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Transcript
Hi everyone! Leo Notenboom here for askleo.com.
You know it’s interesting, Windows 10 has been out now for pretty close to a year and with the free offer now about to come to an end, it almost seems like Windows 10 is arriving now. It’s kind of strange, but with that comes more and more Windows 10 questions so as you might imagine, as you might expect, a lot of sites, Ask Leo! included, are going to be slowly switching more an more focus to Windows 10 related issues.
As you might imagine, I respond to the questions that I get and sure enough, the tide is turning; we are seeing more and more Windows 10 questions – not always problems, sometimes actual questions about how to do things in the operating system and I’ll get to that in a moment, but it’s interesting just that the tide is turning.
More and more people are using Windows 10 and like I said, with the imminent deadline approaching to snag that free upgrade, I think we’ll see more people making the last minute jump to Windows 10. I think Microsoft did an interesting thing by making the anniversary update available after the free update deadline. What that means is that in order to get the anniversary update in August, you need to have Windows 10 installed, obviously before then, but if you want it free, you’ll need to have the free version and you’ll need to have taken that update before the July 29 deadline. So, it’s an interesting strategy and I think that it is in some ways; I don’t want to say compelling, but at least encouraging people to make that upgrade to Windows 10.
So, with that in mind, I want to basically talk just briefly, a little bit about Windows 10 in the sense that I want to get a better understanding of what it means to you especially the people that are currently using Windows 10 and either happy or unhappy with it.
Now, Windows 10 to me is just another operating system; it’s another version of Windows. If we take a look at things like the Start menu, well, the Start menu, this is the anniversary edition, by the way, this is a preview of what’s coming up in the anniversary edition as I understand it so this isn’t what’s available today; this is one of the insider preview builds but as you can see, the Start menu they have changed a little bit. They have moved a couple of the controls that were otherwise hidden off to the right are a little bit more visible. Probably in response to what some of the Windows 10 users have been complaining about.
So, like I said, the Start menu to me is just another Start menu. The other thing that I think people have problems with from time to time is simply looking for thing, finding things, understanding where this used to be here in Windows 7 or Windows 8 or Windows XP. Where is it Windows 10?
In most cases, it’s still in Windows 10; it’s just not quite where you expect it to be. My favorite example is of course Control Panel. If you just with the Start menu up start typing “Control” you’ll see that the Control Panel desktop app is still around; it’s just not easily discoverable because of course, if you in fact click on the little gear icon, you end up with the Settings app which as I understand is something that’s going to eventually replace the full-blown Control Panel but right now, not everything you can use, you can control in Control Panel is actually in the Settings app so they have to do both.
My expectation is that over time, more and more things are going to be moved to the Windows Setting app and removed or depreciated at least in the Control Panel app.
While I’ve got this open, while I’ve got Windows 10 here in front of you, I’d like for anyone running Windows 10 to make what I consider to be one of the most important changes you can and that is here in Windows File Explorer.
What I want you to do is in the View menu, go to Options and change folder and search options and then in View, I want you to scroll down if necessary and turn off this “Hide extensions for known file types”. This is one of those settings that I believe is fundamentally set wrong by default.
It’s been wrong since the day it was introduced. They haven’t changed the default. It just boggles my mind that they haven’t because this one setting is one of those things that allows scammers to fool people way, way, way too easily. All it really does if you have a Word, for example, if you have a word.docx file, it hides the .docx which means you can’t tell that it’s a document whereas with this disabled, in other words if we’re not hiding extensions, you can see that it’s a .docx file and you know exactly what it is you’re clicking on. Like I said, scammers use that all the time to fool people into opening things that they think are one thing when in fact they’re something else.
So, that’s where we Windows 10 is right now. Like I said, it’s the anniversary update is coming out shortly after the free offer ends.
What I’m interested in understanding is exactly for those folks who are using Windows 10 right now, if you’ve been using it for any amount of time, I would love to understand from you, what’s missing? What’s missing in Windows? What’s confusing? What can’t you find? What are you used to seeing that you haven’t found, that you haven’t yet found? What’s working? What’s not working?
What’s cool? You know, there are people, I’m hearing from some people who actually really appreciate some of Windows 10’s improvements and I’d like to hear what some of those are. Obviously, with most bad news, the air is full of complaints but I’d love to hear some of the things that you really like about Windows 10 because I know that there are things like that out there.
What do you like? What do you enjoy about it? What makes it better for you than whatever it was you were using before? I think we would love to hear some balance because like I said, we hear a lot of complaints. A lot of the complaints are around the marketing and the push for Windows 10, but sidestep, Windows 10 itself and as I’ve said before, the marketing, in my opinion, was very, very messed up but Windows 10 itself is fundamentally a solid, good operating system.
So I’d love to hear what problems you’re having with it; what you can’t find, what’s missing; what’s not working for you; but I’d also love to hear what is working for you; what is cool about Windows 10; what is it that you like about using Windows 10.
Like I said, I’m not really looking for complaints per se; I’m looking for opportunities for me to be able to step in and say, ok, here’s what you are missing. Here’s where that thing is now that you couldn’t find before. Here’s you solve that problem; I mean that’s the kind of stuff that I’m looking to be able to bring to you.
So, as always, if you’re watching this anywhere but on askleo.com here’s a link to this page, which will have this video on it. This is where all the comments will be read, all the comments are moderated so the trolls are kept out. I’d love to hear what you think. Until next time, remember stay safe, have fun, and don’t forget to back up. Take care.
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I am on the review team, and most of the time I have no problem finding what I am looking for. The one exception that has given me fits is that I want to log in automatically. I am the only one using this computer, and it is somewhat of a nuisance to type in my passport every time.
When I start my computer, it comes on with a welcome with my name, and then immediately switches to, “The password you entered is not valid.” I have not entered a password at this time. Click OK, enter the password and I’m in.
NETPLWIZ is set correctly to bypass the password, the registry is set to bypass the password, but Windows 10 still requires me to log in.
Not the end of the world, too many other things I like about this OS. I have several programs that I have used in XP, that would not work in Win 7 or 8, but they do work in 10.Some that worked in 7, do not work in 10.
To me Windows 10 is a keeper.
I think it works the same as 8.1. I had my Windows 8.1 computer set to not require a password and was able to retain that setting through my upgrade to Windows 10. So this article may help you sort that out: https://askleo.com/how-do-i-go-back-to-a-regular-account-after-updating-to-windows-8-1/
Thank you! I did that, but changed to a pin, could not find how to eliminate a password totally.
I think if you leave the password blank it will then require nothing.
Do not set up a Microsoft account when you install Win 10. Scroll to the bottom of that page, and you should see the option to set up with a Local, or machine account. And of course, leave the password fields empty. You should automatically have Windows boot to the desktop after that with no password required.
I have tried to download Win10 4 times. Each time the setup gave an error. I went to the shop where I buy computer stuff and they installed Win10 just in time. Today I even got an internet connection. For some reason I had to use my Microsoft account. My internet connection gave problems, so I down loaded the driver for the wireless adapter. Now I had to restart my computer.
It asked for my Microsoft password, which I don’t know. I use Lastpass. I had to go to another computer to get it. O, you have no internet connection. Please enter the password that you used before. Well I never use a password. That is it. I can not log in any more. My last backup was from two days ago, when I still had Win7. Do you have a solution?
Yes. Windows 10 requires a Microsoft account. Unfortunately there seems to be no other way to do it. It sounds like you do have a Microsoft account, so you’ll need to retrieve that password. Otherwise revert to that backup from Win7.
Your Microsoft account password is your Hotmail/outlook.com/live.com/MSN.com password associated with your account.It should be the one which will allow you to log on to your computer.
I like win 10 stability. It seems that I hardly have major issues with it. If I do there is restore or the two reset options. I’ve used all three and they do what I expected. I miss windows media centre though.
I updated to Windows 10 from Windows 7 and I have not had the first problem. I have a small business and I like Windows 10.
Generally I like Windows 10, but a couple of things don’t work right. 1) Everytime I click a link in an email, it prompts for what browser to use, even if I check check the box to remember my choice. It does this for all browsers besides Edge, which I don’t want to have as my default browser because it doesn’t show my favorites and RSS feeds.
Go to Settings/System/Default apps/Set defaults by app – Choose the program (In my case Firefox) and set the program as default. This will fix the email irritation.
If I select Edge, Chrome, or Firefox the setting “sticks” correctly. If I set it to “Internet Explorer”, it asks me every time. The setting for IE will not stick.
This should help:
http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/links-wont-open-in-windows-10/
The setting for Internet Explorer-11 works for me. I also did it per command-line, much like in Linux! IE-11 comes up EVERY time; my 2nd. choice for browser is Opera…. also set per command-line!
I was previously using Win 8.1, so Win 10 was not much of a culture shock. I did struggle with the upgrade until I finally uninstalled Avast free antivirus. Defender took over that job and I’ve decided to leave it that way for them moment. I’ve been happy with Win 10 so far, other than the dreaded Microsoft login and the occasional disabling of my wireless adapter. I like the Bing Lockscreen Spotlight, but it simply refuses to work on my laptop. I struggle a little bit trying to distinguish what to find in Settings vs Control Panel, but overall that’s not a biggie. I do find that I use the search box (with Cortana turned off) a great deal. All in all, thumbs up for Windows 10 after a month of use.
Belated PS…..I have exactly No Love for the Edge browser. I wanted to like, repeatedly tried it, but will stick with Firefox or Chrome.
I upgraded my PC and my husband’s notebook to Windows 10 and was pleased that there were no big problems. With the help of friends with more knowledge I found my way around quite quickly. There is one problem, though. The 2 machines are connected by wire and in W 7 I was able to see everything on the the notebook on my pc via the homegroup, and also my pc from the notebook. W 10 won’t allow me to see the notebook, but I can see the folders in my pc from the notebook. I went to the windows forum and this seems to be a problem that nobody knows how to fix. I think some people would be glad if you could find a solution?
Lind — yes, this is a common problem. I spent 2 hours with a MS tech and he could not solve it until he went “higher up the line” and it is a couple minute solution. Just add all the computers to a Homegroup and then all computers will not only see one another but files etc can be accessed and used among any computers in the homegroup. I only had the issue when doing an upgrade on one computer that simply would not get the upgrade in a normal fashion so another MS tech installed it but did not add to the Homegroup at that time.
Like you I spent a lot of time researching the solution but now that I have it, I have added it to a .rtf file I have created with many many links to solutions to W10 issues and is offered by the free computer help offered for the past 16 years in PC Tech a room in Paltalk.
While there have been a few things that are not available readily in W10 such as the ability to access Safe Mode easily (tapping F8 previously) and there is no longer the copy/move to R click option, both of these items do have solutions which again are supplied in the .rtf.
