Windows 10 - is it worth upgrading?

Trojan

I'm aware there's a 900 post thread discussing Windows 10 in depth.

I'm asking specifically about whether the benefits are worth the risk of upgrading?

I'm on Windows 7 on one PC, Windows 8 on another. Is it worthwhile upgrading to Windows 10?

_Kaiser_

Trojan wrote: »

I'm aware there's a 900 post thread discussing Windows 10 in depth.

I'm asking specifically about whether the benefits are worth the risk of upgrading?

I'm on Windows 7 on one PC, Windows 8 on another. Is it worthwhile upgrading to Windows 10?

It depends on what is important to you really - at the end of the day, Win 7/8 didn't just stop working yesterday after all.

- Win 10 is still very unfinished IMO what with bugs and its mix of UI's and while this will undoubtedly improve over the next few months, are you willing/able to be a beta tester in that time? It's also very washed out/white/flat from an interface point of view which aesthetically makes it worse than what came before

- OneDrive now insists on downloading a local copy of everything you want to see on your Desktop rather than just placeholders/downloaded as needed as in Win 8. If you're using something with limited space (eg: a Tablet) this might be a problem

- The Windows Update changes aren't sitting well with a lot of people as it takes away a lot/almost all of the control of what is pushed onto your system.. if you have Pro or above you can defer some of these but that's a temporary solution and it's not clear how long it'll work for

- There's a lot of "phone home" stuff in there that you'll need to dig through depending on how concerned you are about privacy as it's all turned on by default

- The Start Menu is no better/possibly worse than the Win 7 one, but better than the non-existent one in Win 8... this assumes you don't just go with a 3rd party workaround like Start8/Start10 or Classic Shell anyway

- The Mail app is improved in 10 but I use Office/Outlook so not really relevant in my case. There's still no "killer apps" to inspire an upgrade

Personally speaking, there's no big rush/need to upgrade IMO unless you just want the latest and greatest. You have a year to get it for free, and apparently there's a big update scheduled for around October so it might be better to hold off till then to allow them to get the kinks out.

Trojan

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

It depends on what is important to you really - at the end of the day, Win 7/8 didn't just stop working yesterday after all.

- Win 10 is still very unfinished IMO what with bugs and its mix of UI's and while this will undoubtedly improve over the next few months, are you willing/able to be a beta tester in that time? It's also very washed out/white/flat from an interface point of view which aesthetically makes it worse than what came before

- The Windows Update changes aren't sitting well with a lot of people as it takes away a lot/almost all of the control of what is pushed onto your system.. if you have Pro or above you can defer some of these but that's a temporary solution and it's not clear how long it'll work for

- There's a lot of "phone home" stuff in there that you'll need to dig out depending on how concerned you are about privacy

- The Start Menu is no better/worse than the Win 7 one, but better than the non-existent one in Win 8... this assumes you don't just go with a 3rd party workaround like Start8/Start10 or Classic Shell anyway

- The Mail app is improved in 10 but I use Office/Outlook so not really relevant in my case. There's still no "killer apps" to inspire an upgrade

Personally speaking, there's no big rush/need to upgrade IMO unless you just want the latest and greatest. You have a year to get it for free, and apparently there's a big update scheduled for around October so it might be better to hold off till then to allow them to get the kinks out.

Cheers, that's exactly what I was looking for. I'm not averse to the idea of running early builds. I did upgrade to the beta/preview versions of Win7 because of performance issues with Vista, and again with 7 to 8. The Win8 UI doesn't bother me at all, even on dual screen, guess I'm used to its foibles.

But it does sound like there's very little reason for me to upgrade at the moment. I might just hang on until that October update.

KrakityJones

On the benefits side it should be quicker starting up and shutting down than 7, I had preview build on my 6+ year old laptop and it made a huge difference, I'll be upgrading my main pc for this alone.

Capt'n Midnight

To answer a different question. It's not worth upgrading now unless there are new features you need.

Chillax, you've a year to decide.

Wait until it's stable and the major issues have been addressed like UI niggles or show stopping imcomparabilities. NB, older hardware , including printers and other peripherals may not be supported.

Already they've relented on forced updates for home users so some good things may come to those who wait.

Regarding phoning home,
- if you're not paying then you are the product
- if you own an Android phone Google already knows more than Microsoft ever will

unkel

For a bit of balance, I'll offer a different opinion. Do you need Windows 10? No. Do you want Windows 10? Probably not. That said:

Windows 10 is a lot quicker. It uses less footprint and fewer or similar resources than previous versions. It boots up a lot faster. It is a lot slicker. And more secure.

If you are worried about any "risk" of upgrading - there is a path back to the previous version of windows that you are using now in case it doesn't work out for you.

Do you need to upgrade today? No. Even the now ancient Windows 7 will still be supported for many years to come. And as others said, the upgrade to Windows 10 will be free for nearly another year.

