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Updating the Windows 10 Recommendation

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My most recent Windows 10 recommendation is here: Should I Upgrade to Windows 10? – I keep that one updated as things change.

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108 comments on “Updating the Windows 10 Recommendation”

  1. My Windows Update screen says “Upgrade to Windows 10. Start installing the newest version of Windows now.” It shows the file size is 2,613.7 MB. The button says “Get started.”

    When clicking the “More info” link, it goes to http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10/upgrade-to-windows-10-faq?ocid=win10_auxapp_context
    and says: “The Windows 10 November Update, which includes additional features and improvements, will automatically download and install when it becomes available. After the update is installed, your device will be running Windows 10 Version 1511. To see what version of Windows 10 your device is currently running, select the Start Start button icon button, then select Settings > System > About. For more info about the update, see Windows 10 November update: FAQ.”

    Because that upgrade is waiting in the Windows Update screen, how will I get other Windows Updates (for my Windows 7 64 bit) if I don’t want to install Windows 10 at this time? I want to take your advice and wait a couple of months or more. Thanks

    Reply
    • Windows should continue to update your current OS even though it is offering Windows 10. Windows 10 is an optional installation, even though Microsoft is making appear almost mandatory.

      Reply
    • If you click “Show All Available Updates,” the upgrade to Windows 10 is an optional update. You can uncheck the box and that will allow you to install other optional updates without upgrading to Windows 10.

      As Mark said, high priority updates should still occur. They will update on their own without you having to go into Windows Update.

      Reply
  2. Something else to take into account… We’ve had several of our clients wanting to roll back to Windows 8, or to have the update fail for some reason, only to have the rollback/uninstall itself fail, leaving the system unbootable.

    An image backup would have solved their problem, but of course none of them had one.

    Reply
    • I had a similar thing with my brother-in law’s machine. He went to 10, found some software he used wouldn’t run in it, and when we rolled back to Windows 8, it kept freezing. In this case I had made an image before the upgrade, so we were able to rescue him. As you say, having an image avoids that 30 day deadline too. With 4 computers in our house, we changed without any issues, though on one machine I had to change the version of Windows 7 from 32 bit to 64 bit to match the CPU.

      Reply
    • The November release was first available on one of my HP laptops. I left the machine on and the next morning I was only able to boot to safe mode or the various recovery options. When I elected to use a restore point I was presented with EC 80070570 and the OS’s regrets that it was unable to preform the restore. Microsoft now has this laptop and has sent it to their repair facilities to determine if it is hardware or software. I next tried the update on my Dell desktop with the same result except this time I was able to restore to the point prior to this update. When I contacted MS support they recommended I remove my Malwarebytes product. I informed them that this update was a push from MS and I’ve not seen any requirements for this but I’ll give it a try since I do have a current image. :-)

      Reply
  3. Thank you for the advice Leo. I will do as you suggest and wait for your next evaluation. At time of writing Windows 7 is working OK on both my laptop & desktop. If it isn’t broke don’t fix it (after all if it isn’t broke there is nothing to fix).

    Reply
    • Cindy: Put that question in the ‘Ask Leo’ search box at the top of this page on the right, then click the search box. Leo has lots of articles on that topic.

      Reply
    • Leo is doing a video series on how to back up and restore using the EaseUS Todo Free backup. You can sign up here to view them:
      http://todo.askleo.com.
      Those are precursors to his new book coming out on EaseUS Todo which will get into what you’ll need to do to back up step-by-step.

      Reply
    • Cindy,

      First, check out the link Mark Jacobs provided for a video on how to do it using the free version of Easeus Todo Backup. If you want to read the instructions, you can click the “View Transcript” link on that page.

      And you should, as Leo recommends, back up to an external hard drive. If you don’t have one, you should buy one.

      God bless! Chuck

      Reply
  4. I am using Windows 10 right now. I upgraded about two months ago, and I’m surprised. I feel I should give a view of someone that enjoys it and why. This is something to consider and does not mean upgraded is a must.

    First, once again, make sure you have a backup. I swapped hard drives, and it somehow messed up Windows booting, AND I lost the installation disc. Fortunately, I bought a laptop and was able to download another one. Oh, by the way, this was done BEFORE upgrading to 10.

    Windows 10 works fine for me. I have an HP printer that is so old, I don’t remember how long I’ve had it. I had it when I was using XP, so it could be 15 years ago or so. This particular printer had the necessary drivers, and I was able to download them and get it working. As Leo suggests, research your current peripherals and find out if there is a driver for Windows 10 and download them BEFORE upgrading. I’ve had minimal problems with older programs. One program called TinySpell somehow disables itself without me telling it. Minor annoyance.

    If there is any indication that there will not be a driver for Windows 10, don’t upgrade or put it off as long as possible. Consider getting a new one that DOES have a 10 driver.

    As for privacy issues, be sure to customize the installation and then go through all the settings after the upgrade goes through. I think people are panicking more than necessary. Just remember that if you don’t like the privacy policy of a site, software, etc., don’t use it.

    I hope this gives a view from someone that HAS upgraded.

    Reply
  5. I have now run through the W10 update process a handful of times, with success except in one case. Posts elsewhere on the net suggested that some video drivers from W7 are not compatible with W10, and my HP Pavilion g6 laptop with AMD internals was taking aeons to start. No newer drivers on AMD website so I reverted to W7. Problems disappeared, so proving there’s nothing fundamentally wrong with the laptop. Curiously, a newer version of HP laptop with same Pavilion g6 identity but delivered with W8 installed has updated to W10 easily and is working well.
    Seems to suggest that the problems are not exclusively to do with peripherals in the way Leo’s presentation suggests.

    Reply
  6. I upgraded one machine to Windows 10. One of the applications used SQL Server Express 2008. The application appeared to work fine at first. Then I started getting data base errors from SQL Server so I decided to uninstall the application and reinstall it. Windows 10 would allow me to install SQL Server Express 2008 but indicated that it might not work and indeed sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.

