Windows 8.1 or 10

Hey there, I have been using Windows 10 for a solid 6-8 months now. To be honest I'm not really a fan and prefer 8.1 with a 3rd party start menu. I have a huge folder of entire themes from my skin packs and theme packs dot com that are absolutely awesome. They change everything, the start menu the theme bar the cursor everything. And I always enjoyed using those on my gaming rig. The only thing I really like about windows 10 is you can pretty much run it out of the box, you don't have to install driver after driver after driver but I have a gtx 1080 and I've gotten a lot of the new games that have come out lately and I want to be able to take advantage of DX12 but I'm really not seeing anything really changing yet, I don't see any difference when gaming and I have enough horsepower that I don't really know if it's a big deal at the moment. I guess my question is are there any people out there who may be able to give me a good reason to stick with windows 10 or at the moment is there just really not a reason to stick with 10 if I like 8.1 better? I can do anything when it comes to hardware, I am very knowledgeable, but when it comes to software I am not nearly as knowledgeable. So I'm kinda asking for some direction on this. Thank you for your time.

Going forward is my motto, that is why I upgraded plus it was free for me. I wish we could of just stayed with windows 7 and a upgrade to DX12.

Me as well my friend. Unfortunately I may end up having to do another fresh install so I didn't know which way I was going to go with it. But really the more I think about it I don't mind Windows 10. I started off the first several months using Destroy Windows 10 spying and deleting metro apps then I got a free copy of Gears of War 4 with my gpu and had to do a fresh install with my metro apps to play it and I kinda like how the Social Media part is so convenient and I'm really not at all worried about the Cortana is watching you bs. There's no way to escape that crap when you carry a cell phone and a MacBook Pro everywhere you go with you anyway.

One thing about Gears of War 4 it requires windows 10 to run, I just mentioned it in case you did not know.

Ya I realized that not too long ago, not that I'm a huge fan of the game but yes you are correct.

It will probably be a couple more years before we see some games we like in DX12. Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_games_with_DirectX_12_support

If people can, they should opt for a dual boot as a perfect solution.
I haven't rebooted into Windows 10 in a while, but it's there should I need to.

It's my understanding that most of the bad stuff in 10 (telemetry, data mining) has been incorporated in to 8.1 as well. I have a dual boot with 7 and 10 only because 10 hid my bootmgr.exe for W7 and I can't get my install disc to fix it. Otherwise I would eliminate 10 and all references to it from my rig. I don't like 10, I don't trust 10, I don't want 10. Added to that it lacks functionality specific to my needs so it has nothing to offer me.

Even in windows 7 there is the "Microsoft Update KB971033", 2 tasks in my task scheduler (Validation Task & Validation Task Deadline) basically forcing Microsoft Update on me every 90 days. I just came to the conclusion yesterday to NEVER allow MS to update drivers. Only unless it's for some tiddly wink device that is superfluous with no website of it's own.

As for 8.1 or 10? Whatever works with your specific desires is what matters. I'd say if your gonna run 8.1 may as well stick with 10 and gut the telemetry bloat crap. That is of course if 10 doesn't sabotage your installation first. I say this because ALL the driver 'updates' which windows update (not microsoft) tries to push on me FAIL. Last year I trusted them. Never again.

I don't trust it either, but then I don't trust not one piece of software that exists when connected to the internet. Windows 7 was a Gem. Being forced to run windows in order to be a gamer sucks. I think I am going to dual boot with Steam Os and give it a shot or install it on an empty drive since I have a few 320's lying around. 7 seems just a little too outdated these days, I have a stripped down version of Windows 8.1 I torrented a couple years ago, the entire iso is under 2 gb and I love it. There is no store there is no media center/player there is nothing Windows about it except barebone foundation. I guess instead of stressing myself out over it I can just install it to my other ssd and migrate it to my m.2 if I so desire. HabbaJabba would you care to please elaborate a little on your statement? Because I am very curious as what your experience was.

He is incorrect. Windows updates can be turned off under Windows 7/8, if he wants to start a support thread about that, people could help him figure out why he didn't accomplish that on his machine. You on the other hand, are in excellent shape using Windows 8 + Classic Shell [or equivalent]. You can install Windows 10 on another hard drive partition, and just play with it without giving up your Windows 8.

You can then make your own decisions and if you don't like it, Windows 8 is still there, if you do, good for you.
Easy dual booting:



https://neosmart.net/EasyBCD/
[Scroll Down and use any Name & Email to Download]




Do not set Bootloader timeout to 0, set it to at least 2 seconds, otherwise you won't be able to change OS at bootup by repeatedly pressing keyboard arrows to pause at the bootup OS screen selection so you can make a choice if needed at bootup.


Simply CHECKING default Operating System - saves default OS. There is no need to click on Save Settings to change default OS. Download Page: http://neosmart.net/download.php?id=1 [Scroll Down and use any Name & Email to Download]

Tools > Options >
CHECK: Expert mode
CHECK: Remember the BCD Backup directory upon exit
UNCHECK: Everything else

Display Options TAB:
Default TAB at start up: Edit Boot Menu
CHECK: Everything else

As long as my favorite games run in 8.1, i'm gonna stick to 8.1, also my motherboard's compatibility is 8.1, so why bother upgrading to 10. I don't think there any other app advantage to win 10.

8.1 Pro with Classic Start Menu to get rid of Metro. DX12 isn't particularly important yet and the bugs and security/privacy issues in Win10 makes my skin crawl.

Easy dual booting:

Click to expand...

That has not been my experience with Windows 10. It borked my W7 install snd now booting in to 7 is a convoluted mess. Now that W7 Update is fixed I may just reinstall it (and 100 GB of games Grrr!) before I throw the SSD W10 is on against a wall. Nothing like beating up my SSD because 10 Sux.