Windows 10 has now been available for around 8 months since its launch on 29th July 2015. Anyone with a qualifying PC running either Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 can take up Microsoft on their free upgrade to Windows 10 during its first year of release, but the question PC Care get asked regularly is – should I upgrade?
Unfortunately our answer is not a simple Yes or No, so in this post we hope to answer a few simple questions and help our customers decide for themselves if the time is right to upgrade to Windows 10. Click on a question below to see the answer.
Windows 10 is the latest Operating System (OS) from Microsoft and like any new system had a few teething problems when it was released. Now that it has been around for a while most of these problems have been resolved and the OS is a brilliant system that is fast, responsive, secure and most of all familiar. PC Care would certainly recommend Windows 10 to anyone purchasing a new PC.
Over that last few months PC Care have seen many PC’s that have taken advantage of the free upgrade to Windows 10 and seen lots of varied problems arise from the upgrade. We have seen email problems, printer problems, internet security programs cease to function, PC’s slow down to a crawl with the hard drive running constantly at 100%, and systems that simply stop booting up after performing the upgrade. This is why we a cautions when recommending running the free upgrade.
This does not mean that the Windows 10 upgrade is not worth installing and that Windows 10 is no good, or that older PC’s are not capable of running Windows 10, it is simply that problems can frequently arise from the upgrade process.
Lets clarify by emphasising what the free upgrade to Windows 10 is. It is a download that qualifying Windows 7 or 8.1 systems are entitled to install and it converts the existing older OS into the latest Windows 10. If there are any underlying problems, corruptions, or glitches in the older OS, these problems will get carried through into the new Windows 10 and compounded, often making them worse. A simple analogy would be: Building a beautiful new house on shaky foundations, it will not take long until cracks appear in the walls or the house falls down altogether.
A generalised observation that we have made is that anyone installing the Windows 10 upgrade on a system that is over 2 years old has a much higher chance of running into problems like those highlighted above. Again to clarify this is nothing to to with the physical PC itself, is is simply that the existing OS has been installed for some time and naturally over time programs will have been installed, un-installed, systems files could have become corrupted, the system may have come under attack from malware or is currently infected with malware, all of which can cause faults with the system. Installing an upgrade to the Operating System on top of all this is naturally often going to be problematic.
Considering Windows 7 was released back in 2009, there are systems out there that are over 7 years old that are being offered the free Windows 10 upgrade. Would you buy a 7 year old second hand car that had never been serviced or maintained just because it had been resprayed and the paintwork looks shiny and like new?
If you have an older PC it does not mean that you should not upgrade to Windows 10, simply exercise caution and be prepared that you may encounter issues after the upgrade. If you do encounter problems then you will be relieved to hear that there are solutions available.
Option 1
During the upgrade process a backup of your existing OS should be made, so that once the upgrade has completed and Windows 10 is installed, if for any reason you do encounter any problems or simply don’t like the new Windows 10, you can revert back to your old system just the way it was before performing the upgrade.
Option 2
If you do encounter issues after performing the Windows 10 upgrade, but would like to keep Windows 10 then the only option is to perform a clean install of Windows 10. This requires backing up all of your user files and data (which should have been done before the upgrade was run) and wiping the system and then installing a clean fresh copy of Windows 10. This will erase the old underlying OS and any problems, corruptions, malware and faults that were present in that, clear off the Windows 10 upgrade and all your user data and install just Windows 10 as if it was a brand new system.
Unfortunately due to the way the licencing for the free Windows 10 upgrade works, you first have to run the upgrade on the older qualifying OS for the upgrade to generate a new valid product key for Windows 10. Without first running the upgrade and generating this product key installing a fresh copy of Windows 10 will fail as there will be no product key available to activate Windows 10.
In summary Windows 10 is a good Operating System and for most people is well worth upgrading to. Most of the negative reviews or information that you hear/read about Windows 10, comes from users that do not appreciate that the free upgrade takes what is already there and updates it to Windows 10, glitches, faults, problems and all. If they were to install a fresh copy of Windows 10 onto the same systems they are having problems with, they would probably have no issues at all. Before running any upgrade always make sure you have a full backup of all you important files and data, although the upgrade should retain you files and settings, errors can always occur.
If you have any further queries regarding the Windows 10 upgrade or are unsure about running the upgrade or backing up your files then please feel free to contact us at PC Care and we can happily perform any backups, upgrades or fresh installs.
Well it is finally here, the launch date for Microsoft Windows 10.
Microsoft have announced that they will be rolling out the free upgrade for Windows 7/8 users in waves, so don’t panic if your device hasn’t informed you that your reserved update is ready yet. Due to the massive nature of rolling out such an update to literally millions of devices it could take a few days before the update downloads to your device and informs you its ready to be installed.
For those of you itching to get Windows 10, once notified by the Get Windows 10 app that your upgrade is ready, it should be a case of simply following the onscreen instructions and depending on the speed/specification of your system, it should be done in about an hour.
As always PLEASE ensure you have a full backup of all your photos, documents, music, videos and files. Although the upgrade should perform an in-place update of your existing Operating System, errors can always arise and data loss can sometimes occur.
If you have any concerns or worries about performing the upgrade or are not confident in performing the upgrade yourself, please feel free to contact us at PC Care and we will happily arrange to perform the update for you.
