Windows 10 Free Upgrade Deadline Approaching

It looks like July 29th is the last day to get the "free" upgrade to Windows 10 if you have a qualifying OS.

For those of you using Windows 10, how is it now? Stable? How about gaming and device drivers?

I don't do much productivity work beyond a bit of Excel and Word here and there, so my main focus/concern is gaming. I'm still running Win 8.1 Pro, and I have no issues currently. But let's be honest, Win 10 is the future (for better or for worse) and Win8.1 will no longer be supported eventually, while Win10 will likely still have a few years left in it by that point.

Any thoughts?

 

Boy do I have lots of them but I will make it short...I tried it and didn't like it one bit. W7 runs so much better on all my laptops. Never a problem with drivers or anything.

 

It's in your signature brah

 

Will be glad when the 29th passes, and we can all go on using 7 until EOS. That is what I will be doing.......having fun modifying my system as I see fit. Installing the drivers of my choice, and not worrying about my privacy. Windows 10 is not the future IMO. I think it may be the FUTURE demise of Microsoft having a monopoly on the OS market. Of course that began with windows 8 and metro.

 

Been using it since it came out. 0 issues, everything i use works. Performance has better than Win 8/8.1. Perfectly stable for me. At least for the hardware i had on my desktop, there were no driver issues and same for my P870DM-G.

 

I wonder if the malware tactics MS has been using to force Win10 will disappear with the July 29 deadline, or simply pull the "but wait, we extended the deadline" crap out of their asses

 

That or my biggest fear - come 29th well will just upgrade automatically, because Big Brother Microsoft knows best!

 

I'm going to claim my free upgrades for my systems so that when I sell them they will have "the latest OS" for potential buyers.

 

You may find that isn't really a selling point.

People looking for pre-Win10 hardware to run Windows 7/8.1 may not be happy to hear it's registered for and has installed Windows 10

Wolverton: Windows users’ complaints offer contrast to Microsoft’s claims
http://www.siliconbeat.com/2016/07/...-complaints-offer-contrast-microsofts-claims/

"Microsoft says Windows 10 is a hit with its customers. But many Windows users beg to differ."
...
"But many users have been reluctant to make the jump to Windows 10 or have seen things in it they didn’t like. For example, many Windows programs haven’t been updated to support Windows 10. And drivers for many peripherals like printers aren’t yet available for the new operating system — and may never be.

That’s what Hartmut Wiesenthal found when he decided to accept the upgrade offer. Although Microsoft told the 54-year-old engineer his computer was 100 percent compatible with Windows 10, he quickly found that some of his equipment wasn’t.

Wiesenthal couldn’t print documents on his several-year-old printer after he upgraded. And his Kensington docking station no longer worked with his computer. In both cases, the Fremont resident found there were no drivers — the software used by the computer to communicate with particular peripherals — for the devices and none were in development. What’s more, when he returned his PC to Windows 7, he found that the old drivers had been wiped out in the upgrade and he needed to find and download them again.

“I searched (for) them online and was lucky to find them,” Wiesenthal said in an email. “I share all of this as a warning.”"
...
"Windows 10 also ditched some features that some users relied on. Most notably, it doesn’t include Media Center. So Windows no longer has the built-in ability to play DVDs or tune in or record television programs. Microsoft is offering a separate app to play DVDs for free to some users who upgrade to Windows 10, but others have to pay $15 for it.

Being forced to pay for a feature previously included with his computer — along with all the pop-up messages pushing him to upgrade — irked Terry Grant, 74, who often watches DVDs on his computer.

“It just irritated me,” said the Cupertino resident who retired from NASA after a long career there. “It seems to me, as per usual, I can expect Windows will not be putting their customers first.”"

"Some people have faced even bigger problems after upgrading to Windows 10..."... more anecdotes in the article...

 

This was my problem too. I have a Samsung printer which has worked great the last two years. If I was to upgrade to W10 I would need to upgrade the printer firmware. If I did this I would no longer be able to use the cheap aftermarket toner cartridges. The manufacturer of the toners states this.

 

I am again trying Windows 10 out. Windows media player is there on my upgrade and my new Nextbook 10 but it does not seem to play DVD's through the media player. The W10 DVD player seems to work fine though, As far as printers I have a HPL7780 and software. They work fine as well on both the upgrade and new Nextbook.

