The final push to get users to convert to win 10 (for "free")?

[Elixer]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVo9Vdpk23g

They confirm that July 29th is last day to do it (unless they change their minds).
They also confirm that the "Anniversary update" is coming this summer.

 

[TheGardener]

I made my decision to stay with Windows 7. Works for me.

 

[corkyg]

I have both on separate drives. Why have one and not the other?

 

[Elixer]

I have both on separate drives. Why have one and not the other?

I agree, seems silly not to do this, or just clone your system, install win 10, then activate it, and then go back to your clone.
That way, you are future proof in case you ever do want to use win 10 without paying $100 or whatever it is.

 

[Blintok]

That is what i have done. I unplugged all drives. installed a spare 120g SSD. Installed Win10 via ISO and activated with one of my 3 Win 8.1 keys. Looked around for a bit at Win10. Pulled the SSD and went back to Win 8.1 on my game only machine. The other 2 former Win 8.1 machines now run Ubuntu 16.04.

What are the chances of Microsoft giving users a choice if and when to install updates? If Microsoft would allow the same choice in Win 10 that i have in Win 8.1 (all updates off do not check) i would probably be running Win10.

 

[Ketchup]

I stalled a bit, not upgrading the desktop until a month ago. Honestly, it's fine, and there are a few features I really like. It isn't different enough from 7 to justify holding back. It's trimmer too (or at least, NTFS thinks it is).

Besides, if the media hadn't made a field day with it, the OS subforum would have been a much more boring place these last few months. I'm glad it's almost over.

 

[SimMike2]

I have both on separate drives. Why have one and not the other?

Can you have your original version of Windows 7 on one drive and do a clean install of the free upgrade to Windows 10 on another drive? I thought the key to Windows 7 was gone when you upgraded to Windows 10.

 

[SparkyJJO]

Can you have your original version of Windows 7 on one drive and do a clean install of the free upgrade to Windows 10 on another drive? I thought the key to Windows 7 was gone when you upgraded to Windows 10.

No, it is not "gone." You can freely go back and forth using one or the other. You just can't use both at the same time, but you can't run two operating systems at the same time anyway (well, there is the whole VM thing but aside from that).

I've been on Win10 since last August but I could at any time nuke my drive (or throw a different one in) and reload my Win7 if I so desired. And since I have done the upgrade to 10 I could then come back to 10 a year from now if I wanted. Not that I'm going to do that, I'm just sticking with 10 as I really don't have any reason to go back to 7 at this point.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Repent! The road to hell is paved with windows 7, convert to 10!

Actually can you do that, upgrade on a separate machine but your 7 key remains legit? I might do the upgrade process in a VM just so I can get the windows 10 key for future use. I don't plan to use it as my every day OS and I don't want to upgrade my gaming machine, but I may as well get a legit key if I can do it this way.

 

[SparkyJJO]

It gets tied to your hardware (if an OEM key) so not sure if doing it via VM would work right. And if OEM you can't activate it on another set of hardware.

In your case I'd just throw a random hard drive in your PC, load it with 10 using your 7 key (no need to do "in-place" upgrade since the November 1511 update, it will take your 7 key no problem), and activate it. Then throw your previous hard drive with windows 7 back in the computer. If you later decide to go to 10 even past the July upgrade cutoff date you've got it.

 

[Dahak]

Why do just do the upgrade once, to get the free upgrade, revert back to 7 and that way you can go to 10 later if you wish.

I had done that on some of my machines

 

[nerp]

Why do just do the upgrade once, to get the free upgrade, revert back to 7 and that way you can go to 10 later if you wish.

I had done that on some of my machines

This should work. I think I'm going to do this myself on my MCE box. I have a feeling it's going to no longer be an MCE box at some point and I'd like to get 10 on there without buying it.

 

[VirtualLarry]

What are the chances of Microsoft giving users a choice if and when to install updates? If Microsoft would allow the same choice in Win 10 that i have in Win 8.1 (all updates off do not check) i would probably be running Win10.

Same here. Losing control of updates (and thus, effectively, your PC is no longer yours), is a deal-breaker. I'm sticking with 7, and Linux.

 

[Elixer]

While not perfect... you can do this...

You can also block some updates if you want, but, that isn't as easy as it was in win 7/8.

 

[escrow4]

Hurry up and get a subscription out MS. I'd pay $100 a year for 3 copies of always updated Windows with 3 copies of always updated Office tied to your MS account/outlook email address. Forget updates and OEM bits and upgrade this and mobo that. Its 2016 already, why isn't this in place?

 

[Dude111]

They are really getting desperate to get this garbage on as many computers as they can!!

Trying to make other OS's not work in an attempt to force ppl to Win 10!!

 

[nerp]

They are really getting desperate to get this garbage on as many computers as they can!!

Trying to make other OS's not work in an attempt to force ppl to Win 10!!

Wrong.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

They are really getting desperate to get this garbage on as many computers as they can!!

Trying to make other OS's not work in an attempt to force ppl to Win 10!!

If M$ made a mistake, it was failing to promote the "upgrade" as a fully-activated "clean install" or clean-install in a dual-boot Win7/Win10 system. They were pitching the "upgrade" to mainstreamers and people who don't want to fiddle with OS conversions the hard way.

But the dual-boot capability and simplicity of creating it was always there since last year's release.

