Why I have gone back to Windows 7

[Rroff]

Don't know how you can deal with Windows 7 anymore, I installed it onto a spare hard drive that I connected to my RyZen 2700X system, all I can say is OMG what a nightmare, driver issues, not installing correctly, even if they did install, they were missing parts, important parts like PCI drivers etc, slow as crap, once a very loved OS, Windows 10 is defo way better, smoother and faster.

That is the problem with newer hardware and no one really bothering with support for anything other than 10 any more rather than an issue with 7 - if they bothered to actually make their software/drivers work with 7 it wouldn't be an issue and why some of my newer devices are on 10 because older drivers either don't exist or are poorly supported.

Any system where I can I'm sticking with 7 and I can't see 10 being suited to my needs for some setups ever which really irritates me as it is mostly down to one dimensional thinking by MS developers rather than any real reason.

On my main desktop - i7 4820K, 16GM DDR3, GTX1070 Windows 7 is as smooth and responsive as I could ask, perfectly stable and this OS install has been going since 2013 without a hitch plus it actually looks nice unlike 10 which is flat and boring (with nothing to take the uh edge off it) with a lack of overall polish or consistency. Most days I have Windows 10 booted up side by side with my main Windows 7 desktop and the Windows 10 system is actually no a nicer IPS monitor compared to my gaming TN on my 7 system and I find 10 quite an eye sore after awhile but quite happy with using 7 for hours on end (though as always looks are subjective but the nice gradated tints and overall nicer icons and polish make 7 much more aesthetically pleasing even if the over bevelled and fake 3D touches are a bit dated design wise now).

On the other hand I do like the start menu in 10 and on paper it should be a functional improvement over 7 however it is badly let down by lazy and inexperienced development and lacks many of the customisation features, etc. that it should have to make it a fully useful tool - even Windows 3 got many of those aspects right. Especially the lacking group management is annoying, the inability to properly customise tiles in both functionality and visually frustrating.

At the end of the day there is a significant disinterest at MS as to the real world end user quality of life experience - their updates about new features are full of enthusiasm for how features that no one has asked for or wants are going to improve everyone's lives while they've persistently put little effort or interest into many of the basic features of the OS that would make a difference to the quality of life experience of end users while many of the features they are headlining as revolutionary are merely sorting problems that they've made in the first place and didn't even exist as a problem in previous versions of the OS or any other OS until they made them an issue in Windows 10 through their own ineptness. As an example take:

Less interruptions while you're in full screen mode.
Watching a movie on your PC? Pouring over Excel tables? Studying? With this Focus Assist update, you can keep your notifications quiet until you exit full screen mode.



FIND OUT MORE ABOUT FOCUS ASSIST

They wouldn't even need to introduce this as a "feature" if they were any good at their jobs.

 

[Rroff]

I think I put win10 on my pc about 3-4 times before leaving it on.. everytime I reverted back to win7, I thought "I must get the hang of win10" and a few days/weeks later win10 was back on for a few more days, then back I would go to win7.

Us humans hate change, Its the same with every new OS that comes out, Im go back and forth a good few times before I am happy with the new OS.... Anyway hopefully there wont be a new OS that MS forces us to use for a good few years, but saying that, win10 is getting quite old now,

Im shock that win10 still supports the old SCSI LTO tape drives, I thought I would have to dual boot win7 to get that working,, but it picked it up without any probs using the win7 SCSI driver. So good on you Microsoft

Personally can't say I had much problem adjusting to 10 as such - I'm not a big fan of change but I'm also not married to any one OS if another is an actual improvement. On the other hand as a counter to your point there are a lot of games that quite happily work in Windows 7 64bit such as Quake 2 that just crash on startup, run at a fixed 15 or 30 fps or don't display properly in 10 even with compatibility options enabled.

 

[Phil2008]

On my main desktop - i7 4820K, 16GM DDR3, GTX1070 Windows 7 is as smooth and responsive as I could ask, perfectly stable and this OS install has been going since 2013 without a hitch plus it actually looks nice unlike 10 which is flat and boring (with nothing to take the uh edge off it) with a lack of overall polish or consistency. Most days I have Windows 10 booted up side by side with my main Windows 7 desktop and the Windows 10 system is actually no a nicer IPS monitor compared to my gaming TN on my 7 system and I find 10 quite an eye sore after awhile but quite happy with using 7 for hours on end (though as always looks are subjective but the nice gradated tints and overall nicer icons and polish make 7 much more aesthetically pleasing even if the over bevelled and fake 3D touches are a bit dated design wise now).

That was the first thing that put me off win10, how ugly it looked, other people say it looks modem but I have to disagree with that, its like windows has gone backwards instead of forward. Evern windows 95 looks tidier then windows 10

But I have been using win10 for the past 3yrs now and even tho I HATE it still, it has run 99% of things I have thrown at it and it seems nice and stable, as it only gets rebooted once a week. So it could be worse to be fair.

