I don't want Windows 10.

GameboyRMH wrote:

Tom_Spangler wrote: Or there's always Linux, but that still requires a level of geekery that will exclude most computer users.

No it generally doesn't, in day-to-day use, and even in terms of installing on most hardware, it's just as easy as Windows (if you choose a sensible and user-friendly distro, I'm not talking about Gentoo of course).

Yeah, the "user friendly" distros of 5 years ago are practically unrecognizable compared to say, the latest Mint release, for the most part it just works now. I've installed it a few times on different computers without needing to ever pull up a terminal window, once I had to follow some googled instructions and poke around a command line for a minute to make it play nice with an old laptop graphics chip, but totally trouble free after initial setup. If "bash shell" sounds like english to you, or you can use the ping command on a windows command prompt, you're way overqualified at this point.

When I get my windows box running right again, the second order of business is to split the C partition, put Mint on it, and only boot into windows if I absolutely need to.

GameboyRMH wrote:

Tom_Spangler wrote: Or there's always Linux, but that still requires a level of geekery that will exclude most computer users.

No it generally doesn't, in day-to-day use, and even in terms of installing on most hardware, it's just as easy as Windows (if you choose a sensible and user-friendly distro, I'm not talking about Gentoo of course).

I'm installing Ubuntu on a mini-PC right next to me right now. I'm going to install the it in my 924 to monitor the MegaSquirt.

This is in addition to the half a dozen Raspberry PI single board computers I have around the house running Linux being used as home theater devices. Simple as can be to expand on the memory card, slot it in the device, boot it up and finish a few config changes and its off and running.

Honestly, its not any more difficult than configuring Windows anymore. Go and try a recent version, you might be surprised.

Dip your toe in the water with a Raspberry PI:

Buy a Raspberry PI 3

http://www.amazon.com/Raspberry-Pi-Kit-Quad-Core-Preinstalled/dp/B00V6B333S

Load up Raspbian and give it a go.

https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/raspbian/

https://www.youtube.com/embed/zHll_cKL0Qg

I've been ducking it on my machine too. Last week it tried to automatically load and didn't have the x to close it. Hit the off button on the computer real fast and restarted. Didn't try to load again and hasn't hurt anything. I'm not really against Win10, I know my next computer will have it whether I like it or not. Just don't want it on this old machine. I've always found these new operating systems end up to be more than older machines can handle, either processor or memory. My machine is about 5 years old and wasn't top of the line when I got it.

Maybe I should try Mint. I messed around with Ubuntu quite a bit a year or two ago, at one point I had installed on 3 machines. It was certainly much easier than Unix was in the past, but still not Windows-easy, IMO. And I was a sysadmin on 100+ Unix boxes back in the early 2000s, so while I'm rusty, I'm far from hopeless.

Thanks WildScot, looks like that did it.

In reply to Tom_Spangler:

I agree about the chromebook. It is a good 95% computer. The only things it can't do for me is iTunes video and photo editing. But with 16 gb ssd there isn't really room for that.

wlkelley3 wrote: I've been ducking it on my machine too. Last week it tried to automatically load and didn't have the x to close it. Hit the off button on the computer real fast and restarted. Didn't try to load again and hasn't hurt anything. I'm not really against Win10, I know my next computer will have it whether I like it or not. Just don't want it on this old machine. I've always found these new operating systems end up to be more than older machines can handle, either processor or memory. My machine is about 5 years old and wasn't top of the line when I got it.

My CPU/Motherboard are both more than 6 years old. It has a pretty hefty video card that is 2 years and an SSD.

No problems.

914Driver wrote: Thanks WildScot, looks like that did it.

You are most welcome, sir. Being a Campbell, I am genetically predisposed to resist being pompously ordered about. Particularly by a machine!

Some Bob Costas auto installed that piece o' crap on my computer overnight. I denied the agreements and they re-installed Windows 7 on my desktop. Dunno if 10 is still on my system or not...

z31maniac wrote:

wlkelley3 wrote: I've been ducking it on my machine too. Last week it tried to automatically load and didn't have the x to close it. Hit the off button on the computer real fast and restarted. Didn't try to load again and hasn't hurt anything. I'm not really against Win10, I know my next computer will have it whether I like it or not. Just don't want it on this old machine. I've always found these new operating systems end up to be more than older machines can handle, either processor or memory. My machine is about 5 years old and wasn't top of the line when I got it.

