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[smjjames]

Okay, so, I have Win 8.1 on this laptop and I'm mulling over whether I should get windows 10 or not. My uncle, who is good with computers (not that I'm not), said that it's good and an improvement over windows 8 features or something.

But I've heard of some things having issues with running on windows 10 and I saw in another thread that the free upgrade is available until June 2017 or so. So, I'm not in a hurry here. I use a third party app which makes the taskbar like it was in windows 7 and I ignore that wierd main feature from 8.1.

tl;dr
Trying to decide whether to upgrade to windows 10 from 8.1, but don't know for sure pros and cons or like what.

[itisnotlogical]

If the Windows 8 start menu really, really, really, really bothers you to the point where using the computer makes you miserable, then yes, Windows 10 is worth the upgrade. Otherwise no.

The thing is, Windows 10 is pretty much the same as every other Windows for the past decade and some. There's icons on a desktop, Internet Explorer is the default browser and Microsoft Office is the default office suite. The only new thing is the start menu.

The only real difference I've seen is that Win10 needs a second or two to warm up, whereas Win8 was always ready to go as soon as I logged in. I might even be imagining that.

[Tellemurius]

Honestly the new menu is fine, 10 times better than 8's fuck heug start screen. 10 is still infant however, I check to make sure your drivers are supported or not else you will be wasting your time on a upgrade. Give it a couple of months for all the stuff to die down and check back.

[ChairmanPoo]

My laptop works much better with windows 10 than it did with 8...

[Sappho]

I've heard that Windows 10 will root out any pirated software on your computer and disable it. Is that true? I, uh, I'm asking for a friend.

Glad to see this thread, by the way. I also have Windows 8 and I hate it, but when I got it I immediately installed a program that creates a normal start menu and makes the whole system look like Windows 7. So if Windows 10 doesn't actually make any significant positive changes, maybe I'll just stick with what I've got...

[i2amroy]

I've heard that Windows 10 will root out any pirated software on your computer and disable it. Is that true? I, uh, I'm asking for a friend.

True in the sense that Microsoft technically has the capability to recognize if you pirate their software and disable it, but that's been true on pretty much any computer system for the past five years or so (triply so on any type of mobile device). Currently it looks more like the particular bit of license agreement that states that they can do that is more of a copy-paste type of thing over from the XBox and XBox Live license agreements than anything Microsoft seriously is going to try and enforce (and even on the extremely rare chance that they do enforce anything, it would almost certainly be limited to only microsoft programs).

[Thief^]

It's also worth considering that Windows 10 is currently the only OS with Direct-X 12. If you play games, it's worth the free upgrade just for the future-proofing, as all indications are that direct-x 12 games will run better than 11.

Direct-X 12 will not be backported to Windows 7 or 8.0 (both are out of mainstream support). Whether it will be backported to 8.1 is still to be determined, but it's looking doubtful.

I should also add that it's possible to uninstall Windows 10 and go back to Windows 8, if you really don't like it. You get a month to do this.

I personally have not had any compatibility issues with the 3 PCs I've upgraded to Windows 10.

[Sappho]

I've heard that Windows 10 will root out any pirated software on your computer and disable it. Is that true? I, uh, I'm asking for a friend.

True in the sense that Microsoft technically has the capability to recognize if you pirate their software and disable it, but that's been true on pretty much any computer system for the past five years or so (triply so on any type of mobile device). Currently it looks more like the particular bit of license agreement that states that they can do that is more of a copy-paste type of thing over from the XBox and XBox Live license agreements than anything Microsoft seriously is going to try and enforce (and even on the extremely rare chance that they do enforce anything, it would almost certainly be limited to only microsoft programs).

So they don't seek out things like Photoshop and whatnot? That's what I was told (and concerned about), but of course it was all hearsay.

[Arx]

As far as I am aware, it's only Microsoft proprietary programs. So if you pirate the Xbox emulator or whatever (I'm told this is a thing?), you might get hammered.

Okay, so, I have Win 8.1 on this laptop and I'm mulling over whether I should get windows 10 or not. My uncle, who is good with computers (not that I'm not), said that it's good and an improvement over windows 8 features or something.

But I've heard of some things having issues with running on windows 10 and I saw in another thread that the free upgrade is available until June 2017 or so. So, I'm not in a hurry here. I use a third party app which makes the taskbar like it was in windows 7 and I ignore that wierd main feature from 8.1.

tl;dr
Trying to decide whether to upgrade to windows 10 from 8.1, but don't know for sure pros and cons or like what.

I'd wait for a while. I'm planning on upgrading, since as far as I can tell almost all of the original frothing rage about it was based on misinformation, but I'm giving Microsoft some time to roll out patches first.

[Bohandas]

I've heard that Windows 10 will root out any pirated software on your computer and disable it. Is that true? I, uh, I'm asking for a friend.

True in the sense that Microsoft technically has the capability to recognize if you pirate their software and disable it, but that's been true on pretty much any computer system for the past five years or so (triply so on any type of mobile device). Currently it looks more like the particular bit of license agreement that states that they can do that is more of a copy-paste type of thing over from the XBox and XBox Live license agreements than anything Microsoft seriously is going to try and enforce (and even on the extremely rare chance that they do enforce anything, it would almost certainly be limited to only microsoft programs).

Regardless though, it's not a capability that they should be allowed to have. If you do upgrade you should look into hacks to lock microsoft out of your system and to loke your system out of sending information to microsoft. Just on principle.

EDIT:
Also I would assume that as with 7 and 8, Windows 10 will likely require Classic Shell and Winaero Ribbon Disabler in order to actually be usable.

[Tellemurius]

Classic shell honestly isn't needed since there is a menu again instead of a start screen. If you really are anal about it you can also disable the apps to shrink the menu down.

[Aklyon]

It's also worth considering that Windows 10 is currently the only OS with Direct-X 12.

While this is true, is there anything worth playing that actually uses DX12 yet? 'Because future-proofing' is about as meh a reason on its own as 'Its not as bad as 8', considering most of what I've seen still favors dx9/10, with the more AAA-like titles adding dx11 support for more fancy effects.

[Tellemurius]

It's also worth considering that Windows 10 is currently the only OS with Direct-X 12.

While this is true, is there anything worth playing that actually uses DX12 yet? 'Because future-proofing' is about as meh a reason on its own as 'Its not as bad as 8', considering most of what I've seen still favors dx9/10, with the more AAA-like titles adding dx11 support for more fancy effects.

I would assume dx11 would be dropping soon due to the limitation it has for flashy effects anyways. If you are on 8, go do the upgrade now, if you are on 7, I'd probably wait it out until you get the last few days of the free upgrade time.

[Flying Dice]

Classic shell honestly isn't needed since there is a menu again instead of a start screen. If you really are anal about it you can also disable the apps to shrink the menu down.

Eeh. Not strictly necessary, but the Win10 start menu still sucks pretty hard. It's only good in comparison to 8.

[Delioth]

Windows 10 is also significantly quicker/less intensive to run background than at least 8.1- I personally noticed a big difference in responsiveness switching between the two on my laptop. The start menu is less of an issue- if you liked the fullscreen of 8.1, you can still set it to run as full screen, or you can just keep the tiles in a start menu, or you can get rid of the tiles and use it almost like 7 and beyond.

And for a correction- it doesn't use internet explorer, it uses the new microsoft edge (Which is by scores and such, roughly 33% quicker than Chrome. But if you want straight speedy page loading, check out Opera.)