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Windows 7 to 10 upgrade: Seriously, here's why you need to update

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Windows 7 to 10 upgrade: Seriously, here's why you need to update

It's been almost two years since Microsoft officially ended support for Windows 7 in January 2020. The end shouldn't have come as a surprise to Windows users: Microsoft promised 10 years of product support for Windows 7 when it was released in October 2009, before shifting focus to supporting newer technologies, like Windows 11. 

That means Microsoft no longer offers technical assistance or software updates to your device, and the company encouraged people to upgrade to Windows 10 to keep their PCs and laptops secure. (If you're a Windows 8.1 user, extended support for that OS won't end until January 2023.) But don't worry -- you can still use this trick to download Windows 10 for free if you want to. And with Windows 10, you can upgrade to Windows 11 for free.

Keep reading for everything you need to know about the end of Windows 7 support, and how to make the switch to Windows 10.

The customizable Start menu on Windows 10.

Nate Ralph/CNET

Read more: How to download Windows 10 for free

Why did Microsoft end support for Windows 7?

Microsoft has a long-established Fixed Lifestyle Policy for many of its products. For each version of its OS, the company offers a minimum of 10 years of support (at least five years of Mainstream support, followed by five years of Extended support). Both types include security and program updates, self-help online topics and extra help you can pay for.

Windows 7 was released in October 2009, so its 10-year life cycle has come to a close. Windows 10 was released in 2015, and extended support for the latest version of the OS is slated to end in 2025.

Read more: New to Windows 10? Here's how long Microsoft will support it

Will my Windows 7 computer stop working?

Your Windows 7 computer will keep working, but Microsoft won't provide security updates or fixes, or technical support for any issues -- leaving your computer at greater risk from viruses and malware that may circulate to take advantage of any flaws that are later discovered.

That's why it's critically important for you to switch to an OS version that Microsoft will still put resources behind.

Read more:  Windows 7 support is dead, but these seven security tips will still protect your laptop

Do I have to make the switch to Windows 10?

No one can force you to upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10, but you're leaving your devices and potentially your privacy vulnerable if you don't make the jump. Without security updates or fixes, you're putting your computer at risk -- an especially dangerous choice, as many forms of malwaretarget Windows devices.

Windows 10 also has a number of built-in security tools: Windows Defender Antivirus protects against malware and spyware across email, apps, the cloud and the web, while Windows Hello offers a password-free sign-in option to unlock your devices with your face or a fingerprint reader. A Find My Device service can lock and erase your Windows device remotely, or map the location of your device.

Read more: The best antivirus protection of 2021 for Windows 10

Isn't Windows 10 pretty buggy?

Some people have been hesitant to make the switch due to reports of several bugs in earlier versions of Windows 10. But Microsoft has made several changes to its update approach since then. The biggest change came with the May 2019 release, including slower rollouts with additional testing, more options for pausing updates and more disclosure of known issues, so your experience should be smoother.

Many of the issues were due to the fact that updates are happening more frequently, said Gartner Research analyst Steve Kleynhans. "But overall most users seem pretty happy with the OS and like the experience it brings, especially on newer devices," he added.

Read more: 6 simple security changes all Windows 10 users need to make

What's the difference between Windows 7 and Windows 10, anyway?

Besides a suite of security tools, Windows 10 also offers more features. One is the Your Phone app, which allows you to access texts, notifications and apps from your phone using your PC -- similar to Apple's Continuity features. A feature called Calls allows you to place and answer Android calls on your PC (and you can connect your iPhone to your Windows PC as well). A dictation feature lets you easily record ideas.

Microsoft's digital assistant Cortana is also available on Windows 10 PCs. The OS also integrates better with Microsoft OneDrive and other cloud tools.

Read more: 11 easy Windows 10 tricks you didn't know about

The most recent Windows 10 November 2021 update includes features like new Wi-Fi security standards and other changes aimed at management and security.

Unlike previous versions of the OS, Windows 10 offers automatic updates by default, to keep systems more secure. (You can turn these off if you want to, by going to Windows Update Settings > Advanced Options and changing from Automatic to another option in the drop-down menu.)

Read more: 5 Windows 10 features that beat what you had on Windows 7

How do I upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10? How much will it cost me?

You can buy and download Windows 10 via Microsoft's website for $139. While Microsoft technically ended its free Windows 10 upgrade program in July 2016, as of November 2021, CNET has confirmed the free update is still available for Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 users. Check out our step-by-step guide on how to upgrade to Windows 10 for free.

Read more: 20 pro tips to make Windows 10 work the way you want (free PDF) (TechRepublic)

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Microsoft Windows 10 review: Microsoft gets it right

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Microsoft Windows 10 review: Microsoft gets it right

When Microsoft unveiled Windows 10 in 2015, it delivered an elegant operating system that could -- for the first time -- fulfill the potential of each modern computing form factor. Equally proficient on a touchscreen tablet, laptop, or conventional desktop PC, Windows 10 resuscitated the operating system's best features while setting the stage for Microsoft's ongoing innovation streak that includes idiosyncratic products like the Surface Pro 4, Surface Book and, more recently, the Surface Studio -- a desktop PC for artists and designers in need of high-end horsepower and display -- and the Surface Dial, a touch-friendly dial designed to facilitate fine contextual controls.

Late 2016 update

The next generation of the popular Surface tablet, the rumored Surface Pro 5, is expected to appear in the spring of 2017 -- timing that may coincide with the rollout of the next version of Windows, a free update scheduled for the first half of 2017. Windows "Creators Update" will introduce 4K video game streaming and support "augmented reality," bringing 3D capabilities to legacy applications such as Paint and PowerPoint. It will support 3D rendering for Microsoft's HoloLens technology, which will be incorporated into forthcoming devices from Acer, Lenovo, Dell, HP and Asus. And it will enable a virtual touchpad that lets you control external monitors from tablets, without need for a mouse.

