Another Windows 10 question

[Al Launier]

Sorry to bring up an old question, but I'm a bit undecided & am wondering about your experiences.

I contacted a "Software Guru", at least compared to me & asked his opinion about replacing W8.1 with W10. I was concerned whether W10 has essentially been "cleaned" of "bugs" before I install W10. I have until the end of July to install the free update.

His response:



Windows 10 Upgrade Installations, as well as any other Upgrade Installation (Vista to 7, 7 to 8.1, 7 to 10, 8.1 to 10, etc.) traditionally have problems due to the nature of how they upgrade.

Since they build off of the existing platform, problems arise simply because the Old image is attempting to use the same software to control certain hardware on the new image (using Windows 8 drivers when running Windows 10, for example).

The main question we typically slate to our clientele who are interested in Windows Upgrades, is to simply ask yourself "Am I satisfied with my current Operating System?"

My response:
So, it sounds like the free W10 would not be the same as if I bought it separately on a CD. Is this correct? I like W8.1, but wonder what benefits I would get from W10, like future compatibility with later Window versions???

His response:
That is correct, Al. Rather than an Upgrade Installation, a 'Clean Installation' via disk would be recommended (if the option is available).

If the PC natively came with Windows 8 or 8.1, it's safe to assume the hardware will be forward-compatible with Windows 10, as the new 10 operating system was designed to be reverse-compatible with Win7, and Win8 machines.

My reaction:
My W8 came with my PC & then I upgraded to W8.1. So, it sounds like minimal risk to upgrade to W10.
Have any of you had problems upgrading to the free W10 upgrade?

[Todd Mason-Darnell]

I have upgraded 4 computers (two from 8.1 and two from 7).

I have to say this was the easiest and least painful upgrade I have done.

[Gerry Grzadzinski]

You can download the full installation files from Microsoft, so that after you upgrade, you can do a full clean install. This will require re-installing all of your other software.
I just did a re-install of 10 on a machine that came with 10, and it was quick and easy. The old version of 10 that came on my machine had an issue where the updates wouldn't install, so I did a clean install.
I'll be upgrading my 8.1 machine in the next few weeks.

[Mike Henderson]

I also upgraded two Win 8 machines and one Win 7 with no problems. To me, the problem with doing a "clean" install is that you have to reinstall all your software. In the old days, when you had a CD for each application, that wasn't too bad (but it took a long time), but today, most of the stuff I have was downloaded. I'd have to find the downloads and transfer them to another disk, or know where to go to get another copy off the web.

If you don't have many applications, or you really want to "start fresh" I'd do a clean install. But it would take me weeks to get my computer back to the way I had it if I did a clean install.

Mike

[Steve Schlumpf]

I just upgraded my Win 7 desktop to Win 10 and have to admit I like Win 10 lots better than 7! I was afraid of losing some of the software on my machine - so did not opt for the clean install and hoped for the best when I did the upgrade. I was extremely surprised to find my computer looked exactly the same after the upgrade - meaning all my icons where exactly where I had them in Win 7 and everything worked just like they did before! Had I known that it would have been so easy, I would have upgraded months ago and not worried so much about possible loss of programs.

[Rick Potter]

I have a nice older computer with XP. Does it work on that?

Thanks,
Rick

[Larry Browning]

I have a nice older computer with XP. Does it work on that?

Thanks,
Rick
I wouldn't count on it. In fact, Your XP computer is not even eligible for the Win 10 upgrade. XP is not even supported by MS anymore and there will be no more patches or bug fixes. It is not recommended to connect an XP computer to the internet due to security concerns.

[Larry Browning]

Al,
You might find this thread interesting:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?244159-How-to-delay-upgrading-to-Windows-10-after-the-July-29-deadline

[Brian Elfert]

Windows 10 was the first time I have upgraded an OS rather than do a clean install. Most of the time I just ran the OS the PC came with for the life of the PC. The upgrade worked and I haven't had any issues.

We are doing fresh installs at work of Windows 10, but we have everything automated so programs automatically install.

[Al Launier]

From what I've gathered so far, one can download W10 onto a USB stick or DVD which provides the advantage of installing W10 on other computers, but with the disadvantage of losing & then having to re-install all the other programs that were on the computer before loading the W10. This sounds like a lot of work searching for the sources for the other programs, installing these other programs, and possibly losing many files as well. Sounds like it's safer to just simply download W10. Is this correct?

