W10

[Tetge]

I did a successful clean install of W10 using the .iso and the new W10 key that was generated by my in place upgrade from W8.1. However, CloneZilla refused to back it up as the partition tables and MBR and GPT were screwed up as far as CloneZilla was concerned. It seems that Win10 puts a bunch of hidden partitions on the HD. Of course, I may have done something wrong because there was a slight glitch with the clean install and perhaps I should have formatted the HD before doing it, but, I couldn't resolve the issues with W10 and CloneZilla even using Linux as Linux GParted could not even see the W10 HD as it was corrupted in its opinion. I finally decided to restore W7 using Ghost, but, Ghost threw a fit and refused to restore to the HD, no doubt due to the same error. I then wiped the HD clean, using Linux, and created a new partition table and formatted it NTFS, and Ghost still fussed about it, so I wiped the MBR using Ghost, and rebuilt it again, and finally, Ghost consented to successfully restore W7.

As for W10? It is really frustrating to me on a number of levels. For instance, the MS anti-virus program can not be turned off so real time scanning is mandatory. It does allow itself to be switched off for a short while, but, it tells you that it will turn itself back on. Windows updates are no longer selectable and they will be loaded onto the machine, like it or not. There is a "defer" option, but, it turns out that this only applies to major updates, such as service packs, and, they are still mandatory and can't be stopped. There are many privacy settings that default to on, that share info all over the place, including sharing Wi-Fi. These have to be found in all their locations and turned off, if you are not Into such things. If you establish a MS account, to use One Drive or some of the programs, when you machine dimes you out, it can be associated with your MS account and they KNOW. Minor gripes would be about the lack of being able to customize the appearance, including the fact that one can not create a custom solid background color and choices of for a classic looking Windows layout are limited. I will say that Classic Shell worked great and I even got a classic Start button along with drop down lists.

But, after fighting for about an hour and using tools that a lot of users would not have, I have restored good old W7 back onto the secondary computer. I dread the day that I will get churned out of W7, as W10 is a nanny filled, closely linked to good old MS, OS. But, I figure that Linux will save me from W10 as Linux keeps getting better and better and, if I had to, I could live with it right now.

[jhwalker]

Thanks for the update. Let me know when Linux is ready to save us basic users. I'm not a fan of the ever-increasing grip of MS.

[Tetge]

Thanks for the update. Let me know when Linux is ready to save us basic users. I'm not a fan of the ever-increasing grip of MS.

You can put Linux Mint MATE onto a fast USB stick and run it from the stick and in memory and get a good idea of how good Linux has become. You can use Universal-USB-Installer (great freeware tool) and you can even create a persistent partition on the stick to save your changes to Linux. You would be surprised at how competent the OS is and there are a lot of nice open source programs out there as well. I actually have Mint installed on my two main boxes on separate HD's and during the installation I specified that the boot manager go on the same HD as the Linux OS, so there is zero interference with Windows. When I boot to Linux I use F8 on my systems and then I select the Linus HD from the list. I also boot from a USB 3 stick if I want to quickly use Linux for any purpose as USB 3 is quick, and, the evaluation, Live version comes with good utilities such as GParted, which is a powerful disc utility tool.

So, I suggest one rainy day that you grab the appropriate Live version .iso of Linux (I like 64 bit Mint, MATE, as it has a simple traditional desktop) and put it on a USB stick and boot up and see how good it is.

[SonicVenum]

I finally received the notice that the download was available for my PC. I set it to start the update, then left to run some errands. Some quick setup, including turning off all the privacy intrusions, and I was ready to roll. Only difference between the PC and the laptop was the need to download the appropriate drivers for my video card on my PC. Pretty painless, and my initial findings tell me I won't need to revert to W8.1. Provided nothing goes haywire, I'll be sticking with W10.

[jhwalker]

Cool. Good to hear.

They have been bugging me for a couple of days, but I have some serious pressure on a couple of things and will probably do it Monday if I have a productive weekend.

[Tetge]

For Juan, at least, I suggest creating the God Mode folder on your desktop as being able to see almost every single user configuration setting in a clear manner is extremely useful. Things are grouped. To get access to this feature you need only create a new folder on your desktop and name it: GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C} . This works, as I have used it and I also use it in W7, and it is a life saver in W10, as many of the user settings are even more hidden than ever before.

[SonicVenum]

Great tip! I'll do that when I have some free time. Thanks!

[Tetge]

Great tip! I'll do that when I have some free time. Thanks!

I forgot to add that I think that the GodMode. part at the beginning can be changed to some other thing, such as JuanMode. and as long as the entire string is entered exactly the way it is shown, it will still work. Me I just would create a new folder and paste GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C} in as its name. Too much chance of an error if you tried to type it.

Anyway, let me know if it works and if you find it useful.

[SonicVenum]

I took an every so tiny break from work to create the folder, and sure enough, it immediately turns into a system icon (like the control panel icon), rather than the typical folder icon. Once open, you see a variety of setting all organized by type. Pretty cool. I'll have to mess with it more when I have some time. Pretty cool, though!

[jhwalker]

Great tip! I'll do that when I have some free time. Thanks!

I forgot to add that I think that the GodMode. part at the beginning can be changed to some other thing, such as JuanMode. and as long as the entire string is entered exactly the way it is shown, it will still work. Me I just would create a new folder and paste GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C} in as its name. Too much chance of an error if you tried to type it.

Anyway, let me know if it works and if you find it useful.

I did it last night. Cleaned up startup. A lot of stuff was going on.