Free Windows 10 coming

Don M.

Don M.

SF VIP
Location
central Missouri
It looks like free updates to Windows 10 will be available starting around the end of July...for current users of W8 and W7. MS released an update around Mid May...KB3035583....that should allow the installation of W10 when it becomes available. W10 will be a free update for 1 year. It would be a good idea for everyone who anticipates getting W10 to spend the next few weeks cleaning up their systems, and backing everything up so that they are prepared for this update with minimum hassles.
 

Josiah said:
I'm still using W7, what benefits will I realize updating to W10? There won't be any jiggery-pokery I'll have to contend with will there?
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I, too, along with the vast majority of PC users, still use W7. For must of us, there will be little advantage to going to W10...BUT, a year or so after W10 is released, MS will stop supporting W7, and that could expose W7 users to any number of problems. From what I've seen, there will be some "Learning Curve" issues with W10, but at least they have reinstalled the "Start" menu, which will help most of us get to where we want to be. I expect to take a couple of hours playing with W10 before I figure it all out.
 
Most seniors I have talked to about their usage of a computer boil down to the following. I need to access my email, surf the web, shop online, bank online, pay bills online and post to my forum or Facebook. I keep the pictures of my kids & grandkids. I sometimes Skype & play a few games such as solitaire, free cell & mahjong. I use MS Word to write a letter or two. I sometimes watch an online movie or play a DVD. What other things do you do? If you are like most you do very little else. I've also found that most of us do not necessarily like touchscreen, they would rather use a keyboard & mouse. So my question is what do you need to upgrade to Windows 10 for? It's going to be costly, application fees are going to be expensive you'd better get used to that fact! Do you honestly believe the hype about it being free? Redmond is already backtracking on the 'free' statements.

I have been an advocate of Linux. It's easy, it's free, it's more secure, it's updated regularly, it's used extensively in large data centers & there is unlimited online sources of information to guide you through most problems. It doesn't have the 'blue screen of death' & if you run into a major problem, reinstalling is a chinch. Most of your applications are accessible online through Google docs. You don't even have to have a tax program to file your taxes all can be done online. Pictures are manipulated freely with GIMP, Firefox (the safest web browser) is a dream on Linux & comes preinstalled. LibreOffice doesn't have all the eye candy like MS Office but at zero cost it blows the argument for Office out of the window. If you need or like touchscreen from what I've read Ubuntu works great and it's free.
 
merlin said:
I have never tried Linux I must admit, I guess because I never paid for any Microsoft software, belonging to TechNet in the past, and having dozens of Office and 7 licence keys, I didn't bother because it was something else to learn. :confused:
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Technet has high subscription fees & annual renewal fees. That's cost in my book. I read where MicroSoft is killing Technet to enhance profits. So you are basically paying for the releases, Correct? How does the licensing work when they are evaluation copies. Don't you have a evaluation time frame?

I've been using Linux for the last 12 years. So using that time frame as a comparison if you have been a member of Technet for 12 years you have paid over $2,000 for your 2 copies of WinXP and Win7. I've never had a problem getting a free solution to a problem. If I'm unsatisfied with the distro I just download something different there are hundreds available. I started with Redhat(Fedora) moved to openSuse then tried versions of Mandriva (mandrake), Zorin, PCLinuxOS (which I liked) & finally found Mint. I've pretty much stayed with Mint since 2008.

I found that the Dell Vista laptop I bought in 2008 and soon trashed the operating system couldn't be upgraded, no drivers for Win7, I would've used a 4 function calculator rather than go back to Vista. (total garbage). I upgraded my laptop in Nov '14 soon dumped Win7 after malware infected my whole system. which came through Facebook games. Installed Mint 17.1. My total costs other than the cost of the 2 laptops was ZILCH!!! I can pay my bills, play games, surf safely, do my taxes and file online for free & watch movies.
 
Son_of_Perdition said:
Technet has high subscription fees & annual renewal fees. That's cost in my book. I read where MicroSoft is killing Technet to enhance profits. So you are basically paying for the releases, Correct? How does the licensing work when they are evaluation copies. Don't you have a evaluation time frame?

I've been using Linux for the last 12 years. So using that time frame as a comparison if you have been a member of Technet for 12 years you have paid over $2,000 for your 2 copies of WinXP and Win7. I've never had a problem getting a free solution to a problem. If I'm unsatisfied with the distro I just download something different there are hundreds available. I started with Redhat(Fedora) moved to openSuse then tried versions of Mandriva (mandrake), Zorin, PCLinuxOS (which I liked) & finally found Mint. I've pretty much stayed with Mint since 2008.

