What should we do after January 2020

[RoWin7]

And the main problem with 10 is that the updates have been shredding the OS. M$ has made a mess of it and doesn't care about the end user. If they get their ducks lined up in a row maybe 10 years in the future, then I'll install it. And on your 7, you'll find Classic Shell invaluable at customizing the look of your OS.

 

[riffwraith]

Hey all. Sorry if this has been covered, but I can't see myself reading all 23 pages


I understand MS will no longer update the OS, but will the latest updates remain avail?


Say I build a W7 machine in Feb, using the disc I have, which is several years old. Will I be able to use WinUpdate to up to the latest vers?


Thanks in advance.

 

[RoWin7]

Probably. Or maybe not. I re-installed some Win XP updates after end-of-support, but M$ was more helpful to their users then. The best way to install updates is with either Simplix or Dism++. They keep away the evil ones, and work much faster than D/L from the M$ website. Someone here will give you the URLs. If you can't read the whole thread, look for Paul Black's most recent comment about those 2 programs.

 

[townsbg]

@poorguy: every day at work along with office 365. I don't like the lack of control, forced updates, adding new features without consulting me, a confusing UI with settings in 3 different locations and endless submenus, privacy options that make your realize just what kind of control that you don't have, and I despise the included spyware. Plus I suspect that they have a nefarious plan to make up all those free licenses. In short I don't trust it so outside of work I don't use it.

 

[RoWin7]

I tried it on a friend's machine, and it was enough. She didn't care about the spyware because she does nothing more than email. And I follow the news on more than a few computer sites, and hear about it at my computer club.

 

[poorguy]

Hello All,


When I first installed the Windows 10 free upgrade I had some issues with it also and put my Windows 10 desktops on the shelf.


Played with it off and on and back onto the shelf it went.


This year I decided to give Windows 10 another shot and found it to work quite well after doing a clean install of Windows 10 1903 version and wow everything works great.


I have had to replace sound cards on a few of the desktops which wasn't any big deal.


I've had good results with Windows 10 Pro OOTB on most of the computers I've upgraded and then done a clean install on.


I'm a Linux user although I'll take Windows 10 for free why not.


I know a lot of people who use Windows 10 without any problems.



I know a lot of people who use Windows 10 and have nothing but problems although they had problems with Windows 7 also.


Personally I don't care what OS people use I know Windows XP diehards who refuse to give it up and wonder why things no longer work and it will eventually be the same for Windows 7 diehards.




Thanks for the reply's.


Life is good.

 

[bendipa]

There's no doubt that a lot of people have had issues with W10 updates including IT professionals. I don't like the way it tries to force you to sign up to an MS account, the way it tries to urge you to use its own software (eg MS Edge) and the way it bombards you with adverts when you try to play some of the old MS games. Most of these problems can be resolved or mitigated, but an average user should not have to go to the trouble of preventing these annoyances.

By contrast Windows 7 has caused me few issues, has a much simpler looking interface, especially on the Start Menu, and for me the best and most stable system MS ever devised. The only criticism I ever really had of W7 was their Search facility which has never properly worked. But there are alternatives.

I also use Linux, about 75% of the time now. So until my browser no longer supports W7, or new hardware is no longer supported by it, I'll happily continue with Windows 7, knowing I'm no longer reliant on it.

 

[poorguy]

I don't like the way it tries to force you to sign up to an MS account,

Yes I agree that having to create a Microsoft account really sucks.


OH well I did because it was the only way to get the free Windows 10 update.


I've switched from the Microsoft account to a Local account which is supposed to be more secure.:roflmao:

I also use Linux, about 75% of the time now.

Linux is used as my daily driver.



I keep Windows 10 because the family uses Windows 10 and I'm the go to guy if it breaks.


I wouldn't buy Windows 10 or a computer with Windows 10 on however I will take it for free and when and if it starts to cause grief and misery I will get rid of it but until then it's OK.




Life is good.

 

[michael diemer]

Hello All,


I'm curious how many of you Windows 7 diehards have actually tried Windows 10.


I'm curious how many of you Windows 7 diehards haven't tried Windows 10 and are actual armchair users.

Thanks

I've been using Linux for years, so the impending EOL of W7 is not an issue. I will continue with W7 on my music machine, where I do my composing, but my other desktop will have a W7 archive, along with Linux (Zorin).
Now, my wife recently bought a notebook. The idea was to install Zorin on it, but that proved nearly impossible, and I didn't want to just nuke W10, in case she decided she likes it, so it has W10 on it. However, I had already put Zorin on her old laptop, along with W7, which is no longer working very well. So she uses Zorin on that computer, happily doing our budget on Soft Office's Planmaker (spreadsheet). And, she is beginning to get very frustrated with W10. I had immediately made all kinds of changes to it, to at least try to ensure some level of privacy, including disabling cortana in the registry. I am hoping she says one day "That's it, get rid of it, put Zorin on there." At which point W10 will go bye bye.

