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Transcript
Chomping at the bit for Windows 10
Hi, everyone. I’m Leo Notenboom for askleo.com. So as I record this, we are less than a month away from Windows 10’s office release date of July 29. Now, I’ve been hearing questions from a lot of people and a lot of commentary from a lot of different people about Windows 10.
I’ve categorized them into roughly, I’ll say, three buckets: There are the folks that will never, ever use Windows 10. They have been burned too hard by Windows 8 or Microsoft, and honestly, there’s nothing I can say or that we can do that will change their mind. Windows 10 will forever suffer from whatever these folks feel like has burned them in the past. That’s kind of too bad, but it is what it is.
The second group are those I consider myself part of that are basically patiently waiting. We’re interested; we know that we’re gong to move to it someday. it’s going to part of our Windows landscape in the future but we’re not in really big hurry.
The third group I want to talk to you about today and that is the group that basically area saying, “OMG! It’s Windows 10 and I need it right away! What about this? What about that? What do I do? What about these questions? What about these answers? Why don’t they tell us?” Hold on!
What I want to say to this group; what I call the OMG group, is to please stand down. Slow down and calm down just a little. Become a part of that middle group, the Patiently Waiting group and I say this for two important reasons. One, there just is a lot we still don’t know about Windows 10.
I’ll get into a couple of the common questions in a minute. But there’s just a lot of stuff that Microsoft hasn’t made public yet. And second, there is no reason to rush into Windows 10. There just isn’t. It’s a good operating system; don’t get me wrong but it’s not something you need to abandon whatever you’re running right now and immediately go get Windows 10; that just doesn’t have to happen.
So I’m getting a lot of questions about Windows 10 for which there simply are no answers yet. We can speculate some, and of course, speculate we do, but Microsoft hasn’t actually provided answers for many of these questions publicly. They just haven’t – yet.
Will there be an ISO? Well, they haven’t said. I would assume so. Will there be some way to download and install on multiple computers or machines after downloading once? They haven’t said. I would assume so. Is an upgrade the only way to get it, through that little icon that people have been alternately wondering about or complaining about that’s showing up and not showing up on some machines? Well, probably not. They haven’t said, but chances are there will be plenty of different ways to get Windows 10 in addition to that little upgrade icon.
They haven’t said yet what that’s going to be. Will it work on your machine? Well, if it qualified for an upgrade, that much at least, the little upgrade icon shows up then that much least we can pretty much assume that yeah, your machine will run Windows 10.
If there’s no icon, well then it kind of depends on your hardware. Supposedly, if your machine is capable of running Windows 8, it’s capable of running Windows 10 so if you’re running Windows 8 then fantastic – you probably meet the minimum requirement.
Will you be able to upgrade if you don’t see the little upgrade icon? Again, they haven’t said anything. I would certainly assume that if your hardware is capable of running Windows 10, then you’ll be able to upgrade to Windows 10.
How you find out? We don’t know yet; we don’t have an answer for that yet. We’ll need to be patient. Will you be able to do a clean install instead of an upgrade, which, of course is my preferred path whenever we do a major operating system change. Again, they haven’t said, but I would assume so.
It just doesn’t make sense for that not to be an available option. So you can see there’s a lot of “I assume so” in a lot of these questions and a lot of these answers that we’re kind of speculating on simply because many of these answers have not yet been made public by Microsoft. They haven’t said what the answers are going to be yet.
This is why I so strongly, strongly recommend patience. These questions will be answered in time and quite publicly I’m sure. Some of them may very well have varied answers as I record this. Some of them will get answered in the next few weeks; some of them will get answered immediately on the day of release. Some of them may not get answered for a little while after the official release date.
Remember, once the official release date rolls around, even then not every one will get Windows 10. It’s going to take time for Windows 10 to roll out. How long? Again, we don’t know. It could be days; it could be weeks; there’s just no public answer to that question. We can only speculate, and ultimately we can really only be patient.
There is simply no rush to get Windows 10. My recommendation stands – if you want Windows 10 wait! Just wait! A couple of months after their release date, with the release date currently of July 29, that means waiting until say the beginning of October before even considering whether or not you want to install Windows 10 on your machine or how you want to install Windows 10. I’m convinced that the answer to almost every question about distributions and download and upgrade versus full install and additions and so forth – all of those questions will certainly be answered in the first month or two after the release date.
Then, you’ll have all the information plus the experience of others who’ve gone before you to make a rational decision and take a rational approach to upgrading or installing Windows 10. Be patient. Please, just be patient. You can tell, I’m getting these questions a lot, we just, like I said, I don’t have answers for them because Microsoft hasn’t made answers for them public yet.
Wait until after Windows 10 has been released, and I’m absolutely convinced all of these kinds of questions will be answered then.
What do you think? Which camp to you fit in? Are you one of the folks who’ve been burned and would never, ever, ever touch Windows 10 with a ten-foot pole? Are you one of the patient people; one of the people who have already been assuming my advice and plan to wait until Windows 10 has been out for a little while?
Or are you one of those folks who are just can’t wait to get Windows 10 – want desperately to get it and get it now – want all of the questions answered now before the answers are even available? Let me know which you are in the comments below. If you are anywhere else other than askleo.com, here’s the URL to visit this page – the page that has this video enabled for comments.
https://askleo.com/19783
I’d really love to hear what you think, and specifically if you’re really that urgent about getting Windows 10, I’d really love to know why. I wonder if I’m missing something that makes it appealing to people. Like I said, I don’t see it as being an urgency; I don’t think it’s something that everybody needs to jump on. Maybe I’m missing something; maybe there is a compelling reason that we should be considering doing this sooner. If that’s you, I’d love to hear from you.
If you’re waiting – fantastic. You know, I’d love to hear from all of you depending on exactly why you’re waiting for Windows 10, what your plans are in respect to Windows 10. Let us know and let us know why. Thanks again for watching. I will see you again next week!
Per your advice, I will wait a few months to download Windows 10, at least that’s my plan right now. I’m hoping that you’ll tell us when it’s time to upgrade, I’m using Windows 8.1, and feel it was less user friendly than my previous Windows XL.
I am willing to be Guinea Pig so I can assist those who wait!
After years of trying something new I have had ups and downs!
But that’s the fun of it all!
Going where no man/woman has gone before!
All my best to the patient ones!
Someone has to go first!
Great attitude Dennis! Thanks for having the guts to be a first tryer!!
since i have a win 7 ultimate installation disk and a DBAN disk i feel prepared to check out win 10 as soon as its ready. but watching the video made me wonder if win 10 will have the “add or remove programs” the other versions of windows has. if it does won`t i be able to remove it and download a better version if i have too many problems?
Windows 10 has “add remove programs”. But that’s NEVER been something that would help you get back other versions of Windows. The only way to go back is to either restore your machine from a backup taken prior to Windows 10 being installed (a backup I recommend you take anyway), OR reinstalling whatever version fo Windows it is you want, from scratch.
Actually, you can revert via Start > Settings > Update & security > Recovery. Caveats: this will only work if a) you’ve upgraded from Windows 7 or 8/8.1 (in other words, haven’t performed a clean install); b) you upgraded within the last 30 days (the C:\Windows.old file is automatically deleted after that time) and c) you haven’t manually deleted C:\Windows.old!
Leo’s comment was written before Windows 10 was officially released. He wrote an article on 4 ways to revert to the previous OS, although he outlined a slightly different way to access the built in Windows revert to previous OS.
Thanks again, Leo, for good, sound and reasonable advice. You answered all my questions I had been wondering about at once, with ‘we just don’t know yet.’ I just recently got used to Win7 so I’m in no hurry to have to go through another steep learning curve. I opted for 7 because of all the negatives I was reading about Win8 and even Win8.1. I’d might be in your first category of ‘never never never’ on Win10 had I not chosen 7. I don’t use other devices, apart from my desktop, and they’re supposed to support Win7 for another 5 yrs, as I understand. On the other hand, getting Win10 for free might have advantages. But I had already decided to wait until near the end of the free offer to expire to make a final decision, so I was delighted to hear my favorite computer expert say that waiting it the best approach!
” patiently waiting” I want to wait and see how buggy it may be at first, and if so, wait for any major bugs to be fixed. Then I will jump in!
I will install it as soon as it comes out one ONE of my machines. But not the rest. I believe in waiting for the bugs to be worked out. Leo’s advice for patience seems to make perfect sense.
I definitely fall in the Wait and see category. As is usual with MS, the public become beta testers once a product is released aside from the genuine beta testers
that did their thing prior to release. I prefer to wait and see what bugs come up after release and let the whole thing settle into a hopefully stable OS. As others are saying, Leo’s advice is first rate in my opinion, wait and see!!
Have WIN7 Ultimate Pro SP1 installed and have been very happy with it so am in the wait and see category. Also was turned off by Vista and Win8 so still skeptical about any new version.
I will check it out but am definitely NOT in any hurry to do so, free upgrade or not.
same here.
What upgraders also have to keep in mind is the soon to be released Intel chip — Skylake. What to do– build a new machine based on Skylake and start off with Windows 7 or jump into Windows 10?
I was in the OMG camp but I’m now in the patiently waiting. My only reason for being in the OMG group to begin with is my dislike of Windows 8.1. I really wish I had kept 7.
I use windows media centre for tv on windows 7 So I think I will keep windows 7 also no option not to install updates. They will be pushed through whether you want them or not on windows 10. Windows 8.1 is okay but I use it with Classic Shell but I hate the tiled screen. Will windows 10 scan in pdf mode as windows 8.1 does. I am not sure I will upgrade to windows 10 at all
The option to not install updates will be there for Windows 10 editions other than Home. It’s only the Home edition that accepts updates without question or option.
Regarding forced update to the Home version, betcha it won’t be long before the web is flooded with schemes to defeat that.
My irritation with this forcing of updates on home users is a practical concern. I have good internet at home and decent at work. But, I sometimes have to do a wifi via my phone when working abroad. I don’t need Windows (or anything else) working in the background eating up my limited bandwidth. I want to disable those things while on limited internet.
From a very UNtechie fan: So if I have my settings to automatically accept Windows updates (which was a recommendation after a problem I’d had), do I face the probability of being upgraded to Win10 whether I want it or not?
Yes or no. If your computer automatically accepts updates AND you have a Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 operating system (OS) then you probably received the GWX (Get Windows 10) update along with its icon. However, once Windows 10 is available and presented to you on your computer from Microsoft, you’ll have the OPTION to install it or NOT. Some folks have already informed Microsoft that they do not wish to replace their current OS with Windows 10 by following the instructions in a previous Ask Leo’s article titled, “How do I cancel my Windows 10 update?” Here is that article’s link https://askleo.com/un-reserve-windows-10-update/.
