Windows 7 and 8.1 Users Have Only 30 Days to Downgrade After Installing Windows 10

[Karamjit]

“We think you’ll like Windows 10,” Microsoft says

Windows 10 is offered as a free upgrade for Windows 7 and 8.1 users, and Microsoft is trying to convince everyone to take this offer and install the operating system in its attempt to bring it on 1 billion devices by 2017.

But while the upgrade to Windows 10 works quite smoothly, some also want to go back to Windows 7 or 8.1 for various reasons, and fortunately, Microsoft offers a quick way to do that (learn here how to downgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 7 or Windows 8.1).

Only 30 days to downgrade

And yet, if you consider downgrading to Windows 7 or 8.1, there’s one major thing that you need to keep in mind: you are only allowed to do that as long as you perform the downgrade in the first 30 days after you install Windows 10. If this period expires, you’re stuck on Windows 10, and the only way to go back to a previous version of Windows is to perform a clean install.

“Yes, while we think you will love all the features of Windows 10, you will have one month after upgrading to revert back to the previous version of Windows on your device,” Microsoft says in the official Windows 10 FAQ. The same message is also posted in the Settings screen when attempting to downgrade to a previous Windows version.

Needless to say, a clean install is the preferred option for many users, but this involves having the product key for your old Windows version and re-installing all your apps and settings. All files will be saved, but you’ll have to install all apps from scratch.

Of course, you’ll also lose all changes you made in Windows 10, as well as the new apps that are available in this new release, but on the other hand, you’ll get back the (more) familiar desktop that works just the way you like.

From

[jango]

which is better to use Windows 7, 8.1 or 10?

[D1v1n3D]

which is better to use Windows 7, 8.1 or 10?

depends on what you're after once windows 8.1 hit the market I upgraded all 7 machines and glad I did better gaming and smoother system with classic shell, but now windows 10 is out I upgraded all of my machines however windows 10 is definitely still under construction I haven't had any crashes but a lot of people have but none so far on all 8 machines of mine. The Edge browser however has been giving me fits on tons of sites.

I reverted back to IE11 with all the hidden ab blockers in manage addons, as in TRACKING PROTECTION I also customized the security and privacy settings like an advanced smart user would do. I'm never installing Chrome runs to much crap in background and uses to much resources and slows startup on every machine xp to 10 same with Firefox I have tried every off shoot there is Running the same site on all browsers use over 210Mb of ram on chrome/firefox versus 160mb on IE11 and 25Mb on Edge I sure hope they fix edge it will be the best once stable.

if anyone upgrades to 10 I absolutely recommend removing any 3rd party start menu if you have any before doing so and install after if you don't like 10's default start menu.

[Kalju]

There is no reason to worry. These 30 days are only for that, to scare people.

Even if Microsoft will make the former key unusable for Windows 7 or 8-8.1, always exist an alternative.

[OrbingStorm]

Does 10 seem faster than 8.1 or about the same?