    Reply
    • I elected to follow Windows 10’s suggestion that I use SQLExpress 2012. DDid so, restored my databases, have had zero issues.

      Reply
  7. Leo, Long time reader THANK YOU! I put Win 10 on a new SSD and it wont take any previously used OS keys, (from 7 or 8) I have the ‘Activate’ message still showing. MS site says I must BUY what is free, and I will not pay for this…..Do you have any ideas?

    Reply
    • Rick: If you have any way to go back to your old hard drive and update it to win 10 then do so – then check to make sure it is activated. You can then either do a clean install on the machine and run an image or run an image of the upgraded harddrive and transfer it to your new SSD. The activation of the upgraded win 10 is done based upon the machine not the key, so when you transfer the image to the ssd in the same machine Microsoft will recognize the machine and thus activate.

      Reply
      • That should work. An alternative would be to install Windows 7 or 6 on the SSD and then upgrade. Or it could be worth putting in a support request to Microsoft: they may be willing/able to streamline the process.

        Reply
        • I did this, and it worked well. This was partly to update the hard drive, and to convert from 32 bit Windows 7 to 64 bit. Once that was done, I could upgrade to 10.

          Reply
      • Microsoft has changed the validation process for 10. you can indeed do a clean install if you had the previous one and it wasn’t doing well because the information is WITH MICROSOFT, not reliant on your computer.

        The free upgrade is not available on Enterprise versions and only for the versions they offer.

        I know you know that, I’m just asking to see if you were aware.

        And you can upgrade to 7 with a version of the 7 SP1 disc and then to 10, as long as that is validated.

        That’s what I understand of it, been at this game for 23 years, bound to misunderstand a few things but that’s what learning and this site are for.

        Reply
  8. I have a laptop that I’ve upgraded to Windows 10. In the beginning, I hated W10, especially Edge web browser. Two minor changes have made me a happy user of Windows 10. The first change was to download and use Google Chrome for my web browser. The second, and more useful change, was to add the Windows 7-style “Classic Shell.” Incidentally, I also downloaded the free Ubit Menu for MS-Office 2007-1013. This makes my Office software much easier to use, and saves lots of time (no more desperately searching for commands in the ribbon). I’ve tried some of the Linux distributions, along with OpenOffice, but I’m a slave to the functionality and universal-appeal of Windows products. I just wish they would stop abandoning support for their older (and easier to use) software!

    Reply
  9. I went ahead and ran the Microsoft upgrade adviser for Windows 10. It said my computer was ready for the upgrade and all my accessories were good to go. I also have an Office 365 subscription and had installed the 2016 versions of the Office products including Outlook. I had no problems upgrading and the computer worked perfectly. I thought, great, everything is working great. Then, I tried to get my emails. Outlook 2016 can’t find the path and this .dll is missing.
    Because I upgraded to 2016, I can’t downgrade back to 2013. Luckily I have disks for Outlook 2007.
    Had I thought to do an image backup, I could have gone back to Windows 8.1 until they fixed this problem.

    Reply
  10. I was nervous about upgrading to W10 on my oldish machine – originally XP but upgraded to W7 Home. But I was getting a bit frustrated with performance issues. The W10 compatibility tool said that I couldn’t upgrade because of my video card. I took the plunge and invested 25GBP in a new card and an extra 2GB RAM. (I had 2MB). The hardware update was easy and the W10 upgrade, when I let it run, went very smoothly. I am now very pleased I took the plunge. The machine performs better and whilst W10 feels a bit different there is still so much of W7 in it, it is quite easy to adapt. Perhaps I was lucky. In fairness I did have couple of calls with the Microsoft upgrade centre on minor admin issues and they were very efficient and helpful. I did have to reconnect my home network and Seagate storage but that all worked well. I’m over 60 and only an IT amateur. I have no Microsoft shares and know no-one in the organisation so I guess I’m just a satisfied customer.

    Reply
  11. I understand that Quicken 2015 is NOT compatible with Windows 10 and that it will not be made compatible but Quicken 2016 will be compatible.

    Reply
    • Jim, see my post below (I didn’t notice that I could reply directly to you). Short story: I’m running Quicken 2015 on Win 10 and have not experienced any problems.

      Reply
  12. Working for Ask Leo!, I’ve seen many problems people are having with Windows 10. I began to wonder how Microsoft could be pushing such a defective system. So I decided to do some highly (un)scientific research. I have approx 200 students. I asked who in my classes is using Windows 10. About 50% are using it. Then I asked if anyone had any problems with it, and it came to a grand total of none. My conclusion: On websites like Ask Leo!, most of the people who write in are writing specifically because they have a problem. A few do write of positive upgrading experiences, but the majority write to ask for help.

    Hey Leo: why don’t you do a(n unscientific) poll to get an idea of the proportion of successful upgrades there are to problematic upgrades. Maybe a few choices. 1. Great! upgraded with no problems 2. Upgraded with a few minor glitches but easily solved 3. More serious glitches (such as useful programs no longer run, but still can work with Windows 10. 4. Windows was essentially unusable after the upgrade.

    Reply
    • Interestingly, I get the impression that more people are experiencing issues with the 1511 November update than with the initial Windows 10 upgrade.

      Reply
      • I’m a consultant, and I’ve upgraded about 25 machines. I’ve only had trouble with three of them, all three related to Quickbooks 2016, and the problems were major. Ended up spending $275.00 and seven hours on the phone with a tech support guy in New Delhi over the weekend to unscramble my own business machine.

        Best advice: If you use Quickbooks to run your business, do NOT upgrade to Windows 10 for a while. Stay with Windows 7. I’m in the process of rolling back to Win7 on one of my client’s machines.

