Windows 10 ...who's getting it?

[Lone Crusader]

Who here is interested in Windows 10 that will be releasing as a FREE upgrade to Windows 8.1 & Windows 7? This OS looks wickedly sweet. If you see a Window icon down in your system tray 'Click It' and you can sign up to receive it free when it releases and it will automatically download and wait for you to install it at a time that is right for you.

Here's a screenshot of what pops up when clicked on.

I found a video demo of a early release on YT.

Here's a YT video on Windows 10 and Project Spartan, the new Internet browser that will replace Internet Explorer.


Anyways share your input positive or negative on Windows 10.

 

[Lone Crusader]

Incidentally if your waiting on the automatic update for Windows 10 you could possibly be waiting up to 2-weeks for it to just download. Do you wish to speed up the process? Just download it HERE.

 

[MrBMT]

Incidentally if your waiting on the automatic update for Windows 10 you could possibly be waiting up to 2-weeks for it to just download. Do you wish to speed up the process? Just download it HERE.

If you happen to access that link on a Mac for some reason (like I did at work yesterday), you'll automatically be redirected to download the installation ISOs.

The easiest way to upgrade right now is using the Windows Media Creation tool; just make sure you've got all Critical & Recommended Windows updates installed, then download one of the following (both are direct links to the tools on Microsoft's website):
32bit Windows Media Creation Tool
64bit Windows Media Creation Tool

After running the tool, simply select the "Upgrade this PC now" option, it'll download the needed files and start the process.

When Windows 10 has successfully been upgraded and re-activated, you can then wipe the PC and do a clean install if you wish to but if you try to do a clean install before you've upgraded, it will treat you as having an unlicensed version of Windows and not activate.

 

[Lone Crusader]

Well after I installed Windows 10 I noticed that it wasn't similar to a system recovery. It kept all the installed software still installed instead of keeping your files intact and you having to reinstall them. Well that right there threw up some flags for me because no matter if M$ say the drivers are the same as they are in Win8.1 and all your software should still work, they actually have some issues with every new Windows release.

Sure enough, the synaptic drivers didn't quite work correctly. I couldn't scroll in any native windows environment. Imagine being in the new web browser or even in the Start Menu and not being able to use two fingers to scroll, very frustrating to say the least.

Then I started having connectivity issues while paired through my iPhone 6 Plus as a hotspot. I was thinking to myself that this is just right off the bat and I'm having these issues already. Although I'm not one to give up without a fight, I decided to perform a system recovery but it said that once it's been restored that I will no longer be able to roll back to Win8.1. No problem for me because if some of you have not been made aware yet, after 30 days of installing Windows 10 you are no longer capable of rolling back to your previous OS.

Consider this first 30 days as your test environment, so I would try working all your kinks out within that time frame. After the system restore everything is working as expected. I'm going to play around with it for a week and get use to it and if there just some things I absolutely can't live with then I'll probably stay with Win8.1 on my desktop.

There's a lot of little things that have been overhauled, the system tray icons have been streamlined and the explorer icons have been simplified as well. I'm used to using Siri a lot on my iPhone 6 Plus so I'm real excited about using Cortana and comparing the two. Also now that Internet Explorer is officially being laid to rest we can start anew with M$ Edge (which I'm trying out as I type this).

Now to explore my work environment...

 

[HUBMUSWELL]

I'm going to clone my SSD to a new one and test...That way I can revert to the old SSD in case of issues.

 

[HUBMUSWELL]

Just checked my 7" tablet on W8 and I can get the FREE upgrade to W10...HAPPY DAYS

 

[C.C. 95]

I'm going to clone my SSD to a new one and test...That way I can revert to the old SSD in case of issues.

I wanna hear about how that goes!

 

[Lone Crusader]

Here's some screenshots of some of the cool features of Windows 10.

The Desktop and how it's laid out with a cool
car of course.


To view your images now you'll do so
on what's called "Photos" instead of the
old clanky "Windows Photo Viewer".
It's much nicer in my opinion.


...and Photos can make quick edits similar
to how Mac's can in their image viewer.


