Last Updated on December 13, 2015
Recently I finished a new PC build for myself, my dream build, and I had bought Windows 7 64bit and I decided to take part of the free upgrade to Windows 10.
A Bit Skeptical
To be honest, I was and still am a bit skeptical about Windows 10 as far as privacy and data sharing goes.
Although right away after install Microsoft lets you say yes or no to being able to share a bunch of different stuff but the fact that they had so many different options which dealt with sharing data and sending data to Microsoft had me feeling a bit weird.
With that, I still went ahead and moved forward with fully installing it for my PC. So far on the user experience side of things, I’m absolutely loving it.
Customizing everything to my personal taste is really easy to do and I really dig the new start menu. I changed the search bar right next to the start menu from Bing to Google and my favorite internet browser Vivaldi is working pretty good with Windows 10.
Vivaldi is still in beta, there have been a couple of times where Vivaldi would crash but it’s a very rare occurrence. I’m really liking how it is working with Windows 10 and I don’t regret doing the upgrade at all so far.
Steam and games overall have ran perfectly. I play Stronghold Crusader still to this day and at first I was a little disappointed that it wasn’t working with Windows 10 but then I remembered that compatibility mode is an actual thing (can’t believe it took me a while to think of that) and so after putting in Windows 7 compatibility mode for Stronghold I was able to run it flawlessly.
I’m pretty sure this would work for any older game that ran on previous versions of Windows because Stronghold worked right away once I set up the compatibility mode.
The Future of Windows 10?
I haven’t really touched or even thought about touching any of Microsoft’s products that are integrated such as their app store, Microsoft Edge, things of that nature. The only apps I’m using that are by Microsoft are Photos, Calculator and the Weather app.
I think that Windows 10 is going to be a great future OS simply because of its DirectX 12 compatibility and the fact that it’s an easy OS to use and to get used to. Sure it took maybe a few days to really get the hang of the new start menu and navigating around the new feel of it but other than that it’s a pretty simple and easy to use OS.
I think that many people have moved to and will move to Windows 10 as the default operating system. It’s basically like having Windows 7 and Windows 8 combined into one which is actually a really good combination.
I think that the future of using it as an OS is bright, but I don’t think the whole Windows app store and Windows app movement is going to have as big of an impact. Gaming is pretty awesome with it, the speed of it is pretty awesome and the overall customization is great!
I am constantly checking on my privacy settings and data sharing settings to make sure that Microsoft doesn’t try to pull a fast one on me to see everything that I’m up to, but that’s really the only “complaint” that I have about Windows 10.
No I’m not doing anything illegal, hell I don’t even torrent anything anymore. I simply like knowing that all of my information is private and for me only.
To Conclude
All in all, Windows 10 is an easy to use and very customizable OS with a weird vibe of potentially invading privacy. Though this could also just be me being a bit paranoid…
What are your thoughts on Windows 10? Do you like it?
Are you currently using Windows 10 as your operating system?
Let me know in the comments below! 😀
Hey there! 👋 I’m Colton, founder of PC Builds On A Budget.
Whether you need help putting your PC together, finding a great pre-built rig, or want some help finding awesome peripherals – I’ve got you covered!
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Just to clarify: Do I want to update to Win10 immediately, or should I load my drivers first?
Also, I’m not seeing a Win10 download icon on the toolbar…
I don’t think it’d really matter, I would get the drivers going first.
The icon will pop up after installing the latest Windows updates which you can do from Windows, just search Windows Update in the search bar when clicking the start button I’m pretty sure!
How about that network adapter, too. The disk for the driver is far too small to fit in a normal disk drive.
Also, it says that when I try to use the motherboard disk, ‘D:\ is not a valid Win32 application’. What’s up?
You sure that it won’t fit? Try using it anyway, is it a super small disk? Because there should be a slot in the CD drive for those very smaller disks.
Have you tried wiping the disk with a shirt, something to clean it off maybe? Weird that you’re getting that error, are you able to see the files of the disk within the “My Computer” portion?
If for some reason it doesn’t work out, I’m pretty sure you’re going to be able to find the drivers online by searching for the model number of the motherboard
I needed to test it, so I got an HDMI cable to hook up to my downstairs HDTV. I turned all my power supplies on and pushed the magic button. That was it, the moment of truth…
And that sucker glowed blue! I immediately heard the quiet spin of fans, and I geeked out. So happy that it’s finally put together!! B) 😀
Couple questions, though. One: When I get a couple hours, should I go ahead and throw down Win7 on it and follow the Newegg video, only tweaking the BIOS settings where I need to? I don’t want to screw this up after coming so far.