I found that the Dell Vista laptop I bought in 2008 and soon trashed the operating system couldn't be upgraded, no drivers for Win7, I would've used a 4 function calculator rather than go back to Vista. (total garbage). I upgraded my laptop in Nov '14 soon dumped Win7 after malware infected my whole system. which came through Facebook games. Installed Mint 17.1. My total costs other than the cost of the 2 laptops was ZILCH!!! I can pay my bills, play games, surf safely, do my taxes and file online for free & watch movies.
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I was only in Technet for 2 years at a special subscription offer of £65 dealt with through their Irish office. I got an Enterprise volume licence and 10 keys for each Windows 7 from Ultimate to Home edition, each key can be used up to 10 times, that's a 100 copies. I have 50 keys for all the Office 2010 editions and have installed all these programmes on my family and friends computers for free. I feel I got a good deal for £150 ($205) There was no time limit on the keys I got, I am still using them today.
 
merlin said:
I was only in Technet for 2 years at a special subscription offer of £65 dealt with through their Irish office. I got an Enterprise volume licence and 10 keys for each Windows 7 from Ultimate to Home edition, each key can be used up to 10 times, that's a 100 copies. I have 50 keys for all the Office 2010 editions and have installed all these programmes on my family and friends computers for free. I feel I got a good deal for £150 ($205) There was no time limit on the keys I got, I am still using them today.
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One of the reasons Technet was shutdown because of members reselling licensed copies. MS had to put an end to the otherwise beneficial service. Ebay was rift with illegal copies traced back to Technet members. I questioned whether or not you could do it. They probably will not be offering such a deal in the future. Next question if you friends and relatives are audited what proof do they have that they were ever a member or how did they obtain their copy. Sounds a little shady to me.
 
Son_of_Perdition said:
One of the reasons Technet was shutdown because of members reselling licensed copies. MS had to put an end to the otherwise beneficial service. Ebay was rift with illegal copies traced back to Technet members. I questioned whether or not you could do it. They probably will not be offering such a deal in the future. Next question if you friends and relatives are audited what proof do they have that they were ever a member or how did they obtain their copy. Sounds a little shady to me.
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I have never sold any keys, not sure how anyone would audit a computer, but in any case they were/are technically evaluating them, the membership was sold to me by Microsoft saying I could have all these keys to use with no time limit.
 
merlin said:
I have never sold any keys, not sure how anyone would audit a computer, but in any case they were/are technically evaluating them, the membership was sold to me by Microsoft saying I could have all these keys to use with no time limit.
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This is not the same situation as yours, when I was still working our company had a contract with MS. We employees could pay a small fee ($10) and obtain a downloaded version of either WinXP and MSOffice Professional along with the product key. If we wanted to load them on other machines in our household we paid ($10) for each. Years later my company in a belt tightening move decided to drop the contract. MS sent each employee who had purchased a key a form letter instructing us to un-install or pay an additional fee (can't remember how much but was lower than the real price). We were told that if we didn't want the legal key we were to remove them from our systems or possibility face legal action. I'm not sure how far they would have taken it. There was a bunch of legal mumbo jumbo included. I had already removed both from mine because I was using Linux. My wife had purchased a laptop with Win7 loaded and it is still in use today, we never loaded Office on hers.

As for how could they could audit a computer, I'm sure you're not asking that question. Your key is embedded in the program and with traceable ISP's surely you jest. I'm going to drop off this thread. Good luck with that 'free' Win 10 when they quit supporting 7.
 
I have been pushing Linux as an alternate operating choice for seniors. Mainly because of my experience helping my neighbors navigate the world of tech. I don't pretend to be an expert on tablets, touchscreen and the latest and greatest production app you can own. I haven't had recent experience with day to day operation on an Apple. I personally self-destruct when trying to send a text, but then again I become blabbering idiot when I drive up to a fast food microphone to order a hamburger.

Yesterday I had a call from a couple we met at our club house game night. She was a family counselor with a psychology degree from a major university and her husband is a renowned psychiatrist with a degree from another major university and a doctorate from John Hopkins. He practiced in Washington DC before they married, she practiced in S California. She had asked me earlier if I could help her with her laptop, cleanup & organized her documents. He had retired over 10 years ago and she retired in 2007. She needed workable documents going back 7 years, had no clue how to create a road map through her files.

