Don't believe the hype! Wayne Williams reveals why Windows 10 might not be the all-conquering operating system that we've been waiting for - at least not just yet
Microsoft has released its fair share of bad operating systems over the years: Windows Me, for example, infuriated users with its frequent crashes, while Windows Vista introduced the universally loathed User Account Control. But even by those standards, Windows 8 was a mess, and it’ll come as no surprise to anyone who used it in its first year that it’s the software giant’s least successful operating system ever.
Thanks to two major updates, Windows 8.1 (as it became) is a much better OS, but even so, many of us can’t wait to ditch it for the new Windows 10, which promises to bring together the best bits of Windows 7 and 8.1, with some welcome new features thrown in for good measure. But are we being over-optimistic to hope that Windows 10 will set the PC world to rights? Has Microsoft been too hasty in choosing a summer release when many testers have deemed the OS “buggy” and “unstable”?
In this Windows 10 special, we cut through the hype to reveal the truth about what Microsoft isn’t telling you about its latest OS, and explain why it might be more sensible to hold back on upgrading until all the early problems have been ironed out. We also look at some of the worst mistakes made by Microsoft when launching previous versions of Windows, and why experience suggests that it may be foolish to rush in where wiser PC users hesitate to tread.
WHAT MICROSOFT ISN'T TELLING YOU
When Microsoft announced Windows 10 last September, it said the OS would be free to Windows 7 and Windows 8 users during its first year of availability, leaving people to wonder what that actually meant. There was talk of “Windows as a service” - so did that mean Microsoft would be charging a yearly subscription for it, like it does for Office 365? Eventually it was clarified that this would be “more than a one-time upgrade: once a Windows device is upgraded to Windows 10, we will continue to keep it current for the supported lifetime of the device - at no additional charge”.
However, that then begs the question - what exactly does “supported lifetime of the device” mean? It was initially believed to be a period from two to four years but, just before we went to press, Microsoft revealed that it would be supporting the new OS for 10 years - the same length of time as previous versions of Windows. Mainstream Windows 10 support starts on 29 July 2015 (launch day) and runs for five years until 13 October 2020. Beyond this date, Microsoft won’t add features to Windows 10. The OS then enters the five-year Extended Support phase, which ends on 14 October 2025. This is the more important date because that’s when Microsoft will stop updating Windows 10 with security fixes.
However, the newly updated Windows lifecycle fact sheet (bit.ly/lifecycle376) has some accompanying small print that says ongoing support is all dependent on devices remaining compatible.
“A device may not be able to receive updates if the device hardware is incompatible, lacking current drivers, or otherwise outside of the Original Equipment Manufacturer’s (“OEM”) support period,” the text reads.
So the question remains: will you have to replace ageing hardware in order to guarantee receiving future updates? That small print suggests you might. And now that Windows is a regularly updated service, will Microsoft release new “baseline” versions of Windows 10 (such as Windows 10.1) every few years and, if so, will the 10-year life cycle be updated accordingly?
In essence, then, at the time of writing, we still don’t know how long Microsoft will continue to support Windows 10, as it is launching, with feature upgrades and security patches.
More troubling is Microsoft’s announcement that updates will be mandatory. Windows 10 Home users will have no say at all in which updates are installed and when, and while Windows 10 Pro users will be able to defer updates for up to eight months, they won’t be able to veto them entirely.
Microsoft says this is in the interests of improved security, but if you’ve ever had to disable Windows Update to stop it messing up your PC, you’ll know that updates sometimes impede, rather than improve, the performance and security of your system. It’s rumoured that Microsoft will cut off security patches to users who block updates using third-party software, potentially making them vulnerable to malware.
Only Windows 10 Pro business users will be able to stop updates completely, and thus sidestep problematic ones, but us hapless Home users won’t have that privilege. This means that if Microsoft decides to make major changes to elements of the operating system, including bundling additional unwanted content (games like Candy Crush Saga, for example), you’ll have no choice but to accept these changes. Maybe you’ll be able to uninstall such additions, maybe you won’t.
But the biggest question that remains unanswered about Windows 10 is how much it will cost to buy after the first year. Microsoft has yet to announce UK pricing for Windows 10 at the time of writing, but the Get Windows 10 app shows the price for Windows 10 Home as £99.99 (crossed out, with “free” next to it). Underneath, it says this is just the “estimated retail price of Windows 10 Home full license, actual prices may vary”, which leaves the door open for the price to go up before July 2016.
We’re also concerned that Microsoft has barely mentioned the fact that once you’ve upgraded to Windows 10, you have only 30 days to roll back - or ‘downgrade’ - to your current Windows OS if you decide you don’t like the new one. See our ‘Downgrade from Windows 10’ for more about this catch.
