Get Windows 10

[Neville Bailey]

Please don't upgrade a Sony Vaio running windows 8.1 to Windows 10 as it comprehensively bricks it!.. Warnings on the Sony Vaio web site say do not upgrade.

I've successfully upgraded two Sony Vaio laptops from Windows 7 to Windows 10, although I first had to remove all the Sony bloatware before doing so.

Both laptops have been running on Windows 10 without issues for a number of months now.

[Electrode]

I've successfully upgraded two Sony Vaio laptops from Windows 7 to Windows 10, although I first had to remove all the Sony bloatware before doing so.

Both laptops have been running on Windows 10 without issues for a number of months now.

Do you have any privacy concerns regarding the use of Windows 10? It appears to be a way to push advertisement to your desktop environment and gather sensitive data about the user. What are your findings personally?

[Desert Man]

I came across this article and thought those members better versed on this topic than I am may want to comment:

http://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-10-telemetry-secrets/

[Gaynor]

I'm one of the people who has not upgraded. I have Windows 8.1 and frankly am still learning my way around that. I think we are going to be forced to upgrade sooner or later though. Anybody have thoughts on what will happen if I don't upgrade?

[HR Solutions]

I have just bought a new computer and put Windows 7 on it.

[irneb]

I came across this article and thought those members better versed on this topic than I am may want to comment:
http://www.zdnet.com/article/windows...metry-secrets/

While all that "sounds" pretty good, what does it actually say? "We will take your info, and we 'promise' only to use it for reasons of making our operating system better." Why is there no opt-out on this? All other such things either require that you explicitly allow it every time (e.g. Linux bug reports) or that you may disable it entirely. My problem is that I DO NOT trust any of these companies ... Why do they need my contacts list? Why do they need my emails? Why do they need my data files? For telemetry purposes? Give me a break!!!! That's like the restaurant asking you to fill in your cell phone number "because we can then customize your next order" ... GO F#$%$% yourselves!

Just run into an issue myself - this damned thing: http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/754...iew/index.html I got it so a TV could show from my media server. Reasonable hardware for not "too" high a price. Intending to just start it and see how well it performs. Verdict:

1. Pretty useless out the box, W10 is only half-way installed. You need to link it to the internet so it can continue getting the rest, not to mention, you need to install Intel's driver downloads, as W10 doesn't find the graphics / bluetooth drivers on its own (WTF).
2. While the specs are pretty high for this sort of thing (way beyond a Raspberry I have doing the same thing very well), W10 consumes EVERYTHING. The 32bit W10 uses nearly 70% of the 2GB RAM, and the 32GB built-in flash is used up to around 18GB (around 12 to 14GB free) ... and that's just W10, no other programs except all the CR@P that MS forced down my throat (90% of which I WILL NEVER USE).
3. Settings keep changing, e.g. turn off the MS torrent server through which they use your PC as a server to send others their updates ... an hour later an "update" is downloaded (which you cannot stop) and the setting is turned back on.
4. Install some software (e.g. I install Kodi - the main reason for this thing), and WTF ... it uninstalls it because it's not MS certified! Battle, battle, battle finally get it to leave my programs the F alone!
5. Same happens to CCleaner. At least after you've finally got it running you can set it to stop most of W10's background programs like Defender (which BTW you can also not uninstall or turn off). However, after each update (which happens daily at least) Defender is turned back on and all the settings (which you've specifically turned off) is also back on. I turned them off because the hardware cannot handle it, but every time an update happens the entire thing slows to a crawl. So every single day I have to open CCleaner and disallow those background CR@P from being started.
6. Uninstall stuff to try and open more space ... I mean stuff like OneDrive, all those shareware "games" like Solitaire, etc. etc. Yeah, next update they're all back again!
7. Set your router to disallow this thing to connect to the internet ... that's the ONLY solution to make it even remotely usable. Allow W10 to even sniff an outside connection, and your world crashes down on you.
8. Which finally made me think ... bloody hell, let's just get rid of MSs stupid OS. I mean, I've got an OpenELEC on the raspberry working wonderfully with just 4GB of flash and 500MB of RAM. Fat chance!

Painful to even just get it to boot from something other than its built in 32GB flash storage. Over the usual UEFI problems, it has no way of getting into the motherboard setup (i.e. like the old boot-up BIOS menus). Only way to get there is to make use of W10's "recovery" feature which has an option to open the boot menu. Easiest way I found was to use UBootIn to make a USB stick to boot properly - it modifies Windows's boot settings so yu can choose to boot from USB from there (other stuff like Yumi simply don't work at all, sorry since that would allow me to much faster try all sorts of other OSs). And once you finally get an external USB to boot up you realize that all of its hardware (while being way inferior to most of the stuff you could get several years ago, e.g. only N based wireless, bluetooth 4 not 5, Atom CPU from 2 years ago) are made so that drivers are only available for W10 (not even W8.1 or W7, never mind some Linux). Had to get a large microSD (64GB) so I could run Clonezilla to copy W10 off as backup so I could install something else. Very glad I did that, because I "had" to replace it to even get this thing to work at all.

