Carrara and Windows 10 - No Problems?

I did a few searches and found a few people having problems, but most were some time back.  Some suspected problems with Carrara plugins/extensions.   I've been sticking with Win 7 64 bit to run Carrara Pro, just to avoid any problems (and because I've been happy with Win 7).  But it seems Win7 will not be available forever.  Are you happily running Carrara Pro with Windows 10?

Comments

  • StezzaStezza Posts: 8,064

    yep.. never had a problem and been using win10 well before it was released to the public.

     

    Video drivers however...... devil

  • Carrara does sometimes seem slightly less stable on Windows 10 to me, but that could just be that I am more ambitious with some of my scenes now. The Ivy plugin especially crashes all the time for me, but nothing else in particular has caused any issues.

  • Steve KSteve K Posts: 3,235

    Stezza, MDO -

    OK, thanks.  Maybe I won't have to keep a Win7 machine working forever to run Carrara.  Like I do with an old WinXP machine for Adobe Pagemaker (discontinued).

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,570

    My big Carrara box is running Windows 7 64 bit, and it will remain that way because my laptops are running Windows 10, and I like 7 much better.

    Is Windows 10 better? Yeah... I think it's a lot better in its bare form. But the darned Smart Phone style way of doing things still irks me to no end. Just me? Maybe.

    It comes with OneDrive, supposedly a nice, free cloud-base storage system. By default it got so busy constantly trying to copy my entire contents to it that I couldn't even use my computer, which would be a fairly snappy set of specs for Win 7. I turned OneDrive off. Update came and it really wanted me to turn it back on, so I thought I would give it a try, but I wanted to carefully read the EULA first. I didn't get very far - only to the part where it says that anything stored on it can be accessed by Microsoft and used however they see fit. I left it shut off. But it still launches after every update and every once in a while in between even though the settings to remain Off haven't changed.

    I'm not sure if new copies of Win10 come with the legacy Windows apps, but luckily mine, which were sold as Win8 machines with a free upgrade to 10, did because the "Smart Phone Like" apps that Win10 wants us to use have to access the internet, I think. Not sure why they take so long to load, but I've been told it's because I never use them. 

    Just recently (and several times throughout my owning these things) it changed my default music player to its Groove Music, whic I have yet to see fully loaded up and working, it takes so long. I always close it and change my default back to Windows Media Player, which allows me to right-click a whole folder full of tunes and choose: Add to Windows Media Player List, which I really like doing. I also still default to the legacy photo/image viewer on one, and Irfanview on this one. The Win10 version, like Groove Music, seems to want to scan my computer, access the internet, and do who knows what else before launching to a useable state. Maybe this is only an indexing thing that happens at first, but I don't like it.

    I truly wish that they would make another version of it that doesn't have Cortana or the XBox store apps crap that isn't really necessary. A Windows 7 to 10 update, if you wiil, which allows for us to use the latest hardware drivers (that aren't available for 7), but without the Smart Phone features.

    Cortana can no longer be turned off - instead we have to comb through all of its many, Many settings and turn off as much as we can, but it is always running - even if we end task. It just comes right back on.

    Sorry for the rant, but when I go to my office to work in Carrara, I become overjoyed with the ease and speed of Windows 7! I just love it!

  • ...Just recently (and several times throughout my owning these things) it changed my default music player to its Groove Music...

    This is really my only major complaint about Windows 10 - it is constantly changing my default programs without asking me.

    Everything else that I didn't like I've been able to mostly ignore, turn-off or find easy work-arounds for. I do agree that it's much slower (just opening the settings/control panel can take 40-50 seconds, as opposed to the instant response in every previous version of Windows) and that the default apps for things like email are absolutely terrible. 

