x

Upgrade to Windows 10 (from Win7)…

Home 2023 › Forums › DJing Software › Upgrade to Windows 10 (from Win7)…

Viewing 5 posts - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • March 26, 2016 at 2:11 pm #2375111
    DJ Vintage
    Moderator

    Frankly, the Win 10 upgrade is pretty much self-explanatory, but … it’s riddled with Microsoft sponsored “spyware”. There are various vids and articles on how to prevent MS from making contact with it’s own servers and sharing all kinds of info. Some things you can switch off while installing, some other things are stuck way deep in the operating system. Obviously if you don’t connect to the internet once you’ve installed, they can’t send anything out, but still.

    Personally I am a fan of clean installs. Before you do a clean install, be sure to find the license key of your current win7 setup. If it’s not on a sticker or came with an install disc, you can run something like Keyfinder (by Jellybean) to find the key for you. Another option in your current case is to make a dual-boot solution, installing the new win10 on the second boot install. Both boots operate independent of each other and you can try out the Win10 while doing gigs on your “old” Win7 setup until you are satisfied the Win10 works properly.

    Again, there is much to be found online about tips how to optimize a laptop for DJ-ing purposes.

    March 26, 2016 at 11:07 pm #2375251
    Luke Butzen
    Participant

    I’d say do dual boot if you can. I was encountering issues-o-plenty when I upgraded to 10, even having my computer freeze to the point the only thing I could do was hard shutdown and reboot. I thankfully have a copy of 8.1 I can fall back on, but I was a bit miffed about having to do that.

    March 31, 2016 at 5:55 pm #2377391
    salim_rind@hotmail.com
    Participant

    Could be a stupid question but what is the benefit of upgrading to Win 10. My machine is nice & stable on 8.1 and I can’t see an upside to upgrading.

    April 18, 2016 at 3:32 pm #2386011
    Christopher Carter
    Participant

    I finally upgraded my DJ laptop from 7 to 8.1 recently (had the license but never got around to using it) and this I would recommend because 8.1 needs only minor tweaks to achieve optimum performance and is significantly faster than 7. Instead of dual-booting between a DJ OS and office OS, separate user accounts are enough.

    Now I’m dual-booting 8.1 and 10 to test it out, but I almost never boot into 10 because 8.1 is rock solid and 10 feels very beta. Many drivers just don’t work as well as in 8.1 even though the manufacturer does support 10 on that model. I’m sure 10 will be fine (better than 7) in another year or so, but I’ll stick with 8.1 for a while longer because I don’t want to risk instability on my DJ system.

    To answer your question… do perform the upgrade once, to get your free digital entitlement for the device. That way if you go back to 7 temporarily, you can reinstall 10 for free even after the upgrade offer expires. Also, it’s worth it to do a clean install and make notes about which drivers you install and where you got them from (PC manufacturer, component manufacturer, or Windows Update). As in 8.1, make a local, DJ-only user account, and turn off all the SNS integration, notifications and syncing for that account. Use a separate account to sync your files, email, etc. so you have no interruptions while DJing. Also, turn on System Restore (it’s off by default!) and give it a good amount of space to store restore points. Change the Windows Update settings to always let you choose when updates will be installed (disallow sudden restarts). Make a “Live DJ” Power Settings scheme to switch to in a live setting (there are loads of posts listing what settings to change – they’re basically the same in 10). Perform any other simple audio-performance related tweaks (set priority to Background Tasks, etc.). Since 8.1 I haven’t messed with Services. Of course, don’t forget to back up your files and settings.

    April 18, 2016 at 6:08 pm #2386081
    DJ Vintage
    Moderator

    I personally intend to never transition to 8.1. It’t the intermediate version that sticks to the famous Microsoft pattern: good version after service pack 1, terrible version released prior to the next good version.

    Windows 3.1 – nice try, but not quite there
    Windows 3.11 – solid
    Windows 95 – oh well
    Windows 98 – solid after a while
    Windows Millenium Edition – they were behind on XP so released this version. MS admitted it wasn’t very good (understatement)
    Windows XP – solid after SP1/2
    Windows Vista – Windows 7 not ready in time, but we need something new: enter Vista
    Windows 7 – rock solid (most companies for example went straight from XP to 7, never touching Vista)
    Windows 8 (and due to everybody falling over each other screaming for start button back, 8.1) – well if you like a totally failed attempt to have phones, tablets, laptops and desktop PCs all work with the same OS (and if you like crazy size tiles), then this was your choice
    Windows 10 – They learned their lesson and have another solid performer.

    Just me, of course, but enough of me to just skip 8/8/1 and go straight to 10 (shortly before the free offer expires in July, LOL).

  • Author
    Posts
Viewing 5 posts - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
  • The forum ‘DJing Software’ is closed to new topics and replies.