Upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10

killwilly · 7 Jul 2016

My wife has windows 7 on one of her laptops and would like to upgrade to Windows 10 as it's being promoted at the moment for free.

I am unable to offer her much advice as I use Apple Mac.

Can someone offer advise, such as, how long would it take to download and install using BT infinity Broadband? Also, when would be the best time to start the procedure?
She is also worried about losing her favourites/bookmarks and passwords, is this likely to happen?

Any help would be very much appreciated.

GreenNinja67 · 7 Jul 2016

It's not a quick procedure, it took me a couple of hours and I'm on 50Mb Virgin.
Try not to start it off when kids are off school or weekens. I'd do it tomorrow morning.

Can't remember exactly but I believe all favourites etc. get carried over to the new OS.

Terry.

troutfisher · 7 Jul 2016

Run the compatibility check to make sure everything works
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12443/windows-10-compatibility-report-faq

If all is OK then do it.
You have 30 days to roll back to 7 if you don't like it but don't forget to make the backup of the Win 10 install files on a memory stick.
You don't say what browser you use , if its Chrome you will have to reinstall it, if its IE then make sure you have a copy of everything, in fact back up all your files to a separate drive just to play safe

GreenNinja67 · 7 Jul 2016

Passwords will probably be lost but that's a good thing to be honest.

No one should rely on the password being in the history.

Alastair · 7 Jul 2016

She shouldn't lose anything. If she uses Chrome as her browser it's pretty much bullet proof if you synch settings/bookmarks against your Google account.

First step is to check the laptop manufacturers website for a full update check, I've found with Dell (for example) that BIOS updates (and some more obscure driver updates) may be needed for older PCs/laptops and these are not included in the Win10 update process (and couldn't be). The download will run in the background until it's ready and on Infinity shouldn't take too long. The update process itself could take 30 minutes to a couple of hours depending on factors no one can predict, there will be several restarts.

Step 1 - check the laptop manufacturers website and run any update diagnostic tools available on their support pages. Updating the BIOS can be a heart-in-mouth process when it comes to pushing the button to start things going (if you need to do this).
Step 2 - run the Microsoft Win10 update compatibility tool to confirm everything's ready (note, this won't pick up on manufacturer specific BIOS/driver updates which is why Step 1 exists).
Step 3 - accept the update download from Microsoft and let it download in the background.
Step 4 - once the system indicates that the download is complete and the upgrade can proceed, accept the update when you've got a couple of hours when you know you won't urgently need the laptop. Let it do it's thing.
Step 5 - be prepared for an instant update download and potentially a series of ongoing downloads for a week or so as various components and programs realise that they've woken up in a new operating system.

I'll hazard a guess that 9/10 problems with Win10 upgrades are because of not following Step 1.

neil_g · 7 Jul 2016

GreenNinja67 said:
It's not a quick procedure, it took me a couple of hours and I'm on 50Mb Virgin.

yeah irrespective of line speed, it will probably take an hour or two to install and then settle down.

bigtodski · 7 Jul 2016

couple of hours , i have done it on 2 x laptops , i think its an improvement overall ,

Mark Johnson · 7 Jul 2016

Worked for me OK.

Odd little glitch like Outlook Express (email) would not do things. But a Google search found solutions.

Have done two computers from 7 and 8.1.

Little or no problems...

Good luck :police:

killwilly · 8 Jul 2016

Thanks everyone for your replies...

jerry12953 · 9 Jul 2016

Yeah, I suppose I'm going to have to bite the bullet before the free download period runs out.

What will Microsoft do after the end of July? if they WANT people to be on W10, they surely won't start charging for it will they? That would have the opposite effect.

Box Brownie · 9 Jul 2016

jerry12953 said:
Yeah, I suppose I'm going to have to bite the bullet before the free download period runs out.

What will Microsoft do after the end of July? if they WANT people to be on W10, they surely won't start charging for it will they? That would have the opposite effect.

I have yet to upgrade mainly because my PC is getting old and was home built so perhaps a tad non standard!

I read that on August 2nd MS are scheduled to release what will be called the Anniversary update to W10.

And that W10 Pro will thereafter cost £189.00

Granted many folk say the upgrade was painless but where others had issues the were a pain to resolve!

SWMBO's dell laptop which was running 8.1 updated aok but it is quite new and my PC is my only computer right now so trying to think risk aware rather than simply risk averse!