Windows 10 “Threshold 2” To Launch November 2nd For Consumers

HoffY said:
Perhaps one of you MS Blind Apologists can list such changes for me? Are there any real additions to the less-touch-freiendly-UI backwards step from 8.1? (and thats saying something... as even it wasnt a version 1 - ready for mass release).
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- Return of an actual Start Menu
- Modern/Universal apps run windowed
- True DPI-per-display
- DX12
- Edge browser
- Notifications
- Cortana
- Multi-desktop

Note that "I don't use [x] therefore..." is not a valid reply to this, as you only asked what was a real addition. These are all real, whether you True Scotsman this or not.
 
- Return of an actual Start Menu <-- People wanted a return to the Windows 7 classic start menu, or the option to enable it; not a tile-infused bastardized version with advertisements
- Modern/Universal apps run windowed <-- If only there were Metro apps worth running
- True DPI-per-display <-- Finally. Decent feature.
- DX12 <-- Meaningful in 2016/2017 when there are actually any DX12 games worth a damn.
- Edge browser <-- Written in WinRT (Metro app) instead of Win32, so it's functionally crippled, they can't even get basic features like extension support working. Terrible.
- Notifications <-- Gets annoying really quick
- Cortana <-- Spytana
- Multi-desktop <-- Has existed since XP with a MS powertoy

So other than the promise of a critical mass of DX12 games in 2016/2017, it's hard to really say any of that with a straight face when a Windows 7 user asks "What does 10 have that I don't already?"
 
I still refuse to touch windows X until they fix issues, removed the forced spying on your personal digital life, and stop trying to make my computer a xbox interface. Windows 7 Ultimate works just fine for me.
 
Some things that would encourage me too switch by desktops to 10 off 7 ultimate. Currently only on my laptop.

1) having the start menu shrink down some after disabling all the tiles, or the ability to make that side look more like 7. I appreciate that they let me turn them off, but I would like a meaningful way to deal with the black space.

2) toggle to turn cortana off. I'm never going to use it, I would like it not running in the background.

3) an option for media center since I do have it.

None of the above are a huge deal to me, just things that would improve the experience. I'll easily switch before the free period ends, but those would hasten my switch. For now I'm quite happy with it on my laptop, I just don't have any particular reason to upgrade my desktops.
 
DPI said:
- Return of an actual Start Menu <-- People wanted a return to the Windows 7 classic start menu, or the option to enable it; not a tile-infused bastardized version with advertisements
- Modern/Universal apps run windowed <-- If only there were Metro apps worth running
- True DPI-per-display <-- Finally. Decent feature.
- DX12 <-- Meaningful in 2016/2017 when there are actually any DX12 games worth a damn.
- Edge browser <-- Written in WinRT (Metro app) instead of Win32, so it's functionally crippled, they can't even get basic features like extension support working. Terrible.
- Notifications <-- Gets annoying really quick
- Cortana <-- Spytana
- Multi-desktop <-- Has existed since XP with a MS powertoy

So other than the promise of a critical mass of DX12 games in 2016/2017, it's hard to really say any of that with a straight face when a Windows 7 user asks "What does 10 have that I don't already?"
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You can 100% turn off all the tiles and notifications currently. Nor are there any advertisements in the start menu. Everything else I agree with.
 
I'm surprised Windows 10 64-bit is 24% on Steam (Windows 7 64-bit is at 37%)...I thought more gamers would be avoiding it (at least until DX12 is released)
 
Most gamers are happy to just take the update and move on (especially on steam, given that that's one of the big draws of the platform). It doesn't screw things up particular much, it's an easy upgrade, and most people really just don't care about the minor annoyances.
 
All I want is one simple thing.

F8 for Safe Mode to work again like it did pre Windows 8.

The one time you want Safe Mode is when a PC won't boot properly and that way is next to impossible to reach. Yet MS gave us several extra ways to access Safe Mode...when it is bootable. Well that really handy. That's as handy as an airbag that deploys 10 seconds before you have the crash.

Typical product development and I bet that part was given to two separate teams who didn't bother to test from end to end.
 
nilepez said:
What's a brightness slider? Is that something different than just adjusting your monitor?
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I slightly mentioned it later in the post but not specifically, I only have ran Win8.1/10 on my Surface Pro 3 (SP3) as I called it in my post. Yeah there is just a small slider there to adjust brightness.

