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Windows 10 -- upgrade or not?


KathieB

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I'm not totally computer illiterate, but the blurbs I've been reading about Windows 10 have me confused. I'm running Windows 7 Home Premium on my Dell laptop. To upgrade or not, that is the question. 

 

What will you do? Why?

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Personally, I plan on NOT upgrading at this time on our computers currently running Windows 7, however I have a newer computer running Windows 8 (hate hate hate Windows 8) and I WILL be upgrading that one to 10 after the dust settles a little.  If I understand it correctly, Windows 10 will be putting back some of the better features of Windows 7, but will keep some of the better (few that they are IMO) features from Windows 8. One major thing is that it will put back the Start Menu.

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I usually wait at least 6 months before any upgrade if I upgrade software at all. With any new release there are bugs and hickups at the beginning and I don't want to waste my time and energy to find the workarounds. If I wait a few months the biggest ones are taken care of and the program becomes more stable and reliable.

 

Case in point, apparently there are several issues with the security updates on W10 running smooth.

 

I'd wait.

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My husband's is a new 8.1 and he can hardly wait for the 10. My laptop is a 7. I'll wait and see if the new printer works with 10. It's supposed to work fine with 7 & 8 , but it keeps disconnecting from DH's PC, though it always works fine with my 7 and even DS's 8.1 upstairs.

DS had a devil of a time when microsoft updated his 8 to 8.1. It took a week or two for his programs to adjust to the change, very frustrating for a college student working on essays and online classes.

 

Having an online business, I'm a bit concerned that I guess I'll be losing Word Starter and Excell with the change, but I'm getting myself used to using One Drive so I guess it'll be ok.

 

What I am looking forward to is checking the new Microsoft browser I've been hearing about. I've been a Chrome user for years but Google's gone goofy and I'm now very unhappy with it. I've hated IE for years, very slow to load for me, and I don't care for Firefox either.

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Well, being married to "Mr. Microsoft", Windows 10 is all I've been hearing about for weeks, months even. Computer, tablet, phone... And Microsoft Junior has been pretty excited as well. Beta testing, preview versions, early access... Husband has installs and uninstalled on various devices I don't know how many times in the last few months. He's been pretty happy with it the last month, they finally got it usable for him, there have been fewer uninstalls. He could not WAIT for today to install it on the last devices that he couldn't get early access for. One of those, a Dell Windows tablet, still does not have all the drivers available. And there's still a few other little quirks with some other things, but nothing major that I know of. Windows 10 for the phone seems to be doing pretty good as well.

Now me, Ms. Don't Like Change, and my other son, DLC Junior, we are good with our current phone OS versions, and Lawson is good with his Windows 8. I have a 6 year old Mac...

Grazhina, husband likes the new Edge browser pretty good, says it's definitely faster. Says it takes a little getting used to, and he doesn't like how it handles bookmarks, but overall he's happy with it.

Oh! One more thing, but this probably doesn't affect most normal people. Windows 8 has a feature, where your profile would sync between your devices (computer, tablet, phone). It does not do that in Windows 10 the same.

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Grazhina, husband likes the new Edge browser pretty good, says it's definitely faster. Says it takes a little getting used to, and he doesn't like how it handles bookmarks, but overall he's happy with it.

 

Tracy, what doesn't he like about the bookmark handling? When Chrome changed bookmarks to tiles is what pushed me over the edge. I'm interested in a lot of things and have over 1500 bookmarks. I couldn't find anything when they all went to tiles instead of nice tidy lists. I eventually found how to get my list version back, but was warned that it was only temporary.

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Thanks Grazhina! Me asking him again exactly what he didn't like made him go look at it again. Apparently, they have fixed the problem in the release version. Yay!

What he didn't like, was the inability to place folders on the favorites bar. Now, you are able to drag a folder (he organizes his favorites into folders) from the favorites list onto the favorites bar. So sounds like this will work well for you in organizing your links. 1500??? Wow!