It's worth mentioning that Apple delivered its own operating system overhaul in September 2016. MacOS Sierra added some new features inspired by its own mobile operating system. And though Apple clearly wishes to continue the integration of Macs and iOS products, providing additional incentives to keep your hardware inside Apple's walled garden, it's not always a perfect fit. In fact, the new MacBooks announced in early October 2016, equipped only with USB-C ports, can't connect to the new iPhone 7 and its Lightning Connector, without an adapter.

Editors' note: The original Microsoft Windows 10 review, first published in July 2015, follows.

Windows 10 is the Goldilocks version of Microsoft's venerable PC operating system -- a "just right" compromise between the familiar dependability of Windows 7, and the forward-looking touchscreen vision of Windows 8.

This new Windows, available as a free upgrade for existing Windows 7 and Windows 8 noncorporate users, is built from the ground up to pursue Microsoft's vision of a unified OS that spans all devices without alienating any one platform. It's an attempt to safeguard Microsoft's crumbling software hegemony, assailed on all sides by Google and Apple. And it's a vision of the future as Microsoft sees it, where a single user experience spans every piece of technology we touch. Welcome to Windows as a service.

Yes, this new OS is chock-full of fresh features. To name just a few: a lean, fast Internet Explorer replacement called Edge; Microsoft's Siri-like voice-controlled virtual assistant, Cortana; and the ability to stream real-time games to your desktop from an Xbox One in another room. (And in case you're wondering: there is no "Windows 9" -- Microsoft skipped it, going straight from 8 to 10.)

Windows 10 bridges the gap between PC and tablet. Nate Ralph/CNET

But Windows 10 is also the end of a long, awkward road that began with the release of Windows 8 in 2012, when Microsoft tried to convince a world of keyboard and mouse wielders that touchscreens were the way to go -- or else. Ironically, in 2015, the PC hardware for that touchscreen future is now here -- everything from 2-in-1s such as the Lenovo Yoga line to convertible tablets with detachable keyboards, like Microsoft's own Surface. And Windows 10 smoothly lets users transition from "tablet" to "PC" mode on such devices like never before.

For the rest of the PC universe -- including those who still prefer good old-fashioned keyboard and mouse navigation -- Windows 10 is a welcome return to form. The Start menu, inexplicably yanked from 8, is back and working the way you expect it to. Those live tiles from the Windows 8 home screen still exist, but they've been attached to the Start menu, where they make a lot more sense. And the fiendishly hidden Charms bar has been morphed into the more straightforward (and easier to find) Action Center.

As always, there are some quibbles and gripes with the end product, but all-in-all -- after living with Windows 10 for months -- I can say it's a winner. It's flexible, adaptable and customizable. And it's been battle-tested by an army of beta testers for the better part of a year, making it one of the most robust operating system rollouts in recent memory.

A fresh Start

The Start menu is back; it's almost funny how relieving that is. That humble Start button has been a fixture on the lower left corner of the Windows desktop since the halcyon days of Windows 95, offering speedy access to apps and settings. Press it on Windows 10, and you'll see the latest step in a long conversation about the state of the PC industry.

I spend more time than I'd like to admit rearranging the Start Menu. Screenshot by Nate Ralph/CNET

The past sits on the left: a neat column with shortcuts to your most used apps. Press the "All Apps" button and you'll get an alphabetical list of all of the apps installed on your PC. There are folders in there too -- press them, and extra options will fly out, just like they always have.

The future -- or at least, the future as Microsoft envisions it -- sits on the right side of the Start menu. These are the colorful, animated live tiles that debuted in Windows 8, pulling double duty as app shortcuts and informative widgets. You can resize these live tiles, drag them about to arrange them into groups and pin as many apps as you'd like -- the entire Start menu can be shrunk or expanded to suit your liking. It's essentially a miniaturized version of the fullscreen Start menu we saw in Windows 8. Hate live tiles? Then unpin them to excise them from your computer, leaving you with the narrow column of frequently used apps we've known for so long.

One step back, two steps forward

The Start menu in Windows 10 is admission that Windows 8 maybe have been a bit too forward thinking. But Microsoft hasn't abandoned that vision of unifying all manner of devices under a single operating system: Continuum in Windows 10 is the latest attempt to bridge the gap between touch and non-touch devices, and this time it doesn't force us to relearn how to work with our PCs.

To start, there's no divide between the Windows 8-style "Modern" apps you get from the Windows app store, and those you install the old-fashioned way. Everything exists as a traditional windowed app, sharing space on the desktop. If you're on a two-in-one device like Microsoft's Surface Pro 3 , pop the keyboard off and Windows 10 will switch to tablet mode. The Start menu and your apps will stretch to take up the entire screen, and all of the miscellaneous apps and shortcuts on your taskbar will disappear, to give your finger fewer obstacles to hit.

Apps go fullscreen, and the taskbar gets a little less cluttered in tablet mode. Screenshot by Nate Ralph/CNET

Reattach the keyboard, and everything slots back into place. It's an instantaneous, seamless process (once you've shooed away the annoying confirmation window). It's also entirely optional: you can disable the feature and switch to tablet mode manually, or forget that this whole touch concept exists at all.

This is what Windows 8 always should've been: an operating system that bridges the divide between touch and non-touch, without alienating folks who fall into one camp or the other. Like it or not, the future belongs to devices with touchscreens. But Microsoft (finally) understands that we'll all get there at own pace, and Continuum makes the transition painless. And now that there are so many hybrid devices to choose from, making the switch to touch without abandoning the interface we know is more important than ever.

Learning new tricks

Microsoft hasn't stopped at making touch make sense on a Windows PC. With Windows 10, just about every facet of the OS has been tweaked and updated, and a few new features have been rolled in. In typical Microsoft fashion, there's a dizzying array of keyboard shortcuts and touch gestures for each of these features, giving you no fewer than three ways to access the things you're trying to get to. No need to memorize them all -- just use whatever suits you (or your device) best.

