[R2D2]

Originally Posted by vasudeva

Well since you are a (I presume and hope) very good person and a very good friend of mine, did I not conjecture that people who were expecting 10 RTM in their hands could have to wait beyond 15th. They will now have to spend some more sleepless nights.

LOL! Sleepless nights are a part of life in the software world...I say this from personal experience.

Anyway, build 240 looks like a finished product (or may be 1 step from finished) for the following reasons:

a) No time bar/expiry date
b) No watermark on the desktop
c) OS license is a retail license and does not refer to the build as a preview software.

Further updates to this software will be pushed from MS windows update production server.

I only do one sleepless night on patch Tuesday every month. Get links, download all updates through FDM. Have to update 5-6 images and so best to download once for both current patching and future reinstalls.

Back in the mid 2000s I used an application to aggregate all Windows updates into a local directory for install. This prevent a redownload.
What software is the FDM you refer to?

Since we were in 1995, today there were a lot of articles about amazon. So now we have three huge breakthroughs for 1995: windows 95, wider www (remember vsnl and giasdnl and hoping for a connection), and amazon/e-commerce.

Oh yes I remember working on VSNL dial up lines back in 1995.

[vasudeva]

Free Download Manager. I find it the best download manager. Large files are best not left to browser. FDM is free and very good. Go for 3.9.6.

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by vasudeva

Free Download Manager. I find it the best download manager. Large files are best not left to browser. FDM is free and very good. Go for 3.9.6.

Oh yeah. Heard of it, but I have standardised on another download manager called IDM (Internet Download Manager). Been using it for many years. Prior to that it was Getright & Download Studio.

Will try FDM too.

[sgiitk]

The link I gave in my earlier post #65 here is now uploaded in pdf form.

[vasudeva]

Originally Posted by R2D2

Oh yeah. Heard of it, but I have standardised on another download manager called IDM (Internet Download Manager). Been using it for many years. Prior to that it was Getright & Download Studio.

Will try FDM too.

I read that MS has supposedly changed their policy towards updates in windows 10. Previously, those upgrading from Home, etc editions were supposed to be automatically updated when released. Now, this policy has been extended to Pro editions (think windows 8.1 Pro). Earlier it was stated as not. No way to disable automatic updates or download once and install across systems. Only enterprise customers can choose when to install/download updates.

Do you know the status.

As to FDM and IDM, I use FDM because it is free and very good. People rate IDM also highly but it is paid. Of course nothing is paid in these times!!!

Also any idea as to how win 10 b10240 will be activated. I have downloaded it and plan to give it a try on the weekend. MS servers may not be able to activate now. I have a 7 (all editions incl. enterprise), 8 (pro and N), and 8.1 (pro and N) legal key (from technet). Perhaps I will have to use a trial key during 10 install and then activate with the 7,8,8.1 key. If that be the case, I have 7 enterprise and may be I can use 10 enterprise too. I got 500 activations for 7 enterprise and it is still 475 left. Have not activated/used even once from mid-2013. Perhaps enterprise editions are not eligible for upgrade to 10. Can u point to mS policy for free upgrade.

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by vasudeva

I read that MS has supposedly changed their policy towards updates in windows 10. Previously, those upgrading from Home, etc editions were supposed to be automatically updated when released. Now, this policy has been extended to Pro editions (think windows 8.1 Pro). Earlier it was stated as not. No way to disable automatic updates or download once and install across systems. Only enterprise customers can choose when to install/download updates


Do you know the status.

That's right, Windows 10 will be updated on two tracks for retail and OEM customers i.e. the Fast & Slow. One can delay the updates by a 2-4 months selecting the slow track but continual delays may lead to your OS not being 'eligible' for further updates. There's nothing alarming in it. They already did it with the Win 8.1 update. Any user not chosing to update to Win 8.1 was automatically excluded for further updates.

The key thing to remember is W10 will run as WAAS (Windows As A Service), yeah, the acronym is pretty funny for us Indians. It's going to be pretty similar to all other software subscriptions like Office 365, antivirus and security solutions et al.

As to FDM and IDM, I use FDM because it is free and very good. People rate IDM also highly but it is paid. Of course nothing is paid in these times!!!..

Oh well, all my software is licensed. Had a bad time with a virus infection on my home network many many years ago. I stay clear of pirated stuff.

Also any idea as to how win 10 b10240 will be activated. I have downloaded it and plan to give it a try on the weekend. MS servers may not be able to activate now. I have a 7 (all editions incl. enterprise), 8 (pro and N), and 8.1 (pro and N) legal key (from technet). Perhaps I will have to use a trial key during 10 install and then activate with the 7,8,8.1 key. If that be the case, I have 7 enterprise and may be I can use 10 enterprise too. I got 500 activations for 7 enterprise and it is still 475 left. Have not activated/used even once from mid-2013. Perhaps enterprise editions are not eligible for upgrade to 10. Can u point to mS policy for free upgrade.

Firstly you are late by a few days. New comers to the Insider program are not being accepted as MS is now concentrating on pushing out builds via their production servers to test (among other things) for any issues on the big day. If you install Windows 10 it wont activate. There are surreptitious ways of doing it but I can't get into those things on an open forum. MDL may be able to help.

