Windows 10

if you do a search using the search terms 'how to export your contacts' you should be able to find out how to save your address book (email addresses) you DO want to make sure that you know your email password just in case.
Rex

from 8.1 to 10, YES.
Did find a small bug in the Wifi settings, make sure the power save or limiting is set at like 20% or less.

I just finished upgrading to Windows 9. The guy with the Indian accent on the phone assured me this would fix the problems that I didn't know I was having, but they detected it themselves and they would know better right?

Mushtang said:

I just finished upgrading to Windows 9. The guy with the Indian accent on the phone assured me this would fix the problems that I didn't know I was having, but they detected it themselves and they would know better right?

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I actually had a guy call me to tell me anti-virus software wasn't updating and that he could fix it. The anti-virus company I use had sent out an email warning that users were getting called by scammers and to hang up on them. I know better than to cooperate with anybody like this anyway, but since I now knew they were targeting specific users I decided to string the guy along for a while. Finally I got sick of it and told the guy I knew it was a scam and that I wouldn't fall for it, but I knew people who might. He laughed and said, "Give me their names!" I hung up.

KennB said:

ScottJ, it seems you have a lot of time with the new system. Could you please give a little more info to compare/contrast from your usage of 7 and 8? That may help lots of us make up our minds.
Thanks.

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To me, Win 10 is to Win 7 what Win 7 is to Win XP. XP turned into a fine operating system (for its day). Vista added a lot of good and some bad. Win 7 fixed the bad. A lot of what people loved in 7 was actually introduced in Vista. 10 and 8 are similar in that regard. 8 added a lot of good, but everyone was focused on the UI changes. 10 fixes what people didn't like about the UI and adds a few other goodies. I can't find the link anymore, but right after release some tech site had a "Top 15 things people running Win 7 will be missing from Win 10" article. 14 of the things were introduced in Win 8.

I guess my point is that tech reporting is dumb and the best thing to do is try it out if you're interested. The downside is you may have to go through the bother of rolling back to or reinstalling your old OS if you don't like it. If that's a big enough hurdle to prevent you from trying it out, maybe an upgrade isn't the best thing for you. That said, if you like Win 7 or 8, I can't see anything from a usability standpoint that would prevent you from liking Win 10. I'm still running Win 7 at work, and I've gotten to the point that occasionally I find myself annoyed that it's not Win 10. (Unfortunately, I can't recall the specific reasons for those instances. I should start writing those down.)

From a technical standpoint, Win 10 has a smaller footprint, uses a bit less RAM and is faster than Win 7. I've installed it on a number of machines (desktops, laptops, and tablets) that ran win 7 and/or 8 and 10 definitely gets more out of the same hardware. To be clear, if feels a bit snappier, it's not going double the speed of your machine are anything that significant.

If you had any specific questions, I might be able to give a better answer. I'm a software engineer so I can get as technical as you might need.

Lugnut56 said:

Is there any issues with the "Favorites" transferring over from 8.1 to 10? My internet provider (Century Stink, I mean Century Link) sent out an e-mail recently saying in order to keep your "Favorites" , you will need to put them into a folder, then retrieve it after the install (something to that effect). Is that correct? I am running 8.1 on a couple year old desktop with a program I downloaded called "Classic Shell", which makes it look more like 7.

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Are you talking about browser favorites? Those are already in a folder. After upgrading, your favorites will still be in the folder they're already in. If you use the same browser, after upgrading, you shouldn't need to do anything. Win 10 comes with MS' new browser called Edge, which is a replacement for IE. Whatever browsers you had installed before the upgrade will still be present and will work fine. If you used IE/Chrome/Firefox you can continue to do so without any changes. If you move to Edge (which I wouldn't recommend as it's not ready for primetime, IMO) then you'll need to use the import feature to copy the favorites over to Edge.

It's always a good idea to have a copy of your favorites folder backed up on a USB drive, or in the cloud.

Mushtang said:

I just finished upgrading to Windows 9. The guy with the Indian accent on the phone assured me this would fix the problems that I didn't know I was having, but they detected it themselves and they would know better right?

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I am assuming that you have your tongue firmly pressed in your cheek.

