"just prefer reserving resources for what I am working on. "

Are you saying W10 is so resource hungry that it is of no use for multiple apps/progs running concurrently?

No. Are you?

It's lighter on resources than previous versions of Windows, but I've never been a fan of having everything but the kitchen sink open. I appreciate that you may work to a different methodology and prefer bloat.

If I can get a summary of information of interest without opening 57 varieties of application I consider it an efficient way of working.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

OK. Live Tiles are a waste of time as they are visible to any serious users of the Desktop.

Fact.

Annoying on a Windows phone, I was mucking around with my mates Windows phone and Cortana, I could not find the Cortana tile, he said under the facebook tile. Great but how can you tell it is the facebook tile as it have a load of pictures on it?

He agreed and will at some point get around to turning them off.

In reply to a post by TrishaH:

I wouldn't mind having to pay for something once if MS are not prepared to give the customer a choice.

It is only $2.99 for one computer, well worth the money and here is what it looks like and there is also a free trial.

Exactly my thoughts all along - it's appearance (to me) is geared towards small screen, portable devices, and as such should be an option rather than a 'one size fits all' solution.

Agree.

When I came from XP to W7, I installed the VM, and as far as I know - because I've never needed to use it - it isn't automatically used by any non-compatible programmes. I keep wondering if all will be well if I uninstall it to free up some space on the SSD (My obsolete website programme theoretically shouldn't have worked on anything from XP onwards, but apparently has/does).

i did that on my sister-in-laws computer as she used accounts software that would not work on Windows 7, then latter on she updated the accounts software to one that worked on Windows 7 and we took the VM off the machine, it was easy enough to do from what I remember.

This is why I've never been one to jump on a new programme or o/s. I recall my son asking if I wanted upgrading to Vista, and I refused thinking I'd see how he got on with it first. Wasn't long before I was glad I didn't.

I normally jump in feet first if i like the look of something, I did update my laptop to Vista from Xp as it was a free update, but I went back to XP and I did put in a order for Windows 7 as it was a good price before launch. I updated Windows 7 to Windows 8 because a friend of mine paid for it, I would not have other wise, but it was a good price.

I don't normally stay with old software, but I am careful with how I update. A mate of mine tends to be the opposite and will keep with old software, running Cool Edit whihc is years old, but he says it is better than Adobe rubbish Audition, he also have a very old version of paintshop pro as he knows how to use it, plus a old version of Office as he says Publisher is better on it than the newer versions.

Cortana is disabled as default, but some of the data collection associated with it is still on, like getting to know you. I do not see Cortana being much use on a desktop, very few desktops have microphones unless you have a webcam with one and I am not sure what use it will be anyway unless you are tied into the MS environment.
You can get rid of the search box to either a icon on the task bar or just get rid of it full stop.

My first sight of Cortana was on a phone TV Ad, and someone asking it to remind them to buy a plaster for their foot! The sore foot would be reminder enough for me. Another was one for a reminder to get flowers for a wife's birthday !
If it spies too, then I definitely wouldn't want it.

It got to know info about you for it to work, that is the way all these personal assistants things work.
I was at my mates place today as his living room computer had gone belly up, there was a cd playing in the CD player and I asked my phone by saying, ok google, tell me the name of this song and after a few seconds of listening it did, so I thought I would try the same with my mates Windows phone and Cortana. Again it worked, but I had to click on a button for cortana to work.

I have a desktop calendar that pops up reminders for things like back-up, CC monthly payment, important appointments etc., and has date markers on birthdays etc. That's quite adequate for my needs. But, I rarely use a mobile phone anyway.

i must admit I do use Google calender for things like that, not 100% happy with using it but it is so useful, it even tells me when to change the filter in my water jug. But that is due to a app.

