Windows 10 seems to really dislike double-boot. Instead of writing it's own bootloader, it overwrote 7's with itself, overwriting the existing GRUB that pointed to Debian, and displaying only two options onscreen: one to boot W7 and the other one to boot W10. Repairing that mess was a nightmare. I wasted so much time running commands like
bootrec,
bcdedit and
diskpart until I decided that none of it was going to work and that it was better for me to wipe it clean and install it yet again, this time with the Windows 7 HDD disconnected.
I installed it alone in a SSD so it actually boots up really quickly. I'm impressed. I also appreciate the fact that it detected and installed almost all the drivers correctly from the get-go, aside from the graphic card's. That's even better than 7 in that regard. Though it is a bit unsettling how many privacy options there is and how many of them you have to disable, like, there's freaking Location settings too? Chill a bit 10, I'm not taking my desktop anywhere...
The version of 10 I got is actually 100% original (same can't be said for 7 but shhhh) that my college gave to all the students for free through a contract or something with Microsoft/OnTheHub. I installed Windows 10 Education, but I guess I could've chosen a version with less features like Pro or Home. Problem is, first time through, I made the mistake of using my college's e-mail account to register it, so the main account on the computer ended up being my full name (which got truncated a bit) and I couldn't change it, and I also had to use a PIN instead of a password. That was something I didn't like
at all, so second time around I made sure to look for an option to make a regular account and lo and behold, there was one! Hidden away on the lower left corner of the screen as "Register as a domain". Thank you for the clarity, Microsoft.
But, can I be honest? Coming from Windows 7's Aero interface to Windows 10's Metro is...uh how do I put it. I don't like it at all. It looks like the UI is made for a phone rather than a PC, and even then, Metro is just ugly. Out of all implementations of the flat layout (some of which I really enjoy!), Metro is by far the worst one. Oh, and also, Windows 10 deactivated my copy of 7 every time I installed it, yes, even when I had the HDD plugged out. I am not joking. Also, everytime 10 did something to the SSD, 7 kept running
chkdsk on it. I kinda feel like there's a battle going on between the two and maybe I should leave them alone for a bit.
...which is why I tried to mess with Linux Mint as well! More on this later.
Like you said, there's not much that can be done to resist Windows 10 for much longer if you need to use a Windows OS. Windows 7 is getting old. Maybe you wouldn't quite notice it after installing all the updates and customizing it, but you'd definitely notice it when you have just the barebones system without SP1, specially when compared to 10 with all its new features.
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"The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear." --Ram Dass