Decided to wait a couple of weeks to see how forum members fared with there upgrade to win 10, so read a few win 10 reviews in the forum. Some fared not to bad others reported drivers or apps not working, also crashing, slow boot up and no activation once upgrade was done.
So as my 8.1 OS install was over a year old and was working ok but decided to do a clean install of 8.1 making sure my drivers, apps, games were right upto date. It just takes me a couple of hours to do a fresh install when completed l made sure everything was working 100% before l upgraded.
But doing a fresh install you lose the upgrade option to get it back see below-
Go to windows updates-
Click Choose how updates get installed > Under Important updates, choose the option that you want.
Select the Give me recommended updates the same way I receive important updates check box.
Them select the Give me updates for other Microsoft products when I update Windows check box, click Apply.
Once automatic updates are enabled, launch Command Prompt in Administrator mode and enter the following command: ** wuauclt.exe/updatenow ** that should trigger the Windows 10 download wait a few minutes.
How to start a command prompt as an administrator:
Click Start, click All Programs, and then click Accessories.
Right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator.
If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Continue.
http://www.windowscentral.com/windows-10-upgrade-not-showing-yet-heres-how-manually-trigger-update
Once that is done do this so you don't have to wait for the notification to upgrade see below-
First back up all your files and data just in case, if you're on Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 then head over to Microsoft's Windows 10 download page. Depending which version of Windows your on then download the 32-bit tool or the 64-bit version. You can check your Windows version by right clicking start > click control panel then system at the top it will tell you which OS version your on or right click start then system.
Run the tool and then select the upgrade your PC option, Windows 10 will start downloading and once it's ready you'll be presented with three options: keep personal files and apps, keep personal files only, and nothing. Select the first option ** keep personal files and apps ** to ensure your PC upgrades and you keep your files and applications. Windows 10 will start installing after a few reboots and customizations once upgrade is done check device manager to see that all is ok then check your apps .
If you decide Windows 10 is not for you and want to go back to Win8.1 or Win 7 then you can safely restore by going to settings > update & security > and choose the option to go back to Win 7 or Win 8.1.
My upgrade went very smooth and activated, no problems with mobo drivers all my apps all worked except one which l just uninstalled them reinstalled it. Games just needed refreshing by using Verify Integrity Of Game Cache in Steam and just downloading them in Origin but it only takes a few minutes for each game as they are already installed.
http://www.thewindowsclub.com/windows-10-media-creation-tool-create-installation-media-upgrade
Microsoft's Windows 10 download page - http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10
A good tip use CCleaner to clean out unwanted files and do the Registry as well before you start the upgrade.
My 1st impression of win 10 is its colours + graphics are sharper, loading and boot up times quicker, its been a week now with no problems. So if your OS install is quite old or you having some problems it might be worth while doing a fresh install like me before you upgrade and why not its free.
So as my 8.1 OS install was over a year old and was working ok but decided to do a clean install of 8.1 making sure my drivers, apps, games were right upto date. It just takes me a couple of hours to do a fresh install when completed l made sure everything was working 100% before l upgraded.
But doing a fresh install you lose the upgrade option to get it back see below-
Go to windows updates-
Click Choose how updates get installed > Under Important updates, choose the option that you want.
Select the Give me recommended updates the same way I receive important updates check box.
Them select the Give me updates for other Microsoft products when I update Windows check box, click Apply.
Once automatic updates are enabled, launch Command Prompt in Administrator mode and enter the following command: ** wuauclt.exe/updatenow ** that should trigger the Windows 10 download wait a few minutes.
How to start a command prompt as an administrator:
Click Start, click All Programs, and then click Accessories.
Right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator.
If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Continue.
http://www.windowscentral.com/windows-10-upgrade-not-showing-yet-heres-how-manually-trigger-update
Once that is done do this so you don't have to wait for the notification to upgrade see below-
First back up all your files and data just in case, if you're on Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 then head over to Microsoft's Windows 10 download page. Depending which version of Windows your on then download the 32-bit tool or the 64-bit version. You can check your Windows version by right clicking start > click control panel then system at the top it will tell you which OS version your on or right click start then system.
Run the tool and then select the upgrade your PC option, Windows 10 will start downloading and once it's ready you'll be presented with three options: keep personal files and apps, keep personal files only, and nothing. Select the first option ** keep personal files and apps ** to ensure your PC upgrades and you keep your files and applications. Windows 10 will start installing after a few reboots and customizations once upgrade is done check device manager to see that all is ok then check your apps .
If you decide Windows 10 is not for you and want to go back to Win8.1 or Win 7 then you can safely restore by going to settings > update & security > and choose the option to go back to Win 7 or Win 8.1.
My upgrade went very smooth and activated, no problems with mobo drivers all my apps all worked except one which l just uninstalled them reinstalled it. Games just needed refreshing by using Verify Integrity Of Game Cache in Steam and just downloading them in Origin but it only takes a few minutes for each game as they are already installed.
http://www.thewindowsclub.com/windows-10-media-creation-tool-create-installation-media-upgrade
Microsoft's Windows 10 download page - http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10
A good tip use CCleaner to clean out unwanted files and do the Registry as well before you start the upgrade.
My 1st impression of win 10 is its colours + graphics are sharper, loading and boot up times quicker, its been a week now with no problems. So if your OS install is quite old or you having some problems it might be worth while doing a fresh install like me before you upgrade and why not its free.