Windows 10 'home' edition is Windows 'freemium' edition, you can't deny that.

I can and do deny that. In the freemium business model software is given away for free (hence the free at the start of the name), and then for a fee you are able to disable ads and enable additional premium features (hence the "mium" at the end of "freemium").

Windows 10 is a piece of software that has some features you don't like, but there is no "pay to remove" upsell or "pay to add" premium features.

I suspect you're equating them because you don't like both of them, but Windows 10 clearly doesn't fit the freemium model; it's an entirely different thing which you also don't like.

Windows 10 'home' edition is Windows 'freemium' edition, you can't deny that.

I can and do deny that. In the freemium business model software is given away for free (hence the free at the start of the name), and then for a fee you are able to disable ads and enable additional premium features (hence the "mium" at the end of "freemium").

Windows 10 is a piece of software that has some features you don't like, but there is no "pay to remove" upsell or "pay to add" premium features.

I suspect you're equating them because you don't like both of them, but Windows 10 clearly doesn't fit the freemium model; it's an entirely different thing which you also don't like.

Windows Pro is required to disable many of the features being complained about. In fact a surprising number of features in Windows 7/8 Home functionality has now been pushed to Pro. A crippled free version that requires 'upgrading' to uncripple it and remove unwanted features is pretty much the definition of freemium. I could see if you were upgrading to Windows 10 pro, but for home users...

Windows Pro is required to disable many of the features being complained about.

If that's the case then my apologies, it was my understanding that the majority of the features being discussed were still present and functioned similarly in pro, with the exception that pro users may delay (but not outright decline) updates. It was also my understanding that home included all of the major functionality home users might want (i.e. not "crippled") and the majority of complaints were about not being able to disable or remove certain features and that some customisation options were not present or easily accessible. If my understanding was incorrect my apologies.

Windows Pro is required to disable many of the features being complained about.

If that's the case then my apologies, it was my understanding that the majority of the features being discussed were still present and functioned similarly in pro, with the exception that pro users may delay (but not outright decline) updates. It was also my understanding that home included all of the major functionality home users might want (i.e. not "crippled") and the majority of complaints were about not being able to disable or remove certain features and that some customisation options were not present or easily accessible. If my understanding was incorrect my apologies.

Your understanding probably isn't any worse than mine. The 'freemium' thing isn't really important. I was hoping we could get a post going of ways to get around the annoyances of Windows 10 and/or assorted tips and tricks. It seems this post has gotten way off tangent, probably partially my fault. Like it or hate it, knowing how to work with it and/or around it is a good thing.

The 'freemium' thing isn't really important. I was hoping we could get a post going of ways to get around the annoyances of Windows 10 and/or assorted tips and tricks. It seems this post has gotten way off tangent, probably partially my fault. Like it or hate it, knowing how to work with it and/or around it is a good thing.

Oh absolutely! I actually read through the topic because I was interested in seeing what features are and aren't liked and what people are doing to work around some of the rough corners. Personally I'm going to wait at least a couple of weeks -- more likely a month -- before updating, but I'll certainly be taking on board some of the suggestions from this topic; in particular the online search function sounds annoying and not something I personally want, so I'll be setting it to local search and collapsing the search back to a smaller icon, both of which I learned about from reading here.

I just thought some of the terminology being used wasn't really accurate or fair: comparing major features (albeit ones some people don't want) to malware comes off as anti-MS rhetoric rather than being accurate, and I don't think it really helps the discussion. I'm all for looking for ways to make the product work the way you want and helping people to evaluate whether or not the update is for them, but bashing the product with inaccurate comparisons to malware don't really help with that.

I haven't upgraded to 10 as I'm waiting a bit for the launch issues to get fixed. But it seems that most of the most of the bad stuff can be turned off with a bit of work: http://bgr.com/2015/07/31/windows-10-upgrade-spying-how-to-opt-out.

But really I'm more worried about stuff like this: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2954817/security/researchers-develop-astonishing-webbased-attack-on-a-computers-dram.html then Microsoft knowing what adult sites I like to visit.

