Mass Media & Technology

Windows 10

Launches 29th July (October 2014)

This site closed in March 2021 and is now a read-only archive
NG
noggin Founding member

My only fear is some of my paid for software will no longer work such as my PCTV Freeview USB dongle if I do decide to upgrade from Win 7.


Do you use the dongle in Windows Media Center? If so then in Win 8/8.1 you have to have Win 8/8.1 Pro and buy a Media Centre pack to get that software (annoying when it was free in Win 7 Home Premium)

If you use DVB Viewer, Media Portal or other 3rd party software, as long as you have the right drivers it should work fine - though you may need to check 32 bit vs 64 bit compatibility. Many drivers for Win 7 have Win 8 compatibility so we can hope for Win 10 compatibility as well - unless the have done something nasty to the BDA/PBDA driver framework in 10 - which given they've abandoned Media Centre effectively (no idea if it is included in 10 at all) seems unlikely.
LL
London Lite Founding member

My only fear is some of my paid for software will no longer work such as my PCTV Freeview USB dongle if I do decide to upgrade from Win 7.


Do you use the dongle in Windows Media Center? If so then in Win 8/8.1 you have to have Win 8/8.1 Pro and buy a Media Centre pack to get that software (annoying when it was free in Win 7 Home Premium)

If you use DVB Viewer, Media Portal or other 3rd party software, as long as you have the right drivers it should work fine - though you may need to check 32 bit vs 64 bit compatibility. Many drivers for Win 7 have Win 8 compatibility so we can hope for Win 10 compatibility as well - unless the have done something nasty to the BDA/PBDA driver framework in 10 - which given they've abandoned Media Centre effectively (no idea if it is included in 10 at all) seems unlikely.


No, I use Next PVR with the dongle, although I'm tempted to pay for DVB Viewer.

I read an article in Computeractive where someone tested Win 10 Preview and the driver for their Ethernet port wasn't compatible with Win 10, so just a little bit concerned about that I hard wire the internet connection to my PC rather than wireless.
NG
noggin Founding member

My only fear is some of my paid for software will no longer work such as my PCTV Freeview USB dongle if I do decide to upgrade from Win 7.


Do you use the dongle in Windows Media Center? If so then in Win 8/8.1 you have to have Win 8/8.1 Pro and buy a Media Centre pack to get that software (annoying when it was free in Win 7 Home Premium)

If you use DVB Viewer, Media Portal or other 3rd party software, as long as you have the right drivers it should work fine - though you may need to check 32 bit vs 64 bit compatibility. Many drivers for Win 7 have Win 8 compatibility so we can hope for Win 10 compatibility as well - unless the have done something nasty to the BDA/PBDA driver framework in 10 - which given they've abandoned Media Centre effectively (no idea if it is included in 10 at all) seems unlikely.


No, I use Next PVR with the dongle, although I'm tempted to pay for DVB Viewer.

I read an article in Computeractive where someone tested Win 10 Preview and the driver for their Ethernet port wasn't compatible with Win 10, so just a little bit concerned about that I hard wire the internet connection to my PC rather than wireless.


That will depend entirely on the Ethernet chipset in your PC. There are loads of different chipsets - and it's not unusual to have to install drivers separately. Whether Win 7/8 drivers will work in 10 is the question I guess.
SP
Steve in Pudsey
That's one of the reasons for a preview release, so hardware makers can get drivers updated for when it is fully released.
IN
Interceptor
I've not seen any indication that the driver profile (last altered for Windows Vista) will be changed.
MP
Michael Power

My only fear is some of my paid for software will no longer work such as my PCTV Freeview USB dongle if I do decide to upgrade from Win 7.

If you have a spare computer you don't care about but meets the minimum requirements, install Windows 10 on it and see if your dongle works. Windows 10 is still in beta and free to try out.
BA
bilky asko

My only fear is some of my paid for software will no longer work such as my PCTV Freeview USB dongle if I do decide to upgrade from Win 7.

If you have a spare computer you don't care about but meets the minimum requirements, install Windows 10 on it and see if your dongle works. Windows 10 is still in beta and free to try out.

You could do that on a virtual machine, rather than having to mess about with old computers.
MP
Michael Power

My only fear is some of my paid for software will no longer work such as my PCTV Freeview USB dongle if I do decide to upgrade from Win 7.

If you have a spare computer you don't care about but meets the minimum requirements, install Windows 10 on it and see if your dongle works. Windows 10 is still in beta and free to try out.

You could do that on a virtual machine, rather than having to mess about with old computers.

True, I'd recommend VMware. But a free one is Virtualbox if you don't have a spare PC to use. There are USB modes on both these vm programs.
FI
FrancisIdents
My only fear is some of my paid for software will no longer work such as my PCTV Freeview USB dongle if I do decide to upgrade from Win 7.

If you have a spare computer you don't care about but meets the minimum requirements, install Windows 10 on it and see if your dongle works. Windows 10 is still in beta and free to try out.

What about multibooting? If you've got enough space on your hard drive, you can create an extra partition and install Win 10 on that.


Shame I missed the Windows 7 boat several years ago as it's quite interesting to see they're rolling this new one out for free. Damn Rolling Eyes
LL
London Lite Founding member
I considered using Virtualbox, but you really need 4GB of memory. I only have 2GB.

91 days later

L8
L89
I'm really liking the look of Windows 10 so far. Although I probably won't want too much stuff cluttering up the start menu.
BM
BenMacDonald
I've got two concerns about upgrading to Windows 10, it's a great idea and I'll definitely do it if I can be sure on a few things!

When I upgrade from Windows 7 Home Premium, will I have to move all my files to an external storage device and will all my paid software be removed, e.g. Office and AVG?

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