11-05-2020, 12:09 AM
Have re-opened this discussion.
I'm a late comer to Windows 10. I decided to embark on this journey very carefully first by loading it on an old ThinkPad X201 Laptop that had Windows 7 Professional on it. I hadn't used it in a very long time, and had purchased it second hand in 2016 for experimentation, but never got to that point as this was a pristine Windows 7 with almost no updates on it. It felt like sacrilege to change anything in it.
Any way, after lots of research during the course of which I learned that to upgrade to Windows 10 was still free, this is exactly how the experience turned out for me. All of the steps are well documented every where. You just need to Google it and the tutorials will direct you to Microsoft Download page for downloading the Microsoft Download Media tool. And then it's effortless really, and just lots of patience and waiting. To be honest, if I compare my first Windows 7 download of many years ago, and Windows 10, I have to give kudos to Microsoft for having it so well sorted out with Windows 10. All of it has been effortless. I didn't have to load my License Key. Even though I did have it ready as I made sure I had it on hand before I started the process. But in the end my Windows 10 got automatically activated by Microsoft, probably through the mother board. With my Windows 7 Professional Key. I now have a copy of Windows 10 Professional on my laptop - all of it done by Microsoft during the installation process.
With the upgrade I didn't get a choice for not having Cortana. Toms Guide gave the impression one could disable it, but everything was greyed out for me. So I went for the very lethal solution of the Windows PowerShell route as Administrator, and was happy to see it was gone when I looked in the list of Apps again. Glad there is that option for Windows 10 apps one really wants to remove. I was hoping to do the same with Microsoft Edge, as I thought it was impertinent when it popped up in my face when I first started Windows 10. I did find a similar PowerShell tutorial, but then the author recommended to keep Microsoft Edge and just not make it the default browser. I then understood, that this is possibly the same as Explorer used to be relative to plenty of apps that actually required Explorer for their existence. Removing it may not be such a good idea and create issues with other apps. So I took the author's advice, BUT then immediately went into the MS Edge settings to untick what needed to be unticked.
When I upgraded to Windows 10 I deliberately chose to keep the apps and data of my Windows 7, just as an experiment to see how Windows 10 would deal with it. I did remove the security and anti-malware software just in case, and had minimal apps. But they were all successfully loaded - so far any way. I still have to work with it to check through all of my apps. Feels strange to call them apps now as with Windows 7 of course they were still software.
What is amazing to me is that I'm not really that upset with my Windows 10 experience yet. Like I thought I would hate the absence of the Windows 7 start menu, but I think the Windows 10 start menu is much better. Gives me almost the feeling of my Tablet. Once one has a hang of the Settings setup, it gets easier. And of course for anything I need I can just Google Google. That is one good thing to be a latecomer. Every one has gone through the pain and is offering a tutorial to help others who go through similar issues. I had full benefit of that tonight, and I'm sure will continue to have this support while I'm working my way through all of what Windows 10 has to offer and stumbling blocks that need to be removed out of the way. Such as updates to be brought under control.
I'm giving myself a few weeks on this, and once I'm ready and used to Windows 10, I'll upgrade my desktop computer as well. I may go for a fresh install though instead of an upgrade.
I'm a late comer to Windows 10. I decided to embark on this journey very carefully first by loading it on an old ThinkPad X201 Laptop that had Windows 7 Professional on it. I hadn't used it in a very long time, and had purchased it second hand in 2016 for experimentation, but never got to that point as this was a pristine Windows 7 with almost no updates on it. It felt like sacrilege to change anything in it.
Any way, after lots of research during the course of which I learned that to upgrade to Windows 10 was still free, this is exactly how the experience turned out for me. All of the steps are well documented every where. You just need to Google it and the tutorials will direct you to Microsoft Download page for downloading the Microsoft Download Media tool. And then it's effortless really, and just lots of patience and waiting. To be honest, if I compare my first Windows 7 download of many years ago, and Windows 10, I have to give kudos to Microsoft for having it so well sorted out with Windows 10. All of it has been effortless. I didn't have to load my License Key. Even though I did have it ready as I made sure I had it on hand before I started the process. But in the end my Windows 10 got automatically activated by Microsoft, probably through the mother board. With my Windows 7 Professional Key. I now have a copy of Windows 10 Professional on my laptop - all of it done by Microsoft during the installation process.
With the upgrade I didn't get a choice for not having Cortana. Toms Guide gave the impression one could disable it, but everything was greyed out for me. So I went for the very lethal solution of the Windows PowerShell route as Administrator, and was happy to see it was gone when I looked in the list of Apps again. Glad there is that option for Windows 10 apps one really wants to remove. I was hoping to do the same with Microsoft Edge, as I thought it was impertinent when it popped up in my face when I first started Windows 10. I did find a similar PowerShell tutorial, but then the author recommended to keep Microsoft Edge and just not make it the default browser. I then understood, that this is possibly the same as Explorer used to be relative to plenty of apps that actually required Explorer for their existence. Removing it may not be such a good idea and create issues with other apps. So I took the author's advice, BUT then immediately went into the MS Edge settings to untick what needed to be unticked.
When I upgraded to Windows 10 I deliberately chose to keep the apps and data of my Windows 7, just as an experiment to see how Windows 10 would deal with it. I did remove the security and anti-malware software just in case, and had minimal apps. But they were all successfully loaded - so far any way. I still have to work with it to check through all of my apps. Feels strange to call them apps now as with Windows 7 of course they were still software.
What is amazing to me is that I'm not really that upset with my Windows 10 experience yet. Like I thought I would hate the absence of the Windows 7 start menu, but I think the Windows 10 start menu is much better. Gives me almost the feeling of my Tablet. Once one has a hang of the Settings setup, it gets easier. And of course for anything I need I can just Google Google. That is one good thing to be a latecomer. Every one has gone through the pain and is offering a tutorial to help others who go through similar issues. I had full benefit of that tonight, and I'm sure will continue to have this support while I'm working my way through all of what Windows 10 has to offer and stumbling blocks that need to be removed out of the way. Such as updates to be brought under control.
I'm giving myself a few weeks on this, and once I'm ready and used to Windows 10, I'll upgrade my desktop computer as well. I may go for a fresh install though instead of an upgrade.