  • The issue I have with Windows 10 is linked to the graphic card driver. On one of my laptops, I have an Intel 4000 graphic card. With the driver shipped with Windows 10, Carrara is very slow. I have to install the one provided by Intel. Every time Windows 10 updates, I have to do it again. Apart from that, everything works like a charm on both laptops.
  • DUDUDUDU Posts: 1,945

    I will change my computer soon and this subject interests me.
    In fact, I read that the last the generations of I7 don't support W7 anymore and this is very tedious!
    My last update of Windows7 filled me of spies, more than twenty! My Internet searches allowed me to eliminate them, but that takes time.
    When I will be obliged to pass to W10, I will make the same thing, in spite of the fact that my work's computer never reaches Internet, but all these useless processes slow down considerably the stabilization at the start and the opening of some programs.
    I am a killer of useless processes, sometimes it is not easy to eliminate them, I wonder if it is not more difficult with W10.
    Happy of knowing that Carrara will work, which annoys me a lot more, they are dozens of VST(i) which I must reinstall in Cubase by hoping that they will still work…

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,570
    DUDU said:

    I am a killer of useless processes, sometimes it is not easy to eliminate them, I wonder if it is not more difficult with W10.

    Oh you're going to go crazy, I think. Cortana is a personal assistant app that wants to "know" you and all you do. Windows 10 no longer allows it to be turned off. If we kill the process it powerfully turns itself back on. My big problem too is not knowing what I need or don't need as far as processes and/or services. I wish there was such a thing as a clean version of Windows 10. At its roots it seems to be a much better OS. 

  • DUDUDUDU Posts: 1,945

    On the first page on Google (sorry if it is a bad translation...):

    How to remove Cortana?
    Click above and made end of tasks in bottom on the right.
    Then, open the explorer of Windows through the icon My Computer. Open the file Windows then SystemApps.Seek  "Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_xxxxxxxxxx file" and made a right click top rename it.
     Add .old to the end.

    Hope it works...

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,570

    Wow. Cool. Thanks!

  • Steve KSteve K Posts: 3,235

    Oooff.  Now I'm starting to think I should avoid Win10 for as long as possible.  angry

  • Frank__Frank__ Posts: 302
    edited December 2017

    Carrara runs fine on my win 10. (Most funny thing: I'm running Microsoft Money 95, a 16Bit-prog, natively on Win 10; in Win 7 I needed a virtual machine with XP).

    My Win 10 doesn't change constantly the default programs, but I'm still waiting on all of my computers for the first Creators upgrade ...

    Cortana is disabled. I don't see it, but the process is still running, using 38,6 MB of memory and 0% CPU, which is on i7 and with 16GB memory in both main computers, desktop and notebook, negligible.

    Control panel (the old one) opens in 1,5sec max, new control panel <0,5 sec.

    Smart phone look: I don't see it, have such icons as Store and X-Box and whatever deleted from the taskbar. Booting directly into desktop since Win 8.1.

    Cannot say anything about video drivers, because I have dedicated NVidia-cards in both main computers. Nor about OneDrive which seems to become with every upgrade more a pain in the a... Don't know, if I disabled it in my installations or if it wasn't as annoying in earlier editions.

    I'm using Windows since 3.0, every version but NT 3.1, NT 4.0 and Win 2000, and wouldn't say that Win 10 is the best ever, but it's on par with Win 7 (albeit Win 7 looked better), which was the best Windows in its days.

    Drop of bitterness: after every big update/upgrade you have to check the privacy settings, if these still follow your wishes.

     

    Post edited by Frank__ on
  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,570
    Steve K said:

    Oooff.  Now I'm starting to think I should avoid Win10 for as long as possible.  angry

    Probably not - not if you want to take advantage of the latest cpu and gpu solutions. It probably just needs a lot more powerful machine than either of my ultra-budget laptops.

    I was all excited to get 'this' laptop because its specs are very similar to the one I bought for Carrara when I got that at first. It had a brand new Core2Duo processor and a dedicated nVidia gpu of high repute. 4GB RAM, nice big monitor... and it rocked for its day.

    This thing has a quad core AMD, but each core is just over 1 GHz, 4GB RAM but also an internal gpu that has to share that RAM.

    It would likely really rock if I could put Windows 7 on it, but I cannot. I tried. Even contacted support and they said... no.

    For what I do, I'd be very happy to just stick with Windows 7 64 bit and legacy machines that will run it, because I am entirely content with Carrara Pro 64 bit. So I've been looking at the refurbished HP Z800 workstations with dual hex-core cpu and Quadro gpu that come with Win 7 Pro installed. But now AMD is cranking out their new Ryzen cpus with up to (so far) 16 cores hyperthreaded to 32 thread in a single cpu. Yeah, I could get a whole Z800 for about the same, or not much more price, but still.

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,570

    I'd also like to add that, with a beefy machine like my Win 7 one, I'd bet that Windows 10 is amazing. It really is a great OS - and with some help from folks like DUDU, perhaps a person can figure out how to eliminate the stuff we don't want/need.

  • Frank__Frank__ Posts: 302
    I was all excited to get 'this' laptop because its specs are very similar to the one I bought for Carrara when I got that at first. It had a brand new Core2Duo processor and a dedicated nVidia gpu of high repute. 4GB RAM, nice big monitor... and it rocked for its day.

    This thing has a quad core AMD, but each core is just over 1 GHz, 4GB RAM but also an internal gpu that has to share that RAM.

    It would likely really rock if I could put Windows 7 on it, but I cannot. I tried. Even contacted support and they said... no.

    Did they say why not?

    My former partner buyed some ASUS Netbook with some Intel Atom lots of years ago, when Netbooks were modern. With integrated graphics and 1 GB memory and XP it's way (s)lower equiped than your laptop. 3 years ago I changed the 1 GB RAM to 2 GB and installed Win 7, which I had laying around. Better, faster. After Win 10 arrived I did the upgrade. Faster. But for todays requirements simply too slow and too small.

    She bought a real notebook some month ago. (And I've lost my last floating Win 7-licence (-: ).

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,570

    They said it wasn't reverse compatible. To buy a system with that option, we have to look for that option, to the desired OS.

    I tried installing Windows 7 and (I can't remember what it said) I couldn't. It (Windows 7) wouldn't let me.

  • McGuiverMcGuiver Posts: 219
    edited December 2017

    If you don't like the Windows 10 smart phone style & have problems navigating Windows 10 (like I did), there is a free option out there.

    I am using a program called classic shell, which ( in my case) I have set to look & behave like Win xp.

    I really despised navigating through Windows 10, but I had no choice with my new computer.

    I love it with the classic shell.

    Post edited by McGuiver on
  • StezzaStezza Posts: 8,064

    not only does windows talk back to MS but also caught out is Lockheed Martin with the Norwegian's new F-35 stealth fighters caught sending sensitive data back to  the US manufacturer..

     

    nothing it seems is safe! eeeek!

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,570
    McGuiver said:

    If you don't like the Windows 10 smart phone style & have problems navigating Windows 10 (like I did), there is a free option out there.

    I am using a program called classic shell, which ( in my case) I have set to look & behave like Win xp.

    I really despised navigating through Windows 10, but I had no choice with my new computer.

    I love it with the classic shell.

    Sweet! Thanks!

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,570
    McGuiver said:

    If you don't like the Windows 10 smart phone style & have problems navigating Windows 10 (like I did), there is a free option out there.

    I am using a program called classic shell, which ( in my case) I have set to look & behave like Win xp.

    I really despised navigating through Windows 10, but I had no choice with my new computer.

    I love it with the classic shell.

    OMG! That was SO easy and fast! Thank You!!!

    One (of several, I guess) thing I was always somewhat peaved about in regards to Daz3d was that the default "My Daz3d Library" folder is located in Public Documents. This didn't bother me in the slightest in Windows 7 because Libraries > Documents shows User and Public folders. But in Windows 10, I found that I had to go C > Users > Public > Public Documents, and then finally to My Daz3d Library. I understand the reasoning (a little) about why it's in Public instead of My documents, but getting there in Win10 was always a PITA - so I actually made a special toolbar shortcut to get to Public Documents.

    In the ever-so-awesome Classic Shell settings panel (always easy to access, by the way) I was able to easily edit the "Documents" link to lib_documents instead of user_documents. Instead of showing all folders from both in one, it gives My Documents on the top, Public Documents on the bottom.

    That's just a very small example of how cool this thing is. As time permits I'm going to dig through this thing and really play with setting up my Win 10 experience.

    McGuiver, I cannot thank you enough!

    Thank You! And Again... Thank You!!! yes

    ...and again to you too, DUDU. I still haven't shut off Cortana, but I will. I imagine that I'll have to redo it again for each update, but I don't care. After a while it'll just become second nature! ;)

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,570

    ...and it's non-destructive too. So for those who may want to look at the original Win 10 menu, there's a button for that at the top of the Start menu

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,570
    DUDU said:

    On the first page on Google (sorry if it is a bad translation...):

    How to remove Cortana?
    Click above and made end of tasks in bottom on the right.
    Then, open the explorer of Windows through the icon My Computer. Open the file Windows then SystemApps.Seek  "Microsoft.Windows.Cortana_xxxxxxxxxx file" and made a right click top rename it.
     Add .old to the end.

    Hope it works...

    It seems to have worked so far. We'll see.

    I hope I didn't mess up. End Task on Cortana and it starts back up before I can hit the "Try Again" button in renaming the end of the file name. Finally I tried using the Delete button instead of End Task to see if I could get it done faster... it worked. Like I said, I hope that didn't screw anything up. But if it did screw something up, and that something was Cortana, I'm fine with that!

  • DUDUDUDU Posts: 1,945

    Nice if it works.

    There is a lot of tutos to avoid the MicroSoft espionage, like this one:

    Take care about Google and YT too!

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,570

    Yeah, I already did a lot of that. An update that occurred since that video has made it no longer possible to disable Cortana - just FYI on that note.

    Personally, I'm not 'creeped out' by data collection as I can see that some of what they're trying to 'help users with' can depend greatly upon how they're using their computers, and this sort of thing can help in that, and I really believe that's what is intended by MS, not to be creepy.

    The part that bothers me is when I'm trying to work on my computer, but Windows also has an agenda of its own, which slows my work way down, or even locks it up for a time. I never feel that way in Windows 7. If it's happening... I don't know because it still allows me to do what I'm there to do. Of course, it's a much beefier system.

  • What I hate is when Windows decides to reboot for an update when I launched a very long render or when it decides it absolutely has to download a new version when I need all the bandwidth I can get to make a download I really need. 

  • TangoAlphaTangoAlpha Posts: 4,584
    Philemo said:

    What I hate is when Windows decides to reboot for an update when I launched a very long render or when it decides it absolutely has to download a new version when I need all the bandwidth I can get to make a download I really need. 

    This. It did it to me last week. I was 9 hours into a 10 hour render, and . . . reboot. Didn't ask, didn't give an option to wait, just reboot & sod you mate.

  • Steve KSteve K Posts: 3,235
    Philemo said:

    What I hate is when Windows decides to reboot for an update when I launched a very long render or when it decides it absolutely has to download a new version when I need all the bandwidth I can get to make a download I really need. 

    This. It did it to me last week. I was 9 hours into a 10 hour render, and . . . reboot. Didn't ask, didn't give an option to wait, just reboot & sod you mate.

    I recall that happening to me with Win7, some time ago.  I'm thinking disconnecting the Internet cable would avoid the reboot? Or (I have not tried this):

    How do I stop Windows 10 from updating automatically?
    Option 3: Group Policy Editor
    Open the Run command (Win + R), in it type: gpedit.msc and press enter.
    Navigate to: Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Windows Update.
    Open this and change the Configure Automatic Updates setting to '2 - Notify for download and notify for install'

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,570

    Win 7 was easy to just have it download updates and no install without permission. I'm sure there's a way to do that in 10, but I haven't looked hard enough. Closest I got was the ability to switch the time range whe it could do this whenever it wants to. 

  • StezzaStezza Posts: 8,064

    If I had a 10 hour render I’d reboot the computer myself! Lol

  • DartanbeckDartanbeck Posts: 21,570

    I don't often have a 10 hour single render but it's quite common for me to have 10, 12, or even just two hour render sessions in the queue. But that's on my Win 7 machne so it never bothers with them.

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