Windows 10 to be the last

zappaDPJ · Oct 29, 2015, 16:34:30

So now we have one working Windows 10 laptop, fully loaded with all the required software. According to my daughter it's running a lot faster than it did on Windows 7 so I guess it was three days well spent... $:-\$

zappaDPJ · Nov 08, 2015, 03:05:22

Yesterday or to be exact two days ago, I decided to take a crack at the other half's P.C. which gets used for email, buying shoes and not a lot else which is bloody annoying because it's got the only pro version of Windows 7 I can find, already installed on it.

Anyway the first clean install bailed out with a missing file and the second ask for a driver disk. I'm sure I have it but unless it tells me what the driver is for there's not a lot I can do about it. To cut a very long story short I finally managed to get it installed by removing and/or swapping out hardware. I then tweaked a few settings, got the USB WiFi adaptor running, installed Firefox and finally installed Office 365. That's when the trouble started.

I could not get Outlook to connect to IDNet's server. It took me the best part of Saturday to get it to work and I'm still not really sure what made it happen in the end. The only other thing I had to do was get her archived emails and contact list imported which I finally succeeded in doing and that took the best part of Saturday evening

I hate Windows 10 and I'm convinced Office 365 was designed by a single-celled organism. Outlook 2007 which I've been using since, well 2007, is really good. You click something and something that you want to happen, happens. With me so far? Outlook 365 on the other hand doesn't work like that. What you want to click isn't there to click so you need to find some other way of doing whatever it is you want to do which inevitably involves multiple clicks and multiple sub-menus and when you finally think you've nailed it, something utterly stupid happens. It's rubbish

So all that's left to do now is reinstall my PC which has somewhere in the region of twelve terabytes of stuff on it. I'm really looking forward to it...

Incidentally I was swapping the original drive on her P.C. which had the Windows 7 to 10 upgrade with a drive containing the fresh Windows 10 installation rather a lot and the difference in boot up speed is staggering. A fresh installation is more than double the speed at boot up.

nowster · Nov 08, 2015, 10:39:31

A fresh installation of any version of Windows shows a noticeable speed-up compared with one that's been used for a few months.

Technical Ben · Nov 08, 2015, 18:19:04

My brothers PC would not update to 10, and he could not wait to get the new build up and running, so left it with 7 for now. Fresh install boots in less than a second.

So he said "well, I guess I'll swap to 10 later, but only for the games, not the halved boot time".

Glenn · Nov 08, 2015, 19:02:00

Just upgraded a HP Microserver Gen8 from Win 8.1 to 10, took approx 60 minutes, all working well. Even the Canon MP610 that doesn't have Win 10 support is working fine.

zappaDPJ · Nov 08, 2015, 21:49:32

If I'd been there it would have been a different story. I reckon Windows 10 sees me coming. I've never had some much trouble with a piece of software in my life.

I've ordered a new SSD so I'll be starting on my P.C. tomorrow. I hope to get back online before Christmas

zappaDPJ · Nov 12, 2015, 16:03:55

Three long days later and I've broken the back of it. A couple of observations... don't try downloading FileZilla from SourceForge. I had to trash the first Windows installation attempt because the FileZilla installer came packed with malware, some of which I couldn't remove. The other thing I found was two bugs present in the official ISO used to install Windows 10. I had the same two errors on two completely different PCs using two different ISOs, one for Home and one for Pro so two different downloads.

The first bug appears to be caused if the drive you want to use isn't partitioned. The installation fails due to a 'missing file'. The second bug occurs when you try to set up a email account in Outlook 365. You can't. You need to run /sfc scannow to fix one or more corrupt files.

It'll probably take me another week or more to get this job done but so far I've only encountered one Windows 10 oddity. I can't drag File Explorer windows without double clicking the toolbar area at just the right speed. Too fast and the Window maximizes, too slow and nothing happens. I've no idea what's causing that but it's annoying.

JB · Nov 12, 2015, 17:20:08

Quote from: zappaDPJ on Nov 12, 2015, 16:03:55
Three long days later and I've broken the back of it. A couple of observations... don't try downloading FileZilla from SourceForge.

I've always been happy with WinSCP which is clean and covers pretty much all transfer protocols. Nice easy GUI as well.

zappaDPJ · Nov 12, 2015, 18:26:56

Quote from: JB on Nov 12, 2015, 17:20:08
I've always been happy with WinSCP which is clean and covers pretty much all transfer protocols. Nice easy GUI as well.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll take a look. I'm currently using a Firefox plugin, FireFTP but it's not really working very well for me so I need to find an alternative.

