Opinions re. Windows 10.

[John Schmidt]

I keep getting these reminders I can download it for free to replace my W7. Just wondering if anyone has it and how do you like it compared to 7 or earlier versions. A neighbor down the street downloaded it, tried it for a few days and didn't like it at all so went back to 7. So, is it worth it and what would be involved if I didn't like it and wanted to go back to my W7 Home something or other?

[ptgb]

Was offered, and installed Win10 on its release date a few months back. I really like it! It is faster then Win7 and for starts and shuts down faster then any Windows.

If you are a power-user, it kinda dumbs down the system as to control panel, settings, etc. but not a big deal with me. The settings are still there, just have to find them.

Found setting up hardware to be much easier, it recognized my wireless printer and set it up without an issue. In Win7 had to load the drivers manually.

As far as knowing how, or what's involved with going back to Win7; I don't know, no reason to go back and no need to.

[John Schmidt]

What is the screen like, I generally wouldn't have a problem with something new even though it may aggravate me for a while....as in my current W7 Home Premium. But my wife is fearful of anything new and can barely check her email or use the keyboard with her Parkinsons. Anything new and unfamiliar would throw her way off so don't want to isolate her any further. Is the mouse still used as before?

[Valkpilot]

What is the screen like, I generally wouldn't have a problem with something new even though it may aggravate me for a while....as in my current W7 Home Premium. But my wife is fearful of anything new and can barely check her email or use the keyboard with her Parkinsons. Anything new and unfamiliar would throw her way off so don't want to isolate her any further. Is the mouse still used as before?

Very happy with it.  You can make it look almost indistinguishable from Windows 7.

[RP#62]

I had it for a while but didn't like it and went back to 7.  I started having problems getting older programs to run and some video was getting squirrley.  It had some good features but it just didn't do that much for me.  I felt more comfortable with 7.  Its no problem going back if you do it within a month of going to 10.  After a month, I don't think you can go back.  My wife has 10 on her machine and didn't have any problems until the latest update.  It changed her default program for pdf's from Adobe to Edge and won't let her change it back.  If you look on line there seems to be a lot of problems with the automatic updates changing things around whether you want it or not.  She was going to go back to 7 but waited too long, so she's stuck with 10 now.

-RP

[scooperhsd]

It's got it's good and bad. As an IT pro - I prefer the Pro versions, but this laptop I bought came with WIN8 Home before it upgraded to Win10 Home. I've considered upgrading to Win10 Pro - but $99...

I despised Win8 - and I'm using Win10 with Classic Shell (to give it more of a Win7 flavor). Most apps I run are just fine. I DO  NOT like Metro as a user interface.

You can use a mouse and keyboard with win10 just like earlier versions. This laptop has a touchscreen, and I'm gradually getting to use it.

[RainMaker]

I had it for a while but didn't like it and went back to 7.  I started having problems getting older programs to run and some video was getting squirrley.  It had some good features but it just didn't do that much for me.  I felt more comfortable with 7.  Its no problem going back if you do it within a month of going to 10.  After a month, I don't think you can go back.  My wife has 10 on her machine and didn't have any problems until the latest update.  It changed her default program for pdf's from Adobe to Edge and won't let her change it back.  If you look on line there seems to be a lot of problems with the automatic updates changing things around whether you want it or not.  She was going to go back to 7 but waited too long, so she's stuck with 10 now.

-RP

Had the same problem with the last update but you can change it back.  Pull up directory with a pdf file, right click on it and then "open with".  then "choose another app".  You can then select adobe and make sure to check the box "always uses this app to open pdf files".  That fixes it.

Ran Win10 on one machine for a while, found no issues and upgraded all the computers to it. Only had problems one program but the update from the software company fixed that.  Does run faster and for my older machines, they run much faster than they did on Win7.  Seems stable enough.

[Tundra]

I had Windows 8, ran the free upgrade to Windows 10 and have had zero problems. I like it John.

[John Schmidt]

I had Windows 8, ran the free upgrade to Windows 10 and have had zero problems. I like it John.

Thanks for the input guys, I'll give it some thought.

Doug, I'm more concerned with whether Rita would adapt to it. I can learn how to use it, but with her problems and being fearful of the computer anyway I'm afraid she'd just quit altogether. I might take her to a computer dealer and let her see it first hand, then go from there.

[98valk]

doesn't win 10 track all key strokes, web sites gone to, and send all of that info back to microsoft and govt date bases? just like google and facebook does, people are foolishly giving up all kind of private info including what one thinks and believes, and its being documented and put into data bases? right or wrong?

