I got the itch and finally decided to download & install W10…
I was going to wait 4 or 5 months for that extra bit of polish an OS always needs to go through, but curiosity just got the better of me.
Of course I wasn’t part of the beta testing at any time previously, but there is quite a successful little
hack out there that will allow you to download it straight away and avoid having to wait your turn.
LOL
You just gotta love MS, whenever it comes up with something, anything, there’ll always be a hack handy and waiting for you
to use for any number of things, this particular one was getting my hands on W10 without the goofy waiting game.
OK, the actual download and install went well, I’m on a wifi connection, but the speeds at night are considerably faster
than many other times, so that was no issue at all. The total install & setup, I would estimate, took around 40-45 min.
The only issue I had immediately after was the screen res reverted to something like you would have on a tablet,
so no problem either, easily rectified. Then there was the uninstalling/turning off of many tiles that W10 contributed.
Then the curtailing of all the goofy [stuff] that wants to share information with everyone and their dog, no problem. Fixed.
The big surprise here was everything I’ve looked at so far in terms of programs and previous OS setting were virtually intact.
Usually I have to go in and tweak, or “re-tweak” settings, like turning off System Restore, or User Account Control, or some other thing.
Even my file associations were virtually maintained & identical.
Cool Things…
*Complicated registry entries that I had made in W8.1 appear to have been grandfather’d into W10’s registry without a hiccup.
*Although 99% of my file preferences were transferred over in the upgrade, default apps seem very
easily changeable compared to W8.1.
*Virtually every W8.1 OS setting I had carried over to W10 upgrade.
*The OS actually does feel a bit snappier in terms of performance.
*Tiled apps open up on the desktop and can be resized.
*It’s almost identical to W8.1, scary so, like I never really upgraded at all.
I was just expecting to tweak a whole lot more “stuff” than I actually found myself needing to tweak.
Perplexing Things…
*The new Edge browser looks and feels like a Chrome knockoff, and I HATE chrome browser.
*Cortana? Why, what for? I guess I’ll just have to wait & see about it as time goes on.
*A big huge search bar on the task bar is a tremendous waste of precious real-estate, it’s easily rectified though.
*They found a way to put the W8/8.1 charms bar in the notification area. That’s a bit weird.
*The Windows 7 “Backup & Restore” feature is still present and it actually says “Windows 7”.
* All of you who moan about the start menu still don’t really have it like W7 and prior OSs.
*The inability to extend the start menu screen laterally a bit more.
If your coming from W7, or anything earlier, It’ll be a whole lot easier to adjust to Windows 10 if you’ve
upgraded from Window 8 or 8.1. imho
The Hit List of Things That still need to be Done…
*The registry seems to be horrifically impenetrable, I’ve looked high and low and can’t come up with a way to
get some very specific registry entries changed, (circumvent security?) like the ones for re-enabling WU control for instance;
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsUpdateUX]
“IsConvergedUpdateStackEnabled”=dword:00000000[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsUpdateUXSettings]
“UxOption”=dword:00000000
I’m thinking the overall under-the hood security in W10 is a bit tougher than previous, and just needs to be better understood.
*Come up with a comprehensive listing of services that can be safely disabled. Awaiting the trusted BLKVIPER for some of these.
Even though it feels snappier, it could always be a better performer.
Overall a good upgrade experience with some pleasant surprises, and some known caveats before upgrading.
