Windows 10 - FREE to Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 users

The “Get Windows 10” app, the white icon in the systray, will check your PC for compatibility. You can run it again later, because its verdict may change as suppliers update their drivers. However, there’s no need to rush: you have 12 months to accept the free Windows 10 upgrade.

In fact, Windows 10 will get a staged roll-out over a month or more: not everybody will be offered the upgrade on 29th July 2015. Also, Windows 10 is still missing a few features, such as extensions for the Edge browser, and a new OneDrive app. It’s a work in progress, and will be continuously updated, so you might want to wait a good 6 months before upgrading.

We would advise anyone wishing to upgrade waits to see if there are any major compatibility problems.

Windows 10 is a better replacement for Windows 7 than Windows 8 ever was, but Windows 7 still works well, so you can keep using it. It will be supported until 2020.