Windows 10: Threads on Pro's & Con's re: Upgrading to Windows 10

Can anyone point me to a good thread covering the pro's and con's of upgrading to Windows 10?

I've hesitated on posting this question, because I recognize and appreciate that the seven-&-ten forums are rightfully focused on more technically specific how-to questions, etc. However, the clock is ticking and I guess I need to make a decision soon if I don't want to miss out on the free upgrade.

The context of my question is this:
• I'm running Win7 64-bit Pro on a good laptop — without a touch screen, so touch support is a non-issue;
• I'm kind of picky about being able to customize the appearance of the UI and although I've only had very limited opportunity to explore Win10's UI, I have a preliminary impression that it's not as customizable as Win7. Specifically, I couldn't find how to customize things like: Icon (size & font attributes) and Icon Spacing (horizontal & vertical);
• I'm not a big fan of the newer start menu — particularly the expanded tiles section.

On the other hand, I've gotten the impression that a lot of the base code has been rewritten to be more efficient, with a significantly smaller footprint and improved security.

Back on the first hand . . . I've been more than happy with Win7 and staying put dovetails nicely with my belief that the old adage, “If it ain't broke, don't fix it” is often the wisest course to follow. But then again, upgrading at some point in time is probably inevitable. But if that doesn't have to happen anytime soon, perhaps it's something I should put off. By the way, I heard that Microsoft has stated it will continue to support Win7 through the year, 2023. Does anyone know, is that accurate?

Again, I hope I haven't tried anyone's patience by posting this here and if I have, then my apologies. Basically, I'm just trying to gather information to assist me in making an informed decision.

Okay, then . . . thanks.
—Thri

:)

 

Upgrade from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 Pro

I would like to upgrade to Windows 10 Pro from Windows 8.1.

Should I upgrade from Windows 8.1 to Windows 8.1 Pro first then upgrade to Windows 10 Pro?

or

Should I upgrade from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 then upgrade to Windows 10 Pro?

Pro's and Con's of each route?

Thanks

 

Upgrade from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 Pro

yes

 

You kinda already answered your own question. Windows 7 is already out of mainstream support (mainstream support ended 18 months ago on 13 January 2015). Extended support finishes on 14 January 2020, which is only 3.5 years away. So pretty much as you said, you're only delaying the inevitable.

Personally I'd just bite the bullet, however at the very least I'd upgrade to Windows 10 whilst it's still free. That way you will have options, even if for some reason you decide to go back to using Windows 7 a bit longer.

Windows lifecycle fact sheet:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...cle-fact-sheet

 

ARC…, thanks for the info and feedback. I think one of the pop-up upgrade blurbs said something about having 30 days to regress back to my current version (win7). I've wondered what would happen if I cloned my boot drive, upgraded on one of them, and then, if I decided to regress back to w7, just swap in the w7 drive. If I were to take this approach would the w7 drive work okay after I swap it back in? And what about the w10 drive — I assume it would not work if I were to boot it up again after the thirty-day period. Does that sound right to you?

In any case, thanks again for your help.
—Thri

 

Both would work taking one drive replacing with the 7 or 10 drive. There would be significant lag most likely in the event of switching depending on the amount of time since it's been in use as it downloads updates.

 

Thanks, dsherman.

Are you saying both drives would work . . . more or less indefinitely?

The scenario I'm envisioning is one in in which I do the cloning & swapping mentioned above and then put the w10 drive on a shelf for later use. In the interim, I would continue using w7 on my laptop and in parallel, I would — this is something I've been thinking about doing anyway — purchase a new desktop computer with Win10 Pro installed. Later on, after I've become familiar enough with Win10 (on my desktop PC), I would swap the w10 drive back into my laptop.

Would the above strategy work?

Thanks again for you help. Much appreciated.
—Thri

 

Yes it will work with just the one drive installed be it either the 7 or 10.

 

Whoah! That's great!

On another (but related) note . . . any thoughts on who makes a good Solid State Drive (SSD) ?

Thanks again for your help, dsherman.
—Thri

 

Technically, you're supposed to delete one OS if you use the other. In other words, if you install WIndows 10, it deletes your Windows 7 as part of the upgrade (although it creates a backup which you are allowed, that can be used to restore it... erasing Windows 10 if you do).

Keeping a second fully installed copy is a gray area, and i'm not sure what MS would say.

Having said that, Windows 10 keeps a backup for 30 days, after which time it deletes the backup, so you would no longer be able to restore from that. MS does not invalidate your old key or anything like that, so you are free to re-install Windows 7, you just can't have both 'installed' at the same time.

Regarding things like Icon size, this is simple to change. Just Ctrl-Mouse-Wheel on the desktop. The icon text can be set in the advanced text size settings. I'm not sure about other settings, as I don't typically set these. However, Window Blinds does work in Windows 10. There are also a multitude of Start menu replacements.

 

Mystere—
Thanks a bunch for elucidating — I'd say "unpacking" but the term drives me crazy — the details of how this works. This is very helpful to know.
I'm gonna take the benefit of he doubt here and assume my strategy is kosher. The way I look at it is I won't have more than one version "on" my laptop at any given time. And I know I'm not trying to finagle a way to have two simultaneously working OS's on two different computers. The whole idea is to allow myself the wherewithal to eeeeeease my way into the transition.

This last bit is very encouraging. I've never heard of Window Blinds, but it sounds like it's worth checking out.

Thanks again for your help. Much appreciated.
—Thri

 

A hard drive sitting on a shelf is not fully installed. In fact, it isn't installed at all.

 

The alternative to a second hard drive is to take a full image backup of the win 7 setup.

In any event, that should be done at frequent intervals, and definitely before any OS upgrade action.

An excellent imager is Macrium Reflect Free.

Good luck with your win 10. It will never be a better price!

 

Rats! I didn't see your post linw, sorry. I'll leave mine anyway as it's a bit more detailed.

An alternative or addition would be to do a full image backup of the drive to an external USB Hard drive. Upgrade or clean install Windows 10 to get the free activation, then do an full image backup again to a different folder on the external hard drive then restore the Windows 7 backup.

Fully legal and gets you the free Win 10 upgrade. Your digital entitlement (aka activation) gets stored on the Microsoft activation servers forever.

After that you can restore the Win 10 image or do another upgrade or clean install of Win 10 at any time, free and clear.

Macrium Reflect Free is a good choice to do this with.

 

You can't be told to back up enough times, Z!!!