Ask Slashdot: Would You Recommend Updating To Windows 10?

Plenty of users are skeptical about upgrading to Windows 10. While they understand that Microsoft's newest desktop operating system comes with a range of interesting features, they are paranoid about the repeated update fiascos that have spoiled the experience for many users. Reader Quantus347 writes: Whenever I think of Windows 10 these days I, like so many others out there, immediately feel a swell of rage over the heavy-handed way the "upgrade" has been forced on me and so many others. I had to downgrade one of my computers that installed windows 10 over a weekend I was away, and as a result, I have been fending off the update ever since. I find myself wondering if Windows 10 is actually that bad. With the end of the "free" upgrade period quickly coming to an end, my fiscally conservative side is starting to overwhelm my fear and distrust of all things new, and I'm wondering if it's time to take the leap. I've been burned too many times for being an early adopter of something that proved to be an underdeveloped product, but Windows 10 has been around for long enough that I'm wondering if it might have it's kinks worked out.

So I ask you, Slashdot, what are your experiences with Windows 10 itself, aside from the auto-upgrade nonsense? How does it measure up to its predecessors, and is it a worthwhile OS in its own right?

Comments

It Stores More to the Cloud than You Might Think

[GeckoFood]

I was initially a little wary of Windows 10 but when I started using it I was all right with it - for a while. It seemed to be stable, it ran the applications I needed (Pinnacle Studio and PaintShop Pro) and it seemed to be faster than Windows 7. Seemed like a good move for me.

But then I got a new computer with Windows 10 pre-installed. I thought, "great, now I can move my old computer to Linux like I planned and still run my important applications on the new one." Things were fine, until I realized that I was connected to the network without having entered my network password. And it knew my passwords on various websites that I had accessed with Edge. It knew how to access my bank, my social media - everything. Now, I am not a big fish by any means, but I do not like the idea of my passwords and keys being stashed on a server over which I have zero control.

Do I believe Microsoft will do Bad Things with that information? No, I don't. It's convenient to have it know what I need for me so I don't have to look it up. But, it's unnerving that they harvested that info without my knowledge. It also is unsettling to think that it's on a network computer somewhere.

On this basis alone I hesitate to recommend Windows 10.

Re:You have to know how to secure a Windows 10 PC

[bondsbw]

You'll get some great info from Slashdot, but you'll also get misleading advice like the above.

Cortana is an ad for the ads on Bing

Google Chrome is an ad for the ads on Google. If you're ok with search engines and virtual assistants like Siri or Google Now, I doubt Cortana would raise any real concerns.

I'm not saying you should be ok with search ads or virtual assistant data sent to these companies. That's up to you.

Live Tiles are just ads for the MS App Store

Live Tiles have nothing to do with ads. They're content-focused widgets. The content is completely at the discretion of the developer. And you can turn the "live" part off if you don't like what it shows... or unpin or uninstall the app, you have several options.

Windows 10 does include ads for store apps (called Suggested Apps). They are not live tiles. You can turn suggested apps off via a setting: http://www.zdnet.com/article/h...