I just logged out of hotmail to see a link to an article about getting windows 10 for free and indeed, Microsoft is giving Win 10 away for win7 and 8 users for a limited time, I"m still running win 7 pro it has been very stable the past years, not sure what benefit win 10 will give me eventhough my edius 8 WG supports win 10. Anyone noticed performance gains using win 10 and is it stable enough?

I have no idea about any actual benefits. Here is an article about the differences from Windows 7: Here?s What?s Different About Windows 10 for Windows 7 Users (http://www.howtogeek.com/219034/here%E2%80%99s-what%E2%80%99s-different-about-windows-10-for-windows-7-users/)

Most seem like things I don't really care about or would be a nuisance to me, personally, rather than a positive.

I have heard of issues about it resetting privacy settings or uninstalling or installing apps (why can't we still call them programs, darn it? Also, get off my lawn you kids!). That's pretty annoying sounding. There are also some who have installation problems. Over all, though, the news seems to be that its reasonably stable and not too buggy.

It runs EDIUS 8.1 WG a little snappier I think. Not done any real measurements but it just feels quicker. As far as Microsoft updating things automatically most can be turned off. Lots on the WEB about how to do this. On my laptop a DELL 14" touch screen i7 model ( the only place I have 8.1 at the moment as the my main editor is still on EDIUS 7.5 on a WIN 7 PC ) I first updated EDIUS 8 WG to EDIUS 8.1 WG ran CCleaner uninstalled AVAST including AVAST clean program to get rid of all . Backed up. Then let Windows upgrade to WIN 10. Took a little while but no input required from me and it all just worked fine. Did another backup and reinstalled AVAST.

You have until Jul 29 ( I think ) next year to get the free upgrade.

Ron Evans

I bought 8.1 to get native usb 3 support but i'm glad I kept 7 on another drive I like 7 better. I didn't want to buy a newer version of Quickbooks so I'm doing a dual boot to switch between the two. I'm also considering running virtualization software to avoid the work of maintaining multiple OSs.

You're probably asking about 10 because microsoft has been pushing really hard lately with annoying pop ups. I wouldn't do it. Very little to be gained.

It didn't see on the windows page how long the offer stands, it only said not to miss this temporary offer. I have a new pc since a few months and got it without windows (win 10 was standard) and installed my own win 7 pro copy on it, good that I did since I still can upgrade to 10 now and I saved money by not getting win 10 when I got my pc. :)

Also one of the reasons why I didn't upgrade to win 8 when that came out was that I still run an important ms access 2000 database which has been working fine on all my windows versions but refused to install under win 8 and I guess that should be the case in win 10 as well.

I might do a dual boot with win 7 pro and win 10 (on 2 separate ssd drives) just to run some legacy software, like that access database. Only not sure how easy it will be to install windows 7 again after win 10 has been installed and if it still will accept the key after upgrading to win 10.

I also have a image from my start up disc so should be able to return to the way it was if it doesn't work out.

I wouldn't do it. Very little to be gained.

You are probably right, there is no reason to fix anything that isn't broken. :)

With the latest download of WIN 10 you can install clean and put in your WIN 7 serial number so no need to go through the upgrade process. I will stay with WIN 7 on my main editor as there are so many programs on it I do not want to get into any hassles. On my second PC also running WIN7 it will also stay WIN 7 too as I am running EDIUS 6.08 on it so that I can still use TMPRo titler. EDIUS 6.5 dongle will never have a driver for WIN 10 !! My laptop is a touch screen and came with WIN 8.1 so WIN 10 is better. When I make another PC for editing next year I will start with WIN 10 and then load EDIUS 8.1 WG on it. Until then I will stay with WIN 7 and EDIUS 7.5 for my main editing.

Ron Evans

I just thought about my old editing pc which also has win 7, will install it on that one to try.

Guys. You're forgetting something.

The way you saw this "upgrade" was force fed to you via "recommended updates." There are so many IT professionals telling people to hold off on Windows 10 because driver and software support just isn't there.

Plus, if you care about privacy, prepare to have none. Even if you turn off all the "privacy" controls in Windows 10, it still phones home. And they attempted to backport those features to 7 and 8.1.

