay too far behind. Security, safety, and privacy are issues that are important to me, so I have more of a “wait and see” attitude when it comes to the systems that I use daily, but might be more willing to take more risks with systems used only occasionally. I try to *thoroughly* test the waters before changing my primary systems.

As far as upgrade horror stories goes, I’ve seen none of that. I’ve upgraded dozens of systems for friends and family without a hitch, but I use the 32/64 bit ISO’s that have been put on bootable USB flash drives with a utility called Rufus, rather than trying to install from the web. I suspect MOST of the upgrade issues have been trying to install directly via the web, though obviously driver issues for old hardware can be and is a problem often too. FWIW, because I was curious, I successfully was able to install Win 10 Pro on a 9 year-old Dell that originally had XP.

Anyway, that’s MY two cents worth!

Cheers,
Phil Heberer

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As far as upgrade horror stories goes, I’ve seen none of that. I’ve upgraded dozens of systems for friends and family without a hitch, but I use the 32/64 bit ISO’s that have been put on bootable USB flash drives with a utility called Rufus, rather than trying to install from the web. I suspect MOST of the upgrade issues have been trying to install directly via the web, though obviously driver issues for old hardware can be and is a problem often too. FWIW, because I was curious, I successfully was able to install Win 10 Pro on a 9 year-old Dell that originally had XP.

Anyway, that’s MY two cents worth!

Cheers,
Phil Heberer

I agree with this completely and I also upgraded (dual booting with Win 7) a 2008 Dell laptop to windows 10 x86. I had previously tried to upgrade to Win 8.0 on it but it wouldn’t install after a compatibility check.
On my other two desktops I’m happy with 8.1 with Classic Shell but I also triple boot one with 10,8.1, 7. I’m staying with 8.1 as my main OS due to the lack of WMC (for now) on 10. With that exception everything I run on 7/8.1 runs on 10. I’m retired, mostly, so I get to play a lot where most folks have to actually do real work. Therefore I can sympathize with you because I remember learning to use Lotus 123 on an early IBM PC and the frustrations that caused.

Just my never humble opinion.:)

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I’ve got a number of machines on my home network and I upgraded two of them with little or no problem … I run a home recording studio and my main studio machine (or Digital Audio Workstation) uses software that has not really been proven under Window 10 yet so I’m reluctant to go there until I know its all going to work … my laptop that I take when I travel is my workhorse for daily activity though but, since I was going to be traveling a lot the last couple of months, I was reluctant to upgrade because it’s working fine and I need it to be working fine without the hassle of fighting through even the least of upgrade problems, especially on the road away from home. Now that I’m pretty much home for the holidays, I’m considering going ahead with the upgrade and it’s one of the reasons this forum topic attracted me … I’m not at all anxious to spend my holidays searching for drivers or trying to figure out why my printer doesn’t work though …

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I decided right up front that I would NOT upgrade to Win10 quickly and have advised several friends of that stance.

I will be out of the US for all of next March and will update 2 desktops and my laptop when I get back.

For those people that don’t like Win8.1 try http://www.classicshell.net. I’ve been running that on the two Win8.1 systems for quite a while now. For those two systems, they “look like” Win7. ClassicShell also works on Win10 (although I have NOT tried that yet. I’ve just ordered a Win10 laptop for a family member, so will see, soon, what Win10 is all about.

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I build my own systems and my 8.1 licenses are retail, not OEM – I can move them to a new system if I want. The free W10 upgrade converts these licenses to OEM – they are licensed to the upgraded computer only and I cannot then move them to a new system. So I will delay implementing W10 in case I build replacement computers between now and next June. And even then, if the option is available, I may prefer to pay for an upgrade to keep portability.

(I have used 8/8.1 on 2 systems for 2 years without problems and found it handled older apps better than XP and W7.)

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Fafer,

For what do you use WMC? What do you do with it? Windows 10 does come with a DVD player for those who had WMC in 8.1. Also, things like VLC are available for W10.

