Resolved Is this the best way to try out Win 10 ?

I would like to try Win 10 to see if I like it and what of my existing software and hardware was compatible with it, I thought that I might Image my Win 7 drive and then upgrade to Win 10 with the option of restoring my Win 7 installation via the image if I don't like Win 10, can anybody see any downside to this approach.
Many thanks for any replies

 

It's probably the only way to do it. I clicked on what presented itself as a "tour" of Win-10 to take a look. It barged in, removed Win-XP (which I'd been using for many years) and Internet Explorer, then installed itself. Edge doesn't have a built-in e-mail program, so I ended up just with access to e-mail through Google.

I'm not impressed by Win-10. It updates itself without permission whenever it feels like it and I've lost a couple of hours work each time it did it. I'm now saving work in progress about every two minutes so I don't get side-swiped by another Win-10 update.

i'm still reviewing whether to sell my Windows lap-top and switch over to Apple. It would be a steep learning curve after over 20 years with various versions of Windows (as far back as 3.0).

 

I updated 3 of my PC's to Win 10 and lost nothing. Two from 7 and one from 8.1. I was using Windows Live Mail on all of them. Little more user friendly than 8 or 8.1 was. IE is installed on it, but it defaults to Edge which I am not really impressed with. I made IE as the default browser.

When you update, you have 30 days to roll back to your old Version of Windows if you don't like 10.

 

To stop updating just set your connection as Metered in Settings-Network-Advanced options.

 

"Create W10 VM of your RUNNING machine (VMWARE) "
http://www.tenforums.com/virtualization/4463-create-w10-vm-your-running-machine-vmware.html
This might be your way to test W10 as I believe quite a few have done this.
Like MrBill, I'm happy with my W10 installations - 2 comps and 1 HP Notebook and 2 other HDD's. No problems - haven't lost any data and I use Mozilla Thunderbird and Firefox over the last 10 years.
I have tried IE and Edge and have a Hotmail account but find Mozilla less hassle.
My own choice. Neil.

 

Neil
It seems overly complicated using VM surely it is much easier to just image a drive and restore the image if things don't work out, if they do you just leave the computer as it is.
Alboy

 

I think you should just go for it. I've upgraded a bunch of W7 and W8.1 systems to W10 with only a couple minor problems that a couple reboots fixed. You should still back up any data you don't want to lose as a precaution - just in case. But then running regular backups is something we all should be doing anyway.

As far as your programs, visit their websites and ensure you have the latest updates. As far as your hardware, unless really old, they should work if they work with W7. There have been a few exceptions with some printing devices - but those are rare. And note it is the hardware maker's responsibility to ensure compatible drivers are available - not Microsoft's.

There are many reasons why I think you should just go for it. Windows 10 is significantly more secure right out of the box. W7 is now pushing 7 years old! W7 mainstream support has already ended. W10 is much more secure. W10 is faster. Windows 7 is not as secure.

Did I mention W10 is more secure?

Note too the free upgrade period ends 1 year after W10 was released - which was on July 29. After that, you will have to pay to upgrade.

In terms of the learning curve, going from W7 to W10 is actually easier than going from W8 to W10 because W10 brings back the start menu (sort of) W8 took away. Nevertheless, if you still find W10's start menu is not for you, there are alternatives such as Start10 (my favorite) or ClassicShell you can install to make W10 look and feel almost exactly like W7.

That said, learning to use W10 is not hard and before long, it becomes very intuitive.

Oh, and don't forget Windows 10 is more secure!

 

Bill
Is win 10 Secure ? only joking, my main concern is that I have a lot of legacy software which will cost me a fortune to update or replace and my favourite Quicken is not even available outside the US I cant even purchase and download direct from their site.
I am using a Samsung mono laser printer but I am sure that I can get it to work in win 10.
If I install win 10 then image the drive with it on surely even if I then go back to Win 7 for a year or 2 I would still have a registered image of win 10 that I could then use to re-install win 10 for free even after the free upgrade is no longer available.
I do realise cost of software upgrades aside I will eventually have to upgrade to win 10 on a permanent basis but at the moment I just want a way to give it a try to see what problems I can expect in the future and if I like it without relying on the roll back that is available for a month after install as I have read that it is not without possible problems.
Just one other query is Internet Explorer 11 supported and carried over in Win 10 after upgrading from Win 7 ?

Alboy

 

What is the model number of your printer and I can look it up.

 

Bill
It is the Samsung ML-1210
PeteC
I am using Quicken 98, with regards to registering it I cant exactly remember how I managed to get it registered but there is a way possibly by using the phone option and having the original registration code and inputting it at the right moment, it may be different for Quicken 2000 possibly only using the internet which is no longer available of course.

many thanks to everybody for all your interest and replies

 

Sadly, the ML-1210 is not directly supported in Windows 10 but it seems several people stirred up enough interest that a solution was figured out.

Installing the Samsung ML-1210 printer driver on Windows 8, Windows 10

 

Sorry another question if after imaging my existing C: drive with win 7 installed on it I replace it with a new one to which I clone my old C: drive win 7 image and then upgrade to win 10 on the new drive and I then install my old win 7 C: drive in an external USB caddy could I then select to boot from the external drive if I want to use win 7 and boot from the new internal drive when I want to use win 10, this would then give me a dual boot system depending on which version of windows I wanted to use or is this not a practical solution ?

 

There are two issues here. One is your computer must be able to support booting from an exterior drive. Most in recent years can, but your BIOS must support it. The other problem is legality. You cannot legally have two bootable operating systems for on computer unless you have two legitimate licenses.

Your Windows 10 license would be an "upgrade ". After you upgrade, you are not legally able to use the old license back and forth as you desire. You must stick with W10 permanently, or roll back to your previous Windows permanently.

 

If I upgrade to win 10 and then decide that I don't like it, can I use a win 7 image that I have created to go back to win 7 and if so will the win 7 license still be valid, if it is how long would I have to go back to win 7 and still have a valid license would it be longer than 1 month ? I am just looking for a way to test drive win 10 before I commit myself permanently to using it with a way to roll back my computer to exactly how it was prior to the upgrade.
I have read that using windows roll back does not always work without any problems and that you only have 1 month to decide before the option is removed.

 

Then do what 100s of millions of other users have done without issues. Isn't 30 days enough for you to decide if you like something or not???

Yeah, so?

A meteor might fall on your head and probably will never win the PowerBall too. Does that mean you never go outside or buy a lottery ticket?

It seems we've circled around a couple times now, but the answers have not changed. Yes. There is a chance the upgrade might not work. And there is a chance, should you decide within 30 days to roll back, the roll back might not work. But the overwhelming odds are that you will have no problems. And besides, that's what backups are for!

I wish I could tell you upgrading to a new totally operating system is 100% risk free. Not even Microsoft's overzealous marketing department will go that far. But I can tell you the developers at Microsoft have done have done a remarkable job at making the process (both ways) as risk free as possible.

I recommend you make an image of your W7 disk and verify it works. Then upgrade to W10. If you later decide you don't like W10, roll back to W7 if within 30 days. If longer than 30 day, use your image disk.

 

Many thanks to all for your replies and patience

Alboy