My advice: DON'T FIX WHAT AIN'T BROKE. Imagine if you weren't ready yet. This pop-up takes focus and if you're typing on something and you press space, it starts it and there is no cancel option. After the upgrade, it says it'll keep your previous install but 1 out of 2 times it will not. And it downloads 5GB of data even if you said no, so if you're on cellular, you will overrun your data caps.

Stay clear of Windows 10 if you are on 7 right now, especially if your current setup works.

It was not forced upon me, I installed and updated windows 7 pro when I got my new pc and after that turned of the user account control feature and disabled automatic updates, this windows 10 offer I saw while surfing the web and there is also a option to just download windows 10 but not install it yet.

There is a fairly noticeable speed increase from 7 to 8, and a little additional one with 10. There are improvements "under the hood" that improve speed and stability for most people.

The Interface can be set to look like W7 by using aftermarket options like Start Menu 8. the 8 interface was horrid, the 8.1 "better" and actually 10 feels pretty good once you get used to the different paths you may have to use to get to things like Control Panel. I've used StartMenu8, but haven't bothered to "re-skin" Windows 10, just doesn't feel like I need to, where 8 was a nightmare to use...

There's a lot of FUD out there about security, and one thing to consider is that MS will be trying to phase out updates for W7 (and probably 8) ASAP to reduce support costs, and then you'll have little security!

I've upgraded a bunch of machines, and know others who have done the same, with few glitches... I've got my main desktop that gagged out on the upgrade, never got around to figuring out why, as it's being retired. There are some driver hiccups, some older hardware may not be supported (I noticed firewire was not supported on the machines that had it.... haven't used it in ages, but there are probably tapes sitting around I never got around to dumping... Generally, I'd say the upgrades went smoothly, and in most cases resulted in a more usable machine. Did have a problem with laptop touchpad gestures, as they conflict with new W10 gesture/functions, there are still some bugs being ironed out of drivers here and there, but overall installs and running W10 is mostly painless.

If you've got legacy programs or hardware that you have to run, there may be problems (I've still got an XP machine sitting around for a few silly things I need to use it for... products that no longer have driver support/updates... ugh). I'm hoping to retire the last couple machines with older windows versions, just to simplify "support" of the family fleet, Won't miss 8 or 8.1 one bit, and only a little sad to see 7 go.

Your W7 Pro with automatically get you W10 Pro, with a few additional features over the non-pro version.

Easy update to 10 from 7 on the editing machine
I think it uses less space on the os ssd and somethings seem snappier.
The first attempt to upgrade stalled half way thru and I read about unplugging all usb drives
2nd attempt went from start to finish without an issue. All programs worked.
I'm happy I did it now although fraught with indecision for months really deciding if it was worth the risk
The new layout is sweeter once it becomes clear to you
I have a laptop running vista 64 which I wish they would provide a 10 upgrade

I get those pop ups everyday to go to 10.

I'm keeping Win 7 Pro as long as I can because I have not had any issues with it.

We transitioned reluctantly from W7 to w10. During the early days, I found on my machine that I had to start up Sony Vegas first, otherwise it would not load. That problem got fixed so today no issues worth pointing out and we currently have 6 computers on W10. Over time, MS will get tired of putting out updates to W7 so you might as well move now.

W10 loads a lot faster. It runs pretty good on 2 screens with the taskbar kept on the 2nd.

I don't think there is any "free lunch." It is my guess ---and ONLY that --- that by MS saying this is the last Windows version but will be updated, that they are going to go the "rental" route that Adobe has done, where you have to pay continuously to use the software. MS is not in the business of giving the store away.

First nice thing about Windows 10 update is it is indeed free, at least until next year.

Second thing is that when you install over 7 or 8, you can roll back easily to your prior OS. I actually have done that several times on one machine, trying different things to solve a problem. Just remember, you only have 30 days to roll back, or the install will become permanent, and roll back impossilbe. I couldn't get Vegas 12 to render properly on my main edit machine. I am pretty sure it is probably a driver problem with my Dell XPS box, because in Window's 10 installs on my laptop, and another one that I have now turned into my main Edit system, I have had no problem with either of those. I do know I had USB issues continually on the Dell Box too, so this direction was fine for me. I also installed 10 over my little NoBrand tablet with good results.

