Windows 10 - help needed!

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Windows 10 - help needed!

paulisi · Tennis legend

First I wouldn't recommend downloading windows 10 until all the issues are resolved. I've heard rumours of customers who have issues, where it continually reboots.

Further to that, Microsoft have been very late in issuing instructions to the manufacturers and hence why no one is advertising new machines with Win 10 installed.

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Too late, too late. . .

My problem is old age and stupidity: but I'm managing ok generally, though I am not trying out all the new features - just generally using it as I did my old Windows 7. I did read broadband forums before downloading, nearly all were enthusiastic about it.

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Back to this - I wish I had seen paulisi's post before I upgraded. I did it because I was worried, I had read that Windows 7 was about to be unsupported soon. I would have waited a bit longer if I had read his advice.

A warning to anybody else thinking of doing this - check peripherals. My printer is too old, Epson don't make a printer driver for Windows 10 and I'll have to buy a new printer. The old one was fairly expensive and was working well before I upgraded - I suspect the same issue with my external hard drive which isn't working properly either. Neither is the built-in CD/DVD drive - though many new computers don't have one anyway, downloading seems to be the way to go these days.

I have found a Canon printer for £50 quid which a reviewer mentions having to buy to be compatible with Windows 10 and says is working well - I don't print nearly as much as I used to so a cheap one is probably a good idea. Santa Claus is about to get a request!

Now for research on an external hard drive which will work for backups. I can't fathom the workings of Cloud!

steven · Tennis legend

Madeline wrote:
Back to this - I wish I had seen paulisi's post before I upgraded. I did it because I was worried, I had read that Windows 7 was about to be unsupported soon. I would have waited a bit longer if I had read his advice.

A warning to anybody else thinking of doing this - check peripherals. My printer is too old, Epson don't make a printer driver for Windows 10 and I'll have to buy a new printer. The old one was fairly expensive and was working well before I upgraded - I suspect the same issue with my external hard drive which isn't working properly either. Neither is the built-in CD/DVD drive - though many new computers don't have one anyway, downloading seems to be the way to go these days.

I have found a Canon printer for £50 quid which a reviewer mentions having to buy to be compatible with Windows 10 and says is working well - I don't print nearly as much as I used to so a cheap one is probably a good idea. Santa Claus is about to get a request!

Now for research on an external hard drive which will work for backups. I can't fathom the workings of Cloud!

Oh yes, the joys of upgrading then finding out half your software and half your peripherals don't work any more - that's why I'm still on Windows XP, though I will junk it and my current laser printer as soon as I've got my business wound up and don't need certain expensive items of software any more! IT companies get away with so many things that would be considered borderline fraudulent if any other type of company tried to do it.

The real reason I'm posting though is re. external hard drives - I bought a WD Elements 2 TB (i.e. 2000 GB) drive recently. I'm very happy with it and it has a badge on it to say it's Windows 10-ready. They also do a cheaper WD Passport drive that costs a bit less for half the storage, i.e. 1 TB. There are probably much cheaper options if you don't require anywhere near that amount of storage though.

As for the cloud, if you can't fathom that (and I'm not sure I've got there yet!), Dropbox (www.dropbox.com) is the simplest way I've found to use Cloud-type storage, so if you want to backup to the Cloud without getting totally confused, that's not a bad option. The advantage of that over an external hard drive is that you end up with an off-site backup but obviously it takes longer to backup files and can lock up your Internet connection a bit.

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

My software was fine, actually! I checked the main ones I use would be compatible before I jumped in. Hardware just didn't occur to me. . .

paulisi · Tennis legend

I've now switched over at home. There were a few teething problems such as having to re-load Microsoft Office, but everything seems to be relatively fine now.

Interestingly Win 10 only seems to be rolling out to personal computers and not businesses yet.

If you are happy with the system you have, keep it for now. At some stage they will stop supporting earlier systems, but not yet and will charge for downloading Win 10 or whatever comes next, however you should get some prior warning.