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The Windows 7 End of Life date has been announced as January 14, 2020. Got a wee pop up when it downloaded some updates, no more support/security patches after that date which is only 7 months away. Got both laptops running this as I hate 10, actually downgraded one of them from 10. I read that up to 39% of all PC's are running on this so it seems a bit hasty IMO. It seems you can get an W10 activation key off of amazon for £7 that allows you to upgrade, yet some on ebay say the keys are for an upgrade/re install of W10 only and not from previous Window OS. I use ubuntu on a wee 10" Samsung I also have, and quite like that, but need windows for some things. Any computer boffins on here no the deal here or offer advice 
https://www.techradar.com/uk/how-to/how-to-prepare-for-windows-7-end-of-life
https://www.techradar.com/uk/how-to/how-to-prepare-for-windows-7-end-of-life
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What do you object to with Windows 10 ?
Always takes a wee while to get used to a new operating system, but is worth it in the end. |
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I upgraded to W10 using Window's offer, then downgraded after using it.
I realised they were ending the security updates soon so I bit the bullet and upgraded again using the same route. You soon get used to it. |
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You can upgrade free, the offer is still there because it's only been a few months since I moved up.
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Anyone know how to change the seconds on the clock, windows 10?
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I hate windows 10 too. One of my computers uses it, so what I did to make it bearable was download a windows 7 "Shell"
Also called "classic shell". It's unobtrusive and makes the computer look more as you'd like it. |
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I recall when it came out there was a load of fuss made about how it tracks telematics of the user's computer.
They came out with an update where you could change the setting to limit its tracking facilities... Then brought out another release soon after that eachtime it updated reset to default, disregarding your request Trouble is as with all this tech now, you cant know to what extent these companies are extracting data, so I stuck with the old version |
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Just tried that, Dave, it's still only got boxes for the hours and minutes.
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Telemetry not telematics
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aka espionage
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ah ok don't know then.
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Windows 7 doesn't have the seconds either which is very annoying. Plenty of space for it. In fact looking at a windows 10 machine it's got hours and minutes then below that the much bigger date taking up the width that would allow the time to have seconds, so it's saving precisely ZERO space. Microsoft don't seem to think things through anymore, they are an arrogant out of touch company. They way they in a cavalier manner decided they'd start deleting Paint from computers regardless of if users used the program shows their corporate attitude.
And now I check you can't even do the Windows 7 workaround I've regularly used which was to go and look at "Adjust Date/Time" which allowed you to look at the actual seconds on the window that pops up. The Windows 10 has the dumbed down interface designed for technically challenged 8 year olds... Windows 7 also allowed a clock widget which I think is removed from windows 10. So how DO you see the time in seconds on windows 7? Ahhh ok I've found a way, ok mouse just click on the clock so that the calendar appears, it shows the seconds at the top. |
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I can see the bastards doing that, but I can't adjust them.
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Ahh ok. Well other way I'd do that is via cmd line. You probably want to switch off the set time automatically.
Run a cmd line (you might need to do "run as administrator"), then either type say > time 20:29:10 ... and hit return or type >time .. then enter where it asks, and hit return. (but syncing to internet time should be fairly accurate if it works, is that not working?). |
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When the free upgrade to windows 10 came out I installed it but it would not play nicely with my poker games. I uninstalled it but something happened and I could not get my windows 7 back AND could not get back windows 10 either!! I contacted microsoft but they were not interested. I tried their support website but again no joy. I still have it and it works but it is asking me for a key, would those on offer on ebay and similar work, I don't think they do. I am really fed up with microsoft about this, if I had not installed the upgrade I would still have a working computer.
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My advice to you having upgraded and had issues is don't try the direct upgrade method. Create media (either a burned DVD or USB stick) that has the entire huge image on it. That way if it goes wrong you can attempt and re attempt to fix the botched installation. If you have a duff machine that has already been licensed for windows 10 and you can get your hands on a DVD/USB stick with a Windows 10 installer on it, you may be able to fix it to get your machine working.
If someone tries the direct "upgrade in place" without media method and it goes wrong, that's a nightmare, and you need to download the entire damned thing any time you want to try it. Did you burn a DVD or something when you originally upgraded? |
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There are two sides in a way with windows 10 and one way you can configure it to look and act almost exactly like windows 7.
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The keys are only about £3 on ebay and they have positive feed back, so it would be worth a try, try hitting the 'skip' option when your asked to put in the key............
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Annie go to here and download installation media overnight if you have nothing.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/software-download/windows10 Is your machine not bootable at all? That might be an issue. |
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Another tip. Make sure you temporarily switch off antiviruses (including windows defender) when upgrading then put them back on again after. I tried to upgrade a machine and after hours it failed, turned out it was security stopping it...
