Computer Upgrade

In an evolving on-line environment, it's best to keep pace, your operating system and your browser are your principal interface tools...The new software is always a little shaky out of the gate, but generally speaking it is tweaked again and again until it's working well, or it's just abandoned....Win 10 in my experience works well....

https://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=10&qpcustomd=0

Yes, I'm well aware of Windows' market share. I'm also aware that Linux is gaining on it, enough to put Microsoft on notice.

Linux even didn't exist before 1991. By then Windows had six-year lead. OS X is based on BSD, a unix-like OS. For mobile/tablet market, Android has 63%, IOS 33% and Windows Phone 1.33%. Android is based on Linux. The desktop is declining. Linux is kicking arse in the right places, namely the Future.

I've been hearing that since, forever.....

Okay. Whatever. To each his own.

I upgraded to W10 about a year ago from W8 (which came with my current computer), and I haven't had any problems with it so far. I had no problem with the transition from XP or W7, although I have never tried many of the new features available in W10.

Oh, there's a lot of engineering development tools for free in linux platform. That is if you ever thirst an environment of continuous learning.

Like many I refuse to 'upgrade' to Win10. I am happy with Win7, and it runs programs that I use all the time that would probably not run on Win10.

If you can find a Win7 machine, consider buying it. For me, migrating from XP to Win7 was easy.

After a lot of gnashing of their teeth, MS has agreed to continue updates for Win7 through 2020.

That's interesting - I noted that no Windows 7 upgrades occurred for several months last year and I was thinking we had been abandoned. Then, low and behold they restarted. So now we have 3 years before the inevitable.

My desktop changed from Win8 to Win10 & my laptop from Win7 to Win10, both work without trouble. I didn't like the Win10 interface so I installed a programme which lets you have the old WinXP or Win7 interface.

My 3 machines were all Win7 machines. One became my emergency go to machine running linux and my laptop got the free upgrade to Win10. My main machine I've kept at Win7 because I just didn't want to deal with the Microsoft BS regarding privacy.

Unfortunately I've recently invested more than a minor amount of money to upgrade my Win7 machine for working with virtual reality and have found that much of the new development and production software only functions under Win10. Microsoft has changed many of the Windows subsystems enough that much sophisticated software is not being made backwards compatible.

It all depends on what you need to do. For email and web browsing I stick with Linux.

Hooker

Looks like the opinions are polarized. Sort of like penetrating oils--my favorite is XXXX and the rest aren't worth it! Win 10 has been working OK for me, but I ended up with LibreOffice because I couldn't afford MS Office when the computer had to be replaced.

I still have XP on my old Dell and haven't had a lick of problem since MS quit their support! In fact, it runs better than my windows 7 machine. And I haven't problems with hacker's, malware trojans or rootkits. All the nasty's left XP and moved on to W7, 8 and 10. Go figure

I think XP was their best OS all-around. Win 7 is a close second.

I think you are right.

"de-Celeron processor" Lol!

Yeah, like dial-up s - l - o - w.

You mean like my Internet connection? It makes dialup speeds look like a double-A fueler next to a shopping trolley.

For example, I tried to download the latest Linux Mint distro a couple of months ago. A big file, something around 1.2 GB. Initial estimated download time over my connection? 4 years 47 weeks. About twice Voyager 1's data rate from its 20-watt transmitter at 11.3 billion miles away. The Mars rover Curiosity has better Internet, literally. Welcome to state-of-the-art rural-Texas deadband broadband.

Just read the other day that my ISP upgraded to this new-fangled communication protocol called 'Morse code.'

I've been less than awed by my broadband experience right in metro D.C. area with my Triple Pay™ plan. Advertised numbers look nothing like reality.

Like 'mileage' stickers on new cars and glossy pix of Wendy's hamburgers. That 'milk' they show in breakfast-cereal TV adverts? Elmer's glue. Marketing success is simply a measure of who can lie most convincingly.

Even as a back woods North Dakota prairie dweller I have a 50/20 fiberoptic package.

50 Mbs down 20 Mbs up and most days the primary limit on my download speeds is dictated by whomever is sending whatever I wanted.

I pulled in X-Men Apocalypse at ~ 28 - 34 Mbs average the other night, ~5 Gb Torrent file, and that was because that's all the senders bandwidth could give me.

Oh go ahead, rub it in.

I can neither confirm nor deny on this question but I can tell you that I do not like W10 at all. I find it very cumbersome and have had trouble learning to use it. You would think that MS could have given us users a choice. I run 2 computers next to each other on the same table. One is W10 and is connected to the net and the other W7 and isolated from the net. This suits my purpose very well and though inconvenient when moving files from one to the other this is not a real problem. Hope this helps you.

"he hates anything MS with a passion"

Have loved every one of the Macs I have owned since '83 - 1st was a fat Mac, 512 kb -

one friend upset with me that I had not pushed him toward Macs, after he finally changed.

My 2ß

Ditto, except that it was '84. There was no Mac in '83 (except for a few dozen Apple employees).

