allheart55 Cindy E

I agree, I think it's the best operating system since XP.

I don't use Firefox, Lina so I'm not really sure but it does sound as if that is the culprit.

We know that in the first 24 hours after the release of Windows 10 nearly three weeks ago that 14 million users had installed/upgraded to the new operating system from Microsoft. Although we have not had any official numbers from the Redmond company since then, recent speculation now puts that figure in the area of 50 million installations - an average of about 2.5 million daily installs of Windows 10 over the last 20 days. Based on the comments we have seen here at the Supersite for Windows since the release and the buzz on social media all of those installs have not gone smoothly. We have also published several articles on how to fix post install issues that are being seen out in the wild. So while the numbers look pretty good the experience has not been smooth overall. We just closed out the poll we have been running since Windows 10 was released which asked how your upgrade to Windows 10 went and if you considered it a success. In that poll 52% of you indicated that you had successfully upgraded to Windows 10 while 25% experienced issues with the upgrade. There were also 23% of you who have not upgraded to Windows 10 up to this point. That results in roughly 1 out of 3 installs having an issue of some kind when upgrading to Windows 10 - 33% of upgraders having problems during the installation of a new operating system is not a good result at all. If you extrapolate that number out to the total number of installs, which current speculation claims is around 50 million, that means as many as 16.5 million users could have had some type of issue with their upgrade. The number is likely less than that but even if only 10% of users had problems with their upgrade that number is still 5 million users that hit some type of challenge with their upgrade. It will be interesting to see some real numbers from Microsoft on installs and activations instead of the speculated stats to better understand how things have gone since launch. Source : winsupersite

Have you watched any youtube videos or any movies, Lina?

