In one very short year from now, Microsoft will end its extended support for the widely used Windows 7 operating system. This means that organizations will need to upgrade to the Windows 10 OS. But simply upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 10 – from our experience – has proved problematic.
Here’s the background:
When Windows 10 was rolled out three years ago, it was positioned as a brand new OS from the ground up – not an incremental upgrade. Therefore, all of the drivers for printers, scanners or anything else that plugged into your PC probably failed to work because of compatibility issues. As did many software applications. As a result, many organizations had no choice but to downgrade those machines to Windows 7.
Historically, when Microsoft comes out with a new OS, software developers and manufacturers of peripheral equipment must upgrade their drivers, etc., in order to work properly. There is almost always glitches and bugs that have to be worked out by the manufacturers and developers in order for their software and equipment to play nice with a new OS. The end user, inevitably, gets caught up in the middle and is the one who experiences the frustration of technology not working as it should.
Our Recommendation:
Over the last few years, manufacturers sold machines pre-installed with Windows 7 with the claim that those machines would be compatible with Windows 10 when the time did come to upgrade. The boxes were even stamped with a “Windows 10 Compatible” sticker. This, unfortunately, has not been the case.
What we have found is that even though a Windows 7 computer passes the compatibility checker for Windows 10, the system does not perform satisfactorily. Customers are finding that their computer is slower or that some of the drivers don’t work or that their applications don’t operate as they should. All in all, it’s not a great experience for the end user. So merely upgrading from Windows 7 to 10 is not recommended. Replacing those PCs and laptops will be necessary.
Of course, there is a caveat. If a machine was pre-installed with the Windows 10 operating system but, for compatibility issues, was downgraded, then there shouldn’t be any performance issues and an update is all that should be needed.
Keep in mind that the MTBF (mean time between failure) is three years, so if you have an asset that is older than three years or is approaching the three-year mark, it’s time to replace.
To Recap:
- If your machine was pre-installed with Windows 10 but was downgraded to Windows 7, it’s safe to upgrade that machine back to Windows 10
- If your machine was pre-installed with Windows 7, do not attempt to upgrade that machine; it needs to be replaced.
If your computer is 3-years-old or approaching the three-year mark, replace it, regardless of which OS it’s running.
If you want to learn more about how we help organizations get the most out of their technology, CONTACT US TODAY!