Goodbye, Windows 7 - and how to get Windows 10 for free?

[otherego]

Today sees the end of support for Windows 7. Sadly, I'm old enough for ten years to seem a very short time, and I think poor old W7 probably feels the same.

Plenty of scary stuff on the horrors that await those who continue to run W7 should they ever use it on the internet - but what to do, if one is in no position to spend lots of money on a new computer, or even on a Windows 10 licence?

According to several sites, it's still possible to obtain W10 free, provided you are running an activated instance of W7. I was going to give it a try this evening, but lost patience trying to update the W7 installation in question. (It hadn't been booted for a year.)It might not be necessary to update W7 fully - I really don't know.

I might have another go another day. Whether Microsoft will continue to allow this (be it ever so unofficially) remains to be seen, now that W7 hold-outs find themselves in scary waters...

A few articles describing upgrading Windows 7 to Windows 10 for free:

https://www.howtogeek.com/266072/you-can-still-get-windows-10-for-free-with-a-windows-7-8-or-8.1-key...

https://www.zdnet.com/article/heres-how-you-can-still-get-a-free-windows-10-upgrade/

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/free-windows-10-upgrade-still-works-many-windows-7-users-heres-how/

The best bet for most folk is probably to upgrade to Linux, but if you're stuck with programs or sites that can only run on Windows, or genuinely prefer Windows, those articles might be worth a look.

[*scyllabub*]

Hello, OE 🙂  Coincidentally I sent the HowToGeek page to a friend yesterday, it does look quite straightforward.

Typically thoughtful of you to post here!

Best wishes!

[cee-dee]

Up to a point, aren't some of the "warnings" a bit of scaremongering to get people to either pay for Win 10 or a new PC?

Reason for asking is because some people are still using XP or Vista without problems. Perhaps they're OK because they don't visit dodgy sites or attract unwelcome attention from troublemakers?

[rell6534]

Hi OE

Useful links there, thank you.

I took the plunge and updated my Win7 HP laptop and I must say I'm pleasantly surprised with the result.

It took several hours from start to finish and the laptop takes a little bit longer to wake up now, but that's ok.

I chose the keep files and settings option (after clearing the junk and backing up) and I have retained the Windows Photo Gallery + other programmes which I prefer to the new versions, so I'm particularly happy about that.

Just a couple of points for anyone upgrading, Microsoft Edge is set as the default browser so if you don't want that you will have to
change it in Default Settings. Whether you plan to use Edge or not it may be a good idea to check that its settings suit your needs -
they certainly didn't suit mine!

Also, after running your AV and Malwarebytes etc. it's probably best to run a full scan with Superantispyware or something similar, I
had managed to pick up more than 200 items of adware, goodness knows how, they certainly weren't there before.

Apart from that so far so good.

[snowdrop857]

I still have windows 7 but have the latest anti virus

I wonder if strange problem i had today has anything to do with me still using windows 7

Today when i was logging on i was asked to comfirm my primary phone, which showed up on my screen. I confirmed and then went onto ebay website. I thought it was strange and i never been asked this question before.

I later went into my live mail in box and saw a email from eBay

We've updated your info

Thanks for updating you primary phone. If you didn't make this change, please contact us

I didn't click on the contact us link.

I received a second email from eBay saying  You're almost finished!

Confim your new eBay registered email address with this button and you're ready to go.

Confirm emails address   i didn't click on the link as it didn't seem right.

I sent the second email to spoof@ebay.co.uk

I got a reply back saying most likely  the message you received was not sent to you by eBay

Remember that you can always read your messages in my eBay to see if an email is really from eBay.

I went back into my eBay account to check any emails in the in box and there was no emails from eBay, which looks like that both emails was scams. What worry me did some hack into my account went i was logging in.

Please can someone give me some advice as soon as possible Thank you

[zoomingmouse]

Thank you - I'm now upgraded with Windows 10 at no extra cost

[otherego]

How nice to see some life on this board - thanks, folk.

I finally gave it a go. Two of the old relics (Thinkpad T61s) had no trouble at all. An old Toshiba Satellite U300, on the other hand, just can't hack it.

Infuriatingly, it fails every time just as it's supposed to be finishing - some mysterious fault involving data migration. I suspect this might be something to do with it not liking my partition set-up, with data folders having been set up on a separate partition during installation.

One can't help wishing that the installer would check for potential difficulties BEFORE starting the long process.

All part of the fun, though, and I'll give it a couple more tries. I've increased the size of the system partition, and converted the data partition from a logical to a primary partition. Since I suspect the problem lies with the data being linked (simlinks?) to C: drive during installation, I'm not hugely optimistic - and have no idea how to shift the data folders to C: The internet hasn't helped so far!

A quick side-note - I tried the MiniTool Partition Wizard during my efforts. Very impressive - easy to use, fast and didn't even need a restart. Best of all, the free version was able to convert a logical to a primary partition. Probably of no interest to normal folk, but for those who enjoy messing about without too much expertise, it's a useful addition to one's Windows programs. More gen here, if anyone's interested:

https://www.techsupportalert.com/content/minitool-partition-wizard.htm

As far as the need to move off Windows 7 is concerned, I'm sure CD's concerns echo those of lots of users:

"Up to a point, aren't some of the "warnings" a bit of scaremongering to get people to either pay for Win 10 or a new PC?

