# Got a new computer! Windows 10! What do I need to know? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 15, 2016, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-a-new-computer-windows-10-what-do-i-need-to-know/760014 "2016-07-15T23:28:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-a-new-computer-windows-10-what-do-i-need-to-know/760014/1 "2016-07-15T23:28:32Z")
Another one bit the dust. Got a new one, running Windows 10. Struggling a little so far (where the hell are the games?). What tips and tricks do I need to know? I’m used to XP, then spent a year or so on 7, then everything went tits up. I did manage to save most of my important stuff this time around. Any help appreciated! ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-a-new-computer-windows-10-what-do-i-need-to-know/760014/2 "2016-07-16T01:20:45Z")
I upgraded from W7 to W10, and have been coping fairly well. If the computer has W10 as an original installation, you won’t need to do things like upgrade and re-install printer drivers, etc. (I had to go through some song-and-dance to retain compatibility.) The Windows File Explorer behaves a little differently. You’ll take a little time getting use to the new look-and-feel, but it isn’t anything I can really describe. Just mess with it till you get used to it. (When I plug in a USB took, like my Kindle book-reader, my phone, or just a memory stick, two separate instances of the file-system come up. I have no idea why. But they both work, exactly the same, so I guess I don’t care. Just a weird little thing some knothead came up with.) I re-installed the old version of the Windows Photo Viewer, and re-assigned it to be the default viewer when I double-click on a picture (jpg, bmp, tiff, etc.) file. The new version is clunky, and, worse, somehow got badly configured, so that double-clicking on a picture file automatically opened it in Paint, and I couldn’t turn that “feature” off again. Seriously, there aren’t that many differences. Lots of people say they hate W10, but it “looks and feels” so much like W7 that moving up was very, very little hassle for me. ETA: Yeah, the games seem to have gone away. But if you like killing time with solitaire games, take a peek at Edward Kaser Software. The guy designs and programs his own solitaire time-wasters, and I am a big fan of them. “Mrs. Hudson” and “Watson’s Map” are my faves. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-a-new-computer-windows-10-what-do-i-need-to-know/760014/3 "2016-07-16T04:18:30Z")
I guess I have to lay it down: I’m teaching my kid to drive, he needs to teach me how to use the goddamn computer! That’s it. I’m an old fucker and ready to die. But who gets all the old cars with foot clutches? ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-a-new-computer-windows-10-what-do-i-need-to-know/760014/4 "2016-07-16T04:25:07Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > If the computer has W10 as an original installation, you won’t need to do things like upgrade and re-install printer drivers, etc. I plugged in the new wireless mouse and fired it up and it said, “_I’m sorry Dave, I can not let you do that_”. Who the fuck is “Dave”? And why are monkeys in my garage? ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-a-new-computer-windows-10-what-do-i-need-to-know/760014/5 "2016-07-16T04:35:16Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > I guess I have to lay it down: I’m teaching my kid to drive, he needs to teach me how to use the goddamn computer! > > That’s it. I’m an old fucker and ready to die. But who gets all the old cars with foot clutches? Grin! I drive a clutch too. (I learned to drive on a '36 Ford pickup, which you had to double clutch.) ---
**Author:** ![Jake\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Jake\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake_Jones)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-a-new-computer-windows-10-what-do-i-need-to-know/760014/6 "2016-07-16T05:29:23Z")
Right click on start button. Lots of shortcuts to useful Windows tools there. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-a-new-computer-windows-10-what-do-i-need-to-know/760014/7 "2016-07-16T19:06:37Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > I plugged in the new wireless mouse and fired it up and it said, “_I’m sorry Dave, I can not let you do that_”. > > Who the fuck is “Dave”? And why are monkeys in my garage? You are absolutely one of my favorite posters. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![mistymage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mistymage/32/459_2.png) [@mistymage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mistymage)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-a-new-computer-windows-10-what-do-i-need-to-know/760014/8 "2016-07-16T19:14:10Z")
After changing out the antivirus that came with my pc I set up [http://www.classicshell.net/](http://www.classicshell.net/) so my Win10 looks like XP. I hate Win10 and the apps crap. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-a-new-computer-windows-10-what-do-i-need-to-know/760014/9 "2016-07-16T22:28:29Z")
What’s the best ad blocker I can get for free? ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-a-new-computer-windows-10-what-do-i-need-to-know/760014/10 "2016-07-16T23:15:19Z")
If I told you, wouldn’t that be an ad? ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-a-new-computer-windows-10-what-do-i-need-to-know/760014/11 "2016-07-17T14:47:59Z")
About the games, I raised the question and got an answer and now I have win 7 games in win 10. I did a search on win 7 games. The search engine said that win and 7 were too short and were omitted from the search. You can imagine how well that worked! You can try to figure out a better way to search. It was only a month or two ago when MS switched me against my desires. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-a-new-computer-windows-10-what-do-i-need-to-know/760014/12 "2016-07-17T17:22:42Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > What’s the best ad blocker I can get for free? Adblock for (your browser). I use Firefox on my iMac, and Chrome on my laptop and Adblock works great on both. For instance, I see zero ads on this website. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-a-new-computer-windows-10-what-do-i-need-to-know/760014/13 "2016-07-17T18:19:55Z")
I’m another Win 7 user who upgraded to 10 on the home laptop, with no problems and few complaints. One thing that really bugs me though: I can no longer use Alt+F W F to create a new folder in Windows Explorer. And it’s going to be a hard habit to break, since I do this A LOT on my Win 7 laptop at work. I know there’s a new keyboard shortcut for it, I just want the old one to work. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-a-new-computer-windows-10-what-do-i-need-to-know/760014/14 "2016-07-18T10:27:35Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > About the games, I raised the question and got an answer and now I have win 7 games in win 10. I did a search on win 7 games. The search engine said that win and 7 were too short and were omitted from the search. You can imagine how well that worked! You can try to figure out a better way to search. It was only a month or two ago when MS switched me against my desires. I searched for “games”, post by “Hari Seldon”. [Ta-daaaaa!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=19367314&postcount=8) Link goes directly to the post with the correct instructions. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-a-new-computer-windows-10-what-do-i-need-to-know/760014/15 "2016-07-18T17:33:10Z")
> [@ddsun](#): > > You are absolutely one of my favorite posters. 😃 Ah, shucks, Sherriff Bart! Mongo straight! ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-a-new-computer-windows-10-what-do-i-need-to-know/760014/16 "2016-07-18T17:54:04Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Adblock for (your browser). I use Firefox on my iMac, and Chrome on my laptop and Adblock works great on both. For instance, I see zero ads on this website. And/Or I would recommend downloading Ghostery. It shows you all the tracking cookies that are being downloaded on your computer each time that you visit a site. You can disable them all or chose the ones that you may want to leave active. Ads don’t work without their associated cookie tracking for views. You might be surprised to see just how many cookies are being downloaded. Both Fox News and CNN put 17 trackers on your machine when you visit, I have seen 24 on other sites. Adblock seemed to be using too many resources and slowing things, I got rid of it and use Ghostery only now. No trackers, no ads. And the pages load faster. When you are waiting for a web site to load what you are really waiting on is for all the tracking cookies to load. Turn them off.