Windows Technical Preview (Windows 10) Bugs, Glitches and Good Things

[Renzatic]

Wow thanks for the heads up. Like I said earlier, I'll be duel booting Win 7 and Windows 10 so, that hopefully will not be a problem!

That'd be the very definition of redundant redundancy. Unless you really like Windows 7, or you just want to make sure everything's kosher in 10 before moving there in full, there's really no reason to keep them both around.

 

[S.B.G]

That'd be the very definition of redundant redundancy. Unless you really like Windows 7, or you just want to make sure everything's kosher in 10 before moving there in full, there's really no reason to keep them both around.

I agree. There really is no need to keep both. I have 8.1 and 10 in VM's, but not for long. I have been using 10 almost exclusively for months now and haven't used 8.1 at all.

In fact, I just blew away my Windows 10 VM a little while ago because of some very minor issues that were bugging me in the way I set up the VM initially. Rebuilding it was the easiest way to fix it.

It's already done and I'm typing this from the new build in the Spartan Edge browser.

I'm about 99% comfortable with Windows 10 now and will blow away the 8.1 VM in the near future.

Installing Windows is such a pleasure now, especially considering the old days of 3.1 through Vista.

 

[Renzatic]

It's already done and I'm typing this from the new build in the Spartan Edge browser.

Since you're using 10 in a VM, you might not have noticed this, but in case you have...

I'm running Windows 10 as my daily driver (or at least that's what the cool kids call it). Other than the UI seeming a little patchwork in places, it's been perfectly solid and stable for me. I'm just about ready to declare it about the best version of Windows ever.

But there is one problem. There's a memory leak somewhere, and I'm pretty sure it's due to Project Spartan. I used it for about a week as my main internet browser, and while doing so, I'd notice that task manager would eventually show that 80-99% of my memory was in use, but it wouldn't say what was using it. Combing through the processes came up with a blank. It'd make some of my more ram intensive apps act flaky, and I'd eventually have to reboot to get that memory back. I figured it might be Spartan, and sure enough, when I quit using it, the problem went away.

...at least until today, when I saw I was using 80% of my memory for nothing at all.

So have you seen or heard about any memory leaks in Win10? I've googled it, but haven't been able to find much about it except something about a small GDI issue.

 

[S.B.G]

Since you're using 10 in a VM, you might not have noticed this, but in case you have...

I'm running Windows 10 as my daily driver (or at least that's what the cool kids call it). Other than the UI seeming a little patchwork in places, it's been perfectly solid and stable for me. I'm just about ready to declare it about the best version of Windows ever.

But there is one problem. There's a memory leak somewhere, and I'm pretty sure it's due to Project Spartan. I used it for about a week as my main internet browser, and while doing so, I'd notice that task manager would eventually show that 80-99% of my memory was in use, but it wouldn't say what was using it. Combing through the processes came up with a blank. It'd make some of my more ram intensive apps act flaky, and I'd eventually have to reboot to get that memory back. I figured it might be Spartan, and sure enough, when I quit using it, the problem went away.

...at least until today, when I saw I was using 80% of my memory for nothing at all.

So have you seen or heard about any memory leaks in Win10? I've googled it, but haven't been able to find much about it except something about a small GDI issue.

No, I haven't noticed any memory issues yet. But I also haven't used Spartan very much either. I keep switching spaces back to OS X Safari for web browsing most of the time. I'm going to try using Spartan more going forward and I'll keep an eye on the RAM usage.

It sounds like you're not using 10 in a VM. What kind of hardware are you running it on?

 

[Renzatic]

It sounds like you're not using 10 in a VM. What kind of hardware are you running it on?

I'm not. I've installed it properly, and am using it as my sole OS.

...yeah, I know. I live dangerously. I've got everything backed up, and my Win8 partitions cloned on another drive as a contingency, in case it decides to up and flake out on me.

My computer is two weeks shy of being brand new, a Haswell i5 4950, 8GB DDR3. It more than meets the standard requirements. For the most part, it runs perfectly, using around 20-35% when I'm idling or browsing. But every rare once in awhile, my memory usage will spike. I won't even notice when it happens, because the computer continues running fine until I fire up something like Substance Designer that eats ram like a fat kid in a candy store, and noticing it isn't work as smoothly as it usually does.

 

[S.B.G]

I'm not. I've installed it properly, and am using it as my sole OS.

