I did what I wrote that I wouldn’t. I updated my “Office” computer to Windows 10 Pro.
I figure it is OK for me to change my mind. There were two reasons.
First was, I have been watching the roll out and early problems getting corrected in WIN 10. My experience with it in trial was actually very favorable. It still does have a problem with older hardware and I don’t think that is going to change. It was obvious to me if I was going to make the move, I had better do it soon. Also my netbook upgrade went well and is working just fine.
The second reason was my WIN 7 Ultimate was slowly decreasing performance. I have no evidence but it is my suspect that every windows update was stealing a bit more away from performance. There are too many variables to call it intentional. I am sure there was a lot of excess baggage the OS was dragging around. I was doing as much housekeeping as I knew how, to trim the fat.
My conclusion was to go try the upgrade as it is not my nature to knock anything I haven’t tested or used myself.
The first issue was the 10 year old NVIDIA GEFORCE 7800 GT video card was not up to the task. Well, maybe the card was OK but the maker decided not to create drivers for WIN 10.
I replaced the video card with a NVIDIA GEFORCE 950 GTX. The smaller number is actually the newest hardware. I won’t gloat on the specs, but believe me it is fully WIN 10 compatible.
Then the first piece o’ crap hit the fan. The Update compatibility test program that first told me my old video card was not compatible, refused to recognize the brand new video card I installed. It kept reporting the old card was still in the computer. No way Jose’
Turns out there is a bug in the program. Maybe deliberate? I found 10 other people (I was #11) that have exactly the same problem. It seems to me, the program was written for marketing – not computer testing. Once it finds a problem keeps telling us to buy a new computer with links to examples. It never really starts over to run a new test. That message is the honest to God truth. What it then prevents, is the auto update. The issue was first discovered over a month ago and Microsoft has not fixed the problem as of this writing.
I suspect it registers the first result in a MS database, never considering some of us are capable of swapping out the offending hardware. Doesn’t everyone just buy a new computer? Duh…
But there is another way to get the free update. Just go to the WIN 10 website and start the upgrade from there, ignoring the corrupt update test program that was sent free (?) to all WIN 7-8.1 owners.
Somehow it seems everything has a solution but it isn’t on the first try… <grin>
So WIN 10 did accept doing the upgrade. I had already wasted most of the day with the video card change and fooling with the defective update test software. I cleaned every spec of evidence that the old card ever existed in the computer. (drivers, etc.)
In my case, it took at least two hours for the full update to load and complete the install. Maybe longer, I went off to watch the BAD Science Channel for a while. The first part is just loading software. I still had use of the computer. But finally at one point it kicks you off and the big swap gets started. It is VERY slow, but slow is good in my book.
The update went extremely well, but for slow. The new OS fired right off and all the old but major purchased software I own runs fine in WIN10. I have tested everything I use and need but there is still some I seldom use and haven’t tested. No reason to yet.
Since I am fully WIN 10 literate, there are no surprises. The start screen looks almost EXACTLY like the WIN 7 screen except AERO is gone and the START icon is different in the lower left corner. Of course it opens to the new WIN 10 Start panel and menus.
Yes, with the new video card and WIN 10 OS, the performance is much snappier. Sleep mode is working too, so that pleases me greatly.