Win 7 or 10?

[Mem]

I don't like that you can't personalize much of anything on Windows 10. I work part time at a computer repair place so I've had plenty of experiences with it. Didn't really mind it at all so I decided to install it on my computer at home. I'm not an early adopter. I always wait to see what things look like after the initial hype dies down. But I immediately became very frustrated with the new Start menu. The straw that broke the camels back and sent me back to Windows 7 was the fact that Microsoft has decided for me that the entire alphabet needs to be in the Programs list in gigantic font making scrolling required. I know it's for making jumping to letters "easier", but it literally creates the problem it attempts to solve. I wouldn't have to scroll if those letters weren't there, and I don't need a giant letter telling me what letter a word starts with.

You remember when users were bitching about lack of Start menu in Win8, well Microsoft made one in Win10 and some people are still not happy, fact is it's not hard to customise your favourite programs etc, something I've been doing since Win95 days.

Even if you hate it, takes five mins to download ClassicShell or whatever Start menu you like on the net for your Win10, if you are repairing a PC well that comes with the job so you just have to adapt to the OS in question.

You can't please everybody out there, personally I'm glad they moved away from the generic Win95 to Win7 look and changed the UI a little more.
I'm also glad they kept the Win8 shortcut( ie Win+X menu) which I use all the time on 10 ie right click on start button.

 

[Nashemon]

You remember when users were bitching about lack of Start menu in Win8, well Microsoft made one in Win10 and some people are still not happy, fact is it's not hard to customise your favourite programs etc, something I've been doing since Win95 days.

Even if you hate it, takes five mins to download ClassicShell or whatever Start menu you like on the net for your Win10, if you are repairing a PC well that comes with the job so you just have to adapt to the OS in question.

You can't please everybody out there, personally I'm glad they moved away from the generic Win95 to Win7 look and changed the UI a little more.
I'm also glad they kept the Win8 shortcut( ie Win+X menu) which I use all the time on 10 ie right click on start button.

Yep, I remember the complaints. I was one of them. Still do. Will until the day I die. Windows 8 is an abomination of a desktop OS. I'm sure it was a fantastic tablet OS. I never used it that way, though.

But I agree with the Win+X menu. Whoever thought of that earns my praise. I absolutely love it that it contains an option for shutdown/restart so I never have to access the "Charms" (ugh) bar for anything ever again.

 

[bystander36]

I don't like that you can't personalize much of anything on Windows 10. I work part time at a computer repair place so I've had plenty of experiences with it. Didn't really mind it at all so I decided to install it on my computer at home. I'm not an early adopter. I always wait to see what things look like after the initial hype dies down. But I immediately became very frustrated with the new Start menu. The straw that broke the camels back and sent me back to Windows 7 was the fact that Microsoft has decided for me that the entire alphabet needs to be in the Programs list in gigantic font making scrolling required. I know it's for making jumping to letters "easier", but it literally creates the problem it attempts to solve. I wouldn't have to scroll if those letters weren't there, and I don't need a giant letter telling me what letter a word starts with.

The whole scrolling thing shouldn't be something you need to do often. It's primarily only needed when first setting up a new program you use, or using something you hardly ever use. Everything used often goes into the "pin to start" area. Interesting note, you can click on one of those letters in the menu, and it brings up an alphabet you can click on to go directly to the letter you are looking for. There probably is a better short cut I'm not aware of.

The biggest complaint I had was that somethings won't pin to start. I had to learn a work around for Steam games. Now that I have a folder setup to handle the exceptions, it's easy to do.

 

[Stuka87]

No way I could go back to 7 on my daily systems after using 10. Too many features I use in 10 that are not in 7. Plus 10 just runs faster on my systems.

There are a few dislikes about 10, but I have other dislikes about 7.

 

[jlee]

The whole scrolling thing shouldn't be something you need to do often. It's primarily only needed when first setting up a new program you use, or using something you hardly ever use. Everything used often goes into the "pin to start" area. Interesting note, you can click on one of those letters in the menu, and it brings up an alphabet you can click on to go directly to the letter you are looking for. There probably is a better short cut I'm not aware of.

The biggest complaint I had was that somethings won't pin to start. I had to learn a work around for Steam games. Now that I have a folder setup to handle the exceptions, it's easy to do.

I don't have a ton of applications installed anymore - there are only a few that I use regularly, and those I generally run by Winkey + typing the first few letters of the application name and hitting enter. It's faster than Start -> Programs -> locate folder -> Expand folder -> click program.

