I've been running Windows 10 for a while and it's currently a perfectly decent OS for organising files and launching applications. Like many as soon as I installed it I disabled absolutely everything privacy related, ran a local account, tweaked the hell out of the group policy editor and basically cut Microsoft out of my computer activity completely (or as completely as I can, I'm sure they're still getting some data about me). I also installed Start Is Back which got rid of the new tiled start menu and switch between that and Launchy. So I basically run a fairly modified version of Windows that looks remarkably like an OS10/Windows 7 hybrid.
However I'm wondering if I'm not hobbling my OS just to prove a point to myself? I use Android phones and tablets and some time ago sold my soul to Google completely. I have everything turned on, provide Google with my location, preferences, habits, hobbies and buying preferences. I did this eyes wide open and am under no illusions about what Google knows about me. Because of this I get really useful information back from Google. I kind of live inside Chrome and Googles desktop integration/notification seems to be working fine. Google reminds me I have to leave for a job, shows me the route, the delays, the weather, my scores, the news I'm interested in, reminds me to make a call, buy some milk, send a birthday card........ the list goes on and on. Google is useful to me specifically because I give them useful information about me.
So I'm wondering if I should be a bit more lenient with Microsoft? Maybe use an Outlook account to log in, get weather updates on my start menu tiles and notification when I get new Gmail etc. Does anyone currently or has anyone previously actually switched all the tracking, Cortana, live tiles and 'Microsoft as a Service' stuff on and does it make a big improvement to W10?
I have no idea, but wish me luck as I the 'it's shiny and new' gene had just caused me to trigger the upgrade process on my main PC. If I'm offline for several weeks you'll know why.
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I've always had the opinion of "If one company has your data, they probably all do".
For the record - I upgraded to Win10 on Launch and not had an issue.
Good luck with that :D Although I've used a very heavily tweaked version of W10 for a while it's not been much of an issue. Although mine is a complete format and reinstall rather than an upgrade. I've read that upgrades aren't the disaster they once were but format/reinstall is a very hard habit to break... :)
I've an Outlook account I use as a back up email/spam trap and I've now logged into W10 using that. At the very least I'm now storing all my Windows 10 settings and preferences online. Should I need to reinstall/reset then at least I won't have to go through setting everything up again. It works great for me with Google on Android so it seems sensible to do similar for Windows.
I've turned on show location and allowed Windows Weather to access it. I have to admit that Microsoft's weather app is really, really pretty, well laid out and full of useful info. 10/10 for that.
I've disabled Start Is Back and am trying to live in the standard Windows 10 start menu. As it's much closer to Windows 7 it's not much of a jump. So far so good.
I'll have a look at dragging GMail into the Mail App and Google calendar into the Calendar App. Then it's off to the Windows Store to see if there's anything remotely useful there.
I might have a look at turning One Drive back on in the Group Policy editor and seeing if there's any point to it at all, me being a huge Google Drive and to a lesser extent Dropbox user.
The upgrade mostly worked for me. Post upgrade it was otherwise stuck in the 'unknown network' and had no internet connection! I needed to go download a 64 bit driver for Windows 10 for my Intel network card on a different machine and then transfer it to mine via USB drive. Downloaded the updated driver and the network connection fired up immediately once the installation completed.
I have one remaining problem. Before the update to W10 I had 2 x SSDs and 2 x HDDs. Now, under W10, I have 2 x SSDs and only 1 x HDD. WTH happened to my second mechanical drive?
Well there's coincidence for you, I just resorted to re-checking all the connections and voila, my missing 3TB drive returned. Must have been a loose cable. :blush:
Good to hear.
Now try to get a screen saver to work. Not required on modern monitors but I have never managed to get one to work on mine....
Try typing Calc in the search box and try not to get directed to buy an app from the store lol. This miffed my wife.
Quote from: albert;405118Try typing Calc in the search box and try not to get directed to buy an app from the store lol. This miffed my wife.
Ooh, that one *is* a pain. I often use that.
Solution: WIN+R, then 'calc'
Works fine enough.
What I don't get on the calc is for example
300,000 x 5% divided by 12
you type in 300,000 x 5% and you get 15,000 then you hit divide and it goes to 4500000000
you also can't do 300,000 x 5% then hit = before the divide
Basically I can't use a calc :(
Windows 10 did nothing but make me realise that 8 trained me not to use the Start menu. I haven't touched it since upgrading.
Quote from: Tutonic;405128Windows 10 did nothing but make me realise that 8 trained me not to use the Start menu. I haven't touched it since upgrading.
Now that you mention it.....same behaviour has snuck in here too.