What I have found for folks that complain about W10 is the fact that those users are not prepared to spend a bit of time learning about the o/s and its few differences which when learned make the o/s not much more than a glorified version of W7.
There is just so much info about doing things with w10 that a user that wants to know can easily obtain the info.
And, yes Leo, I agree about the necessary change related “hide extensions …” and never understood why this is the default and have made that change going back over the past 20 years.
I have a different, but related problem. I have 2 Windows 7 Pro pc’s and 1 Windows 10 Pro on a home network, belonging to a homegroup. Up until 2 weeks ago, I could view files from one computer to the other, and use Remote Desktop in any direction. Suddenly, I cannot view the Win7 data (or use RDP) from the Win10 pc. But the Win7 pc’s can view & RDP any pc. I get error 0x80070035. Any ideas?
I had no problem adapting from Win 7, to Win 8.x, and finally, Win 10. I reall, really miss Windows Media Centre. It was the best Media Centre software ever, and provide perfect reception via my PVR TV card. Simple to configure, and even easier to schedule TV recordings. If I could have anything back from previous Windows versions, it would be Windows Media Centre.
I’ve never tried any of the programs discussed in the links I’m posting here, but I generally find some good recommendations on these websites. You can read the reviews and see if one or a few work for you.
http://www.howtogeek.com/132462/5-alternatives-to-windows-media-center-on-windows-8/
http://alternativeto.net/software/windows-media-center/
I had a backup of my pictures on DVD. I have a full image backup of windows 7.
I have several books that came with DVD’s. I was learning ADOBE Photoshop Elements
10 from a book as I wanted to be able to use the “organizer”. I also have MS visual
studio 10.
I have about 13000 photos on CD and CVD. they are also on my c: and f: F: is a 2T
Seagate external USB hard drive. Over the years I have lost or worn out about 5 HDD.
MS$ needs to put Windows Media Center back into Windows 10 so we can read/write CD & DVD.
You don’t need media center to read and write CDs and DVDs. Certainly not data discs. Video DVDs can be played using several different 3rd party players.
I love the calendar function in Windows 10. I had a hard time keeping track of appointments in Windows 7, but the new calendar functions quite well.
However, I can’t find any option to change the notification popup settings. For example, I’m not sure if you can have the reminder set to pop up say 5 hours before an appointment.
Thanks.
After clicking the + to create a new event, click on Options (the circular button, second from the left) and you’ll see an option to specify the reminder time.
Sorry for the double post. I forgot to add that I love the faster boot up time. I have a custom desktop built in 2010 that was running Windows 7 and it boots up like lightning now.
Also, I have an old 2011 lenovo laptop that was running Windows 7. It would take 2-3 minutes to startup and I couldn’t find any malware/spyware/adware using AVG Free and Malwarebytes Free. An upgrade to Windows 10 has decreased the start up time to under a minute.
Just before seeing this article, I started the upgrade of my third computer to Windows 10. I have one big question. I have a friend who I help out with her computer. She’s happily using Windows 7 and hasn’t even gotten a GWX offer. She’s a little curious about Windows 10, but not too much. Somehow I feel since it’s free and would be supported for ever, I should encourage her to go for it. On the other hand, I don’t welcome the desperate phone calls. She’s my guinea pig, and I learn a lot as she’s a very classic senior user. I don’t necessarily expect an answer, but that’s the state of my Windows 10 experience.
I have recommended W10 to all of my friends, but if they are happy with W7, well it is OK until 2020 and there is always the risk that something will go wrong. I have converted three PCs myself and encountered one serious problem, that was with an ASUS laptop which would not load the OS, I was able to recover using a W10 recovery disk which I had created for my own PC.
BTW ASUS suggest that Fast Start Up be disabled (this was a while ago and I think applied only to ASUS) as you may not be able to use the BIOS with it enabled.
Of the W10 features I use very few, I just like the general set up and it performs well.
I don’t like the defaults and have turned most things off. Everyone should go to UPDATE & SECURITY/Windows Update/Advanced Options/Choose how updates are delivered – and turn off send updates to the internet.
Also I was disappointed that MS didn’t provide a tool similar to the W7 to W8 upgrade check which I thought was excellent.
To go to W10 I think that you need a minimum of 4GB of memory and around 80GB of free space on your C drive.
Well, I mentioned it to her and she got all excited about Win 10, so I prepped her machine.
1.Installed ClassicShell ( I could have done this on Win 10 directly, but I didn’t want her to wake up to a system with the tiled start menu and panic :-)
2. Ran all the Win 7 updates
3. Backed up her system
4. Ran the Upgrade
She’s been using it all day and says it runs smoother and faster than before.
An FYI in relation to Classic Shell…..
http://news.softpedia.com/news/hacker-compromises-fosshub-to-distribute-mbr-hijacking-malware-506932.shtml
It’s unclear that Classic Shell was compromised. Audacity was, for a while.
Classic Shell was indeed compromised:
http://www.classicshell.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6441
But only for a brief time. People simply need to redownload if there’s any question at all.
I LOVED my Windows 7 computer, only 6 or 7 years old when it died – yeah, yeah, yeah I know, they don’t live forever. I had this one, Windows 8something, that I hated. and almost never used. But when my baby died, I knew I had to upgrade. I live waaaay out in the boonies and have only Verizon hotspot internet available, so I took it to my ‘fixit’ guy to download, a paid professional. When it came home, there were several things that didn’t work, didn’t carry over, for example, my Word 2013, and as an author, that was a catastrophe! Got that straightened with a couple of hours online chat convincing Microsoft folks that I really didn’t want to purchase Word 2016, I just wanted 2013 to work. They deleted and reinstalled 2013.
But all in all, Windows 10 hasn’t been nearly as difficult to deal with as I had anticipated. Much easier than Windows 8something I had. I’m still trying to learn to navigate through the mazes, and Leo helps when I pay attention. My only complaint is that I don’t have any decent solitaire games to occupy my time between bouts of writing for hours at a time.
There are dozens if not hundreds of solitaire (and every other game under the sun) available to download for free :)
Just Google it. (sorry Nike)
Barbara. Do a search for “get-windows-7-games-for-windows-10/” from winero.
You can install all of the old familiar Windows 7 games or just the games you want.
Thanks, JoeM
The ones I found and downloaded, not the ones you recommended, were a few games that kept repeating. Hated them. Will try your suggestion.
I just love the integration of Windows 10’s Peripheral features with Android. Not only can I check my smartphone missed calls on my PC, but I can perfectly sync all reminders using Cortana. Also, there is the added benefit of increased apps which compliments the recent application-based computing we are accustomed to nowadays a-la smartphones. And the desktop notifications are the icing on the cake and keeps me up to date with all my emails, facebook, twitter and shopping offer notifications! Basically, it’s boosting my productivity and giving additional felxibility.
I upgraded 3 machines to Windows 10 – my desktop, my laptop and a friend’s laptop. I faced minor problems on the first two machines- missing drivers due to incompatibility. Thankfully, my PC manufacturer had my back and had provided Windows 10 drivers on its site prior to the launch of Windows 10. I faced the most extensive problem with my friend’s laptop and that was due to the fact that the manufacturer has been out of business for some years :)
Good morning, I have upgraded several computers both at work and home to windows 10 and I would never, ever go back! Even the “older” pc’s we have start quickly and run smoothly. The graphics and speed of operation are both great, and once you get used to finding things through the search, everything is withing a few keystrokes distance.
My main computer at home will not upgrade due to an older xeon processor, but it will be replaced soon enough with a windows 10 unit. My laptop had windows 7 on it and runs much faster and happier on 10.
One catch at work: we are a home improvement/lumberyard and our paint tint dispensers are too old to run with 64 bit software, so we were forced to stay with win 7 32 bit for now, until we update the dispensing machines.
Here is a problem that I have not seen posted in any forum, comments etc. Early on, I accepted the Windows 10 free upgrade. I worked with it and I liked it. However, I am sometimes impatient. Here is the problem I had which caused me to return to Windows 7. Whenever I had inserted a flash drive, or any USB device and pulled it out at any stage of the reboot process, it would cause my Windows 10 to not be bootable. It would not start up or boot up after that incident. Fortunately, I had cloned my hard drive prior and could simply put back the cloned drive, move my data back over and I would be up and running again, however laborious the task. I don’t recall the error code returned as this happened way back during the free offer began. After having this happen several times, I simply returned to Windows 7 without issue. Since my return to Windows 7, I purchased a new and more powerful pc which has Windows 10 Home version 1511 OS Build 10586.494. Whether this is the free version or not, I don’t know. I also am deathly afraid of extracting any USB device before the pc is turned off or not as I do not have a clone and even if I did, do not relish the thought of all that work to get back up and running again. To my knowledge, this problem has not been recorded and therefore, may not be known by either Microsoft or the general public. I hope it has been fixed. I hope this helps.
Having worked with a Mac, I got in the habit of unmounting devices before removing them.
In the lower right corner (near the time) you will see a ” ^ “. Click on that and look for what appears to be something like a USB memory stick. Clicking that will bring up all the attached devices with the option to “Eject” them. Click on the device you want to remove, wait for the pop-up saying it is safe to remove it, and then remove it.
If you get a message that it is in use, make sure none of the files are open, and it is not the focus in File Explorer (I like to keep the focus on This PC), and try again.
Create an image yourself so you have a readily available backup that you can install rather quickly.
I installed Windows 10 on my wife’s laptop. She was losing the mouse when the laptop was not in use.
No way to recover except to reboot. I went back to the Ghost backup never to return.
Windows 10 has never been finished. Things like file listings not updating when files are moved or deleted. Can’t change frame colors, fonts, etc., to personalize appearance. Everything is white. Windows updates needs to be made configurable so it doesn’t eat all your data when you’re using your hotspot while traveling. Etc. Microsoft needs to slow down on new functionality and get what they have finished first.
I find Windows 10 is about the same for me as Windows 7. When I upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 10, it went smoothly. Having said that there are 2 things I do not like about it:
1. One Note: When I upgraded from Windows 7 with Office 2010, One-note was also updated to a new cloud based version. I find this new version less convenient to use than the old version that kept all the notes on the local hard disk. Also, during the upgrade, I lost the last page of notes that I had created just before upgrading.
2. Log in: I don’t like having a photo being displayed, having to click to get to the log in screen and then having to enter a password every time the computer comes out of hibernation mode, but I have not found a way of turning that off. With Windows 7, I could just click on a button to log in and get to the desktop.
“When I upgraded from Windows 7 with Office 2010, One-note was also updated to a new cloud based version.” – Windows 10 includes a version of OneNote so you likely now have two versions: the version you were using with Windows 7 (OneNote 2010 or 2016) and the versions that’s bundled with Windows 10 (simply called OneNote). The differences are outlined here:
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/What-s-the-difference-between-OneNote-and-OneNote-2016-a624e692-b78b-4c09-b07f-46181958118f
“Having to enter a password every time the computer comes out of hibernation mode” – This should help:
http://www.thewindowsclub.com/disable-login-sleep-windows-7-8
Your last link does not work on Win 10 Pro.
