Windows 10 Anniversary Edition - Any Experience Yet?

I've just finished routine maintenance on my Windows 10 machines this morning and see that a new major update from Microsoft is imminent. It is the "Windows 10 Anniversary Edition".

Some negative comments about this upgrade have already appeared on the web. I think it is too early to tell if these are down to small numbers of unlucky early adopters or if we are in for a repeat of the issues that made upgrading to Windows 10 obnoxious for some.

If anyone has experience of Windows 10 Anniversary Edition, did the upgrade go well and did you spot anything in the new version to worry about?

Thanks,

Dave

I am on version 1607 build 10.0.14393.187 which is the latest released on 13th Sept 2016. I have not come across any problems (yet), apart from it appears to ignore the metered connection setting for downloading updates. My setup is a bit non-standard though as I am running it on an Apple iMac.

Cheers John

Edited By Journeyman on 21/09/2016 11:42:10

Main difference you'll notice is Cortana switches on if it was off before - not sure if you can turn Cortana completely off in the anniversary edition.

Update was fairly slow, but without any drama. Haven't had any significant problems so far.

Yes, long update last night - just as I wanted to send a quick email...

Only difference noticed so far is that (as David notes) Cortana has re-appeared. I will take time later to fully exorcise her ( again - just in case my earlier settings have been tampered with). I don't need Cortana to remind me it's our wedding anniversary - my wife already has done that...

Regards,

IanT

Now I'm confused if I've already got the Anniversary Edition or not!

Like Journeyman I'm on version 1607 build 10.0.14393.187 but I have no record in the update log of installing KB3176934. Possibly the log is cleared by installing KB3176934. Nor I have I been able to find anything on the web (yet) that confirms the actual version number of the "Anniversary Edition", though there are several sources that imply that it's 1607.

A quick read of Microsoft's features page for the Anniversary Edition reveals that I can't easily tell from the features whether I have that particular version or not. Most of the changes are for hardware I don't have or remove features I don't have anyway.

Part of my confusion is that Windows isn't my primary system. As such it may not get used for a week or two, which is why I deliberately switch it on a couple of times each month. If the machines have been off for several days I'll be showered with updates, which happened today. The strange thing is I only became aware of Windows 10 Anniversary edition when asked this morning if I wanted to update to it. I didn't agree but perhaps it happened anyway.

Good news - if it is the Anniversary Edition I've got installed it hasn't turned Cortana back on and nothing obvious has broken.

I shall have to do more digging when I have the time.

Ho hum,

Dave

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 21/09/2016 13:13:01

If you look ** Here ** it gives all the details of updates.

John

Many thanks John. Now why on earth didn't my search find that page?

Cheers,

Dave

The only thing I heard about the WAE update (and it is hearsay, I haven't checked) is that if you went through one of the procedures listed on the internet to protect your privacy settings, you should run through it again as many are reset (not just Cortana).

This is what I'm most worried about. I've pencilled in Sunday afternoon to do the checks.

Ta,

Dave

The only thing I've noticed is that I can't download the updates for my Win7 machines: Presumably because Microsoft's servers are too busy doing important Win10 things.

MichaelG.

On the BBC this morning....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-37431343

Edited By Roger Provins 2 on 22/09/2016 10:01:38

Hot news, Which Magazine condemns Win 10 as intrusive and downloading/uploading too much owner/user information.

They cite thousands of Which readers having horrendous problems with compatibility of hardware etc.

Will it never end?  Beaten to it, posted whlle I was typing.

Clive

Edited By Clive Hartland on 22/09/2016 10:04:10

Far, far too slow. Made and drank two cups of coffee in the time taken.

JA

Updated my laptop last night. Not many changes to my settings, but I did have to disable or uninstall a few things I don't want. Then it crashed on restarting and had to do another reboot. Haven't worked out what happened there but I'll check the system log later.

On the whole I've been happy with Windows 10 over the past year although I turn off almost all its 'features' and use third party software that I'm used to.

Updated W10 on my laptop over the last two days, total time for downloading, updating, rebooting numerous times was about 30 hours.

Having read numerous reports online of problems with the update destroying the bootloader for dual booting I had previously downloaded a boot repair disk and made a full image backup of my hard disk.

Apart from being annoyed that it took so long and I was unable to use my laptop for that time, I was pleasantly surprised to find that everything worked pretty much as before after the update and I was still able to choose between Windows and Linux on startup.

One other surprise is that there is now a Linux Bash Shell on Windows!

Now my big complaint; why on earth are updates so difficult and invasive on Windows? Under Linux I can choose to do updates when I like and can still carry on using the machine while the updates take place in the background. No need to reboot and none of this "Please wait while updates are installed" or "Don't turn off your computer" etc.

Russell

I have the 1607 update waiting for me to download under setting, after reading this I will tell it to update it.

Martin P

Windows updates take place in the background. They just need a reboot so that the new files can swap over with the old ones.

My understanding is that Linux is exactly the same,. it just doesn't nag you to do the reboot, it assumes you will do this periodically. Many windows owners often use hibernate so we can leave files open, gone are the days when a daily reboot was essential for memory management, and a machine can run for weeks without a hard reboot.

Neil

With regular Windows updates you can carry on using the machine while the updates are being installed. You then need a reboot because many of the changed files are locked while Windows is running. However you don't need to reboot immediately - you can do it when convenient. The "Please wait ..." and "Don't turn off .... " messages come when Windows has been unloaded or while (actually before) booting so that the affected files can be replaced while they are unlocked.

However, the WAE is not what would normally be called an update. It's actually a complete replacement of the OS with a new one which is why it takes much longer to download and install (and fairly obviously, you can't use the machine while that's happening). That said, there are wildly varying accounts of how long it took for different people. All a bit meaningless without knowing the proportion of time spent downloading vs installing and the speed of connections, computer speed etc. The process seems particularly slow on laptops.

For comparison, I did the upgrade on my relatively fast desktop at a time when the local internet infrastructure is reported to be relatively quiet, or at least off-peak, and it took something under an hour for the whole lot. A fair portion of that time (maybe half) was the download.

Ran the upgrade this afternoon all appeared to go well but for one thing - MS Network Monitor now no longer works.

Said to try version 3.4 but that refuses to load!

Apart from that loss seen no real difference yet - apart from log on screen has changed.

peter

Windows updates are downloaded in the background but are installed partly when shutting down and partly on boot.

Linux (or strictly GNU) updates are downloaded and installed in the background. I rarely switch my laptop off when running Linux, just go into sleep mode. Of course if I am using a particular application such as Firefox while the updates take place that application remains at the old version until I close that application and restart it. Still no need for a reboot.

I rarely use Windows except for a few applications not available for Linux such as the updating program for my GPS so inevitably when I do there are several updates that get downloaded. No problem except when I want to switch back to Linux when I get the "Do not switch off your computer message" and have to wait and of course when I next want to use Windows I have to endure the long wait while it completes the installation.

I update my Linux installation when I want to not when some remote company wants.

Russell.