Topic: Windows 10 to be free upgrade for Win7/8 owners

[MysterD]

Yep. That's how I installed it on my system early.

That's what I thought.

You can use the Media Creation Tool for two tasks: Upgrade the current PC to Windows 10 or Download to ISO for Storage Media (USB or DVD).

Wait - I'm confused.
Can you install Media Creation tool on Win 7, 8, or 8.1?
Does that Media Creation tool work w/ Win 7, 8, or 8.1?

If you plug in a USB stick it can also download straight to it and automatically create a bootable USB installation for you. Pretty handy.

I used Free ISO Burner to create the ISO:
http://www.freeisoburner.com/

Easy + painless.

I used this b/c I was trying to avoid installing Win 10, for now.
I just wanted the W10 files, namely. I got a year to decide if I want to do it, on my 2 PC's (my Win 8.1 laptop + my Win 7 main gaming rig).

[Xessive]

Wait - I'm confused.
Can you install Media Creation tool on Win 7, 8, 8.1?
Does that Media Creation tool work w/ Win 7, 8, or 8.1?

Yeah, it is designed to either create media for an Installation of Windows 10 or to upgrade the PC it's used on to Windows 10. It would kinda defeat the purpose if it required Windows 10 to run.

I used Free ISO Burner to create the ISO:
http://www.freeisoburner.com/

Easy + painless.

If you're going to create a DVD then a burner is handy, although the Windows 7 and Windows 8 default burning tool gets the job done too.

I personally prefer USB installation since they have a faster transfer rate than optical discs. So An installation that would normally take 45-50 mins on a disc would take only about 20 mins from a USB.

[MysterD]

Yeah, it is designed to either create media for an Installation of Windows 10 or to upgrade the PC it's used on to Windows 10. It would kinda defeat the purpose if it required Windows 10 to run.
If you're going to create a DVD then a burner is handy, although the Windows 7 and Windows 8 default burning tool gets the job done too.

Good to know.

I personally prefer USB installation since they have a faster transfer rate than optical discs. So An installation that would normally take 45-50 mins on a disc would take only about 20 mins from a USB.

Hmmm. I probably could stick the Win 10 ISO on one of my external hard drives and boot off that if need be, eh?

[MysterD]

@Xessive

Hey, Xessive.
How are recent + modern games performing for you on your PC w/ Win 10?
Any issues or anything?

[Xessive]

Hmmm. I probably could stick the Win 10 ISO on one of my external hard drives and boot off that if need be, eh?

I'm not sure about a full drive. I think some devices can only boot from optical or flash media but not a portable hard drive. As long as you can boot from it, it shouldn't be a problem.

@Xessive

Hey, Xessive.
How are recent + modern games performing for you on your PC w/ Win 10?
Any issues or anything?

I'm still testing them out. I'll let you know how it goes.

[Cobra951]

Thanks, guys.

You have to have Win 7, 8, or 8.1 to be able to take the free upgrade.

And I do have access to one: my mom's.  I just don't want to bump her system past Win 7.  That's pretty close to the XP she'd used to.  You would not believe how difficult it is to get her to learn something new about computers.  Given how intelligent, lucid and accomplished she is at her age, I can only conclude she's being obstinate rather than dense--like me learning how to cook.  (Ain't happening.)

[Xessive]

Thanks, guys.

And I do have access to one: my mom's.  I just don't want to bump her system past Win 7.  That's pretty close to the XP she'd used to.  You would not believe how difficult it is to get her to learn something new about computers.  Given how intelligent, lucid and accomplished she is at her age, I can only conclude she's being obstinate rather than dense--like me learning how to cook.  (Ain't happening.)

To be honest, Win10 is a lot closer to Win7 than Win8.

Other than the start menu (which is really more like the Win7 start menu) and the new notification manager, she should feel right at home. Let her have a field test when you set it up on another system to see how comfortable she is with it.

That said, it doesn't feel like Microsoft is taking a step back or regressing. It comes off more like a step in the right direction after the misstep taken with the Win8 Start Screen.

The UI is downright minimalist, just the way I like it. I used to have to custom skin the old Windows to make them look like this

So far, as an OS it feels a lot more efficient.

[idolminds]

A couple things came to my attention that you may want to look into if you're running Win10.


