Windows 10

Upgrade Windows 10 Home to Pro

I have a client who recently wanted to get a Windows 10 Pro PC for >their office. He went to Best Buy but all they had was Home edition. This is not an issue since you can upgrade Home to Pro with a simple license key upgrade. But it turned out that when I went to install the new key, I got an error. Nice! Follow MS’s procedure and get an error…..

BUT, I was able to track down this solution. Install a temp license key that will allow the actual upgrade to work, THEN install the newly purchased key.

VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T – Install this key first, Reboot, then install the key that you purchased.

support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12384/windows-10-upgrading-home-to-pro – This is where you go, but you have to install the temp key first, then the correct one.

Troubleshoot Compatibility to Fix older programs running on Windows 10

I have had a lot of issues with Windows 10, mainly revolving around performance and compatibility of certain programs. With Google recent announcement that SilverLight will no longer be supported, I decided to make the move to Firefox (again).

But I found the FF had performance issues too, revolving around typing lags in text fields. This is what I did to fix it.

Right-click on the shortcut and choose Troubleshoot Compatibility. Normally, this is something that I would rate up there with Windows Help as being effective. But in this case, it completely fixed my issue!

Here is the generated log from the process

_____________________________________________

PrintProgram Compatibility Troubleshooter Publisher details:
Issues found – Incompatible ProgramIncompatible Program, firefox is incompatible. Fixed Fixed
Fix program firefox Completed
Issues found Detection details – 6 Incompatible Program Fixed Fixed
firefox is incompatible.
Fix program firefox Completed

Provides steps to fix the incompatible program.
InformationalCompatibility Mode
Compabitiliy modes applied:
User verification: Fix worked

Detection details Expand: Collection information
Computer Name: #$%$#@@@
Windows Version: 10.0; Architecture: x64; Time: Friday, November 20, 2015 7:09:18 AM

Publisher details Expand
Program Compatibility Troubleshooter
Find and fix problems with running older programs on this version of Windows.
Package Version: 1.5; Publisher: Microsoft Windows; Program Compatibility Troubleshooter
Find and fix problems with running older programs on this version of Windows; Package Version: 1.5; Publisher: Microsoft Corporation

Beware of Windows 10

I had a call from a client yesterday with a POS station that couldn’t connect to the network. After a few brief exchanges of information, he told me that he had updated the Windows 7 machine to Windows 10. This PC is about 7 years old and in no way, shape or form was up to the very processor intensive nature of Windows 10. He also hadn’t bothered to manually update the drivers, which is a very necessary part of an upgrade on an existing OS.

Fortunately, windows-10-desktop the uninstall feature worked like a charm and he was able to get back to Windows 7 in about 30 minutes.

Be aware that Microsoft has a huge stake in adoption of the OS – that’s why they have made it free. But be aware the older hardware will almost certainly have issues!