I'm thinking about buying Windows 10

I may be experiencing my first wave of dementia but I am thinking about leaving the comparative safety of Windows 7 and buying Windows 10 (or is it renting?). I listened to all the horror stories about Windows 7 and never experienced any of those problems, so maybe the same will happen with Windows 10.

Looking at the pc specs below, does anybody see a potential problem if I update to Windows 10?

Having said that, at the same time I am thinking about something I have read about so much, here lately: FSX Steam. I just spent the entire weekend running my ASUS Factory recovery and doing all the Windows 7 updates. I have most of my software reinstalled but there is still (by design) no FSX installed. I have left that for last because I wanted to see what you guys would tell me about this "Steam" thing. I saw it at PilotShop and it said $25. I thought that can't be right. These guys said it is expensive. I don't even know how to download and install it; do you need FSX installed first? I know absolutely nothing about it. Should I stick with good old FSX Accelleration? You know, something I know?

I'll wait for your advice. I just came off an 18-month leave from FSX.

I don't think you want my opinion, but Windows 10 is the last OS I'd consider. It's a privacy nightmare with forced updates that can really muck your Comp up. I for one won't be using 10 for a veeeeeery looooong time. And when I do I intend on blocking all of Microsoft's ASN's. I don't use updates anyway. Well, except a few for Team Viewer to work since it relies on an updated version of IE which is BS and another for a driver for my MOBO to work. Other than that, updates are denied on my Win 7 computers.

I wouldn't go steam either. Your boxed version is the best you can use if you ask me. I wouldn't want to have to depend on a Steam service and all the other crap just to play FSX. Be different if it was the latest and greatest FPS or something, and at that I like my optical media.

In summery, Win 10 turns you into M$'s cash cow. It's no better than that marketing wet dream they call a smartphone or tablet. I do own a smartphone, but I don't use it for every stinking thing in the world and I can't stand typing on it. So it's mostly a phone 75% of the time.

If you do go 10, check out the program Shutup 10, and for God sakes turn off the built-in keylogger. And I would never allow M$ to update my drivers. Only use the manufacture drivers. You can turn that off. https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/disable-automatic-driver-downloads-on-windows-10

I appreciate any and all opinions, crj_simpilot. I have read some of the things about MS and Win10 and I do remember the battle to keep MS from forcibly installing it on my pc. Neither do I like it when software vendors make it next to impossible for end users to contact them and get quality help from them. All of this is why I posted for advice in these matters.

As I said, I spent the entire weekend getting my ASUS system restored and fully updated from MS. I think it is a real shame that Win 7 is coming to an end. I think it has been the best that MS has put out in recent years. DOS 6 with Windows 3.1 was a great combination in their day; everything worked and I never got the feeling that I was dealing with muggers. But things have changed and, unfortunately, that's all we have left.

I thank you for your candid words and for not being afraid to speak out about your experiences. That's what a forum is supposed to be for. With only a few exceptions, years ago, that is what I have experienced with flighsim.com.

I don't think you want my opinion, but Windows 10 is the last OS I'd consider. It's a privacy nightmare with forced updates that can really muck your Comp up. I for one won't be using 10 for a veeeeeery looooong time. And when I do I intend on blocking all of Microsoft's ASN's. I don't use updates anyway. Well, except a few for Team Viewer to work since it relies on an updated version of IE which is BS and another for a driver for my MOBO to work. Other than that, updates are denied on my Win 7 computers.

 

I wouldn't go steam either. Your boxed version is the best you can use if you ask me. I wouldn't want to have to depend on a Steam service and all the other crap just to play FSX. Be different if it was the latest and greatest FPS or something, and at that I like my optical media.

 

In summery, Win 10 turns you into M$'s cash cow. It's no better than that marketing wet dream they call a smartphone or tablet. I do own a smartphone, but I don't use it for every stinking thing in the world and I can't stand typing on it. So it's mostly a phone 75% of the time.

 

If you do go 10, check out the program Shutup 10, and for God sakes turn off the built-in keylogger. And I would never allow M$ to update my drivers. Only use the manufacture drivers. You can turn that off. https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/disable-automatic-driver-downloads-on-windows-10

Sent from my SM-N9500 using Tapatalk

My opinion differs from that of CRJ_Simpilot.

