Is Windows 10 stable enough for a main OS?

[ms7168]

I run Windows 10 as my main OS. The only real problems I have had is IE11 locking up on some games that use flash. I'm a gamer and use Steam for my gaming and haven't had problems with playing. I haven't figured out how not to logon after the computer has been sleeping. Overall it's been a pretty good running OS. 

 

I don't have to login after it wakes up.  I have the 32 bit version on this desktop and the 64 bit version on my laptop.  I also ran the previews of both 7 and 8 with nothing more than just annoying problems here and there while they worked on it.

 

I found the setting.  Go to All Settings and then System and then Sleep and then advanced power options.  There is a require password on wakeup and set it to No.  While you're there check out the other settings.  Mine were imported from my previous version installations.

[PGHammer]

I don't have to login after it wakes up.  I have the 32 bit version on this desktop and the 64 bit version on my laptop.  I also ran the previews of both 7 and 8 with nothing more than just annoying problems here and there while they worked on it.

 

I found the setting.  Go to All Settings and then System and then Sleep and then advanced power options.  There is a require password on wakeup and set it to No.  While you're there check out the other settings.  Mine were imported from my previous version installations.

Windows 10 became my daily driver with 9841, and my main OS with 10074.  However, the issue remains individual-driven for all too many obvious reasons - some folks will never be comfortable with an OS that caters AT ALL to anything other than keyboards and pointing devices on their computers that support neither one, while others (such as moi) find that sort of thing irrelevant, even though I DON'T have touch support on any of my hardware.

 

The only hardware that HASN'T been upgraded to 10130 yet is the oldest notebook (and that is due to too many DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION issues booting 10122); worse, there are too many possible CAUSES to rule anything out.  (It has an odd amount of RAM, CPU and GPU from different companies, and a wireless Ethernet chipset with known quirks.

 

THe only issue on my desktop WILL become irrelevant going forward due to an upcoming HARDWARE change, which is why I haven't discussed it - Oracle Virtual Box will not install in any build later than 10000.  (The why it will become irrelevant should be obvious, the motherboard and CPU will be replaced by a Z97/G3258 tag-team - which support Hyper-V; Hyper-V is already supported by the newer of the two notebooks.)

[tompkin]

 

The only hardware that HASN'T been upgraded to 10130 yet is the oldest notebook (and that is due to too many DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION issues booting 10122); worse, there are too many possible CAUSES to rule anything out.  (It has an odd amount of RAM, CPU and GPU from different companies, and a wireless Ethernet chipset with known quirks.

 

 

PG, this is the thing that I am wondering about. Not to the extent your computer is, but there are so many people out there that are using systems with different drivers, and such, I am a little bit concerned that your average user is going to have "odd ball" kind of errors when they install Windows 10.

 

This isn't a problem with the OS at all but I've learned that the OS is often blamed when it's not really the OS that's the problem.

 

With respect to the "free upgrade offer", I have not heard whether they are going to stagger the upgrade process or if they are just going to let people upgrade "from the getgo". 

[PGHammer]

PG, this is the thing that I am wondering about. Not to the extent your computer is, but there are so many people out there that are using systems with different drivers, and such, I am a little bit concerned that your average user is going to have "odd ball" kind of errors when they install Windows 10.

 

This isn't a problem with the OS at all but I've learned that the OS is often blamed when it's not really the OS that's the problem.

 

With respect to the "free upgrade offer", I have not heard whether they are going to stagger the upgrade process or if they are just going to let people upgrade "from the getgo". 

tompkin - that's been the case since 9x, and it's the sort of thing that gives field technicians heartburn.  (The notebook in question has an AMD CPU, old NVidia notebook GPU, and an Atheros Qualcomm wireless Ethernet chipset - any of which - alone or in combination - can cause DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION BSODs - going back to XP.  The notebook in question shipped with Vista - and upgraded from 8.1.)  Such a thing is not predictable, either.

[nekrosoft13]

if you want stable, stay away from windows 10, for a long while.

[tompkin]

tompkin - that's been the case since 9x, and it's the sort of thing that gives field technicians heartburn.  (The notebook in question has an AMD CPU, old NVidia notebook GPU, and an Atheros Qualcomm wireless Ethernet chipset - any of which - alone or in combination - can cause DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION BSODs - going back to XP.  The notebook in question shipped with Vista - and upgraded from 8.1.)  Such a thing is not predictable, either

I may be an old hack but I don't think MS should put Windows 10 out before it's ready. By that I mean stable, even if not "feature complete".

 

I know they say they will have continuous updates but they better get them fixed dang quick because even a few users (percentage-wise) having problems could get on Twitter with their 'Tweeting and Re-Tweeting' to make it sound like there are major problems. Just sayin'.

