Free Win-10 Deadline Days Away..Yes or No?

[dddave]

I can't decide if it's worth it.

I have a HP Pavillion, 6 gb ram, Win-8.1 using Classic Shell for Win-7 environment.

Basically, I only surf the 'net, run Kodi & ILikeHD and store pictures. I don't run any applications. I occasionally use Google voice search but not that often.

Other than having a more up to date OS, I can't see any practical advantage I will gain. I don't see myself using Cortana or multiple displays or any of the other bells and whistles W-10 offers.

I have read of so many problems users have had after upgrading to 10...I am not good at troubleshooting and don't want to find myself stuck in the transition.

I'm leaning to "Forget it!"...Will I regret it?

[lostinisaan]

Why don't you try it and get back within 30 days?

[thedemon]

I think that eventually you may regret it.

You can register your machine for the free upgrade without actually upgrading your current 8.1 installation.

All you need is a USB thumbdrive and a spare HDD (or SSD) to install Win10. You only need it for as long as it takes to install so you could even borrow one for a couple of hours.

After that you can reconnect your current HDD and continue with Win 8.1 as it is now.

Your machine would then be have a digital entitlement registered on Microsoft's activation servers and you would be able to install Win10 for free any time in the future.

EDIT: If you want to do this but aren't sure how, I can give you step by step instructions. Should only take an hour or so.

Edited July 24, 2016 by thedemon

[Pib]

Gosh, if you do image backups I would do an image backup and then attempt the Win 10 upgrade just so your machine gets the" digital entitlement" to Win 10 (i..e, MS fancy name for the Win 10 license saved on their activation servers when you upgrade to Win 10).

Then, after doing the upgrade if you have major problems you can just roll back to your previous OS with rollback function in Win 10....and if that rollback don't go as planned then just reload the image you made. Image backups can be your savior for so many computer problems.

Now if you are not comfortable in doing image backups....just don't do backups....don't know how....well, enjoy Win 8.1 and miss out on the free upgrade to Win 10 for your machine. I surely would not want to wait until the last day to do the upgrade since I bet many, many, many will attempt it in the final day....I expect is also occurring right now in the final week...bunch of busy MS servers I bet.

Win 10 is solid now....I would say it was solid since the major Nov 15 upgrade....and I put it on one of my laptops on 29 Jul 15 with only a few minor issues occuring that were not Win 10 problems but third party software that has since been fixed. I've upgraded both of my Lenovo laptops to Win 10 with little to no issues....just wish I could upgrade my 10 year Toshiba laptop from Win 7 to Win 10, but it's not compatible due to its video circuit. Oh well, I only use that Win 7 computer as a backup to a backup, but since Win 7 is still supported for critical updates till Jan 20 and the fact that 10 year Toshiba has been good to me over the years it will live on until Jan 20 (unless it dies before)....then I'll put it out to pasture.

[lostinisaan]

Gosh, if you do image backups I would do an image backup and then attempt the Win 10 upgrade just so your machine gets the" digital entitlement" to Win 10 (i..e, MS fancy name for the Win 10 license saved on their activation servers when you upgrade to Win 10).

Then, after doing the upgrade if you have major problems you can just roll back to your previous OS with rollback function in Win 10....and if that rollback don't go as planned then just reload the image you made. Image backups can be your savior for so many computer problems.

Now if you are not comfortable in doing image backups....just don't do backups....don't know how....well, enjoy Win 8.1 and miss out on the free upgrade to Win 10 for your machine. I surely would not want to wait until the last day to do the upgrade since I bet many, many, many will attempt it in the final day....I expect is also occurring right now in the final week...bunch of busy MS servers I bet.

Win 10 is solid now....I would say it was solid since the major Nov 15 upgrade....and I put it on one of my laptops on 29 Jul 15 with only a few minor issues occuring that were not Win 10 problems but third party software that has since been fixed. I've upgraded both of my Lenovo laptops to Win 10 with little to no issues....just wish I could upgrade my 10 year Toshiba laptop from Win 7 to Win 10, but it's not compatible due to its video circuit. Oh well, I only use that Win 7 computer as a backup to a backup, but since Win 7 is still supported for critical updates till Jan 20 and the fact that 10 year Toshiba has been good to me over the years it will live on until Jan 20 (unless it dies before)....then I'll put it out to pasture.

I wouldn't want to have W 7 now. It's like having the old XP with all the CD's you need for drivers, etc....it's the 21st century and i believe since the July update things have getting much better.'

I've done more than 25 updates, in one night on three machines at the same time and all of them are running nice.

There's no reason to NOT upgrade.

[Pib]

I be very happy with Win 10.

It's just the upgrade for some folks don't go well not to imply it's all Microsoft's problem...as I"m sure many of the upgrade problems are caused by slow/intermittent internet connections, folks not installing the latest Win 10 drivers from their computer manufacturer's support website, third party software not being updated by the user, etc. But I'm also sure the Win 10 upgrade just don't flat out agree with some computers although it says the computer is compatible before starting the upgrade. All I can say is my upgrade from Win 8.1 to Win 10 on one 2-year old Lenovo laptop and a clean install to an another Lenovo laptop went pretty much problem free. Then I got cheap Win 10 Pro licenses off Ebay and upgraded both to Win 10 "Pro" without issue last year.

Your Win 10 Results May Vary. And to repeat, an image backup can be your savior, time machine to the past when things were simpler/working fine, etc.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I updated my last remaining non-Win 10 PC just two days ago, and the process went fine. I had been holding back on my main desktop PC until I finished some software tasks that were going to work better with Win 7. But with those now finished, I finally took care of the last one.