 

[Craig234]

then saw this and understood exactly what he (and millions of others) don't like about it...

Yikes. That looks terrible.

 

[Mem]

Yikes. That looks terrible.

As I stated plenty of Start menus(free and paid for Win10).

ClassicShell http://www.classicshell.net/gallery/Classic-Shell-4

Start10 https://www.stardock.com/products/start10/

Startisback http://startisback.com/

 

[jlee]

As I stated plenty of Start menus(free and paid for Win10).

ClassicShell http://www.classicshell.net/gallery/Classic-Shell-4

Start10 https://www.stardock.com/products/start10/

Startisback http://startisback.com/

Or, right-click and:

 

[Newbian]

Classic shell is all you need to make the start menu normal and it's been around for a long time so people complaining about it in win 10 are just too lazy to fix it.

My kitty background:

 

[Mem]

Or, right-click and:

Plenty of options, point being it's not a big issue, personally I don't mind the default Win10 Start menu, I have my favourites pinned on the menu and it takes me where I need to go quick enough.

There are even more Start menus out there if some people bother to search.

 

[HumblePie]

I've been using 10 in my comps since I could get the free upgrade. I had a couple of hiccups, but it has overall run smoother than 7, 8, and 8.1 for me.

The biggest fix for me with windows 10 versus the previous 3 OS upgrades was the fixes for file sharing for intranet networking and the homegroup fixes. Windows 7 is still very buggy with homegroup and sharing across different devices. Sometimes various other devices can see the media on the windows 7 machine and other times it would be dropped. Then it was a pain in the ass to reset stuff over again to get things to see each other properly on the network again.

Windows 10 has no such issues that I had with the other 3 when it came to networking sharing bugs.

That alone made it worth the upgrade for me.

But since this is the gaming forum and not the OS forum, I'll bring this post back on track. You won't lose any performance in gaming with windows 10 over 7. You may gain some performance, especially with DX12 when that is implement in more games. Also with some hardware configurations you'll see various performance gains for gaming with Windows 10 over 7. Again you won't lose any performance though.

 

[ControlD]

Well when it comes to swapping personal anecdotes, I know several friends & family who've hated the "feel" of it and asked for help reverting, even with Classic Start Menu installed. One described it as a "advertising billboard with an OS tacked on..." I laughed at his 'exaggeration', then saw this and understood exactly what he (and millions of others) don't like about it...

Why are they running Windows 10 in tablet mode (assuming this is a desktop system)? I have honestly never seen that screen on my desktop and I have been running Win10 since the pre-release was available.

Edit:

Maybe that isn't tablet mode. Still looks weird though.

 

[escrow4]

No reason not to. You can use any old Win 7/8/8.1 keys you have lying around for 10 now. Generally I always run the latest version of Windows. Never liked running deprecated OSs. That said Win 10 is increasingly ad/commercialized based and its meh.

EDIT: Local prices:

Win 7 Pro OEM: $189

Win 8.1 Retail: $119

Win 10 OEM 64 bit Home: $139

Win 10 Retail 32/64 bit USB: $142

 

[bystander36]

Why are they running Windows 10 in tablet mode (assuming this is a desktop system)? I have honestly never seen that screen on my desktop and I have been running Win10 since the pre-release was available.

Edit:

Maybe that isn't tablet mode. Still looks weird though.

I actually use the big screen tile mode. It goes away when you open the application or click start, leaving me at a normal desktop. You just have to rearrange the tiles.

 

[XavierMace]

I've upgraded to 10 on my primary desktop, spare desktop, HTPC, and tablet. I have no incentive to go back to 8.1 to say nothing of 7. Upgraded my parents desktop and laptop to 10 as well. Only thing they've had issues with was Kaspersky and some POS PopCap games my mom's been playing forever. Good riddance to them, gave her a link to similar games online for free.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Yikes. That looks terrible.

Yeah cause apparently people don't know hoe to use the "unpin from start" command.

 

[ImpulsE69]

Yeah cause apparently people don't know hoe to use the "unpin from start" command.

The majority of people don't. You know, the whole reason MS is trying to tell everyone what they want, because they are too dumb to figure it out themselves. They are banking that people don't know any better. (like apple and google)

 

[Mem]

The majority of people don't. You know, the whole reason MS is trying to tell everyone what they want, because they are too dumb to figure it out themselves. They are banking that people don't know any better. (like apple and google)

They have it too easy nowadays.

