Share your thoughts on the new Windows 10

[KansasSooner]

I upgraded with the Windows 10 update through Windows update while running 7. Maybe that's the difference?

 

[KansasSooner]

Was reading some gripes on PC Mag's website and I have to wonder if people are really that clueless or just didn't explore 10 after they installed it. Most of the gripes were no DVD, no Media Center, no Movie Maker. The DVD player is there, though VLC is still better to add. The Movies and TV app takes over Media Center and Movie Maker has been a Windows Live add on for years now.

 

[WizardHawk]

I upgraded with the Windows 10 update through Windows update while running 7. Maybe that's the difference?

I upgraded through windows update while running Windows 8.1 pro and still have a 'generic' key.

 

[KansasSooner]

I musta done something wrong then.

 

[TP76]

Nope, I quit testing for Microsoft back in 2005. Was a member of the Tech Net and Developers program for almost 15 years. They still send me e-mail wanting me to get back on their current programs though.

I beta tested Windows 7, and I'm pretty sure they didn't want me back...

 

[KansasSooner]

I beta tested Windows 7, and I'm pretty sure they didn't want me back...

I think I beta tested Windows 7 for a week, then put Linux on the machine and said I'll wait until 7 becomes a real product.

 

[KansasSooner]

One thing I did notice is that the Windows 7 backup in Windows 10 released all the memory back to the system after it finished. It never did in Windows 7. I'm glad they added that back because I really didn't care for the File History in Windows 8(.1). Makes it easy to get a system image backup again, too.

 

[KansasSooner]

Three items...

Edge is not remembering my username and password for the SportsHoopla when I exit after restoring down from a full screen. Not sure what's going on there, nothing in settings is helping.

The Quick Access that replaced Favorites from Windows 7 (and 8?, don't know) doesn't show the recycle bin. This not a big deal unless you have hidden desktop icons or have Explorer maximized and you don't want to minimize Explorer or show desktop icons to get to the recycle bin. In the address bar of Explorer type "recycle" without the quotes and it should appear in a drop down list, select it and it will open. Then click Home on the menu and click Pin to Quick Access. It will now appear in the Quick Access view.

Also if you have desktop icons that used to be in Favorites that aren't appearing anymore they are in the Public Folder Desktop (hidden). Again in Explorer click View on the menu and check Hidden Folders. Then go to the C: drive and open Users\Public in the right panel. Open the Desktop folder and either copy or move them to C:\User\<username>\Desktop where <username> is your account user name. They will now appear in the Quick Access Desktop as well as the Desktop in the left panel.

 

[HaroldSeattle]

Reading on Microsoft community, after a year if you want to do a fresh install you have to buy a copy of windows 10. This is just a upgrade, you can use recovery if you run into problems, but a fresh install means shelling out some cash.

 

[TP76]

Reading on Microsoft community, after a year if you want to do a fresh install you have to buy a copy of windows 10. This is just a upgrade, you can use recovery if you run into problems, but a fresh install means shelling out some cash.

I suspected that... I wonder if that impacts KS with his unique key? I'll need to make a system image down the road, before the year runs out.

 

[WizardHawk]

What are you guys using for taking your system images these days?

Been a couple of years since I played with FOG, but I'd like to hit that back up and look into using it at work for centralized images. Company is far too cheap to pay for the bigger systems.

 

[TP76]

Doing it right now after a fresh install no-less

control panel --> backup and restore --> create system image

33GB to my D: drive

 

[WizardHawk]

Always use 3rd party tools for it. Have a copy of ghost on one of my boxes. I've never trusted MS to do a competent backup.

I can tell you horror stories about people trusting their server backups to get a functioning server after a restore. I just don't trust them to do bare metal restores.

 

[TP76]

You're gonna make me wipe my hard drive again Wizard Hawk (twice in one day)... damn you

 

[WizardHawk]

Look, maybe MS desktop images are just fine for most people. I've just had so many bad experiences with them over the years that I stopped trusting them long ago.