The laptop they brought was an old Toshiba (2003) with WinXP installed. She had it bogged down with commercial and free virus protection. She was still using Explorer, and her home page was her ISP/Cable provider's page. Her email account was also the free one they got when they had cable installed. They could no longer access the internet, (someone, somehow had turned off the wireless switch) and since there was no ethernet cable they didn't have a clue how to get to 'Google', their only portal to the web. I first had to give them a hands on tour. Then explained that XP was no longer supported and they were open to the world, and had created a hacker heaven.

Blank stares again, again when I explained that Explorer had been given on up by MS. I told them I doubted Win7 would even run on their system, drivers out dated or no longer supported. I didn't even dare allow them to connect to my network, my wife still runs 7, and I'm sure there's malware, virus and other dark & nefarious demons lurking within. It did have a DVD reader so I could have installed the latest Linux distro and send them on their way, they would have been elated to be able to access her documents and get to 'Google' but felt I was over stepping my authority with what was asked of me. They wouldn't have been any closer to understanding the inner workings of a computer but maybe their children who visit occasionally would have noticed.

I talked to them about installing Linux and they seemed generally interested, seemed to be ok with it, I told them to talk it over and bring their kids up to date. I can only assume that when they were in practice they had secretaries/people that handled the daily requirements for documentation and computer needs.

Side note when I was organizing her docs I pointed out she had a few spreadsheet files, 'What's a spreadsheet?', yep they were converted to doc files before I logged off. My point being is that as we age our tech needs become minimized and unless we do a lot online most only need to know how to get email and get to 'Google' to read the latest news or gather a little information about our favorite subjects.
 
The "Get Windows 10" icon popped up on my system this morning...so I guess MS is starting to release it. I'm going to wait a bit, and see what others are saying about this early release, before I commit. At the bare minimum, I'm going to do a complete backup to my external drive, and copy any photo's, etc., to a DVD before I take the plunge.
 
Don M. said:
The "Get Windows 10" icon popped up on my system this morning...so I guess MS is starting to release it. I'm going to wait a bit, and see what others are saying about this early release, before I commit. At the bare minimum, I'm going to do a complete backup to my external drive, and copy any photo's, etc., to a DVD before I take the plunge.
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I believe this is just one of their beta releases, but supposedly it's close to being the finished product. I'm going to try again today to install it via thumbdrive / ISO and I'll report what happens.

If I don't show up for a while y'all will understand ... :playful:
 
No. The Icon that says "get Windows 10" is just a opportunity to reserve your copy. Not a download, just click it and you are reserved for notification in July. The copy Merlin has IS a beta copy, you probably don't want it, I don't.
 
AZ Jim said:
No. The Icon that says "get Windows 10" is just a opportunity to reserve your copy. Not a download, just click it and you are reserved for notification in July. The copy Merlin has IS a beta copy, you probably don't want it, I don't.
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Yup, you're right...this is just a "reserve" notice. It appears that W10 will be an automatic download/update when it is released to those who have reserved it. I'm going to go through my system in great detail, and make sure everything is backed up before I take any steps towards W10. Something to do over the next few days as the next round of rains comes through.
 
Don M. said:
Yup, you're right...this is just a "reserve" notice. It appears that W10 will be an automatic download/update when it is released to those who have reserved it. I'm going to go through my system in great detail, and make sure everything is backed up before I take any steps towards W10. Something to do over the next few days as the next round of rains comes through.
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I have a external hardrive backup takes only minutes.
 
AZ Jim said:
I have a external hardrive backup takes only minutes.
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Yup, I, too use an external HD for backup. Before I do this upgrade, I will move photo's, etc., to a DVD, and do a complete AntiVirus and Malware scan, and DeFrag, etc., and make sure that all existing programs are up to date. A good bit of "housekeeping" can save strange troubles later on.
 
Early report on the Win10 preview ...

At least for my computer, it was a waste of time. I kept getting a "DPC Watchdog Violation" notice popping up (which I understand also happened frequently with Win8), which would in turn cause a restart of my system. I couldn't even log-in to my system without 3-4 tries. These restarts were happening every few minutes, and when I could finally get online to search for an answer I found that the notification could be caused by any of dozens of conditions, none of which were truly understood by any of the "geniuses" on the help forums. I tried all of their suggested fixes and nothing worked.

Win10 had a nice GUI and I wouldn't mind using it if they get rid of that DPC bug. Until then, no way. I've returned to a fresh install of Win7 Ultimate and everything is working perfectly, so I'll be happy with that for now.
 

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