Windows 10 Upgrade

[RogersMoin]

Hello, Community

I’m one of those who are excited about Windows 10 and patiently waiting to receive the upgrade. I have 2 PCs, one running Windows 7 and the other Windows 8. I have registered both my PCs after getting the invite to register for Windows 10 upgrade (a popup in the system tray).

This would be the first time I would be upgrading the OS, I had always done a clean full install of the OS, not an upgrade.

I’ve built Windows 7 PC in 2010 and following are Key Specs:

Intel Core i7 860 Quad Core Processor Lynnfield LGA1156 2.8GHZ 

ASUS Maximus III Formula P55

8GB DDR3

XFX Radeon HD 5770

Windows 8 was built in 2013 with the following specs:

AMD FX(tm)-6300 Six-Core Processor   ~3.5GHz

ASUS M5A97 LE R2.0 

8GB DDR3

AMD Radeon HD 6450

I’m assuming the upgrade will be smooth on my both PCs and post upgrade I may have to update BIOS and other drivers as they become available for Windows 10.

I’m inviting all hardware, software and OS enthusiasts/experts in the Community to chime in to share the ideas to make the upgrade a pleasant experience.

Cheers,

RogersMoin

***Edited Labels***

[ShakTiburon]

If your computer meets the requirement, that is WHEN you receive the notice for the Upgrade.
In other words, if your PC doesn't meet the requirement, you wouldn't even get the option to Update it (Applies to Windows 7 only).
All windows 8.1 get the update.

Your i7 Desktop is beautiful.
My concern would be the driver issues for AMD. AMD is in my experience always been behind on updating drivers.

One would ASSUME that they are on the ball for such a major launch in less than 1 month.
O__O Im waiting patiently for this as well.
I want Crotana on my PC.
(I actually wanted GLadOS but she isn't available haha)

Your BIOS won't be an issue. Not that I am aware of. Drivers will be only issues for additional hardware (GFX card etc).

As soon as you get Windows 10 installed. MAKE A RECOVERY DISK.
Since the recoery disk will be for windows 10 not your older version.
Infact, make a recovery disk for Windows 7. 8.1 AND 10. LOL
It uses the same serial key, so it will be still valid. (Just can't have two PC active with same key).

Woot! Excitied!

[RogersMoin]

Thank you, @ShakTiburon. Great tip to make a recovery disk. 

I got the popup yesterday from AMD to update the drivers so that it is Windows 10 compatible, but I will wait until I install the OS upgrade.

@Community - Any more tips? Has anyone else registered to receive the Windows 10 upgrade?

Thanks,

RogersMoin

[RogersArthur]

Hi Community .

I'm also looking forward to seeing how Windows 10 runs compared to Windows 8. From what I've seen online so far it looks great and the fact they placed the start button back on the start menu along with the search option is a bonus .

This is what I picked to build during the 2014 Christmas holidays:
MOTHERBOARD: ASUS Z97-PRO (WI-FI AC) ATX Motherboard LGA1150 Socket, Intel Z97 Express chipset
CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-4790 Processor - 8MB Smart Cache, 3.6GHz, 22nm
RAM MEMORY: Kingston HyperX Fury Blue 8GB Memory Module - DDR3
HARD DRIVE: WD Blue 1 TB, 3.5", SATA 6Gb/s, 7200RPM, 64MB Cache
TOWER / CASE: Ultra Defender II White ATX Mid-tower Gaming case

* Looking to pick up the Asus GeForce® GTX 750 TI Graphics Card

Will remember to get those recovery drives updated,
RogersArthur

[ShakTiburon]

My Laptop didn't get it.
But my Tablet and (Custom) Desktop got the notice.

Oh well. I guess I can happily keep my superfast ultrabook as windows 7 without it slowing down lol
Although I find new i7 ultrabooks more expensive than before... I wonder why?

btw guys, You keep saying Windows 8 ... but to clarify Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 are two different OS (Structure). They look same, but definitely different. so if you have 8. you need to update to 8.1 to properly upgrade to 10.

[jimboden]

I received the Win 10 upgrade notice a few weeks ago. I'm currently on Win 8.1.

