Win10

When we were able to download Win10 as a test I decided to stay with Win 7. I am not sure if the Win 10 software was deleted or stored on the PC.

As I am now getting warnings that Win7 security will stop in January I would like to know if Win10 is still in the PC. I do not know where to look for it if it is?

I seem to remeber at the time something being stated that it was not deleted.

Some of my friends are less than pleased to have compulsory Min 10 updates that take all night to load!

I'm on W7 and shall do nothing. The system won't collapse, just not receive updates.

A pal of mine who is into computers, still uses XP. Slow but bug free, and dependable, he says.

Took me a while to come to terms with W7 after XP, so not looking for more frustrations.

Howard

Edited By Howard Lewis on 22/12/2019 18:16:29

If you connect a machine to the internet then keeping the security up to date must be a good idea. If you don’t connect it to the internet or never ever enter personal data then take the risk. Unless you are prepared to work hard at remaining anonymous on the internet then it is remarkable how much of your data can be harvested and put to bad use.

Mike

I got a work computer running Windows 7 but with a twist as it boots from a virtual hard drive. In practice the OS boots from a single big file that presents itself as the C drive to the OS. Thus the entire setup with OS and installed programs can be backed up (and restored) just by copying or replacing said big file.

It was done that way as a way to secure quick restore in case of virus, breaking updates or later installs gone sideways. That is some years ago now, and it is still very stable.

Over time though new programs, drivers and updates might not work with such an old OS, but the machine should work for the current tasks and setup until some physical part fails. 

Edited By Vidar on 22/12/2019 19:19:34

There will be any number of security products available to provide a level of protection on a W7 installation, even though it will no longer be supported by Microsoft; e.g. Avast, AVG, MalwareBytes etc. These are likely to continue with their support for W7, as they are still able to make money out of it.

If however you'd like to update to W10, even though the free period has supposedly expired, I pointed a friend to this method a few months ago. I saw him the other day, when he confirmed all was still OK

Depending on whether this is your main PC or a secondary one, and how much you want to play, it should be possible to come up with a dual boot system of W7 + W10

One method which springs to mind, although slightly convoluted.

Make a full system image of your W7 installation; probably not a bad idea anyway.
upgrade to W10 using the method I linked to earlier.
Use Nirsoft Produkey to find the new W10 COA number, which will now be registered with Microsoft legitimately
Restore your W7 image, and download W10 as a normal bootable ISO, installing it as dual boot; when it asks for the registration number, use the one you previously extracted via Nirsoft.

Another possibility, and I don't know if it would work, is after the upgrade, you used to get something like 30 days to reject it and continue with your earlier Windows install.
Extract new W10 COA number using Nirsoft, reject W10, as you seem to have done previously, and then download the W10 installation USB image.
Install as dual boot, again inputting the Nirsoft extracted number for registration.

Bill

Clive just for something to do I upgrade a laptop running Vista to win 10 ok it's not the fastest but it runs faultlessly, being aware that the free upgrade had finished I purchased a windows key from SCDkey link

It only cost $6 so I was not to concerned if it did not work but it worked out fine, my advice would be to make the jump to win 10 with a clean install.

H

I asked the question on the Windows 10 forum and got these answers which might help.

**LINK**

The company I worked for had over 25,000 NT4 machines installed and a significant IT dept. Eventually they migrated to XP. It is tempting to hang on to something that works satisfactorily but eventually you will need to update as support and functionality will dwindle. The annoying thing is that useful software may not work on the latest version unless you update that as well which usually costs. If you like buggering about with computers then have fun keeping old platforms running but if you just want a tool that works then keep up to date. Migrating to W10 is not too painful and one day you will probably have to. Not many people use a model T as their daily transport.

Mike

I have a recent copy of Linux Ubuntu and found it is quite easy to get on with, a lot of similarities with the Windows controls. The advantage is that it is free and more secure than most.

I just managed to rebuild a nice P4 2.7 GHz machine using a few spare 120Gb hard discs that have been stored for over 10 years.

