Here's What You'll Be Missing After Upgrading To Windows 10

[Toddskins]

Any and everybody with ½ a brain, knows to install a top notich AV progrom, Malwarebytes anti-malware, and then Norton Ghost the machine after right after buying it and after installing all the programs and patches. This is done BEFORE surfing the web. Security is NEVER an issue. Ever!

In the remote chance that something slips by Avast AV and/or Malwarebyte, a simple restore machine and you're back to perfect again in a matter of minutes. Data always goes on a different drive than the C-Drive. Always.

Basic know-how needs no new OS boasting security fixes.

 

[Toddskins]

One more thing, if you do not have Malwarebyte running in real time, you should. It's worth the price for the premium version.

 

[MatterUpR]

Does that mean Windows Media Center or Windows Media Player is going to be removed? They are two different things.

 

[rhysiam]

Uefi is mandatory.

Actually it's not, it seems like that was mis-reported on Toms and elsewhere. The presentation which Toms reported on was to OEMs (Dell, HP, etc), who are required to use a UEFI BIOS (and secure boot) for new devices they want to ship with Win10. For those taking advantage of the free upgrade, UEFI is not required. I've got a couple of older (but still capable) non-UEFI Win7 boxes which have pooped up with the Upgrade notification and not highlighted any compatibility issues.

 

[dusty13]

No WMC = I stay on Windows 7

try mediabrowser3. i too will miss wmc but mb3 is a viable free alternative. it also has apps for atreaming on pretty much all platforms ... i really like it.

just a suggestion.

 

[Lostinlodos]

Uefi is mandatory.

Actually it's not, it seems like that was mis-reported on Toms and elsewhere. The presentation which Toms reported on was to OEMs (Dell, HP, etc), who are required to use a UEFI BIOS (and secure boot) for new devices they want to ship with Win10. For those taking advantage of the free upgrade, UEFI is not required. I've got a couple of older (but still capable) non-UEFI Win7 boxes which have pooped up with the Upgrade notification and not highlighted any compatibility issues.

I think you may be correct partly Looks like windows 10 will upgrade on non-uefi but not fresh install.
However secure -boot is definitely /not/ mandatory. It's up to the OEM for windows 10.
This will be a good judge of what oems care about they're users (no secure boot) and which ones care Most about the bottom line (secure boot)

 

[TechyInAZ]

Does that mean Windows Media Center or Windows Media Player is going to be removed? They are two different things.

Windows Media Player is staying, but WMC is not. At least for now lol.

 

[zephyr2u]

Ok, I'm more up to date on UEFI. Seems for new computers its the way to go. But what about those CHEAP bastards like me? I'm still running computer that's 2006 and on Windows 7. Works for me. I'm wondering will Windows 10 bring faster boots? (I'm running a updated SSD now which is like being on steroids). Will Windows 10 bring true multitasking? (I'm currently running a quad CPU). There are times I wonder if really is being fully utilized?

 

[evergreen64]

At least half the people posting here have no idea what they're talking about wrt WMC. For the record, WMC, or Windows Media Center, is NOT the same thing as Windows Media Player. For all I know they might have once shared some of the same code base and codecs, but they're two different programs that have come with the past few versions of Windows. Both play media files, but only Windows Media Center is a complete Set Top Box replacement (provided you also have a WMC remote and a TV tuner card), with an automatically updated and very complete program guide, recording and playback features, watching and pausing live TV, etc. WMP does none of these, except for playback, and then only manually with non-encrypted content.

Microsoft is dumping Windows Media Center in Windows 10, NOT Windows Media Player. I suppose that some folks here mean the former despite referring to it as the latter, as the naming has always been somewhat confusing, but I'm guessing that most simply don't know the difference and thus don't know what they're talking about, adding to the confusion.

The reason Microsoft is giving is that very few people use WMC, which I'm inclined to believe given that it's a bit of a pain to set up, you need additional equipment from multiple sources, and it helps to be technically proficient and patient. Plus, people are moving to streaming media these days, and WMC isn't well set-up to handle streaming, although it used to have some streaming add-ons that MS disabled. There are 3rd party add-ons, but, again, you need to be proficient and patient, and most people are not, preferring to plug in a stick and get going.

I love WMC and have been using it for years, and it sucks that MS is removing it from future versions of Windows. I'll be keeping my Win7 WMC HTPC up and running for as long as it works, and installing Win10 on a newer PC that I hope to build within the next year. Hopefully I'll be able to watch live TV on it over my network, streaming from my Win7 HTPC, which I currently often do in a small window in the corner of my screen.