So, yes, I have tried W10, and did not like it all. For me it's a no-brainer, any machine with W10 gets overwritten with Linux. She makes her own decisions, so the jury's still out there.

 

[michael diemer]

As mentioned in my previous post my plan is to stick with W7 for as long as possible and eventually phase in a Linux distro like you have done but I'm not sure that is a suitable approach for my partner. She's not exactly computer savvy and even though Mint is very Windows-like I think there's still probably enough differences that she likely wouldn't find my "solution" acceptable to her.

So I've been looking at refurbished desktops on places like Amazon and Best Buy and there appear to be some pretty sweet deals available. And the nice thing is most of them come with Windows 10 Home or Pro already installed for about the same price as buying just the OS alone! The hardware in these refurbs really isn't too shabby at all so even though these machines aren't as good as what I'm personally using myself they would be plenty adequate for what she does and much better than the older ASUS laptop she's using now which I'm not even sure would run Windows 10 worth a crap. Giving Microsoft another $130 or $190 for only just a copy of Windows 10 Home or Pro bothers me a lot but not so much if she also winds up with a newer and better puter at the same time for basically free. At least that way I can rationalize that the money was spent to get a hardware upgrade and not on a software downgrade!

If I understand correctly there are a number of things one can do to make Windows 10 look and feel a lot like Windows 7 so if I end up going this route that'll be one of the first things I do when the PC shows up to hopefully make the transition a little easier on her. Maybe while I'm doing all this Microsoft makework I'll come to like Windows 10 a lot more than I do now but I'm not betting on it.

Is your wife's new W10 laptop running Pro or Home? Pro has some extra features that casual users like my partner probably don't really need so I'm not sure if the Windows 10 version is as important as other factors like the CPU, hard drive type/size and amount of RAM. If not mistaken the Pro version allows one to disable or at least delay those dreaded forced updates which is appealing but other than that feature not sure what else Pro offers that she would ever really use. I'm not convinced she will like Windows 10 any more than she would Mint Cinnamon but at least this way she can blame Microsoft and not me.

She is using Zorin on her old laptop, as the W7 doesn't work very well anymore, and we're planning on archiving it. So it's a dual-boot with W7 and Linux.

On the notebook, she is beginning to express serious frustration re: W10, so I'm hoping she tells me to nuke it and put Zorin on it. The W10 is OEM, came with the machine (HP), so I assume it's home premium. She only uses it for web surfing, any serious stuff she uses Zorin, because of the privacy and security factors. you don't want to do your budget on a machine that's spying on you.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

...Now, my wife recently bought a notebook. The idea was to install Zorin on it, but that proved nearly impossible, and I didn't want to just nuke W10, in case she decided she likes it, so it has W10 on it...

You could image the drive, then nuke Win 10 and install Zorin. If Zorin doesn't work out, the restore Win 10 to the machine. Another option might be to put Zorin onto a bootable USB stick and bott from that for a while to see if it will work out. It will run slow but it's an easy way to try it out.

 

[RoWin7]

Hello All,...

...Personally I don't care what OS people use I know Windows XP diehards who refuse to give it up and wonder why things no longer work and it will eventually be the same for Windows 7 diehards.
Thanks for the reply's.
Life is good.

Everyone's found solutions that suit them. I'm pleasantly surprised that there have been so many creative solutions to choose from. I have enough desktop computers to try out several of them. Casual users don't have those choices.

 

[poorguy]

you don't want to do your budget on a machine that's spying on you.

I agree I do my banking and credit card stuff using Linux however what concerns me is the banks and credit card company's all use Windows 10 so your personal information is still being collected so no difference imo.

 

[poorguy]

I have enough desktop computers to try out several of them. Casual users don't have those choices.

I have 25 desktop computers around my house so yes it's convenient to try different OSs when I want.

 

[ian50]

Further to my earlier comment on replacing Win10 with a legal copy of Win7, I was lucky (again my naivety in not realising MS is as bloody-minded as indeed it is). I was unaware that Intel have agreed to ensure the newer CPU chips will *not* run Win7. I think I was inadvertently lucky enough to have bought a machine with the Last of the Mohicans. It was certainly not a known factor to me.



