Windows 10

Brethren, here are two major tips from another forum:

If your business depends on a single computer, don't upgrade it!

If you have spent over $1,000 on Microsoft Flight Simulator games and add-ons for Windows XP, buy a good used computer with XP installed. Windows 10 can't play many XP games.

 
Upgrade or Clean Install?

It used to be that a clean install was always better than an upgrade. But Wind 10 makes upgrades easy and clean installs difficult. And if all else fails, you can do a clean install (or a fresh re-install) of Windows 10 after you upgrade.

A very small number of people have failed upgrades because Win 10 clashed with security software they had installed. Other than that, an upgrade works fine for almost everyone.
 
Vince Massi said:
I'm surprised to hear that Coffee. All of the popular browsers work fine on Windows 10 most of the time. However, some software from your previous OS might clash with your browser, even though it didn't clash before.

You could re-install Chrome, making sure you get the newest version.

On a sidenote:

Chrome is the second most popular browser in the world, and has been gaining steadily on Explorer for several months. I predict that by the end of this month (April 2016) Chrome will pass Explorer.

But the fastest-growing browser in the world is Edge. Two months ago, it was less than .5%. Last month, it was over 4%. New Windows 10 users have a hard time with the learning curve. But once they get the hang of it, they generally like it better. A few weeks ago, I rejected my beloved Firefox in favor of Edge.
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Thanks for the info. The computer was brand spankin' new out of the box and we downloaded Chrome first day. By the next day, it wouldn't work. Been 6 months now and still have to log off and back on again for it to work. Once I'm in, it works fine but when off the computer as long as overnight, something happens and I have to log out and in again for Chrome to work.
 
i learned something about Windows 10 today.

If, three years ago, you custom-designed an expensive gaming computer for Windows 7, with a variety of high-tech parts that you really don?t understand, and it works well--DON'T upgrade it to Windows 10, because nobody can figure out how to get it working again.
 
On two tech forums, we keep getting posts from people who can't get into 10. Before it's too late...

1) Get an unformatted, empty CD or DVD and put it into your optical drive.

2) Go to Control Panel

3) Find "Backup and Restore (Windows 7)"

4) Follow their very simple directions and make yourself a recovery disk.

Folks, it is so easy to do this that it's a joke!
 
As of today, May 16, 2016, there is no such thing as a computer built from the ground up for Windows 10. Even the newest computers are Windows 8.1 with 10 installed at the factory. 8 gigabytes of RAM is the standard for a Windows 10 machine, because you will be getting a lot of upgrades in the future ). You are usually okay with 2 gigs, and 4 gigs will cover almost everything. An extra $50 will take you from 8 to 16 gigs of RAM, but I wonder if spending the $50 on a better video card wouldn?t be a better idea.
 
Buying a Cheap Windows 10 Laptop  Part 1

As of today, May 16, 2016, there are no laptops or desktops built from the ground up for Windows 10. Even the new ones are designed for 8.1.


I need to explain the background. When Vista first came out, it ran poorly on most machines, because most machines had been designed for XP. Then an off-brand company put out a dual-core laptop with half a gig of RAM and it ran Vista great. How? XP machines often met the specs, but they had different types of hardware. This cheap laptop had all the right types of everything, including a dual-core processor (which was unusual at the time).

When 8 first came out, it ran well on machines designed for 7. But when people bought Windows 8 machines and downgraded to 7, they had major problems. 8 machines had a superior internal architecture than 7 machines, and 7 had a hard time operating those machines.

So if you buy a cheap laptop (or any other computer) with 10 installed at the factory, remember that you are buying a Windows 8.1 machine.
 
Well, they're pitching fits on some tech forums. Microsoft has announced a major free (and mandatory) upgrade to Windows 10 on July 29. But they have raised the hardware specs to 2 gigs of RAM. Some tablet owners with one 1 gig of RAM are pretty upset.
 
Folks, I'm going to let you in on a deep dark secret about Windows 10 forums that few readers know: Most of their solutions don't work.

Windows 10 is designed to be an upgrade to Windows 7, 8, and 8.1. In addition, some people have installed it on souped-up computers designed for Vista and even XP. The result? No operating system in history has ever been loaded on so many different types of machines. The results? There are many possible causes, and therefore many possible cures, for problems.

I have seen extremely-complicated cures posted for problems, and I posted simple cures for the same problems. Most of the time, neither cure works, although all of them work some of the time.

Recently, I solved a complicated problem with a simple solution. Another poster explained that my solution was only a work-around that did not really solve the problem However, his complicated solutions (He had posted several) did not work, while mine did.

About 1/4 of Windows users in the US are using Windows 10, and most of them are having no serious problems.
 
