THOUGHTS ON UPGRADING TO (Free) WINDOWS 10

by Terry 46 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Terry

  I've been using Windows 7 for several years and have had no complaints.

  I've tried many browsers and settled on Google Chrome. It has absolutely everything I want or need.

  I kept hearing about the free upgrade to Windows 10, so I went to YouTube and watched endless "Reviews" pro and con.

  What pushed me over the (Microsoft Edge) was the fact I could Test Drive the new Operating System

  for 30 days and go back to Windows 7 if I didn't like it! WOW! That sounds like perfect confidence to me.

  ______________

  The download and installation is a big one and it took over an hour. I had time to catch up on Stephen King's eight-part TV series, 9.22.63. I loved it!

  _____________

  When the install was complete, there it was in all of its glory!

  All my old files were right where I left them--how convenient is that?

  _____________

  This baby is fast--Fast--FAST!!! I mean it is really a blur of speed and that is outstanding compared to Windows 7.

  This is a whole new world.

  ____________

  TOP 5 FEATURES

  1. No fussing with Password. Walk up, Sit down and Windows 10 "recognizes" your ugly face and says, "HELLO!"

  2. START MENU: completely redesigned intuitively like something on the deck of Star Trek's Enterprise. Windows 7 keeps track of what you use and prefer and it floats in front of you. You can move anything around anyplace you like it or make it go away. Nifty and fun.

  3. CORTANA--move over Siri! I love, love, love this feature! I can SPEAK my searches and CORTANA obeys like a Genii in a bottle. It's in the left-hand corner of your Desktop. I don't have to type in anything. "Do this" /"Open that"/ "Find such-and-such"/ is all blazingly simple. Am I allowed to use the word "thrilling" to describe a Microsoft product??? CORTANA is my personal assistant who can write letters, tell jokes and interact with personality, and wit. Yep, this program has a genuine PERSONALITY!

  4. TASK VIEW allows me to arrange my Apps across a series of screens easily because it's like having magazine covers on a desk, and I can reach for whichever one I want and move it in front of me. The advantage is immediate.

  5. PHOTOS--the way this program organizes all my photos is breathtakingly logical and easy to navigate. So many ways I can view them, categorize and enjoy them!
  
  Anywaaaaaay . . .

  I sound like a shill for Microsoft now and I am embarrassed.

  As I run into problems, I'll post those too. But, I thought I'd start the topic so the lovers and haters have a place to

  vent :)

  My Windows 10 experience thus far is 9 out of 10. (10 would mean I'd lost my mind.)

  (Edited to say this: I don't care for the Microsoft Edge Browser. Google Chrome rocks!)
• 

  zeb

  I tried it didn't like it and it wiped my email address files. it gave me one in its place inc some I had never heard of.
• 

  Anders Andersen

  At home I have almost exclusively used Linux for the last 15 years (on a dual boot system).

  After upgrading the hardly used Windows 7 to 10, never went back to Linux again.
• 

  GodZoo

  For someone who likes everything to be so logical and black and white your demonstrating an awful lot of blind faith now and that you can be so easily seduced and won over by mere fancy surface 'bling'.

  I can think of at least 50 reasons not to use Windows 10 but here 14 to get you started.

  http://www.windowscentral.com/14-reasons-not-to-upgrade-windows-10
  
• 

  GodZoo

  More importantly..

  Windows 10 new Privacy Policy and Service Agreement from Microsoft.

  The new policies take effect on 1 August and there are a few unsettling things nestling in there that you should be thinking about if you’re using the company’s services and software.

  The Privacy Statement and Services Agreements combined come to 45 pages. Microsoft’s deputy general counsel, Horacio Gutierrez wrote that they are “straightforward terms and polices that people can clearly understand.” The reality is, you’re probably not going to read them. So I did, and I listed for you the major concerns about Windows 10 Privacy.

  And, like so many other companies, Microsoft has grabbed some very broad powers to collect things you do, say and create while using its software. Your data won’t be staying on your computer, that much is for sure.