        The issue appeared over the weekend on two of my machines when Build 1511 was installed. Issues seem to be related to Quickbooks, .NET 4.5, and Build 1511. In all three cases, the Windows error logs look like a dog’s breakfast. If you’re already running Windows 10, go into update and check the box that says “Defer updates”. This is ugly, and Intuit tech support are unable to help.

        Reply
  13. Just updated to windows 10 and discovered all passwords of certain programs were lost and also certain programs needed reinstall because paths and stuff didn’t work anymore. So when updating make sure you have all passwords at hand and also the original programs for reinstallation. Another flaw was that my outlook became very slow but was fixed by AVG tune up.

    In short: It works but not on auto.

    Reply
  14. Been a happy Customer using Windows 10 since about 1 week after the official release of Windows 10. Running Pro on 2 64-bit desktops and home 32-bit edition on 2 laptops. One of the laptops is a fairly old HP (5 years old?) that came with Vista pre-installed!

    All machines are running “10” without any problems, the old Laptop was an upgrade from Windows 7 to 10. My only unresolved complaint was the loss of Windows Media Center, but I have found an alternate program for that functionality. I did have a $nullprint problem when I installed a new HP 8610 printer a month ago on my network to replace a dead 8600 printer. Using the old 8600 driver solved the problem at the time, Microsoft then released a 8610 nullprint fix as part of the Windows 10 updates shortly thereafter. HP 8610 drivers now work properly.

    I have just concluded installing the Windows 10 Version 1511 update on 3 of my 4 machines. That felt like a complete OS reinstall with all the reboots involved! Lengthy to complete, 45 minutes on the faster machines (4.0 GHz) and a full 2 hours to complete on the old HP Laptop (2.0 GHz).

    Good news is there are no problems to report, I do like the new “Lock Screen” artwork Microsoft is sending, looks very nice! If you have a newer machine I see absolutely no reason to delay upgrading.

    Reply
  15. I did a clean windows 10 install, on my Dell inspiron. It gave some trouble like for 3 days — like finding the right drivers, deal with the hidden settings that was apparent on win 7, a brightness issue, old programs not running etc. Nevertheless i love win 10 with it’s new slick design and the wiz-bang.

    Reply
  16. ll 3 of my printers (including a very old Deskjet 932C) . Boot is faster and I have no problems except my Linux doesn’t seem to want to install a dual boot. I’ll work on resolving that one as I feel the need. Happy with the updates and the newest build downloaded and installed with no problems.
    Thanks for your newsletter.

    Reply
  17. I upgraded a new 2in1 that came with Win8 and an older Toshiba that came with Win7 right after it became available. They are both basically secondary computers so I wasn’t too worried. So far they have both been running quite well and I like the Win10. Having said that, my primary desktop, a little older and I think it actually came with Vista just as Win7 was first being sold I am taking the wait-and-see approach to upgrading it. Main reason being I have an older flatbed scanner, printers and about everything else I can hang on it attached to it. Absolutely don’t want to have to mess with all of that. I’ve replaced the Power supply and Video card in it so it’s showing its age.

    Reply
  18. When MS started sending Win 10 updates, the process choked my Aspire E1 510 with Win 8.1 making it nearly unusable. After disabling updates it became responsive again so I shunned the upgrade. Recently acquired an HP 360 Stream and decided to apply the Win 10 upgrade immediately. Who knew it would take a day and a half. I disabled Cortana and the other privacy challenges and I don’t use Edge. In fairness, Win 10 works well enough but for me it’s no better than 8.1. For a familiar interface I installed Classic Shell which is also on my Aspire still running Win 8.1. I detect no advantage between Win 8.1 and Win 10 so I may not invest the hours to upgrade the Aspire. Can anyone enlighten me what advantage is the Win 10 upgrade? Is it faster, more stable or more secure? So far I see no reason to recommend Win 10 over Win 8.1. I may not upgrade my Aspire.

    Reply
    • The main advantage as I see it is that Windows 10 will be supported much longer than 7 or 8. In fact, as I understand it, support for Windows 10 will never (or probably just a long time) expire. This may not be important on an older machine which might wear out before support for the OS runs out, but for a newer machine or for someone who has a retail version of Windows which they can later install on a new machine, this can be significant.

      Reply
      • The obvious retort is that many of us will be outlived by our computers at this point and 7 has an end of life or support dated in 2020.

        I have two MPC ClientPro 365’s that have been called not the best home computer setup in the first place in several forums, a business machine at best, the drivers have to be sourced from an outside party that has nothing to do with the OEM (think it’s defunct, used to be part of the Micron company not 50 miles away) and I’ve learned to tweak them well enough to run over 1 terabyte of storage with Win 7 and be happy.

        And YAY, I just got the Windows Update to run on this one after a reload! It STILL wouldn’t run 10 worth a hoot.

        Reply
  19. I upgraded to W10 on a 5 year old dell laptop, from W7. Every thing works great, printer, libre office, drivers, etc. Only had one little problem last night, error Bad_Pool_Caller, (first time for this error), rebooted, took care of that. Had W10 from day one, updated this weekend with 1511. No problems. I like W10 with the exception of the new browser, I’m using Firefox browser and sometimes IE11. I use an external hard drive for back up.

    Reply
  20. I wound up with a MS upgrade to my Dell Venue 11 Pro 5130. It has a Atom cpu z3770 @ 1.46 gig. Problem: the screen display flickers like a old time moviola after the install. I cant revert to 8.1 that worked nicely because the 8.1 restore file disappeared in the W10 upgrade. What to do to get my 8.1 back, HOW???

