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Windows 8.1 - Should I?


BluBear

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Gents, a quick question if you please!

 

I've had licencing trouble with my Win7 64 Ultimate install now for a while and wish to upgrade to ensure i'm fully secure and updated.

Long story short, it was installed by a friend and there's no way I can obtain a genuine license unless I pay for a new one.

I don't really see the point in getting 7 again (although i'm more than happy with it) and 10 seems to be a sore subject at the moment.

 

So, should I just grab myself 8.1 Pro instead? Presumably, i'll still be entitled to a 10 upgrade later?

Are there any inherent problems running our old games on 8.1 or is it much like 7?

 

Many thanks in advance!

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  • 1. DDz Quorum

While Windows 10 may seem to be a sore subject, I see no real and true reason for that.

 

It works fine!

For me, and for others.

 

Some may have issues, but whether those are they really Windows 10 issues? 

 

I doubt it.

 

For sure, there's a chance your Game Controller ID's may/will change sequence-wise, and you may have to either unplug/replug into different usb ports, or change the game settings once.

 

If you are using software that has issues with Windows 10 (like Saitek) then you may want to hold of, or take a different road.

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Hmm ok thanks gents, maybe I misunderstood? I got the impression that whenever 10 was mentioned on TS it was a gripe over it messing something up again.

I don't run any saitek software but I do have the pedals. Other than that as far as peripherals go it's just an MSFF2, G940 throttle and TrackIR.

My IT buddies all love 10, best OS ever apparently. And one of them is a keen gamer, who has experienced some issues. But I guess there's bound to be some at the beginning.

So, perhaps I should just bite the bullet and go 10 then!

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Oh, another question...

 

I seem to always be battling with capacity on my leading 128Gb SSD (I have a standard 1Tb data HDD).

Would it be prudent to spend an extra £60 ish and replace the SSD with one double the capacity?

Is there anyway I could utilise the existing SSD or just keep it packed up as a back-up Win7 install?

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I really like 10 too, it has a bunch of features I really like especially around phone support, music and photos. <br /><br />I only have the OS on the SSD. All games, photos, docs etc sit on a separate HDD. 10 has a feature that can help manage that too!<br /><br />It did cause problems with controllers for me but only cos it does thing differently to 7. Once I (with help from FT and others) figured out how to make it do what I wanted it's fine. Although if you use the saitek profiler you're a bit stuffed.<br /><br /><br />Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Oh, another question...

 

I seem to always be battling with capacity on my leading 128Gb SSD (I have a standard 1Tb data HDD).

Would it be prudent to spend an extra £60 ish and replace the SSD with one double the capacity?

Is there anyway I could utilise the existing SSD or just keep it packed up as a back-up Win7 install?

 

You could do that... though I would personally spend a bit more for a Samsung 850, but that's just me (I already got three of those running in pc's at home)

 

With some clever management and tricks, a 128GB SSD could do fine, but you'd have to install all games/sims on a different (slower) traditional disk...

 

You could keep the Win7 disk as a backup, though only if you install Windows 10 from scratch - If you decide to do the Upgrade route, then for sure, you will loose Windows 7.

 

(Unless you first clone/copy the Win7 disk to the new SSD - Samsung has a fine piece of software for that - and then upgrade the new disk to Windows 10.)

(Or, Upgrade to Windows 10 first, then clone the disk to the new SSD, then run the Win10 uninstall process on the old disk.... never mind... that'd be kinda silly...)

 

(A downside of keeping Windows 7 on that disk, is that probably at the first slightest bump or 'issue' you come across using Windows 10, instead of looking for an - often simple - answer/solution to it, you think 'Oh well' and race the old disk back in...  :shaunhb: )

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 Although if you use the saitek profiler you're a bit stuffed.<br /><br /><br />Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Not so, I have a Saitek X52, Saitek pedals and 2 Saitek quadrants that all work perfectly aswell as the profiler. Apart from the initial reallocation of IDs by win10 (which sorted itself out after 3 reboots) NO driver updates/software updates have been necessary. I am using the same software and profiles I set up in Win7 years ago.

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As a non-user of the saitek profiler under 10 I was repeating what I have read elsewhere. And I'd forgotten that I'd seen it working on 7. My bad. <br /><br />Is that a fresh install or an upgrade Sid?<br /><br /><br />Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Maybe its my experience with Win10 that was responsible for some of the bad press :) However it does boot quickly and shut down quick too. I really dont like the interface/start menu but some think its the best thing since sliced bread. I also am not too keen on games using the users folder as this swells very quickly and I would like to move that but having read the how to on a win10 forum I thought better of trying to attempt it. Now if the was a util that would safely move it like used to be with win 7 I would be pleased.

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Cheers all, very informative feedback indeed.

 

 I also am not too keen on games using the users folder as this swells very quickly and I would like to move that but having read the how to on a win10 forum I thought better of trying to attempt it. Now if the was a util that would safely move it like used to be with win 7 I would be pleased.

 

Now, this worries me slightly.

