Giving up on Windows!

M1keC · 01 Mar 2017

I've been a reluctant Windows user for as long as I can remember. What's the definition of a mouse? It's an elephant running Windows!
I upgraded to Windows 10 last year and it took forever - how can it take so long to update? I could have calculated several moonshots in that time L eventually it worked and seemed like a big improvement on Windows 8 so I had great hours. Until the update in January started updating automatically.
It took hours and t been froze completely. After several days of trying with no success I contacted Microsoft support who ran my computer remotely and, surprise, surprise, had exactly the same problem! 3 technical support people insisted on trying the same thing, all promising guaranteed success but all filled in the same way. Eventually I spoke to a supervisor who tried again and then told me the problem was the drivers on my Acer computer were not compatible. They worked on the initial Windows 10 so maybe it's Windows that is now not compatible.
Anyway, I'm left with a badly functioning computer with the original Windows 10 that keeps wanting to upgrade itself.
I've had enough and have ordered a Chromebox - no more Windows, what a delight!

TairikuOkami · 01 Mar 2017

M1keC said:

I've had enough and have ordered a Chromebox - no more Windows, what a delight!

Considering, that it is purely cloud based, I would rather go for linux. But good luck anyway.

M1keC said:

I spoke to a supervisor who tried again and then told me the problem was the drivers on my Acer computer were not compatible. They worked on the initial Windows 10 so maybe it's Windows that is now not compatible.

The problem with Windows 10 drivers is, they are not all 10 drivers. With each upgrade, 10 changes, but drivers do not. Since 10 should be the last Windows, they will have to address this issue, because Windows 10 drivers compatible now, will not be compatible 2-10 years from now.

You can try Driver Easy Free to find missing/outdated drivers.

M1keC said:

Anyway, I'm left with a badly functioning computer with the original Windows 10 that keeps wanting to upgrade itself.

Uninstall any security software, if you have any, then download WF.bat and run it as admin.

If that does not help, you can try Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade

Samsung User · 01 Mar 2017

Hi I use Auslogic Driver Updater which runs in the background, and if any driver are out of date then it lets me know and then updates them, got it on all my systems and never ever let me down, and they are the genuine drivers not from Microsoft
Not free but worth every penny

DeaconFrost · 01 Mar 2017

You never mentioned a clean install, which would have easily solved your issues. No one, honestly, no one outside of the Enterprise market contacts Microsoft for support. Your issues were not ones that could be fixed remotely.

Enjoy the Chromebook. They are nice for what they do, but for most people, they can't replace a computer. They are more of a tablet/iPad replacement.

margrave55 · 01 Mar 2017

A new OS is for a new computer. I never upgrade the OS on an existing computer. Too much hassle, as with drivers (mentioned above), but also with inadequate resources.

My six-year-old high-end box runs Windows 7. It used to be fast, but software keeps getting bigger and the box keeps getting slower. I will not upgrade it to Windows 10. That will wait for the next box.

There's no need to give up on the OS. It's time to give up on the old box.

Bree · 01 Mar 2017

margrave55 said:

A new OS is for a new computer. I never upgrade the OS on an existing computer. Too much hassle, as with drivers (mentioned above), but also with inadequate resources.

You'd be surprised, I upgraded very much a low end machine (1GB RAM, 1.9GHz Celeron) from x86 Win7 Pro to Windows 10. Seems to start up and open MS Office faster now. The MS-supplied drivers worked just fine.

Fafhrd · 01 Mar 2017

This is written on an x86 Windows 10 1607 14393 running on my print/fax server, an 11 year old (BIOS 23 May 2006) Acer Travelmate 2420, with a Celeron M processor maxed out with 2 GB RAM, on a 24 GB partition.

It's not unmodified - I dropped it about 7 years ago, smashing the screen and hinges. The battery was removed when it failed to hold enough charge to reboot the system, so as compact laptops go, it's not very mobile.

The touchpad and keyboard don't work well, so It has an external mouse and USB keyboard (logitech!) plugged in off a 4-port dollar store USB2 hub.

It ran Windows 10 10586 1511 fine but failed to upgrade to 14393 because some hardware conflicts could not be resolved by Setup during upgrade. I had to clean install. It turns out that the WiFi card and graphics driver were in contention, so the Wifi card was removed. Onboard wired ethernet is fine for a little machine on a shelf next to the printer linked by a USB cable.

Intel does not support the integrated 915GM/910ML/915G Graphics chip, and The Windows 10 Microsoft Basic Display driver has a hard time understanding how Windows 7 and 8 both could drive this unsupported chipset, but after some work, it was made to work on a clean install. As sharp as it should be at the monitor's 900x1440 resolution.

It's the only kit I have left with a 56K modem, so if I need to send a fax or do some arcane comms stuff, it's the only way I have left.

The other 10GB partition on the HDD runs Windows XP, occasionally. There's very little speed difference between 10 or XP in everyday use - both are usable show no instability, and the benefit of these old single core machines is no throttling. It sits on a dollar store laptop cooling fan in case of hot British summer temperatures. :)

Don't knock old hardware and Windows 10. I find time after time they work well together.

Winuser · 01 Mar 2017

56K modem! That brings back a lot of memories. It use to take me around three days to download the newest Linux Mandrake versions. I never want to go back to dialup.