It comes down to what personality you have is my best guess

Innovators installed the very first version of Windows 10 on their main PC nearly a year ago. Early adopters tried a developer preview at some point. Early majority are the people who have W10 up and running by now. You are obviously not one of those groups so unless you break your rules, you might as well stick to what you have now

T-Bird

I flash a lot of roms on various devices, and have always found it easier to install drivers etc with 7. So for that reason alone I keep a version of 7 on a dual boot somewhere.

Also as previously mentioned, the way onedrive forces synchronization on 10 is a pest. I just can't understand why they have done it...

Bayberry

T-Bird wrote: »

Also as previously mentioned, the way onedrive forces synchronization on 10 is a pest. I just can't understand why they have done it...

OneDrive synchronization in 8 works great when you're connected. But apparently it was confusing for some laptop users who saved something to OneDrive, and then couldn't access it when they were "on the road".

I agree that going back to the old method of making a copy of everything, but only for the folders that you select, seems like a step backwards. The non-technical users won't get any benefit at all from OneDrive that way, and I can't access my photos from File Explorer on my tablet at all now (though they do show up in the Photos App). Yet they are accessible in File Explorer on the laptop (because it has the space to make synching possible).

T-Bird

Bayberry wrote: »

OneDrive synchronization in 8 works great when you're connected. But apparently it was confusing for some laptop users who saved something to OneDrive, and then couldn't access it when they were "on the road".

I agree that going back to the old method of making a copy of everything, but only for the folders that you select, seems like a step backwards. The non-technical users won't get any benefit at all from OneDrive that way, and I can't access my photos from File Explorer on my tablet at all now (though they do show up in the Photos App). Yet they are accessible in File Explorer on the laptop (because it has the space to make synching possible).

Since moving over to 10 I have had 2 major problems with word now. Both were long files that had taken a while to compile. Each document was stored several times on a regular basis. Then all of a sudden at the end word display a yellow bar at the top stating my version conflicts with the version on onedrive. I gives me options to use this or older copy.. Both are same versions and old versions. The first time it happened I lost 4 hours work and had to redo it all again.

I looked for the older saved versions, but they were all old. I even looked into the hidden folders where programs store their stuff in user accounts. None of the older versions were there.
This happened both times when I had finished the documents and about to exit… If this happened when I was doing my thesis I don’t know what I would have done.

I used to be an advocate of skydrive when it came out as it was perfect for me during my 4 years at college. The thought of saving all your work on a USB drive and losing it made me use cloud computing as an alternative.

Now it all seems to have gone pete tong with this new system…

kleefarr

Well I won't be upgrading any time soon..

From Sony check..

"WARNING: There is a risk of software/driver corruption. We therefore strongly recommend that you do not upgrade to Windows 10 when it becomes available on July 29."

ED E

kleefarr wrote: »

Well I won't be upgrading any time soon..

From Sony check..

"WARNING: There is a risk of software/driver corruption. We therefore strongly recommend that you do not upgrade to Windows 10 when it becomes available on July 29."

I have a pair of Vaios so I've done one of them. Driver support has actually been ok. SD reader had a conflict which a generic resolved. Camera exposure is wrong, but thats the only issue I haven't fixed yet. YMMV.

Bayberry

kleefarr wrote: »

Well I won't be upgrading any time soon..

From Sony check..

"WARNING: There is a risk of software/driver corruption. We therefore strongly recommend that you do not upgrade to Windows 10 when it becomes available on July 29."

Let me translate that from Sony-speak for you.

Sony wrote:

We here at Sony have a long and venerable tradition of buggering up the drivers in our laptops so that you have to use the old versions that we supply, and can't get the latest fixes directly from the manufacturers. As a result, it'll be ages before we get around to releasing Windows 10 versions of the drivers for our laptops.

And if your laptop is more that a year old? Sucks to be you!

Anesthetize

If you're currently using 8 or 8.1 the upgrade is worth it. It feels like the OS that 8 should have been. I'm having some minor issues with some drivers but I'm sure that I'll be able to resolve them soon.

Regarding OneDrive - just don't use it. I'm a long-time user of Dropbox and it's always suited my needs. There's plenty of alternatives too.

Firefox11

I installed it last night. Seems to be nice an quick. It seem's to be chockful of Microsoft Spyware and Adware but you can least you can turn most of it off. And sure arent they all at this nowadays.

Had problems with my Nvidia and onboard Intel HD graphics drivers but reinstalled them and most things seem to be working ok now bar some games which I will most likely need to reinstall.

chinwag

My WIFI stopped working shortly after I upgraded to Win 10, sorry I didn't stay with 8.1. Modem is working and I can get online using ethernet cable but it's not what I had in mind :-(

Bongalongherb

Always wait 1 year before upgrading as was already said. It was always the same with a new operating system. Well, who really wants to be a Beta tester when you have work to do, so better off waiting till all the quirks and drivers are compatible and for service pack 1 to come out.