Virtual desktops

If I had to pick my favorite new feature, I'd go with virtual desktops. Click the new Task View button on the taskbar and you'll get a bird's-eye view of all of the apps you've got open. Drag one of those apps onto the "new desktop" button, and it'll be moved to its own independent workspace. I can keep one workspace focused on work, a separate desktop for gaming forums, yet another workspace for the new camera lenses I'm checking out; there's no limit to the amount of virtual desktops you can create, and each one is treated as its own little private island.

Virtual desktops help you spread your apps across several workspaces. Screenshot by Nate Ralph/CNET

Virtual desktops are far from a new development, and they've been available in past versions of Windows thanks to third-party apps. But it's nice to see Microsoft catching up here. The feature could still use some work: desktops are numbered, but if you create a lot of them it can be hard to keep track of where everything is. The "traditional" Win32 apps you might download and install from a website are happy to open a new instance on any desktop, while clicking the shortcut on an app from the Windows store will yank you back to whatever desktop you used it on last.

You can move apps across virtual desktops -- just drag them, or right-click to shunt them over -- but there's no way to reorder the virtual desktops themselves, which would be really useful for staying organized. I'd also like to be able to set a different wallpaper for every virtual desktop -- I can do both of those things in Apple's OSX operating system, and have always found it really handy.

Windows Snap

The Snap feature introduced in Windows 7 has gotten a bit of an upgrade, too. Drag an app to the left or right side of the screen, and it'll "snap" to fill that space. The new Snap Assist feature will then chime in, showing you little thumbnails of any other apps that are currently open -- click a thumbnail, and it'll fill up the remaining space. You can also snap an app into a corner of your display and fill your screen with up to four apps, divided equally across the screen -- this could prove useful for folks with massive monitors.

Action Center

The new Action Center replaces the "Charms" introduced in Windows 8, and is another nod to mobile operating systems. Click the Action center icon on the taskbar to bring up a panel that houses all of your app notifications, and offers quick access to a few important system settings, like toggling your Wi-Fi network or switching in and out of tablet mode -- you can choose the options that turn up here in the settings menu. If you're coming from Windows 7 and have no idea where to find some of the settings you're used to, there's a good chance you'll find them here.

Wi-Fi Sense

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Wi-Fi Sense. While technically not a new feature (it's part of Windows Phone 8.1) its presence in Windows 10 should've been a welcome addition: Wi-Fi Sense connects your devices to trusted Wi-Fi hotspots.

I love the idea. Automatically sharing Wi-Fi credentials with my friends would remove much of the hassle of most social gatherings, when people just want to jump on my Wi-Fi network. And -- this part is key -- Wi-Fi Sense doesn't share your actual password, so it theoretically eases a social transaction (the sharing of Wi-Fi connectivity) without necessarily compromising my network security.

Until Wi-Fi sense offers granular control over sharing, I'd avoid it. Screenshot by Nate Ralph/CNET

But the implementation is, in a word, daft. I do want to automatically share my network with a select group of friends who are visiting, and have them return the favor. I don't want to automatically share access with everyone in my Outlook address book, or on Skype, or the random assortment of folks I've added on Facebook over the years. Give me the ability to choose who I share access with, down to the individual, and I'll give it a shot. Until then, I'll be leaving Wi-Fi Sense off -- I recommend you do too.

Windows Hello and Windows Passport

Microsoft is also beefing up security with Windows Hello. The feature will use your Windows 10 devices' camera or a fingerprint scanner to turn your body into a password. Once you've authenticated yourself with Windows Hello, Windows Passport will then give you access to a number of third-party sites and products, without forcing you to log in all over again. This should make it a bit more convenient to log in to your devices, so you don't skimp on traditional measures, like having a robust password. The only catch is that Hello isn't widely supported on a lot of existing hardware: you'll need a device sporting Intel's RealSense camera, or a fingerprint scanner.

Chatting with Cortana

Microsoft's virtual assistant Cortana isn't exactly a new feature, as she's been on Windows Phone for just over a year. But the company's answer to Apple's Siri, Amazon's Alexa and Google Now has made the transition to the desktop with Windows 10, taking over the OS' search functionality, while also handling quite a few housekeeping duties. You can have Cortana trawl through your email and calendar, and keep you notified of any upcoming flights you're taking, or packages you're expecting. She can set reminders and track stocks, and you can even dictate email messages for her to send to your contacts. Cortana can also be set to listen for you to say "Hey, Cortana," and can be trained to recognize several different voices. If you want to learn more about Cortana, head over to my preview on Microsoft's virtual assistant .

Cortana will help you get things done. James Martin/CNET

I'm torn. I love Google Now's proactive stream of useful information, served to me whenever I need it. But my primary mobile device is an Android phone and not a Windows Phone, which keeps my interactions with Cortana sequestered to my desktop.

She's not especially useful here. Windows 10's Voice recognition is rather accurate, but if I have to send an email message and I'm at my desk, I'm just going to use my email client. She'll offer recommendations for places to eat or things to see, but that'd be a lot more useful when I'm out and about than at my desk. The same goes for reminders, which are decidedly less useful if I can't access them anywhere.

Cortana will be making her way to Android and iOS devices later this year, which should clear up most of these issues -- provided most of her functionality crosses platforms without issue. I'll still turn to Cortana for the occasional joke, but until it's available on a phone I use regularly, I'll be sticking to Google for Now.

Microsoft Edge rethinks the browser

Microsoft has added a brand-new browser into Windows 10, and it's called Microsoft Edge. Introducing a new browser in a world that already has Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Apple's Safari is a pretty bold move. Doubly so when your previous effort was Internet Explorer -- once a juggernaut in the space, now the Internet's favorite punchline.

