# Windows versions



## Dorsetmike (Sep 26, 2018)

As a matter of interest I often wonder what Win 10 has that other versions do not, apart from massive updates many of which seem to cause problems.

I run Firefox as my browser and Thunder bird for email on Win 7, what - if anything - does win 10 offer that is significantly better for internet browsing and email.

I've used AVG free and Ad block for over 15 years with no problems, does Win 10 offer anything better?

I don't have, nor do I want, a touch screen


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

When I went from Windows 7 to 10, it seemed like nothing much was gained. Some features were added and a few lost. My impression was it was not really worth upgrading, but not a disaster either.

A few early updates were troublesome, but I have seen no such problems for a long time now. It’s something I don’t really think about. I use the virus and malware program that comes with Windows 10 and it works fine, transparent and lightweight in the background. Its virus dictionary is updated daily.

Probably the best reason to upgrade is the end of extended support for Windows 7, scheduled for January 14 next year. No security patches past that date.


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## Granate (Jun 25, 2016)

You should if possible upgrade to the latest Windows 10 version. Mine runs perfectly although I still can't forget that update that crashed many people's server two and half years ago. In fact, I was here in the forum and suddenly decided to listen to Bruckner symphonies while the laptop was dead. He's now my favourite composer.

Anyway, many of the personal computers affected by the massive WannaCry ransomware attack had not updated to the latest version of Windows (I do it really often).


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

All of my laptops in current use run Windows 7 and will continue to regardless of the end of Microsoft’s support in January. In fact it’s only in the last 2 years that I had to give up on my small WinXP laptops because I upgraded my modems/routers which don’t recognize WEP anymore. It’s not that I insisted on using WEP, it was that the WiFi drivers of these circa-2006 laptops don’t recognize WPA.

Anyway, I depend more on backups and redundancy than Microsoft updates. When it comes to my main computer, a large desktop-replacement laptop, I have an exact twin available in case of disaster which, incidentally I have a separate hard drive available for it that has Win10 on it if necessary.


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## Schoenberg (Oct 15, 2018)

I currently use two different computers, a laptop with windows 7 and a desktop with windows 10.
Although the desktop is a miles better computer it's much slower than the laptop, so windows 10 is presumably a lot slower than windows 7.

In addition windows 10 seems a lot more shady then windows 7, having ads in the start menu and on the logon screen and every once in a while something goes completely wrong and you have to factory reset. I have also heard of issues of telemetry and other behaviour that windows 10 does. Overall windows 7 is a lot more user friendly.


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## Don Fatale (Aug 31, 2009)

The last time I upgraded one of my laptops to 10 from 7 it didn't go well and I'm reluctant to repeat with my programming laptop and its backup. I'll probably go for a corporate refurb Lenovo 10 at some point. It'll be a pity because I think 7 is pretty damn neat, and very reliable.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

I think the corporate refurbs are a great value. My current machine is one of those, Win 10, 8GB RAM, 1 TB hard drive, $150 delivered. What's not to love?


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

Schoenberg said:


> I currently use two different computers, a laptop with windows 7 and a desktop with windows 10.
> Although the desktop is a miles better computer it's much slower than the laptop, so windows 10 is presumably a lot slower than windows 7.
> 
> In addition windows 10 seems a lot more shady then windows 7, having ads in the start menu and on the logon screen and every once in a while something goes completely wrong and you have to factory reset. I have also heard of issues of telemetry and other behaviour that windows 10 does. Overall windows 7 is a lot more user friendly.


Here's how to turn off the annoying ads on windows 10:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.windowscentral.com/how-remove-advertising-windows-10%3famp


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

I've never found a version of Windows that I'd call a speed demon. (Although I have no complaints about Windows 10 on my pared-down, SSD, Celeron based ASUS notebook.)

What I can say is that I can count the number of total crashes on Windows 10 (which I've used since the initial release) on one hand with several fingers left over.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Larkenfield said:


> Here's how to turn off the annoying ads on windows 10:
> https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.windowscentral.com/how-remove-advertising-windows-10%3famp


Isn't it ironic that this is posted on a site that wants you to turn off your adblocker?


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## RockyIII (Jan 21, 2019)

I always upgrade to the latest versions when they come out. I remember waiting in line at Egghead Software to buy Windows 95 on the day it was released. 

When Windows 10 first came out and we updated all the workstations at the office, my IT guy said it has better internal security features. The main thing I liked was that it ran faster. Of course, you probably need a faster computer with plenty of memory to get the benefit.

