DenverBrian

Thanks for the clarity. Unfortunately, I predict at least 25 more posts of people saying "is it only good for a year, then I have to pay?"

WIRunner

I don't mind Windows 8. (Then again, I rather enjoyed Windows ME and Vista.) Based on that W10 will be horrible. But, I've just finished adjusting to OS X though.

gobluetwo

Wait, I have to pay after 1 year? Is it like a monthly subscription fee or something???

nrr

So I wouldn't have to re-install existing programs, each time I installed a new OS, I've done "in place" installs--I've always run into problems.
I'm hoping 8.1 to 10 will be better!
There are "rumors" that 10 is still a work "in progress"; after July 29, will MS (now) have a much larger base of BETA TESTERS?

nkedel

No.

Well, at least to keep using what you have. They haven't said, but they likely ARE going to a subscription model for future upgrades.

CPRich

I think you missed the

chollie

What browser/security are you using?

My prior laptop (Windows 7) crashed and burned in January. I got a new laptop and went with W8 and I've had nothing but trouble - so much so that I considered paying to get W7 installed instead.

I'm using Firefox and Avast.

WIRunner

Chrome and Webroot. Haven't have problems, I need to run the upgrade to 8.1, but haven't gotten around to it, and since it is 6 weeks out, I won't at this point. I switched to Webroot a few years back after Nortons became useless. They did take a few features out of it a revision or two ago, but it is still decent, small, and unobtrusive.

trueblu

Can I ask what's the point of 'reserving' Win10?

Will I get it faster/ earlier if I do so? Can't I just wait to see if it's a total disaster on day 1: and then if it's not, download and install on day 2?

Also, I have an old laptop on Win7 that I've now given to my wife: something a bit dodgy about it's SSD: any attempts at backup result in blue screen of death. Otherwise behaves OK. I think the drive may be on the verge of failing. But to the point at hand: I have 'piecemeal' copied all the important files from that computer, but can't make a 'backup': would this be an issue if upgrading to Win10?

tb

wharvey

I just noticed it... and "reserved my copy".

I hope this takes care of a problem I have been having for the past few weeks.... every time I turn off my laptop, I get a message to "Update and shutdown". I do that.... and the next day it is still running "1 of 15". It has yet to update. SIGH!

nkedel

Yes; it will (disk space permitting) download in the background in advance, while I'd expect the download process in the first week to be slow. Whether that's harmless or painful totally depends on your own patience or lack thereof.

Probably not, although the difference will be just one of timing, and even if choosing to download on day 2 means actually means installing on day 7 that probably isn't going to bother you, right?

If the drive is in fact failing, this is likely to blow up the upgrade process and leave you with a machine needing a drive replacement before you do anything with it. If it's a software file system problem (about as likely given the symptoms you mention) it will still probably die during the install process, and require reformatting and re-installation (it's not clear to me whether the "reservation" process gives you a key and/or access to reinstallation media not requiring you to go back to Windows 7 first.)

Even if it succeeds, lack of an image backup limits your ability to roll back cleanly; they do have installation rollback (which I was amazed to see actually works some of the time) but I'd definitely recommend having a full image backup in case it doesn't.

Dodge DeBoulet

Having installed the latest Insider Preview (Build 10130), I'm walking back my excitement about upgrading. While it looks great and performance seems on-par with Windows 7 (I intentionally avoided 8), it still has one annoying behavior: after being idle for 10 minutes or so, it starts some sort of photo-related process (Photo Background Task Host) that consumes 50% or more of the CPU. I'm not alone in this observation either. This could have a devastating effect on battery life, depending on the metrics and/or actions it uses to determine inactivity.

There are tips on various Windows technical fora with suggested fixes, but none of them have worked for me.

BigLar

Are there minimum hardware requirements posted anyplace? I would think it's somewhat similar to Win 7, and all my desktops/laptops that are currently running Win 7 seem to do just fine. Still ...

FN-GM

That is not actually correct. With Windows 10 when upgrades are applies it will work like the OSX version system. Windows 10.1 10.2 etc. If they went down the route of Windows 9 when it come Windows 9.5 & 9.8 it could be confused with Windows 95 & 98. To avoid this they skipped over 9.

FN-GM

For anyone updating these charts may be of use