Enterprise versions can be upgraded only to Enterprise versions of W10 builds. You cannot use non Enterprise i.e. retail build to upgrade an enterprise copy. That said, there WILL be upgrades to Win 7/8 enterprise versions but they are under enterprise licensing programs. If you have a MSDN/TechNet subscription you may be able to get a copy of the W10 enterprise ISO supposedly build 10176 which is in the same state of progress as build 10140 that goes out to retail and OEM customers for testing.

PS - there are people reporting successful new registrations. Give it a go.

[naveenroy]

Is it a compulsory upgrade for Windblows 8.1 users? As in, I can push out the updating for 4 months or so but will have to compulsorily update after that?

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by naveenroy

Is it a compulsory upgrade for Windblows 8.1 users? As in, I can push out the updating for 4 months or so but will have to compulsorily update after that?

Upgrading from Win8.1 is not compulsory. You will continue to get support and updates till EOL on 1/10/2023. That's in DD/MM/YYYY.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-in/...ilter=FilterNO

MS calls Windows 10 as the last release of Windows. Henceforth Windows 10 is a 'service'. Therefore it will be continuously supported and updated, possibly indefinitely.

Over time, one just needs to make sure that existing hardware is compatible and meets the minimum requirements i.e. evolve in parallel with the requirements of the OS.

[raghu.t.k]

Originally Posted by R2D2

...
The key thing to remember is W10 will run as WAAS (Windows As A Service), yeah, the acronym is pretty funny for us Indians. It's going to be pretty similar to all other software subscriptions like Office 365, antivirus and security solutions et al.
....

Originally Posted by R2D2

.......
MS calls Windows 10 as the last release of Windows. Henceforth Windows 10 is a 'service'. Therefore it will be continuously supported and updated, possibly indefinitely.
.......

Now this is worrying me, this is something I asked earlier in the thread. If its 'service', then there would be subscription charges like Office 365. Now does that mean, if I upgrade to W10, somewhere down the line I have to start paying annually? Also if I were to get a new laptop/desktop, would the same apply ? And If I have to pay, and I dont, what happens ?

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by raghu.t.k

Now this is worrying me, this is something I asked earlier in the thread. If its 'service', then there would be subscription charges like Office 365. Now does that mean, if I upgrade to W10, somewhere down the line I have to start paying annually? Also if I were to get a new laptop/desktop, would the same apply ? And If I have to pay, and I dont, what happens ?

MS has committed to updating the OS for the lifetime of the device. Also, if you have a retail license you can transfer it to other computers as and when you upgrade. If you have an OEM copy i.e. preinstalled on the PC by an OEM for e.g. Dell, Lenovo, HP etc., the copy is tied to the motherboard BIOS and cannot be transferred. This is according to the license agreement that I have for the latest preview build of W10 i.e. 10240. This is very much a release candidate or possibly even a final version though it cannot be called as such because MS hasn't signed off on it. The final version will come thru on 29/7.

Net effect? The license conditions are very much the same as for current copies of Windows 8/8.1 and Windows 7.

So far there's been no word about subscription charges but I believe it's all built into the cost of a license whether it be a retail purchase or via an OEM. This is the reason MS are not giving W10 away for free to users of illegal copies of Windows 8/7. In other words, Windows 10 is a free upgrade.

I am very doubtful if MS will charge for OS updates at any time in the future. It would be suicidal.

If you want to wait and watch then don't upgrade from Win8/7 for the time being.

Frankly I am diving head first into the W10 swimming pool. I really like what I see and trust me, I've seen many flavours of OSes in my time. W10 is a 2015 version of Windows 7.

[tbppjpr]

Originally Posted by R2D2

Frankly I am diving head first into the W10 swimming pool. I really like what I see and trust me, I've seen many flavours of OSes in my time. W10 is a 2015 version of Windows 7.

How much disk space Win10 occupies? Has it reduced compared to Win 8.1?

Day by day increasing space consumption with every new version release has been biggest concern with Windows. Instead of making the OS lighter, they are making it much more heavier which is unnecessary IMO. Its a vanilla OS afterall.

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by tbppjpr

How much disk space Win10 occupies? Has it reduced compared to Win 8.1?

Day by day increasing space consumption with every new version release has been biggest concern with Windows. Instead of making the OS lighter, they are making it much more heavier which is unnecessary IMO. Its a vanilla OS afterall.

Windows 10 uses about as much RAM and hard disk space as Windows 8.1

http://www.microsoft.com/en-in/windo...specifications

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-IN/w...m-requirements

In today's world of large hard disks and oodles of RAM we can be a little bit extravagant with resource usage. However, if you want to save space, any unwanted features/apps can be removed using the Control Panel

[vasudeva]

Originally Posted by R2D2

That's right, Windows 10 will be updated on two tracks for retail and OEM customers i.e. the Fast & Slow. One can delay the updates by a 2-4 months selecting the slow track but continual delays may lead to your OS not being 'eligible' for further updates. There's nothing alarming in it. They already did it with the Win 8.1 update. Any user not chosing to update to Win 8.1 was automatically excluded for further updates.