Drivers and the like. My motherboard and GPU both obviously came with disc(k)s (don’t know the difference between disc and disk lol). Do those contain the drivers I need, or at least some of them?
Didn’t have much to say till now, but I’m glad to be back!
Awesome to hear that John, that feeling is one of my most favorite feelings haha! When you see it come to life and breathing that’s just an awesome feeling to have! 😛
Yes, definitely get Win7 on there. You won’t really have to do too much in the BIOS, all you have to do is to set the boot order to the CD drive if you’re using the Win7 disk(c?) and then after you make the PC boot from the CD first then you’ll be prompted to install Windows.
And yes, those drivers are basically everything that you’ll need. Some programs and the like you’ll have to get online but as far as video drivers and the like, pretty much everything you need is going to be on those CDs.
It’d be nice if I could drive so I could go GET an HDMI. Relying on parents is steadily become more and more difficult.
Depending on whether or not I find a decent HDTV in the house to ‘swindle’, my final Amazon purchase may or may not include a monitor, and will definitely include an XBox 360 Afterglow controller (in red B) ), as well as a DVI adapter and cord just for emergencies. Also, I may or may not buy AC Syndicate off Amazon as well, as they’re giving me a pretty good deal. And I haven’t even powered my computer on yet! It honestly seems far too easy…
Actually when you go to purchase a monitor it should come with a DVI cable. The ASUS monitor that I have listed on all of the builds here comes with a DVI cable and I’m pretty sure that most if not all HD monitors will come with a DVI cable.
You’re almost there 😀
Nevermind my nevermind. Cables are connected in what I believe (read: hope) is the right configuration. There is only one thing left. To by an HDMI, hook up to a power source and my downstairs HDTV, and see what happens.
Is there any special way to hook up to an HDTV that could be different from a monitor? Do I just plug in the HDMI and hope for the best?
If the TV has a HDMI port then yes all you’d need to do is plug the video card into the TV via HDMI, nothing else needs to be done
Nevermind my last question, besides how I’m gonna fit a CD Drive in here. Still trying to figure that one out.
Where do I put a hard drive in this thing?
Hey man,
The NewEgg video actually is pretty specific man, I know that it might be a bit slow or whatever but they do go over absolutely every little thing that you’re going to need to know how to do.
The hard drive should go right into a hard drive bay and then a SATA cable from it to the motherboard as well as a PSU connection to it. CD Drive should slide right into the a slot where you want it in the front of the PC, should be maybe 2-4 different slots to slide it in depending on the case. Then the same thing, SATA cables and PSU connection for it.
Made my second PC order. Now all I need is a decent monitor and a controller, but those can wait. Question about monitors, BTW. My graphics card has HDMI ports as well as DVI ports on the outward facing end. Do I need to connect to the graphics card immediately when I first turn on my computer and set up the card, or do I want to plug my monitor into my motherboard’s monitor port and set up the card later when I have a cable to use with the card?
Also, what’s your opinion on using HDTVs as monitors?
Hey again John, good to see ya 🙂
Yes, you’ll have to use the video card for your video, the motherboard will recognize the video card and will only use it since it’s there. You’ll have to plug in either DVI or HDMI to it.
As far as a HDTV over a monitor, it really depends on the response rate of the TV. You want your display to have 5ms response rate or lower otherwise you’ll see a little lag from your input device to the screen. This is especially noticeable in rhythm games and it can be a small problem for FPS games so make sure that whatever display you use, it has at least 5ms response rate as well as a good refresh rate.
I am a huge fan of game cases, but I suppose a download may be the best option. I just like to have a copy of the game. Makes it more your own, wouldn’t you say?
(I felt like a massive hypocrite all of a sudden because I downloaded Kid Icarus: Uprising onto my 3DS XL and I love the jujus out of that game.)
That monitor means I still have some saving to do. Oh, well. I’ve got enough money for the parts I need to get this thing started (finally!), then I can buy a new monitor with my next paycheck.
That’s just how the future of games are going to go man, it’s all going to go digital. I wouldn’t be surprised if hard copies become a thing of the past someday… I too am a fan of collecting the game cases but sadly, digital downloads is not only safer but more convenient as well as being the way of the future.
That’s what I did with my first build too, just had to buy the parts as I could afford them. The anticipation gets insane haha!!
Great! That’ll keep me out of the hole by 80 bucks!
Another question. I have a rather old Dell flatscreen monitor at home and another one that looks to be a bit newer model at work.