My system specs: Full tower CyberPower computer with lots of fans and air flow; Corsair liquid cooled Intel i7-4770K CPU; 8GB RAM; Sound Blaster Zx sound card (best one ever in my opinion); DVD R/W drive; 2TB Toshiba hard drive; 3TB external Seagate hard drive; AMD Radeon 4GB R9 290 video card with up-to-date drivers; Win 8.1 64 bit.

I will be very cautious about upgrading to Win 10. My past experiences with upgrades, going all the way back to the first days of Windows, is very "mixed" to put it mildly. Usually, the biggest problem is with third party software and not the OS itself. I actually will be able to install Win 10 from scratch if I want to without affecting any of my data and application software. I use Symantec System Recovery (SSR) for back ups and recovery. It is a very powerful product. One neat option it has is I can restore a current full system backup to a brand new OS, so I may try that to take a peek at Win 10. If I don't like Win10 or have compatibility issues, I can easily revert to my Win 8.1 backup. All the SSR stuff I mentioned is done by booting from a DVD. Routine backups and file-type restores are done as an OS utility and does not require rebooting, etc.

One reason for me being cautious is that I'm a big online gamer, especially racing. My favourite racing game is Assetto Corsa. I recently got a racing simulator and a new Logitech G27 wheel with shifter. The racing simulator is a real beast. You can see it here: https://www.pagnianamericas.com/store/index.php/simulators.html I was using a Thrustmaster wireless wheel up until now, and it worked very well. The racing simulator and G27 setup is a completely different kettle of fish. I finished installing the simulator a couple of days ago and have started practicing with the G27. It's a completely different driving experience and I'm experimenting with various settings, etc. I'm just at the point where I'm starting to set new lap times compared to my wireless wheel, but progress is slow.

[ShakTiburon]

I would love a racing simulator. -__- I have no room for anything so THAT will be an awesome toy to play with when I have a dedicated basement for media.

Everyone Set up sounds great. I did a custom build but not the top of the line specs. Since I didn't get the K series processor for overclock (I didn't think I needed it, actually... I still don't)

All I play now is Tera - Online RPG (Free) through steam.

I wish there were more hours in the day to play all the games I desire @__@@

I used to use another program that did the same recovery as you mentioned, It is so good to have. Especially in times like Upgrades and Recovery due to failure.
Btw, 3TB Seagate? was that the one that went on sale for less than $100 at one time? Did you get it as a steal 😉
I am 1TB hard drive x 2 internal. and then 2 TB Hard drives x 3 external.
Too many photos and videos.
I need to start uploading it to cloud soon. x__x

As for Windows 10. I am hoping no issues are caused by it.

[jimboden]

I have very limited space for the racing simulator. What I've done is leave it in 2 pieces. The racing seat and the frame for pedals, etc. are theoretically supposed to be bolted together to form one unit. When I want to race, I put both of the pieces in front of my computer up against each other and when I'm done, I move them out of the way. It certainly would be nice to have a dedicated place where you can set it up and forget it.

I have never over-clocked a CPU or GPU. Even though my 4770-K can be over-clocked, nothing I throw at it would benefit from over-clocking. I don't think I've ever seen CPU utilization any higher than about 50%, including intensive gaming. In Windows, I set the system to performance, and the CPU runs at turbo boost all the time, which is about 3.9Ghz. I'm of the opinion that over-clocking is highly overrated. I think it's more for people who like bragging rights because they can tell everyone they're over-clock everything.

I got the 3TB Seagate drive a long time ago, when they were fairly new in that size range. I'd guess it's close to 3 years old now. It came with a USB 3 X1 PCI card, which I installed in the computer I had at the time. My current computer has native USB 3 ports, of course.

It certainly will be interesting to see reviews of Win 10 after it's been out for a while. I don't intend to be an early adopter. Win 8.1 has everything I need and touch screens are of no interest to me. It's interesting Microsoft brought back the start button. I have a free mod for Win 8.1 which gives me a start button. It behaves exactly the same as the OS'es before Win 8.

[ShakTiburon]

Windows 10 is trying to focus on Desktop users as well as tablet/touch.
8.1 was touch focused. which is why it was horrible.
People aren't ready for Touch only interface for PC. (just phones and simple UI) sadly.
I wouldn't mind leaping to the future a little faster...