Windows activation is alive and well in Windows 10. Microsoft doesn't like to talk about the inner workings of its anti-piracy software, but it's clear from testing that Windows 10 included a major change in the way activation works. Windows product keys are almost (but not quite) a thing of the past. With Windows 10, Microsoft has rewritten the rules for how it performs product activation on retail upgrades of Windows, including the free upgrades available for a year beginning on July 29, 2015. The net result is that clean installs will be much easier--but only after you get past the first one. OEM activation hasn't changed, nor have the procedures for activating volume license copies. But the massive Get Windows 10 upgrade push means that for the near future at least those retail upgrade scenarios are very important. The biggest change of all is that the Windows 10 activation status for a device is stored online. After you successfully activate Windows 10 for the first time, that device will activate automatically in the future, with no product key required. That's a huge change from previous versions of Windows, which required a product key for every installation. And it's potentially an unwelcome surprise for anyone who tries to do a clean install of Windows 10 without understanding the new activation landscape. Microsoft is characteristically shy about discussing the details of activation. That's understandable, because every detail the company provides about its anti-piracy measures offers information that its attackers can use. But it's also frustrating, because Microsoft's customers who use Windows don't want to have to think about activation. The Windows PC you paid for, and the free upgrade you spent time installing, should just work. I've had some way-off-the-record discussions with people who know a few things about the subject, and I've also done my own testing for the two weeks since Windows 10 was released to the public. Here's what I've learned. Your Windows 10 license is stored online and linked to your device. For more than a decade, one of the keys that Microsoft's activation servers have relied on is a unique ID, which is based on a hash of your hardware. That hash is reportedly not reversible and not tied to any other Microsoft services. So although it defines your device, it doesn't identify you. Here's how that ID works with Windows 7 or Windows 8: When you activate for the first time, that hashed value (let's call it your installation ID) is recorded in the activation database alongside the product key you entered with the installation. Later, when you reinstall the same edition of Windows on the same hardware, with the same product key, it's activated automatically. (Conversely, if you try to use that product key on a different machine with a different hardware ID, you'll probably be denied activation.) **Several people have asked about hardware upgrades. See update at the end of this post. Windows 10 goes one very large step further. When you upgrade from Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, the Windows 10 setup program checks your current activation status and reports the result to the activation servers. If you're "genuine" (that is, properly activated), the Windows activation server generates a Windows 10 license certificate (Microsoft calls it a "digital entitlement") and stores it in conjunction with your installation ID and the version you just activated (Home or Pro). It didn't need a product key to do that activation. All it needed was the proof from the Software Licensing Manager utility that your underlying activation was legit. You can now wipe that hard disk completely, boot from Windows 10 installation media, and install a squeaky clean copy. The Setup program asks you to enter a product key, but in a major change from Windows 8 and 8.1, it allows you to skip entering that key. You'll be asked to enter that key a second time, later in setup, but you can skip past that box as well. When you finish the reinstall, assuming you used the same Windows 10 version on that hardware, you'll find it's automatically activated. I've tested this scenario on multiple machines, and the result has been consistent: Step 1: I booted from Windows 10 installation media, a USB flash drive prepared by the Windows 10 Media Creation tool, and tried a clean install on a system that had never been activated for Windows 10. I skipped both prompts to enter a product key. Result? My system failed activation. Step 2: I reset the machine with its original, activated copy of Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 and then ran the Windows 10 online upgrade. At the end of the process, I confirmed that Windows 10 was properly activated. Step 3: I then wiped the hard drive clean and used the exact same media as in Step 1 to do a clean install of Windows 10. As before, I skipped the product key entry. I used a Microsoft account in one test and used a local account in another. After the installation was complete, the system showed that it had a properly activated copy of Windows 10. You can, of course, buy a full or OEM copy of Windows 10 on a flash drive, and you can also buy product keys online. You can use that product key to do a clean install on a system that has never run Windows 10 and it will get a license certificate from the activation servers. And just like those upgraded PC, it should then allow you to do a clean install of the same Windows 10 edition without having to re-enter the product key. For those who are anxious to do a clean install, here's the trick: Don't do the online upgrade. Instead, from your current, activated copy of Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, download the Windows 10 ISO file for the corresponding edition (Home or Pro), or create a bootable USB flash drive. Without exiting your current Windows version, double-click the ISO to mount it as a virtual DVD (or open the USB flash drive with installation media) and then double-click Setup. Your goal is to get to the screen with this full range of options: Choose the option I've highlighted at the bottom: the one that says you want to keep nothing. The Windows 10 Setup program installs a clean copy of the edition that corresponds to the one you have installed. As part of the process, it verifies the activation status of your old Windows, creates the new license certificate, and blows away your previous install. And you never had to enter a product key. After you restart, your clean copy of Windows 10 is activated, and you can reinstall it any time without having to worry about activation. And you'll never need a product key again. That's all well and good for those who are currently running Windows 7 or Windows 8.1. But what about those who did a clean install of a preview edition, never upgrading over a licensed copy? Sorry. You can skip the product key during installation, but when you're done with Setup your system will be marked as not activated. You won't be able to use any personalization options, and you'll have a persistent watermark on the desktop warning you that you need to activate. To "get genuine," you're going to need to do one of two things: get a Windows 10 product key for the edition you have installed (you can use a key from MSDN or a retail source) or restore your old operating system, activate it, and then do the upgrade to register a license certificate. I honestly have no idea how the telephone activation hotlines will respond to calls from Insiders who want to activate a copy for the first time. This is new territory for Microsoft and for its customers. Update: In the comments, several people have asked what happens if you make changes to hardware. As I noted earlier, Microsoft doesn't provide details of how it calculates that hardware hash, but upgrades of system components such as a video card or a hard drive won't normally trigger a reactivation. If that happens, a quick call to the activation line will resolve the issue, often without any human contact required, in minutes. The one exception is a motherboard replacement, which will inevitably cause the Software Licensing Management utility to recognize the device as a new PC and require reactivation, typically over the phone. A motherboard upgrade, even if you reuse storage, video, memory, and a case, is considered a new PC. In that case, if the underlying Windows license is from a retail copy, that license can be transferred. If you are upgrading (and not replacing) a motherboard on an OEM PC that was sold with Windows preinstalled, the license agreement prevents the license from being transferred. Source : zdnet

Yeah, probably not even close.

