Windows 10 upgrade?

purplecow1977

So a little box has appeared on my taskbar, for downloading Windows 10. Is it worth it?

I am currently using Windows 7. It runs fairly issue free.

My parents are running Windows 7 also but find the computer is very very slow. I've run anti-virus etc but hasn't found anything. Would Windows 10 suit them better?

Ant695

purplecow1977 wrote: »

So a little box has appeared on my taskbar, for downloading Windows 10. Is it worth it?

I am currently using Windows 7. It runs fairly issue free.

My parents are running Windows 7 also but find the computer is very very slow. I've run anti-virus etc but hasn't found anything. Would Windows 10 suit them better?

If there computer is slow a new operating system is unlikely to solve that issue. It may require a ram upgrade or there may be viruses/malware not picked up by the program you used. Lots of possibilities for it but windows 10 could be quite demanding and actually make it slower.

jayo26

I used windows 10 from the very first preview build and to be fair I find it excellent compaired to windows 7 its smoother and faster and actually uses less hardware resources.

The only thing id be checking out is driver suport while it should be fine for most windows 7 era machines it might not be as straight forward on an older machine that has been updated to windows 7 if you get me.

If you were doing an upgrade on your parents computer that's running slow the only way it would benefit will probably be from doing a clean install, backup their files and format their hard drive and do fresh install of windows 10 it will be a sure way of getting rid of viruses if they are slowing it down.

quaidox

but windows 10 isn't out until the end of july, how can you be able to download it already?? sounds suspicious to me.....

peckerhead

More details here, and system requirements here.

*Windows Offer Details

Yes, free! This upgrade offer is for a full version of Windows 10, not a trial. 3GB download required; standard data rates apply. To take advantage of this free offer, you must upgrade to Windows 10 within one year of availability. Once you upgrade, you have Windows 10 for free on that device.

Our lawyers made us say this:

Windows 10 Upgrade Offer is valid for qualified Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 devices, including devices you already own. Some hardware/software requirements apply and feature availability may vary by device and market. The availability of Windows 10 upgrade for Windows Phone 8.1 devices may vary by OEM, mobile operator or carrier. Devices must be connected to the internet and have Windows Update enabled. Windows 7 SP1 and Windows 8.1 Update required. Some editions are excluded: Windows 7 Enterprise, Windows 8/8.1 Enterprise, and Windows RT/RT 8.1. Active Software Assurance customers in volume licensing have the benefit to upgrade to Windows 10 enterprise offerings outside of this offer. To check for compatibility and other important installation information, visit your device manufacturer’s website and the Windows 10 Specifications page. Additional requirements may apply over time for updates. Security and features are kept automatically up-to-date which is always enabled.

Cyclonius

quaidox wrote: »

but windows 10 isn't out until the end of july, how can you be able to download it already?? sounds suspicious to me.....

Surprisingly, it's actually genuine, as can be seen here. It's the result of an update (KB 3035583) Microsoft pushed out a month or two back, as can be seen here and here. All in all, a bad move by Microsoft, as many people would be very sceptical of such a notification; I know I was until I found the first link.

jayo26

quaidox wrote: »

but windows 10 isn't out until the end of july, how can you be able to download it already?? sounds suspicious to me.....

Its not actually a download its only a reserve link or like a pre order

MJohnston

What you're seeing is a preload slot reservation prompt, as per https://www.thurrott.com/windows/windows-10/3871/and-the-release-date-for-windows-10-is

The actual release will be on July 29th. I'm also running W10 Preview, and I can also recommend it for upgrade upon release. Absolutely zero app or driver compatibility problems for me, and it's faster, cleaner, and smarter than Windows 8, and far above Windows 7. No brainer upgrade imo. What I would recommend doing though is a clean install, rather than an in-place upgrade, as that always provides the best performance returns.

purplecow1977

MJohnston wrote: »

What you're seeing is a preload slot reservation prompt, as per https://www.thurrott.com/windows/windows-10/3871/and-the-release-date-for-windows-10-is

The actual release will be on July 29th. I'm also running W10 Preview, and I can also recommend it for upgrade upon release. Absolutely zero app or driver compatibility problems for me, and it's faster, cleaner, and smarter than Windows 8, and far above Windows 7. No brainer upgrade imo. What I would recommend doing though is a clean install, rather than an in-place upgrade, as that always provides the best performance returns.