It worked when I clicked on it. My first reaction is that you have a corrupted browser cache. I’ll suggest you start with this article that has steps to troubleshoot common browser-related issues.
https://askleo.com/dealing-with-browser-problems/
Clearing the browser cache would be the first thing to try as a corrupt cache is the cause of most browser problems.
I installed Windows 10 on my wife’s laptop.
She was losing the mouse whenever the laptop was not being used.
The driver was the last one issued by Logitech and did support Windows 10.
No way to recover. I went back to my Ghost Backup never to return.
My brother had also problem with his mouse and had to buy a new one, and a new keyboard.
They had over a year to fix that problem and did not do it.
Another thing: Windows 10 doesn’t seem to have a driver for the Samsung SCX-4200 printer/scanner
I update two laptop to W10 with no problem, when I did with my third one, big problem. Try twice and i give up (Was 02:00 AM).
I live the laptop on, but, ohhh next morning when I awake the laptop, there was W10 working perfectly OK.
The first couple of times I upgraded my desktop from 8.1, I rolled back, after finding some programs that were supposed to be compatible, weren’t. (Two laptop upgrades were fine from the beginning, as the problems were with peripheral hardware, such as a scanner, that I don’t use on the laptops.) The third build left everything working, booted much faster, was very stable, and I’m told, more secure. After the usual aggravation adopting to new placements on the menu, etc., I have been very pleased, although I have had a few problems with the automatic upgrades. My biggest problem has been getting default app settings to stick. For example, I use Outlook 2016 for all email, but when I try to open an .eml file attached to a message that a delivery has failed, the windows mail app opens instead and demands that I set up my email account(s). When I check, Outlook is still the default program and should open the file, as it always has. Am I missing something?
Have you gone to Go to Settings/System/Default apps/Set defaults by app and set Microsoft Outlook as the default for all file types and protocols?
I find it amazing that a computer OS released to the ‘Public’ requires so much tuning and manipulation by semi-technical and really technical people to make it user OPERATIONAL….much less user friendly.
I think that’s because people are stuck in their ways and don’t want to learn new things. I got a new computer with Windows 10 pre-installed. I turned it on and went through the usual Windows setup such as choosing a user name, etc. And just started using it. Pretty soon I found out it was just the same as Windows 7. Start menu was more or less the same, except tiles instead of program names. I figured it wasn’t worth my time to make it try to look and work the same as Windows 7 or XP. I had more important things to do than worry about cosmetics.
“Pretty soon I found out it was just the same as Windows 7.” – Yeah, indeed it is. If somebody can use Windows 7, they’ll have no problems at all using Windows 10.
Dear James.. I disagree when you say people that dislike win10 don´t want to learn new things. I am a software developer for several platforms, and also have performed as operating systems sys admin for windows and linux distributions for large projects, and have found win10 absolutely uncomfortable for practical purposes. We, simple woking people, like to open our computer and find our environment set and ready to work, not full of things we dont need such as candy crush, media news and stuff like that. I guess Microsoft thinks that people get their computers only for entertainment and leisure purposes, and although those who do such is quite respectable, the vast majority of us need it as a work tool. And in my humble opinion, learning a new UI which offers no significant advantage, stuffing the OS (although MS says it’s not a OS abynore but a “service” .. uhu..) with useless programs i will never use (candy crush), introducing useless terminology (apps instead of programs), sometimes is frustrating and a waste of time . Of course it offers improvements, but they should be transparent and end users should experience faster response, stability, compatibility, better ergonomics and overall ease of use and not au contraire. After all, getting better does not necessarily mean to destroy the good stuff. KIS principle should be kept in line of vision. .
mhhh… my former comment against win10 got somehow erased.. so.. Leo.. is this forum meant only to publish favourable opinions for win10? because i don’t think everyboydy likes it and here it seems everybody is happy with it..
Your previous comment seems to be there. Sometimes in WordPress, there’s a delay displaying comments on the page. We welcome all comments on Windows 10, both positive or negative. Leo has often expressed his frustrations with how Microsoft has been (mis)behaving.
We only remove comments that are abusive, profane or off topic. There are certainly plenty of negative WIndows 10 comments on the site so that’s obviously not one of our criteria.
i absolutely agree with you win 10 sucks
Hi Leo
I’been running Win 10 for a few months now and I think it’s just fine !! (ASUS laptop, previously Win8.1). I also installed Win10 on my lady’s laptop (previously Win 7) and she also likes it.
Improvement I would like to see is in Picture Manager : when renaming files through the Edit Tab, it appears impossible to paste (by mouse right-click) a new filename into the appropriate box ; however, CTL V works just fine. Seems trivial, but means unwanted keyboard operation and when you have a lot to do, it is seriously annoying !!
Maybe you could mention this to your contacts at Microsoft and have mouse operation included in the renaming facility ?
Otherwise, as I say, I generally like Win 10.
I wish I had contacts at Microsoft I could mention things like this to. It’s been over 15 years, now, since I was there.
Upgraded from windows 8.1 and agree that windows 10 is an improved operating system. I’ve had only one problem– edge works only intermittently. Most of the time,it will not launch, showing only the edge startup screen for a few seconds before closing. A reboot sometimes solves the problem and edge performs perfectly. But eventually, it will not launch again without a reboot. If I leave edge open when it does launch, it will work as long as the window is open. But closing the edge window usually kills it for good until I reboot.
I’d try resetting Edge via PowerShell, as described here:
http://www.howtogeek.com/237527/how-to-reset-microsoft-edge-in-windows-10/
Installed Win 10 on my desktop and all notebooks. No problems at all. The Reliability History has been showing a perfect 10 for months! We love it!
I’ve upgraded several PCs to Windows 10 without an issue. I’m helping a friend out with going from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 and continually get the following error message:
0x8007002C-0x4000D
The installation failed in the SECOND_BOOT phase, with an error during MIGRATE_DATA operation
I’ve done everything recommended, including uninstalling the anti-virus software, making sure there are no locked/password protected files, disabling the network connection, downloading/running the Windows 10 Update ISO file on a USB drive, etc. to no avail. Any other ideas out there?
Have you tried all the workarounds (for that particular error) outlined in the link below?
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/insider/wiki/insider_wintp-insider_install/how-to-troubleshoot-common-setup-and-stop-errors/324d5a5f-d658-456c-bb82-b1201f735683
As I posted the other day, I like Windows 10.
I cut my well-worn teeth on MS Office and have no wish to change. I use Office 365 which gives me the very latest Office suite of programs and allows me to synchronise seamlessly across 5 devices.
I will share with you two gripes which I think are probably more to do with Office than Windows 10. Sorry, Leo, if that’s the case.
Whereas I can open “Office” files I can’t open “Excel” attachments directly from an e-mail. I must first save the file and then I can open it normally. Not a major issue but time-consuming and at 73 years young, time is a valuable commodity.
One of the most valuable features in Outlook is being able to search for a message or even a key-word or phrase within a message. Like Leo, my messages go back more than two decades and this feature can be very, very useful. The search facility in the latest version of Outlook on Windows 10 is now unreliable.
Can you open Excel files by double-clicking them, or do you need to open them from within Excel (File > Open)?
Thanks, Ray.
From within Outlook, Excel files will not open. I have to right-click and use the Save As option to save as an Excel file in an appropriate folder. Then, using file explorer or Excel, I can locate and open the file without a problem.
This refers to Excel 2002/3 and 2007, but should work for Excel 2016 too:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/290852
Windows 10 has been good for me. I have it on a desktop, a laptop and a tablet computer without any problems and the function to switch from desktop to tablet function works well on my laptop that is “convertible”. I’ve been working with Microsoft operating systems since DOS and it is just another transition for me. Main thing I complained about earlier Windows was using up so much computing power for “eye candy”. It has been quite a while since I last saw the “blue screen of death”, but I heard they changed its color…
My mom on the other hand hates change so I have Windows 7 on her machine set up to look like Windows 95.
after having windows XP and vista i am really disappointed in windows 10 the built in mail is worthless you can’t even copy a pic off of it without copying the whole e-mail and its saves as a e-mail…i have to go on line to the outlook mail to copy pics off of it.. and windows 10 is all about buying this or buying that ..even the card games are that way.. if you don’t have the internet windows 10 is worthless …almost every thing is based on being on line….
Computers have always been about buying software to do this or that. This is nothing new. An app store to buy your software online is new. But there is also a lot of free stuff out there, too.
Well said.
I’m using “Windows Live Mail”, it’s OK despite some glitches, rather one glitch, when it stops responding (happens only when you delete open email messages) causing some emails to be unreadable and undelet-able only after (right clicking>properties>delete). In this case you can go online to retrieve the stricken e-mai by resending it to your same e-mail account or a different account if applicable.
I first experienced Windows 10 when I accepted the upgrade on my Windows 8.1 laptop. The upgrade went seamlessly and without problems except I was puzzled because the interface didn’t change at all. Then I realized that the Stardock Start 8 and Modern Mix programs, that I had installed to make Windows 8 usable, were still working in Windows 10. I uninstalled these, and then the Windows 10 start button was revealed. I found that I like it a lot and have been able to customize it in ways that are more useful to me than the Windows 7 or Start 8 configurations allowed.
I replaced my aging desktop computer with a custom built tower. I had to purchase Windows 10, because it wasn’t an upgrade to an existing computer. My positive experience with Windows 10 on my laptop left me with no doubt that I wanted Windows 10 on my new tower. The flexible start button tile configuration ability has allowed me to completely clean up my desk top with very few icons. It is so easy to organize and access all my programs via that start button tiles that I no longer need the plethora of desktop icons.
One little W10 issue I have not solved is that occasionally, after I restart my tower computer (and this has also happened a couple time on my laptop too) my local account gets replaced by my Microsoft account and I have to log in with that password. I have to go back to the Windows 10 User Account settings and re-establish my local account. Why does this happen?
I’ve been running Windows 10 for several months now and overall am happy with its’ performance. I am running a Dell Latitude E6410 and also an E6510. Both of them have issues with the onboard sound drivers. The drivers prevent the computers from fully booting occasionally and I was forced to kill the systems with the power button and after several tries they boot properly. Once booted they both work without incident. This is annoying but for me not a deal breaker because I use both system for music recording so I disable the onboard sound drivers and leave my USB audio interface plugged in. With this setup it boots every time and runs very well.
I didn’t find it to difficult to find where things are located. Usually I just search for what I want. I did end up changing the start menu to Classic Shell which for me made locating items much easier. I just didn’t like the tiled, large start menu that comes with Win 10. I worked with it long enough to be somewhat familiar with it but chose to install something that I was very comfortable with.
