Archive | Windows

Our beloved Start Menu is back in Windows 10. It may look a bit different though. The jarring changes between the desktop and metro interfaces from Windows 8 are gone, as metro app’s now run as a window on the desktop and can even be resized!

The Windows 10 calculator app is snappy and quite usable too! I for instance won’t miss the old one!

I have been using the Microsoft Windows 10 Technical Preview iterations as my daily driver on my desktop since January 2015 with no show stoppers. There were small niggles though, which is to be expected with pre-release software. I found Windows to be snappier and more response than Windows 7 on the same hardware.

As an additional bonus the Windows 10 upgrade will be free if you are running a legal copy of either Microsoft Windows 7 SP1 or Windows 8.1.

I think it will be a worthwhile upgrade – Reserve your copy of Windows 10 via the Windows 10 app.

Disclaimer: Your mileage may vary as it’s impossible to test all scenario’s.

I decided to take the plunge and install Microsoft Windows 10 Technical Preview on the computer I use daily. Three reasons:

Microsoft said Windows 10 will be a free upgrade for a year after release from Windows 7 and Windows 8 and 8.1.
It will not be necessary to do a clean install from the Technical Preview to the RTM version ( Released to Manufacturer)
I wanted to specifically see how well the upgrade worked from one operating system to another as it’s not a good idea to do an upgrade install as you usually just transfer all the issues to the new operating system.

I have been playing with the Technical Preview on a separate machine since it was made available last year to download. I found it to be very stable and snappy. When Microsoft released the Build 9926 I upgraded it on the machine. As I have not experienced any major problems and after reading What can I keep? there wasn’t anything I could not live with. When I discovered the upgrade can  be done from Windows Update it was a done thing. The article can be found here.

After making a backup image (clone) of my existing Windows 8.1 install and verification of the backup thereof I thus went and click the Start Upgrade now button. It downloads a file which you install and when done with it’s magic it asks you to restart your computer. When the computer booted back up I checked Windows Updates and the Windows 10 Technical Preview was offered as an upgrade. As it’s early in the month and a short one at 28 days with lots of ADSL data available I clicked the Install button to download about 2.8GB….

Naturally the download took it own sweet time – even on my 10Mbps ADSL line – when the download finished Windows Update started the install which again took a while and then ask for a restart.

After multiple reboots, and lots of message like installing hardware, settings things up, applying settings and then setting up some more eventually it booted to a screen where installing apps.

A few minutes later it booted to the desktop with everything seemingly intact. From clicking the Install button to a booted desktop it took approximately 4 hours – don’t be in a hurry ….

I found two problems – which was not unexpected:

The calculator was removed – fixed by downloading Old Calculator for Windows – the article can be found here.
I had to install my HP OfficeJet 4500 wireless printer and software – not an issue as the drivers I previously used for Windows 8 worked perfectly.

All in all it went smooth and better than I expected. I was over the moon when I found that I did not have to reinstall or mess with my bookkeeping program nor TeamViewer installation. It’s a lot less effort than a clean install, reinstall of all programs and the customizing of settings to one’s liking.

Please don’t do this at home nor work as you may not have such a smooth experience AND one don’t know yet what may go wrong in the future…