Annotate webpages with Microsoft's Edge browser. James Martin/CNET

Edge is a fast, modern browser that offers quite a few commendable features. Cortana is integrated right into the browser, and she'll offer detailed information on things like the weather or flight statuses while you're typing into the browser's address bar. Navigate over to a bar or restaurant's website, and Cortana can pull up a little sidebar full of useful information, like reviews or directions. The webnote feature lets you scribble on webpages and share your annotations to OneNote or via email, and you can use the Reading view option to strip a website down to its bare essentials. Edge has also been built with tighter security from the start, to hopefully circumvent some of the headaches that erupted from Internet Explorer.

But there are no extensions to tame overzealous advertisements, or enhance websites like Reddit, or simply organized my tabs -- I've been thoroughly spoiled by Google Chrome. There's no way to sync tabs or bookmarks across devices, and you currently can't import bookmarks from other browsers. All those features will be available eventually, with support for extensions coming sometime before the end of the year -- like Windows 10, Edge is a constantly evolving work in progress. But it's going to take a lot for someone like me, wholly enmeshed in Google's ecosystem, to ditch Chrome for something new. Internet Explorer also isn't going anywhere: it'll remain a part of Windows for the foreseeable future, as legacy apps are dependent on it. Head over to my Microsoft Edge preview to learn more about Microsoft Edge .

Getting your game on

Windows 10 adds and tweaks a few things in the entertainment department. The Xbox Video and Xbox Music apps have been renamed to Movies & TV and Groove Music, respectively. Their function is identical: any music and video files on your device can be found here, but it mostly serves as a means to convince you to buy or rent content from Microsoft's stores. You've got plenty of streaming services to choose from, for music and video.

Xbox Live achievements for Solitaire? Brilliant. Screenshot by Nate Ralph/CNET

If you're a gamer, the Xbox app will prove far more interesting. It's a window into your Xbox Live feed, letting you see what your friends are up to and send them messages, browse recordings people have made, compare achievements, and all of the expected ways of interacting with the social network. But if you own an Xbox One, you can stream activity from your console to any device running Windows 10.

It's awesome. No, it's not a game changer, and certainly not a reason to run out and grab an Xbox One. But it's still awesome: if someone wants to use the television, I can just plug an Xbox One controller into one of my PCs and continue plugging away at the Xbox One version of The Witcher 3 . The quality of the experience is going to be dependent on your network, so I'd recommend making sure both your console and the PC you're streaming to are connect to your LAN. The console also can't be used by others when it's streaming so this won't enable cooperative gaming. But if you frequently find yourself sharing the TV and have a PC with Windows 10 on hand, it's a fun little addition that could come in handy.

Handy tools for shutterbugs

The new Photos app isn't going to replace something like Adobe Lightroom, but if you take a lot of photos and are looking for a simple tool to keep things organized, you'll do well here.

Use the Photos app to make quick, non-destructive edits to your pictures. Screenshot by Nate Ralph/CNET

The Photos app scans your devices and OneDrive account for photos, and automatically arranges them into albums. You can use the app as a way to keep track of your pictures, but it also offers some basic editing tools too. If you prefer a hands-off approach, Photos will automatically enhance all of the photos it finds, wrangling red eye and sorting out exposure levels -- it works on RAW files, too. But don't worry: the edits Photos makes are non-destructive, so you can undo any changes it makes, or prevent it from altering your photos altogether.

Windows, everywhere

Windows 10 has finally arrived, but this version of Windows is fundamentally different from any that have come before it. It will truly be an everywhere OS, a concept Microsoft will be pushing with Windows 10 Mobile , and Universal Apps. We've been here before: apps developed for Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 could share much of their code, which was supposed to make it easy to create a single app that ran everywhere.

Microsoft's universal apps share an identical codebase: the Excel client on your desktop, for example, will be the exact same client as the one on your phone, with elements adjusted to make sense of the different display, and the lack of a keyboard or mouse. You can currently get a taste of this on the latest version of Windows 10 Mobile, and while I wouldn't recommend editing spreadsheets on your smartphone, it's possible.

Universal apps will lead to their own challenges, as developers will have to weigh creating rich, robust apps that can run on a mobile device, against developing apps that can make use of all of the power a full PC can bring to bear. Microsoft is already drafting a solution using Continuum. Microsoft has demonstrated Continuum for phones: plug a Windows Phone into a display, and the interface will one day morph to mimic the PC-based version of Windows. You'll see the desktop, desktop-versions of Windows Store apps, and get full mouse and keyboard support. There's no word on when Continuum for phones will be available, or what devices it'll run on, but it offers a tantalizing glimpse of what Microsoft has in store.

Getting ready for what's next

The Windows Update process will be key to getting everyone on board with Microsoft's vision of the future of Windows. It'll also prove to be one of the most contentious elements: if you're running the standard Home version of Windows 10, updates are automatic and can't be refused.

This is a great thing. Windows' Achilles' heel has long been its nigh-ubiquity, which makes it a prime target for malware and other digital nastiness. A computer that's kept up to date is a happy computer, as it will offer you the best chance of avoiding viruses and other unpleasant things.

You can delay updates, but you can't avoid them. Screenshot by Nate Ralph/CNET

This is also a terrible thing. Many of us have encountered software updates that don't quite work out, occasionally breaking more than they fix. One of the last updates to the Windows 10 preview has been triggering software crashes, a recurring reminder that things occasionally don't work out as intended.

Microsoft has plans in place to mitigate these snafus: those of us who've signed up for the Windows Insider program can opt to continue serving as beta testers in perpetuity, and we'll be receiving every update first, for better or worse. But an army of five million testers could go a long way toward making sure these compulsory updates go as smoothly as possible. Insiders will also be able to continue driving the future of Windows by sharing feedback on features and functionality in Windows as they are developed.

I still worry that something will eventually slip through the cracks, and that will be the forced update that sours everyone's mood on the whole process. But I still favor Microsoft's approach: better to deal with the occasional botched update than have the legion of vulnerable or compromised devices that currently exists.

