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Windows 10 Is A Free Upgrade For 7 And 8 Users


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Yes it's true. Windows 10 is a free download for at least the next 10 months or so. 

 

There are a few catches. First you must have a licensed copy of windows 7 or 8. The next catch is that initially you need to download as an upgrade to your existing windows OS. After the initial upgrade you can then opt for a clean install from Microsoft with your serial number.

 

My question is, why give it away for free? There can be several reasons for this. One reason is they might want to get everyone onboard with win10. The next reason could possibly be that after 1 year windows will become more of a subscription service similar to what some other software companies have done. If this is true then Win 10 could be the last OS.

 

It has been confirmed so far that Mixcraft and Sonar products work ok with win10. One of my main concerns is that my sound card drivers are picked up in win10.

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I'm using it at work at the moment to test some things on and my initial reaction is very positive. I find it very simple to use with no need yet for any instruction. I installed the test version from download and just started running software on it. Easy to navigate with many of the nice features of both 7 and 8 - traditional start menu but easily accessible programs by just typing and searching from the desktop.

 

I'll see if I can try a bit of music on it.

 

We have a 64bit and 32bit version at work and both seem to be very straightforward - though I doubt there will be many who run the 32bit version (we have an older piece of software I am testing and it runs very well which came as something of a surprise!)

 

And - yes - every indication that it will be the last Windows with constant additions and modifications.

 

Edge the new browser works well and so far is less clunky than IE

 

So far so good

Edited by Nick
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My main computer is...Vista.

 

I have a business laptop running Win7 but it's a refurbished dell.  Honestly business computers are crap. It's slow as molasses now.  Not that there is anything important on the laptop but I just dont want to upgrade now and be stuck with a subscription computer I rarely to if ever use.

Edited by TapperMike
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I got a sort of notice about this flash up, but I assumed it was another marketing ploy.

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I am really tempted to try it on my 64 bit win7 computer, but I don't think I will. Everything is running too well on it for me to take a chance like that.

I picked up a six core Intel chip that I plan to do a new build with. That's when I'm going to make the change..and since I can't upgrade on a new build I'll probably end up paying for it...I like the Idea of a fresh clean install on a new machine.

I have procrastinated to no end on the new build because it took a long time to get the computer I have set up the way I wanted it with software etc...and I kinda dread doing it again but it should be one screaming machine when I get done with it. I'm looking at x99 MOBOs now...and there's a lot of em.

Win10 is probably an eventuality for everyone unless you want to play with Linux or stick with a Mac.

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The W7 laptop which is my "all hell breaks loose" machine needed some updating.  Just updating the current win7 profile took about 4 hours./

Update then restart and configure and then update and restart configure again. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Yes this kind of thing sure can tend to be time consuming. I'm still procrastinating on the new build and this is one of the reasons. I just hope I don't wait a little longer than I should have...all I need is for something to fail before I get my "plan B" ready.

Edited by starise
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  • 1 month later...

well I've tried to download win10 three times over the last day.  Fail, fail, fail. I'm starting to think maybe it's not a good idea even after I go through all the security hoops.

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I attempted to upgrade as well against my better judgement. The outcome was the same as yours TapperMike. In my case the reason was different. My win 7 64 bit setup needed to have a file that was missing in automatic updates so it could update to Win10. I suspect it was removed when I ran a cleaner on it several years ago. 

 

There were a few fixes online..all of which I tried but nothing worked to get that file back. I can't find my install disk so I'm pretty much done with the attempt. It's probably just as well since there are a few people experiencing driver issues with their interfaces on win 10. I don't fault Windows for this. The problem is mainly companies writing drivers and not doing it fast enough. If you're going to make the change I strongly recommend that you find out if your hardware interface is compatible. Even if it isn't it probably will be if it's of fairly recent vintage.

 

I would ask myself what I would gain by making the change. If the deficits out weigh the gains then I would simply continue to use what I have until the bugs are worked out JMHO. Unl;ess you just like new things for the sake of new things :)

 

If I could have downloaded Win10 I probably would have...but maybe this has saved me. I'm still going to build a new machine and I'll have plenty of time to try win10 then. Once my DAW is launched not much else matters...I don't really need any of the refinements to do what I do.

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It's done, I'm running 10.  I did give into a few privacy / security things including the advertising.  I recall seeing something that stated "install anyway" shortly after I checked my email and there was the notification... 

 

One thing I don't think John Q Public understands about MS cloud distribution is that it uses your computer for storage and distribution of it's software.   I also don't think MS was aware of how fast it could roll out win 10 could be distributed via this peer to peer method.  Which is why they opted for reserving your version then waiting... 

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/bitwise/2015/08/windows_10_privacy_problems_here_s_how_bad_they_are_and_how_to_plug_them.2.html

 

Don’t Let Microsoft Steal Your Bandwidth

By default, Microsoft turns your computer into a peer-to-peer node to help it distribute Windows 10 updates, in order to save Microsoft server bandwidth costs. “Microsoft calls it Windows Update Delivery Optimization,” or WUDO. WUDO really should have been turned off by default, because it may slow you down and may even cost you additional money if you have a metered connection...