Drew, if you have no use for it then I understand your question. On the other hand Microsoft has removed a very useful tool for a lot of people with, in my opinion, no replacement. Unless we want to spend money on Xboxes. I can remember a similar conversation on another forum. And BTW, unless you got the DVD player in the early “free” period, you can get one for $15.00 plus tax. I just did.

So I still use 8.1 with WMC and the HD HomeRun Prime to do what I need to do.:^_^:

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Ian Paul IMHO Win8 is a superior implementation of Windows than Win7, but the arrogance of the user interface ticked me off. I wasn’t alone.

My laptop crashed, horribly, while I was waiting for Win10 to be released! I was PC-less for awhile, but one of my wife’s co-workers gave her a Dell Inspiron desktop, running Vista, which she ‘loaned’ to me. Thinking the worst, I started using it, (better than nothing, right?) while looking for a replacement for my laptop. I was VERY pleased with it, even though it is almost at the end of it’s support life. Later, I managed to get a good used laptop by HP, which came with Win7 on it, and soon had it fully updated and did the free upgrade to Win10, with no issues. ( I followed the instructions here on Windows Secrets, to get a clean install of both Win7 & Win10, with limited success) It works quite well, when I USE it. The problem is the Vista system came with a 22 inch flat screen monitor, while the HP only has a 15.4 inch screen! My old eyes have discovered that they really LIKE the bigger screen. I am keeping the HP updated, and I intend to make the full transition to it soon. At that time I will also upgrade the Dell to Win7 and do the free upgrade to Win10. We have two other laptops in the house as well, running Win 8.1, and they will also be upgraded to Win10 soon. I have tried most of my legacy SW and it all seems to be working fine on the Win10 system. If I find that all the software that I enjoy working with works on the Win10 system, I will gladly switch over. By the way, I LOVE the way Vista works; it reminds my of Win XP Pro, working the way it SHOULD have worked. Alas, tho, it’s time to move on. I have noticed that in every case since Win 95 that the ‘NEW and IMPROVED’ releases have always looked and worked pretty much the same as the OLD and UNIMPROVED versions did. Funny thing about that! The hype seldom ever measures up to reality. We just learn the new quircks and keep on computing. The only real difference is that they seem to become more reliable with each upgrade. As for driver problems, I think we can usually go to the compatibility mode until new drivers are developed, if ever. At this time I see very few reasons NOT to upgrade. Even if it DID tell me I can’t roll it back to Win7! (Missing partition, or something)

PS I HATED the user interface on Win8, too! But I found an app that returned the Start button and deleted a bunch of the crap that MS put on the screen and used the Desktop only, just like I did with Win XP. After that, it worked fine for me.

Bob

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I’ve had significant concerns about WIN 10 for myself as well as clients. Among these are;

Changes in the user interface that are not intuitive.
Changes in default settings, network access, ports opened etc. that affect security and privacy.
Performance and reliability issues with updates that end up causing crashes or operational issues – Crashing Lenovo systems was just one of these.
Defective updates
Software and drivers break
Lack of technical information on windows updates
Inability to configure updates to notify only on home systems

I’m not interested in having to deal with customer dissatisfaction and comping billed time to customers because I installed something that caused them to lose productivity. At worst case, open ports and default ‘sharing’ could result in data breaches and subsequent legal issues.

Until Microsoft has demonstrated through performance and track record to the IT community that these concerns are satisfactorily addressed, I’m advising people to stay on WIN 8.1 with Classic Shell.

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Personally, my upgrade experience was terrible. How many have returned to the previous OS?

Windows 8.1 with Update 1 (and other enhancements, such as Classic Shell) work excellently on this computer (and so does Ubuntu). Windows 10 does not. Thankfully, I had a full system backup to which to revert (since the Microsoft method to revert to the previous sometimes doesn’t work properly).

Important mission-critical programs that I have work great in Windows 8.1, but not in Windows 10 (yet). Driver problems caused black screens and overheating in Windows 10, but not in Windows 8.1 (and Ubuntu). I was forced to revert.

On the other hand, my brother upgraded his computers rather successfully to Windows 10, even though they are much older. Perhaps “Results may vary” is the proper term.

