# Windows 10 experiences?



## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Has anyone upgraded to Windows 10? It's a free upgrade at the moment. Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit will go to 10 Pro 64 bit apparently and it can be swapped back if within a month if you change your mind. There's no XP virtual PC native within 10 for legacy software but there's a third party VM if needed.

How have people found the look and feel of the interface though? Is the Edge browser good compared to IE 11? The rest of the OS seems to benchmark similar to 7 but with I presume 7 being next to have support withdrawn (not for a good while yet though) a free 10 upgrade to the latest seems sensible in that respect.

One person I know upgraded his main PC and it all went swimmingly and works well. His lesser PC failed the install though and trying to go back crashed and then wouldn't boot up requiring a fresh install of 7.

So I'm a bit wary. I'm sat here with "accept/decline" buttons to click having saved a backup to an external backup drive but if Windows fails to boot I can't do much with the backup. My original is 7 home with an on line upgrade to Ultimate for the XP VM and it sounds like hassle if it goes wrong :?


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## Hoggy (May 8, 2002)

Hi, Windows 10 pre-installed is O.K. & much better than Win 8.
Upgrading to 10 from 7 or 8 is abit of a lottery,may work, may not. Your choice but be prepared for fail.
You really require a clone of your Hard Drive on another hard drive to make it easier to get back to previous windows if it goes wrong.
I upgraded 1 of my win 8 PCs & failed completely & I couldn't even back to a restore point, but as I was prepared with a clone then only a 5 minute job after the failure.
I'm preparing a pre-installed W10 laptop @ this very minute.
Hoggy.


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## Toshiba (Jul 8, 2004)

No issues at all, in fact i'd describe it as easier and smoother than the OS X process.
Edge is lacking add-ins, but runs fast and smooth.

Interface is a change, but it works well and i prefer it now to OS X even though i only have one PC and 4 macs.
Very fast to boot, smooth and a good step forward.


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## ZephyR2 (Feb 20, 2013)

Never used Win 8 much but Win 10 feels very much like Win 7 with remnants of Win 8 lurking in the background most of which can be easily ignored. Had a few minor niggles at the start but overall it seems quite stable and runs more or less everything I was using before, including some Vista stuff.
With a UEFI BIOS it boots to Desktop in about 10 seconds.
Not keen on the way you are forced to accept all Windows updates whether you want them or not (unless you are willing to try the Registry hack). Overall I'd say go for it. Any initial wrinkles have mainly been ironed out now.
I only have 1 mac but I do have a cagoule and 2 umbrellas as well. :lol:


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## bluush (Feb 24, 2010)

My 2p would be to uninstall any anti virus before starting the upgrade.


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Hmmm .. I'm starting to think I should do a better back up with an image or clone and get a new HDD to do it first before risking an upgrade. Drives are not expensive. I've got an SSD for C: but it's not huge and seems to be mostly full despite having "My documents" on a separate 1T HD drive.

Is this any good?
http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx
Or this?
http://www.todo-backup.com/products/hom ... ftware.htm


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## Toshiba (Jul 8, 2004)

I use Acorns for cloning. Works well and you can change the size of the partitions sizes too


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## Hoggy (May 8, 2002)

Hi John, HD Clone Free edition from Miray works well, a little slow, but it's Free.

http://www.miray-software.com/products/ ... clone.html

Hoggy.


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## barry_m2 (Jun 29, 2015)

All 4 of the upgrades I performed at home were faultless, not a problem at all. Two were 7Pro to 10, and the other two were 8.1 to 10.

10 is better that all previous versions IMO, I do find it funny how a lot of people don't want to let go of W7.

Anything I have of any importance I don't want to loose is either on OneDrive or on my NAS, so if it goes tit's up then it doesn't matter.


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## Nem (Feb 14, 2005)

Main thing to bear in mind is that to get Windows 10 for free you HAVE to upgrade, you can just do a fresh install. Once you have done the upgrade to 10 it registers with Microsoft which then give you the licence to run 10 on your hardware. From that point you can then do a fresh install and it will not need a product key and just activate once online.

I've found most upgrades go fine but if you've not done a fresh install of 7 or 8 in the last 6 months you'll have too much 'junk' on your pc and 10 will seem sluggish, so do the upgrade and then do a full fresh install.


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## red3.2 (Jun 30, 2008)

I have Windows 8 pre installed on my PC, Windows 10 is available as a free upgrade. My concern is ,I run Outlook 2007 for my e-mails. Word etc. If I install Windows 10 will outlook 2007 still work.


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## Hoggy (May 8, 2002)

red3.2 said:


> I have Windows 8 pre installed on my PC, Windows 10 is available as a free upgrade. My concern is ,I run Outlook 2007 for my e-mails. Word etc. If I install Windows 10 will outlook 2007 still work.


