Reply to: New Development LAptop - Windows 7 or Windows 10???

[Hobosapien]

The reason is, I forgot that Windows 10 Home does not come with various software such as RDC (which I use a lot) and AD connection.

It does have RDC as far as the client to connect to other servers or W10Pro machines that have the host capability.

Only thing I'm really missing is lack of bitlocker on the Home version. Just for the peace of mind if some scrote burgles the place. I may not have that much that is truly sensitive on my PC but it's the unknown of what they could do with the stuff. As Clarkson found out when he put his bank account details online offering out anyone to do anything but put money into his account, and subsequently getting done over via identity theft and signed up to donate £500 to a charity via a direct debit.

I may just move all sensitive info to an encrypted USB flash drive (some come with inbuilt hardware encryption) as next best thing. Though cost of one of those is probably not far off a W10 Pro licence.

[jmo21]

Thing is I don't agree an IT worker can afford to get stuck in the past like this. We have to be able to stay current, not reminisce about Windows XP and Word "before they ruined it with the Ribbon"

Current client co is still on XP *sigh*

[jaffab]

Ha ha.

OP here (again). Ignore my 'sticking with Win7' comment. In the end, bit the bullet and went with Win10. Reinstalled from scratch then fought with the Win10/MS upgrade system to get it to upgrade to Pro.

Its mot as pretty as Win7, but some of the features are ok. Had various battles to get some software installed (SQL 2008 did not want to install without net framework 3.5, and 3.5 would not install as the Win10 web link to the download does not work), but most of it is running ok now.

The Win10 start button is not helpful. I am not talking about the layout of the new menu, I mean that sometimes it just does not respond. Dam annoying. Various threads around the interweb of people having the same problem.... alsomost as if its a bolt on to Windows eigh... sorry 10 at the last minute.

Thanks all.

[d000hg]

Also, if you're not too fond of the UI of Windows 10, you can always run something like Classic Shell

Thing is I don't agree an IT worker can afford to get stuck in the past like this. We have to be able to stay current, not reminisce about Windows XP and Word "before they ruined it with the Ribbon"

[billybiro]

You don't need to do all that. Just use your Win7 Pro licence key when you do a fresh install Win10 Pro - How to install and activate Windows 10 using your Windows 7 or Windows - Microsoft Community

As I mentioned you might as well bite the bullet now that you have the chance now as it will be more painful later on.

Good luck

What redgiant said...

Also, if you're not too fond of the UI of Windows 10, you can always run something like Classic Shell (Classic Shell - Start menu and other Windows enhancements) to give you back some of your familiar Start Menu and other enhancements from previous versions of Windows.

Or, you could just stop being a luddite and accept that Windows 10 is here to stay and that Windows 7 is going away, quicker now than ever... It's already been out of Microsoft's mainstream support for over 18 months!

[redgiant]

So I have decided... back to Windows 7 for me. Windows 10 adds nothing for me. As I type, I am just backing up the Recovery drive of the laptop now - just in case I cant find the drivers I need.

The reason is, I forgot that Windows 10 Home does not come with various software such as RDC (which I use a lot) and AD connection. Now yes, I *could* get Windows 10 pro by Installing Windows 7 pro then doing the update, BUT...

1) That's a double OS install - who has time for that?
2) I never trust an OS which has had another OS put on top of it.

If you want to see what I mean about upgrading one OS to another, this is a very interesting video of windows upgrades, from Windows V1 all the way through...

What Andy's working on: Chain of fools : Upgrading through every version of Windows

You don't need to do all that. Just use your Win7 Pro licence key when you do a fresh install Win10 Pro - How to install and activate Windows 10 using your Windows 7 or Windows - Microsoft Community

As I mentioned you might as well bite the bullet now that you have the chance now as it will be more painful later on.

Good luck

[jaffab]

So I have decided... back to Windows 7 for me. Windows 10 adds nothing for me. As I type, I am just backing up the Recovery drive of the laptop now - just in case I cant find the drivers I need.

The reason is, I forgot that Windows 10 Home does not come with various software such as RDC (which I use a lot) and AD connection. Now yes, I *could* get Windows 10 pro by Installing Windows 7 pro then doing the update, BUT...

