Windows 7 vs Windows 10: which do you find the best? Why?

Activating with a qualifying key didn't work for me maybe the system has improved lately

I don't know how you'd reject the upgrade by using the upgrade that way since there is no 30 day grace period and no way to tell M$ you'd want to pass on the upgrade and retrieve the activation key to go back to 7 or which ever key you'd be using to activate 10.

As always you can't use the 7 install you're using the key with so hopefully you have a spare win-7 pro key to use :)

Ha that is the key I used a win-8 pro key I'm guessing it was a upgrade key.
I didn't mind going though and having the 2 windows old folder history though
Original Acer win-7 home premium install/ win-8 pro inplace upgrade/ win-8.1 pro from store/ win-10 = fun day :)

rafa79 said:

I myself have read on tomshardware.com forums about Windows 10 a very convincing explanation for all the forced updates; it says that what MS are trying to accomplish with this is, in the end, to improve their new OS which will be their last OS(in terms of name anyway) by making sure every user gets updated and have their Windows 10 improved upon.

The only case in which I would be concerned about MS and their new updating system would be if I were a criminal of some sort and were hiding evidence on my computer. Since that's not my case, I don't have any reason to be concerned, I do believe MS are simply trying to make sure their Win10 users are getting the necessary updates so it can be improved. Remember that on previous versions of Windows, with the option to disable updates, most people wouldn't update and then have problems because of it as consequence.

Maybe MS are being too aggressive with this new tactic for having their new OS improved upon, but since I'm not a criminal with evidence hidden on my computer, I don't think I have much to fear.

You don't have to be a criminal to be concerned about privacy. If you do any internet banking, online shopping, bill paying, etc. on the internet, you darned well should be concerned about privacy. Plus, my life is just that—my life—and it doesn't need to be viewed by complete strangers (one reason I don't participate in social media).

Getting back to the original topic, for me, win 7 is the best. I tried Win 8 and didn't like the way the GUI was set up with the Modern look, even though 8.1 did restore the Start menu (sort of). It just felt clumsy to me. Win 7 is working just fine for me so I saw no sense in changing.

On the other hand, there are many more reasons I prefer Win 7 over Win 10.

1. I depend heavily on WMC for recording OTA TV shows for later viewing (time shifting). While there are various other programs I could use, the simple fact is WMC is the superior one, even after MS replaced Zap2it for the program guide with an inferior one. Win 10 completely dropped WMC.

2. I depend on a gadget for monitoring my UPS. It, and a couple other gadgets I use, are not compatible with Win 10.

3. I have software that is not compatible with Win 10, including a $600 professional music notation program. The same may be true of some hardware.

4. I just don't like the flat, cartoonish GUI Win 10 uses, including the bulky tiles. Heck, I don't even like icons and minimize them as much as I can; tiles are insanely huge in comparison and eat up far too much screen real estate.

5. While, until this year, it was fairly rare for MS to come out with an update that was flawed that could cause problems on some computers, updates would occasionaly come out with problems that could even brick a computer until the update was eliminated (nearly impossible without a complete OS reinstall unless one made an image prior to the update). With Win 7, one could always delay downloading updates for a few days, plenty of time for word of problems to come out and, often, for MS to pull and even fix the problem update. Also, while not always advisable, one had the option to not install an undesirable update. With Win 10, one is forced to accept all updates unless one has the Pro version (which isn't free, btw) which only allows one to delay accepting updates for a limited amount of time.

6. With Win 7 (and XP before), I was assured the OS would pretty much stay the same with the only changes being bug fixes, security updates, and some minor improvements. Software and hardware that was compatible with Win 7 ate the beginning would stay compatible until Win 7's EOL. With Win 10, there will be major changes (and there has already have been some) that can affect one's workflow and may result in some hardware and software being rendered obsolete (and has already happened in a few cases).

There are other reasons I do not like Win 10 but these six are the biggies, any one of which would be enough for me to stay with Win 7.

Yep it was from Robin
I tried to use it to activate win-10 too and it failed so I just took the long route :)

It just felt clumsy to me. Win 7 is working just fine for me so I saw no sense in changing.

On the other hand, there are many more reasons I prefer Win 7 over Win 10

Well Jeanie I have just done a plain clean install on a new drive - of 7 Pro and am going to try the 10 again via an upgrade. I think I shall also try using the Classic Shell software. I have no personal stuff on this install so whoever can read what they will and I can just wipe the drive afterwards if it proves to be as convoluted as it was the first time I tried it.

I have been looking at some of the settings too and they look to make it as private as possible but who is to say the dates cannot fix them back again if that happens then it definitely will come off.

Thanks David I did use Classic Shell when I had 8 on one of the machines before and it worked quite well. The only difficult bt for me was changing the Start icon - did it eventually but I think more by luck than judgment.