Small Windows symbol in task bar offering free upgrade to Windows 10.

[bobbin]

Reserving will begin downloading the files for Windows 10 onto your computer. I'm pretty certain that this is just so people can start trickling the downloads now so that the Microsoft servers don't get overwhelmed on release day with millions of people trying to download all at the same time.

No.

They haven't finished tweaking it...

Release date is July 29.

[bamnutsak]

"Any idea how to remove this symbol?"

You can "hide" it quite easily...

Control Panel > All Control Panel Items > Notification Area Icons

GWX, Get Windows 10, change Behavior to Hide icon and notifications

"I'm got 8 now and I hate it compared to 7"

Try Windows Classic Shell

[Pib]

What's the downside in "reserving" the "free" Win 10 update? I don't get it. I'm got 8 now and I hate it compared to 7. I want 10. Why wouldn't I want 10 for free?

Reserving the process basically confirms your device is ready for Win 10 and MS starts downloading files in advance of the final installation. Below from the MS Q&A link gave earlier.

I too want Win 10 for free, but want to upgrade on my time schedule (within the first year when its still free) and when I fully understand any possible downsides like maybe some software/driver incompatibility (I've always, always had some of these issues when upgrading to the next level MS operating system)....some incompatibilities that may not be fixed with updates from hardware/software manufacturers until after Win 10 is fully deployed to the masses. And like in the fine print of the above MS Q&A link it says, "To check for compatibility and other important installation information, visit your device manufacturers website and the Windows 10 Specifications page."

Edited June 2, 2015 by Pib

[Pib]

Once again for all, this Microsoft Q&As webpage does an excellent job of answering in a layman's way a lot of the most frequently asked Win 10 questions. It's the same link you are taken to when clicking the "Get to Know Win 10" selection when right clicking on that little windows icon that may be appearing in the lower right corner of your screen/on your task bar.

[steveb6]

Is everybody getting this update at the same time? I didn't receive this update and when I check for updates I don't get it. I have windows 7.

[Pib]

Is everybody getting this update at the same time? I didn't receive this update and when I check for updates I don't get it. I have windows 7.

Go to to the Microsoft Q&A weblink given in several posts above and review the Q&A titled, "Why Don't I Have the Get Win 10 App."

[wpcoe]

"Any idea how to remove this symbol?"

You can "hide" it quite easily...

Control Panel > All Control Panel Items > Notification Area Icons

But, only until you reboot. Then the icon is displayed on the taskbar notification area again.

[RichCor]

Is everybody getting this update at the same time? I didn't receive this update and when I check for updates I don't get it. I have windows 7.

It's not an actual update, just an Update Notice and Pre-authorization to Download when available.

Try Control Panel --> Windows Update to verify that you have Wondows Update enabled and have the most recent version of the Update Software and are receiving system updates, patches and other official notifications (like the offer for Windows 10).

[Pib]

"Any idea how to remove this symbol?"

You can "hide" it quite easily...

Control Panel > All Control Panel Items > Notification Area Icons

But, only until you reboot. Then the icon is displayed on the taskbar notification area again.

Just "uninstall" KB3035583"....that will uninstall the icon. But before you uninstall, "if" you reserved an upgrade to Win10 for 29 July but don't want it installed that soon, be sure to "Cancel" the reservation as describe a couple posts up. Then to keep KB3035583 from just installing itself again automatically, then go do a Windows Check for Updates....it will be identified as an update to install again, but this time do not allow install; instead Hide It to keep it from automatically installing.

Then

[Pib]

Is everybody getting this update at the same time? I didn't receive this update and when I check for updates I don't get it. I have windows 7.

Go to to the Microsoft Q&A weblink given in several posts above and review the Q&A titled, "Why Don't I Have the Get Win 10 App."