...yeah, I know. I live dangerously. I've got everything backed up, and my Win8 partitions cloned on another drive as a contingency, in case it decides to up and flake out on me.

You know, with the relative stability of the Technical Preview, I wouldn't go so far as to say you're living dangerously with 10 as your only OS. Plus, I give you much credit for having your Windows 8 partitions backed up as well. You and I know very well from watching others on this forum what it's like when they don't have their stuff backed up. Tragedy after tragedy transpires before us as they cry with much weeping and gnashing of teeth at the loss of their data. If only they'd implement a simple backup solution....

My computer is two weeks shy of being brand new, a Haswell i5 4950, 8GB DDR3. It more than meets the standard requirements. For the most part, it runs perfectly, using around 20-35% when I'm idling or browsing. But every rare once in awhile, my memory usage will spike. I won't even notice when it happens, because the computer continues running fine until I fire up something like Substance Designer that eats ram like a fat kid in a candy store, and noticing it isn't work as smoothly as it usually does.

Sounds like a nice machine. Does it have a HDD or SSD?

 

[Renzatic]

You know, with the relative stability of the Technical Preview, I wouldn't go so far as to say you're living dangerously with 10 as your only OS. Plus, I give you much credit for having your Windows 8 partitions backed up as well. You and I know very well from watching others on this forum what it's like when they don't have their stuff backed up. Tragedy after tragedy transpires before us as they cry with much weeping and gnashing of teeth at the loss of their data. If only they'd implement a simple backup solution....

I well realize it's the nature of the best when it comes to beta testing WIP OSes. Hard crashes that kill everything are something you have to expect and prepare for, even if it isn't likely to happen.. I've done it with Win7 and 8 before, and never experienced anything but the occasional hiccup, but...you never know.

Though I would like to figure out what's causing it. If not to fix it, than at least report it.

Sounds like a nice machine. Does it have a HDD or SSD?

It's an SSD. One of those little M.2s that plugs directly into the motherboard. It's the reason why this little bug is easily tolerable, because when it comes up, it only takes about 12 seconds to reboot the computer, and get back to where I was at.

 

[S.B.G]

It's an SSD. One of those little M.2s that plugs directly into the motherboard. It's the reason why this little bug is easily tolerable, because when it comes up, it only takes about 12 seconds to reboot the computer, and get back to where I was at.

Very nice. The SSD is so very nice and I never want to run a machine without one as it's primary drive.

I'm running on a 15" mid-2012 cMBP, 16 GB RAM, 2.3 GHz I7 CPU. I put in a 500 GB Samsung 840 SSD last year. It replaced a 512 GB Samsung 830 SSD.

This machine runs great, both OS X and Windows at the same time.

I gave Windows 10 4 CPU cores, and 4 GB of RAM with 100 GB of storage space to run on.

 

[Renzatic]

Very nice. The SSD is so very nice and I never want to run a machine without one as it's primary drive.

I'm running on a 15" mid-2012 cMBP, 16 GB RAM, 2.3 GHz I7 CPU. I put in a 500 GB Samsung 840 SSD last year. It replaced a 512 GB Samsung 830 SSD.

This machine runs great, both OS X and Windows at the same time.

I gave Windows 10 4 CPU cores, and 4 GB of RAM with 100 GB of storage space to run on.

I'm wondering why I waited so long to get one. I've got the 500GB 850 Evo, and even though it's "just" running off a SATA connection, the thing screams. I barely have to wait for anything to load.

Oh, and if you want to get real nerdy, I've been keeping an eye on things since the last spike to see if it does anything strange under normal usage. So far, it's been pretty smooth sailing.

 

[S.B.G]

I'm wondering why I waited so long to get one. I've got the 500GB 850 Evo, and even though it's "just" running off a SATA connection, the thing screams. I barely have to wait for anything to load.

I waited for a while until prices on the 500 GB models came down to a somewhat more reasonable price for me. That was about 3 years ago I think. I put an SSD in my 2010 27" iMac as well, but I've since decommissioned that computer and it sits in a closet now.

Now I'm just beginning to ponder upgrading the MBP again to a 750 GB or a 1TB SSD. But it's just a thought right now.

 

[Renzatic]

I waited for a while until prices on the 500 GB models came down to a somewhat more reasonable price for me. That was about 3 years ago I think. I put an SSD in my 2010 27" iMac as well, but I've since decommissioned that computer and it sits in a closet now.

