Is it worth upgrading to Windows 10? 7 is offering a free upgrade. What are the

1. 83

   bravewarriorposted 9 years ago

   Is it worth upgrading to Windows 10? 7 is offering a free upgrade. What are the pros/cons?
   
   I'm not sure I want to take advantage of the offer. Has anyone tried Windows 10 yet? If so, what are your thoughts? I'm comfortable with Windows 7. Does the latest version provide a better user experience? Will MS Office 2007 still be compatible with Windows 10?
   
   I'd appreciate hearing your feedback. There's a little icon in my task bar inviting me to upgrade, but I'm holding off. Is 10 really any better that 7?

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2. 68

   Dressage Husbandposted 9 years ago

   I have already upgraded a Windows 7 and a Windows 8.1 laptop. This is definitely the best version of Windows ever! More than that the apps for Windows phones and tablets will all run on a Windows 10 PC.
   
   The system is designed to integrate even the X box apps and with Onedrive it is designed to be a whole new internet experience, based on what I have seen to date it works, and better than anything all updates will now be free and automatic!
   
   Now the user bit. Once you have upgraded it will run quicker and smoother than any previous version. It is built on Windows 7 and 8 and has features from both only improved. In theory anyway all old programs will still run on it, however some older systems may not be fully supported. Drivers and methods of working improve over time which gradually leads to incompatibility. There are thousands of programs with slightly different needs so not everything will be supported. I have nothing that does not work on either of my machines.
   
   Hope that helps. Plus there are improvements in just about every facet I have used so far and the Edge browser is way faster than Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer ever was. I would say to everyone get it, while the upgrade is still free. It is fabulous now and the upgrades made will all be free too. So far I have not seen any negative reviews.
   
   Cortana is included (Microsoft's equivalent of Suri). That is the only issue I have had so far, she does not seem to recognize voice commands very well, with my inbuilt laptop microphones. I hope the upgrades will have better drivers for this over time. The upgrade did warn that not all microphones would be compatible at this point.
   
   In conclusion unless you rely on voice commands this version is the best Windows so far by far! It will take from 20 to 90 minutes to install on most laptops/desktop computers. Hope that helps.

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      bravewarriorposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you, Stephen. You've gone into quite a bit of detail. I don't use voice commands so my mic doesn't get much use. Hopefully, it won't be affected. I still need to think about upgrading, tho. This old dog hesitates before learning new tricks! :-)

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3. 84

   Becky Katzposted 9 years ago

   My kids upgraded and love it so far. I am waiting to see how things go. You can downgrade during the first month if you decide you do not like it. My son said his is running slightly slower, but his is so fast that it isn't a problem. He also does not like the access to the settings, even as administrator. He is a tech, so gets into those things frequently.
   There is also a security issue with your wifi, but apparently you need to give permission for people to use it before there would be a problem. Just don't allow people you don't trust to access it in the first place.
   They all three think it is very user friendly and easy to use. My daughter loves that she can use her apps. The apps for her phone will work on it, and they are either free or cheaper than the apps for Windows 8. Those apps were quite expensive. None of them like Windows 8 and even downgraded a brand new computer to Windows 7 because of that. They considered it worse than Vista.
   They are bugging me now to upgrade, but I remember some of the previous operating system problems and will continue waiting for a few months.
   Another plus is that if you do not like the apps, you are able to make it look like Windows 7 and continue using the old school computing. I like that because I do not like the apps very well.
   Overall Windows 10 seems to have hit the high points of both Windows 7 and 8, while improving the enjoyment factor of the computer. An independant microphone seems to be a necessity for Cortana to work properly. Spend the extra money to get one and do not try to use the embedded one in your computer, they are not the best usually.

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      bravewarriorposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks, Becky. I do have an extra microphone that I bought for my desktop that does not have one. I'm the only one who uses either of my computers so giving access isn't a problem either. I'm still not sure if I want to upgrade. Guess I'll ponder...

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      Becky Katzposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      The good thing is that if you do upgrade and decide you do not like it, there is a button to return your computer to exactly like it was before. It is built in to the program.

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      bravewarriorposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      That's an awesome feature, Becky.

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      Becky Katzposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      It is only good for a month after it is installed. But if you haven't figured out by then whether you hate it or love it, there is usually no hope for you. Haha

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   UnnamedHaraldposted 9 years ago

   I upgraded Friday from Windows 7 to 10 (I first created a restore point under Windows 7 and then backed up my personal files to a removable hard drive). Gotta say, I was nervous. My laptop is several years old and not that powerful. Nevertheless, Windows had determined that it could be upgraded.
   
   I was a little surprised that it took over 4 hours (all I had to do was tell it to start-- it did all the rest), but it went off with only one tiny hitch: when it was done, I noticed that it said my laptop was plugged in but the battery was not charging. I did some research and basically I:
   - shut down my laptop
   - pulled the battery
   - restarted my laptop (now plugged in, sans battery)
   - removed a couple drivers under Device Manager > Batteries
   - shut down my laptop
   - reinserted the battery
   - restarted my laptop and saw that my battery was now magically charging and the two drivers I had removed had been automatically restored.
   
   One other thing: Microsoft Edge (their new browser) will be the new default browser. I would have left it as the default, but didn't want to bother exporting/importing my bookmarks, so I had to tell it to use my Chrome Browser (your browser will survive the upgrade, it just isn't the default until you switch).
   
   I use OpenOffice for my writing/spreadsheeting. It works fine. I was concerned that my PdaNet driver (which allows me to get Internet over my smartphone) might be a problem. It works fine. And I was concerned that my wireless Canon printer drivers might not make the cut (I haven't been able to get them to work on my Ubuntu-based laptop). I have no problem printing wirelessly.
   
   I must say, I'm pretty impressed. While I haven't really dug into any new capabilities, I'm able to use my Windows 7 knowledge to get around Windows 10 just fine.
   
   Oh, one more thing. There is a way to go back to Windows 7 under Setup. I think that's good for a month.
   
   Windows 7 was the best version of Windows. Maybe Windows 10 will be better. So far, it's looking good-- and Windows 10 starts up and shuts down much faster. Good Luck.

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      bravewarriorposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      David, that sounds like a lot of trouble to go through. The more I think about it, I may just stick with Windows 7. I'm fearful of problems arising that either I can't solve on my own or would have to go out of pocket to resolve. Thanx for your reply

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   jefboyardeeposted 9 years ago

   I've installed W10 Home into W7 HP several times, have always restored back to Win7, probably will again. It does an amazing job of transplanting my existing setup into a W10 equivalent.
   
   But compared to my existing setup, W10 is no faster, maybe slower, uses more memory and looks rather garish. That might be because I'm doing this on a ten year old HP desktop PC.
   
   Two things that don't work at all are Rollback RX Home, which the dev admits, and once I flash-dual-boot Linux Mint, Win10 never starts again, thus causing my multiple reversions to Win7.
   
   As I said, I'll probably try again and then probably give up again.

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      bravewarriorposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Thanx, jefboyardee. I've decided to stick with Windows 7. I don't really think upgrading would benefit me. It has features I don't use, from what I hear. Thanx for your honest feedback. Much appreciated!

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      jefboyardeeposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      What's even more disconcerting is that since Win10 has nothing really new and different, that it's just Win7 with a Siri clone and a new browser, it's showing us that Microsoft has reached another dead end. Not as bad as Win 8.x, but two dead ends?!

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   touch4laptopposted 8 years ago

   of course, you should upgrade to windows 10, in my opinion, it the best operating system until now especially if you use it at touch screen laptop, it will be the best for you and it really nice and the fastest

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