W10 free upgrade ending soon

Don M.

Don M.

SF VIP
Location
central Missouri
Just a reminder to everyone still using W7, etc., that the date for a free upgrade to W10 is quickly approaching. I think July 29th is the end date. After that, should you decide to upgrade, it will cost $120. If you are determined to stay with W7, here is an article of some things you should do to help insure that W7 stays viable.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/sticking-windows-7-sure-5-131519540.html?ref=gs

Personally, I have grown to like W10, and after a brief initial period of "learning", I found the transition to be quite smooth.
 

I prefer Linux, but I've been toying with a Windows 10 installation and, aside from the typical Microsoft hokiness, it is a basic, usable operating system that should serve Windows users pretty much the same, as Windows 7 has.
 
tnthomas said:
I prefer Linux, but I've been toying with a Windows 10 installation and, aside from the typical Microsoft hokiness, it is a basic, usable operating system that should serve Windows users pretty much the same, as Windows 7 has.
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I concur, wife has Win 10 on her newer laptop, not much different than 7, although I've read it's more invasive.
 

Invasive, as in the Windows 10 features that seek to harvest various bits of your personal data? Most of those can be turned off, but who knows where else in the system the Win 10 system may be "phoning home" to M$.
 
tnthomas said:
Invasive, as in the Windows 10 features that seek to harvest various bits of your personal data? Most of those can be turned off, but who knows where else in the system the Win 10 system may be "phoning home" to M$.
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These W10 "Apps" DO track your activity quite frequently, but I have deleted most of them. About the only App I use is the Weather app...I compare it to a couple of other weather reports, and take the best 2 out of 3 before I plan my outdoor work. But then, virtually Every Browser and web site tracks a persons moves. Google Chrome is the worst, but I use a good ad blocker and 2 spyware/malware programs, and they intercept 99% of that crap. Firefox with the UBlock app is far less invasive than Google.

The thing I am watching for...after the end of July...is what MS is planning for W10. There is No Free Lunch, and if MS is giving W10 away, they might very well be planning for some other means of reaping profits from this version. If they start playing games later in the year, I have created an ISO boot disk for Linux Cinnamon, and if W10 becomes a pain, I will join the Linux crowd.
 
Just changed this HP laptop to W10. Have an older Toshiba laptop I let the install happen about 2 weeks ago. Have a Compaq tower that won't upgrade - something about the video card. Not going to spend $50 for a new card to do the upgrade.

this is going to take some getting used to. I've been using IE for about a thousand years....
 
IMO, Win 10 is the worst operating system since Vista. I have it on my new desktop PC and it's taken a lot of 'pruning' to make it usuable. I've removed a lot of these "apps", turned off a lot of the invasive communications and installed "Classic Shell" to allow a traditional desktop and start button. It's still notorious for grabbing the internet and slowing up any other local devices.

I'm going to start playing with Ubuntu with the view to replacing Windows.
 
Don M. said:
Just a reminder to everyone still using W7, etc., that the date for a free upgrade to W10 is quickly approaching. I think July 29th is the end date. After that, should you decide to upgrade, it will cost $120. If you are determined to stay with W7, here is an article of some things you should do to help insure that W7 stays viable.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/sticking-windows-7-sure-5-131519540.html?ref=gs

Personally, I have grown to like W10, and after a brief initial period of "learning", I found the transition to be quite smooth.
Click to expand...

Son_of_Perdition said:
I concur, wife has Win 10 on her newer laptop, not much different than 7, although I've read it's more invasive.
Click to expand...

Don M. said:
These W10 "Apps" DO track your activity quite frequently, but I have deleted most of them. About the only App I use is the Weather app...I compare it to a couple of other weather reports, and take the best 2 out of 3 before I plan my outdoor work. But then, virtually Every Browser and web site tracks a persons moves. Google Chrome is the worst, but I use a good ad blocker and 2 spyware/malware programs, and they intercept 99% of that crap. Firefox with the UBlock app is far less invasive than Google.

The thing I am watching for...after the end of July...is what MS is planning for W10. There is No Free Lunch, and if MS is giving W10 away, they might very well be planning for some other means of reaping profits from this version. If they start playing games later in the year, I have created an ISO boot disk for Linux Cinnamon, and if W10 becomes a pain, I will join the Linux crowd.
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1 ditto.gif to all of the above especially the invasive Google!! I use Bing as my search engine and FireFox with the blockers..001.gif
 
Don M. said:
The thing I am watching for...after the end of July...is what MS is planning for W10. There is No Free Lunch, and if MS is giving W10 away, they might very well be planning for some other means of reaping profits from this version.
Click to expand...

That is one of the reasons I haven't installed W10. I can't help but wonder, "what are they up to?". There's always a price of some kind for everything. I have always purchased the past versions of Windows so I had a disk to use if and when I needed it and I did for some reason or another.
 