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Thanks, JC.
 I looked at that site but it does say I must have a licence which is the problem. But I will try it. I bought the laptop very cheap secondhand from an acquaintance who bought sold and repaired laptops and it worked fine until I upgraded to windows 10. When the upgrade left me with no working computer I went to a local community place which helped with computer problems and they could not fix it but put on an old trial vista system that only works for a month when you then have to put in a key. It worked fine for a month, as they advised me, but then it asked for a license key. So now I am stuck with a laptop that works but no system on it and it is not worth buying one - for that money I could buy another laptop. Has anyone ever tried the keys advertised on ebay etc. I have read that they are only for those who already have the program?? |
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Thanks GEESUS, I will have to try them
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It didn't like me trying to run a cmd line as admin, JC, the whole thing just crashed which may have saved me some money as the old windows 7 machine just lost £20 on the last at Punchestown, so thanks anyway.
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Some of us are trying to use Windows 98 it is the only system which plays my games
Bring back Windows 98 Microsoft  |
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10 is Shyte , what Study says sounds interesting regarding a shell had 8 on a laptop and stupidly upgraded to 10
 I actually have a pc Running xp the best platform ever , I keep AV reg updated and have a couple of Programmes That I run to make sure things are ok ,it actually recieved a microsoft update a month or so ago Also run a 3rd party fire wall on it , never had a problem ,YET  but I am going to take it out of commission All these new effing Platforms 10 and Android are interested in one thing , that you recieve as much advertisement as possible while you are surfing |
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If you already upgraded to windows 10 on that machine you hopefully don't need another key, microsoft will most likely have stored that machine as being Windows 10 at their central servers if you were connected. Cheap Keys off ebay ... I don't trust them at all really. Though I considered one myself recently ;P
Why were they putting trial vista on it? If it was upgraded to windows 10 it'll have been 8 or 7 before. There are two ways license keys work for laptops which are normally what's called OEM. There may be a sticker someewhere on it, or maybe hidden somewhere under a little door, OR the license is actually stored internally in a thing called the BIOS and if you install the original operating system on it from the correct OEM version, it'll see the BIOS license and you are off. Problem is getting your hands on the installer. What manufacturer is it? What operating system was on it before? Is there a sticker anywhere? I take it it came with no disks? It MIGHT have a "recovery" partition with the original operating system installer on it that you can access at boot time if this shop didn't delete it. They started doing that instead of giving out Windows DVDs with the laptop. Is there anything wierd at boot time that says something like "press blah blah for recovery options"? (Vista is already well and truly dropped, they stopped supporting that ages ago!). |
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I've not installed a shell on Windows 10 (though I might) but I used to use one on the horrendously sh1t Windows 8 to make it usable, that was "Classic Shell" but I think there are better alternatives now, I saw one in passing the other day it looked just like Windows 7.
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Scary to think someone born when Windows 95 came out would now be 24
 . And posting rubbish on here with the name "aaron"  |
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I have another tower with 7 on it , can u upgrade to 10 or anything Else ?
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Away from here, I'm a photographer, and when I installed Win10 (when it was free), it caused display issues with the current version of Photoshop at the time, so I too reverted back to Win7.
As others have said, XP and 7 have been by far the most stable versions of Windows, in my experience. Can hardly recall a single lock-up in all the years I used them. |
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Download and create the installation media from the above link and run it in the machine you want to upgrade, there are plenty of sites explaining what to do like zdnet.
Caveat emptor : I am not responsible if it breaks your machine, but that's what I've done previously. Backup everything valuable beforehand etc. (Now I think about it I think the upgrade HAS to be run in the system it is to upgrade so might not be good for fixing a broken installation like a normal windows disk is). |
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I'm a huge windows 7 fan myself
I'm scared of Windows 10 installing some new big update and ****ing people's machines up in an annoying or fatal way... again. |
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I bought a key off Ebay to upgrade from Windows 10 Home to Pro and it worked fine.
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I'm scared of Windows 10 installing some new big update and ****ing people's machines up in an annoying or fatal way... again.
The effing updates are endless JC , on a lap top I had ,I had to turn them off , every day some kind of update |
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I still have a desktop with XL but it is never connected to the internet. I keep some documents and files on there including Microsoft money that won't run on the later versions. The most secure way to store anything is on a machine with no internet connection. You can move stuff to and from another machine using memory sticks but even that is a theoretical risk of transferring a virus.
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I've got a laptop that I put in Ubuntu 14.04 which I only use for banking.
Runs Firefox browser. |