(speechless)

But sufferers are not alone, and even the UK's leading consumer organisation has given it's verdict

Windows 10 software condemned by Which? - BBC News

Having worked on large and complex telephone systems, and alongside some of the best brains in the UK on Nortel systems, I would never, ever, commit to a new operating system until it's thoroughly shaken-down, field-tested, and patched.

W7 is just reaching delightful, stable maturity. Just about the time for MS to declare it "end of life"

XP was faster and smoother after SP3. I still have a machine running it,and if it wasn't for the age of the machine, it's struggle to keep up, and Google no longer supporting Chrome on it, there I would stay.

Meanwhile, my wife lost her work wifi on her W10 machine yesterday for no apparent reason at all. It goes on.

Surely the successful case brought by Teri Goldstein against Microsoft, after its invasive Windows 10 'upgrade' ruined her business computer, sets a precedent?

See: 'I urge everyone to fight back' ? woman wins $10k from Microsoft over Windows 10 misery ? The Register

My back up Win8.1 computer was 'upgraded' without my agreement; fortunately it still works OK.

I am getting very fed up with updates that last for ages when I try to turn my laptop off .... only to be rewarded with long delays restarting because Microsoft have been upgrading without my permission and although they claim that nothing has changed .... plenty has including losing my audio which won't come back even when I reset to factory settings. GGGGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

(And there ain't a blind bit I can do about it it seems ..................)

Anniversary Upgrade? Yes, it downloaded (automatiaclly, thanks, Microsoft), but proceeded to foul the whole system up. I managed to roll back, after a fashion, but it screwed up the whole net. Every website was httpS, with a warning that the security certificate was invalid, and I couldn't access it. Money to a professional, who managed to sort that out, but I still don't like Win 10. Win 8.1 I liked, and it wasn't until I spent a couple of computerless days with an old laptop that I remembered how good XP was.

Has anyone had their BIOS utterly wrecked via W10 and a subsequent update?

My daughter's Asus X555L refuses to boot, despite us suspecting that it's a battery/power management issue, and doing the various common tricks to reset.

This is the equivalent of someone changing the lock on my front door without my permission, locking it, chopping all the keys in half, and posting them back through the letterbox.

Is there any money for help via The Gates Foundation?

Problem solved. Buy a new computer! My first A.U. killed my computer but resuccitated by my techno. Second compulsory update by MS successfully killed the computer finally. Techno could not resuccitate, so first post from my new computer. MS has definitely dropped a googly in my opinion and reparations should be offered.

Another annoying issue that's just started for me is W10 resetting several file associations (to Microsoft apps) from my preferred ones (e.g. from VLC to 'Films & TV') because 'a problem occurred'.

My keyboard has stopped working on my laptop.w10 Have checked drivers etc all apparently working ok. Using on screen kb. Any ideas would be appreciated

One of my machines automatically upgraded itself from Win 7 to Win 10.

Seemed alright at first, but then I found some of my carefully organised files in a tangle and a lot of small to medium niggles that took a while to put right.

Downloaded a Win 10 image and did a straight install rather than an upgrade - blessing the fact that I keep my data on a separate drive from my operating system (in all OS'es). Much smoother.

But Windows still sort of expects you to to have everything under one roof as it were and it took a lot of farting around with links and junction points to get it all kosher.

And as for getting rid of that pesky Windows.old folder - phew! - had to do some mega fiddling to get rid of that - lots of permission problems....

But all in all I quite like Win 10 - especially if you install Classic Shell - [http://www.classicshell.net/] which is completely free and makes Win 10 look and behave in a civilized fashion (none of those damn panes unless you want 'em.

Mac

[But I'll certainly hold off on the Anniversary upgrade - which is even now still really a beta release though they won't tell you that]

PS: If you want to stop Win 7 auto-upgrading itself you can tweak a few things in the Registry or spare yourself the trouble by installing the completely free GWX Control Panel [to be found at [Ultimate Outsider - Software Downloads] which does the job for you very nicely. But I guess the free but forced upgrade is over now - you'll have to pay for it. Best plan is still to start with a clean Win 10 install though and not upgrade Win 7.