I remember the old days on DOS where I had to learn how to remap memory just to play a game and all those DOS commands (all trial and error with no net connection or Google search engine back then)slightly ironic now that it's way too easy in modern Windows and yet some people still find it hard or a challenge, I don't think they can dumb down Windows much more.

Gaming can't get much easier that's for sure.

Side note: Maybe every PC user should spend six months on DOS then they will appreciate the ease of modern Windows .

 

[Nashemon]

The whole scrolling thing shouldn't be something you need to do often. It's primarily only needed when first setting up a new program you use, or using something you hardly ever use. Everything used often goes into the "pin to start" area. Interesting note, you can click on one of those letters in the menu, and it brings up an alphabet you can click on to go directly to the letter you are looking for. There probably is a better short cut I'm not aware of.

The biggest complaint I had was that somethings won't pin to start. I had to learn a work around for Steam games. Now that I have a folder setup to handle the exceptions, it's easy to do.

You are correct. It's not something I need to do often. I didn't make it too far past the first day with the OS, though, so I was using it pretty often. I spent several hours trying to figure out what I could and couldn't do to make the Start menu work like I wanted. FYI, I'm not attached to Windows 7's start menu either. There are things I don't like about it's default either, but there are options to customize it that are built into the OS. I don't need some 3rd party tool using up my processor just to make a functional navigation menu, but I installed one on my mother's computer and it does resolve her complaints about it too.

And yeah, I'm aware of what the letters are for and what they do. My problem is that they are ginormous, and force the list to be twice as long as it should be. Put them in small font at the top of the list, and that will solve one of the many problems I have. The only excuse for the letters being as big as they are is to make it convenient for tablet users fingers. I so can't wait for the tablet fad to end (again).

Thing is, I don't like Microsoft telling me how to use my computer, or forcing me to use it a certain way. I personally put applications into folders for their purpose (Video Editing Software, Audio Editing Software, File Management Software, Playback Software, Games, etc). In Windows 7 I can do all of this from within the Start Menu (create folder, drag icons in). In Windows 10, you can't do anything. you have to find the folder that contains the programs list, then gain rights to it, then add the folder there, and then create shortcuts manually.

 

[CPA]

I've been using 10 in my comps since I could get the free upgrade. I had a couple of hiccups, but it has overall run smoother than 7, 8, and 8.1 for me.

The biggest fix for me with windows 10 versus the previous 3 OS upgrades was the fixes for file sharing for intranet networking and the homegroup fixes. Windows 7 is still very buggy with homegroup and sharing across different devices. Sometimes various other devices can see the media on the windows 7 machine and other times it would be dropped. Then it was a pain in the ass to reset stuff over again to get things to see each other properly on the network again.

Windows 10 has no such issues that I had with the other 3 when it came to networking sharing bugs.

That alone made it worth the upgrade for me.

But since this is the gaming forum and not the OS forum, I'll bring this post back on track. You won't lose any performance in gaming with windows 10 over 7. You may gain some performance, especially with DX12 when that is implement in more games. Also with some hardware configurations you'll see various performance gains for gaming with Windows 10 over 7. Again you won't lose any performance though.

Ok, this may be the post that makes me switch.

Still have some concerns with privacy, however.

 

[TheSlamma]

After that last massive patch 10 finally seems to be where it should have been at release, I would move onto that.

 

[wanderer27]

Yeah, but what about all the Spyware BS M$ has put into 10?

Too much Big Brother for my liking at the moment . . .



.

 

[Newbian]

Yeah, but what about all the Spyware BS M$ has put into 10?

Too much Big Brother for my liking at the moment . . .



.

Disable it if you don't like it.

The ability had been posted before it was officially released.

 

[Craig234]

They have it too easy nowadays.

I remember the old days on DOS where I had to learn how to remap memory just to play a game and all those DOS commands (all trial and error with no net connection or Google search engine back then)slightly ironic now that it's way too easy in modern Windows and yet some people still find it hard or a challenge, I don't think they can dumb down Windows much more.

Gaming can't get much easier that's for sure.

Side note: Maybe every PC user should spend six months on DOS then they will appreciate the ease of modern Windows .

Oh man - IRQ's! config.sys and autoexec.bat and memory management software and...

 

[Craig234]

When I checked prices a month ago Win 7 was well under $100, now it's $120-$140, Win 10 actually goes on sale for $115 sometimes.