The Start Menu has been completely
readdressed within the desktop environment.
All the functionality you had in Win8 & 8.1
plus more. It is very streamlined and
proficient.


No longer does Windows have Internet
Explorer. Now it's called MS Edge and
it behaves nothing like IE did. It has been
completely overhauled. No more annoying
prompts to enable this or that plug-in either.


Cortana! She's amazing (Sorry Siri) and
she has better voice recognition algorithms
than her competitor Siri does. Once you
have your mic setup correctly she can
almost always understand what your asking
her.


Cortana also has a somewhat understanding
of what your interests are and she's adaptive
too, meaning she can learn what interests you
and build upon that.


As you can see the small things like the
directories within Windows have been
overhauled and made more simplistic.
They don't seem to have as much depth
as past OS's but the pure elegance of
simplicity make up for it.


Your Action Center is where you most
immediate functions come into play.
Like Airplane mode, Bluetooth, location
based responsiveness not forgetting that
you also have a quiet mode and access
to all your networks.

All-in-all I'm so far really enjoying Windows 10. Still going to mess around with it for about a week before I decide whether or not to install it on my desktop computer too.

 

[ocielz]

Ok so I just updated from W7 to W10. It all went smoothly until the WELCOME screen, it would go forward after clicking Next. Kept restarting and restarting until I searched on my phone for fixes. My WiFi adapter was messing up windows and wouldn't let it go forward. I unplugged it and restarted and now it worked. Now I'm trying to fix my wifi, can't connect to my network and seems my adapter is not recognized......the struggle continues.

 

[Lone Crusader]

Ok so I just updated from W7 to W10. It all went smoothly until the WELCOME screen, it would go forward after clicking Next. Kept restarting and restarting until I searched on my phone for fixes. My WiFi adapter was messing up windows and wouldn't let it go forward. I unplugged it and restarted and now it worked. Now I'm trying to fix my wifi, can't connect to my network and seems my adapter is not recognized......the struggle continues.

See if you can go into Device Manager and uninstall the drivers for your Network adapter and restart and let windows update it.

 

[Snollygoster]

Thinking of getting this PC next week, @AcIDc0r3 do you think its any good? I currently have Windows 7 32bit i3 with 4gbs of ram so it should be a big step up.

It comes with Windows 8 installed but I am thinking of installing 10 from the beginning, will give 8 a shot first though and make up my mind then.

 

[Lone Crusader]

Thinking of getting this PC next week, @AcIDc0r3 do you think its any good? I currently have Windows 7 32bit i3 with 4gbs of ram so it should be a big step up.

It comes with Windows 8 installed but I am thinking of installing 10 from the beginning, will give 8 a shot first though and make up my mind then.

Yeah that's a nice upgrade compared with what you currently have. Plus an i3 to an i7, you will notice right away the speed increase. Price is reasonable too.

 

[ocielz]

Well I got the WiFi adapter working. Uninstalled and moved the Adapter to another USB port and now it's smooth Surfing!!! Thanks @AcIDcOr3!!

 

[Lone Crusader]

Windows 10 gets native support for MKV and High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC)

Microsoft has been working very hard with Windows 10, addressing user feedback as part of the Windows Insider Program and making various refinements and improvements to the operating system. Unlike Windows 8.1, Windows 10 will come with out-of-the-box support for two media formats.

Windows 10 will get MKV support. MKV, for those that did not know, is a flexible and open standard video file format that has quickly become the preferred file extension for high definition video. Now those who are on Windows 10 can have MKV support without the need for an additional codec.

High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), on the other hand, is a video compression standard and is a successor to H.264 or Advanced Video Coding (AVC). Also known as H.265, HEVC promises the same level of picture quality as H.264/AVC, however, there will be better compression so the file size can be smaller. This is important when dealing with 4K or UHD media. As the resolution increases, the file size increases along with it. HEVC promises better compression so these files are not massive.

I still prefer WMPC or VLC media player over the native WMP. They just support way more features and more video formats than the native version does.

