Windows 10 - Who here has yet to upgrade, and why?

[Digerati]

I have never just been satisfied with any computer setup out of the box and I will take the time to turn off what I don't want...
There are many tweaks that can be done to WIN 10 as with any previous OS, to make make it yours.

Compared to other operating systems, Windows greatest asset is it is so highly customizable. That said, Windows greatest liability is it is so highly customizable!

As I have noted elsewhere many times, of the nearly 1.5 billion Windows computers out there, virtually every single one becomes unique within the first few minutes after first boot. Users setup their own networking, their own security, attach their own peripherals, and customize their own colors, backgrounds, programs and options. I think it highly commendable Microsoft has pulled it off so successfully. Of course, if just 1% of those 1.5 billion have problems, that's 15 million upset users. And 15 million upset users can make a lot of noise - especially with wannabe journalists blowing every problem way out of proportion with sensationalized and often totally false headlines. :(

[JDBush61]

Interestingly, a group e-mail was sent last Friday to 1,400 people where I work advising everyone to "hold off" on Windows 10 until given approval by the administrators, as there was a question (worry) about W10 making some programs not work correctly, or something to that effect.

I am going to assume (1) they are talking about upgrading "organization owned" computers. (2) This software in question is something custom made for a specific purpose or is so old it was designed for XP (or before!). (3) The organization's bean-counters have not wanted to invest the necessary resources to stay with the times. And now (4), they don't want to pay more to get with the times. :(

To make the announcement this late in the game raises concerns for me as Windows 10 has been available for testing by organizations and developers well before last year's July release to everyone else. That is more than enough time to determine if there are any questions or worries about compatibility with custom and legacy applications, then plan accordingly for a smooth roll-out and transition.

I think it sad organizations fail to recognize that investing in IT is not a "set and forget" strategy. It is an on-going requirement and should be part of every organization's (big and small) strategic 5-year business plans to stay on top of developments proactively - always cheaper and less painful than scrambling after-the-fact and playing catch-up. Playing catch-up is typically much more disruptive and often requires many hours of either downtime or overtime for "crash-course" training. Paying overtime because business is booming is great. Downtime or paying overtime for training is not.

Replacing obsolete (but still functional) IT systems has been an expensive PITA for businesses, governments and other organizations (not to mention private consumers) since the beginning of IT. One of the reasons XP was such a security failure was big business' insistence XP support legacy hardware and software so they would not have to retool yet again for another new OS. Microsoft caved to those demands then, but suffered constant bashing over security ever since. But MS learned and while legacy support is still a concern, it is not a top priority any more - nor should it be. Why? Because hardware and software developers are not sitting on their thumbs. They are investing big time in R&D to advance the state-of-the-art. And users (most of us anyway) want our operating systems to take advantage of our new and more powerful hardware and applications.

Waiting until the last minute (or beyond) has never resulted in the best investment strategies. This is something I stress hard and right up front whenever called in on a consulting job.

Of course I may be totally off base in the case of JD's "group". And there's probably nothing he can do about it anyway. So I'll get off my soapbox now.

Actually, it's a government-run medical university/hospital, and they keep everything up to date. No cost issues, and they try to stay ahead of the curve. The group e-mail was actually referring to a different problem that someone here was concerned about. As for my personal machine (2010 Sony Vaio laptop), I don't need any approvals to install software, operating systems, etc.

However, I cannot afford any down time should the Win10 upgrade not go smoothly. I have a MacBook Pro at home running Microsoft Office for Mac, yet this Sony Vaio is my "bread and butter" machine.  Thus, and just for an example, these two articles -- the first from last October, the second from this month -- give me reason to pause:

October 2015: http://www.infoworld.com/article/2989972/microsoft-windows/windows-10-installation-problems-and-what-to-do-about-them.html

May 2016: http://www.itpro.co.uk/operating-systems/25802/eleven-windows-10-problems-and-how-to-fix-them-2

With that aside, my Sony is closing in on 7 years old, and I have no idea how long the internal drive will keep spinning until it gives up the ghost. At this point, I think that I'll keep Win 7 on this machine and just hit up the university for a second MacBook Pro, which I will then partition via Bootcamp to run both Mac and MS operating systems. Probably less of a hassle than trying to upgrade this oldish Vaio to Win 10. I wonder if people are having good experiences running Win 10 on partitioned Macs.

