• We should now be fully online following an overnight outage. Apologies for any inconvenience, we do not expect there to be any further issues.

Classic theme on windows 10

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

bruceb

Diamond Member
Aug 20, 2004
8,874
111
106
You have your opinion, but it is close enough to my XP Desktop in look and start menu functionality. As to Windows 8 --- forget it. My laptop had it on it and it was Garbage .. at least Win 10 is tolerable --- but I do not like updates being done without being told what they are for or given the chance to opt out of some of them. For that you need Win 10 Pro or Enterprise.
 

lupi

Lifer
Apr 8, 2001
32,539
260
126
I don't particularly like the win10 start menu, but it is better than 8 and now that I know how it works I can manage to use it good enough that it isn't painful.
 

BonzaiDuck

Lifer
Jun 30, 2004
16,636
2,029
126
Originally Posted by xpclient
Everyone is staying on Windows 7 or 8.


Not even close to being true.

It was maybe 2 years ago that a survey taken here on the forums suggested that 60% of either enthusiasts or members were "hanging with Windows 7."

I know an retired electronics tech who buys and refurbishes older surplus machines, including laptops and netbooks. Only a fraction of his systems-in-use are configured with Win 7: he still uses XP on many of them.

But I see it as a balance. it's eventually necessary to "move up." This time, I have all but one of our household systems dual-booting Win7/Win10. You can't pass up the freebie.

So after they offered the freebie, I agree -- not even close to being true.

I've talked to mainstreamers who aren't just rushing out to buy new computers, either for the hardware upgrade or the OS. But they've all taken the bait, and upgraded to Win10.
 

nemesismk2

Diamond Member
Sep 29, 2001
4,810
5
76
www.ultimatehardware.net
just got my copy of windows 7 so it can use updates again so i am keeping windows 7 until the end in 2020. i also have a copy of windows xp which i still use sometimes for software which doesn't work with windows 7.
 
Last edited:

BonzaiDuck

Lifer
Jun 30, 2004
16,636
2,029
126
just got my copy of windows 7 so it can use updates again so i am keeping windows 7 until the end in 2020. i also have a copy of windows xp which i still use sometimes for software which doesn't work with windows 7.

For the Win 7, I won't argue, but I can't see why you don't do a clean install of Windows 10, even by temporarily swapping out the Win 7 disk for a bare-metal for the Win10 install. Use the Win7 product-key to activate the Win10, and swap the win 7 drive back in. On mine, I just made space for a separate boot volume of Win10 so I can dual boot to either.

You could even do the install that way, saving the installation media on USB, and then wipe the HDD/SSD after activation. From that point on, you wouldn't have a problem ever doing a clean install of the Win 10 from the USB and re-entering the Win 7 product key. But you want to activate it now -- before the deadline of "free Win 10."

That way, you won't have to purchase it for that particular machine when you decide to change up. of course, the machine could be so old, you might not even anticipate ever using Win10 on it, but I wouldn't pass up a freebie, nevertheless.
 

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
70,612
13,816
126
www.anyf.ca
Classic theme? Like, straight-from-the-90s Windows 95 look?

....Why?

Because it looks better and is cleaner, more crisp and more space efficient. The newer themes suck. XP and 7 I could tolerate if I was stuck with it, but 8/10 is horrid. There's no borders, everything is just white and big, lot of empty space, the text is hard to read, etc. The win 10 theme actually reminds me of those fake AV programs, it's really "spammy" looking, if that makes sense. But it's not just the fact that it's ugly but the fact that stuff is just hard to read/see because it's just a mix of white and grey.
 

nerp

Diamond Member
Dec 31, 2005
9,865
105
106
The people saying they'll run Windows 7 until 2020. Ahahaha. Yeah, right. Just wait until that great new game doesn't work. Or that new video card just ain't never gettin' a Win 7 driver. :) The same sort of nonsense was ranted on back when XP came out. When 7 came out. yes, we all agree Windows 8 was terrible on many fronts. But Windows 10 is it. Better performance, better security, fully supported and can take advantage of the latest hardware.
 

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
70,612
13,816
126
www.anyf.ca
Hopefully hardware manufacturers realize people hate 10 and they'll continue to support 7 for a while. But yeah eventually windows users won't really have a choice. I use Linux on my machine at home, though I know I'm going to start running into windows 10 machines that I have to support and/or setup so may as well get familiar with some of the programs to make it better.
 

SparkyJJO

Lifer
May 16, 2002
13,357
7
81
Just don't be "that guy" who makes it to your own liking not the owner's liking ;) I've run into people like that before and it is quite irritating. I've been asked several times to "put it back" after someone worked on something and changed settings/programs/etc that suited them but not the actual user of the PC.