Windows 10

Keith Browning · August 8, 2015

I decided to give it a go on my office PC and the upgrade went well. Win10 seems to be pretty nice, offers a lot of modern operating system improvements and interface while bringing back some of the old and familiar Windows arrangement. The exception is the new web browser "Microsoft Edge" which works just fine but the interface is much different than Internet Explorer. Cant seem to find my favorites list and browsing history but you can open Internet Explorer from the menu on the top right and go from there. I guess I just need to explore it more and become familiar with it.

Upgrading advice:

As always, it is recommended that you back up all of your documents on an external drive of some type and make a list of all your current programs "just in case" something goes wrong. My upgrade went well as far as I can tell but I have not tried all of my applications as of this time.
DO all updating and preparation BEFORE you even think of clicking on the upgrade icon. Once you get to the End Users Agreement screen, check the box and click next there is no cancelling the upgrade. You can stop it and postpone it though up to three days off and select the time it starts. I did this for the better part of a week and I must have clicked on the wrong date - I intended to upgrade today but I woke up yesterday, grabbed a cup of coffee as I do every morning and headed into my office to find the process @ 47%. I had not performed a back up!!!
The upgrade for me took about 1 hour. My PC was extremely lethargic for several hours afterward and web browsing was almost impossible. I believe that my processors and memory were consumed with some "housekeeping" on the hard disk so I left it on and went to bed. This morning all seems in order and FAST. Expect to have to set some preferences and default programs again.
There is the option of restoring your previous versions of Windows so do panic if your upgrade turns problematic.
I had a problem with losing my audio - which was a problem in Windows BETA testing and with RealTek audio devices. But, on my PC the problem was my hardware and I forgot that my front audio jack is broken and prevents the rear audio jack from working. A setting that turns that off restored my audio however. (I totally forgot that I broke my front jack)
Remember that Ford Motor company does not recommend upgrading on any PC that is used for accessing FMC Dealer or uses IDS until they test the compatibility.

Please use this thread to share your experiences with Windows 10.

Fredsvt · August 8, 2015

So far on 4 PCs at home it's working well. Had issues with an all in one with a touch screen where it took 3 or 4 logouts then logins to get the screen to display the desktop.

A regular desktop PC (Dell XPS 8300), no issues at all, so far, other than when it updated to the latest cumulative 10 update, the computer froze and I had to force it to shut down, then it completed the update. I don't like having to sit through updates, why it can't be like win 7 where it downloads and installs, as it shuts down.

My laptop, well, it's a Dell Inspirion 17R with an Alps touchpad, with win7 I had to find an alternative driver for the pad, as it was unstable. Windows 10 has brought back the alps driver and I have issues with multiple button presses, and some skittishness with the pad. The cumulative update seems to have fixed the losing of the start menu after using the computer for a while. I lost the ability to print to the wireless HP I had installed a week prior in win 7, uninstalling the basic driver software and reinstalling seems to have fixed it, or so it seems, I lost the print spooler last night and had to restart the PC. I have yet to fathom why restarting takes forever, but a cold boot from a full shut down is less than a minute to usable.

I have logged into our shop's access of fordinstallersupport.com (PTS) and have worked with it a bit. Using Edge. One issue, if you have a session logged in, and minimize to to use firefox, or something else, the next time you go back to Edge, it's locked up and pages are just white. I had to shut down the PC to get Edge to close.

All 4 PCs took less than 1.5 hours to complete the upgrade.

Fredsvt · August 16, 2015

Update on Windows 10 so far.

- Firefox has come out with 41.0b1 which is now made for Win 10, it's much faster and stops the odd behavior of windows losing the start menu and not being able to access taskbar programs.

- there has been 2 more cumulative updates, that still require you to sit through restarts. You can't shut down the computer and come back later. A restart is the only way to install updates. A pain in the ass.

- startup time from "off" is now even faster. On my desktop, a dell xps 8300 quad core I5, it's ready to use in 30 to 45 seconds. dual core I5 laptop 45 seconds to a minute.

- if you were using core temp (processor core temp monitor) on some it will cause win 10 to lock solid on start, and require accessing safe mode to uninstall. My desktop did this, but the laptop runs it with no issues.

- to access safe mode, you have to restart, either from the main screen or from the sign in screen, get to the point where you pick "restart" hold the shift key while you select "restart". You will come up with a menu to choose what you want. Do not "refresh" or "reset" windows unless you know what a mess that's going to make.

- Edge seems more stable using PTS, I had no issues with it locking up yesterday when I accessed it on my laptop using Edge. The site does now warn me that I'm not using IE

Keith Browning · August 22, 2015

I am setting up a spare laptop the other team leader in my shop was given - a bout 4 year old Toshiba Satellite in really good condition. Started with Windows seven and then upgraded from there. For the most part the upgrade went perfect however there is a problem with the Wi-Fi auto detector that I need to figure out - clicking on the troubleshooter corrects it but the fix is not permanent and I have to rerun it every time this laptop reboots. I may simply need to reinstall the original drivers.

Anyhow, this laptop is intended to be a loaner for some of the younger /new techs in the shop that don't have laptops yet.

We decided to go with windows 10 and also install IDS to test the waters before upgrading our personal laptops. Well, so far so good! Accessing FMC Dealer/PTS websites if fine as long as you use Internet Explorer and that is up to IE 11 now but I think you just need IE 9 or newer to have full functionality. I tried the new "Edge" browser which failed to run add-ons like Adobe Reader and SGV Viewer which I am not sure it is intended to. IDS seems to be working well too. So far I have used the updater, updated the VCM2, connected to a vehicle, ran quick tests, retrieved DTCs, reprogrammed a PCM. All without a single issue.

