Windows 10: The biggest problems, gripes, and missing features so far

It has been almost a year since we first published a version of this article, and a lot has changed. Windows 10 has gone from being a rough-and-tumble Technical Preview to a shipping product. Countless features have been added, and bugs quashed. I’ve gone from using it only on test systems to running it on my day-to-day machines. After living with it, there is plenty to like, but there are still some pieces that need work.

Windows 10 is a better Windows 8

To give credit where credit is due, Windows 10 is absolutely a better Windows 8. Since Windows 10 is free for all Windows 8 users, it is nearly a no-brainer to go for it at this point. I say nearly because Windows 10 isn’t a complete replacement for Windows 8. For example, the much-loved Windows Media Center is missing. So in my case, the machine connected to my cable box will be staying on Windows 8.1 indefinitely (although there are some good WMC alternatives). Some devices and applications also have issues, although users should be able to get advance warning of issues when the update generates a compatibility report for them.

Windows 10 starts faster, uses less memory, and is being taught new tricks like compressing memory on the fly that Windows 8 will never learn. User preferences also sync really nicely between machines, so once you get the Start menu layout set up on one device, for example, you can have it show up that way on all your machines.

There are also dozens of small, user-requested, improvements to the interface. For example, Microsoft moved the power icon (Sleep, Restart, etc.) down near the Start button, so if you use the mouse to get to it you can put your computer to sleep more quickly than in Windows 8. I am in the habit of manually putting my laptop to sleep before long plane flights, so this is helpful. You can now also directly launch an application from the Windows Store — a no-brainer feature that iOS and Android have had for years, but was missing previously.

The Taskbar and Start menu are also much more configurable than in Windows 8. You can control which system icons are displayed, and how and whether Cortana appears. Strangely, a few glitches that you’d think would have been fixed persist. Auto-hide is still inconsistent for the Taskbar, for example, and it is possible to have applications “disappear” off the desktop and be impossible to find with the mouse.