windows has destroyed my computer

NavyLCDR said:

It's not Microsoft's fault that you didn't make a backup. Why can't you just clean install your previous operating system?

I bought the computer loaded - no disc supplied. The computer ran just fine until I installed Windows 10 and I did have a backup but it will not read it. I contacted Microsoft support and created a new ISO of Windows10 but that did not work. I have now sent it to a repair shop and guess what - others are having the same problem. My point is - don't release it until it totally works - don't send reminders to update because it is so good - not everyone totally understands computers so we rely on vendors reliability - every time Microsoft releases something new it is full of bugs and we all sit back and accept it as 'that's the way it is' - automakers recall and repair, at their expense, 'potential' problems due to pressure from the government but don't go near Microsoft. Why can't drug companies release drugs without full testing? Why can't Microsoft release new products without full testing? Microsoft and Apple are the only games in town and that is close to a monopoly and the last I heard monopolies were illegal. Sorry for the rant but frustration builds.

jakethedog said:

I bought the computer loaded - no disc supplied. The computer ran just fine until I installed Windows 10 and I did have a backup but it will not read it. I contacted Microsoft support and created a new ISO of Windows10 but that did not work. I have now sent it to a repair shop and guess what - others are having the same problem. My point is - don't release it until it totally works - don't send reminders to update because it is so good - not everyone totally understands computers so we rely on vendors reliability - every time Microsoft releases something new it is full of bugs and we all sit back and accept it as 'that's the way it is' - automakers recall and repair, at their expense, 'potential' problems due to pressure from the government but don't go near Microsoft. Why can't drug companies release drugs without full testing? Why can't Microsoft release new products without full testing? Microsoft and Apple are the only games in town and that is close to a monopoly and the last I heard monopolies were illegal. Sorry for the rant but frustration builds.

Ok, so Microsoft is supposed to wait until they can be sure that their operating system will run flawlessly on billions of different hardware configurations? They are supposed to wait for every manufacturer of every different component to supply them with a driver that will work with every component and then, not only that, but test each combination of different components to be sure it will run flawlessly when those components might conflict with each other? And....Apple and Microsoft are not the only names in town. There is a whole world of hundreds of different flavors of Linux out there. Not to mention that I have yet to see a new computer from a reputable manufacturer come out with a computer that did not have the software on it to create a restore disk.

And I am terribly sorry that you don't have computer savvy friends that would help you out instead of paying a computer repair shop - the majority of longer term members here could have your computer running in two hours, probably on Windows 10. Yes, I know we all have different talents - I can't draw or paint much of a stick person let alone anything real but anyone with some talent towards computers has been able to make Windows 10 work.

Windows 10 has topped over 50 million installs. If 100,000 of them went bad, that's still a 99.998% success rate. And if Microsoft charged even just $10 for the upgrade, that would be $500,000,000 - yes, 1/2 of $1 billion dollars they would have made.

I'm sorry for the rant as well, but given the totality of the circumstances I think Microsoft did pretty dang good.

simrick said:

Every OEM-installed Windows OS computer that comes with a recovery partition, also comes with a way to make your recovery disks. The problem is, no one takes the time to make the recovery disks when they buy that new computer.

Or they do like I did and put it on the cheapest USB stick on sale - and it goes bad.

Hey folks -- let's stop blaming the victims when Win10 upgrades go badly! It is UNREASONABLE to expect Windows users to make system backups before running an upgrade. While it is certainly a good thing to do, I'd wager that over 90% of Windows users don't even know HOW to make full system backups.

Years ago I lead a team of Developers producing an installation package for a new commercial software product. Our first order of business was "do no harm!" Every installation started with a diagnostic routine that looked for all problems that could compromise the installation and possibly damage or corrupt the target system. If none were found, a restore backup was made of the system before ANY changes were made! After install, a set of tests were run to confirm the install succeeded. If any tests failed, error messages were produced and the system was restored to its original state. I repeat -- NO HARM WAS DONE!

It's Microsoft's Win10 Compatibility Checker that is lying to people about the lack of problems. It is Microsoft's Upgrade tool that is leaving folks PCs in unusable states. It is Microsoft's Uprade tool that is NOT restoring folks PC to their original working conditions.

I know this because I've had it happen to me, and I've read literally hundreds of posts on other forums about folks who had it happen to them.

So, let's stop blaming the victims here. The culprit is Microsoft and their faulty Upgrade tool which corrupts working systems and leaves folks PCs in a mess.

Mark, I don't agree. Users should be expected to make backups when they're doing something as "challenging" as an OS upgrade. Even an application install can corrupt a system, so you know any work with an OS is much more dangerous.

You can't blame Microsoft for problems caused by upgrades to already messed up OS installs. Maybe they should have included a warning saying problems like could happen and suggesting that users allow a professional to do the upgrade. The pro could have saved an image of the entire hard drive before starting the upgrade.

BunnyJ said:

Now it's time to help the OP..
1. Try to get the setup DVD for your PC from Gateway. They should supply that to you.
2 Go to a competent shop and have them wipe your HDD/SD clean and reinstall the original OS.
3 If for some reason you can't get a copy of the DVD from Gateway try to purchase a copy of the OS that was on the PC before .. take it to a competent shop and have them wipe the drive clean and install the OS.

Yes,.. this sucks and I feel for you situation.
Good luck and let us know what happens.
Jeff

As long as there is a Windows Product Key available for the computer either in BIOS or on a label, a competent computer shop can restore the Windows 7/8/8.1 without having the customer supply any software. At least I have been able to with every computer I've ever worked on - about 2 dozen for various friends/relatives.