Personally, the main reason is, generation prefer mouse/pointer... to evolve we must let go of our old tech! 😛

Brought that up, because i was reading evolution of technology haha.

I have 3.0s and 2.0s - Integrated on the motherboard so it's native.
o__o I still feel posting my specs seem embarassing...

[RogersAliciaG]

Feeling left out. 

I have not got the invite for Windows 10 yet  

I am currently running Windows 8.1.

RogersAliciaG

[jimboden]

RogersAliciaG:

When I heard of the offer, I created a Microsoft account, which I've never done before. Sometime shorty afterwards, I got the upgrade offer. Might be worth a try if you don't have Microsoft account.

[Datalink]

If you hover your mouse over the "Show Hidden Icons" icon on the lower right hand side of your monitor and left click to bring up the hidden icon panel, you might see it sitting there.  The "Hidden Icons" icon is normally at the very left of all of the icons at the botton right hand side of the monitor.  The Windows 10 update icon resembles the "Windows Key" symbology from your keyboard (lower left hand side ?).  My advice to anyone considering an update to Windows 10 is to wait and determine if the pc or laptop that you have has all of the drivers available for windows 10.  Maybe Windows 8.1 drivers will work, maybe they won't.  Personal opinion, stick with 8.1 with all of its drivers, and make the leap when the Windows 10 drivers are available from your system manufacturer for download.

[RogersAliciaG]

@jimboden Thanks for the tip, I will create an account with Microsoft once I get home. 

@Datalink I will also have a look into the hidden icon folders. 

Also as a side note I am looking at getting a new Laptop in the next few days. 

Any suggestions ?

I am not a fan of Mac.

Also I have had problems with Acer a few years ago, and have not felt the push to give them a second chance. 

My brother has a  Alienware and its an amazing system but its way to bulky for me to carry around everywhere with me . 

@VivienM perhaps you may also have a suggestion for me. 

RogersAliciaG

[ShakTiburon]

Acer = AVOID. Unless you are going for their higher model. Acer low end to mid-range will break on you. they are meant to. (hence the attractive price point).
I would recommend Asus to be honest.

But My recommendation would actually to Hold off on buying Laptop.
Once Windows 10 lauches, with in a month or month and a half... you will see preinstalled dedicated Windows 10 Laptops. Go to the Microsoft store so they don't have bloatware... I recommend holding off.
And yes you need a microsoft account for... everything lol... which works like Apple ID... which works like Google single sign-on.

Alienware is Gaming with Dedicated Graphic card, so ... its bulky because it has more Gaming/Video Editing power. If thats not what you are looking for, you don't need alienware (owned by Dell)



If you haven't got the offer, they are doing it in batches. You aren't left out. Even if you don't have microsoft account. My laptop doesn't and it got the Update Icon Now 😄


I kind of wrote everything going back and forth on previous comments and mostly to respond to you @RogersAliciaG
and MAC is like Gucci, brand name. It doesn't do anything BETTER than PC... Newer PC are great.
MAC is a name, you pay for the name. Esepecially after MAC have started to use Intel Chipset ....

Meow ^w^

[VivienM]

---

@RogersAliciaG wrote:

@jimboden Thanks for the tip, I will create an account with Microsoft once I get home. 

@Datalink I will also have a look into the hidden icon folders. 

Also as a side note I am looking at getting a new Laptop in the next few days. 

Any suggestions ?

I am not a fan of Mac.

Also I have had problems with Acer a few years ago, and have not felt the push to give them a second chance. 

My brother has a  Alienware and its an amazing system but its way to bulky for me to carry around everywhere with me . 

@VivienM perhaps you may also have a suggestion for me.

---

Welllllll...

1. Like everything else in the world, you get what you pay for... i.e. the more expensive machines will have better keyboards, touchpads, storage, etc... and screens.

2. I personally have nothing against Acer. The Microsoft Store has had some Acer machines that are excellent value for money, i.e. with 1920x1080 screens, dual-band wireless cards, etc., at very competitive prices.

3. If you want something nice and portable to carry around, how about the new Dell XPS 13 or the Lenovo X1 Carbon?

and finally, the big one: get a laptop with a proper dual-band 802.11ac wireless card. Over in the Internet forum, we get way too many people who are getting slow speeds and it turns out that their otherwise-very-nice laptop is hobbled by a lousy single-band 802.11n card.