I too believe 10 is snappier with most applications.

MS is not in the business of giving the store away.

I was also surprised about them giving away a new windows version for existing windows users, they are either desperate or they have a hidden agenda, time will tell. I tried it out yesterday on my edit machine, I made a image first from the entire disc with "reflect", which btw is an excellent free imaging software, so I could go back if things went wrong. I didn't do a fresh install, only updated windows and selected the option not to delete the programs.

I have a 2 screen set up and at first only one screen was working and it had a low resolution because the graphics driver was not updated yet, but without me doing anything windows installed the right driver and activated the second screen, pretty cool :) Edius worked fine and quick sync acceleration was also there.

Everything else seemed to be working as well, the windows interface was at least a big upgrade from windows 8, it looks a lot more intuitive.

But for whatever reason after a few hours when I started up edius I had to give in the default location for my edius projects, something that only happens when you first install edius and then I saw all my presets where gone, quicksync also didn't work anymore, as if I just done a brandnew installation. Weirdest thing was that just an hour before I had been editing in edius and all looked like it was on windows 7.

The only thing I changed was for windows defender not to scan the edius folders.

I changed everything back to win 7 pro as I still have a few editing projects to finish but as soon as those are done I"m going back to 10 to see if I can figure out what went wrong. As long as I have a image from windows 7 I still can go back just incase.

I'm still running Win7 64-bit and see no compelling need to upgrade to Win 10 at this point.

What perplexes me though is that for previous Windows system upgrades Microsoft made available a tool (Upgrade Assistant) that would scan your PC for hardware/driver and software compatibility and provide a report e.g.

Upgrade Assistant: FAQ - Windows Help (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-ca/windows-8/upgrade-assistant-download-online-faq)

One wonders why such a tool has not been provided for the Win 10 upgrade ? Is it simply because Microsoft, pressing to get Win10 on PC's (in part to boost their OS distribution statistics), think that once people have gone through the hassle of upgrading, they are less likely to roll-back within the 30 day period, and even more likely go on to performing a clean install, sealing their fate? Or put the other way round - if such a tool was made available and the report revealed incompatibilities that required or recommended changing/upgrading software or hardware, they would (obviously) be less inclined to upgrade?

This "suck it and see" upgrade strategy doesn't sit well with me at all.

This "suck it and see" upgrade strategy doesn't sit well with me at all.

It still remains to be seen if Microsoft has a hidden agenda but I mean, what's not to like about a fully functional OS that is given for free? I don't mind in such a case to find out for myself what hard/software is not compatible.

Well, yes I agree, there is that perspective.

I think if I were to try-out Win10 I think I might be more inclined to create a full disc image back-up (I use Acronis True Image 2016) beforehand and use that to restore Win7 (using ATI's boot time recovery tool) in the event that Win10 didn't suit me or there were compatibility problems that could not be easily resolved.

I see you did that Noa (with your back-up/recovery software), but I'm just wondering, if one restores after the 30 day 'roll-back' window has lapsed, would there be problems with license verification of the restored Win7 system or would it be just like nothing had changed?

Ah, so there is a Windows10 compatibility report 'tool' after all. It's a component of the widget that Microsoft released as an optional windows update (KB3035583) for upgrading to Win10.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3035583

I don't usually install optional updates unless it's one to fix a specific problem and so missed that. You know I might give it a whirl after all. Probably better to find out now if there any compatibility issues and address them now than down the road.

Plus, if you care about privacy, prepare to have none.

I just found this here: O&O ShutUp10: download free antispy tool for Windows 10 (http://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10) which seems to be able to block most, if not all, attempts for windows to phone home, might be worth a try since it is free.

I see you did that Noa (with your back-up/recovery software), but I'm just wondering, if one restores after the 30 day 'roll-back' window has lapsed, would there be problems with license verification of the restored Win7 system or would it be just like nothing had changed?

