Why Windows 10?

Windows 10 is the OS that will impact the maximum number of people on this planet. Bigger than anything on any apple device, bigger than any android platform update, bigger than any app with new version. That's because about 1.5 billion (yes,billion) people use Windows as their primary OS on desktops,notebooks and tablets- and each of them wants to know if they should risk an upgrade. Windows 8 turned out to be real clunker for most. It was an OS in search of an identity. It wanted to be a touchscreen OS but really messed up the notebook and tablet users. It wanted to be radical but went too far with its live tiles and no start-button stubbornness. Thus a lot of people are wary about Win10. Here are your answers....

THE BIG QUESTION 

Yes,it does have a start button. A really good one. It takes all of what was good about the OSes before and adds some great functionality. It has all the real goodies you need and adds live tiles but in a controlled space.

THE OTHER BIG QUESTION 

Win10 has Cortana and yes, shes's coming to India. She'll also understand India accents. If you don't know who Cortana is, do let me know the shape and size of the stone you were under. Cortana is the name of AI(Artificial Intelligence) voice assistant built into the mobile version of windows and she's now making an appearance on Win10. Arguably, it's superior to Apple's Siri and Google version, with some smart features as well as a fantastic ability to build a profile around the user and offer help. She understands plain-language queries so you don't have to structure question, she refers to you by your name and also got some humour in her.

IS IT REALLY FREE? 

Yup. It really is. There's no sleight of hand and no elaborate fine print here. If you have a legitimate copy of anything above and including Win7,you get Win10 for free. Forever! Further upgrades happen after a year, but in essence, Win10 for you is free. If you have a pirated version then thing get a little more complicated.

SO WHAT'S TO LIKE? 

Lots, actually. Task view is a new feature and real revolution in true multitasking as it provides full thumbnail previews of all open apps and can be used to manage multiple desktops. Frankly, it's better  than anything I've used on any laptop  with any OS. Win10 also has a central notifications area, called Action Center where literally everything going and all messages accumulate in one easy-to-use area. Microsoft Edge is the new browser that comes with slick features. It's fast, comes with a reading mode that removes all clutter from a web page, a read later area that saves things for offline reading and of course Cortana works here too. The good part is that Win10 is lighter and runs easily on old hardware that has Win7 or even XP. New Win10 embedded versions run on a Raspberry Pi or even on a TV stick.

So, should you upgrade to Win10? Considering it's free, fast, and you don't need to invest in new hardware, plus the OS is actually good. I really don't see a plausible reason for anyone thinking otherwise.

How To Check if Your PC is Windows 10 Compatible

With Windows 10 coming on July 29, you'll want to make sure your PC, applications and various devices will all play nice before you reserve and upgrade. Fortunately, Microsoft has made it easy to do within the Get Windows 10 tool that appears on all copies of Windows 7 and 8.

Upgrading your copy of Windows to 10 should be seamless, but you want to make sure set up is actually ready beforehand. That new Windows icon down in your system tray will let you do more than reserve your copy of Windows 10 for free. It can also check your whole system to make sure everything is all set for the upgrade. It's pretty simple to do:

* Click the Get Windows 10 icon in your system tray in the lower-right section of your desktop.
* Click the hamburger menu in the upper-left corner.
* Under "Getting the upgrade," select Check your PC.

If you're all set and ready for the upgrade when it comes, you'll be given a good to go message. Otherwise, you'll see a list of devices and apps that aren't supported.

Device issues could mean a monitor won't display properly at the highest resolution, or some speakers won't be able to play audio with the upgrade. Apps that are listed as unsupported will need to be uninstalled before you start the upgrade process. Of course, a driver update or patch install may fix those issues as well, so check again if you can find updates.