A Report After Using Windows 10 For a Couple Days


Instead of complaining about the heartache of losing Windows 7 and being forced to go with Windows 10, I've decided to look instead to whatever good I can find in it. Mourning is unproductive. Well let me reword that because mourning IS productive, it produces negative feelings and I certainly don't need that.

  Ok. Windows 10. I bought the laptop a couple days ago and of course it has the dreaded new operating system, and I had no choice in the matter. So Windows 10 it is!

The first thing I noticed is what I DON'T have to do. The first thing I planned on doing before anything else was to search for and install an anti-virus program. It was quite a surprise that Windows 10 has one already installed. That's a PLUS.


Being totally unfamiliar with this new operating system, I went first to youtube to see if I could find a beginner's tutorial. Found a good one, and by the time I was halfway through it, I "got it," and didn't need to watch the rest of it. I WILL go back and watch the rest when I have time (like that's going to happen?) because I'm sure there are tips it would be good to know.

By the way - you can find youtube tutorials for just about anything you can think of. Make use of them. It's such a great way to learn, and usually with several levels of difficulty. I even found one on the best way to peel an orange! 

It's not really that different from previous operating systems. As long as you have Windows Explorer, your files are set up as they were before, and I use a portable hard drive so I had very little to do concerning files. There are a few files I need daily on the laptop itself, but I had backed them up so I only had to copy them in. The only difference is that they now call it "File Explorer," which actually makes more sense.

I do like the tiles in Windows 10. Makes it easy to get to programs you don't want an icon for on the taskbar. There are a few that I only use a couple times a day, so I'm happy to have them sitting in the tiles place for easy access. The tiles are completely customizable, so I'm happy with that setup.

Another thing I learned to do before I switched to the new computer was to sync my browser across my devices, so that when I went into Chrome, all my tabs and all my bookmarks were the same. I didn't have to set up anything in order to have my browser looking exactly as I left it.

I missed the gadgets that were available on Windows 7 and if they're included in Windows 10 I couldn't find them. But I googled "desktop gadgets for Windows 10" and voila, I managed to get them onto my desktop just as before. Actually, there were a couple I liked even better than the previous gadgets I had there. So now I have a large analog clock, a large calendar icon with the day and date, a weather gadget customized to my zip code, a gadget showing how much space I have left on the hard drive, and a gadget showing how much RAM is being used. I always watch that when I first come onto the computer and wait until it's back down near zero before I go opening a browser and programs.

I wasn't able to get a laptop with 16 gigs of RAM like the one I had before, the closest I was able to get with an HP, (and I insist on HP, had trouble with others before) -  is 12 gigs and I do very much see a difference. I mean, it's ok. It simply means I can't have as much going on at the same time as before. I always had two browsers open, so yes I can close one - the second one I only use when I come online and just before I close out. I always have two Excel files open and I use those all day, but one I can close after updating all I have to update in it. I always have a couple Notepad files open, and I need them to stay open. I always keep Free Cell open in the back. I use it to kill time while I'm waiting for something, or while I'm watching - actually listening to - a youtube video; and that's every day because I keep numerous blogs and I'm constantly looking for appropriate videos to post to them. I have tons of subscriptions on youtube and that has to stay open all day so I can preview all the new ones that get posted. And of course I always have Facebook, Twitter, and Gmail open. Plus the tabs to my Wordpress blogs, and Evernote. I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but for starters this is a good rundown of the what's and why's as they apply to how I use RAM.

A problem I've been having is that several times a day I lose the internet connection. I'm pretty sure it's not the computer, I have an ancient router. Unfortunately I found that there isn't a port to plug the modem directly into my laptop. Well ...let me explain that - there IS a port but the LAN cable I have doesn't fit into it. So I'll have to find out what kind of cable adapter I need and go look for one. In the meantime I have the stand with my modem and router pulled out and turned around so that I can easily access the router to reset it several times a day. Groannnnn ....

Maybe I'll be back later to update this report. Right now I can only say that I'm quite satisfied with Windows 10 - so far.

At the moment I'm hungry, and that always takes priority!  

   

No comments: