Windows 10 vs. Windows 8.1 vs. Windows 7 Performance

Three years ago we were benchmarking Microsoft's then latest operating system, Windows 8. At the time we were keen to make sure Windows 8 performed as well as Windows 7, which was a huge upgrade from 2006's Windows Vista.

In the end, we determined that Windows 8 was on par with 7 and at times a fraction faster, leading us to this conclusion in our performance review:

"Looking beyond benchmarks, Windows 8 appears more polished than Windows 7, even if you plan to live on the desktop and aren't too fond of the Start screen, general usage is smoother and appears to be faster on Windows 8, which I found most noticeable on our somewhat underpowered Athlon II X4 system. If anything, it's a great start. Now the Metro/Modern style will have to prove itself as a cross-platform OS that marries desktop, laptop and tablet PCs."

It's obvious now that the 'Metro' Start screen was an epic failure and in my opinion it was the only real issue with Windows 8, as I thoroughly enjoyed using the operating system with Classic Shell installed.

Fortunately, Microsoft learned from its mistakes and addressed some of Windows 8's shortcomings in Windows 10, which we believe is the best version yet, if only for its improved looks and functionality across devices and form factors.

After running the beta for months, I installed Windows 10 on launch day with the impression that it was relatively fast and stable, though it remained to be seen precisely how fast it was compared to Windows 8.1 and the beloved Windows 7.

That's what we plan to find out today as we test various aspects of the operating system including boot up and shutdown times, file copying, encoding, browsing, gaming and some synthetic benchmarks.

Test System Specs

All three operating systems were tested using a fresh install with all the updates applied and then our test software installed. The exact same hardware was used for each configuration with the only difference being the OS used.

• Intel Core i5-4670K (3.4GHz - 3.8GHz)
• Asrock Z97 Extreme6
• 8GB DDR3-2400 RAM
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 980
• Crucial MX200 1TB
• SilverStone Essential Gold 750w
• Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit, Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit, Windows 10 Pro 64-bit

Boot, Sleep & Hibernate Performance

Using BootRacer we measured the time it took for Windows to boot. Windows 8.1 delivered the best result taking just four seconds opposed to six seconds on Windows 10, from the Windows logo to usable desktop.

Manually measuring boot time with a stopwatch delivered similar results, though in realistic terms I struggled to find real differences, with the three operating systems just one or two seconds apart from each other on a fresh install.

Surely these results will vary depending on hardware used, configuration and state of the operating system after months of use, patching and third party apps taking its inevitable toll. We know our hardware was identical for all three OS configurations, so with this setup Windows 10 does appear slightly slower at booting.

Here we measured the time it takes for the system to wake up from sleep. The test stops the moment the desktop is loaded and we induced sleep with a custom shortcut.

Windows 7 takes quite long to wake from sleep -- 17 seconds on average. Windows 8.1 is considerably faster taking just 12 seconds, though Windows 10 was able to improve on this shaving off an additional 2 seconds.

Editor's note (Update): Many readers have pointed out how slow these wake up from sleep times are compared to your laptop where either version wakes up almost instantaneously. The reason is that we ran all tests in a desktop PC, where Windows defaults to Hybrid Sleep. Hybrid sleep is a combination of sleep and hibernate meant to prevent users from losing work in case of a power failure.

The wake up from hibernation results are similar to wake from sleep. Here Windows 10 took just 21 seconds, while Windows 8.1 was slightly slower taking 23 seconds and then Windows 7 at 27 seconds.

Synthetic Benchmarks

Cinebench R15 typically has an error margin of around 5%, though the impact of this can be reduced by taking an average of three runs, which is exactly what we have done. Looking at the single thread results we see a very slight increase in score from Windows 7 to 8.1 and then from 8.1 to 10. Certainly nothing to write home about, but this did have a greater impact on the multi-threaded results where Windows 10 was 7% faster than Win 7, though it was just 2% faster than Win 8.1.

Next up we have PCMark 7 with some interesting results: Windows 8.1 was consistently faster than Win 7 by a little over 100pts while Windows 10 was around 600pts faster on average. Further examination reveals that for whatever reason PCMark 7 was showing much higher "video playback and transcoding / video transcoding" performance under Windows 10 than the previous Microsoft operating systems. The result was almost twice as fast in hitting 9600kB/s.

The last synthetic benchmark we are going to look at is 3D Particle Movement and here we see similar results across all three operating systems. Windows 10 was on average the slowest, while Windows 8.1 provided the best results.

