**A Year's Worth of Updates: Is Windows 10 Still Worthy?**

If you were one of the many who didn't like the idea of upgrading to Windows 10, it might have been because you were worried about bugs. But if this was the main reason you didn't like the idea, there might be no more reason to worry. After a year, and by then any bugs should be ironed out. So, if this was the main reason you didn’t like the idea of Windows 10, there might be no more reason to worry.

**Controlling Updates**

Also keep in mind that if you use Windows 10 Pro, which is an extra $100 to upgrade from the Home version, you can exactly control how often you receive both feature and security updates separately. I personally keep feature updates delayed by at least 2 months or so, but do not delay security updates, and don’t think you should either. If you’re curious about the other differences between Windows 10 Home and Pro, I also made that video which I’ll have pop up here if you want to watch that after.

**Bloatware: The Unwanted Extras**

Few things are more annoying than freshly installing Windows 10, and then seeing your start menu full of crap, including Candy Crush and literal advertisements for dumb apps. But these can be easily disabled right away. Programs like Candy Crush can be uninstalled from the list of apps in the settings, and for the ads, which Windows calls “suggestions”, they can be disabled in the Start Menu settings, by just disabling the setting to “show suggestions on start”. And then there’s Cortana, Microsoft’s virtual assistant, which some people hate for several reasons. They may find it simply annoying, as well as concerning in terms of privacy, and are suspicious of letting yet another virtual assistant keep track of their questions and searches.

**Cortana: The Virtual Assistant**

I myself have Cortana disabled because I never use it. Unfortunately, it’s hard to disable completely without Windows 10 Pro, but not impossible in Home either. In home it requires editing the registry, which is not recommended if you’re not familiar with that sort of thing, so you’ll just have to look up how to do that if you want. But in any case, you can at least prevent it from tracking most data right in the Cortana & Search settings.

**Security: The Real Reason to Upgrade**

Year, Windows 10 definitely isn’t perfect, but most of the biggest complaints can be fixed, and only requires doing so once and you’re done. And I can see why many people using Windows 7 might say, “well why should I have to go through all that hassle, Windows 7 works fine”. But if you know me, I’m a security nut, and I don’t think it’s worth continuing to use an insecure operating system just because you aren’t willing to spend an hour getting Windows 10 how you want. And remember, you can still upgrade from 7 to 10 for free, despite Microsoft not advertising that, so just Google how to do that, it’s very easy.

**The Great Features of Windows 10**

Despite all the issues we’ve talked about, I think Windows 10 has lots of great features making it worth using. First of all, it IS more secure, not just because it gets regular security updates, but it also has better security features in general. For example, it has exploit protection built into the OS, which used to require separate software called the “Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit”. It also even has built-in ransomware protection you can enable. There are also plenty of features previous versions never had, including DirectX 12 for games, and other little features like clipboard history and clipboard syncing.

**The Best Driver and Software Support**

Also, being the latest Windows OS, it has the best driver and software support. And with Windows 7 now out of service, developers and hardware manufacturers might not focus on Windows 7, so things might not work quite as well with it going forward. And this one is just in my opinion, but I actually like the new start menu, and think it took the best parts of previous versions. Unlike Windows 8 which was an absolute abomination and only had tiles, Windows 10 brought back the list of Apps on the left like you saw in Windows 7, but also lets you pin tiles for shortcuts to anything on the right side, or remove any tiles, and arrange it all however you want.

