Windows 10 Pro Technical Preview

Every desktop Windows computer system (4) that I use for home and at work is running Windows 10.  Right now on my home system I am on Build 9926.  I do not advise doing this for the average user, but since I use computers for a living I dive in with both feet. I do have two desktop systems that run CentOS 7, but that is another story.

Previously I ran Windows 8 and Windows 8.1.  I never have had any real issues with any Microsoft Windows Desktop operating, except Windows NT.  I skipped Windows 95 because I ran Windows NT. I barely can remember Windows for Work Groups.

So I wanted to report to anyone thinking about trying Windows 10 out to go ahead and test it.  I am quite pleased with the performance of the operating system.  moving the default Metro interface in windows 8 to the "Start" menu is a smart move.  All of my Adobe applications and of course MS Office applications work flawlessly.  The security features work great too, like anti virus.

If you are still on Windows 7 you must create a Microsoft.com account before you can access a Windows 8 or Windows 10 system.  I am pleases so far with the Microsoft cloud applications.

One of the neat features that I discovered last night as I was installing Windows 10 on this laptop at home is that I did it using a USB drive and I did not have to boot from the USB drive to start the install.  In the past Microsoft Desktop installs had to start from a boot off of the media when another Microsoft operating system was present.  windows 10 allowed me to start and finish the install while using my current Windows 8.1 desktop.  Windows 10 even gave me the options to keep my own personal files, which I did not accept.

You may be wondering why I installed Windows 10 on all of my desktops.  Well I have this philosophy that I have been using for a long time.  I re-install the operating system on my desktops at least once a year.  This allows me to purge out any junk and clean up the system.  as a security precaution if anything is installed on my system that I do not know about then this process wipes it out.  Having moved most of my personal data like drawings and documents to Google Drive I really do not have any reason to keep a system in a stable state for too long.  Using the Google Drive and now the Microsoft Sky Drive having multiple systems is really easy.  I can get to all of my files when I need them and I can also refresh  the desktops when ever I want without any disruption to my work.

I re-install all of my applications from a 4 TB external USB drive.  I also make a backup of any local files that I may not have copied into the cloud onto the USB drive.  It takes me about 3 or 4 hours to get everything re-installed.  Going through this purging process also allows me to really know what is on my computer systems and each time I do it I get a little faster.

If you want to try Windows 10 here is the link to the download.  Start planning to move your personal files to one of the cloud services.  If you are putting any classified or extremely personal data in the cloud I would highly recommend encrypting the file before putting it in the cloud.  If you are storing any data like this locally in your home on a laptop or external drive that can easily be taken I recommend encrypting the drive.  Thieves want your personal information more than that flat screen TV now days.