Because of my uneventful minor upgrade I decided to reintroduce Windows 7 on one of my disks for gaming purposes. But during installation, Windows kept complaining about not being able to find or use a "system disk" (read: bootable partition), even though I explicitly cleared out an entire disk for it to do with as it pleased. I tried preparing partitions in GParted, but no luck.

In a last-ditch effort I physically unplugged each and every one of my drives except the one on which I wanted to install Windows. What do you know? It worked. The bottom line: this kind of stuff is why I purged Windows from my system in 2011.

plus now the Windows 10 installation I did on my own,

What's your opinion of that? If I may ask?

I figured I'd replace win8 with it when it released. If it's not worse off. Some of my older games won't play in 8 so I keep 7 installed.

plus now the Windows 10 installation I did on my own,

What's your opinion of that? If I may ask?

I figured I'd replace win8 with it when it released. If it's not worse off.

I thought everybody knew that anything is better than win8. This is true of even Vista. 7 and 10 are much better, and very similar to each other.

There are a few things that 10 borrows from 8, such as those tiles with weather and stocks and news and winstore, but they have been moved to the menu in an ignorable way.

I have heard that 7 has a nice search field for apps in the menu (i.e. press Win key and type to filter up an app, then Enter to launch the app - I have configured the Whisker menu in Xfce the same way, and it's preconfigured like this since Manjaro Xfce 0.8.9). This is missing in Win 10, but can probably be returned by some trick.

On the other hand, Win 10 has a huge search field in the taskbar that searches apps, internet and everything else at the same time. I immediately hid it. This was one of the few configurations I did on Win 10 after the installation. The installation was not for myself, so I didn't care to tweak and explore too much.

Dedoimedo has a bunch of detailed reviews of Win 10. Start perhaps here http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/windows-10-preview-build-10041.html

Some of my older games won't play in 8 so I keep 7 installed.

I don't play games much. On the computer I am typing now, I don't even have chess.

I thought everybody knew that anything is better than win8. This is true of even Vista.

Hey. I bought it, may as well use it. Had I known win10 would go free upgrade I'd of stayed with or just got another copy of win7. Vista's networking can kiss my godforsaken... ... I don't like it. Win8 is as good as seven in that regard and plays most anything newer me and my son try to connect and play. As long as we leave Steam out of this that's true anyway.

I don't play games much. On the computer I am typing now, I don't even have chess.

They can keep your mind sharp. Granted I don't get into mobile games or even console gaming like the boy. (Button pushing idiot work) Chess would be a must have tho, come on. Half of a game of chess can bring you back on focus.

OK - this post started me from happy lurker to poster, and I must say=>

Wiser words have not been spoken !!:

For the most part of the population, Windows it's like Churchill words about democracy - the worst form of Operative System, except for all those other ones.

My loyal XP is dying but it managed to overpass Vista and still maintains dignity... it was good enough to kept me apart from Seven, Eight and whatever.

After XP, nothing. I need no computers anymore, android toys will be enough.

But also, I must ask - how is an Android device NOT a computer ??
(Just because most are sort of like multiple amputees - they DO still have a goodly number of the requisite parts...)

BRAVO !!:

2000 was the best of them all, but it's long since gone. XP is being forcefully killed off. I liked XP less than 2000. 7 is reasonable compared to Vista and 8, but pretty much anything else than Vista or 8 is more reasonable...

So long as one is clear that 2000 is NOT 'winme' - I am amazed to see such a posting and I totally agree.

Then came eXPee - and veeester (Me2), then sebben - and ache - and ache2.

My solution has been eXPee in a VM under Ubuntu with LXDE, and even 2000 in a VM if desired - but I have as yet not managed to torment myself into trying to tame sebben down to a nice, classic style so as to be bearable.
I may yet make that attempt, but refuse to hurry into it.

Thanks for making my day with such a wonderful posting !!

Lovely to see such wise folks as yourself here !!:

I've always considered two partitions a must for Windows. The easiest way to reinstall is just to wipe C:\, while D:\ holds all of your essential files and folders. Most Linuxes automatically go for such an arrangement with / and /home, but perhaps ironically they don't seem to get bogged down the way Windows does. (Or did?)

'Bogged down' is far too polite IMO.
It is best called 'winrot' - and I think they designed it in as a 'feature' !!

I always use a minimum of 3 - c for the ween-dooze wreckage; d for apps; e for data - and in recent times f for the portables which have mostly replaced everything I use daily so as to be most recoverable.

By way of comparison - and as wisely said above=>
Linux is more mature and handles such concerns better right from the start - as well as many things which ween-dooze has never been fixed in any manner to handle correctly.