    Reply
  21. I am still thinking of going to Windows 10 — currently running Windows 7 Professional (64 bit) on a [relatively recent] ThinkPad…
    I have a new Epson XP 820 all-in-one printer and Epson advised that if / when I upgrade, I should DISCONNECT the printer, download the
    Windows 10 Drivers for the Printer, [re]install the Printer Drivers, then reconnect the XP 820… I also have an older Brother Laser (black and White) Printer — but
    according to the Brother Web Site, the driver is either part of the Operating System or part of Windows Update… so — it seems that — at worst, I would have to just [re]install the Printer Driver…. (I am going to check with Brother to be sure)…
    Given the “uncertainty” that keeps on coming up, I will likely defer my upgrade a bit more…
    I make a “hot copy” of my Hard Disk so that if there is a problem, I would just swap out the old Hard Drive and put in the “replacement”…
    I assume that I can do that without any problem — i.e., without even having to tell Microsoft that I am “falling back” — however, IS THAT TRUE or do I have any “issues” if I simply “fall back” by putting in a Drive with the “older” (Windows 7 Professional) image?
    Thank you….

    Reply
  22. Jim, I upgraded from Win 7 to Win 10 (clean install) and reinstalled Quicken 2015. It works fine. However, I also have an old version of QuickBooks (for business) and it will not run; at least I have not been able to get it to run.

    Reply
  23. WIN 10 I am waiting for awhile longer. BUT I found that my 11 year old Grandson has already upgraded his desktop. It seems to be running really fine. He is not an expert but has a good working knowledge of working the PC. So Leo it is just one of those random Love/Hate relationships that move us in the do it ! Don’t world of computing. I asked in a previous letter if it was time to upgrade my WIN 7 Pro. Now I can go to his PC and find out if I will like it. I looked at win 8 when it came out and said “Self” forget that it is the ugliest thing and most awkward thing I have ever seen.

    Reply
  24. I upgraded my machine from 7 to 10 and my wife’s from 8.1 to 10 without incident. I had no issues whatever. The machine came up with all working as expected and as before the upgrade. My Wife had to re-enter some passwords but otherwise just kept on keeping on. Very successful after months. We upgraded almost as soon as we could.

    Reply
  25. I have upgraded 5 computers to Windows 10 and have had no problems at all. In one of them the printer would not work, but the printer is around 15 years old, so the time for a change was up. The secret is to keep as much as possible of the Microsoft eco-system. I have Office 365, make sure all my apps work well with Windows and keep the machine religiously updated. My assumption is that Microsoft tests on their systems which probably do not include unusual software or tweaks to Windows.

    Another thing to do is to ensure you have either an image or a good listing of all the programs and apps you will need should you have to rebuild from scratch. Backing up data of course goes without saying. But overall I am really happy with Windows 10. It starts faster than 8.1, is stable and has more options. The Edge browser I can take or leave, but am slowly getting used to it.

    Reply
    • “The secret is to keep as much as possible of the Microsoft eco-system. I have Office 365, make sure all my apps work well with Windows and keep the machine religiously updated. My assumption is that Microsoft tests on their systems which probably do not include unusual software or tweaks to Windows.” – I totally agree. IMO, the best option is to stick with the built-in apps (unless you have a specific reason/need not to), don’t install unnecessary apps (and uninstall apps that are no longer used) and don’t attempt to tweak/optimize the system (registry/disk cleaners et al are completely unnecessary). The leaner and cleaner you keep your PC, the more likely it is to work reliably.

      Reply
  26. I have an ASUS laptop with an i7 chip. I had trouble upgrading to 10. After several attempts the installer, with my permission, wiped my hard drive and installed 10. I had all data backed up but no image. I reinstalled all software, reinstalled the data and have enjoyed 10. It is faster and the startup and shutdown are much improved. It has recognized all printers, etc.
    The only thing that doesn’t work is getting an external screen to work with HDMI cord.

    I really appreciate your videos and comments

    Reply
  27. Hi Leo,

    I have an unusual peripheral that I depend on heavily for my professional work (a Seiki 4K television used as a monitor) and am perfectly happy with Windows 7, so I am inclined not to upgrade at all. But then in two or three years I will likely want a new computer and it will come as Windows 10 from the manufacturer. If I’m still on 7 at that time migrating all my windows settings, installed software, and software settings to the new computer could be a nightmare right? Whereas if I just accept Microsoft’s offer to upgrade to Windows 10 for free before this coming July then my future computer transition will be smooth & easy because I can just use my Windows 10 image backup to migrate onto the new Windows 10 computer seamlessly. Am I thinking straight? And if I am, what choice would you make in my shoes?

    Reply
  28. I have three desktop PC’s that I use at home. One is a couple of years old that I built myself from parts and the other two are HP’s about 8 years old. One of the old HP’s is hooked up to to a large flat screen TV. All have the OS on an SSD, upgraded video cards, and increased memory. I upgraded to Windows 10 the 1st day it was available. I had been using Windows 8.1. The upgrade process worked perfectly on all three of my PC’s and has been working perfectly on all three ever since. A few days ago I did the new upgrade/update for Windows 10 and that also went smoothly and works perfectly on all three PC’s. So, my experience has been excellent with Windows 10 even though two of my PC’s are pretty old. I was considering doing a clean install when I first upgraded from 8.1 but I was lazy and allowed the upgrade to transfer over all my old stuff and still everything went smoothly. I really like the improvements Microsoft made with Windows 10 but then again I was pretty happy with 8.1 too. The only thing I don’t like so far is the lack of user control over the update process. I much prefer having all aspects of of updating under my control like it was in 8.1.

    Reply
  29. I build and maintain about 10 computers for myself, family, and friends. Windows 10 has had trouble on both of my oldest machines which use 1st generation quad core LGA775 CPUs. Windows 10 initially upgraded fine, but later got into endless loops when trying to boot. I was able to resent one of the machines successfully, but am still having trouble with the second and may have to go a Windows 7 image backup if it’s still intact on my external drive. I would be very cautions upgrading to windows 10 on machines of the LGA775 and DDR2 era.

