Hi Guys,

I've managed to keep the same Win7 installation stable over almost nine years, so with the new gaming rig I will manually migrate all my stuff to Win10. I suppose there are tools that would transfer settings and documents but I see it as a chance for some housekeeping.

What are the things to avoid and those that are super important on 10? I definitly want to shut off all the reporting and spying. Any other behaviour that threw you as curveball coming from 7?

On a clean W10 install when it first starts, it lets you set a number of toggle switches on or off. They have to do with automatic "snooping" by W10 and automatic reporting. I always set them to "off".

One can also Google for what to turn off and on. Folks write up lists of things. I have not done that one since W7.

Once in W10 and using it, every so often I hit ctrl-alt-del to get to "task manager"/"startup". I disable almost everything on the list (I just checked. I still have my Audio manager enabled -- that's it).

Overall, that's all I do. I tend to use software in "vanilla" form. I mod the dickens out of games that can be modded.

Regarding applications and games. I put all applications (including Steam, UPlay, and other gaming account managers) on the main C: "system" M.2. SSD (only use about 90GB total). The actual game files (such as Steamlibrary) are loaded into a separate SSD or hard drive. Doing it that way, I can make a W7 type system image that will automatically only include the C: drive.

One can setup W10 interface to work a lot like W7 -- I've done that. And, I much prefer W10. Some new CPUs and motherboards are designed to expect W10 -- they actually require extra effort to get them to work with W7 (at least in my recent experiences).

For the Win 10 spyware I use "Spybot Anti-Beacon"
https://www.safer-networking.org/spybot-anti-beacon/

And if you cant get on with the Win 10 start menu and would like to make it just like Win 7 or any other previous Windows version you can use "Classic Shell"
http://www.classicshell.net/

Take some time to configure your preferences on Windows updates. I have had ongoing problems with Win10 starting downloads in the background while I'm gaming online, which fouls my ping/connection. I have found zero way to pause or otherwise control things once a Windows update download has appeared to start, so trying to schedule specific times for updates (and hopefully meeting them) is apparently the only user choice. For users with fast enough internet, this lack of respect for user choice will probably not even be apparent.

Some things are weird in Win10. UI choices, why is there a print option here, but not there when I right click?

Some things like my Win10 background manager simply do not work at all. I can set the options, and they do not "stick". Searching for help on the MS tech pages gives loads of *maybe* fixes, stuff all the way down to trying to manually edit the registry. I didn't go that far, and none of the "fixes" suggested short of that worked, so I'll just leave MS broken work as-is. Weirdly, this features works on another Win10 PC in the house.

Pay attention to the "Task History" (IIRC on the name) button on the task bar. If you access files and would rather other users *not* know about it... Be aware that this button lists every file and application you open, and the date, on a full screen overlay, with a single click. They can click and open these files, too.

The start button menu can be a huge (even full screen) or as small as you desire. It's not clear at first, but you can adjust it.

While not really a problem, MS is apparently going for imparting a sentient feel to Win10. Some dialog box messages are phrased along the lines of "I have been keeping these events quite for you" and similar. Other dialogs are not pretending to be sentient, so it's a bit uneven.

Thanks guys!

Seems the main tasks will be to shutdown the spying and force updates into approval mode
https://www.easeus.com/todo-backup-...-10-from-automatically-update.html#part1

Hi Guys, small update...

Frankly I'm getting a bit worried. The more I read about Win10 the more I get the impression that Microsoft thinks it owns my PC.

For example - I admit - I run all my LEGALLY purchased games with cracks. Many here have seen me rant about my issues with Steam and how I had nothing but problems with it, so consequently I buy games, I activate them, I crack them.

Now Win10 has it's own AV which likes false-flagging cracks as Malware. And if you turn it off they will turn it on again.

I'm really worried that whatever Microsoft thinks they want to do with my PC they will do. Force updates, delete false-positive AV files...

Anyone has some words of encouragement? 8.1 seems a tad outdated to go with at this time. But if Ten can't be controlled I will avoid it...

Just opinions:

Only W7 and W10 are supported by manufacturers. W8 is dead -- I have it on two machines in the house. W7 won't run everything -- but neither will W10. So, one has a choice to make -- the lesser of two evils. As you've noticed, W10 does try to "take over" in some respects.

W7 is near end-of-life. Some new hardware demands W10 -- or, it won't run right. So, one could put off W10 for a couple years. However, eventually, one will have to use W10 or the follow on. Start W10 now or start later -- in the end it will still be W10.

I do see your point regarding how you use your hardware. I use "vanilla" software and hardware settings (small OCs) -- with "vanilla" settings most everything works well. I like Steam for my games (I mod the heck out of the ones that I can mod -- but no cracks). So, I just let Steam and W10 do their things (as noted above, I shut off all the things I can easily shut off) and I don't have issues, yet.

It is a quandary with no easy answer.