Some of us simply uninstalled the update KB3035583 from the “Installed Updates” portion of Windows Updates, but since you’re “UNtechie” as you described yourself then the above paragraph probably suits you better. There was an Ask Leo’s article titled, “How do I make the Windows 10 offer icon go away?” at this link, https://askleo.com/how-do-i-make-the-windows-10-offer-icon-go-away/. But again the above paragraph should be appropriate for most folks wanting to opt out of the Windows 10 update. Remember if you do nothing now, you’ll have the choice once Windows 10 is presented to you on your computer as available for use (download) to either install it or not. There’s plenty of time to decide.
You will NOT be automatically updated to Windows 10. That’s more than an “update”, that’s an upgrade of the entire system.
Hi Leo, many thanks for all your tech support, videos and advice all these years.
just watched your windows 10 video, thanks for that, i intend to get win 10 as soon as it comes available so i guess i’m in the chomping on the bit catogory, i have no particular reason i just want a change from 7 and i didnt get along with 8 i’ll happily drop you an email and tell you what i think of it. thanks again.
dave.
Backup first! :-)
I USE DELL, *8.1. if I UPDATE TO 10 CAN I I USE IT FOR MORE YEARS? ( OR HOW LONG WITHOUT PAYING FOR ANTHER ONE . iT SAID FREE FOR ONE YEAR
You get it for free within the first year. There is no annual charge or subscription. You can use it as long as you care to.
The correct idiom is “champing at the bit”, not “chomping”.
“Champing” an older, almost archaic version; “chomping” has almost completely replaced it in modern usage. Both are correct.
Both are considered correct: http://grammarist.com/usage/champing-chomping-at-the-bit/
Grammarist is a great site, Leo. Chomping, champing…who cares?
For crying out loud, why do people have to be so pedantic? Didn’t even have the guts to put their real name. Hey, Anon…you ain’t gonna win any brownie points being a schmuck.
Hi Leo, good article, however listen to it again, you said 3 groups, you mentioned the 1st and the next one was the 3rd group and then you mentioned the OMG group as, oops ! It’s the 3rd group again!. BTW, one of my computers didn’t get the call, I searched and eventually found a work round which forced the windows window. This involved copying a text line into notepad and the renaming it as a .CMD file. When it’s run it forces the upgrade window to appear. I am in group 2
On anything new, I always give them time to take care of the bugs.
that’s always been my philosophy with these electronic gizmos ;-)
I’m always in the wait-for-the-first-service-pack camp with any OS. The big, scary question for me is “Why is it free?” My Dad told me nothing is free….ever.
Will Windows 10 be the thin end of the wedge towards a subscription OS?
The statement has been a pretty clear NO.
I have used Vista, didn’t have any problems with it as some people seem to have had.
Using Windows 7 at the moment and like it very much.
I can’t say that I care too much for 8, but then I don’t use touch screen and can’t see any advantages in using 8.
I probably won’t bother with 10 until 7 is no longer supported, unless I see some VERY good reasons to change – If it ain’t broke, why fix it?
Regards
You may miss the free upgrade if you wait too long.
I so agree with you.
I’m in the curious bucket about W10.
Although we switched to Linux Mint (& love it) upon the demise of XP’s support, we still have 2 eligible stand-by PCs running W7 home & pro so will probably ‘Upgrade’ them to 10 at some stage to test & compare against Mint.
Leo, you leave out the group who are avid Windows Media Center users. We will not be updating any time soon (years from now), until we find a suitable alternative that is as easy to set up and use. Worst case is we stay with windows 8.1 until 2023 and Windows 7 users until 2018. I think. We could use your help to get Microsoft to include WMC as is in Windows 10!!!
Microsoft has proven time and time again unwilling to reverse these types of decisions. If I COULD help, I’d lobby to get Outlook Express back as that affected many more people. My recommendation: begin the search for a replacement right away. There are several out there.
I am very dependent on my Hauppauge WinTV-DCR-3250 Receiver which gets TV signals from cable and distributes them through my wireless router. It uses only Windows Media Center and Hauppauge tech support says that there is no alternative. This will keep me at Windows 7 for a very long time.
OE was one of the reasons we stuck with XP to the bitter end. Then switched to Thunderbird on Mint & were delighted to discover it’s Home folder can be copy/pasted complete with all mail, content & settings between PCs.
I’m a Windows Media Center user as well, and it appears that I’m firmly commited to Windows 7 forever. I’m OK with that, since it’s a more-or-less dedicated machine. However, the recent botched EDG switch showed that we’re still dependent on MIcrosoft for continued support of WMC, and based upon the quality of that support, I’m looking for a replacement.
I have several other machines, most of which are eligible for WX (one isn’t, but I haven’t been able to figure out why), which will be imaged and upgraded anon. My main production machine is a laptop, which may complicate things, but will probably be the first upgrade attempt, to accumulate as much day-to-day experience as possible before upgrading all the rest. Maybe I’m doing this exactly the wrong way….
Having two computers, I will definitely not install immediately on both machines. I make disk images on a weekly basis so reverting if necessary will not be a problem or, should I say should not be.
My intention right now is to wait at least a couple of weeks before installing on one of my computers. If all goes well and I like what I see, I will install on the other computer. If I don’t like what I see or how it works with my peripherals, then it will be a no go at all. I have no pressing need other than to stay current enough that if I have a hardware failure of some kind I will not be forced into making massive changes at one time in order to get back up and running.
I put myself in Group 2.
I am definitely in the wait and see group. The “free” upgrade I am entitled to is Home, and there is no way that I will let Microsoft push updates that I don’t want. I can’t count the number of friends machines that I have had to remove Bing from. If after 10 has been out for a while, and the policy is changed on updates, or there is a way to upgrade to a higher version of 10 at a decent price I might consider it. Otherwise it is Win 7 until my machine gives out, and then I’ll buy a new one, probably with Win 15 on it.
Waiting patiently +++, and I will wait much longer than a month after release. I just got Win7, & only because I had to, when XP lost support.
I have watched windows new os’s ever since windows 95. Each new release had new features and bugs that took time to repair. Windows xp made things much better, and still there were problems that took time to fix. Windows 7 had new features that far surpassed xp capabilities, and still there were problems that took time to fix. Each time, MSFT learned from prior releases, and then came windows 8/8.1 I had my machine set up as a dual boot. either 7 or 8.
I used 7 during the day, and at night I switched to 8.1. I operated like this for 4 months before deciding to leave windows 7 and go to windows 8 exclusively.
IMHO, Microsoft should be congratulated for releasing the finest os they have ever had. Granted, it is a large departure from prior versions, but a little study and daily use made it clear that it worked much better and faster than 7. I will make an image of my current system prior to the win 10 release on an external hdd, the go for win 10 ASAP.
I can wait as long as it takes Leo. I am in no hurry and may not upgrade from WIn 7-64 as that move was painful and expensive due to a bogus MS update disc and HP not updating the printer drivers I needed for my All In One printer. But I want to thank you for all your efforts in trying to maintain sanity in the digital world. Well done!
I have the patience of. Job. No big hurry to install and have no updated programs.
Great article as always. Full of (un)common sense.
I’m solidly in the “wait patiently, watch with interest” camp. I’m content with Win 7 and have no reason to rush to any other. Buy most accounts Win 10 is shaping up to be a worthwhile OS, so I’m sure I’ll go for it eventually, but I may wait until the end of the free year.
I’m with you Leo. I got burnt with windows me. Now I wait for the shack down to see what falls out.
Thanks Leo
I will mostly wait, however as I do a tiny bit of support and training for Windows I will upgrade one of my machines to Windows 10 fairly early. It will be the one with Windows 8.1 – which I won’t be sad to see go – They REALLY messed up with forcing the “split personality” of the two desktops etc on people. A couple of tweaks to auto select a Win 7 clone desktop and retained start menu on non touch screen devices, but with the option, encouragement and upfront training/guide to try the Tiled screen was all that was needed. Heck they could have pinned a Windows Store icon somewhere prominent.
As I still value recording TV on a Home Theatre PC there’ll be at least one machine that’s never likely to make the switch judging by MS opting out of that area for Win 10.
It would seem though that the trial run of Win 10 has been going well now, albeit for early adopters who are likely to be very confident on computers, and that of course is the catch, most people never upgrade to a newer version of Windows, yes Windows 8 to 8.1 And Windows 7 to Service Pack one.
Congratulations to the person who has moved to Linux Mint – it and several other versions of Linux are a great way to go for those not tied to particular proprietary software. Microsoft’s web versions of Office programs will do fine for very many people, without subscriptions or boxed versions (other Office suites both online and offline are available !)
Good article!
Whoa Leo!! Don’t discourage to many of those “OMG” folks. Those are the people that get out there and shake out all the bugs (and have all the crashes) that allow us poor folk in the middle group to eventually have a pleasant (okay, maybe not allows pleasant) and much smoother upgrade.. I love those folk!!
Not to worry. They don’t read Ask Leo!. :-) (Though, of course, they probably should.)
A few of us do :)
I might not belong to the extreme OMG! crowd. I’ll install it as soon as it’s available, but I wont be restless if I’m not one of the very first in their roll-out chain.
I’m genuinely excited about a unified operating system for my devices and have been following the news pretty intensely these last few months.
What I’m looking forward to the most is trying out the new features and tighter integration.
I would say I am in the OMG category. I have always been “Mr. Impatient”. If something is new and fancy, as the Staples commercial says, “I Want It”. I am well aware that there will be glitches, but, as you have said before, there is probably no software out there that doesn’t have a glitch or two in it. I also figure,
(likely naively so), that if it is ready for distribution to the masses, then “they” have worked out the majority of the large known problems, so I am willing to put up with, and occasionally curse at, the subsequent results.
I got used to, and didn’t find Vista as bad as many people seem to, and I am now used to, and rather like Windows 8.1, even the dreaded and hated Start Screen, so I am ready for Windows 10. BRING IT ON!!!!!!
PS: I WILL back up before I perform the deed.
Thanks for, and keep up, all your good work.
Having reread my feeble attempt at humour in the first line, (Staples, and “I Want It”), I realize I am way off base. It should have read: as The Source commercial says, “I Want That”. My bad, but the rest still stands.
