OT Windows 10

[Ron]

I prefer to use antivirus software :)

[clare]

Except it will be supported long after 7 support has expired.

[clare]

Sounds like you will likely be able to - as you can download the ISO NOW.

[clare]

If thery are not on the internet and are doing the job they were purchased for, no problem. I know of DOS machines still in use as machine controllers - - - .

[Ralph Mowery]

With about 15 years for MS to plug up the holes in XP , how many do yo think are going to be in W7 - W10 that have not been pluggedup yet ?

I use XP online and a virus checker other than anything from MS.

[Nil]

On 30 Jul 2015, [e-mail] wrote in alt.home.repair:

Windows 7 support will be ongoing until at least 2020. There's absolutely no reason to abandon it for that reason at this time.

[Nil]

On 30 Jul 2015, trader_4 wrote in alt.home.repair:

The future of Windows 7 is not at all "uncertain". Microsoft has already committed themselves to supplying security patches for at least the next five years. Unless there's some feature you need that a later version includes, there's no reason you can't comfortably continue to use Windows 7 for many more years.

[Nil]

On 30 Jul 2015, [e-mail] wrote in alt.home.repair:

I've found plenty of reasons to abandon XP, namely a growing list of programs that will only run on Windows 7 or later. My main computer is still running XP, but I'm working on building my next computer, which will run Windows 7. ETA is a few weeks from now.

That's always been my cue to upgrade: when it becomes difficult, inconvenient, or impossible for it to do something I want it to do. That time has finally come for me.

[dpb]

...

I'm the other way 'round; my preferred/required applications include some which won't run past XP and I see no reason to spend thousands for new versions while the old are still functional for what I use them for (particularly since no longer consulting and there's no revenue stream against which to write of the cost). If'fen Bill's minions or his Foundation want to use some of their gains to update those, _then_ I'll think about a new OS.

[trader_4]

Security patches yes. Other fixes, improvements, etc already ended this January when MSFT ended mainstream support. Just because there is a security patch commitment doesn't mean that new software will run on it, MSFT will fix bugs, make improvements, etc.

That sounds like uncertainty to me. How do I know what software will be coming out in the future, that it will run and be supported on a OS that MSFT has already ended mainstream support for? By getting Win 10 for free, you're on the newest release that is fully supported. And that ability to upgrade for free ends in one year. That's my point.

[J0HNS0N]

Thanks but I've seen the specs. I was just wondering what the real life install size was. I thought the OP might be able to tell me. But this is a 32-bit system and likely the OP has a 64-bit system so on second thought guess that won't help. I've got the white Windows 10 icon in my taskbar so apparently MS thinks I can run it. Think I'll wait awhile though. Again thanks for your effort.

[Nil]

On 30 Jul 2015, trader_4 wrote in alt.home.repair:

What new features would you expect? There were no new features added to Windows 7 for years even before "mainstream support" ended. The purpose of an OS is to host applications, and not many features are needed. If I want to OS to do something that it doesn't do now, I'll get a program that does it. I don't expect the OS to do everything. Anyway most of those "features" are really just bundled-in, dumbed-down "lite" versions of better, more full-featured programs that are available elsewhere.

But they will never, ever guarantee that all new software from anybody forever will run on it.

What bugs fixes and improvements do you want to see from Windows 7? It's a fully mature product and just about anything I might consider to be a bug is already fixed or there are viable workarounds or I've gotten used to it.

And if you think that Microsoft is going to fix every little bug in Windows 10, I think you've another thing coming.

It does?? How so?

You don't. You don't know that about Windows 10, either.

I've been using computers for decades and I have a good sense of what will work and what won't, and if it doesn't I'm pretty good at making it work or coming up with workarounds and alternatives if needed. If and when it comes down to the point that I must upgrade Windows in order to do the work I need to do, I'll consider it then. But I'm quite certain that it will be several years before I even need to think about it.

The promise of "support" is weak and misleading in this case. It only means providing security fixes, which will keep happening with Win7 for years, and bug fixes, of which many are needed in Windows

10 and virtually none in Windows 7. The idea that you must have "support" or die is what's known as [F]ear, [U]ncertainty and [D]oubt, that is, trying to coerce you spend money with vague, unspecific intimations of the horror that *might* befall you if you don't. I think I know enough about computers, Microsoft Windows, and the industry in general to know when to be skeptical. And in this case, I know enough to feel certain that most people who are satisfied running Windows 7 or 8 right now aren't going to be better any off with Windows 10.

[Ron]

Do you work for Micro$oft?

[Mark Lloyd]

[snip]

and "end of life" doesn't mean you can't still use it.

as to updates, most of them are for the browser. You can use Firefox which will likely be updated for 2 years or more.

[Ed Pawlowski]

I think that icon will take you to a link that will check your system to see if it is compatible. If you run W7 you most likely can run W10 unless your hard drive is about full.

[rbowman]

The Dell was pretty clean and didn't have much beyond the OEM installation. It didn't really matter since I went dual boot with OpenSUSE. uptime reports 132 days so it's been at least that long before

7 saw the light of day on this box.

[rbowman]

It always did piss me off when they renamed the exact same functionality to something different and moved it. I guess the old 'Add and Remove Programs' (Programs and Features) functionality can be found in Settings, Control Panel, Explorer, PowerShell, Start Menu, and in an Administrator command prompt with wmic.

I've found wmic is the most trustworthy was to drive a spike through an app, particularly a botched SQL Server uninstall.

[rbowman]

Not if it does what you want. Eventually third parties will stop supporting the older OS's. I think Google said Chrome wouldn't be supported on XP but then they blinked.

I'm a programmer so what usually happens is a third party SDK will require a particular version of Visual Studio to install, that version of VS won't install on the older OS, and you're hosed.

[rbowman]

Yup. I prefer Kaspersky for AV. Who better to defeat Russian hackers than a Russian AV company?

There are several excellent free AV solutions also.

[rbowman]

Installed base. Unless there is an absolute stampede from 7 to 10, developers aren't going to shoot themselves in the foot and lose a significant portion of the market.