Personally, I think that MS is making a mistake by not updating WMC to be able to better handle streaming media and keeping it as a part of Windows, both for backward compatibility with traditional TV tuner-based viewing, recording and viewing, and to compete with the various streaming front ends out there such as Roku, Fire and Apple TV. They're going to have to come out with their own version of the latter eventually, so why not leverage a product they already make to do so? Stupid and inexplicable, like so many moves by Microsoft.

 

[evergreen64]

Ok, I'm more up to date on UEFI. Seems for new computers its the way to go. But what about those CHEAP bastards like me? I'm still running computer that's 2006 and on Windows 7. Works for me. I'm wondering will Windows 10 bring faster boots? (I'm running a updated SSD now which is like being on steroids). Will Windows 10 bring true multitasking? (I'm currently running a quad CPU). There are times I wonder if really is being fully utilized?

(Apologies for multiply-quoting you just now, got confused as to how to reply to a comment. If someone can delete those, please do.)

I'm also still running the PC I built in 2006, on Windows 7 since it came out. It's creaky and pokey and showing its age, but still does most of the things I need it to do, including running WMC, generally quite well (although occasionally my Ceton card loses contact with the damn tuning adapter I'm forced to use with TWC and I have to manually reconnect it).

Obviously, it will never be upgraded to W10. That's for my next build, hopefully later this year or early next, when Skylake comes out along with MBs and other HW to support it, like affordable 1TB M.2 NVMe-enabled cards and Intel CPUs with 6200 onboard video. At which point I'll relegate my older PC to pure HTPC duty.

 

[evergreen64]

No wmc? No loss. Been using vlc for so long i forget when I first got it. Plays cd/vcd/dvd/hvd/hd-dvd/bluray/dts disc....

Can vlc let you watch, record and play back protected content off your CableCard TV tuner? No? Then sorry, it's not a true WMC replacement.

No one runs WMC just for the optical disc playback capabilities (although it's pretty decent at that too). Its true value revolves around its TV tuner capabilities, including a superb and totally free program guide (btw can vlc do that either?).

 

[Angelus de Mortiel]

I think whomever wrote this article needs some basic lessons in writing.

Firstly, the cleverly implied statement that there will be no way to watch DVDs on Windows 10 is just completely misinformed. Microsoft simply said that Windows Media Center (not to be confused with Windows Media Player) is going away. And I say good riddance to that. Windows Media Center was a clunky and horrible program that had not been really updated since it's launch with Windows XP MC Edition/Windows Vista. With the advent of solutions like XBMC, WMC was sparsely used by anyone (especially on Windows 8 where it cost an extra $5).

And is anyone upset by the floppy drive support? I mean, what normal consumer is going to be using a floppy anymore? And hearts is going away. Again, another confused: Who cares? There are all antiquated pieces of Windows that should have been removed from Windows 7.

The Windows Update thing is no surprise. Windows 8 does it that way sort of. Optional updates won't automatically install, I'm sure. Automatic updates are not bad, as they frequently patch security issues. I imagine there will be a way to disable it if people are really persistent, though.

Overall, I think this article's poorly written nature has only stirred up a hornet's nest for no good reason. The real headline of the article should read: "A bunch of really antiquated and sparsely used features are finally being removed for Windows 10".

 

[Saga Lout]

I never used WMC so I don't now if it came with a fast forward facility that allowed you to skip commercials. If it did, maybe MS is bowing to the TV companies pressure to stop folks missing out on all that lovely, valuable advertising.

Hearts and Solitaire are important to some folks but they can carry the files over from anything since XP to the new system and the programmes will work. I'm more concerned that this "free" upgrade doesn't expire in a year and have to be paid for it you wish to keep running Windows.

Moving to an annual subscription would be more profitable for MS and would help to cut down on piracy if the OS came with the facility to be shut down remotely.

There's still a lot of unanswered questions about this new version of Windows.

 

[captaincharisma]

I never used WMC so I don't now if it came with a fast forward facility that allowed you to skip commercials. If it did, maybe MS is bowing to the TV companies pressure to stop folks missing out on all that lovely, valuable advertising.

Hearts and Solitaire are important to some folks but they can carry the files over from anything since XP to the new system and the programmes will work. I'm more concerned that this "free" upgrade doesn't expire in a year and have to be paid for it you wish to keep running Windows.

Moving to an annual subscription would be more profitable for MS and would help to cut down on piracy if the OS came with the facility to be shut down remotely.