 

[MrBMT]

Installed Windows 7 (without specifying a serial) in Parallels a while back and just updated that install to Windows 10.
Microsoft decided to activate my copy for me despite the fact that the previous Windows 7 install wasn't even licensed... Nice of them to give me a free copy of Windows 10?

 

[Lone Crusader]

Installed Windows 7 (without specifying a serial) in Parallels a while back and just updated that install to Windows 10.
Microsoft decided to activate my copy for me despite the fact that the previous Windows 7 install wasn't even licensed... Nice of them to give me a free copy of Windows 10?

Did they do that automatically through the software or did you have to call Microsoft and talk to a rep to make that happen?

 

[MrBMT]

Did they do that automatically through the software or did you have to call Microsoft and talk to a rep to make that happen?

Automatically, no involvement on my part - I didn't even sign in to my Microsoft account or anything, just had a local user account.
Maybe it's a new marketing thing, free Windows for Mac users

I didn't realise I had so little memory assigned to the VM; I should probably increase that (having said that, Windows 10 hasn't had any issues with it).

Either way it's going to be useful for work, as I need to debug some website issues with Microsoft Edge.

 

[Lone Crusader]

Reminder! If You Haven't yet, Turn Off Windows 10 Keylogger Now

Do you know? Microsoft has the power to track every single word you type or say to its digital assistant Cortana while using its newest operating system, Windows 10.
Last fall, we reported about a 'keylogger' that Microsoft openly put into its Windows 10 Technical Preview saying the company 'may collect voice information' as well as 'typed characters.'
It was thought that the company would include the keylogger only within the Technical Preview of Windows 10, just for testing purpose. But, the thought was Wrong!

The keylogger made its ways to Windows 10 public release offered by Microsoft for free due to which Windows 10 gained millions of adoption in just a few days after its first roll out back in July – but the free upgrade is not always free.
Yes, besides various privacy issues, there is a software component that tracks your inputs using your keyboard, voice, screen, mouse, and stylus, however, it is a bit more complicated than you thought.

Windows 10's Keylogger is More than Just a Keylogger
The component is not actually a keylogger in terms of malware.
It is more than that, as Microsoft openly says…

"When you interact with your Windows device by speaking, [handwriting], or typing, Microsoft collects speech, inking, and typing information – including information about your Calendar and People [contacts]…"

If that makes you feel creepy then need not to worry, because the good news is — You can Turn Off this Keylogger.

Here's How You can Turn Off the Keylogger

• Click on the Start Menu, then open Settings.
• Click on Privacy settings, which you'll find in the very last row of the menu.
• Once you are in the Privacy menu, click on General
• Under 'Send Microsoft info about how I write to help use improve typing and writing in the future' – Turn it to Off.
• Now move ahead to the 'Speech, Inking and Typing' menu and click Stop getting to know me. This will help you turn off the speech tracking through dictation or Cortana.

Due to several privacy issues built into Windows 10, Microsoft has gained a bad reputation.

 

[mllNY]

Microsoft just pushed a huge program to get everyone to update to Windows 10 I have done everything in my power to stay with Windows 7. I just cannot stand the idea that they are pushing it so hard.

ARGGG

@AcIDc0r3

 

[Lone Crusader]

@mllNY Windows 7! Windows 7, 8 & 8.1 all blew balls bro. Windows 10 is the shizzznit! I bought a licensed copy of 10 Home edition for a media streamer Intel NUC and it's the best. In fact tomorrow I'm buying another licensed copy of Win10 Pro for my Ultrabook so I can upgrade it's M.2 SSD drive.Going 256 to 500. Plus with the Pro edition I can use Bitlocker and lock a portable 4tb HDD I plan on using on the go.

 

[mllNY]

@AcIDc0r3 it just seems to me that these later windows versions are optimized for tablets/touch screens and I have neither. Also I just don't like the hard sell and how they are almost forcing people to upgrade, it grates on my nerves. If you were not interested you should see how Microsoft has pushed W10, it literally feels like maleware and I don't like that tactic. Also not a fan of how some things are not included and they are trying to sell it to you, like a media player when you can just go out and download VLC.

I think they need to leave me alone if I am happy and if it ain't broke...

Just my $0.02