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Ian Paul on PC World just made a statement that I was curious about. It had little to do with the article he wrote but it struck me. He said Win8.1 users were very happy with their free upgrade to Win10. I do not know the source of data behind such a claim, but assuming it is true–and I can certainly see the possibility it is–raises a question for me: Why are you remaining Win8.1 users still using Win8.1 instead of upgrading to Win10?

IMHO Win8 is a superior implementation of Windows than Win7, but the arrogance of the user interface ticked me off. I wasn’t alone.

When Win8.1 (free upgrade) came along I was horrified by the cloud implementations and reporting back to MS servers from a security standpoint. Which reinforced my rejection of Win8. But clearly my concerns do not trouble Win8.1 users which is fine.

Win10 is really a better refinement of Win8.1 and brings back to a point the Win7 user interface (sort of). So I must admit if you are happy with 8.1, and enough time has passed so that Win10 seems stable to you is it not time to upgrade? Or is there something holding you back?

I am seriously curious for your opinions….

I am loving Win 8.1, always have with use of Classic Shell. I have upgraded a few PC’s from 8.1 to 10 and have reverted every one. The customers hate win 10. I also find that if I have a win 10 pc on in my shop, the internet crawls to a stop on the other PC’s. If I shut down the win 10 PC, everything is back to normal. This has happened with about 10 different laptops using win 10. I see no viable reason to go to win 10. The privacy issues alone are enough reason. Many of my customers love 8.1 and will not change. I will help them stop win 10 from installing on their PC. I have a 2nd PC running win 10 pro and only use it to figure out something, otherwise I will NOT switch to win 10 on any other PC of mine.

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@65Muscle…..now that snippet about the internet slowdown is interesting…I’ve not seen that mentioned anywhere else.

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I think he’s referring to the bandwidth hog W10 can be if it is not configured correctly, meaning,
turning off a lot of the crap that’s constantly trying to access the internet through it’s normal functioning.

You got to remember that W10 is an “all in one” OS that has many of it’s programs open to updates
over whatever internet connection is present. Be it news or weather apps, most of these things just need to be
set not to preview as “live” content. There are others as well.

The above can account for quite a lot of wifi drain, especially when other systems are trying to access the same wifi.

Much of the “privacy” issues associated with W10 can be curtailed as well. We just need to get the word out to n00bs
that these options exist and how to go about re-configuring them. A never ending job I fear.

Otherwise W10 is a pretty decent OS.

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Thank you Clint for your ideas., Most of the pc’s with win 10 that are slowing my internet have been configured to turn off the majority of “crap”, thru the many articles I have read about win 10. I don’t know of any more that I can do to stop win 10, or the programs that are installed from updating etc. In my home town back north where I spend the summer, a few of my pc tech friends say the same. I am on a fairly slow connection there which might have something to do with it, but I have found no way to get it faster. Probably half of the win 10 pc’s that I have worked on, are factory install new laptops, then I have cleansed them of superfluous junk and configured what I think is properly done.
If you have any suggestions where to go further, please guide me to them. I would appreciate any help I can get, so that I can help my customers and friends.
Thanks again for your initial ideas.
Also I am only using wired connections thru a new router. Had the same results with the old router, using wired connections only. Wireless is worse.
John

I think he’s referring to the bandwidth hog W10 can be if it is not configured correctly, meaning,
turning off a lot of the crap that’s constantly trying to access the internet through it’s normal functioning.

You got to remember that W10 is an “all in one” OS that has many of it’s programs open to updates
over whatever internet connection is present. Be it news or weather apps, most of these things just need to be
set not to preview as “live” content. There are others as well.

The above can account for quite a lot of wifi drain, especially when other systems are trying to access the same wifi.

Much of the “privacy” issues associated with W10 can be curtailed as well. We just need to get the word out to n00bs
that these options exist and how to go about re-configuring them. A never ending job I fear.

Otherwise W10 is a pretty decent OS.

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@65Muscle and Clint,

So, at least my Gb/CAT6 wired house may NOT be as bad as Wifi. I only use WiFi for my phone and tablet. The rest are wired connection using a 35Mb internet cable connection.