There's still a lot of unanswered questions about this new version of Windows.

well they already stated that this will not convert your old old OS licence and will still have the ability to downgrade back. at any point so if you are so paranoid and think Microsoft are the biggest crooks in the world there's your answer and many more here

http://answers.microsoft.com/thread/c50ad32d-08a5-4273-a941-c353e43a5056

 

[evergreen64]

Microsoft simply said that Windows Media Center (not to be confused with Windows Media Player) is going away. And I say good riddance to that. Windows Media Center was a clunky and horrible program that had not been really updated since it's launch with Windows XP MC Edition/Windows Vista. With the advent of solutions like XBMC, WMC was sparsely used by anyone (especially on Windows 8 where it cost an extra $5).

Obviously you never used WMC and have no idea how it works or what its features are, for example, viewing, recording and playing back encrypted TV content, which Kodi (what XMBC is now called, yet another indication that you're way out of the loop) cannot do for licensing reasons.

For what WMC does and was meant to do, it was and is a superb program that has a perfectly fine interface, a very rich program guide that's updated daily, automatically and for free, and does all the things it's meant to do, and does them well. It's not fancy and feature-rich like Kodi, but it's not meant to do what it does or compete with it. It just does what it does and does them well.

Please, enlighten us idiots as to what superior alternatives there are for PCs that allow one to view, record and play back TV content, unencrypted and encrypted, be it over the air or via cable, satellite or FiOS? If you don't know for a fact that a given program can do all this, then don't just throw it out because it's what came to mind. That's textbook trolling, uninformed commenting, which yours was.

As would be telling us that we should be cutting the cable and streaming.

 

[Lostinlodos]

No wmc? No loss. Been using vlc for so long i forget when I first got it. Plays cd/vcd/dvd/hvd/hd-dvd/bluray/dts disc....

Can vlc let you watch, record and play back protected content off your CableCard TV tuner? No? Then sorry, it's not a true WMC replacement.

No one runs WMC just for the optical disc playback capabilities (although it's pretty decent at that too). Its true value revolves around its TV tuner capabilities, including a superb and totally free program guide (btw can vlc do that either?).

 

[captaincharisma]

No wmc? No loss. Been using vlc for so long i forget when I first got it. Plays cd/vcd/dvd/hvd/hd-dvd/bluray/dts disc....

Can vlc let you watch, record and play back protected content off your CableCard TV tuner? No? Then sorry, it's not a true WMC replacement.

No one runs WMC just for the optical disc playback capabilities (although it's pretty decent at that too). Its true value revolves around its TV tuner capabilities, including a superb and totally free program guide (btw can vlc do that either?).

No but Kodi can with the right configuration and add- onsand it will give you a better experience than WMC.

 

[garryash]

I only use wmc to watch and sometimes record snippets from TV for later viewing. Audo is supplied by my creative soundcard/software. Picture use corel paintshop pro. Watching videos = Nero. Making and editing videos = Pinnacle studio. BUT I do enjoy playing Mahjong titans and spider solitaire when I just want something to keep me occupied for a short while. I haven't been able to find an identical game on my win 8.1 laptop that allows me to adjust the window size of the game so that if I am, for example, waiting for my video editing software to finish, then I can play the game minimised and advert free. If someone can enlighten me as to how this last could be possible I may upgrade. No optical supprt? What do I do with all the disc based software (games and utilities) I have when I have to rebuild my PC? Not all of it is downloadable and why should I pay out for a downlaod when I already own the software?

 

[TwoDigital]

WMP (sic) works in Windows 10. Its hidden but its there. No reason why you couldnt play DVDs unless they change something in the final version..

You can install the Windows 8 WMC in the Insider Preview edition... but it effectively breaks your Windows 10 build by downgrading several internal components from the Windows 10 version to the Windows 8 version. You'll notice that your ability to get Windows updates goes away... that's a pretty significant side-effect. I'd expect that ability to install older WMC will go away in the final version along with the DVD codec and whatever other codecs Microsoft no longer wants to include.

 

[bwallx]

Achoo22 seems dismayed by the forced upgrade policy for Win10 Home. Why? I have been using Win10 all year and it updates almost every day as you'd expect of a beta and new editions have been coming about every three or four weeks. In all cases the upgrade has been seamless and flawless and invisible. Win10 retail will continue this and update as frequently as needed automatically.

It is essential that all users are on the same page in the future to get past the horrendous situation whereby currently there are three or four versions of Windows out there, and each has a different level of update currency.

I'd love to know what objections there could be.