Windows 10 is using your own bandwidth to deliver updates to others

n order to alleviate some of the load on its servers and allow users to upgrade faster, Microsoft has introduced what it calls Windows Update Delivery Optimization, which works similar to a torrent, hosting the install files on local PCs and then propagating them to other PCs on either your local network or the internet.

The problem comes in the fact that Microsoft has enabled this option by default and that no notice is provided to customers that Windows is, in the background, using some of their bandwidth and their data for updating other users' Windows. Several web sites have already called Microsoft out for this and what they - and other consumers - find to be misallocation of their network without permission.

Windows 10 ad tracking

Windows 10‘s privacy settings very much need to be frowned at. Essentially: unless you pay close attention to the fluffy options offered when you first install Microsoft’s new operating system, it’s going to quietly track your behaviour and use it to fire targeted ads at you, as well as keeping tabs on your location history, data from messages, calendars, contacts and God knows what else. It is a bit scary, despite coming off the back of Microsoft’s own pledge to offer ‘real transparency’.

Both sites explain how to disable those things, so if you just went with an express install then you may want to take a look at your settings.

[Xessive]

A couple things came to my attention that you may want to look into if you're running Win10.


Windows 10 is using your own bandwidth to deliver updates to others
Windows 10 ad tracking
Both sites explain how to disable those things, so if you just went with an express install then you may want to take a look at your settings.

Thanks, dude!

I'll look into those "features" and let you know how easy it is to get rid of them.

UPDATE:
The Windows Update "torrent style" kinda makes sense though it sucks that's it's enabled by default. It should be an opt-in feature.

I know this wasn't mentioned but I recommend also disabling WiFi Sense. Google that to see the potential horror that could be

With regards to personalized ads, I've been toying around with that concept for a while with Google's personalized ads system.

Admittedly, ads suck. However, the reality is I'm going to have to have to see ads, so if I'm going to have to deal with them on a daily basis I'd rather they were relevant ads.

To put things in context, if you live in the US or Canada, when you bring up YouTube (or any online news hub for that matter), without being signed in you'll come across information that's relevant to the region. Chances are it will also be English material.

Now, I live in the United Arab Emirates. Despite it being an Arab nation where the official languages are Arabic and English, if I hop on YouTube without signing into my account, the main page will be flooded with South Indian (Malayalam and Urdu) content, followed by Filipino content, then some Arabic content, and finally English content. The obvious reason being that a fair chunk of the population in the country are expatriates, predominantly labourers from India, Pakistan, Nepal, and the Philippines.

This is a reflection of the reality of the populace in the region. Unfortunately, it gets in the way of the relevance of the internet to me. I'm not interested in watching a Bengali music video, the hottest Bollywood trends, or the latest news in Manila. Even though I was originally against the idea, the only viable solution is to sign in and have a personalized view of the internet.

Of course, opting in to an ad scheme also opens you up to monitoring and targeted advertising. What really gets done with the information they get off me I'll never know, but hey it gets the news I want and the news I would want on the screen.

[Xessive]

Here's an awesome compiled at MaximumPC with linksto Windows 10 drivers for Motherboards and graphics cards:
http://www.maximumpc.com/windows-10-graphics-cards-and-motherboard-drivers-updating/

Btw, I've been test playing various games on Win10 and so far so good. It's hard to tell how much of an improvement (if at all). I tested with the following games:
The Witcher 3
Batman Arkham Knight*
Evolve
Call of Duty Advanced Warfare
Alien Isolation
The Crew
Dragon Age Inquisition
Dying Light
Unreal Tournament 3 (for shits and giggles)

* Interestingly enough Batman Arkham Knight ran better than it ever has but of course it is still locked at 30fps. It didn't crash, it didn't stutter, it ran like the console version, as far as I could tell.

[Cobra951]

Some people are complaining that driver updates are forced on you, and that a tool to prevent that isn't working right yet.

It will be interesting to see if any games run better, even if they aren't optimized for DX12.  What you said about the Batman game made me think.  Is it DX12, or is it a general performance improvement that makes it run better?

[idolminds]

I hope there aren't too many forced auto-updates or my experience will turn shitty in a hurry.

[scottws]

A couple things came to my attention that you may want to look into if you're running Win10.


Windows 10 is using your own bandwidth to deliver updates to others
Windows 10 ad tracking
Both sites explain how to disable those things, so if you just went with an express install then you may want to take a look at your settings.

I wonder how true that really is.  I already knew about the Windows 10 peer-to-peer update mechanism, but my understanding was that it was for other computers in the same local subnet, not computers on the Internet.