AprilSun said:
That is one of the reasons I haven't installed W10. I can't help but wonder, "what are they up to?". There's always a price of some kind for everything. I have always purchased the past versions of Windows so I had a disk to use if and when I needed it and I did for some reason or another.
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One of the first things a person should do after moving to W10 is to create a "system repair", or "system image" disc. That way, if there is a problem with your system...Hard Drive breaks, etc., you will have a means to restore W10 without having to purchase a copy. Also, it is a good idea to have an External Hard Drive, and back up your files regularly. With a System disc and files backed up to an external HD, a major PC problem can be an inconvenience rather than a real problem.

I can't believe that MS is giving away W10, out of the goodness of their heart....so, I'm waiting for the "other shoe" to drop later this year. If a corporation gives the consumer a break, it is usually just a precursor to higher costs later on.
 
Don M. said:
One of the first things a person should do after moving to W10 is to create a "system repair", or "system image" disc. That way, if there is a problem with your system...Hard Drive breaks, etc., you will have a means to restore W10 without having to purchase a copy. Also, it is a good idea to have an External Hard Drive, and back up your files regularly. With a System disc and files backed up to an external HD, a major PC problem can be an inconvenience rather than a real problem.

I can't believe that MS is giving away W10, out of the goodness of their heart....so, I'm waiting for the "other shoe" to drop later this year. If a corporation gives the consumer a break, it is usually just a precursor to higher costs later on.
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I had decided that IF I installed it, I would make a backup first and then do it. And, after I got it like I wanted it, then I would do a backup of it in case Microsoft was "really" giving it away which I don't believe, and then go back to 7. This way, I would have a copy of it if I really had to use it. But, from what I've seen, I'm really not impressed with it. I had to help my friends' husband with his laptop. He was a victim of the automatic installing by clicking on the X. I went over and worked on it for them and I didn't like the way 10 operates. He asked me to restore his old version back so i did and then he was happy. So, from what I've seen, I don't like it.
 
MS is probably going to go to a 'fee' based support system. My guess is they will be charging a monthly fee to receive support, updates & fixes. They can make more money by charging a minimal fee??? If you charge $35 per month to billions of users world wide the return will be much greater than the whole of the sum for new releases of Windows. They have already announced that in the near future they will only support systems that have Win 10 & Skylake technology on board.

Since there is no charge for new releases or installing a 'LTS' open source OS you have update/upgrade support for at least 5 years. There is enough developers involved with the upgrades, security & maintenance of open source to make it a very reliable OS to install.

What do you use your computer for? Most users have 7-8 things they do with them. Surf the web, email, games, FB, news, social interaction, a little tweaking of their personal or hobby photos, write a few letters,,,etc. All of those can be done on any of the OS's Apple, MS or open source. Google is open source, FB is open source, 99% of the cloud is open source, if you use the internet at all you are using open source. All the distros (flavors of Linux based OS's) have the Linux kernel to build upon. The Linux kernel is open source.

When I first started with open source I 'purchased' a distro & manual. Didn't know better, since then I have downloaded a multitude of distros, trying most, discarding some because of compatibility or involved installs. I found that most met my needs. I never liked or became proficient with Win 8.0 or 8.1, not real fond of touch screen operation on my smart phone or tablet. I was more comfortable with the mouse in hand pointing my way around the web. It's what I know. Many here have questioned the complicated involvement to install an open source OS, from what I can garner about Win 10 it sounds like it's one 'heck' more involved than the hour I will spent completely reinstalling a 'free' OS on my HP from ground up.

Let me ask you one question, what do you do with Win 10 or Apple I can't do with an open source distro?
 
Don M. said:
The thing I am watching for...after the end of July...is what MS is planning for W10. There is No Free Lunch, and if MS is giving W10 away, they might very well be planning for some other means of reaping profits from this version. If they start playing games later in the year, I have created an ISO boot disk for Linux Cinnamon, and if W10 becomes a pain, I will join the Linux crowd.
Click to expand...


Capt Lightning said:
IMO, Win 10 is the worst operating system since Vista. I have it on my new desktop PC and it's taken a lot of 'pruning' to make it usuable. I've removed a lot of these "apps", turned off a lot of the invasive communications and installed "Classic Shell" to allow a traditional desktop and start button. It's still notorious for grabbing the internet and slowing up any other local devices.

I'm going to start playing with Ubuntu with the view to replacing Windows.
Click to expand...

I was thrilled when I first discovered Linux, thrilled that I would no longer be beholden to a giant corporation(s) but instead could use my computer the way I see fit. As George Zimmer used to say about service at Men's Wearehouse:

george-zimmer.jpg



As for what's in store for Windows 10, it will be interesting to see. Currently, there is no "time bomb" to activate W10, you can use it indefinately. However, you can not get updates unless you do upgrade from a Windows 7 install, or buy a W10 license. M$ conceivably could push out an update(and install without your permission) that would force a product activation. Microsoft has been struggling to change their business model, and I think a big factor is the wide spread exposure to Android(Linux) OS through the proliferation of hundreds of millions of smartphones. Microsoft's venture into smartphone territory has failed miserably, trailing far behind the Androids and Apple's iPhone running IOS, another Unix like operating system.

Microsoft tried to crush the free, Open Source community, but has now resigned itself to reality, and is seeking to continue it's existence in a more cooperative manner.
 