Finally, I solved all problems of me regarding Windows 10 by reverting back to Windows 8.1 \o/

I haven't upgraded to 10 as I'm waiting a bit for the launch issues to get fixed. But it seems that most of the most of the bad stuff can be turned off with a bit of work: http://bgr.com/2015/07/31/windows-10-upgrade-spying-how-to-opt-out.

But really I'm more worried about stuff like this: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2954817/security/researchers-develop-astonishing-webbased-attack-on-a-computers-dram.html then Microsoft knowing what adult sites I like to visit.

I honestly find Windows 10 privacy settings more reachable and easily to understand than Windows 8/8.1. I also pretty like background apps loading settings. They also improved the installation setup for choosing the local account, while in Windows 8.1 is quite an hidden option. Moreover I do not have to run exotic commands any-more to update default Windows Store applications without a MS account.

What I don't like is the lack of a TV-Tuner player + DVR (WMC) and the lack of a better control of Windows Update (forcing security settings is good, but I am not so sure about drivers and OS update components) and the need to edit group policy settings (gpedit.msc) or the registry (Windows 10 home) to disable Defender.

I haven't upgraded to 10 as I'm waiting a bit for the launch issues to get fixed. But it seems that most of the most of the bad stuff can be turned off with a bit of work: http://bgr.com/2015/07/31/windows-10-upgrade-spying-how-to-opt-out.

But really I'm more worried about stuff like this: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2954817/security/researchers-develop-astonishing-webbased-attack-on-a-computers-dram.html then Microsoft knowing what adult sites I like to visit.

I honestly find Windows 10 privacy settings more reachable and easily to understand than Windows 8/8.1. I also pretty like background apps loading settings. They also improved the installation setup for choosing the local account, while in Windows 8.1 is quite an hidden option. Moreover I do not have to run exotic commands any-more to update default Windows Store applications without a MS account.

What I don't like is the lack of a TV-Tuner player + DVR (WMC) and the lack of a better control of Windows Update (forcing security settings is good, but I am not so sure about drivers and OS update components) and the need to edit group policy settings (gpedit.msc) or the registry (Windows 10 home) to disable Defender.

Things I didn't like at Windows 10

- Start Menu is a big joke, its Start Screen scaled down. I'd prefer Win 8.1 style Start Screen (which Win 10 doesn't provide afaik)

- Automatic Updates (yes you can disable or prevent automatic install but there is no way to install selected updates

- Windows Defender (you can disable again though, http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/5918-windows-defender-turn-off-windows-10-a.html )

- No active window color (I had never seen such annoying UI/UX decision from Microsoft before, simply can't get which window is active easily, also border width (1 px apparently) is annoying as well. Win 8.1 style is just fine)

- Edge is a bad implemented good idea, found "homepage" annoying.

- I have privacy concerns (due to telemetry service and new privacy policy)

- It may be me but seemed slower than Win 8.1

- Notification Center can't be disabled fully, system messages still come.

Things I liked at Windows 10

- Making apps windowed, takes less place and usable (It was weird to use Calculator app fullscreen on Full HD monitor)

- New notification area icons.

- Tbh, I believe thats all, I am not interested in DX12 :)

- Start Menu is a big joke, its Start Screen scaled down. I'd prefer Win 8.1 style Start Screen (which Win 10 doesn't provide afaik)

Settings -> Personalization -> Start -> "Use Start full screen"

Also, the OS will automatically use a full size start screen when in "tablet mode" (along with other things like making modern and win32 apps maximized and snapabble)

- Edge is a bad implemented good idea, found "homepage" annoying.

Click the "..." button, select Settings, then pick "Open With" to start with the start page (default), the new tab page, previous pages, or a specific page or pages (aka, the old 'home page' idea).

- Notification Center can't be disabled fully, system messages still come.

Not sure why you'd want to disable this? It basically keeps all those little notification bubbles that you used to get in the lower right so you can see what they said later in case you missed the little popup.