I can say the default 32GB drive of these small systems is no where near enough. I just installed the printer software and Office 2007 Student Teacher to it and only have 10GB left. In time though these drives will get larger and cheaper (the dedicated ones they use). So hardware then will be less of an issue.

 

Did you get the Windows 10 DVD player free? Or, did you need to purchase it?

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/10567/windows-10-dvd-player

 

It came with the upgrade free, but I had Media player already installed. The nextbook has no removable drive so the DVD player does not seem included.

 

I thought the Windows 10 upgrade uninstalled the Media Center and DVD player as part of the upgrade?

That's what people complain about, they say they can no longer play DVD's, after doing the Windows 10 Upgrade.

Is that Microsoft DVD Player independent from the Media Center and Media Player, and persists through the Windows 10 Upgrade??

 

As quick and easy fix - VLC is probably worth a look.

 

Not too sure, I know in the media center the removable drive etc is no longer listed. Also inserting a DVD did not bring the player up automatically but I have other software and the upgrade did not seem to take the function over.

 

I've used VLC and it's awesome, but I prefere MPC HC - Media Player Classic Home Cinema for DVD's, with Leawo's Blu-ray Player.

https://mpc-hc.org/

http://www.leawo.com/blu-ray-player/

The Windows 10 Upgrade wouldn't have removed or replaced 3rd party apps that play DVD's, maybe next time you bring up a DVD, check out the About link to see the name.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/10567/windows-10-dvd-player

MS has an automatic download for a free install of the MS DVD Player if you had Windows Media Center installed on Windows 7/8.1 before the Upgrade to Windows 10, but wouldn't be installed during a clean install:

"The Windows DVD Player app is available free for a limited time for people running Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, Ultimate, Windows 8, or Windows 8.1 with Windows Media Center.

Please note that Windows Media Center isn't included in Windows 10 and will be removed when you upgrade to Windows 10. After the upgrade completes, Windows DVD Player will download automatically to your PC.

To be eligible for the free DVD Player app, you must upgrade your Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 8.1 PC rather than perform a clean installation. If you’re running an edition of Windows 7 or Windows 8 that doesn’t include Media Center and you upgrade to Windows 10, go to Windows Store to buy Windows DVD Player or another app that plays DVDs. Provided your PC has an optical disc drive, Windows DVD Player will play DVD movies (but not Blu‑ray Discs).

For more info, see Windows DVD Player Q&A."

 

Interesting. Could you perhaps share your thoughts as to why you feel these are better? I used Blu-Ray player for Mac and liked the UI but it didn't seem to offer me anything that VLC didn't already.

I've used VLC almost exclusively because it just works unobstrusively although my uses for it are harly strenuous - high quality audio and video all have their own dedicated systems to play them, so VLC is just for on-the-go playback. Perhaps the interface is a bit industrial, I suppose...

 

I used VLC from it's early release years ago, and discovered MPC later and after running both for a while, I found myself only installing MPC, occasionally installing VLC to see how it's doing, but keep going back to MPC.

It might be the KL-Codec Mega pack experience that moved me to MPC early on, but I really don't use that much now, just MPC HC as it comes with the codecs for most video file types and plays DVD's well.

Leawo's Blu-ray player comes with the packaged software to playback Blu-ray without loading other tools, and is kept up to date - I haven't had a new BD release fail to play first day.

It's a personal preference, as I tried to communicate, try MPC HC and Leawo Blu-ray on Windows for yourself

 

By accepting this agreement or using the software, you agree to all of these terms, and consent to the transmission of certain information during activation and during your use of the software as per the privacy statement described in Section 3. If you do not accept and comply with these terms, you may not use the software or its features.



3. Privacy; Consent to Use of Data. Your privacy is important to us. Some of the software features send or receive information when using those features. Many of these features can be switched off in the user interface, or you can choose not to use them. By accepting this agreement and using the software you agree that Microsoft may collect, use, and disclose the information as described in the Microsoft Privacy Statement (aka.ms/privacy), and as may be described in the user interface associated with the software features.


That right there is enough to keep me away from Windows 10, pretty much forever.