Norton Internet Security updated on its own.

I haven't experienced any issues with peripherals yet either.

Keith Browning · August 22, 2015

I have also noticed that after upgrading, Windows 10 gets faster over the period of a few days. I am sure it has a lot to do with doing some "housekeeping" on the hard drive but it may also be continuing to set itself up to work faster. Maybe it's just me? Has anyone noticed this too?

Bruce Amacker · August 22, 2015

Slightly off topic but worth mentioning anyway- I'm running Win7 on my tower and recently upgraded to a solid state hard drive- wow, what a difference! Access time is super quick, which means things happen really fast, bootup time is about 15 seconds from off. Waiting for programs to open is a thing of the past. The solid state drive is tiny- the size of a PCMCIA card or thick credit card, a 500GB drive was $350. I suggest this upgrade highly.

Win7 64 bit, Intel Corei3-4130 4.3ghz, 16gb Ram

:grin:

Keith Browning · August 22, 2015

My new laptop has a hybrid drive - system files on solid state and mass storage is conventional. While not fully solid state its vastly quicker as you mentioned. I toyed with the idea of getting a full solid state drive but at the moment I see no point with the performance I currently have. As I recall it was not available as an upgrade to my laptop when I ordered it but there were drives available when I searched the Internet. At this point, anyone buying a new PC or laptop should settle for nothing less. Glad to see you happy with yours Bruce.

forddieseldoctor · August 22, 2015

Slightly off topic but worth mentioning anyway- I'm running Win7 on my tower and recently upgraded to a solid state hard drive- wow, what a difference! Access time is super quick, which means things happen really fast, bootup time is about 15 seconds from off. Waiting for programs to open is a thing of the past. The solid state drive is tiny- the size of a PCMCIA card or thick credit card, a 500GB drive was $350. I suggest this upgrade highly. Win7 64 bit, Intel Corei3-4130 4.3ghz, 16gb Ram

I had one of those in the last laptop I had. It was a refurbished dell that came with xp. I tossed an ssd and a copy of win 7 in it along with maxing out the ram. It would do a cold boot in 20 seconds. I haven't had the funds to do it to my Levono, but I plan on it in the near future.

Fredsvt · September 10, 2015

Another quirk, if you want to call it that with Win10. (also applies to win8 it seems)

HP OfficejetPro printers, 8600 series (one an 8600 work and the other an 8630 home). The HP software and win 10 have some kind of glitch where windows shows the printer "offline" when it isn't. I've done this with HP's full feature software, basic software and just HP's plain windows drivers.

It is maddening when the damn thing won't print when you NEED it to. I've had to completely uninstall all HP software, reinstall it, then run HP's print and scan doctor software. This usually fixes it, for a while. Then next time, or not, when you boot up the PC, the "offline" crap reappears.

I have also noticed that microsoft still hasn't fixed the issues when browsing using Firefox or Waterfox (64bit Firefox), where the start menu and task bar go dead. It's far less frequent, but still damn annoying.

ktmlew · September 11, 2015

I have also noticed that microsoft still hasn't fixed the issues when browsing using Firefox or Waterfox (64bit Firefox), where the start menu and task bar go dead. It's far less frequent, but still damn annoying.

Mine got weird on Chrome too. Had to use the kill button to shut it down. Rolled it back to Win 7 Home. I'm done with it. Tried it twice and had major glitches within 2 days both times.

Fredsvt · September 12, 2015

The initial install or "upgrade" of win10 you have to get the first two cumulative updates to stop the huge glitches.

There's many shortcuts and tricks to do things when the start menu doesn't work properly or you have issues.

Right clicking on the start menu icon will give you a listing of more advanced things to do without having to go looking.

Also, HP sucks. Their software for 8600 series printers seem to have an issue with win10 and win8 where the printer is on the network OR plugged in via USB, but, the print spooler and windows shows the printer "offline". Running all kinds of HP's diagnostic software comes up saying the printer's HP software has an issue that can't be fixed.

On both my laptop (did it first) and then today with my desktop, it did this. Completely uninstalling the printer from device manager and devices and printers and all HP printer software. Follow this with going back to 'devices and printers' and either plug in the USB cable, or add it via windows. The windows driver allows the printer to function fine.

Bruce Amacker · September 12, 2015

After my last dance years ago with Windows Vista I promised myself to never again jump on the bandwagon getting the latest OS before it's tried and tested. I will never again act as an unpaid Beta tester for MS. Never. Even now I see nothing in Win7 that I like better than XP, and many little glitches in 7 with my softwares that XP didn't have. If I could go back to XP and ditch 7, I'd do it in a heartbeat. I hate how they change shit just to change it without making it better. Every time I get a new OS I have to find all of my files as the Explorer function changes dramatically. Everything is moved around and hard to locate and it aggravates me. Maybe I'm getting old, but this shit of moving stuff around gets old, too.

:mellow:

Keith Browning · September 12, 2015

:grampy: We don't have a successor for Grampy Jim here now do we? :haha2:

Bruce, anyone that I know that had Vista had problems and hated it - that was quite a while now so don't let it sour you forever. XP was pretty good but it is becoming outdated but more importantly, it is no longer supported so patches for security, performance or compatibility problems are no longer available. In my opinion that comes with bigger hassles than learning and dealing with new software. But I am sure that you are already aware of that. FWIW I too get comfortable with things especially when they work but I like the new stuff.