I've met a number of people who have switched from Windows to Mac. I don't believe I've ever met, or even heard of, anyone who willingly abandoned Mac for Windows.

I know several who use Windows at work, and Mac at home.

"except that it was '84."

Oops, I sit corrected!

But still stand by everything else - ;-)

If you once decide to do such "crazy stuff like 3D printing" - do not go to Win10. MS thinks they have the full lead on your system and they give a shit what you are doing with it. They even define an "operation time frame" when you work. And this period can only be set to a duration of exact 12 hours! Outside that time period they assume - they have the right to restart your system according thier likeing.

So if you do the printing of a design for lets say 13 hours as this is a complex part and you are out to mind your other business and to let the PC do the thing. It might happen that they have download a minor update and then install it with some popping up warning that "they plan a reboot of your system in 10min!".

What happens if you are not at home? So they kick everything out - even your 3D print and reboot their crappy stuff. And you then you can kindly sratch all the uncompleted print from your hot plate and restart the 13hour print. And as the program is not correctly terminated, the nozzle heating is might be still on and burned plastic in your nozzel. And a pound of the filement will end in the scrap bin.

Keep at least your XP PC running and well maintained... do not go into the internet with this machine - and prevent it from the exposure to the nerds from Redwood. As I experienced this crashing of 3D prints already 3 times (happyly with less complex parts which printed in below an hour) - I was happy to have a good old WinXP laptop which is now solely dedicated to 3D printing. And an other one which takes care of my Laserprinter and 3 CAD mill.

Upgrading your old XP pc to Win7 is very doable... But depending on what you have inside, (hardware /software together), and how you use them you may encounter some issues? Device drivers for one, may need to be upgraded to match the new OS chosen. Which maybe a minor issue depending on the vintage of a particular hardware.. The amount and upgradeable capacity of RAM is another!

I encountered all the above when I upgraded to Win7 my old IBM T41 Thinkpad!

Thanks everybody for the help. A lot of comments so apologies for not replying to each.

Surprised to see the huge market share enjoyed by W7 in SolarEagle’s link #4. Tends to make me want to join the bandwagon!

I’m somewhat reassured about W10, though there still seem to be some who dislike it. On the subject of improvements to W10, I've never seen W10.1, W10.2 etc. Have MS abandoned that system?

Interested that dj95401 #14 says XP is now at lower risk of malware, as malware has moved on to W7 etc, but uli_newBuilder #21 advises not to connect it to the internet (presumably because of the risk).

Thanks again

If you go with W7, just make sure that the hardware is compatible with W10. M$ has ceased supporting some processor architectures.

That way, if you decide to go to W10 in the future, your machine is capable of handling the change.

I'm not running barefoot with my XP machine, I still use Norton and a couple of anti-malware programs. The only notifications I get anymore is when I go to a known/ questionable website.

"a known/ questionable website."

I have to admit that is a questionable website- a lot of nasty's hang out there!

Holy dead data Batman, I clicked your link and my Symantec Endpoint went ballistic!

Lol! Ikr? Every time I click on it, my antivirus sees Red

^_mond

Windows Defender didn't even blink. I wonder why???

Hooker

Mine didn't either. Have you checked its pulse?

Have you checked your bank account lately? Ain't noth'n for free anymore!

Due to a dying 8-yr old XP laptop whose manufacturer has left this planet for the big scrap yard/recycling depot in the sky, I had to get a new one. So Win10 it was. Sort of OK, lot to get used to, but you can figure it out. Just two issues:

1. There seems to be privacy settings you need to double-check - I have enough big brothers watching (says the man working on his work computer, mmm...). I mean, do you really need an internet connection to play Spider Solitaire?

2. My biggest frustration is that, if you're on a slow internet connection or expensive/limited data plan, you need to do a lot of adjustments right away to manage Win10's gargantun appetite for munching your precious bytes. My 1MB/s, 10GB/month "broadband" line settles around 500MB usually, and for the first 5-10 min or so after logging on it just chows your data and you cannot use the internet much. Hell, even Gmail hangs! A tad frustrating at times...

Win 10 works just fine on newer equipment with newer peripherals. Most of the issues come when people try to boot it into a older machine that doesn't have the cahoneys to drive W10 and all it features or they try to run out dated programs and peripherals. I know, its a pain but that old Canon BJC100 black and white ink jet is no longer supported and so it may work...kind of... but frankly you should have bought a new printer 10 years ago. LoL.

As for security, compare the EULA from Google to that of Microsoft and make your own decision. There is a lot of "False info" out there.

Windows 10 is stable and has just started rolling out the creators update which continues the process of smoothing out the experience.

I have W10 since its release and I am part of the insider test group. I run it on a new Dell all in one, (came with it) an older Lenovo desktop, an antique Fujitsu Tablet and a cheepo Walmart Nextbook 2 in 1 notebook and both my and the wifes phones. The only issue I have had is I have to uninstall Office in order to upgrade the notebook due to limited resident storage memory. I find that having all computers and devices communicating and sharing data instantly is pretty cool.

I, personally had a great experience with Windows 10 till now. You should go for W10.