Rocky


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

RockyIII said:


> I always upgrade to the latest versions when they come out. I remember waiting in line at Egghead Software to buy Windows 95 on the day it was released.
> 
> When Windows 10 first came out and we updated all the workstations at the office, my IT guy said it has better internal security features. The main thing I liked was that it ran faster. Of course, you probably need a faster computer with plenty of memory to get the benefit.
> 
> Rocky


I'm no longer running windows but I always upgrade my OS for security reasons. If there's an update, it's usually because of a vulnerability that's already been exploited, and the company is going to be more invested in keeping their latest OS up to date rather than one that's years old and harder and more inconvenient to protect.


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## philoctetes (Jun 15, 2017)

Windows 10 possibly has better security features IF they are enabled. Last time I looked at the settings menu everything was still defaulted to have a maximum possible attack surface. It's up the the user / admin to change those settings at installation.

For example, W10 has Access Control, imitating Linux a bit, but it has to be activated. Then, all the privacy settings have to be changed. If the user doesn't take these steps I assume there won't be any security improvements.


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## haydnguy (Oct 13, 2008)

RockyIII said:


> I always upgrade to the latest versions when they come out. I remember waiting in line at Egghead Software to buy Windows 95 on the day it was released.
> 
> When Windows 10 first came out and we updated all the workstations at the office, my IT guy said it has better internal security features. The main thing I liked was that it ran faster. Of course, you probably need a faster computer with plenty of memory to get the benefit.
> 
> Rocky


Rocky those people that are there when the doors open are called, 'Seekers'. I am too.


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## haydnguy (Oct 13, 2008)

Probably the feature in Windows 10 that I like best is 'Control Folder Access' it really is cool.


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## haydnguy (Oct 13, 2008)

@philoctetes - Did you ever decide on a Wireshark book?


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

I have just been given a new laptop by my employer. I picked it up today. The operating system is Windows 10. A new OS to learn. But I've learned how to use new operating systems for 37 years now, if you include DOS 1.something. I've never been an expert in any one single OS, but I always seem to muddle my way through.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Remember when Microsoft's entire operating system came on a single 3.5" floppy (or stiffie if you prefer)?


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

Contrary to popular belief, Microsoft has only ever had 2 PC operating systems, DOS and NT. All the others are the same underlying operating system with variant graphical interfaces wrapped around them. Windows 3.5, 95 et.al. was DOS with a graphical wrapper superimposed on it. XP, Vista, 7, 8 & 10 are all NT with updated graphical interfaces. Even the various Windows Server releases are based on the NT core. Yes there have been minor tweaks along the way, new features added, but the operating system ... the guts of the system ... remains the same. The fact that it has a different look & feel, files and programs are in different places etc., etc., doesn't make it a different operating system. </rant>


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

KenOC said:


> I think the corporate refurbs are a great value. My current machine is one of those, Win 10, 8GB RAM, 1 TB hard drive, $150 delivered. What's not to love?


I went with the same for my desk top. The majority of my time with the computer is spent online and my iPad is 1000X better for this.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Becca said:


> Contrary to popular belief, Microsoft has only ever had 2 PC operating systems, DOS and NT. All the others are the same underlying operating system with variant graphical interfaces wrapped around them. Windows 3.5, 95 et.al. was DOS with a graphical wrapper superimposed on it. XP, Vista, 7, 8 & 10 are all NT with updated graphical interfaces. Even the various Windows Server releases are based on the NT core. Yes there have been minor tweaks along the way, new features added, but the operating system ... the guts of the system ... remains the same. The fact that it has a different look & feel, files and programs are in different places etc., etc., doesn't make it a different operating system. </rant>


DOS 2.1 rules! All this WYSIWYG stuff is for weak-minded beginners. If you can't write a decent batch file, why are you messing with computers in the first place???​


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## Dan Ante (May 4, 2016)

I am still with Vista, the only thing that has not worked is a couple of web sites that would not load with a pop up to update.


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

KenOC said:


> DOS 2.1 rules! All this WYSIWYG stuff is for weak-minded beginners. If you can't write a decent batch file, why are you messing with computers in the first place???​


Using edlin of course.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

The only gripe I have with Windows 10 is that it's not compatible with a couple of my favourite old PC games from the XP/Vista/7 era.


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## Schoenberg (Oct 15, 2018)

Becca said:


> Contrary to popular belief, Microsoft has only ever had 2 PC operating systems, DOS and NT. All the others are the same underlying operating system with variant graphical interfaces wrapped around them. Windows 3.5, 95 et.al. was DOS with a graphical wrapper superimposed on it. XP, Vista, 7, 8 & 10 are all NT with updated graphical interfaces. Even the various Windows Server releases are based on the NT core. Yes there have been minor tweaks along the way, new features added, but the operating system ... the guts of the system ... remains the same. The fact that it has a different look & feel, files and programs are in different places etc., etc., doesn't make it a different operating system. </rant>


Microsoft also had Xenix as well.