Finally, although it’s less likely to be a potential deal-breaker than some of the other unanswered questions we’ve covered, it remains unclear how much input Windows Insiders have had on the shape and direction of Windows 10. Microsoft says there are more than five million Windows Insiders, but while we know bugs and other problems have been remedied thanks to feedback from Insiders, we wonder how much (if any) user contribution has been involved in Windows 10’s design and functionality. After all, it’s hard to imagine that the majority of users were keen to retain the tiled Start menu in favour of one that’s more akin to the standard Windows 7 design.
THE PROS AND CONS OF NOT UPGRADING
Microsoft obviously wants Windows users to upgrade to Windows 10 as soon as it’s released and is offering you hard-to-resist incentives, such as making it free for a whole year after its release. But that doesn’t mean you should grab the new OS straight away. With a full 365 days to upgrade, you can wait until the very last day (presumably, 28 July 2016) if you so wish. Or you can stick with your current operating system and not upgrade at all - you’re under no obligation to switch to the new offering.
The biggest disadvantage in choosing to wait is the risk of missing out on the free upgrade offer altogether and having to pay for your Windows 10 licence, which will cost at least £99.99. If you try to side-step this by getting the OS for free from sources other than Microsoft, there’s the danger of getting a dodgy copy and not being able to download upgrades.
Another downside to not upgrading is that you won’t be able to install Windows 10 apps. Although Windows 8.1 is short of amazing apps, that could change with Windows 10 because Microsoft has made it much easier for developers to ‘port’ Android and iOS apps over to the new operating system.
That said, it’s inevitable that the OS will remain a work in progress for a long time after its release. Microsoft has rushed Windows 10 out of the gate, and even if it’s relatively stable and free of bugs, it will still require a lot of updates to fix all the problems that didn’t come to light during the Insider Preview testing stage.
Microsoft plans to push Windows 10 to an estimated one billion devices, but so far it has only been tested by around five million Windows Insiders, many of whom won’t have reported the problems they’ve encountered. You can expect Microsoft to be rolling out a ton of updates for at least the first three months or so following Windows 10’s official launch, and your best bet is to stick with a stable operating system until these glitches are ironed out and Windows 10 is truly ready for use.
If you’re currently running an older version of Windows, such as XP or Vista, you don’t have the option to upgrade directly, and you’ll need to carry out a fresh Windows 10 install from scratch. This means backing up everything beforehand and either purchasing a valid licence or joining the Windows Insider program and risking buggy versions of the OS instead. All the more reason to not commit yourself until the OS is stable, or you could end up paying even more in the long run.
Although Windows 10 looks promising, you can get many of its features on Windows 7 and 8.1 right now without the risk of losing your personal files during an upgrade, and without losing the functionality you currently enjoy with your existing operating system.
We also wouldn’t be surprised if the new Edge browser, which currently only works with Windows 10, eventually makes it onto Windows 8.1 - in the same way that Internet Explorer 10 was released for Windows 7 six months after it launched with Windows 8.
Furthermore, while Windows 10 is a huge improvement over Windows 8.1, it looks quite similar, and much of what was unpopular about the tiled OS has been retained. Many users detested the Modern (Metro) interface, but Windows 10 still uses the same tiles, albeit in a Start menu rather than a Start screen.
Windows apps, too, remain a major feature of the OS, even though the apps are generally nowhere near as powerful as standard Windows programs - or “legacy apps”, as Microsoft annoyingly insists on referring to them.
WINDOWS 10 USER OR WINDOWS INSIDER?
Microsoft is offering Windows 10 users a choice. From 29 July, you can either upgrade to the RTM (Release to Manufacturing) build of the operating system, which is essentially the “finished” stable version, or you can join upwards of five million or so Windows Insiders testing preview builds of the OS.
Standard Windows 10 users will require a valid Windows 7/8+ or 10 licence, through which the operating system will be ‘activated’, as with all previous iterations of Windows. However, Windows Insiders won’t require a valid licence, making it a good option for Windows XP or Vista users who aren’t eligible to upgrade for free. Insiders are offered new builds to test as they become available, with each build only lasting for a set time before expiring. Provided you keep updating to the latest builds, you’ll be able to keep using the OS for free. Insiders can choose to be on the Fast or Slow ring - those on the Fast ring will receive new cutting-edge (and therefore likely buggy) builds, while Slow ring Insiders will be able to upgrade to more stable releases but on a less frequent release schedule. The chief benefit of being a Windows Insider, aside from not requiring a Windows 10 licence, is that you’ll be the first to try out new features and changes. The downside is you’ll be running a far less stable operating system that will likely crash more regularly, and cause you lots more problems.
FEATURES YOU'LL LOSE IN WINDOWS 10
Although Windows 10 offers numerous new features, such as the integration of Microsoft's personal assistant Cortana, multiple Desktops and a modern command prompt, it also, removes several popular tools found in previous versions of Windows. It’s a classic case of giving with one hand, and taking with the other.
