The Free Windows 10 Upgrade on Office Computers

The upgrade notice on the office computer

Windows 10 was released on Wednesday. For computers running Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, it is a free upgrade for the first year.

Many of those computers have shown a small Windows icon near the clock since June, offering to reserve a copy. This week those reservations are turning into notices that the upgrade is ready.

In an office, the person who clicks yes is often whoever happens to be at that desk. A choice that would be fine on a home laptop becomes a choice about the computer that runs the accounts.

Windows 10 itself is not the worry. What matters is everything the office runs on top of it.

What changes for the business

• A new browser, Microsoft Edge, which may become the default.
• No old plugins in Edge: ActiveX, Silverlight and Java do not load.
• Internet Explorer 11 is still included, but out of sight.
• Older printer and scanner drivers may not work.
• Older business software may not be supported yet.
• Updates install automatically, with fewer choices about timing.

The second catches offices out. A tool that has worked for years in Internet Explorer simply fails to load in Edge, and the screen rarely says why.

No reason to hurry

The offer lasts until July 29, 2016. A computer upgraded next spring gets the same Windows 10 as one upgraded this week, at the same price.

Waiting has real advantages. The first months of any new version of Windows bring fixes, and the makers of printers and business software publish new drivers and versions as they catch up.

For most offices the only date that matters is the end of the offer. Everything before it can be planned.

Tell staff before they click

A short note to everyone is enough: do not accept the upgrade on a work computer until it has been tested, and here is who decides.

Mention the icon near the clock and what the notice looks like. Staff who would never install software on their own may well accept something that presents itself as a routine Windows update.

List what each computer does

For each computer, note its Windows version, the programs it runs and the devices attached to it: printers, scanners, label printers, card terminals.

Then list the web tools used at that desk each week: online banking, supplier and lab portals, payroll, booking systems. Note which browser each one is opened in.

A tool that only works in Internet Explorer is the one to worry about.

Ask the makers

Ask each software maker whether your version is supported on Windows 10. Many current versions already are; versions several years old may not be, and the answer decides when that computer can move.

Check the printer and scanner makers' sites for Windows 10 drivers. Windows includes basic drivers for many devices, but features such as scanning to a folder often need the maker's own.

For web tools built on plugins, ask the provider what will replace them, and when.

A worked example

A photo restoration service with a counter in a suburban plaza repairs torn and faded prints, and scans slides and negatives for families. It has three Windows 7 computers: one at the counter and two retouching stations in the back.

On Wednesday evening one of the retouchers saw the upgrade notice and accepted it before going home.

On Thursday morning the station started up looking new, and the retouching software opened normally. Its maker already listed that version as supported.

The film scanner beside it did nothing. Its maker stopped publishing drivers several years ago, and there is none for Windows 10.

The print lab's upload page, which uses a Java applet, would not run in Edge either. It did run in Internet Explorer 11, which was still on the machine.

The station went back to Windows 7 that afternoon, through the option Windows 10 offers for a month. No computer in the back will be upgraded again until the owner has priced a scanner that has a driver.

Edge, plugins and Internet Explorer

Edge is built around current web standards and leaves the old plugin system out entirely. Anything that needs ActiveX, Silverlight or a Java applet will not run in it.

Internet Explorer 11 still runs them on Windows 10. Search for it from the Start menu, pin it, and give staff a shortcut for each old tool.

Edge's menu also has an option that reopens the page you are on in Internet Explorer.

Treat that as a stopgap. Chrome stopped running Silverlight and Java by default in April and plans to remove them entirely in September, so the providers of these tools need a plan to move on.

Upgrade one machine first

Choose the computer the business could most easily do without for a day. Make a complete backup of it first, an image of the whole drive rather than a copy of the documents.

Upgrade it, then work through a written list for a week: print an invoice, scan a document, run payroll, make a bank payment, place a supplier order, open every web tool.

Windows 10 offers a way back to the previous version for a month after the upgrade. The backup is there in case that fails.

Then move on to the next computer, one at a time, with the same list.

Check your own website in Edge

Your customers will be upgrading too. Open your site in Edge and try what they do: the menu, the forms, the booking calendar, the checkout.

Anything built on an old plugin, such as a virtual tour or a video player from years ago, will not work for visitors using Edge.

The counter-case

An office whose computers do little beyond email and a browser, with every business tool online and current, can move sooner. A full backup and a day of testing may be enough.

New computers bought from now on will often arrive with Windows 10 installed, which settles the question for them.

And a business whose software maker will not support Windows 10 for months waits, which costs nothing until next July.

In every case the safe order is the same: one computer first, tested properly, before the rest.

Before anyone clicks yes

1. Tell staff not to accept the upgrade yet.
2. List the programs and devices on each computer.
3. Ask each maker about Windows 10 support.
4. Find the web tools that need old plugins.
5. Back up the test computer completely.
6. Upgrade one computer and test it for a week.
7. Open your website in Edge.

Step four is the one nobody predicts. These tools live on someone else's server, so nobody in the office thinks of them as software that could stop working.

The same plugins stopped running in another browser this spring, as covered in Chrome stops running Java and Silverlight.

Frequently asked questions

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.