Windows 10 to be the last

Glenn · Aug 22, 2015, 10:43:56

https://fix10.isleaked.com/

colirv · Aug 22, 2015, 11:15:58

Useful, thanks.

Simon · Aug 22, 2015, 11:23:47

That's very comprehensive. Bookmarked.

Technical Ben · Aug 23, 2015, 00:02:27

I may get a windows 10 tablet, a fake Facebook account, and just use it for "free internet access". You can guess the method.

zappaDPJ · Sep 20, 2015, 23:41:57

That other PC that I upgraded to Windows 10 will now no longer boot. It's caught in a perpetual loop. It takes about 10 minutes to start after the BIOS check, blue screens with a Driver Power State Failure, files a report to Microsoft and reboots

At this point in time I really detest Windows 10.

Simon · Sep 21, 2015, 07:45:14

I think there were reports of that happening following a Windows Update, which has now been fixed. Not sure how you get out of the current predicament though.

colirv · Sep 21, 2015, 09:37:47

I'd be tempted to create an ISO with your working PC and see if it will reinstall on your other PC.

zappaDPJ · Sep 21, 2015, 13:07:06

Quote from: colirv on Sep 21, 2015, 09:37:47
I'd be tempted to create an ISO with your working PC and see if it will reinstall on your other PC.

Unfortunately my working PC doesn't really work either, I've been using an iPad since I upgraded it to Windows 10. The main problem with that one is it keeps losing drivers. It boots to a generic driver and screen resolution that displays almost everything on a secondary monitor or off screen.

If I fix that problem i encounter many others too numerous to list. I need to reinstall that machine from an ISO but it's going to take days, maybe weeks and I just can't face it right now.

sobranie · Sep 21, 2015, 23:54:52

I am singularly unimpressed with Win10 after installing it on 2 of my machines. (Now uninstalled btw)
If you like a 'pretty' interface then fine!
If you like talking to the imbecilic Cortana then fine but God help you if you've a Glaswegian accent.
I do like sitting on updates for a few weeks prior to installing them No chance on Win10 of course.
Some people state that Win10 is faster!! Well, any new OS dropped on your machine is faster at the start but soon gets a little sluggish when the garbage buids up.

On the plus side, I've 'upgraded' at least 10 machines to Win 7 from Win10 recently when the owners have lost the ability to restore to a previous version taking great care to hide updates KB3035583, 2952664 and 3021917. A handy source of income .... thank you M$, keep it coming!!

Technical Ben · Sep 24, 2015, 23:04:52

My brother was waiting for the Win10 download on a new Windows 7 install.

I don't know how Windows 10 could be faster... as on 7 it was an instant boot (from cold, no hibernation). So is modern hardware.

But he has gone to 10 as he needs it for some of the more up to date hardware/software support and features.

zappaDPJ · Sep 27, 2015, 12:54:27

Windows 10 has proved to be an unmitigated disaster in this household. All three of us are now using an iPad, we bought a 3rd iPad (mini) yesterday. I now have 2 PCs and and laptop that either won't boot at all or won't run anything without an error.

Having spent a fair bit of time on Google it's clear the problems I've experienced are typical. At some point down the line I'll wipe all three machines and start afresh, hopefully with a more robust version of Windows 10 but for now we'll stick to iPads and the iMac I've decided to buy. I had high hopes for Windows 10 but it's proved to be a disaster across the board. Even when it works it's inconsistent, unintuitive and butt ugly.

And that reminds me, the first thing I encountered after installing Windows 10 on two devices was a picture of Kim Kardashian's naked fat arse. While it amuses me no end that an arse you could land a helicopter on 10 years ago is now celebrity in its own right, I really don't need to see it on my windows start menu

Technical Ben · Sep 27, 2015, 20:12:08

My poor bro had his motherboard go pop (possibly a power regulator/bios on/off bug as it's a common fault on that board).

Guess what happened when he swapped it out. Yep, the special new firmware that stores the windows key in the bios, means he lost his Windows 10 key. Because it's an upgrade, he has no windows 10 key to re-authenticate.

So it's an entire re-install again. He is keeping to 7 now and waiting for 10 to go cheap (or upgrading later when he saves up for it).

pctech · Oct 04, 2015, 18:01:25

From what I understand the 10 key is tied to the 7 one on MS' servers so he shouldn't need to buy a key.