The tech before me at my current job installed our accounting LOB software on a 2008 small business server (don't even get me started with what a piece of crap that whole thing is) and he setup the server backup from the OS on external hard drives as the only complete system backup. The data was also backed up to a NAS nightly.

Well there was a hard drive crash not long after I took over that took part of the OS with it. SBS servers are required to be the primary domain controllers on any network they sit on.

Slapped a new drive in and went to do a full restore. Well, the first try the machine was so unstable it wouldn't completely boot. The second try and it mostly booted, but was super unstable. Went to the next oldest backup day and all seemed ok until someone went to run the accounting stuff and then we learned the remote connections weren't functional. Went to the next oldest and finally got the basics up. Took days to get the data restored and everything else balanced to the point where normal operations could resume. It was never right after that. Eventually got mgmt to let me put a 2012 standard on it.

MS claims their server backups can do bare metal restores, but they can't always even restore to the same damned hardware it was taken on.

I prefer acronis or one of the other major players.

 

[WizardHawk]

But I'd love to visit FOG (Free Opensource Ghost) again as another option. Not just because it's free, but I love some of the features of it. Just not always easy to get MS desktops to work with it's pxe boot, at least the last time I played with it which was a few years ago now. Looking at their project pages now and it seems they are well beyond where they were when I last looked at them. They are past the 1.0 version mark and have lots of happy campers. Must check that out again when I get caught up.

 

[KansasSooner]

Pre-Windows 7 MS system images were garbage. I've done a couple of Windows 7 restores using the system image backup without any problems. Still I would keep a copy of a Acronis system image just in case. I never really liked Ghost for some reason, Acronis just seems better to me.

 

[WizardHawk]

Only reason I have ghost at all is the company paid for it. Ghost itself is used by secondary programs that call it. They use their engine, but give you more/better control over it.

Good to know 7's images are viable. At least I can pass that along to those who won't spend money on backups. Maybe it's time for me to give it a proper test in my lab. See if I can bare metal transfer using it. Of course it will trigger a license failure on 10, but that's another matter.

 

[TP76]

I will try stetting up Amanda from on my Slackware machine - and giving that a whirl. Just really haven't had much of a need for bare metal backups.

 

[WizardHawk]

So far I'd say that Windows 10 is at least going in the right direction. There are articles out there about some of the lingering bugs from launch, but I haven't had any of them happen to me yet and none are deal breaking kind of issues.

The overall visual theme of the window edges and whatnot are quite lackluster compared to 7 IMO, but others are calling it great modern styling so meh?

I can see some use for virtual desktops and will probably adapt to them at work, but can't say this alone is worth the update.

Those who are gamers will get the benefit of Directx12 even if you have an older card. DX12 is entirely redesigned and unlike pretty much every card before it, doesn't require you buy a card specifically for it to see a performance boost. Real world data is showing a 10-20% boost in game performance on existing hardware. I didn't do hard testing on this myself, but I can say my games are at least every bit as good as they were before and probably somewhat better. Gamers will want to get this update particularly if they are playing games that utilize DX.

File transfers are faster and smoother. That is, I've played around with doing massive moves and the entire system stays fully responsive during them. It's a step up from their prior systems.

I'm not sold on Edge yet, but it is a fast browser. I'm sticking with Chrome for now which should tell you something.

The return of the start button is just meh for me. I do like that you don't accidentally end up in the 'modern ui' like happened in 8, but I may still end up with an aftermarket start button replacement at some point as the layout isn't really great to me. Still, for those that wouldn't go to 8 because of that button this new one on 10 is more than reason enough to not keep staying with 7 just for that excuse.

I like the file folder layout now and a few minor additions to things like snap, but mostly this feels so much like 7 with a few of 8's features worked in that I see no reason for anyone outside of gamers to flock to this right away.