Application Performance

Windows 10 delivered similar performance to Win 7 in Excel 2013, while 8.1 was consistently slower.

At this point Firefox is slower in Windows 10 when compared to 8.1 and 7, based on an average of 7 runs we found it was 7% slower.

Please note again that lower is better here despite the ordering of the graph suggesting otherwise. Rather than sort the data from fastest to slowest for this review we have locked each operating system in order. This should help make reading the data faster since each operating system will assume the same location on each graph, the randomness of the results shouldn't be too bad given there are just three configurations.

Interestingly both Windows 10 and Windows 8.1 were slower than Windows 7 when measuring Chrome performance in the Mozilla Kraken browser benchmark, quite a bit slower in fact.

As you can see Internet Explorer 11 is very slow on all three operating systems compared to Firefox and Chrome. However, Microsoft's new Edge browser, which is exclusive to Windows 10, performs much better with comparable results to Firefox and Chrome.

The Windows 10 performance when testing with WinRAR wasn't great as it was consistently slower than 8.1 and 7 when measuring single and multi-threaded performance.

The best results with Photoshop CC were seen when using Windows 8, while Windows 10 matched the performance of Windows 7.

There's not a lot to say here as all three operating systems delivered the same performance in Illustrator CC.

Like what we saw when testing with WinRAR, we find that Windows 10 is slower than both 8.1 and 7 in 7-Zip.

Storage Performance

We have updated the initial storage results testing both AHCI (Samsung SSD 850 Pro) and NVMe (Samsung SM951) solid state storage. The following tests were conducted using the Samsung 850 Pro 512GB SATA 6Gb/s SSD installed on the Asrock Z97 Extreme6.

The CrystalDiskMark sequential 32 queues and 1 thread test provided similar results across all three operating systems using the Samsung SSD 850 Pro 512GB.

The 4K 32 queues and 1 thread test showed Windows 10 and 8.1 delivering similar read performance while Windows 7 was a fraction slower. That difference was amplified when looking at the write performance, here Windows 7 was noticeably slower.

The sequential performance was again very similar as Windows 10 and 8.1 provided almost identical performance, Windows 7 was again just a fraction slower.

Finally the 4K performance with the Samsung SSD shows all three operating systems delivering similar results, this time Windows 7 is slightly faster than Windows 10.

Storage Performance with the Samsung SM951 NVMe SSD

The following tests were conducted using the Samsung SM951 256GB NVMe SSD installed in the Ultra M.2 slot on the Asrock Z97 Extreme6. Note we were unable to get the SM951 NVMe working in Windows 7.

Windows 10 and Windows 8.1 show similar SSD performance when using an M.2 NVMe drive.

Again Windows 10 and 8.1 are evenly matched when measuring 4K Q32T1 performance.

The sequential results are also much the same.

The 4K performance provides mixed results. Windows 10 was a fraction better when measuring read performance while Windows 8.1 was much better when comparing write performance.

Encoding Performance

Windows 10 delivered similar performance to Windows 7 in our HandBrake encoding test while 8.1 was noticeably faster than both.

Our Hybrid 4K benchmark saw almost no difference in performance between the three operating systems, though again Windows 10 matched 7 while 8.1 was a fraction faster.

Yet again we see that Windows 10 matched Windows 7 while it was slightly slower than 8.1 -- I emphasize slightly.

Gaming Performance

As anticipated, it looks like Windows 10 offers little to no performance advantages over previous versions when it comes to DX11 gaming, at least not in BioShock.

Surprisingly Windows 10 provided consistent gains in Metro Redux with the GTX 980. This could simply be an issue with the drivers though.

Performance slightly drops off in Hitman when moving from Windows 7 to 8.1 and then to 10.

Tomb Raider delivered the exact same performance across all three Microsoft operating systems.

Finally we have Crysis 3 and here Windows 10 performed well, delivering strong performance at both tested resolutions.

Faster, Slower, Better?

After watching near-identical results pour in on most tests, from application to encoding, to storage and gaming, it's hard to read too much into results as there are many variables we can't control.

The same hardware that currently runs Windows 7 competently can be upgraded to Windows 10 with no issues whatsoever on the performance front.

