2018-06-14 10:50:33

I'm thinking of trying out Win 10 on one of my spare PCs. Anyone know if you can still get it for free with a working Win 7 key, and can you perform the upgrade using narrator?

2018-06-14 11:15:04

I'm not sure about free upgrade, but for the installations, I'm sure that you can use Narrator during setup.

2018-06-14 11:34:03

you lose nothing by trying. grab the media creation tool, click on upgrade this PC, and see what happens. though windows 10 prefers to have a clean installation, if you want to possibly roll back later, you want to choose keep my files. let us know how it goes, I'd be interested about this myself.

2018-06-14 13:17:11

Yes, you can use narrator in the windows 10 upgrade. It has to be launched with control + windows + enter.
For the other question, I happily redirect you to the first google search result when searching for windows 10 free upgrade:
https://www.zdnet.com/article/heres-how … 0-upgrade/

Roel
golfing in the kitchen

2018-06-14 14:01:07

Lol they should give ya the damn thing, we're the beta testers now, no more HCL, no more nothing, we test it, even the release versions. It's not just the insiders who test windows, its everyone now. They don't even pay us, least you'd think they would do is offer it for free, especially since their business is more along the lines of services like Azure and so forth.

Facts with Tom MacDonald, Adam Calhoun, and Dax
End racism
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Become united

2018-06-14 14:22:47 (edited by sito 2018-06-14 14:24:28)

wel it's good for them. It's bettter for them if you get a free copy of windows from them instead of getting it via a krack.

2018-06-14 14:54:09

I moved to win 10 about a year ago. The process was not bad at all. Some apps i had to give up, like some older audio games, especially those from the now defunct bsc. But the rest either has had its workaround and works too magnificent for words to describe. Operation is smooth and improving every time. Even with NVDA. I find most programs to be really stable and performance from the o.s. is rock solid.

Lamentably, Microsoft collects too much information from you (look for posts a few years back that bolster this claim) but I honestly have not had any mishaps with that.

A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station…

2018-06-14 16:19:00 (edited by Ethin 2018-06-14 16:22:10)

I really haven't had any proof that Microsoft is or is not collecting data from me either via telemetry or via some other form, though that's probably because I ensure to disable services like BITS. Win 10 has been nothing but smooth sailing for me, excluding, of course, the latest update, which has caused all but two apps to fail to start and crash immediately (UWP apps mainly). I await a fix, and have harshly criticized Microsoft for this here. I may have been harsh but I feel they deserved it, considering that I now have to prove my identity to several services.

"On two occasions I have been asked [by members of Parliament!]: 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out ?' I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question."    — Charles Babbage.
My Github

2018-06-14 17:09:44

Everything seems to have gone fine. Didn't take much more than about an hour from clicking on the link to download the media creation tool. Only thing I had to do after upgrade was reinstall shitty jaws. NVDA survived the transition with no apparent need to reinstall, but not jaws. I got some accessibility driver error. But that all seems sorted after a reinstall, and all my default jaws scripts seem to still work. I was impressed with the sound of 10's narrator during setup, but not so impressed with the questions MS was asking, which all seemed invasion of privacy related lol. Seems to boot up quick and everything appears to be working, though I only did it five minutes ago, and am yet to install a decent browser and some other essentials, check the web's working properly, and get rid of Cortana, and kill as much of the invasive settings as possible. Thanks for the encouragement guys, and thanks to roelvdwal for the article. I'd read similar stuff, but none was as recently dated as that.

2018-06-14 21:14:24

I just upgraded my computer to windows 10 a few days ago to see what it's like. so far I've got mixed feelings. if it's telling the truth I pulled a 153 mbps download yesterday but I don't trust that as far as I can throw it. i'm not keen on the new look for windows explorer and computer, or this pc as it's now called. still need to find out how to turn off all that tracking stuff as well but I think I will be making it a perminant switch pretty soon. when I do i'm going to do a cleen install though. this time I just did it as an upgrade. weirdly though, it registered my windows without me having to do anything. I was using windows7 pro and it says in system that this is now a fully lisenced windows 10 pro machine. no idea how because I never registered this licence code back in the day for the free upgrade. wonder if it's because it's a Lenovo key I pinched off my laptop and that's been automatically upgraded?

Who's that trip trapping over My bridge? Come find out.

2018-06-14 21:18:31

I'd also recommend turning off fast startup in power options. It's been known to cause some problems.

2018-06-14 21:24:40

Agreed about fast startup, and as I always do when this subject comes up, I recommend Ribbon Disabler if you want the menu bar in Explorer back. I hate ribbons, and I probably always will. As long as I still have a choice in the matter, I'll keep my nice, neat menu bars, thank you.

The glass is neither half empty nor half full. It's just holding half the amount it can potentially hold.

2018-06-14 22:41:14 (edited by SirBadger 2018-06-14 22:41:42)

wow haven't tried that. I need to get my paws on it. I hate ribbons too and they've put them everywhere in windows 10.

do you have a link to download it?

Who's that trip trapping over My bridge? Come find out.

2018-06-14 22:49:29

sorry scrub that, I found a download link and this thing is amazing. one happy badger now. sorry about double poasting.

Who's that trip trapping over My bridge? Come find out.

2018-06-14 23:18:59

No problem, glad to help.

The glass is neither half empty nor half full. It's just holding half the amount it can potentially hold.

2018-06-14 23:23:51

do you happen to know of something similar that will remove the ribbons from office 2010?

Who's that trip trapping over My bridge? Come find out.

2018-06-14 23:30:48

There's Classic Menu for Office, but I don't have much experience with it, since I use Open Office now. I remember trying to get it to work with Office 2007, which was quite a few years ago, and I didn't have any luck. perhaps it works better now. It is a paid program, though.

