The laptop I bought college this August was originally running 8.1 and it was upgraded to 10 by the merchant. Previously, I was using my parents computer (back when I still lived at home) and it was WIndows 7. So I don’t have any experience with 8.1. That being said, I really like Windows 10. I am more comfortable on Windows 7, but that’s because I’ve used it for several years vs. several months on 10.

I intend to do it eventually, since I’ve heard good things about it, and I want to try it out. But right now, my computer is very important, and I don’t want to change anything until after finals.

Edit: My computer runs 8.1. I turned off all the start screen stuff and installed a start menu – it is like a faster Windows 7, and I’ve had zero problems.

Win 10 is good for certain values of good. It fixes some of the stupidity of win 8 but adds more user monitoring for MS purposes. MS has also backported that monitoring to win 7 and 8 though it can be disabled there.

For how I compute, Win 10 is a non-starter. It’s becoming Apple with less user control. It’s very much Microsoft’s OS on your computer, which bothers me. MS decides my updates, and locks me out of a lot of the settings and control just like Apple does. So I will not be going to Win10 or probably any later Windows either. Win10 includes built in advertising as well.

What made Windows good for me was the fine control I had as a user, the level of customization and many options available to me, as well as the freeware. Now, Microsoft doesn’t even give you the freebie games if you dont’ sign up for their store and extra data collection. Even in win 8, I don’t use a Microsoft account or the MS Store. I’ve turned off all the Modern UI apps and junk ware MS put in there.

I’m currently dual booting Linux Mint and Win8.1. There’s very little I do in Windows. Most of my computing is Linux or Android any more. And yes, Android is also a data collector, but I can turn that off and still be in charge of my device.

I upgraded recently, but it necessitated some hardware upgrades on my end–I needed a better video card and driver. The new OS is working decently now. (Formerly, I had windows 7 or XP–can’t recall at the moment.) In particular, media files seem to download faster, but I’m not sure if that’s a consequence of the new chip or the system upgrade.

No, not STOP win10 from spying, but limit it some. Win10 bypasses your hosts file for a few domains and communicates with the mothership often and encrypted. It’s not yet clear what all Microsoft is doing and collecting. If you have a home router that supports host files, you can block it there, but that’s not a common feature, even on high end home equipment. It is common on commercial equipment.

It’s also important to remember that Windows 10 is “Software as a Service”. This is different than buying it once and using it for as long as you can stand it. While Microsoft has been cagey about this being a “free upgrade” for the first year, just look at the way they’ve been pushing Office which is also now software as a service. It’s now a subscription unless you pay quite a bit of money for it up front. You pay for it on an ongoing basis now. This means monthly or yearly fees for the software. Meanwhile, they’re collecting data and sending you advertising.

I can’t see any reason to go down that path with Microsoft and pay for that abuse as well.

My T-61 also has Win 7 Pro, but I thought it was rather limited without touch screen, high end video and tons of MB to run win 10. will leave it the way it is.