It has been a little bit less than three weeks since Microsoft released Windows 10 for consumers around the world. The OS, which is receiving positive reviews from across the web, is being adopted quickly despite there being a few teething issues upfront. According to our sources, Windows 10 has surpassed 53 million installs, which StatCounter says now accounts for 4.95% of the market as of last week. At it's peak, Windows 10 was being installed on about 1500 machines per second. According to NetMarketshare, Windows 8.1 had 13.09% of the market at the end of July, and OS X 10.10 had 4.74%, which means Windows 10 has likely surpassed the install base of Apple's most recent OS. But comparing StatCounter to NetMarketshare is not always a perfect comparison, as they have different means for collecting the data; and seeing how close the numbers are, the two OSes are likely very similar in marketshare, but it's not definitively possible to say (yet) that Windows 10 has surpassed that of OS X Yosemite. We will be curious to see when Microsoft publicly announces the next milestone, its first and only announcement was 14 million installs, but it's worth pointing out that you can't compare the Windows 10 adoption rate to that of Windows 7 or 8, as those products were a premium offering, whereas Windows 10 is free for most of the early adopters. Microsoft’s tactic of giving away the OS as a free upgrade to consumers with Windows 7 or 8.1 appears to be paying off. Based on the distribution of the OS to date, it looks like accepted the offer and pre-registered to receive the OS, which is a big win, as the company needs the OS to succeed, to help drive developers to build apps for its store. Source : neowin

Your 5 dominant traits are: Eccentric, Curious, Creative, Intelligent and Intuitive. You have the mind of an artist as well as a scientist. You love to dream, be inspired and create. You are always looking for new adventures and seeking answers to life's toughest questions!

I agree with you, Pete. These are the same people that always seem to be infected.

You're welcome, Lina. You aren't the only one, Lina. :D:eek:

Oh, Boy! The games will affect quite a few people that I know.

Have you tried stretching the email to full size and then closing it, Lina?