I really don't see the point in upgrading at this time if you already have win 7. A new operating system will seem faster for a short time like all previous ones, but this is a falsehood. As soon as you install your anti-virus security software and all other program software and files, eventually it will slow down a bit as it usually does, all depending on ram.

68 lost souls

Upgraded last night. Laptops dead

For Forks Sake

Bayberry wrote: »

Let me translate that from Sony-speak for you.

I'll simplify that even further: we at Sony no longer make computers, having sold off the Vaio division,so you're on your own.

Aimead

unkel wrote: »

Windows 10 is a lot quicker. It uses less footprint and fewer or similar resources than previous versions. It boots up a lot faster. It is a lot slicker. And more secure.

Seen claims like the above many times and I just don’t see the supposed speed gains compared to 8. The boot time didn’t seem any faster and any programs didn’t seem any faster. I also haven’t noticed any reduction in resource use either (that ZoneAlarm has to do more blocking is annoying though).

These tests are similar enough to my experience with both desktop and laptop:
http://www.techspot.com/review/1042-windows-10-vs-windows-8-vs-windows-7/

There are only two real noticeable differences that I seen. The first is that the interface is a gazillion times better, and the second is that 10 still needs to fix some bugs (crackly sound, trackpad issues, can’t get Morrowind to work at all, HDMI output on the laptop is random as feck, etc.).

I’ve also seen a lot of buzz about 10 being more secure, but the evidence seems lacking. What’s the difference between device guard and having ZoneAlarm’s firewall properly set up? Can Hello really be touted as more secure when, if upgrading to 10, you almost certainly don’t have the hardware to benefit from it (not that this is as secure as claimed – remember the job the CCC did on fingerprinting and that Black Hat DC demo on bypassing facial recognition)? And how the hell can Passport be more secure given that the information stored in the cloud is a giant red flag for criminal hackers?

Semi-rant aside, if your upgrade is bug-free then the superior interface definitely makes it worth keeping though. At present I have themes installed in 8 that make it look decent, but I have to uninstall them every time I do an update to avoid the ‘black screen of death’ – would be nice not to have to do that.

unkel

ZoneAlarm. Seriously? Last time I installed that was probably the guts of 10 years ago.

T-Bird

Anesthetize wrote: »

If you're currently using 8 or 8.1 the upgrade is worth it. It feels like the OS that 8 should have been. I'm having some minor issues with some drivers but I'm sure that I'll be able to resolve them soon.

Regarding OneDrive - just don't use it. I'm a long-time user of Dropbox and it's always suited my needs. There's plenty of alternatives too.

I have been using sky/one drive for 5 years now at no cost. Don't see why I should change. The online only feature of 8 was perfect.

This is one of those bad habits Microsoft has, as in changing something they did better than the rest.

coldfire1x

I rolled back to Win 7 after upgrading to 10. If you have a machine over 3-4 years old and running win 7 fine then I suggest keep it that way.

Newer machines running win 8 or 8.1, its worth upgrading.

Upgraded Linx 7 tablet to Win 10 as well, works just fine.

Shred

I upgraded from W7 pro to W10 and found it to be quite good, but I must say since I've clean installed it's been a whole different kettle of fish and in a very good way; it's running as smoothly as I could hope for so far considering how early it is into the OS's lifecycle.
For me it's always been the case that a clean OS install is the only way to go; an in place upgrade only carries over the crap from the previous OS install. If you've upgraded at this point, seriously consider a full clean install before passing judgement on the current state of W10.
Having said that, if you're happy with your current OS then there's no rush in upgrading; wait until the dust settles after the first major release comes out in October and make a decision then.

Slutmonkey57b

7 is still better than any other version of windows, but 10 is probably an improvement over 8.

Bayberry

Slutmonkey57b wrote: »

7 is still better than any other version of windows, but 10 is probably an improvement over 8.

You missed a couple of IMHOs in there.

IMHO.

Slutmonkey57b

It's an opinion thread, so IMHO would be redundant.

Aimead

unkel wrote: »

ZoneAlarm. Seriously? Last time I installed that was probably the guts of 10 years ago.

To be honest I don’t know of any firewall that does a better job, particularly in how it handles permanently barring specific programs from having internet access. Used to use PCTools Firewall, where you could tweak almost everything, but had to jump ship after it was abandoned (and thus not getting updated). I’ll try out any suggestions you have for alternatives.

kleefarr

Getting closer for me, but will still wait a bit.

T-Bird

T-Bird wrote: »

I have been using sky/one drive for 5 years now at no cost. Don't see why I should change. The online only feature of 8 was perfect.

This is one of those bad habits Microsoft has, as in changing something they did better than the rest.

Got around onedrive problem by disabling it and using registry hack to remove it from explorer. I am using odrive as an alternative for now as it allows you to keep the files offline.