Proplems at startup and logon. I am using a new Dell Latitude with factory installed Windows 10. The logon pin stopped working, probably after an automatic Windows update. I can’t seem to configure the laptop to log me on automatically without requiring me to type in a password. I am the only user of this machine. Physical security is my security device. HELP!!
{email address removed}
Love win 10 on my desktop, but win 10 will not load on my laptop! Little icon just keeps spinning around! Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated, also love ask leo..always finding items of interest
I’ve tried four times now to install Win 10 on my Lenovo laptop. Microsoft says that it’s ready for installation; I’ve made sure that all the updates are done. It just won’t work–stops at 95%. I’ve tried installing from DVD, installing from the icon, installing from Windows Update; nothing works. I’ve searched the web looking for others who have the same problem and have found similar things but not exactly what I’m seeing.
Interestingly enough, my model, T520, is NOT on the Lenovo list of tested hardware. Maybe they know something that Microsoft does not.
We have five computers for the household. I’m running Win 10 on my Compal laptop. The installation was a snap. I don’t like Cortana; so, I’m not using it and I’m glad I found a way to get the clock and computer usage to show up on the display. It seems to do the job. I was also able to upgrade the desktops; they are both hand built on Asus motherboards. I have downgraded one back to Win 7 and one to Win 8.1. I read that if you upgrade before the cutoff, your machine is cataloged in a Microsoft database and you can upgrade again even past the July 29 date. I am going to attempt to upgrade the final desktop this week; it’s also hand built, but on an Intel motherboard.
Wish me luck.
Kirk, upgrading to Win 10 and then reverting to your previous OS that you saved to an image will reserve the right to download Win 10 for free…as long as you have the same motherboard as when the initial Win 10 installation was made. But the right evaporates if your motherboard dies or is upgraded (Microsoft won’t recognize the new one). You likely know that already but not all readers will and it’s important information to have.
Like you, I have a great Lenovo T520 laptop, bought in late 2011. It ran Win 7 Pro until last month, when I did a full image backup and then downloaded Win 10. The install went very well and I’ve had no problems with the PC or accessories such as my Brother laser printer. Wish I could help with your problem. I did try to get everything in good shape first… I updated Win 7 and all other software, did a deep defrag, ran CCleaner – Malwarebytes – full Norton scan, then wiped all free space (simple 2X). Unnecessary, but it got the laptop tuned up and cleaned up for the full image and subsequent Win 10 install.
BTW, I chose “custom” installation. I declined *everything* including Edge. Of course the automatic updates bring bloat.
Windows 10 Ah yes everybody gets what nobody wants, the metro tiles, the constant updates, the log in headache, msconfig the extra hoop to jump thru, the list goes on.
The Win 10 OS works fine.
But it has become a Google/Chrome/Android marketing experience.
I do not see how Windows 10 can qualify to be used in a HIPA environment. HIPA is a certification used for handling confidential medical records in the US. Unlike all other user open ended user agreements HIPA has enforceable legal penalties for violations.
I would appreciate an article that tells how to turn off every single marketing and cloud tool that Win 10 has so I can, with a reasonable amount of certainty, have a closed system to work with confidential information and proprietary design work. I have other computers for social networking and accepting advertising.
Some of us still use computers to compute and create original work.
So far so good with Windows 10..my frustration is the upper right Minimize key..with some open programs it will minimize..others just keeps
shooting it to the other monitor (using dual monitors) and the only way to minimize it is to right click the upper bar and select MINIMIZE
any ideas for a solution?
I finally broke down and bought a copy of Win7, with the intent of upgrading to 10. I am a Linux user, but I have a particular software program for my business that runs on Windows only.
So, I try to install the program on Win7 (64-bit) to be told that my program is incompatible because it is 32-bit! It can’t be as simple as that – I know that I should be able to install 32-bit programs to a 64-bit OS. I think the problem may really lie in the age of the software (10+ yrs – upgrading is not a financially viable solution at this time). I am going to try using “Windows XP Mode for Windows 7”, but have discovered that this option is not available for Win10. I know I can install a virtual OS in Win10, but I don’t have (can’t find!) my legitimate copy of XP.
I have an HDD with a legal copy of XP on it – I am replacing this with the Win7 HDD – is there any way to “get XP off of it” in a way that I could re-install on another HDD? (I think not – I have searched and found no way to do this.)
Or any other solution that will allow my XP-only compatible software to run on Win10?
It is so frustrating when it is so difficult/complicated/impossible to get things to just work! Especially after you’ve paid for legitimate licenses.
You may be able to get it to work, or you may not…..
http://www.howtogeek.com/228689/how-to-make-old-programs-work-on-windows-10/
Thanks.
Leo has an article on using the Belarc advisor to find out your Windows licensing key. Do that and then you can install XP in the virtual OS and use the license key that Belarc told you. The downside is that you can no longer legally use your XP computer at the same time as the virtual Windows XP.
That’s okay – I was looking to replace it anyway – I was just having issues when I discovered that my old software wouldn’t run on the newer OS. And, I found a copy of XP today – I’m not sure what licensing goes with it, but I will see if I can use my key from the old HDD with it.
Thanks!
In June 2015 I opted for W10 from W7. That lasted three miserable days before I retreated to W7. Last week I opted for W7 (the free thing is hard to pass up), and have had far fewer problems. Mail at a glance is nice and works well. However, W10 does not recognize different workgroups on my network, even after the usual reloading, tweaking and praying. Also, the proper information delivery with regard to speaker drivers has been hit and miss. I’ve tried three W10- compatible drivers but have not been able to establish the rich sound I enjoyed with W7.
The biggest thing that seems to be missing with the Win 10 discussion (and related cloud integration) comes down to $$$$$. That is, the writing is on the wall with Microsoft and others trying to move the consumer into the world of a “free” Win 10 upgrade and usage, and variously constructed offers of free cloud storage: Once the consumer is part of those realms, the squeeze is on. Free at first. Then nominal charges for things. Then a never-ending monthly stream of income for the major players as they continue to bump up fees for things. Sort of like subscription models for cable and a host of other overpriced services (phone, internet, etc.). No longer will the consumer be able to pay a one-time fee for the PC’s Win operating system, with local hard drive storage the consumer owns and controls. I’m sick of the corporate 1 percent yanking us consumers around with their bloated greed.
Absolutely agree.. I even still have win xp computers running office 97 working just fine for office purposes (as i guess it should be enough for 99% of the needs of current users of word processing, presentations and excel sheets.) whose licenses are still valid and dont have to worry nor feel exploited as in my win10 computers i am forced to pay anually . but now corporations look to have forced captive markets at their mercy… the worst part is that replacing products are mandatory and not necesarily better than the original ones.
Windows 10 isn’t subscription based. You pay once and can use it forever, and if Office 97 does everything you need, Libre or Open will even do more and is compatible with the latest Office formats. Of course, you might have some formatting changes when exporting to Office formats, but you still have that problem with Office 97.
Then there’s always Linux. It has an advantage over XP of continual security updates and runs more recent programs and drivers. Linux isn’t for everybody as it sometimes has driver issues, but I’m sure it has fewer driver issues with new hardware than XP. And Libre Office has a very similar interface to Office 97 and has more compatibility with current versions of MS Office.
I installed Win 10 over my Win 7 operating system and used it for two weeks. I found it to be more complicated to navigate through this system, as well as found it irritating that the whole OPS was geared to forcing the use of MS programs, requiring much effort to get back to those I preferred to use. I finally removed Win 10 before my time ran out to do so before MS would leave me stranded with Win 10 citing “ease of use” as my reason to quit it. When the removal process was completed, I found that it did not bring me back to the original version of Win7, as there now appeared aspects of Win 8, causing some grief to deal with. So now, I’m facing the prospect of eventually finding some other OPS to use when my Win7 computer dies (been using it for many years now) unless sometime in the future evidence appears that Win10 XXX proves to be worth giving it another try.
I have a keyboard that has a key to press to run the Calculator. I hate the fact that this does not work with Windows 10. My keyboard is a MS Natural Keyboard Pro, but I have heard others have had the same issue with newer keyboards. If it was a non-Microsoft keyboard, maybe I could understand, but being Microsoft, they shouldn’t have broken the capability in Windows 10. It works fine in Win 7 and prior.
Have you tried updating the MS Mouse and Keyboard Center?
https://www.microsoft.com/accessories/en-us/downloads/mouse-keyboard-center
Tried installing the MS Mouse and Keyboard Center, but it doesn’t detect my keyboard. It talks about using a USB port, which gave me a good clue. My keyboard has a USB cable, but it also has the old PS/2 round connector. I have to use the PS/2 connector because I am using a KVM switch to control several computers and my KVM switch does not have USB connection; only works with the round PS/2 connectors. I tried the keyboard on another computer with the USB connector and the Calculator key on the keyboard launches the Calculator with no problem. Looks like this is only a problem if using the old PS/2 round connector. Probably something that will never be fixed. Strange that all the other special function keys work fine with the older connector, but Calculator doesn’t. Either it’s time for me to replace the keyboard or get a new KVM that will accept USB connectors. Or just live with the fact that Calculator will not launch when using the older PS/2 connector.
I upgraded to Win 10 on two laptops and have it on a Zotac, with no problems. However I have a lenovo Thinkcenter with Win 7. I have tried three times to upload Win 10 and I keep having problems with the video card. Tech support says that the card was not compatible, so I purchased another card (having checked with the manufacture and support to make sure it would be campatible) but it still hangs up on the video. I so went back to Win 7 and waited until recently. I had hoped that there might be a problem that they fixed in the last few months, but after trying it again the problem still persists, and support has not a clue other than I try another video card. Now I’m out of time for the free upgrade, so I guess I’ll stick with 7. The upside is that Win 10 works well on the other devices.
Thanks Leo for the heads up about unchecking the “Hide extensions for known file types” in File Explorer, mentioned in your article. A great tip from you. You are “one of the best” in the field. Loving Windows 10 version 1511. Looking forward to Redstone August 2nd, 2016. No problems of an;y kind with Windows 10 but I do have a second internal HDD, a clone of my first HDD, in case of difficulties with drive #1. It is disconnected for safety after cloning with Macrium Reflect (free).
Windows 10 incorrectly reports “size on disk” for file properties, if the file resides on a NAS (network) drive. It reports numbers that are way too high.
Likely a NAS issue, not a Windows 10 issue. Check with the manufacturer for a solution.
This didn’t occur in Windows 7 or Windows XP, so may not be strictly a NAS problem. Maybe NAS needs an update for Windows 10? Since my NAS drives hold all my data, not sure I want to mess with updating anything, just in case of a problem.
No updates are available for the firmware for my NAS unit, but since it doesn’t occur with Windows 7 or XP, I doubt that it is a NAS issue. I suppose there could be an update needed for NAS with Windows 10, but if there is, it isn’t available at this point.