For those of you that are a little more cautious and aware that any new Operating System will inevitably have bugs and glitches and take weeks of updates and patches being rolled out to address the major flaws then there is no hurry to update. Once the download has completed to your device and you have been notified that it is ready to be installed, there should be an option to decline installation and to wait until a time that is convenient for yourself.
Over the coming weeks we will be posting that latest news about Windows 10 and a few guides to some of the new features and functions available in the new OS.
To check that your device has a copy of Windows 10 reserved and that it will be downloading your update in one of the upcoming roll out waves, simply click on the Get Windows 10 app icon in your system tray and you should see a screen similar to the one below.
Simply click on the OK, notify me when ready button and once the Windows upgrade wave reaches the reservation for your device and the download has completed, you should get a notification pop up when its ready.
Microsoft have announced the release date for its new operating system, Windows 10, which will be the 29th July 2015.
For the first time ever Microsoft are allowing users of previous operating systems (Windows 7/Windows 8.1) to upgrade to Windows 10 for free providing they do so within the first 12 months of Windows 10 being released.
So how do I get my free version of Windows 10?
If you have a system running a qualifying older version of Windows that meets the minimum hardware requirements to run Windows 10 then the Windows 10 Upgrade App should download onto your system via Windows Update. You will need to ensure that you have got Windows Updates turned on. Once the Windows 10 Update App has downloaded to your system, you should notice a new icon in your system tray (usually towards the bottom right of your screen) – see image below (click image for a larger version).
Once you click on the Windows 10 Upgrade App icon it should bring up a new window – Get Windows 10. In this new window will be information telling you how the upgrade process will work and a button to reserve your free upgrade – see image below (click image for a larger version).
If you click on this button it will give you an option to enter your email address to reserve your free upgrade to Windows 10, as well as to receive updates and news as Windows 10 nears its release date – see image below (click image for a larger version).
That’s it! your copy of Windows 10 is now reserved and once released it will automatically download onto your system and notify you once it is ready to be installed.
As with any new operating system (OS) PC Care would always advice caution before jumping straight in and updating as soon as it is released. Inevitably when new OS’s are released they are buggy and can be quite unstable or temperamental. It can take a few months of updates, hot fixes and patches being created and released before a new OS becomes reliable enough for everyday use. So long as you complete the upgrade to Windows 10 with 12 months of it being released (ie before July 2016) you will be fine.
How do I know if my system can run Windows 10?
If you want to check that your system is capable of running Windows 10 you can check your PC via the Windows 10 Upgrade App.
All you need to do is click on the Windows 10 Upgrade App icon (click here for an image if you are unsure what this is).
Towards the top left of the Get Windows 10 screen you will see three small horizontal lines, click on them to expand a menu – see image below (click image for a larger version).
Once you have the menu open on the left of the screen, you should see an option to “Check your PC”. Click on this menu item and you should get a compatibility report for your system – see image below (click image for a larger version).
Hopefully no issues will be detected with your system and you are safe in the knowledge that if/when you do choose to install Windows 10, that everything inside your system should work fine with the new operating system. If however the compatibility checker does highlight any issues (such as in the image below) it does not necessarily mean that you can’t install Windows 10. Many issues can be resolved by updating drivers , downloading the latest versions of apps/programs or upgrading the component that isn’t compatible. If you are unsure about any points highlighted by the Windows 10 compatibility check the please feel free to contact PC Care and we would be happy to offer any advice on solutions to compatibility issues.
Below: an example compatibility report highlighting a potential issue with a graphics chip inside a laptop – click image for a larger version.
But what happened to Windows 9?
The truth is that Microsoft have not really answered this question. There are however several theories/rumors circulating around the decision by Microsoft to skip Windows 9 and release Windows 10.
The first theory is that Microsoft wanted to put a perceived distance between the disastrous Windows 8 operating system, so by jumping straight to Windows 10 will make users think that it is a completely new system with no links or throwbacks to Windows 8. This perception of Windows 10 being completely new is however false as Windows 10 is still based on the Vista Kernal, just like Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 before it. In truth Windows 10 is actually version 6.4 of the Windows OS. This was possibly a similar tactic used when Microsoft reverted from naming operating systems (XP, Vista, etc) back to numbering them with Windows 7. Although Windows 7 is built on the Vista Kernal and is technically version 6.1, by naming it Windows 7 it created a perceived distance from the terrible Windows Vista.
The second rumor is based around the way certain programs and apps are designed, built and coded. Some programs are still designed to check for Windows 95/98 and potentially have code in them that looks for Windows 9 (ie checking for Windows 9x), so to avoid any compatibility issues Microsoft chose to skip naming their new OS Windows 9 and went to 10.
The third theory around this mystery is that the number 9 is considered to be an unlucky number is some cultures, particularly in Japan. As the Japanese market is quite large for Microsoft they may have decided to skip the number 9 to avoid any superstition or ill feeling towards the OS in Japan. This has been done before with companies like Trend Micro who skipped version 9 of their Internet Security software.
Want to know more?
If you want to know more about the forthcoming Windows 10 or have any further questions the Microsoft Windows 10 Q&A page is a good place to look and can be viewed at: http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/windows-10-faq
Windows 10 has now been available for around 8 months since its launch on 29th July 2015. Anyone with a qualifying PC running either Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 can take up Microsoft on their free upgrade to Windows 10 during its first year of release, but the question PC Care get asked regularly is – should I upgrade?
Well it is finally here, the launch date for Microsoft Windows 10.
Microsoft have announced the release date for its new operating system, Windows 10, which will be the 29th July 2015.
