Clock tells me to update in 6 days (Windows 10) or else

[boston_blacky]

Looks like I'm now officially old school!! Windows 10 pop up says less then a week to opt in to a "free" version of Windows 10! But, this 5 yr. old p.c. might not be able to handle the strain and there'll be nothing more then a 'puff of smoke' - if I go for the free upgrade.

I'm tempted to risk the late entry fee - as given the age of my current laptop - it might need to be replaced; i.e. in the next few months, or so.

All recommendations and suggestions are welcome. Thanks in advance

[greenrvgreen]

I own and operate a six-year old car and not one person on this forum has told me to "get with it" and trade my car in. The fact is my car runs great and even has a little bit more power than the newer models. I paid for this car and I am free to do as I please with it: Drive where I want and configure it as I see fit.

I own and operate a three-year old operating system (windows 8.1), and everbody's saying I ought to get with it and trade it in on the newer model. Doesn't matter that the newer model does less, get with it!

Doesn't matter that I would be trading in an OS that I own for one I need Microsoft's permission to keep using (look it up in the EULA). Doesn't matter that I would no longer be able to control how my OS is configured, MSFT will change the configurations remotely as it sees fit (look it up in the EULA). Doesn't matter what features I want, MSFT is going to decide what features I get, and right now everyone ought to like vanilla (and Cortana). You think the forced features is going to end anytime soon?

The ONLY enticement for upgrading to win10 now versus a year from now (or never) is the $99 saved on the "free" upgrade. Well, I paid $2500 for my laptop and saving $99 on a schittie OS isn't going to make me want to upgrade.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

It's only going to get worse IMHO. BLACKMAIL BILL is only getting warmed up. He wants to become the world's first Trillionaire.

[fj12ryder]

Everybody complains about the "new" Microsoft operating system, which comes out every few years. How come those same people don't complain about the "new" cars that come out EVERY YEAR? There is no reason to introduce new cars every year, and thus make getting parts for old cars even harder.

Microsoft is in the software business, like Ford is in the auto business. Nobody complains about Ford bringing out new models every year, but OMIGOSH let Microsoft introduce new products and it's the end of the world. Go figure.

Try to use the parts you bought for that 3 year old car on your brand new one. Got some older oil filters, might as well trash 'em. Old air filters? Ditto. How about brake shoes and calipers? ECU's? Radiators?

Car manufacturers build new models every year and try to convince everyone that their old car is obsolete, and nary a peep from anyone.

[bill-e]

Unfortunately there is no one else making OS's for the masses so unless your an Apple guy you're going to be stuck with Microsoft.

If you're happy with Win 7 then stick with it. My experience with Win 10 has been good and I haven't suffered a bad Window's Update like I often did with Win 7.

As far as being told to get rid of Win 10, by law they have to perform mainstream support through 2020 and by then there will be some slick new tech that you'll be dying to upgrade to.

To each his own, but don't be afraid of Win 10 as you will have 10 days to back out if you want.

...........................End of Mainstream Support........ End of Extended Support

Windows 7* Service Pack 1 January 13, 2015 January 14, 2020
Windows 8 Windows 8.1 January 9, 2018 January 10, 2023
Windows 10, N/A October 13, 2020 October 14, 2025

[greenrvgreen]

Rest assured Microsoft will continue to churn out nonsense. The next version of Windows may not be called a "version", but there will be some new hoop to jump through that requires an entirely new point-of-sale (such as the "free" rollout of win10). Those who are content to be treated like this have my sincere congratulations.

A "new version" ignites an entirely new sales cycle, not just of software but hardware also. Everyone, from MSFT to Dell make most of their money from this upgrade cycle, and they're not suddenly walking away from this.

Those who have been trained to "get the 10" will be instructed to get rid of it eventually. As it happens, most people love being told what to do, so they're happy. At the same time, there will be paid alternatives that will intrude less and do more. And the only cost is the money you pay up front.

The win10 EULA lists all the different positions the "free" consumer must assume. Did anyone read it before clicking "I Agree"? Sure, you'll be able to buy your way out of this mess when the next version comes out, but so will I and I woun't have to deal with a clown-up OS like win10. Learn to love Cortana!

[bill-e]

Windows 10 runs great on older machines. One issue with it is that it defaults to a Microsoft Windows account for logon instead of the local user account that most are used to. If you stick with the Microsoft logon you get to use some cloud based features like One Drive and Cortana but this also can slow down the logon and Cortana is kinda of a pain.

