Should I get Win 10 or upgrade from 7 or 8.1

[Timebirds12]

I am making a new computer and I was thinking, should I buy Windows 10 or just upgrade?
I could either buy Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 and then upgrade to 10 right? That would be cheaper I believe.

If I got Windows 7 or 8.1 after Windows 10 has been released I could still upgrade right? And it would be a permanent upgrade or just a 1 year trial?

Sorry I am kind of confused with the new Win coming out.

Thanks!

 

[JackNaylorPE]

It was originally announced that newegg would be selling retail Win 10 on August 21....

http://www.i4u.com/2015/05/91839/newegg-leaks-windows-10-release-date-august-31

however, looking today, they say July 31.... so if ya can wait ...

Maybe August is the one w/ Physical media since no shipping cost listed on the egg

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=Windows+10&N=-1&isNodeId=1

I'd strongly suggest Pro if you don't want updates force fed to you.

 

[SchizTech]

The price difference won't be much. As to the upgrade, it is not a trial: it is a permanent copy which happens to be a free upgrade during a one year period.

 

[Timebirds12]

It was originally announced that newegg would be selling retail Win 10 on August 21.... however, looking today, they say July 31.... so if ya can wait ...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=Windows+10&N=-1&isNodeId=1

I'd strongly suggest Pro if you don't want uodates force fed to you.

What do you mean by the updates? Is there a mayor difference between pro and home?

 

[USAFRet]

Updating from 7 or 8.1, or starting with Win 10 is no difference. If you upgrade from 7 or 8.1, you can then to a full clean install of 10.
Same thing as buying Win 10 from the start.

It is a permanent upgrade. It does not go away after a year.

As far as Home or Pro...current statements suggest that Home users will have security patches pushed, whether you want them or not. This may or may not be a good thing.
Pro will probably give you the option of delaying that patch.

But Pro is more expensive, so...

 

[ronintexas]

It looks like all the "special prices" for Windows 7/8/8.1 are gone....Several places have it for $89.99 plus shipping - which puts it almost the same as Windows 10 at $99.99.

 

[SchizTech]

It was originally announced that newegg would be selling retail Win 10 on August 21.... however, looking today, they say July 31.... so if ya can wait ...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=Windows+10&N=-1&isNodeId=1

I'd strongly suggest Pro if you don't want uodates force fed to you.

What do you mean by the updates? Is there a mayor difference between pro and home?

Pro adds a few features that Home lacks, though many aren't commonly used or needed by home users. As such Pro is more expensive. What the other user was referring to is the recent disclosure that Win 10 Home won't have an option to disable automatic updates.

While those regular updates are a pain in the ass, they are also critical to keep the system secure. Studies show many serious malware strains attack vulnerabilities that were fixed with an update months or years ago but many users are still vulnerable because their PCs are out of date.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Windows has "Windows Update" which is how you get fixes for vulnerabilities and upgrades / updates.

With Home, when they come out, they are force fed onto your computer ... and if it causes a problem ... tough noogies.

With Pro, when they come out, you have the option to be notified that there are new updates and you decide when / if they get loaded onto your computer. You then get to see what problems arise from the update, if any, and if no warnings come out, you can install a few days later or elect not to install something.

For example, XP SP1 broke AutoCAD and many engineering forms had staff sitting around twiddling the thumbs for 3 days till a fix came out. When this happens it's usually well publicized in the usual locations. It cost some firms in excess of $250k

Businesses can't afford force feeding as it too often costs them lotsa cash. MS has decided it knows best ..... so the users who don't take care of their machines get "protected" of sorts... but the ones who do get punished.

Remember how MS said the upgrade was free ? .... MS will make out like bandit now...all those whi saved $40 getting home version now will pay $90 fr the anytime upgrade

 

[ronintexas]

Microsoft has gotten better with their updates. Once in a while (about once every 18-24 months) something happens that has a negative impact. Since the "home" version is $99 and the "pro" version is $199 - is it worth $100 to get the delayed updates?

I have helped thousands of people with their computers over the years. The number one issue in most PC's I have to fix? Software is not up to date. This can be the OS, programs on the computer, anti-virus, etc....

And in almost every case where Microsoft has issued updates where stuff was broken - it was a few days until a fix was generated....

 

[Timebirds12]

It was originally announced that newegg would be selling retail Win 10 on August 21.... however, looking today, they say July 31.... so if ya can wait ...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=Windows+10&N=-1&isNodeId=1

I'd strongly suggest Pro if you don't want uodates force fed to you.

What do you mean by the updates? Is there a mayor difference between pro and home?

Pro adds a few features that Home lacks, though many aren't commonly used or needed by home users. As such Pro is more expensive. What the other user was referring to is the recent disclosure that Win 10 Home won't have an option to disable automatic updates.

While those regular updates are a pain in the ass, they are also critical to keep the system secure. Studies show many serious malware strains attack vulnerabilities that were fixed with an update months or years ago but many users are still vulnerable because their PCs are out of date.

That doesn't seem like a big problem. I would just go with the home version because of the price then.

 

[gangrel]

If you want to get the system up and running, go ahead and get 7 or 8.1; I think 8.1 installs and does the (massive) initial update a little better. But note, BOTH of them take multiple hours to get, and particularly install, all the updates. They're rather old at this point.