Conclusion

In an ideal world, we'd just call Microsoft's latest operating system "Windows," and sweep version numbers and codenames under the rug. That "10" gives the impression that something comes next, when in reality Windows is transitioning from something you buy (begrudgingly) once every few years, to a living document that's constantly being updated, and tweaked. For many Windows users expecting a predictable upgrade cadence, this is going to be a difficult transition.

Windows 10 will mean the end of grand, sweeping changes, with a marked increase in the sort of minute, quality-of-life tweaks we've grown accustomed to on our smartphones and tablets. Cortana will learn new tricks, and the interface will become flexible enough to support entirely new kinds of devices, like Microsoft's HoloLens . Should Windows Phone survive, we'll eventually see the world Microsoft envisioned back at the launch of Windows 8, when every device was supposed to feel right at home.

All of that comes later. What we have, at present, is a fast, functional OS that that is equally at home on a beefy gaming rig as it is on a Surface tablet. It does everything you expect it to, and bakes in all of the improvements Windows 8 brought to bear. Both Cortana and Edge have a long road ahead of them before they'll supplant Google's vicelike grip on my digital life, but the novelty of dictating emails and requests to my PC is not lost on me. And then there's the price: free, for those upgrading from Windows 7 or Windows 8.

If you're running Windows 7 or Windows 8 you've little to lose, and quite a bit to gain, by making the jump to Windows 10. If you're still on Windows XP, you've probably got your reasons. But Windows 10 marks the first steps in a transition from operating system to ecosystem, a wild dream that gets a little less crazy every time I ask my PC a question, or pop the keyboard of my laptop to get some reading done. This is Microsoft's second attempt at bringing us the future, and this time they're getting it right.

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Your iPhone Can Copy Text From Photos. Here's How

Your iPhone Can Copy Text From Photos. Here's How

There's a better way to digitize handwritten notes, old family recipes or any other hard paper copy you may have lying around. I'm not talking about taking a photo of the note or recipe and attaching it to an email. There's an iPhone feature called Live Text that digitizes notes (and anything else) in a snap.

Live Text is a computer vision-based tool that lets your iPhone copy and paste photos from a text using its camera, among other features. It was announced at Apple's virtual WWDC 2021 and came as one of the features available in Apple's iOS 15.

Copying and pasting text from an image isn't exactly a new feature for smartphones. Android users might already be familiar with this functionality thanks to Google Lens, but for the tens of millions of people who use an iPhone, you need to be using iOS 15 or later to take advantage of it. Live Text is a little different from Google Lens, since you can use it in real time with your camera to select, copy and paste text, as the iPhone is trained to recognize useful information. As I said earlier, it makes for a helpful productivity tool for copying handwritten notes or text from images and then digitizing them.

1. Make sure your iPhone has iOS 15 installed. 

2. Point the camera at a subject that has any text you want to copy. You'll know Live Text has kicked in once you see a yellow outline around the text.

3. Tap on the Live Text icon on the bottom right corner of the picture to interact with any text in the frame.

4. Select the text you want to copy by pressing down like you would in Notes or a text message.

5. Hit Copy.

6. Paste this text into another app like Gmail or Notes.

Much like Google Lens, Live Text can also search for text in images stored in the Photos app. For instance, if there's a phone number in an image, you can tap it to dial the number, or if there's a French word, you can translate it to English. 

For more iPhone news, check out iPhone 14 rumors, everything coming to iOS 16 we're excited about and this trick to try if your iPhone isn't charging. 

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Windows 11 review: Microsoft's subtle changes make you ask, update or wait?

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Windows 11 review: Microsoft's subtle changes make you ask, update or wait?

Microsoft made Windows 11 available on Oct. 5 on a rolling basis as a free upgrade to most Windows 10 users. If you have Windows 8, you'll have to get the free upgrade to Windows 10 first, then download Windows 11. Before you decide whether or not to install the new OS, let's talk about what we like and don't like about the upgrade.  

An operating system, whether it's MacOS on your MacBook or Google's Wear OS on your smartwatch, gets better the more transparent it is to the user. And that user is you, sitting in front of a laptop keyboard or tapping on a phone screen. So sorry, no Spinal Tap "goes to 11" puns here. That's mostly because Windows 11 feels more like Windows 10.5 than a generational leap -- not that there's really anything wrong with that. 

Maybe the shift from Windows 10 to Windows 11 feels subtle because the jump from Windows 8 to Windows 10 was so gigantic. Big enough for Microsoft to skip an entire version number, even. That generation was all about righting a ship that had gone somewhat off-course, leaning too far into tablet territory, trying to convince everyone that Windows laptops and tablets were as cool as iPads. They're not, and that's OK: I work on a Windows machine, I do plenty of PC gaming on one, but when I flip through news headlines in bed at night, it's on an iPad. 

Read more: Surface Pro 8 review: a familiar flagship for Windows 11

Windows 10 started out with favorable reviews and has remained in everyone's good graces precisely because it got out of the way of whatever you were doing instead of trying to force its ideas on you. But more importantly, it was free* -- which includes an asterisk to indicate it was generally available as a no-cost upgrade to anyone with a nonancient PC. 

Before 2015, Windows upgrades either cost some money, or if you bought a new laptop or desktop, the latest OS just came preinstalled. Apple's OS X moved to a similar free-to-upgrade model around the same time. Except for system builders, the idea of paying separately for a computer operating system is basically extinct. That's a big change from when you had to hand over $120 to Microsoft for the privilege of upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 8.

Who can get Windows 11?

The list of compatible PCs is frankly a little narrower than I would have expected. The base requirements are a 64-bit processor, 4GB of memory, 64GB of storage, UEFI secure boot and TPM (trusted platform module) 2.0. It's that last one that gets tricky for some people, especially on cheaper laptops. If you've got a CPU older than a seventh-gen Intel Core series (we're up to 11th-gen now), you might be in trouble. If you want to check, use the Microsoft PC Health Check app. There are workarounds for installing Windows 11 anyway, but proceed with those at your own risk. 

