Free Windows 10?

What he said !

 

you don't even need a virtual box on it. just create a new partition on the hard drive and install the second os on that partition and when you start the computer it will let you select which os to run.

 

If you love Windows 7, I have been advising the drivers to stay with it - for a while. The Windows 10 upgrade is free for one year. So there is no screaming hurry to do it because Win7 will be supported for a long time yet.

However, if you have Windows 8 and hate it, then I would do the upgrade.

And for some positive news... I did the upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10 last weekend on one machine because we need to have one of every operating system here for tech support and testing. I have installed hundreds of operating systems for the last 25 years. So lots of past indigestion doing this. I can report that this one was easily the most smooth ever (from one Windows to another) by FAR. Even when it goes relatively well via clean install or upgrade install, there has ALWAYS been the need for some gyrations to get 100% of the device drivers or programs configured. Always.

It went on in about 45 minutes. Then another 5 minutes choosing my privacy options. NOT ONE other tweak to any "already installed" programs or drivers. It just all worked immediately. And this was on an overclocked gaming machine with dual video cards. I didn't even remove the old drivers or the overclock. (this was a risky way to do it, but I had to know.)

YOU SHOULD NOTE that when it first starts up, asks you if you want "Express Settings" and then it has a little-bitty link to walk through them yourself. If you are security conscious and maybe also a little wary of the "big brother" factor like I am, then you should not choose the "Express" and instead you will get the choice to turn off 5 or 6 items that would have been turned on. They have the usual wording in some, like "help us improve your experience..." but a couple of them were bigger bombshells than usual. One was the ability to share your network connection automatically with your "friends." Another was to opt out of the Microsoft advertiser program to deliver custom ads in various places "based on your unique likes and dislikes." You have to manually opt out or it is "assumed" that you agree per the licensing agreements that no one reads.

Oh and for those Apple and Android folks "keeping score" out there, before you knee-jerk on Microsoft, they are actually playing catch-up to this ad sharing stuff. The biggest behavior-based ad sharing for many years now are based in Apple's friendly "cloud" sharing and basically every app on an Android. Google makes 90% of its revenue this way by selling your search behaviors on google.com, youtube.com, and virtually all things that you do on an Android phone or installed app on that phone. Microsoft made Windows 10 "free" largely because of joining that model now too. Amazon does the same thing.

But, back to the point to summarize: (a) no rush to update if you currently like Windows 7. (b) It is way better than Windows 8. (c) if you do not specifically choose the step-by-step privacy options during install, you will be allowing the same "non-identifying" tracking of some functions just like you do now when you Google, YouTube, or use your smartphone/tablet/i-Pad.

I hope that helps. I made a note to report up here for folks once I did it myself.

- Don from DieselBoss

 

I updated a PC to see what all the hype was about. Win10 does indeed install fairly flawlessly. That, along with the short install time and the fact that you can revert to your previous OS with a few clicks leads me to think that Win10 is not a "new" OS. It's merely a facelift for your original OS to make it act more like your cell phone or tablet. And of course, to get all the lemmings to blindly hand over their information.

It has been said by many that you just need to set a few buttons to off to protect your privacy with Win10. You lose quite a bit of functionality when you do. Just one example, Cortana no longer works. So, what is the point in the upgrade? I don't want a high powered desktop to feel, look and operate like a cell phone. It made the PC I updated seem cheap.

 

Good post. Let me expound for those who may not understand what Cortana is though.

IF you have an iPhone - your "personal assistant" is Siri.
IF you have an Android, your "personal assistant" is "Ok Google"
NOW, if you have a Windows phone or Windows 10, your "personal assistant" is "Cortana"

These 3 companies all developed (or copied Apple you could say) the ability to "speak" to your device in semi-human terms. All of them do a variety of rather nifty things. For example, by pressing the home button or holding an iPhone up, or by saying "Ok Google" to an Android, or now saying "Hey Cortana" to a Windows phone or Windows 10 machine - you tell that device to listen to you because you are about to tell it something.

Examples:
"Wake me up tomorrow at 6 am"
"Remind me to call mom at 3"
"What time is it in Chicago?"
"Where is the nearest pizza"
"Is it going to rain tomorrow in Denver"
"Send text to Bill"
"Open email to Bob"
"When am I meeting with Mercer?"
"Give me directions to Union Station"
"Tell me a joke"

There are hundreds more.