 

[Rroff]

That was the first thing that put me off win10, how ugly it looked, other people say it looks modem but I have to disagree with that, its like windows has gone backwards instead of forward. Evern windows 95 looks tidier then windows 10

But I have been using win10 for the past 3yrs now and even tho I HATE it still, it has run 99% of things I have thrown at it and it seems nice and stable, as it only gets rebooted once a week. So it could be worse to be fair.

The look reminds me a lot of early generation OSes which I find funny - which I think some of these people who say it looks modern are too young to remember. But as you pointed out it isn't just that - it also comes across as messy without the tidy look of some older versions of Windows - it is obvious there are too many fragmented mindsets as to the approach.

Funny you say about rebooted once a week - short of using 3rd party programs I've many times had the OS decide to reboot itself (not unstable system or anything like that) just when I need it to run for a longer period stable or take other executive actions that have disrupted whatever task I've left running on it - a problem I absolutely don't have on Windows 7 - one of the reasons I bother with a UPS is so I can use systems to interface with and control external hardware for longer tasks and Windows 10 utterly falls flat on its face doing that unless you use LTSB (and even that isn't as much of a guarantee as it should be) or pull it apart using 3rd party programs with potentially undesirable side effects.

Dealing with multiple Windows 10 devices as well as supporting some other users I don't get the perception of it being nice and stable though - so many times things like the anti-malware service has gone nuts in the background for unknown reasons (doesn't appear to be any infection) or after an update a user find they get booted to just the desktop background and mouse pointer and unable to do anything else (had to sort that 3x last week alone).

 

[arc@css]

I've only moved from 7 to 10 during the last couple of weeks due to some software that I like to use has had updates which require Windows 10 in order to access. It's early days but I've yet to configure it to my liking, it certainly seems snappier than 7, though.

 

[V F]

I've only moved from 7 to 10 during the last couple of weeks due to some software that I like to use has had updates which require Windows 10 in order to access. It's early days but I've yet to configure it to my liking, it certainly seems snappier than 7, though.

Most likely because it isn't using Aero. After all, they ditched it to help portables.

 

[arc@css]

Most likely because it isn't using Aero. After all, they ditched it to help portables.

Sounds likely.

 

[malachi]

Regardless how you look at it, people simply don't like change.

People sticking to Windows 7 was same with XP, 98SE, 95.

History repeating itself.

 

[Jamin280672]

That was the first thing that put me off win10, how ugly it looked, other people say it looks modem but I have to disagree with that, its like windows has gone backwards instead of forward. Evern windows 95 looks tidier then windows 10

But I have been using win10 for the past 3yrs now and even tho I HATE it still, it has run 99% of things I have thrown at it and it seems nice and stable, as it only gets rebooted once a week. So it could be worse to be fair.

Get hold of Startisback, I hate both the Windows 8 and Windows 10 start menu, that's what was initially putting my off it, kinda missed the Aero theme as well in the beginning, but you get used to it, Start is back allows you to make the taskbar and start menu transparent as well as bringing back the Windows 7 start menu, and configuring many other things, removing bloat apps etc, I cant live without it lol.

https://startisback.com/#download-tab

 

[V F]

Regardless how you look at it, people simply don't like change.

People sticking to Windows 7 was same with XP, 98SE, 95.

History repeating itself.

Not me though. Using Windows 10 isn't a problem at all. The forced Windows Update and lack of control is my problems. As I need to try that Blackbird utility.

I personally haven't got anything against change, only if it's useful and it works.


Considering I've been on nearly all Windows Operating Systems since 99. 98/SE, ME, 2000, I think I used NT at one point... 2000 was such a nice OS. Shame the Aureal Vortex 3D drivers wouldn't work on it. The drivers kept dying. Loss of sound. XP Pro, Vista Ultimate, 7 Ultimate, 8-8.1 Pro (I had no issues when the Start Button was gone while most of this forum freaked out about it for years) and 10 Pro. 10 is on 3 machines while I game on 7 and work on OS X.

 

[UberTiger]

I'm still running windows 7, because 7 ate nine, and 10 sucks.

 

[Phil2008]

Roff Ive disabled the automatic windows update using the group policy, I am amazed that its worked because win10 does things regardless if you disable them or not, but disabling checking for updates from the group policy has worked. The only thing it updates without me knowing about is windows defender, but thats ok because that doesnt require windows to reboot.

Regardless how you look at it, people simply don't like change.

People sticking to Windows 7 was same with XP, 98SE, 95.

History repeating itself.

I hate change, like I said I go back and forth a few times before sticking with a new OS for good.

Get hold of Startisback, I hate both the Windows 8 and Windows 10 start menu, that's what was initially putting my off it, kinda missed the Aero theme as well in the beginning, but you get used to it, Start is back allows you to make the taskbar and start menu transparent as well as bringing back the Windows 7 start menu, and configuring many other things, removing bloat apps etc, I cant live without it lol.

https://startisback.com/#download-tab

I have made win10 to look like win7 as much as I can without messing things up, I have left out the aero hack out though, but I have managed to change the inactive/active window borders from the boring white.