****

PGHammer: I still have Windows 95 Beta CD's in my closet from when I was in MSDN. I had above-average "standard" hardware. I remember that I was amazed at how good it was. I don't remember exactly how long I got it before RTM but there was a significant amount of time. I ran NT as my main machine at the time but I did use Windows 95 so that I would know the UI and I recall how remarkably stable it was.

 

EDIT:

 

BTW, PGHammer, I posted in another thread that I got a notification that Windows 10 will run on my machine but my video card doesn't have a driver. Whenever it downloads after it is released I will just have to wait until there is a driver released. 

[PGHammer]

I may be an old hack but I don't think MS should put Windows 10 out before it's ready. By that I mean stable, even if not "feature complete".

 

I know they say they will have continuous updates but they better get them fixed dang quick because even a few users (percentage-wise) having problems could get on Twitter with their 'Tweeting and Re-Tweeting' to make it sound like there are major problems. Just sayin'.

****

PGHammer: I still have Windows 95 Beta CD's in my closet from when I was in MSDN. I had above-average "standard" hardware. I remember that I was amazed at how good it was. I don't remember exactly how long I got it before RTM but there was a significant amount of time. I ran NT as my main machine at the time but I did use Windows 95 so that I would know the UI and I recall how remarkably stable it was. 

However, I don't judge all hardware by issues with one - it's why I have TWO notebooks in the test pool.  The other notebook - a newer HP notebook - has a more heterogenous parts selection - and has been, in fact, flawless.  (That is why I posited the issue as individual - right down to the hardware in question.)  I was in the Windows 95 beta as well - we went through SIX release candidate builds before we had the RTM build (still the most of any Microsoft OS); that is why I call this portion of testing the "home stretch" - but not the finish line.

[ultimate99]

I've had win10 as a main OS in its early builds, but then went back to win 8.1 and installed win10 in vm. I have this urge to install win10 as a main os again, would it be rational at this point?

[BeerFan]

I've had win10 as a main OS in its early builds, but then went back to win 8.1 and installed win10 in vm. I have this urge to install win10 as a main os again, would it be rational at this point?

10130 is dang near totally stable on my main system.  Not any issues to speak of, other than an appcrash or two per week.

[spaceelf]

10130 is pretty good.  I wouldn't call it fantastic, but it is definitely good.

if you want stable, stay away from windows 10, for a long while.

Yeah, like, until release day.

[atleeit]

only issue I have had is few games crash from fullscreen back to desktop, not all games but a few. Majority of my top ones don't. The notification section is pretty buggy i.e. click to eject usb sometimes comes up, sometimes is hidden, sometimes it doesn't at all. and ejecting usb sometimes, always says it's busy when it's not. that's about all apart from this it's snappy fast and majority works.

 

Also one which hasn't really left is the error box on restarting, shutting down. Doesn't stop me but it always comes up and I have to click ok to get rid of it before it proceeds. I have heard this is a common issue for the Win 10 builds as I've used them all the way from early days.

[Dadwen]

Afraid not yet, oddly enough the last 2 builds have been the least stable for me (not complaining, I understand it's still in a test phase) but up till 10074 it was fairly stable for me the last few have been kinda buggy with crashes (just reinstalled it on one computer last night and got some odd issue during the install that I didn't with the older builds on the same computer)

[A Real American!]

VM/ VHD are like condoms: NO FUN! 

[atleeit]

VM/ VHD are like condoms: NO FUN! 

I do love VM's as I use them at work daily however re-formatting and testing live it's so much more fun. Nothing better then doing it live and running into problems, Love to diagnose and fix issues, all the fun in IT.

[PGHammer]

However, I don't judge all hardware by issues with one - it's why I have TWO notebooks in the test pool.  The other notebook - a newer HP notebook - has a more heterogenous parts selection - and has been, in fact, flawless.  (That is why I posited the issue as individual - right down to the hardware in question.)  I was in the Windows 95 beta as well - we went through SIX release candidate builds before we had the RTM build (still the most of any Microsoft OS); that is why I call this portion of testing the "home stretch" - but not the finish line.

Followup - I clean-installed 10147 on the oldest notebook (Big Pavilion) - the BSODs have been banished.  Baby Pavilion is the only hardware still on 10130 - however, it is also the only hardware that had no issues at all with 10130.  Still, all hardware is now ready for the next build.

[patseguin Global Moderator]

10147 is definitely good enough to run as main OS. At this point though, I wouldn't recommend doing it as you will have to have a licensed version of 7/8 installed in order to get the 10 upgrade.

[Buio]

10147 is definitely good enough to run as main OS. At this point though, I wouldn't recommend doing it as you will have to have a licensed version of 7/8 installed in order to get the 10 upgrade.

 

Indeed. At this time, why not just wait until it is released.

[Matt Sharpe]

Bear in mind that insider builds collect a lot of data - including keystrokes. If you're happy with that on your main computer then fine, but if you're using your machine for work purposes then it's probably not appropriate.