ED#203 : Are You Ready For Windows 10?

Windows 10 is coming next week! Are you ready to upgrade for the FREE upgrade? Let's do a final round of checks before the coming upgrade!

What Are The Minimum Requirements For The Windows 10 Upgrade?

Here are the official minimum requirements for the Windows 10 upgrade, which is subject to change, because it's based on the pre-release version of Windows 10 :

• Latest OS : Make sure that you are running the latest version, either Windows 7 SP1 or Windows 8.1 Update.

• Processor : 1 GHz or faster processor or SoC

• RAM : 1 GB (32-bit Windows 10) or 2 GB (64-bit Windows 10)

• Storage Space : 16 GB (32-bit Windows 10) or 20 GB (64-bit Windows 10)

• Graphics Card : Must support DirectX 9 or later with WDDM 1.0 driver

• Display : 1024 x 600 resolution

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Additional Requirements For Certain Features

Certain Windows 10 features will not be available unless these additional requirements are met :

• Cortana is only currently available on Windows 10 for the United States, United Kingdom, China, France, Italy, Germany and Spain.

• Speech recognition will vary by device microphone. For better speech experiences, you will need a:

  • High fidelity microphone array

  • Hardware driver with Microphone array geometry exposed

• Windows Hello requires specialised illuminated infrared camera for facial recognition or iris detection or a fingerprint reader which supports the Window Biometric Framework.

• Continuum is available on all Windows 10 editions by manually turning “tablet mode” on and off through the Action Centre. Tablets and 2-in-1’s with GPIO indicators or those that have a laptop and slate indicator will be able to be configured to enter “tablet mode” automatically.

• Music and Video stream through the Xbox Music or Xbox video available in certain regions. For the most up to date list of regions, please go to Xbox on Windows website.

• Two factor authentication requires the use of a PIN, Biometric (fingerprint reader or illuminated infrared camera) or a phone with Wi-Fi or Bluetooth capabilities.

• The number of applications that can be snapped will depend upon the minimum resolution for the application.

• To use touch, you need a tablet or a monitor that supports multi-touch (more info)

• Microsoft account required for some features

• Internet access (ISP fees might apply)

• Secure boot requires firmware that supports UEFI v2.3.1 Errata B and has the Microsoft Windows Certification Authority in the UEFI signature database

• Some IT administrators may enable Secure Logon (Ctrl + Alt + Del) before bringing you to the log in screen. On tablets without a keyboard, a tablet with the Windows button maybe required as the key combination on a tablet is Windows button + Power button.

• Some games and programs might require a graphics card compatible with DirectX 10 or higher for optimal performance

• BitLocker To Go requires a USB flash drive (Windows 10 Pro only)

• BitLocker requires either Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 1.2, TPM 2.0 or a USB flash drive (Windows 10 Pro and Windows 10 Enterprise only)

• Client Hyper-V requires a 64-bit system with second level address translation (SLAT) capabilities and additional 2 GB of RAM (Windows 10 Pro and Windows 10 Enterprise only).

• Miracast requires a display adaptor which supports Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) 1.3, and a Wi-Fi adapter that supports Wi-Fi Direct

• Wi-Fi Direct Printing requires a Wi-Fi adaptor that supports Wi-Fi Direct and a device that supports Wi-Fi Direct Printing

• To install a 64-bit OS on a 64-bit PC, your processor needs to support CMPXCHG16b, PrefetchW, and LAHF/SAHF.

• InstantGo works only with computers designed for Connected Standby.

• Device encryption requires a PC with InstantGo and TPM 2.0.

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How Much Space Does The Upgrade Require? New!

If you are running the 32-bit version of Windows 7 SP1 or Windows 8/8.1, you will need to have at least 16 GB of free space in your computer to upgrade to the 32-bit version of Windows 10.

If you are running the 64-bit version of Windows 7 SP1 or Windows 8/8.1, you will need to have at least 20 GB of free space in your computer to upgrade to the 64-bit version of Windows 10.

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How Long Does It Take To Install The Upgrade? New!

The download time depends on how fast your Internet connection is, but if you have already reserved the upgrade, Windows will automatically download the upgrade and inform you when it's ready to be installed.

The installation process will take, on average, about an hour to complete. Newer computers will take about 20 minutes, but older computers may take more than an hour.

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Will We Lose Anything With The Upgrade?

Microsoft has decided to "let go" some features that frankly are not relevant or useful for many users. Take a look :

• If you have Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Ultimate, Windows 8 Pro with Media Centre or Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Centre and you install Windows 10, Windows Media Centre will be removed.

• Watching DVDs requires separate playback software

• Windows 7 desktop gadgets will be removed as part of installing Windows 10.

• Windows 10 Home users will have updates from Windows Update automatically available.

• Solitaire, Minesweeper and Hearts Games that come pre-installed on Windows 7 will be removed as part of installing the Windows 10 upgrade. Microsoft has released our version of Solitaire and Minesweeper called the “Microsoft Solitaire Collection” and “Microsoft Minesweeper”.

• If you have a USB floppy drive, you will need to download the latest driver from Windows Update or from the manufacturer’s website.

• If you have Windows Live Essentials installed on your system, the OneDrive application is removed and replaced with the inbox version of OneDrive.

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