How does a clean install work?

Their computer is a Fujitsu that I bought, and it has always been quite slow. Used Eset anti virus so if that doesn't pick a virus/malware up, I don't know what would?!

She was considering changing it back to factory settings, is that an option first before going near Windows 10?

I realise now it's only a 'pre-register' thing, as I clicked on it, but my boyfriend is going to upgrade when he gets the chance as he is currently running Windows 8 & hates it!

MJohnston

For anti-virus, imo you don't need anything more than Microsoft's own Windows Defender software as it does the job properly and fully.

A clean install is where you have recovery media, or an install disc (or ISO) for Windows, and you completely wipe the hard drive and install again from scratch. This can have massive benefits for removing lingering issues from installed programs, spyware, adware, and corrupted files. It can make a PC feel a lot more performant sometimes too (never guaranteed though).

Factory Settings isn't quite the same, depending on which version of Windows you're talking about.

riclad

Your parents pc would run faster with another 1 or 2 gig ram,
maybe the hardrive is nearly full,
windows needs about 5gig free space to run at full speed.
Theres probably services you can switch off like bluetooth, remote registry,
tablet, remote desktop,smart card etc

http://www.7tutorials.com/which-windows-services-are-safe-disable-when

These services take up ram ,cause the pc to rub slower.
most people dont need them on a pc used at home.

don,t disable the firewall,or any network service.

purplecow1977

The hard drive isn't nearly full as they only have a couple of Word documents and photos. I cant remember exactly what's left but I checked last time and memory didn't seem to be an issue.

Skerries

I have been testing this on a pc in work and since 10074 I have been unable to use the start menu

coylemj

I find it very condescending to be presented with a button to 'reserve' Windows 10 - for a frigging download!

And on the icon that has appeared on my (Win7) taskbar, if I right-click it there are a number of options, the last one is 'Get to know Windows 10' but when I select that, it takes me to microsoft.com which tells me 'page not found'!

riclad

Maybe they are running norton antivirus ,
or another similar program,
which takes up alot of ram,
or have alot of programs that start up every time .
I install avast antivirus Free on every pc,laptop i use or if i,m fixing a friends pc.
See www.avast.com

My SONY netbook has 1gig ram ,win7 runs slow if i open more than 7 browser tabs.
I,LL install linux mint on it some time ,as the ram cant be upgraded .

purplecow1977

No Norton, I deleted that and installed Eset instead. Even with two or three browser tabs open it is still slow. I'll have another look at it next time I am home but by her own admittance it has been slow ever since I bought it, and I bought it new!

riclad

Install avast ,and switch off unnecessary services as in my previous post.

http://www.netsquirrel.com/msconfig/
use this to see if theres too many programs started as the laptop boots up.
Avast does not use up much ram,compared to other antivirus programs .

purplecow1977

Had avast before personally and found it did not pick up on all viruses.

coylemj

Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) will do fine on a Windows 7 machine, I wouldn't bother with a third party AV product. I used to have AVG but got rid of it and MSE has protected me fine for a few years now.

OP, if the machine has been performing poorly since you bought it then it probably doesn't have much RAM and I suspect that the drive is a 5,400 RPM (revs per minute) HDD which won't perform as well as a HDD spinning at 7,200 RPM or (better still) a solid-state device (SSD) drive.

You could also check in Control Panel/Programs and Features to see if there's unwanted or junk s/w that has been dragged along when they were installing useful s/w. For example Adobe Flash is a useful piece of s/w for viewing certain websites but when you update it, it always attempts to give you a Norton Security Scan and the tick box to accept this is cleverly concealed in a panel where you probably won't notice it. Uninstall any s/w that they don't need, this will free up RAM but I suspect that a memory upgrade will go a long way to fixing the problem if the machine has been slow from the start.

purplecow1977

Thanks for the replies, this might sound like a very stupid question but how do I install extra memory?

coylemj

purplecow1977 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies, this might sound like a very stupid question but how do I install extra memory?

