Not Ready for Windows 10? But You Reserved Your Copy?

So you saw the Get Windows 10 message on your computer and reserved your copy. But you really don't want to upgrade immediately. It's OK, you have a year to upgrade for free.

But you need to UN-reserve your copy. Consider that app and offer as advertising. But you still need to un-reserve that copy!

It's easy, and let me spell out the steps for you.


Un-Reserve Windows 10, Step-by-Step
1.  Find the Get Windows 10 app:

Yes, that's it, the Windows logo since Windows 8, in my red magnifying glass, on the right-hand side of the Taskbar near the time & date. That section is called the System Tray, by the way.

Click on it (Left-click;  only right-click when I specifically say, "right-click").

Not the Start Button on the left-hand side of the Taskbar (found on Windows 8 PCs).

The Get Windows 10 window opens.


2.  Click on the Hamburger.  That's the three lines now used in many programs and apps to hide a menu.

3.  Click on View confirmation.

4.  Now click on Cancel reservation.

5.  Yes, really, click again on Cancel reservation.

6.  For good measure, click on Close.

When you are ready, you can simply open up Get Windows 10 and reserve it again.  Or contact me, I can bypass that and upgrade your computer manually.

Addenda - A Few Sorta-Brief Notes about Windows 10 and the Upgrade
FWIW, I had problems when I tried to upgrade my Windows 7 laptop.  Not serious ones, but it took some time to find the solution. As well, the technical, detailed fix took some time to complete before the Upgrade would begin the installation.

Once resolved, I ran the upgrade overnight as I knew the laptop would automatically reboot a handful of times and the process could take an hour or more. And the download - before the Upgrade actually starts - is 3 GB, and it takes some time, too. Your mileage may vary.

When I looked at the laptop in the morning, Windows 10 had setup steps that required my input. These were similar to some of the Service Packs in previous Windows versions. All personal files, shortcuts, folders were right where I left them and almost all programs ran as before.

The Norton Security Suite (Comcast's version of Norton 360) was disabled and Windows Defender was enabled.  Re-enabling Norton was not difficult.

Note that if you do not want a password-protected computer, then you may need some guidance walking through the Windows 10 setup. User passwords are still not required but, since Windows 8, Microsoft has been pushing their Microsoft Accounts to be the User ID on Windows computers. Their goal - similar to Apple and Android computers & devices - is to save and share information between different applications for your convenience.

Really, for your convenience! There are privacy & security concerns, certainly. But the goals have been and currently are to allow apps to work together. For example, I can click on my Calendar for an event at a friend's home. I can click on my friend's name, and I can either open up Maps or my GPS. With the GPS, the address is loaded. With this GPS, I can actually share my route (tracked in real-time) with my friend and perhaps someone whom wants to know that I arrive safely.

But I have the choice to share or not to share. And that is all with my Android smartphone. Microsoft wants to offer the same, friendly way for apps to share your data, to help you get from here to there and be in touch along the way. Microsoft needs these Microsoft Accounts to authorize apps to work together.  OK, back to Windows 10.

Again, the Microsoft Account is not required;  but avoiding it takes some understanding on where to click, as the option to skip the Microsoft Account is not front & center.

Overall, Windows 10 looks ready to bring back the Desktop experience and also work with touch-enabled tablets, smartphones, as well as 2-in-1 laptops and PCs with touchscreens.

In my opinion, that was Microsoft's goal for Windows 8 - to bring Windows to touch tablets and phones. However, Microsoft was too eager to see everyone using the new touch features and user interface that they tried to force every user of Windows 8 onto those touch-friendly screens and apps. I don't understand why they overlooked their enormous user base of Windows 7 and Windows XP desktops & laptops (and Vista and other versions of Windows) that did not have touchscreens.

Many of these users needed new laptops or PCs but would not have touchscreens and needed to access their Desktop apps. They got a Windows 8 computer and in most cases users needed help for almost everything, including turning it off. Much frustration!

Fortunately, there were a few apps - even free - to bring back the Start Menu and keep the Desktop available or within easy reach. Not everyone knew that, though. So, IMHO, Windows 8 was a solid operating system with one flaw. But it was a doozy!