Microsoft to use cryptoware to force Windows 10 on people

[Fritzo]

To be clear, I work for a large IT company and have literally upgraded 100's of PC's to Windows 10. It's a rock-solid OS, and we've only had 1 issue where it trashed someones computer (it was a 1st gen Windows 7 HP workstation with a funky AMD chipset- the drivers Windows 10 put on it weren't compatible with anything).

There are some situations where you need to keep Windows 7: mostly in the medical/insurance fields where HIPPA compliance and special software prevent upgrading. Otherwise there is no reason everyone shouldn't be going to Windows 10. Anytime changes come, people tend to vilify them for some reason.

 

[Anubis]

To be clear, I work for a large IT company and have literally upgraded 100's of PC's to Windows 10. It's a rock-solid OS, and we've only had 1 issue where it trashed someones computer (it was a 1st gen Windows 7 HP workstation with a funky AMD chipset- the drivers Windows 10 put on it weren't compatible with anything).

There are some situations where you need to keep Windows 7: mostly in the medical/insurance fields where HIPPA compliance and special software prevent upgrading. Otherwise there is no reason everyone shouldn't be going to Windows 10. Anytime changes come, people tend to vilify them for some reason.

all of this

 

[nickbits]

no WMC=not ever putting it on my HTPCs

 

[Muse]

It is trivially easy to prevent Windows 10 from installing. If you can't be bothered to know enough about your computer to prevent the upgrade from happening I have no sympathy for you.

-KeithP

I was preparing to upgrade my Windows 7 computers to Windows 10, even downloaded the ISO and burned a CD, but never installed it. I heard there was a window of time alloted to upgrade, one year or something. I have no idea if that window has closed. However, I feel no compelling reason to "upgrade." I saw a lot of chatter about the intrusiveness of Win10, things people were doing to reduce the invasion. I just went MEH, why bother? I actually still like my WinXP machines. If I get a lockup or something I just pull the plug or hit reset, it always boots as normal. Win7? What hassles I've endured with it.

I really really hate the way Microsoft has made life difficult by changing the way you do things in "upgraded" versions of Windows. So many things have gotten more difficult. Yes, I suppose you can reconfigure your new OS to act like your old one, but why overhaul it in the first place, hiding things that you used to have easy access to?

A lot of Windows functionality is anathema to me. I don't keep my music where they want me to, nor my documents, pictures, videos, etc. For one thing, if it means anything to me, it goes on my NAS. I guess I'm a born misfit.

Win 10 pro here it works great.
I think that anyone that concerned about it spying on you better not use any google services or any android device or an iPhone or any IOS devices.

I don't use any of that stuff, myself. :\

 

[Tweak155]

I was preparing to upgrade my Windows 7 computers to Windows 10, even downloaded the ISO and burned a CD, but never installed it. I heard there was a window of time alloted to upgrade, one year or something. I have no idea if that window has closed. However, I feel no compelling reason to "upgrade." I saw a lot of chatter about the intrusiveness of Win10, things people were doing to reduce the invasion. I just went MEH, why bother? I actually still like my WinXP machines. If I get a lockup or something I just pull the plug or hit reset, it always boots as normal. Win7? What hassles I've endured with it.

You have until July something.

 

[pmv]

What are you on about? I don't have any fuzzy text nor any dialogs that fill the screen on any of my Win 10 systems.

Windows 10 is ugly, and just a little bit less usable than 7, in terms of its visual design.

I'd say the way its GUI is organised is inferior as well, but its hard to separate objective judgement from just "what one is used to", so I'll let that pass - but it seems to me as if important settings are spread across multiple locations (and multiple visual styles) for no logical reason (e.g. 'settings' vs 'control panel', except wifi settings only exist in the first style, for some reason)

I think the visual issues, the low-contrast nature of things, the lack of customisation, etc, are objectively bad, they constantly delay you by fractions of a second as you peer to work out, for example, whether this is part of one window or is another window overlaying it, or trying to spot near-invisible column dividers or other very low-contrast white-on-white GUI elements.

It also has a few bugs that MS don't appear to be in any hurry to fix, e.g. the 'most used apps list' never actually updating itself, or the way if you upgrade from 7 the task scheduler still has references to Windows Media Centre that isn't there any more, leading to error messages.

But its mostly just the visual style of it that seems to me to be a backwards step.

 

[Fritzo]

Windows 10 is ugly, and just a little bit less usable than 7, in terms of its visual design.

I'd say the way its GUI is organised is inferior as well, but its hard to separate objective judgement from just "what one is used to", so I'll let that pass - but it seems to me as if important settings are spread across multiple locations (and multiple visual styles) for no logical reason (e.g. 'settings' vs 'control panel', except wifi settings only exist in the first style, for some reason)

I think the visual issues, the low-contrast nature of things, the lack of customisation, etc, are objectively bad, they constantly delay you by fractions of a second as you peer to work out, for example, whether this is part of one window or is another window overlaying it, or trying to spot near-invisible column dividers or other very low-contrast white-on-white GUI elements.

It also has a few bugs that MS don't appear to be in any hurry to fix, e.g. the 'most used apps list' never actually updating itself, or the way if you upgrade from 7 the task scheduler still has references to Windows Media Centre that isn't there any more, leading to error messages.

But its mostly just the visual style of it that seems to me to be a backwards step.

The functionality of the start menu is light-years ahead of Windows 7, as is it's driver and hardware detection. I think this is just a matter of getting used to something new.

 

[dainthomas]

I think Windows 10 is great. I was having so many issues with 7, and they all went away with the upgrade.

And I hardly even notice Bill Gates' black helicopters hovering around my house any more.