Is your parent's machine a laptop or a desktop/tower PC? If a laptop it's pretty easy, it will involve removing a cover from the underside of the machine after switching it off and disconnecting all of the cables, esp the power cable. What happens next depends on the specific machine and whether the slots are already populated or not. You may have a free (empty) slot and you just pop a new memory chip (DIMM) into that slot, or you might have to remove memory chips and replace them with bigger chips.

A desktop/tower PC is a bit more complicated as it requires taking the cover off and might involve a vacuum cleaner to hoover up accumulated dust but also involves popping in new memory chips, possibly adding to what's already there or replacing it.

Go into Control Panel, click on System and the screen that pops up will tell you how much memory is installed - look for 'Installed Memory (RAM)'. Give us that number (it will look like '2GB' or similar, just tell us how how many GB). Also give us the exact make and model of the PC.

excollier

Don't ever stick a vacuum cleaner nozzle into a pc, laptop or tower. The potential for killing your motherboard with a jolt of static is huge.
Blow out the dust with a can of compressed air - or if it is really bad, use a leaf blower outdoors ( try looking up Carey Holzman on YouTube!!)
This guy knows what he is doing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iupm6KkA4WQ

yoyo

Moved from Comp & Tech

purplecow1977

Thanks. Will check the next time I am at home and update you then. It's a laptop.

Bayberry

purplecow1977 wrote: »

Thanks. Will check the next time I am at home and update you then. It's a laptop.

If it's a laptop, then it's almost certain that it has a pretty slow harddrive. Replacing the harddrive with an SSD might be the most effective upgrade, and it doesn't sound like they're generating gigabytes of Video, so a 120GB SSD for under €60 would probably do the job nicely, but it is a slightly more involved task than upgradng RAM. The physical switch is pretty straightforward, but swapping the data from the old drive to the new is a bit more complex.

InTheTrees

I just noticed the little icon.

Annoying.

Bayberry

InTheTrees wrote: »

I just noticed the little icon.

Annoying.

Click on the little triangle just to the left of the notification area, click on Customize and set GWX/Get Win10 to "Only Show notifications".

coylemj

Bayberry wrote: »

Click on the little triangle just to the left of the notification area, click on Customize and set GWX/Get Win10 to "Only Show notifications".

+1 but it gets put back on the taskbar when you install windows updates so you have to redo the process above :mad:

Asmooh

Im running W10 since somewhere last year, is nice and works fine

TheDoc

I'm currently in Windows 7 on my main PC, and havn't got any of these alerts or update warnings.

Is there something I need to enable for this to work?

My Windows copy is legit(I actually thought it wasn't, as my Da gave me a CDkey he used, so assumed it was bogus, and we have used it for years on different machines, turned out to be commercial key that had multi use)

I have Windows Updates disabled as I don't like taking all Windows updates, is it just a case of turning that on?

I'm reading too many people saying to upgrade from Windows 7 to 10 is a no brainer, so ****it might do it.

I personally prefer doing the "Upgrade options" as I absolutely HATE having downtime for my games, and needing to download all my stuff again (Games, programmes, settings, configs) but I might actually go for a clean this time. Did some hardware changes the last few months and I've an SSD not playing nice, and a HDD that isn't being recognised at all.

Summer time sounds like the perfect time for a full clean install

jayo26

TheDoc wrote: »

I'm currently in Windows 7 on my main PC, and havn't got any of these alerts or update warnings.

Is there something I need to enable for this to work?

My Windows copy is legit(I actually thought it wasn't, as my Da gave me a CDkey he used, so assumed it was bogus, and we have used it for years on different machines, turned out to be commercial key that had multi use)

I have Windows Updates disabled as I don't like taking all Windows updates, is it just a case of turning that on?

I'm reading too many people saying to upgrade from Windows 7 to 10 is a no brainer, so ****it might do it.

I personally prefer doing the "Upgrade options" as I absolutely HATE having downtime for my games, and needing to download all my stuff again (Games, programmes, settings, configs) but I might actually go for a clean this time. Did some hardware changes the last few months and I've an SSD not playing nice, and a HDD that isn't being recognised at all.

Summer time sounds like the perfect time for a full clean install

Yhh mate it will show up when you have updates turned on just be prepared for loads updates if u haven't had it on in a while.

You will like windows ten the only thing not really to like about it is the colour scheme but Tha can easily be fixed by a theme.