I have been running FSX under Win 10 since 10 came out without any issues.

Then again, I have it installed outside of C:\ProgramFiles (x86), I have uninstalled or shut down all the crappy apps that MS tries to install like my computer was a cell phone, I run O&O Shutup 10 (free, BTW), and I run everything off the desktop.

Under the hood of those crappy apps is a fast, stable engine.

Jorgen

My opinion differs from that of CRJ_Simpilot.

 

I have been running FSX under Win 10 since 10 came out without any issues.

 

Then again, I have it installed outside of C:\ProgramFiles (x86), I have uninstalled or shut down all the crappy apps that MS tries to install like my computer was a cell phone, I run O&O Shutup 10 (free, BTW), and I run everything off the desktop.

 

Under the hood of those crappy apps is a fast, stable engine.

 

Jorgen

Have any of you tried P3D v3.4 onwards with Win10?

My belief is that it should be the same as FSX because, as i understood, P3D is still a tuned variant of FSX, but any feedback on that setup would be appreciated.

Sent from my SM-N9500 using Tapatalk

I run windows 10 with boxed fsx sitting in the x86 folder without issue. That said, if i was in your position i would stick with win7 until i changed my pc. I just don't see any advantage of shifting to win10.

There is little advantage switching to fsx steam either. Any updates that steam provides has probably been done by yourself over the years by tweaking.

If your system is working fine, stick with it.

Cheers

Stinger

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

I have P3D v. 4.2 on my system also, works just fine.

Jorgen

Last spring,after holding on to my very well organized FS-9 on a close to dedicated XP machine, a stray virus finally got it and down she went for the count. I studied this forum and came to the conclusion that I didn't want W-10 for my FS-9. I searched high and low for a W-7 machine, which I finally found. My FS-9 is now on that machine and working fine outside of the C:|Program Files directory. I had the usual set up issues, but after some trouble shooting they went away. Is it as good as it was on the XP machine? No way! I doubt it ever will be. No operating system since XP has offered the stability and performance (save for speed) that XP did, and I know I'll be hard pressed to duplicate what I had. I will try, however.

Now, my comment on Windows 10. In addition to the 7 machine, I upgraded my laptop. That's a 10 machine. I hate the OS, the machine is basically unstable, the OS constantly takes control and does what it wants with downloading updates, you have little control. MS has altered a significant number of commands in their newer software packages (Office) making it difficult to assimilate. If I could, I' migrate back to XP!

FSX Steam: I have had it on my 7 machine since I got it. I've opened it exactly ywice in those 9 months.

KCD,

With all respect, Win 10 does not constantly take control and download updates. Win 10 Update Day happens once a month, on the second Tuesday of the month, US time.

I will repeat that on my system, Win 10 is stable. But bear in mind that I don't run the thing as MS would like me to, nor do I use MS Word, but Open Office instead.

You do mention one very important thing that I forgot - install any of the flight simulators OUTSIDE the default location! This is especially important in Win 10, where UAC seems to be very aggressive, so I have UAC turned completely off.

Jorgen

When my upgrade happened it took over. The upgrade failed and my PC ended up in an inescapable loop of trying to upgrade and rebooting. I googled all of the possible solutions but none of them worked and in the process I probably screwed up my set up and had to do a clean install. All's well that ends well though because I was getting so fed up with FSX's idiosyncrasies that I bought X Plane 11. This is far, far better unless of course you like getting involved with registry settings,config scripts and endless add-ons. I've had X Plane a week now and there hasn't been a single set back. I installed and configured it in less than 2 hours to my liking. My enjoyment of flight simming has been restored.

Alan

Tim,

Thanks for the question! From time to time I ask that of myself. Now I have a few for you.

Are you happy with your experience with 7? Have you seen all the issues you might have with X and all the ways people have to make X work well & not get spied on? Do you want to go as far as not using your computer one day per month for privacy reasons? Are you fond of all the pop-up adds people, including my wife say X gets?