As a long time follower of Leo’s articles and videos, I personally plan to wait before installing Win 10 on a new Dell desktop and an older Dell lap top, both with Win 7-64 Home Premium. This is based on using Windows since 1997 with Win 95, Win 98, Win 98 SE, NOT Win ME, Win XP, NOT Win Vista, and finally Win 7. As Leo recommends I’ll probably wait at least 6 or more months, and based on user reports I may download within the 12 month period, or do a fresh install from a DVD.
I have a PC that I bought in 2000 that has Win ME installed. It’s been running for 15 years with no problems. I reinstalled the OS from scratch in 2008. It’s been running fine (not connected to the Internet). With the right software and configuration, this OS will run great. What’s great is, the PC boots up in about 30 seconds. It is a Dell Dimension with 500 MB of RAM.
I have struggled with Microsoft from DOS days. One thing is certain. At each release we all become unpaid beta testers. Patches, upgrades and service packs follow routinely and inevitably. Any version of a Microsoft x.0 release is glitchy, suspect and vulnerable. Windows 10.0 will be no different as real world users will complain about system problems which Microsoft will fix in order of the volume of complaints.
I have a test version on a laptop and am unimpressed with what has not been rolled out yet. I took the laptop to a resort this weekend and found that Win 10 did a remarkable job of locating and hooking u to the hotel wi-fi network – the unsecured version, that is. Win 10 will not allow you to enter user names and passwords to switch to the secured version. Major fault. After wasting time trying to work around the problem, I changed to another device with a reliable O/S.
That is not the sort of problem you want to encounter on a business trip. Anyone who does not approach Win 10 with healthy skepticism and wait for the inevitable bug fixes is in for some rough sledding. The Win 10 O/S is being designed to run on everything from your desktop monster to your smart phone and adapt itself to the platform used. Think about that for a minute. Remember hos long it took for plug and play to become truly useful? There are many players involved and much hardware is not constructed to interface with Win 10. We will go though the same difficulties waiting for hardware to be made compatible with Win 10. No one can write and O/S that can change the hardware specs. Tablets and phones in particular will be a problem unless they already run some version of Windows. I know I will wait to upgrade both my phone and tablet before I try using Win 10 on those devices. I don’t need the hassles of fighting with marginal or incompatible hardware that stops productivity when I need it the most.
Thanks Leo, I enjoy your news letter very much. I have been using Windows 10 for some time in the bate versions. I am the IT person for a small office, that is running seven at this time. I see no need to upgrade to ten any time soon. The office has a file server for backup, so cloud solutions are of no interest to me. You always talk about backing up, the server runs backup in four different locations six days a week. Might be over kill, but better safe then sorry. What started out as a hobby (repairing computers) has become a fetish. I also enjoy working with alternative operating systems. I guess I am in all three of your groups, for different reasons. Keep up the great work! Nothing is more fun than a computer that won’t boot.
“Nothing is more fun than a computer that won’t boot.” Boy oh boy, do I want your home phone number! LOL!
I’m in the middle camp. Burned by Dell’s implementation of Vista on a laptop. Reasonably content with W7 on four machines, except for ongoing instability in the network printing. Skirted W8 after reading lots of negative reviews and hating my Windows Phone, its vaunted precursor. I want to try a Surface with W10, but only after some of the bugs are worked out.
Leo, I have been around a long time since the days of DOS 3,4,5 etc and have tried all reincarnations of Windows. Some I liked, some I could put up with and some I hate. I am currently running Windows 7 Professional 32bit and 64 bit. I do this by using a front loading hard drive caddy in one of my 5.25″ slots in my midi tower PC which connects direct to the SATA port on my motherboard. This way I can simply put a different hard drive in when I want to run some of the old legacy programs which will not run on 64 bit. You may have guessed what I intend to do. I am going to prepare another HDD with a clone of my Windows 7 (could be 32 or 64) then use this for the Windows 10 upgrade. I then have the Windows 10 to try out and also still have both my Windows 7 installations which only take moments to change back to. The drives simply push into the caddy and are ejected by simply opening the caddy door. The caddy which takes 3.5″ drives is freely available on Amazon.
Thank you Leo… as usual, your advice is relevant. Me, I installed Win 10 preview on 2 of my machines. The other 3 PCs are still on Win 8.1… which I love (I believe the same for 10 so far). My comment will be, as with Win 8, 8.1, GOOD. I believe Win 10 resembles 8.1 to the exception it has a “Start button” and apps don’t open full screen. My view is… use the task bar and have it start to the desktop.
Back to win10, it works ok… I’ve had no problems. The July 29 release date should be a success.
I’m definitely in the wait and see group…my concern is “free” will cost me something and it probably will be even less privacy….if there truly is any anyway. Computers in general are great marketing tools to whatever industry. Just look at the “what we share” and can we really stop certain sharing when we try to opt out. Our opt out options are shrinking. Will windows 10 make it even easier for companies to easedrop? This really won’t matter if I wait or not…but I’ll wait anyway.
Yes, there’s a section during install where you are given the option to turn off a bunch of things, otherwise Microsoft basically want and gets every scrap of information that you send out and would be available to say, your ISP…and who’s to say those software switches are really off and stay off all the time when updates are automated? Also, I’m sure Microsoft wants folks to think of The Store as the first place to go for your software needs. There was a Store icon pinned to the taskbar after I installed the latest preview.
I’m a member of the wait and see group. When I upgrade to the next OS it is always after the first Service Pack or .1 update. That means that most of the kinks have been worked out of the OS usually. This makes the OS more stable usually. Since I have two computers running 8.1 Windows Media Center OS might upgrade the one. It is my wife’s computer and doesn’t contain any data that needs saved. But even if I do update it, I’ll still be waiting a while to do it.
Not really enthused about 8 or anything like 8 so I will wait and see. I got used to 7 but my wife has 8 on her PC and i go nuts every time I have to fix something for her.
So I’ll probably get around to replacing 8.1 at some point; there’s no hurry at all since I hardly ever use 8.1. I just installed a preview version for giggles and the upgrade went smoothly for a change but I didn’t see anything that made me sit up and take notice, kinda square, blocky and bland but certainly less psychotically bipolar than 8.1.
Ok Leo, You do not have a section for the Window’s 10 Tech Previewers.
I have been testing for several months and watched a lot of noticeable needs fixes already before the release date.
I am Positively an OMG! Person with the patience of a Doctor.
I am very much looking forward to the polished version when it comes out.
This release will be different then all the past Window’s releases to be sure.
Microsoft Team which includes the guy on the street deserve a clap for their efforts.
I assume you mean a pediatrition – ie someone who has very little patients (patience)
I am still using XP and my computer is an old reconditioned one and it is slow. We now have Telus Optic which is supposed to be really fast and it is for my I-pad but not for our computer. Is it possible to install Windows 10 on an XP when it is available?
This depends entirely on the specific computer. Typically for an old computer the answer is no.
Hi, well Leo, I think you may have missed a group out here in your video, and it is the group to which I belong. The little screen icon when clicked stated that it was a free method to get the new OS, which implied if we didn’t get it that way one would have to pay. Now I am quite firmly in the “Wait and see” group and that seems to have been catered for by further details revealed when booking the download of Windows 10, which stated one could download, but then install it when one wanted to and the implication was there was no time limit on this.
So this extra group is those who have booked a download, but like me are going to wait and see before actualy committing to the installation process. And yes my preferred method is a clean install so I may well NOT be doing that even then. I do also have a great concern as to exactly where on my PC this download would go. I have a small C: drive which is 70GB and freespace after operating system is loaded along with programs is about 13GB so not much room to install anything else on there and if it is like the Windows 7 upgrade it is added automatically to the C drive and the original installation left intact I presume for recovery purposes in some way. The upgrade would be no use to me if this was the case.
I am patiently waiting. Wondering though what Skylake is and will it be in the newest windows 10 coming out in the fall or is it something that we will have to pay extra to get it. Also, even though win 10 will not have wmc, I did read there will be a free “option” that will be available in the win 10 store, although I don’t know how it good it will be.
The thing with Windows Media Center is that two groups of people use it.
The first group who use it because they think it’s pretty or intuitive or works well on a big screen or with a controller, have alternatives if WMC was ever taken away from them. Other programs can do the same or more, sometimes better, sometimes not.
The second group use it because it allows them to use cable cards and record live TV whenever they want. They’re a niche group and Microsoft is cutting the support due to licensing costs, similarly to how they recently removed built in DVD playback (if I remember correctly)
To my knowledge there are few, if any, software packages out there that allows you to interface with your cable Card (I think it’s to do with encryption, or Microsoft being a “trusted” company being allowed access by cable providers) and those people have Little choise but to continue using their current OS if they want to keep their home Theater systems functioning.
I’d probably stick it in a virtual machine early, to play with it and see how I like it. The best decision I ever made was to do that with 8.1, hate it and blow it away. Win 7 is a winner, but it’s natural to want to stay out front when you’re comfortable with the product.
I always wait to see how it goes in general and what issues upgrades have and determine if it’s worth the pains of the change.
So I patiently wait until bugs get worked out, if they do. I am like this with cars, computers etc.
I don’t know enough to work things out if there are problems.
Thanks for your advice which I will follow. You know why? I just don’t trust Microsoft…wondering what’s up their collective sleeves?
Good advice Leo. I’ll wait until Microsoft gets the bugs out of 10.
The question in the back of my mind is “Will Microsoft give Windows 10 free for a perird of time and then want annual payments to continue with it” ?
Thanks for keeping us informed. Your adise is always helpful, but at times way above my head.
There will be NO annual payments. That much Microsoft has at least clarified. It’s a product you purchase once, for the low price of FREE within that first year.
I fall in the “Wait and See” group. I am currently using Windows 7 and see no compelling reason to upgrade to Windows 10. FREE isn’t reason enough. I would much rather let the “Hurry Up OMG” crowd be the guinea pigs. Sometime in the next 12 months or so I will consider a new PC with Windows 10 factory installed. An upgrade is not very appealing to me.
Note: I have two machines that are still happily running Windows XP and one running Vista with no problems.
Robert
Waiting patiently. Will be backing up before trying Windows 10, just in case. I like Windows 7 and hope all my current software will still run properly with Windows 10.
I am patiently waiting. What is Skylake and is it something we will have to pay for to get it? I read it is coming out in the fall, so if we already have win 10, how will this affect us?
Skylake is the new Intel processor (CPU) architecture which is due to be released this year. Obviously you’d have to pay to get it. It should work fine with Windows 10 and possibly also MacOS on a Mac if Apple opts for the new processor. As most people don’t upgrade their CPUs, the most common way people will get it is when they get a new computer. In most cases it should come with Win 10 pre-installed as new machines usually come with the latest OS.