I know this wasn't mentioned but I recommend also disabling WiFi Sense. Google that to see the potential horror that could be

Don't just disable WiFi Sense, change your home's WiFi SSID to end in "_optout".  If you don't do that, anyone that uses Windows 10 (including Mobile) that you provide your WiFi passphrase to can share your WiFi connection information to everyone in their Outlook.com, Skype, and Facebook contact lists.  These people won't have access to the actual passphrase and can't subsequently reshare the information to their own connections, but still...

Adding "_optout" to the end of your WiFi network SSID is how Microsoft is letting people opt out of this feature/behavior.  It's dumb, but it is what it is.

I hope there aren't too many forced auto-updates or my experience will turn shitty in a hurry.

Windows 10 Home versions don't allow you to turn off automatic download and installation of Windows/Microsoft updates.  That said, perhaps you can set your Internet connection to "metered", which should prevent updates from being forced on you.

[idolminds]

Ugh...thanks for the heads up. Maybe I could use a firewall to block that? Then just turn it off when I want to run an update "manually".

[scottws]

Ugh...thanks for the heads up. Maybe I could use a firewall to block that? Then just turn it off when I want to run an update "manually".

I think two ways you might be able to turn off the automatic updates are to either turn off BITS (set the Background Intelligent Transfer Service to "Disabled") or to set your network connection to "metered", but I'm sure someone will figure out some sort of community-approved method of disabling forced Microsoft updates on Windows 10 Home users at some point in the near future.  As far as I can tell, there will be no Microsoft-supported way of disabling automatic updating of Windows 10 Home at any point.

I keep mentioning Home, but the Pro version also has automatic updates.  One of the differences is that you can set it to the Community Branch for Business, which keeps some of the feature updates back for a period of time, but eventually all the updates will come.  Windows 10 Pro CBB is sort of like Firefox ESR.  Only Windows 10 Enterprise has true update control, but that's only available if you have an Enterprise Agreement with Software Assurance.

Read more about Windows 10 updates here.

[idolminds]

Cool, thanks for the info. I wish this didn't have to be a concern.

EDIT: I found this image that shows you may be able to disable the updating, or at least have it notify that updates are available but not automatically download them. But it may be limited to Pro and not Home.

[MysterD]

* Interestingly enough Batman Arkham Knight ran better than it ever has but of course it is still locked at 30fps. It didn't crash, it didn't stutter, it ran like the console version, as far as I could tell.

Well, you could go through the INI's and unlock it, at your own risk:
http://steamcommunity.com/app/208650/discussions/0/523890046872349339/

To unlock your FPS or set to a value higher than 30 go to this file and edit it:

"STEAM_INSTALL_FOLDER\Batman Arkham Knight\BmGame\Config\BmSystemSettings.ini"
Once you're in there, hit CTRL + F and search for the line "Max_FPS=30.0" and change it to an FPS you want. I personally set mine to 60

But, it's not really recommended to so do - b/c framerates go all over the place for many when uncapping it.
Hence why it's capped at 30 FPS.

The other thing you could do, if you do uncap it - find a framerate it sticks around at a lot (that's above 30) and cap it at that w/ a 3rd party program like MSI Afterburner, EVGA Precision X, etc. Those programs let you cap framerates however you see fit.

W/ those framerate capping programs:
With my older vid-card (560 Ti) for example - when playing Thief 2014, it stuck around 40 frames a lot. I capped it at 40.
With my current 4GB 960, on Far Cry 4, it's often around 45-50 frames. I capped it at 50.

[scottws]

Cool, thanks for the info. I wish this didn't have to be a concern.

EDIT: I found this image that shows you may be able to disable the updating, or at least have it notify that updates are available but not automatically download them. But it may be limited to Pro and not Home.

Everything I've read about Windows 10 Home says that automatic updates are forced on and not able to be turned off or deferred.  At least not through the GUI using Microsoft-supplied and -supported methods.

I just installed Windows 10 Enterprise at work and Windows Update works like it did under 7/8/8.1: it says automatic updates are disabled and updates are deployed via the SCCM client.

[MysterD]

For those who own both XBox One + Windows 10 PC, here's something for you:
Here's how to unlock Higher Settings for X1 to Win 10 PC Streaming.