 

[Leyawiin]

One's as good as another to me. I quickly forgot 7 when I did the upgrade on my three PCs.

 

[evident]

no WMC=not ever putting it on my HTPCs

Yep.

need to disable the auto update asap on my htpc. been so lazy though.

 

[ElFenix]

Windows 10 is ugly, and just a little bit less usable than 7, in terms of its visual design.

I'd say the way its GUI is organised is inferior as well, but its hard to separate objective judgement from just "what one is used to", so I'll let that pass - but it seems to me as if important settings are spread across multiple locations (and multiple visual styles) for no logical reason (e.g. 'settings' vs 'control panel', except wifi settings only exist in the first style, for some reason)

the horrible bifurcated control/settings panel is one of the worst things anyone has ever come up with for an operating system. that was a problem with windows 8 as well.

I think the visual issues, the low-contrast nature of things, the lack of customisation, etc, are objectively bad, they constantly delay you by fractions of a second as you peer to work out, for example, whether this is part of one window or is another window overlaying it, or trying to spot near-invisible column dividers or other very low-contrast white-on-white GUI elements.

this is all pretty horrible. they've conditioned us for decades that the active window has a different color bar than the inactive windows. so of course they changed it. seems like a lot of change for the sake of change.

It also has a few bugs that MS don't appear to be in any hurry to fix, e.g. the 'most used apps list' never actually updating itself, or the way if you upgrade from 7 the task scheduler still has references to Windows Media Centre that isn't there any more, leading to error messages.

But its mostly just the visual style of it that seems to me to be a backwards step.

i also don't like the new windows update behavior. my phone isn't that insistent on YOU RESTART AND YOU RESTART NAO! (also i'm not entirely certain that the scheduled restart goes away if you restart the computer, it always seems to want to apply some damn update).

can't choose not to receive recommended updates, either. no, i don't want a new NIC driver, the one i have works and a new one might screw things up.

 

[skyking]

For the price of cloning a hard drive I might try it. I have been on the "not" side of the fence since the start. Support goes till 2020 and this laptop will be well and truly obsolete then.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Can your mom do it without your help?

Does emailing her a link count as help?

https://www.grc.com/never10.htm

 

[rh71]

What are you on about? I don't have any fuzzy text nor any dialogs that fill the screen on any of my Win 10 systems.

I don't get all the negativity (other than potential spying) about WIN10 either. I reluctantly upgraded a stable WIN7 machine and with very minimal tweaking (mostly the start button), it looks, feels, and acts the same.

 

[TheUnk]

no WMC=not ever putting it on my HTPCs

Yeah wtf is up with this. I couldn't even play a dvd/bluray in windows 10 without downloading 3rd party software.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Yeah wtf is up with this.

Windows Media Center as a project is dead.

 

[quikah]

They should just drop support for 7 (except for enterprise) or just start charging for updates.

 

[Brainonska511]

Yeah wtf is up with this. I couldn't even play a dvd/bluray in windows 10 without downloading 3rd party software.

You can't play a blu-ray in Windows 7 without having 3rd party software either.

I'm disappointed in the death of WMC, but the last few years, I haven't really found myself recording OTA tv (the main reason I'd use WMC). Kodi handles my ripped movies/tv shows, the Netflix app is fine, and I use PowerDVD for playing Blu-ray things.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

You can't play a blu-ray in Windows 7 without having 3rd party software either.

I'm disappointed in the death of WMC, but the last few years, I haven't really found myself recording OTA tv (the main reason I'd use WMC). Kodi handles my ripped movies/tv shows, the Netflix app is fine, and I use PowerDVD for playing Blu-ray things.

Honestly with the FCC pushing/mandating that we shouldn't need cable boxes any longer I'm going to bet MS is working on bringing something back and apple and google and roku....

 

[poofyhairguy]

Honestly with the FCC pushing/mandating that we shouldn't need cable boxes any longer I'm going to bet MS is working on bringing something back and apple and google and roku....

It won't be a "build your own HTPC" like WMC was though. That concept is dead.

If the FCC thing goes through instead it will be "Your AppleTV/Roku now is also a cable box!" It will be more likely that MS would make that an Xbox One feature rather than make it an OS feature.

 

[isekii]

The thing that miffs me about windows 10 is the useless tiles
The Apps and the driver issues with current hardware not being compatible. If they're pushing windows 10 down our throat, i expect my devices to work right. (SB Live USB External Sound Card)

 

[13Gigatons]

Windows 10 is OK. Runs fine on a test machine. It's just ugly and loaded with spyware. No control over when and if you really want a new driver to be installed.

The good news is that the Forced upgrade will end on JULY 29.

 

[rh71]

The thing that miffs me about windows 10 is the useless tiles

The only tiles I see are in the start menu, which you can easily remove completely.

I don't get it - are you guys using the mobile/tablet version or something? It looks 95% just like WIN7.

 

[Charmonium]

Has anyone used classic shell for w10? I tried on the lappie and it installed a bunch of PUPs but I may have blown through the install. Also may not have gotten from correct site. Can someone give me a hand with that? Just need the site and to know if there is any adware I have to contend with. According to google, this is the first hit

classicshell.net

 

[Red Squirrel]

What are you on about? I don't have any fuzzy text nor any dialogs that fill the screen on any of my Win 10 systems.

We have windows 10 on a computer at our church. Compared to XP or 7 with classic mode, the text is way harder to read due to it being too "Soft" and light color, and everything is way too big for nothing. I was looking for a certain setting and turned out I had to make the dialog bigger to even see the settings. And that's at HD resolution, I can't imagine trying to run that on a laptop or something.