We can ensure that the operating systems were evaluated using the exact same hardware, benchmarking software and methodology. However, we can't ensure that something such as GPU driversdidn't cause variations in performance. Moreover, technologies such Intel's Turbo boost feature can impact the accuracy of the results, though we generally run all tests at least three times, taking the average from multiple runs.

The short version of this conclusion is that a properly set up Windows machine equipped with semi-modern hardware should be capable of running Windows 7 or above more than adequately. The same hardware that currently runs Windows 7 competently can be upgraded to Windows 10 with no issues whatsoever on the performance front.

It used to be the case a few generations back that a new Windows release would need time to be at least on par with the performance of its predecessor. Possibly the most extreme example I can recall was the move from Windows XP to Windows Vista. Though that was partly due to immature drivers on the all-new platform, Vista was a resource hog, too.

We wouldn't be surprised if certain aspects of Windows 10's performance are improved over the coming months and into next year, but most importantly today, you can feel free to upgrade and know you won't be sacrificing performance in the process.

There are going to be future performance benefits of Windows 10 that we can't measure yet, and even once we can, we won't be able to compare the changes with previous operating systems -- DirectX 12 gaming, for example, will only be supported by Windows 10 and later.

On that subject, 3DMark features a DX12 API Overhead test but this is only useful for comparing different hardware as there isn't a DX11 version and it can only be run using Windows 10.

There are going to be future performance benefits of Windows 10 that we can't measure yet, and even once we can, we won't be able to compare the changes with previous operating systems -- DirectX 12 gaming, for example...

Benchmarks aside, Windows 10 appears to be a solid operating system, though my experience hasn't been quirk-free on the seven systems I have running Windows 10 (six of which have been upgraded from 8.1). The upgrade process is shockingly quick and easy. One of the systems I upgraded for example has well over 1TB worth of applications installed and it went smoothly all around regardless.

There have been a few minor issues so far. I haven't looked into this yet, but my photo and media libraries with thousands of items take a long time to load in Windows 10, whereas they loaded instantly before the upgrade from 8.1. Clearly a bug waiting to be fixed.

On the gaming front, I found strange input lag in StarCraft II. It wasn't hugely noticeable but scrolling and commands took slightly longer than they did in Windows 8.1, just enough that in a competitive game it felt sluggish.

After a quick Google search I found a number of users complaining about the same thing and all sources blamed Windows 10's Xbox application which is built into the OS and cannot be removed via conventional methods.

Despite never running this app or having an Xbox account to actually use it, it appears this was my problem. Fortunately, there's a Powershell command to disable the Xbox app and doing so eliminated the lag, allowing StarCraft II to play like it did on Windows 8.1. It was a disappointing discovery, but I'm glad it was relatively easy to overcome with some help from the Internet.

Source: https://www.techspot.com/review/1042-windows-10-vs-windows-8-vs-windows-7/

Mac OS X Theme from Cleodesktop

I have been testing themes with Windows for years. Because Windows 10 keeps updating their builds, theming becomes problematic. As Microsoft upgrades to new builds, it tends to break the theme engine patches. After receiving updates to Windows 10 Build 1803, I tried the Mac OS X Theme from Cleodesktop and it takes me back to the many Tiger OSX themes of the past. They provide 6 different variations. It puts the Apple icon in the Start Menu by default. But  I installed the Classic Menu and updated the Start Menu icon to the Win10 icon. To install it, first do a system backup. Then you need to patch the theme engine with UXTheme Patcher for the 1803 build first. This is available from the Cleodesktop website and others. So after install, you get a nice bright silver theme. Below are my screen shots and a link below where you can get it. Windows 10 n longer needs to be boring and not customizeable. Enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can get the Mac OS X theme for Windows 10 Build 1803 here:

https://www.deviantart.com/cleodesktop/art/Mac-OS-X-Ultimate-Theme-Win10-April-2018-Update-743561621

How to Find Windows 10's Spotlight Lock Screen Pictures

f you have Windows 10's default, Spotlight feature enabled, your lock screen shows gorgeous images courtesy of Microsoft. Some of these high-quality photos are nature shots while others are pictures of great cities around the world. The pictures rotate several times a day, but what if you see an image you like and want to keep a copy of it? Windows keeps these photos buried deep in a hidden directory, but with a bit of digging, you can find them, save them and even use them as desktop wallpaper.
 Here's how to find Windows 10's Spotlight lock screen images:


1. Click View in File Explorer.

2018 MacBook Pro Benchmarked: Record-Breaking Speed
The test results are in, and the new 13-inch MacBook Pro has the fastest SSD ever in a laptop.