T

I think you have got me wrong. I was only referring to those weekly/monthly updates and no the major updates (which become the basis for future updates). Every month, on patch Tuesday, I note down the updates released, download them, and then apply them across 6-7 images. This saves me bandwidth. That was my point. I think Windows 10 Pro will have an option to defer for some time. The point is that like in windows 8, I do not want to install updates auto. That is good for people who would not care less, but if you are looking at 150-200 MB updates every month, in India at least, you would not want to download it separately for 6-7 images.

As to disk size, initially windows 10 should have lesser disk space than 8.1, which even now with all updates has lower usage than windows 8. As updates get released, size increases, but still should be lesser than 8.1 Plus one can always do disk cleanup to remove superseded updates.

Originally Posted by R2D2

Frankly I am diving head first into the W10 swimming pool. I really like what I see and trust me, I've seen many flavours of OSes in my time. W10 is a 2015 version of Windows 7.

I would even say that if you are beyond layman's level of competence, you would know that 7, 8, 8.1 all have been very stable. I have had no issues in 8/8.1 and in fact even prefer the start screen.

The problem does arise with drivers as some manufacturers do not release fully compatible/backward compatible drivers. Many people attribute Vista's initial problems to this. Using Windows inbuilt backward compatibility may or may not work all the time, and most are not aware of it.

With 8.1, I had to delay for 1-2 months while ASMedia took their time to release esata drivers. Prior to that, the older esata drivers (even with built in backward compatibility) were somewhat buggy and in windows, powering on esata while system on did not work sometimes.

I plan to play with win 10 this week since 10240 is now more or less confirmed as RTM. This will enable me to get used to it, and maybe in the next 1-2 months, I will entirely go to 10. 8.1 is anyway excellent except for one minor complaint (relating to file explorer opening libraries and not computer). I think win 10 gives back that option. Plus, transparency is gone which is good. The backbone should anyways be a lot better than 8.1. Win 7 is antique now and so is 8.

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by vasudeva

With 8.1, I had to delay for 1-2 months while ASMedia took their time to release esata drivers. Prior to that, the older esata drivers (even with built in backward compatibility) were somewhat buggy and in windows, powering on esata while system on did not work sometimes.

AFAIK Windows 7 drivers were compatible with Windows 8. Of course there may have been variations in drivers from different hardware vendors.

Originally Posted by vasudeva

I think you have got me wrong. I was only referring to those weekly/monthly updates and no the major updates (which become the basis for future updates). Every month, on patch Tuesday, I note down the updates released, download them, and then apply them across 6-7 images. This saves me bandwidth. That was my point. I think Windows 10 Pro will have an option to defer for some time. The point is that like in windows 8, I do not want to install updates auto. That is good for people who would not care less, but if you are looking at 150-200 MB updates every month, in India at least, you would not want to download it separately for 6-7 images

MS is moving away from the Patch Tuesday type of update deliveries and more towards a push/continual update method for both major and minor updates. An owner/user may or may not be alerted. Of course we'll have to see how it works out in practice after W10 is released in about 11 days from now.

To quote from the current EULA in build 10240:

6. Updates. The software periodically checks for system and app updates, and downloads and installs them for you. You may obtain updates only from Microsoft or authorized sources, and Microsoft may need to update your system to provide you with those updates. By accepting this agreement, you agree to receive these types of automatic updates without any additional notice.

That said, I do believe KB updates will be available for download separately.

There are methods to trim the size of windows WinSXS folder (the update cache) using DISM should one want to recover even more space than would be obtainable via disk clean-up. Use the command:

Dism.exe /online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup

[vasudeva]

Originally Posted by R2D2

Dism.exe /online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup

I use it in 8.1 and the clean up process is much faster in 8.1 than in 8. More like 15 mins on a SSD with first built system in 8.1 compared with 2+ hours on 8. Plus I also use Wise Disk Portable free to really clean up. On a built up windows system, I get 3 GB more. Not that I need it buy why not. So far in 8-10 months, Wise Disk has not created any problems for me. I use it only for windows update cleanup. Ccleaner is not so great anymore.

Yes, KB updates are installed auto unless you specify (like in older OS). I choose check, then note down/download, and then do it over the next 1-2 days. MS patches have become more frequent and if you have been on 8.1, so many re-releases, eg for 3035583, 2976978. These 2 are related to 8.1 to 10 so aybe getting updated after each 10 build. Plus, even flash is now sometimes seeing 3-4 updates in a month. Even long released updates are being refreshed. Not to even say much of office 2013 which gets >1GB updates every month. To avoid bloating my system, I just uninstall office 2013 every month. Then download the updates, extract x-none files, overwrite those files to all previous updates, then integrate in office 2013 and install. Takes 10-15 mins for integration and install.

So far my experience with patch tues is that each month's updates for win 8.1+ office 2013 (both x64) costs just 100-200 MB, after doing dism cleanup (as admin cmd) and using WDC.