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

Over the last few days, was dragged kicking and screaming to Win10 from Win7 for my main desktop replacement laptops. Reasons were that TurboTax may not support Win7 in 2020 when Microsoft will drop support for it and for the same reason my new Finance program will likely drop support also -already it requires 64bit because JAVA supports only 64bit now.

I bought a brand new-in-box Fujitsu T900 (2.8 gHz 4gb memory with 2 ac adaptors and dock) -no hard drive or OS- off eBay for $110 (they cost $2000+ 9 years ago) and a used twin T900 for $130. Got an OEM Win10 dirt cheap and 500gb hard drive for $30, all from eBay. Installed the hard drive and created the Win10 system from scratch using the Win7 drivers from the Fujitsu website where necessary -Win10 did a pretty good job of installing some drivers for WiFi, USB etc. Everything works perfectly except for the memory card reader which I have no use for anyway.

Why a 9 year old laptop? Well, these are built like tanks compared to many laptops these days plus it has a swivel screen that can be used in tablet position with a stylus (of course, laptops can do the same these days, but cost much more). But more important is that there are caddies to literally plug in a CD drive, 2nd hard drive or 2nd battery. So if one of the T900s goes down, I can plug the 2nd hard drive with backups on it into the twin T900. You can’t buy anything with this capability for $160 these days, not to mention being able to have an exact twin for only $130.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Taggart said:


> Using edlin of course.


After a while I switched to Borland Sidekick, which included a neat little terminate-and-stay-resident (TSR) text editor. Great for programming in dBase II because you could switch back and forth between the editor and dBase. Of course when Windows came along, all programs were effectively TSR's, at least until the blue screen of death (BSOD) showed up as it always did.


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## Guest (May 2, 2019)

Schoenberg said:


> In addition windows 10 seems a lot more shady then windows 7, having ads in the start menu and on the logon screen


Ads? I've never seen any. Am I missing something?


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

KenOC said:


> After a while I switched to Borland Sidekick, which included a neat little terminate-and-stay-resident (TSR) text editor. Great for programming in dBase II because you could switch back and forth between the editor and dBase. Of course when Windows came along, all programs were effectively TSR's, at least until the blue screen of death (BSOD) showed up as it always did.


I miss Borland. I taught myself database programming using PAL (Paradox for DOS) and then Delphi. Never my profession, but I created a couple of real world apps.


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## haydnguy (Oct 13, 2008)

The NSA just came out with this warning. That's out of character for them so I'd take it seriously. It includes Windows 7. Patch! If you don't know how. Ask!!

https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveyw...-now-or-face-devastating-damage/#6b05e8bb3aa0

MODERATORS: You might want to move this thread to the 'Computer Talk' thread. Thanks.:tiphat:


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## haydnguy (Oct 13, 2008)

Becca said:


> Contrary to popular belief, Microsoft has only ever had 2 PC operating systems, DOS and NT. All the others are the same underlying operating system with variant graphical interfaces wrapped around them. Windows 3.5, 95 et.al. was DOS with a graphical wrapper superimposed on it. XP, Vista, 7, 8 & 10 are all NT with updated graphical interfaces. Even the various Windows Server releases are based on the NT core. Yes there have been minor tweaks along the way, new features added, but the operating system ... the guts of the system ... remains the same. The fact that it has a different look & feel, files and programs are in different places etc., etc., doesn't make it a different operating system. </rant>


You're right. And I used NT 3.1 (the first version) and it kicked butt for the time. The only problem was drivers.


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## haydnguy (Oct 13, 2008)

KenOC said:


> After a while I switched to Borland Sidekick, which included a neat little terminate-and-stay-resident (TSR) text editor. Great for programming in dBase II because you could switch back and forth between the editor and dBase. Of course when Windows came along, all programs were effectively TSR's, at least until the blue screen of death (BSOD) showed up as it always did.


How about Norton Commander?


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## haydnguy (Oct 13, 2008)

Dorsetmike said:


> As a matter of interest I often wonder what Win 10 has that other versions do not, apart from massive updates many of which seem to cause problems.
> 
> I run Firefox as my browser and Thunder bird for email on Win 7, what - if anything - does win 10 offer that is significantly better for internet browsing and email.
> 
> ...


This came out a few days ago. This is for Vista, Windows 7, and the "older" versions of Windows. Server versions too.

The NSA just came out with this warning. That's out of character for them so I'd take it seriously. It includes Windows 7. Patch! If you don't know how. Ask!!

https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveyw...-now-or-face-devastating-damage/#6b05e8bb3aa0


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