2. Click Options. A Folder Options window will appear.





3. Click the View tab.





4. Select "Show hidden files, folders and drives" and click Apply.





5. Go to This PC > Local Disk (C:) > Users > [YOUR USERNAME] > AppData > Local >  Packages > Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager_cw5n1h2txyewy > LocalState > Assets





You'll be presented with a plethora of file names that make absolutely no sense and show no extensions. There's no great method of telling which ones are beautiful photos and which are icons, but you're better off clicking on items with larger file sizes.


6. Copy the most recent large files to another folded (ex: pictures).





7. Rename the files and add the files suffix .jpg to the end of their names.





You should now be able to view the pictures in any image viewer or editor you want.
One more thing: keep in mind that Microsoft adds and removes these at its whim. If you see one you like, pounce on it and make a copy before it goes away, possibly forever.

Andrew E. Freedman,

Andrew joined Laptopmag.com in 2015, reviewing computers and keeping up with the latest news. He holds a M.S. in Journalism (Digital Media) from Columbia University. A lover of all things gaming and tech, his previous work has shown up in Kotaku, PCMag and Complex, among others. Follow him on Twitter @FreedmanAE. 

 

Source:  https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/find-windows-10-lock-screen-pictures

Cannot access windows partition from Ubuntu?

This seems to be an issue with windows 10. In windows 10 the kernel and the drivers hibernate by default even when you shutdown the system. To disable this, do the following.

    Open control panel.(win key + r. Type control and hit enter)

    While in icons view, click on power options.

    Click on Choose what the power buttons do on the Left hand side.

    Uncheck turn on fast startup. (you may need to press change settings that are currently unavailable before this)





    Click on save changes.


Source: https://askubuntu.com/questions/806570/cannot-access-windows-partition-from-ubuntu

How to Disable Windows 10 Update in Every Way

Windows 10 Forces Me to Update

"Every time I try to shut down my computer, I was forced to update my Windows 10. But I really don't want to update my operating system because the automatic update might take up the system and network resources. Is there anybody can help me solve this problem and disable Windows 10 update? Thanks in advance."
Whenever you are faced with Windows 10's automatic update notification like:

• Install updates automatically 
• Download Updates but choose when to install them
• Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them

What would you do? Here, we have the following solutions.

Tips

Before proceeding with the four solutions to fully stop Windows 10 updates, check your own Windows 10 edition (Home, Professional, Education or Enterprise) by going to Settings -> System -> About so that you can find the most appropriate solution. Besides, the fourth way of trying to control the Windows 10 update by using Registry is somewhat risky, do remember to backup your data and the details will be shown in the extra tips section.

How to Disable Windows 10 Update

Solution 1. Disable Windows Update Service

Understand the limitations of this method. While disabling the automatic update service will temporarily halt any Windows 10 cumulative updates, the service will re-enable itself after a certain amount of time. Here are the directions:
1. Press the Windows logo key + R at the same time to invoke the Run box.
2. Type services.msc and press Enter.





3. Scroll down to Windows Update, and double-click it.





4. In Startup type, select Disabled. Then click Apply and OK to save the settings.

 

 

Solution 2. Change the Setting of the Group Policy Editor

The Group Policy feature is not available in the Home edition. So, only when you run Windows 10 Professional, Enterprise, or Education, you can use the Group Policy Editor to change the settings to prevent Windows 10 from automatically updating. The group policy editor will notify you of new updates without automatically installing them.

• Press the Windows logo key + R then type gpedit.msc and click OK.
• Go to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Update.
• Double-click Configure Automatic Updates.
• Select Disabled in Configured Automatic Updates on the left, and click Apply and OK to disable the Windows automatic update feature.

Note: If you need to update your Windows version later, you can repeat the steps above, then select Enabled to turn on this feature, so that you can continue to download the updates.

 

 

Solution 3. Meter Your Network Connection

Understand that this method won't work for Ethernet connections. You can only disable automatic updates by using this method on a Wi-Fi connection. If your computer is connected to WiFi, you can try this to stop Windows 10 automatic updates.
1. Click the Start button at the bottom left on your desktop, then click the Settings app.
2. Click Network & Internet.





3. Click WiF in the left pane, then click the name of your Wi-Fi connection.
4. Click to turn on Set as metered connection.

