It has been almost a year since we first published a version of this article, and a lot has changed. Windows 10 has gone from being a rough-and-tumble Technical Preview to a shipping product. Countless features have been added, and bugs quashed. I’ve gone from using it only on test systems to running it on my day-to-day machines. After living with it, there is plenty to like, but there are still some pieces that need work.
Windows 10 is a better Windows 8
To give credit where credit is due, Windows 10 is absolutely a better Windows 8. Since Windows 10 is free for all Windows 8 users, it is nearly a no-brainer to go for it at this point. I say nearly because Windows 10 isn’t a complete replacement for Windows 8. For example, the much-loved Windows Media Center is missing. So in my case, the machine connected to my cable box will be staying on Windows 8.1 indefinitely (although there are some good WMC alternatives). Some devices and applications also have issues, although users should be able to get advance warning of issues when the update generates a compatibility report for them.
Windows 10 starts faster, uses less memory, and is being taught new tricks like compressing memory on the fly that Windows 8 will never learn. User preferences also sync really nicely between machines, so once you get the Start menu layout set up on one device, for example, you can have it show up that way on all your machines.
There are also dozens of small, user-requested, improvements to the interface. For example, Microsoft moved the power icon (Sleep, Restart, etc.) down near the Start button, so if you use the mouse to get to it you can put your computer to sleep more quickly than in Windows 8. I am in the habit of manually putting my laptop to sleep before long plane flights, so this is helpful. You can now also directly launch an application from the Windows Store — a no-brainer feature that iOS and Android have had for years, but was missing previously.
The Taskbar and Start menu are also much more configurable than in Windows 8. You can control which system icons are displayed, and how and whether Cortana appears. Strangely, a few glitches that you’d think would have been fixed persist. Auto-hide is still inconsistent for the Taskbar, for example, and it is possible to have applications “disappear” off the desktop and be impossible to find with the mouse.
Windows 10 breaks some exciting new ground
Cortana is massively improved over its early releases, although it requires a fairly good microphone, and vocabulary is still limited. With a quality microphone like the ones on my Dell XPS 15 and Surface Pro 3, its speech recognition (for me, at least) is nearly perfect. Results can still be a little glitchy, though. I asked Cortana on both devices the same thing several times in a row — “Navigate to Taylor, Texas” (a source of much good barbecue), and got a wide variety of responses. About half the time I got an ideal map and set of directions, but one time the map wasn’t zoomed, while another time even though it understood the entire query, it tried to look just for Taylor and forgot about Texas. Once, Cortana was unable to reach its back-end server, even though the machine was connected. Those definitely aren’t show-stoppers, and I expect Cortana will grow in popularity. I like that you can now have your machine always listening — although setting multiple machines in the same room up to always listen does get confusing!
I enjoy using the new Edge browser, and Microsoft continues to add features to it, so it is getting closer to being a fully-functional replacement for Internet Explorer. It is quick, and has a simple interface. Of course, there are still plenty of times where I need to fall back on IE or Chrome, and since I use a lot of Android devices, I rely quite heavily on the cross-device syncing capabilities of Chrome.
Windows 10: Unfinished business
Some of the work started with Windows 8 is still unfinished. For example, while the new Settings interface is much more powerful than before (User account management has been added, for example), it still doesn’t completely replace the older Control Panel interface, so power users will need to use both. Similarly, the Printer interface in the new Settings UI is woefully inadequate. It doesn’t allow actually managing any of the printers. At least Microsoft has added a helpful link to the old-fashioned Devices and Printers and Device Manager at the bottom of the page.
As for the both loved and maligned Start menu, Microsoft has done about all it can to try to make both tile lovers and menu lovers happy, with a sort of melded Start menu. For the most part, I think they have succeeded, although I don’t understand why the menu can’t have fly-out support like it did in Windows 7 — at least in desktop mode when the system knows you have a keyboard and mouse. The lack of multi-column support also means navigating the Start menu can involve quite a bit of scrolling. The solution for most of us is to use one (or both) of the simple right-click options to Pin to Taskbar or Pin to Start (tiles) for frequently-used applications.
The Update process hasn’t been improved much, either. Error messages are still cryptic hex codes, and if the very limited automated troubleshooting fails, users are stuck hunting through websites and forums for arcane sets of instructions to get their Update flow restored. Fortunately, in some cases when I’ve been unable to get an Update installed, a future Update has eventually addressed the issue.
Windows 10 is like a box of chocolates: You don’t know what you’ll get
There are a lot of advantages that come with Microsoft’s rapid updates to Windows 10 — even post release. But it means that each time you use your machine, it might work differently than it did the last time. For example, as of a recent build, the Battery icon in the Taskbar no longer lets you switch power plans with a single click. I routinely switch between “Balanced” and “High Performance” depending on whether I’m doing any heavy duty photo editing, and now that requires right-clicking on the icon and using the menu to bring up Power Options. Interestingly, this change was only made recently, around the time of Windows 10’s final release, so perhaps Microsoft will add power plan selection back to the icon’s own menu. Especially since many updates will not be optional for Windows 10 Home users, these shifting sands may prove troublesome.Windows 10 still crashes, but less often
The kernel in Windows 10 is certainly still not bulletproof. In regular use, I’ve averaged about one system hang every couple of weeks. This is much improved over earlier releases (as you’d expect), but still not what it could be. Much more troubling are the buggy updates that are causing machines to boot loop. Coupled with Microsoft’s new lack of transparency in explaining what updates contain, and forcing users to accept updates, this is a recipe for a lot of unhappy users.
While I still don’t think Microsoft made the best choice in its goals for Windows, it has made huge strides with Windows 10. Veteran Windows 7 users may still not be convinced they want to deal with so many changes that may not add any value for them. But Windows 8 users, and new computer buyers certainly don’t need to shy away from Windows 10.
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