(That being said, I am typing this on a retina mid-2014 MacBook Pro I got a few weeks ago... so that should tell you how I feel about the Windows ecosystem going forward)

[VivienM]

---

@ShakTib wrote:

and MAC is like Gucci, brand name. It doesn't do anything BETTER than PC... Newer PC are great.
MAC is a name, you pay for the name. Esepecially after MAC have started to use Intel Chipset ....

---

I don't agree. Look at the retina MacBook Pro I am typing this on:

1) How many PC vendors offer quad-core mobile processors anymore? Most of them only offer dual core. (It's funny, 4 years ago, you could get mainstream business Windows laptops in a quad-core variant. Now that's mostly gone - it's U-series dual cores only)

2) Apple offers 3x3 802.11ac. Intel's flagship 802.11ac card (7265) is 2x2; a lot of Windows laptops don't even have dual-band cards.

3) Apple offers PCI-E; the Windows guys offer at best SATA SSDs with half the transfer speed...

4) Apple has a high-resolution IPS screen; the Windows guys have finally started improving their screens but there are still a lot of lousy 1366x768 screens out there. (In all fairness, the MacBook Air has lousy screens too)

5) Apple has 16:10 screens; the Windows guys have all adopted the inferior 16:9 ratio...

etc.

There's a LOT of high-end componentry in most of the Apple laptops. Get a Windows laptop with similar internals, if you can find one, and you'll find that the price difference is not that much - a few hundred dollars or so...

[ShakTiburon]

@VivienM 

I own a custom desktop, and my laptop runs linux/windows, since all my work is either web-based or terminal based for my server (which is my windows).

Your pre-built MacBook Pro doesn't beat Power vs Dollar value over a PC.
Mind you, Laptops can be custom built as well. Depending on which vendor you are going to. not just Dell and Alienware, just gotta know where to look, some good sites overseas.

Few things to understand though,
I think instead of rubbing the wrong way, I should clarify, I just have a passion against iOS. Not MAC. I like MAC.
MAC is like Gucci, You are select few who can justify WHY to buy MAC, but most people get it for the name.

End of the day, if you need a computer that streams and checks facebook. MAC isn't needed. Power or whatever.

Most of the people can't tell difference between 1080i or 1080p, let alone Retina...

To be fair, I didn't find Retina better for my video editing and I prefer my choice of GFX and RAM over pre-built.

I just don't prefer MACs.

It's not the end of the world though. 😛

[VivienM]

---

@ShakTib wrote:

I own a custom desktop, and my laptop runs linux/windows, since all my work is either web-based or terminal based for my server (which is my windows).

Your pre-built MacBook Pro doesn't beat Power vs Dollar value over a PC.
Mind you, Laptops can be custom built as well. Depending on which vendor you are going to. not just Dell and Alienware, just gotta know where to look, some good sites overseas.

Few things to understand though,
I think instead of rubbing the wrong way, I should clarify, I just have a passion against iOS. Not MAC. I like MAC.
MAC is like Gucci, You are select few who can justify WHY to buy MAC, but most people get it for the name.

End of the day, if you need a computer that streams and checks facebook. MAC isn't needed. Power or whatever.

Most of the people can't tell difference between 1080i or 1080p, let alone Retina...

To be fair, I didn't find Retina better for my video editing and I prefer my choice of GFX and RAM over pre-built.

I just don't prefer MACs.

It's not the end of the world though. 😛

---

 I've built my own Windows machines for close to 15 years. I have two machines running Windows 10 betas here, among a myriad of other Windows (7) machines. I've run pretty much every publicly-released beta build of Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 and 10 (and if XP had had a public beta program I might have run betas of that too)...

If you want to know why I got the Mac:

1) Disappointment with my last Dell laptop (L502x), which needed two motherboard replacements, blew out 4-5 power adapters, etc. Its battery got trashed because due to loose power adapters (Dell quality for you) and blown power adapters, along with Windows' moody power management, it was completely run down at least 10-15 times. And this was their flagship non-Alienware consumer laptop when I got it, and I upgraded it with an SSD, 802.11ac card, 16GB RAM, etc...

