Yes, you know in this Computer Tech board I've complained bitterly in several threads about Windows 10 upgrades.
This thread is my therapy so my hair falls out naturally instead of by my pulling.
Not everyone has problems, obviously. And not everyone has the same symptoms. For example, for my wife, her wifi adapter kept disconnecting.
But updating/reinstalling device drivers seems to solve most (not all) of the problems.
Mock if you must, but I'm a long-time AOL user, and liked the older AOL Desktop software better than other email software. Now, they forced everyone to update to AOL Desktop Gold. They told me it shouldn't take more than 1-2 hours to transfer all my archived emails (tens of thousands...). After trying repeated for 2 weeks and just watching the program "hang", I finally figured out after some "playing around" that it was indeed transferring all my emails but very very slowly. It took over 30+ hours, during which I had to leave my laptop at the office.
The main reason I liked AOL Desktop is that I could archive all my old emails immediately after reading them, and access them offline. The new Desktop Gold doesn't allow me offline access (even though they claim it does), and some of my archived emails are clearly missing. I don't look forward to spending another several hours talking with AOL Help to try to solve this problems.
What do I think about forced updates?
I have had a few issues since the forced upgrade a few months ago. Nothing like what you have experienced. I find forced changes like this difficult. So far with what ever ”enhancements “ Windows 10 was supposed to bring have not materialized. My computing needs are basic. I just use for email, some documents, photos. Etc.
I have actually had more issues with latest upgrade for my I-Pad.
One nice thing about Windows 10 is that it has a built in counter for how much network bandwidth you use. The bad news -- it turns out Win 10 is a bandwidth hog!!!
Every 30 days, each of my Win 10 device uses nearly 10 GB of bandwidth. And that's not counting the browser (Win 10 breaks down usage by application). I have literally turned off or removed most of the built-in Windows 10 social networking and info apps. And still, it uses almost 10 GB per month. 4 devices for me, that's 40 GB a month. Before Win10, I was using a few GBs a month at most. I thought I might have spyware or trojan at first, but everything checks and my firewall is pretty solid. But I haven't figured out what Win10 is doing to push across so much traffic.
I'm going to have to switch from AT&T, because AT&T has started to slow down your speed once you get into the 20GB range. And they really do now! I've noticed the difference this year, and now I know why (I really was using past 20GB!!!).
I'm having problems since AT&T's system update on my Galaxy S6. It keeps dropping my wi-fi connections, and the battery drains like a sieve. And you can't roll back the update without a lot of technical geekery, which I don't have.
Stamps - the bear necessities of life.
I believe there is a way to turn off automatic updates. However, one may have to be gutsy and will have to change registry settings. It does mean that if you have to reload Windows, you'll have to change the settings once again. If you are not comfortable with changing the registry, don't.
Note: If one decides to change the registry, it is essential to back it up first. Also realize that if a mistake is made one can bring the system to its knees (been there, done that).
khj , with regard to your problem of increased bandwidth usage, I believe that the problem is Windows 10 is using your computer to update other Windows 10 computers on the internet. Microsoft has created a new peer-to-peer (P2P) delivery update system which I thought only updated other computers on a local network but upon reading the pcworld article below, it seems that your computer may be updating other peoples computers. The article tells you how to disable P2P.
It's pretty consistent across all devices, including my youngest daughter's very basic Win10-based tablet. So it has to be something fundamental that Win10 is doing. I've tested switching one of the laptops to "metered connection" setting to see if that makes a dent, as suggested by several online articles/forums. But the difference is still relatively small (still using 8GB per month for the metered settings).
I thought the problem was that my wife and I have our laptops on a LOT, but I've checked the other devices and the bandwidth usage among the devices is still pretty close (within 25%).
I've also removed almost all the live-update tiles. Believe it or not, my bandwidth usage is actually less than some of the examples shown on the internet, so apparently removing those tiles does make a difference.
For the record, I didn't get Win10 by choice. Some of you already know my house was burglarized and we lost most of our laptops. All the new laptops I got had Win10 pre-installed.
Thanks for your input, and the link Jerry!
Unfortunately, that fix only works for Windows 10 Pro. But it should prove useful in case and current/future stamp bears have Win 10 Pro.
Sorry I haven't gotten back with regarding the software testing. My laptop had been so unstable, I couldn't be sure what was causing runtime problems. Things are a lot more stable now. I'll email you later to see if you still need me to do the beta testing.
Thanks again for posting the link!
Regarding Win 10 bandwidth usage. I've completed the initial testing of turning off my Wifi on my laptop when not using the internet. Wow, what a difference.
Previously Win 10 System was using 10GB per month doing nothing but aggravating me.
Deliberately turning off my wife and NOT connecting my ethernet when not surfing has resulted in a little under 2GB in last 30 days!!! All our other devices which I left wifi on, still at ~10GB per month per device!
This is obviously not a workable solution to keep turning off/on my wifi. So I will be going to an ISP that offers a high bandwidth limit and won't throttle down my internet speed like AT&T does. It's ridiculous, because I don't even watch movies or listen to music over the internet.
That being said, there is a new bandwidth hog (beyond live tiles in Win 10) cropping up through browsers. More and more browsers are eliminating Flashplayer, supposedly for security concerns. Reality -- for advertisement issues. With Flashplayer, you could set the player to not play videos until you click. Now with the new Flashplayer-free browsers, videos and advertisements will play automatically. I've tried the registry-fixes to stop them, but it won't stop all of them, especially the videos. The most annoying thing about the videos is that they will automatically proceed to the next video in queue until you physically click on the video to stop or close the browser tab. I found this out by accident once when I left my sound on and heard a video playing in the background (I usually have sound off since I don't watch videos and don't listen to internet music).
Last couple of weeks, I was interrupted and accidentally left a background tab running a video queue for a few hours. I had clicked on the link but was interrupted before I could see what was on the webpage to turn off any videos. This happened twice past 30 days for several hours. Guess what? My Firefox bandwidth ballooned to >5 GB!!! That's from all the videos in the queue and the background advertisements that you can no longer stop (AdBlocker can't stop them either).
Same here, and will be for as long as possible.
I agree, there is no need for the great majority of users to update past Win7. In fact, my back-up laptop runs Win7. Unfortunately, the hinge is broken and I can no longer use it as my primary portable laptop -- hence getting a new laptop hence getting stuck with Win10.
I am envious of those of you who can still use your Win7 computers!
AT&T are idiots. I only use the internet to search for a NET programming question, reading the forums and mail. AT&T keeps upgrading me when I don't need it, I have to keep downgrading.
One possible help for browsing but not the Wi-Fi. Add the Extension Click&Clean to Chrome and, I believe, FireFox. One click and all the garbage accumulated in a session gets cleaned out and the browser is terminated. Lately I have been using the extension One Click Cleaner. It cleans out the garbage and does not close the browser.
However, it is a little inconvenient as it opens a new tab to execute.
Win 7, big deal I am still limping with Win XP. I am using the old engineering philosophy of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." However, I will have the local computer shop build a Win 7 machine for me real soon. The shop laughs as they know I am an EE and can't build my own, I don't even open it for cleaning.
I am on Win 7 and feel it is the best OS in the Windows world.
The real problem is that later Intel chipsets will only support Win 10 since Intel does not want to provide supported drivers. I use some applications like Adobe Lightroom that would never work with prior operating systems.