A clean install of Windows 10 -- as some VHD overlay, as a separate partition and volume on the same boot-system disk, or as a separate partition and volume on a second SSD/HDD -- will only rob your existing system of (initially) 20GB plus desirable free space on the target volume.

Once the Windows 10 installation has been activated on the chosen hardware platform, you can remove it, reinstall it later (after the deadline), and reactivate it effortlessly.

Failing to do it now means that you'd have to pay for it later, while creating a dual-boot system now means that you can play with the new OS and tweak it to your pleasure over some leisurely period of time while you do your regular business with Windows 7.

With any new Windows OS, I'd noticed that even a clean installation results in some Windows "red-bang" events in the Event Logs that require some investigation and solution-tweaks. I suspect that a grand roll-up "service pack" as rumored to occur after July for Windows 10 may eliminate some few of those events.

But a dual-boot system also means that I can trouble-shoot those errors and take my time about it.

With my laptop, I had replaced the DELL branded-Win-7 with a regular white-box OEM license. So both Win 7 and Win 10 installations have an equal "lack-of-bloat." And it seems to me that Win 10 is faster and "snappier" than Win 7.

With clean Windows 10 installation dual-booting with a "mature" Win 7, you can also install your software at a leisurely pace, and those licenses will also reactivate without problem for that particular hardware. But most of those licenses -- like Office 2007 through 2010 or 2012 -- can be moved from one machine to the other.

 

[TeknoBug]

It gets tied to your hardware (if an OEM key) so not sure if doing it via VM would work right. And if OEM you can't activate it on another set of hardware.

In your case I'd just throw a random hard drive in your PC, load it with 10 using your 7 key (no need to do "in-place" upgrade since the November 1511 update, it will take your 7 key no problem), and activate it. Then throw your previous hard drive with windows 7 back in the computer. If you later decide to go to 10 even past the July upgrade cutoff date you've got it.

Yeah... DO NOT activate OEM's in a VM.

Hurry up and get a subscription out MS. I'd pay $100 a year for 3 copies of always updated Windows with 3 copies of always updated Office tied to your MS account/outlook email address. Forget updates and OEM bits and upgrade this and mobo that. Its 2016 already, why isn't this in place?

ugghhh... really?

 

[Ketchup]

If M$ made a mistake, it was failing to promote the "upgrade" as a fully-activated "clean install" or clean-install in a dual-boot Win7/Win10 system. They were pitching the "upgrade" to mainstreamers and people who don't want to fiddle with OS conversions the hard way....

Our group was quite small (insignificant) compared with the number of people that received the offer, so I wouldn't call this a mistake. I would call it a nice side benefit for those of us who care about such things.

 

[Z15CAM]

At the end of this MS campaign to inflect Win7 users with GWX harassment - I hope they drop it once and for all in their updates.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Our group was quite small (insignificant) compared with the number of people that received the offer, so I wouldn't call this a mistake. I would call it a nice side benefit for those of us who care about such things.

Yes, you are correct about that. It just seemed to me they might have made the options "more visible" or no less so than the idea that you could simply "update" your existing Win 7 with a download, all your applications would miraculously be working properly, and that would be the end of it.

But I can also take personal responsibility: I didn't freakin' look hard enough within the first few months following the Win 10 release.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

At the end of this MS campaign to inflect Win7 users with GWX harassment - I hope they drop it once and for all in their updates.

I think there's a place under "optional updates" on the Win Updates dialog where you would find the Win 10 upgrade checked, which causes it to only show that option when you bring up WU or have it go check for updates. Unchecking the option, it will reveal the usual information about regular Win7 updates that we're so used to seeing.

 

[Z15CAM]

Duck: I'll take that KB (Identify it)

Unfortunately protecting my 64-Bit Win7 Ultimate from MS OS GWX intrusions has become somewhat a chore over the last 2 years Vs my Update options.

Hope MS leaves Win 7 and 8 Users alone after this dead line.

I paid for a Win7 OS not GWX with KB3035583.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Duck: I'll take that KB (Identify it)

Unfortunately protecting my 64-Bit Win7 Ultimate from MS OS GWX has become somewhat a chore over the last 2 years Vs my Update options.

Hope MS leaves Win 7 and 8 Users alone after this dead line.

I paid for a Win7 OS not GWX with KB3035583.

Glad you mentioned that -- "GWX" -- which puzzled me and so I ran a search. That's great. Get rid of the little Windows flag in system tray. ESPECIALLY -- if you had downloaded the clean install file for Win 10, created the dual-boot with it, and still have to contend with "the flag" in Win 7.

I'm still not "comfortable" yet with Win 10, but I see myself getting there. You spend a day or so delving into it to find the things you're used to having in a more accessible way. You create your desktop shortcuts or add some "chiclets" to the Start menu. It's all there -- you just have to unveil it and set it up so you don't spend an hour searching through Win 10 to find it.

If you ask me, Win 10 is quicker and leaner than Win 7.

But -- Hey, Z15! -- I've now got my 9-year-old laptop pulling TV wirelessly from my router and my SiliconDust HDHR-Prime tuners. As long as I blot out the encrypted channels in Media Center so I can't access them from the laptop, it's great. [The lappie is not HDCP compliant.]

Am I going to give up Win 7 soon? Not if I want to watch TV on my laptop while I dig in my inner-patio garden.

But why pass up a freebie that you may want to use later?