In my case, every time I think of X I ask myself those questions. To date I still love 7 and won't leave as long as my systems work with it!!

BTW: My wife has X on a work related computer and she and the IT people there both have problems making it work in the business world as well as 7 did beforehand.

Also I just read where GridNorth broke down and bought another sim altogether because of the FSX related problems with X.

As for me, I'M TOO BUSY TO BE BOTHERED!! When I can no longer operate with 7, like everyone else, I'll make that switch. But it won't be until I must!!

Having said that, I know I'm leaving myself open to those who say I wear a tin hat. But I'm happy with what I'm using and I've certainly been called worse.:p;)

Rupert

I will still say that I have no issues with Win 10, but I can certainly understand that when people have a stable Win 7 installation then they want to stick with that. No argument at all!

The reason I have Win 10 on all my systems, is that when I bought my main system in the Philippines, it came with Win 8. After I had gotten that to work like I wanted it (and not like MS wanted it), I installed Win 8 on my laptop, which had Vista, and later I bought a laptop for my wife, which also had Win 8.

When Win 8.1 came out, I updated all the systems to that a couple of months after the release.

Then Win 10 came out, and about 4 months after release I upgraded my laptop to that and evaluated it. I liked it so much that I upgraded all the systems to Win 10, and we have hardly had any issues with it ever since. My new laptop came with Win 10.

Even the "dreaded" Creator's Update has given me no problems.

But this has just been my experience. I have read the horror stories of other people's experiences, and I can fully understand why many are reluctant to migrate to Win 10.

Jorgen

On the 7-vs-10: there's positive on both sides so I finally just decided to use both (sorta)

My sig below says that I use both W7 and W10 but since they are each on separate SSD's and can go into the same HotSwap bay, at any given time it's either/or - I'm not running two different pieces of hardware. Strictly speaking, I live in Win 7 about 99.99% of the time. I hear about W10 issues from the folks I fly with and every couple of months I pop the W7 drive out out, reboot the machine into W10, check for updates, re-disable all the spywear, update various games, add aircraft etc then park the SSD back into 'deep freeze' for a couple more months.

I keep FSX/P3d2.5, NMS, Skyrim, StarCitizen on Win7 and I have FSX-SE, P3d3.3, SkyrimSE, Star Citizen on Win10. I know I'll have to move to 10 exclusively eventually, so I feel better just staying acquainted with it even though I keep it 'at a distance' most of the time.

The 2-slot hotswap bay solution also facilitates the occasional OS drive cloning that I do for safety.

Thanks CRJ, for the suggestion about Shutup10. I'm currently using Spybot Anti Beacon which does similar 'management' things on 10. I'll compare features.

Oh, also the link to the article describing how to disable those auto driver updates; I've had a driver update bluescreen me. I had to 'downdate' two versions to stop it.

Loyd

>>What I would say, though, is if you're happy with Win 7 there's no reason you shoudn't stick with it until your next system upgrade - but remember that Win 7's day are numbered.

That statement of yours, lesh, is exactly the reason for my original post. The truth is that I have very seldom ever experienced any of the major problems that others have posted about. I suspect the reason is that I'm not a very deeply involved Flight Simmer as others are, and I think that is why I don't experience those problems.

Your statement that I should not jump into anything I might regret reminds me of something my Dad once said to me. I had experimented with my bike thinking I would make it faster and got it so I couldn't even ride it. My Dad went out after dinner and fixed it for me and, when he was finished, he said to me, "Boy, if it works, don't fix it."

No, Rupert, I have actually experienced very few of the problems with FSX and none with Win10. None with Win10 because I don't have it.

What I have been reading hear reminds me of a famous couple of lines from an English poet, Thomas Gray: "Where ignorance is bliss,/ 'Tis folly to be wise."

But, I wanted to hear it from 21st century Flight Simmers. I haven't had those bad experiences and why should I want to if I don't have to. As many of you have put it so well, If I want to continue Flight Simming for a long time, I may one day have to jump into the cold water with Win10.

