Your Experience with Windows 10

[Joseph DeGarmo]

Audio volume in games is too soft in Windows 10. Audio glitched out in MKX until I signed out of Windows. I'm going to default boot to Windows 8.1 until further notice. I've had enough. Windows 10 is just not ready for gaming yet.

you don't mention checking your motherboard's or pre-built site for updated drivers. of course with a new OS there is going to be updates for almost everything software-wise. you may not need them for hardware to function, but it's always the best idea to keep everything in line.

I'm using a Turtle Beach USB gaming headset. Do I need to search for the latest audio drivers from ASUS to remedy the issue?

 

[GObonzo]

I'm using a Turtle Beach USB gaming headset. Do I need to search for the latest audio drivers from ASUS to remedy the issue?

i would check ASUS and Turtle Beach. could be that you're correct in assuming there is just an issue with 10 and your hardware for now. but, i would be safe and check for the updates before coming to that conclusion. could even be a USB driver from ASUS that you need, maybe some type of communication problem.

 

[Joseph DeGarmo]

I found the ASUS driver downloads page. Installing the new Windows 10-certified audio drivers fixed the sound volume issue. Now updating the other drivers. Apparently, the drivers on the motherboard support CD contain outdated drivers certified for Windows 8.1. For those of you needing to update your drivers on ASUS motherboards, those might work on any ASUS motherboard, but I'm not really sure if they are motherboard-specific. Manually search for your model just to be safe. But DO NOT DOWNLOAD AND INSTALL THE BIOS FILES ON A NON-SABERTOOTH Z97 MOTHERBOARD!!!

http://www.asus.com/support/Download/1/45/6/27/uOjBjVVNWhN4oORa/45/

 

[USAFRet]

Installing the new drivers for a new OS usually works.

 

[Joseph DeGarmo]

Well, I'm glad the audio issue is fixed. Hopefully now, Windows 10 is a much smoother experience. I'll move my Windows 10 drive back atop the boot priority list for now since I can't really give my hopes up just yet. But yeah, we all learn something new every day. :lol:

 

[USAFRet]

Well, I'm glad the audio issue is fixed. Hopefully now, Windows 10 is a much smoother experience. I'll move my Windows 10 drive back atop the boot priority list for now since I can't really give my hopes up just yet. But yeah, we all learn something new every day. :lol:

Yes...it's only been a couple weeks. We are finding new things every day.

 

[Ed Chombeau]

Hey there friends!

With everyone trying out Windows 10, we wanted to get your input on what works, what doesn't, and what your overall thoughts and experiences with the new OS has been. We'll be putting together some guides and how-to's on getting going on Windows 10, and your feedback and story on Windows 10 so far will be helpful in knowing where and what we need to cover.

Reply here to share your experience so far with Windows 10, and help Tom's Hardware discover some of the pain points for early adopters.

-JP

My three W7 PC's surprisingly upgraded near perfectly; MS Office, Print Shop, Adobe Photshop; also, printers, peripherals----all without a hitch; plus; my settings too.

 

[Joseph DeGarmo]

I have just been reading articles on how Windows 10 is exposing your private data and activity to Microsoft, especially through Cortana. I see that Microsoft is wanting to make Windows 10 a hybrid cloud OS, but what about our privacy? People who are sensitive about their privacy need to think about using Windows 7 or Linux Mint. It looks like Microsoft could become the next Google. Just a heads up to those considering upgrading their Windows 7 to Windows 10.

 

[RunLuke]

I have just been reading articles on how Windows 10 is exposing your private data and activity to Microsoft, especially through Cortana. I see that Microsoft is wanting to make Windows 10 a hybrid cloud OS, but what about our privacy? People who are sensitive about their privacy need to think about using Windows 7 or Linux Mint. It looks like Microsoft could become the next Google. Just a heads up to those considering upgrading their Windows 7 to Windows 10.

I've head all of these things too, I've heard the concerns etc. Microsoft tells you what it is collecting. Same people complaining use Google, Facebook and all sorts of other services that gobble up everything you do.

But from my point of view it doesn't matter two turds. At least you know they are doing it.
Your ISP, the hosting companies, your government, foreign states, intelligence services and probably add a shit ton more to that list do it. You just don't know who or what they collect or why. But be assured that they are. They technology out there that'll expose you in minutes is mindbogglingly advanced and extremely scary. Some of it analyzes everything you do in real time (Well, ok, 2 seconds of delay), "looks back" three months and in a very short time, from all your combined activity, knows exactly who your are.
I don't know, we are all boned on this account. But the least of my worries is Microsoft, to be honest.


sidestep...

 

[Mike BD]

Cortana is moody with me...On PC's Windows 10,voice search won't work.
Starts well,works well,but...When ''she'' wants...refuse to hear my voice.
Also,when it's on its way...It freezes Start Menu & Taskbar.
Microsoft gotta fix this!