Thanks so much for your answer, Mark! Had no idea what it was.
Will all versions of Windows 10 be free for the first year, or just the “Home” edition?
All versions will be upgraded to their corresponding version of Windows 10. For example 7 & 8.1 Home upgrade to 10 Home, 7 & 8.1 Pro to 10 Pro etc. These will all be free for the first year.
Home and Pro at least, as I understand it – upgrades to existing systems.
Hanging on to windows 7 for as long as I can except on Surface which has been totally annoying from day 1 with win 8,
and no improvement with 8.1, so on that one just out of curiosity I will upgrade to win 10 at first oppotunity. Plus that will satisfy my curiosity and it better not be too similar to 8!
I will do an image backup of my Windows 8.1, which is running beautifully on my PC.
Will begin using Windows 10 when it is availble.
Wait for a few months like all those Technical prviews with which I have experimented everything and submitted many a feed backs.
Then decide wheter to go back to my Win 8.1 or move forward(!!!) with the new OS
I am interested in knowing what W 10 will be like, but I will probably wait until December or January before making the move, Windows 7 seems to be an effective OS – certainly for everything I want, but I don’t want the hassle of a forced upgrade which is what happened when support for XP was discontinued.
It will also be interesting to see what “goodies” MS will include with W 10, such as photo viewer and editor, media player, etc., and fax – some customers still send POs by fax, and I need to receive on the computer otherwise I will be wasting a lot of paper printing out garbage faxes.
Ron
l have a desktop with Windows XP and I believe this is the most user friendly operating system. Microsoft is trying to fix something that isn’t broken.
Nostalgia just Struck me :)
I remember having that same feeling back when XP was the new thing and I felt 98 SE was good enough for anything I’d ever need a PC for.
I’ll give you this, XP is like a battle hardened Russian steel tank from the sixties, when something breaks you grab a new gear from your box of spare parts and replace the broken one.
The new systems have so many more bells and whistles, optical digital targeting systems, gyroscopes, hydraulic balancing. Makes them much more comfortable to ride, but when they break you’ll have to call a guy :)
I think this is just the nature of computing. As things get more powerful, you’ll have to build layer upon layer for a common user to actually be able to use the system. This is also why I’m so impressed by Microsofts ability to actually speed up their new OS these last few years reversing the trend from 98 to XP to Vista which slowed down my computers severly when they were released :)
I believe the young Gen will do the great snatch, but us older Gen (71 yrs) will be a great waiter !
I’m 65 (young is a state of mind.), and I’m a chomper. Well, not exactly chomping at the bit, but for me, I feel I need to get started on learning the OS before the masses start using it. I plan to install it on the machine I use to carry to work, the data is all duplicated on DropBox. In my case, working for Ask Leo! I want to be well versed with how Windows 10 works by the time the questions start rolling in. I could do that in a virtual machine, but I feel I need the full hands on experience to really see how it works.
Of course, I plan do do a complete image backup before installing (that’s an absolute necessity for any and all major upgrades and changes), so in my case, I can’t foresee any major problems that can’t be fixed with a restore. I’ll wait on my home computer which is the one I use most of the time.
Hi I am one of the people that never rush into any OS I really liked XP and it was a long time before I went to win 7 never considered vista, so I’ll let the OMG group work out the bugs and sometime I will have Win 10
From my understanding, we have 1 year after the release date to get Windows 10, knowing this I’m in no hurry to get it. I know many people are testing it now, when it’s released new people will start using it. With fresh eyes looking at it, they may find bugs/glitches that maybe some of the prerelease testers haven’t found. I fall into the group that will wait until the last minute to get Windows 10, by that time most of the bugs/glitches should be ironed out. Another reason I will wait is, I’m in no hurry to learn to use a new os. Heck I’m still learning new things about Windows 7, even though I’ve been using it 4 years. One thing I will do before I install Windows 10 is backup, that way if any thing goes wrong I can restore from that backup.
I reacts to facts, so I will let the automatic download machine put the program files on my computer drive, and wait to get a little more confidant before I let the install happen. Which will be after the facts have been established.
I’ll wait until you recommend it and see what some of the users comments are.
I’m in the “I want it yesterday” group.
that is for the machine that has window 8, which is a pain in the rear !!!
I have windows 10 insider edition on that machine, and am impressed (still issues)
but I am slowly installing all my programs to it, (quickbooks, media editors, etc), to see what is compatible.
for my MAIN manchine, I am in the “I will wait a while”
I qualify for Windows 10 home
HOWEVER, BIG issue.
Windows 10 home does NOT PROVIDE BITLOCKER; from what I INITIALLY read, it was going to be available.
I WANT DISK ENCRYPTION.
I have use d TRUECRYPT before. It is good . I still trust it.
BUT, it might not work with windows 10!
and one reason why is that truecrypt does not work with UEFI secure boot;
and MICROSOFT has made it OPTIONAL for new windows 10 machines to e able to GO BACK TO BIOS, so UEFI may be a permanent fixture on some newer machiones.
SO, Microsoft is NOT providing bitlocker to the masses, and is possibly LOCKING US OUT of using other tried and true encrypt[tion.
IS this because the NSA has forced Microsoft to NOT provide it to the masses?????
just curious
anyway, I will continue testing
nick
Bitlocker has never been available in Home editions to my knowledge. A reason to get Pro or better.
Home edition does come with “Device Encryption” but this requires InstantGo or compliance with “Device Encryption Requirements Test”
I imagine new devices will support this out of the box, and maybe some existing devices already support this. I know my Surface 2 is encrypted as a device.
From what I understand “Device Encryption” is the layman encryption that will actually be used by the average joe, while BitLocker is targeted at encrypting external devices like thumbdrives, optical discs or external harddrives.
I may be wrong in this.
I have been trained in the school of late Adopters and never but never before service pack 1 has been released. I’m in NO RUSH!!
Since SP1 will probably take more than a year before it comes out, you might want to get it close to the deadline date for the free upgrade.
Definitely an OMG person. I have been an “insider” when it first became available to us. I have installed the preview version of Windows 10 on my desktop, 17″ laptop, and my 10″ 2 in 1 laptop/tablet. My main computer is still running 8.1, but with the release of 10162, I’m considering downloading the preview version in this computer also. Version 10162 is very impressive and the Edge browser appears to be a great improvement over Explorer, that I might consider moving away from Chrome. I know that the “insiders” will get the new release first to play around with it and later MS will start releasing to the rest. I want to be one of the first to receive the latest OS from MS. If I run into any problems, I use this experience as a learning opportunity. I think that it’s a fun way to learn. So far I am impressed with what MS has released in Windows 10 and I think many user will also feel the same way.
Windows 10, when released to the public will have had been tested by over 5 million expert PC users worldwide. In fact, as Windows Central states, there were only 4 countries on this entire plant that did not have a tester. These testers that I am referring to are the people in the Windows Insider program. The program was started at the end of Sept. 2014. Over all these months of testing, the insiders have provided MS with over 3 million pieces of feedback through the Windows Insider app, along with over 2.5 million responses to the survey questions that show up in the app. As one can see, Windows 10 will not be released as an new and unknown program. Furthermore, on July 29th, MS will release Windows 10 to only the people in the Insiders program for even more testing. With all this testing, and even Leo’s blessing, there will still be users who will find fault with this program. What I’ve just stated probably won’t change which of the 3 categories one is in. You are what you are. However, I wanted to show that this release of Windows is very unique in that MS tried very hard to listen to the users (voice of the customer). Again, as as Insider, I believe that most of you will be happy with the new Windows 10.
I’ll wait as I have no short term reason to upgrade to something new and unknown. I want to download only once for two PCs and it’s always possible that I will have to or want to restore the PC to the prior OS configuration and then back to W10. MS seems to get it right every other release so perhaps W10 will follow. I also have limited bandwidth and data for what’s been reported as several GBs of data. I might first try on a older third PC or consider using a virtual setup to test.
Various reports suggest W10 is rapidly improving but it certainly appears to be on a fast track to release. And MS does not have a good release record. It just amazes me how very often MS releases multiple 100 MBs of updates. Sure would be nice to have a secure and stable W10.
We have got to give are third party programs time after Windows Ten hits the population to make sure they are up to par. They are not even sure right now from what I have been reading. I have Windows 8.1 Pro and the last thing I need is a early upgrade and not happy after wards because I jumped the gun and nothing was actually truly ready accept me…smiles.
I was an OMG until I read/saw this. I’m running Win7, not having any problems and my PC is 6 months old. So why be an early adopter? This was very good advice and well stated, Leo. Thanks.
Before I read your wise comments, I saw your photo and I must request, please switch it for a less gloomy one. Please. For my sake. You’re better looking than that.
I am just worried that it will bork my legacy programs….er… ‘apps’. Will we be able to revert to our former OS if it does??
Who decided to change ‘programs’ to ‘apps’ anyway? I’d like to take after them with a wet noodle..
Take an image backup before you upgrade and you can always revert to that.
The man who committed that atrocity is long buried, and I’d recommend not desecrating his grave with wet noodles or you’d be in serious trouble with one of the largest, most profitable, cults in the World ;D
OS, Shmo-S.
I don’t run an OS.
My machine runs W7 Home Premium.
I run Firefox, Thunderbird, Office 2003, Access 2007, Bluebeam Revu V5, Xplorer2, Emacs, Nero 2014, Dragon, Brother scanner, and a few other apps. (Plus implicit apps, like Flash and Quicktime.)
If my computer can run those, I don’t care what religion it follows.
So I’ll switch to W10 when it offers enough improvement to merit the effort, maybe.
If your machine runs Win 7, then it’s running an OS.
I am waiting as per your previous advice. I would much rather wait until you have fully explored Windows 10 and found its weaknesses. Above all I need you to be ready with advice on how to get me out of any problems I experience. Thanks as ever.
I’d be willing to bet that virtually 100% of the “OMG! Gotta have it now!” crowd are currently running Windows 8.x, and simply cannot stand it any longer. They are probably people who aren’t technically-inclined enough to run Linux, and for whatever reason (probably the higher expense) won’t buy a Mac either. So they’re stuck with Windows. And as old Windows machines die and new ones are purchased, “Windows” for most people means “Windows 8.x”. That’s my $0.02, anyway. :-)
100% is virtually including everyone. I’m willing to bet it’s more like 80% since I’m one of the five using 8.1 that’s actually enjoying it and would never choose 7 over 8 now.
