Robert in CA wrote:

So if I put Win 10 over Win 7 I will be
actually operating Win 10 and won't even
see Win 7 anymore correct?

That's correct. Windows 7 is thrown into C:\Windows.old
and after ten days, the file set in there is deleted
automatically by Windows 10. For that ten day period, there
is a "revert" button you can use, to uninstall Windows 10
and move Windows.old to Windows (logically speaking).

By and large, ignoring those details, when you do
"Win10 over Win7", then Windows 7 is gone.

It's the "Windows 10 beside Windows 7" option
that makes both OSes available, but takes up
extra space, because there are two separate
partitions that function as a C: when they're in use.

I also have to
create a disc with Win 8 to get Win 10.
You also you said " Win10 is more nosy.
You have to remember to program all the sliders
to OFF". What are sliders?

No. These are the options with a Win10 disc in hand.

Win7SP1 Home Premium x64 == Win10 Home x64
Win7SP1 professional x64 == Win10 Pro x64
Win8.1 Home x64 == Win10 Home x64
Win8.1 Pro x64 == Win10 Pro x64

It is unnecessary to go W7 == W8 == W10 or the like.

Windows 10 is the first Windows OS with a "more flexible
installer that can jump a version".

You can also do things like

Win10 Pro 1803 x64 == Win10 Pro 1803 x64 ("Repair Install")
Win10 Pro 1803 x64 == Win10 Pro 1903 x64 ("Upgrade Install")

I used the Upgrade Install (setup.exe) today, to
fix the broken Windows 10 where the Event Viewer
was broken. Since the OS would be doing the Upgrade
to 1903 eventually anyway, by using the DVD I have,
I just accelerated the process a bit.


This is getting a little confusing and more
involved.

Maybe I would prefer side to side so I can choose
which OS. If I add Win 10 I still want to be able
to use Win 7

We discussed this before and I really don't
want to leave Win 7 Pro and I really don't like
Win 10 and I get hit with alerts from regular pages
that open. So its not totally about where I click
and also how vulnerable will my banking and other
information be if I don't change?.

Hmmmmmmm the last part of your message has me very
concerned in that Win 10 is not user friendly and has
more problems than I would loose with Win 7 not updating.


Thoughts?

Robert

With Windows 10, it's a "matter of how much you like
being inconvenienced". That's the most general
description I can offer.

*******

OK, so what is your first step today ?

There is room to contemplate your navel, as you see fit,
but the most important step is to "acquire the
Digital Entitlement". That is the operation of
creating a Win10 license key on the Microsoft activation
server, for future usage of Windows 10.

In other words, this is *not* your final configuration,
what we do today is just so you get a license for the
software for later.

Install Win10 over Win7 == generate request for Win10 license key
delete Win10, go back to Win7 == The license key is now "reserved"
for the day that you decide to install
because you really need Windows 10.

Generating a Win10 license key does not block your usage of Windows 7.

If you have a spare drive (one without content at the moment),
the steps would be:

1) Clone your current 780 drive to the spare. Use Macrium.
2) Unplug the original drive, boot the 780 with just the spare.
We can sacrifice the spare, because it's a spare and nothing
important is on ther.
3) Insert your Windows 10 DVD, run setup.exe from the DVD
while the 780 is running Windows 7 SP1 Pro x64.
4) When the Windows 10 OS shows its face, verify it is
activated.

https://i.postimg.cc/JnHDtXYp/checki...activation.gif

1) Clone your current 8500 drive to the spare.
This will erase the 780 content, and put an 8500 Win7 on it instead.
2) Unplug the original drive, boot the 8500 with the spare.
3) Insert your Windows 10 DVD, run setup.exe from the DVD
while the 8500 is running Windows 7 SP1 Pro x64.
4) When the Windows 10 OS shows its face, verify it is
activated.

https://i.postimg.cc/JnHDtXYp/checki...activation.gif

It will take at least an hour for step 3 and 4. Bare minimum.
Your C: partitions are quite large, and even 50GB of space
is more than enough for the operation to complete.

You will not be keeping the contents on the Spare drive.
There is also nothing to write down. The Spare drive can
be erased and reused. The key is on the Microsoft activation
server, and is "indexed" by the motherboard serial number
of your computer. That's how Microsoft is keeping track
of which computer this is. Microsoft uses serial numbers
off various pieces of hardware. The license key on the
machine ("3V66T") is a fake and that value cannot be
reused for any purpose.

You will be plugging the original drives back into the
PCs they belong to.

The purpose of that exercise, is to secure your Win10
license key today, so you have one. You must complete
this operation, before they stop honoring the "Free Upgrade"
offer. After the "Free Upgrade" stops being offered, the
install disc will still work.

When you actually want to use Windows 10, you will
be completing some sort of sequence "similar" to the
above. The purpose of generating the Digital Entitlement
now, is so each machine has one for the future.

Once the Digital Entitlement is available on the server,
the following will work.

1) Take your computer, put a single blank drive in it.
2) Boot the Win10 installer DVD. Do a "clean install".
3) When Windows 10 appears on the screen, check for
activation, as in the picture above. It should say
activated. When it asks for a key, you'd say "I don't
have a key", but the install will proceed without a key,
and because you have a Digital Entitlement, it will
activate without you typing in any key info. And this
is why we don't need to write anything down. It's
all automated. It's automated, because we have the
Digital Entitlement.

At the time you do your "real" Win10 install, you
can then choose to do "Win10 over Win7" or
"Win10 beside Win7". Where the "Win10 beside Win7"
is dual boot, uses two C: drives, and you get to
choose which OS version runs. As long as Win10 is
installed after Win7 is installed, the sequence is
one of the "easy" sequences. There are some
install sequences here, that are so hard, I still
haven't fixed the broken one... (That's UEFI booting,
mixing Windows and Linux and booting two Windows
OSes. Still broken.) For that one, I'm having a hard
time figuring out what to do next.

Paul