 

That is the key point so many people are missing. It's so simple.

Get Windows 10 for free, sign over your right to privacy to MS, and allow MS and whoever MS is working with free access to take anything or do anything they want on your PC, without notice.

Windows 10 is not worth that ceding of privacy rights, nothing is.

 

This is why W10, at least to me, is a consumption device OS only. Not a production, communication, or even work device OS.

 

My point was to just claim my win10 upgrade should I need it in the future. I can continue to run win 7/8 afterwards, but I understand your point.

 

It's perfectly stable. My T734 works great with 10; X220 tablet has some WWAN driver quirks resulting in occasional problems with fastboot, and reinstalling OS is always an adventure - but I blame Lenovo and their poor driver support for that, not Microsoft. Anyway, absolutely everything works after some effort. Less complicated machines I installed 10 to just work after few driver updates and the usual post-installation routines.

I would describe overall experience far better than both 7 & 8.1, which I used for years - and no way I'm coming back! The new notification panel is great, and I love the snap feature, it really increases my productivity when using single monitor (most of the time, nowadays), always wanted something like that. Multiple desktops is good, too. Windows felt lacking without these features; now that they are finally present, I cannot part with them, at least in Microsoft products. I'm not much of a gamer though, so can't comment on related experience.

 

The OS/EULA is bound to the hardware, but as I recall the EULA doesn't say anything about being limited to Windows 10.

I wonder if MS considers the EULA applies to that hardware even if you uninstall Windows 10 and run Windows 7/8.1?

Do the same permissions of use for MS for the hardware apply?

Even when Windows 10 is not actually loaded and running, considering you reserved the right to run Windows 10 on that hardware at any time, now and in the future, maybe MS considers that the same under the EULA?

The improvements you mention are ridiculously trivial. Would you pay $119 to get them? I don't think so. But, free is free, right?

What real benefits do you have from Windows 10 other than what you mentioned, anything worth the real $ cost of an OS Upgrade?

Is there anything you would miss if running Windows 7/8.1 with a ClassicShell customizer?

 

Microsoft will give you a new laptop if it can’t upgrade your system to Windows 10

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/...ch&mailingID=4FA987AF1F3E5E6E967703B1D06607F7

John.

 

In the definition of the rules in the article text it says:

"First of all, your PC needs to be compatible with Windows 10 in the first place."

So by definition if your PC can't be loaded with Windows 10 by the MS technicians, your PC isn't compatible, and you are therefore not qualified to get the free PC.

The real offer is this:

"If you don’t have a compatible system, you can earn $150 to the purchase of a new PC. " Giving MS your Windows 7/8.1 computer for recycling. They leave that part out of the articles.

Which means they sell you a PC from the MS store for $150 off, not even the best discount I have seen on the MS store for a PC. IDK if that $150 is in addition to the existing discounts on PC's for sale on the MS store, but typically discounts don't stack, so don't count on it.

Here are the actual words from Microsoft, the above words were seen in a couple of articles. IDK if MS gave the news outlets different wording - the articles read word for word the same, but the actual "challenge" site words it differently, but with the same effect:

"If your PC meets all of the requirements, our team will upgrade your PC to Windows 10. If we don't upgrade your PC by close of business, you'll get a free Dell Inspiron 15.* *PC must be checked into the Answer Desk at participating retail store before 12 noon local time."

and

"If your PC isn't compatible with Windows 10, we'll recycle it and give you $150 toward the purchase of a new PC** **Fine print on the bottom of the site page"

You need to surrender your old PC running Windows 7/8.1 to Microsoft to get the $150 discount on a new Windows 10 PC.

By doing this MS is affecting Windows 10 market share by double - as reducing the market share - taking off 1 non-Windows 10 machine - and increasing Windows 10 market share by adding 1 Windows 10 machine to the %'s.

Windows 10 Upgrade Challenge
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/locations/windows-10-upgrade-challenge?wa=wsignin1.0

 

Surrender my machine, over my cold dead body! Then again if that were the case I would not be here to login, just sayin'.

 

Doesn't make them any less important.

