vim compatibility with windows 10

Question

I have just started to get to know about vim text editor. I have yet been able to download vim because maybe there was a connection problem with my ISP blocking certain pages/connections.

Anyways, on the page at softtonic, it states that it is incompatible with Windows 10. But the available download on that website is the 7.3 version, while the version on the official page is 74(presumably 7.4?).

Before I start my frustrating journey of going through vim's steep learning curve, I want to at least know if the latest version can run on my system.

P.S: While at that, I would like to know if there is an alternative website to download the latest version. Just in case my problem of downloading it from the official website persists...

Answer 1

You can get the latest stable release on vim.org's download page.

However, the official release is usually a bit minimal and patches are released every couple of days so you might be interested in a more complete and up-to-date build. You can find one at the tuxproject site.

Also, avoid sites like softonic like the plague they are.

Answer 2

I've been running gvim 7.4 (from the vim.org site) on Windows 10 for about 2 weeks with only one issue I've seen so far. The context (right click) menu in the windows explorer no longer has an "Edit with Vim", or other vim entries. It does allow you to select vim with the general edit menu entry.

I'm running this on a Dell XPS 8970 that was upgraded from an almost virgin Windows 7 install.

Answer 3

On Windows 10 I changed from notepad as the default text editor to Notepad ++ as the default by going into the choose default app from the Windows 7 Classic Menu options: Default App which brings up Control panel -> (switch View to large icons) All Control Panels Items: then select Default Apps, at this point the tool bar should read: Control Panel -> All Control Panel Items -> Default Programs.

click: Associate File Type or Protocol with a Program,

Be aware the option above will not appear unless you get All Control Panel Items to appear. Otherwise these two options appear separately and separately you are limited to local Microsoft apps or MS Store apps.

scroll down to the extension you want to reassign like .txt, highlight the extension and click the Change Program button on the right above the extension list, then a dialogue box appears click More Apps (highlighted in blue) and then scroll to the bottom of the new dialogue box and click Look for another app on this PC