10 August 2015

Maybe it's “zucchini”

I've spent the last two or three days figuring out how to install Windows 10 on my desktop computer. First I had to remember how to boot that computer using Windows 8.1, which was something I hadn't done in months and months.

The desktop came with Windows 8 pre-installed, and I didn't like it. All those months ago, I ended up installing Windows 7 on an external hard disk and making it my boot disk. That has worked very well and I've been happy, so I didn't even really need Windows 10. But I was curious to see what the new windows version was all about. The installation went very smoothly, I have to say.

The only problem I have right now is that Windows 10 is asking me for a network password before it will let me access all the photos that are stored on the desktop computer. I have no idea what password it wants, because I've never password-protected my network before.

Yesterday's lunch was a Thai coconut milk curry with fish, zucchini, and a lot of basil.

Could the password be "zucchini"? That seems to be the word most frequently used around our house these days. The word and the actual vegetable seem always to be on the tip of my tongue right now. Walt just came downstairs and asked: "So how are we eating zucchini today?"

I guess I'd better go mess with the Windows 10 computer and see if I can figure out what password the thing wants...
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26 comments:

  1. chm10 August, 2015 07:46

    Maybe it's just the name of your network that it wants?

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    Replies
    1. Ken Broadhurst10 August, 2015 09:21

      It turned out that I had not made the Win10 machine part of our network Homegroup, and I also hadn't turned on the option to share the computers Public folders. Not using Windows, you might not have any idea what all that means. The point is, it works now. I don't know why Win10 did not pick up those Homegroup and Public folders settings from Win8.1 but it doesn't matter now.

      My next step will be to upgrade the Win7 laptop computer to Win10. Yikes!

      Delete
    2. chm10 August, 2015 09:50

      Glad to hear you solved your problem. Ouf!

      Delete
  2. Le Pré de la Forge10 August, 2015 09:10

    Ken,
    following on from CHM's comment....
    our new computer for downstairs...
    the one we are "LaPré DelaForge" on...
    is Win-Doh's 8.1.
    As I set it up onto the house network Win-Doh's generated a password for our TP-Link router...
    did that happen with you?

    I am following your progress with interest as this machine is elly-gibberish for a free W10 upgrade!
    I am very glad to hear that the installation went smoothly...
    but reading this post...
    was that because you were not using anything under the 8.1 system?
    Tim

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    Replies
    1. Ken Broadhurst10 August, 2015 09:25

      Tim, I did have some programs installed on Win8, which I had upgraded to Win8.1 many months ago. See my reply to CHM above for details about what happened.

      I didn't even get an invitation from Microsoft for the Win8.1 computer. I just went to the Microsoft site, downloaded the installation files, and set it all working. I don't know yet what other settings might have got lost in the upgrade process.

      I have an ASUS router and I set my own password to protect it from people passing by and using smartphones.

      One thing I haven't found in Win10 is the famous Start menu. Wonder how I get that to show up...

      Delete
  3. Travel10 August, 2015 11:04

    Most everyone I have heard from has had difficulty with the upgrade. It may be the last straw for me and M-soft.

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    1. Ken Broadhurst10 August, 2015 11:19

      I haven't had much trouble — people I know who have Macintosh computers have had a lot of trouble with upgrades too. It's just part and parcel of keeping a computer up to date and running smoothly.

      Delete
  4. Seine Judeet (Judith)10 August, 2015 13:45

    Moi aussi -- I'm relieved to hear that you've gotten the network issue straightened out. I knew you would-- you, Ken, are good at plugging away and thinking and thinking and finally figuring it out.

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  5. Bob Rossi10 August, 2015 14:51

    My computer is running Windows 7, and I upgraded to Windows 10 last week. The upgrade was easy, but I had apparently unsolveable problems with some important older programs, so I quickly reverted back to Windows 7.

