If you’re with relatives this holiday season, you may be tempted to upgrade their Windows 7 machines to Windows 10. After all, it’s free for now. Our advice: Don’t do it, or be prepared to roll it back to Windows 7. You have 30 days after installation to go back.
We’ve had no problem with Windows 10. Sure, Bob grumbled a bit about the new look and feel, but everything works. However, we’ve heard several complaints from readers. One guy lost all his passwords right after installation. Somehow a setting in Microsoft Edge, the replacement for Internet Explorer, got changed. A few other readers found that Windows no longer asked them to import photos when they popped in their camera card. (A savvy reader sent us the best solution. Using the Windows 10 search box, search on the word “autoplay,” under “my stuff” and make sure it’s turned on.)
Our neighbor upgraded her machine on our casual comment that it was a no-brainer. Let us tell you right here that having no brain produces very poor advice. First off, when she clicked on the start button nothing happened. Re-booting fixed that, but her favorite solitaire game was gone. Joy searched on “Solitaire” in the Windows 10 store and up came a link to a free download. But it didn’t install, the main screen froze.
That’s it, we thought. we returned her machine to Windows 7 and all was happy again. To do that, click “start,” then “settings” then “recovery,” and finally “return to Windows 7.” By the way: Windows 10 was released with the promise that there would be no bugs and it would work perfectly. For anyone who believes claims like that, we have some desert property to sell you.