As most of you know, Win10 gets released this week.
I’ve been asked various questions by many people.
This advice/opinion article will hopefully address some of those questions.
More in-depth articles on these topics will come over time.
BACKUP
Whatever you decide, BACKUP your computer before you proceed. This means data (docs, pics, music, passwords, etc), AND a system image.
When I say a system image I DO NOT mean the built-in system image.
Even Microsoft says “You’ll need to reinstall your version of Windows from the recovery or installation media that came with your PC”.
The way around that is a system image made with a 3rd party program.
I use Acronis True Image.
It is available on Amazon for under $30
OK, now that I’ve gotten you to make a legitimate system image of your Win7/Win8.1 install. There is a rollback option (I just don’t have much faith in it):
Settings > Update & Security > Recovery > Go back to Windows 7 or Go back to Windows 8.1 ONLY GOOD FOR 30 DAYS.
A Win10 Roadmap, sort of…
May Jo Foley opines it is as follows:
– Official release date July 29, 2015 (it’s already out for many). This is internally know as TH1 (build 10240). The TH stands for ThresHold not TweakHound 😉
– TH2 will “most likely” be released in October and is a smaller update.
– The next phase of Win10, internally known as Redstone (1 & 2) will bne next year.
Upgrade From Windows 7
I tried it (the things I do for you guys 
). It went well.
But, I have to ask. Do you really want to ruin a good Windows 7 install?
IMHO, Windows 7 was the last great Windows desktop OS.
So my advice/opinion is not to upgrade from Windows 7 to Win10.
But, if you really want to and you’re savy enough, why not try a dual-boot first?
Upgrade From Windows 8 / 8.1
I’ve done it on 3 different machines. It went perfect.
My advice/opinion is GO FOR IT.
Clean Install
I’ve done it on 3 machines now (including a dual-boot with Windows 7).
The process went great except I could NOT get the Sound Blaster X-fi Fatal1ty to work (it worked on upgrade).
If you want to do a clean install then that is fine.
However, I’ve got to say that for the first time under Windows, the upgrade process was nothing less than stellar.
No problems on my machines, no excessive error logs, and 3rd party programs all worked fine (except VWware bridged networking).
My advice is to give the upgrade a shot. If things don’t go well then do a clean install.
Dual-boot
Works great as it has with Windows 7 & 8.
– I backed up my computer with a system image.
– Shrank my Windows partition (left free space blank/unfromatted).
– Created an bootable Win10 install flash drive.
– Booted from that flash drive and installed Win10 to the unformatted partition.
– Win10 found my Windows 7 bootloader and configured itself accordingly.
– I like to use EasyBCD to manage my dual/multi-boots.
Should You Install Win10 Right Away?
Only you can answer that.
IMHO it depends on your tech expertise level. To most folks I would ask, “What’s the hurry?”. Let things calm dowm, let problems get sorted out, let drivers get made.
Yeah drivers are still an issue for some manufacturers. For instance, Creative has a release time table of between now and October.
Tune in tomorrow, same Bat-time, same Bat-channel!
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