I'm running Windows 7 Pro without issue(s)--and don't want complications or frustrations. A bit slower-but steady- is fine for me. Are there real improvements to be gained? Thanks. Pete
It would all depend on some of the programs you are using on your W7 right now. I have a desktop with W7 that I use older versions of Photoshop on and refuse to upgrade to W10 because I'm not sure if the older programs will still work. I have a laptop I use strictly as a music server for my CA, and I can assure you that W10 is much better for audio than W8.1. If you plan on using it for a music server, make sure the programs you use now will work on W10. I use JRivers 20, and it works fine.
All my home laptops and 1 desktop were upgraded to Windows 10 and I loaded some older software like the proprietary Nikon Capture NX2 on it. It is working fine without issues. I really like the speed of this OS compared to the previous versions. As of now - no complaints.
I really like Windows 10 much better than 8.1 and 7. To me it's speedier than the older Windows and it has a cleaner looking interface. I know that improvements were made to audio core over Windows 8 and 7 but I still prefer to run audio out via WASAPI if I'm listening via J. River or ASIO if I'm editing audio inside Sound Forge 11.
10 is definitely is more compatible with Sound Forge than 8.. I had major problems trying to run Sound Forge 11 on Windows 8.1 but 10 fixed my issues.
After major updates on the Fast Ring it does seem to always want to take over file associations back to the Windows default programs. This is easily rectified in the Default Programs option within the Control Panel.
I like 10's File Explorer better than 8 especially when copying large files. There's more info presented about the transfers anticipated duration and the transfer data rate speed.
Also Steakster, Did you do a Clean Install or just did an upgrade? I suggest, if possible, do a Clean Install. That way all the bloatware is gone and you will see a huge improvement in performance. Make sure your have the "keys" for all your softwares before you do a clean install. Also take a backup of your "My Document" folder. Create a directory on the C:\ and put the files there, because My Document gets wiped off, but the new folder on the C:\ will remains, even if you do Clean install.
It doesn't matter if you do a clean install, the bloatware is still there. The only way to get a true clean install is to buy a retail copy of Windows. If you use anything supplied by whoever makes the computer, you get the bloatware along with the OS. The only option is to manually uninstall anything you don't want.
Steakster, assuming as I would expect that Windows 10 has a task manager function (which is taskmgr.exe in Windows 7), open it and under the "processes" tab see what process or processes have high CPU utilization percentages indicated. If the fan is running full speed all the time chances are it means that some process is imposing a heavy workload on the CPU.
Regarding doing a clean install of Windows 10, until the feature described in the "Device Activation Improvements" paragraph which appears about 2/3 of the way down on this page is officially released (which I don't think has happened yet) Windows 7 activation keys will not work for purposes of activating Windows 10. Although, apparently, once the free upgrade from 7 to 10 is performed on a given computer, and 10 is activated on that computer over the Internet, 10 can THEN be cleanly installed on that computer, and it will activate with no key required.
Also, after upgrading be sure to go through the privacy-related settings in 10, and change the default settings as described in many articles that can be found on the web. A lot of those settings are, um, objectionable, including one which allows Microsoft to use your computer to distribute patches and updates to other computers via the Internet.
ZD, good point, but I believe that clean installation media can be created by downloading Windows 10 via this page. And if 7 has already been upgraded to 10 and 10 has been activated on the particular machine, per my comments above installing from that medium should make possible a true clean install.
P.S: See the section toward the bottom of this page entitled "How to perform a clean installation of Windows," which appears to confirm my previous comments. See particularly the note below item 5.
ZD, The clean install can be done by creating the "media" on USB, as Al mentioned and provided you the link. Your clean install should remove all bloatware. If a user did clean install and that did not take care of your bloatware, then the user did something wrong. I have done clean install on 4 machines till date and none of them have bloatware. Look into REGEDIT and Control Panel -> Programs....that should tell you what you have and don't. Good luck.
I didn't realize you were talking about the upgrade to 10 that Microsoft offers. I thought you were doing a reinstall with the media that comes with a PC. You would still get the bloat if you did it that way.
I haven't done the upgrade myself because I prefer to start with a fresh copy. But if anyone is, you might want to read this first.
This guy writes the best how to guides I've ever seen. He covers everything, takes nothing for granted and writes in a way that anyone can easily follow. Even if you're an advanced user, you still may get some very useful tips.
ZD, thanks very much for the nice words, and for providing the link. It reinforces the feelings I've had that in my case, at least, there's no reason to "upgrade" from Windows 7 to 10. (To put that into context, I should add that I don't use computers for audio).
If I do eventually decide to give 10 a try, though, I'll probably multiboot it with 7. I use the Terabyte Unlimited programs for multibooting as well as for disk imaging, which have worked very well for me. In contrast to the dual boot provisions that have been built into some Microsoft OS's, the Terabyte Unlimited boot manager allows multiple OS's to be completely independent of each other, and to be hidden from each other.
Thanks Steakster. I'm not sure what you mean by i7. I'm using an older Thinkpad,probably 5 years, with Windows 7 Professional and there's a sticker that Intel Core i5-I guess mine is older again?
Pete (Ptss), i7, i5, and also i3 refer to different series of Intel CPU chips. Various versions of each series have existed since around 2010 for laptop applications, and since slightly before that for desktop applications. Each series has evolved through several progressively more powerful generations during those years, the latest generation being referred to as "Skylake," or as "6th generation core processors." (I believe, though, that large scale introduction of Skylake-based laptops may still be a few months off).
While within each of the three series a number of different speed ratings and other parameter differences exist, as a general rule of thumb the i7's tend to be more powerful than the i5's, which in turn tend to be more powerful than the i3's. Although in general faster speeds and greater computing power correspond (within a given generation) to more heat being generated, which can rule out the use of many high powered CPUs in a small laptop, and to shorter battery run-times.
Regarding the issues Steakster reported in his last post, my guess is that the problems are driver-related. It's not uncommon for HP and other manufacturers to not release driver updates that would make older computers compatible with new versions of Windows. As well as for the drivers that are built into a new version of Windows to not be compatible with older computers. In the case of laptops, I've found both situations to be particularly true when it comes to graphics/video drivers.
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