It's true that you can upgrade an eligible PC to Win 10, and then roll back if you don't like it or it causes some problems. As long as you do the upgrade before the Win 10 deadline, even if you roll back right away, it preserves your right to use and upgrade to Win 10 in the future.

There have been some complaints about MS's Win 10 rollback process screwing up people's machines upon completion of the rollback. I did a rollback on my main PC some months back when MS's GWX app automatically triggered an upgrade that I wasn't able to stop in time. My main PC was still functional after the rollback, but it did cause some problems with some technical functions of the machine. Pib's advice was good about making a disk image of your original system, if you're planning to rollback and have any worries.

I too run all my Win 10 PCs with the Classic Shell overlay. Wouldn't have it any other way.

[chubby]

the downside seems to be all the hidden telemetry, and even if you were to

https://thomas.vanhoutte.be/miniblog/delete-windows-10-apps/

often it will reinstall things with updates it seems but , eventually win7 will die, so all that is left is linux

[lostinisaan]

Just wait and pay 189 bucks

[Pib]

I bet Win 10 upgrade servers RPM meters are running in the red zone through Friday/29 Jul as many upgrade procrastinators take the leap.

[chrisinth]

OP, if you're happy with 8.1 and don't use the system for much, stay in your comfort zone.

That said however, you will be falling behind the curve a bit. Once the 'free' upgrade expires on the 29th, within a couple of months Microsoft will be releasing Redstone (RS1) which will be the first of two releases containing major upgrades to W10.

I downloaded a copy over the weekend and once i get round to installing it i will probably start a thread to show some snapshots of the changes planned.

The never-ending world of MS. Sigh..............................

[Chicog]

I believe most of the new changes are incorporated into the insider previews.

[fasteddie]

No, you wont regret it, like you say you don't need it so why run the risk of hassle and numerous security breaches.

[fasteddie]

Gosh, if you do image backups I would do an image backup and then attempt the Win 10 upgrade just so your machine gets the" digital entitlement" to Win 10 (i..e, MS fancy name for the Win 10 license saved on their activation servers when you upgrade to Win 10).

Then, after doing the upgrade if you have major problems you can just roll back to your previous OS with rollback function in Win 10....and if that rollback don't go as planned then just reload the image you made. Image backups can be your savior for so many computer problems.

Now if you are not comfortable in doing image backups....just don't do backups....don't know how....well, enjoy Win 8.1 and miss out on the free upgrade to Win 10 for your machine. I surely would not want to wait until the last day to do the upgrade since I bet many, many, many will attempt it in the final day....I expect is also occurring right now in the final week...bunch of busy MS servers I bet.

Win 10 is solid now....I would say it was solid since the major Nov 15 upgrade....and I put it on one of my laptops on 29 Jul 15 with only a few minor issues occuring that were not Win 10 problems but third party software that has since been fixed. I've upgraded both of my Lenovo laptops to Win 10 with little to no issues....just wish I could upgrade my 10 year Toshiba laptop from Win 7 to Win 10, but it's not compatible due to its video circuit. Oh well, I only use that Win 7 computer as a backup to a backup, but since Win 7 is still supported for critical updates till Jan 20 and the fact that 10 year Toshiba has been good to me over the years it will live on until Jan 20 (unless it dies before)....then I'll put it out to pasture.

I wouldn't want to have W 7 now. It's like having the old XP with all the CD's you need for drivers, etc....it's the 21st century and i believe since the July update things have getting much better.'

I've done more than 25 updates, in one night on three machines at the same time and all of them are running nice.

There's no reason to NOT upgrade.

But for him there's no reason TO upgrade.

[Pib]

The Win 10 free upgrade countdown clock....see how much time left before the upgrade clock strikes zero.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/

[mtls2005]

the downside seems to be all the hidden telemetry, and even if you were to

These are very easy to disable. Or you can use something like Spybot Anti-Beacon.

One significant issue people encounter, if they have problems, is with various drivers. I'm still trouble-shooting a DVD-RW issue on a notebook, but other than that had good luck with three desktops, and two notebooks, so far.

I always keep recent images and recovery media prior to upgrades, even with the roll-back feature.

Once you do upgrade to Win10, make an image, recovery disk and boot USB stick.

[dddave]

Thanks to all who responded. I've decided to pass on the Win-10 upgrade; just nothing in it for me with my very lite usage. My laptop does not have an optical drive and I've never done a "mirror image". My history is that any time I've tried a "simple" procedure, some arcane roadblock appears.

I will also probably be buying a new laptop the next time I visit the US and that will serve as my entree into Win-10.

It's never easy to pass by anything with the word "free" attached.

[Jiu-Jitsu]

Thanks to all who responded. I've decided to pass on the Win-10 upgrade; just nothing in it for me with my very lite usage. My laptop does not have an optical drive and I've never done a "mirror image". My history is that any time I've tried a "simple" procedure, some arcane roadblock appears.

I will also probably be buying a new laptop the next time I visit the US and that will serve as my entree into Win-10.

It's never easy to pass by anything with the word "free" attached.

Why do you think that you need an optical drive? You only need a 8GB USB Flash Drive.

Simply use the Media Creation Tool/ and follow the instruction to Perform a clean installation using USB or DVD in order to create a bootable USB Flash drive.

Once you've created the media, don't use it to install Windows 10 just yet. Instead you'll use it to reserve your licence to run Windows 10. Let me know when you get to that point.

Another option is to activate Windows 10 with your existing key using a virtual machine.