    Reply
  30. I took an old hard drive which worked, and used it with you older computer, and all of my external stuff. And sure enough, it loaded up and I ran it for a whole day with some of my apps. Sure enough, soon I had a list of applications that work under Windows XP SP3 but will not work under Windows 10. So I simply un-plugged the older drive and re-plugged my XP computer. I have found that this is the “safe” way to test the hardware. I am still happily using XP on all my machines and updating and upgrading as before using Windows Embedded POSready.reg (downloaded from the Internet). All my favorite programs work just fine. I use Norton Security Suite for a second layer of security and have saved myself a lot on expensive software. (I use it on all the machines I have here).

    Reply
  31. Upgraded my desktop to Windows 10 and after 2 weeks reverted back to Windows 8.1. The major issue I had is the Internet connection became very very slow. I am in China, with huge censorship, and could not access even with VPN most sites due to slow Internet. My laptop is upgraded to Windows 10 and passed the time to revert. I went on vacation to the Philipines in September/October and had a really hard time keeping a decent connection to the Internet. My iPhone was OK but the laptop with W10 dragged, lost connection, really really slow. I am holding the upgrade on my desktop until things get better. And I am considering a fresh install of Windows 8.1 using the original CD. In the first try it did not allow me to install. It seems I need to format the HD first then install. There is something in W10 installation that refuses to downgrade using the W8.1 CD.

    Reply
  32. gday Leo, I did the window 10 thing some months ago twice. That is I upgraded, using you advice for a custom install and unticking anything i didn’t like the look of. I tried/tired it out for a about a week and everything worked fine as did the upgrade right off the bat. But for reasons I can no longer remember, (I think one was the flat square bland look of each window. After aero this was aesthetically retrograde) I decided against it and (not having made a backup immediately prior) used the windows 10 undo facility. Now back at square one my old Dell rear speakers didn’t work, they test ok but wont connect when anything plays. So hoping to recover the speakers I re-upgraded to windows 10 again, and again it faithfully reproduce my (current) settings and everything but the rear speakers worked. My conclusion rightly or wrongly is that the upgrade works beautifully but reversing it is not so good. (the PC is a windows 7 HP all-in-one touch screen)
    PS having used 10 for some time except for the boxy Start menu I hardly notice the difference and I do like have the taskbar available on my other screens . Mostly I use the task bar jump lists or the desktop tool bar and have stripped the start menu to the bare essentials
    ooroo Rob

    Reply
  33. I’ve upgraded twice on the same machine, which is less than a year old & from a major manufacturer running 8.1 the configuration of which I’ve never been completely sure was implemented well. Because I worked in IT before retirement for a very long time, I get friends & the like asking me about things. When 10 first came out I got such a deluge of queries I thought I’d go with it especially as so many people were reporting generally good things.
    That early update did not work well so I rolled back (few issues there but nothing show stopping).
    When going back to 8.1 some of the problems with the original build had disappeared – not sure why that was maybe the MS recovery partition rather than the manufacturers was used for the roll-back. I then monitored support forums & then a couple of months later decided to have another go.
    That 2nd upgrade was brilliant. The machine runs as it should. My 3 year old Epson printer works well with no messing around. My 1995 copy of Midnight Sunitaire (which does not make entries in the registry but runs in W95 compatibility mode runs well).
    The only issues I’ve had is some of the modern apps just stopped working & the icon for the ethernet connection sometimes turns to the WiFi icon. Neither of these things causes me concern & I’m now looking forward to the upcoming major upgrade any day now.
    It’s good to view your videos & to see you go through the same processes & advice that I’ve adopted myself over the years like having a technical friend here at home. Keep up the good work.

    Reply
  34. My four year old HP Laptop did not like windows 10 browsing was really sloooow. I tried all the fixes on the internet blogs but none worked. I called HP they confirmed that my machine was NOT suitable for windows 10 due to outdated drivers. I went back to windows 7 and all is well again. If it aint broke dont fix it

    Reply
  35. Leo:

    FYI, I recently did an upgrade from Win 7 to Win 10.0.10586, and then did a clean install of Win 10 onto my June 2011 Toshiba Satellite C655 Laptop (3 GB RAM, 1 GHZ AMD C-50, 300 GB drive). It was always a slow machine (the Win installs took multi-hours), but it boots faster with Win 10 and seems to be 100% happy.

    Reply
  36. Leo is always talking about using software to make image files. Windows seems to have that very option in it’s backup routine. Why not just use Windows for image backup’s?

    Reply
    • Leo also talks a lot about Window’s backup programs. He finds that it doesn’t really have all the best features. However it’s much better to use Window’s backup than none at all.

      Reply
  37. My Windows 10 Upgrade has been very successful except for one thing. I have the Home Edition and can’t control when Windows Updates occur. A couple times when accessing the web I was getting “Server Unknown” (or something like that) so I rebooted and then found it was completing Updates. No notification was provided (at least that I saw). MS really needs to let users (of all versions) disable Updates until they are ready to proceed.

    Reply
  38. Hi Leo:

    A couple of things I would like to comment on your videos. 1, let me say they are very good for the novice to hear & see. On your backup films, I just want to say you don’t memtion much about the grandfather, father, son backup maintenance and also, incremental and distributed backups. As far as Win 10 goes, I’ve had Microsoft TechSupport visit my machine several times. And, aftyerwards, I’ve had problems with Cortana, StartMenu, and Edge several times. Its’ annoying, but, I was able to work-a-round by REBOOTING my machine. That seems to be the only way for me to get around the problem. I think (like you said) Microsoft’s Windows 10 has a big problem with machine and software compatibility issues. Thank you, again, for getting the word out.

