Microsoft, stop sabotaging Windows 10 - one persons writing

have assiduously avoided the "update" to Win10...no thanks, too many friends have too many problems.

I was really against going to Win 10 but then my old laptop gave up the ghost. So, kicking and screaming, I was forced to go to 10 on the new machine. That was a couple of months ago and I'm more or less used to 10, but I can honestly say there's not a single thing on 10 that I think is better than on Win 7. I'd happily go back to 7 if I had the chance.

Phil

... There are numerous ways to make Win10 look and act like Win7. I have 7 on my desktop and 10 on my laptop but you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference.

About 6 months into the free Windows 10 offer I bit, first on my desktop and a month or two later my lap top. Both worked flawlessly for well over a year. A few months ago the laptop started having problems, kept rebooting randomly/unexpectedly. Finally got tired of it and since this was well past the free period researched what I should do.

Supposedly I'd be able to go back and do a clean install of the original OS and then upgrade to 10 with no problem. Wrong. I bought the laptop near the end of Windows 7 OS being the default OS, so it came with 7 on it and a disk for Windows 8. I never did install 8, went straight to 10 when it was avalible free.

So I wiped the computer clean and installed Windows 7 with the plan to jump to 10 again. Everything I read suggested I would be able, when installing 10 it would know I was eligible to reinstall the free upgrade based on hardware configuration.

Well 7 went back on problem, BUT I could not get Windows update to get me up to the service pack version I needed for 10 to install. So I ran the Windows 8 disk which installed ok but still had Windows Update problems. That's where I've been stuck at for a few months. My laptop will update non security updates with no problem but refuses install and security updates or to go to 10. (10 will reach 90 something % and fail, tried over a dozen times)

So I no longer do anything important on the laptop, just surf safe places. At least it's not randomly booting anymore.

On the flip side Windows 10 on the desktop PC still runs perfectly.

Sounds like you have a problem with Windows 7 updates. Forget 7. Download Windows 10 directly from Microsoft. Create a boot media (USB or DVD). Boot off the USB or DVD and install Windows 10. You should be able to use the product keys that come with the system.

Be aware that MS recently decided users cannot install "older versions" like Win7 and later on "newer silicon" and continue receiving updates. That was from a particular source about Intel's newer "Kaby Lake" family of CPUs, but may involve more details than the source where I saw that.

Given the advertising and other issues in the linked article from the OP, combined with moving users into annual subscription-based software, MS is making me seriously consider Linux for my next OS.

Yes had problems with 7, then installed 8, which it is currently, but don't have a product key. From what I read on various MS type websites 10 would somehow recognize that I had previously owned a legit copy regardless if the laptop was at 7 or 8, however it needed to be SP1 or 2 for it to work on 7. No such mention of needing a service pack for 8 for the upgrade which is why I went up to 8. Still a no go. Downloaded 10 with no problem, it's during the install of 10 the problem happens, gets about 90% complete and fails, then rolls/converts back.

I was annoyed with the inconvenient forced updates and reboots on several occasions, so I installed Linux Mint on one of our computers to try it. The install was super easy, with Mint loading all the correct hardware drivers. If Microsoft continues down their current path, all our computers will be using Linux.

I have Windows 7 and plan on using it until the end of extended support in January 2020

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/13853/windows-lifec...

I also browse InfoWorld along with AskWoody before doing an update in hoping to avoid trouble other users have encountered.

I'll usually wait three weeks before doing an update & thus far that has served me well

https://www.askwoody.com/

Most users have problems with Windows 7 vanilla installation (no service packs etc). Win 7 can't detect updates.

If it's only SP1 you're trying to get, you can manually download and install it. Get it from the following:

Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (KB976932)
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=584...

That should satisfy the requirement to upgrade to Win 10. By the way, there is no Win 7 SP2. Keep in mind that your Windows 7 with SP1 may still be unable to detect post SP1 updates (and there are hundreds of those patches available). That's a known problem.

So you tried another approach, install Win 8 and upgrade to 10 and that failed too. Got it.

How about installing Windows 10 on a blank hard drive? It's not an upgrade from Win 7 or 8. Just boot off a bootable Windows 10 DVD or USB and install it. If there's Windows 8 system but you don't care about the data, format the hard disk.

If it asks you to enter the license key, use whatever key that comes with your system (either Windows 7 or 8 license keys). That should do it. There's also a good chance that Windows 10 does recognize your system because it has been previously installed. In that case, no license key is needed.

That's about the only thing I haven't tried, mainly because it would require changing the bios boot order. I don't like messing around in the bios.