As usual - might be smart to back-up original file(s) and all of that mess, since who knows how much M$ has tested this or not.
You know, take the usual "mod at your own risk" pre-cautions + warning - if you're thinking of going forth with this.

[Xessive]

Interesting... I just discovered a game overlay built right into Windows 10. While in a game you can hit Win+G and you'll get the Xbox App overlay to record gameplay, take a screenshot, etc.

[Cobra951]

Nice.  I'm not surprised.  They're trying to integrate the PC and Xbox functionality together as much as they can.  Win 10 hits the Xbox by the end of the year.

[scottws]

I'm using Windows 10 at work in a virtual machine for testing.  I like it a lot, except that it keeps locking out my account in Active Directory when I unlock it.  I don't seem to be the only one having this issue.

[Xessive]

I'm using Windows 10 at work in a virtual machine for testing.  I like it a lot, except that it keeps locking out my account in Active Directory when I unlock it.  I don't seem to be the only one having this issue.

I haven't tested any of the domain or work-related network features. This could be an issue that only occurs with specific domain/network configurations.

It's always the tiny things that happen in the background that we take for granted.

[W7RE]

I just finished upgrading to Windows 10. A friend had a legit copy of Win8.1 that he wasn't using so he gave me the key, so I was eligible for the free upgrade to 10. Reformatted and installed 8.1, upgraded to 10, then did the system reset so I'd have a clean install.

The system reset temporarily fucked my PC though. It froze like 3-4 times during setup, and would resume when I manually restarted the system. (I would wait 5+ minutes each time it froze, just to make sure.) Then once fully installed, it would freeze on almost every attempt to load into Windows. I finally got in again and ran Windows Update. It asked me to restart, and it did successfully. I've also restarted one more time since then, which worked fine. So I guess one of the updates fixed the issue. I hope.

[MysterD]

If anybody has Windows 10, good luck w/ getting going (especially older) games w/ Securom DRM or SafeDisc DRM.

Windows 10 won't run those games, without doing all kinds of fiddling & working-around.

More reasons dev's + pub's need to ditch the non-Steam crap DRM types.
And just stick to either Steam's CEG DRM (if they insist on DRM) or No-DRM period.

[MysterD]

GameSpot -> A Windows 10 EULA states that Win 10 can disable pirated copies of software.

[Cobra951]

Their ability to do this has been pretty much debunked, outside of their own software (XBL, MS apps, and such).  If they don't control it already, they can't affect it.  So for example, they can't check if something you installed on your own belongs to Steam, and then disable it.

Edit:  Here's a relevant link.  I'm sure there are other sources out there.  This one provides details and links to the agreements.

[MysterD]

Their ability to do this has been pretty much debunked, outside of their own software (XBL, MS apps, and such).  If they don't control it already, they can't affect it.  So for example, they can't check if something you installed on your own belongs to Steam, and then disable it.

Edit:  Here's a relevant link.  I'm sure there are other sources out there.  This one provides details and links to the agreements.

That makes MUCH more logical sense - Microsoft controlling their own stuff only.

If it was any piece of software - i.e. including 3rd party stuff - this could've been a disaster. Especially if you run mods for games; cracked EXE's for a game you own (in case you need one b/c Securom DRM + SafeDisc DRM is causing your legit copy to work on Win 10); or whatever the case may be.

[Xessive]

I just noticed that now the Xbox button on the Xbox 360 controller (or Xbox One controller) will also bring up the Game Bar (apparently that's what it's called). You can bring up the Game Bar at any time and manually tell it if the running application is a game if it didn't recognize.

I'm glad this is built right into the Windows UI.

[MysterD]

Microsoft unlocks officially the higher-settings for 1080p/60 option for XBox App (to stream games from your XB1 to Win 10 PC):
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-08-18-xbox-august-update-adds-1080p60-windows-10-streaming

[W7RE]

The game bar video capture stuff is all grayed out for me. It says, "this computer can't capture video". When I click the help link to learn more info, it tells me I need at least a GeForce GTX 600 series, and I've got a GTX 460.

I was looking forward to capturing video on the fly like I can on Xbox.

[MysterD]

The game bar video capture stuff is all grayed out for me. It says, "this computer can't capture video". When I click the help link to learn more info, it tells me I need at least a GeForce GTX 600 series, and I've got a GTX 460.

I was looking forward to capturing video on the fly like I can on Xbox.

Oh, that sucks.
How many GB of VRAM is your 460?
I recently went from a 1 GB VRAM 560 Ti to a 4GB 960.

