Should I upgrade to Windows 10?

@norcal I like it all except for the new Microsoft Edge. It is so much easier to arrange your stuff and the menus and programs are nicely arranged.

It is nice to get one in the pro column. What is your favorite feature?

@poehere You really have been so happily immersed in Windows 10 for so long and love it so much, but when asked for about your favorite part the greatest thing you can say about it is just that it's arrangement is pleasing? And you feel compelled to include a negative quality (i.e. Edge) in your answer which was just requesting pros! That speaks volumes (to me at least) about Windows 10...No?

OK, I agree with you about XP and Vista, and 7 and 8, so that gives me more confidence in your assessment of Windows 10. However, you did not include it in your "absolute garbage" category. My "Spidey Sense" was tingling a little, that's why I decided to take a poll.

@ataboy I think MS is trying to make sure they hold on to their near monopoly. If everyone is running their OS, they are in control. Anybody who buys a new computer (that is not a Mac) will have the latest version of Windows on it. That is not to say that Mac is any better. They do regular upgrades that make no more sense than the ones MS does, and their old versions do become obsolete.

@norcal That's because I consider Windows 10 to be something more like a radioactive piece of artwork that someone is relentlessly trying to convince me to take home with me. I'm not particular interested in examining the quality or artistic appeal of the piece since I feel quite certain that I will not be placing it in my living room any time soon. It may be a Picasso, but I'm actually quite fond of my health. For me, the fact that Microsoft (MS) is trying to do everything that they can to force my hand on the free D/L combined with the fact that they WILL be making the same magnitude of money as they normally do (with new Windows OS rollouts) SOMEHOW and it will surely either directly or indirectly track back to money out of my pocket raises my level of suspicion to the 100% to 100% range. I wouldn't take a free handout from the Mafia, and MS is in the same sort of position of power! They are currently boasting that 110 million users have installed Windows 10. Approximately 15 million of those were within the first 24 hours of when the upgrade became available! Since MS has a huge profit margin normally on Windows OS and retailers are pretty much stuck to a ceiling price that they can charge, most of the price of Windows (esp. retail versions) is revenue for MS. So if they normally get somewhere in the vicinity of 2/3 of the sale price (which is $150 - 250 per retail sale) then that's something like $100 - 175 per retail sale or $1.5 - 2.5 billion that they effectively LOST w/in 24 hours alone (~20 billion to date roughly!) Even if my approximation logic is way off, like 10x off, $200 million in 24 hours and ~2 billion at present is not something MS would be purposely leaking to be nice, or to "give back" to their customers! Windows 10 was a initially a little rough around the edges (as usual w/ Windows) but most of that has been addressed in a recent update(s). It's really just Windows 7 dressed up a bit, with plenty of organizational changes to the UI, some "enhanced" support for various hardware, a few default application changes, and a whole lot of changes under the hood and the end user's license agreement (EULA) is written with some new peculiar ambiguities that appear to give MS more rights than they should have IMO. Can I explicitly state their intentions? No, my crystal ball is presently on the fritz. But why would they reveal their hand before everyone that they can reel-in has been given time to update and the "free update deadline" has expired? I don't usually hint towards anything in the realm of conspiracies, but I am a realist - I know MS is neither stupid nor generous (Which I have no problem with - it's a public business.) Something just smells so fishy and there's not a whole lot that smells that way, so I am leaning toward fish as the culprit. Don't get me wrong I have used Windows 10, I've just spent so much more time fixing stuff involved with it on others' systems that I am more familiar with the problems than the normal operation, but it's not BAD, per se, beyond just having to relearn how to find things and do things a little differently at first - especially with someone a little more intelligent and used to keeping their system(s) up and running for the most part, which you sound like you are. Despite people telling you that you can simply downgrade just like that, I would simply caution you to expect that to be inaccurate. So error on the side of safety...expect no safety nets! (I'm speaking from a position of amble experience.) One final though I just had - It's sort of funny how Internet Explorer (IE) has always been considered to be such a terrible browser, and then enters MS with a whole new browser in Win 10 (Edge), where they have managed to make something that's actually a step DOWN from IE!

@norcal My inference was not that they have all been better than their predecessors but that they seem better after becoming familiar with them than they did beforehand.

I did not find it to be true that all of them were better than the one before. XP was a big improvement, much more stable than 98 or 2000, but Vista was terrible. I have 7, and my husband has 8. I have to deal with his, because I am the tech support person in the family, but I still prefer 7. I am actually more concerned about whether the OS is stable (doesn't crash) than I am about learning to use it, I'm sure I can do that.

@Asylum Sure, it takes a while to get used to anything new.

I agree with you there, but I'm afraid that this free offer will go away, and my Windows 7 won't be compatible with new stuff that comes out.

The learning part is a put off for sure

@norcal Yes, you are correct on everything you said as far as I can tell. I remember Windows 95 as well, not sure if it had any errors or not though, it was so long ago! Also, I had "Windows ME" But, for some reason I do not remember a whole lot about it, but I think it seemed to run fine! :)

Windows 7 did seem to be pretty problem free, and so did Windows XP. I remember windows 98 being pretty unstable, and Vista was a disaster. I didn't think 8 was an improvement on 7, so it's easy to be apprehensive of an upgrade.

I'm nervous about it too, but I'm afraid I may have to do it eventually.

@norcal My pleasure.

Thanks for the feedback.

Oh, thanks for answering! How long ago did you do the switch? Is there anything specific you can tell me about what you don't like?

@betsuz Windows 8 has the same issue with the start button. I've had to deal with my husband's computer enough that I've figured all that out, so maybe it won't be too hard for me.

Are you happy with 8.1? What did you have before that?

Hey that would be the way to do it @norcal I wish I could get windows 7 on my laptop but I was told they wouldn't do that. What a shame.

@rebelann - I'm glad I bought my desktop when 7 was the current system. My hubby had a Vista machine, then he got this Windows 8 machine. I guess he has bad OS juju.

That's nice, then you can try it out before you do the desktop. Maybe that's what I will do, practice on the hubby's laptop.

Never! As long as there are computers, there will be software upgrades.

Personally, I would keep 7 over 8. I feel like I have enough experience with it to know it is not better. If 10 is not better than 8, I don't want either one of them.

@norcal Sorry, no I don't know what's better about it.

Oh? Do you know what is better about it?

Really? Who advised you to? It seems like everyone is advising me not to.

It's weird how Windows seems to have these lemon upgrades, like XP seemed pretty stable, then Vista was so buggy, then Windows 7 seems good and and Windows 8 had problems.

Yes, I certainly would like to hear first hand from someone who's done it.

It usually does just seem easier to stick with what's working for you.

I can understand your reluctance, but if you wait until the 12 month upgrade period has expired then you would have to pay for Windows 10.

@ElizabethWallace Later Windows versions are likely to be even further from Windows 7, thus requiring a far greater adjustment to become accustomed to. The upgrade process is reversible, so you could try it and revert to Windows 7 if required. This could be worthwhile because once the Windows 10 operating system has activated, it can be reinstalled from a DVD without a serial key and will still activate.

@Asylum Or, I could wait until eleven or twelve comes out. It might be a better system. I don't feel the need to have the newest and latest. I am barely used to this one.