Microsoft

Visual cues 

If there's one thing that immediately stands out about Windows 11, it's this: The start menu and taskbar are now centered on the bottom of the screen, rather than aligned to the left by default. Yes, that's the single biggest visual and interface change you're going to see on day one. Sure, there's plenty more going on underneath, but it feels like this UI shift is there mainly to let you know there's something new and different going on under the surface. 

And there is a good deal going on in Windows 11. For casual or mainstream users, you're unlikely to notice much of it, though there are some standout upgrades worth noting. 

Read more: Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio review: The screen is everything

Get some Android in your Windows

One of the big selling points of Chromebooks, which run Google's ChromeOS, is that most Chromebooks can run just about any Android app, from phone-centric favorites like Instagram to mobile games. That breaks Chromebooks out from being restricted to just cloud-based apps and frankly adds a lot of functionality to your $300 or so Chromebook. 

Microsoft is adding similar functionality to Windows 11 , both to compete with Chromebooks and to forge greater bonds between Windows PC users and Android phone users, just as Macs and iPhones are inexorably bound. 

But... that feature is not included with the launch version of Windows 11. It's going to be previewed sometime in the coming months, so I wouldn't expect it to be added as a fully baked feature until some time in 2022. 

That's a shame, because easy access to Android apps was probably going to be the biggest single practical change in Windows 11 for most people. Sure, there are plenty of other ways to do this, using an app like Bluestacks or even the Your Phone app from Microsoft, but it's not simple enough for everyday users. 

Microsoft

Snap groups and multiple desktops 

Easily organizing a bunch of open windows so you can see and access them when you want -- and hide them when you don't -- is handy once you get the hang of it. The ability to snap windows into preset slots on the desktop has been around for a while now, but the new Snap Groups and Snap Layouts offer a few new ways to wrangle your windows.

By hovering over the "maximize" button on the top right corner of most windows, you'll get a pop-up showing a bunch of layout options. Minimize these apps, and you can pop them all back up again in the same exact spots, by hovering over any of the snapped window icons in the task bar. 

But... not every app I tried allowed me to snap its window. Web browsers, system tools and many other random programs did, but programs such as Photoshop and Steam did not (hovering over their maximize buttons didn't offer the snapping options pop-up menu). 

If you have a gigantic monitor, use multiple monitors or need several thinly sliced web browser windows open at once, it can be handy. On a laptop screen, you're generally not looking at one or maybe two windows at once. 

Multiple desktops are a common MacOS feature, and a good way to keep multiple facets of your digital life organized. For example, you can keep all your work apps -- email programs, browsers, video conference apps -- on one desktop, and all your gaming apps on another. Like on a Mac, you hot-swap between them, it's really just a change in how your open apps are visualized. 

You can actually do that in Windows 10 as well, but it's a pain. In Windows 11, Desktops have their own taskbar icon by default, and creating and organizing multiple desktops is even easier than on a Mac, which is not something you'll hear very often. 

Wither the Widget?

Every gadget-maker loves widgets, defined in consumer tech terms as small icon-like apps that usually sit in a group somewhere on your device's UI. Usually it's useful little things like the weather, stock prices, your latest emails or calendar items, or a small newsfeed. Your iPhone and iPad have them, Android devices have them, Macs have them (under the usually hidden Notification Bar on the right side of the screen). Windows used to have built-in widgets, too. They were called Gadgets and died along with Windows 7. 

Microsoft

Now they're back. On the plus side, with its own taskbar button, the new widgets are easy to find. Hit the button and a semi-transparent panel pops out from the left edge of the screen. It has, by default, widgets for weather, your Outlook calendar, photos you may have in OneDrive, a To Do list and a few others. You can customize the list a bit, but there are not too many options for now. Below that is a newsfeed that looks like it's curated by the same people who do the news curating on the home screen for the Microsoft Edge browser. You can hide stories from any specific outlet by clicking on a menu icon in the news section or hit a "manage your interests" button to customize the feed, but by default, it's pretty basic. Lots of sports, Fox News and celeb gossip. 

Microsoft Teams integration

Do you use Microsoft Teams instead of Zoom, Facetime or Google Hangouts? You'll be able to get to it and launch it a little faster, because it's fully integrated into Windows 11 now. I've never been invited to a Microsoft Teams meeting, except by people who work for Microsoft. 

It's interesting to note that Windows users can now pop into Facetime meetings with the latest iOS "invite anyone" feature. Clearly there's a lot of competition for video meeting mindshare (faceshare?). 

Other quality of life improvements

As I'm often referring to system tools, settings menus or other on-screen things in my writing, I take a lot of screen shots. On a Mac, that's easy -- Shift + Command + 4. In Windows, well, it's never been quite that simple. The built-in Snipping tool is, however, slightly less annoying under Windows 11. Now you can take a snip by hitting Windows + Shift + S, although it copies the screenshot to the clipboard, it doesn't automatically save the image, you'll still have to do that manually. 

The Edge browser now has a safe Kids Mode that's easy to access by clicking on your profile in the upper right corner, and can be customized for different age groups. 

Auto HDR -- a feature that moved over from the Xbox Series X -- give games that don't support high dynamic range a boost to lighting, brightness and contrast for a more HDR-like look. 

I'm waiting for a revamped version of the Microsoft app store, which will allow for third-party services like game stores and web browsers. The Opera browser is available now, the Epic Games storefront is expected soon. No word on other browsers like Firefox or Chrome, or the popular Steam PC game storefront. Eventual Android app support will come, at least initially, from an Amazon-branded Android app store, rather than from Google Play. 

Who should get Windows 11? 

