Poll

Windows 10 has, in your opinion...  (Check all that apply) An honest vote is important as people may factor this poll into future decisions.

Taken most of its resemblance from Windows 7.
1 (2.6%)
Taken most of its resemblance from Windows 8/8.1.
3 (7.9%)
Only taken the good features from Windows 7, but the bad ones from Windows 8/8.1.
3 (7.9%)
Only taken the good features from Windows 8/8.1, but the bad ones from Windows 7.
1 (2.6%)
Taken just the good from both Windows 7 and 8/8.1.
8 (21.1%)
Taken just the bad from both Windows 7 and 8/8.1.
1 (2.6%)
Given you an entirely new experience not resembling much of the past.
3 (7.9%)
Caught you and you upgraded/bought it.
9 (23.7%)
Slightly caught you and you are cautiosly considering an upgrade in the future.
6 (15.8%)
Completely turned you down and you will not upgrade.
3 (7.9%)

Total Members Voted: 23

Author Topic: Windows 10 the Pros and the Cons -- Help a Friend by Turning the Cons into Pros  (Read 13096 times)

Offline Work-for-ur-muny

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So I'm using Windows 10 for just about a day now and found some pros and cons.

I will start with some of the pros:
  • Upgrade went very smoothly. It saved all my files and settings. It even gave me back my identical 8.1 desktop.
  • Nice cool design.
  • Separate virtual desktops (which is limited, in a way. See in the cons below).
  • Task view. Gives you a pretty organized picture of what's going on in town. (Though it gets less helpful as you open more and more windows.)
  • Microsoft Edge. The new web browser which is really powerful and quick. (And yes, it works fast also with a TAG installed filter, K9.)
  • Web notes on Edge. You can annotate web pages, highlight text, add comments and even share them with others. The annotations can be saved and returned to later. They are saved in a space called "Hub" where you can find your favorites, reading list, history and downloads.
  • Cortana. I did not use it much, so I won't say much.
  • The "Touch Keyboard". This is much cooler than the traditional on-screen keyboard. It has bigger keys and even includes emoticons and little cute pictures to add to your text. I also find it more compatible, as it gets less in the way than the traditional on-screen keyboard.
  • The "X" to close off windows from the taskbar is bigger and more easily accessible. This makes a difference to me when I need to quickly close many windows at once from the task bar; I now don't have to work so hard to aim. (This can also be done easily from the Task View.)
  • In the settings menus, which can be at times difficult to navigate and find what you are looking for, you will usually find - at the end of each page - suggestions of other settings pages that may be related to you current page.

Some of the cons:
  • The search is terrible. It can be very misleading as it creates one mix between web search and local computer search.
  • The search is terrible. Once I click elsewhere on the screen I lose the search and have to go through the painful process all over again. (Whereas in Windows 8/8.1 it was saved as a separate window/app to which I was able to return and tweak the search criteria as needed.)
  • The start menu is an awful, messy, mix of "things". Very not neat and appealing.
  • Task bar icons are small. (Not the end of the world, but still not practical.) Perhaps they are following suit after the "back" and "forward" buttons in file explorer, which shrunk in size with each version of windows ever since I know computers...  ;) (And yes, in windows 10 they got yet slightly smaller  :) )
  • Open windows can only be recognized as such by a subtle underline beneath the icon, which is kinda counter-intuitive. The old way of having it highlighted was more productive.
  • When multiple windows of the same program are open, the taskbar icon will only indicate a maximum of two open windows (vs. 3 in previous versions).
  • Cortana is limited to Bing search, which IMHO can be enriched if it includes Google. (But obviously MS will support MS.)
  • Borders around windows are dull, and do not change colors based on the theme/desktop background.
  • Search/Cortana takes up too much prominent space at the right-hand side of the taskbar. (Though, that can be easily fixed by right-clicking on the taskbar and choosing your options from the "Cortana" flyout menu.)
  • Open window preview. Previously, when hovering over an open-window icon in the taskbar it "popped out" in small to show a light preview; and when removing the mouse from the icon the preview disappeared. In windows 10, if you hover the mouse over an open-window it will give a pop-out preview but will not return when moving away the mouse. Furthermore, even if you scroll or click on the current window, the pop-out preview will still not disappear. This obscures precious real estate on the screen and is a big shame.
  • The feature of multiple "virtual desktops" is not as promising as it sounds. The ideal would've been if the entire desktop can be different in a way that I can have different icons and separate taskbars for each desktop. The benefit of this would be that I can have a separate desktop for work with the apps, programs, and icons I need in that field; and a separate desktop for home use which essentially requires a complete different environment.

