Windows 10 BUTT Ugly windows

[williamwaco]

I bit the bullet yesterday and updated to Windows 10.

I have not had any operational problems but I cannot believe what they have done to the user interface. This thing is DOUBLE UGLY.

It looks like Windows 3.

The windows are perfectly square and flat.
Gone are the rounded corners, shadows, shading, three D effects and buttons that look like you actually depress them.

I have spent two hours on the web and not only can I not find any way to turn this stuff back on, I can't even find anybody complaining about it.

What is wrong with me?

Anyone know how to pretty it up?

[DerekP Houston]

Nope...it is what it is. The only feature I prefer so far is the windows key + search feature that almost always find the app/program I'm looking for. I was die hard windows 7 ultimate, but work required us to upgrade. You get used to it after awhile, depends what you upgraded from. The graphics settings are most likely turned way down if you have an older PC just to let the bloated thing run.

[Fishman]

I have the windows 8 atrocity on my home computer and tried to update to windows 10. It's stuck on 99% complete. I have windows 10 at work and it is ok, even nice in some areas. I'm telling you, a tablet is the way to go.

[HangFireW8]

The windows are perfectly square and flat.
Gone are the rounded corners, shadows, shading, three D effects and buttons that look like you actually depress them.
...
Anyone know how to pretty it up?

Actually, if all those things are gone out, you may need a Video Driver update. That is, if one exists for Windows 10 and your particular video chip.

Good driver's won't fix everything, though. Butt-ugly 2D Monochrome icons are all the rage now. I hate them.

I had the same problem with LibreOffice on Linux, someone "forgot" to ship all the good color themes, but they sure remembered to put their un-shiney-new butt ugly B&W flat 2-D theme "Sifr" in there. A quick apt-get of Galaxy and Tango, and one setting LO change and it was all fixed up.

[kayala]

Make sure to disable as much spying "features" as possible (they actually call it "telemetry" :D). Just google "disable windows 10 spying" - you should get plenty of links.

[smokeywolf]

They had to reduce a lot of the resource hogging graphics in order to make room for all the spyware packed into 10.

[Houndog]

My new computer came with that monstrosity and I absolutely hate it! I too was a Windows 7 fan. The new Windows Office program I had to buy ( the old one wouldn't half run under Windows 10) just plain awful and almost useless. There's no decent adblocker for it, and I'm having to contend with unwanted popup ads even though I have the so called "popup blocker" turned on. There is a light at the end of the tunnel though. I have Linux Cinamon loaded on an older computer and as soon as I have it figured out this Microsoft monstrosity is history! Whoever ramrodded the development of this joke of an operating system ought to be tarred and feathered and rode out of town on a fence rail!

[DougGuy]

GO GET CLASSIC SHELL!! It's FREE and reliable, it puts a start button and menu back on Win10 and can customize it to look like win7 or 8 (not that anybody would WANT to). It "dumbs" down windows 10 to look for the most part like 7.

I have been using this handy little app for years and love it! You can click one of the settings in there when you rt click on the start button, it gives you the windows 10 start menu in a very simple and intuitive menu.

http://www.classicshell.net/

Y'all can thank me later..

[williamwaco]

GO GET CLASSIC SHELL!! It's FREE and reliable, it puts a start button and menu back on Win10 and can customize it to look like win7 or 8 (not that anybody would WANT to). It "dumbs" down windows 10 to look for the most part like 7.

I have been using this handy little app for years and love it! You can click one of the settings in there when you rt click on the start button, it gives you the windows 10 start menu in a very simple and intuitive menu.

http://www.classicshell.net/

Y'all can thank me later..


I have classic shell and love it.
It is the first thing I install on any computer.

But . . .

it doesn't help the "flat, square" screens.

