Jul
31st
2015
The Windows 10 Rollout - The Latest From Microsoft · 8:01am Jul 31st, 2015
So at around 2am Central time (an hour ago as I post this), I received a new e-mail from Microsoft.
It reads as follows:
This essentially confirms what all the tech news websites have been saying: while the launch date of Windows 10 was July 29, it could be mid to late August before every Windows user has received the upgrade.
So if you've been wondering why you haven't gotten that notification yet...this is why.
(Incidentally, Windows 7/8.1 users may be noticing Windows Update sporadically dumping update files onto your machine...guess what it is! It's the prep work for the upgrade. Yep, chunks of Windows 10 are already floating around on our machines, just waiting for Microsoft to put it all together and give us the OK to upgrade.)
I've already upgraded to Windows 10 Pro from 8.1 Pro and it's pretty good.
The new Start Menu is a billion times better than the default 8/8.1 Start "Menu" but it'll take some getting used to from my Classic Shell start menu.
Having access to all of the settings menus without going into the Metro UI is definitely a good change. Could do without having a bunch of my file associations being changed to the new version of IE though. I don't care what they're calling it now I'm still not going to click on the blue 'e'.
Definitely miss being able to tell which window is the active one based on the color of the top bar/frame though. Now they're ALL plain white, even the minimize, full-screen/windowed, and close buttons only have color to them when you mouse over them.
EDIT: I've yet to have any programs exhibit unwanted behavior due to the upgrade. My Japanese IME even seems to have upgraded cleanly.
Huh, I never got this email. Ended up just clicking it two days ago to see if I could upgrade, and I got the all-clear to get it running. No hassle.
Initial impressions are as follows: They nixed basically all of the touch-screen junk (no sidebar popping up on the sides if your mouse hangs around there for too long!), crammed their own search bar into the program bar on the bottom along with a voice-activated search lady that helps you find common stuff without needing to open a browser first, and introduced a some Edge-y browser that, uh, lets you doodle on pages if you install a side app that lets you do so. Great time-waster!
Also, moving around programs to fit flush against the left/right edges of your screen is basically impossible because it tries to snap the windows a little ways away from the edge, like I need to see that empty space for some reason. Need to figure out how to turn that stupid thing off later.
Overall, it does seem to be an improvement over Windows 8, but it needs some tweaking to get it to where I want it to be for me.
I never received any emails; I just clicked the little icon two days ago and it offered me the upgrade. Upgraded yesterday and it is definitely an improvement; the top left corner switching screen thing which I often triggered by accident is gone, as is the tool-bar that used to emerge from the right side of the screen when the mouse was over there. Cortana is a nice addition I'm already familiar with from my Windows phone, and although I need to do a bit of customising to make it right for me (for example, when I first got the upgrade my cursor speed was very low) I do like it a lot better than Windows 8.1.
I'm still quite confused as to where Windows 9 disappeared to, though.
If you want to jump the gun you can start the upgrade using a disc image.
3284128 Yeah, but it's not recommended, and I'm in no hurry. I'd rather wait until Microsoft rolls it out to my user group and get the latest, most bug-patched version than force the upgrade and have something go wrong.
I got my upgrade Wednesday morning at 2 am after almost an hour of upgrading I finally got it, and I gotta say it's an improvement.
Yeah, I've had upwards of thirty upgrade files a night ever since I got my Toshiba.
3284267 Oh god I hate when Windows dumps 30 updates on me all in one big bukkake blast.
Lol! I've just been setting them to install when I go to work so that I don't have to deal with them.
3284311 Thing is, I tend to find out Windows has taken a massive update shit on me when I'm shutting down for the night. At 1am. And want to go to bed. And Windows insists on restarting. Which means I have to sit through the whole fucking thing so I can restart and then shut down.
That happened to me the first couple times, but then I learned to expect it and just put it in sleep mode overnight.
3284333 I stopped using sleep mode the second day I had this PC because for some reason my PC doesn't like to wake UP from sleep mode. So I either just leave it on or shut it down...I have an All-In-One, so it doesn't use very much power if left on overnight, so I generally just mute the speakers, turn off the mouse and keyboard, and leave it be.
3284335 Honestly, I do that often too. Mine doesn't like to wake up if it's turned off at all. I have to unscrew the battery and remove it, then replace it after thirty seconds just to turn the damn thing on. It makes me reset the time and date each time as well.
