Yes, Microsoft really is offering you a free copy of Windows 10

Yes, Microsoft really is offering you a free copy of Windows 10

I have been contacted by quite a few, understandably sceptical, customers when they saw a “strange” icon appear in the bottom right of their computer screen. When they hover over or click the icon, they receive an unlikely offer from Microsoft. The offer is for a free upgrade to the latest operating system – Windows 10.

Yes, believe it or not (and you should because its true) Microsoft really are offering all of the current Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 customers a free upgrade to Windows 10 and users will have 12 months from the release date of the 29th July to take advantage of the free upgrade offer – after this time Microsoft say that the upgrade will be still available although users will have to purchase it.

So….is it worth it? I guess the easy answer is a resounding “yes” from me – albeit with some caveats, of course. I certainly feel that Windows 10 is a better operating system than Windows 8 (or 8.1). There is nothing intrinsically “wrong” with this operating system, but people have struggled getting used to its “unique” ways of operating and a move to Windows 10 will bring them back to a more familiar way of working. In addition those users that have Windows 7 are now effectively two operating systems out of date and the change to leapfrog Windows 8.1 and go direct to Windows 10 is one that should be welcomed in this unprecedented move by Microsoft.

The caveat is simply that nothing to do with upgrading or changing your computers software is risk free. I have to mention that I moved from Windows 8.1 to the beta (pre-release) version of Windows 10 about 6 or so months ago and it was a very easy migration – almost too easy really, but this shouldn’t be accepted as what may happen in your case. I would certainly recommend that you make a good backup of your data and check that it’s reliable before you start the upgrade ensure that you have access to all of your important passwords (Wi-Fi password etc.) as you may need to enter them as part of the installation process. I would also recommend that you look out (or create if you haven’t already) your current operating systems recovery DVD´s and any software that you have installed from DVD, because if the upgrade goes bad then you need to be able to get your computer back to the state that its currently in.

Ok, so when you have decided to go for it – what do you have to do? At this stage you just need to click on the icon (see image below) on your computer – if you don’t see an icon then check to see if you have any Windows updates waiting to be installed. Once this icon is clicked you will be asked a few simple questions and then when Windows 10 has been released Microsoft will contact you again.

w10upgrade

It might be worth making sure that you have my contact details handy as well 🙂