# Should I upgrade to WIN 10?



## Nutech12 (Oct 28, 2003)

Hi, I have a Toshiba satellite L500 laptop running win7 64bit. Along with many others I have been prompted to download and install Windows 10.

Is this worth installing on my laptop:

> Mainboard : TOSHIBA KSWAA
> Chipset : Intel GM45/GM47
> rocessor : Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo T6600 @ 2200 MHz
> Physical Memory : 4096 MB DDR2-SDRAM
> Video Card : Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family
> Hard Disk : FUJITSU MJA2500BH G2 (500GB)
> DVD-Rom Drive : MAT****A DVD-RAM UJ890AS
> Monitor Type : SAMSUNG - 16 inches
> Network Card : Realtek Semiconductor RTL8101 PCIe Fast Ethernet Adapter
> Network Card : Realtek Semiconductor RTL8191SE Wireless LAN 802.11n PCIe NIC
> Operating System : Windows 7 Home Premium Home Edition Media Center 6.01.7601 Service Pack 1 (64-bit)
> DirectX : Version 11.00
> Windows Performance Index : 3.4 on 7.9

Also IF I chose to update will I be running 32 or 64 bit?

It says that some apps have to be paid for, any idea what those would be?

Thanks for your help!


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## AtomicDragon71 (Aug 16, 2015)

I like windows 10, but it's not without its bugs. I don't mind being somewhat of a beta tester for it since it was offered free. If I had to pay for it I would have waited a year or 2. You could always wait 10 months if you are not willing to take a bit of a risk at being disappointed, but I do like it despite a few bugs that needs to be ironed out mainly dealing with drivers for older products. You don't have an older ATI video cart so you have a good chance of driver support.
If you are already running 64 bit windows 10 should be 64 bit, at least it was for me.
Just make sure you use a local account for your windows login instead of a microsoft account.


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## TheShooter93 (Jul 10, 2008)

kbaasit said:


> Also IF I chose to update will I be running 32 or 64 bit?


You'll be running the 64-bit version of Windows 10 since you're currently running the 64-bit version of Windows 7.


kbaasit said:


> It says that some apps have to be paid for, any idea what those would be?


Windows Media Player for one.  That's okay though - VLC is a much better alternative anyway (and free).

There are also a lot of apps available in the Windows Store that you can purchase, but I haven't had a need to with my Windows 10 system.

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Now as for whether or not you _should_ upgrade...that's ultimately up to you. As long as you are cleared to get Windows 10 it should work on your system.

Windows 7 is a couple years from EOL and is a stable, widely supported OS. Windows 10 is a new, moderately supported OS with known bugs. So it depends on if you want to give it a shot.


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## Nutech12 (Oct 28, 2003)

Thanks for your response.. when you say a local account instead of a MS account for a windows login... is there a problem with using Hotmail? Could I use my Gmail account? 

Also, what of the advisement that some aspects of win 10 have to be paid for?


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

Cody, Windows Media Player is free; and it came with my Windows 10 Home. Maybe you meant Windows Media Center?


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## TheShooter93 (Jul 10, 2008)

TerryNet said:


> Cody, Windows Media Player is free; and it came with my Windows 10 Home. Maybe you meant Windows Media Center?


Yes, that is what I meant. Thanks for catching that.


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## lunarlander (Sep 22, 2007)

if you give a gmail account, MS will transfer all the login info from gmail into a new hotmail/outlook account for you. And yes, MS has access to the password and phone number too. At least thats the way it was in Win 8. If you plan to purchase things from the Win Apps Store, the MS account is required, Also Cortana, the new aritificial intelligence assistant, will need the MS account as well. That MS account is important for everything, so secure it with a long 16+ character passphrase.


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## CaraBaldy (Aug 17, 2015)

Doesn't it bother anyone else that MS will have all passwords, and other information stored on the computer?


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## lunarlander (Sep 22, 2007)

Well, the passwords have always been stored on the computer since Win 9X. But all the new info that it has access to is a little disturbing. For example Cortana will need to store what you previously typed, or searched for, in order to better home into what you need and sound more like a 'personal' assistant. And that info is stored in your MS Account. So if that MS Account is compromised, well, a lot is lost to the attacker. I create a special hotmail account just for that purpose and don't use it for email so that it doesn't circulate.


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## Nutech12 (Oct 28, 2003)

VLC I was thought this s/w wasn't so safe.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/VLC-Player-Not-Safe-81298.shtml


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## good grief (Aug 26, 2007)

kbaasit said:


> VLC I was thought this s/w wasn't so safe.
> 
> http://news.softpedia.com/news/VLC-Player-Not-Safe-81298.shtml


That article was written way back in 2008...
VLC updates regularly to plug any security holes as well as improve performance. I've used it for years as well, and it's never been a problem.