But then again I’m the kind of guy who just likes to have a computer supporting the largest amount of software out there. Mac doesn’t do that. Linux doesn’t do that, Windows 7 doesn’t do that. Windows 8 does.
I would normally be ready to wait and see how the roll-out goes, but I do have what I think is a good reason for wanting to get Windows 10 without too much delay.
It’s because my Windows 8.1 seems to have some bits missing, which I discovered when I was unable to update to the latest version of iTunes. It became evident that my Win 8.1 needs a Refresh, but I get the “Insert media. Some files are missing” message when I try to do that. I no longer have the “Media” to insert, as this is a machine on which Windows already has a long history of re-installations and updates, starting back from Windows 7 that it came with. I have image backups that I could try to restore from, but in all likelihood they are also defective.
So I plan to do a clean install of Windows 10 as soon as the options and procedures for doing that become clear – which I hope will be early August some time. This time I’ll also make sure that I immediately make a good disk image backup.
Hi Leo,
Sound advice. I started with DOS and first Windows was 3.1, which I though was fantastic. Since then have had most iterations, of which ME, to say the least, was not my favourite. I have a new laptop with an additional touch screen, which are working well with 8.1. I will install 10 a.s.a.p. on a older laptop for fun and to see what happens. If, and when satisfied with 10, will install on my main laptop and try some flavour of Linux on the older machine (again for fun).
I’m the family and friends IT guy. I’ve been using 10 Preview in a minimal way but I like the way it looks and feels. I don’t think there will be a huge learning curve but then again, change is change. This is not faint praise from a guy who has used Macs all his life beginning with an Apple IIc.
As a former mfgr. and 3rd party software developer, my advice to all is to never install the version of any software that ends in “.0” . Let the OMG crowd be on the bleeding edge (they are going to do it now matter what) and go forth and finds those shakeout bugs first.
May I be in two camps? I’ve got two 7 computers that I’ll leave as is until the dust settles. HOWEVER, that blasted 8.1 is gonna get switched as soon as I work up the courage to try! I hate Windows 8.1. I’ve used computers since my first 8088, but never been an expert. If 10 is anywhere near as bad as 8, then I’ll throw the computer out in the street. I’ve wanted to do that with lots of them!)
Darn, I was just getting the hang of Windows 9.
I am taking your advice and waiting patiently before using the Windows 10 OS
I am running a dual boot…Windows 8.1 and windows 10130 but hardly ever switch to 8.1. Window 10 is not complete yet but it runs a lot better than 8.1.
The one thing I miss is Internet Explorer but I will get used to the new project Spartan.
I am totally happy the way 10 runs now and am looking forward to install the final (will it be?) version
I have 3 working computers. Two are running win 8.1. My favorite is the computer I use on a daily basis, that one is running Win 7. I plan to up grade one of the 8.1 machines, so I can really check it out. If after a while of running Win 10 on my test machine, if I like it then will upgrade the final machine.
My wife (has own computer) says “no way”.
I am go-to for so many people who have computer problems. I run dual XP and 7, dual 7 and 10, 7, and 8/1 on 4 different machines. When some one calls for help, (some long distance) I can get on my proper computer and give them blow by blow advice. Yes, I will update the Win 10 insider to the release as soon as possible. But the others will just have to stay.
Hi Leo,
Please don’t dismiss the OMG group. As Timothy Borbass said earlier, many of us are in the Insider Program. We are the ones that look for bugs, and make critical comments about the way Windows 10 operates. If it weren’t for this group, the ones who are just waiting will get whatever Microsoft thinks they should get. Being an OMG doesn’t necessarily mean we upgraded to Windows 10. Windows 7 is still my main OS and I run Windows 10 in a VM where it can’t do any damage to my main OS.
It took me awhile to go from 7 to 8.1 I am in the I hate change I am 66 years old
Thanks for the good article. I did read it all, even though I was surprised how you jumped from #1 to #3. Actually twice to #3. Just a human error.
I will not install on the day of release, BUT I must say, I would love to see it on somebody’s computer. Probably will go to Best Buy. Depending on what I see, I may not wait 6 or even 10 months.
What does the icon actually look like for windows 10?
WHY do I not see at the end of my comment a button of “send” or “submit”? Now I do not know whether you ever see it.
I am a patient waiter. I am happily using Win 7 Home premium with Mozilla Aurora Beta and Thunderbird Email Client. VLC Media player. Everything is stable and working well so there is no urgency for Win 10. I am a follower of yours and your recommendations are my guide in all things Computer. At 78 years old I am not in any kind of a hurry for anything. Thank you for all your advice over the years. You Are the Guru
As you advise, I will now be patient and wait till October before installing 10.
I did feel impatient to begin with, partly because I am fascinated to have a play with the new system and partly because I am quite keen to replace 8.1, which has frustrated me since I first turned on the new computer with that operating system installed.
I wonder if anyone else has asked this question……do we have to wait till later before actually downloading, or is it silly to imagine that the ‘automatic’ download offered could be permitted to function, but then left till October for installation – presumably together with the adjustments published to correct any issues discovered in the time since launch ?
Keep up the good work.
First, Leo, I commend you for your patience. It has got to be really frustrating getting so many questions that just plain cannot be answered at this time.
I am one who is patiently waiting until Windows 10 has been out for a while and many of the glitches have been worked out. I figure I need to look into Windows 10 because I’m not as computer savvy as I was with …say DOS, Win 3.1 and Win98. The times they pass us by. Anyway, I’m thinking if I can switch from XP to Windows 10 I’ll not have to learn alot of new computing skills for a good while. At least I really hope not.
As with past releases I will be waiting until after the release date to see what the opinion of the “experts” is and for launch problems to be sorted out.
Hi Leo ,
I’m just an average computer user . I didn’t want to go to Windows 8 because i felt
intimidated because it required a new way of thinking that turned out to be easy
and fun . I was one of the last people in the world to get a computer and I am
tired of always being last and since Windows 10 is of the same mind set as 8.1 and
I know my way around the computer now , I want to take the leap to Windows 10 .
I don’t see any reason why I could be sorry for doing so . Finally , when new things
come up and out for Windows 10 , I want to be able to partake of at least most of it.
I love the way you are helping us Leo and I always make back up now .
I am running Windows 7 Pro and I am happy with it. I run an accounting and tax business on this machine. I will wait until I am certain that the programs I use in the business will operate properly with Windows 10 before I upgrade. I have the original Surface Pro and have become somewhat familiar with Windows 8.1 and, except for finding things and moving between programs and IE pages, I am happy with It and it seems to run fine. I am hoping that Windows 10 will take care of those issues. When Leo says the time is right, I will upgrade to Windows 10 so I can learn how it works before I change any other computer. I just purchased a touch screen Windows 8.1 because of an eyesight problem, I need the capability to expand screens so I can read them easily. This will probably be the one I upgrade to next if my experiment with the Surface is good.
I’m a Media Center buff and I would hate to do without it. If I do upgrade from Win 7 to Win 10, is there a download somewhere that would allow me to operate a MC facsimile on Win 10?
There are several alternatives, but they all have pros and cons. I would do some research for media center alternatives before choosing one.
The only time I ever change versions of Windows is when I buy a new machine, except for Win 95. My current machine is running Win 7 Professional and I am in no hurry to install Win 10. I’ll be happy to wait until after the roll out to install Win 10.
I’ll follow your advice and wait before installing windows 10
I shall wait a couple of months at least and then install W10 on one of the spare machines that are stood in a corner gathering dust because I never get around to selling them. That will enable me to assess it and if it’s a disaster then I will simply re-install W7 from the original DVD and suffer the pain of a gazillion updates.
After that we shall see what we shall see. I presume that although we lose Media Centre (not an issue for me) Media Player will still be around.
Windows versions seem to alternate between being ok and disasters. W98 was ok; Me was horrid; XP was good; Vista was horrid; W7 was good; W8 was horrid and 8.1 is an acquired taste. On that basis W10 should be a good one…
Why can’t we just go back to DOS 6.2 and Windows 3.11?!?!?!
When Windows 8 came out I heard a LOT of complaints about this new system. I waited. Windows 8.1, same. I waited. Nearly a year later I purchased my new ASUS Laptop because my previous “best” OS was screwing up to the point I kept having to replace it with the same. Fresh OS was good for a while, then…….. Oh well, it’s time. The New ASUS came with windows 8 installed. I just set it up to run like my previous did and I was content. Now when something starts going strange on me I just refresh the OS and done. No problem. Windows 10, it’s going to be the same at the starting gate. It’ll falter a few times, get fixed, stumble along for a while then falter again. Sure, it’ll be the greatest OS for all of us, but like you said Brother Leo, just be patient, which for a fact I am a patient man. I’ll wait. Maybe nearly 5 or 6 months or more. My Windows 8.1 is doing just fine. Thanks Bro.
Your state-of-mind is a good one. I feel too many people have “heard from someone who heard from someone who heard from someone who actually used” Windows 8 that it was bad and should be avoided at all cost. Sure it was different, but that was mostly cosmetics. I have yet to see a person boot up their computer to just sit and stare at their pretty desktop background or icons. For the power user, Windows 8 was as easy to use as Windows 7, a lot of the gestures worked fine with a mouse, some were even faster (slam mouse to top, click, drag to bottom vs. aiming and clicking a specific small button) or easier (clicking a large icon on a customizable scrollable list vs. directing the mouse through a tiny menu of dropout menu upon dropout menu without ever losing the ‘mouseover’) and it even had some gimicky features making it behave a Little like a phone too. Everything in Windows 7, was present in Windows 8, and quite a few Things were improved like the ability to pause a standard Windows file transfer (grabbing large files on my university Network discs often took a full day, I could pause and resume over VPN when I got home) and other small power user features.
Thank you Leo for your always useful advice. My situation is perhaps a bit different than most. I will soon be receiving estate monies, and as I am retired and on Social Security, I can NOT keep these estate monies after a certain level, to do so risks my losing my Govt Benefits. I currently have a Dell Desktop and Laptop with Vista, and it needs replacement badly. I was planning on waiting until Win 10 Dell computers were available. Of course I could purchase a Win 8.1 computer, but I am very suspicious, from past bad experiences, of doing upgrades, in this case, upgrading to 10 from 8.1 . So what’s the best course here, wait and get a Win 10 machine (Dell already has some after 7/29 for sale now), or get one with Win 8.1? Am under a time frame here, which complicates this. Thanks for your help.
