I don't want Windows 10.

lnlogauge wrote: In reply to revrico: I have yet to find a software that ran on 7 but not 10. Built in spyware? I googld win10 spyware, and found nothing legitimate. Windows 10 has shown better performance than 7...the list goes on.

https://www.wired.com/2015/08/windows-10-security-settings-need-know/

http://www.techrepublic.com/article/windows-10-violates-your-privacy-by-default-heres-how-you-can-protect-yourself/

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/bitwise/2015/08/windows_10_privacy_problems_here_s_how_bad_they_are_and_how_to_plug_them.html

http://www.gnu.org/proprietary/malware-microsoft.en.html

I could go on, but hopefully you get the idea.

Gameboy, myself and others do this for a living. We are the experts and we're honestly trying to help. Think of us as driving instructors for computers and we're saying to that this is a bad situation.

In reply to Stefan (Not Bruce):

I've used ubuntu as well, but you know as well as I do that it's not for everyone. software incompatibility,hardware incompatibility, difficulty to use is up there. Im not putting it on my parents computer for a reason.

I kind of wonder how chromebooks are. I had an early version of one, but nothing lately. They have like 40% of the marketshare at this point.

I could go on, but hopefully you get the idea. Gameboy, myself and others do this for a living. We are the experts and we're honestly trying to help. Think of us as driving instructors for computers and we're saying to that this is a bad situation.

If its something you can easily turn off, I have a hard time calling it spyware. Its the nature of the beast. My phone listens to everything I say. If I had privacy concerns, I'd turn it off. It helps me. Cortana is the same thing. Only way, way worse. Not privacy worse, its just useless.

I have a win 10 computer at home. A computer I built for my wife that got a new HD and I purchased a copy of the is on disk. From a purly function stand point it has been great. Boots fast and has never crashed. My wife does a bunch of video editing and the softwar installed with out issue and has not hiccupped once. I don't like the interface. It is not better or worse it just spears to B different with a coupole things being a bit harder to get to. The issue I see is that Microsoft has appeared to have failed miserably at the migration from 7 or 8 to 10. When win seven came around I held off updating untill almost a year after and by then the change from XP to semen was no big deal. I am hoping that in time they will fix things and even though we will have to pay for ten the migration will be much less painful than it spears to be now.

The only problem I have with the Chromebook is it won't talk to a printer. My daily beater for a couple years now is a $99 refurb acer with some used ram thrown at it. It's currently my only working computer. It's been through one battery (now has an ebay tumor battery) and one charging cord end. Only trouble I ever had was the fan needed some oil and a month or two ago it went wonky, throwing it around all the time had worked the SSD ribbon cable loose.

In reply to lnlogauge:

No. You can't turn it all off. There's a large number of back doors left in. Unless you leave it disconnected from the Internet, there's nothing you can do to completely close all of those. Go actually read the links I provided.

Understand that Ubuntu isn't for everyone. Luckily, there's a ton and a half of other Unix/Linix derivatives (including Apple's Mac OS is loosely based on it) and think back to when you first started using a computer? Did you get it right away? No? You had to learn to use it.

In reply to Stefan (Not Bruce):

Instead of saying, what back doors. lets read the links you provided.

1. “To operate our business…”

Cortana needs your location, microsoft uses data to understand crashes...seems legit to me. I'm pretty sure every software you use is going to do this...

1. “To send communications…”:

uses your info to contact you in case of an issue. "click here to turn them off". So 1 for 1. you can turn it off.

1. “To display advertising”:

This site runs ads, every site runs ads...its how the market works. "You can opt-out of interest-based ads, by following this link. However, opting-out does not prevent data collection nor does it result in less ads."

you can't turn this off yes, but I would hardly call that a backdoor in.

Solution A: Turning Off the Tracking. Simple steps are listed on how to turn it off. As I said, if it's an easy fix, complaining about it is dumb. just turn it off.

Solution B: Edge sends your Internet browsing history to Microsoft in order to “help Cortana personalize your experience.” easy steps provided, or even better, dont use cortana. its bad. I promise.

Solution C: Don’t Get Tricked Into Creating a Microsoft Account. Seems easy enough. dont create an account, and they cant track you that way.

Solution D: Exercise Cortana Caution. Bad advice. good advice, its garbage. dont use it.

I went and "actually read the links" you provided. No company is going to be looking out for you. Make wise choices when it comes to what you share on the internet, and have the mentality that your information isnt protected. I've managed years of windows usage without any harmful software installs, or anything else a windows computer shouldnt do.

I wish you luck with your choices.

Duke wrote: Meh, much as we all like it, 7 is going to disappear eventually. And 10 can't be worse than 8. And 10 is free through July.

Ya, I don't get it. Might as well get it now before microsoft stops patching your current windows. When your computer becomes easily exploited it will be your own fault.

Basically stop being a luddite.

kanaric wrote:

Duke wrote: Meh, much as we all like it, 7 is going to disappear eventually. And 10 can't be worse than 8. And 10 is free through July.

Ya, I don't get it. Might as well get it now before microsoft stops patching your current windows. When your computer becomes easily exploited it will be your own fault. Basically stop being a luddite.

Actually, from my previous IT experience, and I'm sure the pro's will back me up on this, the most exploitable time of an operating system is it's first 2 years of release. Usually, not always, but most of the time, the people looking for the exploits will jump onto the new, and neglect the old. This works on both sides of the coin, from hackers and government workers looking to break into your system, to the people trying to protect the new stuff, namely other hackers and IT professionals. It also doesn't hurt how much rollover there is in the code. There are still exploits that worked on Windows 95 that I've used to get into my 8.1 laptop.

