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Feanor
08-23-2015, 04:30 AM
After however long it's been since Microsoft invited me to reserve my copy, I've done so on two machines, my Win 7 music computer and my Win 8.1 general purpose desktop. The former I "reserved" over a week ago, the latter about 4 days ago. The latter, Win 8.1 desktop was upgraded yesterday.

I'd say everything when smoothly with on significant glitches; all the apps I've tried seem to work fine, though there are a few I haven't tried yet.

Win 10 is certainly an improvement over Win 8.1, noticeably with respect to its not shoving the 'Metro' interface down you throat. It starts on the desktop which now has a 'Start' button. The new 'Start' provides access similar to the old, pre-Win 9 'Start' though it looks different. The Control Panel interface is now significantly different though not necessarily better. It's possible to navigate to Control Panel like Win 7/8.

There are few former Windows apps or service that aren't provided, including Windows Media Player; see here ... 6 Features Disappearing in Windows 10 (and How to Replace Them) | PCMag.com (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2485170,00.asp) ... I won't miss these. (I use VLC Media Player for most media and Foobar2000 for music. I don't play any MS games, though my wife might miss these on her machine.)

CAUTION: Do not accept the "Express" installation: look for the 'Custom Installation' button which is tiny and obscure, located to the lower left of the screen. The Express installation automatically signs you up for a variety of Microsoft services, including somes that monitor your computer in ways that you don't necessarily need or want. Also 'Express' changes you default apps to those of MS choosing, including their new 'Edge' browser which looks nice, at least and will import Chrome bookmarks if you decide to go with it.

Canadians should note that 'Cortina' is not presently available in Canada.
~

So now I'm waiting for my music player Win 7 machine to upgrade. After that I will upgrade my wife's Win 8.1 laptop, my Win 8.1 Pipo TV box (which is working well, BTW), and my daughter will eventually upgrade her Win 7 machine as well. (Too damned many computers.)

Mr Peabody
08-23-2015, 05:13 PM
I got an invite to download 10 but I'm not sure I want to. I heard all the fixes or upgrades to 10 will cost a fee now.

You're right about the default settings, I've read that warning before.

kexodusc
08-24-2015, 05:33 PM
Best Windows I've used, even if there's a few things I don't like. I use a Surface Pro 3 and battery life on 8.1 was about an hour longer, but I still get through the day. Everything else just feels quicker and more stable.
Not digging Groove Music though.

Mr Peabody
08-24-2015, 06:54 PM
Hey Kex!! good to hear from you. How's life with the little ones, that may not be so little now?

You'll have to drop in Rave Recs and let me know what you are listening to these days.

kexodusc
08-25-2015, 04:03 AM
Howdy Mr. P. The Little ones are almost 4 and a half and have dominated my decor with all things pink and Disney. It's all good.

I actually installed the express settings - can't say I've noticed anything suspicious or annoying though I had to change my default search provider. They've really taken the touch interface in a good direction and I like the dual laptop/tablet capabilities of Windows 10 a bit more than I did in Windows 8.1, which I found a bit odd and clumsy at times.

What's everyone using for antivirus software for Windows 10? I've been on the preview builds since last fall just using Windows defender. I'm not a big downloader but haven't had any issues I know of (might be the unknown ones that I should be worried about?).

Feanor
08-25-2015, 04:37 AM
Howdy Mr. P. The Little ones are almost 4 and a half and have dominated my decor with all things pink and Disney. It's all good.

I actually installed the express settings - can't say I've noticed anything suspicious or annoying though I had to change my default search provider. They've really taken the touch interface in a good direction and I like the dual laptop/tablet capabilities of Windows 10 a bit more than I did in Windows 8.1, which I found a bit odd and clumsy at times.

What's everyone using for antivirus software for Windows 10? I've been on the preview builds since last fall just using Windows defender. I'm not a big downloader but haven't had any issues I know of (might be the unknown ones that I should be worried about?).

Hi, Kex, great to hear from you and that all is well.

Gosh, I wonder whether declining all the superfluous MS services and monitoring would save you some battery life?

BTW, how's the Surface Pro 3 in general? My daughter is considering one to replace an old Asus Netbook, (could only be an improvement).

kexodusc
08-25-2015, 06:54 AM
Hi, Kex, great to hear from you and that all is well.

Gosh, I wonder whether declining all the superfluous MS services and monitoring would save you some battery life?

I doubt it, most of them disable in tablet mode and in PC mode the processor is rarely recording much activity while running. Prior to Windows 8.1. I would have thought this more likely.



BTW, how's the Surface Pro 3 in general? My daughter is considering one to replace an old Asus Netbook, (could only be an improvement).