Buying a Cheap Windows 10 Laptop  Part 2

Since all new laptops are built for Windows 8.1, there is no such thing as a computer designed specifically for Windows 10. So let's see what we've got.

I have three laptops that we let kids from the church and orphanage use. Unfortunately, one was ruined when a terrific thunderstorm blew in enough rain to drench them.

1) The Acer Aspire E1 has two gigs of RAM. It ran great, playing games from the Windows Store and streaming cartoons and videos, and allowing the kids to get onto Facebook. Built for 8, I upgraded it to 8.1 and then to 10 with no problems at all. Incidentally, the fact that a rig is built from the ground up for a specific OS does not mean that it can't run other OSes. Its dual-core CPU is 1.4 gigahertz.

2) The pawnshop had a Gateway laptop on sale for $60 US. Two gigs of RAM and a Celeron chip, but with a strong video card and a large screen. Same as above, it ran great on 8.1 and 10.

3) Laptops in Mexico cost about double what they do on the US. When Walmart reduced a $1200 laptop (that would have cost $600 in the US) to $400, I couldn't resist. 4 gigs of RAM with an i3 chip, it was designed for 8.1 and runs 10 easily.

How many gigs of RAM do you need for 10? If you don't do anything more complicated than Windows Store games, 2 gigs is sufficient.

Can a cheap laptop designed for one operating system successfully run another operating system? Yes
 
    Buying a Cheap Windows 10 Laptop Part 3

    Okay, you've decided to buy a cheap laptop. Where do you start?

    As with any computer purchase, decide what you want to do. If you want to play high-tech games, get a desktop. Technically, a Chromebook isn't a laptop, but it does everything that a cheap laptop does except use the Windows Store. If you're sure that you will only do things online, don't eliminate Chromebooks.

    I had two cheap laptops, with inferior chips and 2 gigs of RAM that went online, streamed movies and cartoons, and played Windows Store games with no problems. However, you will have a hard time finding a Windows 10 laptop with less than 4 gigs of RAM. In light of future upgrades, that's probably a good idea.

    CNET rated their best budget laptops and came out to around $250 US. I noted that neither of my two cheap laptops met their standards and yet ran fine.

    If you find one you like, write down the specs and price and GO HOME! On the web, the manufacturer will give you a glowing review, so try to find reviews from someone else. Check the operating system at the store and on the web. The machine is probably designed for 8.1. If it is designed for 8, remember that I upgraded two cheap 8 laptops to 8.1 and then 10 with no problems. It's okay if they installed 10 at the factory--just remember that it is still an 8.1 machine.
   

 
Buying a Cheap Windows 10 Laptop Part 4

Some of your choices will include a Celeron chip as the CPU. A type of Intel chip, a Celeron has a much smaller cache (which allows the CPU to locate information much more quickly) and sends out much smaller amounts of information than a Pentium chip running at the same speed.

Decades ago, the phrase "Celeron chip" meant "This computer is built with cheap parts in order to slightly lower the price while greatly lowering the quality." Knocking $40 off the price of a $1,000 laptop was a really bad way to save money. (The difference today is about $50).

But today, the best Celeron chips are better than the middle-of-the-road Intel chips of 18 months ago. And we successfully ran cartoons, movie, and Windows Store aps on a laptop with a Celeron chip. The laptop was made by a company that cobbled together left-over unsold parts to make a rugged budget rig that ran well.

$50 does make a difference on a $250 low-end laptop. Go home and research before you buy, but a Celeron chip is not cause for an automatic reject of a budget laptop.
 
Vince Massi said:
Okay, a neighbor and I installed Windows 10 on his Windows 7 machine. His few programs made the download last for one hour and 10 minutes (Mine lasted five hours), and then fifty minutes to get him online.

When you install Windows 10, ALL your websites that require a password require you to sign in, and all your web browsers cancel your home page and begin with their start page.

Although his programs all transferred, his wireless program was rejected as incompatible with Windows 10. I transferred him over to his DSL cable and he then went onto the internet with no problems.
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I realize that this post is 4 1/2 months old and things could have changed since then, but I finally got around to upgrading to Windows 10 earlier today. The entire process took almost 3 hours. When all was said and done, I did have to go into settings and change a bunch of them back to how I had them before the upgrade, but on none of the websites that require a password did I need to sign in anew. All of those were as they were before upgrading, as were all my browser's home pages. Granted, I just use Firefox and Chrome, but the Fox News website was there waiting for me when I opened each browser.

I can't say that I'm overly impressed with W10. It does what I need an OS to do, so as long as I don't have to search for 10 minutes for anything else like I did the for search bar, it should be okay. I think I'll leave W8.1 on my other laptop and W7 on my desktop. That way if W10 and I do have a falling out, so to speak, at least I'll have something comfortable to fall back on.


:)
 
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