Just change your user account to "Local" and all that stuff no longer gets in the way.

[bill-e]

Wrace wrote:
I was listening to one of the tech radio shows this weekend (Leo Laporte) and the topic of whether or not to update to 10 was of course discussed quite a bit.

He said something that I've not heard before and that was that win 10 will be the last version of windows that MS provides. There will be no more versions of the windows OS. I guess win 10 will just be continually updated as needed.

Maybe that's just a bit of play on words and the continual 'updates' are in effect what we are used to seeing as new OS version?

Windows 10 last version in the series

[Wrace]

I was listening to one of the tech radio shows this weekend (Leo Laporte) and the topic of whether or not to update to 10 was of course discussed quite a bit.

He said something that I've not heard before and that was that win 10 will be the last version of windows that MS provides. There will be no more versions of the windows OS. I guess win 10 will just be continually updated as needed.

Maybe that's just a bit of play on words and the continual 'updates' are in effect what we are used to seeing as new OS version?

[time2roll]

boston blacky wrote:
All recommendations and suggestions are welcome. Thanks in advance

Get the 10

[tenbear]

I have never updated any of the computers I have owned to a newer version of windows, and I haven't seen any reason to update my Windows 8.1 now. I do install most of the updates though.

My computers have always seemed to die after a few years use so probably this one will too. We will see what version of Windows will be in the replacement when this one dies.

[ol__yeller]

They can have my Windows 7 when they can pry it from my cold, dead, laptop.

[camping_man]

I installed 10 on my win7 machine, it was ok, but a few things I can't get drivers for, like my workstation video card. One of my simple games I play didn't even run , so it's win7 for this machine. You can always upgrade the OS, but hope your mfg has good driver support for your hardware too. If I want my system to run half correctly, I'll just boot my Linux os on start up.lol

[Wrace]

boston blacky wrote:
Looks like I'm now officially old school!! Windows 10 pop up says less then a week to opt in to a "free" version of Windows 10!

Ugh, I really dislike messing with this personal computer stuff. It would be one thing if I were interested in the PC tech side of things, but I am not. I don't care how the computers work, I just need them to work. And having to update this or that, or change this or that is a great frustration. Yeah I know, welcome to the modern world where 'advancing' tech waits for no one. Oh well.

I guess the dreaded date is July 28th?

I have two desktops and one laptop that run win7. All three are quite old and I would guess I'll end up replacing one of the desktops and the laptop in the next 2 years or so. By that time I suspect any new pc will be win 10 so I think I will not upgrade these machines.

[bill-e]

Windows 7 works well, Win 10 works just as well. I don't care for the tiled menus of Win 8-10 so I use Start10 ($4.99) on all my Win 10 PC's.

The biggest bang for the buck upgrade you can make to an old PC is changing out the HD for an SSD. SSD's are now cheap (120g Adata on Amazon for $37) and make bootup and all operations faster...more so than even additional memory.

I just made my grandkids a Win 10 PC from a Dell Latitude 620...probably 10 years old now. 1.67g Core 2 Duo processor and 2 gig of memory I think. Anyway, first installed Win 7 then 10 on it and it's 160g HD...was horribly slow. Threw the $37 Adata SSD into it and it runs great....better than any $300 PC you can get...I know I bought 2 and returned them as they did not perform as well as this old PC.

I say go for Win 10 and update your HD to SSD.

Also, Microsoft updates are mostly for cyber vulnerabilities and are usually released for good reason...I would not turn off my updates. I think the recent slowdown of the update server is because everyone is racing to update to Win 10 before the deadline in 5 days.

Just my 2 cents.

[Almot]

Gdetrailer wrote:

Win10 may not be able to resolve EVERY piece of hardware, not all hardware vendors have supplied MS with compatible drivers for Win10, not all hardware vendors are going to write hardware drivers for Win10 to support older hardware and even chipsets.

Possibly. Though in 5 year PC - not very likely, not unless it was a knock-off made by some fly by night company that no longer exists.

Discontinued peripherals like printer may start having hiccups or will stop working, there are no drivers since it was discontinued. This sucks, I have old HP printer and scanner that just refuse to die, had to spend time and find "close" drivers for them when changed the OS.

Some third party software will stop working, and it's annoying when you've spent time to locate and install it and now have to do it again.

In total expect to waste at least 8-12 hours of your life to deal with consequences of this "big jump", and few more weeks to get used to it, learn and tweak all the setups to what it should be. I agree with others - upgrade OS when you're replacing PC.