**The Final Verdict**

So at this point if you’re still a holdout on Windows 7, perhaps this video alleviated your concerns on upgrading to 10, or at least just when it comes to the most common dealbreakers. Obviously I can’t address every single complaint people have, and I’m sure in the comments plenty of you will have other more specific issues you have when it comes to Windows 10. And at the end of the day it’s up to you, but if security is what matters to you, then maybe it's time to give Windows 10 a chance.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enWhat’s up guys, I’m ThioJoe, and withWindows 7 officially dead, having reachedit’s end of life, I recently talked aboutthe need to upgrade to Windows 10.And unsurprisingly, a lot of people got REALLYmad, acting like upgrading to Windows 10 wouldbe worse than death.Though it might have partly been because ofthe slightly sarcastic title.Now I personally think Windows 10 is a totallyfine operating system.Not like “yea awesome!” like I thoughtabout Windows 7 was on release, but I definitelydon’t think it deserves all the hate itgets.That being said, I DO think I understand whysome people hate it, and they have some goodreasons.So we can go over those reasons, and alsowhy they’re not such a big deal, and howWindows 10 isn’t as bad as it used to bewhen initially released, and why you mightwant to consider giving it a chance.Before we get started let me give my quickshameless plug for my truly amazing Instagramaccount, where I post the most amazing techmemes and cool pictures.You’ll literally die of amazement and laughterif you go on there, so be sure to check thatout, it’s just @ThioJoe over on Instagram.And with that out of the way, let’s getinto this.So if you ask people why they don’t wantto get Windows 10, you’ll get a huge varietyof answers.But there are few that really cause the bulkof the concerns, which I’ll first just name,and then we can address them in greater detail.And remember, I actually agree with all ofthese, I just want to show you all how theseissues CAN be fixed with not too much effort.It seems to me, the absolutely biggest flawspeople hate in Windows 10 have to do withPrivacy and Data Collection, and also theforced updates, especially when combined withpoor quality control on those updates.The other major reason many people cite astheir reason for hating Windows 10 is theterrible bloatware, along with Cortana, whichsome might consider both a privacy issue ANDbloatware.Alright so let’s first talk about Windows10’s privacy issues.You’ve probably heard that Windows 10 ‘spies’on you and collects all sorts of information.Windows does do a form of data collectioncalled “telemetry”, which is the rootcause of these complaints.Telemetry collects things like diagnosticinfo like errors, logs of frequently usedprograms and features, stuff like that.None of which supposedly supposed to containany personal information that can be usedto identify you.From Microsoft’s perspective, this dataallows them to identify problems with Windowsitself, and it’s features, so they can identifyand fix them without relying on people tosubmit feedback to find out about them.It can also fix issues users don’t evenknow is a bug at all.For example, maybe a specific program crasheswhen a user runs it, but then they just runit again and it works fine, so the user forgetsabout it.But Microsoft could see that this same crashhappened to a million people, so even thoughfor each user it’s not a big deal, it’sactually a big widespread problem they otherwisewouldn’t have known was even happening.They can also use the data to tell which featurespeople use the most, or which settings peoplechange the most, so they can know what toprioritize.Now on the other hand, from a user perspective,a ton of people simply don’t want a companycollecting any data about what they’re doing,even if it’s apparently not personally identifying.It’s very understandable, and I actuallyfall into this camp where I don’t like ANYdata collection on my devices.But fortunately, there are several ways youcan reduce or disable the collection.The easiest way to limit the collection isgo to Settings > Privacy > Diagonstics andFeedback > Then change the diagnostic datasetting from “full” to “basic”.This won’t stop it completely but definitelyreduces it a lot.To completely stop it, there are several ways,but the easiest way is probably to use a freeprogram I made an entire video about beforecalled “ShutUp10”.I highly recommend that video which I’llhave pop up here and will also put in thedescription.I won’t go to in depth into it here, butit’s a program made by the reputable O&Osoftware company which lets you easily disablelots of settings in Windows 10, includingdata collection and privacy settings you’dnormally have to mess around in the registryto change.So definitely recommended.Alright now the other biggest reason I seeso many people hating on Windows 10 has todo with the forced updates, especially consideringMicrosoft’s history of absolutely TERRIBLEquality control and testing history for manyof these updates.This one is also very understandable, becauseMicrosoft has repeatedly released major featureupdates that broke things, though these featureupdates should NOT to be confused with securityupdates which are very important.One infamous example was the October 2018update Microsoft pushed out that was deletingtons of files in certain directories for certainusers, and nobody knew why at first.This forced Microsoft to pull the update