 

 

Solution 4. Change the way of Windows 10 Updates Using Registry

Extra Tips: Editing the registry is risky, and it can cause irreversible damage to your installation if you don't do it correctly. It's recommended that you make a full backup of your computer before proceeding. All you need to do is use this free backup software to back up your data in three steps:
Step 1. Launch EaseUS Todo Backup and then choose the backup option you want.





Step 2. Choose the system, hard drive, files or apps that you want to backup, and then select a destination where you want to store the backup file.
Step 3. Click "Proceed" to backup data from hard drive.
With a backup at hand, now it's safe to customize a Windows 10 update without receiving any forced updates on your computer. Here's how to make the change in Registry:
1. Use the Windows key + R keyboard shortcut to open the Run command.
2. Type regedit, and click OK to open the Registry.
Browse the following path:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows
3. Right-click the Windows (folder) key, select New, and then click Key.
4. Name the new key WindowsUpdate and press Enter.
5. Right-click the newly created key, select new, and click Key.





6. Name the new key AU and press Enter.
Inside the newly created key, right-click on the right side, select New, and click on DWORD (32-bit) Value.
7. Name the new key AUOptions and press Enter.
Double-click the newly created key and change its value to 2. It's for "Notify for download and notify for install". Click OK.
8. Close the Registry to complete the task.
Using this value prevents Windows 10 from downloading updates automatically, and you'll get a notification when new updates are available. By this way, you can avoid any auto Windows 10 update effectively.
That's how you could make an attempt to disable Windows 10 update in every way. Each method has been proved to work as long as you wish to turn off all the automatic updates in Windows 10.
In the end, we're also asked to address another similar Windows 10 update issue which frequently bothers users for a long time, if you're the one who is looking for a way to stop a Windows 10 update in progress, leave this page and move to the linked page for help.

Source: https://www.easeus.com/todo-backup-resource/how-to-stop-windows-10-from-automatically-update.html

Don’t Want the Spring Creators Update Yet? Here’s How to Pause It

Microsoft is set to release the Spring Creators Update, also known as Redstone 4, at some point in April. You can pause the update to avoid receiving it immediately—as long as you’re using Windows 10 Professional, Enterprise, or Education.

RELATED: Everything New in Windows 10’s Spring Creators Update, Available April 2018

Unfortunately, Windows 10 Home doesn’t allow you to delay updates. So, unless you want to pay $100 to upgrade to Windows 10 Professional, you’ll have to install the update when Microsoft provides it to your PC.

To delay updates in other editions, head to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Update > Advanced Options.

On the Advanced Options page, scroll down to the “Choose when updates are installed” section. If you don’t see this section, you’re using Windows 10 Home and don’t have these options available.

By default, your PC is on the “Semi-Annual Channel (Targeted)” branch. This was previously known as the “Current Branch,” and it means your PC will receive the update when it’s being rolled out to consumers. To delay the update, click this box and switch to the “Semi-Annual Channel,” which is the same as the previous “Current Branch for Business.” You won’t receive the update until Microsoft considers it well-tested and ready for business PCs, which generally happens about four months after it’s rolled out to consumers. That means you probably wouldn’t receive the Spring Creators Update until sometime around August, 2018.

To delay the update even further, click the dropdown under “A feature update includes new capabilities and improvements. It can be deferred for this many days:” and select how many days you want to delay the update. You can select any number of days between 0 and 365. This is cumulative with the previous option. For example, if you select the Semi-Annual Channel and also defer feature updates for 120 days, your PC won’t receive the update for about eight months.

The final option here allows you to delay smaller “quality updates” that include security updates, but only for up to 30 days.

Windows also allows you to pause updates on a temporary basis, if you like. You can scroll down on this screen and toggle the “Pause Updates” switch to “On” and Windows will pause updates for 35 days.

After the 35 days expires—or if you unpause updates using the switch here—Windows will automatically download the latest updates before allowing you to pause updates again.

If you do decide later that you want to receive the updates—or if you want to put off receiving the update for even longer—you can return to the Advanced options page and change the options here at any time. When the time period you’ve selected ends, your PC will immediately begin installing the update.

Chris Hoffman is a technology writer and all-around computer geek. He's as at home using the Linux terminal as he is digging into the Windows registry. Connect with him on Twitter.

Source: https://www.howtogeek.com/346761/don%E2%80%99t-want-the-spring-creators-update-yet-here%E2%80%99s-how-to-pause-it/