Many people outside USA don't have a habit of paying for Windows, at all. They get it for free, it has been going for years and will remain the same in the near future. Thanks to relaxed Microsoft policy regarding Windows 10 upgrades, everyone has a chance to end up with legal copy of 10 Pro.

Windows 10 Pro upgraded from pirated OEM-preactivated Windows 7 is absolutely, perfectly legit. While individuals may not care much about it, for small enterprises it is (or, rather, was) a nice way to cut costs without any danger.

By ClassicMenu customizer you mean Classic Shell? I don't use Start menu at all, it's absolutely useless for me; taskbar + Everything + keyboard shortcuts are my way. I would never go back to 7, because it's sluggish and not touch-friendly. The only thing that could possible force me to abandon latest Microsoft OS are privacy concerns - but then I'd dump Microsoft products altogether and move to Linux.

 

THIS.
I find the W10 menu system way better than clicking around in W7. Just a personal preference.

 

I prefer W7, then again I am used to where everything is.

 

What snap feature? You mean the one that has been in Windows 7 since its release? The notification panel of the taskbar, really? Neither one of those are worth the cost of upgrading. The cost being your privacy. What about features that Windows 10 lack. Such as Aero, a calculator worth a Sh**!, and the complete lack of any modern trash apps? Or any modern apps period. Oh, and I almost forgot, the complete control over your own hardware that Windows 7 gives you.

 

It didn't have keyboard shortcuts and was much less comfortable to use, to a point merely anyone did.

1. One can disable spying right after install, there's a brilliant guide here on NBR. 2. Windows 7 & 8.1 eventually received the very same telemetry & stuff updates.

Aero? I wouldn't call dumped interface a feature, and expect it to be present in new OS - but still good point for those who like it. Calculator? Yes, indeed. Modern thrash apps? No idea what you're talking about; FWIW I don't even have Microsoft Store installed.

Once you tune 10 to your needs, you have full control over your hardware and software. Yes, right after install it's a disaster. But so is any OS, more or less.

 

Windows 10 is nothing but modern apps, that is to which I was referring. What does the Microsoft store have to do with modern apps, other than the fact you can download more of them? And, no you will not ever have complete control over your own system, such as Windows 7. What about Windows updates? They cannot be declined, only deferred. Does not sound like control.
You want to run it, have at it.

 

He was merely pointing out that he's not really a fan of Modern apps either even though he likes W10.

Woah, another person who doesn't use the Start menu! I stopped using it on a daily basis when Windows 7 came, thanks to the new taskbar which used the same button for starting and switching to a program. In retrospect, I just can't fathom why this took so many years to come up with. Some programs even had three buttons if you didn't change the settings, one in Quick launch, one in Taskbar and one in System tray, oh the stupidity. (I hate programs in the System tray with a passion..)

This also shows why the Start menu became so important for most people, the taskbar wasn't sufficient before Windows 7.

 

So, lets see if I got this correct...

You steal software and get Windows for free, brag about how you activate it with no problem, upgrade it into a legal Windows 10 Pro license, all to save money.

So you aren't worried about needing to pay $149 for a copy of this Windows 10 Spyware, because you have never paid for Windows before, it's always been free for the stealing.

You do understand then that you and all of your criminal friends are a major contributing factor to the creation of the "free" Windows 10 OS Upgrade?

If MS can't get paid by you OS pirates, then MS decided to collect information from all of you criminal deadbeats so that they can sell that information and finally get paid for the $ they invested in their Windows OS development, to all of our detriment, most likely.

Thanks a lot for your hard honest work.

@Starlight5

The Start Menu replacement apps don't take away the taskbar feature, I use that as well, populating a folder with all my Apps, System, Games, Development, Tools, etc for quick access.

The value of ClassicShell and similar apps, are to get rid of the Metro mess and disable the corner/side redirects and actions, and to restore a Windows 7 / 8 Classic Menu format that isn't active/busy.

The desktop toolbar is still there throughout all of this

 

Oh, the bitterness.

He didn't admit to piracy, just pointing out how easy it is.

You are REALLY naive if you think the piracy is a big reason for data collection, it would have happened anyway. Google and Apple does this as well, even though they're not facing piracy to the extent that MS does.

No one said it did. It's just useless for some of us, stock Start menu or third party.

