Windows 10 review: The first 24 hours

BGR ^ | July 31, 2015 | Jacob Siegel

[RBStealth]

When I first upgraded to Windows 7 back in 2009, I was shocked. Microsoft had somehow recovered from the mediocrity of Windows Vista and built an operating system that felt like the natural progression from Windows XP. It was clean, it ran better and most importantly, it didn’t try to fix what wasn’t broken.

Then Windows 8 happened.

I was smart/fortunate enough to avoid Windows 8 altogether, but as a fan of new technology, I couldn’t help but feel a little left out. I wanted the latest and greatest, and now, nearly three years later, it has arrived in the form of Windows 10.

Having spent a full day with Windows 10, my first takeaway is that Windows 10 is a sequel to Windows 7 in the same way that 7 was a sequel to XP. All the best elements are still here — the Start menu, the taskbar, the easy-to-use File Explorer — but they’ve been altered just enough to warrant a full-scale upgrade.

[RBStealth]

correction: typo
You have 8.1 and want to know how to get ‘10’.

[kjam22]

Thanks.... I just exported them. I think Monday morning is the right time to do the upgrade. (No reason to ruin a perfectly good sunday afternoon)

[Jack Hydrazine]

Let’s see if anyone can find the upgraded back doors built into the OS for the NSA!

[Dalberg-Acton]

I used the backup utility that comes with Windows 7 to create a backup image on my USB hard drive:
Start > Control Panel > System and Security > Backup and Restore > Create a System Image

It's really easy to make the system image that way. In the process, you will be asked to make a restore CD disk. Do it, you need that to boot the computer.

Here's where I had trouble. When booting from the restore CD, Windows can't find your USB hard drive if it's a USB 3, but can if it's USB 2 or older. I copied my image folder (24 Gig) to an older USB 2.0 hard drive and then the restore program had no problems finding it.

[ErnBatavia]

when someone comes by the house who knows better than you

B>Lordy, I wish we had some teenage kidz around here, but we don't.

Sorry for the confustion re what system I had versus now....just got out of the hospital after suregery and am probably still loaded up with residual mind-blowing goo....

[BikerJoe]

I've had been running it on test machines for a while.

Installed the release on my wife's laptop. Perfect.

Installed the release on my laptop. Uh oh. I ended up with the Home edition instead of Pro, even though I had 8.1 Pro on that machine. Have a call into Microsoft about it. (The machine came with 8 Home, which I upgraded to 8.1 Pro, so maybe it picked up on some leavings).

My main machine is Win 7 and can't be upgraded until I get a new graphics card, which I'll be doing next week.

A lab machine is 8.1 Pro and has been waiting for the upgrade to be available, but so far, nothing, even when I try the tricks to force the upgrade.

I REALLY like Windows 10, just hope to get the rest rolled soon and figure out what to do about that laptop.(Can't upgrade to pro because the pro pack isn't available yet and my MSDN install disks are 'multiple edition', which means they detect what you're running and only install that edition, without offering a chance to upgrade. Frustrating).