Quote from: MikeDunn on September 09, 2015, 10:14:47 PM
I'm always amazed when someone does a major upgrade (such as Windows 10) but doesn't take basic precautions such as making a system backup first ...    Surely that's just common sense 

Oh well ... 

The thing is Mike is that not everyone is as computer savvy as you. Many people take software upgrades on trust and believe things will work out ok because the big Microsoft says everything is ok.
That's a perfectly reasonable stance to take. Now those of us who have had our fingers burnt with dodgy updates know better but lets give others a bit of slack.

Bob,

Allowing a patch update to go on is one thing - but not backing up before a full-blown operating system replacement though   

Even my wife (who is not computer-savvy in the slightest !) knows she should make backups before anything of that magnitude.

Ron sorry to hear about your upgrade troubles, 4 Years is not an old PC but it just goes to show how fast hardware goes out of date and manufacturers do not want to update its drivers for loyal customers hardware, my laptop is 8 years old and it accepted Windows 10 with no problem, £51 does seem a lot for a rescue disk, seems strange you could not revert back to Windows 7 but I am sure you tried all options, only thing I can suggest to any one is to check that your computer can accept windows 10 from the Manufacturers site, My 2 year old Dell laptop was listed, but my 8 year old Acer was not but I did back up my system before going for it, also I have a home built PC which is about 4 years old and all was fine.

All the best with your rescue disks and I hope you get up and running asap.

Windows 10 has been specified to get rid of the bodges introduced to get around the failings poor designs of PCs by hardware manufacturers.

As I understand it the habit of hardware manufacturers overwriting Windows code to get their PC to work, that has historically resulted in incompatibilities has been banned by Microsoft.

If the Windows 10 rules are kept, only the PC BIOS can be changed to bring a PC in line with Windows 10 and there after every upgrade form Microsoft will work without tripping up over a hardware manufacturers bodge, or so the theory goes.

Well good luck to them I applaud the idea, and if it works great.

However it means that all the previously bodged PC designs wont upgrade, and its probably just as well they don't as they would be highly unstable if they were upgraded (there are ways to do it!).

My best advice is if your PC wont upgrade easily then its not a good idea to upgrade it.

As for those who have been able to upgrade, it is definitely worth doing.

As a point of reference I (and my family ) have seven PC's between us.  Three upgraded and the other four - all Dell computers - failed on a memory sharing violation, where Dell had stuck some code where Windows expected it ti be free.

Quote from: MikeDunn on September 09, 2015, 10:37:08 PM
Bob,

Allowing a patch update to go on is one thing - but not backing up before a full-blown operating system replacement though   

Even my wife (who is not computer-savvy in the slightest !) knows she should make backups before anything of that magnitude.

Like you Mike, I'd like to think that everyone knows to back their systems up under these circumstances but many don't or won't. Many people rightly or wrongly trust Microsoft and as this update to Windows was largely automatic (with no Microsoft warning to back up their previous system as far as I am aware) they take it on trust that the upgrade will just work.

For the record - I did a full system back up onto a separate hard drive and I still have that. I also copied all my personal documents onto a different portable drive and that now what I have to use plugged into my Notepad. When the Windows 10 upgrade started the first thing it did was create a system restore point and a back up. When we looked last week there is a hidden drive with the Packard Bell restore system. When I started the Packard Bell restore system the first thing it did was a back up which was 100% complete. Then it commenced the installation which got to 99% after an hour and then it froze for the next three hours. Thinking it had completed the installation but only tripped up at the final hurdle, on the advice of an expert I restarted the PC at which point I lost everything as I cannot now open the PC as there is no functioning operating system. Fortunately I do still have the back up and all my files on separate drives which will help the restoration once I get the OS restored.

I admit that I am not computer savvy although I am probably above average.and I have taken advice at every stage. Therefore I do not see what else I could have done. The problem with the world today is that people like Microsoft and Packard Bell think that everybody is an expert these days. If they have put out a warning about checking compatibility then I have missed it. I do find the Microsft website very confusing and lacking in real advice when you have a problem. Ron

Quote from: Lankyman on September 10, 2015, 09:49:55 AM
For the record - I did a full system back up onto a separate hard drive and I still have that. I also copied all my personal documents onto a different portable drive and that now what I have to use plugged into my Notepad.