I believe this is the one I have at home:
http://amzn.to/1PVoSiU
I’m confident I’ll need to upgrade, but should I do that first or save money and upgrade later. I figure I should save, since I want something high quality for around $100.
Also, what’s your opinion on games? I still want AC Syndicate and AC Rogue, but should I seek them out in physical form or just download them on Steam?
That monitor is extremely dated haha! 😛 I used to have one like that as well, heck my dad uses it today while he games on his PC.
It would work, it uses a blue VGA cable for visuals, right? Some graphics cards come with VGA adapters, some don’t and I’m unsure if the one that you’re getting/got will come with one.
If it doesn’t, the adapter are super cheap in the realm of $5 on Amazon usually.
If you want a quality monitor, you’ll want to go with 1080p since your build is more ideal for 1080p. I’d suggest taking a look at this one by Asus, this is the same monitor that I use and it performs very well. Super good picture quality.
For gaming I always use Steam. They have the best support, user interface and the it’s the most popular service for multiplayer games. Almost all PC gamers use Steam, digital copies allow you to always have the game no matter what!
Hey man, it’s been a while. Ever since that little case mishap, I’ve been unable to work on my PC. My most recent issue was my paycheck, but now I’m $130 richer and ready to get back to work.
Okay, so you’re 95% sure that the case you linked to here will work? I’d hate to shoot off $40. I’m also buying the $600 build’s PSU, so please bear that in mind.
I found this, probably the cheapest new install version of Win7 64bit I could find:
http://amzn.to/1PN1nIX
When I upgrade to Win10, is my graphics card going to talk to it, since the box tells me it is only certified up to Win8. I will do some digging in the meantime, but am I going to have to do something special to get it to talk to my computer after upgrading?
Hey!! Yes it has been a while, it’s good to hear from you again 🙂
I’m 99.9% sure that the Vivo case that I linked before would work with everything in the $500 build. And the PSU from the $600 build would also be compatible with those parts.
As far as the copy of Windows that you found, there’s an even cheaper version. Check this out http://amzn.to/1nAutVd
I used that same exact copy for my build. The only difference is that the key that it comes with can only be used with 1 PC. It’s a lot cheaper than the other copy and it’s still going to come with the Windows 10 upgrade.
Microsoft did an excellent job making sure that 10 works with everything that worked on 7 and 8 so yes, the card will still work just fine with a Windows 10 OS. My experience in upgrading to 10 from 7 went very smoothly, had to wait for the download to finish and I was promoted for some Win10 settings and then everything moved over and everything worked from there on. So far still really digging my overall experience with it!
Let me know if I can help with anything else moving forward man you know I’m here
Love Your desktop image 🙂 I keep having an annoying pop up on my computer telling me to install Windows 10, but I don’t want to! I can’t get it to stop popping up!! Ah well……
I don’t like the privacy issues with Windows 10 either, and it is true that they keep data from everything, so there really is no privacy if you are online. With that said, we can still be aware of things and make our information as private as we can. We still need to care about our privacy, apathy won’t get us to a very good place.
Hey Andrea 🙂
I’m sure there are ways to get the pop up to go away, I’ve seen some tutorials like this one, you’re going to have to get deep into some files. That or I bet if you wait until about summer of this year then it should probably go away since that’s when the free upgrade will be over with.
As far as privacy, it doesn’t really matter which version we use unfortunately. From Windows XP users some years ago to Windows 7, 8 and 10… all sorts of data is being kept. Albeit when the upgrade to Windows 10 is accepted and installed there are prompts to ask which data saving options you’d want on or off but I’m certain that there is still pieces of data that is being stored somewhere…
You’re right, all we can do is to make our information as private as we can. It’ll be important to do so as we move forward.
On this case, I can’t seem to find any CD drives. Maybe I’m not looking hard enough, but does it include CD Drives? I’m old fashioned that way.
No, cases don’t come with CD drives you’ll have to pick one up from one of the builds. The one by ASUS that I have shared on the $500 build is a good, cheap yet high quality one!
Okay, disregard my previous comment. I’m more calm now.
Can I use the case from the $400 build with the internal stuff from the $500 build to save 20 bucks?
Hey man,
Sorry to hear about your troubles :/
Actually, I don’t think that the 950 would quite fit with the $400 build’s case. Your best bet would be to go with this case instead, it’s the lowest priced one I could come across that I’m pretty certain everything would fit.
Keep me updated.
I don’t mind doing it, I’ve got a dremel and some ingenuity. As long as it should work, I don’t mind. One question, though.
I’m gonna need to get the new sheet panel into the space somehow. What kind of adhesive would you recommend I use?
