Windows 10

[Thintich]

Hi all, sorry for off-top, need some advice! I have Windows 7 now, my company will do a big operating system update to Windows 10. I do a lot of my tasks in Office - Powerpoint and use standard Templates. I read on Twitter of Microsoft that they will be redesigned all Office, include Powerpoint Templates, is it true? If it is, how can I add old templates in Office 365? And how I can add a templates from site, because company force use the source (partner).

[Cornucopia]

Don't know what you're getting worked up about. I have Win Xp, 7, and 10. I have Office/PPT 2003, 2007, 2010 and 2016. They all work well together (helps Xp to get the 2007-reading plugin). There was the shift to xml formats for the 2007-era change, but since then the document/template file formats have remained basically the same. Older versions of the apps may not be able to support some of the newest features, but it can still read the file.

Scott
...edit: 365 is a different beast because it is Cloud-centric. All assurances are null & void.

[Thintich]

Yes, cloud-centric is more comfortable, but I thought, that it will be different office..

[Seeker47]

I was very resistant to 8.1, but then decided I should check out its new (and much reviled) UI, just for some basic familiarity, so I did that on a spare rig that was just for testing purposes. Made a lot of headway in conforming it to comfortable usability, finding it overall more serviceable than had been discussed -- until that rig crapped out (for the time being), due to unrelated hardware issues.

Although I swore I would not touch 10 with a very long bargepole, I happened to acquire another testing rig for a modest sum, and it already had W10 x64 Pro installed, so I guess I will test drive that when time permits, for pretty much the same reason as I did with 8.1. If nothing else, I'd like to investigate compatibility with quite a few apps that I've run under 7. (One example: It wasn't until I'd had the 8.1 for well over two years that I finally stumbled across a plug & play solution for running the standard 7 games like FreeCell, which would not run under 10. Their W10 replacements are pretty bad.) Also, I wanted to experiment with someone's rather detailed recipe for shutting down all those spying "phone home" things built into 10, to discover if that is going to kill access to MS Updates or wreck the OS, in the process.

So far, I've only looked at 10 for about half an hour. It seems like they have retained some of the worst appearance of the 8.1 UI, albeit in a somewhat streamlined form. I suppose I should explore the 10 UI as it is for awhile, but I think an early priority will be how to get back to the look and feel of a 7-style desktop. Whereas I had not previously bothered with the Classic Shell Start Menu or anything like that, I think this may be the point of exception.

In no way does any of the above indicate that I plan to abandon 7 for my day to day operations. I'll probably stick with that until support ends in 2020. Then, maybe on to Linux -- possibly with a 7 VM going -- or even Apple.

[flashandpan007]

Is the left aligned filename in Windows Explorer bug or feature?
https://fud.community.services.support.microsoft.com/Fud/FileDownloadHandler.ashx?fid=...7-ea6eac68584f

[railroadartwork]

Is the left aligned filename in Windows Explorer bug or feature?
https://fud.community.services.support.microsoft.com/Fud/FileDownloadHandler.ashx?fid=...7-ea6eac68584f

A bug that only affects some installations. You are not alone. The cause is unknown at this point in time.

[flashandpan007]

Does M$ work on it?

[SameSelf]

So it looks like it comes down to choosing between two evils:

1. Stick with W7 and be faced with eternally long update times. This is exactly the sitch I am currently in because vapoursynth refuses to work on my clean install:

http://www.zdnet.com/article/sticking-with-windows-7-the-forecast-calls-for-pain/
The most salient quote from the link above: "I wouldn't be surprised if the update count is up over 350 by then, with a clean install taking days."

2. Upgrade to W10 and be forced into constant updates against your will.


...I suppose all this can be made moot by just unplugging your video editing machine from the web and ditching freeware forever (yes, I am looking at you, FM).

I just love replying to myself. Not really. GOOD NEWS EVERYONE! There is a solution to problem #1 now:

http://www.howtogeek.com/255435/how-to-update-windows-7-all-at-once-with-microsofts-co...nience-rollup/

I was forced to find a solution due to another driver issue. I haven't tried vapoursynth, and it is unlikely I ever will. My bandwidth for freeware is maxed out right now. But the good news is this solution actually works! But I am starting to feel the pressure of a Win10 upgrade since many a vendor only offer driver support starting with Win7.

[Seeker47]

As mentioned above, my time with 10 has been exceptionally brief, but now it's dead and unbootable on this new rig, and I'm wondering if 10 is exceedingly fragile, by nature ? All I did was boot once with a dvd mistakenly left in the optical drive. After removing it and booting again, the computer just goes into a long, unsuccessful repair-attempt loop. Other options than that, it asks for a password (?). Didn't need one before, and I have no idea: the machine came with 10 already installed by the previous owner, and no disc. Fortunately (I hope), I had made an Acronis image of the boot partition as delivered -- standard practice -- and will see if that can restore 10 as bootable, later on.

