Windows 10 to be Released July 29 2015

[SteveG1988]

Did anyone check out Microsoft's Maps app in Windows 10? I like it quite a bit, and even though there is no street view, it is insanely smooth and it has really nice 3D city views!

AND it has a 3D city for Trenton! Not even Google has that! Although, I am shocked that some towns like Toms River and Edison made it in this list, but Hartford and New Haven Connecticut didn't.

Even my town has an approximated 3d version, try typing in any zip code in NJ, select the 3d view.

[iBallasticwolf2]

Did anyone check out Microsoft's Maps app in Windows 10? I like it quite a bit, and even though there is no street view, it is insanely smooth and it has really nice 3D city views!

AND it has a 3D city for Trenton! Not even Google has that! Although, I am shocked that some towns like Toms River and Edison made it in this list, but Hartford and New Haven Connecticut didn't.

Even my town has an approximated 3d version, try typing in any zip code in NJ, select the 3d view.

Really? The Microsoft Maps app installed by default is very slow. Does have Streetside, and thinks I like in Convington. I still prefer Google Maps Canada to this.

[D-Dey65]

Not that I'm in a hurry, but my computer still hasn't downloaded it yet. Maybe its trying to tell me something

Neither has mine, thankfully. I'm not taking too many chances, though.

[jakeroot]

Not that I'm in a hurry, but my computer still hasn't downloaded it yet. Maybe its trying to tell me something

Neither has mine, thankfully. I'm not taking too many chances, though.

Don't be too sceptical. It's only a 3GB download. There's only so many things that can be stuffed into 3 gigs. So far, it seems like a polished version of Windows 8.

[kkt]

Don't be too sceptical. It's only a 3GB download. There's only so many things that can be stuffed into 3 gigs. So far, it seems like a polished version of Windows 8.

The Morris Worm brought the internet to its knees in only 3000 lines or so of C code, including three different attack vectors...

[jakeroot]

Don't be too sceptical. It's only a 3GB download. There's only so many things that can be stuffed into 3 gigs. So far, it seems like a polished version of Windows 8.

The Morris Worm brought the internet to its knees in only 3000 lines or so of C code, including three different attack vectors...

True, true. My point being, it's not like Windows 10 was built from the ground up. It's essentially the same as Windows 8 with a different UX...it looks a little different, but the code is very similar.

[iBallasticwolf2]

It seems in the Microsoft Edge browser on Windows 10 this forum is kind of broken. The special features like emoticons and formatting don't work unless entered manually and some avatars are broke. (Ex. 1995hoo's GIF avatar just shows an X in a box) Can anyone give any insight in to this?

[vdeane]

"Only" 3GB?  As recently as XP, the Windows installer fit on a single CD, which is about 700-800 MB.

[jakeroot]

"Only" 3GB?  As recently as XP, the Windows installer fit on a single CD, which is about 700-800 MB.

[english si]

I've downloaded it onto my laptop. Everything fine (though it took a further reset) - so much that it mostly feels like a (nice) cosmetic change from the Windows 7 that I had* - except that the start menu won't open (though I can still get on Chrome, which I had pinned to the taskbar under the 7 regime).

*there are some noticeable operation differences.

[kkt]

"Only" 3GB?  As recently as XP, the Windows installer fit on a single CD, which is about 700-800 MB.

Did the installer have to get some components off the internet to finish the installation, and/or decompress what was stored on the CD?

[davewiecking]

WinXP install files, including the ones specifically needed if upgrading from either 9X or NT as opposed to doing a fresh install, occupy about 550GB on CD. Undoubtedly compressed, but could be completely installed without being connected to the outside world.

And then came the Service Packs, upgraded IE's/WMP's and other patches...

My W7Home laptop seems to have painlessly turned into W10. I "signed up" for the download on Monday, checked at dinnertime Tuesday (which apparently caused it to start the download), and did the full upgrade just now. All user accounts, shared directories and permissions stayed the same. I also had an issue with the start button not bringing up the menu, but it did respond to both manners of bringing up the menu via keyboard commands, and now works with the mouse.  Left my IE icons on the desktop, but has Edge on the Start Menu. Runs all old Apps I've tried, including MsOffice03. VPN's still connect to outside networks. Happy for now-by far the easiest MS upgrade ever.

[vdeane]

"Only" 3GB?  As recently as XP, the Windows installer fit on a single CD, which is about 700-800 MB.

Did the installer have to get some components off the internet to finish the installation, and/or decompress what was stored on the CD?

Windows used to be smaller.  Everything was.  XP was released in an era when 20 GB hard drives were still common; today most flash drives and SD cards are bigger.

It's worth noting that installation was a lot slower back then.  The installer got a lot bigger when it was rewritten for speed (and added other things, like a graphical GUI and mouse support throughout the entire install; prior to Vista, the first phase of the install was a keyboard-based UI that looked like it belonged in the MS-DOS era).

[english si]

I also had an issue with the start button not bringing up the menu, but it did respond to both manners of bringing up the menu via keyboard commands, and now works with the mouse.

That's encouraging. What keyboard commands did you use? I started by pushing the Windows button, before attempting with the mouse. Neither worked.

[ET21]

I'm waiting to see how Windows 10 will be with Xbox One

[Stratuscaster]

In what way, exactly?

[SteveG1988]

"Only" 3GB?  As recently as XP, the Windows installer fit on a single CD, which is about 700-800 MB.

Did the installer have to get some components off the internet to finish the installation, and/or decompress what was stored on the CD?

Windows used to be smaller.  Everything was.  XP was released in an era when 20 GB hard drives were still common; today most flash drives and SD cards are bigger.