Using the original Windows XP CD's and activation codes the Microsoft employee (phone Asia for dumb help) told me to upgrade to win 10 as support for Win XP is discontinued,..... Not much help there, even though I paid for the software! I don't want support, I just want to run the software that I paid good money for! Maybe a refund would be nice?

As I am running dedicated engine diagnostic software that does not work with Win 10 and it works very well with Win XP (even uses serial port) then then I was forced to go online and find a hack for this problem.

Apparently I am not alone, just search for 'activating windows xp'

* Danny M *

I run Win 10 and have no problems. However, I also have the free "Oracle Virtual Box" loaded with all the old XP programs , data etc transferred from an older computer. I prefer some of my older software - Lotus, autocad sketch, etc because I am comfortable with it & cannot be bothered to upgrade.It also means that I can still access old data easily

I also run Win 10 and have absolutely no problems with it.

Operating Systems are quite complex these days but also secure. So my understanding was (I worked in IT but have been retired for a while) that most professional 'Hackers' don't bother looking for security flaws, they simply wait for system updates (often designed to solve reported problems) and then seek to exploit the problems reported. They do this in the sure knowledge that there will be lot's of folk (including large businesses) who for whatever reason, have not updated their systems.

So, make sure you accept updates as they become available and if you must use old software, then use Windows compatibility mode or find a suitable Virtual Machine to run it on.

If you wish to stay on an 'unsupported' OS, then just be aware of this issue and (preferably) stay away from the Internet - or very much restrict what you do with that system on it.

And of course, even if you have all the latest OS updates, anti-virus etc - it will not protect you from yourself. So stay away from dodgy downloads, pornography, "free" gambling/games and anything else your Browser advises isn't safe!

Regards,

IanT

As an aside, can you downgrade from W10 to W7 on a preinstalled laptop?

Happy Christmas to all. Mark P.

A common misperception. Consumers don't get to buy Microsoft software in the sense they own it outright. It's licensed, albeit on fairly generous terms. Whilst you are allowed to run it out of support on antique hardware or an emulator, keeping it working is your problem, not theirs!

It's a cruel world, even at Christmas!

Danny M2Z you have a message in your in box

Finally decided to bite the bullet and upgrade my old Dell XPS8500 desktop from Win 7 Pro to Win10 Pro 64 bit. The PC is quite high spec with i7-3770 3.5Ghz processor, 16Gb RAM and 1Gb SSD primary hard drive, 2TB second drive and a pair of 27" flat screen monitors so did not want to ruin the machine. Did this with much trepidation having read lots on Dell forums where people had had issues with drivers etc. I was pleasantly surprised as it all went smoothly. I had backed up my outlook .pst file and my download and a few other bits as most data is stored elsewhere.

Biggest surprise was not being asked for a licence number. I had bought a MS Windows 10 Pro licence ready for the upgrade. Cocked up when read the suppliers advert and brought a French pack. I just did not spot where it said French only. It does not really matter as it is only the pack in French and the licence applies to any install. May well use pack if required to update my spare backup laptop from lovely XP and keep it in workshop.

Colin

Colin, related to what I mentioned previously, Your W7 installation was valid on the Microsoft authentication servers (however they work). They will still recognise your upgrade, even though the free period has apparently elapsed.
Your new COA, or Digital Licence number, is different to your old W7 one, and can be extracted using the Nirsoft link I mentioned earlier.
If you need to reinstall W10, then you're unlikely to be asked for the new number as it's done over the internet, where you will be asked to log into your Microsoft account to re-authenticate.
If you later decide that this PC will not be connected to the internet, you will need that number for a re-install.

When my old MOBO died recently, I was even able to re-authenticate the installation on the new different MOBO

Bill

Bill,

Many Thanks. Licence Product Keys now extracted and saved.

Can now use pack to upgrade my XP laptop for workshop use.

Colin

Mark P, I believe you can only revert to W7 if the machine originally had it and was then "upgraded" to W10, not if the pc came with W10 from new.                                                                                                                                              I did this with an old pc and used an ISO of the appropriate W7 for a clean install, the only choice was 32 or 64 bit.

Edited By old mart on 31/12/2019 15:10:07

Thanks, looks like I'm stuck with W10 then.

Mark P.