Windows 10

[Dr Super Good]

The problem is the "Plug and Play" functionality of some displays. It reports back resolutions that work, but are not complete or even optimal. Such resolutions are generally 60 Hz as it is pretty safe to say that almost all displays support that refresh rate.

However if you want to optimize your display you will need to either install its drivers (recommended) or set up a custom resolution optimized for the display (advanced users only). The display drivers should explicitly define the supported configurations, including non standard resolutions and higher refresh rates.

One may be tempted to just plug in the monitor and expect it to work. Although it does work it might not be optimal and one really should install drivers for it. I personally found this out just now after noticing that the reported resolutions were not the same as those on the user manual (missing 75 Hz resolutions). After installing the drivers the list now seems to accurately reflect the user manual including all refresh rates.

 

[andreasaspenberg]

is there any drivers for sony tvs at all?

 

[Dr Super Good]

is there any drivers for sony tvs at all?

They should not need drivers as far as I can tell. Higher refresh rates are often lost by the length or quality of cable used since the graphic driver will not bother showing you display configurations which are impossible due to bandwidth. Longer length or lower quality HDMI or DVI cables have lower bandwidth than shorter ones due to physical properties of cables. Although running a 60 Hz 1080p output with a cheap long HDMI cable is easy, running a 120 Hz 1080p output is not since the cable might not support such bandwidth.

As I already said and showed, you can try manually implementing supported display configurations in your graphic driver. These may or may not work well (for reasons I just mentioned) however you can at least try them.

 

[andreasaspenberg]

tv 2 have tested cheap cables again expensive ones and they found no differences in quality.

 

[Dr Super Good]

tv 2 have tested cheap cables again expensive ones and they found no differences in quality.

In the case of digital protocols it either works or does not work. Longer low quality cables might not work with higher resolutions and refresh rates due to the physical properties of the cable not allowing enough bandwidth. That said, by quality I mean technical specifications (what supported standard) and not price. A gold plated diamond studded cable is not necessarily any better than a cheap one for a couple of pounds.

 

[andreasaspenberg]

pounds eh. that is the currency of britain. i have nothing bad to say about that. i was there in 1998. i enjoyed the stay.

 

[Ash]

Well, it dropped. What'd you guys think of Win10?

 

[BloodDrunk]

I will wait a year after it's out, and then try it out.
It looks promising.

 

[Velmarshal]

Well, it dropped. What'd you guys think of Win10?

Not touching it with a ten foot pole till some relevant games actually require DX12. Or I'll just stick with Win7 till 2020 and then go linux, or make my own distro.

On the tablet, sure. I hate Win8 anyway.

 

[A Void]

I've installed Windows 10 yesterday, it works fine. What it needs is Aero Glass theme, but they said they will add it trough an upgrade in the future. Not to mention that Direct X 12 is exclusive only to Windows 10.
I think Windows 10 is much better than Windows 7/8/8.1, so much has been improved.

Furthermore if you don't like something you can customize it easily to fit your needs.

We should all thank Microsoft for a free upgrade, after all it's one year limited only. If you never tried Windows 10 just try it, if you don't like it you can restore back to Windows 7 (there is an option in Windows 10 to restore Windows 7).

By this I think that Microsoft are trying to end support for older Windows versions and focus on a single version at a time. Probably competing with Mac? That shows why they are trying so hard to get majority of people on Windows 10.

 

[Chaosy]

I upgraded from windows 7 to 10. I got no issues at all so far, I don't like some of the icon changes (folder icons and such) but I think I'll get used to them in time.

 

[A Void]

I upgraded from windows 7 to 10. I got no issues at all so far, I don't like some of the icon changes (folder icons and such) but I think I'll get used to them in time.

They said that they are planning to improve icons via updates but currently it is not a priority.

 

[Dr Super Good]

Still waiting to see if it ever starts downloading automatically (it says it is reserved). I will give it 2 weeks or so before I resort to either the exploit to force downloading or download a standalone installer.

 

[Ash]

You can jump the queue and download it now, if you really want.

As for me, I've been trying to install it on two test boxes. One of them seems foobar'd and I don't really have time to look at/fix it, and the other won't install. Huzzah!

