upgrading

Paul has been waiting for the November update for WIndows 10. He's been waiting to upgrade. Leo says that SP 1, aka "Threshold 2" is out now, so he can upgrade for free and get the November update. Paul wants to know what he can do if he doesn't like Windows 10, though. Leo says that Microsoft gives him 30 days to roll back, but often the roll back button doesn't work. So having his own copy of WIndows 7 to roll back himself would be best. But Leo says he likes it and if he gives it time, he'll probably like it as well.

Larry started upgrading to Windows 10 and it's been frozen for over an hour at 61%. Should he restart it? Leo says that's the worst possible situation as it's definitely frozen. Leo says that OS upgrades will work most of the time, but if it fails 1% of the time, with 111 million upgrades, that's over a million issues. There could be some background processes causing the freeze. But if it's stuck, he's not going to be in worse shape if he turns it off and starts over, especially if he has a backup. It's probably in the process of copying the file and the install hasn't started.

Carol is thinking of upgrading to WIndows 10 but she's worried about compatibility with Quicken 2000. Leo advises to contact Intuit to see if they've updated it to support Windows 10. Looking at the Intuit website, Leo finds that Quicken is focused on testing the latest version of Quicken to make sure it works. Leo guesses that since it's 15 years old, it probably won't. but if it works on Windows 7, why fix what isn't broke? She should stick with Windows 7. She's not missing a whole lot.

Rick is being bothered relentlessly to upgrade to Windows 10. How can he stop that? Leo says that Windows 10 is good and a free upgrade for all Windows 7 and 8 users isn't a bad thing. If he accepts the offer and installs it, he'll still have 30 days to downgrade. But he doesn't have to upgrade if he has Windows 7. If he has Windows 8, on the other hand, he should definitely do it.

Dave is being invited to upgrade to Windows 10, and it's bugging him about it. He's happy with Windows 7, though. Leo says Dave will have up to July 29, 2016 to get the free upgrade. Should he upgrade? Leo says there have been a lot of improvements over Windows 7, and it's far superior to Windows 8. It's more secure and faster. But Windows 7 is pretty rock solid and is going to be supported until 2020.

David hears that you can upgrade from Windows 10 Home to Pro for free. Is that true? Leo says no. If David bought it with Home, then he would have to pay to upgrade to the Pro version, which is about $150. But Leo says that David probably doesn't really need it. He should search for "Compare Windows 10 Editions." It'll show him all the differences, and Leo says there's really not a dimes worth of difference. Even when it comes to security -- they're identical.

Michael bought a Dell computer from Costco running Windows 7. Now he wants to upgrade to Windows 10 and he can't seem to do it. He's been told that the BIOS thinks it's running Windows 8.1 doesn't recognize Windows 7. Leo says he can try running the Windows 10 ISO directly. Michael says he's tried that, but it didn't work. Now Dell wants him to install a new motherboard. Leo says he should take Windows 8.1 recovery disks and get it back to the day it came from the store with Windows 8.1. Then try and Windows 10 upgrade. It should work after that.

Paul is looking to get an iMac or Mac Mini and run Windows on it. Leo says that it really is the best Windows computer out there, so that's a good idea. Paul is wondering when the new models be coming out and can a Mac Mini do it? Leo says that the new iMacs just came out and the Mac Minis were upgraded recently as well, right in the middle of the development schedule. So now's a good time to pull the trigger.

Skip is trying to do a clean install of Windows 10, but it won't take his password, even though he reset it. He talked to Microsoft and the rep said he'd need a new product key. Leo says that's nonsense. Here's how it works, and it's been verified by Paul Thurrot at Thurrott.com. The upgrade is associated to the machine, not the serial number, nor the account. It's the machine.

Roger upgraded his Toshiba laptop for Windows 10 on his own and now it won't use the Quickstart feature. Leo says that's likely due to Roger's impatience in waiting for Microsoft's invitation and compatibility approval and installing a stand alone ISO. Leo recommends downgrading back to Windows 7 and waiting for Microsoft's invitation, or just live without the quick start feature. There's going to be a huge update with Windows 10 coming next month, so he won't have long to wait.