StaringIntoNothing
You have the option to turn all of that stuff off.  During the upgrade, select the tiny custom link on the left instead of the large Next button.  As you go through the custom pages turn all of the Microsoft phone home switches off.  If you miss it during the upgrade, it is somewhere in the Windows settings.

Yup get off that cloud and own your own cloud. I use a Synology server.

Freecell is my personal addiction game.  I play it whenever I'm using the restroom or when I need to sit in a waiting room while my Mom sees a doctor.  I've got over 3,800 wins so far (and have never lost). 

backwoods
Do you go for speed or are you more a stamina guy craigb?

Went for speed originally until I got a 1:37, now I just play it.  I usually take around three minutes per game with an overall average of 6:01 (thanks to a few really tough games that took over 45 minutes to solve).  I've got a Samsung Galaxy Note 3, so a nice big screen with a stylus.  Makes it easy to play.

Here's another one for ya.  I was once in a Guiness Book of World Records playoff for solving a Rubik's cube (the original 3x3 one - this was 1982).  Because some positions don't require as many moves, we each had to finish five cubes and then they took the average time.  I averaged 29.4 seconds but wasn't really near the winner who did his in about 24 seconds.  I can still solve a cube in under a minute and can even do alternate solutions (i.e., ones where you actually have to solve the cube in that solution, you can't just spin a normally solved cube to get the pattern - like the checkerboard or diagonal lines).  Here's an example:
 
 One half of the cube.
 The other half.
 A bit of both.
 
I'm pretty sure I can still solve a 5x5, but I'm not sure if I remember the move to resolve the middle squares on the 4x4 any more...
 
 
 

I think they've gotten down to about 15 seconds.  However, some solutions don't require all the moves (and the last one I would do is one of the longest), so I've done some cubes in far less than 29 seconds, but that's why they had us to multiple cubes and take an average.  Some math wizards have discovered that any cube can be done with only 22 moves, but how you know which 22 is beyond me!
 
BTW - Those YouBoob videos that show people solving the cube blindfolded or with their feet are almost always done starting with a solved cube that they mess up then play the video backwards.

I've been since told that faster isn't always better.  
 
So you take the same tests as Harry Potter?  (I did my extensive research into what the WOMBAT test was HERE. )

15 seconds is impressive.  I just don't understand how you can peel and re-stick those little squares that fast?!?!
 

One day we are going to wake up to see that "they" have not taken us all the some jail or camp but rather that they have built one around us without us noticing.
 
 

Windows 7 is pretty decent in my experience (pretty stable and seems to be able to do what I need done). I usually don't upgrade Windows/MS products until I absolutely have to. Are their any gotta-have functionalities in Windows 10 that I need to know about ?
 
Bert

Bert Guy
Windows 7 is pretty decent in my experience (pretty stable and seems to be able to do what I need done). I usually don't upgrade Windows/MS products until I absolutely have to. Are their any gotta-have functionalities in Windows 10 that I need to know about ?
 
Bert

Here's what Noel said in his blog on Win 10: http://blog.cakewalk.com/author/noel-borthwick/
 
.....and to summarize:
 

CONCLUSION

Windows 10 is a mature version of Windows that might just be the best OS release from Microsoft, building on the performance of Windows 8.1 while addressing many of its limitations. It’s great to see features in there that benefit both audio professionals and consumers. The overall user experience is smoother and initial benchmarks show that it performs equally or better than Windows 8. The new continuous integration model, Microsoft’s renewed attention to the audio industry and the fact that it’s a free update from Windows 7 and 8, should make this a great update for most DAW users
 
 

Moshkito
Hi,
 
Of my 3 machines, none of them have given me the option to install it yet! They say keep waiting!
 
I suppose that later is always better and they end up fixing some garbage along the way?

Here's a link to upgrade to Win 10: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-10-upgrade
 
 
Latest OS:
Make sure you are running the latest version of either Windows 7 SP1 or Windows 8.1 Update.

We've got it up in a VM downstairs to kick around.  Not completely impressed from an actual worker's point of view yet.

You're welcome Bert. I'm also on the path to upgrade to Win 10 and from reading around the web (especially here in Cakeland), it seems to be a very positive/simple upgrade.
The main thing to check is if all your hardware has driver support for Win 10......if yes, you're good to go (of note, if all Win 8 drivers already work well, then Win 10 will be an improvement on that).  
 
I'll be upgrading in the next couple of days.

craigb
I'm still waiting for Windows 9...

You may have to install them yourself.......there's a good DIY kit at Home Depot.

rontarrant
I just read a really disturbing article about Windows 10 privacy (Google it; there are quite a few). In short, the end user has no privacy whatsoever. Microsoft will have access to everything you do, type, and say as well as every web site you ever visit. What's more, they state clearly in their 'privacy' policy that they can disclose or even sell anything they gather from you to anyone they want, any time they want.

I was all ready to jump onto the bandwagon until I read that. In fact, until yesterday, I was signed up and waiting impatiently for the upgrade prompt. Now I'm thinking Windows 7 is going to do me until 2020 when the warranty runs out. After that? I have no idea.

Maybe Linux? Hard to say, really. I've checked back with Linux every few years since 1995 and it still looks like a big mess to me.

Apple and the Mac? This year's models are all sealed up so no hardware upgrades... unless you fork over the big bucks and get the top-of-the-line Mac Pro bucket. Otherwise, what you buy is what you're going to be using until you go buy a whole new system.

And I really can't think of another OS that will run high quality software for music production, graphics, video editing, animation and writing. (sigh)

I can only hope that the outcry is so loud that Microsoft rethinks their privacy policy... or someone comes along with a saner OS that actually allows us the privacy we all have the right to.

 
They all ready track EVERYTHING you do on the internet without windows 10 - privacy is moot today in America 
 
 
On the other hand - Germany is so sick of USA spying that purchasing of  typewriters actually skyrocketed a few years back -- no joke http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2701392/Typewriter-sales-boom-Germany-thousands-basics-bid-avoid-U-S-spies-wake-NSA-allegations.html
 
 
anyway - 
 
I am not going get all political here its against the "rules"
 
But I am ok with Windows 7 - I imagine at some point we will all be forced to used a certain type of computer with a certain type of OS and that'll be that -- "take it or leave it" I imagine - we're kind of all ready there 
 
My atari 1200xl can't do what windows 7 does 
 
I am not yet interested in windows 8 or 10 --