 

[andreasaspenberg]

the free upgrade is available until next year so why rush it.

 

[Dr Super Good]

the free upgrade is available until next year so why rush it.

I am a Computer Scientist so want access for the technical side of Windows 10.

Interesting. They have given me some kind of excuse "We're validating Windows 10 for your PC." Seeing how I use an I7, 6 GB of memory and pretty recent NVidia GTX 760 GPU this is not the sort of thing I would except. I am aware I could just say "up yours" to all that and bypass it but I am interested to see what happens (will it upgrade in the next few weeks?).

 

[A Void]

I am a Computer Scientist so want access for the technical side of Windows 10.

Interesting. They have given me some kind of excuse "We're validating Windows 10 for your PC." Seeing how I use an I7, 6 GB of memory and pretty recent NVidia GTX 760 GPU this is not the sort of thing I would except. I am aware I could just say "up yours" to all that and bypass it but I am interested to see what happens (will it upgrade in the next few weeks?).

They are possibly registering a new key (Win 10 Home or Pro) and checking weather your Windows is authentic (non-pirated). You should wait a bit, it takes almost hour and a half based on your internet speed to install Windows 10.

 

[PublishedShadow]

Well, I finally was able to upgrade. While I wasn't in the first wave of updates, I did update as soon as it was available to me this morning.

And I must say, so far so good. It's crisp clean and looks pretty nice so far. People with windows 7 should see a larger change than 8.1 users though.

The Edge browser is nice, this is the first page I opened with it and it was much more fluid than IE. Coming from someone who prefers chrome, Edge isn't too bad.

Also, I upgraded to Windows 10 wirelessly and it only took around 30 minutes, though I imagine having a SSD helped speed things up. I believe they cache the update to the hard drive and then upgrade it locally. The update is 3.0GB by itself so downloading that may take a while for some, but I never noticed it so it must have cached overnight or something.

 

[A Void]

Well, I finally was able to upgrade. While I wasn't in the first wave of updates, I did update as soon as it was available to me this morning.

And I must say, so far so good. It's crisp clean and looks pretty nice so far. People with windows 7 should see a larger change than 8.1 users though.

The Edge browser is nice, this is the first page I opened with it and it was much more fluid than IE. Coming from someone who prefers chrome, Edge isn't too bad.

Also, I upgraded to Windows 10 wirelessly and it only took around 30 minutes, though I imagine having a SSD helped speed things up. I believe they cache the update to the hard drive and then upgrade it locally. The update is 3.0GB by itself so downloading that may take a while for some, but I never noticed it so it must have cached overnight or something.

Yes trough update they install Windows 10 into your PC, when the time is ready it auto prompts to upgrade to windows 10. Update process + Installation is about hour and a half long.

I don't care about Edge, Chrome has been proved to be much faster and reliable than Edge. Besides Chrome auto updates flash.

 

[Gilles]

Is there an easy way to install it on a fresh HDD? I have a Frankenstein rig I need a new OS for since my XP CD is trashed apparently and I don't really want XP on it anyways.

 

[Dr Super Good]

If you have a licence then you can install it on any partition.

 

[A Void]

#Gilles

Here you go. You don't need any licences, but it will require a product key. Not sure how you get one without auto upgrading your authentic Windows 7/8/8.1 into Windows 10. The only other way of getting a product key is by purchasing Windows 10. ;/

It will also require internet connection to install, possibly to protect from pirates in future...

 

[Gilles]

It's still in beta, right? I have the upgrade notification on my laptop, but it's a piece of shit so I don't want to bother. Was hoping I could install Windows 10 as a trial or beta on my blank rig. Ahh well.

Thanks guys.

 

[Dr Super Good]

It's still in beta, right? I have the upgrade notification on my laptop, but it's a piece of shit so I don't want to bother. Was hoping I could install Windows 10 as a trial or beta on my blank rig. Ahh well.

It is not in beta anymore as is being rolled out around the world.

You can trial the upgrade and then downgrade again. This is supported for 1 month after which the upgrade will be made permanent.

You can also re-install your current OS on your blank rig and then upgrade on there. Do note that you technically cannot use the downgraded OS during that time due to licencing reasons.