2) The lousy state of the PC hardware ecosystem. What would be a good replacement for the L502x? A nice business laptop? (I have a Lenovo T550 at work... and it was $1750 for a dual-core i5, 8GB RAM, 256GB SATA SSD - hardly cheap but it is outstanding for a work machine) Something consumery? Relatively few consumer machines come with factory SSDs and decent wireless cards, and I don't want to do surgery on a brand new under-warranty machine. I looked at some nice Dell 15.6" laptop with tons of RAM and a big SSD at the Microsoft store, but it was well over $2000, i.e. well into Apple pricing...

(Oh, and another pet peeve against the PC industry: bilingual keyboards. I will not buy a machine that does not have a proper unilingual English keyboard. That rules out a shockingly high number of consumer Windows machines, many of which are now built such that it's very difficult to do surgery and swap out the keyboard even if you can get the US-market keyboard...)

3) Windows 8/8.1. I was about as much of a MS fanboy as you could find (I even ran/defended Vista, for goodness's sake) until THEY decided to tell me to take a hike with their cynical Windows 8 exercise where they ruined Windows in an attempt to turn my dual-monitor desktop, my high-end 15.6" 1920x1080 laptop, etc. into a tablet with the cynical intent of leveraging their keyboard/mouse market share to muscle into tablets and kill the iPad.

Microsoft made it clear how much they valued my business (and that of every other enthusiast with nice high-end desktop machines) when they delivered an inferior, ill-suited product for cynical business reasons (which have largely backfired). (And this is not about the lack of a 'start menu'. It's about the full-screen dialog boxes. The touch-focused notifications. The entire Metro everything-is-full-screen philosophy.) Now they are trying again with 10, which is... markedly better than 8/8.1, but still tries to be everything for every class of device, and which still has an inconsistent interface (with the new 'Settings' control panel but the old familiar control panel still being used for some things, for example).

I may yet build another Windows box in part because my ancient one won't run Carmageddon Reincarnation... while I keep lusting after the retina iMac 🙂

As for iOS, I love my iPhone - before getting the iPhones, I had a BlackBerry that needed its battery pulled (to reboot) every day because it kept locking up. iOS may be restrictive... but it is also extraordinarily reliable. And unlike Android, it's actually reliably updated - try getting an upgrade to the current version of Android for a 2.5-year-old Samsung...

[ShakTiburon]

@RogersMoin
I agree.
@VivienM - thank you.

As a community we are allowed to enjoy great insight of people like VivienM, really made great points. Yes. I may not prefer MAC for all the right reason in my mind, but after reading VivienM point... (which I am speechless and not sure what to respond with)...
I gotta say... I should do a lot more research on. I am indeed not versed with apple product.

And hey @VivienM - I was joking, and definitely take back my words... Definitely not fandom... you went by experience and facts. and for that, I applaud good ,... well deserved.
Thank you for the informative details 🙂
I like how and what your preferences is, and I am very happy that you enjoy apple products more. They work for you, and end of the day, thats what matters, when tech finally works for us and stays working. Reliability is definitely a must.

[Datalink]

Not going to push PC versus MAC, but VivienM hit the nail on the head when she indicated  "get a laptop with a proper dual-band 802.11ac wireless card. Over in the Internet forum, we get way too many people who are getting slow speeds and it turns out that their otherwise-very-nice laptop is hobbled by a lousy single-band 802.11n card."

Yup, we see that all too often.  Nice laptp, too bad about the wifi card.  For the few pennies more that it would cost to put in a dual band wifi card, maybe even 802.11ac, there is no excuse on the part of the manufacturers to supply single band 2.4 Ghz wifi cards on their laptops. 

ShakTib also had a good idea, if you're looking to go Windows 10, wait for about a month when you can get a laptop with it already installed.  It will save you from hunting around for drivers needed to upgrade from 8.1 to 10. 

The "Hidden Icon" icon isn't actually a folder.  Its just an upward facing arrowhead at the left of the icons that reside on the lower right side of the monitor.  Selecting it will bring up the hidden icons for the other programs that are available.

[ShakTiburon]

@Datalink ... @Vivien hit the nail on my head 😛 I hurt.

but yea the system tray is what the bottom right is called, pretty much the same area with your time / netowork logo (wifi or wired icon)