BTW do the in place upgrade using external media either DVD or USB.  Using Windows Update can cause a bad install.

SMcNamara
Yes, it is one time but it is also a pain. 😀

There is plenty of time to upgrade to Win10. If you want to do it now and it crops up then it's just a necessary evil, so best just get on and deal with it when the scenario crops up.

Your main worry is hardware and driver support. Requires some research or just jump in blindly like a lot seem to do..

Cheers..

SMcNamara
 
Thanks for the confirmation.  I semi-regularly do image backups and was considering one already, but I did read that the Windows 10 upgrade transfers the license from W7 to W10, which I conclude means reinstalling an image backup would not help because the license no longer belongs to W7.  Presumably this is just being hyper-careful, but thoughts on that???

I always do an image backup with acronis before any OS upgrade.
Best hassle free way to upgrade from Win7 is to download the Windows 10 install media and burn to DVD or copy to USB key.

What ever you do, make sure:
a) Your BIOS is not set to boot automatically from CD.
b) You run Windows 10 setup (on DVD) within Windows 7. Do not boot off installation media!
 
In theory you can roll back from Win10 to 7.
 
A lot of people don't do this but once upgrading and you have your license key I strongly recommend doing a completely clean install afterwards with Win10 formatting the hard drive (or OS partition), assuming you've backed up first. Clean installs are good installs. Check you've got your product key first, and windows is active. The license should be stored in the MS cloud.
 
When you've finally got Win10 you will probably need to update your display driver straight away from third party website, and probably other drivers as well. Windows update probably won't serve you all the updated drivers you need.