New Windows 7/8/8.1 updates spy on you just like Windows 10

KB 2952664 triggers daily telemetry run in Windows 7 -- and may be snooping on users

This blog post tells of a story I'm all too familiar with: Windows can often only be rescued using Linux.

http://flosslinuxblog.blogspot.be/2015/08/rescuing-windows-10-failed-install.html

(Also, having something like a gParted Live USB stick around is kind of a must.)

It was approximately 10 years ago when I first experienced the magics of a Linux Live CD.
I was visiting a friend. He looked quite finished. He couldn't boot his WinXP anymore. HD failure. No chance with a recovery CD or with the original OEM WinXP CD. My friend's real problem was not the PC but some data stored on the HD.
I went home took my Linux Live CD (with Kanotix which at that time was among the best in hardware detection) and had luck.
I could boot into Linux and was able to save/burn to CD the data he was worried about. It took less than a half hour. Happy end.

Dedoimedo weighs in on Windows 10, including its update shenenigans.

Windows Updates

This is a tricky one. Again, the Internet is crying a river about how you cannot really change the Windows Updates settings in the Home edition of Windows 10. Indeed, for the Home edition users, the options are quite limited. You can delay the updates and schedule the restart, but not really use any other sensible option like in other versions of Windows. You don't get the group policy editor in the Home edition, and the registry tweaks won't work.

[...]

Overall, this is immensely retarded. Yes, the majority of people are clueless, and you want them to keep using updates so their systems remain safe and healthy and whatnot. But then, the average user will never bother changing the defaults, so you can simply keep them set as automatic, and let the power users make the necessary adjustments.

What Microsoft has done this way is cause a big inconvenience and a lot of rage with its advanced users community. Because power users don't want their computers rebooting every few days. They actually do SERIOUS WORK and reboots are an unnecessary hassle. Moreover, automatic updates can be dangerous. True, the chances of an updating borking your system is low, but you don't want to be the first one to receive a bad patch and then go about asking for help.

[...]

And so, when you combine the lack of ability to protect your system from accidental damage by updates with your work regime, automatic updates translate into a big digital turd. Which is why, if you want to use Windows 10 Home like a sane person, you will probably want to disable the Windows Update service.

Yup, if you're a power user, and you don't happen to have a Pro edition, then your choice to not have forced updates is to stop and disable the Windows Update service and turn it on when you want the patches installed. If you try to grab updates while the service is off, you'll get an error. Good.

I bet sometime in the future, Microsoft will also lock down the service itself, and you won't have control over it. When this happens, you will need to use firewall rules to stop the system from accessing the update center, or maybe do it on your router. Just unnecessary pain that normal users are not even aware of, and so the only ones suffering and bitching are the techies. Good job, Microsoft. It's like adding airbags to the car roof, on the outside.

Yup, if you're a power user, and you don't happen to have a Pro edition, then your choice to not have forced updates is to stop and disable the Windows Update service and turn it on when you want the patches installed.

AFAIK even the Pro edition allows you only to postpone the updates but not to choose which one to install.
My way or the highway!

I bet sometime in the future, Microsoft will also lock down the service itself, and you won't have control over it. When this happens, you will need to use firewall rules to stop the system...

Not sometime in the future but already.
Since among the more than 40 addresses used by Microsoft to phone home, some are hardcoded and thus can't be stopped with the HOSTS-file, so some people are blocking them through the firewall.

and so the only ones suffering and bitching are the techies.

Techies? Who can force them to use that shit from Microsoft?

Methinks that Microsoft is testing how far it can go with its lemmings and M$ must be pleasantly surprised...

Methinks that Microsoft is testing how far it can go with its lemmings and M$ must be pleasantly surprised...

Microsoft is not testing, Microsoft is the testing utility. Microsoft, Google, Facebook and many others.

Microsoft is downloading Windows 10 to your machine 'just in case'

"The symptoms are repeated failed 'Upgrade to Windows 10' in the WU update history and a huge 3.5GB to 6GB hidden folder labelled '$Windows.~BT'. I thought Microsoft [said] this 'upgrade' was optional. If so, why is it being pushed out to so many computers where it wasn't reserved, and why does it try to install over and over again?

"I know of two instances where people on metered connections went over their data cap for August because of this unwanted download. My own internet (slow DSL) was crawling for a week or so until I discovered this problem. In fact, that's what led me to it. Not only does it download, it tries to install every time the computer is booted."

I have a similar problem at the moment. I normally use a desktop at home using W10 upgraded from W7. I have fast internet there but here, where I am now in Mallorca, I don't have plumbed in internet in the apartment we stay in, relying on our neighbours WiFi that they let us use. They have "unlimited" contract but it's not that fast and there is always the fair use criteria to consider so I use it sparingly, not looking at videos and not getting updates or downloads unless I visit my daughter who has even slower internet, but I'm not so embarrassed at using it for an hour or two.

