Well browser compatibility broke for win 7, Im gonna upgrade to win 10. What would y'all recommend for a win 10 beginner? I'm proficient in win 7, I know fuckall about win 10. Does it have all the functions as win 7, regedit event viewer advanced settings etc?
You'll want at least the pro version of Windows 10. Home version doesn't allow you to easily block updates. You can do regedits, but group policies is easier and harder to accidentally mess up. You can disable almost all the spy stuff during installation. or you could install Gentoo.
Overall, Windows 10 has most of the same settings as Windows 7, but you have to hunt a little for them. For example, the system image backups from Windows 7 are there, but now you have to go through the classic control panel to find it, and it's buried a ways in.
If you're going to get Windows 10, and you have your heart set on it, I highly recommend getting the LTSC 2021 Enterprise edition (not regular Enterprise, specifically LTSC build). It's extremely barebones, doesn't have any of the Microsoft bloat on it, the privacy options are so much better than stock Home/Pro, and if you really want the MS store for some reason, you can add it in with a few commands in the terminal.
Forced updates are a thing, and you have no way to pick specific KBs that you want and not others - one of Windows 10's greatest sins. But you can at least block all updates until you want them by either disabling the Windows Update service, or using a tool like Winaero Tweaker.
As for activating it, if you don't want to do the backdoor activation method that's free, you can buy keys for as cheap as $20-$30.
Since you're going to be leaving one OS anyway, take this chance to at least try Linux. Compatibility has come a long way in the last 10 years, and I think once you get everything all figured out, it'll be a great experience overall.
I make this suggestion because Windows 11 has been out for awhile, it won't be too much longer until Windows 10 is no longer supported, and Windows 11 is so fucking awful, in my opinion. Microsoft is now making the push for AI into the operating system, and it is extremely invasive from a privacy standpoint. They say you can turn it off, but I expect it to be on by default, knowing them, and Windows 10/11 updates are notorious for turning user preferences back to the default, so I don't necessarily trust the user preferences.
Overall, Windows 10 has most of the same settings as Windows 7, but you have to hunt a little for them. For example, the system image backups from Windows 7 are there, but now you have to go through the classic control panel to find it, and it's buried a ways in.
If you're going to get Windows 10, and you have your heart set on it, I highly recommend getting the LTSC 2021 Enterprise edition (not regular Enterprise, specifically LTSC build). It's extremely barebones, doesn't have any of the Microsoft bloat on it, the privacy options are so much better than stock Home/Pro, and if you really want the MS store for some reason, you can add it in with a few commands in the terminal.
Forced updates are a thing, and you have no way to pick specific KBs that you want and not others - one of Windows 10's greatest sins. But you can at least block all updates until you want them by either disabling the Windows Update service, or using a tool like Winaero Tweaker.
As for activating it, if you don't want to do the backdoor activation method that's free, you can buy keys for as cheap as $20-$30.
Since you're going to be leaving one OS anyway, take this chance to at least try Linux. Compatibility has come a long way in the last 10 years, and I think once you get everything all figured out, it'll be a great experience overall.
I make this suggestion because Windows 11 has been out for awhile, it won't be too much longer until Windows 10 is no longer supported, and Windows 11 is so fucking awful, in my opinion. Microsoft is now making the push for AI into the operating system, and it is extremely invasive from a privacy standpoint. They say you can turn it off, but I expect it to be on by default, knowing them, and Windows 10/11 updates are notorious for turning user preferences back to the default, so I don't necessarily trust the user preferences.
I have two pirated versions, the business edition from 2018 and the pro edition. Im gonna be disabling updates and telemetry on day 1 with anything else I find to be a bit of a problem, Im not gonna activate it as well. Wrt Linux, this is an old pc from 2011, i5 2500k, Im going to mainly use it for games and software so I dont have a requirement for linux. I know nothing about linux except for ubuntu which I used for college projects (on VM). I know nothing about the sudo commands, I dont know how to operate it, I dont think Ill have enough time to learn everything about it. I will see what I can do though, I dont even know which distro to pick.
I have two pirated versions, the business edition from 2018 and the pro edition. Im gonna be disabling updates and telemetry on day 1 with anything else I find to be a bit of a problem, Im not gonna activate it as well.
If you don't have it, I still say get the LTSC 2021 build. Even if you already have the means to turn off telemetry, you don't have to worry about any of the bloat that MS bundles in with the other versions. Plus if you want to add some of that stuff in on your own, you can.
This is strictly my opinion, but I think Manjaro is a solid choice, especially for beginners. It's got the backend of Arch (one of the best distros there is imo), but it adds a lot of GUI elements and tools to make it user friendly.
Wine makes it very easy to run almost all Windows applications, and as for games, I use Wine, Lutris, and Valve's Proton. My entire PC game collection works great on Linux this way. Yes, you will need to possibly tinker with some of them, but once you get it figured out, you don't have to do it again.