The glass is neither half empty nor half full. It's just holding half the amount it can potentially hold.

2018-06-15 07:08:06

I always refused to upgrade to Windows 10, due to Microsoft's privacy invasion and the forced updates. I know, that you can disable all the invasive settings now. But how about the update politics? Do they still force you to download every single update right away, or can you change the settings now, so that you will be informed about new updates, but it is for you to decide, when to download and install them?
I admit, especially the OCR in NVDA and Windows 10 intreagues me. I tried it on a friends laptop once. And the results were pretty good. But I also saw on a Twitch stream, that someone was harrassed by MS every hour that a new update is ready to be installed. And I definitely don't want that.

2018-06-15 09:09:31 (edited by afrim 2018-06-15 09:14:32)

Hello,
After three years of Windows 10 in the market, I have finally decided that it is the best version of Windows we have. They've done a really good job in implementing the right features and services, and have given the user the opportunity to customise the system in accordance with their needs, either through built-in options of Windows or through third-party programs which they have fortunately not blocked.
One such program I very much like is Winero Tweaker. It allows you to customise many things such as disabling Windows update, disabling telemetry, disabling live tyles, and many more. Also, if you want to hide icons like task view, Cortana search box, you can press application and find a search submenu where you can hide the Cortana search box and show task view, which should be unticked.
For a smoother start menu, you can use Classic Shell, which works flawlessly.
Now, to somewhat return the old style of Windows explorer as it was in Windows 7, or more similar to the one found on Windows 8.1, you should open Windows explorer (Windows+E), and go to view tab. Press space to expand the ribbon and navigate with tab until you find options, where you should click enter/space. Pres enter in the folder options, and after that window the folder opptions will appear. What you should do in this case is to look for an option labeled "Open Windows Explorer to", and this PC should be selected instead of Quick access. Click OK and all done.
Also, if you don't want the new modern apps of Windows, you can remove most of them by using CCleaner.
In addition, if you want ribbons disabled in Microsoft Office, you can do it by enabling Virtual Ribbons in the JAWS Startup Wizard if you happen to use JAWS. Otherwise, use Classic menus for Office.
I've done all I mentioned above in my computer and hopefully the interface feels more friendly now.
Hope this helps.
Cheers!

2018-06-15 10:11:25

Thanks for all the tips. I'm going to do the things mentioned above, though I found 10 a lot less busy and cumbersome this time than it was when I tried it a few years ago. When I tried it new, there was all that bloatware trying to get your attention with pop-ups and notifications. That combined with the rather cluttered start menu and taskbar, and the awful Microsoft edge, just made the whole experience annoying to the point I just felt nostalgic for the simplicity of the XP days where you bought a new PC and it was just a basic OS and it was up to you to add whatever stuff you wanted yourself. It didn't try to force you to use a ton of crap you didn't need. But I have to say, after upgrading, Win 10 doesn't have the bloat, and was a lot easier to get things tidy. The start menu seemed a lot easier to navigate, and it didn't take long to work out how to add music and downloads to the list, which should have been there by default if you ask me. I can see myself accepting it now in a way I never would have done a few years ago.

2018-06-15 11:24:13

Draq wrote:

I'd also recommend turning off fast startup in power options. It's been known to cause some problems.

Definitely do this, you may never run into issues with it on, but you might also, and they do not show up right away. I've seen 3 machines have problems due to fast startup being on, all belonging to family members, after that option was turned off, the problem never came back.

Facts with Tom MacDonald, Adam Calhoun, and Dax
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2018-06-15 16:32:44

@the player, So far as I know, MS doesn't force you to update, though if you disable windows update you can't install windows store apps.

"On two occasions I have been asked [by members of Parliament!]: 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out ?' I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question."    — Charles Babbage.
My Github

2018-06-15 16:41:46

It does force eventually, or it did, whether that is still a thing in 1803, I'm not sure, but I've gone to bed only to wake up the next morning with the thing on the sign in screen on a new build. Also, this was a huge thing all over the news with it happening in the business setting, which is really piss poor when you know um, there's work to be done, but why would anyone do work, at work?

Facts with Tom MacDonald, Adam Calhoun, and Dax
End racism
End division
Become united

2018-06-15 17:42:30 (edited by flackers 2018-06-15 17:43:03)

I have it pretty neat now. Cortana's disabled, and its search box and the task view are gone from the taskbar. Fast start up is off, but I think I'll stick with the Win 10 start menu for now as it's not too bad. For some reason though I can't change the sound scheme. Windows default seems to be the only one that plays anything. I don't really like all those little tunes it plays for things I think should just be beeps. Now I've Just got to get rid of all those annoying administrator permission dialogs that pop up whenever I try to move a file anywhere. The solution seems to be I have to arse around with folder permissions, something I've never had to do for something as simple as copying a file from an external HD to my music folder. And the other thing I noticed was that it installed the Intel HD graphics driver. The trouble with this is it only seems to offer me two screen resolutions: something like 800 by 400, and 1390 by 768 or whatever. Neither of these seems suitable. I have a 4:3 style monitor, so 1390 by 768 doesn't seem right, and I like to use 1024 by 768 for some scripts I use. So I have to revert to what used to be called the standard graphics in 7 but is the basics in 10. Why does Intel HD offer such limited resolutions?

2018-06-15 19:11:38

@23, yep, that was a major problem in its early start. MS learned their lesson very quickly though when businesses started forceably disabling windows updated until they were ready.

"On two occasions I have been asked [by members of Parliament!]: 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out ?' I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question."    — Charles Babbage.
My Github