I very much like W7 - it does all I want it to do, and I'm sure there are hidden depths to it that I've had no need for in the almost 5 years that I've had it.
As long as this machine lasts, I'll stick with W7.
If something works well for me, then I don't risk getting a newer version/model as experience has often proved the first one to be better.
Perhaps I could get a copy of it 'just in case'

Fair enough, but Windows 10 is better on memory management than 7 and do take less resources, maybe if I was still running 7 I would update to 10, but it would be locked down by using shut up 10 or something like that. But since I am using 8, I see no reason to update

But they are open and running, using just the same resources, if not more.

Quite how you get a summary of a number of emails on a live tile for some mysterious email client that displays on them I don't know. Is it easy to set up?

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

It is only $2.99 for one computer, well worth the money and here is what it looks like and there is also a free trial.

That looks good!

i did that on my sister-in-laws computer as she used accounts software that would not work on Windows 7, then latter on she updated the accounts software to one that worked on Windows 7 and we took the VM off the machine, it was easy enough to do from what I remember.

Does VM need to be opened and the programme run within it? I'm never sure if just the fact that it's installed causes it to be used by any programmes that need it. (I haven't read up on it for years now, so can't recall if I actually saw that explained or not).

I don't normally stay with old software, but I am careful with how I update. A mate of mine tends to be the opposite and will keep with old software, running Cool Edit whihc is years old, but he says it is better than Adobe rubbish Audition, he also have a very old version of paintshop pro as he knows how to use it, plus a old version of Office as he says Publisher is better on it than the newer versions.

I don't mind new software if it's better and easy to go back from if I don't like it, but with my website programme, it took me 82 hours over a week to build it, and I haven't a clue how I got it to actually work ..had some help to upload it to the hosting company too.
It could be a lot better now, but it works and is purely for information purposes, so as such, as long as it will work, I don't want to replace it - have neither time nor patience now

I don't use a webcam or microphone. Can the 'getting to know you' part be disabled?

i must admit I do use Google calender for things like that, not 100% happy with using it but it is so useful, it even tells me when to change the filter in my water jug. But that is due to a app.

Mine is a third party calendar (Active Desktop Calendar) - it's efficient, customisable in appearance and works well - can give infinite repeat reminders as well as one-off ones.

Fair enough, but Windows 10 is better on memory management than 7 and do take less resources, maybe if I was still running 7 I would update to 10, but it would be locked down by using shut up 10 or something like that. But since I am using 8, I see no reason to update

Seems that when I do finally need a new computer, W10 perhaps won't be too bad - I know more about it now that I've asked, so as long as I won't have to use the tiles, it should be fine

Edited by deleted (Fri 08-Jan-16 00:43:57)

The live tile is a stub of the application. So, for email the built in Win 10 email client has an icon within the start menu. That icon is actually a live tile. Because it is a stub it should use less resource than the full application. The stub will periodically check for new email (much the same way as the apps on most smart phones) and will display the number of new emails on the live tile.

Same with apps like LinkedIn. The tile is essentially a stub of the app that displays profile pictures of people you are linked to. The stub should be smaller than the full app.

Another example is the news app. It will be periodically grabbing the news headlines and displaying them on the live tile.

So, whilst these live tiles will be running they should be less resource intensive than the full app.

Thanks Ian. That answers two questions .

In reply to a post by ian72:

The stub will periodically check for new email (much the same way as the apps on most smart phones) and will display the number of new emails on the live tile.

It's slightly cleverer than that. It actually displays the subject headers of unread emails, cycling between them. In the same way the live tile for the calendar app displays today's appointments, and the weather app displays the current weather details. Etc., etc., ....

Until you actually experience live tiles in action (which seems to be something that many Windows 10 detractors haven't done) it may be difficult to appreciate how useful they are. And, for the developer, they are incredibly versatile, allowing the display of any information that you can think of on the tile. As you say, all this is done with much reduced demand on system resources - never a bad thing - and efficient use of screen real estate.

It's a shame that so much adverse comment about Windows 10 comes from people who clearly haven't tried it but are just repeating Chinese whispers from the Internet.

"No. Are you?"

No. I just quoted what you stated and asked a question.