My CPU/Motherboard are both more than 6 years old. It has a pretty hefty video card that is 2 years and an SSD. No problems.

That's my biggest concern. My machine uses on-board video chip w/shared memory. Not a separate video card w/its own memory. Basic machine.

Chromebooks do not like portable hot spots either. Ended up switching from the portable hot spot to Verizon regular internet.

wlkelley3 wrote:

z31maniac wrote:

wlkelley3 wrote: I've been ducking it on my machine too. Last week it tried to automatically load and didn't have the x to close it. Hit the off button on the computer real fast and restarted. Didn't try to load again and hasn't hurt anything. I'm not really against Win10, I know my next computer will have it whether I like it or not. Just don't want it on this old machine. I've always found these new operating systems end up to be more than older machines can handle, either processor or memory. My machine is about 5 years old and wasn't top of the line when I got it.

My CPU/Motherboard are both more than 6 years old. It has a pretty hefty video card that is 2 years and an SSD. No problems.

That's my biggest concern. My machine uses on-board video chip w/shared memory. Not a separate video card w/its own memory. Basic machine.

If you aren't doing anything graphics intensive, I don't see why it would be an issue.

Have they actually cut down on all the spyware in windows 10? The only way I can personally see it being an option, well, ever, would be on a computer that never sees the internet.

I've finally given up staying on XP mostly because I've been gaming again, and it seems like it should be awhile before games require winblows 10, by then, I'll be back on the consoles.

I just have a really hard time letting anything really keep track of what I'm doing on my systems. to the point I accept annoyance messages on my phone to specify what data it shares with who. Like comc**t trying to sell me a burglar alarm, because I want/trust my cable company to know when I'm home, or have any access at all to a semi-smart security system. I'll stick with my current setup of an old alarm system with a prepaid cellphone wired in to dial out to ME.

That link wildscots posted worked great for me on this laptop a few months ago, haven't been bothered with it since.

Duke wrote: Meh, much as we all like it, 7 is going to disappear eventually. And 10 can't be worse than 8. And 10 is free through July.

10 has "features" that you cannot turn off. It is worse than 8.

Win10 hasn't cut down on the spyware and when they have all Windows users by the balls (since, again, all future releases of Windows will be some version of Win10) they'll almost certainly make it worse, but you can turn just about all of it off, through official or unofficial means.

For those of you wondering why MS is becoming so privacy-invasive so fast these days, it's because they're no longer making money on the sky-high price of Windows licenses. That price tag just led to piracy and Linux adoption. Now they're making the license relatively cheap (or free to Win7/8 owners) and making money on advertising through the OS. That means chucking ads at you in the Start menu and lock screen, and harvesting all your personal info through the OS unless you force it to do otherwise.

Once we're all on Win10, MS will be free to take us for a ride to wherever they like via the rolling-release update system. The only alternative will be to get off of Windows entirely. I only have one Windows PC, my gaming computer, and thanks to the Steambox, soon Linux may be a practical option for PC gaming.

So I'll ride the "free candy" van for a while but I intend to jump off before it gets close to where it's going.

^^ Exactly, to all the people who don't like the direction MS are going with their operating system the simple response is to stop using it. Vote with your dollars, don't just keep rewarding their behavior with money while begging them to change.

I just set up a new-to-me PC with an Ubuntu variant (KXStudio) and one of the first things I installed was Steam - it's the first PC I've had in ages with a proper standalone graphics card, I had to see how well it would do! Everything works(+) and it runs most of my library just fine. I'm even using the vastly-improved-these-days open-source Radeon driver.

(+ I'm having audio routing issues but that's because I'm trying to do something WAY outside the norm with this and KDE's phonon/gstreamer backend isn't cooperating - this isn't anything any of you will face unless you're trying to run four audio interfaces in the same machine. Other than that it's great.)