[Digerati]

Actually, it's a government-run medical university/hospital, and they keep everything up to date.

Everything up to date? You sure? I only ask because HIPAA compliance and medical records systems tends to not be up to date - only recently (I hope) finally getting rid of XP. But for what? Not W10.

As for your concerns about the upgrade failing, they are valid. But the facts are the vast majority of users upgraded with no problems. There is always a risk of something going wrong with such a major upgrade. But for that matter, with a 7 year old computer, there's a clear risk it could fail any time soon too - especially using a hard drive. So make sure you have a current backup.

[JDBush61]

Actually, it's a government-run medical university/hospital, and they keep everything up to date.

Everything up to date? You sure? I only ask because HIPAA compliance and medical records systems tends to not be up to date - only recently (I hope) finally getting rid of XP. But for what? Not W10.

Well, fairly sure. It's in a 1st-world nation, yet not America.

As for your concerns about the upgrade failing, they are valid. But the facts are the vast majority of users upgraded with no problems. There is always a risk of something going wrong with such a major upgrade. But for that matter, with a 7 year old computer, there's a clear risk it could fail any time soon too - especially using a hard drive. So make sure you have a current backup.

That's what I'm thinking also. Since W7 will be supported for a few more years I suppose that I'll hold off on the upgrade. I keep everything on this machine up to date, and currently have security overkill. Thus, not worried about any attacks. I'll think about W10 when the drive dies or when I simply upgrade to a new computer. Still thinking that it might be fun to run Windows on a partitioned MacBook, yet I don't have any real-world experience with that. Have only read about it.

[Digerati]

Well, fairly sure. It's in a 1st-world nation, yet not America.

Actually, many 1st-world nations are behind others because the less developed countries implemented the automation more recently. The 1st world nations, which automated years ago, are now faced with massive and expensive upgrades. A project the bean counters are reluctant to fund because the old stuff still works. It is just not secure enough to protect patient confidentiality. Hospitals still using XP 2016

Royal Melbourne Hospital still has not fixed its Windows XP virus problem

Since W7 will be supported for a few more years

Yes, but mainstream support for Windows 7 has already ended. I don't know. I am not saying you need to run out to today and buy a new computer with W10 on it. But I personally think it better to replace yours BEFORE yours dies and then you have to scramble and then due to haste, end up with something you don't really want. And of course, if no "current" back up, end up losing files you wanted to keep.

[JDBush61]

But I personally think it better to replace yours BEFORE yours dies...

Now seriously thinking about getting a second MacBook Pro and using Windows 10 via the Bootcamp partition. I've been doing some reading, and it appears that it's fairly common. Some quirks compared to running Windows on a non-Apple machine, yet I should be able to live with it. I'm an editor by trade, so I need MS Office for my clients (Word and PowerPoint, primarily). I currently use MS Office for Mac on my MacBook at home. It works OK, but it's quirky. Office runs much better on my Windows 7 Vaio. However, the drive on my Vaio is now closing in on 7 years old, so I know that the clock is ticking.

ars technica article about running W10 on a MacBook Pro Retina (mine is a late 2014):

http://arstechnica.com/apple/2015/04/using-the-retina-macbook-as-a-windows-pc/

Oh, and a Dymaxion map that gives us another way to think about Planet Earth, for anyone bored today.  ;)

[ComicsLover]

Was set to start switching over this weekend, but got cold feet again.
Take me from getting all my computers to Window 10 to only the laptop.  On the desktop I'm sticking with Win7.

