Windows 10?

[mr_fender]

Because unlike with previous windows versions, Windows 10 updates automatically and forces you to restart when IT decides IT wants too, not when YOU want it too. In previous versions you could set it to update manually, or when you were about shut it down. All fine and dandy. No more in Windows 10. Almost every user decision has been taken out of the picture. Well, you can set it to update at a certain time less to your inconvenience. But nothing calls for a giant f*** you Micro$oft, you pieces of s***! when you're doing something fun when you suddenly get a message to close everything down, because Windows 10 has to update and restart. After which you can't do anything for who knows how long. You experience that once, maybe twice, and then you start hitting google to find ways to stop this from happening the next time. I'm all fine for updating my computer, and I fully understand that security updates need to be installed to fix security leaks, but I want to be in control of when and where it gets done. Not Micro$oft, not Windows 10.

Easiest fix though is to designate your wifi network as a paid for network. After which Windows 10 will not use that wifi network to download updates.

Not really true. You have full control over when Windows 10 installs updates. You can set separately the number of days your are allowed to defer both feature and quality/security updates (up to 365 for feature updates and up to 30 days for quality/security updates), you can set your active hours during which it will not reboot, you can set a specific time you want the reboot to occur, and you can also pause updates entirely for up to 35 days at a time in case you are in the middle of a big project or something.

 

[steadystate]

Not really true.

Not anymore, but it was for the first builds. The original scheme was insane. I'm sure I'm not the only person who wanted a piece of whoever designed and approved it.

 

[dr bonkers]

Why do so many people seem hell bent on disabling updates?

Microsoft notoriously has sent out certain bad updates that made people's systems unstable with XP and Win7. Then your only option is to uninstall the update or suffer with an unstable system until the next patch repairs what got messed up.

That happened to me twice with XP and once with Win7. A good Antivirus and Firewall, don't go on questionable sites, don't install any program of questionable origin, and no problems for years.

My only problem was installing PeaZip on an 8 year old machine that forced me to reimage the machine because my harware configuration hated PeaZip. After reimaging, I installed all the Windows patches and then iLok would not run unless I used a legacy version of it.

That just cemented the idea for me that MS updates are not what they are cracked up to be half the time.

 

[vangrieg]

Micro$oft

Seriously?

 

[steadystate]

I'm calling Billy Gates to straighten this out.

Aside from (ultimately) mandatory updates and having to jump through hoops to fix privacy settings and blow away the default UI, the only problem I have with 10 is that it sometimes takes several minutes to finish a restart. It is a common problem with no universally effective fix.

 

[Stringmanipulator]

I very much prefer windows 7 myself, it's a very stable OS. Don't care for win 10 becase I'm want to have as much of control as possible over my OS and I feel like MS "dumb things down" more and more with every version, removing the control from the user.

When my win 7 is done I'll probably go back to SlackWare


But I think you can probably make win10 work well, if you spend some time stripping out the "transvestite user interface"

 

[Rex]

...I feel like MS "dumb things down" more and more with every version, removing the control from the user.

IMO, there are two driving forces behind that:

1) An attempt to turn computers into appliances that can be operated without technical knowledge. That's actually a laudable goal, because it brings reliable computing to the masses and minimizes the people who hit me up with requests to "fix my computer."

2) The more things get dumbed down, the more you have to turn over your decisions and information to Microsoft, and the better they're able to aggregate information to develop a marketable version of who and what you are. That's where the real money is. They (and Apple and Google and Facebook and others) want to own and analyze your email and contacts (so they know who your friends and colleagues are and what you say to them), your calendar and location (so they can track where you are, where you've been and where you're going), your voiceprint and fingerprints (so they can more accurately identify you when you pop up around the web or around the world), your purchases and habits (so they know what you're into and what kind of advertising you might be susceptible to)...I know I'm on a rant here, but we are already deeply owned, and it's getting deeper. Every cool new OS and web feature includes another hook to get another piece of you.

 

[vangrieg]

IMO, there are two driving forces behind that

How about they actually want to survive? And that's obviously not done by sticking to 20 year old interface concepts. And, as they learned the hard way, backward compatibility costs way too much - not just in terms of their costs, but more importantly in terms of limiting what they can do to evolve their products.

All in all, they've done an amazing job in terms of balancing the needs of both power and casual users, if you think about it. I don't see that Win 10 lost much, if anything, in terms of advanced user needs. It actually gained quite a lot.

