Still running Win7 (64bit). Should I upgrade to Win10 ?

[GoodEnough]

Desktop, I am not messing with.
Leaving it Win7, b/c lots of apps installed.

But, laptop is from 2014.
Win7 and kicks butt.
Nothing wrong.
Not much on it, so easy to wipe, I guess.

Any reason to upgrade to Win10?
Any reason not to ?

How would I even do this?
Have not loaded an OS image in a decade.

 

[JackMDS]

Use a Image Clone program to back up the laptop to an external Drive (or to the desktop if both computers Network).

Example - https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree

Down load the Media Tool from Microsoft.

Choose option 2 by using 8GB USB and make it a Bootable WIN10 Media.

If you want to maintain the programs and files form Win 7 run the media Tool USB from wiehin the Win 7.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

https://www.howtogeek.com/225048/how-to-upgrade-from-windows-7-or-8-to-windows-10-right-now/
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Try Win 10. If you donot like it you can clone back the Win 7 Backup.

If after a while you wise up and want to go again tho Win 10. Do the upgrade again Win 10 would be active again since it would be already Activated on MS Activation server from the first attempt.

 

[Fallen Kell]

Well, I have avoided bitting this bullet as well... It almost seems that every time I am about to look at updating there is another major issue with Win 10 that is screwing up people's systems and files. And I also don't like the fact that it auto-patches at all. I am perfectly capable of managing my system and patch it when it needs it. There is a reason I have a stable working system, and it is because I don't let it just blindly install patches...

 

[BogdanH]

I agree with Fallen Kell (above).. especially if you see no real reason why you would need Win10 -as you say, everything works fine for you on Win7 so far.
Maybe you just need/wish more "fresh look".. try some Desktop theme which looks similar to Win10 -just an idea.

 

[mikeymikec]

@GoodEnough

What do you use the computer for? Is your use purely casual or something more demanding?

Win7 is supported with security updates until 2020 (April I think). IMO that's a sensible scenario to possibly consider as a deadline: partly for security reasons (no windows updates means vulnerabilities aren't being patched yet are still being found, so the computer becomes less secure as each new unpatched vulnerability is known about), and partly for software compatibility reasons. Old versions of Windows start getting the cold shoulder from third party software makers, suddenly you can't install the new version of some particular bit of software any more, or poor driver support, it's potentially a pain. IIRC Adobe has said "Win10 only" for its mainstream commercial products already. Vista got given the cold shoulder by even MS in 2013 (before its end of support date in 2017), so no doubt Win8x will get the cold shoulder soon too.

As my computer use is both business and personal, and I'm not a big fan of MS's new style of "release now, test later, and users should not be able to choose what they want" strategy with Win10, I decided to start considering alternatives well before the deadline so I'm not in a blind panic to get things working right around the deadline (as I consider the end of support date for Win7 to be a deadline personally). I've been running Lubuntu 18.04 LTS 64-bit for a few months as my primary OS with Win10 as my gaming OS. I'm also glad to be broadening my horizons a bit.

If your use is casual then your approach to the end of support date may also be casual, depending on how for feel about security for example.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Wife wanted Win 10 on PC we built for her, so, I bought a copy from MS and installed Win 10.

It's not "unusable", but, it's got it's share of annoyances.

Some of the problems were officially recognized as bugs and have been patched, for example super extremely annoying were issues with alt tabbing being slow.
Other stuff appears to be working as designed:
Extra security settings make it more difficult to use regular old samba shares from *nix boxes.
Seems like every 5 minutes some kind of alert or notification was alt tabbing out of whatever game was being played, took some time to disable things to smooth it out.
The bloatware is really annoying.
I HATE all the advertiing crap.
Clutter in taskbar is annoying
Automatic Updates and reboots can be annoying

We were able to deal with many of the annoyances, but, it seems like there are a lot more annoyances than there were with Windows 7. It does appear that as the beta for windows 10 progresses, and it starts to become a bit closer to a sort of stable product, it's less bad, but, this, like Windows 8, stinks about as bad as Windows Millenial Edition did.