Yeah, it's the auto update thing.  I just can't get my paranoia of all the family systems crashing at once from an unavoidable update.  How do you fix when NOBODY can get online to find out what happened let alone get a fix?  Too much important stuff is now tied to online to risk this....and I'm the only one of the family who retained those chilly toes enough to potentially save everyone else in the family's bacon.  :)

So... one Windows 10 when site has to have that.  One Windows 7 as increased insurance for the next couple of years.

Now, because I thought I was likely going to do it before the cutoff...I still have that annoying popup on my computer.  Have hidden it, but it likes to come back.  How do I go about wiping the notices from my computer?  Also heard there was an update that auto-updated back in December, but couldn't find it on my list of updates from Installed History. 

[Digerati]

I still don't get the paranoia over WU. It is so rare that an update bricks a computer that you probably have better chances of getting struck by lightning. And to have multiple computers in a single household get bricked, better odds winning the lottery - or certainly better odds a bad guy will break into the home and steal all the computers.

"Upgrading" to W10s (especially an older computer running W7) is probably a MUCH greater risk than Windows Update bricking a W10 system. In any case, that's what image backups are for.

I'm just saying.

[ComicsLover]

I'm now on my laptop and am sweating bullets.
I tried to uninstall update kb3035583 from a few days ago just like you do any uninstall of a security update and....my computer is preparing to configure.
Problem...been stuck on that for over 10 minutes.  I tried shutting off anyway by hitting button half a second then waiting after it powered down.  Turned back on and....same configuting screen.

Am going to end up either with a brick or Win10?!  I just know it and I don't want it!
Am now on laptop trying to see the return to win 7 for my desktop if Win10 is on there now....assuming it every comes up anything...

Can I get the steps to undo that?

omg....20 minutes and still configuring.

[ComicsLover]

I didn't.  I tried to Uninstall the KB it rode in on.  Instead when I hit ShutDown I got a configuration underway screen that has been that way now for....over 45 minutes.  Even with trying to turn the power off and then on again.  Now I'm afraid that when/if that screen goes away I've either bricked my main computer or have an unwanted Win10 desktop.

My laptop is now past the trial 30 days despite...yeah, I seem to recall going to do a through-the-motions revert to Win7 on this little thing, but my Update window to reverse the change never looked like the screens they showed on YouTube.  So I put it off...family drama.  Stuck there too.

We'll see what happens (hopefully before I have to go to work) on what I've got, but to say I'm very angry at MS right now is an understatement.  I didn't have all my latest work saved to another disk!  Not to mention the time loss.

Mac may just have won me back by default and without even trying.

[ComicsLover]

Update:  My desktop is still on Windows 7 (whew!)
However my Uninstall of KB3035583 innocently installed on 5/25/16 (and on 12/17/15?) are still listed on my system plus the GXW is still Hidden on my Notification Icons.  Yes, it's hidden.  Yes,  :( ,   it's still there.  Like some sort of horror movie monster.

Can no one rid me of this demonic plague?

[ComicsLover]

I went and answered on a wrong yet similar topic.  Forgive me for panicking, but I really did have a few important things I'd yet to backup.  Think I have a few dozen more white hairs than I did a couple of hours ago.

Anyway, I'm still the owner of a Win7 computer.  Unfortunately, that KB3035583 not only is still on my system, but apparently has given birth to a child (On my history with a 5/25/16 and a 12/17/15 as dates.)  Yes, I did the Uninstall thing.....that's how the whole one-hour-long reconfig scare started.

Anyone have any ideas wtf happened, I'd love to hear it.

[Corrine]

Ah, Kyer, Kyer, Kyer, you know what must have happened?  I'll just bet it was the ghost of Iamskinz who hid the antidote for the demonic plague.

That said, if you are certain you do not want to upgrade your desktop computer to Windows 10, I suggest you use the GWX Control Panel.

[Ghost]

ComicsLover,
I second what Corrine said:

That said, if you are certain you do not want to upgrade your desktop computer to Windows 10, I suggest you use the GWX Control Panel.

I have used it for months on my 64bit Windows 7 Ultimate and it works!
Ghost.

[Corrine]

(BTW, the ghost I was referring to is not Ghost who seconded what I said.  :)  )