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Win10 Creators Update: Yea or Nay? — Parallax Forums

Win10 Creators Update: Yea or Nay?

ercoerco Posts: 20,256
in General Discussion
I haven't heard much about the latest update, other than some April-May posts from early adopters that said the sky was falling, and Microsoft said wait for it to automatically install instead of doing it manually.

Any takers yet?

My big Toshiba laptop has half crashed. ~4 years old, rarely used. Running incredibly slowly, HDD activity constantly 100%. This just happened last week after updating Win10 and making the Win8(?) system restore DVDs. Related? Dunno. I've tried every Google lead, nothing works. Sick of working on it. Considering a full wipe and restore. Backing up the data to a flash drive now. Crawling along, data transfer at ~2 MB/sec. ARGGGHH!

I downloaded Creator Update to a flash drive last week. May just try to install that in hopes that it solves the problem and saves me a week of Win10 updates.

Computers are great WHEN THEY WORK. My main box, a refurb HP desktop is just fine...

Comments

  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    Wipe and restore to Win7. Then turn off automatic updates. You won't be disappointed!

    -Phil
  • WBA ConsultingWBA Consulting Posts: 2,934
    On 3 machines that started their lives as Windows 10, the creators update solved a few issues and seems to be an improvement in performance. I still have tons of unwanted junk locked down on them, but pretty happy so far.

    However, I still believe that Windows 7 Ultimate is the best MS option currently. My media PC that runs Win7 Ultimate has been the best running PC in my house for years.
  • SeairthSeairth Posts: 2,474
    I've had no problems with it on either my work or home computers. In my particular case, it was all worth the update for one simple change: they put the VPN option back in the menu of the network task tray icon, like it was in Windows 7.
  • livinlowelivinlowe Posts: 28
    Ive had no problems on my Lenovo laptop that updated. Win 10 has been good for me in the windows experience
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    I have been amazed over the last year of using Win 10, after avoiding Windows since 1998, that it has been very good for me in the "Linux experience".

    For a decent command line there was always Cygwin but now Win10 has the Linux Subsystem for Windows.

    Then there is all the applications that I normally run on Linux that work fine on Win 10: Chrome, Firefox, Gimp, Visula Studio Code, Inkscape, Virtual Box, Quartus, Simple IDE, Propeller IDE, GCC, Lazarus, etc, etc.

    Sometimes I forget this is not a Linux machine....

    The only apps that give me problems are Windows Applications that I have to use to configure some hardware gadgets. Win 10 on a Surface Pro makes a pigs ear of their display layout.

    Of course the illusion breaks down when you actually need the features of a Linux kernel under the hood. But for much of that a virtual machine under Virtual Box will do.



  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    Heater. wrote: »
    I have been amazed over the last year of using Win 10, after avoiding Windows since 1998, that it has been very good for me in the "Linux experience".

    Sometimes I forget this is not a Linux machine....

    High praise indeed!




    Running chkdsk on my ailing laptop top. Went quickly up to 11% but it's been stuck there a long time. Might be a hard drive issue.

  • xanaduxanadu Posts: 3,347
    I'll let all the other Windows Insiders test it first :)
    erco wrote: »
    Running chkdsk on my ailing laptop top. Went quickly up to 11% but it's been stuck there a long time. Might be a hard drive issue.

    Checkdisk can cause more damage if the drive is bad. Boot up https://partedmagic.com and run the disk doctor. If it passes the SMART test (if compatible) then run the quick test, if that passes try the extended test.

  • sidecar-racersidecar-racer Posts: 82
    Take a look in system event log to see if any disk errors, if so, likely bad
    drive.
  • SeairthSeairth Posts: 2,474
    Heater. wrote: »

    Of course the illusion breaks down when you actually need the features of a Linux kernel under the hood. But for much of that a virtual machine under Virtual Box will do.

    Have you looked at Docker for Windows? It's really just a Linux VM, but you can set up containers that feel pretty seamless. If you have Windows Pro and are willing to enable virtualization, you can run Docker as a hypervisor (no VM).
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    Docker is great an all. Actually I did not know it even worked on Windows. I guess it had to be now so that we can all run our web apps in Windows instances in Azure. Not sure why we would want to do that.

    As far as I understand Docker is not a VM. It's a container. Runs like anything else on your Linux machine but is contained within a space. As it were. Now that Windows has a Linux API I guess that is easier.

    Anyway, that is far from transparent. For example the other day I wanted to edit files on an ext formatted partition on an SD card. No can do under Windows. Unless you install an ext driver. Like the one from Paragon.

    There are all kind of such issues when trying to use Windows to do what comes naturally on Linux.