Don't hold me to this, but if you've got an iMac just sitting in a closet, I might be willing to take it off your hands. There are a couple of things I need to get first, but if the price is right, I might take it.

Just a thought.

Now I'm just beginning to ponder upgrading the MBP again to a 750 GB or a 1TB SSD. But it's just a thought right now.

The way prices have been dropping, I'd suggest waiting a year. I thought about going with a larger capacity SSD myself, but after 500GB, you get a huge price spike, with the TB drive costing double. That was a little too steep a price tag for me.

Also, I just figured out the drive I got dropped $50 in the two weeks since I bought it. Pisses me off...

 

[S.B.G]

Don't hold me to this, but if you've got an iMac just sitting in a closet, I might be willing to take it off your hands. There are a couple of things I need to get first, but if the price is right, I might take it.

Just a thought.

Heh, I'm not ready to part with it just yet, but if I come to that point, I'll try to remember to shoot you a PM about it. Where do you live? I'm in Michigan.

The way prices have been dropping, I'd suggest waiting a year. I thought about going with a larger capacity SSD myself, but after 500GB, you get a huge price spike, with the TB drive costing double. That was a little too steep a price tag for me.

Also, I just figured out the drive I got dropped $50 in the two weeks since I bought it. Pisses me off...

Yeah, they are still quite expensive over the 500 GB mark. That's why it's just a thought in my mind right now.

 

[TRDmanAE86]

That'd be the very definition of redundant redundancy. Unless you really like Windows 7, or you just want to make sure everything's kosher in 10 before moving there in full, there's really no reason to keep them both around.

Good point. My rational for this crazy idea is that I am obsessed with Windows 7 and, love the UI. I would not want to give it up! However, I would like to duel boot my new PC with Windows 10 because it will help me be more efficient for "work purposes". (Without the pain of switching laptops!)

My donor PC will be a HP envy 15t running Windows 7 and will be featuring a 2TB Hard drive with a 5th generation Core i7 processor, and will be powered by 16gigs of ram (I know this much ram is total overkill)!

I have saved up for this computer and, will be getting it delivered next month (right in time to set it up to duel boot with Windows 10)

By the way, after this computer, I'm going to save up for my first MB

 

[Renzatic]

Heh, I'm not ready to part with it just yet, but if I come to that point, I'll try to remember to shoot you a PM about it. Where do you live? I'm in Michigan.

Yup. Keep me in mind. I live in Georgia by the way, so shipping's cheap.

Yeah, they are still quite expensive over the 500 GB mark. That's why it's just a thought in my mind right now.

Really, I'm starting to come around to the idea that 500GB is more than enough for keeping the OS, your programs, and some of your bigger project files on. All the stuff I'd need that extra space for, like movies, pictures, old projects, and whatnot won't necessarily load any faster on a USB3 platter drive than they would on an SSD. I'm thinking a big external drive, and a moderately large SSD is the way to go until 1TB drops below the $200 mark.

...though it would be nice to have one, I admit.

 

[Renzatic]

Good point. My rational for this crazy idea is that I am obsessed with Windows 7 and, love the UI. I would not want to give it up! However, I would like to duel boot my new PC with Windows 10 because it will help me be more efficient for "work purposes". (Without the pain of switching laptops!)

Personal opinion, I didn't like the aero glass look all that much. It was neat at first, but after awhile, all that shiny and clear just made things look too busy, and hard to read.

That said, I do like the aero blur effect they've got in Windows 10. It's A LOT more subtle, and kept to places where it adds a nice touch without getting in the way.

My donor PC will be a HP envy 15t running Windows 7 and will be featuring a 2TB Hard drive with a 5th generation Core i7 processor, and will be powered by 16gigs of ram (I know this much ram is total overkill)!

Actually, I'd say go for broke, and get that 16GB. One thing I've discovered since I've started doing more intensive work with my new PC is that I am a little bit limited with just 8GB. I'm not exactly choked right, but I will be once I start using more big apps alongside each other. Specially since I started playing with the Unreal Engine.

Ram. It never hurts anyone to have more than you'll ever need, and it's so cheap now, you might as well get it while the getting's good.