 

I downloaded and installed win 10 in the late to early hours  (2.am to 11 am)  locally  on a tuesday.  Most people keep their computers running 14/7 though may not access them during that time.

Re drivers.  Yeah I learned the truth about driver fixer apps and trying to keep up with drivers years back.  Driver inspector fixer tools are a scam.

Codecs / decodec are the things that can make your life miserable (especially video)  Vid and audio codecs get thrown out the window first on new installs cause microsoft can't maintain them all 

 

My Window 10 machine doesn't have any music production software on it.  It does have a few programs that I'll have to clear the registry and re register.   No big deal, those programs are from my software company.  It takes less then 5 minutes to clear all the software titles and get fresh keys  for ten programs.

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I never upgrade Windows to a new version until at least the first service pack comes out.  I've been Microsoft's guinea pig in years past and don't want that hassle ever again.  Windows 7 has been the best in years for me, but I know after some time upgrading will essentially be mandatory.

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It's nice to have a guy working on the audio and midi in windows 10 who has experience with music production and performance. The new midi and audio API's look very promising. I also like the way he addresses usb in regards to midi and midi in general.

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I installed it a few days ago. Had to reinstall the e--license for Cubase, no big deal. I'm pretty pleasantly surprised so far. Holding my breath a little though.

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Windows 10 is the NSA and Microsofts dream come true. Although you can turn some things off, you still have to relinquish much much more private information than is needed. Read up on what they can collect with this version...I'll stick to Win 7.

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  • 2 months later...

I've made it as far as putting a motherboard in my newegg shop basket :). I posted I was looking at a build in June.....now that's procrastination :). I'm a conspiracy wacko as well so I really believe a lot of what James says. On the other hand does it really matter if Microsoft or big brother know all about me?

My question is, how is it better that what I have now in terms of recording?

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See my post with Sonic Talk.   You can have great hardware but that will only be as good as the OS which is running it.  MS has made huge progress in regards to audio latency and audio throughput.  As well as how it handles midi....which can often be a challenge considering how midi works on ALL Computer Operating Systems.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I just completed the build posted in my sig. I decided to first load Windows 8.1 64 bit because the hardware I bought to transfer files from my old drives seems to have issues with Windows 10. As soon as transfer is completed I plan to take the giant leap. 

To hear most talk about the change from prior versions it seems fairly painless. There are a few things to be aware of : Windows 10 Home doesn't allow you to stop automatic updates. Some have worked around this problem by unhooking their internet connection during recording. There are various privacy issues. They claim that the data mining they do is nameless and faceless, just gathering data like all the rest do. Did you ever search for something online and the next day you're on another site and an ad for that thing comes up? This seems to be fairly common. Anything you search for is probably looked at for marketing purposes. It wouldn't surprise me if it also all goes to the NSA names and all. This is the koolade we drink in exchange for this new OS, not that it hasn't been happening for a long time already. I think it gets more intense with Windows 10 though. 

Another thing Windows 10 does is file indexing. It snoops though all of your files...if you don't turn it off it'll drain your cpu while it looks through those 5000 wav files. It will also turn your motherboard sound back on when it updates. If you don't turn it off it could conflict with your sound card.

They have a list of everything you've looked at since before dirt anyways.....boy am I in deep doo doo.

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Our options are little.  Eventually every windows user will have to face win10

I've read a lot about the challenges of working with various incarnations of OSX and their planned obsolence modeling which basically forces one to buy a new computer every 5 years.  I'm not ready for that, nor am I ready to endure the issues with various releases not working with Apple's software and third party software.  Really? Is that what people are willing to take for having a mac?

 

Regarding software compatibility and anonymous snooping.  Microsoft scans the computer for identifiers. Not like your name and address more like what type of hardware you are using and what your hard drive id is.  Then when you do go for hardware or an operating system change or recovery/reformat that collected data changes.  MS peeks under the hood and updates the computers identity to mark the changes made to your computer.  Been that way since 98 and isn't going away.  It's also how they catch people using pirated operating systems (though rarely prosecute, usually they just remote shut down when / if it is worth the time for the effort.

I know this because... It's part of the piracy protection we use with our software. (as well as several other software companies) When someone changes something big the software is disabled and it takes a few minutes to re enable our software but we make them go into their account to get the key.  Most of our users also know the drill.  It's always better to do a fresh install of the program then attempt ghost transfers.  Ghost transfers can wreak havoc with the registry.  It's a lot of work to clean up.

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I took the plunge last evening. It seems like a cross between Win 7 and win 8.1. I like it much more than 8.1 . 

My next move is to see how much of the spyware automatic things I can manually turn off. The GUI is clean and cool. I like that part of it a lot.

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I moved to Windows 10 a couple of days back too after a few hiccups. I still need to get all the necessary drivers and softwares installed but I must say as well that I like it more than the forsaken 8.1. Much fewer issues with installing USB drivers. Much cleaner UI. Pretty great! Plugged in the guitar directly with a DAW with the onboard audio interface and switched on monitoring and I hear no latency which wasn't the case on 8.1. They definitely have done some improvements on that side. 

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