SO what does he mean that Windows 10 security and Cortana are related? Well, same as your iPhone with Siri, or your Android device with Google - if you enable this ability, the device must (by definition) be "listening" at least part of the time. And it must have permission to "connect to data sources" for information that you may ask. And in many cases it must know your "location" to answer the question.

I can't count how many times I see drivers at my shop say to Siri or Android stuff like "where is the nearest WalMart" or "Text Jim: I'll be there in an hour." This cool technology is very useful and convenient, at a price. The price is that it MUST send and receive various identifying (or non-identifying) data bits to work!

Enter Cortana - Microsoft's version of Siri and Google.

So, my opinion - it is a compelling feature and hard to resist on MOBILE devices. If you have a phone or tablet with a current data connection it is SO easy to command, search, text, or call via voice commands rather than punching buttons. But it means virtually nothing on the desktop I upgraded because it doesn't even have a microphone. I couldn't talk to Cortana if I wanted to. There is also a "search box" by keyboard function that can use Cortana, but again, I don't need her on the desktop or her functions.

It is a little more compelling to enable it on laptops that you may use for connecting to wifi or cellular hotspots for convenience. And again, it is most compelling on mobile devices like phones and tablets with no hard keyboards.

So you decide about her when related to Windows 10 and Windows phone. Same as Apple and Android folks. They all connect to various data and location sources to perform "personal assistant" robot magic. Odds are that 90% of those reading this type of thread are already doing it with Apple or Android already.

The only part of @RustyBolt's statement that I (personal opinion of course) disagree with is that he feels it made his desktop feel "cheap." I found a ton of customizations so far and I'm sure I'm just scratching the surface. My desktop is tweaked in with multi-desktop switches, mini-icons, tiles, color schemes, sounds, etc such that it is actually now making my Win 7 machines look dated, and and Win-XP machines look downright ancient in terms of the "look and feel." And that is coming from a guy who happens to think that both WinXP and Win7 are very good operating systems. And my opinion remains the same on Windows 8 - upgrade to 10 when possible. Not a fan of "Windows-hate."

 

Cheap may not have been the best word. Not sure what word to use really. It just seemed like I was using a notepad rather than a desktop. Some might like that. I don't. Just my opinion.

 

I find that if you use IE 11 still with Win 10 that some issues do appear. GoogleMaps does not show me details anymore. I have a lot of Websites pinned to my taskbar on the bottom. I will have to learn the new browser, but so far I have not been able to pin a website to my taskbar yet with it. Learning process.

I have seen the secondary links off of CNN give me a black screen and I end up rebooting my machine to bring back my computer.

I run 4 monitors plus the main desktop and it actually upgraded my Dyno Dock's to be compatible with Win 10.

Finding out how to do the restart button took a few minutes. It is not in the pull out anymore on the side.

 

It's interesting you say that Apple was copied. Voice recognition technology has been included in windows for years. Long before Siri even.

On windows it could function with similar capacity to a personal assistant. It wasn't as refined and lacked the ability to "reply."

I used it on an old laptop for quite some time and I recall family using it back in the mid-late 90's.

I'm not challenging what you said @Dieselboss but I'm curious about that part specifically.

 

I agree. It is indeed very much more "tablet like" than Windows 7 or XP. But it is less "tablet-like" than Windows 8. But then again since they designed it to run cross-platform (Windows phone, Windows tablet, Windows laptop, Windows desktop) it isn't a shocker. I think I would have a lot more tiles and slides set up if I was using it on something with a touch-screen than I do on my desktop. Right now, I've got it very much set to look like Windows 7.

Well, I wasn't actually saying that Apple was copied in terms of "voice recognition" as that has been around for decades. The post was primarily amplifying what Cortana was for those reading and learning on a Windows 10 thread having a previous post refer to Cortana. Siri, Ok Google, and Cortana are not "voice recognition" programs (although they use it as one form of input) insomuch as they are a full "personal assistant" suite. The PA suite technology via interfacing across multiple data sources, email apps, text apps, dialing apps, etc and then replying with a "functionial action" was first brought to the mass commercial forefront by Apple's Siri. Sorry if it was construed any other way.

 

Aha. I mistook your wording.

You were using "copy" to show similarities and not to state that ownership or intellectual property was stolen.

Gotcha!

I do think it's funny though. The voice recognition systems on older windows systems could work very much like Siri or Cortana. Just gotta set it up right.

Though I suppose some folks like their device to talk to them.