Here are the features that will no longer work when you upgrade to Windows 10

Neowin ^ | June 3, 2015 | Steven Parker

[dayglored]

ollowing the exciting news that Windows will be free for everyone currently on Windows 7 or 8.1, providing they upgrade within the first year, users should also be aware of a few features that will no longer work with Windows 10 after that upgrade.

The features that will no longer work are taken from the official specifications page on Microsoft's Windows website, and reproduced below. The good news is that in some cases alternatives are available.

• If you have Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Ultimate, Windows 8 Pro with Media Center, or Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center and you install Windows 10, Windows Media Center will be removed.

• Watching DVDs requires separate playback software

• Windows 7 desktop gadgets will be removed as part of installing Windows 10.

• Windows 10 Home users will have updates from Windows Update automatically available. Windows 10 Pro and Windows 10 Enterprise users will have the ability to defer updates.

• Solitaire, Minesweeper, and Hearts Games that come pre-installed on Windows 7 will be removed as part of installing the Windows 10 upgrade. Microsoft has released our version of Solitaire and Minesweeper called the “Microsoft Solitaire Collection” and “Microsoft Minesweeper.”

• If you have a USB floppy drive, you will need to download the latest driver from Windows Update or from the manufacturer's website.

• If you have Windows Live Essentials installed on your system, the OneDrive application is removed and replaced with the inbox version of OneDrive.

...

[SkyDancer]

No, you had it right the first time. LOL

[Calvin Locke]

Well, except The Blue Man Group.

FYI, The Blue Meanies in The Beatles' Yellow Submarine movie predate BMG.

[dayglored]

> No doubt there will be EULA’s (End User Licensing Agreement) and you’ll have an opportunity to opt out if you wish.

Good point. Fingers crossed for SkyDancer.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

You don’t have to install Win 10 when it’s available. You have a year and they claim that registering now doesn’t commit you to the upgrade.

[sparklite2]

You should have received a confirmation email from MS stating,

You’ve just reserved your free upgrade using the “Get Windows 10” app. You can also use the app to confirm the reservation, check to see if your device is compatible with Windows 10, and un-reserve if you wish to cancel your reservation prior to your Windows 10 upgrade.

As I recall the instructions for unreserving were in the instructions for how to reserve. I realize that may not be much help, but now you know there is a way to do it. Try googling “unreserve windows 10.”

[shibumi]

Well, as long as it’s nostalgia time...

I once advanced to level 18 on Tetris, using the original Nintendo with one of those “arrow key and button” controllers.

Haven’t played a video game since.

[SkyDancer]

Came back with the same answer I got from MS. At least they’ll ask first if you want to install.

[4rcane]

its free upgrade for 1st year, so why not. 2nd year you’ll have to pay. Those people who say they won’t update unless force to, must be rich, willing to pay when you could get it free

[dayglored]

> FYI, The Blue Meanies in The Beatles' Yellow Submarine movie predate BMG.

True, but I've seen the Blue Man Group in person. Blue Meanies.... well I thought I saw them once, but then I sobered up.

[SkyDancer]

Thanks - feel better about it.

[__rvx86]

Yes, but it will be like Windows 8.x--you have to look up the error codes in BUGCODES.H (in the Windows Driver Kit), since it only tells you the symbol.

(Tip: The error code 3735936685-DEADDEAD_hex corresponds to a deliberate system crash—its symbol is MANUALLY_INITIATED_CRASH or MANUALLY_INITIATED_CRASH1, on Windows 8.1)

[Paladin2]

A good tatoo with liquid paint standing waves and plenty of spatter will transform the BSOD experience.

[SkyDancer]

Thanks - will let you all know. I use my CD to review flight plans and aviation stuff and accordingly MS 10 will make me buy a program to let me do that. Also I like watching movies on my PC and MS 10 will prevent me from doing that.

[__rvx86]

Unfortunately, doing so requires a PS/2 or AT-style keyboard, since the only way to manually trigger a core-dump without an external debugging console is through a syscall to KeBugCheck(Ex) inside the i8042prt driver—most keyboards now are USB, this is a different driver: kbdhid.

[DaxtonBrown]

I’m starting to computer shop now. I’m going Linux, my webserver is already there. All my critical aps now work on Linux, so buh bye microsoft.

[__rvx86]

For the same money that my parents paid for a decent computer in 2003 (~$1600), I could get a high-end gaming computer, and maybe have a little left over.

I never imagined computing power to ever be so cheap—even though I have fully understood the implications of Moore’s Law for quite a while...

[dayglored]

> its free upgrade for 1st year, so why not. 2nd year you’ll have to pay. Those people who say they won’t update unless force to, must be rich, willing to pay when you could get it free

Well, look at it this way.

• I have a Win7 system, and I have some space on an external hard disk.

• I make a full disk image of my Win7 system so I can restore it exactly.

• I then allow the FREE Win10 upgrade to take place on my system.

• I make a separate full disk image of the upgraded Win10 system.

• I restore the saved Win7 image and run Win 7 for the next however many years.

• When I decide I'm ready to run Win10, I restore the saved upgraded Win10 system.

• I let Microsoft push all the accumulated security patches to the machine, since it's possibly years behind.

• Bingo!

I'm running Win10 on MY schedule, not Microsoft's.

[Norm Lenhart]

I’d love linux but the software I use (and hardware/drivers) doesn’t have a mirror/comparable app on Linux. I looked. I wish they did. I would switch quickly just to avoid future grief.

I’m just glad I don’t have to suffer with Vista or something equally bad. Like a Mac ;)

[Paladin2]

I have totally avoided 8 after working on a friends new laptop to transfer previous files to the new unit. Though I currently use a hand me down Vista d/t for surfing, the lab continues to consider XP Pro to be state of the art. Plenty of old hardware is used with win 98 and less. Word processing using contemporary s/w on some end of development 486 hardware is quick, quick, quick.

[Scrambler Bob]

Will the BSOD still work? —

Probably not backwards compatible.

You will be charged extra for it.