Hi, Office 2007 which contains Outlook works fine in pre-installed Windows 10, if Win 8 upgrades to Win 10 without probs Outlook run should be O.K. Win 8 to Win 10 can cause probs, as every PC is different, so create a clone first.
I have installed Office 2007 on 2 Win 10 laptops today after removing the Office trial that comes pre-installed.
Hoggy.


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Well I finally got it installed but it wasn't easy. I created a new cloned drive so I have my original to go back to and everything is backed up. I used http://www.todo-backup.com/products/hom ... ftware.htm to do it all. It's got an easy to use interface, it does clone, full image and incremental backup and is free. Works really well with loads of help.

Windows wouldn't upgrade - Errors found:
C1900101-20017

Windows update error 0x80070005(2015-12-03-T-06_50_57A) Not fixed

This fixed it:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/968003

Basically had to download a tool and a script to run which fixed a load of permissions.

After a couple more attempts it upgraded Ok. Only just looking at 10 now. Cut and paste doesn't work in circumstances it previously did as I just noticed when doing this post. How do I get tabs to preload on Edge? IE is still there and is more familiar - but why both - what's the difference supposed to be?

I'll not judge it yet but I'd like to be able to put borders back on window edges - they seem to be there but a couple of twips off the visible window which is almost invisible (only one pixel) so difficult to locate when stretching a window.

Trying to create a startup group - found the startup folder but it too behaves strangely and won't let me paste a shortcut there (if I copy from a real programme or folder) but I can paste a shortcut there if I had copied a shortcut originally!


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## ZephyR2 (Feb 20, 2013)

Forget Edge. Just regard it as a concept browser that you can play with for now. 

Sent from AutoGuide.com Free App


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## Samoa (Apr 4, 2014)

Has taken a couple of months to get
- File Explorer to work at an acceptable speed & not hang
- Laptop mouse sometimes decides to go on strike
- Burnt the SSD in my desktop though got a replacement SSD for free as under warranty

Otherwise its become much better after the recent SP update

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

I managed to get some borders to appear on active windows so I can more easily recognise them when overlapping with others, so grab and size them, by installing a custom theme:

Aerolite Theme install:
http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/7935 ... -10-a.html

The borders then appear but are too thick but can be tweaked in the registry which you could probably find an app for but is easy enough:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics
BorderWidth -20 (was -15)
PaddedBorderWidth -15 (was -60)


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## fut1a (Dec 28, 2006)

Nothing but trouble with my laptop since I upgraded.

Internet pages take longer to open and I keep losing my wifi connection, and I have tried varies fixes on the net and nothing has worked so far. I am seriously thinking of going back to 8.1.


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## Toshiba (Jul 8, 2004)

Sounds like El Capitan :lol:


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## ZephyR2 (Feb 20, 2013)

fut1a said:


> Nothing but trouble with my laptop since I upgraded.
> 
> Internet pages take longer to open and I keep losing my wifi connection, and I have tried varies fixes on the net and nothing has worked so far. I am seriously thinking of going back to 8.1.


Network adaptors not waking up from Sleep mode seems to be a common problem - with no clear solution.


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

There seem to be quite a few bugs in 10. Opening image and video files directly from my USB connected mobile phone seems to be hit and miss with jpg files being reported as unrecognised following viewing a cancelled video. If you persevere eventually they open.

Videos need to download across first but the spinning circle of dots is all you get with no explanation - with 7 it said "downloading" and gave you a progress bar.

A friend at work had the unexplained spinning dots on something else and left it to see what would happen. Over 30 minutes later it said unrecognised format.

My sound recording software can no longer control the recording level with its slider - I have to go within windows to do it.

Lots of other issues. It works no better than 7 it's slower to boot and load startups and I don't like the interface which seems a mishmash of 7 screens with some re-styled screens. Edge seems pointless and takes over displaying other formats better handled by other apps like acrobat. The system sounds are also unintuative and too similar to each other.

Maybe it will be sorted in six months but in the mean time I'm intending going back to 7 and taking a clone copy of 10 So I can change back to it in future if ever they drop 7 support.


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## Nem (Feb 14, 2005)

If you've upgraded from 7 though you can't go back to 7 after upgrading. The licence for Windows 10 consumes the 7 licence and the key used to activate 7 will no longer work.

Haven't actually tried it to prove that, but that was in the details when they started the Windows 10 upgrades...


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

I thought the onlyreason youcouldn't go back was because after a month the restore point image was removed to save space.


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## Hoggy (May 8, 2002)

Hi, Once upgraded you have 1 month to return to your old OS.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/wind ... windows-81

Hoggy.


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

That Microsoft info talks about recovery from backup to the previous version after a month so seems to be to do with the available files.