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    1. Ken Broadhurst10 August, 2015 15:16

      Hi Bob, I still have Win7 on an external boot drive, so I can go back if I need to. I have really liked Win7 over the years, and I'm hoping Win10 will also be a winner. Old apps -- well, it seems normal that they can get left behind. That said, I still use a 20-year-old version of Claris Works for word processing and creating HTML files. I worked at Claris back in the mid-90s.

      Delete
  6. Evelyn10 August, 2015 15:54

    Lewis did a beta upgrade on his mac laptop and it took away his kindle there. He lost his mail program when he went back a step. So it goes....

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  7. Cheryl10 August, 2015 16:08

    I have not heard positive things about Win10, so I find these comments interesting. I doubt I'll install it unless there's a compelling reason to do so. I'll stick with Win7, TYVM.

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  8. Diogenes10 August, 2015 19:17

    I still have Windows 7. Danny has Windows 8, which has created many problems for him with pictures. Per Microsoft, it ended "mainstream support" for Windows 7 in January 2015: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/lifecycle

    ReplyDelete
  9. Ken Broadhurst10 August, 2015 21:04

    I just finished "upgrading" one old computer from WinXP to Win7. I didn't know support for 7 was winding down, but I should have suspected. I hope 10 will prove to be performant.

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  10. Anonymous10 August, 2015 21:32

    I just upgraded to Win 10. It went smoothly but took soooo long. Win 10 also comes with Windows Defender. The technician at Best Buy recommended disabling it if using a third-party anti-virus program (I use Webroot). The start button is on the lower left; looks like a mini-windows icon......

    DR

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    1. Ken Broadhurst11 August, 2015 06:20

      Thanks, DR. I had opened the new start menu in Win10 but didn't recognize it because it looked more like a Win8 thing rather than a Win7 thing. It's there, though, and it's going to be fine. I think I'll let Windows Defender scan my system this morning while I'm out and about.

      Delete
  11. TerryM10 August, 2015 21:55

    To help remove the "stress" when system/program updates don't work out (can't trust MS Restore), have a look at Macrium Reflect (http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.aspx) to backup and restore your system hard drive using an external (spare) drive. Also great for cloning your existing drive when you want to move to a new larger one. I always do a backup periodically and before any major update.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Ken Broadhurst11 August, 2015 06:25

      Thanks Terry, I'll have a look at Macrium. For the past few years, I've been doing backups by copying everything from my Windows Users folder, and especially all my photos, onto an external USB drive (3 TB) every two weeks or so. I do need a new hard disk for my Win10 system and data, though. Space on the 500 GB partition I've been using for Win8 and now Win10 is getting tight. One open issue is the windows.old directory on that drive. It's something like 25 GB and I can't delete it. Windows won't let me. I don't ever plan to go back to Win8.1, so I just want it off the disk. Any ideas?

      Delete
    2. TerryM11 August, 2015 16:11

      Ken, glad to help. First, I would backup your drive using Macrium Reflect (always best to have a known "good" state to return to, just in case). Next, try the steps in this link: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-CA/windows-8/how-remove-windows-old-folder. Macrium Reflect is a great tool. It has saved me countless hours from having to rebuild a "damaged" O/S from scratch. As mentioned, I backup regularly and keep two prior images just in case. By the way, be sure to create a Rescue CD (or USB stick if your computer BIOS is UEFI) when you install Reflect. This will allow you to recover the image that was saved during backup. There are some good vdeos on installation, etc. on YouTube.

      Delete
  12. TerryM10 August, 2015 22:08

    Even though mainline support for Windows 7 has ended, MS will still provide Extended Support until 2020. This means that MS will continue to support Windows 7 with all Security Updates until January 2020 (only support for product design/features and complimentary support issues stop in 2015). So, no problem with Windows 7 updates for some time. Check out the table in this link: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/gp/lifepolicy

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    1. Ken Broadhurst11 August, 2015 06:30

      Thanks too for that info, Terry. That's reassuring. I may well go back to booting from Win7 for quite a while, if I decide I'm not really happy with Win10. I've been enjoying the Win7 x64 system for a while now.

      Delete
  13. Gosia10 August, 2015 22:21

    looks so yummy

    ReplyDelete

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