 

[andreasaspenberg]

i am going to wait a few months so that they solve most of the initial bugs. will it affect any of the stuff stored on the harddrive?

 

[Dr Super Good]

will it affect any of the stuff stored on the harddrive

It should not but they still recommend backups just in case.

 

[Ralle]

I might end up upgrading in a few months. I think it sounds like a solid upgrade. I just don't want it to halt me too much.

 

[andreasaspenberg]

i have read a lot of posts on the steam forums about people having trouble with windows 10 so it seems that game compatibility is still bad.

 

[PublishedShadow]

i have read a lot of posts on the steam forums about people having trouble with windows 10 so it seems that game compatibility is still bad.

A lot of the problems people are seeing like that are Drivers not being ready where people jumped the gun to Windows 10 without doing their research, it has nothing to do with the compatibility modes of Windows 10 itself.

 

[Ralle]

This one may be for DSG. Are there significant driver changes in Win 10 as opposed to Win 7-8?

 

[PublishedShadow]

I think it really just depends on your system - how old it is, has your manufacturer released known certified drivers for Win 10, etc. For example I know that with Dell systems on their drivers/support page, if you look up the model it will tell if it's been tested with Windows 10 yet or not.

In my Windows 10 upgrade, my system used a lot of Microsoft Generic Drivers but the important ones like Intel HD Graphics, Intel Storage Drivers, and Nvidia Drivers were all ready at upgrade. Since I have a fairly new system (less than a year old) I haven't had any problems with it.
Coming from 8.1, for me it feels more like a new service pack than brand new OS.

 

[Dr Super Good]

Are there significant driver changes in Win 10 as opposed to Win 7-8?

For the most part Windows 7 signed drivers should still work as the kernel is largely the same. Like Windows 7 only signed drivers will work (so some Vista drivers will not work).

The Graphic driver framework has probably changed a lot. This is due to the DirectX 12 API which, like DirectX 10, needed kernel level support. However vendors like AMD and NVidia have already released Windows 10 compatible drivers so that should not be a problem.

There is always the odd driver which will error badly just because they were badly made. For example it might refuse to work because the operating system version number is larger than expected.

 

[andreasaspenberg]

i am going to wait until i stop seeing posts about windows 10 issues on the steam forums at the very least. it is important for me that games work after all.

 

[Chaosy]

This actually happened to be when I was installing it. It got stuck forever I had to force update via windows update + cmd.
With that said, found an image on google that described my experience.

 

[LordDz]

It works for me and Warcraft 3 works in it too, haven't really had any problems so far.

 

[Dr Super Good]

and Warcraft 3 works in it too

An old program works in a new operating system? Gasp what ever did Microsoft do wrong!

If something does not work it is surprise, not the other way round.

 

[LordDz]

An old program works in a new operating system? Gasp what ever did Microsoft do wrong!

If something does not work it is surprise, not the other way round.

Well, mostly just wrote it to be inb4 andreas goes rampaging on how Windows 10 doesn't support Warcraft III.

 

[andreasaspenberg]

blizzard games usually work anyway but, i have many more games than blizzard`s games. i therefore have to consider all games before i upgrade to windows 10. will it work with OEM licenses?(all of my modern pcs have OEM licenses.)

 

[The_wand_mirror]

I haven't had any problems yet. Warcraft 3 runs, The Witcher 3, Unreal Tournament 4 and pretty much everything thats half-decent (using DirectX) will work fine. Small programs such as what I use to quickly switch audio channels (some random download from source forge) for example will give a .NET unhandled exception.

Spybot 2 and Malware-bytes also work fine, basically everything I used on 8.1 still works fine. But I haven't done anything advanced yet using an IDE that requires somekind of windows feature or whatnot so.

Also for those concerned about the spying thing:
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/07/30/windows-10-privacy-settings/
http://www.thewindowsclub.com/ultimate-windows-tweaker-4-windows-10

I advise using the program on the second link though for convenience.

 

[Dr Super Good]

Things that worked after upgrading to Windows 10.

• All games.
• All IDEs.
• Network and Audio drivers.

Things that broke but could be fixed.