[El Heggunte]

A Windoze 10 update scrëws webcams:

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-37154516

[Poppa_Meth]

Honestly, Windows 10 has been the most problematic version of Windows I've ever used. Every update seems to break something. My Win10 Pro rig with Deferred Upgrades has been fairly stable. I've worked on many home versions though that are getting constant updates and the amount of problems is staggering. They aren't even problems that make sense. They are just idiotic little things that either shouldn't be happening or should be easy to remedy. Instead I'm spending hours trying fixes that are very hit or miss for things like disappearing Start menus. And the end answer from MS always seem to be that I need to reinstall fresh. If it weren't for gaming I'd be happy to go Linux, which has become more and more stable compared to Windows. At least with Linux there is a good chance you can find a way to fix something without needing to reinstall the whole OS.

[Gregg]

Less than 1% of business machines have upgraded to Windows 10:

http://www.techrepublic.com/article/99-of-businesses-have-not-upgraded-to-windows-10-a...ding-to-study/

[gll99]

Less than 1% of business machines have upgraded to Windows 10:

http://www.techrepublic.com/article/99-of-businesses-have-not-upgraded-to-windows-10-a...ding-to-study/

One can understand why they wouldn't want to spend until they have to or play the role of guinea pigs until the OS matures. I don't know if there is a free upgrade path for Win7 Enterprise which many businesses use but even if they did offer it free, there are training costs, likely hardware and software compatibility issues which will require other purchases and upgrades when introducing a new os. Businesses can't afford the down time so I can easily see why they would be late adopters. What's in it for them!

[stonesfan129]

I have it on my PC. I like it and don't seem to experience any issues with it. It's far better than 8.1 and in many ways, better than 7. I just wish they would shut off all the data mining by default.

I DO like Linux Mint much better as an operating system, but there are just too many programs I need that don't have a good freeware alternative, and don't run on WINE/Crossover.

Less than 1% of business machines have upgraded to Windows 10:

http://www.techrepublic.com/article/99-of-businesses-have-not-upgraded-to-windows-10-a...ding-to-study/

That's not surprising. Windows 7 will continue to get security updates until 2020 and then it's EOL. That's still about 3 1/2 years away. A lot of businesses will probably lag behind just like when XP stopped receiving security updates.

Hopefully the switch comes soon. I do IT for a living and can't thank Microsoft enough for all the job opportunity they create for us IT people.

[pandy]

It's far better than 8.1 and in many ways, better than 7.

Please elaborate on this.
How Win10 is better than Win 8.1 and Win 7.
I'm very curious what made Windows 10 better than his predecessors - what normal people using Windows 10 perceive as better.

And of course Thank You in Advance!

[stonesfan129]

It's far better than 8.1 and in many ways, better than 7.

Please elaborate on this.
How Win10 is better than Win 8.1 and Win 7.
I'm very curious what made Windows 10 better than his predecessors - what normal people using Windows 10 perceive as better.

And of course Thank You in Advance!

It's the little things that make W10 better imo.

The start button actually works. I had plenty of times in W8.1 where the start button would become unresponsive. It could be fixed by installing Classic Shell which I eventually did.

I didn't like that it flipped over to those tiles like a tablet when I would press the Windows key. When I press the Windows key, I expect it to pop up my start menu like W7 or Linux Mint would do.

Compared to W7 x64, I can use 32GB of RAM instead of being limited to 16GB.

Updates load and install much more quickly than in W7 or W8.1. It doesn't take until next week for it to gather all the updates and install them. W7 is notorious for taking forever and a day to get updates.

Windows Media Player reads and can sync FLAC files to my microSD cards right out of the box. In W7 and W8.1 I had to install some third party apps to make WMP do that.

I don't know how so many people are running into issues with W10. I did a fresh install rather than upgrading and it seems to work perfectly fine for me.

[smrpix]

I don't know how so many people are running into issues with W10. I did a fresh install rather than upgrading and it seems to work perfectly fine for me.

Me too.

[railroadartwork]

I don't know how so many people are running into issues with W10. I did a fresh install rather than upgrading and it seems to work perfectly fine for me.

Me too.

I guess everyone would be OK if they had the same hardware as you; eh?

[stonesfan129]

I don't know how so many people are running into issues with W10. I did a fresh install rather than upgrading and it seems to work perfectly fine for me.

Me too.

I guess everyone would be OK if they had the same hardware as you; eh?

What hardware are you running? I also installed W10 on my laptop which has an 2nd-gen i3, 6GB of RAM and a 250GB Samsung SSD and never had any issues there either.

[jagabo]

What hardware are you running? I also installed W10 on my laptop which has an 2nd-gen i3, 6GB of RAM and a 250GB Samsung SSD and never had any issues there either.

Since it works on your two devices it can't have problems on hundreds of millions of others? What impeccable logic.

[railroadartwork]

I don't know how so many people are running into issues with W10. I did a fresh install rather than upgrading and it seems to work perfectly fine for me.

Me too.

I guess everyone would be OK if they had the same hardware as you; eh?