[victorfox]

my wife updated her notebook and we almost don't use it as windows. I boot Linux and run most of what you need, with Wine or native apps

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

The nicest feature of the 10 upgrade from my 8.1pro, was the ability to uninstall 10 and go back to 8.1pro. AND when I did that, I quit getting the upgrade now window reminders every day.

[DerekP Houston]

The nicest feature of the 10 upgrade from my 8.1pro, was the ability to uninstall 10 and go back to 8.1pro. AND when I did that, I quit getting the upgrade now window reminders every day.

i just finished reinstalling some neighbors PC's...even though the driver/motherboard site says specifically "NOT TESTED FOR WINDOWS 10" they still get the constant reminders. At least the upgrade window is over now so hopefully MS will tone down the forced roll outs.

[David2011]

The whole world is embracing the stupid flat iPhone look. Let Apple do it their way and MSFT should/could be original. I really don't like the Apple look. Sent from my iPhone.

David

[ozarkhillbilly49]

loaded ubuntu 16.04 linux a couple months ago. i aint going back to winders!!

[DerekP Houston]

loaded ubuntu 16.04 linux a couple months ago. i aint going back to winders!!

Once you figure out how to run it and get everything you need, don't look back. Sadly most of my work applications are still written for windows and we run it for the office. My work around for security settings has been a live mount DVD of ubuntu with all programs installed via USB. Works like a champ and keeps me from reformatting everytime I need to initialize a new storage array.

[dragon813gt]

I decided early on I wasn't going to upgrade from 8.1. I had enough trouble when I went from 8 to 8.1. I've had no problems w/ it. I don't see why people hated it so much. It boots to desktop mode so I never even see the Metro area. It's on a touchscreen laptop so that does help.

Either way I haven't updated it in a long time because of all the incessant reminders. Hopefully I can now upgrade it and not have to deal w/ them. I'm waiting it out a few weeks until the other "beta testers" that stuck w/ 8.1 can go through all the potential headaches ;)

[charlie3tuna]

Make sure to disable as much spying "features" as possible (they actually call it "telemetry" :D). Just google "disable windows 10 spying" - you should get plenty of links.

Thank you kayala !! You saved my computer and my sanity. A young man showed how to disable ALL the MS crud, and after that per his recommendation I installed
Spybot Anti-Beacon for Windows (http://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0LEVjmuVKBXFDkAIsonnIlQ;_ylu=X3oDMTE0MTJtMWw wBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDRkZVSTNDMV8xBHNlYwNzc g--/RV=2/RE=1470154030/RO=10/RU=https%3a%2f%2fwww.safer-networking.org%2fspybot-anti-beacon%2f/RK=0/RS=ng.5UQBCbTKCjaVbfp3h5zaJ74U-)which is freeware from the Spybot Search and Destroy people. (It doesn't have any malware within it as many free programs he tried.) Wonderful app, eliminates junk automatically. Just be sure to download the 1.5 version.
Thanks again....charlie

[M-Tecs]

Thank you kayala !! You saved my computer and my sanity. A young man showed how to disable ALL the MS crud, and after that per his recommendation I installed
Spybot Anti-Beacon for Windows (http://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0LEVjmuVKBXFDkAIsonnIlQ;_ylu=X3oDMTE0MTJtMWw wBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDRkZVSTNDMV8xBHNlYwNzc g--/RV=2/RE=1470154030/RO=10/RU=https%3a%2f%2fwww.safer-networking.org%2fspybot-anti-beacon%2f/RK=0/RS=ng.5UQBCbTKCjaVbfp3h5zaJ74U-)

which is freeware from the Spybot Search and Destroy people. (It doesn't have any malware within it as many free programs he tried.) Wonderful app, eliminates junk automatically. Just be sure to download the 1.5 version.
Thanks again....charlie

I will have to give it a try.

[gnostic]

I have the windows 8 atrocity on my home computer and tried to update to windows 10. It's stuck on 99% complete. I have windows 10 at work and it is ok, even nice in some areas. I'm telling you, a tablet is the way to go.