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Hi,
I have always found wired better, and of course safer. My internet here in FL is also 35Gb, much better than the slow one back home. I also use an iPad once in a great while. That is of course on wi-fi.
I am sure my issue with win 10 killing everything is because of slow internet back home, but it still should not be that bad. Most of the people back home with win 10 hated it, and had issues with software not working. I guess in a few months, things might get better LOL.
Take care,
John
Were you the person from Rockledge? Cannot get used to this heat you have. Must have been a brutal summer
JM

@65Muscle and Clint,

So, at least my Gb/CAT6 wired house may NOT be as bad as Wifi. I only use WiFi for my phone and tablet. The rest are wired connection using a 35Mb internet cable connection.

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Yep, I live in Rockledge. I guess one “kinda” gets used to the heat after a while. Back when I was younger and more foolish, we used to play 7-a-side soccer in August. Nowadays, it is air conditioning and a pool right outside the sliding glass doors at the back of the house. BUT, we have our best time of the year just about here. I mowed the grass yesterday and it was “only” 71F. LOL

K

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I am from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and have been coming to Titusville for 8 winters now. Love the winter here, but the Upper Pen cannot be beat in the summer, all 4 months of it LOL.
I mowed today, 1st day I could take the heat here right now. You are correct, the best time of the year is coming soon.
Take care, I’m off to the PC fixing now..
John

Yep, I live in Rockledge. I guess one “kinda” gets used to the heat after a while. Back when I was younger and more foolish, we used to play 7-a-side soccer in August. Nowadays, it is air conditioning and a pool right outside the sliding glass doors at the back of the house. BUT, we have our best time of the year just about here. I mowed the grass yesterday and it was “only” 71F. LOL

K

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You get 4 months of summer in the UP?? LOL. Haven’t I seen reports of snow in July up there?

K

I am from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and have been coming to Titusville for 8 winters now. Love the winter here, but the Upper Pen cannot be beat in the summer, all 4 months of it LOL.John

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Say what, Drew?
That post was about as disjointed as a turkey AFTER the Thanksgiving dinner.

Sorry Drew, but you really should Edit what you type before you hit SEND.

You destroyed the old Windows 8 forum…. are you now trying to destroy this one too?

Sorry folks, I don’t come here all that often, but then when I do, I’m met with a personal rant.

Happy Holidays Everyone!
The Doctor

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“

Much of the “privacy” issues associated with W10 can be curtailed as well. We just need to get the word out to n00bs that these options exist and how to go about re-configuring them. A never ending job I fear.”

Yes, that’s a good summation. Unfortunately, only a small percentage of users are technically savvy enough do registry tweaks, dig deep into operating system settings and determine which third party hacks are appropriate for them. Those folks are the ones who bought the message that they don’t need to be IT hobbyists or system administrators. They just want to do their email, banking, shopping, play music and video, store and edit photos and other stuff. Some even want to use PC to do their employer’s work.

If the O/S was an automobile, drivers would need to know how to adjust the ABS, traction control and timing, valve train and fuel mixture on the engine. :;):

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Very true. Many of us are comfortable with modifying the registry “carefully” – meaning taking a backup JIC first. BUT, one shouldn’t have to do this (I don’t mean registry updates, per se) but having to adjust Windows (of any version) to stop it “phoning home”. It seems to me that anything that “automatically” sets itself up to “phone home” on some scheduled basis should ONLY be done with a user’s permission.

Maybe a case for some utility software here to run and present a list of software that does this and allow that check to be adjusted or turned off. Something like the various Windows startup configuration software.

K

”

Yes, that’s a good summation. Unfortunately, only a small percentage of users are technically savvy enough do registry tweaks, dig deep into operating system settings and determine which third party hacks are appropriate for them. Those folks are the ones who bought the message that they don’t need to be IT hobbyists or system administrators. They just want to do their email, banking, shopping, play music and video, store and edit photos and other stuff. Some even want to use PC to do their employer’s work.

If the O/S was an automobile, drivers would need to know how to adjust the ABS, traction control and timing, valve train and fuel mixture on the engine. :;):

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You might also want to look in the services section and disable event reporting.
Apparently MS is doing far more telemetric monitoring than in any OS previously.