Maybe it should have been called Windows 7.5 instead. Windows 10 has some Windows 8 in it, but the new OS is mostly a partial apology for Windows 8 and bears the burden of building a bridge into the modern world for Windows 7 users. In my opinion, after using it every day since release, it’s a much better experience for Windows 7 users than those of us who used and enjoyed Windows 8. Let me explain with a story. We have family in this week from out of town. And, as you might guess, I'm the designated IT guy in our family circle. So, after hello hugs it was straight to business. "What do you think of Windows 10?" I was asked straight out of the gate. I try to avoid situations like this, so I pretended to be busy shoving food in my mouth, hoping that would be reason enough for my shorter than normal answers – most in the form of grunts. It didn’t quite work. One family member had been using Windows 8 and allowed her PC to upgrade to Windows 10. She wasn't that impressed and found that it worked quite a bit differently and took extra time to get used to doing things differently. She was happy that her programs still worked, but a bit unhappy with how much time she spent learning a new system. She was glad to see the Start button make its reappearance, but found the All Apps area unwieldy. You see, despite misconceived news coverage, some people actually do (or did) like Windows 8. However, it was interesting to find out that her daughter, who upgraded to Windows 10 from Windows 7, has no problem with it – at all. Why? Because there's more Windows 7 in Windows 10 than Windows 8. And, this story is confirmation of what I've been experiencing myself. I've been using Windows 8/8.1 as a daily driver since the initial release and I'm also one of those people that liked it. I gave up the Windows 7 experience long ago, adapted to the new world, and felt I was better off for it. All while the masses grumbled, complained, and made conscious attempts to avoid Windows 8. From a touchscreen perspective, Windows 10 is a step backward. Windows 10 has changed how I work, and in my opinion, it’s a change in the opposite direction. I use the touchscreen less and less these days, opting instead to jump out of tablet mode to use the keyboard and mouse – on both my Surface Pro 3 and my HP Spectre x360. I can kind of expect that with the Spectre, since it's an adapted laptop (2-in-1), but to alter how the Surface Pro 3 functions seems a bit strange, considering it was built for touch. Snap Assist just doesn’t work as well in tablet mode. It's more difficult to pin app windows side-by-side using touch than it is using a mouse. And, for some reason, the Start screen scrolling vertically now instead of horizontally just doesn't seem functionally correct. It works, something just seems off about it. You could blame it on a couple years of using Windows 8 every day or a personality tic, but whatever. And, with the recent and continuing Windows 10 Mail app woes, I've had to switch back to the full Outlook 2013 email client to ensure that my email messages are delivered reliably. Using the Mail app, I've had some email messages that never delivered, apparently still sitting somewhere out there – probably the same place where all missing socks go after a wash. The Outlook 2013 client is NOT touch friendly in any way. So, when I'm emailing (which is probably about 60% of my daily activity) I'm back into non-touch, laptop mode. I do still use touch, but not for work related activities anymore. I use touch in tablet mode for games. That's it. The rest of the time the keyboard and mouse are my prominently in play. I loved touch in Windows 8 and used it constantly, but Windows 10, whether intended or not, is slowly weaning me off the reliance. I guess the old adage is true: what's old is new again. It does make sense, though. Windows 8/8.1 was never able to gain market traction and the majority of Microsoft's audience for Windows 10 is those Windows 7 holdouts. Several in the industry, writers and vendors alike, blamed Windows 8 for a failing PC market. So, obviously, the new OS has to bridge the gap for those with upgrade plans and those who gave Windows 8 such poor scores. But this is the bridge that should've been built long ago and should've been labeled Windows 7.5. There's no question that Windows 10 is a compromise between Windows 7 and Windows 8, but it's extra heavy on the Windows 7 sauce. Windows 10 is turning me back into a Windows 7 user, whether I like it or not. Don’t get me wrong, Windows 10 is a fantastic upgrade, if you can get past the current list of quirks and bugs. I'll continue using it because I do like it. But, I hope over time that those of us that were able to tune into the Windows 8 way of doing things get better representation in future feature upgrades. Source : winsupersite

Exotic

Alien

I have always been a purist when it comes to my operating systems. Very rarely have I ever used any type of overlay or integrated software to modify how Windows performs out of the box as I prefer to just learn to work with the system as it is. It also helps to prevent any confusion as I am writing or helping someone out and keeps what the OS is capable of separate from what the overlay software does. One of the more recent options that found a market when Windows 8 was released was from Stardock Software. They saw the reaction to the lack of a Windows 7 style Start Menu in Windows 8 and released Start8 to address that. They then released ModernMix which allowed users to run full screen Modern Apps on Windows 8 in a window. As Windows 10 has come to market we now have a hybrid Start Menu that combines some elements of the old Windows 7 style Start Menu with the modern Live Tile aspects of the Windows 8 Start Screen. The merger of these two Start Menu's has resulted in some compromises and while there are some customizations available it may not be enough for everyone. Once again Stardock is bringing a new option to market that will allow users to have a highly configurable Start Menu in Windows 10 and it is appropriately called Start10. Side by side comparison of Start10 and Windows 10 Start Menu (image courtesy of Stardock) I have been running Start10 over the last couple of days on a test system and must admit it has had minimal impact on overall system performance. The level of customization is extensive and provides users who want to set things up for their own personal usage preferences plenty of flexibility. They have also included a shortcut to quickly open the traditional Windows 10 Start Menu and there is also a cascading folder of Modern UI apps - basically the Windows 10 All Apps list. Source : winsupersite

Ordinarily, I would agree except I have used the How To Geek site frequently and have found it to be reliable and trustworthy.

In the link that Mike provided, there is an ISO download for Windows 10 All In One Multiple Versions. It includes Pro and Home 32 bit and Pro and Home 64 bit all together.

I'm not with it today. I didn't even think of that.:thumbsup: Thanks, Pete!