It's much easier to secure a system when it is no longer changing. You wouldn't put a deadbolt on a house while the windows are still gaping holes would you?

New isn't always better. And with Windows track record, the only time an OS becomes reliable and secure is right around the time MS quits supporting it.

In reply to revrico:

Kinda like a GM car, then.

So I shut my laptop off last night before bed. It went into "downloading updates" it was on 13 of 26 when I woke up this morning. I really hope 10 isn't in there.

Brian, I bet you money that one of the "updates" it is installing is the one to help you transition to the LGBT lifestyle... I mean Windoze 10. Go Start, Control Panel, Windows Update, then look for either optional or security updates for KB3035583. Uncheck that thing, right click and "hide." Unless it is already on your box, then View Update History, Installed Updates, Search Installed Updates (box) for 3035583 and uninstall that sucker. That one lets the others in.

revrico wrote:

kanaric wrote:

Duke wrote: Meh, much as we all like it, 7 is going to disappear eventually. And 10 can't be worse than 8. And 10 is free through July.

Ya, I don't get it. Might as well get it now before microsoft stops patching your current windows. When your computer becomes easily exploited it will be your own fault. Basically stop being a luddite.

Actually, from my previous IT experience, and I'm sure the pro's will back me up on this, the most exploitable time of an operating system is it's first 2 years of release. Usually, not always, but most of the time, the people looking for the exploits will jump onto the new, and neglect the old. This works on both sides of the coin, from hackers and government workers looking to break into your system, to the people trying to protect the new stuff, namely other hackers and IT professionals. It also doesn't hurt how much rollover there is in the code. There are still exploits that worked on Windows 95 that I've used to get into my 8.1 laptop. It's much easier to secure a system when it is no longer changing. You wouldn't put a deadbolt on a house while the windows are still gaping holes would you? New isn't always better. And with Windows track record, the only time an OS becomes reliable and secure is right around the time MS quits supporting it.

You're right that late, patched Win7 will probably have less vulnerabilities than Win10 at the same time...right until MS stops patching Win7 and the number of vulnerabilities in it simply piles up unabated, and if you haven't upgraded to Win10 by then, you'll have to pay for a Win10 license to fix the problem (or switch to a non-Windows OS).

For myself, I understand the tradeoffs and have Windows 10 on a laptop by choice (fyi, it's not my main computer, I have a Mac and an Ubuntu box that has been a bit frustrating because the scanner I wanted to use with it is not supported) but I really despise Microsoft for foisting this onto my 94-year-old grandmother who doesn't understand or care to understand anything about Windows... she just wants email and spider solitaire. I have to go to her house today to fix it.

Hmm. I wonder what so many of you are "fixing' to make Win10 work. I installed it and it's been working flawlessly since installation, and like I said, all my CAD and 3D software works just fine as well, same with my graphics software. It's faster, and simpler than 8.1 and 7.

I might have to research this Steam on Linux thing, but that won't do anything for my hard-media games.

Chris_V wrote: Hmm. I wonder what so many of you are "fixing' to make Win10 work. I installed it and it's been working flawlessly since installation, and like I said, all my CAD and 3D software works just fine as well, same with my graphics software. It's faster, and simpler than 8.1 and 7.

The features that old computers don't have. Touch screen, XBox, phones, etc. They are not easy to turn off, but they can be, and the system level changes stick. My older laptop does work better now.

BTW, for all of the hate of W10, you still have not gotten a computer to lock up with W7 updates, have you? Before updating to 10, I replatformed the machine to the basic install just to get the memory and hard drive to calm down. That also re-formatted the C drive before the update. That seemed to help, a lot.

So between the time not spent trying to run background stuff that isn't there, and a clean wipe of the HD, W10 works quite well on a W7 Home designed machine.

I'm not happy with W10 at all. But it has saved me a lot of money getting a new apple, and MUCH happier than W7 or W8.

and sticking with W7 was not an option- it would get to the same spot anyway (nor would it talk to my printer), nor would any linux based or chromebook solution. It's not my computer.

Brett_Murphy wrote: I might have to research this Steam on Linux thing, but that won't do anything for my hard-media games.

I don't think the Steambox is helping Linux gaming because it puts some Steam games on Linux. That's a footnote to the more important points - it's making Linux a target platform for new PC games (very noticeable effect already, it seems that a big fraction of new PC games have a Linux version now), and it's spurring improvements to video card drivers (big historical problem in Linux gaming), and increasing Linux gaming popularity will put more attention on the WINE project which will improve compatibility with older Windows games.

Had to uninstall Windows 10 from my home laptop after it did a surprise upgrade and my wife hated it. Main problems were that the icons seemed to disappear at random, the DVD player wouldn't work, and most of the time the start menu refused to open. Just seemed buggy, and I'm not sure what it would have taken to fix all that or why it would be worth it over just rolling back to Windows 7.

Just my $0.02:

Since I've been researching a new computer for purchase in the next couple months, I have come to the conclusion that the underlying OS is largely irrelevant for most of the basic tasks done on the computer. Privacy concerns aside, for my decision, it's coming down more to hardware features offered (HDMI 2.0 here) than software functionality. All 3 of the big players (Mac, Windows, Linux) offer the great equalizer: a good browser. I can stream my favorite video or use Office 365 or Google Docs on any of them. They also all have robust native media players and office suites. I wouldn't be surprised to see bona fide native Office on Linux soon.

If Apple doesn't get off its butt soon and release a HDMI 2.0 Mac, say, at WWDC 2016, I'll build a computer using PC hardware, but I can make it Windows, Linux or Hackintosh, and the choice makes little impact on my day to day use of it.