A few months ago I upgraded to Windows 10, as many other
people did http://scottgamet.blogspot.com/2015/08/windows-10-upgrade.html
. There were no issues during the upgrade and the system ran a little more sluggish
then it did with Windows 7, this system had been through a lot and was in need
of a refresh before the update. So I decided to do a fresh install of Windows
10, as is allowed in the licensing. As a matter of preference I always suggest
to do a fresh installation over an upgrade, this is because you have a fresh
installation and you are not bringing any problems or issues from the previous
installation.
The biggest thing to remember is to make a backup of all of
your personal information before doing the fresh installation. Doing a fresh
installation will erase all of the data on the drive! Make sure to have a copy
of all of your software that you are going to be reinstalling as well.
Creating a bootable USB drive is the fastest and simplest way
to install Windows; Microsoft has created their own program for this now, https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10
. Just follow the instructions and you will need a USB drive that is empty and
over 4GB.
Now we need to restart the computer and select boot from
USB, some computers will need to have the order changed in BIOS.
When asked for the product key, enter it if it is a retail
purchase, if you have already upgraded from a previous version of Windows just
select skip.
Next we will select Custom: Install Windows Only (Advanced).
Select the entire drive for installation; this will delete everything on the
drive.
After your system is done installing and brings you to the log
on screen, log on and press the Start window and select settings then update
and security then activation. You should see that your system is already
activated. This does require you to be connected to the internet.
Since the fresh installation of Windows 10 I am happy to say
that it is running better than when it had Windows 7 and this has breathed life
into an older laptop that was having some issues.
Scott Gamet MCTS
http://www.howtogeek.com/224342/how-to-clean-install-windows-10/
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10
http://scottgamet.blogspot.com/2015/08/windows-10-upgrade.html