Den · Nov 14, 2015, 13:46:51

Well I upgraded both my computers today to Windows 10 Threashhold 2. I would not have believed if I had not seen it with my own eyes but it's much faster and an amazing improvement yet again. I would urge everyone still using to take the leap while it is still free.

J!ll · Nov 14, 2015, 15:04:37

I did not want to on my old laptop, but my new one I installed it. Agree it is so much easier, love it.

Den · Nov 14, 2015, 16:27:28

Did you update today to the Windows 10 version 2 Jill or are you referring to Windows 10 version 1?

J!ll · Nov 16, 2015, 07:39:10

My new laptop had 8.1 so I just installed 10. Still checking things out but it does say it's all up to date.

Simon · Nov 16, 2015, 17:41:20

Quote from: Den on Nov 14, 2015, 13:46:51
Well I upgraded both my computers today to Windows 10 Threashhold 2. I would not have believed if I had not seen it with my own eyes but it's much faster and an amazing improvement yet again. I would urge everyone still using to take the leap while it is still free.

Well, I've just tried to update my laptop and it's saying, 'This update cannot be installed. Click for details", but when I click for details, nothing happens. Useful.

Den · Nov 16, 2015, 19:11:08

Quote from: J!ll on Nov 16, 2015, 07:39:10
My new laptop had 8.1 so I just installed 10. Still checking things out but it does say it's all up to date.

Try it again and sooner or later it will tell you it's ready.

Simon · Nov 16, 2015, 19:46:51

It's doing it now.

J!ll · Nov 17, 2015, 06:46:40

Quote from: Den on Nov 16, 2015, 19:11:08
Try it again and sooner or later it will tell you it's ready.

Still nothing.

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/windows-10-update-threshold-2-deletes-essential-default-programs-freezes-during-upgrade-1528987

J!ll · Nov 17, 2015, 06:49:18

Quote from: Simon on Nov 16, 2015, 19:46:51
It's doing it now.

Simon · Nov 17, 2015, 07:34:31

And it took nearly 5 hours to complete!

J!ll · Nov 17, 2015, 08:15:33

That's why I decided not to on my old laptop! New one was a breeze.

zappaDPJ · Nov 24, 2015, 02:04:09

Last night I reached a point where all I need to do to finish installing my main PC was format the old system drive to use as storage for my data files. Simple enough I thought until I encountered a nightmare called the Trusted Installer which was having none of it. It wouldn't let me re-partition, format or even delete system files on that drive. To cut a long story short, my instance that the hard drive belonged to me and not some imaginary digital file warrior ended up with a bricked C: drive

I almost went to the shed for a hammer.

J!ll · Nov 24, 2015, 06:28:33

Gary · Nov 24, 2015, 07:38:01

Quote from: zappaDPJ on Nov 24, 2015, 02:04:09
Last night I reached a point where all I need to do to finish installing my main PC was format the old system drive to use as storage for my data files. Simple enough I thought until I encountered a nightmare called the Trusted Installer which was having none of it. It wouldn't let me re-partition, format or even delete system files on that drive. To cut a long story short, my instance that the hard drive belonged to me and not some imaginary digital file warrior ended up with a bricked C: drive I almost went to the shed for a hammer.

Not sure but this ios for windows 7, Zap it may help hopefully. http://helpdeskgeek.com/windows-7/windows-7-how-to-delete-files-protected-by-trustedinstaller/

zappaDPJ · Nov 24, 2015, 16:23:24

Quote from: Gary on Nov 24, 2015, 07:38:01
Not sure but this ios for windows 7, Zap it may help hopefully. http://helpdeskgeek.com/windows-7/windows-7-how-to-delete-files-protected-by-trustedinstaller/

Thanks Gary. That looks fairly similar to what I was attempting when I destroyed my C: drive. This time however I have a cunning plan. I'll be be physically removing C: and using a boot disk to do battle with the Trusted Installer

zappaDPJ · Nov 25, 2015, 04:55:34

Which is exactly what I did. Disconnected C: and used a Partition Magic boot disk to annihilate the Trusted Installer

I now have a fully loaded PC that will be out of action for a day while I copy back all my music files. I took the opportunity to replace a few hard drives with 1 TB SSDs. Not cheap but more beneficial to me than buying a new PC.

I think I managed to retain and reinstall every last bit of data except for a JRiver Media Center library database for my music which I couldn't retrieve and around 250GB of downloaded software. The software I'll have to download at 50GB a month (or upgrade to a bigger package), it's the library database that's the problem. It may not sound much but anyone who has tried to setup a Media Center library with a customized sort view will know my pain. It's a fantastic application but it's truly horrible to setup.

Oh well, it could have been worse. I still hate Windows 10 with a passion for all the grief it has caused me but at least I can now get on and do something useful with it.