Disable “automatic” logon to your wifi too.
If your wifi is weak then you’re probably overloading it with all those other machines using it.

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Hello Clint,
Thanks for the further info. In addition to anything I could fine, I followed Black Vipers services list of things to disable etc.
I am thinking probably because of the slower internet speed, that this might be most of the problem.
I have a spare laptop with Win 10 on it with me. I am going to do some playing with it down here in FL where I am on 35Meg and see what it does to my win 8.1 pc.
I appreciate the info.
John

You might also want to look in the services section and disable event reporting.
Apparently MS is doing far more telemetric monitoring than in any OS previously.

Disable “automatic” logon to your wifi too.
If your wifi is weak then you’re probably overloading it with all those other machines using it.

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Have you let the machines run for a couple of days? I found a lot of downloading over the first 2-3 days but after that it’s slowed down and I haven’t noticed a slowdown on either the Win 10 PC or my Win 8.1 Notebook on the same network.

Other than that and spending a hour or so over a couple of days finding drivers for my hardware (particularly DTV card) mine has run brilliantly. I’m running a standard HDD in the desktop and it now boots as fast or faster than the Windows 7 notebook which has an SSD.

I’ve never used Media Center with my tuner cards in win 7 as I found it a painful experience. I used the software that came with the card for a while and also a freeware application called Digitial Watch for a while. Both were OK but limited. I then found DVBViewer online and tried their free trial and liked it a lot. Paid my 45$ and bought the Professional version and have been very happy. It also runs fine on Windows 10.

It looks like a good replacement for WMC as it will look after/play music, images/photos and video as well as the DTV card. It’s pretty much a complete replacement for WMC and has really deep configurability. You can skin it, create your own menu structures, set up shortcut keys, playlists, channel groups and a whole lot more.

I have no relationship with the makers of the program, but do not hesitate to recommend it. There is also a very helpful community around the application.

Regards
Gordon

Hello Clint,
Thanks for the further info. In addition to anything I could fine, I followed Black Vipers services list of things to disable etc.
I am thinking probably because of the slower internet speed, that this might be most of the problem.
I have a spare laptop with Win 10 on it with me. I am going to do some playing with it down here in FL where I am on 35Meg and see what it does to my win 8.1 pc.
I appreciate the info.
John

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I use iTunes for playing music. It’s free, DLNA compliant. With iTunes, it can turn on my Denon receiver in the family room and play music directly from my server (where the music resides).

Just my 2c.

K

I then found DVBViewer online and tried their free trial and liked it a lot. Paid my 45$ and bought the Professional version and have been very happy. It also runs fine on Windows 10.

It looks like a good replacement for WMC as it will look after/play music, images/photos and video as well as the DTV card. It’s pretty much a complete replacement for WMC and has really deep configurability. You can skin it, create your own menu structures, set up shortcut keys, playlists, channel groups and a whole lot more.

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I have seen snow or snow flurries in every month of the year up there. Nothing on the ground in July/Aug, BUT, nevertheless flurries. I live out in the country, little cooler than beside Lake Superior. Last July (2015) I had to cover my garden because of frost. A few years ago, I lost my whole garden to an unexpected frost in early August.
It might be cold, but it is beautiful, and hardly any crime. Almost paradise. LOL
JM

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Which is why some of us live in FL year around. No frost here in August…LOL.

K

It might be cold, but it is beautiful, and hardly any crime. Almost paradise. LOL
JM

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I am completely satisfied with win 7 and 8.1, besides which I have significant amounts of time and effort invested in Visual Studio 2010.

Will this package will be compatible with Win 10?

See this article by ZDNet concerning Windows 10 sluggish growth.

http://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-10-growth-sluggish-as-windows-7-windows-8-users-stick-with-their-os/?utm_source=howtogeek&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter

So much for Microsoft’s desire to have Win 10 installed on 1 Billion devices. Who is kidding who?