After posting above, I decided to go turn on my backup computer, an 8 year old Toshiba laptop running Win 7 (genuine retail version I personally bought in U.S. store)...been running Win 7 for many years. My last Windows update check was on 25 May when I last turned it on....and on that date KB3035583 had successfully installed. However, I have no little Get Win 10 app/icon in my task bar.

Although the computer meets the hardware/memory requirements to install Win 10 and is genuine, apparently "for some reason" Microsoft has determined the PC can not run Win 10 and the icon will not be enabled before 29 July 15....maybe due to some drivers/software incompatibility....or maybe for some other reason...who knows at this point in time. Partial quote below from above mentioned Q&A.

PCs that we determine cannot run Windows 10 will not see the app before July 29, 2015. After July 29, 2015, we’ll enable the icon in the system tray. This is to help ensure that you can easily check your PC’s compatibility if you choose.

[Pib]

Is everybody getting this update at the same time? I didn't receive this update and when I check for updates I don't get it. I have windows 7.

Go to to the Microsoft Q&A weblink given in several posts above and review the Q&A titled, "Why Don't I Have the Get Win 10 App."

After posting above, I decided to go turn on my backup computer, an 8 year old Toshiba laptop running Win 7 (genuine retail version I personally bought in U.S. store)...been running Win 7 for many years. My last Windows update check was on 25 May when I last turned it on....and on that date KB3035583 had successfully installed. However, I have no little Get Win 10 app/icon in my task bar.

Although the computer meets the hardware/memory requirements to install Win 10 and is genuine, apparently "for some reason" Microsoft has determined the PC can not run Win 10 and the icon will not be enabled before 29 July 15....maybe due to some drivers/software incompatibility....or maybe for some other reason...who knows at this point in time. Partial quote below from above mentioned Q&A.

PCs that we determine cannot run Windows 10 will not see the app before July 29, 2015. After July 29, 2015, we’ll enable the icon in the system tray. This is to help ensure that you can easily check your PC’s compatibility if you choose.

Update: The window icon is "now appearing" on backup computer. I had rebooted it twice...looked hard for the icon by even looking at all the icons, even hidden icons, in the task bar settings--no Win 10 upgrade icon. So, I turn the computer off...make above post...go jogging...walk the dogs. I come back and decide I need to see if the KB3035583 was installed on my third computer...another 8 year Toshiba laptop running a mere Celeron CPU...it did not have that KB update because I hadn't turned it on for about two weeks. I ran the Windows Check for Updates, it identified the KB3035583 for install, I installed it, and within a few minutes the Win 10 upgrade icon appeared in the task bar. I then decided to turn back on the other computer to do something and lo and behold the Win 10 upgrade icon was now showing in the task bar. So, now, all three of my laptops, a Lenova running Win 8.1 and two Toshiba's running Win 7 are showing the Win 10 upgrade icon. I'm good to go...but I'm going to think a while before hitting the Reserve my Win 10 Upgrade button on the two Win 7 computers since there is no rush to get the upgrade and it's free upgrade period will run for a year past 29 Jul 15. I'll wait and see how the upgrade goes on my Win 8.1 system first and crossfeed on how the upgrade goes for others starting 29 Jul 15. Don't want to take the chance of three computers having windows upgrade problems all at once as I'm sure there will be some problems...minor to major...based on past upgrades from XP to Vista and Visa to Win 7. For Win 8.1 I did not upgrade as I did a clean install on the new Lenovo computer.

Edited June 2, 2015 by Pib

[Pib]

Regarding Win 10 upgrade issues...like hardware or software...the Win 10 Upgrade icon will tell you if you have any such issues....see this post by Chicog in another Win 10 thread.

Each of my old Win 7 laptops show a couple possible software and hardware issues, but my fairly new Win 8.1 system shows zero issues.

[KhunHeineken]

I have a small netbook running a genuine Windows 7 Starter operating system.

I booted it up and looked for the KB3035583 update. It was there, but the Windows icon was not in the task bar.