Reason for asking is because some people are still using XP or Vista without problems. Perhaps they're OK because they don't visit dodgy sites or attract unwelcome attention from troublemakers?"

I honestly don't know.

Generally, reputable sites and writers seem agreed that using outdated and unsupported software is a Bad Thing. Bear in mind that even Windows 10 uses bits of code dating back to XP and Vista. The baddies don't even need to reverse-engineer the unsupported operating systems. They simply need to reverse-engineer Microsoft's updates to see what bits of code can be exploited - and if those bits are in XP/Vista/W7, then those systems are suddenly very vulnerable.

One of my concerns about W10 is that it changes so fast that older computers might find themselves unable to run it before too long. At least it gives them a little protection for a while longer, though.

(And the Toshiba is just "Undoing changes made to your computer" for the fourth time. Grrr.)

Interesting experience on rell's part - 200 items of adware - Yuk! Useful comments about Edge. I think I'll stick to Firefox, but haven't tried it yet.

Good advice from Snowdrop, I thought. Trouble is, companies like eBay and Paypal have trained so many users to rely on the convenience of clicking on links in e-mails... Apologies if they no longer do that, of course.

Mouse, I hope it works OK. I used Macrium Reflect to make backup images of W7 before I started on this, but you DO get some time (10 days? a month?) to revert to W7 if you so wish.

I think.

Now to see whether I can log in without the Captcha stuff driving me doolally first.

(I did. Just. A real pain writing posts out first on a text editor, in case taking too long over them boots me out and leaves me having to log back in. How i DESPISE ReCaptcha. As for those responsible - to quote from an old comic - may their ducks sink.)

[zoomingmouse]

---

@otherego wrote:

to quote from an old comic - may their ducks sink.)

[*scyllabub*]

---

@snowdrop857 wrote:

I later went into my live mail in box and saw a email from eBay

We've updated your info

Thanks for updating you primary phone. If you didn't make this change, please contact us

I didn't click on the contact us link.

etc...

I sent the second email to spoof@ebay.co.uk

I got a reply back saying most likely  the message you received was not sent to you by eBay

etc...

Please can someone give me some advice as soon as possible Thank you

---

I had a suspicious email from PayPal and sent it off to them - I got the usual fairly instant response with routine holding advice, then later another email saying "about the suspicious website you visited"... which I had NOT!

It doesn't sound to me as tho your email was a scam, however - just go to eBay.co.uk and log into your account there and change your password, to be on the safe side 🙂 

[*scyllabub*]

EDGE

As you may know, but just i case you don't 🙂 ... Edge is being "rewritten" with Chromium as its base and it will be able to accept Chrome extensions.  We should all be updated soon, some have already been (I think it's version 74********) but I was not via the latest Win10 update*...

*But that update did fix the horrendous problems I'd been having with malfunctioning picture and video editors, I was on the verge of reinstalling Windows for the second time recently, I think the problem must have been caused 2 updates before this latest one. 

Don't you think that Microsoft should compensate us for the tech hell they put us thru?  The wasted time, the angst, the frustration !!! !!! !!!  And the public humiliation when you ask about the problem on a tech forum and gurus say that you must have done something to cause the problem

[snowdrop857]

I have already changed my password

[cockneydevil]

---

@*scyllabub* wrote:

EDGE

As you may know, but just i case you don't 🙂 ... Edge is being "rewritten" with Chromium as its base and it will be able to accept Chrome extensions.  We should all be updated soon, some have already been (I think it's version 74********) but I was not via the latest Win10 update*...

*But that update did fix the horrendous problems I'd been having with malfunctioning picture and video editors, I was on the verge of reinstalling Windows for the second time recently, I think the problem must have been caused 2 updates before this latest one. 

Don't you think that Microsoft should compensate us for the tech hell they put us thru?  The wasted time, the angst, the frustration !!! !!! !!!  And the public humiliation when you ask about the problem on a tech forum and gurus say that you must have done something to cause the problem

---

I have both W7 and W10 laptops , 
TBF I'd use 7 over 10 any day of the week , aside from anything else ,MICROSOFT tinkering with DRM to make older games unplayable on 10 ,is beyond the pale for me 
I also find my w7 laptop is twice as quick as the w10 one , even though that is a much quicker one according to specs 

Aside from anything else , has no one here got any misgivings about MS giving away stuff for free ?
Not allaying myself with conspiricy theorists or anything , but between smartphones , active speakers and new tracking software in windows , facebook and others .
The government knows when you poo now , how often and how long for .......

1984 and all that , eh ?

[cee-dee]

Further to my comment about scaremongering..... One thing people forget is that there's always some time between Windows updates so there's really no need for panic?