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I am completely satisfied with win 7 and 8.1, besides which I have significant amounts of time and effort invested in Visual Studio 2010.
Will this package will be compatible with Win 10?
See this article by ZDNet concerning Windows 10 sluggish growth.
http://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-10-growth-sluggish-as-windows-7-windows-8-users-stick-with-their-os/?utm_source=howtogeek&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter
So much for Microsoft’s desire to have Win 10 installed on 1 Billion devices. Who is kidding who?

You are not forced to upgrade. If you want to keep running win7 & win8.1 do it. VS 2010 should run fine on Win10. You might check the VS forums for compatibility issues.

Microsoft did say in 2 – 3 years. Given that over 250 million PCs (desktops, notebooks, 2-in-1s) per year are being sold and the vast majority will be sold with Windows 10 installed that should be an easy 500 million after three years. Already over 110 million upgrades done at last official count from Microsoft. Plus an unknown number of Xbox One devices. Plus Windows phones. Last estimate is 50% of enterprise upgrades in 2016 will be to Windows 10. One billion is not such a stretch.

Joe

--Joe

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@Drew,

In your and others opinion Windows 10 is superior. Others have a different opinion about Windows 10. Opinion is NOT fact. Please do not conflate the two. If you have evidence to backup your opinion so it could be seen as fact please present the evidence.

Joe

--Joe

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The evidence is readily accessible. You, certainly, can try to conveniently call what I write “opinion” and imply it therefore has no credibility or validity BUT, I was not giving a personal opinion. And what does not come from facts anyone can access comes from 1st hand experience both, mine & my customers. And I doubt you’ll respect that as evidence. Sadly, I can’t do it for someone I would like to, but, if you want to imply what I write isn’t worth reading you could put me on ignore… save you bothering to feel you have to say anything in response to what I am free to write.

ALL people visiting or contributing have the right to speak w/out judgement or bias.

Plus makes no sense for you guys to ask from anything from me. Logically, send people to someone a few of you haven’t tried hard & long to deride such as myself. They can’t have much trust or faith in anything I write after the way a few of you have treated me.

Like suggesting what I write be in a Drew thread. Understandable that it’s hard to believe any sincerity… considering the 1st source of the comment & its context.

If the “evidence is readily accessible” please point it out. Re-iterating opinion does not make it fact. All I’m asking is that you present opinion as opinion or “what I have observed”. You consistently make broad generalizations with nothing to back it up except your sense of outrage at being questioned.

I am not implying anything about the veracity of what you write other than the last sentence of the post when you clearly state an opinion as fact. You in fact may write what you wish but you will find more and more people here and elsewhere ignoring your posts if you continue to along this vein. The advice you give in answering questions is often very solid and good. That is what we look for. The constant over exuberant cheer leading is what gets tiresome.

I have never suggested anything like a Drew thread. You better check the source.

Joe

--Joe

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JoeP517 All the way back to Windows 3, there have been those who claimed it was a a bunch of BS. ANY software is hard to get used to, when it first comes out. I had HIGH hopes for Windows 95, once it was finally released. I was sadly disappointed, as I was with each later upgrade. But, over time, as I began to use it more and more, I grew to admire parts of it. They never did seem to get it just right, but they kept trying. Each time it got closer and closer to a good working OS. (Personally, I LIKED Dos 5.0) Now that Win10 is out, and I have used it for awhile, i find that I LIKE it, too. On my everyday desktop I am running Vista, and it is doing everything I need and ask it to. Soon, I will be retiring the desktop and running exclusively on the laptop, with Win10. I don’t NEED nor WANT any touch screens, and I can’t stand all the fancy window dressing that Win10 has, but I know how to get around them. Five years from now, there will be those people who constantly complain about the newest Windows version and claim that Win10 is the absolute BEST! That’s just human nature. Name calling and character assassination is SO uncalled for, here! If you don’t LIKE what’s said here, why do you read it? It isn’t mandatory, you know.

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Well spoken/written.