[Larry Browning]

From what I've gathered so far, one can download W10 onto a USB stick or DVD which provides the advantage of installing W10 on other computers, but with the disadvantage of losing & then having to re-install all the other programs that were on the computer before loading the W10. This sounds like a lot of work searching for the sources for the other programs, installing these other programs, and possibly losing many files as well. Sounds like it's safer to just simply download W10. Is this correct?


Al,
You can just click on the Win10 icon on the taskbar in the bottom right corner of your screen to do the upgrade which will preserve all your programs and data. Or you can use the media creation tool to download and create a bootable USB or DVD. Going that way you now have a choice or doing a clean install which will wipe your hard drive clean, or you can install Win10 wiping just the programs but leaving your data files, or it will do the upgrade keeping both your programs and data (same as clicking the upgrade button). The difference being that you can use the upgrade USB/DVD on multiple computers without having to download it again.
Why not go ahead and run the media creation tool and see where that takes you? There are several resources describing exactly how to doo all of this, just Google "Installing Windows 10 from Media Creation Tool" (or something like that). You will find detailed step by step instructions.

[Stan Calow]

My upgrade was trouble free. I do have one software that will not work - Paintshop Pro - but otherwise no issues. On the other hand, I don't see much improvement in anything, and there are a lot of new twists that are not self-evident. I think the menu and toolbars for example are less friendly and intuitive than W 8. Seems like they added a lot of bells and whistles for the advanced users, but made it harder for the casual users like me.

[Larry Browning]

Al,
I know there are horror stories out there about upgrading to Win10, but there are far more happy stories like maybe 100 to 1. Unless you have some really unusual configuration, things should go smoothly. Sometimes you just need to go for it.
MS is pretty much all in with Windows 10, so if you are going to stay with Windows you really do need to upgrade at some point. The question then becomes: If not now, when?

[Gerry Grzadzinski]

Or you can use the media creation tool to download and create a bootable USB or DVD. Going that way you now have a choice or doing a clean install which will wipe your hard drive clean,

You have to do the upgrade on top of your existing OS before you can do a clean install.
Reason being is that if you wipe the hard drive clean, there's no longer an OS to upgrade from. Once you do the upgrade, Microsoft's servers will recognize your PC as having a valid windows 10 license on the subsequent clean install.

[Larry Browning]

You have to do the upgrade on top of your existing OS before you can do a clean install.
Reason being is that if you wipe the hard drive clean, there's no longer an OS to upgrade from. Once you do the upgrade, Microsoft's servers will recognize your PC as having a valid windows 10 license on the subsequent clean install.

Well, yes that is true of the clean install, OTOH, if you want to do a refresh of the OS keeping only your data, but not your programs like I did, you do not need to do the upgrade first. I did it that way on 3 different computers, and it worked fine. I had several programs that I no longer needed and I wanted a fresh start, but didn't want to get rid of my data files. It worked flawlessly.

[Allan Speers]

I've upgraded three PC's with clean installs - fully wiped boot drives using the "diskpart" utility, and zero problems.


As far as the OS goes, Win10 blows Win8 out of the water, for all sorts of reasons. I can't think of a single downside.

[Allan Speers]

I have a nice older computer with XP. Does it work on that?

Thanks,
Rick


There's no way to know without trying it. I have gotten it to run on a few, while others have failed. I can't seem to remember what specifically is needed for the install to happen. However, if it DOES install, then Win10 is actually considerably more efficient than XP, so there's no problem as far as CPU overload.

If you just can't afford a new PC, then I would recommend trying the Win10 install on a new boot drive. That way you can always put the old drive back in and get going right away.

Also, make you you have the very last BIOS version installed first. That at least will give you a fighting chance.

[Brian Elfert]

Al,
I know there are horror stories out there about upgrading to Win10, but there are far more happy stories like maybe 100 to 1. Unless you have some really unusual configuration, things should go smoothly. Sometimes you just need to go for it.
MS is pretty much all in with Windows 10, so if you are going to stay with Windows you really do need to upgrade at some point. The question then becomes: If not now, when?

Most people I know stay on the same version of Windows until they replace their PC. That is normally what I do, but I never explicitly allowed Windows 10 to install, yet it did. Since everything works and the interface is close to Windows 7 it hasn't bothered me too much.

[Larry Browning]

Brian,
We obviously don't know the same set of people. Most people I know have already upgraded their personal PC to Windows 10, and I can't think of even one person in my group of friends and colleagues who doesn't like it. To each his own, but if I am asked about it I will always recommend doing the upgrade.