[PAVALKER]

I got it on a new Acer 2in1 (notebook/tablet) and I really like it over Windows 8.  Never had 7. 

Works well for me.  It is designed to work well on touch screen tablets also, so when i want to pull the screen off the keyboard, or just touch the screen it works.  I like it.

[..]

doesn't win 10 track all key strokes, web sites gone to, and send all of that info back to microsoft and govt date bases? just like google and facebook does, people are foolishly giving up all kind of private info including what one thinks and believes, and its being documented and put into data bases? right or wrong?

No tracking here

https://duckduckgo.com/

[Jess Tolbirt]

win 10 is their apology for win 8,,, you can make ten look and work like xp or 7 if you want,, i have mine set up to look like xp and so far havent had a problem,, i still have xp in my studio because a lot of my programs wont work on 10.,. you would think if you paid 700 bucs for a music editing program like pro tools they would make it work on future versions,,

[Valkpilot]

doesn't win 10 track all key strokes, web sites gone to, and send all of that info back to microsoft and govt date bases? just like google and facebook does, people are foolishly giving up all kind of private info including what one thinks and believes, and its being documented and put into data bases? right or wrong?

You can turn the tracking off.  And, to the best of my knowledge, it does not record keystrokes.

[saddlesore]

 I got windows 10 and all was ok for 30 days. Then came the big update and  my screen went to 50% brightness and it took weeks to find a cure.
  Google photos was installed and takes over everything.  I'm still working on getting Picasa back to normal. I have 12,000 photos and google photos sorted everything their way.  PITA

[vanagon40]

What is the screen like, I generally wouldn't have a problem with something new even though it may aggravate me for a while....as in my current W7 Home Premium. But my wife is fearful of anything new and can barely check her email or use the keyboard with her Parkinsons. Anything new and unfamiliar would throw her way off so don't want to isolate her any further. Is the mouse still used as before?

John, this is what the Start Menu looks like.  All the "programs" are now called "apps."

I use 7 at work and 10 at home.  It's a close call, but I probably prefer 10.  I never used any version of 8.

Some of the "apps" are easier to find, some harder to find.  You can customize the quick link boxes.

Let me know if you want more screen shots.

[Bighead]

I don't do windows gave up on that stuff about 10 yrs ago use a Mac and love it

[cookiedough]

Am sure you and the misses can learn it, but why upgrade when you don't have to??  The old saying, leave it alone since if not broke, don't fix/change it is what I believe in. 

My daughters new PC we bought her has windows 10.  I didn't like it at first since is a change for sure, but can be learned but seeing as how your misses is afraid of change,  she will for sure frown upon getting used to it am sure. 

I just don't see the need really to change what is probably already working just fine on windows 7.  My techy IT neighbor though thinks you have to upgrade to ALL being the latest and greatest technology.  I say NAY to that. 

Once my old 6 year old laptop breaks/fails,  I will be forced to get windows 10 on a new one, but will wait until then.  Heck,  I need to upgrade my internet explorer from I think version 9 still running since just noticed a few websites are NOT allowing me into do some stuff since I get a popup I am using an 'outdated' version of internet explorer thus not allowing me to do what I need to do on certain websites. 

[Lyonardo]

Was offered, and installed Win10 on its release date a few months back. I really like it! It is faster then Win7 and for starts and shuts down faster then any Windows.

If you are a power-user, it kinda dumbs down the system as to control panel, settings, etc. but not a big deal with me. The settings are still there, just have to find them.

Found setting up hardware to be much easier, it recognized my wireless printer and set it up without an issue. In Win7 had to load the drivers manually.

As far as knowing how, or what's involved with going back to Win7; I don't know, no reason to go back and no need to.

In Windows 10 I never find myself going into the actual Control Panel anymore. I tap the Windows key on my keyboard and just start typing. Usually by two or three letters, the component I'm looking for has popped up, and I just hit enter. So much quicker.
I'm an IT professional and have used every version of Windows since version 3.0 back in 1990. I think Windows 10 is the best version of Windows, and the best OS period right now (Mac OSX, Windows, and Some versions of Linux tend to leap-frog each other, and they all steal shamelessly in every update).
If you do an "in-place" update, you can roll back within 30 days just by going into Settings > Update and Security > Recovery > click the Get Started button. It's just that simple, but I doubt you'd want to downgrade. Win 10 really does improve on almost every feature.

[BF]

I've tried and tried and tried to upgrade/update to Windows 10.......but it won't let me.  I keep hitting the update key, then Run.  I get nothing. 

What am I doing wrong here?  Is there something on my Windows 7 blocking the upgrade? 

