Windows 10: Considering win10, need to know a few things

Hi all - I've been on win7 since the beta days, have been building and customizing PCs since 4.77Mhz was the norm, have my interface customized to look like win98 (icons, start menu, no animations, minimal services, etc), and am happy with its instantaneous responsiveness and retro look. Don't judge me - we all like what we like! The main thing I hate about windows "progress" over the years is how it progressively prevents users out from taking control over their machine.

If I were to upgrade to win10 I have a few requirements and need to know if they are all possible...

- can all permissions and policy settings be set such that windows NEVER says "sorry you don't have permission" or "are you sure you really want to do that?"

- can all auto-anything be turned off? Auto updates, call home, everything.

I'm assuming the interface can be made like I want since ClassicShell has a win10 version.

Basically I want to know if there is ANYTHING that win10 disallows that a person coming from an extremely hacked win7 environment might be limited by. Thanks

:)

 

Considering a Windows Phone, need to know if it does....

Thanks for the info, Julie. I'll digest this and look over the links you mentioned, and see if I have any other questions. //Steve//

 

Considering a Windows Phone, need to know if it does....

Windows Phones do not sync directly to Outlook via USB connection; instead it syncs directly to an online Microsoft account (outlook.com). But you've got a couple of syncing options:

• If you stick with Outlook 2010, you can use the Outlook Hotmail Connector, which syncs Contacts and Appointments between Outlook and your online Microsoft account - tasks are NOT synced at all via the Outlook Hotmail Connector. If you want to sync tasks,
  you'll have to upgrade to Outlook 2013. Outlook 2013, syncs Contacts, Appointments and Tasks between the desktop software and a Microsoft account

• If you prefer to sync the phone directly to Outlook 2010, you've got some third party options:
  Akruto Sync or
  Companion Link. Both of these applications sync between the desktop version of Outlook and a Windows Phone.

The phone syncs OneNote Notebooks and Office documents that are stored on your SkyDrive account. SkyDrive is the online storage that is a part of every Microsoft account.

Sync cable is not used to sync any of this data to a phone. If you use the native [free] syncing options for Outlook-related data, documents, and onenote notebooks, the phone needs an internet connection - either a data connection or wifi connection works.
Setting up the Outlook Connector or configuring Outlook 2013 may require a little bit of setup, but I've written some blog articles that help to simplify the process, which you can find here:

• Using the Outlook Hotmail Connector
• Sync Outlook 2013 to a Microsoft account
  

If you use one of the third party syncing apps to sync directly to Outlook, you'll do so via Wifi connection and there may be some kind of client software you install on the computer (I don't use either of these apps, but I hear they work pretty well).

 

No, it is just the same. I'm sure you'll like it.

 

Normally you can't prevent security updates for Home and Pro. For Pro, you can prevent driver updates through Windows Update. The intent is to keep Windows in a patched state, regardless of the choices of the user.

I believe that some "telemetry" is sent back to MS with privacy settings at their maximum.

The "signed driver" thing and the authorization pop-up to run some software continue.

If you're paranoid about Microsoft's intentions, you may not want to go to 10.

 

I have no problem with microsoft's intentions at all, just prefer to control my machine myself. Automatic security updates sounds preferable - so no problem there. Disabling automatic driver updates is critical, so Pro would work there. Looks like telemetry can be disabled. So far so good but I bet there's more...

 

I have used Windows since 3.1 then 95 etc and to me 10 is the best by far whatever I have wanted to it has allowed me and believe me I have 8 systems running windows 10 and all doing different jobs and not once have I been let down

 

I agree completely with @hTconeM9user and a dozen computers in my household. But, as with everything in our society, more and more control is being taken away from the individual and transferred to "big brother", so if you don't want to give up that control, then might want to stick with Windows 7.

 

I just want to know exactly where the user is giving up control versus windows 7. Security updates is the only thing that has come up so far, which is no problem at all, a benefit really. This is a very specific technical question aimed at those who do registry editing, group policy changing, windows service changing, folder and file ownership changing. On the sevenforum site a lot of guys tried win10 but went back to win7 because of what they felt were win10 annoyances, and I'm hoping someone out there did not give up so easily, and got to where win10 was as under their control as was win7.

 

Pretty much under control here, have both Win10 Home and Pro.
Don't like tablet stuff looks like something AOL threw together so that all went, don't like the Win10 start menu replaced it with Classic Start Menu.
Turned off all the phone home stuff not as I'm paranoid but on a data limit, or was when I set it all up should I say.
No intention of using the Annoying Paperclip reincarnation otherwise known as Cortana, so disabled it.
Got rid of One drive, got my own alternatives which I'm quite happy with.
You can block driver updates easily enough on both Pro and Home.
UAC turned down, only me here and I know what I'm doing.
No issues with registry editing, group policy, windows services, folder and file ownership.
Lots of things can be dealt with I found out after having done it all myself, with Winaero Tweaker or Ultimate Windows Tweaker, if you don't fancy doing it the hard way.
I was extremely Anti Win8 8.1 an 10 until it was forced on me, I just bit the bullet and got on with taming it.
Just to add, my installs look pretty much like Win7.

 

perfect clam1952 that's exactly what I was looking for. If I get win10 home it looks like I need to download gpedit, so is there any reason to get pro?

 

The only real problem I ran into for this is if you disable UAC, you can't use the App Store.
Now, since I don't use apps anyway, it's no longer a problem for me and I have UAC completely disabled.

 

I actually use my computer for work and play, so I can honestly say that Windows 10 doesn't prevent me from doing anything that I've done in 7, 8, or 8.1. This over-hyped misinformation is getting out of control.

There's no need to hack anything with 10....not for performance, security, etc. Some of you are far overthinking the process. If you want 10 (and it is still free if you have an existing license), just install it, update it and it's drivers, then load your applications and games that you plan to use. That's it. No worries, no tinfoil hats, etc.

 

^^^^^ I agree with @DeaconFrost.

 

Some people like to control their interface. Just saying.

This is totally not about the uninformed suspicion and distrust that drives non-engineers, but about an engineer's distaste for bolts put out of his reach. Thanks to clam1952's post, it appears the bolts can be reached.