    Reply
  39. I just upgraded two computers to Win 10. The first one was a real hassle. I had Norton and McCaffe, thank you Adobe, on the first machine and they really screwed up the install. I spent 3 hours with a MS Tech straightening out the mess. After the install, it looks much like Win 7 but there are plenty of small annoyances. I did the second and while the two security features were not present, it still failed a few times before installing correctly. Since then, I have had multiple problems with Win 10. On the first machine the TaskBar button for the File Explorer does not start the program although once the Explorer is running, it highlights the button correctly. I have to right click or use the start button but on the second machine, it starts properly from the taskbar button. I have pinned and unpinned it and no success. Much worse is several of my main programs hang and become unresponsive as does FireFox. In general, it looks like a Beta to me and I would advise others to wait another 6 months for more cleanups.

    Reply
  40. Just wondering why you keep recommending imaging rather than backing up?;
    actually neither will be successful if something happens to the machine & it needs to be replaced since all programs must be freshly installed on the new machine.
    Therefore I still see no sense in backing up other than saving documents, et.al. to external hard-drives, or whatever.
    Please explain.
    Also, why do you continually promote MsFt products over others which happen to work so much nicer & without nearly the same hassles from these hackers – both criminal-minded & otherwise.
    Curiously wondering,

    Reply
    • Imaging is backing up. And, while you’re correct, moving to a new machine requires a reinstall, a simple hard disk replacement does not and an image is the fastest way to recover to exactly where you were. Similarly restoring an image is, hands down, the fasted and most reliable way to rid yourself of malware.

      I recommend a lot of different software, MSFT and not. Backing up is a great example – my recommendations are Macrium Reflect, EaseUS Todo … and only grudgingly Microsoft’s own backup program included with Windows.

      Reply
      • I’ve done the backup thing and my 6TB external drive loads up fast (I’m a photographer). This is because every time it backs up, it duplicates what is ALREADY backed up that has not changed. The previous question included incremental backup. If I dont want to back up stuff that a previous backup already…backed up…and just want to 1. overwrite stuff that has changed and 2. add those new files created since my last backup, what do you recommend? I’ve looked over some of the backup software you recommend and have not seen that option. Did I miss it? Am I asking too much of the software? Years ago I was able to do this with my office software (Novell?).

        Reply
        • Incremental backups are the closest in the image backing up world, but as you say those are cumulative. You can manage disk space by deleting older image backups and whatnot – all of which tools like Macrium and EaseUS handle.

          While not an image, tools like RoboCopy (command line), and SyncToy and others will allow you to “copy only those files that have changed”, replacing the outdated copies in a backup collection of files.

          Reply
  41. Leo,

    A small, possibly obvious point about Windows 10 upgrade and peripherals: I decided to install Windows 10 for a trial on my entertainment center machine. First pass got an error on boot, which I foolishly ignored, W10 loaded but went into a boot loop. Restored W7 from image copy, all well. I realized it must have been device error. I am using a Logiitech wireless keyboard on both my machines, and, of course, when W10 booted after install, the Logitech driver was not loaded, Windows can’t swallow a missing keyboard. Plugged in a wired keyboard, re-ran the install, and it worked fine. My wireless mouse didn’t seem to matter. When you install, plug it in, plug it in.

    Reply
  42. Hi Leo,

    I received notification of the free windows upgrade. It was on my toolbar for like a month and a half. It said when we are ready we will upgrade. I clicked on it many times. This was from windows 8.1 professional. It would just go blank. Then one time when the machine added updates ( it was 1 in the morning and took like 2-3 hours to install and I stayed up and watched it going on ) and I installed them, it just started installing windows 10. I couldn’t stop it, cause I wanted to back up what was on here. I’m thinking it did work out except a couple of things which I don’t remember now but seemed to correct and retain everything I had on the old windows 8 Pro. Just responding because you asked us to. And thank you sooooooo much for all your information on how to fix, or keep our machines running properly, very valuable information for this 70 year old Mutt.

    Reply
  43. Here’s an odd one, I have an old Dell 9100 dual booted to Windows 8.1 and Windows 7.
    Checking the update possibilities (I haven’t updated yet) in Windows 8.1 there seems to be no problem, the message I get back is that my PC is compatible, however, when I boot in to Windows 7 and run the same check, I get a message that the CPU is not compatible!
    The problem appears to be with a memory security setting in BIOS which I’ve checked and, although it doesn’t have the same title as the one specified in the Windows 7 upgrade attempt, it is switched on.
    The Microsoft explanation of the problem indicates that without this particular feature, I wouldn’t be able to upgrade XP or 7 to 8.1 (which I have done, very successfully).
    It’s the same CPU with the two operating systems in different partitions and frankly I’m somewhat confused.
    I must say that I have been running Windows 8.1 for some time now, having upgraded from XP and I am very happy with it, I have found it to be faster than 7, with no major instabilities in either, also I have Windows 10 on my laptop and that is even better than either 7 or 8.1.
    I’ve just installed the latest Win 10 (major) update on my laptop so it’s too early to judge it, so we’ll see.
    Any ideas how I can upgrade my Win 7 OS?
    By the way, I’ve downloaded the ISO and created an installation DVD which I’ve tried running as an “in place” upgrade from within Win 7 but it still fails with the same CPU problem.

