It’s getting harder and harder to make excuses for Microsoft when it comes to Windows 10, and they are quickly eroding whatever good will they may have sown with the free upgrades offered last year. If you weren’t already traumatized by an intentional or unintentional “upgrade” to 10, or if you happened to be one of the lucky few to walk the upgrade gauntlet (relatively) unscathed, Microsoft seems determined to make you regret installing its new operating system – let’s call it “death by 1000 annoyances.” The latest insult: many users are reporting a recent update to Windows 10 is resetting the default app assignments on their computers to – you guessed it – Microsoft apps.
Whatchoo talkin’ ’bout Woo?
One of the “features” of Windows 10 is the inexorable, unstoppable OS updates that Microsoft forces upon everyone. There are ways to trick Windows 10 into not downloading updates, and if your computer happens to be a part of a managed domain your administrator may be able to exert some control, but Microsoft has gone on record stating that giving users less control over this aspect is really for everyone’s own good. In the above case, a yet-to-be-identified recently released update from Microsoft is actually resetting choices you’ve made to your own computer to a setting that arguably benefits Microsoft. A good example of this is one that several of my clients have already experienced: instead of using Acrobat to open PDF’s, the OS is being reset to use Microsoft’s new browser, Edge – hardly a comparable substitute, especially for those that paid good money for the full versions of Acrobat. The default PDF app setting is one of possibly hundreds of default settings that Microsoft can “accidentally reset” so the annoyance potential on this “feature” is incredibly high. Fortunately it’s not permanent, and once you figure out what the heck is going on, it’s not hard to reverse. But it’s just another thorn on this once attractive, but increasingly prickly, OS rose.
Most of us have seen the persistent little icon in the system tray, and clicked the many variations of “Not now!” to Microsoft’s constant reminders to upgrade to Windows 10. Some of you even caved in and upgraded your computer to Winodws 10, and an even smaller percentage of you have come out on the other side mostly intact and productive. I still continue to recommend against upgrading existing Windows 7 and 8 computers without considerable caution, planning and the watchful supervision of a trained technology professional. “Cleanly” installed (either on a blank hard drive or from the factory new), Windows 10 is a good operating system that performs well but still has many rough edges, and I have seen way too many upgrade installations go south faster than geese in winter. For reliabililty and performance, Windows 7 is still very hard to beat, and is still considered the standard in enterprise/corporate technology. Despite all of this, Microsoft continues to advance its agenda of “Upgrade all the things”, and has now made the Windows 10 upgrade installer a “recommended update”.
What this means for you:
By default, Windows 7 and 8 are set to automatically check for, download and install critical security updates. There is also another option rug “Recommended updates” which is also checked, and that is where Microsoft gets its virtual hooks into your precious Windows 7 (or 8, I’m not here to judge) operating system and plants the seeds of an upgrade. If your machine is still set to download recommended updates (as it will be if you’ve never changed these settings), you will soon be (if you aren’t already) the proud recipient of a 6GB hidden folder that, if you continue to deny Microsoft the satisfaction of upgrading you to Windows 10, will reside happily on its little 6GB plot of hard drive. Forever. Removing it doesn’t help – Windows Update will cheerfully re-download it for you, to make sure your Windows 10 upgrade experience isn’t slowed down by having to download it when you finally give in to their relentless nagging.
If you have a large hard drive and “all-you-can-eat” internet bandwidth, this isn’t a problem, but for those of you with smaller hard drives (like earlier model laptops with SSD drives) or metered bandwidth, 6GB is a lot of space AND bandwidth. There are ways to combat Microsoft’s insidious peer pressure, but to truly banish the upgrade nagging, you’ll need to fiddle with registry settings or install a third-party utility. If neither sounds like an activity for which you are qualified (either in patience or technical proficiency), why not have a friendly chat with your local tech professional to discuss a more moderate, considered approach to upgrading to Windows 10? If you are a business professional that uses Windows-based computers, its a bridge you will have to cross at some point, but you should do it on your own schedule and on your own terms.
The launch of Windows 10 saw a marked increase in the amount of data the OS collected and sent back to the Microsoft mothership. Despite the general hue and outcry from privacy watchdogs, Microsoft actually doubled-down on this practice shortly after the Windows 10 release and extended this “feature” to Windows 7 and 8 as well. Given that Windows 10 hit 100 million installs in record time, and with a worldwide goal of 1 billion installs in 3 years, Microsoft seems to have decided to break their stony silence on the growing privacy concerns before they hit critical mass. Vice President Terry Myerson confirmed via the Windows Blog that Microsoft is collecting two types of data, and then goes on to mention a set of data they specifically don’t collect, but other platforms (ie: the competition) do.