I have no idea how this works and if they would terminate the license of your win 7 version, only one way to find out I guess :) I have acronis to back up my pc but it doesn't work on my pc, I am able to restore an image from inside windows but if I want to boot from a rescue media like a dvd or usb incase your pc doesn't start then this doesn't work, Acronis does start but ends up in a black screen with nothing happening, also when I restore an image from inside windows then during this process the screen also turns black giving you no clue what is going on until after a while your pc restarts and you have your recovered image. I have read more users having the same issue so basically my acronis version is useless.

I now use the free reflect which does work, I rather use this then the roll back thing from win 10, I guess that as long as you don't use the update function you should be able to go back to win 7 using imaging software.

Noah is right to be suspicious of the Windows 10 "free" upgrade.

Firstly, you lose the ability to take your Win 10 licence with you from one computer to another. With Windows 7 you can still do this with as part of the licensing.

Windows 10 also introduces intra-OS advertising. An example of this (that I haven't bothered to look at yet) is advertising in Solitaire. There is also advertising coming in to other parts of the operating system: see here (http://www.pcworld.com/article/2975790/windows/how-to-stop-windows-10s-annoying-microsoft-office-ads.html) and here (http://www.extremetech.com/computing/204595-lock-screen-ads-on-windows-10-bring-us-closer-to-a-nightmarish-capitalist-dystopia).

And this is what we know of whilst they pull a sneaky or two in trying to force us all to migrate to the new platform.

Why? I suspect that Microsoft want to go the way that Adobe did with their Creative Cloud software subscription/rental model. There's almost nil 'pain' or desire reasons to upgrade so the income from that part of their business just isn't doing it for them. The income has to be generated from elsewhere and this is what you are now beginning to see.

Of course, once you're permanently on Windows 10 you are quite stuck, short of installing another operating system and starting over again. I plan to use Win 7 as long as possible, if not forever.

Andrew

I think Microsoft are just moving into the same space as Mac OS and Android. If you are bothered about privacy do not connect to the internet !!! Microsoft is likely the least of your worries !! I have Acronis 2016 with a 5 seat license and it happily backs up Win 10, Win 8.1 and 3 PC's of Win 7 . I think Win 10 backup needs Acronis 2016 rather than prior versions. I did update my Win 8.1 laptop so now have 2 Win 10's and 3 Win 7. The Win 10 PC's run fine and I have them both set up so they look just like Win 7 when they boot up. I will stay with Win 7 on my editing and email PC's because they have hardware and software that are not compatible with Win 10 and never will be. But next year I will make a new PC for EDIUS 8 WG and will start with Win 10 then and turn off things like driver updates etc as needed.

Ron Evans

EDIT found this http://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10 which may be what you area looking for.

Well I took the plunge last night.

Created a full disc image back-up of the Win7 system before installing the Win10 update widget (KB3035583). Rebooted and opened the widget, which reported that my PC is compatible for upgrade. I requested a full compatibility report only to be told that was not possible at this time( ?) but that on proceeding to upgrade a full compatibility scan would be performed before installation.

Went ahead with the upgrade now option. The installation was quite painless - no problems there. Was quite relieved to find that all of my existing programs worked, even some non-proprietary/open-source software - I still use VirtualDub (in conjunction with AVISynth) for some video processing. The only program that was deleted was Microsoft Security Essentials, which phased me a bit until I learned that Microsoft Defender has replaced MSE.

So, so far so good. The only issue I'm having is with an NAS drive (WD My Book Live) that I store most of my archived video files on. I can access it by FTP (Filezilla) but not with File Explorer or with any of the installed program file browsers, even though the My Book Live icon for the file server shows up on the File Explorer > Network list of connected devices. So, today I'm looking for a fix for that - appears to be a long standing issue.

Another thing worth mentioning, which I only picked up when testing True Image to ensure that back-up and recovery were working properly, was that on installation had snaffled a portion of the C drive space to create an additional un-allotted partition of 450Mb or so. I was tempted to expand the C drive partition to re-claim the space until I learned that this un-allotted space is created for system recovery and should not be tampered with.

I was going to go on to test recovery of the backed up Win7 system image, but this extra un-allotted partition that Win10 has created makes me a bit hesitant until I've done some research on the possible implications.

Well I took the plunge last night.

