The final version of Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 10 operating system is all set to launch on July 29th of this year. Hundreds of millions of PC users around the world are running Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8.1 eagerly waiting for the release.
It may come as a surprise for most users, but millions of PC users are not ready to upgrade to the latest version of Windows 10 despite owning a capable PC. I find it strange that users who have been using Windows 7 or now dead Windows XP are not ready to upgrade just because they are happy with the version of Windows they are running.
The following are some of the reasons why you should upgrade your existing Windows installation to Windows 10.
# You don’t need to upgrade your PC’s hardware
If your PC can run Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, it can smoothly run Windows 10 too! If you want to confirm the same, go ahead and use the Upgrade Advisor present in the Get Windows 10 app to check if your PC and installed devices can run Windows 10.
# The return of the Start menu
Unlike Windows 8/8.1, there is a Start menu in Windows 10. The Start menu of Windows 10, although it is not identical to the one in Windows 7 or Vista, works more or less the same. You can turn off your computer right from the Start menu and launch applications using the search box.
And if you prefer the Windows 7-style Start menu, install the free Classic Shell on Windows 10.
# It’s free
Although Windows XP and Vista users are not eligible for the free upgrade, users running Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 can upgrade to Windows 10 for absolutely free in the first year after the official release. In other words, if you upgrade your existing Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1 installation to Windows 10 before Windows 10 turns a year old, you’ll be able to use Windows 10 for free for life. By the way, if you prefer a fresh install, you can clean install Windows 10 after the upgrade.
However, note that Enterprise edition users can’t avail of the free upgrade offer.
# Upgrade without losing data
While it’s a good idea to backup important data before the upgrade, you won’t lose your personal data such as documents and pictures when you upgrade your existing Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 installation to Windows 10.
# You can keep most programs
Most of the programs that are compatible with Windows 7 and 8.1 work great on Windows 10, as well. You might be asked to remove your antivirus software during the upgrade, though. We encourage you to check what all programs you can keep during the upgrade by running Windows 10 Upgrade Advisor tool included in the Get Windows 10 app.
# Free upgrade is available even for pirates
Not everyone is running pirated or non-legitimate Windows, but there are millions of users using pirated Windows. The good thing is that even users running pirated Windows 7/8.1 will be able to upgrade to Windows 10, but a watermark will appear on the desktop to alert the user that the version of Windows is not genuine.
# Features, features, features
A bunch of features available in Windows 7 is not present in Windows 10, but there are hundreds of new features and improvements in Windows 10. You’ll undoubtedly notice a boost in performance after upgrading to Windows 10.
Are you upgrading to Windows 10? If not, why?
John P says
I was a huge fan of Windows 10 until the Anniversary Update. After the AU, my pc would freeze 2-4 minutes after logging in and the only way out was to shut down holding the power button on the pc. I tried a clean install and wound up with the same result. Now, going back to install Windows 8
Thomas says
I travel to developing nations and stay for several months at a time. When I go to an Internet Café that has super slow data speeds (often slower than dial-up), I cannot have Windows 10 home, automatically updating its software while I desperately attempted to do critical Internet communications.
admin says
Thanks for sharing your experience, Mike. Will help readers who are planning to upgrade.
MikeFromMarkham says
@admin,
As I pointed out early, the Windows Upgrade Advisor is not infallible. I lost the use of a handful of programs that were important to me when I upgraded one PC from Windows 7 to 8 even though the Advisor found no compatibility issues before the upgrade. The safest way to handle these upgrades is to make a complete disk image before upgrading… If everything works, you’re all set, if not, you can always restore your previous system.
admin says
@ Jackal
You’re right. That’s why I recommend running Upgrade Advisor to make sure that your PC can run Windows 10.
admin says
@ David
If you’re not a fan of tiles, you can easily remove them from Start to make the Start menu look like the classic Start menu. Alternatively, you can install Classic Shell.
admin says
@ Davin
As you rightly pointed out, Windows 7 is 6 years old and it’s time to move on to newest version of Windows.
david says
true windows 10 is coming but Microsoft still has the stupid idea that some people still won’t the stupid tiles in windows 10,
until they seem fit to remove the tiles I will be sticking to windows 7 and 8.1 as I do not see and no body has shown a very good reason to dump a very good working windows to replace it with some thing that is no better then what I am using.
and all the people should understand that microsoft is only upgrading your windows that you paid good money for and not giving us a full copy
Davin Peterson says
Great list. Windows 7 is my favorite version of Windows. However, Windows 7 is almost 6 years old now. I bought a new Windows 8.1 PC to replace my old slow Windows 7 PC (upgraded from Vista). When I first used Windows 8.1, I did not like it as their was no start menu and the interface is flat and ugly. I’ve made Windows 8.1 look like Windows 7. I’ve tried the Insider Preview of Windows 10 and like the new features including the new Start Menu which makes it much improved over Windows 8.1
Jackal says
Actually they made some small BIOS security requirement changes from 8 to 8.1. I know because i bought 8 and ran it fine on my PC but wasn’t allowed to upgrade to 8.1..so i’m stuck there.
So just because you can run 7 or 8, doesn’t mean you can upgrade to 10.
MikeFromMarkham says
I’ve been testing all of the various fast ring builds of Windows 10 so far, and I’m still not sure if I’m going to update any of my eligible devices at this point. The one thing I am certain of is that my Windows 7 workhorse computer is staying with Windows 7 no matter what. When Windows 8 was released, I decided to update by backup computer just to test it out. That computer was almost a perfect clone of my workhorse machine, and when I ran the Windows 8 Upgrade Adviser to check compatibility, the report said that all of the programs I cared about and really needed were compatible with Windows 8. After I ran the actual upgrade, it turned out that a handful of programs critical to my business use of the computer would not run in fact, and could not be reinstalled. Needless to say, I left my main computer alone at that time and there’s no way in hell I’m changing it now. My backup computer, which is now on Windows 8.1, is also the one I’m testing Windows 10 on (part of a triple boot setup), and I might consider upgrading it outright somewhere down the road, but not now. Everything I’ve experienced with the Windows 10 preview builds has been one step forward, two steps backwards and three steps sideways with each successive build. Stuff that should have worked from the start is still balky, and some of the new features are clearly not ready for prime time. It’s going to be at least 6 months before I consider making the change on that machine. I also have a Stream 7 tablet that I bought just to test Windows 8.1 on a mobile device, and while I’m still not liking the split-personality nature of the desktop vs. tablet interfaces, and the difficulty of using something like Excel on this device, I do happen to believe that the touch interface for Windows 8.1 is better than it’s going to be with Windows 10 when it debuts. Again, I’m going to wait and evaluate what I see/hear what other users think of Win10 Mobile before deciding whether to put it on my tablet.