All should change after 26 July 2016 when free becomes fee for Windows 10. Incidentally a leading consumer group recommends upgrading from 8.1 but leave 7 as it is.I am assuming that they are including 8.0 in their recommendation.
Andy, you'll no doubt be pleased to know that the National Archives have just updated their computers to Windows 10. :-D
Peter, Not have any reservations about new technology.I intend to convert the 8.1 laptop to Windows 10 when I can allocate the time to deal with any problems that might crop up. One of my sons upgraded from 7 to 10 and found it was not satisfactory.....luckily he was able to recover his 7 operating system.I think MS allow 30 days for a revert back.....seems strange as some might find they have a useless device with this policy. I think that the option of a disc would be have been far better....financial decision no doubt.
Harry, I was very apprehensive about upgrading to 10 and had asked a few questions on here but, a few weeks ago whilst using Windows 7 I got a message from MS to upgrade, wrongly I thought it was to upgrade 7 but no, it started to install 10. So far so good but I must read the small print in future, but as has been said, maybe a little sneaky on the part of MS
I se it is now more than 7 months since i upgraded to Windows 10. No regrets, no complaints and still appreciate that the upgrade came free, Ron Ps Have just had to replace my printer with a Canon 5270, so far no problems.
after reading comments here about windows10 being ok, I started to download it about 11am this morning. it was still doing that when time for work , so left it running. now I'm home it's downloaded & a window was saying 'waiting to install'. left it like that for awhile . nothing happened. restarted laptop. still on 8.1. oh well. Edit. Ah laptop configuring now. Im on me phone edit: went to bed about midnight with laptop on 25% of windows10 configured, left it running. woke up to Windows10 .
I moved from 7 to 10 a few months back I'd used XP for years and it took me ages to move to 7 after seeing how bad Vista was and also not fancying 8 much either. All i can say is Wow and how pleasantly surprised i am. Seems a lot slicker and quicker and i haven't had any major problems (just 1 driver needed re-installing and a couple of driver updates). After expecting the worse can only say Windows 10 gets a thumbs up from me
Just bought a new laptop with Windows 10 pre installed. Charged the battery last evening and set everything up to my liking today. Easy. My technician fellow will be out of work. Mike
Two more household PCs given the 10 treatment from fresh installs with new keys of 7. Both working fine, one a slightly aged laptop and the other a monster gaming PC, so I'm now even more convinced MS have got this right as each machine seems to be running more smoothly and 'lighter' than ever before. Hadn't used a 7 system for a few months so it was a good chance to compare a few things. I still like 7, but on the high spec PC it was noticeable how many things like USB3, ethernet, SSD handling etc. were running at a noticeably better speed. (Not just mildly so - a pre-reinstallation USB data backup on an original fully updated 7 setup took 40 minutes, and after 10 was sat on the same machine, 4-5 minutes. W10 driver selection is apparently good.) For the mildly technically inclined, with Windows 7's non-10 update system being in my opinion pretty broken, & not wishing to fight two base SP1 installs to fully updated ready-to-upgrade spec, I used a very handy free tool from MS to inject the upgrade from a USB stick onto systems that hadn't reached the nagware stage. With the machines disconnected from the web it completely avoids that weird slow attempt to run updates during the upgrade. Took about 15 minutes on the monster PC. https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10?wa=wsignin1.0 (Caveat emptor. Read the bloody instructions!) For the non-technically inclined - after the upgrade has installed and as long as you have an internet connection: It's well worth doing nothing but run windows update, until it says it has no more to do. W10 seems to have an impressive access to Drivers and become very good at identifying what a given machine needs. Let it do that work and many potential frustrations can be avoided. 29th of July, chaps - W10, claimed to be the final iteration of Windows as we know it, becomes standard MS OS expensive. You takes yer choice, naturally, though, and I don't want to add to any of the MS nagging. (I think it'll have to become free one day - but MS has said nothing of the kind... yet.) And Drew. Did you not notice once the final install is done all those questions about what you wanted to handle pictures, files etc.? At least setting default programs is now an absolute PoP on 10.
Been wondering for awhile about the location of one of the log in screen images . Worked it out today. It the diving bell at the end of the pier in Zingst Germany. Thought I'd mention it in case it was bugging anyone else. zingst pier - Google Search
DVD and CD stopped working when I updated from Windows 8 - get Error 19. Spent about £20 on Tweekfix or bits (not sure) which claimed it would fix the problem - not true and don't waste your money. Grudgingly took the computer to the Local Software shop and was told it was a software problem with Windows 10 which everyone in the trade knows about. The way around this is to uninstall the ROM\CD and then scan for hardware changes. Problem is that you need to do this every time you boot up the computer. If anyone is interested, I will publish the steps. On the last "update" of windows 10, my ancient but excellent Epson scanner stopped working and Epson have not written and will not write new compliant software driver. However, I found a Microsoft download for scanners (amazingly its free!) which works - at least at the basic level that I need.
Wish I had found that download, after weeks of frustration I ended up buying a new HP printer ,Problem solved(I thought) , only to find out it is programmed to only use HP ink cassettes, blocking cheap ones..
I understand that, after quite a lot of hoo-har, HP have now changed their software so you can use non-HP cartridges again. I can't be certain so I suggest you check this out before doing anything else. Case of Caveat Emptor I guess and it's not done HPs reputation any good at all.
There don't appear to be official updates out yet on the link The Register provided: HP Ink COO: Sorry not sorry we bricked your otherwise totally fine printer cartridges • The Register Though one (quite nerdy) mate seems to have used non-standard firmware he's found somewhere. Caveat emptor, as HP drivers are cack enough in plain form. The sooner someone comes up with a cheaper print method than ink or laser the better, but I imagine they'd have to make such a magic box an eye-watering price to compensate for the ink-costs-more-than-platinum model that serves them so well.
My first printer was a HP many moons ago and have not had one on my mind since. I now have a Brother MFC-990CW (4 years) . The last order I placed January 2016, for these cartridges on the internet (6 black, and two each of red, blue and yellow) for $30 AUD, about £19 delivered from who knows where and I have never had a problem with them.
Having downloaded Windows 10 last year, and used it without problems, the latest series of updates has caused my 3 year old laptop to lock up. The helpline inform me that this model is not compatible with W 10 and are amazed it has lasted so long. Now have to get it restored back to Windows 8 and hope they can save my files.Be warned.