This list is not complete, and I'm sure that many of the cons can be changed into pros; so feel free to list your own pros, cons, suggestions and tips so we can all optimize our use of the new OS.

Disclaimer: The above is the opinion of the author alone and any implications this may have on the reader's decision to upgrade shall be solely at the reader's discretion. Additionally the author is coming from a Windows 8.1 OS and hasn't much experience with Windows 7, therefore the report is mostly in comparison to the authors prior experiences.

Offline Work-for-ur-muny

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Offline DanH

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No wonder I didn't see this... it's not in tech talk :)
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Offline LoLo

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Right click on the taskbar, go to properties, and make sure 'use small taskbar icons' is unchecked.

Offline ADG

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Is it free? How do i upgrade it?

Offline DanH

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Is it free? How do i upgrade it?
:)

You get a free upgrade from Windows 7 or 8.1.  Which version of Windows are you running?  Try opening windows update...
If you want to force the update (not necessarily recomennded - http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10  )
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Offline ADG

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:)

You get a free upgrade from Windows 7 or 8.1.  Which version of Windows are you running?  Try opening windows update...
If you want to force the update (not necessarily recomennded - http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10  )

how do i know what windows im running... sorry for the ignorance but it is a office computer.
why not recommended?
 

Offline DanH

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how do i know what windows im running... sorry for the ignorance but it is a office computer.
why not recommended?
dont bother..
windows will inform you when upgrade is available
For tech help feel free to Telegram me @DanTechSupp

Offline Work-for-ur-muny

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No wonder I didn't see this... it's not in tech talk :)
Yes, my bad. But it was moved by now.

Offline DanH

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By the way, great review/post OP.
For tech help feel free to Telegram me @DanTechSupp

Offline Work-for-ur-muny

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By the way, great review/post OP.
Thank you. It's kinda like a TR, as I was trying to "travel" around the OS to get the feel of what's going on around there.

Offline Work-for-ur-muny

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Here are some more encounters from my experiences:

Pros:
  • I mentioned above that at the end of each settings page you will find links to additional related settings. In addition to that, the settings section has its own search engine where you can search the entire settings options found in your computer. This is excellent as search bars in OSs till now were lagging a bit in this domain.

Cons:
  • Here's a big one!   It takes much longer for the computer to boot in windows 10 than it took in windows 8/8.1. (I used to be able to count 18 seconds from when I switched the power on on my laptop till when it was ready for use. Now it's far longer than that.) I am not sure that this has to do with the OS but the booting and sign-in process now take significantly longer than till now.
  • I mentioned in the OP about the benefits the "touch keyboard" has over the traditional "on-screen keyboard". The new "touch keyboard" has one shortcoming, tough. As soon as you press a physical key on your computer's real keyboard you will lose the touch keyboard and have to open it again. The traditional on-screen keyboard did not go out when you pressed a physical key. The benefit of this was that you were able to use the on-screen as a guide when typing Hebrew on the English keyboard rather than typing the letters on the soft keyboard on the screen.

Any post that can help turn the cons into pros may be of help to many, and is greatly appreciated.

Offline DanH

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Windows 10 boots extremely fast.  Are you basing it on a restart, or shutting off and then turning on?
see this:
http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/174101-windows-10-cold-boot-fast-restart-slow/
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Offline Work-for-ur-muny

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Windows 10 boots extremely fast.  Are you basing it on a restart, or shutting off and then turning on?
see this:
http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/174101-windows-10-cold-boot-fast-restart-slow/
Fresh start for the day. Maybe there is something wrong with my hardware?

Offline DanH

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Fresh start for the day. Maybe there is something wrong with my hardware?
read link
For tech help feel free to Telegram me @DanTechSupp

Offline Work-for-ur-muny

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Offline dirah

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Windows 10 boots extremely fast. 
+1
After the upgrade, my computer feels like it boots literally double as fast if not more.

Offline DanH

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For tech help feel free to Telegram me @DanTechSupp

Offline Work-for-ur-muny

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Pro:
  • When the battery begins to go low (IIRC it's at 21%-22%) there is a "Battery/Power Save" feature that goes on automatically. It probably turns off some background tasks to preserve battery power. (Though, I did not see this work too well because after I got the power saver icon, my battery life only went down quicker. Perhaps this feature is too energy consuming...  :P)

Offline avromie7

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I wonder what people who type "u" instead of "you" do with all their free time.