My current configuration is as follows:

 

Boot SSD (128GB) = Windows, most game installations, program files

Data HDD (1TB) = User files, docs, pics etc and a spill over of some steam games that would not fit in the SSD

 

I think I will go for a new larger capacity SSD and do a fresh Win10 installation on that along with all games hopefully.

But would that mean I can't then allocate my Data HDD for User files?

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As a non-user of the saitek profiler under 10 I was repeating what I have read elsewhere. And I'd forgotten that I'd seen it working on 7. My bad. <br /><br />Is that a fresh install or an upgrade Sid?<br /><br /><br />Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

It was an update from 7 to 10 matey

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Cheers all, very informative feedback indeed.

 

 I also am not too keen on games using the users folder as this swells very quickly and I would like to move that but having read the how to on a win10 forum I thought better of trying to attempt it. Now if the was a util that would safely move it like used to be with win 7 I would be pleased.

 

Now, this worries me slightly.

My current configuration is as follows:

 

Boot SSD (128GB) = Windows, most game installations, program files

Data HDD (1TB) = User files, docs, pics etc and a spill over of some steam games that would not fit in the SSD

 

I think I will go for a new larger capacity SSD and do a fresh Win10 installation on that along with all games hopefully.

But would that mean I can't then allocate my Data HDD for User files?

 

Is it not the case of installing games into another folder on another drive and avoiding the 'C' drive default installation altogether? I believe this has always been a standard operation for Win7 and 10 users as it increases C drive capacity and avoids the pesky windows UAC (user account control) having access to games and other programmes that it has an effect on.

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Is it not the case of installing games into another folder on another drive and avoiding the 'C' drive default installation altogether? I believe this has always been a standard operation for Win7 and 10 users as it increases C drive capacity and avoids the pesky windows UAC (user account control) having access to games and other programmes that it has an effect on.

 

 

But then you don't get the benefit of booting games super quick on the SSD? IL2 has to be installed in a separate folder away from Program Files, but the drive is up to you isn't it?

Unless i'm totally misunderstanding you Uncle Sidly! (Entirely possible).

 

Well, I bit the bullet! Amazon came up trumps on price:

 
Sold by: Amazon EU S.a.r.L.
£65.99
 
Sold by: Zero Group
£89.99
 
Booking in Saturday to do the work, hoping to be back up and running for fliegening Sunday evening 'on 10'.
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I think the main issue in installing games on other hard drives is the likes of CloD uses the users/%appdata% folder I installed Elite on my G drive but there still was a frontierdevelopments folder in the appdata. kin windows

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I think the main issue in installing games on other hard drives is the likes of CloD uses the users/%appdata% folder I installed Elite on my G drive but there still was a frontierdevelopments folder in the appdata. kin windows

 

These are small files/folders though aren't they? Are they affected by UAC?

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Is it not the case of installing games into another folder on another drive and avoiding the 'C' drive default installation altogether? I believe this has always been a standard operation for Win7 and 10 users as it increases C drive capacity and avoids the pesky windows UAC (user account control) having access to games and other programmes that it has an effect on.

 

 

But then you don't get the benefit of booting games super quick on the SSD? IL2 has to be installed in a separate folder away from Program Files, but the drive is up to you isn't it?

Unless i'm totally misunderstanding you Uncle Sidly! (Entirely possible).

 

No, no misunderstanding favourite nephew, out of Program files is the way to go. I have 4 drives on my pooter. All my games except IL2 are on one WD Raptor, the OS is standalone on it's own WD Raptor, I have a backup ssd and IL2 is on another WD drive along with all the associated programmes. I don't know about faster bootup times for games as my ssd is the Backup drive due to the fact that that drive needed replacing due to age and I haven't got around to swapping stuff over.

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Just had a look and Elite uses 6 gig in the %appdata% folder and Clod creates a 186 meg folder in users/documents. I did used to run Clod from my G drive and I hate the idea of making a backup of C and having to include games.DCS runs ok from my G dive. I think that its Elite which made me want to simplify but I may move that in the future

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A word of warning on using sysprep to move the user data files - If you do it and get it wrong their tech support people will not assist you to put it right (basically because you've used sysprep to do something that you're not supposed to do) - That said I used sysprep to do this many times on my 7 install and it worked flawlessly.

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I haven't done a fresh install since I got Win 7 when it first came out, So I upgraded to WIN 10. I had the USB issues with rearranging, and not recognizing, and was forced to unplug and replug my sticks. And Saitek Profiler software has not been updated to work with WIN 10 and I have a feeling it won't be either for my X-45, maybe the X-52 though.

So I bought a 480 gig SSD for the first time and have spent the last thee nights making a triple boot.

WinXP for all my really old progs I use and Hardware.

Win 7 dedicated to Gaming and my perifiles for such

Win 10 for normal use, and play with while waaiting for it to support my toys.

 

By the way Jabo, I had to switch SATA ports before my PC would consistanly see the SSD. But that Port saw my old drive just fine???

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