 

[mikeymikec]

+1 re: annoyances - IMO, rough edges in a new OS are to be expected, but it seems to me that MS is adding to the list of annoyances, such as a prompt in the Windows Security Center that's purely intended to sell more OneDrive subs, or little prompts in the corner to say you ought to be using Edge. Why are third party apps being installed without my permission (like Candy Crush Saga or Spotify)?

 

[RLGL]

Sketchup is a 3D drawing program that is used around the world. Its cost is $695.00. Every time Apple releases a new version of it's OS all kind of bugs hit Sketchup. Currently the SU people are saying "do not upgrade".
Apple is also having ongoing issues with the 3D Connexion mouse, a high buck toy that works with SU.

The bottom line MS isn't the only one that can't get it right!!!

 

[mikeymikec]

Sketchup is a 3D drawing program that is used around the world. Its cost is $695.00. Every time Apple releases a new version of it's OS all kind of bugs hit Sketchup. Currently the SU people are saying "do not upgrade".
Apple is also having ongoing issues with the 3D Connexion mouse, a high buck toy that works with SU.

The bottom line MS isn't the only one that can't get it right!!!

I harbour a unique contempt for OS X and other Apple products, such as the time when High Sierra was released, iPhoto was declared obsolete and disabled, thereby making all of an unwitting user's photos disappear. At least there was a way to get them back into useful circulation, but I just find that kind of behaviour mind-boggling. In Apple's defence however, at least they don't completely force these updates on people.

I've yet to go through a Lubuntu upgrade (I'm using an LTS release), so maybe I'll be in for some fun and games when I pull the trigger on that at some point

 

[GoodEnough]

I did not realize you need to pay a subscription for Win10.
Forget that.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/gordon...h-windows-10-home-pro-downgrade/#5ba88d5271eb

 

[mikeymikec]

I did not realize you need to pay a subscription for Win10.
Forget that.

Uh, you don't?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2018/11/08/microsoft-windows-10-update-problem-crash-windows-10-home-pro-downgrade/#5ba88d5271eb

This could have easily happened with any previous version of Windows...

Did you mean to post this?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/gordon...rice-upgrade-update-windows-7-8/#23a8c75372c1

A bit light on details isn't it? "Microsoft Managed Desktop" could be an optional support service, or some premium service that allows you to opt out of forced updates, or whatever.

 

[JackMDS]

I did not realize you need to pay a subscription for Win10.
Forget that.

The Monthly Charge suppose to Kick in when the support for Win 7 expires on 2020.

It will be a charge to people (businesses) that want to continue the use of Win 7 and want to get security updates. I.e, not per pay for use of Win 7 per-se, but for the security Updates.

If so -

Desktop, I am not messing with.
Leaving it Win7, b/c lots of apps installed.
.

Then you would start paying when the time come, with the Hope that the word "Messing" do not cost you too much.--

 

[Red Squirrel]

Windows 7 is a fine OS. No reason to upgrade. Was looking at my parent's windows XP machine yesterday and it was acting up and debating on if I should get them to replace it or build a new one or just reformat and reinstall windows XP (I doubt it would handle anything newer). If they were to get a new machine I'd be putting 7 on it. I think MS will probably keep extending support for 7 just like they did with XP. Updates don't really matter that much for a system that's behind a router and not acting as a server anyway. The real issue is browser based attacks and no amount of updates will fix that until they completely redesign the way browsers work to not allow any type of client side code execution. I don't see that happening any time soon, web developers love their excessive use of Javascript and their adobe plugins too much.

 

[Puffnstuff]

I refused to give up W7 after W8 came out rejecting its interface even though it offered improved security. Then I found Classic Shell which gave me my classic interface on the improved platform and I was sold. I installed W10 the day it was released and haven't looked back since.

Granted it had some quirks but overall it was a huge improvement. I still have several copies of W7 laying around but don't believe that I'll ever reinstall them on anything. If a person is happy running an older OS let them be.