Windows 10?

[TomGoodheart]

In common with quite a few people I have been offered a free Microsoft 'upgrade' from my Win 7 OS to Windows 10.

I wondered if anyone has any view on whether this is a Good Thing or not? I know W10 is in pre-release so a true comparison can't yet be made. But I deliberately chose 7 because I liked Vista and wanted something familiar when the only alternative was 8.

As an aside, Wifey uses W 8.1 and gets on OK with it. But then she never wants to go to the Control Panel or do the things I like to do on my laptop.

I guess it may be possible to revert to W7 afterwards, but as my laptop came pre-loaded and doesn't have a disk for Windows 7 I'm going to have to assume that this would be a one-way road.

Any views welcome!

.

[azda]

You should have been able to backup Windows 7 when you bought the laptop, there's always a feature for this.

[Coinery]

I've always used XP, I hope that sounds like I know what I'm talking about?

I know that my neighbour, who's much older than I, sees me as the font of all computer knowledge (which I'm not, though I can navigate my own system for most things/repairs) and is forever asking me to do things like back-up stuff, and maybe load printer software, etc...easy I say, until I realise I can't even navigate the most basic functions on his top-of-the-range Windows system.

Why do they have to change these things so drastically? This is where my son will one day go 'duh, dad'! And it won't be because I'm computer illiterate, it'll be because they've changed all the paths I'm hard-wired to follow!

I haven't got time to spend another 20 years, working my way into the bowels of a PC, only to find once I've got there that they've turned the map upside down and renamed it Swaziland. It's no good at all, when I've only ever known it at Suffolk and Lyme Regis!

[azda]

Windows 10 will be the last according to microsoft

[Fubar]

They don't supply disks anymore but there's usually a small partition on a new laptop containing the original files loaded when bought. Accessed via pressing escape or some such before it loads. Unfortunately it means going back to how it was when it came from the shop so backups should be made first of anything you need to keep. Most of them allow you to make a set of disks in case the hard drive goes totally belly up.

I tried WIndows 10 in beta a while ago and felt it was going to be a lot better than 8 or 8.1. It can be run like 7 or 8.1 with a bit of fiddling. I didn't keep it because it was still quite full of bugs at the time, i.e., it didn't let me use bluetooth on my laptop. The official release should be OK but I don't know about going back if you don't like it. You don't have to install it but they'll eventually stop support for 7 and then 8.1.

I don't think WIndows 10 will update XP and I don't think it will be offered to users.

[Rob]

I didn't think Microsoft supported Windows at all, even though it's their product. A few years ago I phoned them up and they said I had to talk to Currys. However competent he was, I think it is highly unlikely that a spotty 17 year old kid will know Windows better than a Microsoft support person - or maybe as a private individual I wasn't worth talking to.

[Colin G.]

I must admit I have found Microsoft support to be very good via their online access. Each time I have had my issues resolved (in one instance remotely), by staff who were individually rated by customers........I think you need to lose the telephone Rob, talking to qualified people about problems on a phone is just a distant memory !!!

[Colin G.]

Windows 8 certainly didn't have the facility to roll back when first released, and as one of its victims I can confirm it created chaos...hopefully they will have learned from their past mistakes and will ensure this OS has a roll back feature.

I have to admit I hated Windows 8 at first, but I am slowly coming to terms with it and 8.1 was a definite improvement. I decided it was time to take the plunge or you get left behind with something that is ideal for you until it stops working, because then the transition to the newest version ends up being a mammoth change rather than progressive steps

[Peter]

Colin

I agree we should all move on BUT I've gone back to 7 due to crap later systems.

I will sit and wait but 7 still is OK for me.

I was brought up on supercalc and a multi £ contract had 1 computer to share.

Now even the site mice have pooters.

[Fubar]

Aaah! SuperCalc and Wordstar.

Those were the days.

I still have a CP/M machine with a 5.25" floppy and an 8MB Winchester drive the size of a shoebox.

[Paulus]

Visicalc on a Commodore Pet is my first memory on a 'personal' computer (1984)

[RLC35]

Visicalc on a Commodore Pet is my first memory on a 'personal' computer (1984)

My first PC was a Tandy TRS-80. It had two floppy disks...the top one was for the operating system (TRS-DOS), and the bottom disk for data. (1982).

[sound]

Recently bought an Acer Ionia and a Nova think pad.

Have no problems with 8.1. Can live without all of the apple apps I didn't use.

Once you realise that the option is to run you device as a pc or a tablet it becomes easy.

Love the superb resolution. My think pad costs £279.00 against an IPad price of £400.00, its a tablet and pc all in one.

I'm really glad I made the break.

Mark