Taking Windows 10 Technical Preview Out For a Spin

12:42 PM article , opinion , overview , software , windows 10 1 Comments

     The Windows 10 Technical Preview has been available to public for quite some time now. While I did try it out using VMs during the earlier builds, it wasn't until when Microsoft enabled Cortana in Build 9926 and announced the free upgrade to Windows 10 for both Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users; that I installed it into a true partition. This post will be about my experience using the Technical Preview as well as some pointers for you all wanting to be prepared for the free upgrade.


     Before I get started, if you are interested in getting into the action yourself, installing the Technical Preview is easier than ever; just get the Windows 7 USB/DVD Tool (link) and the Technical Preview ISO (link). The procedure is pretty self explanatory and if you are still confused, I am afraid that you are not prepared (sick reference, bro). Also, this post is written in the perspective of someone who has switched to Windows 8 from the get-go and didn't find it as frustrating as the general consensus has it be.

     Installing the Technical Preview was as easy as any other OS installation and if I recall correctly, didn't take as long as my Windows 8.1 install, but not by much though. If you are coming from Windows 7 or any previous OSs, I recommend that you do not connect your PC to the internet to ensure that the initial setup process. For Windows 8.1 users, go ahead and sign in using your Microsoft account so that things like IE settings and wallpapers will get synced to your new Windows 10 ecosystem.


     From the get-go, the most noticeable difference one will see would be the addition of a search bar on the task bar. This search bar is what Cortana is. Users can either type their search queries in the search box or use voice activation. To be honest, it's faster and way more reliable to just open up the browser of your choice and type what you want to search for. As for searching on local disk, I didn't notice any significant differences in terms of speed. Talking of local searching, if you didn't like how local searching worked for Windows 8.1, don't hold your breath for Windows 10. Typing 'control' in the search bar, the first result instead of being the comprehensive 'Control Panel', the OS gives you the inconsistent 'PC Settings' instead. While I am used to this (yup, Win8 behaves the same way), I still find it a mild annoyance especially for new users coming from Win7.


     Speaking of the 'PC Settings' interface, the inconsistencies doesn't stop at just being confused as a control panel, in fact, it is just plain dumb. One would assume that clicking into the 'Personalisation' sub-section would give users access to all customisation options including things like changing wallpapers, colour schemes, and all the other doo-dad; but nope, we have that option in another menu instead. Maybe if they just changed the tool-tip according to what the menu actually does. It wouldn't create these issues. Of course, that is not the only example of redundant menus, I could go on all day long about the 'PC settings' menu, but the post has to go on.

     Oh, and if you didn't notice already, the start menu is back! Now with Metro a.k.a the Start Screen integrated into it. If you are one of those rare few that like the Start Screen, you can still click the full screen button found on the right top corner to bring back the Start Screen. Apparently, I read that one could re-size the start menu to be taller, but I can't for the life of me re-size it. No matter, the quirks of being a Technical Preview I guess.

     From the screenshot above, you can also see that Microsoft went ahead and changed how the taskbar behaves in relation to active and inactive windows. Have a better look at it here.


     On the left, you will see that the file explorer icon on the taskbar only has a little grey-ish line due to it being inactive and the 'PC Settings' icon being grey-filled due to it being the currently active window. I'm not too keen about this change but perhaps people would like the minimalistic (?) approach.


     On topic of active and inactive windows, Microsoft has also brought a very nice feature from OSX into Windows 10: the workspace/task manager/whatever it's called. Now, you can have multiple workspaces and switch between them seamlessly using the task manager button beside the search bar or using the "Windows Key + Tab" shortcut key. This is great news for people like me who tend to have too many windows open while multi-tasking, now I can properly manage work from pleasure! (curse you Steam and Reddit). This is pretty much my favourite feature to come out of this Technical Preview.


     Onto the system apps, Microsoft has pretty much changed how 'Modern' apps behave. Now, users can use modern apps like any other desktop app, with the ability to run it in a window, or fullscreen. I think this is one of the most requested feature from users of Windows 8/8.1. However, for whatever reason, the OS still defaults to the redundant file openers like Photos, Videos and Music (apps designed by Microsoft with modern-esque accents). While it only takes one click to change it back to our trusty old Windows Photo Viewer, it still presents itself as a mild annoyance.


     On the other hand, Windows 10 also comes packaged with a technical preview for Internet Explorer. I don't have much to report about that. I think it's just a way for web developers to determine their websites are displaying correctly in IE. There's even a button for users to report to the IE team if they see a website not being properly displayed in IE.

     There are a ton of minor adjustments made to Windows 10 compared to Windows 8. I could probably go on and on if I had to describe everything in this post, but nobody is going to read that. So as a closing note, is Windows 10 usable? Pretty much yes. For those who are on the bandwagon that Windows 8 is the worst thing to ever happen to Windows after Vista, perhaps it is not for you because I find Windows 10 a slightly modified version of Windows 8, instead of an improved version of Windows 7. If you have any other questions about Windows 10 before making the jump, feel free to leave them in the comments down below. Until then, see you in the next post (if I can figure out what to write).