I finally upgraded my main PC from Win 7 to Win 10 (Aug, 2025). Yeah, you read it right.

[robnplunder]

I recently came across a post from a member who purchased a refurbished Windows 11 machine. This is a prequel to that post, well, sort of.

For years, I've been using Windows 7 as my main home computer. I didn’t upgrade to Windows 10 because I didn't want my computer to automatically update itself. There wasn't an easy way to turn that feature off, and often, when my PC updated, it created significant issues. However, when TurboTax and some of my key applications stopped supporting Windows 7, and with the end of Windows 10 support approaching (along with no mandatory upgrades!), I decided it was time to upgrade my PC to Windows 10.

The upgrade process was not straightforward since the free upgrade option was no longer available. With some research—thanks to YouTube—I managed to upgrade my PC without losing any files. All the applications I rely on continued to work, and I even upgraded a few to their Windows 10 versions. Good thing that I had the foresight to purchase a powerful computer years ago, so it still performs well with Windows 10 installed.

By the way, my entire career has been in high tech, but I have always resisted being pushed into adopting new technology that I didn’t need.

 

[Al18]

If you plan on using the standalone version of TurboTax, you will likely need to upgrade to Windows 11 before filing your taxes for 2025.

 

[JohnnyPHX]

I miss Windows 7 and XP. 10 runs so slow on our old computer. But we use it mainly to rip music CDs so it ok for that.

 

[stepford]

My computer use is about 90% web browsing, 9% Photo processing and 1% other. Windows 7 still works fine for that. For financial and other sites where security is a concern I have a Linux dual boot (with Win 10 available in VirtualBox for the few Windows programs like TurboTax and FreeCad that won't run in W7).

Sadly my hardware won't support W11 so I'll probably pick up one of those cheap mini-PCs next black Friday just for TurboTax 2025.

 

[badatmath]

If you plan on using the standalone version of TurboTax, you will likely need to upgrade to Windows 11 before filing your taxes for 2025.

I was wondering if they will walk that back since win 10 support is being extended. . .

I just won't use it if they don't since not ready to upgrade.

 

[Winemaker]

I have a 1999 Dell desktop running Windows ME, No longer connected to the internet, I use it to run my Quicken 99 that I update my investments monthly. I also use it to print my labels for my wine bottles.

 

[jollystomper]

While I just upgraded my main Windows platforms to Windows 11, I still have a couple of secondary laptops running Windows 10 that will leave as is, until my home computing center consolidation project reaches them .

 

[Al18]

According to TurboTax, you can use TurboTax Online if you don't want to update to Windows 11 How does the end of support for Windows 10 affect my TurboTax Desktop experience?

TurboTax Online is still supporting Windows 8.1!

 

[aja8888]

Win 10 guy here.Staying that way unless held at gunpoint. I hope H & R Bolck software will still work on Win 10 this Fall.

 

[jim584672]

You can run Win 11 in Virtualbox on Win 10 if you need to. Don't forget the Guest Additions.

 

[stepford]

You can run Win 11 in Virtualbox on Win 10 if you need to. Don't forget the Guest Additions.

I have guest additions installed and got an error message (hardware incompatible) when I tried to run W11 in VirtualBox under Linux. Are you saying it will work as a VM inside W10 - even on old (c. 2014) hardware?

 

[jim584672]

Since it is a VM you should be able to set it so Win 11 doesn't complain. Set a synthetic TPM 2.0 and boot settings if you have an old machine.

I run Win 11 in Linux with QEMU which is like Virtualbox, but QEMU is for a more advanced user.

 

[YellowSubmarine]

In my first week with a new Windows 11 system. THere is a learning curve. I got my older printers working; but I can't get my Phot editing software (PS Elements 2020) installed. Paid for these programs but I previously installed on two computers. Looking for a work around or a decent editing program that's easy to use. PS was a bit over-kill for my purposes. My old-time favorite is MS Digital Image 2006 Suite. Any suggestions? My new computer has no disc drive.

 

[easysurfer]

If the need of a disc drive is stopping you, you could easily get an external usb disc drive. Or you can get a SATA cable to run an internal disc drive. My recent Win 11 computer (Dell) has a sideways disc drive. I guess at one point the regular bay drives loss favor to side mounted ones to save space. Less is not always more.