An even better plan is Linux Mint or one of the BSD flavours....or go over to Apple there my upgrade from Lion to El Capitan (skipping Mavericks) was smooth as a tomcat pissing on glass....

Ahem!

I realise that this is too late for many, but for those who are managing to hang on to their
WIN 7 or 8 systems I can recommend a free application called Never10.

I installed it a few months back and have never heard any more about upgrading to Win10. Prior to this I had been getting nag messages almost daily and large WIN10 files were being downloaded onto my PC without my knowledge or permission.

My windows 10 installation on an Acer Aspire just crashed after a couple of months and the entire operating system is gone. I'm in an endless loop of 'automatic repair - can't repair' that can't be broken out of.

Windows is not fit for use.

OTOH my Acer Aspire was screwed completely when I was trying to fix my anti-virus, upgraded to Win 10 fixed lots. Agree about cLassic view, used it for years. With the anniversary update it lost my printer, soon got it back.

I went back from W10 to W7 - in the Security settings is a function that will do this automatically, but within 30 days istr. A lot of metadata was lost from my music files ...
The main problem I had was no W10 drivers for many of my peripherals - USB turntable, Thai language keyboard, etc ...

Microsoft will only stop abusing their users when their users stop buying Windows machines.

I doubt that day is far off, now.

Just for what its worth ! (Verry little)
 

I suppose by now everyone affected by this change in update method by Microsoft, that is: the Monolithic Update replacing the "Pick Your Own" methodology plus separate itemized updates for Office 2007; has met this "Enhanced Experience"

On my Win 8.1 PC, a Dell Opterion; the whole process took about 25 minutes, an update, a hang ! and two restart's -no BSOD. The update was slow and the all or nothing update, leaves users vulnerable to the problems caused by hidden driver incompatibilities lurking within previous granular update failures of Windows Updates.

Take a look at the update histories before applying this all or nothing update. Failures lurking there can indicate potential trouble and see if you can trace the cause of the failure and try to fix the problem and I know that it's not always easy.

Always make an image copy of your System drive if at all possible before letting the update beast loose on you system. I'm reasonably computer literate but general users really have a problem by this System design change by Microsoft

It's not just Windows 10 Users affected Windows 7,8 & 8.1 users are now ensnared by this change ! - My ancient Vista Business PC is suddenly starting to look very attractive in the last 6 Months of its useful life.

[Edit A separate bag of Rats for another thread "Update ate my BIOS" I'm cautious about the validity of this one. Any experts?]


CAT III

My Windows 7 PC isn't. It's only used for video editing and games, so I turned off updates a while back to avoid Microsoft malware.

Well, that and because the 'update service' had started burning up an entire core all the time to do... who knows what?

MG23
 

I stand to be corrected if Win 7 is not afflicted by this "Improvement" - I thought is was, if not please accept my apologies - Updating (attempting ) Vista Business PC as I type this - Not any sign of any updates as its EOL

CAT III

A recent update of Windows 10 left considerable problems in its wake as regards my audio drivers (at least that's what my expert friend said they were) on my Surface. It required a return to factory settings and then reinstallation of all programs .... thank goodness for regular back ups to an external hard disk to keep my work intact.

I do find it a concern that these 'updates' happen/are forced upon me when I'm not expecting them, leading to dead time both on shut down and on switching on my computer after a 'shut down update'. I suppose that's new technology for you and progress ... but sometimes I'd feel happier with the same old same old .... my Windows7 home computer is far more user friendly even if it doesn't have all the bells and whistles of 10 - most of which I don't use/need.

Rusty Sparrow - had exactly the same, same time scale too. You may be able to resolve it by starting up and loading from a Windows 10 disk, don't think there is any other way. Got half way through a re-load and the HDD packed up! Don't think I can blame that on Windows 10 though.

Windows 10
 

About 12 months ago I purchased a Toshiba Laptop with Windows 10 already installed. It takes an age to boot up! At first it had lots of pop-ups but an IT Engineer made these go away. It is OK once fired up but as I say it takes ages.