 

[MariusDinu]

For me is the best Windows I've ever used. Is lightning fast ,reliable and lots of new features. Is just as good as the legendary Win XP which in my opinion is the best windows ever released.
The games are running perfectly I didn't notice though any improvement jumping from Win7 to Win10 .
I think Microsoft got it right with this windows.

 

[nukemaster]

Cortana is moody with me...On PC's Windows 10,voice search won't work.
Starts well,works well,but...When ''she'' wants...refuse to hear my voice.
Also,when it's on its way...It freezes Start Menu & Taskbar.
Microsoft gotta fix this!

Start does sometimes freeze(seems to be much less common), but generally resets it self fast enough.

If search flakes(shows no results), you should be able to ALT + F4 it(you can also alt + F4 the start menu if it is acting strange).

This is the first time I remember being able to do that to a part of the OS it self.

 

[junkeymonkey]

RunLuke
''But from my point of view it doesn't matter two turds. At least you know they are doing it.'''

yup, thasts why they feel so free to keep on doing it more and more.. cause you don't care about your privacy and give it away [a point to ponder ]

to start why do you install it in the first place knowing this ??

dx12 dx12 omg its dx12 - that and all the hype you blinded with and fooled - boycott and just don't use or support it.. that easy

 

[USAFRet]

cause you don't care about your privacy and give it away [a point to ponder ]

As is the case with a vast majority of "apps".
Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, etc, etc, etc.
If you are not paying for it, you are the 'product', to be bought and sold.

 

[nukemaster]

cause you don't care about your privacy and give it away [a point to ponder ]

As is the case with a vast majority of "apps".
Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, etc, etc, etc.
If you are not paying for it, you are the 'product', to be bought and sold.

I sold my soul for a copy of Windows.....damn.

 

[junkeymonkey]

every time I see ''apps'' used I think cell phone - lol

 

[USAFRet]

every time I see ''apps'' used I think cell phone - lol

Thanks to Apple.

 

[Ghost in the Machine]

This was my fourth attempt at Windows 10. (One being the technical preview.) The oldest PC (Athlon X2 3600+) ironically being the most stable.

I notice a lot of the major manufacturers ASUS, Toshiba, spring to mind, haven't released driver updates yet. Usually this is done before any new OS. (My P755-116 Toshiba laptop did not like it one bit, and I reverted almost immediately, because of lack of driver support.)


On my personal PC (i7, Sandy Bridge, nVidia GTX470, very generic hardware) this happened:

I haven't seen this many “Blue Screens of Death” since Windows (Bite) ME back in 2000.

I upgraded from Win 7 Pro SP1. The installation was mostly smooth, although I did restart the PC because I thought it had stopped responding, and it carried on OK after that.

After I had de-selected all the privacy options in the custom setup, it booted pretty quickly (it's an SSD after all) and seemed to be quite responsive once I installed the nVidia graphics driver. It broke Kaspersky IS 2015, but I had anticipated this and re-installed KIS 2016. Everything seemed good at this point.

Then Win 10 started installing updates. This is when all hell broke loose, it tried to install a wifi NIC driver for hardware that was not (ever) in this PC. I got a continuous looping “System thread exception not handled” BSOD error.

So I booted into safe mode tried to remove the update, no luck, I still get a looping BSOD. I try a system restore from the boot options, and it fails with an “Unspecified Error during System restore (0x8000ffff).”
So back in safe mode I try a system restore again it works this time. I make the network connection “metered” so it doesn't reinstall the windows update driver again.
Only now I have another problem, I can't install updates without re-enabling the driver update that killed the OS.

I've installed all the latest drivers and Windows 10 still wants to download it own drivers. Eventually after some searching around I find a tool on the MS website to “hide” driver updates, this only sees to work if you edit Group Policy driver management settings. But I'm afraid to enable the updates again, which is problematic because it's either on or off, I can't choose an option that's appropriate for my system.


That was the installation experience, now I'll provide some personal observations:

1. Forced driver updates – BAD IDEA, PERIOD.

2. Forced updates – I understand why MS would feel compelled to do this, but I still think the risks outweigh the rewards.

3. I didn't upgrade to Win 8 because the “in-yer-face” sucked. The return of the start menu is an improvement, but it's still full of clunky, flashing blocks. On top of that, some programs in the menu are “shortened” so they look very similar to other options in the same folder, and the only way to tell is by clicking on them. As far as I can tell there is no way to scale this. Fortunately, this can be fixed by installing the 3rd party “Classic Shell.”

4. Wifi-Sense enabled by default, to give all your contacts immediate access to your network is a security nightmare waiting to happen. If “I” want to give someone access to my network, “I” will give it to them, Period.

5. Windows 10 obtaining updates from other PC's on the network or other PC's on the internet is a zero-day security exploit waiting to happen.

6. Cortana is a non-issue for me because it's not available in my country (and probably won't be for a while.) But the privacy surrounding it (such as harvesting voice, text, IM, and email data) would mean I wouldn't enable it on my PC anyway.

7. Windows 10 isn't free. By this I mean, while it may be a free upgrade for existing Win 7 & 8 licence holders, you will still pay for licenses for new devices, or new installations. As far as I'm concerned that means: IF I PAY FOR A LICENCE, there should be NO ADVERTISING or ANY HARVESTING OF MY PRIVATE INFO FOR ADVERTISING OR ANY OTHER PURPOSES.

8. Win 7 had DVD support built in, not so in Win 10, you have to pay extra for that.

9. Advertising in Solitaire? Pay to remove. (It's been a staple since Win 3.1)

10. Removing Windows features requires the use of Powershell. No easy access.

11. PRIVACY issues. PRIVACY issues. PRIVACY issues. - Therefore SECURITY issues. Need I say more. Microsoft, my trust has been lost.


I appreciate that every new OS has it's teething problems, but if I wasn't a techie I'd be seriously up the creek with this version of Windoze.

I'd really like, to like this version of Windows. I really would, but with the forced updates and the MAJOR PRIVACY issues, I have no alternative but to revert to Windows 7.

 

[USAFRet]

And people are worried about a new OS 'spying' on you?

AT&T Helped N.S.A. Spy on an Array of Internet Traffic
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/us/politics/att-helped-nsa-spy-on-an-array-of-internet-traffic.html

(we already knew this, but just for further validation)

 

[gangrel]

I have Amazon Prime...ergo, do a LOT of shopping through Amazon...just got some DisplayPort cables, they arrive tomorrow. I have a Nexus 9, so there's a good reason for me to use several of the Google apps (Sheets, Calendar, gmail). I browse eBay from time to time. ALL of these monitor way more than I'd like. If you don't like Google, use a different search engine, and don't use Chrome.

But the problem is, everyone will do this, if not now, then as time goes on. Because there's money to be made from selling the data. TANSTAAFL: there ain't no such thing as a free lunch. The reason the web is free is because of ads rammed down our connections, or search engines, and from usage data that can be sold.

 

[zanderramirez]

bad experience using windows 10, my wifi-usb dongle wont work anymore because of driver issues.. hope microsoft will fix this

 

[USAFRet]

bad experience using windows 10, my wifi-usb dongle wont work anymore because of driver issues.. hope microsoft will fix this

Your dongle manufacturer needs to publish the driver for Win 10. Not MS.

 

[Joseph DeGarmo]

Update your drivers, people.

 

[Gazzooo]

Windows 10 is meant to boot faster and perform better in games....

Frankly games is the only reason I updated to windows 10 I am running three OSes Linux,win7 and an updated win8-win10 all on the same PC
I like high resolution life like games installed and played on my computer win10, I have kept my old pre steam games with win7 and I do all my office work and surfing the net through Ubuntu
I found that by installing win10 update I almost turned off all the new feaches because they compromised my computer because in one way or another they wanted to sent or take or open up my computer to give information to Microsoft sponsores
THIS IS WHY WIN10 WAS FREE BECAUSE OUR INFORMATION AND LIKES GOING TO MICROSOFT SPONSORES PAYED FOR THE FREE UPGRAGE
Just think of how many people would just hit auto-upgrade for win10 and have all the information passed on Just like facebook twitter personalising the adds to suit you (the adds I see on tomshardware are related to Australian people even though I read tomshardware.com
Anyway I could go on and on Thankyou for giving me the chance to respond MORE LINUX PASED GAMES LEWS WINDOWS8
Gaz

 

[GObonzo]

I have just been reading articles on how Windows 10 is exposing your private data and activity to Microsoft, especially through Cortana. I see that Microsoft is wanting to make Windows 10 a hybrid cloud OS, but what about our privacy? People who are sensitive about their privacy need to think about using Windows 7 or Linux Mint. It looks like Microsoft could become the next Google. Just a heads up to those considering upgrading their Windows 7 to Windows 10.

when you install\setup Windows 10 do not choose Express settings, choose Customize and disable all the information feedback options.

all Cortana does is search the web. just a voice activated Bing bar is all it is so there's not much point in using it, even if it was watching you sleep at night.
don't listen to this bs about Windows 10 being some backdoor spyware that is watching you...........

if you want to use Apps that have spyware that is up to you, it is not the OS that is doing the data tracking in this circumstance. when the initial install is taking place a scan of hardware is taken to generate your hardware specific Windows serial, not to copy your system and try to sell you crap based on it like some propose. the way MS collects data is the same way credit card companies and online retailers do. they collect information about Windows OS purchases(which version of Windows you chose and where you are located) and it's Apps, and online choices and it is all tallied together into their pot of marketing. you can be pretty damn sure they are not keeping personal records on EVERYONE IN THE WORLD, mwaaahahaha (while i twiddle my fingers like a madman supervillain).