Back in June I wrote an article entitled “Yes Microsoft really is offering you a free copy of Windows 10”, it was aimed at dispelling the myth that many people had about this being one of the latest scams. By then I had been using the pre-release version of Windows 10 for about a year and although it was impossible to tell what the end product would be like I found it a stable and easy to use system.
My advice was to install the upgrade if you had the option to – that advice was based on a number of caveats around ensuring that you had a good backup of your data, knew how to get back to your previous operating system if you had to and accepted the risk of moving to a new operating system (everything we do with computers has some element of risk of course).
So, we´re a few months down the line now so I thought it would be good to review what has happened and pass on some more advice.
Generally, I would say that most of our customers have had a trouble free move from Windows 7 or 8 (including 8.1) over to Windows 10, however there are some issues; more to do with things changing unexpectedly than problems with the operating system. Firstly, Windows Internet Explorer has been replaced with Microsoft Edge and many people struggle with using this new Internet Browser, not least because it has the habit of removing all of their favorites! Thankfully this is an easy one to fix (so if you’re still struggling on then take note) – you need to launch Microsoft Edge, then click on the three dots in the top right hand corner of the screen and choose the option to “Open With Intenet Explorer”, then you will see the familiar IE screen and all of your favorites.
Another issue that has been quite common is that some users who have Avast as their antivirus have found that after upgrading their Internet connection doesn’t work, again pretty frustrating, this is usually fixed by removing Avast and rebooting the computer (obviously you will need to reinstall Avast after the reboot or another antivirus product) – of course there is nothing “wrong” with Avast, it just seems to have this strange effect on Windows 10 immediately after its been installed.
I guess the most common cause for people having problems with Windows 10 is that they decide to upgrade for bad reasons – I´ve been told many times “my computer was running really slow and so I decided to upgrade” or “I had loads of problems with the computer and it was crashing all the time so I thought I would upgrade”. The fact is that if you have an issue with your computer then you should get that issue sorted out first before considering upgrading to Windows 10, if you just press ahead with the upgrade most of the time it will make the problem worse not better.
Windows 10 is still available for you to upgrade to free of charge if you are using Windows 7, 8 or 8.1, the easiest method that I have found is to visit the Microsoft site at http://tinyurl.com/owj4k24 and download the update straight onto a DVD, from there you can install the update any time you want and you are not having to rely on your Internet connection working throughout the upgrade process.
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