[MP-Ryan]

A recent Windows update has deployed a reservation for the Windows 10 upgrade.  Colour me excited.

In an amusing twist, though, MS appears to have rushed this so much that they linked to a FAQ from the reservation system, but forgot to actually put a FAQ there. "Page does not exist."  LOL.

[headdie]

New Egg is adding to the madness taking Pre-Orders for a August 31st release
http://www.cnet.com/uk/news/windows-10-oem-pricing-release-date-leaked-online/

[deathfun]

Seriously considering applying the upgrade to my Windows 8 laptop. Not touching the Windows 7 desktop, that stays as is

[headdie]

http://www.theverge.com/2015/6/1/8511287/microsoft-windows-10-release-date-july

Microsoft promised to launch Windows 10 in the summer, and now the company is revealing an exact date: July 29th.

[MP-Ryan]

Seriously considering applying the upgrade to my Windows 8 laptop. Not touching the Windows 7 desktop, that stays as is

You can reserve the upgrade and not install it immediately.

[headdie]

Seriously considering applying the upgrade to my Windows 8 laptop. Not touching the Windows 7 desktop, that stays as is

You can reserve the upgrade and not install it immediately.

Yer thats what I am thinking, see if there are any significant to me issues on launch and then install

[Klaustrophobia]

Agree with deathfun.  It'll go on my laptop (can hardly be worse than 8), but it's not touching my win 7 desktop.

[Dragon]

I'll try it out on the laptop, too. It will go on desktop if it passes muster there. I'd very much like to switch to Windows 10, a computer upgrade would be in order sometime after that, too.

[Mongoose]

Okay now someone get me 7 so I can waffle back and forth on 10.

[deathfun]

My friend actually brought up a good question, one that currently doesn't have an answer

Alright, so you have your computer with 7 or 8, but you upgrade it to 10. A year goes by for the whole time period that you can get it for free and whatnot, but what happens is that your computer dies. Are you able to reapply Windows 10 through the store, or will you have to flash the drive prior to **** hitting the fan?

Not everyone creates a back up

[Klaustrophobia]

If you have to buy one anyway, I would just stick with 7.  The only reason I'm considering 10 at all is because it's free, and looks like it might be a marginal improvement on 8.1.  8.2 perhaps.

[Fury]

Windows 8 and newer have two reset options. The first reinstalls the operating system, but leaves your stuff alone. You don't need to reinstall any software and your files are safe. The second option option has three sub-options.
1) Securely erase everything and reinstall operating system.
2) Same as the first option, but without secure erase.
3) Erase system drive only and reinstall operating system. Other partitions are left alone. Meaning you should copy your stuff from C: to another drive if you want to keep them.

No need to use external media for reinstall as long as you don't replace your system drive. But if that does happen, you should be able to use your free Win10 license key to reinstall from external media (DVD/Flash) by downloading image from MS. There should also be no restrictions on what computers you can install your copy of Win10 on, it's the same as if you went to buy a copy of Win10 from a local store. That's the way it worked for Win8 and I don't see any reason it'd be different for Win10.

Also, having used Win10 beta builds for a good while now, I can say that your "Mah Win7 puters will be left bloody alone" comments are ridiculous. Get on with times people. We don't want Win7 to be yet another WinXP. Especially when Win10 is given away for free. You didn't like Win8, that's fine. You have nothing to fear as far as Win10 and desktops are concerned.

[Flaser]

Windows 8 and newer have two reset options. The first reinstalls the operating system, but leaves your stuff alone. You don't need to reinstall any software and your files are safe. The second option option has three sub-options.
1) Securely erase everything and reinstall operating system.
2) Same as the first option, but without secure erase.
3) Erase system drive only and reinstall operating system. Other partitions are left alone. Meaning you should copy your stuff from C: to another drive if you want to keep them.

No need to use external media for reinstall as long as you don't replace your system drive. But if that does happen, you should be able to use your free Win10 license key to reinstall from external media (DVD/Flash) by downloading image from MS. There should also be no restrictions on what computers you can install your copy of Win10 on, it's the same as if you went to buy a copy of Win10 from a local store. That's the way it worked for Win8 and I don't see any reason it'd be different for Win10.

Also, having used Win10 beta builds for a good while now, I can say that your "Mah Win7 puters will be left bloody alone" comments are ridiculous. Get on with times people. We don't want Win7 to be yet another WinXP. Especially when Win10 is given away for free. You didn't like Win8, that's fine. You have nothing to fear as far as Win10 and desktops are concerned.

While all of these are handy, I'd never *ever* rely on these features alone. Why? You're a single hard-drive failure away from loosing your OS. I've seen this happen with laptops where the owner didn't bother to create a recovery DVD and the Windows sticker containing the license serial was faded/rubbed off. (This is why my sysop colleagues that me to put the sticker beneath the battery where it won't be exposed).

[T-Man]

Oh yeah I noticed this yesterday; was using PC for a while and then suddenly noticed "hold on there's another icon". They really want people to get into this deal don't they?

Actually I had been trying to find out something about this and struggling (pardon minor OT); has anyone heard/read if the freebie deal only applies to upgrading the OS of existing PCs or not? My PC can't be updated any further and saving up to get a badly needed new one, so when I heard about 10 nearing I was debating putting it on the new one and leaving 7 on the old one for now. Would I be able to put my download on an install disk or does it have to go on the PC installing it?

[Gortef]

I'm reserving my copy for both my laptop and main pc. So far the Insider test versions of W10 I've fiddled with have been really promising.

[Klaustrophobia]

So far all indications are this will apply like an upgrade to PCs with 7 or 8.1 installed already.  You may have the option to wipe and do a clean install once it runs, but MS has said in their Q/A that there won't be install media provided.  Whether you would be able to make your own remains to be seen I guess, but I doubt it.

[CP5670]

I noticed this icon too. I'll reserve it, but won't be using it until it's been out for several months. I am very conservative with OS upgrades, and have gotten 8.1 to a state where it's set up how I want it and I know how to work around its issues. I hope it's largely a minor upgrade from 8.1 and doesn't break anything that works in 8.1 (which in turn did break stuff from 7). I do want DX12 though, which some games like the new Deus Ex will use. I might try it on my laptop first, which is on 7 and is less critical for me.

[jr2]

Agree with deathfun.  It'll go on my laptop (can hardly be worse than 8), but it's not touching my win 7 desktop.

You guys... just dual-boot.  Be sure to disable Fast Boot if you intend to use anything besides the Metro Bootloader, though.  *shrug*  I don't understand what's wrong with having your cake and eating it too.

If there's an issue with licensing for the upgrade, set up a dual-boot 7/7 system and only upgrade one of the installs to 10.

[deathfun]

Or I make things less complicated than they need to be and upgrade my laptop from an OS I don't like, and keep the OS I do like as is

That makes more sense for me to do. Even more sense than that would be to reserve two spots and keep one on the burner

[TechnoD11]

As many others have stated, I plan on waiting until around mid August before updating. I've got 4 computers that I use on a daily basis, and I have all intention of upgrading them all at once. I am heavily invested into Microsoft's cloud storage and would hate to loose out on features because some of my PC's are still running Windows 7.

I too would also like to know if an ISO or equivalent will be available for users to download. I much prefer to do clean Windows installs on my PC's over just upgrades.