I believe I said this somewhere else – if you;re getting a new machine and it comes with Windows 10, go for it. Preinstalled is likely to be one of the most stable scenarios.
I am still running XP SP3 and I like it. All my CAD programs work. My work computer is Win7 Running XP mode for all of my CAD programs. I am not buying more CAD programs. I will make XP run till I die. MS is NOT holding me hostage to their platform. I will find alternatives and will never again buy another MS product.
Hi Leo, I only moved from XP (which I liked) to 7 (which stirs me not at all) because support ended and you told me to, from which it should be obvious that I am firmly in the ‘wait and see’ group. I will however be very tempted to make the (free) change in the first year if that extends the period that my operating system is supported. As an aside, from what I read, I must be one of very few people for whom ME was unproblematic!!
For most folk I suspect that changing the operating system is a stressful pain in the proverbial, raising many questions: will my printer/scanner/camera still work?; will my backup image work if I decide to revert (you only really know if you have tested it); will my favourite programmes work with the new system?; will I lose any email in the time it takes to familiarise myself with the OS and set up the programmes?; what were the logons and passwords of those favourite programmes I want to reinstall, assuming they are even compatible with the new OS?; how do I make sure that I have protected important data before instigating an OS change?; and so on (and on!). Now, because I read AL on a regular basis, I know the answers to some of those questions but they are all questions that have genuinely occurred to me when faced with OS change.
As ever, thanks for all the articles, truly helpful.
I was perfectly happy with XP until a couple of months ago, my PC died & the new one is running Win 7 Pro. My wifes is Win 8.1 & I cringe at the thought of doing any work on it. I shall be waiting patiently for Win 10 bugs to be ironed out before ungrading. I may upgrade the Win 8.1 machine to have a look but not straight away.
I have a 2-hard drive laptop (each 1 tb), set up in a dual-boot configuration. Default is Win 8.1 Home, the other Win 7 Pro. I intend to get the upgrade file for each, convert to ISO (found a small app that will handle this), write both out to DVD, then eliminate the downloads. THEN I’ll back up both drives to fresh image files. Then I’ll run the upgrade on the Win 7 Pro HDD and work with it for a while. If all goes well, I may eliminate the dual-boot setup. I never boot into Win 7 anymore, because 8.1 is so much faster. And user-friendly, thanks to Classic Shell.
I want to buy Windows 10 fresh install edition. I had XP from day 1. Then recently changed to new computer, it came with an illegal copy of Windows 7, with no updating or it packs up. So I want to buy Windows 10 and the latest version of Microsoft Office. Reformat my machine and have a fresh start with everything legal.
I will install Windows 10 on a test pc ASAP, begin learning the OS but wait 6 to 12 months before installing on a production computer for my clients.
First off, Thank you Leo. You are a calm, sound voice in the raging storm of IT advice and opinions. You have the ability to explain things in common uncomplicated language and I have never disagreed with any of your positions or news updates.
As with this one, I am in the “lets wait a bit shall we?” camp.
As a veteran of the IT world I have learned to treat Windows OS releases like a fine bottle of wine. Those showing great promise need to rest for a while (usually several years) before being deemed ready for consumption.
I stayed with XP for over a decade as it was stable and productive after the first couple of service packs were released. I skipped Vista entirely because it refused to load any of the ”must have” software applications that my clients work with. I have been on Win 7 for years now and thought that Microsoft should have named it Vista Fixed because it looked and behaved just like Vista but without any problems.
I have to say I am so happy with windows 7 that it will remain in use for a while to come. I avoided Win 8 entirely because I don’t have a desktop or laptop touch screen (as 99% of world would agree) and didn’t want to learn where they had hidden all the major controls just like every previous release had done.
I am currently running a dual boot…Windows 7 Ult and windows 10130 but hardly ever switch back to 7. Window 10130 obviously is not complete yet but it has taken every piece of software that I need to use without a hitch. Every one. That has never happened with a windows pre-release before.
I am of the opinion that Win 10 shows great promise (depending on which marketing model they go with) and that I will probably recommend my clients adopt it after the 1st service pack is released because it is already to stable. A big question to answer is do you allow a mixed OS environment when purchasing new PC’s for the office or keep it to Win 7 for the foreseeable future.
I have the Windows 10 icon on my taskbar and am going to leave it there until I decide to upgrade which will probably be about 4 months after release.
Why doesn’t Microsoft offer to sell a Windows 10 DVD disk for $5.00. They can verify that you have a legit copy of Windows 7 or 8.1. Give them you credit card info and a mailing address and they can send it to you. That would take a big load off of their servers. It would also help those who do not want to create a ISO file and burn their own disk.
They might. They haven’t said exactly what they’re going to do. That was kinda the point I was making in my video: nothing’s been decided.
My family is running a mix of WIN 7 Pro and Home in 2 desktops, 3 laptops and 8.1 in my newest desktop, all of which received the WIN 10 icon. Being diehard XP fans, we are definitely in the “waiting patiently” category. However, I did install WIN 10 in an extra laptop previously running WIN 7 Pro last November just to see where MS was going and so far, it last performed well even with the major updates. I recently took it on a business trip and found accessing OWA a bit challenging but by using previously posted WIN 8.1 workarounds, got it to connect successfully. The voice recognition takes some getting used to, so has Spartan, but like any new feature, need to take time to find out if worth pursuing. I have not had any “blue screens”, even with the build updates and will continue using it as my program guinea pig even after the official release. As an insider I did make recommendations and some must have been aired by the masses since they were implemented.
I have been using windows 10 Technical Preview since October the 2nd 2014, and it is on main and only computer. I am not a technical person, just an end user, I think Windows 10 is great, I have learnt so much, and looking forward to learning more. I have nothing to lose, as I have followed your advice Leo, backup, backup, backup. Easy.
Probably the best reason for not upgrading from Win 7 to Win 10 is the hassle and cost. Like XP to Win 7. All drivers had to be replaced, printer, scanner, camera, etc. Other than MS Office, most other programs needed to be replaced with the Win 7 version. Quite costly if one is running many programs. There is a saying “If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it!”
I don’t expect a lot of program or driver updates (if any) will be necessary when upgrading from 7 to 10. The architecture of XP was very different from 7, whereas when upgrading from 7 to 8, most programs drivers simply worked. I expect something similar with Windows 10 upgrades.
I have been happily using Win7 in an HP laptop for 3 years and am on the Win10 sign-up;, would gladly take your advice and wait and see; only I have been getting a video display glitch with blue screen lately. Have been on MS’s update since the machine was new; and have done all the suggested driver up-dates from Microsoft, HP, and AMD Radeon. Would up-grading to win10 change the drivers and fix the video problem? I’m retired and on limited finances and would like to keep this laptop for as long as I can. Thanks, Leo; for your easily understandable advice.
Diagnosing a video card issue is sometimes a complicated thing. Windows 10 likely wont change the driver, but if it’s a driver issue, you may be able to reinstall the driver yourself while running Windows 7. I recently had luck doing that with my brothers Network card. Uninstalling and then installing the driver fixed his issue with limited connectivity.
Your laptop may have gathered up dust if you haven’t cleaned it out much over your three years of ownership. Video glitches or “artifacts” sometimes occur when video cards get too hot, because their heat sinks are covered with dust. Try blowing into your fan vents with compressed air or even a bike pump.
If your video card is damaged on the hardware side there’s nothing software can do to fix it. A technician might be able to replace it, but it may be very costly (even more than a brand new pc) or it might be impossible. Laptop graphics are a whole lot more complicated because of the tight Space.
Unlikely. This feels more like a hardware kind of problem I’m afraid. You may need to have someone look at it. Short of that the only thing I would suggest is to backup and reinstall Windows from scratch, since you’ve done all the software troubleshooting already.
Thanks Leo – for a typically “Leo-ish” analysis. All you say is totally reasonable… and worthwhile. However I need to say that almost every one of those unanswered questions simply relate to the installation of Win 10. From your comments I assume you have no (or very few) queries about software compatibility and/or system operation under Win 10.
Me? I lean more towards the ‘wait and see’ group than any of the others. I intend to get my copy of Win 10 (ie download it) as soon as it becomes available, (I have already “booked” my copy!?) But I won’t be installing it until later in the year. Anyway – that’s my thinking now! Everything could change when the early installers start posting their experiences.
Just built a new system and installed 7 Ultimate. Got the Win 10 offer/icon right away and like many here, will wait for the initial surge of OMG’s to cross the first minefield. I do however have an old Toshiba Netbook with 7 Starter on it. I had to install the 10 offer via a Notepad/CMD instruction to get it, but it was fairly straightforward. When offered, I will likely install 10 on it and do my own informal beta test to find out how it ticks. I will do this only because 7 Starter is sadly lacking features and speed. Thanks Leo for your advice, as always!
(I am already subscribed)
I will be waiting a while before I upgrade from Win 7 Home Premium SP1. I purposely chose this operating system over Win 8.
One question I will be looking for and you might be able to answer it Leo. Will my recent purchase of Microsoft Office 2010 be compatible with Win 10? I didn’t want to go with the latest Office where I have to pay an annual subscription.
Office 2007 and later should run on Windows 10. According to what I’ve read, although Office 2003 isn’t supposed to run on Windows 10, many people have been using it with the pre-release version of Win 10.
Your Office 2010 install will work just fine running under Windows 10. In that aspect, 10 is really just 7 with a skin on it.
May I ask you a question in return?
What specifically made you choose 7 instead of 8?
Features 7 had that were no longer included with 8 (like how Windows Media Center is going away in 10)
Price? Performance? Legacy compatibility?
I believe it will be, yes.
I’ve been hearing that W-10 is going to be free for everyone now. I have a fairly good machine that is running Vista but we weren’t initially included in the free upgrade. Has this changed recently? I would consider myself a fairly patient person but it’s a little disheartening when you’ve paid out good money and you aren’t included in the upgrade.
I think the reason Vista is not a part of the free offer, is because it’s not “upgradable” in the same way 7 and 8 is.
Microsoft is pushing 10 onto the large demographic of hesitant 7 users, because they’re a large group and the upgrade is easy to install for even novice users. Giving it a price of free for 1 year, they hope many will jump to 10 without second thought.
The Vista userbase is far more limited in size and Microsoft perhaps doesn’t consider them worth the effort. Vista users will also need to do clean installs of 10. When I purchased my Laptop it came with Vista, but I immediately upgraded to 7 for the price of sending my physical upgrade media (5-6$). I upgraded to 8 for a favorable price of ~20$ shortly after it was released and am upgrading it to 10 over the course of august.
