Now that Windows 10 has been released and is being rolled out to everyone who reserved it using the little icon that’s appeared in the system tray over the last few months, I thought I should issue a word of caution.
Although Windows 10 may be a fantastic OS, and we may all want to start to use it eventually, at the start of the life of any version of Windows it takes time for software companies to make their software fully compatible with it. So if you rush into upgrading to Windows 10 without making sure that everything you have installed is compatible it can cause some fairly serious issues.
A common problem is that of antivirus software being unready, or needing special precautions during the upgrade. If compatible, some AV may still need to be removed before the upgrade, and then reinstalled once the upgrade is complete.
PC manufacturers can also lag behind when it comes to making the pre-installed software and hardware drivers compatible with new versions of Windows. At best this can lead to messages popping up all over the place to say things cannot run, and at worst this can lead to a non-bootable computer.
Some tips:
- Do your research. Make sure that all your essential applications support Windows 10.
- Look at the computer manufacturer’s website to make sure that the drivers for your hardware will work on Windows 10.
- Consult your antivirus vendor to see if any special precautions need to be followed when upgrading.
- Backup. Make sure that all your data is backed up, and if possible create an “image” of your whole PC so that you can revert if the upgrade does not go to plan.