Microsoft announced that its Windows 10 is now available in 190 countries as a free upgrade to Windows 7 or 8.1 owners. All genuine users of Windows 7 and Windows 8/8.1 are eligible for the free upgrade for up to a year. Microsoft was so confident in that windows 10 is the most ‘secure Windows ever’.
Windows 10 will be offered on a range of devices including PCs, phones, tablets, Xbox One, Raspberry Pi, HoloLens and more. The new Windows Store and Windows Software Development Kit have also been made available from Wednesday, giving developers full access to making apps for the multi-device ecosystem.
Microsoft Windows 10 mainstream Support will continue until October 13, 2020 and Extended Support will last until October 14, 2025. Microsoft has planned for ‘Windows as a service’ in future. The users can sit on Windows 10 until the end of Extended Support in 2025 without any worries.
According to Microsoft, the Windows 10 operating system will be available as a free upgrade for qualified devices running Windows 7 and Windows 8.1. Not everyone will get access to the Windows 10 upgrade initially. However, the company is rolling the upgrade out gradually to compatible systems, as Microsoft says it’s creating a queue to distribute the update in waves. If you are a new user, you will have to pay for Windows 10.
You can only upgrade to Windows 10 free if you do so within 12 months of release. Starting next year, and you will have to pay the standard retail costs: $119.99 for ‘Windows 10 Home’ and $199.99 for ‘Windows 10 Pro’.
Windows 10 is Automatically Downloading on Your Windows 7 and Windows 8 PCs
Did you sign up for a free copy of Windows 10? Then you could be in for a big surprise. Windows 10 may have already started downloading on your PCs.
Microsoft is preparing for this big release, at 12AM ET on July 29th (9PM PST on July 28th), by pre-loading the final version of Windows 10 on PCs eligible for the upgrade. Microsoft’s stealthy download uses a secret folder – A number of Windows 7 and Windows 8 users who have registered for the upgrade have started noticing that the full installer files for Windows 10 have been downloaded to C:\$windows.~BT– and it can be found by opening File Explorer and going to: Organize > Folder Options > View > Show hidden files, folders, and drives.
Microsoft Windows 10 is a significant download of almost 6GB which means you can right click on the folder to see how far it has progressed. Speaking of which, you’ll likely need to be patient, as the roll-out may actually break internet traffic records.
Minimum System Requirements
The Windows 10 minimum requirements haven’t changed much from Windows 7 and 8.
Processor: 1GHz processor
RAM: 1GB of RAM (2GB for the 64-bit version)
Hard disk space: 20 GB
Graphics card: DirectX 9 or later with WDDM 1.0 driver
Display: 1024×600
How to Get Windows 10 Right Now
1. Go to Windows Update in your settings and make sure you’re configured to automatically install updates.
2. Then check if you’re an administrator on the system, open the command prompt (if you don’t know where it is, searching your system for “command prompt” should do the trick).
3. Enter this command: wuauclt.exe/updatenow
4. Windows 10 will begin downloading immediately.
5. You can also download the Windows 10 disc image directly from Microsoft.
6. Be sure to keep your original Windows license key before you begin the installation process.
Windows 10 Features
Here I listed the 10 best features of Windows 10.
- New and improved Start menu
- Cortana
- Continuum
- Microsoft Edge
- Task View
- Action Center
- Snap Assist
- Xbox App
- New settings menu
- Mail App