almostimmediately, and permanently damaged Windows10's reputation when it comes to major updates.And I can definitely relate to this, becauseit does seem like after every major featureupdate, which occurs about twice a year, Ido come across weird software and stabilityissues for a few weeks until the kinks areironed out.All that being said though, there is verygood news.You might not have realized that as of theMay 2019 update, Microsoft has changed howmajor updates are pushed out, fixing one ofthe biggest reasons people are holding off,at least in my opinion.You see, Windows 10 will no longer force youto install the big major feature updates thatare released twice a year, and typically theseare the main cause of new issues and bugs.Now in Windows update, it will only installthe big updates if you manually choose to,but can still get all the minor quality oflife updates like bug fixes and security updates.You’ll be able to delay these major updatesuntil your current release version reachesit’s end of life, which is about 18 months.So you can now basically delay these major,often problematic updates by over a year,and by then any bugs should be ironed out.So if this was the main reason you didn’tlike the idea of Windows 10, there might beno more reason to worry.Also keep in mind if you use Windows 10 pro,which is an extra $100 to upgrade from theHome version, you can exactly control howoften you receive both feature and securityupdates separately.I personally keep feature updates delayedby at least 2 months or so, but do not delaysecurity updates, and don’t think you shouldeither.If you’re curious about the other differencesbetween Windows 10 Home and Pro, I also madethat video which I’ll have pop up here ifyou want to watch that after.Ok moving on to the next reason, we have pre-installedbloatware.Few things are more annoying than freshlyinstalling Windows 10, and then seeing yourstart menu full of crap, including candy crushand literal advertisements for dumb apps.But these can be easily disabled right away.Programs like candy crush can be uninstalledfrom the list of apps in the settings, andfor the ads, which Windows calls “suggestions”,they can be disabled in the Start Menu settings,by just disabling the setting to “show suggestionson start”.And then there’s Cortana, Microsoft’svirtual assistant, which some people hatefor several reasons.They may find it simply annoying, as wellas concerning in terms of privacy, and aresuspicious of letting yet another virtualassistant keep track of their questions andsearches.I myself have Cortana disabled because I neveruse it.Unfortunately, it’s hard to disable completelywithout Windows 10 Pro, but not impossiblein Home either.In home it requires editing the registry,which is not recommended if you’re not familiarwith that sort of thing, so you’ll justhave to look up how to do that if you want.But in any case, you can at least preventit from tracking most data right in the Cortana& Search settings.So year, Windows 10 definitely isn’t perfect,but most of the biggest complaints can befixed, and only requires doing so once andyou’re done.And I can see why many people using Windows7 might say, “well why should I have togo through all that hassle, Windows 7 worksfine”.But if you know me, I’m a security nut,and I don’t think it’s worth continuingto use an insecure operating system just becauseyou aren’t willing to spend an hour gettingWindows 10 how you want.And remember, you can still upgrade from 7to 10 for free, despite Microsoft not advertisingthat, so just Google how to do that, it’svery easy.Now despite all the issues we’ve talkedabout, I think Windows 10 has lots of greatfeatures making it worth using.First of all, it IS more secure, not justbecause it gets regular security updates,but it also has better security features ingeneral.For example, it has exploit protection builtinto the OS, which used to require separatesoftware called the “Enhanced MitigationExperience Toolkit”.It also even has built in ransomware protectionyou can enable.There are also plenty of features previousversions never had, including DirectX 12 forgames, and other little features like clipboardhistory and clipboard syncing.Also, being the latest Windows OS, it hasthe best driver and software support.And with Windows 7 now out of service, developersand hardware manufacturers might not focuson Windows 7, so things might not work quiteas well with it going forward.And this one is just in my opinion, but Iactually like the new start menu, and thinkit took the best parts of previous versions.Unlike Windows 8 which was an absolute abominationand only had tiles, Windows 10 brought backthe list of Apps on the left like you sawin Windows 7, but also lets you pin tilesfor shortcuts to anything on the right side,or remove any tiles, and arrange it all howeveryou want.So at this point if you’re still a holdouton Windows 7, perhaps this video alleviatedyour concerns on upgrading to 10, or at leastjust when it comes to the most common dealbreakers.Obviously I can’t address every single complaintpeople have, and I’m sure in the commentsplenty of you will have other more specificissues you have when it comes to Windows 10.And at the end of the day it’s up to you,but I just want to make sure you are fullyinformed on why you upgrade or not.But anyway, if you guys want to keep watching,here’s a couple videos I mentioned earlier,about that ‘ShutUp10’ software, and differencesbetween Windows home and pro.So thanks for watching, and I’ll see youin the next one.\n"