This has nothing to do with tobacco, but everything to do with Windows computers.
I have been running my laptop with Windows 7 Pro (64-bit), since I purchased the computer two years ago. Several days ago, I allowed Windows to automatically (for free!) upgrade to Windows 10. I've worried a lot about the upgrade. Windows 8 was such a catastrophic mess, that I (and most businesses that use Windows for their workstations) stayed with Windows 7, rather than suffering the slings and arrows of Windows 8 and 8.1.
I performed a complete system backup onto an external USB hard drive, before starting the upgrade. I was concerned that my gazillion desktop icons (mostly shortcuts, but some actual files) would vanish, since no Web images of the new OS showed even a single desktop icon. So I copied all of them into a new folder.
The Upgrade Process
I just clicked the button to go ahead and run the automatic upgrade. "This may take a while. So just sit back and relax." That's what it said. I laughed, then followed that advice.
I went to bed. In the morning, when I logged on to the system, it was Windows 10. All my desktop icons were still there. Every program that I tested worked perfectly. Any required device driver updates just happened while I slept. The colors were funky, and the START menu different, but otherwise, the upgrade process was as smooth as silk.
Windows 10 looks and behaves much more like Windows 7 than Windows 8 (with all the silly colored tiles for phone interfaces), but is far more secure and stable than its predecessors. So, if you are one of the folks who actually liked Windows 8 or 8.1, you may be unhappy to see that many of Win 8's "innovations" have be sent to purgatory.
Who Moved My Soap?
Dozens of studies in neuro-science have demonstrated that memory is geographic. So, when Walmart or Kroger rearrange the shelf locations, we forget to buy things that we routinely need. Back in the early 1990s, the spectacular success of Windows (vs. DOS) was because it introduced menus. A novice could now locate a function without having to look it up in a book. It was bad enough (bad design and poor application of neuro-science to interface functionality) when successive versions moved things around on the menus--usually for no good reason. Well...I guess menus are now viewed like wearing suspenders. They have nearly vanished from Windows. Icons have been dumbed down (to work on tiny phone screens) to the point where they are no longer iconic, and often have no pop-up label. Windows has followed Apple in that slide down the usability curve.
If you are a Windows user who needs access to the Admin functions of Windows, or just want to make some simple changes, access to these functions are hidden. (Microsoft's summer interns needed something to do.)
Now, the typical Admin links (e.g. Control Panel, Device Manager, etc.) are found by RIGHT clicking the START button. [It no longer says "start."]
Right-clicking the START button (a tilted Window icon).
Another matter is the "new" Microsoft Web browser, "Edge." It's horrid, and lacking many essential functions, not to mention menus. Fortunately, Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) 11 is still available. You just have to dig it out and set it as the default browser, or you can set up a different browser, such as Chrome or Mozilla. The freshly installed IE 11 on my Windows 10 had automatically imported all of my Favorites from the Win7 version of IE 11. So everything was left untouched and unmoved from my desired IE 11 settings.
Solitaire is gone!
All of my existing (some quite old) programs work perfectly. Even my Adobe Photoshop 6.0 (from the Dark Ages) still works as it always has.
Summary
This upgrade is free, if you currently have a valid Windows 7.0, 8.0 or 8.1 operating system running, and the upgrade is automatic. You just have to say, yes. The upgrade ran smoothly for me. The system is stable and happy. The security is better than that of its predecessors. The visible changes are mostly cosmetic. I recommend the move.
Oh! Windows Update is gone. Updates will just happen.
Bob
I have been running my laptop with Windows 7 Pro (64-bit), since I purchased the computer two years ago. Several days ago, I allowed Windows to automatically (for free!) upgrade to Windows 10. I've worried a lot about the upgrade. Windows 8 was such a catastrophic mess, that I (and most businesses that use Windows for their workstations) stayed with Windows 7, rather than suffering the slings and arrows of Windows 8 and 8.1.
I performed a complete system backup onto an external USB hard drive, before starting the upgrade. I was concerned that my gazillion desktop icons (mostly shortcuts, but some actual files) would vanish, since no Web images of the new OS showed even a single desktop icon. So I copied all of them into a new folder.
The Upgrade Process
I just clicked the button to go ahead and run the automatic upgrade. "This may take a while. So just sit back and relax." That's what it said. I laughed, then followed that advice.
I went to bed. In the morning, when I logged on to the system, it was Windows 10. All my desktop icons were still there. Every program that I tested worked perfectly. Any required device driver updates just happened while I slept. The colors were funky, and the START menu different, but otherwise, the upgrade process was as smooth as silk.
Windows 10 looks and behaves much more like Windows 7 than Windows 8 (with all the silly colored tiles for phone interfaces), but is far more secure and stable than its predecessors. So, if you are one of the folks who actually liked Windows 8 or 8.1, you may be unhappy to see that many of Win 8's "innovations" have be sent to purgatory.
Who Moved My Soap?
Dozens of studies in neuro-science have demonstrated that memory is geographic. So, when Walmart or Kroger rearrange the shelf locations, we forget to buy things that we routinely need. Back in the early 1990s, the spectacular success of Windows (vs. DOS) was because it introduced menus. A novice could now locate a function without having to look it up in a book. It was bad enough (bad design and poor application of neuro-science to interface functionality) when successive versions moved things around on the menus--usually for no good reason. Well...I guess menus are now viewed like wearing suspenders. They have nearly vanished from Windows. Icons have been dumbed down (to work on tiny phone screens) to the point where they are no longer iconic, and often have no pop-up label. Windows has followed Apple in that slide down the usability curve.
If you are a Windows user who needs access to the Admin functions of Windows, or just want to make some simple changes, access to these functions are hidden. (Microsoft's summer interns needed something to do.)
Now, the typical Admin links (e.g. Control Panel, Device Manager, etc.) are found by RIGHT clicking the START button. [It no longer says "start."]
Right-clicking the START button (a tilted Window icon).
Another matter is the "new" Microsoft Web browser, "Edge." It's horrid, and lacking many essential functions, not to mention menus. Fortunately, Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) 11 is still available. You just have to dig it out and set it as the default browser, or you can set up a different browser, such as Chrome or Mozilla. The freshly installed IE 11 on my Windows 10 had automatically imported all of my Favorites from the Win7 version of IE 11. So everything was left untouched and unmoved from my desired IE 11 settings.
Solitaire is gone!
All of my existing (some quite old) programs work perfectly. Even my Adobe Photoshop 6.0 (from the Dark Ages) still works as it always has.
Summary
This upgrade is free, if you currently have a valid Windows 7.0, 8.0 or 8.1 operating system running, and the upgrade is automatic. You just have to say, yes. The upgrade ran smoothly for me. The system is stable and happy. The security is better than that of its predecessors. The visible changes are mostly cosmetic. I recommend the move.
Oh! Windows Update is gone. Updates will just happen.
Bob