Good man    The problems you have experienced are exactly why this is essential.  You should be back to normal soon, once you get the Recovery Disk applied & can restore (still surprised you were charged £50+ for it though  )

Quote
I do find the Microsft website very confusing and lacking in real advice when you have a problem. Ron

Depends what part ... certainly, the TechNet is not aimed at the userbase but at the techie community.  And sometimes, even us techies read stuff there & go "What the.....  "    One of the biggest problems is because MS is such a large company with a massive software base.  That can make finding appropriate material very tricky.

Old Joke from the 90's

A Helicopter is lost in the fog over Seattle.

Finally the pilot edges up to a building and shouts

"Where am I?"

The reply came back immediately.

"You are in a helicopter"

The pilot thanks them and flies directly to the airport and lands.

"How did you do that asked the passenger"

"Well" says the pilot "I asked a simple question and got a perfectly correct but useless answer" 

"So I knew I was next to the Microsoft building"

Quote from: Bealman on September 04, 2015, 03:00:56 AM
The September 2015 of the Aussie electronics mag Silicon Chip has a very interesting letter by Geoff Graham in it's mailbag section. Geoff is a respected contributor to the magazine, and the designer of the Maximite, Minimite and Micromite computer projects. His website is here for anyone interested:
http://geoffg.net/index.html
Anyway, the gist of his letter concerns  a recent trip to Europe (he lives in Australia), when he purchased a local 1GB SIM card for his phone. Without asking, Microsoft apparently proceeded to download Windows 10, and used up his entire data allocation!

He also mentions that apparently one of the features of Windows 10 is that you cannot opt out of their automatic update service, essentially putting hundreds of millions of computers under their control!!

I think I'm going to give this product a wide berth, at least for the time being!

All of which makes this guy's letter in a globally respected magazine seem more relevant.

Quote from: Bealman on September 10, 2015, 10:20:27 AM

Quote from: Bealman on September 04, 2015, 03:00:56 AM
The September 2015 of the Aussie electronics mag Silicon Chip has a very interesting letter by Geoff Graham in it's mailbag section. Geoff is a respected contributor to the magazine, and the designer of the Maximite, Minimite and Micromite computer projects. His website is here for anyone interested:
http://geoffg.net/index.html
Anyway, the gist of his letter concerns  a recent trip to Europe (he lives in Australia), when he purchased a local 1GB SIM card for his phone. Without asking, Microsoft apparently proceeded to download Windows 10, and used up his entire data allocation!

He also mentions that apparently one of the features of Windows 10 is that you cannot opt out of their automatic update service, essentially putting hundreds of millions of computers under their control!!

I think I'm going to give this product a wide berth, at least for the time being!

All of which makes this guy's letter in a globally respected magazine seem more relevant.

That makes sense.

If the manufacturers stick to the rule automatic updates are not going to be a problem, but in the next six months a lot of people will be pulling their hair out with old hardware.

A footnote to my last post. 

Has anyone noticed how few PC manufacturers are offering new Windows 10 machines.

The reason is most motherboards are suspect for windows 10.

The time to go to windows 10 is when you buy a new PC - that does not need come with a "special" manufacturers drivers disk.  I would guess in about six months.

My wife's Sony Vaio Laptop which is quite a few years old, upgraded from from W7 Home Premium to W10 O.K., and my newer Toshiba Laptop which was running W8.1 has also upgraded to W10 sucessfully with just a couple of minor anomolies noticed so far when running some old s/ware.

I think the poster on here who said some manufactuers who previosly overwrote bits of Windows s/ware to suit their machines was correct, and it is these that are now giving problems.

If you use CNET's Download.com software at all, in their current online newsletter they are offering "tips" on W10 on how to do or correct certain things and it is woth taking a look at this.

Mrs Bealman just bought a new one which was advertised as immediate update from 8.1111 (recurring) 

When she powered it up it immediately presented an upgrade now screen.

I suggested she decline, and so far it still works.

That's the point... it WORKS. 

Now beginning to have some reservations about Windows 10.

Finding some of my regularly used s/ware applications will not run as they did before, or are no longer giving me the menus & options I once had.

Latest one is Microsofts own Digital Image Editor (albeit a 2006 version) which ran fine under W8.1 but won't load a useable Menu screen under W10 like it did previosly.

Just had my first problem with Windows 10 after about a month.
Was using MS Excel earlier and sent a document to print which failed as I'd forgotten to switch on the printer.
This seemed to phase Office completely to the fact that I couldn't print, change or save any document in any of the Office suite.
Tried running the Office repair facility which froze on me.
So....had to uninstall office and reinstall. This worked OK but then had to reset my printer and browser options to other than the Microsoft defaults.
Anyway, after about two hours I'm back to where I should be and all is working again.