  • SeairthSeairth Posts: 2,474
    Heater. wrote: »
    Docker is great an all. Actually I did not know it even worked on Windows. I guess it had to be now so that we can all run our web apps in Windows instances in Azure. Not sure why we would want to do that.

    As far as I understand Docker is not a VM. It's a container. Runs like anything else on your Linux machine but is contained within a space. As it were. Now that Windows has a Linux API I guess that is easier.

    Anyway, that is far from transparent. For example the other day I wanted to edit files on an ext formatted partition on an SD card. No can do under Windows. Unless you install an ext driver. Like the one from Paragon.

    There are all kind of such issues when trying to use Windows to do what comes naturally on Linux.

    Under Windows, it depends if you enabled hardware virtualization. Without, Docker just uses a VirtualBox Linux VM. With, you are running a Linux kernel in a hypervisor (i.e. directly on the hardware, no VM). You can get most of the popular distros as a prepackaged container. Just fire up bash inside the container and you are running actual Linux side-by-side with Windows.
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    Interesting. I have to play with Docker on Windows a bit.

    Is there an advantage to using Docker instead of just Virtual Box to run a Linux program occasionally ?
  • SeairthSeairth Posts: 2,474
    Heater. wrote: »
    Interesting. I have to play with Docker on Windows a bit.

    Is there an advantage to using Docker instead of just Virtual Box to run a Linux program occasionally ?

    In this particular case? I think the primary trade-off will be that Docker will be running at all times, meaning that the Linux kernel (whether in a VM or hypervisor) is also running at all times, so starting up a shell should be very fast. On the other hand, if you only occasionally need Linux, running it as a VM on demand will be a slower startup, but better on system resources.


    NOTE: Unfortunately, VirtualBox does not work if you have hardware virtualization turned on. So, if you need to use both VirtualBox and Docker in Windows, then you will need to use the VM version of Docker.
  • frank freedmanfrank freedman Posts: 1,983

    Running chkdsk on my ailing laptop top. Went quickly up to 11% but it's been stuck there a long time. Might be a hard drive issue.

    erco,
    If you have not tried SpinRite, give it a shot. Once recovered an HDD that had been in a fire with it. Probably luck, but it was a fantastic disk recovery tool if you need it.
    Been a few years, so hopefully it is still available.

    FF
  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    My Toshiba is back up & running, using right now. What a difference a working HDD makes! $60 for 750GB "performance" drive from Fry's. Same price for a 1TB regular drive, but I felt the need for speed on this one.

    I installed Win10 directly to the blank new drive from my "Creator's Update" update on flash drive. Quick clean installation, now I get to reinstall everything.

    It's the darndest thing. MS' Edge browser REALLY doesn't want me to download Chrome. It keeps telling me it has outdated/unsafe security settings (!).

    MS is really watching out for me, so nice to know Cortana has my back!

    Win10HatesChrome.png
    Win10HatesChrome.png
    1366 x 768 - 53K
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    That's odd. I just installed Chrome on a new Laptop with Win10. Edge did not give me any such trouble.
  • Alexander (Sandy) HapgoodAlexander (Sandy) Hapgood Posts: 360
    erco wrote: »
    ... that said the sky was falling, and Microsoft said wait for it to automatically install instead of doing it manually.

    I misread this as "... that said the sky was falling, and Microsoft said wait for it to automatically fall instead of doing it manually."

    Sandy

  • ercoerco Posts: 20,256
    edited 2017-07-03 00:49
    BSOD=blue sky of death, falling to a computer near you
  • xanaduxanadu Posts: 3,347
    There's nothing quite like a fresh install. I've always thought it was funny when you deploy an MS server OS you can't download anything from Microsoft until you turn off enhanced security. I guess it makes sense they don't add their own domain, but still... you kinda need it at some point.
  • VonSzarvasVonSzarvas Posts: 3,450
    Has anyone noticed theme color changes since the update?

    Not yet sure if the culprit is Msft, family or me, but icons seem to be turning purple a lot. Very disturbing!

  • MikeDYurMikeDYur Posts: 2,176
    "Microsoft pushes 'mixed reality' features with Windows 10 update" -

    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-microsoft-windows/microsoft-pushes-mixed-reality-features-with-windows-10-update-idUSKCN1BC4UO
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    @VonSzarvas,

    No purple here. Win 10, Surface Pro.

    @MikeDYur,

    Great, another bunch of features I have to find a way to disable.

    Never mind augmented or "mixed" reality. After my three score years on this planet I still find actual reality quite amazing enough.



  • frank freedmanfrank freedman Posts: 1,983
    Original Surface Pro. Update failed and rolled back. 2x.

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