My last two lap tops have been Chromebooks, and no way would I go back to windows.

[DerekP Houston]

I decided early on I wasn't going to upgrade from 8.1. I had enough trouble when I went from 8 to 8.1. I've had no problems w/ it. I don't see why people hated it so much. It boots to desktop mode so I never even see the Metro area. It's on a touchscreen laptop so that does help.

Either way I haven't updated it in a long time because of all the incessant reminders. Hopefully I can now upgrade it and not have to deal w/ them. I'm waiting it out a few weeks until the other "beta testers" that stuck w/ 8.1 can go through all the potential headaches ;)

The reason I didn't care for windows 8/8.1 is for desktop use. It is fine for tablet or touchscreen, just not designed for typical desktop users. Always a trade off between OS though, i stuck with windows 7 as long as possible, but when I built a new PC I took advantage of the free upgrade since my new equipment didn't have all the appropriate drivers and work requires windows 10. I still utilize a live-usb linux boot for the odd occasion I need to trouble shoot something without windows interfering, and hirens boot cd is always great for clearing out junk/copying files from an infected pc to rescan with a rescue disk.

Much like everything else in this forum, to each their own.


I have the windows 8 atrocity on my home computer and tried to update to windows 10. It's stuck on 99% complete. I have windows 10 at work and it is ok, even nice in some areas. I'm telling you, a tablet is the way to go.

This happened to me as well when I tried to upgrade my older system. What happens for me at least, the prechecks found enough space but when windows started installing it completely filled my SSD boot drive to 100% and froze up. At the time I built it a 60gb SSD was kinda pricey so it was only used to run windows on, and the upgrade dorked it up.

[JimB..]

Here is a better link to Spybot Anti-Beacon
https://www.safer-networking.org/spybot-anti-beacon/

[Regulator.]

Linux ..... No issues

[needausername]

I once picked up a box in a Circuit City that said Suse Linux 8.0. I thought "what is this?" and gave it a try. Never looked back. XP was new the last time I used Windows for home use.

[OeldeWolf]

My fiancé, who is a geek-goddess, has really enjoyed this thread.

[charlie3tuna]

The latest version of Win 10 is 1607. After the install I was ready to reverse it. My computer was "creeping" along and then locked up. Resisting the urge to curse I rechecked my privacy settings.

Microsoft had not only reversed most of the changes previously made but were also able to affect the Spybot Anti-Beacon app !! Fortunately all sabotage was reversed and the machine now runs better than it did.

Thank you MS for removing the minor irritations I had with the previous version. AND for making the Settings so easy for me to access and 'allowing' me to learn more about this computer.

Bottom line this system is truly stable and fast. Think I'll have to read the 'advertising' to see if it has any features that would benefit me. Can't help but wonder though what 'shoe' is going to drop next. Oh well, I'm becoming comfortable working with computers. Maybe Linux wouldn't be too tough after all :razz:....charlie

P.S. Would it be possible to install Linux on this computer? Along side of Windows? I'm only using about 40GB on my hard drive, and have approximately 900GB available.

[ozarkhillbilly49]

yep charlie3. ubuntu will install right alongside that microsoft monstrosity and give you a boot option on startup. if you think winders 10 is easy you will love ubuntu 16lts. many built in drivers. easy access to ubuntu software. and the software repository grows constantly. pm me if you need more help.

[WebMonkey]

i've been slowly migrating all my 'relatives' computers to xubuntu.
very easy to make them 'look' like windows.

xubuntu isn't as pretty as some other flavors but it runs very fast on modest hardware.
(i wasn't a fan of the unity desktop but some people really like it)

i have one personal pc that still runs windows. win7
https://www.qrz.com/lookup/kb0wlf
when my 'games' are written for the debian api, it'll get switched too.

[ozarkhillbilly49]

webmonkey arkansaw ozarks here. 73's. aa5ez