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I am getting ready to upgrade right now. Cleaning up some email first. I have beta tested a lot of software over the years, so maybe I am not as wary as others. I just received a box with over 450 pieces of half scale furniture, so I am going to go act like a kid at Christmas while it updates.

 

I will post later if I have any issues. As FYI...I am going from 8.1 to 10. Fingers crossed...lol

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Okay...day one and I already like it.

 

The start menu is back and they have combined it with the tiles. It is easy to customize and gives you the best of both worlds. 

The apps no longer take up the entire screen. I hated trying to use the calculator and calendar, because they took up the entire screen. Now they are smaller.

Now Windows 10 is the same for laptops, tablets, phones, etc. It is uniform and there is no need to worry about different "tweaks" on different devices.

The task bar is a little different, but easy to see and maneuver. 

 

(Sheesh...I sound like a professional reviewer)

 

I haven't tried "Edge" yet as I have been a Chrome fan. Chrome is also updated. I will give Explorer Edge a shot tonight sometime.

 

I am still playing with it, but so far the only issue is the learning curve, but even that seems minimal.

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I just read a warning that W10 has a feature called WiFi-Sense which when enabled would allow access to your WIFI to Facebook and Skype contacts.

 

While that may or may not apply - I'd disable that function.

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I just read a warning that W10 has a feature called WiFi-Sense which when enabled would allow access to your WIFI to Facebook and Skype contacts.

 

While that may or may not apply - I'd disable that function.

Would that apply if you don't have accounts with those services?

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No idea. Apparently it also uses the outlook address-book. It might not be a problem per se - but if the passwords are stored on Windows servers and are send to your contacts - the information is out there and might be compromised. 

 

I just find this very questionable and wonder why Microsoft has not informed users before they install the upgrade.

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As with all system upgrades, they are usually made available with big fanfare well before they have been fully tested. The last stage of testing is...US! The philosophy and strategy in business these days is, "Sell it first, fix it later". Let them work out the bugs first and read ongoing reviews from users before you put this in your computer. You may save yourself a lot of trouble by doing so. The advertising spooks me a little bit, too. Showing children and saying that in the future they don't need to remember passwords, they just need to smile! More "dumbing down" and one step closer to the Matrix! Just my opinion.

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What it does is share your Wi-Fi network passwords with your contacts. The idea behind it makes sense -- people who visit you can log into your Wi-Fi easier than typing in your password. However, some tech experts worry that it can be a security risk. My opinion -- it's a bunch of hype.

 

Microsoft has protected it in the system. Your password isn't actually transmitted. The information is encrypted. Also, Wi-Fi Sense asks permission each time it joins a network and the people who have access to your networks can't pass them along and they can't be "taken" from their devices.

 

The biggest issue is people who always agree or say yes to anything the computer might ask. That is where it may get a little dicey.

 

There is an easy fix.

 

Do this... go to  -- Settings -- Network and Internet -- Manage Wi-Fi Settings -- then turn off everything under "Wi-Fi Sense." 

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I still have XP and XP it's going to stay. Besides, my computer is 10 years old and I think anything more at this point would just fry it. I'm already having a few issues going that have nothing to do with the software.

Grazhina, I've had Firefox since I got my computer and recently, they decided to 'fix' something that already worked. Because I'm left handed AND right handed on the computer, I put my back and forward buttons in the middle of the screen. Well, the new Firefox doesn't allow you to separate the back/forward buttons from the URL bar any longer. So I went hunting around and someone mentioned Pale Moon as a browser. It's tied to Firefox somehow and everything that will run on Firefox will run on Pale Moon, but I can still rearrange all my tool bar icons the way I want. It's sort of like an old version of Firefox with everything I liked about it and nothing in the new FF version to drive me nuts. And I like it much better than IE and Chrome. Maybe check out Pale Moon and see if that's better. It's doing real good for me.

 

Edited by rodentraiser
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So if you don't belong to any internet social networks it can still let outsiders access your information?

Only if they are in your contacts somewhere or are connected to your computer somehow.

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