windows 10 question

[Karen]

Ive managed to repair my laptop which just stopped working about a year ago. Its running windows 7. I just spent most of the day installing windows updates and service pack 1. Now when i press check for updates it just keeps checking...and checking. Im trying to prompt it to update to windows 10. Any ideas?

[Beaux Reflets]

I think you can download Windows 10 direct from the Microsoft web site - Not sure how much Ram (live memory) you will need though.

[SimonW]

Hi Karen,

If your machine really is CHECKING for updates rather than downloading one the problem might not be Windows 10 related, but perhaps a communication (WiFi) failure. Shutting down completely and restarting might solve it. But it might be that although it is saying "checking" it is in reality downloading Windows 10, which might take several hours if your internet connection and/or Wifi links aren't superfast.

You should also check the Microsoft site and also the site of your laptop's manufacturer to ensure that it is actually compatible with Windows 10. (Sony have recently issued a warning that some of their recent machines cannot currently run Windows 10).

But on the other hand why bother? I've had a really awful experience going from 7 to 10 which has caused immense worry, frustration and days of wasted time. That's with a high-spec fully compatible machine only a year old. It's still not fully right, but at least it's usable and I've manged to re-install all my Apps. However, while Windows 10 is a huge improvement compared to Windows 8, it really is no better - and in some ways it's worse - than Windows 7. My advice would be to stick with Windows 7 for now. Wait at least until Microsoft's first major update to 10 which is promised for November, or even till shortly before the July 2016 cut off date for the free upgrade.

Simon

[anglefire]

Both my main PC (Was Win7) and the youngests Laptop (Was Win8) upgraded fine - couple of minor driver issues in both cases.

Much better than Win8 - and some things in W10 I prefer over W7 - icons at the bottom of both my displays.

The only irritation has been Run Broker which ends up using a lot of ram and processing time - shut the process down and alls well again - though its not restarted now for a day or so, so not sure why or what has changed. Might have been a minor update the other day, but fingers crossed it remains sorted.

I can't think of anything that is worse than W7 - but that could just be the way I use it!

[Karen]

I have windows 10 on main pc and love it. I wondered if it was perhaps actually downloading 10. Ill leave it on all day and see what happens