Biting the Windows 10 bullet

[clavguy]

Hi folks.. Long time no chat
Well I am looking to purchase my first laptop that is capable of music production.

Here are the specs:
Screeen: 17.3" FHD Matte Screen
Processor: Intel Skylake i7-6700HQ
Memory: 32GB
Video: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 960M [4GB]
Hard Drive: 1TB 7200RPM [3.5"] (SATA III - 6GB/s)
SSD: 1TB Sandisk X400 M.2 SSD
MEDIA: DVD +/- RW
USB 3
HDMI


Herein lies my problem. It comes with Windows 10 and I am not yet sold on it. I have a few questions

1) What's up with Window 10 continuously calling back and reporting to the Microsoft "mother ship"? Isn't that invasion on privacy? Can that "feature" be disabled?

2) As you know from some of my older posts.. I have other DAWs. I am not asking you guys to be experts in other DAWs here but will my Studio One and Sonar both run ok under Windows 10? I know Mixcraft will from what I have seen here/

3) And finally.. I have watching a recent thread about the horrors of Windows 10 updates.. What's up with that?

Cheers
Pierre

[Acoustica Greg]

HI,

I've updated a couple of computers to Windows 10 and everything went smoothly. I had to download a new Line6 UX2 driver on one computer.

As for other DAWs, check their system requirements listing on the web page. It should say right there.

In regard to privacy concerns, there are a bunch of articles on what to turn off. Here's one: Windows 10 quick tips: How to protect your privacy

Greg

[clavguy]

HI,

I've updated a couple of computers to Windows 10 and everything went smoothly. I had to download a new Line6 UX2 driver on one computer.

As for other DAWs, check their system requirements listing on the web page. It should say right there.

In regard to privacy concerns, there are a bunch of articles on what to turn off. Here's one: Windows 10 quick tips: How to protect your privacy

Greg

Thanks a lot Greg...
What about when Windows 10 does it's own windows updates... any issues there?

[Acoustica Greg]

Hi,

None, aside from the fact that sometimes you get an unexpected update when you're expecting a simple restart or shut down.

Greg

[Rolling Estonian]

I switched over day one and have had no major issues. I've got mine set up pretty much like W7 but I like the app tiles too. If you've never had an SSD you'll love it, boot up in seconds and 32gb ram is going to make your machine a beast.

M

[clavguy]

I found this tonight for finding compatibility with software and hardware
http://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/art ... formation/

[JohnS]

aHA!!

Yes ,this new windows 10 Anniversary update has a few horrors In It for me.
I eventally got the update In after a lot of research about the 0x80070057 error.
You download the update. start Installation and switch off the Internet.(Installation without Internet )
When loaded switch Internet back on and wait for the start ,re-start process to complete and then you are done.Otherwise you will be stuck on 2% and windows will say there Is a problem.This is a Microsoft problem.

Once In all of my Vst codes for Korg went missing and I had to sort though a popup box with hexadecimal or chinese writing In It to get the codes back In.It Is like trying to open a door on an alien spaceship,trying to decipher the script.I have written to Korg about It.I wonder what the mighty Korg Commander thinks about this!!!
Additve drums wanted the service centre opened up for reconfiguring. and my IK Sonic synth ,Samplemoog ,Sampletron, and Miraslav went missing again until I ran the finder over them again.The only vst that escaped was Arturia !!
The new update messed with codes mainly and had to be re configured.
Now that It Is done ,I think things appear to be a little sharper,but this all takes time to get 100% again.
No good going to Microsoft, because all you get Is temps that read off lead sheets and try to fix your computer with free tools that you can get,plus a load of waffle.If you have to restart your computer you lose the person helping you.
Ahh yes ,they give you a call back number, but you try getting the same person!!!!"They are always engaged".
I found out myself that my cmos batterry went down and reset my bios .There so called miracle tool really messed me up
I did eventuall work the problem out and It was nothing like what Microsoft said It was.All It was ,a few values In the bios had to be altered.
I do not trust Microsoft IT helpers!!

Finally you would think Microsoft would have had a fix within a few days or not put the update out until they were sure about It.
I mean fully tested!!

All the best
John

[mick]

Tried the speedier slicker win 10 twice and rolled back to the antiquated windows 7 twice and that is where I'm at.
All programs work, the "wrecking ball" windows auto update is disabled but I still have the win 10 installer on a partitioned 2nd drive just in case an unknown cloudburst of technicalities should fall from the sky.

[msnickybee]

Anniversary update successful yesterday for me, took about 15mins.
Windows 10 with a SSD is really lovely stuff.
Well, to be honest, I say this as someone who also uses Windows 8 at work - that's a right old mess.

[Mark Bliss]

I am at to early a stage in my use of W10 to help much, beyond stating that Mixcraft has not been an issue. Newness and aversion to change has.
On a positive note, start times are remarkable, especially compared to my long run on Vista! That OS was driving me bonkers.

But I miss the familiar feel of W7. Taking control of this new thing is going to take a while. Trying not to make any major mistakes as I explore...... (Disclosure, I made an attempt at overriding the Windows "user accounts" functions in Vista. Bad things happened that were never fully sorted.)

[AHornsby]

Don't you all remember that before you install Windows there's an agreement screen which will not allow you to install Windows unless you check 'agree'? Well, in that agreement you sign off on your expectation of privacy meaning that there is no expectation of privacy when you're connected to the internet.

So, given the various ways to turn off and on features which make you think you have any privacy, you won't.

It's best to dedicate your machine to one purpose and leave the internet off of it completely.

Do your updates through a thumb drive.

You can get the cheapest, ugliest piece of used computer -- even if it has Win '95 -- and surf if you must. -h

[Rolling Estonian]

Even old dogs can learn new tricks Mark!

Like I said, I have had no issues with W10 and picked it up pretty quick in terms of how I like my system to look and work.

If you want, there are ways of having the best of both worlds with W7 emulator. http://www.laptopmag.com/articles/make- ... -windows-7

M

[cremley]

I have been using Win 10 with Mixcraft 7 since Win10 was available. No problems for me. One thing I do is have a PC that is dedicated to Mixcraft and it does not get any updates unless I physically connect it (Air-Gapped, I guess). No problems with my AMD A10 processor.

I personally do not like MS gathering all my data, so I just turn all the stuff off (Cloud Enabled, Cortana, etc. ). Also, remember that it is not connected to the Internet so virus/malware is not an issue.

Good luck and keep on jamming.

Mixcraft Rocks !!!

[kitekrazy]

I was worried most of my M-Audio stuff would turn into doorstops.

M-Audio AP2496, 192, FW 410 all work.

The biggest surprise is my old Terratec EWX still runs and it's using Vista 64 beta drivers.

When it comes to the Mac/PC debate all of that hardware would not run on the latest versions of OSX.

Give MS credit for giving you the ability to use legacy devices.

Unfortunately developers will also be at the mercy of W10 since it is an evolving OS.

[afernand]

I agree with cremley. It's worth dedicating a PC to function as your DAW. I have successfully been running Mixcraft Pro 7 on Windows 10 and FL Studio 11. I had problems with the 64-bit version of Mixcraft so I only run the 32-bit version. It appears that the 64-bit is more bloated.