Saturday, November 14, 2015

For those who have delayed switching to Windows 10

Windows 10 capability has, to date and in general, been released in bits and drabs:  updated features here, fixes there.  This past week was the first very major refresh, meaning that the complete operating system was pushed out by the Update facility.  At this point, it is probably reasonable for most non-business users to switch to Windows 10.  Microsoft will continue to add features and fix bugs before the next complete reissue of the operating system, which will probably be in June, 2016.  Most of the activity will be in the business side of the Windows operating system, so I expect only bug fixes for the non-business user (other than Edge).

The new browser, Edge, now seems to work most of the time, but I still wouldn't rely on it as my only browser.  If you insist on using a Microsoft browser, go to the start button, left click, and then type "iexplo" in the search bar.  iexplore.exe should pop up as the result of the search.  This is the "old" IE 11 browser.  Left click to start the browser.  Then right click on the browser's icon on the task bar and click on "pin to taskbar" to keep the icon for easier access from that point on.  In general, I am an advocate of the "three browser" approach:  whatever Microsoft provides that works, Google Chrome, and Firefox.  Each browser has its advantages.

I would recommend a few minutes of 'handholding' during the installation process.  There are a number of "traps" associated with the default install process that could be unwelcome to most users.

Editorial comment:   Microsoft has "commercialized" Windows... literally... why do you think it is free?  The normal process ties you to logging in to the Microsoft Live Cloud environment at the time you log in to your computer.   The action is one and the same.  It is perhaps reasonable to have an email service that logs you into "commercialization," but I don't expect it with what is supposed to be (to me) an agnostic operating system.

The way around it kind of hidden in wording that suggests you shouldn't "go there" during installation.

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