Windows 10 Upgrade Thread (Questions, observations, experiences)

Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
get-windows-10.jpg
Well, I upgraded to Windows 10. It's the first time since before Windows XP that I upgraded to the most recent Windows operating system without either waiting 6 months, or waiting for the first service pack. Quite frankly, I stayed on Windows XP Service Pack 2 until I wnet to Windows 7 a little over two years ago.

Anyhow, why did I do this?

Three reasons.

1) It was free.
2) I had upgraded to Windows 8.1 over a year ago, but did not ike the lack of a start menu and how all of that worked (among other things) and since they were bringing those back, I thought, "What the heck?"
3) It has the new Microsoft Edge browser and I wanted to see how that was.

I started by making an image copy of my existing system onto a 1 tb external drive. (I have two 1 Tb external drives, one for image backups and the other for file backups). That way I can go back quickly at anytime I want if I think I need to.

So, I then reserved my copy by responding to one of the on screen prompts, which placed the Windows 10 App on my tray. T then got an email confirming and asking me if I wanted to download it in background when it was available. They indicated it might be several weeks in the roll out before it was available for my machine and O/S. So I said yes.

Three days later, on Friday, August 7, I got the notification that the Software had downloaded (3 Gb) and I could install it. I arranged to have it installed Friday overnight, after 11 PM.

I woke up Saturday to a new O/S and logged in. It goes through the normal windows type set up. When it was done, I had my same desktop screen with all of the icons where I had left them, but I had the new Start Menu which I like a lot better than the windows 8 routine. I fired up Edge and found that it was fast, and allowed for a quick update to bring over all my favorites and settings. I have to say that Edge is working faster for me than Explorer. One issue is that the Favorites Bar does not have an Icons only view yet. Apparently there has already been a large outcry and Microsoft is working on it...but editing the Favorites Icons and adding short names was an easy fix for me and so I did that.

For the last two days I have put probably 10-12 hours into working on my system and I have to say, so far I am satisfied. We will see what the long term brings.

Feel free to share your experiences on this thread...to ask questions, and to make observations based on your experiences.

Please do not post to this thread unless you have made the upgrade, are in the processs of upgrading, or are seriously contemplating an upgrade. This is not a thread to bash Microsoft or Windows, or to get into one O/S vs another. This thread is for SD Members who are actually doing the upgrade and have experiences, tips, observations or questions.
 
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Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
Steelbird said:
Micro$oft offer upgrade to Windows 10 for free for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users.

Are you a Windows 8 user? Still using Windows 7? Either way, you'll love Windows 10.
Over the six years since Windows 7 was released, Microsoft has made its PC operating system far more intuitive and powerful by packing it with tablet- and smartphone-like features.

A lot of those features debuted with Windows 8, but they still weren't working perfectly.

Microsoft went back to the drawing board with Windows 10 to develop an operating system that will be familiar to Windows 7 users but doesn't compromise on modern features. (Note: You're not crazy -- Microsoft skipped Windows 9 altogether.)

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Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
Steelbird said:
I have Windows 7 on my laptop and Windows 8 on desktop at office. Windows 7 is solid and reliable. You can compare Windows 7 to an F-15 while Windows 8/.1 is an F-35. Now, I expect Windows 10 to be an F-22. Windows 10 inherits the reliability of Windows 7 while not compromise the luxury of Windows 8. It's a new Windows 7.

This is what I've got so far. Don't know how long to wait...

9R3Jkn4.jpg
 

AssassinsMace

Lieutenant General
It seems weird who's getting to load Windows 10. I've noticed in the control panel updates section, my desktop has been attempting to load Windows 10 automatically but it's failed 5 times. Not sure what's happening unless since it's automatic they're asking permission to load which I haven't seen a notice. Also separately I have a Windows icon appearing on my task bar telling me I can upload Window 10 if I click the icon. I've been hesitant and have a wait and see attitude at present. My Surface Pro 2 tablet though has not offered Windows 10 even when I check for updates. I want to load Windows 10 on the tablet first.
 

solarz

Brigadier
So I just "reserved" my copy of windows 10. Considering it's already out, I wonder why there isn't just a download button. Maybe it's downloading in the background? It does look like my HD is missing a couple of gigs right now.

Hopefully, it won't install without my permission first.

Okay, nvm, apparently it downloaded almost right away, and the "continue" buttons starts the installation.

I decided to schedule the "upgrade" for later, and it only gave me an option for the next 3 days.
 

Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
It seems weird who's getting to load Windows 10. I've noticed in the control panel updates section, my desktop has been attempting to load Windows 10 automatically but it's failed 5 times. Not sure what's happening unless since it's automatic they're asking permission to load which I haven't seen a notice.

Also separately I have a Windows icon appearing on my task bar telling me I can upload Window 10 if I click the icon. I've been hesitant and have a wait and see attitude at present. My Surface Pro 2 tablet though has not offered Windows 10 even when I check for updates. I want to load Windows 10 on the tablet first.
Well, I did not think, or expect, I would get to load it for some time...like a week at least.

But when I requested the download, my "reservation," was almost immediately confirmed. Like within 10 minutes. This was last Tuesday. It asked me to confirm the background download (which I did) but warmed me it might not happen for some time, possibly weeks.

Then, on Friday afternoon, after I got home from work, I found the Windows 10 App icon on the task bar with a new message telling me that it was ready to install (Sounds like the same message you received). I scheduled it to install after 11 PM and then around 10 PM went to bed.

The next morning (Saturday), it had completed installing. My computer, when I turned the monitor on (I turn the monitor off each night), had a new login screen and it had remembered my old login and password. So I logged in and just had to go through the Set Up Steps, which were pretty straight forward.

Been working on it ever since with no real problems.

I am in the US (of course) and have a fairly powerful HP pavilion running 64 bit. I was already running Windows 8.1. That all may have made a difference as to what order in the queue I was placed I suppose.
 

AssassinsMace

Lieutenant General
I read that if you load the free upgrade, it's a one time deal. So if you wipe your hard drive to reload everything and you've already loaded Windows 10, you don't get another chance to load Windows 10 unless you buy it this time. So if your computer is acting weird and needs a fresh reload, you better do that first before you upload your free Windows 10. Unless of course the update to Window 10 loads everything new again.
 
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Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
I read that if you load the free upgrade, it's a one time deal. So if you wipe your hard drive to reload everything and you've already loaded Windows 10, you don't get another chance to load Windows 10 unless you buy it this time. So if your computer is acting weird and needs a fresh reload, you better do that first before you upload your free Windows 10.
I created a disk image of my system before I did the download.

I am going to create another one tonight or tomorrow (on a separate external disk) of if after the upload. I wanted to wait a few days to see if there were any obvious problems.

So I should be covered either way.
 

kyanges

Junior Member
I read that if you load the free upgrade, it's a one time deal. So if you wipe your hard drive to reload everything and you've already loaded Windows 10, you don't get another chance to load Windows 10 unless you buy it this time. So if your computer is acting weird and needs a fresh reload, you better do that first before you upload your free Windows 10.

The easiest way is to do the following:

Settings > Update & Security > Recovery > Reset this PC. Choose the option to "keep nothing".

Through that, Windows completely reinstalls itself, "Factory fresh".

I've done this a couple times on Windows 8/8.1.
 
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