Of course on my desktop I just fiddle with the monitor and it's perfect at all times. I only change brightness on the others when battery life is a concern or when my eyes are low light adjusted.
Mut1ny said:
For laptops/tablets back lighting. Not desktop monitors.
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Beat me to it.
 
daglesj said:
All I want is one simple thing.

F8 for Safe Mode to work again like it did pre Windows 8.

The one time you want Safe Mode is when a PC won't boot properly and that way is next to impossible to reach. Yet MS gave us several extra ways to access Safe Mode...when it is bootable. Well that really handy. That's as handy as an airbag that deploys 10 seconds before you have the crash.

Typical product development and I bet that part was given to two separate teams who didn't bother to test from end to end.
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I really don't understand this. Did Microsoft give a reason for getting rid of the F8 boot menu?
 
Armenius said:
I really don't understand this. Did Microsoft give a reason for getting rid of the F8 boot menu?
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Well, in Windows 10 with UEFI boot - at least - it automatically launches the boot time recovery menu if it tries to boot and fails a couple of times in a row.

I find it a little annoying to have to do it this way, but it DOES work.


the annoying part is how many reboots it is taking me to get into BIOS. it would seem that since switching to UEFI, the time I have to press del/F2 has somehow shrunk A LOT, and it takes me 5+ reboot tries to finally get into the BIOS, which can be very frustrating.

Part of it may have to do with my USB keyboard, having a known slow initialization.
 
Thresh Dennis Fong was a good Quake player looking forward to the update I hope it's this November I complained (like that is going to do anything) about lack of options and the colors for Edge.

Does it say that you will Customize Edge Colors not sure if it means just the windows.

Microsoft feeds us small Rat Pellets so we keep comming back to the Pavlov experiment.
 
The only real bug I had with Windows are lock up very rare but had like 2-3 of them could of been Driver related also had a problem with the zillions of windows when you drag it like a graphical UI errror.
 
It's 24% users on steam because people on there get excited by simple downloads =)
 
Armenius said:
I really don't understand this. Did Microsoft give a reason for getting rid of the F8 boot menu?
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Machines boot fast enough nowadays that the average user will miss the window, which can be as short as a half second on a SSD system.

If the machine detects a failed boot, the option should appear automatically. A lot of EFI systems offer the option to trigger the F8 options before boot, and you can trigger it to happen on the next reboot within windows itself.

If you still have to have it and don't mind making your boot times longer you can enter the following from a elevated prompt. bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy legacy This makes windows boot in legacy boot mode.
 
Armenius said:
I really don't understand this. Did Microsoft give a reason for getting rid of the F8 boot menu?
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This change was made with Windows 8. The reason given was Windows boots too quickly to catch the F8 key press. My suspicion was that it was the reverse. I thought they wanted to speed up the boot process, and on fast booting computers (like those with SSDs), a delay for F8 is more noticeable than with a traditional rotational drive. The other excuse I heard was how to you press F8 with a tablet?

From Building Windows 8 Blog: Designing for PCs that boot faster than ever before http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2012/05/22/designing-for-pcs-that-boot-faster-than-ever-before.aspx


http://www.techspot.com/news/48718-windows-8-removes-need-for-f8-key-advanced-boot-menu-redesigned.html
 
So is Edge going to be colored I did a about 20 searches on youtube couldn't find anything if it's a a regular Window. I seen a video using a Teal colored window but not with the Edge browser.
 
Dekoth-E- said:
Nor are there any advertisements in the start menu.
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App Suggestions are what people are referring to with the ads, I believe. Yes, they can be disabled.

Windows 10, so far, is great for me. For many others, there is no compelling reason to upgrade from Windows 7. I found someone running 10, and I asked how they liked it. They said they don't really care or notice. They just saw the option to upgrade in the pop up notification and did it because it said to. They had no reason to upgrade, they don't care, they didn't gain (nor lose) anything. That's how I think the majority of people view Windows 10. It's the new and shiny thing out there, but many of the new features are rarely used by them.
 
Zarathustra[H];1041932293 said:
Well, in Windows 10 with UEFI boot - at least - it automatically launches the boot time recovery menu if it tries to boot and fails a couple of times in a row.

I find it a little annoying to have to do it this way, but it DOES work.


the annoying part is how many reboots it is taking me to get into BIOS. it would seem that since switching to UEFI, the time I have to press del/F2 has somehow shrunk A LOT, and it takes me 5+ reboot tries to finally get into the BIOS, which can be very frustrating.