Most likely because it isn't using Aero. After all, they ditched it to help portables.

I say deffo, but there shouldn't be any difference in speed and smoothness between win7/win10, if you have a decent spec pc.

 

[V F]

Roff Ive disabled the automatic windows update using the group policy, I am amazed that its worked because win10 does things regardless if you disable them or not, but disabling checking for updates from the group policy has worked. The only thing it updates without me knowing about is windows defender, but thats ok because that doesnt require windows to reboot.

I've seen it enable itself after a few days.

I say deffo, but there shouldn't be any difference in speed and smoothness between win7/win10, if you have a decent spec pc.

That is true but Aero did use the GPU if I remember correctly. You know what most people are like on system resources. Bloated™

 

[Jamin280672]

I've seen it enable itself after a few days.

You can disable Windows update if you hate it running automatically with WUMT Wrapper Script, this allows you to take control of it and check for updates when you want.

Theres loads of apps / software you can use to disable spyware, bloat etc on Windows 10, O&O shutup10 disables all the spyware, Ccleaner and startisback will get rid of the bloat apps.

 

[ilc72]

Why don't you just use Windows 10 Pro? Then you can set it to business ready updates instead of home ready updates and you won't get updates until they have been out six months or more and proven rock stable.

Absolutely great advice. You still get all the security patches whilst being able to delay the implementation of new versions. Oddly when it comes to software updates it’s only iOS updates I trust.

 

[Rroff]

You can disable Windows update if you hate it running automatically with WUMT Wrapper Script, this allows you to take control of it and check for updates when you want.

Theres loads of apps / software you can use to disable spyware, bloat etc on Windows 10, O&O shutup10 disables all the spyware, Ccleaner and startisback will get rid of the bloat apps.

I think we've talked about this before but while some of the developers of those programs have been great at staying on top of changes to Windows one of my concerns there is that unlike Windows 7, etc. that was a fairly static target for tweaking and non-standard misuse of system features and files, etc. with Windows 10 and part of the as a service model the system functionality is ever changing and liable to significant change which could mean that if the developers don't stay on top of that a future update could either break those programs or be broken by those programs. That and most of them have side-effects which aren't always a great compromise depending on the nature of what you are doing.

People maybe haven't noticed as much or glossed over but MS has been increasingly changing the way stuff works in terms of updates and drivers behind the scenes and the OS is much more likely to decide to do a driver update and/or decide an update is "critical" for "smooth" operation and try and apply it even ignoring group policy settings, etc. at times not to mention MS trying to make it harder for people to manage updates (or rather stop them) using things like group policies.

 

[Elevon]

I'm still running windows 7, because 7 ate nine, and 10 sucks.

You could not pay me to use very dated Win7, you guys need to wake up , Win7 won't be around forever and is on its way out, either move to Win10 or Linux etc and stop bitching about it, plenty of options out there.
It's not like you don't have alternatives. Do you keep your car forever?...No you let it go, that is the how Windows and any OS works ,they all have limited life span, some lacking in support in certain areas like Win7 on newer hardware etc...

Move with the times or get left behind, your choice.

 

[malachi]

You could not pay me to use very dated Win7, you guys need to wake up , Win7 won't be around forever and is on its way out, either move to Win10 or Linux etc and stop bitching about it, plenty of options out there.
It's not like you don't have alternatives. Do you keep your car forever?...No you let it go, that is the how Windows and any OS works ,they all have limited life span, some lacking in support in certain areas like Win7 on newer hardware etc...

Move with the times or get left behind, your choice.

I couldn't agree more. But some people don't understand that but are the first to complain when they get hit by security vulnerabilities because they stopped updates or using an older OS version. As I stressed before. BACKUP YOUR DATA UP!!!!

 

[UberTiger]

You could not pay me to use very dated Win7, you guys need to wake up , Win7 won't be around forever and is on its way out, either move to Win10 or Linux etc and stop bitching about it, plenty of options out there.
It's not like you don't have alternatives. Do you keep your car forever?...No you let it go, that is the how Windows and any OS works ,they all have limited life span, some lacking in support in certain areas like Win7 on newer hardware etc...

Move with the times or get left behind, your choice.

lol, I was only joking. I prefer MacOS to to Windows 10, so I work on my laptop mainly these days.

I do still run Windows 7 on one PC though for some drivers that never worked well when Win 10 first came out. I should probably look into upgrading the system - but it still works great on Windows 7, so if it aint broke.

 

[V F]

You could not pay me to use very dated Win7, you guys need to wake up , Win7 won't be around forever and is on its way out, either move to Win10 or Linux etc and stop bitching about it, plenty of options out there.
It's not like you don't have alternatives. Do you keep your car forever?...No you let it go, that is the how Windows and any OS works ,they all have limited life span, some lacking in support in certain areas like Win7 on newer hardware etc...

Move with the times or get left behind, your choice.

Have you been reading this page or what... Or just cherry picking the responses to slam?