 

[AndrewJacksonZA]

I'd love to know what objections there could be.

Cost.

In South Africa, not many people are on unlimited data packages on their ADSL lines, and large (more than 1GB) cellular/3G packages are rare and typically _very_ expensive.

Having said that, I am in favour of keeping the OS and applications patched, specifically security patches.

 

[TechyInAZ]

Ok, I'm more up to date on UEFI. Seems for new computers its the way to go. But what about those CHEAP bastards like me? I'm still running computer that's 2006 and on Windows 7. Works for me. I'm wondering will Windows 10 bring faster boots? (I'm running a updated SSD now which is like being on steroids). Will Windows 10 bring true multitasking? (I'm currently running a quad CPU). There are times I wonder if really is being fully utilized?

I've been running windows 10 on my old 2012 laptop and it's super fast. Boot times are ok, but the OS is super responsive. Even more than windows 7 or 8.1.

 

[grumpigeek]

A lot of comments here completely miss some key points.

1. This is about Windows Media Center not Windows Media Player.

2. Windows Media Center is far and away the most reliable software for recording free-to-air TV and it just works. Unlike alternative PVR software, you don't need to be a geek to work out how to use it.

As for replacing that PVR functionality, the alternatives are a long way from being usable.

 

[Angelus de Mortiel]

Microsoft simply said that Windows Media Center (not to be confused with Windows Media Player) is going away. And I say good riddance to that. Windows Media Center was a clunky and horrible program that had not been really updated since it's launch with Windows XP MC Edition/Windows Vista. With the advent of solutions like XBMC, WMC was sparsely used by anyone (especially on Windows 8 where it cost an extra $5).

Obviously you never used WMC and have no idea how it works or what its features are, for example, viewing, recording and playing back encrypted TV content, which Kodi (what XMBC is now called, yet another indication that you're way out of the loop) cannot do for licensing reasons.

For what WMC does and was meant to do, it was and is a superb program that has a perfectly fine interface, a very rich program guide that's updated daily, automatically and for free, and does all the things it's meant to do, and does them well. It's not fancy and feature-rich like Kodi, but it's not meant to do what it does or compete with it. It just does what it does and does them well.

Please, enlighten us idiots as to what superior alternatives there are for PCs that allow one to view, record and play back TV content, unencrypted and encrypted, be it over the air or via cable, satellite or FiOS? If you don't know for a fact that a given program can do all this, then don't just throw it out because it's what came to mind. That's textbook trolling, uninformed commenting, which yours was.

As would be telling us that we should be cutting the cable and streaming.

For the record: You called yourself an idiot. Not me.

I actually started to use WMC intensely about 8-10 years ago. After using it for several years in transitioning from Windows XP to Windows 7 to Windows 8 (I got MC free due to an early offer from Microsoft for Windows 8 adopters), the programme has not changed. It is clunky and lacks versatility, and the programme guide updating has absolutely nothing to do with what I meant about it not being updated. Look at the feature sets for any other DVR/PVR programme versus WMC and you can easily see that it was left in the dirt many years ago.

As far as recommendations? Easy. I've used GB-PVR (NextPVR, since you are a stickler for current names) for a while now on as a backend to XBMC (or Kodi, if you want) and found it much more usable (and versatile), but if you want a more natural experience (in my opinion), MediaPortal may be your thing. MythTV on Linux is amazing as well. Hell, I've even made a quasi-cable box using a MythBuntu computer and some frankenstein components from a junked DVR.

Obviously, you are the one that failed to research anything.

Now, rather than jumping to calling me a troll, why don't you do some research now and tell me: Of the Windows systems that are capable of using it, what percentage actually use WMC? What motivation would Microsoft have for updated a horribly outmoded programme that barely anyone uses (and for which there are tons of alternatives)?

Besides the fact, WMC features are being rolled into Xbox Music & Video, rendering your complaints irrelevant.

 

[Romanticapped]

I got ISO for vista 32 bit vista 64 bit win 7 32 bit ((it runs til u do all the up grades ) win 64bit. Built a brand new computer. Amd 9590 liquid cooled 8 gig ( all I could afford) as us 990fx saber tooth r2.0 nvidia 750 til graphics 650 watt PSU the mem stick is 1866, why all the issues if windows is so great and they taking crap away (MR 13)

They are taking stuff away like media center, so you HAVE to get a Microsoft 'free' account and use the apps and online crap, then they can track what you do with your computer. The forced updates are a joke as well, taking control of the users computer away from the user. They want control or access to all your data in the end.