I gather the free upgrade to Windows 10 is only for certain versions if Windows 7, and Starter may not be one of them, which is fine by me.

Edited June 2, 2015 by KhunHeineken

[MikeWill]

My desktop is Win7 Home Premium 32 bit. Recently In addition to my HDD drive (where Win7 is installed), I bought an SSD drive.

Would it be possible to install the Windows 10 upgrade into SSD?

[MikeWill]

I just learned at: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-win_upgrade/windows-10-installation-on-a-new-hard-drive/84eed9a0-9f9f-45d3-aadd-a5f0917f7226

Will I have the option of choose a different drive or partition where I want the upgrade installed?

No, it will require that you are running a previous qualifying version and start the upgrade from within the qualifying version.

[MikeWill]

On the other hand: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-win_upgrade/is-microsoft-is-going-to-provide-iso-for-windows/959b5db8-1561-42a5-a969-be3d851ee77e

Will ISO media be provided for the final release?

Yes, you will be able to download ISO media for Windows 10 RTM.

Please note, you might have to download the appropriate edition of Windows 10 for the version/edition of Windows you are upgrading. If you upgrade to the wrong edition, ie. Windows 7 Home Premium to Windows 10 Pro, you will have to purchase a license for Windows 10 Pro or rollback to Windows 7 Home Premium and upgrade to Windows 10 Home.

[Pib]

You could clone your HDD to your SSD if your SSD is large enough. Having your operating systems and frequently used software on the SSD should give your computer a very significant performance boost. Then you'll also be able to upgrade to Win 10 with it being on the SSD.

[MikeWill]

Thanks for the reply, Pib.

I like your suggestion of cloning a partition of HDD to SSD. The question is, will it be better to clone first, and then upgrade to Win 10. Or to upgrade to Win 10 first, and then clone to SSD ?

[Pib]

Either way would work. But since you already have the SSD, do it now so you can take full advantage of the SSD now versus waiting for Win 10 and any possible other surprises it may hold a couple months down the road. Plus by doing it now, when Win 10 installs itself it takes a look at the type of drive install...a HDD or SDD...and makes some minor adjustments and driver selection to it Win 10 settings for best operation...Win 8.1 and Win 7 does the same....but it would basically do the same right after cloning also.

So, do in now to take full advantage of your SSD "now" and then let Win 10 install itself to the SSD later on when you deicde to install Win 10. That way your are all setup "drive-wise" to install Win 10....versus installing Win 10 "and" doing the drive cloning.

[MikeWill]

Ref: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-win_upgrade/what-if-i-upgrade-to-windows-10-and-my-hddsdd-dies/22ffa0cc-51c4-494b-8771-1d55e031746f

Q. what if i upgrade to Windows 10 and my HDD/SDD Dies

The upgrade is registered with the device and the product key is stored on Microsoft Servers.

So all you need to do is reinstall on a new storage device.

[Pib]

Ref: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-win_upgrade/what-if-i-upgrade-to-windows-10-and-my-hddsdd-dies/22ffa0cc-51c4-494b-8771-1d55e031746f

Q. what if i upgrade to Windows 10 and my HDD/SDD Dies

The upgrade is registered with the device and the product key is stored on Microsoft Servers.

So all you need to do is reinstall on a new storage device.

Yes...by device it really means the "bios/motherboard" as that is the core hardware of your computer/device.

It just like now when you you install any versions of Windows, say Win 7 or 8, when you activate your Windows a snapshot of your device hardware (primarily motherboard) and say it was an OEM version of Win 7 or 8, you can not activate that Windows numbers on another computer....basically, the "device's motherboard" is married to that OEM license and that is logged to Microsoft Servers.

But that does not prevent you from changing components like drives (HDD or SDD), video cards, RAM, etc....your Windows will stay activated. Gosh, over the last year I've swapped out 3 HDDs in my three laptops to SSDs...activation of Win 7 or Win 8 was not impacted. Yes, yes, you will find a few posts on the web where someone said they swapped a video card or drive and they had to reactivate Windows....those are the exceptions...and I wouldn't be surprised if those posts didn't leave out some important details.