So, what to do when my current hardware finally collapses ? This, I hope:


Making Win10 look and act like Win7


I have dl'ed both Sledgehammer 2.6.0 and Classic Shell, and keep WinaeroTweak up to date.All of these are backed up to several independent discs. As much redundancy as I can reasonably supply.


For those who advocate some variation of Linux, the issues here are two:


1) drivers for peripherals such as printers, plotters, scanners etc. Most manufacturers don't bother developing drivers for Linux (too small a market) so one is dependent on Linux programmers to develop for your specific peripherals. Too hit and miss for reliability



2) the whole group of Windows software programmes I've bought and nurtured (CAD, mapping, modelling, 3D). No true equivalents for Linux without enormous effort on my part, way too much trouble

 

[poorguy]

Further to my earlier comment on replacing Win10 with a legal copy of Win7, I was lucky (again my naivety in not realising MS is as bloody-minded as indeed it is). I was unaware that Intel have agreed to ensure the newer CPU chips will *not* run Win7. I think I was inadvertently lucky enough to have bought a machine with the Last of the Mohicans. It was certainly not a known factor to me.



So, what to do when my current hardware finally collapses ? This, I hope:


Making Win10 look and act like Win7


I have dl'ed both Sledgehammer 2.6.0 and Classic Shell, and keep WinaeroTweak up to date.All of these are backed up to several independent discs. As much redundancy as I can reasonably supply.

I have a lot computers so I doubt I will ever need to purchase anymore.


Most of them are 10 year old boxes and if Windows 10 runs on them great and if Windows 10 doesn't run on them OH well Linux will.


I find capable computers everywhere for free or very little money so no worries here.

I don't need latest / greatest / newest and prefer old boxes plenty of capable ones available everywhere.


As for these things Sledgehammer 2.6.0 and Classic Shell, Winaero Tweak I've no use for them and never have and never needed any of them.


I install and update and use OOTB and install minimal third party software.

For those who advocate some variation of Linux, the issues here are two:


1) drivers for peripherals such as printers, plotters, scanners etc. Most manufacturers don't bother developing drivers for Linux (too small a market) so one is dependent on Linux programmers to develop for your specific peripherals. Too hit and miss for reliability



2) the whole group of Windows software programmes I've bought and nurtured (CAD, mapping, modelling, 3D). No true equivalents for Linux without enormous effort on my part, way too much trouble

Linux may or may not work for all users.


Open source drivers work for my computers without problems.


I don't own a printer and when I need to copy something I copy it into a folder and then to a flash drive and take it to FedX to be printed.


I only web search / Youtube and minor Office document type stuff and pictures from my cell phone and digital camera.


My computer needs are minimal an I don't need much so Linux works great for me.



Windows 10 is what my family uses and I just play around with it and if they ever have any problems I'll be the one who will have to deal with it and that is why I have Windows 10 and it's free.

 

[michael diemer]

You could image the drive, then nuke Win 10 and install Zorin. If Zorin doesn't work out, the restore Win 10 to the machine. Another option might be to put Zorin onto a bootable USB stick and bott from that for a while to see if it will work out. It will run slow but it's an easy way to try it out.

I've been afraid to mess too much with it, since it's her computer. I'm waiting to see if she decides she just prefers Linux, then I'll have at it.

 

[RoWin7]

I have a lot computers so I doubt I will ever need to purchase anymore...

...Open source drivers work for my computers without problems...

What are open source drivers?

 

[Aardvarkly]

Further to my earlier comment on replacing Win10 with a legal copy of Win7, I was lucky (again my naivety in not realising MS is as bloody-minded as indeed it is). I was unaware that Intel have agreed to ensure the newer CPU chips will *not* run Win7. I think I was inadvertently lucky enough to have bought a machine with the Last of the Mohicans. It was certainly not a known factor to me.

I will shortly be building a new PC since my present one is showing signs of becoming flaky. I discovered that to keep W7 I need to use MB and processor no newer than 6th generation (whatever that means) and I found those items are getting a bit scarce.

But it seams Linux will run on pretty much anything that lights up.

 

[poorguy]

What are open source drivers?

OK on Windows hardware manufactures write / create drivers for their hardware.

Graphics drivers / audio drivers / ethernet drivers / motherboard drives etc
.

Since the market share for profit on the home user desktop for Linux is low some hardware manufactures refuse to write / create drivers for their hardware.

Graphics drivers / audio drivers / ethernet drivers / motherboard drives etc.


In the open source world the Kernel has the drivers which support system hardware.
In the open source world the Kernel developers write / create drivers for the hardware to work in Linux.


Most of the time these drivers are installed at the time of installation of Linux although may not always be the case.



Free and open-source graphics device driver - Wikipedia

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How to Install Hardware Drivers on Linux