Windows 10

OK - they keep trying to get me to update to Windows 10.

I've heard that it's shit - and possibly dangerous.

Has anyone here upgraded and what are their findings?

I get this everyday on my PC - my son says "DON'T DOWNLOAD IT!" It uses your info for third parties apparently, or summat like that.

It's no more dangerous than using Google (ever noticed that websites display ads relevant to your recent searches?) and can easily be disabled.

If you're on Windows 7, I guess you can hang in there for another few years. But if you're using the steaming pile of crap that is Windows 8, get thee upgrading.

I upgraded. Couple of small improvements that could be made still, but I'm very happy with it. Certainly not dangerous or shit - you just need to turn off WiFi Sense.

http://www.cnet.com/uk/how-to/how-to-kill-wi-fi-password-sharing-in-windows-10/

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 2nd September 2015, 10:39 PM BST

I get this everyday on my PC - my son says "DON'T DOWNLOAD IT!" It uses your info for third parties apparently, or summat like that.

Unless you read T&C and decline them, almost everything does this is some form. Even this website, but Aaron just uses it to peep at you through your webcam that's all.

Whistling nnocently

He is such a peeper.

It's shit! A bloke said, down the internet.

Well.

I assume you would be looking at a non-business version. If so you might want to stop it doing all the phoning home to Microsoft of where you visit and what you do (including potentially reading your emails) so that you can be advertised at.

Here's how: http://www.techradar.com/news/software/operating-systems/the-windows-10-privacy-settings-you-need-to-change-right-now-1301257

Aside from that I would say unless you have a pressing need, hold off until around 10 months time, i.e. just before the 'get it for free' period ends. Let them get a year's worth of fixes and updates into it first.

As an OS, the consensus of people who actually know what they're talking about is that it's pretty good, privacy concerns aside.

Quote: zooo @ 3rd September 2015, 12:30 PM BST

He is such a peeper.

Of course! It's a webcat - that's what he is looking at us with. :(

So when does the FREE upgrade end? I keep getting these messages on the screen and have so far avoided it.

I believe the free offer is for one year.

One of our laptops (the gas powered one) was duly upgraded to Windows 10 and it soon went kaput. We brought in an IT engineer as recommended by my family and he spent hours holed up in the study trying to sort it out. He managed to remove Windows 10 and re-install Windows 7; now the laptop works once more.

The moral of the story seems to be, unless you're an IT whizz, don't upgrade.

Quote: TheBlueNun @ 3rd September 2015, 8:07 PM BST

One of our laptops (the gas powered one) was duly upgraded to Windows 10 and it soon went kaput. We brought in an IT engineer as recommended by my family and he spent hours holed up in the study trying to sort it out. He managed to remove Windows 10 and re-install Windows 7; now the laptop works once more.

The moral of the story seems to be, unless you're an IT whizz, don't upgrade.

A clean installation is always better than an upgrade.

Quote: DaButt @ 3rd September 2015, 8:14 PM BST

A clean installation is always better than an upgrade.

You're absolutely right. We've been kind of lax on our laptop husbandry over the last couple of years. Once we purchase a new desktop I'll try and defrag the machine on a regular basis.

But you have to do an upgrade-in-place first so that your copy of Win 10 is activated free.

After that you can save your data off the computer e.g an external drive, then do a clean install then get your data back and any extra programs that you had installed.