Buy or Sell: Windows 10

Windows 10. Windows 10. Windows 10. Everyone seems to have nothing but positive things to say about Windows 10, and this is not unjustified. Windows 10 relieves us all from the not-too-distant reality of Windows 8, and the inherent user-interface disaster that accompanied the years 2012-2015 for new PC owners. Windows 10 is a combination of Windows 8's sleeker internals and the usability of Windows 7, so what's not to like? Best part? It's free. I began installing the release version of Windows 10 at approximately 10:00pm on July 28th (West Coast FTW), so it may surprise many that I am not as apt to lavish praise upon Microsoft's newest product. Buy or Sell? Definitely buy. Buy now or buy later? Depends.

Within 20 minutes of restarting my laptop with Windows 10, I was hit with my first blue screen of death. This was perhaps partially my fault – I was attempting to modify a registry key for a trackpad setting that was disabled after I updated my trackpad drivers. Don't know what that means? Don't worry, you're safe. Within 40 minutes, I was desperately trying to restore sound after a botched driver update. Within an hour, I was cruising along as I had been approximately 3 hours before, with the operating system running as smoothly as Windows 8.1.

Windows 10 is not without its bugs. As I was writing this post, I left to go take care of some other chores around the house. When I came back, my laptop was completely unresponsive with a completely blank screen and I could not wake it up. However, after forcibly powering it off and restarting it, it is once more operating very smoothly. Microsoft's new software as a service model has caused Windows 10's release to be peppered with issues and promises of future fixes. Buy later? Definitely. Buy now? If you are a techie like me who loves the latest and craves new features, yes. After all, it's free. A word of caution to the wise, however: make sure that your device manufacturer has released Windows 10 drivers for your PC, however, otherwise you may be in for a shock when you find that your trackpad function with more than one finger.

And now for all of you who think, "I love Windows 7. Why should I move on?" My advice is: don't bother. Truth is, if my current laptop ran Windows 7 there is a good chance I too would still be running Windows 7 and refusing to upgrade. Perhaps this results from my previous status as a Windows Insider: as an Insider, I played around with Windows 10 long before it released, so none of it was new to me when I upgraded my PC. The new features and interface tweaks are all things I could live without, and quite honestly I still miss easy Jump Lists in the Start Menu (Microsoft, if you're listening, why does a program have to automatically appear on the left side of the Start Menu before I can interact with its Jump List? I used to be able to pin a program to the Start Menu and access its Jump List whenever I want to; now I pin things and they become squares. Fix it!). And let me have the courage to say what nobody else does: Windows 10's window borders are, quite frankly, rather unattractive. Aero Glass in Windows 7, in my opinion, still retains its charm (even more than 8 years since it was released in Windows Vista). Say what you will about eye candy, but I think colored glass will always look better than the stark white of Windows 10's default borders. If you are happy with Windows 7, the only benefit of Windows 10 is its extended support; Windows 7 will not be supported much longer, but Windows 10 will be supported for a long time (and the promise of free future updates means it will be supported even longer). If you have a PC that you plan to keep for many years, upgrading might be a good idea. Otherwise, I recommend waiting and eventually buying a new PC that runs Windows 10.

If you have a PC running Windows 8, I highly recommend upgrading. There is no reason why anyone should be forced to suffer through the abomination that is Windows 8 any longer. Windows 10 is here to save you.

Buy or Sell? Answer these questions:

1. Is there a feature in Windows 10 that you're really looking forward to using? (Yes/No)
2. Do you like the idea of automatic updates keeping your PC up to date? (Yes/No)
3. Are you OK with working through the occasional quirk/freeze/bug/"Something Happened"? (Yes/No)
4. Do you want to move to a newer operating system? (Yes/No)
5. Are you planning to keep your current PC for more than 4-5 years? (Yes/No)

If you answered yes to more than two of these questions, you should definitely think about upgrading soon. If you answered yes to at least one, you should definitely upgrade within the next year while it's still free, but perhaps wait till this winter or next year. If you answered no to all of these, you'll probably be better off waiting until you buy a new PC.