Despite my lukewarm embrace of the new Windows OS, there's no compelling reason to skip it. That's because, any new PC OS launches in an unfinished state, and the best improvements and most polished versions come later, from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 Creators Edition. 

I've used various preview builds of Windows 11 across multiple PCs for months, along with the final release build, and it's been fine, almost completely trouble-free, and I've never once thought about rolling back to Windows 10. 

That said, Microsoft's gonna Microsoft sometimes. Some long-term Windows irritations have stuck around. When setting up the OS for the first time, there are still plenty data-sharing and ad-personalization checkboxes to uncheck, and the built-in Edge browser still buries the default search engine settings (to switch the default search engine from Bing to, say, Google) several submenus deep. Switching which apps do what by default is also more complex now; you literally have to assign each file type -- .htm, .html, etc. -- one by one. Hopefully this will get streamlined at some point.

If you're going to buy a new laptop or desktop at pretty much any point after today, it'll probably come with Windows 11 preinstalled. In that case, you don't have to make a conscious decision, just go with the flow. If you have a current-gen Windows laptop, tablet or desktop, you'll be able to download and install Windows 11 either now or at some point in the near future. It's being rolled out slowly, probably to avoid a huge rush of same-day downloading.

As a general rule of thumb, I always suggest that you don't jump up and be the first person on the block to download a new OS update, whether it's for your laptop, phone or tablet. Issues will inevitably pop up, if only because of the tremendous breadth of hardware configurations and accessories, from printers to mice to VR headsets, that need to work right. 

That said, testing for Windows 11 has been extensive, and the main issues so far have been with how icons are displayed, some menu weirdness and occasional File Explorer problems. 

My final word on the subject, for now: If you want to try and download/install Windows 11 on day one, go for it. If you want to wait a few weeks (or a few months), that's fine, too.

---

Source

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Windows 11 review: Microsoft's subtle changes make you ask, update or wait?

Windows 11 review: Microsoft's subtle changes make you ask, update or wait?

Microsoft made Windows 11 available on Oct. 5 on a rolling basis as a free upgrade to most Windows 10 users. If you have Windows 8, you'll have to get the free upgrade to Windows 10 first, then download Windows 11. Before you decide whether or not to install the new OS, let's talk about what we like and don't like about the upgrade.  

An operating system, whether it's MacOS on your MacBook or Google's Wear OS on your smartwatch, gets better the more transparent it is to the user. And that user is you, sitting in front of a laptop keyboard or tapping on a phone screen. So sorry, no Spinal Tap "goes to 11" puns here. That's mostly because Windows 11 feels more like Windows 10.5 than a generational leap -- not that there's really anything wrong with that. 

Maybe the shift from Windows 10 to Windows 11 feels subtle because the jump from Windows 8 to Windows 10 was so gigantic. Big enough for Microsoft to skip an entire version number, even. That generation was all about righting a ship that had gone somewhat off-course, leaning too far into tablet territory, trying to convince everyone that Windows laptops and tablets were as cool as iPads. They're not, and that's OK: I work on a Windows machine, I do plenty of PC gaming on one, but when I flip through news headlines in bed at night, it's on an iPad. 

Read more: Surface Pro 8 review: a familiar flagship for Windows 11

Windows 10 started out with favorable reviews and has remained in everyone's good graces precisely because it got out of the way of whatever you were doing instead of trying to force its ideas on you. But more importantly, it was free* -- which includes an asterisk to indicate it was generally available as a no-cost upgrade to anyone with a nonancient PC. 

Before 2015, Windows upgrades either cost some money, or if you bought a new laptop or desktop, the latest OS just came preinstalled. Apple's OS X moved to a similar free-to-upgrade model around the same time. Except for system builders, the idea of paying separately for a computer operating system is basically extinct. That's a big change from when you had to hand over $120 to Microsoft for the privilege of upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 8.

Who can get Windows 11?

The list of compatible PCs is frankly a little narrower than I would have expected. The base requirements are a 64-bit processor, 4GB of memory, 64GB of storage, UEFI secure boot and TPM (trusted platform module) 2.0. It's that last one that gets tricky for some people, especially on cheaper laptops. If you've got a CPU older than a seventh-gen Intel Core series (we're up to 11th-gen now), you might be in trouble. If you want to check, use the Microsoft PC Health Check app. There are workarounds for installing Windows 11 anyway, but proceed with those at your own risk. 

Microsoft

Visual cues 

If there's one thing that immediately stands out about Windows 11, it's this: The start menu and taskbar are now centered on the bottom of the screen, rather than aligned to the left by default. Yes, that's the single biggest visual and interface change you're going to see on day one. Sure, there's plenty more going on underneath, but it feels like this UI shift is there mainly to let you know there's something new and different going on under the surface. 

And there is a good deal going on in Windows 11. For casual or mainstream users, you're unlikely to notice much of it, though there are some standout upgrades worth noting. 

Read more: Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio review: The screen is everything

Get some Android in your Windows

One of the big selling points of Chromebooks, which run Google's ChromeOS, is that most Chromebooks can run just about any Android app, from phone-centric favorites like Instagram to mobile games. That breaks Chromebooks out from being restricted to just cloud-based apps and frankly adds a lot of functionality to your $300 or so Chromebook. 

Microsoft is adding similar functionality to Windows 11 , both to compete with Chromebooks and to forge greater bonds between Windows PC users and Android phone users, just as Macs and iPhones are inexorably bound. 

But... that feature is not included with the launch version of Windows 11. It's going to be previewed sometime in the coming months, so I wouldn't expect it to be added as a fully baked feature until some time in 2022. 

That's a shame, because easy access to Android apps was probably going to be the biggest single practical change in Windows 11 for most people. Sure, there are plenty of other ways to do this, using an app like Bluestacks or even the Your Phone app from Microsoft, but it's not simple enough for everyday users. 