What this means for you:
The data Microsoft collects from every Windows 7, 8 and 10 computer falls into two buckets they name as “Reliability & Performance” and “Personalization”. The first type of data has actually been collected for years: remember those blue screens of death that plagued our Windows existence? Depending on how your computer was configured, whenever that garish specter showed its ugly face, your computer was compiling an error report that could be sent to Microsoft, ostensibly to catalog and analyze your crash. Assuming enough of those reports came in on the same bug, they would construct a patch that would be rolled into one of the many OS updates applied over the years. Where in previous OS versions this data seemed to be largely compiled and ignored, Microsoft has taken a much more aggressive and proactive approach with the Windows 10 data being collected, and using it to quickly fix issues, improve performance and to add features that users are missing. The important difference now versus years previous was whether or not you had a choice in letting Microsoft see this type of data collected from your computer. From this point forward, you can only adjust the detail of data submitted, but cannot opt out (except by completely disconnecting from the internet forever). According to Microsoft, the data is anonymized, transmitted securely and can never be tracked back to a specific person or machine.
The second set of data (from which you can opt out) is used to feed Microsoft’s digital assistant Cortana (named after a videogame character from the Halo franchise). Microsoft’s answer to Apple’s Siri and Google’s Now services is still very new and untested, but shows similar promise in helping Windows 10 users get more from the new OS if they like that sort of thing. The key to these types of services is their ability to build a personal knowledge graph of the user which can be based upon just about every aspect for which a computer or mobile device is used, including location, age, gender, contact lists, favorites, browser & shopping history and so on.
Don’t want Cortana (Microsoft) creating a profile on you? Head to the Windows menu (the one they brought back in 10, remember?), click “Settings” and then “Privacy”. Get settled in to review every entry and adjust to your sense of privacy is somewhat restored, at least as far as Windows 10 is concerned.
By all accounts, the launch of Windows 10 is probably Microsoft’s most successful release since Windows 95. From an IT professional’s perspective and given Microsoft’s history with OS launches, this is definitely the least troubled release since Windows 7 (2009). Despite this, I have gathered enough feedback on the upgrade process, both through my own and client experiences as well as reports from around the web, to not recommend it YET for my clients’ business machines, especially if they are operation-critical devices. While the upgrade process seems to go relatively smoothly and painlessly, the actual problems start to crop up after the process finishes and you attempt to get back to work. Historically, operating systems have never worked well on Windows machines, and while 10’s experience seems to improve on Microsoft’s track record in this area, it’s still a risky path at the moment. Unfortunately, despite my recommendation (one shared by many other pros in the business as well) to avoid upgrading your Windows 7 or 8 machine, Microsoft is essentially forcing you to download a copy anyways, whether you plan to upgrade or not.
What this means for you:
Depending on the amount of free space on your hard drive and bandwidth usage cap of your internet connection, this may be no big deal, especially if you do intend to upgrade to Windows 10 at some point. Microsoft sneaks the package onto your machine via Automatic Updates and stores the 3-6GB download in a hidden folder called “$windows.~BT” (the $ hides directories in Windows and is not a wry, insiders joke made by greedy MS programmers). It will do this even if you have been studiously ignoring the pesky system tray app that constantly reminds you that your free Windows 10 upgrade is just waiting to be installed. According to Microsoft, this is by design and ostensibly done to make the process quick and easy:
For individuals who have chosen to receive automatic updates through Windows Update, we help upgradable devices get ready for Windows 10 by downloading the files they’ll need if they decide to upgrade.
To be fair, some folks (rather impulsively in my opinion) seem to make the decision to upgrade to Windows 10 on the fly, possibly because of the way Microsoft has relentlessly pushed the new OS.
Unfortunately, if you choose to use Automatic Updates (and you should unless your technology is managed by an in-house IT department, at which point they will make that call depending on organizational policy), then you can’t avoid this download without some messy registry hacking and fussing with your computer. I can hear some of you scoffing, “6GB? Who doesn’t have room for 6GB?!” Well, 128GB SSD laptop users for one, and I know many, many folks running older computers with smaller 250GB hard drives that are on the edge of being completely full. On top of this, many folks use cellular broadband on their laptops, and this sizeable “update” could easily push their bandwidth allotment over the edge. While I applaud Microsoft’s forced march towards a modern operating system on all Windows machines (see “The World Still Clings to Windows XP”), this heavy-handedness on top of the privacy concerns has me revising my ranking of this release lower and lower.
Of all the operating system releases in their long and storied history, Microsoft seems at last to be launching an OS that is at once very competent and highly anticipated. In case you didn’t know what today was, Microsoft is launching Windows 10 to the world, and it’s a sure bet that thousands (if not millions) of people are attempting to upgrade right now. As technology evangelist, I applaud their enthusiasm, but as your technology consultant I strongly advise against taking the plunge on opening day.
