Downgrade from Windows 10

dx052

I have a Dell XPS 13" laptop which I have had for more than a year, it came preinstalled with Windows 10 with no option to go back to whatever the previous OS was. I have had loads of computers in my life time and ultimately I like nice simple operation systems although I am not talking Linux or anything like that, just your regular OS that you may get at work. Before this laptop I was using a Mac so I am not sure what Win 7 or 8 was like but surely it must have been less bloaty than Windows 10? is there a way I can modify Windows 10 and get rid of a lot of crap or what do I have to do do say go to Windows 7 or something like that?

RumRat

Can you be more specific when you say 'Bloat'.....That's certainly not the experience on any of my machines.

Fightsback

dx052 wrote: »

Before this laptop I was using a Mac so I am not sure what Win 7 or 8 was like

Well I suspect that this is your problem, you have come from MacOS and expected it to behave like MacOS. Learning curve required or trade in your XPS 13 for a Macbook. You'll have the same problem with W7, don't even bother with W8 as the interface is terrible.

I_have_spoken

is there a way I can modify Windows 10 and get rid of a lot of crap

Start command prompt, del /f /s /q c:\windows

Simples!

J_B

http://www.classicshell.net/ will make it look like W7 or older

forgotmyname

I have installed classic shell for a few users. A couple just wanted windows 7 back though.

I still think its a confused OS, a cross between a computer OS where you use a mouse and keyboard and a touch screen OS. They are not programs they are Apps.. The difference being??

Win10 does have the edge on plugging hardware in though. Plug in printers and webcams and it just works.

The tracking thing puts people off, but are they the same people using facebook and google etc etc etc.. Are there any free services that dont collect your data? You can disable most of it but each update appears to switch it back on.

And thats the main problem why does an update cause it to run slower and why does it remove my preferred options on which program opens certain files. Thats just annoying.

I have a few people trying Linux Mint now who would not have considered it previously.

Windows 8 / 10 driving people away (very slightly)? Although a neglible amount.

Anyone else into computers have people wanting to try Mint or similar instead of going to Windows10?

Chino

forgotmyname wrote: »

I still think its a confused OS, a cross between a computer OS where you use a mouse and keyboard and a touch screen OS.

What is it about having the option of using a touch screen that you find so confusing/problematic?

onomatopoeia99

dx052 wrote: »

Before this laptop I was using a Mac so I am not sure what Win 7 or 8 was like but surely it must have been less bloaty than Windows 10? is there a way I can modify Windows 10 and get rid of a lot of crap or what do I have to do do say go to Windows 7 or something like that?

Please explain "bloaty" and "lot of crap" in precise terms. I have w10 on several devices - some as upgrades from w7, some directly installed, and haven't noticed any bloat. All I've needed to do is tidy up the stuff on the right of the start menu as what Microsoft think people want and what I want are quite different.

SouthUKMan

Hi. I understand why you say Windows 10 looks more 'bloaty' than a Mac - as there are many more icons on a Windows start menu compared to what you are used to. But a lot of it isn't 'bloat' - it's just shortcuts. It is possible to simplify / clean up the Windows start menu - Google those terms. In my opinion, Windows 10 is a friendly and well thought out operating system. Windows 8 / 8.1 were disasters. Windows 7 was very good (and arguably even cleaner looking than 10) - but it is now seven years old and no longer available to buy. Windows 7 shouldn't really be considered as a viable option. Just think, if you did downgrade and use it for 2 or 3 years, then your operating system would be a decade old - and no doubt Microsoft will have released yet another version of Windows by then - meaning you would be several generations behind the time. Best advice is stick with Windows 10 - you just need to get used to it and once you do, I'm sure you'll find it easy and enjoyable to use.

forgotmyname

Chino wrote: »

What is it about having the option of using a touch screen that you find so confusing/problematic?

The problem is that my monitor is not a touch screen, and im not 120 years old with vision so poor that i need a 2.5" square box to click to open a program.

So why do they push an OS that looks like it should be a touchscreen where 99% of teh devices its on are not touch screens.

Tried using a mouse on your android or apple phone?

securityguy

forgotmyname wrote: »

be a touchscreen where 99% of teh devices its on are not touch screens.

Tried using a mouse on your android or apple phone?

I'm sat in Costa, admittedly on a university campus.

Every device I can see from where I am sat is either (a) a Mac or iPad, and therefore not running Windows or (b) a Surface, running Windows on a touch device. As Apple are reluctant to do touch laptops, Microsoft, and their channel, see it as a differentiator. So a lot of commodity laptops have touch screens, and they are hardly expensive; Lenovo and Asus have a wide range for well under £500. Microsoft couldn't care less about the upgrade market (ie, putting an OS on an existing machine) because in the retail space it basically doesn't exist, and their channel care even less: the last thing Lenovo want is for you to keep an old laptop up to date. The retail market for "new Windows laptops running old-style operating systems which don't offer anything over the previous one and don't compete with OSX or iOS" isn't worth pursuing if the effect is to weaken the "new Windows laptops running shiny new operating systems which look new and drive sales".

So harrumph as much as you like: for every sale they lose of a new laptop because people don't like the new interface, they're gambling on making two. And Microsoft (cf. Surface and particularly Surface Studio) aren't interested in the cheap laptop market: either it works or it doesn't, they don't care. If that means you stick to Windows 7 on an old, or even a new device, is of no interest to them. They don't mind businesses installing Windows 7 because they're paying for Windows 10 (either with downgrade rights on new machines or via enterprise licensing).