# Upgrade to Windows 10? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 13, 2019, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upgrade-to-windows-10/844803 "2019-12-13T12:43:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heffalump_and_roo/32/7691_2.png) [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2019, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upgrade-to-windows-10/844803/21 "2019-12-14T03:28:42Z")
My Windows 7 computer failed on me, so I had to get a Windows 10 computer. If that hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t upgrade. In some respects, it’s not as bad as I feared, and the upside is that it’s current so if something is broken for me, it’s probably broken for everyone else, so they’ll probably fix it. The downside is that there’s no way to turn off the automatic update. That means that randomly, if I leave my computer for a while, I’ll come back to find all my stuff in progress disappeared with no way to get it back and no warning that it was going to happen. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2019, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upgrade-to-windows-10/844803/22 "2019-12-14T03:35:36Z")
> [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](#): > > The downside is that there’s no way to turn off the automatic update. [Not true](https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=turn+off+auto+update+windows+10). I recently moved from Windows 7 to Windows 10\* and that is one of the first things that I did\*\*. \*And I wish that I was still on XP \*\*Because I have a metered internet service. ---
**Author:** ![Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heffalump_and_roo/32/7691_2.png) [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2019, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upgrade-to-windows-10/844803/23 "2019-12-14T03:47:07Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > [Not true](https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=turn+off+auto+update+windows+10). I recently moved from Windows 7 to Windows 10\* and that is one of the first things that I did\*\*. > \*And I wish that I was still on XP > \*\*Because I have a metered internet service. Oh nice!!! Thank you! I’ll check into it. I had read that there wasn’t a way to stop the automatic update, and people who paid for connection were upset about it. I didn’t look into after that, assuming that if they weren’t going to change it for people who were paying, they wouldn’t change it for anyone else. So nice to see that there might be a way around it. Whenever there’s an upgrade, I hold my breath, hoping that everything works the same way it did before the upgrade. It doesn’t always because they’re changing so many things in the background. Several things go back to default mode and several things just don’t function the same way after some upgrades. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2019, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upgrade-to-windows-10/844803/24 "2019-12-14T03:56:37Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Newbie. My Quicken came on DECTape. 😃 I ran back ups of DecVAX on DECtapes, back when I managed that machine… ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2019, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upgrade-to-windows-10/844803/25 "2019-12-14T04:01:27Z")
I upgraded to 10 (from 7) when I needed a new computer; the OS said my C drive was dying. Swapped over my D drive and put the C drive in an external enclosure to copy everything I needed while it still worked. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2019, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upgrade-to-windows-10/844803/26 "2019-12-14T07:50:20Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > I ran back ups of DecVAX on DECtapes, back when I managed that machine… Mine come from the PDP-11/20 I used in grad school. Still has the Pascal version of Dave Ahl’s Star Trek came from his book of Basic games. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2019, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upgrade-to-windows-10/844803/27 "2019-12-14T07:59:29Z")
i had o problem until win 10 this last update… it started around august i got an thing saying i needed to update because this version of win10 wouldnt be supported anymore after a specific date in NOV I’ve done the update twice a week and it gets to about 40-60 percent then says "some components won’t cooperate and then undoes everything it did … if it would just tell me what won’t upgrade I could fix it … I even redid win10 with an ms tech op watching and still didn’t update… ---
**Author:** ![albino\_manatee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/albino_manatee/32/2_2.png) [@albino\_manatee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/albino_manatee)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2019, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upgrade-to-windows-10/844803/28 "2019-12-14T13:20:23Z")
as a courtesy to those not in-the-know, as well as those netizens who peek into this sdmb-portal … **win-7** extended-support _(patches 'n security-updates)_ will no longer be supported after 01-14-2020. remain on unsupported releases at your own risk. keep in mind … your negligence could impact others you interact with. > **[Windows 7 support ended on January 14, 2020 - Microsoft Support](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-7-support-ended-on-january-14-2020-b75d4580-2cc7-895a-2c9c-1466d9a53962)** > > Learn about end of support for Windows 7 and find out what you need to know to upgrade Windows or find a new PC. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2019, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upgrade-to-windows-10/844803/29 "2019-12-15T20:11:06Z")
> [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](#): > > Oh nice!!! Thank you! I’ll check into it. > > I had read that there wasn’t a way to stop the automatic update, and people who paid for connection were upset about it. I didn’t look into after that, assuming that if they weren’t going to change it for people who were paying, they wouldn’t change it for anyone else. So nice to see that there might be a way around it. Whenever there’s an upgrade, I hold my breath, hoping that everything works the same way it did before the upgrade. It doesn’t always because they’re changing so many things in the background. Several things go back to default mode and several things just don’t function the same way after some upgrades. If you’re concerned about updates not working right, I suggest checking out the site [AskWoody.com](https://askwoody.com). The top of the site has a “MS-DEFCON rating” which tells you when it is safe to upgrade, and there is always an article that will tell you how to do it is considered safe Since Windows 1903, there is now an option to defer updates for up to 21 days, which is usually sufficient for any bugs to get worked out. And you should also set the “metered connection” option. You can also defer feature updates. But I know that, if I ever do actually go all the way to 10, I’m going to use third party solutions to block updates, and only unblock them when Woody says it’s safe. He’s not steered me wrong yet. On Windows 10 “Home”, none of the other ways work reliably. Only using a program that will disable the service and turn it back off when it tries to turn itself back on. Oh, and never click “Check for Updates.” ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2019, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upgrade-to-windows-10/844803/30 "2019-12-19T00:42:46Z")
Re: upgrading from Windows 7 to 10 – I avoided the upgrade for a long time because of a couple of programs that weren’t compatible, but I bit the bullet today. I just finished updating my 5 year old HP W7 laptop via Microsoft’s “Download Windows 10” page. For _ **free** _, with no problems, except having to uninstall a couple of incompatible programs. Didn’t have to put in a product code or anything. I saved all my files and photos to an external drive and did a “clean” install, it took about 3 hours. YMMV of course (you probably want to check the system requirements first), but it worked like a charm for me. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2019, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upgrade-to-windows-10/844803/31 "2019-12-19T00:57:19Z")
I got Windows 10 through buying a couple of [refurb PCs from Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N12D432). I assume that they have a legit Windows 10 license, but they didn’t come with an install DVD and don’t have a restore partition, so at the present I’m in a bad place if I ever need to do a reinstall. Any recommendations on what step I should take? Think I can get a (legal) install DVD for this without having to rebuy the OS? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2019, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upgrade-to-windows-10/844803/32 "2019-12-19T01:29:42Z")
You can download an image for installing Windows 10. You can either burn a CD/DVD or copy it to a USB memory stick and install from that. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2019, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upgrade-to-windows-10/844803/33 "2019-12-19T01:49:42Z")
Download the disk image from Microsoft. Create an installation disk on a thumb drive. Or burn a DVD, if you want. But my experience is that self-burned disks are unreliable. [https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10](https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10) > **[Media Creation Tool](https://www.techspot.com/downloads/6734-windows-10-installation-tool.html)** > > The media creation tool can be used to upgrade your current PC to Windows 10 or to create a USB or DVD and install Windows 10 on a different PC. Edit - what DF said. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/upgrade-to-windows-10/844803.md?page=1)