8 Reasons Not to Upgrade to Windows 10

After months of hype and media attention, Windows 10 is almost here. That means it’s decision time: Do you upgrade as soon as you can? Or do you wait?

Hard as it may be to resist the immediate promise of a better computing experience, upgrading to a new operating system as soon as it’s available isn’t always the best idea. Why? Glad you asked. Here are eight reasons you might want to consider not upgrading to Windows 10.

If it ain’t broke…

Sure, Windows 10 will be a free upgrade for current Windows users. But price isn’t the only thing you should consider when deciding to upgrade or not. The real question is, What are you going to get? Sure, there’s some fancy new touch interaction and a personal assistant you can talk to — cool story, Microsoft. But “cool“ doesn’t always equal “compelling.”

If you’re happy with your current Windows 7 or 8 setup, why change it? Remember, Microsoft has promised to keep supporting Windows 7 until 2020, Windows 8 until 2023. And you’ve got a year to take advantage of the free upgrade offer. Why the rush?

Windows 10 is forever

Unless you have some serious tech-savvy, downgrading from Windows 10 to a previous version is going to be a serious undertaking. And there’s always the chance that you’ll lose apps and/or data during that downgrade process.

Point being, once you hit that upgrade button, it’s going to be really tough to go back, should you have second thoughts. Why not wait until you’re absolutely certain you’re ready for the new OS?

You can get the new features in other ways

Image: Microsoft

Microsoft can scream all it wants about shiny new features in Windows 10. But with a little patience and a few Web searches, you can get many of those “new” features now by tweaking your older version of Windows.

For example, Windows 10 brings back the Start menu. But our very own David Pogue showed you how to get that menu in Windows 8 (or 8.1) last year. The shiny new Edge browser looks cool and all, but it doesn’t do a whole lot that Chrome or Firefox — with the appropriate settings and extensions — can’t.

The first version is almost always buggy

Despite Microsoft’s best efforts at collecting feedback from early adopters through its extensive Windows 10 technical preview process, bugs and other issues are still going to surface in the launch-day version of the new OS.

Let others be the guinea pigs, and wait until the bugs are ironed out. You’ll thank yourself in the long run.

“You’ll update your OS, and you’ll like it”

Microsoft is taking a proactive approach by requiring all Windows 10 Home users to accept forced updates and reinstalls of the core apps.

This lack of control leaves you at the mercy of Microsoft, regardless of how you feel about new apps or redesigned interfaces. Should Microsoft push an update that breaks your system … well, too bad.

RIP Windows Media Center

Windows 10 completely does away with Windows Media Center.According to Microsoft, once you upgrade to Windows 10, WMC will all but disappear, leaving you to figure out some other means of accessing your entertainment content.

So don’t upgrade to Windows 10 if you rely on and use Windows Media Center on a daily basis.

Your favorite apps might break

Regardless of how long third-party developers have had access to Windows 10 to test their code against, it won’t be enough for all of them. If you rely on a given app to do your job, check with its developer about its Windows 10 compatibility before you click on that install button.

You have an older computer

Microsoft has laid out some minimum hardware requirements for PCs to run Windows 10. But let’s be honest: Just because your PC meets those requirements, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be happy with the results.

If you find yourself with an older computer that’s on the bubble between compatible and not, and that PC runs your current OS just fine, you can wait until you upgrade your computer before you update Windows.

Jason Cipriani is a freelance technology journalist based in Colorado. His work has appeared on CNET, Fortune, and PC World, among other outlets. You can follow him at @MrCippy on Twitter.