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## good grief (Aug 26, 2007)

Sorry--double posted as it didn't seem to go through the first time.


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## Vishwajeet Kumar (Aug 17, 2015)

I had upgraded my windows 7 PC to Windows 10 but I have notice some bugs in it. Microsoft edge browsers get close automatically frequently. PC loading time increases taking a minute or more to load. So, I revert back to my Windows 7 and its now works great. I think windows 10 need more improvements in terms of performance.


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## Nutech12 (Oct 28, 2003)

So I have taken the 'plunge' and installed 10!

I noticed it had windows Defender. Do I still need to use Avira?

Are there any comments etc re: setup, any other things that I should know about so I can get the most out of this new 'experience' 

As well as how to rid myself of Bing / MSN search engine


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## dustyjay (Jan 24, 2003)

To replace the Bing Search engine, you first need to decide which search engine you want to use. I use google search personally. With Edge open, you need to click the + sign in the address bar. Type in google.com (or the url for you chosen Search engine) hit enter. that needs to be in the white area of the address bar. with that there, click on the 3 dots in the upper right corner Click on Settings then scroll down to advanced Settings scroll down until you get to Search in address bar using it should have Bing in the box but also show the Search engine you want to use (again in my case Google) and select that as your default search engine. Click the three dots again to close the settings box.


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## good grief (Aug 26, 2007)

You can get rid of Bing in your browsers by setting the default search engine for your browser(s), but you can't get rid of Bing when searching the net from your desktop search box, without a third party redirection software.

As for things you should do right away after installing, there are a few lists out there on the web like this:

http://tricksnclues.com/10-things-you-should-do-right-after-installing-windows-10/

And this:

http://bgr.com/2015/07/30/windows-10-upgrade-installation-settings/

And here:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10/getstarted-get-to-know-microsoft-edge

There are lots of places to look, just do a search or two and you'll find plenty.

The first two things I took care of were to stop my computer restarting to install updates without warning, and to stop the use of my bandwidth to share updates with whoever Microsoft felt the need to send them to. After that, I set my default apps, browser, etc., got rid of the stuff I didn't want on my task bar and in start and put in what I wanted, reduced the size of the tiles in start, and turned off all the live tiles that didn't need to be live.

I stopped as many services running as I could on startup, checked the firewall was on along with Windows Defender (actually, I did that earlier in the process), and generally had a good dig around to familiarise myself with where I could find everything now--and I'm still doing that. Then I checked my cd/dvd drive was working, my games (it left all my games, but took out Steam, and wiped my connection to Square Enix with another game), and checked other programmes for usability. And so forth.

As for whether you'll need a third party antivirus, that depends on what you do and where you go on the net. You should at least have the free version of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware for doing a weekly or monthly scan.

You should *immediately* make a recovery disk/drive, back up your files and possibly make a system image--Windows 10 still has Windows 7 imaging ability to do that--onto an external drive.


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## emjenny (Aug 19, 2015)

I did not recommend you to upgrade to Window 10 because, there are lots of bug. It's better to wait for some time, so that Microsoft fix these bugs.


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## TheShooter93 (Jul 10, 2008)

kbaasit said:


> I noticed it had windows Defender. Do I still need to use Avira?


No, you do not. Windows Defender in Windows 8/8.1, and Windows 10 is essentially Microsoft Security Essentials.

While Microsoft Security Essentials isn't going to win any awards, it's a solid antivirus program. As your normally should, just be careful with where you go on the Internet and what you do. No antivirus program can protect you from everything.


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## Nutech12 (Oct 28, 2003)

So You are saying to uninstall (just to be clear) Avira and let MS do its thing with MSE which I take it is running in the background anyways. I already have the free version of Malwarebytes installed.

Thanks


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## TheShooter93 (Jul 10, 2008)

You should do one of the following:

Leave Avira installed and disable Windows Defender.
Uninstall Avira and leave Windows Defender enabled.
What you *shouldn't* do is have both installed and enabled simultaneously.


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## AtomicDragon71 (Aug 16, 2015)

TheShooter93 said:


> You'll be running the 64-bit version of Windows 10 since you're currently running the 64-bit version of Windows 7.
> 
> Windows Media Player for one.  That's okay though - VLC is a much better alternative anyway (and free).
> 
> ...


Well, using a Microsoft account or Hotmail account (I only use those for the apps) as your login could run you the risk of having some of your information sent to advertisers and such. Use a local account (like the one you use for your Win7 logon). Also when and if you install Win10 make sure you click on the windows button, then setting, and the privacy. Make sure you shut of any feature you can do without that will transmit any of your information to anyone over the web. Some of it is turned on by default. Yes some apps are free some are paid just like a Windows phone.


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