Windows 10 ugrade

OK, so this post is not strictly related to the premise of this blog, but everyone on campus is talking about it, everyone in my friend circle is talking about it, even my roommates won't shut up about it! So I decided to do two things: first, upgrade to Windows 10; second, well, write this post.

So here's my experience with the new OS so far:

• The user interface is certainly smoother and more fluid
• The amount of personalisation has certainly reduced. In Windows 8, I could personalise everything right down to the tab color in all windows, not so in 10
• The system tray icons like Wi-Fi and battery are more minimalistic. They manage to convey signal strength, remaining charge etc. and still manage to look good
• I'm not a big fan of the new taskbar they've designed. The search bar takes up too much space, reducing the size and allowed number of pins on the taskbar. Plus, since you can search by pressing the Windows key anyway, the one in the taskbar is redundant in my opinion
• My roommate says it's a big relief not to see all the big floating tiles when you press the Windows key. I never had too much of a problem with that feature, so to each his own I guess
• The restart and boot is a bit slower than its predecessor. While this may not be too much of a problem, it certainly takes quite a bit of time if you're restarting in the middle of running multiple processes
• The play store has apps priced at ridiculous amounts which are free elsewhere. Even though this is not a Windows 10 exclusive feature, it's one of those general complaints I've had about Windows
• Microsoft Edge is just a beautified Internet Explorer, so I'm sticking to Chrome
• Cortana is fairly effective. The voice recognition isn't too shabby either
• I love the fact that the Start is customizable; you can choose between floating tiles and the new one

All in all, I'm quite happy with the upgrade. On a side note, Microsoft allows you to revert to Windows 8 if you're unhappy with 10. But this feature is only available for a month after you upgrade. So if you're wondering whether you should go for it, I would say certainly. Try it for a month and if you don't like it, just switch out.

That's all he said today!