I went from 8.1 to 10 on my laptop, and it's still compatible with all my CAD and 3D modeling/rendering software. It's fast, simple, and works so much better than 8 or 7. My wife's Mac has had more problems than my Winbox.

My issue with I is I have a coupole XP machines but most are win 7. Everything works. All the necessary versions of software are in place and business works just fine. I for the hell of it updated an empty work station and it compleetly messed things up. Auto cad stopped working various other software packages we use for design work stopped working. If I was to allow this to happen to the computers in my office it could put me out of business from both the actual cost of new software licenses as well as affectively paralyzing my ability to generate work product and then the lack of productivity comming back up to speed with the os changes and the software changes. All this equates to a large cost to me.

Windows 10 is a small business owners worst nightmare.

I hate to say it but my employees are designers not computer people. Computers are a tool similar to a hammer. They don't know how to fix hammers and don't take well to replacement hammers. I know all you computer savvy people are rolling your eyes. But that is the reality of it.

Jay wrote: ^^ Exactly, to all the people who don't like the direction MS are going with their operating system the simple response is to *stop using it*. Vote with your dollars, don't just keep rewarding their behavior with money while begging them to change.

I do vote with my dollars. I just believe in trial periods first. Have never paid for an OS (although I usually use customized versions anyway), I've sent directors money for all of the 5 movies I've seen in the last 6 years I didn't feel were a complete waste of my time, and I go to concerts instead of feeding the itunes/pay per song machine. Unfortunately, I'm a minority. And without turning this into a piracy thread, I'd like to add that in the midst of this flat out assault on file sharers by the movie industry, they've been turning record profits every single year spewing out absolute garbage. Either We're not downloading enough stuff to see if we like it first, or these numbers are coming from a dartboard. I say that, because I personally feel it's like that across all industries anymore. Just invent income numbers, ad bury it in paperwork.

If I could get away with it, I'd still be running Winblows 98 SE. Last version I actually liked. Still 80s enough for a tech savvy person to do what they want, modern enough for basic USB and wifi. Xp got too Playskool with it's design, but was entirely functional. Then they kept kicking up the Playskool element, until 8, which even running it on my laptop, I still feel is more a tablet OS than actual workstation OS. If it wasn't for the touchscreen on my laptop, it would have driven me crazy by now.

How did anyone think that touch screen would work in a business environment.

Windows 7 was once a small business nightmare.

I kind of wonder if anyone of you that are avoiding windows 10, have actually used it.

Buy your computer an ssd, and make the switch. It takes my computer 14 seconds to use, from thr time I hit the power button. It never crashes. Ever. What's there to hate?

lnlogauge wrote: Windows 7 was once a small business nightmare. I kind of wonder if anyone of you that are avoiding windows 10, have actually used it. Buy your computer an ssd, and make the switch. It takes my computer 14 seconds to use, from thr time I hit the power button. It never crashes. Ever. What's there to hate?

software incompatability, built in spyware with directed ads, hardware incompatibility, networking incompatibility.... bizarre and frankly unwarranted resource demands... the list really goes on at this point.

In reply to revrico:

I have yet to find a software that ran on 7 but not 10. Built in spyware? I googld win10 spyware, and found nothing legitimate. Windows 10 has shown better performance than 7...the list goes on.

lnlogauge wrote: Windows 7 was once a small business nightmare. I kind of wonder if anyone of you that are avoiding windows 10, have actually used it. Buy your computer an ssd, and make the switch. It takes my computer 14 seconds to use, from thr time I hit the power button. It never crashes. Ever. What's there to hate?

Huh, it takes my Intel Atom dual core Ubuntu system about that long to boot.

It also doesn't crash.

It was also about $40 total.

It is also much more secure, doesn't invade my privacy or leave huge holes open to allow malware in.

I work in IT for a financial organization and my team and I specifically work on closing vulnerabilities in Windows systems. It really is a full time job and it has paid me quite well, but there's a reason I don't use it at home unless I have to.

This isn't just a Windows 10 thing, it's Windows in general and Microsoft is just throwing band aids on it since they reuse the same basic code base from day one to maintain backwards compatibility.