I’m hopeful Microsoft will issue some favorable upgrade offer to Vista users, maybe offering cheap physical media. After all, it’s fully in their interest to get every person on Windows 10 as soon as possible.
I am running Windows 7 on my HP laptop and am happy with it. My wife got a Lenovo laptop with win 8.1. In both cases we will be waiting a couple of months after releasing before even thinking of upgrading/installing win 10. As usual you will be leading us in making the decision. Thanks so much for your articles and advice!!
I will be waiting to see how it goes. One question I have is, Microsoft seem to be offering the upgrade for free, but is it really free, or will we have to pay at some future date?. Enjoying your emails
If you get it free within that first year you will not need to pay anything more later.
A good friend of mine suggested I read your website for guidance on the Windows 10 topic.
I am glad to see such sage advice from your information.
Guess it’s the I’ll wait and see group for me; there have been too many glitches when new things have been developed and introduced in the field of technology. Don’t want nor need any additional headaches.
Thanks for the guidance and suggestions.
Generally I will wait a while before going to a new OS; usually after the first set of patches, if not later. This time, after seeing the July build of the insider’s preview, I am very impressed with Win 10 and like it a lot. I want it as soon as I can get it. Of course it goes without saying that I won’t be installing on a critical production machine. It will be on a “play” computer until I have time to really work with it and see what the problems might be. If they don’t change too much between the July build and the final release, I am impressed with it. I am running it on a laptop with a mere 1 gig memory, 1.6 ghz processor. I am upgrading memory to 2 gig, but it’s nice to know that it will probably run on some very low powered older machines. I think Microsoft may have gotten it right this time. It looks like they took the best of Windows 7 and 8 and combined them into one easy to use system that doesn’t need heavy duty hardware to run. This is the first OS that I have actually been excited about; not because of the hype but because my initial experience with it has been great. Even since June, they appear to have made a lot of progress, as the June build “bricked” my laptop and wouldn’t run at all. The July build installed and ran perfectly.
My gut response is usually to jump on it if it’s new, because I enjoy diving into the guts of a new operating system. I installed the beta version of XP at that time and found a bug that allowed you to mark it as activated (I never shared that, or made use of it, and the first service pack fixed it). I also installed the preview for Windows 8, and learned to get along with it while everyone else was still weeping and grouching over it. I didn’t bother doing that for Windows 10 because of health reasons. But I’ll probably upgrade at least one computer fairly soon. I’m not crazy, and I know that Leo’s reasoning is valid. I’d recommend that to anyone else. But I need to support a user group of at least several hundred people, and I know that at least some of them are going to dive headlong into this, and I’ll need to fix their problems. So here we go – I didn’t install the preview and I’ll be telling them to wait at least a month before getting it because I won’t be supporting it before then. Looks like fun. This is a big one!
Thanks for all the advice and suggestions, Leo
I have an usual “set up” In an SSD I have W7 32 bit, W7 64bit and W8.1 32 bit. These installations are repeated on my 1tbyte hard drive, along with other partitions for various things such as source files Language etc etc. 12 partitions in all. I regularly start each one using sextuple boot via EasyBCD to keep them up to date so that I have “instant back-up” (in addition to weekly Macrium back up of all drives), if something untoward happens by using AOMEI partition manager. (So far I have only had to do this once) On another machine I have W10 insider (build 10162) and W8.1 – Dual boot. Overkill? — maybe but I am an addicted “fiddler/experimenter”
I have not reserved W10 as yet, I am assuming the release at the end of this month will overwrite the current insider 10162 installation …. I will be patient and wait and see what has happened when I return from a moths overseas holiday, in Augst. I guess I have a foot in both camps … left foot – OMG must have, and right foot being patient.
Regards Chris.
I prefer to wait till service pack 1 comes out.
If you wait for SP1, Windows 10 won’t be a free upgrade anymore unless MS changes their minds and extends the free period.
Every NEW version of Windows has been ‘buggy’ so I will wait; maybe until SP1 or maybe until Leo says “now it is OK to install”!
If you wait for SP1, Windows 10 won’t be a free upgrade anymore unless MS changes their minds and extends the free period.
I will gladly go to Win 10 on one of my three devices; my trusty Core 2 laptop. I has seen XP, Vista, Win 7, and Win 8. From everything I’ve read it should work better than Win 8. My only other device I’m excited about is my Windows phone. My Win 8 tablet I’ll wait patiently–it works fine right now.
I had a PC when the latest version of MsDos was all the rage. I remember when GEM was a new concept. I first used Windows 3 because soft ware was starting to be written for it. I have since had all versions of windows except Windows 7. I now have Windows 8.1 and not only detest it but hold it and it’s creators in contempt. I look forward to Windows 10 with deep foreboding but what are the alternatives for someone who views his PC as a tool and not as a way of life?
One alternative if you hate the Windows 8 interface is running ClassicShell to get back the Start Menu and make your Windows 8.1 behave like Windows 7,
I am in a crummy position right now, as I have three elderly Win7 Dells that are all dying slowly at the same time. My desktop just went (hopeful that it can be repaired, but not counting on it), one laptop’s screen generally doesn’t work, and the third laptop is starting to randomly freeze. (If I don’t sound PANICKED about any of this, it is because I have FULL BACKUPS of each one – thank you, Leo!) I have a little netbook that’s Win8 and it works fine for online, but I don’t run any programs on it. So the dilemma is, replace two of the creaky machines with new Win7 ones, and then wait til the fall to replace a third with Win10; or go whole-hog and get three new Win10 machines all at once. I don’t really want to do that! I am leaning towards two new Win7 Dells and then taking the wait-and-see approach to replace the third in the fall.
I started with computers before there was such a thing as PCs. My first personal one ran DOS on an Apple II. I ultimately became the CIO for several banks. I currently am retired and support MS PCs for family, friends for free, and other Seniors for a fee. I support XP, Vista, W7, and W8. My experience has been that 90% of the people who hate W8 either aren’t using it and are just mimicking their uninformed friends, or have never been educated, even at a minimum base level on how to use it. If you simply change the start-up to your desktop and run as a local machine for the vast majority of users, there is no difference day to day. I have turned every “hater” I have helped into lovers with 10 minutes of instruction. My wife is a power “user”, but not technical. When she insisted that her machine was too slow (it wasn’t… the problem was her favorite on-line Bridge website), I got her a new one with W8 on it. Three days after I installed it she asked me when I was going to get her the new machine I promised her. My point is that everyday users don’t care about their OS. In fact they don’t even know what an OS is. As long as they can surf the internet and use whatever programs they need to for their individual needs, they are happy. None of these people read “Ask Leo”. They ask me. That said, W10 will not affect them at all until they get a new machine. Nowadays, that doesn’t happen as often as it used to. Before I got my W8 machine last year I was running W7 Pro quite happily on a 5 year old desktop. It is still running perfectly. There is no reason that every day users can’t continue to use their W7 PCs until they die, probably several years from now. I have 3 XP machines, 2 W7s and a W8.1. When W10 comes out I will install it on a spare machine I have immediately so I can support the early adapters who got it because they needed a new machine. Over the years, I have been involved in software development as well as OS conversions for users in my companies. There is no way to completely debug an OS before release. It is impossible to test every application (previously known as software) on a new system and know how it will react. MS does the best they can. It is disingenuous to imply that they don’t care or are incompetent. Their business depends on the success of their OS. To those of you who hate MS and will never buy another product of theirs, I respectfully wave goodbye (full disclosure: I own a bunch of MS stock and have since the mid 90’s). Over 90% of the world still uses MS based products. Go buy an Apple, for a 20% premium price and buy a new OS every couple of years and trash your system because it is not backward compatible. I will be an early adapter so I can help others who may not have a choice. There will be issues, but not for the masses… they will continue surfing the net, living on social media and life will go on. Business will wisely wait until the bugs are gone and they test their own applications (their responsibility after all) probably 2 years or so. For those of us who support the everyday people, and seniors in particular, thank you MS for the opportunity to help those people who will need it early on, and also make some easy money and new friends. Oh yeah, and also bring in new features that couldn’t be include when W8 was introduced.
Your history is pretty much what mine was; started with Dos/win3.11 and had every Winx since; but how did you miss the best of the bunch, bar none, Win7? Your opinion of MS would be much better as they have come up with much better up-dates and virus checkers then in the past. I for one expect Win10 to be a excellent os.
I`ve been waiting patiently for win10. Up to now I thought I would not wait and get it now, but reading your thoughts, I have decided to continue testing myself with continued patience. Thanks for being there for us. Mike
I am one of those “chomping at the bit,” to use Windows 10. I am doing this because I think it is exciting being on the cutting edge and want to be able to brag that I was one of the first to adopt. I realize that are are risks to being an early adopter, but I am willing to take those risks. I did the same thing with windows 8 and windows 8.1 and have never looked back. I have no regrets for living this way. I have a defiant streak a mile wide. Tell me not to do something and that just strengthes my resolve. I am going to do it anyway. I disagree with your advice not to install Win 10, but I am of a different camp. Iam definitely group 3 in your category…..
That should be safe as long as you make a complete system image to fall back on in case something serious goes wrong with your Windows 10 installation. That’s what I plan to do with one of my machines.
Go for it! Just backup first, is all I ask. :-)
I’ve been running Windows 10 in a virtual machine since the first tech preview download was made available. Over all I am pleased with the performance. One thing that will be a problem, however, is that I will not be able to disable or postpone Windows updates. Why would I want to do this? I spend four months of the year at the cottage where my internet connection is limited both in speed and capacity. Depending on the size and frequency of the updates I could easily end up blowing my cap resulting in financial penalties and possibly even cancellation of my service. Even if I upgrade to Windows 10 Pro I am still able to postpone the update only for a short period.
I was an “OMG” person but after hearing what you have to say about being patient and why doing so is to our benefit, I’ve become a “patiently waiting” person. I have the Window 8 and I have adjusted but the idea that Windows 10 might be more user friendly is appealing. I help others with learning to use their computers and with beginners using Windows 8, it has been even more of a challenge for them. Many have never known the ease of using Windows XP or Windows 7 or anything else so they would really appreciate it if Windows 10 would make it easier for them so I am anxious but patiently waiting to upgrade my Windows 8 to 10 and if I think it would help the others, I will recommend it to them. I was planning to upgrade July 29 but now I will wait a couple of months as you suggested. Thanks for that and everything else you help us with. Really appreciate having it all.
How long can I keep Windows 8.1, without worrying if Microsoft will continue to support the Updates to Windows 8.1?