  Windows data syncing by default

  Sign into Windows with your Microsoft account and the operating system immediately syncs settings and data to the company’s servers. That includes your browser history, favorites and the websites you currently have open as well as saved app, website and mobile hotspot passwords and Wi-Fi network names and passwords.

  You can deactivate that by hopping into the settings of Windows, but I’d argue that it should be opt-in rather than on by default. Many users won’t get round to turning it off, even though they would probably want to.

  

  Cortana knows *a lot* about what you’re doing…

  Cortana is a sexy spy in the machine

  Turn on Cortana, the virtual assistant, and you’re also turning on a whole host of data sharing:

  To enable Cortana to provide personalized experiences and relevant suggestions, Microsoft collects and uses various types of data, such as your device location, data from your calendar, the apps you use, data from your emails and text messages, who you call, your contacts and how often you interact with them on your device.

  Cortana also learns about you by collecting data about how you use your device and other Microsoft services, such as your music, alarm settings, whether the lock screen is on, what you view and purchase, your browse and Bing search history, and more.”

  Lots of things can live in those two words “and more.” Also note that because Cortana analyzes speech data, Microsoft collects “your voice input, as well as your name and nickname, your recent calendar events and the names of people in your appointments, and information about your contacts including names and nicknames.”

  Realistically, Cortana can’t work in the semi-magical way it does without being able to gobble up all that information. But it’s worth being aware of just how wide-ranging its access to your and your friends’/contacts’ data is.

  Whatever happens, Microsoft knows what you’re doing…

  The updated terms also state that Microsoft will collect information “from you and your devices, including for example ‘app use data for apps that run on Windows’ and ‘data about the networks you connect to.'”

  Advertisers will know exactly who you are

  Windows 10 generates a unique advertising ID for each user on each device. That can be used by developers and ad networks to profile you. Again, you can turn this off in settings, but you need to know where to look:

  

  Where to go to kill the ad tracking ID in Windows 10…

  Your encryption key is backed up to OneDrive

  Not necessarily a bad thing but something you should be aware of. When device encryption is turned on, Windows 10 automatically encrypts the drive its installed on and generates a BitLocker recovery key. That’s backed up to your OneDrive account.

  

  Open the window and Microsoft can do pretty much what it wants with your data…

  Microsoft can disclose your data when it feels like it

  This is the part you should be most concerned about: Microsoft’s new privacy policy assigns is very loose when it comes to when it will or won’t access and disclose your personal data:

  We will access, disclose and preserve personal data, including your content (such as the content of your emails, other private communications or files in private folders), when we have a good faith belief that doing so is necessary to protect our customers or enforce the terms governing the use of the services.

  I’m not suggesting Microsoft and its lawyers are alone in making provision for such sweeping power over your data, but we should all be very careful about relying on the “good faith” of corporations.
• 

  Finkelstein

  I recently switched over to Win 10 from Win 7 and I like it except for the fact that the OS by default is intrusive to your activity on your computer. You can turn much of this off by going into the privacy settings and turn off much of this data gathering that Microsoft has built into the OS.

  Two things I miss though, is the Desktop gadgets and the Aero Glass window theme from Win 7.

  It also has a good built in back up your data program, which is important.
  
• 

  GodZoo

  Finkelstein

  You can put most of that back if you like..

  http://www.classicshell.net/
  
• 

  notsurewheretogo

  You are forced to receive updates, you cannot decline them...

  And the amount of syncing of data back to MS servers even though you disable things defies belief...

  W10 is a big no no
• 

  Finkelstein

  Thanks GodZoo
  
• 

  Da.Furious

  Although i was reluctant to upgrade, mainly to the issue, for some it was a fix, related OneDrive showing only synced folders and files.

  In Windows 7, you can see all the folder structure even if some folders are online only. If you need to access them you download them. This is good if you use one drive as a backup in the cloud.

  I upgraded to windows 10 when i found a work around to access all my folder structure. If you are interested, you can follow these steps:

  http://forums.windowscentral.com/windows-10-how-guides/371145-how-map-onedrive-drive-letter-windows-10-a.html