Now there's a die hard for ya!!!

scottcmusic
Very cool info ... but that link seems to be for individuals that use assistive technologies. It does say they are not restricting it to any specific type ... but I'm not sure I feel comfortable doing that. Have you tried upgrading that way?
 
I also wonder, is it a special version of Win10?

Yes I have done 4 computers already.
And it is really Win10.
It is from MS, don't you see it?
dan

I used to ALWAYS do clean installs. From WIN7 to WIN10 however, I thought I would just upgrade in the name of science. And I am happy I did. Everything went smoothly, 10 is faster than 7, I got to keep all of my old programs, etc.
 
After it runs stable for a bit, delete the old windows folder it makes to save space.
Then kill all of the of "telemetry" applications 10 installs if you don't want them. A lot of bloat comes with WIN10.

That free Windows 10 upgrade is ligit and as easy as pie. I did it and with out guilt. It said right on the Microsnoft user forums that they still wanted to leave the free door open for a little longer and this is the door. 
 
 I had done 3 computer by the deadline for free. I was given a nice i7 HP computer in the fall and it had not been upgraded . I wanted to wipe it and put in a SSD and the W7 OS was in one of those back up partitions and if you wanted it from HP it cost $50 for the stupid disk. So I thought I might as well buy W10.
When trying to purchase it from MS web site there is a tab saying " get it free" so there you go. That works for me. 
 
You need to first download the OS ISO file and burn it to a DVD. The direct down load installer is buggy and stalls at 99.8%.  I did it 3x and everyone said don't use it.    
Once you've installed it and the computer is fully functioning you activate it using the "chat" option. 
The MS agent will ask for remote access and you will need your legit W7 serial #. 
They go on your machine and activate it and that's it. 
They did ask me if I use accessibility features and I said Yes which is true because I use the magnifier. 
Don't feel guilty. Every computer has a paid licence so MS got the money already from that. 
You would not be able to do the free upgrade with a pirated copy or a fresh build. 

Cactus Music
That free Windows 10 upgrade is ligit and as easy as pie. I did it and with out guilt. It said right on the Microsnoft user forums that they still wanted to leave the free door open for a little longer and this is the door. 
 
 I had done 3 computer by the deadline for free. I was given a nice i7 HP computer in the fall and it had not been upgraded . I wanted to wipe it and put in a SSD and the W7 OS was in one of those back up partitions and if you wanted it from HP it cost $50 for the stupid disk. So I thought I might as well buy W10.
When trying to purchase it from MS web site there is a tab saying " get it free" so there you go. That works for me. 
 
You need to first download the OS ISO file and burn it to a DVD. The direct down load installer is buggy and stalls at 99.8%.  I did it 3x and everyone said don't use it.    
Once you've installed it and the computer is fully functioning you activate it using the "chat" option. 
The MS agent will ask for remote access and you will need your legit W7 serial #. 
They go on your machine and activate it and that's it. 
They did ask me if I use accessibility features and I said Yes which is true because I use the magnifier. 
Don't feel guilty. Every computer has a paid licence so MS got the money already from that. 
You would not be able to do the free upgrade with a pirated copy or a fresh build. 

I can also imagine that using a larger mouse cursor for "visibility" should qualify for assistive technology. 
 
When I downloaded the Win 10 Media Creation Tool I used a USB flash drive, which works well, so you don't have to use a DVD.  But you do need a valid Windows license for the upgrade.
 
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10#d2784474-fdb0-4e9d-9e47-5e88c0e053ec
 

I shall give it a try. Thanks.

I finally got around to upgrading my OS to win10 as described above. Everything seems to have worked out pretty well. If I'm honest, I do seem to notice a little bit of a slow down in performance ... but it is only right after I boot up. For the first five minutes or so the machine seems to be getting its bearings. But after that it runs just as well as before, if not a little faster. 
 
For anybody else that is interested I worked off of this article: http://www.zdnet.com/article/heres-how-you-can-still-get-a-free-windows-10-upgrade/
 
I felt a little funny at first doing the free upgrade that is supposed to only be for people that use accessibility features, but in the article at above link the author put my mind at ease by saying: "This upgrade is, I think, a very large nod and wink, designed to make it easy for those who want a Windows 10 upgrade to still get it while placating the OEM partners who were none too happy about the year-long emphasis on upgrades rather than new PC sales."
 
So that is why the upgrade window has been left open indefinitely. To appease OEM partners ...
 
I used this link for the FREE upgrade to win10: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/accessibility/windows10upgrade
 
One other note, if you are upgrading the same machine you are on, you won't even be prompted to enter a valid serial number from your old OS. It must just locate that info automatically. So, the upgrade process was way easier than I had anticipated and went fairly quick.
 
Now that I have this new OS, a few things need to be configured. I keep getting a prompt to upgrade my Windows Defender. Anybody else know what to do about this? I mean, should I attempt to use WD as my primary anti virus? Or delete it? In that past on this machine, I had just turned off all anti-virus and primarily just kept the laptop offline. Stupid? Smart?

Overall Win 10 seems like a better performer to me than Win 7 or 8, although maybe just a bit larger on the memory footprint.  I would say at least 8 GB minimum to run 10 comfortably.
 
Win 10 seems setup to do a bit of housekeeping after booting up, and here is where I see the biggest difference in two systems where I run Win 10.  One has SSD and I have turned off the superfetch and search indexing.  It is ready to go right after the desktop loads.
 
But on my laptop with a conventional HDD, the disk goes to 100% for a few minutes after booting up.  Once it settles down, it runs fine.  Anything checking for updates may slow this down a little as well.
 
Looking at Task Manager, Windows runs some optimization routines under Service Host: Local system, related to superfetch, etc., where it scans the drive a bit before it get things all settled in.  I just let it run till it's ready to go, so things will run fine afterwards.  That would be the best reason to upgrade this device to SSD, but tearing the keyboard out to get to to the drive makes it a little less important.
 
As far as AV goes, I think if you run Windows today that you definitely need an AV.  Even if you occasionally go online or connect a USB drive, there are just too many malware exploits out there now.  Unless you back up your system daily and keep the backups offline (which you should do on occasion anyway), why take the chance?
 
I run Avira on both my Win 10 systems without any issues.  Avira Free is light and has the same AV engine and cloud protection as the Pro version.  The only thing Pro adds is optional web and mail protection, and comes with support.  Avira gets top scores on many 3rd party tests.  It's probably going to be better than Defender, but I have heard that Defender has improved some lately.  In any case you can just open the GUI to switch real-time scanning on/off if you prefer not to have it running in the background.  Then just scan on-demand as needed.  If you open a web browser or plan to download anything switch real-time on.

I made an image of my Win7 HD, then installed Win10.
But first I noted startup times, project load times, etc.
No difference.
 
Buy a new PC.
Only then will you benefit from faster hardware made for Win10.

jpetersen
 
Buy a new PC.
Only then will you benefit from faster hardware made for Win10.

That's what they said about Vista.  And it was probably true!
 
But any computer hardware made in the last 3 years or so should run Win10 just fine.  I have no problem with my Ivy Bridge 3rd gen Intel Core setup, running Win10 without skipping a beat, plus it boots in about 10-15 seconds!