There are subtle differences between Home and Pro, mostly I think with respect to networking. Home has fewer options and is less flexible...which means you get what Microsoft thinks you need, because you're not competent to know what to do anyway. I think what Schiz is suggesting is, Windows Update runs automatically and installs critical updates automatically...I think that might be true by default, but I believe, even in Home, that you can change that.

EDIT: noted that someone said this option is going to be gone in Win 10. That is annoying, and I think MS is gonna hear about it. It WILL cause problems for some, when the system forces a reboot.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

It's not $100 more, it's $40 more.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832588491
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832416892

The other thing is Pro )at least in Win 7) runs old programs and games ,..... Home doesn't have XP compatibility mode.

We have 12 puters here....with Home, 5 can use network resources at a time.

Given the thing being just 2 weeks away, I'd wait .... upgrades are not an ideal scenario. problems often result and crap is inevitably left behind. Fresh Install always results in a better, more efficient installation.

 

[gangrel]

Here's an article discussing the differences between Win 10 Home and Pro:
http://www.howtogeek.com/222458/should-you-upgrade-to-the-professional-edition-of-windows-10/

I really dislike the unexpected reboot that can occur on a system update, because it doesn't restart any background programs you might have. So I will probably consider upgrading...but yeah, it is a total GOUGE job by M$.

 

[SchizTech]

Here's an article discussing the differences between Win 10 Home and Pro:
http://www.howtogeek.com/222458/should-you-upgrade-to-the-professional-edition-of-windows-10/

I really dislike the unexpected reboot that can occur on a system update, because it doesn't restart any background programs you might have. So I will probably consider upgrading...but yeah, it is a total GOUGE job by M$.

In recent releases MS seems to have adapted a bit by letting users have more control over when the restart happens. What I've seen in Win 10 previews is that once an update is ready for a restart, Windows update in the Settings app offers to schedule a restart for when it's convenient.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

It's not bad when you have 1 puter, but we have 12 here....when an upgrade goes awry, PITA to run around and try to a) uninstall it, b) try and fix what it broke or c) restore 12 systems ... especially on the employee boxes.... they get paid for waiting

 

[SchizTech]

It's not bad when you have 1 puter, but we have 12 here....when an upgrade goes awry, PITA to run around and try to a) uninstall it, b) try and fix what it broke or c) restore 12 systems ... especially on the employee boxes.... they get paid for waiting

I'm in a different corner of the industry (lowly repair tech / the guy pc users go to for virus removal) where I constantly see systems with software (Windows and otherwise) way out of date. I agree MS has to clean up their broken update system but there are too many people out there who completely ignore updates.

 

[gangrel]

Here's an article discussing the differences between Win 10 Home and Pro:
http://www.howtogeek.com/222458/should-you-upgrade-to-the-professional-edition-of-windows-10/

I really dislike the unexpected reboot that can occur on a system update, because it doesn't restart any background programs you might have. So I will probably consider upgrading...but yeah, it is a total GOUGE job by M$.

In recent releases MS seems to have adapted a bit by letting users have more control over when the restart happens. What I've seen in Win 10 previews is that once an update is ready for a restart, Windows update in the Settings app offers to schedule a restart for when it's convenient.

That's acceptable, as you are gonna have to reboot (at times) anyway. And you'll be able to shut down, reboot, restart quickly. Now, to be sure, my antipathy to this was work-related...at times, I'd be running some data processing that took multiple hours, perhaps even 2 independent copies each running hours, including certain reports based on all the processed data. Rebooting 2/3 of the way through that was...painful. Probably the only time it'd be a real issue for me, is when I'm doing major downloads, or updating the maps on my Garmin (that's about 2 Gb of download).

 

[USAFRet]

That's acceptable, as you are gonna have to reboot (at times) anyway. And you'll be able to shut down, reboot, restart quickly. Now, to be sure, my antipathy to this was work-related...at times, I'd be running some data processing that took multiple hours, perhaps even 2 independent copies each running hours, including certain reports based on all the processed data. Rebooting 2/3 of the way through that was...painful. Probably the only time it'd be a real issue for me, is when I'm doing major downloads, or updating the maps on my Garmin (that's about 2 Gb of download).

The number of times I've been inadvertently kicked on Win 8.1 due to an update reboot is maybe once...
And that was only when I ignored the "Hey...we're going to reboot tomorrow morning to apply recent updates"

Now...what exactly will happen with Windows 10? We shall have to wait and see.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

No argument from me .... I do what you do but do it for free ... My S-I-L machines have been here a couple of times.... 1200 infections. I miss DOS days when I did a fix and it stayed fixed..... I remember arguments with windows where I would delete a misbehaving driver only to have it pop right back

I usually install Patch Tuesday's updates over the weekend where if something happens, It's not during working hours. I also scan for program updates (Secunia) and Belarc . Dumbing down Windows certainly keep uninformed users from getting into trouble but it also handcuffs knowledgeable ones from keep the machine lean and mean.

Try this:

Use disk cleanup and have it clean out all temp and dump files
Now use search to find all *.tmp files on C:\ ... I just found 16,234

Do a search on *.* on C:\
Rank the files by size with biggest at top
See how many *.exe install files you have for drivers, app upgrades etc.
See how many old log files you have and how many copies of each

This dumbing down is why 250 GB has become the "go to" SSD size