 

[Muad'zin]

IMO, there are two driving forces behind that:

1) An attempt to turn computers into appliances that can be operated without technical knowledge. That's actually a laudable goal, because it brings reliable computing to the masses and minimizes the people who hit me up with requests to "fix my computer."

I don't mind that they try to create an user interface that is easy to use for most people. It's just that I am not 'most people'. I like having some control and options. And if those options are either deeply hidden away, or basically left out altogether, then why would I use Windows? I might as well start selling my soul to Apple instead. And get a reliable working computer for that Faustian bargain as well.

I used to really like using the Opera browser. It gave me all the tweaking options I wanted. Then one day they decided they wanted to be like Chrome, and threw everything out. Not as in a simple standard start interface that you can expand on by clicking the right property settings, no, they literally ripped them out. Even bookmarks were considered as to confusing for the Chrome heads they were trying to attract. I immediately got rid of Opera after that. Recently I've learned they've regained some of their senses, but its still a far cry of what they used to be. I fear for the day that Firefox will become yet another Chrome clone and ditch everything that makes it unique.

2) The more things get dumbed down, the more you have to turn over your decisions and information to Microsoft, and the better they're able to aggregate information to develop a marketable version of who and what you are. That's where the real money is. They (and Apple and Google and Facebook and others) want to own and analyze your email and contacts (so they know who your friends and colleagues are and what you say to them), your calendar and location (do they can track where you are, where you've been and where you're going), your voiceprint and fingerprints (so they can more accurately identify you when you pop up around the web or around the world), your purchases and habits (so they know what you're into and what kind of advertising you might be susceptible to)...I know I'm on a rant here, but we are already deeply owned, and it's getting deeper. Every cool new OS and web feature includes another hook to get another piece of you.

Yup. It used to be that when the product was free, YOU were the product. Now, even paid product is adhering to that rule.

 

[vangrieg]

I might as well start selling my soul to Apple instead.

You talk about it like it’s a decade long process. As long as you don’t depend on OS-specific services, you can pretty much switch OSes or mix and match them as you wish. Most Microsoft services are quite cross platform.

However, there’s nothing too simple about Mac OS interface. Especially when you step away from what they consider mainstream workflow.

 

[Admin M@]

IIRC, Paul Allen has an Axe-Fx. Maybe we should chat...

 

[Josetxu]

I prefer Windows 10 over Windows 7. I have it in 3 personal computers (well, 2 computers and a low cost chuwi tablet) and in both of the computers run better than Windows 7.

I don't know about Xeon processors, but 7th generation core processors don't run in windows 7

 

[BBN]

I prefer Windows 10 over Windows 7. I have it in 3 personal computers (well, 2 computers and a low cost chuwi tablet) and in both of the computers run better than Windows 7.

I don't know about Xeon processors, but 7th generation core processors don't run in windows 7

+1
I have 4 machines with very similar specs. 3 running Win 10 and 1 running Win 7. The Win 7 machine runs the slowest (could it be something I'm doing wrong...who knows, maybe)
But as I was someone who was skeptical of moving to Win 10, I have been pleasantly surprised at how well it's performed.

 

[jrh_67]

Windows 10 is fine. I currently support hundreds of machines running Windows 10 and the transition was pretty much problem free. The only problems I have seen are with old software that just won't run on it as well as some ancient hardware, especially wireless cards. As far as the Skylake Processors you are correct in the fact they will not run Windows 7. I couldn't imagine installing Windows 7 on a new machine at this point because official support ends in January 2020. I don't think I've sold a Windows 7 machine in a couple of years now. It actually runs better on the same hardware than Windows 7 did.

 

[Geezerjohn]

My Windows goes to 11.

 

[Wolfenstein98k]

Swings and roundabouts. Seems lean, but the constant upgrade system gives me the shits.

 

[Cooper Carter]

I've been running Win 10 hard since release in 2015 with various video editors, DAWs, raytrace renderers, and 3d modelers. While the early builds had some issues, the latest ones for at least the past year have given me no real issues to speak of outside of a couple of driver oddities here and there.

 

[Rex]

With a recent update, Windows 10 began automatically installing updates and rebooting itself, with no apparent way to change that in the UI. I had to go into local Group Policy to get things back to the way I had them.