Windows 10 privacy issues they can be dealt with. You can disable the obvious privacy settings but the more hidden ones you need 3rd party programs if you don't know how to use gpedit or services or powershell.

Over all I find windows 10 much better than win 7 for gaming. I get better performance and more stability. I like win 7 but win 10 is better and with DX12 its bonus.

I do not like what MS did for sneaky data logging our stuff. That shady shit. Which is why linux will be my next OS. MS win 10 will be my last.

I suggest you dual boot your system with both Win 10 and linux. Take advantage of both.

I use Windows 10 and I'm happy with it. The only thing I don't like is the start menu, which I found to be confusing at first. Apart from that I have no complaints and I'd reccoemend it.

As a Linux user I don't advise using Windows, but as OP wants to play some games only found on Windows here's my take on it:

It's not a bad OS by itself (I find it better than Win8 at least), if you're concerned about privacy then I suggest this tool, it's from a reputable company and does what it says. If you don't want forced automatic updates you can also disable the Windows Update service from the Services Manager which retained the same interface since at least Windows XP.

For the record, at work I get a lot of PC's with Windows 10 and most of the problems they come with are user/hardware error rather than the OS itself. With some tweaking it can perform quite well.

As far as hardware compatibility goes, I installed it on many systems some of them dating back to Core 2 era and it also went along nicely with many printers.

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That said I cannot justify paying so much money for an OS that breaks your privacy and is increasingly more restrictive than the previous ones, regardless if they can be overridden by a 3rd party software.

If you're the kind of person that likes fresh AAA games then Windows is the best choice, however also do keep in mind that on Linux you can run many games with Wine so chances are that some of your favorite games will still be playable, you just have to do some homework :-)

I hope this helps.

windows 10 does updates whenever it feels like it and that offen means your better g-card drivers are replaced with crap (one size fits all) Microsoft drivers... it is still a beta build and not designed for gaming.

If you take control of your updates (disable auto updates) then it can be made into a game rig but you need more ram and a ssd as well... thats min req!

Never happened to me. Not once. And I've been on Windows 10 since the day of release.

I wonder what the difference between our systems is.

For a free AV there is nothing better then Bitdefender on the basis that the engine and signature file is the same used in the paid for version... i mention that because Bitdefender rates #1 above all else in real world tests and not some controlled lab test. You honestly cannot do better... as for Defender its no longer "the baseline AV" its evolved to be on the level of AVG.

AVG is to naggy and reminds you with popups and other annoying things to upgrade.. same can be said for Avast... the only other alternative that IMO can hold a candle to bitdefender is Panda Cloud.. which in some circles is the best AV there is because its a truly cloud sourced AV with a very nice AI that cannot be compromised by a virus.

At minimum use Defender.. If your into doing stupid stuff on the web surfing random sites and downloading anything you see use Panda... but if you are a little more conscientious and are a smart user then bitdefender will do everything you need.

This isn't true at all.

I know people who have had Windows 10's updates disabled for like seven months now in a row without any reboots or restarts.

i have multiple computers. some are upgrades from windows 7, some have windows 8/8.1/10 preinstalled. for some reason, any operating system above 7 has a specific bug that puts me off. when i copy and paste from/ to any location. the speed just drops halfway through copying. sometimes it resumes, sometimes it doesn't. multitasking makes it occur more often. i have looked around for a solution. nobody else has this issue, microsoft isn't aware of it, yet it happens on:-

2 x identical windows 7 --> 8 -->8.1 --> 10
1 x windows 8 (default) laptop
2x different windows 10 (default)

so i can't recommend windows 10 or 8 or 8.1. personally, if you can get all the drivers for windows 7, then i'd install windows 7, install drivers, make a recovery disc.


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also, if you have a 64 bit windows 7, it emualte 32 bit games. some versions of windows 7 have "xp mode". this is a 32 bit os which emulates 16 bit. so you can play all your classics as i do.

I dual boot Windows 10 and Ubuntu Linux (each on a separate disk) via grub2. It works pretty well; and, with the low cost of disks, is a viable option. I use Linux for programming and console emulators, however I don't use it as much as Windows 10, as I tend to play RPG games and for these Windows 10 is fine..

For me, the disadvantages of Windows 10 are annoying, but not insurmountable. I initially had to "reset" my Windows 10, and this removed my ability to go back to Windows 7, so I am not a great lover of the operating system. Over the past year, I have had to "reset" Windows two more times, and to add insult to injury, the start menu stopped working. Luckily, this is a known problem, and there are fixes available. On older hardware, e.g I use a CRT screen, Windows 10 is far from perfect (the display is blurry, as windows forces too high a resolution): on a new machine it is probably excellent.

My advice would be to go with Windows 10; however, if you are running older hardware, then be prepared to do a lot more work.

1) Linux is more secure than Windows for a reason, most software are found in the distro's dedicated repositories, it's open source and there's quality over quantity. Simply put most Linux software is delivered in a different way than Windows.

2) While partially true, Windows 7 had far less contact with the online world. Windows 8 was were it started showing it's teeth and this is shown right after a fresh installation where it asks you if you want to set "Express Settings" (aka Lack of privacy mode) or "Customize Settings" where it gives you the option to turn these features on/off.

3) "At such reduced performance", The difference in some games is much less than you make it seem like and it's far from an uninstall.

4) The software I suggested is from a reputable company, the link is from their official site.

5) I'll correct myself on the Windows Updates: The familiar options from Windows 7/8 can be found in the Group Policy Editor guide here.


Like I said in my previous post, Win10 as an OS by itself is not bad but it does require some tweaking if you want it to work the way you want.

I reckon you'd have less problems if you didn't gather components from a waste tip.

That might be a problem... As I recall the group policy editor was removed for the home/express/free versions of Windows 10 about the same time they had to take it off of the 'upgrade for free' malware and other pushes to get it on a billion machines.

http://www.ghacks.net/2016/07/28/microsoft-removes-policies-windows-10-pro

Just disable the update services.
The problem never was to disable the updates, the problem was to only install specific updates. From what I recall, that is also possible, though it may take some digging to find out exactly how to do that.

If your conditions and circumstances allow you to chose Linux over Windows, I strongly recommend doing so. In my experience you have less freedom and privacy with Windows. There are applications and services that I don't use that I can't disable/uninstall, and Microsoft has gone there way to pester you to come on board their business ship where they use you to earn money even though they stated "Windows 10 is free". Now I don't know about your definition but free means no strings attatched or at very least freedom given to us to say "I don't want to be part of your business".

DX12 claims are blown out of proportions. Games that "support" DX12 aren't, from what I gleaned, taking the full advantage of it. Who knows how little or much they do.
And one of if not the catalyst for changes that happened from DX11 to 12 is a different api called Vulkan. It's proven to be functionable and good api in same league as DX and best of all it's crossplatform. So "DX12 for Windows 10" is again not, at the moment, a valid reason for chosing W10. Maybe in a year or two?