I even found someone who made a specialized version of Ubuntu for the previous model (meant for W8.1) with all the drivers pre-packaged. That don't work either. I even tried installing W7 and W8.1 ... same issue with drivers. I.e. this thing is W10 and W10 only ... you're not "allowed" to do anything else, or rather you're forced into it because they actively disallow other stuff from working on it.

Do some research, Intel sells this same thing with Ubuntu pre-installed. Only then they reduce all the hardware, only 1GB RAM, only an 8GB flash. But obviously they change the firmware on that so the standard drivers actually "work".

Conclusion: Don't get this ... it's a tie in to MS, that's all it is. You'd be better off buying the cheaper (and due to the ability to install a much less bloated OS than W10 faster) Amazon Fire TV or Google Chromecast, or even the Roku Streaming Stick.

A huge amount of extra hardware, just so W10 may slightly work. And no way to even try to get something to replace it. W10 makes it nearly useless as the hardware (while being better than similar Linux based stuff) is simply inadequate for W10 - no more than one other program using no more than around 500MB of RAM to be run at any one time (else the thing just dies). I can run Kodi with it's UPNP server, web server, connected to a MySQL database to sync all of my media display devices so that all of them know which shows I've already seen, which I've only watch halfway and from where to continue, etc, etc. while watching an HD movie from something much lower on the food chain, but because of W10 this thing cannot do such.

[Desert Man]

I'm one of the people who has not upgraded. I have Windows 8.1 and frankly am still learning my way around that. I think we are going to be forced to upgrade sooner or later though. Anybody have thoughts on what will happen if I don't upgrade?

I'm in the same boat as you.
Not being an IT expert or anywhere close to that, I seem to think we have one of 3 choices:
Get Windows 7 to replace Windows 8.1 (Not sure how long Win 7 will be supported though)
Get Linux (something I am completely unfamiliar with)
Apple Mac

Hopefully a user friendly solution for lesser knowledgeable mortals such as I will be found sooner rather than later

[Desert Man]

I am thinking of upgrading to windows 10 home (for free) as I am currently on Windows 8.1 home and then doing a further upgrade to Windows 10 Pro for the privacy and security benefits that the Home version does not offer.

Windows 10 Home Vs Windows 10 Pro: What are the differences?

While Windows 10 Home is focused firmly on the consumer, Windows 10 Pro is more for power-users, and those running small to medium businesses. This can be seen in the advanced security features found in the Pro package.

BitLocker has been an integral part of the professional level Windows operating systems since Vista. This encryption software allow security conscious users to fully secure their drives from potential hackers. In Windows 10 Pro Microsoft has made some fine adjustments to the service.

‘With BitLocker,’ explains Joe Belfiore, the Corporate Vice President of Microsoft’s Operating Systems Group, ‘the end user faces an all or nothing decision for the entire drive to be encrypted, and it doesn’t provide for very much flexibility in the way files move around. We’re solving those problems.’

The new iteration of BitLocker allows users to encrypt individual files and keep them alongside unencrypted ones. Plus they can now be used in the same way on USB sticks, improving the way in which files can be shared between those with the proper clearance to read them.

As you would expect from a Pro version there is also support for Remote Desktops, virtualisation, Group Policy Management, and access to the Windows 10 Business Store. Microsoft also lists the ability to join Azure Active Directory, with a single sign-on to cloud hosted apps, plus support for joining a domain, Assigned Access 8.1, Enterprise Data Protection, and Windows Update for Business which Microsoft claims will reduce management costs.

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/feature/windows/windows-10-home-vs-windows-10-pro-uk-difference-3618710/

[Dave A]

So it seems somewhere between yesterday and today is the moment in history when if you're on Automatic Updates on Windows 7, you're going to get automatically updated to Windows 10.

I've just had to block all our computers that access our accounting system from the update as apparently QuickBooks Enterprise 2014 is not compatible with Windows 10.

[HR Solutions]

Dave - how do i switch off automatic updates for windows to windows 10 ?

[IanF]

I turn off all automatic updates, then wait for Nod32 to tell me to update. Just make sure there is nothing for W10 in those updates.

[HR Solutions]

I have also turned off automatic updates, but I'm getting the "upgrade to windows 10" pop up every morning on a few of our computers - I was was trying to kill this flipped pop up

[IanF]

I have also turned off automatic updates, but I'm getting the "upgrade to windows 10" pop up every morning on a few of our computers - I was was trying to kill this flipped pop up

Let me know when you find the solution.

[Dave A]

I have also turned off automatic updates, but I'm getting the "upgrade to windows 10" pop up every morning on a few of our computers - I was was trying to kill this flipped pop up

As I recall, there should be a "Do not show me this again" tick box in the notification.

[Chrisjan B]

Try this:

http://blog.ultimateoutsider.com/2015/08/using-gwx-stopper-to-permanently-remove.html