 

[bloom2708]

From the old fire (Win7) to the new fire (Win10).

 

[youbet]

I'm typing on an ancient Windows 7 Compaq brand laptop right now! Got it at Walmart on a black Friday sale long, long ago. The keyboard crapped out maybe 5 years ago and I'm using an external keyboard that plugs into a USB port.

I'm a technophobe. I want a new computer. How hard is it going to be for me to transfer all the docs and pics and stuff from this 15+ year old Windows 7 box to some new razzle-dazzle machine I buy? Any advise on what features I should look for in a new computer and on making the transfer? Would it be wise to pay a tech to do it?

 

[brett]

I also spent my career in IT.

I followed the advice of tech guru colleagues and what countless savvy customers practiced.....always remain one version behind. Especially when it comes to MS!

 

[gauss]

I also left Windows 7 over the summer. I migrated straight to Windows 11. I didn't want to deal with the grief that I had in trying to support an older O/S again.

That being said, when I moved from XP to Windows 7 it was rather a blunt change driven by external factors -- so I never really had a chance to play with it in detail before using it in production mode. That was different this time around.

So now running Windows 11 (actually Tiny 11 23H2) on a 15 year old Dell e6410 laptop with 1st gen Intel i5 core processor, 8 gb RAM, and 1 TB SSD.

My Windows Defender antivirus updates are properly taking place.

Now on to the Android phone (Moto G7) upgrade....

-gauss

 

[YellowSubmarine]

If the need of a disc drive is stopping you, you could easily get an external usb disc drive. Or you can get a SATA cable to run an internal disc drive. My recent Win 11 computer (Dell) has a sideways disc drive. I guess at one point the regular bay drives loss favor to side mounted ones to save space. Less is not always more.

Disc drive is not stopping me...at least not yet. PS can be down loaded as well.

 

[MC Rider]

I made sure all my files were on an external drive then installed Linux Mint overwriting Windows 10 the other day. Good riddance. Mint is similar to Windows as far as the GUI. Better in some ways. Easy learning curve. And it's free.

 

[Al18]

How many programs designed for Windows run under Linux Mint?

 

[aja8888]

How many programs designed for Windows run under Linux Mint?

Probably none, but open source software has many of the same programs for free.

 

[GrayHare]

So, Win 10 can't do the math needed by taxes, eh? I wonder how much MS kicks back to Intuit.

 

[fognostic]

The keyboard crapped out maybe 5 years ago and I'm using an external keyboard that plugs into a USB port.

I'm a technophobe. I want a new computer. How hard is it going to be for me to transfer all the docs and pics and stuff from this 15+ year old Windows 7 box to some new razzle-dazzle machine I buy?

Given the concern with transferring files, I'm going to guess you do not have a file back up plan in place? I would worry far more about the hard drive crapping out on said 15+ year old computer, thus losing all the docs and pics and stuff forever, than the difficulty of slugging through the transition to a new computer.

The best long term technophobe solution is probably paying for cloud storage and a back up solution through the cloud storage provider. Onedrive comes to mind. I've no idea what Windows 7 supports in this regard though, so...

A good start might be buying and plugging a USB hard drive into your old laptop and copying your files to that drive so you have a backup. Then plug the drive into your new computer and copy the files from the USB drive to the new computer. Then unplug the USB drive and store it - you don't want a common mode failure like a power surge to fry your laptop, new computer and backup drive all at once. If you don't want to go the cloud storage and backup route, you could use this USB drive to periodically make a fresh backup of your files. Then unplug it again. This would be a vast improvement over your present situation.

If you just have one computer, I'd probably just backup to a USB hard drive and call that good enough. Using cloud storage can be a bit klunky if your internet access speed is slow. And while they're not super expensive, cloud storage services do require subscription costs. If you have multiple computers in the home and would rather not worry about keeping files snychronized between them or backing them all up, a home NAS on your home network is a great Technorati option, but that's not you, and it's also a whole different topic.

 

[Al18]

Microsoft says they won’t support Windows 10 after 10/14/25. A virus could be released the following day designed to steal your tax info - which is the reason Intuit is not supporting it.