I have read all the replys and found them all to be very informative and I have a good feeling about the spirit of all the replys. I am very convinced that it would be in my best interest to stick with Win7 and FSX. I have been using Accelleration for quite a while, now, and I really think it is smoother than FSX without Accelleration. I have been Flight Simming since the days of FS4 but have never gone into FS as deeply as some of you. I have fun with it, and I guess that is the "bottom line." I have never even advanced to using pedals. Most of my flying has been with commercial airlines and, as soon as I am above 400 feet AGL, I am on Autopilot, anyway.

After reading all this good advice, I am convinced to stick with Win7 for as long as I can and stick with the boxed version of FSX. Thanks, guys, for all the good advice and for giving that good advice in the helpful spirit of Flightsim.com.

This is all very interesting and informative. The sad thing is that we pilots are forced against both our will and our (or at least my) native ability into being more computer savvy than we should need to be. Things should work right out of the box!

I have stuck with Win7 up to now because it works well with FSX, and also because I have no intention of becoming a "subscriber" to some new pay-per-view iteration of Windows 10 when they switch everyone unwillingly into that business model. As if MS weren't already making enough dough!

I am a bit confused by one topic that seems to keep popping up - Win 7's days are numbered? How, in what way? Is it going to disappear from my computer on a certain day at the behest of Microsoft?

If it is just a matter of updates going away, well I can live just fine with that - I can move the computer offline if need be and isolate it from the internet. Is that going to be a viable proposition, though? I certainly have no idea.

I have been wondering about Linux, too. XPlane 11 runs on Linux, but other than the name I have no idea what Linux is or where to get it, or how much it costs, etc etc. Any ideas from this assembly about the possibility of escaping the heavy hand of Microsoft altogether?

Tony Vallillo

This is all very interesting and informative. The sad thing is that we pilots are forced against both our will and our (or at least my) native ability into being more computer savvy than we should need to be. Things should work right out of the box!

 

I have stuck with Win7 up to now because it works well with FSX, and also because I have no intention of becoming a "subscriber" to some new pay-per-view iteration of Windows 10 when they switch everyone unwillingly into that business model. As if MS weren't already making enough dough!

 

I am a bit confused by one topic that seems to keep popping up - Win 7's days are numbered? How, in what way? Is it going to disappear from my computer on a certain day at the behest of Microsoft?

 

If it is just a matter of updates going away, well I can live just fine with that - I can move the computer offline if need be and isolate it from the internet. Is that going to be a viable proposition, though? I certainly have no idea.

 

I have been wondering about Linux, too. XPlane 11 runs on Linux, but other than the name I have no idea what Linux is or where to get it, or how much it costs, etc etc. Any ideas from this assembly about the possibility of escaping the heavy hand of Microsoft altogether?

 

Tony Vallillo

Yeah, there are a lot of people that say this OS is numbered, etc. That doesn't mean you can't use the OS. Like I said already, I don't use updates so it's a moot point about whether the OS gets updates or not. I haven't had malware since 2004, and I use all kinds of tools to make sure I don't have malware. I use Sandboxie for my browser so that helps, and I don't surf the net like a moron.

As to the Linux question. It's free and open source. Many people chose to use Linux Mint or Ubuntu. But it's not like Windows. I mean, it's great for office orientated stuff, but if you're not familiar with terminal commands and typing in sudo this and that crap, then Linux is not for you. You can run a live version of Linux on your computer and check it out, but I would pull the hard drive just to make damn sure you don't overwrite it. All you do is burn the Linux ISO on DVD or CD with IMGBurn portable and boot the DVD or CD like you would install Windows. You have to go into your computer's BIOS and chose to boot from the optical drive. It will be slow since you are running off the CD drive. Or you can use VMware's Workstation Player and run Linux on your computer in a virtual environment. I do this with Linux CentOS to learn about it.

I run Sandboxie so nothing touches my computer. So that's why I don't get infected by polymorphic malware.

I believe Wannacry used open network ports. I don't have open ports in my router and I scanned my network with Nmap to make sure that was mitigated as well.

Critical updates are important, but I question the other crap. Why does a computer need so many updates? What's in those "updates?" It's like my Comcast cable box. It updates every night. Talk about excessive.