Windows 10: So Very Disappointed With Win 10

Put them in the People app.

In settings app>Privacy- you can read what each setting does there too. A word or caution, the location setting can cause some universal apps to fail. For example when turned on for mail & calendar it crashes the calendar app, so it's best left off for them. When turned of for Cortana it "kills" her and just becomes windows search like in windows 8. Some apps need to share information with one another to fully or function at all, so be careful there too.

Microsoft isn't "Spying", the info is sent to a server(everything coded in hash that identifies a device, not a person), and this data is used to improve or at the very least make it possible to use certain apps. They're not like Google that scans the words(not content meaning) of your Emails. I leave this stuff on and am having a great user experience. To learn more about how this works, search in the inter net about "Big Data", but don't just go to one place, go to a lot of sites. In short companies save data and it will be filtered for a specific need and the rest tossed aside. Somewhat like the brain. Every second your senses are receiving millions of bits of data, but the brain filters to the conciouse part only what you need, like a new smell, or a change in temperature(things that stay the same will go unnoticed), big data is filtered like in Cortana to your interest like local weather, favorite sports teams, what you search mostly for. And I find this a great tool to filter out junk I don't care about.

 

Supposedly the key is the same one used with your win7. You do not get a new win 10 key when you upgrade
So run belarc advisor, get the key, do a clean install of windows 7
Win 7 you can download from ms
How to Download Windows 10, 7, 8, and 8.1 Install Media Legally

Did your win 10 activate ok?

 

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You get a generic Windows 10 key when you upgrade. I got the same generic key with all 4 of my upgrades. One was from Windows 7 the other three were from Windows 8.1. That Window 10 key is useless for clean installs unless that hardware has already been activated with Windows 10. You don't even need to enter it actually, you can just click skip when prompted to enter a key. The key that Belarc gives you won't work for a Windows 7 install, its a Windows 10 key.

And incase it was missed, I posted earlier that if this was a factory OEM-SLP install, the Windows 7 key that a keyfinder will show you can't be used with regular install media. That key is blocked from online activation. It's done on purpose. OEM-SLP installs use a common key per manufacturer and don't activate online. You need custom OEM recovery media or custom OEM branded install media to use it. If your going to use a regular Windows 7 DVD, you have to use the code on the COA sticker. If you can read that code your going to have to order recovery disk set from the OEM. If at some time Windows 7 was installed using the code on the COA sticker, showkey will get it for you.

 

What I had to do to get win10. granted I am not well versed in windows activations, I ended up with an activated win10.

I had a PC with win 8.1 pro activated. Before I did anything, I used belarc to get the installed key. I then upgraded to win 10.
Then I shrunk the drive, wanted to make two partitions on the drive and also to clone the install in case the drive self destructed, so I have backup plug and play.
The shrink process failed and win 10 pro no longer worked
So I decided to clean install 8.1 pro, I downloaded from MS. When asked for the key, I entered the key Belarc reported.
It worked and activated win 8.1 pro.
I then shrunk the drive using minitool partition wizard, that worked.
Then I upgraded again to win 10, that activated.
Then I cloned the drive with minitool partition wizard
Now both the original drive and the clone work, plug in either one and it boots to win 10 and shows activated.

I also tested out the system reset before the upgrade on win 8.1 and it worked I went through a lot of wondering if it would work, I thought it should work, eventually it did work. This upgrade befudlement ended up taking 2 days of my time to figure it out. Kind of a pain! The builtin partition resizer in windows did not work. I also used clonezilla a couple of times and had to repair the boot loader.

 

Sure sounds like a lot of work to me. Just hope you don't need the second copy. Also hope the HD does not fail.

 

For me, I quess it was worth it, maybe I learned a few things! I got to finally use win 10 and have a backup just in case.
It is much quicker - easier to just plug in a drive and get going again. Otherwise, the install process, takes too long I think. MS popped up a message asking me about the upgrade and I told them my opinion was it took too long, what if I lost power? A dead PC?

 

Nothing out of the ordinary there. If your Windows 10 was activated after the upgrade you could have skipped doing the upgrade the second time. You could have just clean installed on that same PC. You just click skip when prompted for the product code. A hardware ID was created the first time you activated on that PC. That is used the second time around to verify that PC is authorized for a Windows 10 install. It will activate just fine. I've verified it myself.

 

Myself it's why I have the two major laptops with Win10, and two other smaller laptops with Win7Pro. I keep them all updated and running the same programs. In the past i have had things go wrong on one system,and just move to another computer. I also have two iPads and two Android tablets. So the only thing that i have to fear is my router failing or my internet connection failing. Bad things will happen, it's just when it will happen we don't know.

 

I think you miss the part about feeling superior.

 

Geeezzzzz You know I came here for some help and advice. Yes and to voice my opinion about Win 10

Some of you guys/girls really and truly tried to help. I had several great suggestions on what to and just my luck I picked the wrong one. I did a system Restore thinking I was going back to Win 7 when in all actuality all it did was give me a VERY clean install of Win 10 and I lost everything except my pictures.. (whew) I was way better off then I was before I came here, even though I had a OS that I did not like.......

SO to those who tried to help I thank you for your sincere attempt to help me and I would like to see the Moderators of this forum give you a GREAT BIG ATTA-PERSON *Party*Party*Party

And for the rest of you who choose to use this thread to wine and cry about their own problems I say get a LIFE and start your own thread......... *Mad*Mad*Mad

 

I am really sorry it did not work for you,i wish i knew more about your system and really what went wrong. Everything you had should have still be on your computer. I do hope you get your computer back working well.
Let us know what happens.

 

All system restore points are erased when you upgrade from one OS to another. Then new oneas are created over time. I'm talking about the Windows System Restore, not the factory restore/recovery. You can undo a system restore, you just run it again and pick a different restore point. In a lot of cases, the OEM factory recovery partition is left intact, but the link to it is broken during the upgrade. The key press on boot up to access it doesn't work anymore. It sounds like you actually did a Windows 10 Reset. That will wipe out any installed programs and Apps and just leave your files intact. That's what it did for me when I ran it. On the plus side, for me, it fixed another issue I had with live tiles being broken, and some tiles with no icons. It looks like the Windows 8.1 Refresh option is gone now.

 

I am a personal friend of LeeB's and last night did a TeamViewer session with him. During the session, I found that it appears that his Windows.old folder is intact but there is no longer a Restore option to take it back to his Win 7 installation. He is traveling and doesn't have his WIn 7 install disk with him. It's my understanding that if he boots with his Win 7 install disk he could then recover Win 7 from the Windows.old folder. Is that correct?

Is there a way to re-enable the Restore option or any other way so that he could try to revert back to Win 7 without the install disk?

He also has a System Image on an external hard drive (from 2011 when he first got the laptop) as a last resort he would like to know how he can recover that system image. I believe he needs the Win 7 install disk to do that which is something he doesn't have with him. He doesn't have reliable internet so would prefer not to have to download a large ISO file and burn a disk.

Anybody got any ideas to help? Lee currently won't have an internet connection until next week so hopefully we can come up with a solution for him for when he gets back on-line.

 

Was the system image made with Win7's own backup?
If so he only needs to pop in the Windows 7 system repair disk(he did create on and still has it, or?), and then find the image and reimage to his system disk.
The repair disk never failed me back when I used to test "optimizing" software and 3rd party themes.