It's worth noting that installation was a lot slower back then.  The installer got a lot bigger when it was rewritten for speed (and added other things, like a graphical GUI and mouse support throughout the entire install; prior to Vista, the first phase of the install was a keyboard-based UI that looked like it belonged in the MS-DOS era).

I remember reading somewhere that the Vista through to the current era actually doesn't install windows like Xp did, where it would decompress files. There is a pre-set windows image on the disc, and it just drops in the drivers as needed. As such it just copies files over to the hard drive, versus having to use the processor to decompress a large .cab just to install MSPaint and Wordpad. It mounts the image in RAM, like a Virtual CD Drive or Hard Drive, and copies. Versus having to read a CD, copy to storage, move via the CPU to ram, use the CPU to decompress it in Ram, back to ram to push it to the hard drive, delete what was unneeded, etc.

[davewiecking]

I also had an issue with the start button not bringing up the menu, but it did respond to both manners of bringing up the menu via keyboard commands, and now works with the mouse.

That's encouraging. What keyboard commands did you use? I started by pushing the Windows button, before attempting with the mouse. Neither worked.

Ctrl-Esc did the trick for me. I'd be really annoyed if MS had eliminated that one.

[SSOWorld]

One thing to keep in mind - and I know it's high risk - but I cannot stress it enough...

Do not settle for an over-the-top upgrade

I've done this with a Win95 to Win98 install and found it being "hybrid" and full of issues.  One would have thought Microsoft had fixed these by the time the number 9 came around and got skipped, but that's NOT the case.

I started with an over-the-top to test it, but today I ended up doing a clean install of Win10 on same computer to much more satisfaction.  The errors that were showing in the over-the-top are now gone - even though I had to fix the product activation (b/c the OS that came with the laptop was Win 8.1 Home, and I got a Win 8.1 pro upgrade (but lost the key in my storage spot (a.k.a. my basement).  Thankfully, the pro got put on with a key and (I think it may have picked that key up as well) no money was charged. All this considering the new method of storing keys was on the BIOS for OEM products.

After that point, I find Windows 10 to be more attractive than Windows 8 functionally, though the trend (of all OSs) is toward one of "phone home to help the computer".  (iOS, MAC OS X and Windows all do this - (Android to a point as well - depending on the vendor)) - Essentially why some of us with serious privacy concerns choose to use Linux.

[1995hoo]

I guess right now my question is this: Can one simply download it but not install it? I'm in no hurry to install it on either PC, but since they claim the free "pricing" won't last forever, the notion has crossed my mind of doing a pre-emptive download sort of as a hedge against them changing that.

[J N Winkler]

I guess right now my question is this: Can one simply download it but not install it? I'm in no hurry to install it on either PC, but since they claim the free "pricing" won't last forever, the notion has crossed my mind of doing a pre-emptive download sort of as a hedge against them changing that.

AIUI, you can download but the timing of installation is entirely up to you, and as long as it occurs before the one-year window expires, the resulting copy of Windows 10 is free.  What I don't know is whether you can download without the system subsequently nagging you to install.

If you are looking to hedge, I'd delay a download until after the last Patch Tuesday before the one-year window expires, just to maximize chances of getting a copy that doesn't need to have hundreds of updates downloaded right after it installs.

I rolled back installation of KB 3035583 (the nag update) and don't plan to make a decision about download or installation until June 2016.  The computer I might upgrade then will be almost five years old and it may very well make more sense to keep it running 7 than take a chance on driver problems.  It has a Nvidia GeForce GTX GPU, so 10's recent well-publicized issues with the GeForce family give me pause.

I am also staying more current with 7 updates than usual because I now feel I have to review each update before it installs to be sure I don't pick up another 10 nag update, and letting updates accumulate creates a backlog that is painful to go through.  I may have to rethink this approach, however, since I have seen a sharp increase in BSODs (locale ID 2057) that occur when the computer attempts to go into hibernation after a nightly backup run and then crashes.  It may be a result of keeping Firefox open with three Washington Post tabs dealing with the Hiroshima bombing anniversary, or the computer may have ingested a bad update.

[1995hoo]

Thanks for that. Sounds like a good idea. I'll keep my eye on the reviews and I'll try to keep a sense for how often I have to go help Ms1995hoo deal with Windows 8.1 on her laptop (the more she gripes, the more I think about the upgrade!).

[tchafe1978]

Is anybody else having this problem? I have Windows 7, and every time my computer tries to upgrade to Windows 10, the installation of the update fails. I get an error code 800240020. I click on "get help with this error" but nothing with that error code shows up in Windows Help. I click on the link to go to Microsoft Help and Support, but I can't find any answers there either. I did find one page where others were posting they were having the same problem, but I didn't find any solutions posted. Anybody have any ideas?

[Eth]

Is anybody else having this problem? I have Windows 7, and every time my computer tries to upgrade to Windows 10, the installation of the update fails. I get an error code 800240020. I click on "get help with this error" but nothing with that error code shows up in Windows Help. I click on the link to go to Microsoft Help and Support, but I can't find any answers there either. I did find one page where others were posting they were having the same problem, but I didn't find any solutions posted. Anybody have any ideas?

I think you have a typo in that error code. Could it be 80240020 instead? Searching on that at Microsoft's site seems to produce something related to the Windows 10 upgrade.

[tchafe1978]

Yes, that was a typo. I feel dumb for not thinking of if sooner, but I did search the error code on Microsoft's website and found a suggestion. I tried it, and now it's working. Thanks for your suggestion.