This is an almost brand new computer....a bit less than a year old....a Dell XPS with Windows 7. 

[Jess Tolbirt]

I've tried and tried and tried to upgrade/update to Windows 10.......but it won't let me.  I keep hitting the update key, then Run.  I get nothing.  

What am I doing wrong here?  Is there something on my Windows 7 blocking the upgrade?  

This is an almost brand new computer....a bit less than a year old....a Dell XPS with Windows 7.  

just wondering if win 7 is upgradable ? i know win 8 is,,it was a breeze for me, a pop up poped up and asked me if i wanted to upgrade and when i clicked on it, away we went..

if all fails ask google, how do i upgrade my windows 7 computer

[bassman]

I didn't think you could upgrade from W7 to W10 BUT once again I appear wrong !

M'be this will help??

http://www.windowscentral.com/how-to-upgrade-windows-7-windows-10

[3fan4life]

I just upgraded my net book from Windows 7 (Starter) to Windows 10.

It was a PITA to get done and took almost 24 hrs to complete.

So far so good with Win 10 but I am already used to Win 8.1 so there wasn't much of a learning curve.

The upgrade is not supposed to delete programs and files (docs, pics, printer drivers, etc) BUT IT DID !

I lost all documents and pics that were stored on the hard drive, some printer drivers and a couple of obscure programs.

So before you do an upgrade I HIGHLY recommend that you BACK UP EVERYTHING that is important to you.

My computer does seem a little faster.

However, due to the files that disappeared I won't upgrade my Notebook computer to Win 10 (it's running 8.1 anyway and I like it).    

Win 10 does want to track way too many things, you can turn off these features which I did during set up.

[3fan4life]

What is the screen like, I generally wouldn't have a problem with something new even though it may aggravate me for a while....as in my current W7 Home Premium. But my wife is fearful of anything new and can barely check her email or use the keyboard with her Parkinsons. Anything new and unfamiliar would throw her way off so don't want to isolate her any further. Is the mouse still used as before?

John, this is what the Start Menu looks like.  All the "programs" are now called "apps."

I use 7 at work and 10 at home.  It's a close call, but I probably prefer 10.  I never used any version of 8.

Some of the "apps" are easier to find, some harder to find.  You can customize the quick link boxes.

Let me know if you want more screen shots.

If you "Right" click on the windows icon you get a list that looks more like the one from win 7.

[RP#62]

I had it for a while but didn't like it and went back to 7.  I started having problems getting older programs to run and some video was getting squirrley.  It had some good features but it just didn't do that much for me.  I felt more comfortable with 7.  Its no problem going back if you do it within a month of going to 10.  After a month, I don't think you can go back.  My wife has 10 on her machine and didn't have any problems until the latest update.  It changed her default program for pdf's from Adobe to Edge and won't let her change it back.  If you look on line there seems to be a lot of problems with the automatic updates changing things around whether you want it or not.  She was going to go back to 7 but waited too long, so she's stuck with 10 now.

-RP

Had the same problem with the last update but you can change it back.  Pull up directory with a pdf file, right click on it and then "open with".  then "choose another app".  You can then select adobe and make sure to check the box "always uses this app to open pdf files".  That fixes it.

Ran Win10 on one machine for a while, found no issues and upgraded all the computers to it. Only had problems one program but the update from the software company fixed that.  Does run faster and for my older machines, they run much faster than they did on Win7.  Seems stable enough.

Tried that and got a dialog box saying that the default cannot be changed (or something to that effect).  Ended up undoing the last update.  That fixed it, at least until it updates again.

-RP

[Tundra]

John,
For me, it was much easier than Windows 8. I would liken it to Windows 7 only better.
You can turn off tracking, or just don't go anywhere you shouldn't. Pretty simple.
It works for me, I'm far from any tech. expert. Probably the opposite and that's what I like. It was so simple an idiot like me can do it without help.
  I understand your concerns with Rita. Andrea has yet to try my Windows 10 laptop just because its new to her. I bought her a point and shoot/swipe tablet with a wireless keyboard that she has yet to use. She likes the touch screen. I won't even look at that thing. Laptop is as portable as I will go.

[cookiedough]

i'm the same way,  I'll take my 17" screen laptop over my new to me smartphone with a 4" screen.  My kids are just the opposite on the smartphone on internet exclusively. 

My next new laptop will be windows 10 but not until this one clunks out in next few years hopefully. Biggest issue is one button on the keyboard comes off on my HP laptop, but luckily it is one I do not use often.  this one is going on 5 years I think, so don't know the life expectancy of laptops nowadays??