Edited June 3, 2015 by Pib

[MikeWill]

Either way would work. But since you already have the SSD, do it now so you can take full advantage of the SSD now versus waiting for Win 10 and any possible other surprises it may hold a couple months down the road. Plus by doing it now, when Win 10 installs itself it takes a look at the type of drive install...a HDD or SDD...and makes some minor adjustments and driver selection to it Win 10 settings for best operation...Win 8.1 and Win 7 does the same....but it would basically do the same right after cloning also.

So, do in now to take full advantage of your SSD "now" and then let Win 10 install itself to the SSD later on when you deicde to install Win 10. That way your are all setup "drive-wise" to install Win 10....versus installing Win 10 "and" doing the drive cloning.

What program would you recommend for cloning. My HDD partition size on C:/ is 58.1 GB (~ 20 GB free), and my SSD is Samsung SSD 850 PRO 128GB (Size 127 GB).

[mmh8]

I figure its ome sort of clever virus , at the moment windows 7 remains bug free for me able to use the tools of the trade so not falling for this nasty trick. I would really like there to be an option to never have windows 10 icon on my computer.

[Chicog]

I figure its ome sort of clever virus , at the moment windows 7 remains bug free for me able to use the tools of the trade so not falling for this nasty trick. I would really like there to be an option to never have windows 10 icon on my computer.

You're missing out, it's a real improvement - as people have said, probably what Windows 8 should have been in the first place.

[canuckamuck]

I reserved mine, I am looking forward to 10.

[Pib]

Either way would work. But since you already have the SSD, do it now so you can take full advantage of the SSD now versus waiting for Win 10 and any possible other surprises it may hold a couple months down the road. Plus by doing it now, when Win 10 installs itself it takes a look at the type of drive install...a HDD or SDD...and makes some minor adjustments and driver selection to it Win 10 settings for best operation...Win 8.1 and Win 7 does the same....but it would basically do the same right after cloning also.

So, do in now to take full advantage of your SSD "now" and then let Win 10 install itself to the SSD later on when you deicde to install Win 10. That way your are all setup "drive-wise" to install Win 10....versus installing Win 10 "and" doing the drive cloning.

What program would you recommend for cloning. My HDD partition size on C:/ is 58.1 GB (~ 20 GB free), and my SSD is Samsung SSD 850 PRO 128GB (Size 127 GB).

Recommend Macrium Reflect Free. Link

Or just use the Samsung Data Migration Tool: Link

Of the two above I recommend the Macrium Refect.

Or just use Windows to do an image backup with recovery disk/stick of your HDD. Remove the HDD, put in the SSD, and then use the recovery disk/stick to reload the image to the SSD.

[Chicog]

Oh, my beta testing days of new software are far behind me....don't want to play with Beta, Technical Review, Overnight Release, or whatever warm & fuzzy name they want to give to software still in development. Good to hear your testing has shown legacy drivers are working....but I've heard that Siren Song before in other windows upgrades.

It is strange sometimes. I had an external hard disk that worked on XP then disappeared completely in Win 7. No driver after the XP one (and there never has been).

When 8 came out, for a laugh I plugged it in and it just installed a driver and off I went!

Plugged it into 10 and worked fine.

[KhunHeineken]

I figure its ome sort of clever virus , at the moment windows 7 remains bug free for me able to use the tools of the trade so not falling for this nasty trick. I would really like there to be an option to never have windows 10 icon on my computer.

You're missing out, it's a real improvement - as people have said, probably what Windows 8 should have been in the first place.

Or, Windows 10.1 will be everything Windows 10 shoud have been.

[Pib]

Oh, my beta testing days of new software are far behind me....don't want to play with Beta, Technical Review, Overnight Release, or whatever warm & fuzzy name they want to give to software still in development. Good to hear your testing has shown legacy drivers are working....but I've heard that Siren Song before in other windows upgrades.