Since Windows 8, 8.1 stink I simply can't imagine improvement on W10. I think W8 was their first attempt to make common software for computers and mobile devices. That's why the tiles or pictures. But I was always told anything other than text devours memory and slows speed. The more it can do or the more it takes to do onething is memory and speed.

If it's really important I print it or save to disc. I keep nothing but old web addresses on computer(I delete cookes etc but leave history which is eventually deleted.) I don't even use favorites I simply let the key stroke software guess what site I want and click on that. I look at a computer as a tool, not a filing cabinet.
 
I guess I'm going to have to break down and install W10, but i scares me to death. Does it screw up your info files?

Also, how do you create a system disk or whatever it is called, from which you could reinstall the software ?
 
Butterfly said:
I guess I'm going to have to break down and install W10, but i scares me to death. Does it screw up your info files?

Also, how do you create a system disk or whatever it is called, from which you could reinstall the software ?
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I've been on W10 for several months, now, and prefer it. The Only trouble I have had was one day I hit some combination of keys that put my system into "Tablet" mode, and I lost all my Start Screen Apps. It took a bit to figure that "error" out, but now I know what to look for if I ever do that again.

When you upgrade to W10, there will be an option to return to W7, if you don't like W10, but you can only do that once....I think. When you go to W10, you want to create a "system restore (or recovery)" disk. You can do that with a blank DVD (not CD), or a USB drive, external hard drive, etc. I would suggest that you Google "how to create a W10 backup/restore disk", and read the procedures to get familiar with the process. Here is the "short" form....

Right click on the little blue "Window" in the lower LH corner of the screen, Right click on Control Panel, then click on System and Security, then click on File History. In the lower LH corner of the File History screen, you will see "System Image Backup". Click on that, have your blank DVD in the drive, and follow the screen prompts.

Personally, I don't care to have to go through these OS upgrades every few years, but technology marches on, and we have to keep up with it to avoid problems. Eventually, users of W7 will have to upgrade, or buy a new system, or face problems with outdated software....so you might as well "bite the bullet", and go for it, while it's still free.
 
Yeah, it's time I guess. I love my win 7, just like I loved my win XP, and I'm hoping the same with win 10. I've just finished full virus/error scans, and done a backup on the external hard drive. Last week I did a system image on DVD's so I guess all that's left for me now is to set a restore point and become part of the collective. "Resistance is futile."

If I'm not back in a few days I just want to say I enjoyed my short time here and will remember it fondly. :pride:
 
ok, I did it and now are a Windows 10'er. Going to have to look around and see what all has changed. So far all my goodies from Windows 7 are here. There's also a voice (She says her name is Cortana) that's coming from my computer and talking to me now.

Either that or I'm having another 60's thingy again..
 
Hazy Davey said:
ok, I did it and now are a Windows 10'er. Going to have to look around and see what all has changed. So far all my goodies from Windows 7 are here. There's also a voice (She says her name is Cortana) that's coming from my computer and talking to me now.

Either that or I'm having another 60's thingy again..
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Cortana is just another way to do a search on the Net. If your system has "voice recognition" you can "talk" to Cortana...otherwise just click on Cortana, and type in what you are looking for...and that will give you several options, which will be searched for on Bing. I've used it a few times, but find it's just as easy to type in my search on Yahoo or Firefox. An ad blocker called Adguard recently created support for Edge, so I installed that, and have started to use the Edge browser more frequently. If you have trouble finding anything under W10, just click on the "settings" icon (the little thing that looks like a gear), and that should get you to what you are looking for. I've explored W10 quite a bit, so if you are having trouble finding something, send me a note, and perhaps I can help.
 
Don M. said:
Cortana is just another way to do a search on the Net. If your system has "voice recognition" you can "talk" to Cortana...otherwise just click on Cortana, and type in what you are looking for...and that will give you several options, which will be searched for on Bing. I've used it a few times, but find it's just as easy to type in my search on Yahoo or Firefox. An ad blocker called Adguard recently created support for Edge, so I installed that, and have started to use the Edge browser more frequently. If you have trouble finding anything under W10, just click on the "settings" icon (the little thing that looks like a gear), and that should get you to what you are looking for. I've explored W10 quite a bit, so if you are having trouble finding something, send me a note, and perhaps I can help.
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Thank you for your help, appreciate it very much. I'm just poking around getting to know the new digs. So far so good.
 
Son_of_Perdition said:
I'm sure this will not affect the average user.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/3094...tions-are-coming-at-least-for-enterprise.html
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I've often wondered how MS was planning on making money off a free upgrade to W10. I've learned, over the years, that there is NO Free Lunch. I've seen nothing. so far, that might impact my PC usage, but things like The Cloud, and Office 365, etc., may be venues that MS will start charging for. I've found that the free "open source" software at OpenOffice.org, fills my needs, and there are excellent free Anti-virus/malware programs, etc., that suffice for nearly every "home" user.

If MS starts trying to charge for every little option, I have created a bootable ISO disc for Linux, and may partition my HD, and give that a try.
 

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