As
I'm already running Win8.1 – and probably didn't know better – I
signed up for the free release. On the morning of the 29th,
I read something warning me to back up my PC so I started by erasing
everything on my backup thumb drive – 3 blasted hours! That was
followed by transferring my Documents, Music, Pictures, and Video to
the back up – another darned 3 hours.
At
last, I was ready. I clicked on the little icon and the bottom of the
page and the impressive Win10 screen showed up asking me if I was
ready. Yes, of course, and it took me to the common User Agreement
which I agreed to. Then I got Preparing to Download.
Not
too bad. 20-30 minutes or so. I then went through the next step and
the screen suddenly turned that MS blue with the little dingy running
around in a small circle. Time to watch the Boob Tube.
Took
maybe 30 more minutes but it kept giving me little tidbits about what
was going on along with warnings not to turn off my PC.
And
then – the big thing with date came up and I clicked the space bar.
An impressive picture followed the screen to sign into my account.
Once that was done, I ended up going through another 30 minute wait
while I was told the system was being personalized for me.
At
last, all of a sudden my same desktop as before showed up with a
brand new icon on the lower left showing new windows icons.
Didn't
lose a single program or shortcut!
I
did gain a totally different start bar or whatever it's called.
Guess
I no longer need to open a browser to do a search as Cordana is right
there at the bottom along with an icon for Edge – which I used a
couple of times and appears a lot friendlier and easier to use than
IE.
My
only problem comes when opening the MS symbol at the bottom left as
it is nothing like Win8.1 and it took me some time to figure out how
to find my Control Panel – Cordana showed me where it was and how
to open it.
So,
what's my overall impression?
Not
a lot. I browse and write and it doesn't seem the least bit different
than before. Neither faster nor slower, not harder nor easier.
I
guess there are features the nerds or gamers will like but they don't
seem to affect m. I still have the same software and did 't lost a
single file.
The
only thing that ticks me off is MS being so darned cheap that they no
longer include a free word processor package – but certainly give
you lots of chances to buy their MSOffice along with tons and tons of
apps.
So,
if you're on the edge and can't make up your mind – why not? Go
ahead. You have nothing to lose beyond the time it takes to do the
conversion.
Oh
yeah, here's another techie review @
http://www.popsci.com/i-used-windows-10-and-survived-and-you-will-too
A
Few More Non-Nerd Views of Windows 10
The
one thing I find convenient about it is the Cortana search in the bar
on the bottom of the screen. If I want something from my PC, I type
it in and indicate it's in my PC. If it's something from the web, I
simply hit return or any other key. The default search engine is Bing
as it's an MS product. And I generally like the Bing start page with
its great images.
Edge
– or IE11 – whatever they want to call it, doesn't thrill me.
It's okay as the default so Cortana goes to it. But I prefer Opera
and Firefox as my everyday browsers. My major problem with Edge is
the options for capturing images – it only lets you copy the link
and not in jpg. Format.
The
Start Page has a good news feed but I have other news feeds I prefer.
I
don't find it one bit faster than 8.1 and actually get frustrated
that the updates seem to take so long.
I
guess it just takes a bit of getting accustomed to.
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