I really need to save money on this project, I can’t spend much more on the tower because I need to save for a ton of other stuff, too.
Honestly man, I don’t really know… I’d say whatever would be the stickiest yet most accurate option at a local store?
Okay, bad news, the entire back panel of my case is all one piece, and the holes aren’t lining up to the motherboard’s ports. There is only one configuration.
The good news is that my motherboard comes with a sheet panel that has holes for where the ports should go. The problem is that the holes don’t match up.
Am I gonna have to cut the entire port section of my case out and replace it with the sheet panel? I see very few other options.
Hmm……….
That may be what you have to do, it’s that or getting a different case I believe..?
You probably won’t get back to me in time (I’d like to start building tonight or tomorrow as of this comment, even though the best OS I’d be able to boot up would be Linux-annoyed that I didn’t get Win7 or Win10 for Christmas like I needed, now I gotta buy Win7!), but I have a couple more questions.
I’m afraid that the ports on my motherboard won’t line up to the holes in my case. I have yet to open the motherboard box and check, but if it doesn’t line up with my case, what is my best course of action?
Hey John,
Most, if not all cases come with various holes to match up with different types of motherboards. You’re more than likely going to be able to get the motherboard to mount with the case! Let me know if it doesn’t.
Thanks a ton.
Another few questions, this time about grounding myself when I go to replace the power supply currently in my case with the one I intend to use, as well as while I’m actually building it.
I already know that I can’t build on carpet, so would concrete on a wood table work?
Do I need some kind of fancy rubber gloves, or would throwaway garbage gloves work?
Finally, do I need an antistatic wrist strap, and if so, where do I clip it?
Your help is massively appreciated. ?
Yes, I built my past PC on a table that was on top of carpet. Always made sure that nothing touched the carpet at all, you’re definitely correct there.
I used rubber gloves at my local dollar store when I had to handle the parts, though screwing in some parts is kind of hard to do with gloves. I’d suggest using gloves to get everything in the case and then grounding with the power supply to be safe. The video that I share within the builds and the “How To Build Your PC” nav link above goes through how to ground yourself with a power supply. It’s 100% safe to do.
A wrist strap isn’t a bad idea at all, it’ll basically ensure that you’re good to go with no gloves needed. You’ll clip it on anything metal, then you’re good to go.
It’s no problem providing the help, it’s what I really like to do 😛 keep the questions coming if need be man!!
I have a couple questions about Win10, so please bear with me.
First off, I want to confirm that the graphics card from your $600 tower build (BTW, ordered my parts yesterday, HYPE!!) will work with Windows 10, otherwise I’m screwed left, right and upside down.
Second, are recently released games such as AC Syndicate and DB Xenoverse going to work with Windows 10 right off the bat, or will I need to access the compatibility mode like I will most likely have to do with AC Rogue?
Hey John,
Yes, that card will work with Windows 10. Microsoft has released a lot of updates to the OS making it work with many, many modern cards. I’ve even looked up a bit more info on that card specifically and nobody is having issues with it.
Recently released games are going to run just fine, and honestly even with Rogue I don’t think you’ll have to take any extra steps. Windows 10 so far has been compatible with everything that I’ve thrown at it, with the exception of Stronghold Crusader which was a came that came out in the early 2000’s. Ran it in compatibility mode for Vista SP2 and it now works like a charm.
whenever a new windows come, it’s difficult to make a decision. I use windows 7 64 bit ultimate and my computer teacher always says that windows 10 is not good.
I think windows 7 is the best option which is easy to use and has a great compatibility with all applications and games.
It was hard for me to want to change from Windows 7, though I’m happy that I did.
I think that the main difference between 7 and 10 is that 10 is going to be compatible with DX12, which future games will definitely be using. As far as user experience and knowing how everything works, 10 took a bit of time to get used to but now that I’m used to it I could say that I’m liking it more than 7.
It’s hard to change but sometimes change can be good 🙂 (I sure hope Microsoft doesn’t stop giving support to Windows 7!)
Nice article Colton,
I’m using Windows 10 as my operating system too, and it’s pretty great. It has a lot of customization, and the design is simplistic and awesome. I’m also loving Cortana. I’m not really bothered by the whole “privacy invasion thing”, they pretty much already know more about me than i do.
Thanks Richard,
I guess you have a good point there. Microsoft and all of the other big companies already have a plethora of information as it is lol due to the many, many years of the data being kept in a super server. So maybe it’s not really that big of a deal.
I haven’t touched on Cortana quite yet, though I’m thinking about accepting it and enabling it here soon just to see what it’s able to do for me.