Here five reasons why:
- Even though Windows 10 has been large-scale testing and beta for months, there will likely be plenty of as-of-yet undiscovered bugs and problems. This has been the case with every operating system ever released in the history of computing. I don’t think I’m going out on a limb to say there will be bugs, and it will take time to sort them out. Day one upgrades rarely go well for the average computer user.
- Though supposedly the upgrade process is the easiest it’s ever been, I’ve already seen problems with user-initiated upgrades. If you are not careful, you could lose access to business-critical apps, or even your data. Make sure you back up before you upgrade!
- Unless you’ve already tested them, make sure your business critical apps will run on Windows 10 before upgrading your work computers. Even if they do, make sure the software developer has officially given the “thumbs up” – many are not supporting Windows 10 yet, and it may be many months before they are ready to do so.
- Microsoft’s new terms of use have taken a much more invasive stance with regards to your personal privacy. This article summarizes them neatly, but in a nutshell, Windows 10 will be sharing a lot about you, your data and browsing habits unless you disable these “features”. It’s a safe bet that in the first heady days on our whirlwind romance with the new OS, many of us will ignore or forget about this.
- As most will get their free copy of Windows 10 as an upgrade to an existing install of Windows 7 or 8, you need to make sure your current OS is in perfect health. Upgrading a damaged or compromised OS will only lead to heartache and headache, so make sure you get a clean bill of health before upgrading to 10.
If you’d like to read more about Windows 10, I recommend Microsoft’s FAQ. At the very minimum, check with your nearest IT professional about upgrading before you take the plunge, and make sure you have a contigency in place, because, despite our industry’s efforts, Murphy’s Law remains incontrovertible.
Microsoft has announced that Windows 10 will be free for users upgrading from Windows 7 and 8. There is an asterisk behind that statement however, and depending on your world-view, it’s a big one. First off, it won’t be free forever – only for a year after its release. It’s not clear what that means if, for example, after upgrading your Windows 7 machine to 10, you need to wipe the hard drive and reinstall. Do you have to reinstall 7 first and then upgrade to 10? Is there a cost if that happens after that initial year has lapsed? Microsoft has also been deliberately vague on what this means for enterprises and organizations with large installations of 7 or 8. Do they get it for free?
What this means for you:
Some experienced industry analysts predict that there will probably be a different “flavor” for the corporate world, especially as Windows 10 will come hard-coded with Microsoft’s new update/upgrade “Windows as a Service” model where improvements and fixes will come at a more rapid pace than most IT organizations have traditionally been willing to follow, and that “versions will no longer matter.” While this might sound like music to the average consumer’s ears, trends like this are rarely viewed favorably in tightly controlled IT environments, especially when it means maintaining compatibility with legacy apps and systems. Microsoft is still fuzzy on when Windows 10 will arrive – “later this year” is the current expectation, but you can bet that most large enterprises and organizations will probably forgo an immediate upgrade, as they have traditionally done for previous iterations of Windows. If you want to see Windows 10 right away there is a preview build which is still in very early development, but unless you are a stalwart early adopter and understand the pitfalls that lie ahead, I’d recommend waiting until it’s officially released. You can also watch Microsoft’s 2+ hour long presentation on the latest build of Windows 10 online.
Obviously stung by the world’s tepid reception of Windows 8, Microsoft announced that the next version of their operating system will be skipping Windows 9 and heading straight to 10. The jump is meant to signify a considerable advancement in the base operating system: this version of Windows isn’t just an incremental upgrade or updated version of 8. Microsoft intends to unify the operating system across mobile devices and traditional workstations (much like Apple is attempting to do with iOS), providing app makers a simpler development environment and presumably a much larger market. Previously known as “Threshold”, Windows 10 won’t be available to the general public until 2015, but preview-builds will supposedly be available starting October 1.
What this means for you:
If you’ve been holding out on upgrading your Windows 7 machine in the hopes that something better than 8 would come along, your prayers (may) have been answered. Early reports suggest that 10 is a mix of the best of 7 and 8, though you may wonder what parts of 8 qualified as “best.” Most gratifying will probably be the return of the beloved Start Menu, but with an 8 twist – the ability to add tiles to the menu (like the ones on the 8 start screen). Another eagerly anticipated feature will be improved window management utilizing the poorly-documented “snap” features of 7 and 8, as well as multiple desktops (something Linux users have had for years).
How should you prepare for coming of the mighty 10? There are rumors that 10 may be free to current Windows 8 users, but Microsoft refused to confirm this. If you have Windows 8 and were contemplating downgrading, you may want to hold off just in the off chance you can get 10 for free. Early reports indicate that Windows 10 will have the same hardware requirements as Windows 8, so older hardware may be left behind, but anything made in the past 2-3 years should be fine. If you want prepare right now, a larger monitor may provide you with the most bang for your buck, as Windows 10 looks like it will make multi-tasking even easier. More windows open equals getting more done, right?
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