However..... I've updated my Win 7 PC to Win 10 now. It took a long time! I started around 10am and it was still mucking about at 1:30pm but it completed OK. It would have been helpful if there'd been more "messages" saying what it was doing instead of appearing to be static (until you saw the drive light was on or flashing).

Towards the end, it appeared to have completed but was still "doing something" after it had said it had finished the installation.

If you've only one computer you're going to be stuck for a while and you can't just start it off, clear off and leave it to it as you've got to respond to a few things particularly if you don't want this, that or the other being "reported back" to Microsoft.

[cee-dee]

I had to do some tinkering to get things the same as this laptop BUT.... the PC is much slower now.

When it was running Win 7, I could never get a sound to play when an email arrived, a notification arrived OK but with no sound and since it's been on Win 10 I still can't get any sound when an email arrives. This Win 10 laptop has sound though????

OK, some folks don't want/like sound when a mail arrives but I do because sometimes I've a full screen in Word and when I'm busy, I wouldn't know a mail had arrived.

[cee-dee]

Well now, here's a shock for you?

Yesterday the drive light came on and nothing worked. Eventually I forced a shutdown and started up again. It seemed OK for the rest of the day but today, after starting up it was fine for a while and then.... the drive light came on and stayed on. Nothing worked. I tried leaving it. Still on and nothing worked. I tried task manager to see what was going on, that eventually showed up after right clicking the task bar but everything was at zero or .1%.

I tried removing a few things I no longer needed after I'd forced another shutdown and started up again but eventually the drive light came on and stayed on and nothing worked again.

In the meantime I'd checked for viruses & etc and found 54 trackers!!!!! I'd cleared everything yesterday too!

There seemed to be nothing running that I could find sooooo.............. wait for it..... I uninstalled Win 10!!!!

Wocher make of that episode?

[otherego]

Interesting, CD.

W10 is touted as being very secure, and it's a little worrying if it picks nasties up that readily. A couple of queries, if I might.

Did you run an AV scan before starting the transition from W7 to W1? I assume that if you elect to "keep everything," then that would include any viruses and other nasties as long as they were W10 compatible.

Were you using W10's own antivirus and firewall - and if not, what were you using? It might be useful to know what actually works and what doesn't. (In addition - did you find the trackers with an anti-virus scan, or did you use something like Malwarebytes or Spybot?)

Last query - no need to answer any, but it might help others - did you revert to Windows 7? If you did, it might be instructive to hear how you did it. I know W10 bins the windows.old folder after a while, but that it can be used to go back to a previously installed version of Windows if one's quick enough.

(POXY reCaptcha. And then, yet again, eBay tries to get me to set "secret questions." Mutter, mutter, mutter.)

[otherego]

My score is 2/4, so far.

The old Toshiba Satellite kept getting just about to the end, then bombing out with some problem migrating data. It would then spend some time returning the computer to its former state.

My partitioning set-up during W7 installation might just have been the cause of the problem, but goodness knows. I tried all sorts of things to try to get everything on the 😧 partition back on to C: but couldn't shift the appdata folder. I could copy it, but the system still looked for it on D. No idea whether that was a factor.

After really borking the system a few times with my playing around (Macrium Reflect really is most useful - less than half an hour to restore things to the way they were), I thought I'd try something different - reinstalling W7 from scratch, with the most basic partition scheme possible. I suppose W10 will now throw a thrombie because I didn't include a 100MB system partition at the beginning.

*Sigh*

Once it's updated, I'll have another bash. Probably make yet another Macrium image first.

The whole Windows activation thing is interesting. When I first replaced Vista with W7 on the Toshiba, telephone activation was necessary, and I rather expected a repeat performance. Once I entered the 25-character thingy, though, it activated quite happily online. Presumably telephonic activations are preserved on the activation servers. Or something.

The fourth computer I tried to convert from W7 to W10 is an old EeePC 901. (I LOVE the old EeePCs. A good thing, since there must be a couple of dozen of the delightful little antiques - mostly the very basic 4Gs - lying around here...)

It didn't even bother with an error code or anything - just confessed that the installation had failed. Probably pretty cruel trying to force something like this on the little Eee - goodness knows how the person I bought it from shoehorned W7 onto a 16GB drive. I shifted it to a 32 GB drive, but this is still hardly generous.

If I have any joy with the Toshiba - the W7 updates are taking AGES - I'll bore you with that in due course...

[cee-dee]

Hi OE, I'm, glad you've replied. I used Malwarebytes and AVG. When I had Win 10, I used what comes with it, is it Windows defender? I did elect to keep everything.

Everything was OK for a day or two and then......

I reverted to Win 7. You have 10 days to revert. TBQH I was so annoyed I forget what I did, I think there's a revert link somewhere. There's a few MS questions about why you're reverting but the process was pretty quick.

One thing.... I was using Waterfox. When I got Win 10 I was going to use Edge so I uninstalled Waterfox.

When I went back to Win 7 I had to use IE to get it. Since I got WF back, I've used MWB a couple of times and there were no trackers.

[cee-dee]

Microsoft have pulled update KB4524244 for Win 10 as it's caused lotsa problems.

I've just checked, thankfully I've not had that update.