[MysterD]

HowToGeek -> How to Prevent Win 10 from automatically downloading updates.

[W7RE]

Oh, that sucks.
How many GB of VRAM is your 460?
I recently went from a 1 GB VRAM 560 Ti to a 4GB 960.

It's got 1GB, though dxdiag shows 4GB for some reason. It did this in Windows 7 as well.

Also, I had assumed Windows 10 would keep the drivers up to date, but the installed driver is from July 23, and the latest one listed on nvidia.com is from August 13. On Windows 7 I had the Geforce Experience thing installed and let it check for drivers periodically, but I had assumed I didn't need it with Windows 10. I was also avoiding installing it because I'd sort of like to not clog up my registry with leftover entries from programs I later decided I didn't want/need.

[Xessive]

It's got 1GB, though dxdiag shows 4GB for some reason. It did this in Windows 7 as well.

Also, I had assumed Windows 10 would keep the drivers up to date, but the installed driver is from July 23, and the latest one listed on nvidia.com is from August 13. On Windows 7 I had the Geforce Experience thing installed and let it check for drivers periodically, but I had assumed I didn't need it with Windows 10. I was also avoiding installing it because I'd sort of like to not clog up my registry with leftover entries from programs I later decided I didn't want/need.

Yeah, Windows keeps your drivers up-to-date as per the Windows Update registry of available driver versions, which is updated by Microsoft much less frequently than hardware vendors. It will eventually get the most recent driver but way down the road.

You can download the driver download manually from Nvidia without having to use GeForce Experience but that defeats the purpose of the concept of auto-updating. All in all though, I'm finding GeForce Experience relatively useful for drivers, quick game settings, and special Nvidia offers (it was how I got a copy of The Witcher 3 for free).

[Cobra951]

I'm watching the MS Win-10 devices briefing, and the HoloLens demo blew me away.  Even more impressive than the previous Minecraft demo.

[scottws]

It's got 1GB, though dxdiag shows 4GB for some reason. It did this in Windows 7 as well.

Also, I had assumed Windows 10 would keep the drivers up to date, but the installed driver is from July 23, and the latest one listed on nvidia.com is from August 13. On Windows 7 I had the Geforce Experience thing installed and let it check for drivers periodically, but I had assumed I didn't need it with Windows 10. I was also avoiding installing it because I'd sort of like to not clog up my registry with leftover entries from programs I later decided I didn't want/need.

Microsoft only offers driver updates through Windows Update for drivers that vendors have submitted to Microsoft for WHQL testing and Microsoft has certified them.  Therefore, they are almost certainly never the latest drivers and lots of driver revisions are skipped.  On the plus side, they are generally quite reliable from a system stability perspective.

[MysterD]

Inquisitr -> Win 10 may later add X360 games support.

Hopefully, if they do - it's an emulator. I don't own an X360.
And hopefully, if they do so - it doesn't need a XBL paying-membership. I don't want to pay for XBL.

Would be nice to see exclusives like newer Gears since Gears of War 2; Fable 2; and other XB exclusives that ain't hit PC natively now be able to run here even if it's using an official emulator.

[Quemaqua]

So after my PC upgrade, I decided to get Windows 10. I'd read some stuff about it, and feel a bit misled. Either way, I fucking hate it. I've had a real crappy experience with it on the whole, with lots of things that just plain don't work right, including the Windows 10 store and the few apps that I've tried on the store (which work fine for a while, then try to load and fail, over and over again, until reinstalled, which usually doesn't work because the Windows 10 store seems to have a lot of issues downloading things correctly).

Anyway, my main beef is all the telemetry stuff. I've been trying to figure out how to disable things, and there are various hacks you can do, but nobody can seem to agree whether they work or not, etc. I found this thing, though: https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10

It sounds great, but I haven't heard much about it. Anyone here have any experience with it?

[Cobra951]

My terminal issue with it is that you can't prevent it from modifying itself, at least not the Home version--which is what everything I've seen for an affordable price comes with.  Microsoft also is practically coercing Windows-7 and -8 users to update to Win 10 with some nagware that surreptitiously hijacks the Windows Update screen.  Judicious cherrypicking of allowed updates can prevent it from installing, and there is a lot of discussion out there on how to block it.  This looks like the best tool for the job, so far.  If I get careless with my Mom's Windows updates, I'll be installing that on her system.