By the way, after this computer, I'm going to save up for my first MB

I'm always seeming to be right on the cusp of getting a Mac (I have an iPhone and iPad, so I do have some reason to post here ). I came pretty damn close to going whole hog and getting a retina iMac. In the end though, I stuck to my comfort zone, and got another PC.

 

[Roykor]

Mac and Windows each have there own advantages. Even each specfic OS has its own pros and cons.

XP to me allows me to move my folder thumbnails into a custom order not dictated by any sceme or pattern.

On the other hand, Windows 7 is my main daily driver. Its clean, simple, and looks beautiful too. The functionality is also amazing with tons of gagets to play around with.

Overall, it is your choice to decide whether to migrate to Windows or, stay with Apple. If you still cannot decide, you should just get a mac and install a Windows Virtual Machine!

Yes, running it on a new iMac is a option to. But i have to spend more than 4k for a maxed out iMac 5k, add extra memory (not from apple off course) and add extra storage because the iMac is not filled with fast harddrives. Only if you have goldmine in your backyard. Try to stay with OSX will cost me 1000+ euro over a Windows system with tons of options inside the case. I really like OSX, but thats a bit to much

I think i give 'working in Photoshop' a fair change this week.. Only need to find a keyboard tool that helps me with the apple shortcuts in Photoshop. Muscle memory is doing his job here haha.

 

[S.B.G]

Yup. Keep me in mind. I live in Georgia by the way, so shipping's cheap.

Well, maybe, maybe not! This iMac is big and heavy and Georgia is a long way from Michigan.

Really, I'm starting to come around to the idea that 500GB is more than enough for keeping the OS, your programs, and some of your bigger project files on. All the stuff I'd need that extra space for, like movies, pictures, old projects, and whatnot won't necessarily load any faster on a USB3 platter drive than they would on an SSD. I'm thinking a big external drive, and a moderately large SSD is the way to go until 1TB drops below the $200 mark.

...though it would be nice to have one, I admit.

So far the 500 GB has been fine and I've had no storage limitations yet. I keep my iTunes library on an external 3 TB RAID array because its too big to fit on the SSD.

I'd like a bigger SSD not for the iTunes library, but for having more room for Windows VM's and other apps. I like playing around with older version of Windows from time to time and I don't like filling up drives if I can help it.

 

[TRDmanAE86]

Personal opinion, I didn't like the aero glass look all that much. It was neat at first, but after awhile, all that shiny and clear just made things look too busy, and hard to read.

Wow same. I hate the areo theme too! On mine, I tried everything I could do to turn it off! Personally, besides the areo theme, Windows 7 feels perfect.

Actually, I'd say go for broke, and get that 16GB. One thing I've discovered since I've started doing more intensive work with my new PC is that I am a little bit limited with just 8GB. I'm not exactly choked right, but I will be once I start using more big apps alongside each other. Specially since I started playing with the Unreal Engine.

Ram. It never hurts anyone to have more than you'll ever need, and it's so cheap now, you might as well get it while the getting's good.

Thanks for the suggestion. Will be playing it safe with 16 GB because, in the long run, as technology advances and games/os require more power, I'll be prepared! .

I'm always seeming to be right on the cusp of getting a Mac (I have an iPhone and iPad, so I do have some reason to post here ). I came pretty damn close to going whole hog and getting a retina iMac. In the end though, I stuck to my comfort zone, and got another PC.

Lol same. as you can tell, I'm on the same boat as you. I have grown up around 2 lovely Win XP laptops and, that is what sparked my interest in technology. I've used macs on various occasions and, dislike the OS's due to not being used to using it often. one of these days, I may buy one just to get used to it. (still cannot decide if it will be worth it)

 

[Renzatic]

I've used macs on various occasions and, dislike the OS's due to not being used to using it often. one of these days, I may buy one just to get used to it. (still cannot decide if it will be worth it)

I like OSX simply because it's such an attractive, well laid out OS. Even Yosemite, while a contentious subject, still looks nice at a casual glance. Apple's soft and bold tends to go over a little better with me than MS' stark and thin.

To get on topic, I've been using Win10 10122 since it came out, and it's a mix of good and bad. The good is that Spartan no longer has a possible memory leak. In fact, the whole OS seems to take up less memory overall. While the previous build idled around 35% when doing casual browsing or watching movies, this build rarely ever seems to get over 30% unless you're doing something heavy. As of typing, it's pegging out around 28%.

