Staying with Win7 (GRC Never Win10)

I currently use Win7 and whilst I was considering going to Win10 until recently when I found that likely no driver available for my colour laser printer or three network to USB servers that I use.

First problem was that I allowed MS to download the update folder some months back and ever since it nags.

On another non-PC forum a suggestion is Never 10 which can be seen at https://www.grc.com/never10.htm This would seem to do what I want, namely clear my pc of the downloaded files and prevent further pestering by MS.

Has anyone tried this utility? Any comments?

Many thanks.

Cheers!

Using GWX Control Panel. So far so good. Download here

I was on Win 8.1 and found by going into Taskbar Properties I could set the Win 10 update icon to not shown and no notifications. That disappeared it and the prompts.

However not long ago I decided to do the update on my standby machine and it appeared fine, and a week ago decided to go ahead on this one. There are three notifications that I haven't dealt with to do with things no longer supported, but I haven't bothered looking into them yet as day-to-day use seems fine, including wireless printing.

As I was set to boot to the desktop it has auto-set to do the same. Suits me. I think the initial problems must have been ironed out.

During initial setup I took the manual config option and disabled all the snooping options.

Both installations got a load of updates within 48 hours but have settled down now.

Edit - Oops - I forgot your problem is the non-support of your printer. Hasn't the maker got updated drivers?

Edited by RobertoS (Sat 30-Apr-16 23:46:37)

In reply to a post by Ancient_Mariner:

I currently use Win7 and whilst I was considering going to Win10 until recently when I found that likely no driver available for my colour laser printer or three network to USB servers that I use.

Oddly enough on Windows 7 the monitoring software for my 9 year old mono HP laser software didn't work, it was fine on XP, but MS installed default drivers and the printer worked fine albeit with no monitoring.

I auto-upgraded to Windows 10, then did a clean install, and monitoring have been installed automatically and it works better than under Windows 7. Perhaps strange but true.

In reply to a post by wingco1:

Using GWX Control Panel. So far so good. Download here

Use GWX control panel here as well.
I can get Windows 10 working with all my hardware with a struggle apart from now and again it kept trying to replace my sound card drivers with ones that don't work, but a mate of mine have found a way to stop that now as he have the same card as me.
The problem is I just do not like Windows 10, i use 8.1 with a decent start menu and apart from the look of the UI, it works like Windows 7.

Not long now until the end of the offer then we can get back to normal and not bother with software to stop MS nagging us, that is if MS do not extend the offer.

I'm now on Win 10 and it boots up straight to the desktop just like I had 8.1 doing. I only see any tiles when I use the Windows button to get to use Solitaire. Which now opens in a desktop Window instead of the 8.1 Metro full screen.

The main difference is the slide-in Charms have gone, with settings and power etc. now available from the Windows task bar icon.

I know what Windows 10 is like, I was a insider for a while, then I decided not to be an insider. I carried on using it, but on a second drive, i used it until a few weeks after the last November update and then the hard drive which was getting on decided to die.

So yes i know how the start menu works, i just don't like it, so if I went back to Windows 10 it would be replaced. TBH, I just don't like Windows 10 full stop and there really is no advantage in changing from 8.1 to 10.
The spying is my main problem with 10 and the forced updates.

I turned off all the obvious spying during both installations. There's probably some others as well - I have an article listing what needs doing but haven't bothered with checking against it yet. Also another about useless apps that you can remove.

I'm not sure you understand me re the Start menu. I simply don't see it except when I want to switch off or load Solitaire. Just the same as I didn't see it on 8.1, where it was only needed for Solitaire as switching off was through the swipe-in Charms.

I just have a standard Windows desktop with about a couple of dozen icons and half a dozen pinned links on the taskbar. Not the Start menu tiles.

I recently switched to Win 10.

1 new computer (bought it)
1 older computer - Free upgrade from Win 7 (clean install)
1 laptop - Free upgrade from Win 8.1 (Upgrade install)

I have been delighted with it so far. On the older computers it is much quicker.
I did have to upgrade 2 software packages. One was at least 10 years old. The other was newer (Dragon Dictate), however the improvements in accuracy outweigh the cost.

My printers are attached to the main machine. After sharing them they installed almost automatically on the others.

So far a very good experience.

A couple of questions, if I may Philip.

One of my main concerns relates to my two printers, a HP 1200 LaserJet and an Oki 5200n colour laser. Both old in the tooth, the HP being a real workhorse and prints great, even on the inside of pre-bought Christmas cards with glitter.... 13 years old and still going great. The Oki is also going strong, new Xfer belt last year and four new drums, so don't really want to replace something which is not broke.

There appears to be a driver available for the HP but my pc currently running Win7 Pro 64-bit struggled to print on it at first and still will not share with my wife's Win7 Pro 32-bit pc. According to Oki's website they do not have a Win10 driver, but an awaiting an email back from them to confirm either way,

My other problem is that I run a couple of network USB servers (to enable USB devices to be connected to my network) These are a Silex SX-2000U2 and a Silex SX-DS-3000U1 Both a few years old. These each need two pieces of software, oddly one is available for Win 10 the other is not! Seems odd. I have emailed Silex for their guidance.

Going back to the printers, grateful if you could have a look on your Win 10 pc to see whether they are listed in the Adding a Printer section (I assume Win 10 has something similar to Win7 and WinXP)

Many thanks.

Cheers!