Part of it may have to do with my USB keyboard, having a known slow initialization.
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I think that's probably Z, because I have no problem getting into mine. Of course I always hit <Del> while the screen is blank (something I've done for years).

I'm with you on the F8 bit. As I recall, the repair takes an extra reboot too. It's annoying and I hope they fix that, though I don't have many issues, so maybe in the end it won't bug me that much.
 
Ur_Mom said:
App Suggestions are what people are referring to with the ads, I believe. Yes, they can be disabled.

Windows 10, so far, is great for me. For many others, there is no compelling reason to upgrade from Windows 7. I found someone running 10, and I asked how they liked it. They said they don't really care or notice. They just saw the option to upgrade in the pop up notification and did it because it said to. They had no reason to upgrade, they don't care, they didn't gain (nor lose) anything. That's how I think the majority of people view Windows 10. It's the new and shiny thing out there, but many of the new features are rarely used by them.
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OK, well app suggestions don't bug me. As a rule, if I see it, it means there was a type-o or something hasn't been installed (e.g. solitaire brings up the app store suggestion).

As for upgrading, I completely agree. People here bring up things like the Media Center, but relatively few people use it. I think I know one person who might have used it at some point..if not then I know nobody (but that is a valid reason not to upgrade, IMO...assuming you can't hack 10 to make it work).
 
polonyc2 said:
I'm surprised Windows 10 64-bit is 24% on Steam (Windows 7 64-bit is at 37%)...I thought more gamers would be avoiding it (at least until DX12 is released)
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I am surprised more "gamers" didn't run windows 8.1. The severe drop in overhead on windows 8 and 10 are massive over Windows 7. Now for day to day people it won't make a difference because of current and semi-current hardware. Gamers on the other hand have in the past sold their soul while also neutering their OS to get a couple extra FPS.
 
Edge isn't colored in the preview Damn......

Guess it's Firefox untill Microsoft has more then two different colors for their browser.
 
Topweasel said:
I am surprised more "gamers" didn't run windows 8.1. The severe drop in overhead on windows 8 and 10 are massive over Windows 7. Now for day to day people it won't make a difference because of current and semi-current hardware. Gamers on the other hand have in the past sold their soul while also neutering their OS to get a couple extra FPS.
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Its title dependent and ranges from a loss of ~3fps to a gain of ~3fps. Losing all the other functionality / privacy wasn't and still isn't worth it.
 
nightanole said:
Explain?

have win8 install, choose free upgrade to win10

Now mobo has lifetime reinstalls of win10, no win8/10 is ever needed again, just pop in win10 disc and install.
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Dan_D said:
That didn't work for me.
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Me either.

I swapped out my SATA SSD for an Intel 750 PCIe SSD, and had to do a fresh install of Windows 10 to get all the UEFI booting stuff sorted out. It never activated.

Luckily enough I was able to boot up from my old partition, install Intel's NVME drivers and then copy the partition over and have it boot, and still be activated.

Thing is, this can never work fully.

Microsoft can create a fingerprint of your machine based on your hardware, but it will never be truly unique, and there will always be issues surrounding hardware upgrades and swaps. It's a system that will fail no matter what.

And it no longer directs you to call in and verify with Microsoft when it does fail. It just gives you the middle finger and tells you to buy a new license. (You must have changed your hardware, go here to buy a new license...)

As often as I swap hardware, this could turn out to be a real problem.

Also, all my versions of Windows 8 and Windows 7 are full retail versions. In other words, they are mine to freely transfer from machine to machine as long as I don't use more than one at a time.

The Windows 10 upgrade seemly breaks this, and has the potential for being a real problem.
 
Zarathustra[H];1041932293 said:
Well, in Windows 10 with UEFI boot - at least - it automatically launches the boot time recovery menu if it tries to boot and fails a couple of times in a row.

I find it a little annoying to have to do it this way, but it DOES work.


the annoying part is how many reboots it is taking me to get into BIOS. it would seem that since switching to UEFI, the time I have to press del/F2 has somehow shrunk A LOT, and it takes me 5+ reboot tries to finally get into the BIOS, which can be very frustrating.

Part of it may have to do with my USB keyboard, having a known slow initialization.
Click to expand...

In fact it usually goes into repair mode and....never works. Then it gives you ...maybe a cut down list of options.

Most of us just want Safe Mode, but apparently MS just wants you to refresh the machine instead. Useless.

Just bad decisions. It's all about making sure enterprise techs are catered for (no need to back up the data, slap on another corporate build and done) but totally ignore the small business/domestic users and the one man bands that support them.