The bad news is they've done something terrible to the compositer. Almost all my OpenGL apps are guffed up, and the task view scaling, once super smooth, now pixelates and...er...zigs over and applies scale smoothing before landing in place. On top of that, they made everything stark white, with text and icons looking like they've had a heavy sharpen filter applied to them in Photoshop. File Explorer has no differentiation in colors for its various sections, just lines and text. It's a little too bright for its own good.

Hopefully this is just a temporary thing, because the previous build was much easier on the eyes.

edit: another plus, the new icons are finally coming.

They look like mellower versions of the old icons to me.

 

[agaskew]

Having successfully run various builds of windows 10 in a VM for a while, I decided to partition the internal SSD of my rMBP and set it up in dual boot mode. Windows has a 100Gb partition. I also added Office 2013 and a few other things.

With the latest fast ring build 10122, there have a fair number of glitches:

• Start menu icons disappearing, leaving blank squares
• Start menu not responding or hanging temporarily
• The whole interface pausing for 10-20 seconds then jumping in to life
• Files having been put in the recycle bin, restoring themselves to their previous location
• VMWare virtual machines (created in Fusion 7 in OS X ) running about 50% of the spped under VMWare Workstation on Windows
• The Bootcamp drivers for keyboard, eg brightness/volume keys, not working, and the Bootcamp shortcut not showing up in the Notification area.

When it works, Windows 10 is super slick and reasonably intuitive, though there is clearly a jarring difference between regular Windows software and Windows "Apps". OneNote is an example - there seem to be regular and "app" flavours of this and I greatly prefer the former.

The main problems are the intermittent hanging and files restoring themselves though I know Bootcamp doesnt officially support Windows 10 yet so this is all experimental...

 

[Renzatic]

Overall, 10122 has been a little more flaky for me than 10079 was. The previous build was stable, but felt incomplete in places. This one adds a few new features, but MS has started tooling around with things under the hood, and it shows.

 

[agaskew]

Agree! FWIW I may have sorted out some of the flakiness by disabling all the Windows Scheduled tasks that run Google Update services and the Office Upload feature - in fact because I renamed the computer after installing Office, there were two separate Office Upload tasks defined, one per hostname. Not very intelligent that

 

[andy2141]

Has anyone managed to get a 27" iMac to display the native resolution of 2560 x 1440 using BootCamp yet?

I just installed the latest build in the hope that it'll be selectable now, but still no joy.

I tried changing monitor types and re-installing bootcamp drivers for 8.1 without success.

I really want to give Win 10 a good go, but hate not having the proper screen res selected.

 

[Renzatic]

Has anyone managed to get a 27" iMac to display the native resolution of 2560 x 1440 using BootCamp yet?

I looked it up, and it seems a lot of people are having problems getting it to display above 1440x1080 or something like. The only answer people seem to give is "ask Apple".

The only thing I'd suggest is to grab the official drivers for your GPU from the manufacturer, and seeing how that turns out. On a good note, you're probably using an Nvidia card, and they have WHQL certified drivers for Windows 10 already available.

Anyway, I just installed build 10130, and it fixes a goodly amount of the complaints I had with the UI from the previous build. Scaling is super smooth and clean looking again, and everything seems a lot more polished overall. I still don't have much love the stark white look File Explorer has going for it, but with the new icons, it's somehow looks a good bit better.

In fact, I'd say looks and polish is what this release is all about, besides some bug fixes here and there (and some added new ones, like me getting a weird error when I go to shut down or restart the comp). The new UI features no longer have the white border around them jump lists are now dark grey to fit in with the rest of the taskbar, the icons, cleaned up Project Spartan (still not called Edge yet), and other kinds of neat stuff. Plus it has the almost shockingly low memory footprint the previous version introduced.

It's starting to feel more complete. Here's a quick screenshot of it to show off the new icons.

 

[andy2141]

The only thing I'd suggest is to grab the official drivers for your GPU from the manufacturer, and seeing how that turns out. On a good note, you're probably using an Nvidia card, and they have WHQL certified drivers for Windows 10 already available.

Thanks. I have a AMD HD 6700M. Tried downloading the latest Catalyst drivers but no joy.

As you say most people seem to say "ask Apple". I guess it's looking like I will need to wait for the updated drivers from Apple. Not sure if they'll support Win10 on my now "old" iMac though.