With just ten days left before the end of the free upgrade to Win 10, there must still be many folk who cannot decide which way to go. I’m sorry if someone has already mentioned this, but 29 July need not be the end. If you upgrade to Win 10 before then, check that you have the Win 10 entitlement by going to Settings > Update & security > Activation. Once you are sure that you have the entitlement, you have 30 days to reset to your previous OS, whether this be Win 7 or 8. To reset, go to Settings > Update & security > Recovery. You can then select whether to go back to Win 7 or 8. Once you’ve done this, you can then upgrade to Win 10 whenever you like.
Doh! After posting the above post, I see Leo has an article about it at https://askleo.com/saving-free-windows-10-upgrade-later/?awt_l=KXbQA&awt_m=IjMaHHoHF3dfbL
What is annoying to me about Windows 10 is the absence of a “fast draft” printer option. I print frequently, and Windows 10 has extended my work day.
That’s not technically a function of Windows 10 – that’s the printer driver. Not all printers have “fast draft” mode. Try going to your printer manufacturer’s website for an updated drive.
My biggest issue is finding stuff – especially around the control panel. I’m a proficient user, and I like to “look under the hood” so to speak. I found that there seems to be two control panels, one that is available to the “regular” user and another that allows the more advanced user to change settings. It’s as though Mockrosoft don’t like you to configure your PC to the way you want it. This is counter intuitive. Windows 95 is over 20 years old and I’d get that they would maybe try and shield their users from making a mistake when they were relatively novice users but in 2016 most people have at least some level of ability to drive their PC. They should trust them more and build in failsafes at the back end.
I also wish they would make the Tile interface more user friendly and easier to config as your normal “desktop” (it’s possible they may have but they haven’t made it easy to discover how. I’m a huge Windowsphone fan (I’m angry at how Microsoft are handling their mobile division and believe it’s mostly the result of politics but that’s another story.) Windowsphone just works. It’s got a clean, clear UI, and once you’ve configured your phone, it’s got everything to hand at a couple of swipes, unlike Android (can’t speak too much for IOS.) If they made the desktop UI more like that, and maybe had better tutorials – they could have had a bigger win, perhaps.
One great thing about Win10 is stability. I don’t think I’ve ever had any version of 10 crash on me – and I’m running it on four different machines currently. Windows 7 was also great but it did crash on me a couple of times as did 8.1 but I’ve not had any instance where I’ve experienced unworkable or BSOD – even after running an iteration for a long time (but I do like to reboot periodically as a matter of course.)
My overwhelming impression is that Windows 10 is built for Microsoft. From Windows 7 onwards, we’ve had a good, solid, functional OS, that does what the vast majority of desktop users need (you might even say as far back as XP.) The whole point of 10 is to force and upgrade, making MS’s job easier and of course, allowing them to develop a future revenue stream once we’re all nailed on the W10 dartboard.
I have upgraded 3 computers to Windows 10. A desktop from Win 8.1 home to Win 10 home and a desktop and laptop from Win 7 Pro to Win 10 Pro. Win 10 has worked very well on all 3, loading faster and running old programs. My only problem was when I upgraded my main desktop from Win 7 Pro I lost my sound. I spent over an hour doing all the right things (it was not the driver) and on my 3rd reboot sound started working again. There have been a few odd quirks (such as right click not being able copy on some web sites, but control C would, as mentioned above).
I did my home work and made all the setting changes to get things the way I want them. Windows 10 is the best OS for me and offers no more problems than new programs have presented in the past. I did not mind having to learn new ways of doing things and will be using Windows 10 for the foreseeable future.
Got windows 7 and windows 10 as a dual boot. 3 other pcs in the house are using windows 7. I cannot and tried a thousand ways to home group from ten to 7 and vice versa but no go. So I am forced to abandon windows 10, otherwise I like it!
Try setting your home network up as a Workgroup. That works quite well for me – connecting computers running Win 98, XP, Win 7 and Win 10. Also, check to see if the other computers/files are shared. This is critical in using a Workgroup.
After seven weeks of using Windows 10 on my laptop, I have gotten use to and like the new Settings — as long as Control Panel is still functional. As soon as I installed Windows 10, I immediately installed Classic Shell, since I used it with this laptop which came with Windows 8.1. With Classic Shell as the Start button configured to mimic Windows 7 Start, the transition is easy. I rarely even use the new Windows 10 Start, which is visible in Classic Shell. Edge seems to be a step in the right direction if Microsoft still feels a browser is in their best interest to provide, but there still isn’t an indication of where to install extensions. I am in my third week of Windows 10 on my desktop, which previously had Windows 7, and I have configured it the same as my laptop. Both computers do boot faster, with a few tweaks, and the shut down process makes more sense. The Notifications/Action Center icon is a positive, along with the bigger Calendar. I don’t mind the auto Downloads, but I do have it set to let me proceed with the Installations. Glad I still can use Alt-F4 to Shut Down. Yes, I’m old school — but I’m retired and enjoying the best gig ever. Microsoft has a wining OS, along with the modifications I have installed, and I don’t miss the Media Player with all those confusing aspects.
I’ve upgraded several computers to Windows 10 for myself and friends with very few problems. I don’t like the Win10 start menu but after-market pgms can fix that. My biggest complaint that seems worse with Windows 10 than previous versions, it seems that every time I really start to like it, some piddly little problem pops up that searching online for a solution only finds many more people with the same problem, and either no solution or a bunch of solutions none of which works for me.
A case in point: every computer with every Windows version I’ve ever had boots up with the Numlock key enabled. I now have 2 HP computers with Win10 that will NOT enable the key at bootup, even with it set to do so in the bios. But another HP desktop and an HP laptop both running Win10 DOES have it enabled at boot. Searching online finds many people with the same problem but no solution.
Another: A Win10 computer that I use for media streaming will lose its audio if allowed to go into sleep mode. When it comes out of sleep mode there is no audio. Only a reboot will get the audio back. Again, find many people online with the same problem but no solution.
Just a couple of examples that should be an easy fix but no way to give feedback to Microsoft or ask a knowledgeable technical person about it, just have to hope that it gets accidentally fixed in some update.
Upgraded from “Win7 64bit pro” to “Win10 64bit pro” about 10 months ago, it works like a breeze.
For the first time doing regular backups (locally on a separate internal HD) without hassles.
For the first time “sfc /scannow” command,always, works successfully.
All of my old software (some from Win98 era) works perfectly.
All games (many from WinXP era) works perfectly.
It’s manageable to my satisfaction.
I assist a friend with her Windows 7 laptop. She had a problem with Updates and we couldn’t get the updates to update. I performed all the “fixes” Microsoft recommended and from “experts” from many sites I read and trust — and nothing worked. Frustrated, I decided to installed Windows 10, with her consent, and now her laptop is good-to-go as if it were a new Windows 10. All the updates functioned properly. She was worried that Windows 10 may erase or damage some of her vital documents and pictures, but everything was all there. Of course, I had done a total backup to an external drive prior to installing Windows 10.
Thanks for the tip on the “Hide Extensions For Known File Types”, I had no idea of that.
One really irritating thing I turn off on Windows 10 to begin with it in File Explorer/View/Options/Show Recently Used File In Quick Access. I turn that off because it can become more confusing over time, it kinda goes against the idea of “QUICK ACCESS” in my opinion because for me “QUICK ACCESS” are things that you want to use like a Favorites Book mark bar instead of a setup where it adds last used folders etc….
I’ve installed/reinstalled Windows 10 several times starting from scratch from .ISO that I got from Microsoft over the last few months. I got a new Dell XPS 8700 PC December 2015.
I use Google Chrome 64 Bit, I like having a google account to keep my bookmarks and passwords and everything synced with Chrome, it’s very helpful if you have to reinstall, or if you make image backups for your PC and for whatever reason you need to go back in time and reinstall from an Image backup your Bookmarks and Passwords once signing into the Chrome sync are all there for you so you haven’t lost those things.
As for Microsoft Edge, the most irritating thing for me about Edge is organizing the Favorites, and or Favorites bar, a few months ago, I sent several opinions on the Favorites bar to Microsoft with their “What’s your opinion”, originally in the Favorites bar things were organized alphabetically which just doesn’t work, apparently you can organize them how you want, but there is no usable bookmark manager IN MY OPINION. So I don’t use Edge, not to mention there is no built in Mouse Gesture features.
First thing I have done installing Windows 10, Turn off “REMOTE ACCESS” In the System area in control panel, I don’t like the idea of that being on by default.
Then I make sure all my Core’s are being used at 100% since I have a Multicore PC, While for my Dell it seems to be using them all at 100% I have read where some PC models from Factory aren’t. Then I make sure I have the power settings I like where the hard drive and USB aren’t suspended, reason being for me is I record Music and it can create problems sometimes with things turning on or off with some of the various devices I use to record with.
I like the big Metro screen, I always go into settings and turn on in Settings/Personalization – USE FULL START SCREEN.
For me, I like to use the Metro screen for just a few Apps like Weather/Radar/News/and I put my Maintenance and most used control links there like Control Panel, Defrag, Ccleaner which I installed, and any games or things like that. I like the live tiles for a quick look at the weather and news headlines etc..
The software I use daily I add to Task bar, some are freeware, Chrome, Potplayer, Aimp, I always add the built in Snipping Tool to task bar just in case, comes in handy.
I don’t like Cortana or the search feature, so I set it up to show as only and icon in the task bar and turn off all it’s features in it’s settings menu.
I’ve never had good luck with System Restore, I turn that off and make Image backups of my system from time to time, and I keep them on a backup hard drive disconnection from my PC so if for whatever reason a new cryptolocker virus were to hit my PC my backup drive and files wouldn’t be affected because they are unplugged.
I like Windows 10, but even when Microsoft edge ads the Chrome/Firefox “Some add ons” compatility, I probably still wont use it until they add a full fledged Bookmark manager that is easy to use.
I have had various errors when reinstalling Windows 10 from .iso in the past with Microsoft edge, I use a “Microsoft Account” and not a local account because there are some things you just can’t do with a local only account. So I use a Microsoft Account. But the problem with that is when using Microsoft Edge, it’s still buggy to this day, for example, when reinstalling from factory Microsoft Edge will initially after turning on to show the bookmarks page and home button, it initially wont show you the previously synced bookmarks toolbar links, so you automatically don’t realize they are synced and select to “Import Bookmarks”, well this creates a big problem because you end up with double entries and such, and after that happening then you end up having to correct this problem, since there is no easy bookmark manager you have to use the Microsoft Edge method which can be a real big pain to remove and add things. A simple drag and drop or right click delete feature is something they really need to add. This is why I use Chrome 64 Bit with my system, very easy to use.
