Hi guys!!

With Windows10 being in service for 8 months, obviously this posting has turned old (last post on Jan 21st) but I must say, all my W10 systems run nice and smoothly... and if I watch the status results of other units I am still surprised how many still run on previous systems.

So I decided to dedicate this post to Win7(sp1) or W8.1 users that qualify for the free W10 upgrade and that are wondering if the upgrade is worthwhile from the crunching point of view or not.

If you don't qualify for the free upgrade in the first place, I guess you can stay with your system (as long as you only do crunching with it). Id' say, that applies to XP/Server Series users only.

As I've said before, as far as I can tell, everything works great with devices running since many(!) weeks without reboot or restart. I just decide to manually reboot once in a great while to install new updates and/or do "other" non-software related maintenance.

The only thing dedicated crunchers may need to check manually could be the updates because depending on the settings Windows10 will otherwise download it by itself, install the updates and reboot at "some point". Not everybody likes that feature.

W10pro lets you defer updates, W10 (normal/core edition) doesn't offer that. But there's workaround options though (google W10 update blockers), the easiest from my point of view to go without a a sep. program would be to set your connexion to "metered" like if telling W10 you'd have to pay internet by the minute instead of flatrate connexion. Then W10 will then only search/download updates if manually checked for. This is important if you have the system running 24/7 while only checking it once a week like in a small rig in your cellar. I have installed triple password protection on all systems so if automatic reboot, it already stopps at Bios-PW. I get auto-notify by my router if connexions are missing, but if hardware is not where you live, you need to work around a bit. I use W10pro on those systems with deferred updating.

Linux actually does get you better crunching stats as on the same Windows-hardware but it still often feels a bit like working under DOS 6.22 with error debugging in command prompts. To my personal taste, Linux is more service intensive... I've had more machines becoming unstable requiring reboots or complete resetting wayyyy more often. So if you're a Linux geek for over a decade, go with Linux but you won't read this text anyway :D :D :D

If moving to Windows 10, OLD printers, you might need to try different drivers for older OS's. Often manufacturers offer "legacy driver" or "combined drivers" (like unified PCL for printers) Maybe you find one that will work. Maybe!

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Side story:
Two weeks ago I was asked to help to migrate a Win7 from a good friend to his free W10 upgrade. I struggled with his old Kyocera printer (FS-680 designed around y2k) and still comes with a centronics port. Last official support was Vista.

Took me a quite a while but it ended up working. The guy was sooo happy I got that done. He loves that printer, it has Porsche design :) Buying a new small b/w laser printer in a store at 50€ would have been a better choice (plug'n play), but hey, what can you do for friends?! :)
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So, this small story aside again, yes, I recommend the upgrade, especially if you don't like that W8 METRO-screen redesign. But be aware that old specific hardware like printers (or labelmakers), scanners, webcams, cardreaders and add'in-cards like TVcards might not work anymore.
If not sure, google if other people have had issues before according to the maker ref code, number or model.

As far as I am concerned... nice "free upgrade" from M$ (assuming you have free data to download). As long as computer min. specs comply with free upgrades I can get used to that. :) But I bet, intel will ask M$ to calm down with that procedure... hahahaha. Intel and AMD announced in Febuary('16) that in the future newly released intel CPU's will support the newest Win-OS only(!)... which means that you can't "recycle/refurbish" your old Windows-licenses on a new computer that you may buy later anymore like it was possible back until now. This is unseen in the history of Windows but is probably meant to partially compensate M$ for the financial losses linked to all those houndred-thousands free upgrades. Officially it will be mentioned as a security reason to PC's safety of not getting hacked and things.... but.... yeah... you understand my point.

In other words, next generation CPU's (or APU's if you instst having them mentioned) like Kaby Lake(Intel) and Bristol Ridge(AMD) are supposedly NOT going to run on Windows 7 (or 8/8.1) anymore... so guys, unless you want to run on Linux, maybe get used seeing W10 or generally to better say: the most whatever recent(!) Wind'OS that might be around in furte, no matter if will be called W11/12/13/... or 43X..... way more often than it was until now.

I suppose BOINC dev's over at Berkeley will take this in consideration!

Btw, about end of july '16 (29th?), M$ will start charging "regular" prices (135€ for Home, 279€ for Pro editions). So if you're entiteled to free upgrades offers from W7sp1 or 8.1 and miss that deadline, then better skip 10 entirely.

Crunch on... ;)

All info to the best of my knowledge at current date! :P

I don't think the next Generation of CPUs run on Windows or Linux for that matter. It's the other way around. How are Intel and AMD not going to support older OSes? Are they not going to support the x86 or AMD64 instruction set? That would impact Linux. How does the CPU know if it is Windows or Linux? The CPU only "sees" the assembler code from the linker. I can understand them possibly saying if one runs an older OS and it breaks or doesn't function they won't provide support. Both vendors also provide drivers and utilities that they possibly may not support on older OSes but I don't see how they can keep a program from running unless they have a way to look at the instructions and can identify the program.. Just curious


Unless you mean this:

Microsoft to only support Windows 10 on Intel Kaby Lake, AMD Bristol Ridge, Snapdragon 820

In which case it's Microsoft that isn't providing the support not the CPU vendors. I would be willing to bet you could load Windows 7 or 8.1 on both processors and they would run, you just wouldn't have support from Microsoft but folks are running XP today without support.

FWIW 99% of users will never be affected by any of the patches put out because what is being patched is generally not is use by the average consumer. I have several dedicated dc machines that have updates turned off since I installed Win7 and they are still humming along without a single hiccup. I'm not suggesting to anyone that you turn off updates but for dedicated dc machines it sure eliminates the issues like what you just had and saves the aggravation of trying to find which patch screwed up your computer while filling up your hard drive with garbage. JMHO

Nope. For 1 year, you can get it for free. And it will be yours forever.

New app that permanently blocks Win10 installs.