In Mallorca I use an UP net book, running W7, or at least that's  what I want.

But a couple of weeks ago my netbook OS decided all on its own to download W10. Such a process is slow and bandwidth  consuming. In short I have had to stop using the netbook and have to wait until I get home to sort it. It looks like I will have to install W10 and then revert back to W7 to end up where I want to be. So I tried to do that at my daughter's  but the upgrade collapsed after 8 hours due to the low internet speed and I've  given up doing it here.

I would use W10 in order to keep up with the mainstream were it not for this daft updating regime they are imposing.

Linux will end your Windows frustration.

Linux will end your Windows frustration.

I've  no reason to doubt you on that, but it's probably too late to change, with the investment in knowledge, software, documents etc.

If only RiscOS had continued.

In my case, there was a professional need for MS Office, but Windows was such a frustration that I decided to give up both MS Office and Windows. Not regretting it at all.

I actually much prefer to run the likes of MS Office[1] and Adobe Reader[2] in a Windows virtual machine. Such a solution may not work out if you need to run something heavy like Photoshop or Solidworks, but for me it works well. The versions of Windows I miss, insofar as I miss them, are Windows XP and lower. I can't stand the vast majority of the changes in Vista and up. I don't understand those people who disliked Vista and then liked 7. It's the same darned thing.

Anyway, I miss Windows like the plague. When I upgrade my motherboard, my Windows 10 installation will break. Meanwhile, my Linux will boot as if nothing happened.[3] Windows wastes my time. Linux does not. Perhaps Macs wouldn't either.

[1] For Word.
[2] For its more advanced PDF commenting/editing-related capabilities; that is, Evince can't necessarily show all of the comments I get.
[3] Btw, the Windows virtual machine on the Linux host will boot as if nothing ever happened. Running Windows on a VM saves tremendous amounts of frustration.

As a matter of interest, what version of Windows do you use and do you have, potentially, the same update problems and need to do them from a security viewpoint.

I mentioned RiscOS; the last machine I had running that was a Risc PC. I also had a Windows emulation on that, which I thought a perfect compromise between Windows compatibility with Work things and my Hobby fumblings.

You mentioned Word.  Some time ago I bought Windows Office. When I installed W10 on my desktop top, the first time I tried to use that program the W10 system told me that my Word was terribly old and tried to download and install the latest version. As it happened I knew it was earmarked to be a subscription service so did not do it. After all how sophisticated do you have to get to write a letter or use a spreadsheet.

Apple PS? - No I stay away from the navel gazing Apple stuff, excepting this machine which I got courtesy of credit card points.

The man is confused...

The man is confused...

You ain't  seen nothing yet!

As a matter of interest, what version of Windows do you use and do you have, potentially, the same update problems and need to do them from a security viewpoint.

I maintain a Windows installation for occasionally playing a game, which I upgraded from 7 to 10 because newer DirectX things (for games) only come to Windows 10. In virtual machines I have XP, 7, and 8. In practice I primarily use 8 because it works best with my UHD ("HiDPI") monitor, and since I only use it for one or two applications I'm not too bothered by its general tablet-loving weirdness. Additionally I have a nostalgic longing for Windows 3.11 and Works 3, but unfortunately I couldn't get it to work.

Note that I haven't bothered to actually install any of these systems, even though I have a variety of valid licenses. They're all available on modern.ie, and thanks to snapshots you can easily keep 'em forever young.

You mentioned Word.  Some time ago I bought Windows Office. When I installed W10 on my desktop top, the first time I tried to use that program the W10 system told me that my Word was terribly old and tried to download and install the latest version. As it happened I knew it was earmarked to be a subscription service so did not do it. After all how sophisticated do you have to get to write a letter or use a spreadsheet.

I used Microsoft Office 365, courtesy of the university, but for some reason it kept bugging me about reactivating it every month or so, so I uninstalled it. I actually much prefer LibreOffice Writer to MS Word, but when compatibility is important that's not necessarily an option.

Apple PS? - No I stay away from the navel gazing Apple stuff, excepting this machine which I got courtesy of credit card points.

I think Macs are overpriced, but they're also pretty decent machines. (NB I mean real Mac OS, not iOS.)

I actually much prefer LibreOffice Writer to MS Word, but when compatibility is important that's not necessarily an option.

Yes, LibreOffice it's great software with several things actually better than Microsoft's Office.
For home (or a small office) it's my choice.

Haven't tried yet the Linux version that cames with my distribution.

There's no (notable) difference. It might look minutely different.

The notable difference between MS Office and Libreoffice is compatibility of the .doc(x) format. Everybody else uses MS Office.

To me the change of interface in MS Office in 00's was another source of frustration. I had just managed to learn Office 2000 properly when the interface was turned upside down. Meanwhile, Open/Libreoffice menus have remained nicely familiar.