Without doubt, the biggest feature to be lost in Windows 10 is Windows Media Center. Microsoft has canned the program “due to decreased usage”, according to Windows Insider chief Gabriel Aul, and won’t even offer it as an optional free download. If you regularly use Media Center, you’ll either have to find a free alternative, such as Kodi (kodi.tv), which won our Gold Award in Issue 372, or stick with your existing Windows OS. The moment you install Windows 10, Media Center will be gone. As compensation, Windows 10 offers a free DVD-playback app, but that's hardly the same thing and it lacks most of the useful features offered by Media Center.
If you currently use Desktop gadgets in Windows 7, prepare to say goodbye to them in Windows 10, and to familiar Windows games such as Solitaire, Minesweeper and Hearts. You’ll be able to find and download new editions of the first two games in the app store, but they won’t come pre-installed.
If you like to manage your own Windows updates, you’d better hope you’re eligible for Windows 10 Pro (the free upgrade entitles you to the closest version of Windows 10 that your current OS corresponds to), because the Home version doesn’t let you defer updates. The update process in Windows 10 Home is entirely automatic, with updates installed as soon as they become available, whether you like it or not.
Worst of all, some of your existing programs and apps might not work in Windows 10, and you won’t know which ones until you try running them in the new OS. Microsoft says that Windows 10 “should work with the same devices and programs that work with Windows 8.1, but you might need to update or reinstall some of them”, which doesn’t exactly fill us with confidence!
WHAT TO DO BEFORE YOU UPGRADE
If you decide to upgrade to Windows 10, there are a few things you need to do before clicking the Install button. First, make sure your PC is up to the task of running the new OS. Windows 7 or 8.1 users shouldn’t have any problems, but there’s no guarantee everything will work as it should. The official minimum system requirements are:
• Processor: 1GHz or faster processor.
• RAM: 1GB for 32-bit Windows 10 or 2GB for 64-bit.
• Hard disk space: 16GB for 32-bit OS or 20GB for 64-bit OS.
• Graphics card: DirectX 9 or later with WDDM 1.0 driver.
• Display: 1,024 x 600 pixels.
Assuming your PC is compatible, check that your current version of Windows is up to date, because you can only upgrade if you’re running Windows 7 with Service Pack 1 (SP1) or Windows 8.1 with Update 1. If you use an older Windows OS, like XP, you’ll need to do a fresh install, and your existing OS will be completely wiped from your hard drive.
The Get Windows 10 app, which Microsoft has pushed out to Windows 7 and 8.1 users, includes a compatibility checker (this isn’t active at the time of writing, but should be from July 29 onwards). Launch the app, click the menu in the upper-left corner and select ‘Check your PC’.
Finally, you should back up all your personal data and settings and create a system image in case of problems. You can use the excellent program Macrium Reflect Free (bit.ly/macrium376), which appeared in last issue’s Best Free Software, to create the image and restore your system from it.
DOWNGRADE FROM WINDOWS 10
If you decide you don’t like Windows 10 after you upgrade to the new operating system, or buy a new PC with the OS pre-installed, it is possible to return to using Windows 7 or 8, provided you make the move within 30 days.
If you upgraded directly to Windows 10 from your old operating system, you can roll things back using the built-in Update & Security settings. Just follow the steps in our Workshop.
If you bought a new PC with Windows 10 pre-installed, this might still work, but it will depend on whether the seller upgraded the device’s operating system before you bought it (in which case it will work) or if Windows 10 was the first operating system installed on it (which means it won’t).
The simple uninstall method will only work on PCs that have upgraded via the Get Windows 10 app. If you performed a custom install over the top of Windows 7 or later, you will need to install the older OS from scratch, which will wipe your personal data. The same applies if you upgraded Windows XP or Vista to Windows 10, so again, you'll lose any personal content and programs.
Either way, before attempting to revert from Windows 10 to an older OS, you should back up all your personal files and settings, just in case something goes wrong. See the Mini Workshop on the opposite page for instructions on how to downgrade from Windows 10 quickly and safely.
How to downgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 7
1 Provided you’ve upgraded to Windows 10 as an in-place update (and not a custom install), rolling things back is quite simple and is carried out directly inside Windows. Click the Start button and go to Settings. Click the Update & Security section in the window that opens.
2 Click Recovery in the left-hand pane. You’ll see several options, including the ability to ‘Reset this PC’. More importantly, underneath this should be the option to go back to Windows 7 (or Windows 8.1, if that’s where you upgraded from). Click the ‘Get Started’ button. You’ll be asked why you want to take this action.
3 Answer the question, or skip it, and click Next. You’ll be warned that any changes made to Windows 10 since upgrading will be lost, but your personal files should be safe. Click your way through the following screens, until you get to the Thanks for trying Windows 10’ screen. Click ‘Go back’ and the uninstall process will begin.