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Microsoft (mostly) nails Windows 10 upgrade

Edward C. Baig
USA TODAY

NEW YORK — On the eve of its critical launch of Windows 10, Microsoft has been championing the idea that the company's long anticipated new operating system is familiar but fresh.

I'm buying in, though I could do without something else familiar from Windows' past, too many bugs that I encountered.

I can't start a review of Windows 10 without heralding the return of the Start menu. It's not just that Microsoft's decision to remove Start when it launched Windows 8 in 2012 caused such a stink. Or that the resurrection of Start in version 8.1 was more symbolic than helpful.

The Start menu is back and enhanced.

It's that the newly revamped Start menu in Windows 10 is a useful combination of Windows past and present  and a metaphor for the entire direction of Windows 10.

Indeed, the predecessor version Windows 8 was a schizophrenic operating system that didn't know whether its master was a mouse-keyboard-driven personal computer or a touch-first tablet. It was confusing. Lots of people hated it (though I wasn't one of them.) And Microsoft tried in vain to appeal to both constituencies, never quite pulling it off to everyone's satisfaction.

Windows 10 gets it right more often than not. The new Start blends the Windows 7-style launch-pad for apps, tools and settings with the bolder—some would say radical—live-tile interface of Windows 8 and 8.1. You'll find all your apps and settings down the left side of this new Start menu, including favorites you pin there or the apps you just downloaded. The live tiles that flank them on the right side—revealing useful tidbits like the weather, calendar appointments, email and more—can be resized and are customizable.

I've been looking at computers running versions of Windows 10 for months, and have been testing the near final pre-launch bits over the last several days on a Microsoft Surface Pro 3 tablet computer and Dell XPS 13 notebook preloaded with the software. I also manually installed Windows 10 on another Surface Pro machine, a process that was hassle-free.

A few caution flags are in order, notably the bugs you may run across. For example, though I "owned" the Twitter app, Microsoft reported a "Something went wrong" error message when I tried to download it from the Windows Store.

Microsoft has been pushing updates right on up to Wednesday's launch of the new software and promises to deliver new code on a regular basis beyond then, to squash bugs and refine things.  Welcome to the promising new era of Windows as a service.

That's a big reason, in fact, why not everyone will be able to upgrade to the new Windows on Wednesday. As previously announced, Microsoft is giving first dibs to members of the Windows Insider program who have been testing various iterations of the Windows 10 beta for the better part of a year, followed in line by people who "reserved" a copy in advance. The software is free.

Of course, you'll also be able to get Windows 10 by buying a new computer that's preloaded with the software.

You'll find the path from Windows 8, 8.1 or even 7 to Windows 10 way less jarring than moving from Windows 7 to Windows 8. Heck, most consumers and businesses never even bothered to upgrade to 8.

HEY, CORTANA

Start is just the start of things. Microsoft is giving a major presence to its Cortana digital assistant in Windows 10. Cortana, which dates back to the Halo game and later Windows Phones, is Microsoft's answer to Siri or Google Now and a pretty successful answer at that.

On Windows 10 you can summon Cortana by barking out loud "Hey Cortana" and making a request by voice. Cortana will respond in kind. But you can also type requests for Cortana in a search field on the taskbar. Under those circumstances, Cortana will remain silent.

Cortana will also surface news, weather, stocks and more information based on the kind of stuff that tickles your fancy; you feed Cortana such information in a "notebook."

Cortana travels with you, too, from PC to tablet to Windows Phone. Believe it or not Microsoft is also letting Cortana loose on the iPhone and Android devices. In Windows 10, Cortana also serves up time and location-based reminders. And like Siri she'll tell you a lame joke.

A few things still need polishing. When I glanced at Cortana Home on the lower left corner of the screen, Cortana displayed three of the stocks I wanted to track. I tapped "See all" but Cortana responded with an odd message: "Go ahead and tell me to do something. Interests aren't available at the moment."

Cortana also has something to say inside the more modern Edge Web browser which debuts on Windows 10 and which pushes the venerable but tired Internet Explorer browser toward retirement. (IE is buried in the background.)

EDGE, INTERNET EXPLORER'S REPLACEMENT

Edge has a cleaner look than IE and it borrows features already available on rival browsers. One of these is a reader-view option that lets you removes the clutter around articles you want to consume or read later. I hope Microsoft quickly fixes one of Edge's shortcomings, the ability to read such articles offline.

You can also mark up a web page with virtual ink and save it to the OneNote note-taking app included in Windows 10 and elsewhere. Microsoft seems at the last minute to have repaired a bug I encountered in which I had trouble sending the marked up page to OneNote.

The new Windows also smartly adapts to the hardware that you are using it on, a feature known as Continuum. For example, on a 2 in 1 hybrid like the Surface, you'll be prompted to switch to tablet mode if you detach the optional keyboard. Say yes and icons on the task bar disappear and the system readies itself for touch mode.

Continuum also works with phones based on Windows 10, but this review is focused on the computer/tablet experience.

Other things in Windows 10 worth noting:

*Windows 10 is terrific at multitasking and helping you organize things. You can "snap" up to four windows on the screen simultaneously. Through a readily accessible "task view" feature, you can easily create virtual desktops on the screen that let you view all your open apps at once and quickly switch among them. Meanwhile, a handy Action Center that's a swipe away on the right side of the screen is where you'll find various settings (screen brightness, Wi-Fi, airplane mode, etc.)

*You can stream games off an Xbox and play them on your computer somewhere else in your house. The requirement is you'll have to be on the same home network as the Xbox and your experience will vary depending on connectivity.

*Solid built-in mail, calendar, photos, maps, and Groove Music apps. You can find other apps in the Windows Store. Microsoft is playing up so-called "universal apps" that work across your tablet, PC and phone; you only have to buy them once. And of course Windows being Windows, you'll be able to run most of your old Windows programs.

*Through an authentication feature called Windows Hello, Windows can securely log you in by recognizing your face, iris or fingerprint. You'll need compatible hardware, however, which I did not have for this review. On the Surface I used a standard password or PIN code.

One last thing worth mentioning and it brings me back to Start. When you're ready to shut down, the onscreen power button has conveniently been moved to the Start menu.

Email: ebaig@usatoday.com; Follow USA TODAY tech columnist @edbaig on Twitter

The bottom line

Microsoft Windows 10

www.microsoft.com

Pro. Free upgrade for consumers blends best of Windows past and present. Universal apps. Cortana. Start menu returns. Terrific organization. Frequent updates.

Con. Still buggy. Not available to all on Day One.

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