Something that I haven’t heard in quite a while Leo, is the usage of “Ready Boost” and Windows 10, it would be interesting to hear what you and others have to say about it’s usage with Windows 10. Also, I use a Ramdrive with Chrome to speed things up, I noticed “Ready Boost” seems to have the option to use that. So any information on this idea would be appreciated.
Thank you again Leo, I always enjoy learning and hearing your opinions on various subjects.
Bobby
In my opinion ReadyBoost just isn’t worth it. It’s supposed to speed up boot speed, and perhaps it does a little, but people expect it to do WAY more than that. If boot speed is an issue for you that has you looking at ReadyBoost, then look into getting an SSD instead. I’d be SHOCKED if ReadyBoost had any noticeable impact on an SSD machine.
Per your suggestion I went to my w10 Windows File Explorer, found the “Hide extensions for known file types” and the Box was already un-checked.. So, I’m good to go, right?
Sure sounds like it. :-)
I generally like W-10. My question has to do with your videos. When I watch them, I see links to things such as “PC Cleaner–Free Download.” Should I assume that you support these programs, or do they appear beyond your control?
ADS ARE NOT RECOMMENDATIONS.
I have no idea what ads appear over the videos. Their presence does help support Ask Leo!, however. Please see: https://askleo.com/whats_the_difference_between_an_ad_and_your_recommendation/
The ads on the pages are beyond Leo’s control. They are served up by Google. You can search to find Leo’s recommended software and you can also find that Leo discourages using registry cleaners but does encourage the use of CCleaner.
hello leo
I am in my seventies & find windows 10 easy to negotiate ,I really like the fast startup , the problems I don’t like are in edge ,I can’t right click & create a desktop shortcut , I have to go to windows explorer to do this . also i can only go back one website at a time. unless I create new windows eg different pages in flickr.
regards david maguire
I have W10 professional on my desktop and W10 Home on my laptop. W10 professional is much better! Both were clean installs.
Overall I like W10.
One of the pieces of advice I’d give novice users is, when you want a command such as Control Panel or updates, search for it on the task bar rather than manually searching for it.
Several things I don’t like.
1) Logging in on W10 Home – I don’t like having a photo displayed, then having to click it to get to the log in screen. Then clicking again just to get to my desktop. I don’t have a login password so why not just skip the login screen?
2) My ASUS laptop logs itself out after a brief period of inactivity which is annoying. And yes, I have changed all the power/screen saver settings.
PS I have noticed this annoying login behaviour only seems to happen when the battery is more than 95% charged which is weird.
3) There is no Windows Movie Maker update for W10. I used WMM a lot for editting family movies. I really miss it.
4) I find it easier to use “Search Everything” rather than the windows search on the taskbar. However, Windows search on the folders is OK. I would have thought that the windows search that is on the task bar would have searched the whole PC.
“I don’t have a login password so why not just skip the login screen?” – You can set it to do that:
http://www.howtogeek.com/112919/how-to-make-your-windows-8-computer-logon-automatically/
“There is no Windows Movie Maker update for W10.” – While WMM is not officially supported under Windows 10, it will nonetheless work.
Thanks for this post, Leo.
No big deal but there’s a funny typo in the penultimate paragraph: “per say” should read “per se” (by or in itself).
The risks of transcriptions. :-)
There is lots to like about Windows 10. Just to mention one, is the new File Explorer view, with frequent folders and recent files showing up when you first open it. Often this is as far as you need to go. I also like it that in Outlook this also shows up when you are attaching a file as an attachment. But maybe that’s more of an Outlook 2016 feature than Windows ten.
I have a workgroup network. Before upgrading all machines were running Windows 7 Pro 64 bit. One of the machines was the server where data was kept. I also back up data to Carbonite. I also back up the server with Acronis 11.7, creating an image, and also create an image on a 1TB Seagate 3.0 USB drive with Acronis 11.7, and back up each workstation, creating and image with 1TB drives using Windows Backup. Workstation data is also backed up to Carbonite. I first upgraded my workstation to Windows 10, but before upgrading I did not unplug the 1TB USB drive which had the Win 7 Pro image, which I should have done, because the backup was set to run every morning at 2 am, so after upgrading to Win 10 I had an image of Win 10 rather than the image of Win 7.
I also then upgraded 2 other workstations to Win 10. I tried to upgrade the server also, but it failed (fortunately, as you will see). After upgrading the 3 workstations my QuickBooks and Drake tax software applications began crashing regularly on the workstations. I was able to go back to Win 7 on 2 of the workstations using the recovery process within 30 days. I tried doing the same on my machine, but, even though I was within the 30 days, the files to go back somehow got deleted. So, I had to get a Win 7 Pro ISO file during a chat with a Microsoft tech. It wouldn’t do an express install, so I had to do a custom install, wiping my hard drive, so then I had to get all the updates for Windows plus Office Pro 2007, and reinstall QuickBooks. I’m still installing other apps. In short, had I known how badly Win 10 would work on my network I never would have upgraded. I have Win 10 that came with a couple of newer computers at home, and I like it, but the upgrade from Win 7 process was a nightmare that cost me an entire weekend and more, and is still not over.
Microsoft should have warned me about the potential problems.
“If we’re not hiding extensions, you can see that it’s a .docx file and you know exactly what it is you’re clicking on.” – That’s absolutely incorrect. Even with that setting changed, you still don’t know for sure what you’re clicking on as methods such as RTLO can be used to conceal/obfuscate extensions that Windows is set to show. Explanation and workaround here:
https://blog.malwarebytes.com/cybercrime/2014/01/the-rtlo-method/
It’s also worth noting that a .docx file cannot be assumed to be any safer than a .exe file. Nor can a .bat, .cmd, .com, .scr, .vbs or a whole bunch of other files types. Consequently, the best advice is to 1) use an email service, such as Gmail, that automatically blocks potentially harmful attachments (Gmail blocks even if they’re zipped) and, even more importantly, 2) exercise extreme caution with email attachments and files sent in other ways (via chat, for example).
I’ve been using windows 10 for almost a year on my Surface (touch screen) and been quite happy with it. Another desktop was upgraded a few months ago and also working fine but not used a lot. I just upgraded my laptop last month. It I use every day and I have noticed a few annoying problems.
1) I often have 2 folders open in explorer and I am used to r-clicking on the task-bar and telling it to show windows side by side in order to compare, copy and move files from folder to folder. This no longer works properly on any of my machines but it does different things on each of them at different times. Most commonly it shows tiny windows one above the other. The command to show windows stacked also shows them the same way. I know you can use the windows key and arrows to send the windows to the side but that requires more steps and doesn’t work with 3 windows.
2) When I switched the Surface from Win 8 to 10 I was pretty used to the Start page and It was working fine. I find the latest Start page in windows 10 not as customizable, more difficult to add programs and Apps to, and generally less useful, so I am tending to go back to Icons on the Desktop for my programs. Searching for a program with search button, or scanning through the Apps alpha list is just too annoying.
3) I don’t like the flat look of the Icons and buttons but that is just my perception.
4) I was used to shutting down or hibernating with a combination of key strokes (in win 7 Win key >Enter or Win key >> Enter) I haven’t found anything easy in Win 10 for this yet. The Win key and F4 is similar but it seems you have to be on the desktop for that to work.
Shut down is easy, just press the power button. DO NOT HOLD IT DOWN! Press and release tells windows to shut down. Press and hold is a forced shutdown only to be used as a last resort if the computer locks up and nothing else works. Someone else will have to help with the hibernating.
Add shortcuts to your desktop. In the File Location box enter:
Shutdown: shutdown.exe -s -t 00
Restart Computer: shutdown.exe -r -t 00
Hibernate Computer: rundll32.exe powrProf.dll,SetSuspendState
Sleep Computer: rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState 0,1,0
These worked with Win 8.x, but I haven’t tried them in Win 10. For me it’s just easier to right-click the lower left corner, hover over “Shut down or sign out” and select the option I want. The same options are available under Power on the Start Menu.
One thing that I have never seen a solution for is the ability to change the background color of a window which I often used for apps such as Wordpad and particularly for the text window when using Paltalk as the stark white background is not particularly pleasant when reading. Having never used W8/8.1 I don’t know if W10 was the first to remove this option. Would be nice if this was to be returned in a future update.
I could be mistaken, but I don’t think you can – or ever could – change the background colour in Wordpad. Whether you can change the background colour in a program is really nothing to do with Windows. It’s down to whether or not that functionality has been built into the program.
Many years ago (I’m not sure how many Windows editions ago) there was a UI to change various UI elements individually. The generic “Window background” was one. It would affect all applications that happened to use that standard Windows UI control. Wordpad may have been one.
Your memory is obviously better than mine :)
Leo,
I may be mistaken, but I think you are referring to the option to change the border colors:
right-click the desktop, select Properties, then Appearance.
That option is still available:
Right-click the desktop and choose Personalize. One the next screen select Colors.
I checked WordPad in Win 98 and XP. Neither offered an option to change the page background color. Individual programs/applications/apps (such as Word) do offer this.
I am also getting to like Windows 10 (or least tolerating it). My major bane about Win 10 is “OneDrive”. I wish we were able to remove it totally. I know we cannot but even disabling is not enough, and we can do this. Window help shows how. I wonder if OneDrive (Do Not Install) option is available when Windows 10 is first installed.
Take a look at this…..
http://www.howtogeek.com/225973/how-to-disable-onedrive-and-remove-it-from-file-explorer-on-windows-10/
I have been a Windows user since Win 3.1. I loved XP, and finally loved Win 7. Downloaded Win 10 and it too is becoming a favorite. Two questions/comments.
1. Apparently there isn’t any way to drag and drop on the screen. I can copy, paste, and delete, but not drag and drop. Has anybody found a way to do this?
2. I use RoboForm for my password manager. It’s will not work in Edge because Edge will not allow it as an extension. I have switched to Chrome because of this.
All said, I like Windows 10.
“Apparently there isn’t any way to drag and drop on the screen. I can copy, paste, and delete, but not drag and drop. Has anybody found a way to do this?” – You should be able to drag and drop. Do you have this problem when attempting to drag and drop to/from all locations?
“I use RoboForm for my password manager. It’s will not work in Edge because Edge will not allow it as an extension.” – Extension support will be added to Edge in the Anniversary Update (due next month).
Really new to Windows 10, but so far haven’t really had any problems adjusting to it from Windows 7. But I thought I’d try Edge before going to my default, Firefox. I can’t seem to find all the settings that IE or Firefox have, and most importantly the setting to change the home page.
Click on the three dots in the top right corner and then click Settings . View Advanced Settings. The homepage option is right at the top.
Upgraded from my 8.1 to 10 about 7 months after 10 was released. No problems. I love it. I recently bought a new PC with 10 and I am very happy with it.