Glenn · Oct 05, 2015, 16:19:24

Quote from: http://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-quietly-rewrites-its-activation-rules-for-windows-10/Update: In the comments, several people have asked what happens if you make changes to hardware. As I noted earlier, Microsoft doesn't provide details of how it calculates that hardware hash, but upgrades of system components such as a video card or a hard drive won't normally trigger a reactivation. If that happens, a quick call to the activation line will resolve the issue, often without any human contact required, in minutes.

The one exception is a motherboard replacement, which will inevitably cause the Software Licensing Management utility to recognize the device as a new PC and require reactivation, typically over the phone. A motherboard upgrade, even if you reuse storage, video, memory, and a case, is considered a new PC. In that case, if the underlying Windows license is from a retail copy, that license can be transferred. If you are upgrading (and not replacing) a motherboard on an OEM PC that was sold with Windows preinstalled, the license agreement prevents the license from being transferred.

pctech · Oct 14, 2015, 21:35:48

That kind of makes sense doesn't it as the motherboard is the backbone of a PC.

Had a slight issue with Avast and Windows 10 where it was crashing Start and Cortana but uninstall it and left running with Defender and it's been fine.

Technical Ben · Oct 16, 2015, 20:36:50

In the past though I still had a physical key to revert to. Now you have to buy Win10 all over again? Yeah, not for me thanks.

pctech · Oct 17, 2015, 14:51:02

Windows 10 seems ok but I do agree the background downloading of it isn't really the best way of winning people over.

I'd stll use it over Linux though.

zappaDPJ · Oct 27, 2015, 20:59:14

I'm currently trying to upgrade my daughter's Hewlett Packard laptop to Windows 10. When I started this process at 8.00am this morning I was hoping that I'd live long enough to see it though but sadly I don't think it's going to happen and Microsoft seems to agree.

Simon · Oct 27, 2015, 21:16:43

I had that message when I did my laptop, but it didn't take this long!

Glenn · Oct 27, 2015, 21:26:05

Both of my HP laptops took about an 90mins to upgrade, one is 3 years old, the other is 5 or 6. Did you run the compatibility check before starting? I have a HP TC4200 tablet laptop approx 10 years old, that fails on it's graphics driver.

zappaDPJ · Oct 27, 2015, 22:37:50

I did and it didn't flag any issues. However at some point after the big download from Microsoft it decided it didn't like HP Protect Tools which proved a nightmare to remove because of multiple dependencies which in turn wouldn't uninstall because they also had dependencies running. When I finally got rid of it all and got the update to start it took hours to get to 100% and then got stuck on the screen I posted for an hour or so. The next thing I saw was a blank screen with a cursor that I left for another hour or two before removing the power and rebooting. Now it boots to a blank screen with a cursor and spits out the DVD tray after 5-10 minutes for comedy effect

Luckily I had the presence of mind to pull off all the important data first. I'm open to suggestions but at this stage I'm leaning towards buying my daughter a new laptop. She's moving out and starting a new job next week for which a working laptop is essential.

zappaDPJ · Oct 28, 2015, 01:27:06

I managed to bring up the task manager and run the control panel. That at least proves the issue isn't a graphics driver problem. The recovery option says there's nothing to recover and there are no restore points to recover from. The hard drive was 75% empty when I started this nonsense. I'm now attempting a repair from a recovery disk.

Steve · Oct 28, 2015, 08:28:00

I think I'd be sticking Windows 7 on it.

colirv · Oct 28, 2015, 10:25:59

I'd do a clean install of Windows 7, then upgrade to 10.

zappaDPJ · Oct 28, 2015, 23:54:31

This saga is still ongoing and was compounded today by my daughter buying an iPhone 6s to replace her iPhone 4.

I'll stick to the short version. I created a bootable Microsoft Windows 10 installation disk which refused to accept the Windows validation code supplied with the laptop but I was able to install from it anyway. I've now got a working laptop but I'm not sure if the OS is validated. I've also managed not to end my life while installing iTunes, transferring everything to my daughter's new phone while simultaneously setting her up with her own Apple account.

Now I've just got to load up all the software she needs and she'll be all set for Monday... new home, new job, new life, leaving me free to resurrect the other three devices trashed by Windows 10