I like the way the systems works for my light computer usage.
Thank you for your reply.
2018 for mainstream support, 2023 for extended. All here: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/lifecycle
From Leo’s latest analysis about the hot topic “Wins-10-Upgrade” I’d include myself in the 2nd category, patiently Waite until is launched and installed after. Re: About the decision of MSoft to only allow (Wins7 & W8.1-Users) to go ahead, with the free Upgrade first..Consider this.
Is well known the 2-OSes(Vista & 8.0)it wasn’t a success at all-So MSoft should have included the users of(Vista & 8.0)to get the Upgrade as well to reward them, for inconvenients ’caused running those versions. If excluded for Not meet the requirements, here’s a solution–Let them run the “Upgrade advisor app” review the printout & fix any hardware-software issues and Bingo! carry on with the Upgrade. Good day Gent’s
A lot of Leo’s questions are answered at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-10-faq
Thanks for that. Some of the answers aren’t quite as clear as I’d like, but still … answers are starting to appear. This is good.
I realize Leo that you may not see this nor remember I asked about his before. However recently I contacted you about the Win 10 Pro free technical preview. Which I allowed to install. Now I can’t use my Fuc…. PC, because it is asking me to accept or decline the License agreement. I click on Decline, and it is supposed to restore my previous Win 7 Pro. Unfortunately it is in an eternal loop, which goes back to the Welcome/ next screen. Clicking next gives you the accept or decline option. Which says that if you decline, that it will take ‘some time’ to restore the previous version. Just keeps looping back to the select option screen. I seriously believe that Microsoft will not allow me to do anything but accept.
I really don’t like the idea of reinstalling fresh.
Anyone with answers, please help, or give me a number to call.
Unfortunately, that’s one of the downsides of technical previews — the possibility of bricking your machine. That’s why technical previews are best tried out in virtual machines or at least have a full image backup ready before experimenting. Now that I got my sermonizing out of the way, you might try booting in Safe Mode to see if you can do anything with that. Or, if you have a Win 7 installation disk, you can run the Windows Recovery Console and fix the boot records.
I would restore to the backup I advise everyone to take before installing the preview (or any major OS update). If you haven’t taken a prior backup, then all I can recommend is a clean reinstall of the OS you want. Sorry.
Hi Leo,
I normally wait until the first service pack comes out before installing a new version of Windows. However, for the past 10 months I have been having terrible problems with windows 8.1. The only way I have been able to keep my system running is by a combination of Reimage Repairs and True Image restores of previous working backups and some application software will not run or reinstall no matter what I do. This is probably, at least partly, due to the fact that, for nearly a year, Windows updates have refused to install on my computer. I have worked with Microsoft on this but they have been unable to correct the problem. My only hope of being able to fix my system is a clean install of either Windows 8.1 or Windows 10. Because any clean install is going to be a very painful process because of the large number of application programs and data files involved, I really do not want to do the job twice which means that I should be installing Windows-10. I have a very fast computer with 6GB of RAM and more than 4 TB of disk storage so I am not concerned about compatibility. However, because I cannot install Microsoft updates, the Windows upgrade icon will not be available to me. So I am holding my breath waiting for Windows 10 to ship and am very frustrated at not knowing how to order it. I will be watching your newsletters to learn how Microsoft will make it possible for me to install Windows 10.
Thanks for your very interesting and helpful newsletter!
Installing Windows 10 will very likely have a very small chance of any serious problem. For most people, this small chance is a good reason to wait before installing it. You already have major problems with your computer, so you’re probably a good candidate for an early install. You might want to wait a couple of weeks to see if what kinds of problems are being reported. Of course, if you have an image backup, you can alway restore to the state you were in before installing Windows 10.
I have never upgraded my operating system. I started with DOS 6/Windows 3.1. I went to Win 98 because I bought a new computer. I went to XP because I bought a new computer. I went to Windows 7 because I bought a new computer. On the other hand, I’ve never had a new operating system offered to me for free. I’m just wondering what I will be losing if I move to Windows 10? I need to watch DVDs. Windows Media Player is my music player. Then there’s printers and scanners … To me it’s not about what will I get. It’s what will I lose?
From what you mention, it doesn’t appear that you’ll lose anything. If you need Media Center to connect to a TV or other device, then you’d probably want to stick with 7. The vast majority of Win 7 compatible applications are compatible with later versions. Upgrading from XP to Vista or 7 had many more incompatibilities as the architecture was vastly changed when Vista was introduced. If you’re not sure (even if you are sure), take a full image backup of your computer so you can roll back to 7 if there are any unsurmountable problems.
Playing DVDs will require additional software (like VLC Media Player, I believe). The ability to do that directly in Windows was removed in Windows 8 for licensing and cost reasons.
I seem to be always playing “catch up”.
We use Windows 7 on two computers and have only recently started to experience Windows 8.1 on our new laptop, just a few weeks before the launch of Windows 10. Along with that came the necessity to download Office 365 / Office 2013, and I’m now hearing about Office 2016 already.
Is it ever possible to be up to date in this world of modern technology?
Honestly, no. All you can really do is snapshot a point in time that works well for you, use it as long as it makes sense for you, and then upgrade when your needs dictate.
I place myself in Group 1, at least until Microsoft changes its policy about the forced automatic updates in Windows 10.
And considering Microsoft Office, I almost never use it now, so there is no need to keep up to date with it. For my personal use, OpenOffice is quite sufficient. I have installed Office 2003 and Office 2010 on my Windows XP and Windows 7 virtual machines, but they will not get used unless I really need to read an Microsoft Office document, which I believe will be never. I install them only for emergency purposes. If I am compelled to use Microsoft Office again in the future it will be Office 2003 only. I don’t care about the fact that it is out of support, just as I don’t care about Windows XP going out of support.
And likewise I don’t care about Windows 7 going out of support in 2020 and I will continue to use it if necessary. If Microsoft does not reinstate the capabilities of Windows Update in Windows XP/7 in future versions of Windows, I will NEVER upgrade.
Forced updates are only in the Home version, and I’m hearing rumblings that this may not stand.
In this era where infection by one virus or another can be almost commonplace, the advice that is widely given by many sources, to lessen the chances of being infected, is to always run the latest updated version of the software concerned whenever possible.
Whilst I myself hate being landed with things when I do not actively opt-in to receive them – (I like to think I am in charge!!) – I really do not see why so many people feel that because they do not have a say in the updates for Windows 10, they don’t want to upgrade to that version.
Surely, (I would have thought), as with any operating system, it is virtually a “Must” to receive the operating system’s updates, which usually include bug-fixes, security updates, or improved operation in a particular area.
Why would anybody not want to upgrade simply because they no longer have any say as to whether they receive updates or not? – it’s almost imperative that you do receive them in order to minimize problems in the long term.
While I intend to wait a little while before installing the Windows 10 version, install it I will, eventually – probably sooner than later. One reason I am looking forward to the upgrade, is that I am curious to see if I can get a certain internet security suite to run again under this new operating system. I have used this particular suite since shortly after its first release, and had come to know most of its operations quite well, and was happy with it. However, a couple of years ago, it got to be it wouldn’t start automatically when windows booted up. Then it finally got to be it could not be started at all, even manually. Its in-built system checker said all was well with the program, and Windows file checker sfc/scannow said windows 7 was also OK – but it just cannot be coaxed into life after many fresh installs of the suite. I am hoping therefore that Windows 10 will allow me to continue to use it, and this is why I look forward to version 10, albeit with a little hesitancy, which will cause me to wait a few weeks before installing it – god knows how many other programs could potentially be affected or crippled by the initial offering.
What you say is correct in most cases. One problem is that some updates can cause problems on some computers. The ability to roll back and block that update would be necessary in a case like that. I have a feeling Microsoft will change this lack of option pretty quickly. If not, I suspect someone(s) will come up with a program or registry fix to change that.
I’m not an ‘industrial’ user of Win7 anymore, but I do use the Media Player for loading off Spotify and ripping cds into my Sonos. I was in the patiently waiting group, but after reading a few comments about the change to a diff Player (I never tried Win8) I’m headed for my own ‘patiently nauseous’ subcategory. I think only dvds are mentioned, but maybe other Win7 Media Player uses were just not included?
Are there going to be diff versions of 10 such as ‘Pro’? And as “James” commented above: I’m just going to wait for your advice/opinions before doing anything. Thanks Leo~
Leo,
I wonder how long the down load will take and I wonder if it is long will I need to wait beside
my computer while it is downloading encase it goes haywire………
It will depend on your internet speed!
Thank you Leo for all you do for the computer users out there. I watched your video and since I have several computers, I decided to do the Windows 10 install on one of my machines running Windows 7. It came down on the 29th as planned and my install on an Sony Vaio 7192L laptop took about 75 minutes overall. I have been going through many of the new features today (7-30) and so far I have no issues to report. I did have several Sony automatic updates to my machines after the W-10 upgrade loaded and finished it’s install. I have been a computer user since 1978 and I would say Microsoft has done a marvelous job with the smooth online transition from version 7 to 10. Of course, it’s only been 24 hours since I did the upgrade, but so far I have no problems to report. I hope everyone that chooses to upgrade will have a similar experience. Thank you again Leo… I appreciate your service and information provided.
I successfully upgraded to windows 10 yesterday and it is a fantastic OS. My suggestion is if you’re someone who uses computational intensive applications then you have to be patient otherwise upgrade and have fun.
Am I right in thinking that the Win10 upgrade won’t fix any problems in the registry that are not directly related to Windows itself? In other words, is it the case that any programs you are having trouble with before the upgrade, are likely to still be there after the upgrade?
Depends entirely on the specific problem. Could help. Could do nothing. Could make things worse. There’s simply no way to tell.
Hey Leo, great work from you….thanks. Maybe it was a sign from the internet heavens when because my OC has been running slow I did sfc /scannow check of my disks and discovered I had corrupted files which couldn’t be fixed.
So I go to Widows Forum and lots of people are saying the same thing has been happening to them and its because Windows Update has caused a problem with a certain installation of Update KB3035583. An overall majority said to uninstall this Update and rerun my System File Check and it would show that my files were not corrupted and all my problems were caused by this certain Update.
BUT! The update I uninstalled I guess was my free upgrade decal and maybe my free installation of the mysterious Windows 10.
And my files are still corrupted and I guess the update had nothing to do with it.
Thanks again Leo…….nice job on the videos. You need to upgrade your self photo on your website. You’re way better looing than that photo gives you credit for.