    Reply
  44. I would not consider myself to be any kind of computer “tech” in any sense of the word. I’m probably just at best a computer user who has learned to take advice and follow instructions offered by the many talented,generous, and from where I’m sitting incredibly smart people who are willing to investigate,diagnose, and create fixes for particular computer issues that I’ve come to expect that I will encounter occasionally. I always seem , after enough searching , to find others with the same exact issues, sometimes the same exact computer. I have also found there almost always is someone out there in a forum that will devise a solution or a workaround, and oftentimes post a step by step fix obviously for the benefit of a user with skill levels far less than his or her own. Of the two upgrades to Windows 10 that I performed one was from a Windows 8 tablet which upgraded flawlessly and really outperforms the previous installation in a couple of real areas of issue. The second upgrade was to a Windows 10 laptop, a Dell XPS l502x , which although not a real high end laptop, at $900 new was not cheap model, either. Windows 10 installed without any issue and seemed to work great. Then I realized Sleep wasn’t working at all, and hibernate wasn’t reliable. Also occasional freezes, Microsoft Money wouldn’t even open, a few other reoccurring things. A lot of hard shutdowns. I found others with the exact same problems. Went to a forum, looked around awhile got a Money registry fix. Worked. Kept making backup images as things got fixed, all the time hoping Microsoft or Dell were going to provide updated drivers to fix the Sleep and Hibernate problems. (Still had my Windows 7 backup as a last resort.)Finally realized Dell didn’t intend to upgrade drivers for this model, it missed their cutoff. No help from the cumulative updates to Windows 10. I was ready to revert because of too many hard shutdowns and happened across a Microsoft Windows 10 post of someone with the same model, same issue and a promised fix. It amounted to a reversion of 4 program drivers to to previous versions set to run in compatibility mode. Having been disappointed with many failed attempts to correct this problem I was ecstatic to find I was now in possession of, as this poster put it, “a fully functional Dell l502x computer” . Sleep works, Hibernate works, no more hard shutdowns, and my computer actually boots considerably faster at startup. I can now honestly say Windows 10 outperforms the original platform on this computer as well, and I like Windows 10.
    Sadly, I can’t imagine even one out of five (average)computer users I know going through the work I went through(many hours) to get the information I needed to make Windows 10 work on this laptop(modifying drivers customized by the manufacturer). I really had to poke around and was really lucky to find a computer tech with the same model computer,same issues, and the knowledge and talent to devise a workaround(I thank him so much). In any case anyone is absolutely insane , in my opinion , to do this or any other upgrade to any computer, no matter how new or old, without a complete, restorable image backup. It’s the one thing any computer owner needs to have and it’s neither difficult nor expensive to create.You have no excuse not to do it!

    Reply
    • Hi Geoff,
      Would you please post the links to where you found the solution for the sleep and hibernate problems?
      I upgraded my Dell L502x too early and after a lot of unexpected freezes and windows not being able to come back from hibernation W10 finally died and I had to go back to my W7 image. I’m really interested in that solution you mentioned.

      Reply
      • As you’ll notice in Leo’s articles he always recommends taking a full backup of your computer before upgrading. If you have done that, then all you need to do is restore the backup.

        Reply
  45. I plan to wait until the last minute to upgrade to Windows 10, I’m still not sure if I will get Windows 10, it all depends on how things go between now and then.

    Reply
    • Karl, how about making an image of your system before you upgrade. then upgrade it and test it. If all seems ok but you are still not convinced, make a image backup of the Win 10 setup. You could then go back to your previous system and, if after a time, decide you do want Win10 you still have the image backup to jump forward on to the new system.

      Reply
  46. Running Win 7. I take an image copy, as recommended, and install Win 10.
    If I want to go back and restore the image, the computer runs Win 10, but the disc contains Win 7. When I power off the computer, will there be any problems?
    Is there no risk that the computer saves Win 10 stuff on the disc?

    Reply
    • The restore will copy the hard disk back to exactly the way it was at the moment the backup was taken. Any new data will not be on that copy so it will be lost.

      Reply
      • Connie, I probably phrased my question badly. I do believe that the OS saves some information, like registry information(?) , when we power it down. If this is correct, are there any risk that Win 10 information will be stored on top of the Win 7 information.

        Reply
        • No. AN image backup copies and restores everything – including the registry. WHen you restore your Windows 7 image, you are restoring everything – including the registry – the state it was in when the image backup was taken.

          Reply
  47. Hi Leo, et all. I have a good knowledge of computers, working on them etc. for more years than I care to mention but lets say DOS 3.3. A client of mine upgraded his Win7 desktop machine without calling me or making a full backup. Fortunately he had a backup of all his data, so at least that was something. After his attempt at upgrading the machine would not start and only gave a blank screen. I knew he had bought it with Win 7 and I said that I would wipe his C: drive and reinstall his Win7 software. So I did a clean install of Win7 which it registered as genuine from the key. – no problems and then I knew that before attempting to upgrade to Win10, all the updates from a clean install to the latest update would need to be installed. This took about 3 days of constant restarting and installing the next batch, etc. etc. until they were all in place. Then got the Win 10 upgrade notice and completed that without any issues. Now all he had to do was install the few programmes he uses and all is now good. I think the problem with upgrading to Win10 can be caused with – what I would call – a messy machine which is not fully up to date and maybe some other smaller issues like say minor, and some not so minor malware etc. causing the upgrade problem. So as you and many say a backup and possibly be prepared to do a clean install of your old software and fully update it can often resolve many problems.

    Reply
  48. Nobody answered this — so I will try again…
    If I upgrade to Windows 10 and then “fall back” using a “hot backup”
    that I created before the upgrade… what happens? I.e., does Microsoft still assume
    that I am on Windows 10? Do I have to tell Microsoft that I decided to fall back? Or,
    can I simply continue to run Windows 7 as if nothing happened? I am asking because the
    People posting here have discussed “reverting” fro Windows 10 — where you clearly inform
    Microsoft what you are doing… My question really is: I sit necessary to even tell Microsoft
    that you have decided to “fall back” — if you have a “hot backup”?
    Thank you….

    Reply
    • I don’t know what you mean by “hot backup”.

      If you restore an image backup taken prior to the upgrade, then it’s like you never upgraded. You don’t need to tell Microsoft anything.

      Reply
      • I think that my use of the term “hot backup” corresponds to what you call “image backup” — meaning
        that I can take the disk with the “hot backup” on it and immediately boot off of it… And, yes — it will
        have the image EXACTLY as it was right before the upgrade…
        My only concern was that Microsoft might get “bent out of shape” since [based upon the license
        at upgrade] Microsoft would “know” that my computer was running Windows 10 — but now
        the same computer is running Windows 7 — without any sort of “revert” signal….
        Does the question make more sense now?

