Windows 10: Windows 10 on laptop that was originally Vista

I have an HP laptop that was a 2008 model that was purchased at Sam's Club in 2009. It came with the Vista operating system and I have the product key and an install disk for that. I also have a Windows 7 disk that either came with the laptop or was mailed to me by HP. The laptop was upgraded to Windows 10 in 2015 or 2016. This was a high end laptop for it's time with 4 gb of RAM and all the specs to run Windows 10. Had no issues with it until a Microsoft update in Feb 2020 that was reported to have issues. The laptop locked up during the update and went to a black screen. Tried to restart Windows 10 and would hang up after a few minutes. Decided to restore from Vista and Windows 7 disks as I had product key for Vista. This worked well, but now cannot re-install Windows 10 from download as it keeps asking for a product key for Windows 10 that I never had. I have read that you should be able to re-install Windows 10 without a license if it was already on the computer from a legitimate update from 7. Microsoft should have a record that this computer had Windows 10 previously. Is there a pathway to get Windows 10 back on the computer? Windows 7 is loading a lot of security updates - 23+ at a time - but still not sure if it is secure to use the computer with such an old OS.

:)

 

Windows 10 Tweaks

Pressing “Windows+Pause Break” (it’s up there next to scroll lock) opens the “System” Window.

Windows 10: In the new version of Windows, Explorer has a section called Quick Access. This includes your frequent folders and recent files. Explorer defaults to opening this page when you open a new window. If you’d rather open the usual This PC, with links to your drives and library folders, follow these steps:

• Open a new Explorer window.
• Click View in the ribbon.
• Click Options.
• Under General, next to “Open File Explorer to:” choose “This PC.”
• Click OK

credit to Lifehacker.

 

Can't upgrade laptop to Windows 10

Thanks for the suggestion.

I tried Windows Defender and discovered it was not turned on and when I tried to turn it on it would quickly turn itself off again. I used another anti-virus program to check out the laptop but it found no problem. Obviously this laptop has some problems.

My next step is to put the original drive back into the machine and try the Windows 10 upgrade from that and if that also fails do a restore of this laptop to the original Windows 7.

 

Vista Pre-SP1 vs. Vista SP1

I've been Windows Updating for two straight days and I finally saw SP1. If you want to troubleshoot it, follow these steps:

• Show hidden updates
• Manually install any failed updates (google the KB_____ and install from the windows site)
• Make sure everything in Device Manager is good to go

I had to do step two for like 4 or 5 updates to be able to see SP1.

Any other benchmarks you guys want to see? I might try PCMark05 (I think it works on Vista).