Created a full disc image back-up of the Win7 system before installing the Win10 update widget (KB3035583). Rebooted and opened the widget, which reported that my PC is compatible for upgrade. I requested a full compatibility report only to be told that was not possible at this time( ?) but that on proceeding to upgrade a full compatibility scan would be performed before installation.

Went ahead with the upgrade now, which was quite painless. No problems there. Was quite relieved to find that all of my existing programs worked, even some non-proprietary/open-source software - I still use VirtualDub (in conjunction with AVISynth) for some video processing. The only program that was deleted was Microsoft Security Essentials, which phased me a bit until I learned that Microsoft Defender has replaced MSE.

So, so far so good. The only issue I'm having is with an NAS drive (WD My Book Live) that I store most of my archived video files on. I can access it by FTP (Filezilla) but not with File Explorer or with any of the installed program file browsers, even though the My Book Live icon for the file server shows up on the File Explorer > Network list of connected devices. So, today I'm looking for a fix for that - appears to be a long standing issue.

Another thing worth mentioning, which I only picked up when testing True Image to ensure that back-up and recovery were working properly, was that on installation had snaffled a portion of the C drive space to create an additional un-allotted partition of 450Mb or so. I was tempted to expand the C drive partition to re-claim the space until I learned that this un-allotted space is created for system recovery and should not be tampered with.

I was going to go on to test recovery of the backed up Win7 system image, but this extra un-allotted partition that Win10 has created makes me a bit hesitant until I've done some research on the possible implications.

Edit: Re:

...Acronis does start but ends up in a black screen with nothing happening, also when I restore an image from inside windows then during this process the screen also turns black giving you no clue what is going on until after a while your pc restarts and you have your recovered image. I have read more users having the same issue so basically my acronis version is useless.


Actually, now you've mentioned it, I did experience something similar when testing backup and recovery of the installed Win10 system with ATI 2016. This was using the boot-time Startup Recovery Manager, which I always use for restoring backups, as it's faster. Keyed F11 at boot to open the splash screen that gives the choice to proceed to ATI or boot to Windows. On selecting ATI, the screen went black with some error codes and hung (i.e. crashed). Had to hard-power off. On the second try, it proceeded to the ATI Recovery Manager OK, but took a little longer than normal, so looks like the first time around something didn't catch. The other thing I noticed when browsing for the Win10 back-up in Recovery Manager was that the assigned drive letters were no longer respected, as they were when I was running Win7. Not a bit deal such, but means that one has to be extra careful when selecting the target drive.

P.S. Sorry about the double-post .......must have been Windows10 ;>)

Well, things were going well with Win10, but having tried various things to resolve the MyBookLive access issue without success I needed to restore the last good backup, and that's when things started going wild.

Firstly, after recovering the backup, Acronis True Image kept trying to make further multiple backups depleting the entire space of the partition on a secondary drive that I reserve for backups. Then the PC wouldn't power down because ATI2016 was doing its thing, so I have to do a hard-power off. Only to find on rebooting that the un-allotted partition created by Win10 has disappeared and another partition on the secondary drive was no longer recognized as a volume and Disk Management wouldn't let me do anything with it. Fortunately, I only had a few duplicate video files stored on it. So probably ATI was at the root off it, and possibly this unallocated partition complicated matters.

But, that's enough for me. I've rolled back to Win7 for now to preserve my sanity. Fortunately that appears to have gone OK.

Mine are all still working fine. However I may have done some things differently to the rest of you so will detail what I did. First created an image of the disc with the WD version of Acronis as if I was replacing the drive with new WD drive to a spare drive . My backups with Acronis on my NAS are just in a directory not a partition. I then removed ACRONIS as well as AVAST ( including using the AVAST removal tool ) so that there was no anti virus or backup somewhere running on the PC. Then used CCleaner to clean and then let Microsoft do the update. After that reinstalled AVAST and ACRONIS 2016. Created another directory on the NAS for ACRONIS with label ACRONIS WIN10 to backup to. So a full backup of course since it was the first but avoids getting ACRONIS confused as to the many changes.

Ron Evans

Thanks for that Ron. I wouldn't want my last experience to mar others, and I'm not rubbishing Win10 or ATI.

