My 20 minute estimate is just for installing Windows and getting to the desktop. Most of my settings are synced to Onedrive and get synced back automatically. I can have my use everyday stuff like Office installed in a couple of hours after that. Then I just pick away at any other stuff as I go.
OK, fair enough, I can see your logic. Keep in mind that it can sometimes be tricky to go back to the factory setup in Windows 7. Especially if you don't have any install media. Make your recovery media before you do anything. The upgrade to 10 could break the factory one key recovery feature. Windows 8.1 is a lot easier to reinstall and install media is easy to come by.
If you hate 8 your likely not going like Windows 10 all that much. It has a start menu but its different from Windows 7's start menu.
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If you hate 8 your likely not going like Windows 10 all that much. It has a start menu but its different from Windows 7's start menu.[/QUOTE]
I know and that's an important reason for buying the machine with Win7 pro on it. Although I did see a 10 screen shot where a right click on the faux start button yielded darn near all the stuff displayed in a normal Win7 start screen. If I have that feature then it's likely over time I'll slowly adjust to 10 on a try and see, bit by bit toe in the water kind of thing. At some point, and the gulf between 7 and 10 may be the point, there's an OS inflection wherein newer soft and hard technologies simply don't work or don't work well--a la XP vs. 7
Just buy one with 8.1 (where can you buy one with win 7?) and update it in situ before or after the 29th. Doesn't matter when you set it up with progs as you will only do that once.
Sometimes we can out think ourselves!
PS You will like win 10 so don't worry about going backwards.
[QUOTE=Especially if you don't have any install media [/QUOTE]
If a Lenovo laptop purchase is the same as the last 15 years, no media. However, as long as I fish out the OS key from within the system I can download 'an' OS (7 or 10) and burn to a DVD or flash drive and install new/clean should a hidden partition restore fail. No?
I thought the ability to backup settings was removed after XP?
Setting backup 'was' just for Office and that left a zillion other application settings lost and, as you say, having to pick away at them (annoyingly) for several weeks as you come across them. Still correct with 'you' backup settings?
Not to ignore some advantage, is there a particular directory that houses all the settings to which you refer? Assuming you're using 8 is the location the same for 7?
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