Microsoft's Windows 10 update choices

Microsoft's Windows 10 update choices

This is the first in a series of articles all about Windows 10.

Windows 10 was launched onto the market on 29th July 2015. The good news is that it’s free to upgrade to Windows 10 if your PC is running either Windows 8.1 or Windows 7.1. But is it a worthwhile upgrade for you?

Let’s have a closer look at Windows 10 so we can all make an informed choice.

The first thing to take on board is that the free upgrade offer is only available until 29th July 2016.

If you have Windows 8.1 (on a PC or a phone) there should be no issue in installing Windows 10. If you have Windows 7, you'll need to make sure you meet Windows 10 minimum requirements:

Latest OS: Make sure that you are running the latest version of either Windows 7 SP1 or Windows 8.1 Update.

Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster processor

RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) for 32-bit or 2 GB for 64-bit

Hard Disk Space: 16 GB for 32-bit OS 20 GB for 64-bit OS

Graphics Card: DirectX 9 or later with WDDM 1.0 driver

Minimum Display: 800x600

Even though the free upgrade version of Windows 10 is only available for 12 months, Microsoft has stressed that those updating during this promotional period will be able to use Windows 10 at no cost forever (i.e. for the “supported lifetime of the device"). And when you upgrade, you'll be upgraded to the appropriate version. For example, if you’re running a Professional version of Windows 7 you’ll be upgraded to Windows 10 Professional.

If you're on a version of Windows that can be upgraded you might well have seen an icon appear on your taskbar via Windows Update (providing your machine is up-to-date, of course). Clicking the icon launches a window that enables you to reserve your place in the queue to download the free upgrade.

After the free offer period you will presumably still be able to upgrade your PC, but you will have to purchase an upgrade version of Windows 10.

Next Month - More details about Windows 10 and its new desktop layout.