I'd used ATI for years with Win7, and before that XP Pro, without any problems and it saved my bacon on a number of occasions. I was still using ATI 2013 on Win7 up to a month back until I started experiencing some issues with ATI failing to launch after booting into Win and hangs on power-down, which I'm certain were related to MSSE and windows update. Upgrading to ATI 2016 and re-installing MSSE resolved that. When I'm in a better frame of mind, I'll try and figure what went wrong, or what I did wrong on the last Win10 restore, taking on board your experience Ron. Before retreating back to Win7, I was tempted to try re-installing ATI 2016 and, for a brief moment, to re-set Win10, but by then I'd had enough.

As for Win10. Well, the ATI and MyBookLive issues aside, I actually liked it. Didn't really put it to task for video processing, but general file browsing, launching programs and web browsing was definitely snappier.

Acronis doesn't seem to work on my system at all, I got the 2015 and upgraded to the 2016 version which made no difference so a waste of money as it still can't manage to boot from a dvd or usb while the free version reflect can...
With reflect I made a sector by sector image from the entire disc so I am sure it will be exactly back to how it was.

I have a feeling that it was the un-allotted partition that Win10 created that complicated matters (partition table etc) with ATI 2016. And the feedback I've received just now suggests that the WD MyBookLive network access issue would (likely) be resolved by a clean install of the latest Win10 version, not the upgrade version that was downloaded through updates. I'm not sure I'd want to make that jump at this time.

is the windows Diagnostics Tracking Service included in the new Win 10 distro?

I removed it from my Win 8.1 when I found it running after installing itself without me knowing about it.

I was searching online to see if there was more to find about the reason behind this free upgrade, I found that this art explains it pretty well: Why Windows 10 isn't really free: The subtle new world of built-in costs | PCWorld (http://www.pcworld.com/article/2957365/windows/why-windows-10-isnt-really-free-the-subtle-new-world-of-built-in-costs.html)

I don't see anything wrong in upgrading to 10 if you have a paid license for 7 or 8, even if your current OS works fine, you should get a better and more modern/streamlined OS, for those that are worried about MS spying on you, just disconnect from the internet and when you edit and connect only if you really need to, there is allready free software, like this "shutup10" and likely more to follow that will help you shut off most things that call home and for those afraid for privacy invasion, well welcome to 2015. If I want to install a useful app on my phone it already warns me if I want to get it it needs access to about anything, the manufacturers probably know when and where I"m sitting on the toilet in a public place because they could track my location as every phone these days is also a GPS. If you want privacy on a pc, just pull out the internet cable and if you want privacy on a phone, buy a model from 10 years ago :)

Like I said, they are just catching up to Apple and Android who have exactly the same model but with bigger app stores at the moment.

Ron Evans

Yeah, Microsoft only arrived late to the party :)

I still use Adobe CS4 & have read on issues after a Win10 upgrade, therefore I'm holding off. I've thought about upgrading my laptop to it just to check it out, but every now & then I do a little bit in Photoshop on it so I'd prefer to keep it, even tho it's only once or twice a year I really use it.

I updated an old PC thats been retired from active service to Win 10 and, after turning off all the bloat etc. seems to be chugging along fine.

I installed it on my main computer too, but have removed it again as I have a 1 Tb SSD sitting on the desk beside me along with an extra 16 Gigs or RAM. I'd like to get all that installed and then will see about Win 10.

Invariably most will end up using Win 10, it'll be installed on all new PCs from now on and eventually there'll be some sort of software that will be only Win 10 compatible.

I remember my first 'real' computer it was made by Phillips and was a 086 with a massive 30 Mb HD and had Windows 1 on it. Ah! those were the days.

And now I'm seeing this (attached below) pop up ad every time I sign out of Outlook in IE and Firefox.

I've resisted clicking on the "Learn More" button just in case it's a scam/malware ad. I have AdBlock Plus enabled in both browsers but you never know.

Might be purely co-incidence, but it seems odd that I am now experiencing hangs when signing into Outlook. Are they perhaps scanning my system?

Either way, I don't like that one bit. I'm taking to web browsing in Linux. No pop-up message or Outlook hangs in Firefox there.