I had a go at the MS guy who helped set me up as a Office365 reseller. I told him that MS is making it more and more difficult for small IT firms and one man IT support guys to support their stuff and yet we are the ones still trying to push their products.

His reply surprised me. He said "Yeah, I know what you mean! We get a lot of complaints about that and apparently they are trying to do something about that!"
 
daglesj said:
In fact it usually goes into repair mode and....never works. Then it gives you ...maybe a cut down list of options.

Most of us just want Safe Mode, but apparently MS just wants you to refresh the machine instead. Useless.
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You are incorrect on this statement. I am able to access all of the repair options from this menu. Not really certain where you received this information but please, do not spread misinformation around intentionally, if this was your objective. However, if Windows does not boot normally, safemode may not be accessible either, regardless.
 
ManofGod said:
You are incorrect on this statement. I am able to access all of the repair options from this menu. Not really certain where you received this information but please, do not spread misinformation around intentionally, if this was your objective. However, if Windows does not boot normally, safemode may not be accessible either, regardless.
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I'm not actually. This is what's been happening on the past few machines. It varies form situation to situation. Safemode etc. in its current incarnation is not fit for purpose.

It's a mess.
 
daglesj said:
I'm not actually. This is what's been happening on the past few machines. It varies form situation to situation. Safemode etc. in its current incarnation is not fit for purpose.

It's a mess.
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Look, I do not want to argue with you but, I do not want you spreading misinformation either. When the menu comes up after it enters into the diagnosing the computer, safemode and many other options are fully accessible from there. The menu is not neutered nor is the reset your computer only thing that is available.
 
ManofGod said:
Look, I do not want to argue with you but, I do not want you spreading misinformation either. When the menu comes up after it enters into the diagnosing the computer, safemode and many other options are fully accessible from there. The menu is not neutered nor is the reset your computer only thing that is available.
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Just have to agree to disagree. Sorry.
 
daglesj said:
Just have to agree to disagree. Sorry.
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Agreeing to disagree is cool and all but, computers do not work that way. I had no issue booting into safemode from the menu you claim in neutered. On multiple computers, no less. (I do this for a living and I do not want people to be misinformed about something like this.) When we have opinions, I can agree to disagree but, when something sky is blue, water is wet, that is just a fact and nothing but.
 
There is a way to enable safe mode option back like windows 7 and 8. I will look up the video and post the link.
 
Quartz-1 said:
BCDEDIT /set (default) bootmenupolicy legacy
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Yeah that helps. Used that last week with a bootable USB stick to help fix a couple but its a kludgy fix that shouldn't be required. Certainly not something Joe Average would want to try. Had to use it this afternoon to fix a laptop...in French! Yay!

All they need to do is add a second pause so F8 Safemode can be access as per pre Windows 8.

Simple.
 
daglesj said:
Yeah that helps. Used that last week with a bootable USB stick to help fix a couple but its a kludgy fix that shouldn't be required. Certainly not something Joe Average would want to try. Had to use it this afternoon to fix a laptop...in French! Yay!

All they need to do is add a second pause so F8 Safemode can be access as per pre Windows 8.

Simple.
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As above, did it work in UEFI mode or did you have to switch the bios to legacy mode?
 
What an ordeal it is currently is to upgrade to Windows 10. The Media Creation Tool will freeze on Checking for updates IF there are any downloaded Windows 7 updates waiting to be installed. I had to sit through 2 hours of updates AND have the MCT redownload W10(!), just so I could upgrade my client's laptop.

I am glad this is all over. Thanks a lot M$ for finally including the clean install option that should have been there at launch :rolleyes:
 
wyqtor said:
What an ordeal it is currently is to upgrade to Windows 10. The Media Creation Tool will freeze on Checking for updates IF there are any downloaded Windows 7 updates waiting to be installed. I had to sit through 2 hours of updates AND have the MCT redownload W10(!), just so I could upgrade my client's laptop.

I am glad this is all over. Thanks a lot M$ for finally including the clean install option that should have been there at launch :rolleyes:
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I had similar problems.

I made the mistake of having the media download tool create a USB key installer.

Their servers were apparently being hit pretty hard, so the download took hours, and then it errorred when trying to write the USB key.

Alright - I thought - the image has to be saved on here somewhere, so I can just rewrite it, but no. Had to download it again for hours. Finally just snagged the ISO, and used my external optical drive for the first time in years in order to do the install.
 
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