Windows 10 is here!

You’ve heard about it! You’ve wanted it! Windows 10 is here. NOW! How do you get it? You can go buy it. Or, if you have Windows 7 or Windows 8, you can get it for FREE, as long as you upgrade within the first year of its release. This FREE upgrade offer, according to Microsoft, is scheduled to expire, at this time, at the end of July 2016. If you still have XP, most likely, your PC will not support 10 and you will need to look at purchasing a newer model PC. If you have Vista, you can upgrade to 7 fairly cheap and then you can get 10 for free. The free upgrades for 7 and 8 are for all versions except Enterprise (Corporate) versions. Some of you may have noticed the small white Windows logo in your system tray (by your clock) over the last several months.  For those of you who clicked on it, or opened it, you know that it was a pre-registration/check list type of thing to make sure your PC was compatible with 10 and to allow you to get notifications when it was available. The original roll-out date for everyone was July 29th, 2015. That date was changed slightly the week or two before that date. The most common reason, seems to be due to the anticipated requests for the upgrade and Microsoft didn’t want to crash their servers. The automatic release on July 29th, 2015 went to the beta testers first who helped “proof” 10. The next wave of auto releases is going to individuals and companies who have pre-purchased 10 and the final automatic release will go to everyone who has clicked on the logo in their system tray and requested the upgrade. The last release is presumed to be around the end of September or October. The wait to get 10 is the down side. The upside? You can get 10 now if you want it. It is still FREE and you don’t have to wait. For those of you who did request the free upgrade and supplied Microsoft with your email address, you should have received an email a little while back about your upgrade. If you read all the way to the bottom part of that email, there was a link on how to get 10, if you just couldn’t wait any longer. That link will take you a page that allows you to make an installation disc (DVD) or a bootable USB flash drive. You will have to know which version of 10 that you need for your upgrade, etc. Once you get that file on your PC, you can then choose to do a “live” upgrade or create the installation media for use later. Of course, you will have to have a DVD burner and a blank media if you choose that option or a blank, minimum 4 GB flash drive. BEWARE. If you do a “live” upgrade on your PC will take approximately four hours and, if you create the installation media, it will take approximately three hours. For part of either one, you can still use your PC, but will have to sit and wait for the other half. Overall, the process is almost completely automated. There are also a few issues with the upgrade “breaking” Office 2013 and requiring a repair installation of Office 2013 to regain functionality. We have successfully upgraded several PC’s to Windows 10, one of which there was no issue with Office 2013 and one did have to have a repair installation performed. Also, once the upgrade is done, we have learned that there are a few system settings and tweaks that will help your overall Windows 10 experience. If all of this sounds confusing to you and you really, really want to get away from Windows 8, or even Windows 7 and you don’t want to tackle this by yourself, we can help. Remember, Windows 10, according to Microsoft, is the last operating system that you will have to install or upgrade to. We are offering the opportunity for our customers, and potential new ones, to perform the upgrade for you for a nominal fee, due to the amount of time that it takes. All you need is a valid Windows installation that has been activated and authenticated (Genuine Microsoft seal.) You will need to bring your laptop or PC (including keyboard, mouse, monitor and power cables) to our office, after scheduling a time with us. If you are using any version of Office, you will need to bring your installtion media and license key in case of an issue with Office. Due to the amount of time it takes, be prepared to leave your equipment with us for at least one business day. We will not do onsite upgrades, again, due to the amount of time it takes for the upgrade. If you are interested in having us upgrade your Windows 7 or 8 PC or laptop to Windows 10, please contact us via email at [email protected] for pricing and time availability.