I’m running W-7 and getting regular pop ups bugging me to upgrade to 10.
Now that it’s been out for a while and horror stories seems to be diminishing I’m tempted, but a little leary of reported spyware issues.
Not that it matters I suppose, as “Ivan” knows evrything I’m doing all the time, and so does any quasi competent hacker with the slightest bit of interest.
One thing that worries me is reports that 10 will seek out and destroy any non MS OS on the system - such as LINUX, which I have dual booted on to a partition on my HD. Is that so? I don’t want MS to hold a monopoly on my laptop.
Apparently i have to log in to my new install of w-10 with my system PW, which I’ve forgotten and can’t remember where I wrote it down. That might be a problem, eh?
I have not seen any reports that any ‘doze install wipes out Linux installs.
Unless you choose the “Use Entire Drive” option...
At the most all I have seen is ms change the bootscript so you no longer have the option of booting from your Linux partition. Most bootable Linux CDs/DVDs have a “reinstall” feature on the disk, and all you have to do is boot from the CD/DVD and select either “reinstall Linux” or “Repair Boot Partition”, depending upon the distro.
This option rewrites the boot script and you can then dual-boot either Windows or Linux when you reboot.
I’ve made some tools to help put an end to this coerced Windows 10 installation nonsense. They can be downloaded from here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_hrA7ihzIPlVXpRUnJyc1AyNkU/view
The three included tools uninstall the Windows 10 nagware and the Microsoft “telemetry” (spyware) “updates” from Windows 7 and Windows 8.x Operating Systems if they are installed, prevent the updates from being reinstalled, and remove the Windows 10 installer folder $WINDOWS.~BT if it is present.
These tools must be run from an account with Administrative privilege, which is the case (unfortunately) for most accounts. They can also be run from a non-Administrator account by right-clicking them and then left-clicking on “Run as Administrator”.
The tools are most effective when run in the following order:
1. Prevent W10InstallationUAC.exe sets Microsoft Update to “manual only” mode and modifies a couple of registry variables that tell the OS to never allow a newer OS to be installed. This tool will run quickly unless you accept the optional request (recommended) to make a System Restore Point before the tool makes it changes, in which case the Restore Point will take a while to make.
Note that after this procedure finishes, no more Microsoft updates will be applied unless you manually request a check for updates and then decide which updates to accept, though making such decisons requires knowledge that the average user usually does not possess. However, for mature operating systems I personally believe that blindly accepting Microsoft updates at this juncture has more downsides than upsides.
(If y ou DO want to attempt to manually check for updates, you’ll first have to change the Windows Update setting from “Never Check for Updates” to “Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them” before you click the “Check for updates” button.)
2. Remov eW10NagwareTool.exe will remove a set of Microsoft updates that relate to Windows 10 nagware (”white flag”) popup, Microsoft spyware, and the Windows 10 installer itself if any of them have been installed. Detection and uninstallation can take a few minutes to complete.
If any of this set of updates is found, you’ll need to reboot the system.
It might als o be necessary to run this tool again after rebooting if the nagware update had previously been slated to be installed AGAIN, in which case after rebooting, you’ll STILL see the Windows 10 (”white flag”) nag. If that’s the case, just run this tool again and reboot again.
3. Finally, after you’re sure the Windows 10 nagware has been removed, run RemoveW10Folder.exe to detect and remove the Windows 10 install folder if it is found.
When the laptop arrived, it booted right up and I was able to quickly access the internet through my router, but, in playing around with WIN 2010, I decided I didn't like it at all. For one thing, you cannot do anything with it without having a MS email account, which I have never had and did not want, but the bizarre thing was that my other computers could no longer access the internet through my wireless network! A you might imagine, my husband was NOT happy!
The next day, I called the IT department at the community college where I work. The techs had not seen this happen before, but one did mention that he had heard WIN 2010 was not compatible with some routers. I decided to just replace it with 2007, and, as soon as I did, my husband could access the internet. His laptop is a Dell and my others are Compacts. Although they did not immediately start working, the tech said to try deleting my home network from the laptop and allowing it to "find" the network again which worked perfectly.
Someone who is less technologically challenged than I would probably love 2010, but, my brief experience with it was not a good one!