I'm a linux guy who's used a Macbook Pro for the last 12 years for work. This is the first Microsoft product outside of XBOX that I've endorsed, well, ever. I like my Surface Pro 3 more than my iPad Air 2, iPhone 6 Plus, or Macbook Pro. I think for working professionals on the go, and maybe students as well, it's a terrific device at a solid price point. I love how they've integrated the Stylus and touch interface to be useful rather than just neat. It's built like a tank. And I think in the main, consumers who aren't on-the-go working professionals are luke warm to it. Go figure!

Mr Peabody
08-25-2015, 04:57 PM
I use Norton Security. I know they get a lot of flack but they've been the best for me. I switched to Bitdefender for a season but went back to Norton.

Feanor
08-25-2015, 06:47 PM
What's everyone using for antivirus software for Windows 10? I've been on the preview builds since last fall just using Windows defender. I'm not a big downloader but haven't had any issues I know of (might be the unknown ones that I should be worried about?).

I'm using Avast! Free: it seems to work. Some time before the Win 10 upgrade I was using AVG Free but I had a problem with it that forced me to uninstall; I thought it might have be subverted by a virus of some sort so I when to Avast! and have had no problems since.

Mr Peabody
08-25-2015, 07:57 PM
I haven't used the free security, I always wonder how they can give away a version and sell a version, it seems if they want you to pay there must be more to it than you get with the free version.

Competition has seemed to drive prices down from prior years for most of these products.

Smokey
08-25-2015, 09:49 PM
There are few former Windows apps or service that aren't provided, including Windows Media Player;

Win 7 was very successful due to its WMP strength and being A/V friendly, so don't understand why they omitted it in Win 10.

Think I stay with Win 7. Love it and don't want to see any changes done to it. Maybe I wait for Win 11 :D

kexodusc
08-26-2015, 02:07 AM
I haven't used the free security, I always wonder how they can give away a version and sell a version, it seems if they want you to pay there must be more to it than you get with the free version.

Competition has seemed to drive prices down from prior years for most of these products.

Yeah, that's a business model I'd love to see from the inside. I think the simple basic AV uses all the same virus scanners and fixes as the paid version...it'd almost be too much work to develop a second, free stream that generated no revenue. Why bother? I'm guessing they try to upsell a few other threat protections in the paid versions for things like spyware.

I'd probably curse the name of a company that gave me a free a solution, then offered to clean a virus for a fee if I caught one.

JoeE SP9
08-30-2015, 01:13 PM
Howdy Mr. P. The Little ones are almost 4 and a half and have dominated my decor with all things pink and Disney. It's all good.

I actually installed the express settings - can't say I've noticed anything suspicious or annoying though I had to change my default search provider. They've really taken the touch interface in a good direction and I like the dual laptop/tablet capabilities of Windows 10 a bit more than I did in Windows 8.1, which I found a bit odd and clumsy at times.

What's everyone using for antivirus software for Windows 10? I've been on the preview builds since last fall just using Windows defender. I'm not a big downloader but haven't had any issues I know of (might be the unknown ones that I should be worried about?).

I can only speak for what I've experienced. My Firefox got infected with adware. Windows Defender didn't acknowledge it was there. AVG found and removed it.

As of this date I've "upgraded" all three of my Windows boxes to Win 10. I have a couple of complaints about Win 10. Saved multiple tabs do not automatically update when starting Edge. Also, my Verizon mail app doesn't show anything but mail in the inbox. If I go to Firefox all the various mail folders show up. The latest update disabled swipe scrolling on my laptops touch pad. I went into properties and changed it. It now works fine. However, someone who's not computer savvy would find this a problem.

Feanor
09-19-2015, 05:55 AM
So far I have upgrade my three Win 8.1 computers to Win 10 with no significant issues. These machines are (1) my i5 8G desktop, (2) my wife's AMD A8 8GB laptop, and (2) my Pipo X7s Intel Z3736F quad core TV box with 2GB. Even the latter with only 2GB runs well with Win 10.

On the other hand, my Win 7 AMD Athlon single core 4B machine is still waiting for Win 10 to be available for download. My daughter hasn't yet accepted the upgrade offer for her Win 7 desktop.

N.B. Once again I recommend against accepting the 'express' configuration; instead, use Custom Installation and choose only the MS services you really need to avoid their snooping and possible privacy compromise.

The only problem so far pertained to MS' new browser, 'Edge'; my wife, an Internet Explorer user, complained that there is no Adblock Plus version for Edge. In fact to this point Edge doesn't support any of that sort of plug-in. We solved the problem for my wife by reverting to IE (which the Win 10 install doesn't remove). In my case I continue to use Chrome on which Adblock Plus works fine.