Zeus-cat said:

I actually had a guy call me to tell me anti-virus software wasn't updating and that he could fix it. The anti-virus company I use had sent out an email warning that users were getting called by scammers and to hang up on them. I know better than to cooperate with anybody like this anyway, but since I now knew they were targeting specific users I decided to string the guy along for a while. Finally I got sick of it and told the guy I knew it was a scam and that I wouldn't fall for it, but I knew people who might. He laughed and said, "Give me their names!" I hung up.

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This scam and the one Mustang referred to are very old and common today, mostly out of Pakistan. Bottom line is most, if not all, reputable companies will not phone you for updates, or to confirm your security settings or any other reason it just does not happen. I have seen ISPs call if they notice an unusual amount of activity but they will have information to validate themselves and they will never call you to ask you to provide account information.

Bottom line is the scams are plentiful and you should be cynical about anything that sounds too good to be true or as mentioned above.

CrazyOB said:

I upgraded to Win10 several months ago with little or no problems. You should perform a check disk for errors, and a registry clean BEFORE attempting the upgrade.

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I'm curious about your warning. My computer almost constantly wants to do a disk check and I have discovered that it is because although the disk passes the checks, Windows itself is messed up. If I run in Safe mode it's fine I have been completely unable to repair Windows 7 without wiping the hard drive and staring over. I was hoping that upgrade to Win10 would be a good solution. Have you experienced something that might indicate that this is not a good course of action?

snuggles said:

Figured I'd ask you guys as I value your opinions....
Windows 10, yes or no??????
Thanks in advance
Mark
PS I'm old, I like my PC

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My laptop running XP finally broke (lid hinge broke and now backlight won't come on). Replacement came with Win7 Pro 64bit. I've done everything I can to remove the GWX (get windows 10) nagware as well as the MS spyware from the system and the updates. I'm going to wait until one week before the free upgrade expires before deciding whether to upgrade or not. I probably will download and make the upgrade iso DVD, and wait even longer before doing anything.

sooner.boomer said:

My laptop running XP finally broke (lid hinge broke and now backlight won't come on). Replacement came with Win7 Pro 64bit. I've done everything I can to remove the GWX (get windows 10) nagware as well as the MS spyware from the system and the updates. I'm going to wait until one week before the free upgrade expires before deciding whether to upgrade or not. I probably will download and make the upgrade iso DVD, and wait even longer before doing anything.

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You have to have ownership to delete the gwx.exe file. Then you need to delete the update that installed gwx.exe in the first place. Just google "How to delete GWX.exe" and you will get lots of hits with instructions to do both tasks.

W7AMI said:

You have to have ownership to delete the gwx.exe file. Then you need to delete the update that installed gwx.exe in the first place. Just google "How to delete GWX.exe" and you will get lots of hits with instructions to do both tasks.

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The GWX problem was taken care of long ago, as were the "snooping" updates...

Yes, I'm referring to my browser favorites. Thanks for the information, but I think I'm with sooner.boomer, and will wait a little longer before making the jump.

Thanks to all for your input.
I'll stick with what I have.
You guys ROCK!!!!
Mark T

So far, I've upgraded Win7 to Win10 on two computers...a cheapo Dell Vostro laptop and my main desktop, an ADK Pro. My Vostro started acting up right away. Moving the cursor over a browser window caused the screen to distort. I've since reloaded Win7, but the problem still occurs on occasion. On my ADK Pro, I have to Restart after the initial boot or the sound is distorted. After that, it runs smoothly. I also got rid of all the Metro garbage and MS spyware. Now it's more like Win7, but faster.

Wife downloaded it. I hated it so we went back to 8

That literally sounds like blasphemy.

Don't do Win 10 till the outrage over the data theft is solved and it needs more testing and patch work, to many flaws for now. My local PC chain has been flooded with people bringing in their PCs to have Windows 10 removed. They even have commercials running right now offering free removal of Windows 10 update. You may want to give Linux a try, Linux Mint to be specific. I only run win 7 when I cant get a pesky game to run on Linux. For the most part all the computers in the house are Linux, only the wife still uses Win.


TA

blackbrandt said:

If you have 8/8.1... DEFINITELY UPGRADE.

If you have 7? Hard choice. I have 7 on my machine just because a few things aren't compatible still.

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I second that.