My experience with Windows 10

8 years ago

last modified: 8 years ago

Bottom line - as I use it, it's the same as Win7 or Win8.1. By installing Classic Shell (a 60 second download and install), it feels and acts the same as its predecessors. I see no differences in appearance, in location of settings to change, or in behavior. It's a non-event.

A few weeks ago I bought a new PC that I configured to my own preferences (with solid mid-range performance options) on the manufacturer's site. I chose to have an authorized downgrade to Win7 installed as the OS (the reason doesn't matter). Because of some peculiarities with what I have and what I wanted to do (the details don't matter), I found Win7 wasn't working for me on the new PC and so I needed to do the authorized upgrade to Win10. The manufacturer sent me an upgrade key (a thumb drive) and I did that a few days ago.

In going through the initial choices and options, I was able to set it up as I prefer. Password - No (it's a desktop). Cortana - No. MS account - No. For those who find these options not to their liking on their PCs, I'm sure a search or two will help you find how to change the settings.

The same as for those who did the free upgrade during the period it was offered, I was able to use this PC with both Win7 and Win10. From a performance standpoint, I see little difference. I have a fast quad core processor, a high capacity internet connection, and I see no difference in performance. It appears Win10 has a gimmick to appear to load faster, in that the home page comes up a bit quicker than its predecessors. However, while that appears, my hard drive continues to chug away for another 15 seconds or so, appearing to be loading other parts of the OS.

These are only my observations. Maybe it depends on what uses people have and what programs they use. Others will have different experiences. But to me, the difference is there is no difference. Neither good nor bad. The same. As far as things go, I was ready to jump into adapting to changes and new peculiarities. I haven't found any yet.

My recommendation for those unhappy or struggling with Win10 is to install Classic Shell. Good luck to all.

Featured Answer

Justin Young

8 years ago

Windows 10 is a fundamentally different ownership arrangement. You are not buying a product any more, you are essentially buying a service. They can choose to change that service or stop offering that service. They can force you to upgrade that service. You don't really own the software anymore, just a right to use the service, whatever that may be. Now this may sound trivial, but it is a fundamental change in their business model. Probably the biggest change is in how they view your information. They have access to your information and the metadata derived from it. You can certainly try to turn off all the check boxes that give them access to your information, but it is difficult and tedious. They may get turned back on again without your knowledge via a service change. They have a "content distribution network" or ad network that they are weaving into the OS. Currently most of this is viewed via Bing, but the future is to pump it into your desktop or tablet and use information derived from your usage to help advertisers target the ads to the ideal audience. This may sound familiar, because it is exactly what google has been doing on the browser platform for years. MS just wants to adopt it and use their platform to deliver the content. Just to touch on meta data, they can collect information about your data and create new data from it. Then they can disavow having your original data, while retaining the new data that they own derived form your data. Mush this up with the proper legal language and it gets very difficult to figure out exactly what data they are accessing and what they are doing with it.

10 is very usable, you just need to understand that you have become the product.

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Comments (7)

Elmer J Fudd
Original Author
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Sounds like you're a good candidate to switch to Linux. Also, be sure to do what you can (with VPN and maybe also anonymizer services) so that "they" can't track your internet activity.

I personally think you've overstated and misconstrued any risks or compromises stemming from current practices and the state of play but everyone should do what they feel comfortable with.
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bengz6westmd
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
I was satisfied w/W10, but lately there's been alot of router downloading going on while working/browsing (slowing down everything), and it's hard to pin down what's doing it. Using task manager, it's in the service where windows update is included. But there where no updates done during that time according to the installed updates list. Kind of frustrating/obtrusive and makes me wonder about some malware issue, tho nothing is detected in windows defender or adwcleaner. And looking at my hard disk activity, there is often "stuff" going on constantly while I'm doing nothing. Task manager says it's in "service host: local service", and no, it's not defragmenting.

Like Elmer I have most/all of the windows "spying" turned off (did it during installation), but still makes me think Linux is alot simpler to deal with. As a former engineer, simpler is almost always better as long as it gets the job done.

Edit: Used regedit to disable Cortana as I noticed it used alot of memory just sitting there (I don't want or use it). Maybe that'll help alittle. Of course, very simple to re-enable it if I want.
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jrb451
8 years ago
A little more on how to use regedit to disable Cortana please. I won't be using it on my elderly pc and could use the memory.

Thanks.
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dadoes
8 years ago
There is an option on Windows 10 Windows Updates that it will share installed updates out to other computers on the local network and/or the Internet.
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bengz6westmd
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
jrb451, here at the link in this forum to disable (not remove) Cortana. Disabling it means it won't be loaded into memory:

http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/4191657/how-to-get-rid-of-win-10-junk?n=23
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jrb451
8 years ago
Thanks!
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My experience with Windows 10

Justin Young

Comments (7)

Elmer J Fudd
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My experience with Windows 10

Justin Young

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Elmer J FuddOriginal Author

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Elmer J Fudd
Original Author