This Wednesday, July 29th, 2015, Microsoft is scheduled to officially release its Windows 10 free upgrade. You may be wondering if you’re eligible, and whether or not to get it if you are. Here’s an excellent graphic from lifehacker.com illustrating how you can tell if you qualify for the free upgrade:
(click image to enlarge)
It boils down to this for most people: if you are a legitimate (in other words, not running a pirated copy) user of Windows 7 or Windows 8 already, you’re eligible for the free upgrade. After one of your recent manual or automatic updates (see the section of this post about automatic updates if you need to check whether you have this option turned on), you may have noticed the small white Windows flag icon that showed up in your system tray – that’s the group of small icons in the lower right-hand corner of your desktop. If you click on it, you’ll see something like this:
or this:
I recommend that you go ahead and reserve your free upgrade now. Don’t worry – you’ll still have a choice about when to install it once you get a notification that it has completed downloading (sometime after Wednesday: Microsoft isn’t being exactly clear on when those of us who have reserved ahead of time will actually receive our files, but it seems likely it might be on a first-come first-served basis).
What if You Don’t Already Have Windows 7 or 8 Installed?
If you have an even earlier version of Windows, such as XP or Vista, I’m going to be direct and suggest it might be time for you to get a new computer. Even with malware or anti-virus software installed, an older operating system simply cannot keep up with the modern threats today’s environment poses. Microsoft stopped supporting Windows XP in April of 2014, and Windows Vista support is due to end in April 2017.
I know, I know, it’s expensive, and the decision on what to buy can be overwhelming. I didn’t want to buy a new computer last year either when the support for my XP stopped, but I also knew I couldn’t risk keeping the old system, because access to my computer and the files on it is too important to me. I’ve been very happy with my Windows 8 upgrade. So find a way if you can.
Back to those of you already running (legitimate copies of) Windows 7 or 8….
Should You Upgrade From Windows 7 or 8?
You have one year from the official Windows 10 release date (7/29/2015) to opt in to the upgrade for free. However, I suggest you “reserve” your copy now, and here’s why: if you’ve reserved your copy ahead of time, then once it’s officially released, the upgrade will download in small pieces at a time, in the background, and will then let you know when it’s ready to install. Once you get that notification (Windows will roll it out in “waves” to those who have reserved free upgrades), you can wait to do the full install until you’re ready, and you won’t have to download the whole giant set of files at once. If you don’t reserve ahead of time, you’ll still have up to one year to take advantage of the free upgrade, but you’ll have to download all the files at once, and possibly deal with a logjam of other users attempting to download at the same time.
Here’s what they have to say at Microsoft’s Windows 10 FAQ page:
When you reserve, you can confirm your device is compatible with Windows 10. Between reservation and when your upgrade is ready, the files you need for the upgrade will be downloaded to your PC to make the final installation go more quickly. Then, when your upgrade is ready after July 29, 2015, you get a notification that lets you get started with your upgrade.
If you need further incentive to upgrade, you should know that many tech insiders believe Microsoft plans to keep Windows 10 around for awhile. It appears that they plan to roll out improvements as upgrades to this “last version of Windows” rather than having a major new release every few years or so. No guarantees on that, but we can hope, right?
If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments, and I’ll be glad to help. When I get my free upgrade and install it, I’ll let you know my thoughts on the new Windows 10!
images courtesy of Pixabay.com and Day2Day
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