lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

This is the first ever instance I'm having to disagree with you.

Have you tried Windows 10 on a new PC that came with it installed? Sure It won't work well if at all on a 2009 Pentium 4 system. I have no idea what computer you have, but I'm giving an example. Nearly every O/S upgrade is best on as a clean install on a reformatted or new HDD, and forget unlicensed programs with missing disks. Not that you would do that.

I did install Win 10 over Win 7 on my wife's PC, but it was only about a year old machine and not used a lot except with other Microsoft programs, like MS-Office. So there was nothing to muck up the installation.

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

Yet another highly attitudinal opinion based upon very limited factual information or experience.

Shame upon you Cat, I thought y'all were better than that!

Rongnongno Loc: FL

I agree that windows 10 stinks but this is not the OS itself. It is the principle behind it.

Privacy settings are always reset during an update as are other things like unwanted games.

This now the ONLY reason why I think windows 10 is bad but as said, this is really the policy of philosophy behind it that makes it so.

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

That is a fair comment, but it is so with most things in today's world. Apple, Google, Facebook are all following the same direction. Windows 10 can be locked down pretty much, and yes, updates can reset things, but mostly they can be controlled. Pain in the derrière, bien sûr, but still manageable.

Sirsnapalot Loc: Hammond, Louisiana

Well it's been over two weeks that Win 10 would not open my photoshop 5.5, I've done lots of research to try and figure out what I could do to solve the problem. I haven't tried anything as of yet but to my surprise, this morning it opened on command and is working perfect!
It also brought up my Western Digital external drive which it kept telling me I would have to reformat in order for it to work and I would loose all my files by doing so! This is the second time that this has happened since I've had Win 10, what's up with that??? Glad to get them back but it is awful scary when it happens. Thanks for all the suggestions, but for now, I'm back in the saddle! Go figure!

therwol Loc: USA

Based on past experience with Windows machines, the older operating system has to be installed first. Win 10 knows how Win 7 works and boots. Win 7 doesn't know anything about Win 10, and if you do manage to install it on a second partition on a Win 10 machine, it's unlikely that you'll be able to boot to Win 10 unless you turn around and reinstall it on the same partition.

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

My experience differs. I installed on completely different disks. First I duplicated W7 boot drives, then I did an upgrade from W7 to W10 on one disk while maintaining my original W7 environment, then a clean W10 install at a later date. It can be complex, and there are things that may need attention. The clean W10 install does not carry legacy things forwards, but they can usually be recreated as needed. I was able to choose either environment until I moved to W10 and removed the dual boot function.

Many things are possible, although there may be little point to many of them.

Digital1022 Loc: Holland, PA

Well said.

Digital1022 Loc: Holland, PA

One more time. It is not MS's responsibility to make someone elses hardware or software compatible with their OS. Get over it. That is not how the world works. MS notifies them on the changes and it is up to hardware and software developers to make their products compatible. Don't like PC, fine; switch to Apple and quit biggen. However, you will find as I have that Apple works the same way. Deal with it.

jonjacobik Loc: Quincy, MA

When I'm not lugging my camera around I run a computer repair business. Here's what I would do. - The problem is probably the latest version call the creator update - it's playing havoc with a lot of programs. If it's been uninstalled by the update the only thing you can do is reverse the update - you've got 30 days to unwind the update - go to settings, update and security, recovery, and select go back to the previous version of Windows 10. Your program should work if this option is available, however, sooner or later Windows 10 might just upgrade you again.
If that's not an option, reinstall it. If it won't start right click the icon, select open folder, fined the exe program (should have the same icon as you use to start the program, right click again, select Compatibility, the check the box at the bottom 'run this program as administrator' - then apply, and try again. Still not working, Google, "Photoshop won't work with creator update" and you'll find dozens of similar tales and perhaps a solution. Email me directly if you like at jon@supertecs.com

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

Yes, some companies still use COBAL. A friend and her mother both just finished a several month assignment debugging and code verification COBAL for a company where none of the youngins know the program. So outsiders were found that could still work with COBAL. Both tell me they are still having nightmares about COBAL! They earned a bundle though!

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

I don't really find that happening. Occasionally something seems off with a browser. I don't have games, or use the Cortana stuff. I have Windows 10 running pretty much like Windows 7. Few complaints. The few issues that come up seem to be due to crap on Web Sites visited and others servers being slow or acting weird. And half of those are solved by a reboot of my WiFi FiOS router.

I don't like MS even trying to be intrusive, so I agree with that part of your point.

therwol Loc: USA

You just said you started with Win 7 Boot drives. Try putting Win 7 as a second OS with Win 10 already in place. I know that you have the technical expertise to do it, but it would be far from straightforward if you want to use both operating systems in a dual boot configuration. I believe this to be true. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Peterff Loc: O'er The Hills and Far Away, in Themyscira.

You may be correct. There are many of approaching problems such as this, and probably many solutions.

For myself, I have completed the migrations to Windows 10, my software works, so I have no need to conduct an experiment. It woild be interesting to know the answers for curiosity's sake, but I have neither the time nor the inclination to try.