3284357 Ugh.
3284363 Yeah... Never buy a Toshiba.
3284046
Probably the same place that Windows 1 through 6 went between Windows Vista and Win 8.
I got the 'good news' last night, when I didn't even know I reserved an upgrade. Oh well, that stupid laptop was already pretty out of sorts, so what harm could Windows 10 do?
3284369 I have a toshiba and it works fine.
3284471 Windows 1 through 3 were before Windows 3.1. Windows 4 through 6 had fancy names like XP, ME, Vista, etc. (along with a couple that were named for their release year) From what I've heard they skipped 9 because of some programs sensing the version of Windows they're run on using the first character and identifying any version that starts with a 9 as either 95 or 98.
3284267
3284277
That is nothing. Try somewhere around 200 updates.
3284471 You mean Windows 1, Windows 2, Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows XP?
Ahh, young people and their not knowing anything about anything...
3284582 3284652 I kinda/sorta meant that as a joke, guys.
Hence the rainbow laughing smiley.
But thank you for correcting me on that.
I kinda forgot about all that, actually.
My rememberibles (as my Granny Johnson used to call them) ain't what they used to be, sadly.
And I've had ME and XP both on a couple of my comps.
Win 8 or 8.1, I won't get into.
Blech.
Not gonna lie, that kind of creeps me out a bit.
3284965 Eh, it's Microsoft.
3284680 Yeah, I had to install a third party "plug-in" for Windows Explorer/File Explorer/Internet Explorer to give myself a proper Start Menu in both 8 and 8.1.
3285114 Yeah, same here.
They're both just so darned frustrating!
That's kinda why, once I get my desktop PC fixed and back up and running, I'm going to upgrade it from Win XP to Win 10.
(And pray that it's as good as XP.)
3284680
3285114 You know, I really don't get all the hate for Windows 8.1 Just because it's different from what you're used to? Because the Metro UI really isn't that different from the classic Start Menu. In fact, it can actually be BETTER if you spend an hour or two tweaking it. You just have to learn how to work with i. I'm actually going to miss the Metro UI because I've learned how to use it to quickly access all the apps I use on a regular basis. And let's be honest--the Start Menu gets cluttered uup with crap you NEVER use.
Say I want to open GIMP. I tap Start, tap GIMP on the Metro UI, and GIMP opens on the Desktop. Two taps, easy peasy. No hunting for it, no opening folders in the Start menu, just two taps and I'm going.
I'll actually kind of miss that, but I'm still upgrading...I'm just not in any huge hurry to. I want to enjoy my last days with Windows 8.1, which I've enjoyed using more than any Windows version before it.
3285179 You liked the Start Screen thing? Well worry not, with Windows 10 there's a mini version of it built into the new Start Menu for you to use.
My problem with the Start Screen was that it was pretty much entirely built around being used via touch screen, a feature my computer doesn't have, and this caused a humongous amount of wasted screen space. Not to mention every time you pulled up the Metro UI stuff some older desktop apps, especially those made back in the 95/98 days, had a tendency to crash. Then at least the handful of Metro UI apps I used (mostly the Netflix app and a Twitch viewing app) would always go back to their main menu every time you alt-tabbed over to a standard desktop app thus forcing you to completely reload your video when you came back, which can take a fair while when you're on a 1.5 Mb/s connection like I usually am. Here's hoping the Metro UI apps in Windows 10 get a window like the settings that were in Metro UI on Windows 8/8.1 do.
3285179 I didn't necessarily hate hate it; it was just really frustrating for me to use where several things were concerned when I had it (them) on my HP convertible laptop before it went kablooey last year.
And I don't think that I ever found the Metro UI thing when my HP was still working.
3285199 Fair points all. One counterpoint: I have a touchscreen PC, but I use my mouse more often than I use my touchscreen, and I have zero issues using the mouse with the Metro UI.
Of course, that's soon to be a moot point...
My Brother updated his machine and it became inoperable.
He was forced to format it and reboot windows 7.
I'm thinking I'll avoid getting windows 10 personally.
3288647 A very small percentage of machines have this happen. Most upgraded machines perform smoothly.
Did he wait for the official notice to upgrade, or did he force the upgrade? That's a big factor in what happened.
3288738
Dunno. He clicked on the little Windows icon on the bottom toolbar that says 'Get Windows 10' and followed from there.