What hardware are you running? I also installed W10 on my laptop which has an 2nd-gen i3, 6GB of RAM and a 250GB Samsung SSD and never had any issues there either.

Wait a minute? Who said I had any problems? I am just saying you can't make a blanked statement that implies no one should be having problems because you don't. Any computer-savy person knows that hardware variations and (lack of) supporting drivers for any new OS plays a big part in determining "who has trouble and who does not." I work several Win 10 support forums and the flood of "mine works" and "me too" responses are useless.

[El Heggunte]

Compared to W7 x64, I can use 32GB of RAM instead of being limited to 16GB.

Just to make things clear: the Home Premium edition of Windows 7 x64 is limited to 16GB of RAM. The higher editions (Professional, Ultimate and Enterprise) can use up to 192GB of RAM.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7_editions#Comparison_chart

Anyway: if I ever decide to install and use Windows 10, I will buy it through the olde and goode way.
I have always mistrusted and distrusted the whole "free upgrade" hype.

[pandy]

It's the little things that make W10 better imo.

The start button actually works. I had plenty of times in W8.1 where the start button would become unresponsive. It could be fixed by installing Classic Shell which I eventually did.

But in Win 7 it works correctly?

I didn't like that it flipped over to those tiles like a tablet when I would press the Windows key. When I press the Windows key, I expect it to pop up my start menu like W7 or Linux Mint would do.

Compared to W7 x64, I can use 32GB of RAM instead of being limited to 16GB.

Strange i have 1 machine with 64GB and in Win 7 it works OK...

Updates load and install much more quickly than in W7 or W8.1. It doesn't take until next week for it to gather all the updates and install them. W7 is notorious for taking forever and a day to get updates.

Never use this functionality - with few machines i prefer to use wsusoffline and have single distribution folder for various Windows versions

Windows Media Player reads and can sync FLAC files to my microSD cards right out of the box. In W7 and W8.1 I had to install some third party apps to make WMP do that.

Never used WMP (AFAIR maybe somewhere around Windows NT 4 last time) - from my perspective WMP is slow, limited in functionality and i user unfriendly.

I don't know how so many people are running into issues with W10. I did a fresh install rather than upgrading and it seems to work perfectly fine for me.

Well... i' forced to use Win 10 and i must say it shares same lack of friendliness as everything above Windows 7 - from my perspective changes in UI and new DirectX are very hard to justify so many complications - really i don't like idea that every few years i need to learn new UI with old internals and not fixed old issues (and lot of new ones) (USB stall is not fixed from beginning...)

IMHO Microsoft switched in Windows 10 to new model of development where early beta is called a new system and there is large field trial (Windows 10 is only beta software stage).

[stonesfan129]

Wow everybody's an expert I guess...

[pandy]

Wow everybody's an expert I guess...

Sarcasm is OK but not always best... It is hard to not see that from at least Windows 2000 Microsoft rather introduce cosmetic changes (and mostly graphical) than really innovative solutions (go for advanced system properties - at some point lowest level has even different GUI - those known from Windows 2000 time - for me this is clear proof that Microsoft overlayed new graphics on top of old core without redesigning too much)... I can imagine that company is driven purely by money but as i'm not paid by Microsoft i see no reason to express my disapproval.

[SameSelf]

I do IT for a living and can't thank Microsoft enough for all the job opportunity they create for us IT people.

I don't know how so many people are running into issues with W10. I did a fresh install rather than upgrading and it seems to work perfectly fine for me.

You do IT for a living and don't know how so many people are having issues? I'm calling bull on you being an IT pro.

[SameSelf]

Looks like nVidia finally, after what seems like forever, released a non-beta version of their Quadro card drivers for Windows 10. This is the main thing that has been holding me back from upgrading. I am knee deep in a project currently, but as soon as I get a chance, I will likely give it a spin. Anyone else try it yet?

http://www.techspot.com/downloads/drivers/essentials/nvidia-quadro/

[budwzr]

I don't know how so many people are running into issues with W10. I did a fresh install rather than upgrading and it seems to work perfectly fine for me.

Me too.

I guess everyone would be OK if they had the same hardware as you; eh?

Im running Win10 with zero issues too. (Asus Laptop and Surface4 tablet)

[MaverickTse]

I have none but ONE issue: Network discovery.
Occasionally it cannot find a Linux SAMBA share by name, and need to type manually //192.168.X.Y/<My Share>
Network discovery in general seems to be slow also.

[SameSelf]

OK, after running 10 officially for a while now, I went to do my first image reload and somehow without asking me and without any notification, Win10 created a recovery partition on my boot ssd. NEVER have I been more angry. I had to delete the partition and resize my c:\ drive just to reload the image. The only saving grace is that it is possible to do this within windows without special partition software. For the life of me, I cannot figure out how this happened. I checked the system restore options after I finally reloaded my image, and the c: drive is listed as off. I can't believe Microsoft would do something like that. Maybe this happened because I switched off the computer during a system update and this is part of the system update process. I didn't care because I was going to reload an image. Arrrgh!