It looks like Microsft are trying a last push to get us to have Windows whilst its free

I don't .ike Windows 10, happy with Windows 7 but really worried I may have to buy a new lap top next month and will be stuck with 10, is there no way this can be avoided ?

Annie when my husband bought his new laptop it had Win 8 on it but also had 10 pre-installed. I think he had so many days when he could revert back to 8 so you might be lucky and not have to have it although I think it's pre-installed on the very latest. Beware with drivers for printers to - we have 2 really good old colour lasers and it's impossible to get the drivers for Win 10. One of my managers had to take a really big A3 laser printer to the tip as it just wouldn't work.

If you are concerned that your external devices like printers will work with Windows10, most manufacturers have details of which are compatible and drivers available.

Not concerned about printers pompa, I just don't like Windows 10 , so use to Windows 7 .

The problem of course is that, in the fullness of time, you will stop being able to get updates for W8 etc. and will have no alternative but to buy W10 - for real money. They've got us all by the short and curlies.

I uninstalled it, will just chug along with Windows 7 until this computer dies.

Windows 10 working fine here on my new PC but I did replace my old printer at the same time with a WiFi one which printer from mobile, tablets etc. so perhaps that's making things go more smoothly.

LuckyGirl. Just because Microsoft continue to develop their product does not mean that the old one will stop working, even after they have stopped updating it. I am still using Windows XP on my server and that has not been supported for 2 years now, still works as well as it ever did.
If you are using Windows 7, your PC must be quite old, just stay as you are until you decide to replace it. Windows 7 will be supported until 2020.

Microsoft supports its products for at least 10 years, very few computers would last that long. So they haven't got you by the S&C's. In fact it is often other manufacturers that stop supporting their products first.

I have Windows 8. I am quite happy with it, but OH is concerned that it will become insecure without its updates.

DD who is quite computor savvy, thank goodness, said I just do not need it, told me quite firmly, do not touch.
I have 7 and it suits me fine.

More problems might be caused when trying to upgrade from some of the older versions of Windows.

My laptop is fairly new anyway and came with Windows 8 which might be why it seems not to have caused to many problems (so far). The printer seems to work OK as well.

Windows 8 will be supported until 2023, by that time your PC/laptop will be an antique. Even after that your antivirus and firewall will still update and work.

I don't want to start a new thread so I'll post this here.

I've just bought a new PC with Windows 10 and I'm fine with it but, I couldn't get my computer to play music or any audio (this is nothing to do with the Windows system)

However, against my better judgement I took out a costly 3-year Currys/PC World support system called KnowHow. Reading the blurb I discovered I could call them 24/7 about any issues, so I did.

After hanging on the line for almost 20 minutes I was connected to a bored-sounding bloke who, eventually decided I needed to buy speakers as the monitor didn't have build in audio

He was about to terminate the call when I pointed out I had a blue-tooth speaker and asked could I use this??? Heaving an audible sigh he took me (rather impatiently) through a series of manoeuvres before announcing my blue tooth speaker wasn't compatible with the PC.

I thanked him and rang off. No further forward but, naively accepting I'd have to buy new speakers.

GS1 arrived shortly afterwards and I explained that we couldn't add any sound to the animation he was creating until I got speakers. He looked at me as if I was daft. Took the charging lead for the blue-tooth speaker which has a USB port and a jack plug and plugged the jack plug into the front of the computer stack and low and behold we had sound.

GS 1 is 9 years old.

I'm thinking of ringing KNOWHOW and suggesting they change their name as it is misleading under the Trades Description Act 1984*

Worth knowing Anya!

Anya please may I borrow your GS1 for an afternoon?!

When I bought my present computer a year ago KnowHow were supposed to do several things before my computer was picked up. I asked a local computer guy to set it up for me and he said that KnowHow did zilch.

I suspect him saying they weren't compatible was a cop out as he could not be bothered.
There can be compatibility problems with older PC's, but you said your system was new. It may just need a driver update. But when pairing BT devices for the first time, you only get a short while to complete the pairing, so it is easy to exceed that time when you are unsure of the procedure.

pompa to me you are speaking a foreign language.

I suspect that's exactly right pompa - I've just been back to Currys/PC world to buy some plug in speakers as I want my blue-tooth speaker free for other devices and don't want it constantly running out of charge, or plugging and unplugging it. I've learned quite a bit in the last 24 hours so was able to astound the person who eventually came to enquire if I needed assistance staff by being quite knowledgeable and not being fobbed off with something I don't need or want.

Charleygirl I'm afraid I can't spare him

Charleygirl, sorry I was talking a little known dialect of gobbledygook

Grandsons are wonderful, aren't they? Mine's the same as Anya's, no computer is a mystery to him (only grandmas - me, I mean, not my computer).

I'm kicking myself now for upgrading to ruddy Windows 10 (on the very last day of the free "offer"). It didn't seem very different, so I was congratulating myself on not having any problems. But then... I have a 3 year Norton 360 anti-virus which has updated to accommodate it, and will keep updating until the 3 years expire. But I've just found out that the Norton Utilities 15 lifetime product that I got free with Norton anti-virus way back when is not compatible with Windows 10 and will not update. And of course you only have a month to change your mind and go back to Windows 8, and that's long gone. NU kept my computer ticking over nicely and it is noticeably slower now. Why, oh why, did I not leave well alone?

MM, the NU perpetual license should let you upgrade to the latest version which is compatible with Windows 10. Although I suspect many of the tools in NU are now built in to W10.

Will it? I'll have a root around. I thought I was done for as my 360 updates automatically and the NU has just sat there on its backside. The despairing folk in the Norton online community don't seem to think NU will upgrade either. But I'm on the case (dons deerstalker hat and sets pipe firmly in mouth).

I bought a new PC last week which came loaded with Windows 10. My old pc was 7 years old and I ran Vista/Windows 7 on it. But there are now less and less updates available.
My biggest gripe is the lack of a User Manual...so using You Tube to get knowledge on how to use it. All the terminology is different!! But I'll persevere!