I've pretty much decided the laptop will never go back to 10 and stay at 8 because it just doesn't want to. Every now and them I'm able to get a few of the 70+ updates Windows update tells me are available before it starts failing again. It's not that important anymore, it's just a play PC for me now, my main desktop has performed well under 10, hopefully it stays that way.

I do appreciate the info and help.

You're welcome.
Btw, changing BIOS (boot order) is extremely easy.

Imagine if you could get an operating system for free - one that's generally more stable and secure than Windows, that showed no advertising, that had lots of high quality software programs that are also free and a great user community ready to help in addition to paid technical support options. Well, that OS is already here - Linux.

Ubuntu is probably the most polished and easy to use Linux distribution for folks who are new to Linux (or not), and it makes a great desktop/laptop OS. Your grandmother could use it.

Now, there is a search feature in Ubuntu that will show you results from Amazon but that is super easy to turn off.

Hooked on Quicken or QuickBooks? Try GnuCash. There's even an open-source tax program (OpenTaxSolver) that will do your federal tax return as well as returns for certain states.

It's surprising that Micro$oft is aggressively annoying its customers as it struggles to stay relevant with free and arguably superior OSes like Linux available, that just boggles the mind.

- Phil

How many programs that people use are written for and compatible with Linux, probably more now than when it first became a true option but still most software is written for Windows & Apple, correct?

I understand there are 'office' type programs, but what about graphic programs like Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, etc, how about games? music/movie editing, and countless other oddball programs? We are on a GPS forum how about Garmin, does it work with Linux?

No matter how easy it might be learning a whole new way of doing things takes time, I'm a Windows PC guy, wifey likes Apple stuff, I still don't know how to do much on an Apple machine, I've been using Windows for so long I just can't get the hang of Apple, seems as if everything is backwards.

Yes, it can be, I've killed a few machines in the past tinkering around in there though.

Its called gathering feedback to make a better product.

I've been using it for almost a year, and is my daily driver. I only fire up Windoze for Photoshop, and tax programs.

Linux leaves Win 10 in the dust for speed in every way. Any updates are quick, and no reboot is required.

I must admit, the OS ad surprised me when I first saw it, but it was easy to disable.

The "secrective monitoring" I never had turned on. Plus, the whole wording of "secretive monitoring" is an overreach. It's not like it was hidden AT ALL. Going into Windows 10. the privacy lessened compared to previous versions of Windows. I had that turned off from the get go. BTW, Windows 10 isn't the only one to watch out for. Do you have a smartphone? It doesn't matter if it's Android or Apple, double check all those settings.

As far as failed updates, Microsoft has it's fair share, but it sure hasn't started with Windows 10. I remember major biffs with every version to some degree or another. It is still, SO much better than Windows 95 pre windowsupdate.

If you got the free upgrade to Windows 10 when it came out you probably never saw the product key. If you ever format the hard drive you will need it...been there before. This link should take you to Major Geeks and a program that will find it. get both 16 bit and 32 bit , run it then print the txt file with info

http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/produkey.html

16 bit? 16 bit program has been obsolete more than 20+ years if I remember correctly. I wouldn't touch that program from major geeks.

I've still got a couple of 4 & 8 bit systems laying around here...

I can't believe they are inserting advertisements into explorer if you don't opt out! Advertisements for cloud storage on a paid OS.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12440/windows-10-ac...

There are instances where a product key is required. If you bought a copy of Windows 10 from a retailer, have a MSDN subscription, or purchased a new laptop with Windows 10 on it, you'll need a key. If you took advantage of the free upgrade offer, purchase a copy of Windows 10 or Windows 10 Pro upgrade from the Microsoft store, or are a Windows Insider and upgraded to the latest preview build you will never need a key.

stan393's belief that a key is required if reinstalling Windows 10 on a device that has been upgraded from Windows 7 or 8.1 to 10 is totally mistaken.

There is a wealth of software written for Linux and it's constantly growing. You can run Photoshop on Linux under WINE but there is some really great (and free) image editing software that runs under Linux, like Gimp. If you're into image editing check out Gimp, it's impressive.

There are all kinds of games available for Linux. If you or your kids/grandkids are into first-person shooters, check out Nexuiz and OpenArena (also available on Windows).

I can't really speak to the GPS software on Linux, I haven't played around with that but here's a link to get started with:
http://www.linuxlinks.com/article/20110522052357647/GPSTools...

While you may not be ready to dump Windows and move on to Linux this weekend, if you have a spare/older PC or laptop to try it out on, go ahead and grab the latest LTS version of Ubuntu and check it out. You might be pleasantly surprised.

There's another Linux desktop distribution that's specifically made to be more like Windows but the name escapes me at the moment.

- Phil