 

Not bitter, sad. Sad that others have such a loose interpretation of their own moral behavior to the point of stealing others property and hard work, all to the excuse of "every one else is doing it".

Learn not to steal. Work and earn your access to the things you want, taking them from others is poisoning your soul. That is the bitterness you are sensing.

Getting rid of the Metro interface, actions, and other related cruft is also part of ClassicShell and other such tools/apps, you don't need to use the Classic Menu portion, although that is what substitutes for the Metro interface, so it is a key required component.

And, that's not useless. Get it?

 

@hmscott Windows Pro licenses (8.1 & 7, respectively) came with my notebooks. But it doesn't change the fact that what I described is doable, and done every day. We live in a big world where people have different income, and I perfectly understand those pirating OS instead of paying their salary for a whole month or two for it. And whatever my (or yours) opinion on the question is, it changes nothing - they won't buy.

Regarding interface - I never said 10 brought any change to taskbar itself, just stated I rely on it; I don't have Metro mess on my 10 - no Metro apps means no tiles, it is that simple. As I already said, as long as data collection can be disabled, I see no reason running outdated OS not suited well for modern devices. You won't argue that touch support on 7 is atrocious by modern standards, will you? I could navigate properly only with pen, meh. Oh, and boot times.

 

No.

I don't use the Start menu on a daily basis, and that's why the Metro interface doesn't bother me.
The Action center is disabled in Settings.

So, no, no need for a third party software for me. I used to use Classic Shell ONLY to get the back button in Explorer in windows 7, but MS brought it back.

 

Data Collection through Windows 10 continues even with all the published tweaks to turn them off.

MS has had to admit to companies that they - the user / admin - cannot turn off all the Telemetry in Windows 10, as it's not user tuneable - or at all known / found - and each new release of Windows 10 updates brings work around's to avoid the users efforts to stop the Telemetry - while adding new Telemetry.

MS installs 5 Metro Apps and now 10 Metro Apps as part of the Store, and will push re-install of the Store and those apps if deleted.

Have you experienced this yet, the restoration of the store and installation of apps the store is trying to sell you?

Update: The Anniversary update on Aug 2 will remove the ability to disable the Store and Advertising (pre-loaded apps / shortcuts), so I would imagine if you had disabled and removed them, the Aug 2 update will put in place the mechanism to reinstall them - immediately or in the future.

 

Those 10 "apps" are actually shortcuts to the store.

 

What do you use for quick acess to start applications?

That's better than was reported before this. The reports in the press are that the applications are downloaded and installed on the users local disk.

You are saying they are links to the store, which takes the user to the page with the store entry for the app, and that the application isn't actually installed locally?

That's different that previously reported.

 

Taskbar.

 

THIS. Much better than navigating Start Menu. For OS-related stuff just press + X, and then the related key e.g. P for Control Panel, A for Command prompt ( Admin), etc - much faster than navigating anything.

 

You do realize in the space of a couple of posts you contradicted yourself.

You don't need to put in so much effort

 

I can't blame you. A preview version of 1507 did this, but the final one didn't, those are just shortcuts that you can remove. 1607 have a total of 10 shortcuts, all removable, there isn't even an option to uninstall them, just unpin them.

Then there are a few apps that do install after internet connection, don't know the exact number but maybe one or two. It doesn't really bother me, it's not worse than having them in the ISO from the beginning.

When I realized that ALL the preinstalled apps uses 600 MB in total I stopped using NTLite and similar. So much easier to unintstall them all with a script or manually, rather than to mess up an ISO that gets outdated in like three days.

That's a typo. I don't use the Start menu on a daily basis.

 

Ahh, makes sense now.

I don't use the Start Menu much either, except for searches, but I am still happy to get rid of the Metro based Start Menu with ClassicShell, even though I delete all the Metro apps as well.

 

Are you referring to Windows 8.1?

 

Regardless if Windows 7 is not touch friendly or not, is irrelevant for productive reasons. I know for a fact, that I am more productive NOT using a touch screen. Try making an excel spreadsheet on a touch screen. Or image manipulation in photoshop....ya right. As far as Windows 7 not being suited for modern hardware, nothing can be farther from the truth. There is nothing on the market that is not already well suited to work on Windows 7.