It is strange sometimes. I had an external hard disk that worked on XP then disappeared completely in Win 7. No driver after the XP one (and there never has been).

When 8 came out, for a laugh I plugged it in and it just installed a driver and off I went!

Plugged it into 10 and worked fine.

Yea agree, been there, done that, got the free tee-shirt also. Computers & operating systems can cause frustration wrinkles in trying to fix the issues.

In an earlier thread you mentioned you had had good compatibility results with legacy hardware/software you've thrown at Win 10 so far. Now that I've got Get Win 10 app running on my 18 month old Lenovo Win 8.1 laptop and my two 8 years old Tosihiba laptops, the Lenovo laptop shows 0 hardware and 0 software compatibility issues per the Win 10 compatibility check. One 8 year old Toshiba Pentium DuoCore CPU running Win 7 32 bits shows a partial incompatibility with its ATI X1400 video circuit, possible issues with the BlueTooth circuit, incompatibility with Norton 360 software and a freeware software item called PC Wizard 2013. The other 8 year Toshiba Celeron CPU laptop shows issues with its ATI Express video card issue and PC Wizard 2013...I don't have Bluetooth or Norton 360 on this second Toshiba laptop...I use the free Bitdefender on this laptop.

I have the latest BIOS and ATI drivers on both Tosihiba computers...from googling I see a lot of people have their ATI X1400/Express video cards on older machines show the partial incompatibility issue. With these older machines I seriously doubt the computer manufacturers or Microsoft will provide Win 10 driver updates to make them fully compatible (if possible to make some older hardware fully compatible). I'll don't really care if the PC Wizard program works with Win 10...if it don't I just find another piece of freeware that does work.

And funny Norton 360 shows as incompatible on the older Toshiba machine running Win 7 32 bits because I have three licenses for my Norton 360 and its also running on my fairly new Lenovo running Win 8.1 64 bits and Norton does not show-up as a compatibility issue. Once again from googling I see a lot of folks pinging Norton since it being identified as incompatible for Win 10. When going to the Symantic/Norton webpage regarding Win 10 compatibility a partial quote follows:

Get Windows 10 compatibility check says Norton is incompatible

Microsoft is sending notifications to Windows 7 and 8.1 users announcing that Windows 10 is coming and prompting to reserve a free copy. You can check your PC to make sure it is compatible with Windows 10. This compatibility check also lists Apps that are not currently compatible. If you run the test today, your Norton product may appear in the list of Apps that "won't work correctly after the upgrade."

Norton is working on an update for compatibility with Windows 10. This update will be available to current Norton users before Windows 10 is released to ensure Norton product compatibility.

I have no doubt Norton will make their product fully compatible with Win 10...like the full text talks on their webpage they are basically saying/implying we'll make the Norton fully compatible after Win 10 gets out of it's technical testing phase/after the frequent technical review changes stop.

I'm pretty sure I'll be installing Win 10 on my Lenovo laptop shortly after Win 10 is officially released on 29 Jul...but for my older laptops which are showing that video and bluetooth compatibility issues, since they primarily serve a backup computer role, and since I doubt updated drivers for my 8 year machines are forthcoming, I just may let Win 7 be the OS these two laptops eventually go to their grave with since Win 7 will still receive support/security updates until 14 Jan 2020. Even me who hangs onto computers for a l....o.....n.....g time if they are good computers will probably not keep those two machines until 2020 (well, I may keep one of them until 2020. )

[mmh8]

I see this symbol and would like to switch it off. I have a perfectly stable non buggy windwos version. why the hell would I risk upgrading past 8 to an unknown free buggy version that will waste time. windows give me option to block all windows 10 info. it is such a liberty windows having that on every time you want to update software.

with these tactics next thing you know windows will start installing its own internet explorer anti virus etc.