1) That's a double OS install - who has time for that?
2) I never trust an OS which has had another OS put on top of it.

If you want to see what I mean about upgrading one OS to another, this is a very interesting video of windows upgrades, from Windows V1 all the way through...

What Andy's working on: Chain of fools : Upgrading through every version of Windows

[d000hg]

Is it possible that as a developer you should be able to work out how to use W10 better?


It's actually quite good.

Yeah, I'm not sure I prefer it or not to 7 (far better than 8) but it's fine and probably easier to go with the flow I reckon.

[redgiant]

My problem is, my laptop is a work laptop. I want it to be productive. I don't want a menu with social media or news (yes, I can unpin, I know), I don't want scroll bars to vanish on me when I am working, I don't want it to be busy downloading upgrades whenever it wants, I don't want to have to resort to registry tweaks if I have to change anything.

Win10 seems more aligned to teenagers being social and gamers (HP stuffed it full of Candy Crush type junk) than working in a rapid way. I may be unfair, but that is my current view of Win10. I put Win10 in the same box as Windows8 and Windows ME.

It adds no 'killer feature' which Win7 does not provide. Or correct me, and tell me I am wrong.

Do you want to run on a new machine obsolete software? Just bite the bullet and run Win10 otherwise you will need to upgrade later at more cost to you both time and money.

You will need to go Win10 Pro if you want to connect to a AD domain, have greater control over Windows updates and you also get Bitlocker too.

Been using Win10 Pro & Enterprise for both work and home since November 2015 and it's working fine here so far ... even got used to the new start menu not that I used the old Win7 one much anyway. The majority of the issues I have experienced were driver related (running two ThinkPads - W530 and X230) but all is working fine now.

[missinggreenfields]

My problem is, my laptop is a work laptop. I want it to be productive. I don't want a menu with social media or news (yes, I can unpin, I know), I don't want scroll bars to vanish on me when I am working, I don't want it to be busy downloading upgrades whenever it wants, I don't want to have to resort to registry tweaks if I have to change anything.

Sounds like you don't want to be using a Windows machine at all then

[jaffab]

My problem is, my laptop is a work laptop. I want it to be productive. I don't want a menu with social media or news (yes, I can unpin, I know), I don't want scroll bars to vanish on me when I am working, I don't want it to be busy downloading upgrades whenever it wants, I don't want to have to resort to registry tweaks if I have to change anything.

Win10 seems more aligned to teenagers being social and gamers (HP stuffed it full of Candy Crush type junk) than working in a rapid way. I may be unfair, but that is my current view of Win10. I put Win10 in the same box as Windows8 and Windows ME.

It adds no 'killer feature' which Win7 does not provide. Or correct me, and tell me I am wrong.

[missinggreenfields]

I'm getting a new laptop presently, and have the same kind of dilemma, apart from it will come blank so I don't have to descide whether to install 7 or 10 (or even 8).

Current thinking is to install 7 or 8 Professional (I forget which one I have more spare licences for at the moment) and then I'll take the free upgrade to 10. Anything that doesn't work on 10, I'll create a Windows 7 virtual machine (actually, I already have one that's pretty blank so I'll just copy that from desktop machine to the laptop) and use that when I have to.

Unless anyone can persuade me to stick with 7 / 8 from the outset.

[VectraMan]

I run VS2005 on my Windows 10 laptop (and 2010,2013 and 2015) and never have any issue. Only thing is I've had to give up on my plan to run different DPI on the external monitor as few apps support it well (and VS2005 is all over the shop). But you can't do that on Windows 7 anyway.

The desktop I bought recently is Windows 7 and I'm contemplating whether to press the update button whilst I still can. In a way it makes sense to keep one of each.

[WTFH]

Is it possible that as a developer you should be able to work out how to use W10 better?


It's actually quite good.

[missinggreenfields]

Also, the Win10 version is HOME (Win7 is professional) and I have a home domain which my Pc is a member of - I am not even sure Win10 HOME will allow me to connect to a domain.

If that's the concern, then you could always install Windows 7 Professional and then (before the end of July) you can do the free upgrade and get Windows 10 Professional instead of the Home version.