K

JoeP517 All the way back to Windows 3, there have been those who claimed it was a a bunch of BS. ANY software is hard to get used to, when it first comes out. I had HIGH hopes for Windows 95, once it was finally released. I was sadly disappointed, as I was with each later upgrade. But, over time, as I began to use it more and more, I grew to admire parts of it. They never did seem to get it just right, but they kept trying. Each time it got closer and closer to a good working OS. (Personally, I LIKED Dos 5.0) Now that Win10 is out, and I have used it for awhile, i find that I LIKE it, too. On my everyday desktop I am running Vista, and it is doing everything I need and ask it to. Soon, I will be retiring the desktop and running exclusively on the laptop, with Win10. I don’t NEED nor WANT any touch screens, and I can’t stand all the fancy window dressing that Win10 has, but I know how to get around them. Five years from now, there will be those people who constantly complain about the newest Windows version and claim that Win10 is the absolute BEST! That’s just human nature. Name calling and character assassination is SO uncalled for, here! If you don’t LIKE what’s said here, why do you read it? It isn’t mandatory, you know.

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…Might get back on topic of IT and helping people…

You are simply just a hypocrite. Joe and Paul have tried so many time to help users in the WSL forums, but your contributions have seldom been helpful.

In particular, your statement in your #55 post at http://windowssecrets.com/forums/showthread//172654-Love-Win8-1-why-not-Win10?p=1032587&viewfull=1#post1032587 is simply a lie.

“…And the fact is 10 is far superior & nicer to use than any Windows OS before it…” is nothing more that your opinion that you have not bothered to support with any references. So exactly what grounds do you have for your insistence that users of older versions of Windows should upgrade to Win10? Please quote valid references.

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It seems to me that this is getting a little out of hand. I understand that everyone has different opinions. That is what makes these types of posts helpful to many people. I don’t know Drew from previous posts, so I have no axe to grind. Yes, I know that Joe and Paul have helped many here and respect that.

Can we get back to being helpful and respectful of each other?

So, in that vein (and this is just my opinion…LOL) Win10 (which I tangled with for the first time yesterday on a relative’s new laptop computer) seems generally good. I had one problem while trying to “duplicate” the laptop screen to a Sharp HDTV via HDMI (which I have done before with Win8.1). The HDTV screen was very pixelated. On talking to HP support (the laptop is a week old)….we updated the HD Graphics drivers and the BIOS (UEFI, I suppose). This fixed the problem.

The HP support rep (Sanjit…wonder where he was ) asked if I had any feedback for them. I asked how often the factory (in China) updates the “image” that they load onto new laptops…no answer to that question. However, with the laptop being only a week old and needing graphics driver and BIOS updates leads me to believe…not frequently enough.

K

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I dual boot 8.1 and 10 on my main desktop at home and on my laptop that I use for work, and I have a Windows 8.1 smartphone. I can compare the two OS’s directly on the same hardware and with most of the same software. There are four utilities I use that are incompatible with 10 but run fine on 8.1. I have WMC on 8.1, and prefer it to the alternatives available on 10. There is a small handful of Universal Apps that I use on my phone, but only news and weather on my PC’s.

I stay in 8.1 for the most part on my laptop, and 10 on my desktop. For me, there is no noticeable difference performance-wise between 8.1 and 10. I use StartIsBack+ on 8.1, and StartIsBack++ on 10. I have both OS’s configured very much the same, and other than a couple of little tell-tales on the Taskbar, I don’t notice which OS I’m using.

Prior to Windows 10, I was dual booting Windows 7 Ultimate and Windows 8.1 Pro, and I upgraded the Windows 7 side of my desktop and laptop (after a full drive image backup). The upgrade on the desktop and laptop were uneventful, preserving nearly all of my Windows 7 settings and preferences. 10 even plays the 7 booting sound when I reboot into that side.

I’ll keep 8.1 for those things that 10 can’t do, and I’ve turned off most of the ‘phone home’ stuff in 10. To me the biggest difference between 8.1 and 10 is price. I paid $40 to upgrade to 8, and 10 was free. But I personally find no compelling reason to upgrade to 10, other than price.

One can do as others here have suggested and create an up-to-date drive image of the existing OS, go through the upgrade, create a drive image of 10 to retain the ‘free’ status, then restore the image of the previous OS.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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And those, STILL (geeeesh), on XP know they have to get the hell off it

neva!:cheers:

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

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This thread has become completely derailed. It is now closed.

Joe

--Joe

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