Get Windows 10 free

Darren

Well-Known Forumite
Have you noticed the little white square in the bottom right of your task bar, if you are running Windows 8.1 and Windows 8 as far as i know, click it and add your email to confirm you want Windows 10 it is a limited time free upgrade.

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proactive

Enjoying a drop of red.
Windows 7 as well.

Upgrade supposedly out July 29 but I wouldn't rush to upgrade until Microsoft have resolved the problems their carelessness is bound to have overlooked in the package. Best left a couple of weeks or so if history is anything to go by or you may end up with a worthless plastic brick you have to pay @wmrcomputers to sort out for you.

Free upgrades will be for 1 year from release date.
 

wmrcomputers

Stafford PC & laptop repair specialist
Just to point out that you don't need to actually provide the email address. You can skip that part if preferred and the upgrader will still download it for you when it becomes available.

Like proactive says, these things always happen with an element of risk and is no doubt partly the reason they'll give it away for free to those brave enough to try it. As long as you're prepared for the possibility of problem solving or paying my good self to sort any issues that arrise then give it a go as it's definitely a nice operating system. If you like it when things always "just work" and don't like change then refuse the upgrade when offered. Your WIndows 7 / 8 / 8.1 aren't going to stop working anytime soon by doing so :)
 

Noah

Well-Known Forumite
No little white square in the right hand corner of my (Windows 7) taskbar. I'm not going to be in any hurry to update to Windows 10 anyway, the free upgrade is going to be available for 12 months. So 6-9 months down the line, when the worst bugs have been ironed out, I'll consider moving to 10.
 

wmrcomputers

Stafford PC & laptop repair specialist
A few notes for others considering upgrading to Windows 10 - especially those currently on Windows 7...

You'll no longer get Windows Media Centre. Windows 10 will also not (at least initially) play DVD's - although you can still do so by installing VLC media player which is a free download.
Windows desktop gadgets will no longer be supported.
If you like the cardgame "Hearts" - you'll be losing that too.

Windows 10 Home will not give a choice to refuse Windows updates, but other versions such as Pro & Enterprise still will. I've yet to establish what version the "free download" will be and whether it varies depending on the current version of Windows you have now. I'd expect it will be the Home edition only and then limitations may encourage people to then pay for the Pro version in future as a way of Microsoft finally receiving a payment. I can't find detailed information on this, but this is purely my own expectations.
 

bpelectric

Well-Known Forumite
I'm on Win 8.1 at the moment found it easy to switch from XP though i also run an Android phone dont seem to be a lot of difference

Question is do i upgrade of stick with 8.1 will Open office run in 10 does any body know I only use the lappy for work to record test results and the like
 

wmrcomputers

Stafford PC & laptop repair specialist
I'm on Win 8.1 at the moment found it easy to switch from XP though i also run an Android phone dont seem to be a lot of difference

Question is do i upgrade of stick with 8.1 will Open office run in 10 does any body know I only use the lappy for work to record test results and the like

Ifg it runs on 8.1 it should run fine with 10. Although, if you only really use it for work you may not appreciate any of the benefits of the upgrade anyway. Only you can decide. :up:
 

photography_bloke

Well-Known Forumite
I've yet to establish what version the "free download" will be and whether it varies depending on the current version of Windows you have now. I'd expect it will be the Home edition only and then limitations may encourage people to then pay for the Pro version in future as a way of Microsoft finally receiving a payment. I can't find detailed information on this, but this is purely my own expectations.

My understanding is that only Windows 7/8.1 Home and Media Center editions are eligible for the free upgrade - Pro and Enterprise versions aren't, although in most cases if you're a larger business using them and have site licenses in place you'll get the upgrade as part of those anyway.

Based on that I'm assuming that the free upgrade will be the home version - I would expect that the only features missing from the home version which are included in the pro/enterprise versions would be those such as being able to join a domain etc, which most home users wouldn't need (although I'm only guessing on that one)

I never have fully understood the fact that Microsoft are giving the OS away for free - it's a massive swing away from what they normally do, and I am wondering where along the line they'll get the money back...
 

photography_bloke

Well-Known Forumite
Although what is quite amusing is that the 'Upgrade to Windows 10' button has appeared on all the taskbars of our servers, running Server 2012

Definitely not in a rush to upgrade those to Windows 10!
 

Prawn cocktail

Well-Known Forumite
They might be doing this because this is going too be the last Operating System that they are building. Once you have Windows 10, they will be charging for all updates and apps.
 

wmrcomputers

Stafford PC & laptop repair specialist
No. They are doing this as free to win people back. Windows 8 didn't get the appreciation they had hoped for and many users moved to other operating systems. By doing this they know that people will give them a try again. They'll get their money back when it comes to Windows 11 or whatever. Finincially this is a really smart move long -term.
 

wmrcomputers

Stafford PC & laptop repair specialist
They might be doing this because this is going too be the last Operating System that they are building.
Absolutely never, sorry. Yes they'll be making money from apps, which they already have in Windows 8... following in Apple's shoes. Eventually I believe they will do their operating systems for free as they'll make all their money via apps etc. That's just the way it's all working now. When you buy an all-in-one printer for £39.99 there's not much (if any) money made by the manufacturer.... they make it back when they sell ink. There's no such thing as a FREE mobile phone - they make their money back through your phone bills etc.
 

Noah

Well-Known Forumite
They are saying that there will not be another completely new version of Windows after 10, they are going for incremental updates like Mac OS X.

Users of 7/8/8.1 Home Basic or Home Premium will be able to get the free upgrade. Users of 7 Professional or Ultimate and 8/8.1 will get a free update to 10 Pro via Windows Update so should be upgraded automatically without having to do anything.

http://blogs.windows.com/bloggingwindows/2015/05/13/introducing-windows-10-editions/

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/auspartners/archive/2015/05/19/recap-of-the-latest-key-windows-10-announcements.aspx
 

wmrcomputers

Stafford PC & laptop repair specialist
Fair play then I stand corrected, although they will still give it new names when there are major changes... just like Apple do.
 

wmrcomputers

Stafford PC & laptop repair specialist
Well, the 29th has now passed and I'm being informed of this...

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I'm just wondering how long these "waves" will take to reach the beach ;)
 

Darren

Well-Known Forumite
I downloaded it and used the burn to flash drive option that way i have it for the future, then i clicked the exe on the flash drive and it installed from my desktop (Upgrade).
If you have AMD graphics i have hear it is best to uninstall the drivers before installing due to some nasty install errors some people have had, i have Nvidia and all went good i am loving Windows 10.
 

proactive

Enjoying a drop of red.
Just don't select use express settings when installing. Select custom settings and uncheck the sliders, that way your not going to be exposing yourself to a potentially large security hole.
 

Perrier

Banned
Installed on my NUC yesterday , upgrade installed with no issues.
Very pleased with how its running and seems even faster than win 7.

... Just need to do both of my daughters computers and finally the server if all goes smoothly.
 
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