I upgraded 3 laptops (2 Windows 8.1 and 1 Win 7) and they all went without a hitch. Even the little Toshiba (Win 7) at barely above minimum requirements took it like a champ. I hated the 8.1 “charms” that kept popping up all the time and am glad they’re gone and I like that the start menu is back. However one of the laptops (Asus with lots of power/memory/space) has an issue with Edge freezing. Yahoo mailbox freezes as does scrolling on pages with many images. Multiple clicks with no movement then results in a power drop to the bottom of the page. Any one else with freezing issues? On another laptop I don’t have a Microsoft account, just a local user. I hear it’s possible to create a Microsoft account to download things from the store, but it wants to force the Microsoft account to be the one that logs in to the laptop from then on and I don’t want that. Any ideas for work around?
First of all, many thanks Leo, for guiding us through the Windows 10 situation. I downloaded Windows 10 today (USB) and installed it on my laptop. First thing I did was go to Settings and good grief! Everything is On giving control of, among other things, your microphone and camera to MS or third-party apps. Not likely. I turned everything Off and will see what happens. After that I installed Classic Shell. So far, so good.
I left out the word Privacy in the post above–should read Settings/Privacy–that’s where the default is on rather than off.
Sorry to be adding another comment but I’m hoping this will be a cautionary message for others. I DID NOT use the Express install but Custom (as Leo suggested in another article) and those privacy setting defaults were still set to On. Be sure to check them after you do your install.
I love Windows 10 the way it simplifies the start menu’ options and the ease of using Cortana, notebook, and locations options. I have used Windows 7, 8,8.1 and now 10 and the introduction of Edge, which is faster then most. By far the easiest and fastest.
My negative comments have to do with the hidden extensions and no way manage them. Also the way it has been showing signs of burping, if you will, the ability to stop working momentarily and return where you were. Other issues make my want to do another clean install but I don’t want to go back to 8.1 where my Notebook started .Over all I give it a B+
What do you mean by “hidden extensions and no way manage them”? Things in Windows 10 are much as the same as in Windows 8.
I upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 10 on my wireless laptop and from that point on I constantly lose my wifi connection and have to restart my computer. My question is WHY does this happen all the time?. I’m considering upgrading my hard wired desk top to Windows 10 from Windows 7 but I don’t want the aggravation I’m experiencing with my laptop. What do you suggest?
It could be a network adapter driver issue. The laptop manufacturer’s support site would be a good place to start.
Your problem is, as Ray Smith noted, more than likely network adapter related. I started experiencing the same annoying problem shortly after I updated to Windows 10. After calling Toshiba support I was told it was a hardware problem. Fortunately after doing some research on the internet I found several articles addressing the problem you identified. See one of them below:
http://www.kapilarya.com/fix-network-connection-lost-when-windows-8-goes-to-sleep#comment-319392
Even though it refers to Windows 8, the same problem is present in Windows 10, but I have not figured out why it affects only some computers. At any rate, the proposed solution worked for me. I have a Toshiba Kirabook with Intel Wireless adapter.
Good luck
I am 73, a novice at this and updated 2 laptops and 1 PC to Win 10 from Win7 and Win8.1 without issues.
I did find a small learning curve at to where to find stuff and how to change stuff but Google and YouTube have been my friend. I am the only user and hated the password thing every time but did find out how login automatically and made the change.
My biggest concern it that it seems to what to take over everything I do. Examples would be OneDrive and outlook.com. If I get near them they seem to start making change to my machine that I didn’t even know happened. I like to keep things simple and use my computers as a stand along tool.
My PC was the last machine I updated. It went from Win7 to Win10. The update was time consuming but the outcome was fine. The problem is, the thing is a lot slower now than it was with Win7 on it. So far I have been unable to locate a possible solution. I thought that Win10 would speed it up a tad but………..
I only use my machines for internet surfing, email and writing a few document so all is pretty well so far.
Keep the great info coming Leo. I do learn a lot from your site.
JimE
I used Win7 happily for a couple of years. Had to occassionally use 8/8.1 on work computes and hated it – couldn’t find anything I wanted. Microsoft caught me and updated me automatically without giving me a choice. si I decided to use it for a while: and I love it. Faster boot up and program loading. Seeing you cicture of the Anniversary update though upset me. I can dind anything I want on the left side of the Start Menu with either a left or right click. But I can figure out what to do with all those colored boxes, and the update looks even worse,
I tried Windows 10 and found it way to complicated. It was much easier to do things on Windows 7 and went back to it.Inthe process my music diles were all messed up, but thanks to Carbonite I was able to recover everything
I have used Windows since inception – DOS before that. Í just upgraded my 2 computers from Windows 7 to 10 without a hitch. I followed all your advice and am happy with the result (thank you) and notice little difference in daily operation – a total contrast to my Vista experience years ago.
My 1 exception is the choice of browser and I hope you have an answer for that. I read articles about Microsoft Edge and opted to continue using Internet Explorer for the time being. However when I click on a link in an email, it now always brings up a menu of browsers to choose from, plus a box “always use this app”, despite the thousand times I have clicked on the “always use” box. I tried to find a way of selecting Internet Explorer as the default choice, but cannot find how to do it in Windows 10.
Assuming you’re using Outlook, the steps outlined here will fix the problem:
http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/links-wont-open-in-windows-10/
That said, you may like to give Edge a try as it’s much nicer than IE, in my opinion. Note, however, that it doesn’t yet have support for extensions (that’s coming next month).
Definitely try Chrome. Presently it seems to be the best browser.
“Best” is, of course, entirely subjective. I actually prefer Edge to Chrome: it’s clean, fast and Cortana integration enables quick lookups without needing to navigate away from the page.
Try Right clicking the start button. It brings up a different menu with most of the old stuff. Control panel is there along with Programs and features, Task Manager, Event viewer, etc. Give it a shot it makes life much easier. :)
I use the right-click a lot – especially to get at all the tools I had to hunt down with the old Start Button (which I really disliked since it’s inception in Win 95).
WINDOWS 10
I like it but it could be improved. It is quite fast. Research (the lens) is very good. File Explorer is fine. The ribbon is easy to understand and use (if you take the time to study and master it). Windows Defender is good enough for me. I have a laptop (Lenovo T430). In the Notification Center you can switch between the Pad version and the Desktop version. I prefer the desktop version. I have a few applications in the Tile mode. In present version I do not really like the Edge Browser. No full screen function, no dictionary… I prefer Google Chrome which works well with W10. It is my default browser.
I’ve been in IT in the UK since 1975, so I’ve seen lots of Windows versions on my PCs, and I saw no real benefit to me to upgrade my desktop Win 7 system to Win 10. I also have two key applications I need to continue using on my desktop system – JASC Paint Shop Pro 8 and Quicken, both dating from about 2002!
However, I decided I was going to use ‘Macrium Reflect Free’ to image the Win7 system, perform the Win10 upgrade and then restore the Win7 image, so as to register my free upgrade entitlement before the ‘end of month’ deadline, should I want to upgrade in future without paying.
Once upgraded I decided to ‘try Win 10 out’ and was pleasantly surprised how well it worked once I’d set it up the way I wanted. [That is; prevent Win 10 sending anything home; resetting IE to be default browser, changing desktop to plain background colour and getting rid of the new apps of the start menu].
I was almost going to keep it until I discovered that Win 10 gave me all sorts of security issues with my data that is stored on a NAS drive defined as my N: drive. Although completely up-to-date as of last week I also got strange corrupt start menus [icons and text changing as I ran the mouse over it].
End result – image restored and Win 7 back in place : No NAS security problems and no corrupt start menus!
“I was almost going to keep it until I discovered that Win 10 gave me all sorts of security issues with my data that is stored on a NAS drive defined as my N: drive.” – Outta curiosity, what were the issues?
I upgraded my 2009-vintage Dell Studio laptop three days ago. I’ve seen nothing to particularly like or dislike about Windows 10 so will probably be staying with it. The only irritation so far is that it takes noticeably longer to start or re-start my laptop under Windows 10.
I like to keep my start menu organized in folders, but I’m having trouble doing so in Windows 10. From what I’ve found on the web, the start menu shortcuts are stored in the same places as in Windows 7, but when I look at those folders, they look the same as they did in Windows 7, but bear only a passing resemblance to what I’m seeing in the Windows 10 start menu, and changes to the folders aren’t reflected in the start menu. For example, I uninstalled Avast Free Antivirus before the upgrade, then re-installed it after the upgrade. The install put a shortcut on the desktop, but I can’t find it anywhere in the start menu, even after copying it to the same folder it was in in Windows 7.
The folders I’m looking in are C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu, and %appdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu.
Does anyone have any experience with editing the start menu? (Note that I’m referring to the Windows 7 style start menu, not the Windows 8 style tiles.)
The Start Menu is simply a shortcuts folder which you can edit by adding or deleting program shortcuts. Actually you can even place data file or url shortcuts, which is something I have done. This will even work with the All Programs in Windows 10.
I upgraded from win 7 to win 10 about 4 months ago and the upgrade went smooth and easy. I got used to the new OS and I like it. BUT – a month ago, some of the live apps stopped working (including the store) I presume after an automatic update. Since then most of the apps have begun to work again, but the store is not one of them. When I try to open the store, the screen flickers and nothing else happens. I am hoping at this point the big update will take care of me. Is it likely? Or should I do a restore keeping my files? Or what?
Try this:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/instantanswers/69e76f90-d54c-44cf-9851-c2d1542790db/run-the-troubleshooter-for-windows-apps
Window’s 10, on the whole is better. Chrome seem to have lost the plot a bit, and there have been a number of issues of late that have turned me away from them. BUT, my use of Window’s 10 is being destroyed by the unstoppable adverts, and I am considering changing. I can’t even print an e-mail, as half of it prints as the advert. Scrolling gets stuck and sloppy because it is waiting for an advert to generate. This could be one of the downfalls for Window’s 10.
What ads? Do you mean the standard ads that are displayed on websites? Or……?
I have the same question. I haven’t seen any ads in Win 10 itself. Although some of the Store’s apps have started including ads, that is not directly related to Win 10.
However, ads in some e-mails, and definitely on the Web, are a real problem. This is not related to any OS, browser or e-mail client. It is the fault of those designing e-mails and web pages and the ad providers. The more ads they can push per minute means more money coming in – volume sales technique.
From all the posts I’ve read on various tech blogs, I am definitely atypical.
I had a DOS program called LeMenu that established main categories and multiple subcategories. This let me organize my programs and make them easy to find.
The Win 3.x GUI (Desktop?) let me do the same thing using folders.
Win 95 introduced the Start Button (a big joke at the time). I did not like it, so still used folders on the Desktop. I did not like having to go through 4 or 5 columns looking for what I wanted.
With XP I could add some to the Start Menu for easy access. However, I could not do that with Win 7, so I continued using Desktop folders.