To answer Noa's original question - yes, I'm staying Windows 10 free.:-)

Merry Chrismas!

Dave

Are they perhaps scanning my system?


Further thoughts: After I rolled back from the Win10 upgrade to Win7, I went on to recover a full disc backup that I'd made of the Win7 system before I installed the 'optional' (KB3035583) Windows Update that harbours that 'Win10 Upgrade' widget. Makes me wonder if MS have planted something in Outlook that scans for the Win10 Upgrade widget and if it's not there invokes this Win10 upgrade nag pop-up on signing out.

I'm not particularly inclined to test that by installing KB3035583 again, but if that is the case then that is definitely invasion of privacy.

Hi Dave ! A Merry Christmas to you also ;>)

If you had auto update turned on then Windows downloaded lots of stuff to check if your PC could be updated. If you search there is lots on the internet on how to remove those updates that cause the window you keep getting. I have two PC's on WIN 10 , my wife's and my laptop both work great. Laptop is running EDIUS 8.1 WG . My two editing systems will stay WIN7 as one has EDIUS 6.08 and there will not be a WIN 10 driver for the dongle and the other PC has lots of older software on it too. I do not let WIndows do an auto update on any of them. Shutup10 will effectively do the same for WIN 10.

Both my wife's PC and my laptop were an update not a clean install and was painless though I did backup everything before I started and removed all virus checking etc before letting the update proceed.

I like WIN 10 it seems faster at most things.

Ron Evans

I don't have auto update turned on in Win7. I'm set for "Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them". And I never install Optional updates unless needed to fix a particular issue, which is very rare. So, are you suggesting that MS might have put something in a 'Critical' update? Seems strange then that I only started getting this Outlook-related pop-up since yesterday. And the only Update installed in the past few days (since "Patch Tuesday" in fact) was a definition update for MSSE.

Irrespective of the relative merits of Win10 and Win7 I find this upgrade promotion strategy creepy and a bit disconcerting. Maybe I'm too naive......hopefully not too paranoid

....or maybe not:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/amitchowdhry/2015/12/21/microsoft-monday-windows-10-upgrade-intensifies-xbox-countdown-sale-metanautix-and-talko-deals/

Can't answer that as the WIN10's I have work fine and my WIN7's do not show what yours show.

Ron Evans

Irrespective of the relative merits of Win10 and Win7 I find this upgrade promotion strategy creepy and a bit disconcerting. Maybe I'm too naive......hopefully not too paranoid

....or maybe not:

Forbes Welcome (http://www.forbes.com/sites/amitchowdhry/2015/12/21/microsoft-monday-windows-10-upgrade-intensifies-xbox-countdown-sale-metanautix-and-talko-deals/)

Click on "Proceed to Site" if the link doesn't open to the article directly: "Microsoft Monday: Windows 10 Upgrade Worsens."

All I can say is that this is not happening to any of my 3 Win 7 PC's. No prompts to upgrade etc. Nothing. So not sure where the information in the Forbes article comes from but it is not happening to my PC's.

Ron Evans

edit see if this helps. http://winsupersite.com/windows-10/how-stop-windows-10-upgrade-downloading-your-system

I've been reading around and the general consensus seems that if you are on win 8 then win 10 will only be a better experience but if you are on win 7, there is at this moment no reason to upgrade if all works fine. Eventually we all will have to switch because at some point your hard- or software will require OS update.

I think WIN7/8 will be supported to 2020 after that you may be on your own or update to WIN10. Certainly with my touch based laptop which had WIN 8.1, WIN 10 is better and faster. Just do not want to play around with the editing PC's or my email PC as they have to many pieces of software that may not work. I had removed KB3035583 as soon as I learned about it. With new functionality being available on software updates that may only work with WIN10 updating may be essential at some point in time.

Ron Evans

I will leave win 7 pro on my editing pc, it has proven to be a very reliable OS and it works with all my soft- and hardware so there is no reason in changing, I also disabled win 7 updates longer time ago because this pc only connects to the internet for software updates. I will install win 10 on another pc though that has permanent internet access.

Wow. Microsoft is becoming a real jerk. It will eventually become worthwhile to invest in separate networking hardware to block access from / to their upgrade push site.

Andrew