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## Hoggy (May 8, 2002)

Hi, I've returned to Windows 7 from 10 within the month with no probs, took less than 15 minutes.
This was a customers PC, I don't time have to "play" with mine I just want to use it, not spend time fixing it.
Hoggy.


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## Nem (Feb 14, 2005)

Might not have ended up that way with the licences in the end. People were basically suggesting that after upgrading to 10 the licence is machine based with out the need for a key so were asking if they could then use the 7 key to install 7 again on another machine - this was when it was explained about that key being consumed by the 10 upgrade and therefore then invalid.


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

That would be a problem if they were losing out on sales through people getting free Windows up and running on another machine. At the moment though it's only an upgrade to existing customers on an existing Windows machine. Also I thought Windows was keyed to the bios on the mother board allowing one mothe board change or something. I presume they could still trace that on Windows update whichever OS called in.


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Windows 7 running fine


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## Nem (Feb 14, 2005)

Windows 10 running fine...


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## Hoggy (May 8, 2002)

Hi, Windows XP SP2 running fine. :lol:  
Hoggy.


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## ZephyR2 (Feb 20, 2013)

John-H said:


> Windows 7 running fine


John - you and other Windows 7 and 8 users should be aware that Mircrosoft are upgrading everyone's PCs to Windows 10 without users consent. Unless you take positive steps to prevent it you will find you have Win10 forced upon your PC.
There are many web pages covering this, here is one ...
http://www.infoworld.com/article/30...d-windows-10-upgrade-and-how-to-block-it.html


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## ZephyR2 (Feb 20, 2013)

Hoggy said:


> Hi, Windows XP SP2 running fine. :lol:
> Hoggy.


Windows XP and a Mk1 TT. You're stuck in a time warp Hoggy. :lol:


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## Hoggy (May 8, 2002)

ZephyR2 said:


> Hoggy said:
> 
> 
> > Hi, Windows XP SP2 running fine. :lol:
> ...


Hi, An XR3, XP & a MK1 there is no hope [smiley=end.gif]

Nurburg VXR, Win7 & Win 8 I'm on the up.[smiley=dude.gif] :lol:

Hoggy.


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

:lol: . I've nothing against 10 If it's as good as 7 but I found too many bugs, software function changes and interface inadequacies to live with at the moment. I expect it will improve. I can wait as I find 7 so good. I went back to it ages ago.

I've no danger from a forced upgrade with a clone backup :wink: I did disable the OS upgrade and only allow manually supervised updates. The registry key is worth checking though.


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## Shug750S (Feb 6, 2012)

Not at all sure about this topic.

I've already got Windows 12 although if you count the porch door (also with a glass panel) I have 13 Windows in my house. :wink:


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

:lol: If it's double glazed does that count twice as much?


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## ZephyR2 (Feb 20, 2013)

Yes this is the line I take too when "Dave" from Pakistan rings to tell me he can see I'm having trouble with my Windows. :lol:


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## A3DFU (May 7, 2002)

With support for Windows 7 stopping in the foreseeable future I knew that the installation of Windows 10 on my machine was imminent. Before my holidays I tried and tried again (after having done a full backup on and external HD) but all my computer did was thinking about it, doing nothing....

To my big surprise, as I've completely forgotten about it, I came back to a working Windows 10 upgraded computer, which was kindly installed by my IT specialist son while I was away enjoying myself 

I find using Windows 10 is very easy, intuitive and I don't know why I didn't install it (have it installed) many months ago. I guess I was taken in by some negative comments


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

I'd be interested to know if the bugs I outlined have been fixed. Windows 7 extended support is due to run until 2020

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/lif ... indows%207


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## Dash (Oct 5, 2008)

You should do the upgrade now as it expires next month, you'll no longer be able to upgrade for free.

As with anything computing, YMMV. Windows 10 is fine, but things have changed, audio stack is one of them. Some manufacturers haven't released (working) drivers that are compatible with Windows 10. I have three computers running Windows 10 and it's only my laptop that has issues, but that's a Sony Vaio, and Sony no longer make laptops! That said, the things that don't work aren't much of an issue and can be worked around with a well placed reboot every now and then.

My main desktop wouldn't upgrade, but once it was installed it was fine.


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## barry_m2 (Jun 29, 2015)

John-H said:


> I'd be interested to know if the bugs I outlined have been fixed.


I have 4 machines running 10, and not one has (or has had) any of the 'bugs' you mention.

I was given a new work laptop a few weeks ago and it came with 7. Having not used 7 for over 3 years, it was just awful outdated rubbish in comparasson. I put 10 on it the next day.


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

I'll test out the bugs on a new install of 10 later. I can go-to 10 anytime as I took a clone copy of the installed drive.


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