        Reply
        • “meaning that I can take the disk with the “hot backup” on it and immediately boot off of it”

          Actually that’s not an image, in popular technology. An image would be kept as a single file (a .mrimg file, for example, if using macrium reflect). What you’re referring to is more commonly referred to as a clone. I don’t see how Microsoft would get anything from the process other than on the day before a restore your machine would be “up to date”, and after switching to the clone it would suddenly appear much older and out of date and in need of updates that it supposedly already took. I don’t see a problem here.

          Reply
          • What about when Windows wants to do it’s Genuine Advantage check? Would Microsoft think you are using the same license twice (once as Windows 7/8 and once as Windows 10)?

          • I would expect you to be able to roll back to it (i.e. switch to using it), but NOT be able to use both at the same time, or switch between them frequently. I’d expect activation to kick in, perhaps, and succeed a few times, but then start failing if you swap back and forth too often. You actually need a separate license if you want to be able to run both.

  49. I have found the $Windows>~BT in my C drive – I have plenty of room so it doesn’t bother me – should I wait to install (I make images regularly and my computer is relatively new) until you say ok ?

    Reply
  50. If you need to reinstall your system using Macruim Reflect or other suppliers and have windows 10
    Hope you are able to so as Win 10 has taken over the bios of my machine
    It no longer lets me boot from the ODD or a USB drive
    Does any body know how to switch this off

    Reply
    • It hasn’t “taken over” the BIOS of your machine – it’s likely just enabled “Secure Boot”. How to turn that off will vary depending on your specific computer – check with the manufacturer.

      Reply
  51. I upgraded my windows 8.1 laptop to Windows 10, it is working well and I like it. I have tried upgrading my windows 7 laptop which is a bit older, a lenovo
    thinkpad L512, So far I have tried 3 times without success. I am never able to download all the files. I am wondering, is this computer compatible with windows 10? I still want to try, going back to windows 7 is not an issue as I have the install media. Would windows 10 install better with the actual install media as opposed to the download? Thoughts anyone?

    Reply
  52. In short to those,who are afraid Windows 10.I installed 4 days ago.Put ALL FILES to external HD.It took 4 hours to download
    Windows from Web,and little more than 1hour to install.At the end I receive a little supprise.Microsoft informed me,that
    all files that I left on internal HD,stay untouched.But to those who are woried about that if Windows 10 will work on their
    PC,there is a tool,that You install from Microsoft Web page and that tool shows is it PC ready for upgrade or not.

    Reply
  53. I decided to test Windows 10 on my dual-boot laptop. I allowed it to upgrade my Windows 7 Pro drive, made it leave my Windows 8.1 Home drive alone. So far I have zero issues with 10, although I find 8.1 runs faster. Either is far faster than 7 however. I suspect I’d get more speed out of 10 if it became the default OS at boot, but I have several programs to load into it first. I’ve encountered no program or peripheral issues, did not have to seek out any new drivers. Runs Office 2010 Pro Plus seamlessly. Runs Firefox well (Just say “NO” to Edge!). Runs SQL 2012 databases well, along with vendor software that access the DB. No upgrade to vendor software was necessary. AntiVirus software adapted seamlessly and automatically (WebRoot). My long-term plan now is to get all apps I need into 10, then remove 8.1 and use the drive for storage.

    Reply
  54. I am posting here about a problem I encountered with taking updates for Windows 10, recently. I was using Acer Aspire One netbook and the problem update was KB3133431. It failed to install – I retried a few times with no success. I thought a restart would help, but the computer then wouldn’t shut down. I used caveman tactics and removed the battery but when I started the computer up again it kept trying to install the update and failing, with the additional failure of the restart process leaving me no option but to remove the battery, again. This cycle of behaviour continued for three occasions before I decided to access system restore. This also failed to make any difference, so I accessed Reset – Keeping all files. Over a period of hours the reset function reloaded Windows 10 with folders intact and since this time I have been able to download and install the problem update. Overall, the netbook operation feels better than before from having done the reset.
    So, I decided to carry out the same reset proceedure on my laptop, Lenovo G500; but I can’t. I’d had no trouble with the update in question but I thought it would help refresh my operating experience, anyway. I have tried twice to reset this computer while keeping the folders intact. The initial preparation works but once the ‘solar eclipse’ style counting icon, which I saw during the upgrade last year, appears, the process seems to struggle and ends with the reset undoing itself and returning the computer back to the same state as it was before accessing the reset option. Obviously, this is not specifically relevant to this page, but I know you were collating Windows 10 experiences late last year and that page has now been closed, from what I read, so I thought to post this here. Any thoughts would be welcome, thanks.

    Reply
  55. I finally bit the bullet and upgraded to Windows 10 from 7 in Jan 2016.
    I use an old version of Microsoft Office (2007) as, like thousands, maybe millions, of users I can’t afford to buy a newer version.
    I now find I can’t open a lot of my Word documents. A message flashes up on the screen – too quickly to read properly – but it seems to be saying I don’t have permission to open the document.
    According to several websites I’ve visited, Windows 10 is compatible with Office 2007 but I don’t know how to cure this problem.
    Can anybody help, please? I’m not computer literate so help in the form of bullet points would be much appreciated. Thank you.

    Reply
    • I am facing one different problem-
      I have first installed my application on Windows 8.1 –>done some basic testing on it–>then Uninstall that application–>and then update that system to Windows 10–>again install my product on this upgraded Windows 10 and facing problem with DLL file. i.e dll file of product is not getting load.
      Is this compatibility issue?

      It is working fine when I am directly installing my product on Windows 10 instead of doing it first on Win 8 (whether it may be Fresh Win 10 or Updated)

      Note: Product is based on desktop based application related to Microsoft office.

      Can anybody help, please?

      Reply

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