The first view of Win 8 showed the new Start Page. My initial reaction was: “Hello, Win 3.x”. By the time Win 8 was finally released, I had gleaned enough information on how to find things – most of it from the detractors. (You would be surprised at how much you can learn from people complaining about having to do something.) The first thing I did was uninstall all the stuff I didn’t want and turn off Live Tiles. Then I rearranged everything into Groups. Using Tile-A-File, I even added frequently used documents. After about 15 minutes, I had a Start Page that was exceedingly more useful than the cumbersome Start Menu. Since I set up the Groups and their contents (like open Folders), I knew right were everything was – no hunting.
With Win 10, I did the same thing – set up the Groups and their contents the way I want them. All the stuff on the left is just junk taking up space. Right-clicking the lower left corner brings up all the “power tools” I need.
(I do check Settings\Update & Security periodically to ensure the settings weren’t changed – again. Two to check are how updates are installed and how updates are delivered.)
Leo’s tip on displaying file types is something I learned with Win 3.x – along with several other changes. To me, it’s just second nature – along with changing the settings in my browsers.
Although Edge is included with Win 10, it is not actually a part of it. I’ve seen many questions, and have some answers. However, I think Edge deserves to be treated with a separate blog.
This is rather long, and I doubt anyone will actually read it – especially since I LIKE the Start Page. As I initially stated, I am not your typical poster, although there are many others who also knew how to modify the Start Page to make it the most useful feature in Win 8.x and now in Win 10, we are either ignored or accused of being Microsoft fans/employees. Most have been so severely attacked by Win 8 haters that we quit posting.
I downloaded it for my sister as an upgrade to 8.1. It seemed intuitive and fairly easy for me despite my never using it before and still loving win 7. I like the fact that I can now add Miro Player (which I has certain features I like) and which doesn’t cause a conflict as in 8 and 8.1, and I see there’s an easy solution to restoring Media Center. I’m going to hold off on my own installations on my PCs until I feel more compelled. I don’t know about everyone else, but I keep trying to simulate the features of Windows 7 since it’s a nice operating system and I’m really basic ~ I like large screen PC’s instead of fingering smart phones, I have a 12.2 Samsung Galaxy Note Pro which sits idle all the time as I think windows is better than android, and, I somehow need to become more progressive as a human being as I’m probably behind the times. Thank God for Leo.
Pity the poor driver writer who now has to pay about £260 per annum for an EV Code signing certificate before a driver will install on Windows 10. This is in addition to the fee for a normal signing certificate. It’s not just the cost, it’s the hassle of having to renew regularly and getting your head round the code signing method which always seems to change at each renewal.
Has anyone found a hash for the Windows 10 .iso file? I downloaded it with the Media Creation Tool, and can’t find a checksum value for it anywhere on MS’s website.
I believe the Media Creation Tool creates ISOs locally and that the temporary files downloaded vary according to the installation. Consequently, checksums will not be the same.
That would explain the comments I found on the MS website.
Thanks!
I have had all windows and liked them all. Windows 10 has give me more headaches than any other. It has some really great features but
for some reason the system does not work right. I have upgraded 7 computers and everyone have crashed. the second time around they seem to work better.
Purchased safer web and I feel better using internet. Thanks for all your good advice.
Our internet plan has limited peak and off-peak download capacity. The limits were ample for our requirements (we don’t stream content).
Since upgrading from Win7 to Win10 we have used the peak capacity before the end of the billing period.
Assuming that updates were responsible, I tried to find out how to schedule updates for the off-peak period, but with no success.
Does anyone know how the update scheduling is done?
Sorry about the postscipt, Forgot to mention that we are ethernet cable connected – not wireless.
Apart from this query, we’ve found Win10 an easier transition than we’d expected.
My XP machine finally died after years of enjoyment. I got a new machine with Win 8.1 and, after a few hours of playing around discovered I liked it. Then I got the ‘Update to Windows 10 for free’, which I did, and I have very few complaints. Yeah, you have to explore to find out the differences but what is life all about if it’s not finding out about new stuff. I’m satisfied, for the most part, with Win 10, (the stuff I don’t like are personal preferences) .
Ahem! Any new operating system has problems with old driver for printer, scanners, mice and what have you. The problem – the makers of the goodies you rely on want to sell ‘The Newest and Bestest’ and they don’t want to upgrade the drivers for the ‘old stuff’ because of DOLLAR$; look where the money is!
I love Windows 10. I have not tried Edge browser because I am waiting for it to allow my Identity Safe from Norton to work with it. IE crashes too much and Chrome has acted just like IE. I use Firefox most of the time. I do not like when the Start menu quits working. I wish they would get a tool to use to fix it because everything I have found has not worked. I did set my computer to clear the page file at shutdown and that seemed to help some. Other than that, I do love Windows 10 almost as much as 7.
“I wish they would get a tool to use to fix it.” – Actually, there is a tool:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12385/windows-10-troubleshoot-problems-opening-start-menu-cortana
I upgraded from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 on a Lenovo A 740 from day one This PC was loaded with junk soft ware . I recently read Windows 10 will give you the option to do a clean install which will remove all the manufactures software but I can’t find any more info on it. Will this option be available with the Anniversary update ?
I think you’re talking about the Reset option (which is already a feature of Windows 10):
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12415/windows-10-recovery-options
I want a productivity machine, not an entertainment device. A secure engineering and business platform, not a marketing platform.
If I wanted a Google and Android experience, I would have gotten a Chrome book. Cheaper with a no dollar cost operating system.
Now we pay Microsoft for an O/S and they now want to scrape our data.
Microsoft has set all the defaults to “Scroogle”.
I wish my productivity programs could be run in Linux.
We upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 10 about a month ago. The upgrade installed without a single incident. All stored documents, pictures and music made the transition over to the new operating system platform without any issues. There was one exception as we had to purchase a new printer only because our previous printer did not support Windows 10. But all was not at a loss as we are very satisfied with the 4 in 1 printer we purchased.
We have found Windows 10 easy to use and navigate. Anything unfamiliar we research using Google. Also we find ASK LEO articles very informative and have picked up a number of pointers.
I upgraded our Lenovo Touchscreen to Windows 10, followed Leo’s privacy guidelines, added the Classic Shell and tweaked it a little. This PC has nothing on it except for Outlook (2007) and IE (now Edge.) It is my husband’s and he looks at email from which he prints customer orders, and then Facebook. No problems.
Upgraded with HP desktop, my workhorse from which all thing business emanate. A pivotal printer, Dymo Labelwrite 4xl, would not function. Did everything (drivers, uninstall, reinstall, unplug, etc.) to get it running, it simply would not. It is a fairly recent investment and used for heavy USPS printing with Endicia and I was not willing to sacrifice and replace. Rolled back to Windows 8.1, with which I was never dissatisfied.
Overall, Windows 10 is okay, not crazy about the interface; “Edge” did not work well (slow). As an end user who wants to focus on my business and NOT on a developers upgrades, I find the ongoing upgrade process annoying. Was extraordinarily annoyed with the pushiness from Microsoft that should have been criminal: On two occasions, on both machines, Windows 10 started to load itself and I had to intervene. This is inexcusable: no different from ransomware.
I have upgraded to Win10 from win 7 where I had Homegroup with 3 PCs connecting to each other. Now that is not working. The main PC, the one on which Homegroup was cofigured does not show up at all. PC 2 can see PC 3 but cannot connect or share anything. Does this mean that Homegroup has been replaced with another program or is there a fix to make Homegroup work?
Hi Leo,
I have the updated version 1607, (OS build 14393:105). So far have been able to navigate around the various functions, but I notice that the green https security icon is now a tiny black one in the search bar. Does this mean my laptop is compromised in some way? Also, do I still need anti malware and antivirus protection outside of Windows Defender?
Thanks for your suggestions…
Kathleen
The padlock is a function state of security of the website you are visiting. It has nothing to do with your computer or your browser. If it appears as a black closed padlock, and the web address begins with https:// it would be a secure website. On my browser right now, the padlock is a very dark green which appears to me to be almost black.
Overall, pretty happy with Win 10, preinstalled on a new laptop. Had to go through two extensive updates over the last month or so. Still exploring the OS and the other preinstalled s/w, trying to decide what should stay and what should go. (Still using my old machine most of the time.)
One thing that’s annoying, and impeding my investigation, is that the start menu lists executables only, mixes apps and full applications, and disperses related programs across an alphabetical index.
I miss the bundled listings, where, in addition to an application’s executable, its manual, related web link(s), tools, uninstaller, etc., are grouped together.
In July 2016, I bought a new Acer TC-710 8gb desktop tower, installed with WIN 10 Home 64 bit….my IT guy installed it all for me, & transferred most things over from my old WIN XP tower….I want to know how to get the start menu to look more like WIN XP classic start menu, I do not like the tile system at all….. I hate that they seem to float around….it doesn’t seem as if the individual tiles are in the same place each time I log in…& there’s another thing. I stupidly created a PIN to log in with. Now I have to keep re-logging in if I so much as look away to cough! ie if I take my hand off the mouse for more than 30 seconds….it’s driving me nuts. Is there any way I can reverse the log-in-with-a-pin option?
One more thing, I am a senior with eyesight problems, so I found that a black background with a lime green font colour the easiest to read, BUT, in 95% of places, i.e. websites, Firefox, Word, Outlook, I cannot read the text in dropdown menus. I have read 95% of the above posts & no-one seems to have these problems, but when I read the WIN 10 feedback posts 90% of the people are seniors complaining they cannot see the minute font sizes, especially in the ribbons (stupid name). How do I change the font sizes in ribbons to a larger font permanently? And Yes, I have explored Magnifier, (useless) & all the FF add-ons to customize the fonts/colours….
Any help would be really appreciated, I have spent hours & hours trying to do it myself, with some help from Microsoft forums, thanks to all who have helped me so far!
I hope someone can help make my experience a better one, I am getting a bad back from peering into the screen, even of it is a spiffy new Samsung 24 inch, the largest I could afford…hehe..
Thanks in advance
Sylvia
You can get a Start Menu similar to XP back with ClassicShell.
https://askleo.com/classic_shell_regain_your_start_menu_in_windows_8_and_much_more/
As for the visibility problem, here’s an option which may work for you. In Settings in the Start Menu, click Ease of Access. In the list on the left, click High contrast. Where it says choose a theme, click where it says None, check if there’s a setting which works best for you. This affects menus, but unfortunately it doesn’t affect websites.
To get rid of the login password after a time of inactivity, open Settings from the Start Menu. click Accounts, next click Sign-in options,then where it says Require sign-in change the field to Never. Then scroll down to the bottom where it says Related settings and click Lock screen. Scroll down near the bottom of that screen and click Screen timeout settings. Under where is says Screen and Also under Sleep make sure it says never.