Comp-U-News from Comp-U-Talk

 

A GREAT BIG, HEARTY CONGRATULATIONS to all of the graduates.  What a wonderful accomplishment!

 

In computer news:  If you are thinking about upgrading to Windows 10, now is the time.  Microsoft will continue to offer free upgrades until July 29, after that there will be an upgrade charge.  There are advantages to Windows 10.  It has a faster boot time and Microsoft will be providing patches until 2025.    Microsoft will stop “fixing” Windows 7 in January, 2020,  and will stop “fixing” Windows 8 in January 2023.  That equates to as much as 5 additional years before the computer is considered obsolete. 

Upgrades are now smoother than they were when 10 was first introduced. In part because there is a more complete set of drivers available today than was available when it was released last July, and most mainstream software companies have their software patched and/or updated to work with Windows 10.  The only caveat is if you are running an older version program, you might have to pay for a software upgrade (Quickbooks comes to mind here).  There’s a Bonus… If you install Windows 10 and discover you don’t like it, or it broke one of your favorite programs, you have 30 days to uninstall it and revert back to what was running previously.  I do recommend a complete system backup before you start the upgrade procedure, as there is absolutely no reason to tempt fate.  If you have tried and NOT liked 10, you will have secured your FREE copy of Windows 10.  It will remain available if you decide to try again in the future.

 

If you know for certain that you don’t want Windows 10 then cruise over to https://www.grc.com/never10.htm, and download and run the Never10 utility.  This tool will turn off the nag about upgrading to Windows 10 and if your system has already downloaded the 6.5 gigs of install files, it will delete those for you as well.  If you change your mind and want Windows 10, simply run the utility again and it will reverse the action and 10 will be available to you.

 

And in good news:  Microsoft has revised the policy for Bing Ads concerning the promotion of third party products and services.  Specifically: Bing Ads disallows the promotion of third party online technical support services to consumers because of serious quality issues that can impact end user safety.

In English:  Microsoft is trying to remove ads from entities claiming to be Microsoft or Windows Support.  You can read about it here: http://advertise.bingads.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/49352/user-safety-policy-revision-global

 

And a story about Microsoft support.  Comp-U-Talk is a Microsoft Partner.  We pay money every year to be a Microsoft Partner.  When we have a problem, we have to figure it out on our own.  We don’t get to call Microsoft Support about every petty problem.  We don’t get to call Microsoft about big gnarly problems either.  So when some non-English speaking person calls and claims to be Microsoft or Windows and wants to “help” solve your problems, please remember:  If it sounds to good to be true then it probably is up to no good.  Remember, Microsoft doesn’t volunteer to help their partners who represent thousands of installed products, why would they randomly call an individual and offer their services? 

 

That’s it for this month.  Stay safe this summer and if you need help with Windows 10 please support your local community and give us a visit.

 

~Janet

 

 

 

 

And because it made me laugh: I’m Super Lazy Today (truth be told, I’m super lazy everyday!).  Now where did I put my cape?