• UK English localization (defaulted to US, needed to install language pack)
• HP Photosmart Wireless print/scan drivers (was annoying to fix)
• NVidia Graphic Drivers (needed reinstall)
• Display calibration (needed turn on)
• Local network sharing policies (needed re-configuring)
• Windows Media Centre tasks (needed deleting)

Things that broke but I have not been able to fix so far.

• Random BSoD when starting OS after ordering software restart.
• When hardware booting from a software shutdown motherboard CPU fan controller is stuck on maximum (loud fan noise). Sending computer to sleep and waking it up (or restarting if not for another issue) restores fan controller to normal behaviour (silent fan mode).

 

[A Void]

For me, I can't change the brightness of games. On Windows 7 it worked, now I can't. Any solution?

 

[Dr Super Good]

On Windows 7 it worked, now I can't. Any solution?

Games never allow you to change brightness?!

Most only allow you to set gamma. This requires the game operate in fullscreen (exclusive) mode to work. Windowed full screen mode uses the same calibration as the desktop (use "Color Management" to set) as it overwrites the game calibration settings.

 

[A Void]

Games never allow you to change brightness?!

Most only allow you to set gamma. This requires the game operate in fullscreen (exclusive) mode to work. Windowed full screen mode uses the same calibration as the desktop (use "Color Management" to set) as it overwrites the game calibration settings.

Yes gamma. My games are in fullscreen. When I move Warcraft 3 gamma slider for example it does nothing, gamma stays as it was. :/

 

[Dr Super Good]

Yes gamma. My games are in fullscreen. When I move Warcraft 3 gamma slider for example it does nothing, gamma stays as it was. :/

Just tested and what is happening is that WC3 uses the desktop calibration setting ignoring its own in-game settings.

In theory this means no adjustment is necessary as the calibration for the desktop should be correct (if done correctly). However there is a chance your desktop is poorly calibrated or that WC3 output was not properly calibrated to start with.

The reason why this is happening could be because WC3 is not re-inserting its own calibration table (after start up) so loses it to one from the OS at some stage. It could also be that WC3 is so old that the way Windows 10 handle Direct3D 8 causes colour calibration information to be lost.

I am looking for a solution, but so far you will need to calibrate gamma externally.

 

[A Void]

Just tested and what is happening is that WC3 uses the desktop calibration setting ignoring its own in-game settings.

In theory this means no adjustment is necessary as the calibration for the desktop should be correct (if done correctly). However there is a chance your desktop is poorly calibrated or that WC3 output was not properly calibrated to start with.

The reason why this is happening could be because WC3 is not re-inserting its own calibration table (after start up) so loses it to one from the OS at some stage. It could also be that WC3 is so old that the way Windows 10 handle Direct3D 8 causes colour calibration information to be lost.

I am looking for a solution, but so far you will need to calibrate gamma externally.

If you can adjust Warcraft 3 gamma on Windows 10 then this is problem with my personal system.

 

[Dr Super Good]

I cannot adjust gamma in WC3 with Windows 10. It seems to be taking the desktop calibration and using that.

This is not a general fault since gamma setting works correctly in Heroes of the Storm, StarCraft II and Diablo III. It must be to do with how WC3 setups up gamma being incompatible.

 

[A Void]

OK I found the solution. It seems that it has something to do with Direct X 12 being involved in desktop calibration?

Here is the solution.

 

[PublishedShadow]

Wanna hear something neat? I keep getting random BSOD's from my Intel HD Graphic's drivers. Oh the joy of upgrading OS's early. It's a relatively rare occurance, so I'm not yet to the point of going back to 8.1. Intel should get it fixed pretty quickly I'd imagine (hopefully).

 

[andreasaspenberg]

ouch, better stear clear of it then, specially on my laptops as they use intel cards in addition to nvidia cards.

 

[EloTheMan]

Language packs, do they work like a genuine Windows 10 Pro "LANGUAGE" version?

I have W7 Proffesional English in my new build, trying to orient through the OS after 4 years of Swedish version is giving me a headache and I don't seem to get any other upgrade option than W10 Pro English

EDIT: Nvm the question, decided to try it out anyway and damn do I like the new control panel (at first glance), didn't have to deal with pesky browser download packs it was just one click within the settings application and it automatically downloaded and installed a new language pack for me. And then a fast reboot along with some other drivers in the background and it was all set and done.