Microsoft

Snap groups and multiple desktops 

Easily organizing a bunch of open windows so you can see and access them when you want -- and hide them when you don't -- is handy once you get the hang of it. The ability to snap windows into preset slots on the desktop has been around for a while now, but the new Snap Groups and Snap Layouts offer a few new ways to wrangle your windows.

By hovering over the "maximize" button on the top right corner of most windows, you'll get a pop-up showing a bunch of layout options. Minimize these apps, and you can pop them all back up again in the same exact spots, by hovering over any of the snapped window icons in the task bar. 

But... not every app I tried allowed me to snap its window. Web browsers, system tools and many other random programs did, but programs such as Photoshop and Steam did not (hovering over their maximize buttons didn't offer the snapping options pop-up menu). 

If you have a gigantic monitor, use multiple monitors or need several thinly sliced web browser windows open at once, it can be handy. On a laptop screen, you're generally not looking at one or maybe two windows at once. 

Multiple desktops are a common MacOS feature, and a good way to keep multiple facets of your digital life organized. For example, you can keep all your work apps -- email programs, browsers, video conference apps -- on one desktop, and all your gaming apps on another. Like on a Mac, you hot-swap between them, it's really just a change in how your open apps are visualized. 

You can actually do that in Windows 10 as well, but it's a pain. In Windows 11, Desktops have their own taskbar icon by default, and creating and organizing multiple desktops is even easier than on a Mac, which is not something you'll hear very often. 

Wither the Widget?

Every gadget-maker loves widgets, defined in consumer tech terms as small icon-like apps that usually sit in a group somewhere on your device's UI. Usually it's useful little things like the weather, stock prices, your latest emails or calendar items, or a small newsfeed. Your iPhone and iPad have them, Android devices have them, Macs have them (under the usually hidden Notification Bar on the right side of the screen). Windows used to have built-in widgets, too. They were called Gadgets and died along with Windows 7. 

Microsoft

Now they're back. On the plus side, with its own taskbar button, the new widgets are easy to find. Hit the button and a semi-transparent panel pops out from the left edge of the screen. It has, by default, widgets for weather, your Outlook calendar, photos you may have in OneDrive, a To Do list and a few others. You can customize the list a bit, but there are not too many options for now. Below that is a newsfeed that looks like it's curated by the same people who do the news curating on the home screen for the Microsoft Edge browser. You can hide stories from any specific outlet by clicking on a menu icon in the news section or hit a "manage your interests" button to customize the feed, but by default, it's pretty basic. Lots of sports, Fox News and celeb gossip. 

Microsoft Teams integration

Do you use Microsoft Teams instead of Zoom, Facetime or Google Hangouts? You'll be able to get to it and launch it a little faster, because it's fully integrated into Windows 11 now. I've never been invited to a Microsoft Teams meeting, except by people who work for Microsoft. 

It's interesting to note that Windows users can now pop into Facetime meetings with the latest iOS "invite anyone" feature. Clearly there's a lot of competition for video meeting mindshare (faceshare?). 

Other quality of life improvements

As I'm often referring to system tools, settings menus or other on-screen things in my writing, I take a lot of screen shots. On a Mac, that's easy -- Shift + Command + 4. In Windows, well, it's never been quite that simple. The built-in Snipping tool is, however, slightly less annoying under Windows 11. Now you can take a snip by hitting Windows + Shift + S, although it copies the screenshot to the clipboard, it doesn't automatically save the image, you'll still have to do that manually. 

The Edge browser now has a safe Kids Mode that's easy to access by clicking on your profile in the upper right corner, and can be customized for different age groups. 

Auto HDR -- a feature that moved over from the Xbox Series X -- give games that don't support high dynamic range a boost to lighting, brightness and contrast for a more HDR-like look. 

I'm waiting for a revamped version of the Microsoft app store, which will allow for third-party services like game stores and web browsers. The Opera browser is available now, the Epic Games storefront is expected soon. No word on other browsers like Firefox or Chrome, or the popular Steam PC game storefront. Eventual Android app support will come, at least initially, from an Amazon-branded Android app store, rather than from Google Play. 

Who should get Windows 11? 

Despite my lukewarm embrace of the new Windows OS, there's no compelling reason to skip it. That's because, any new PC OS launches in an unfinished state, and the best improvements and most polished versions come later, from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 Creators Edition. 

I've used various preview builds of Windows 11 across multiple PCs for months, along with the final release build, and it's been fine, almost completely trouble-free, and I've never once thought about rolling back to Windows 10. 

That said, Microsoft's gonna Microsoft sometimes. Some long-term Windows irritations have stuck around. When setting up the OS for the first time, there are still plenty data-sharing and ad-personalization checkboxes to uncheck, and the built-in Edge browser still buries the default search engine settings (to switch the default search engine from Bing to, say, Google) several submenus deep. Switching which apps do what by default is also more complex now; you literally have to assign each file type -- .htm, .html, etc. -- one by one. Hopefully this will get streamlined at some point.

If you're going to buy a new laptop or desktop at pretty much any point after today, it'll probably come with Windows 11 preinstalled. In that case, you don't have to make a conscious decision, just go with the flow. If you have a current-gen Windows laptop, tablet or desktop, you'll be able to download and install Windows 11 either now or at some point in the near future. It's being rolled out slowly, probably to avoid a huge rush of same-day downloading.

As a general rule of thumb, I always suggest that you don't jump up and be the first person on the block to download a new OS update, whether it's for your laptop, phone or tablet. Issues will inevitably pop up, if only because of the tremendous breadth of hardware configurations and accessories, from printers to mice to VR headsets, that need to work right. 

That said, testing for Windows 11 has been extensive, and the main issues so far have been with how icons are displayed, some menu weirdness and occasional File Explorer problems. 

My final word on the subject, for now: If you want to try and download/install Windows 11 on day one, go for it. If you want to wait a few weeks (or a few months), that's fine, too.

---

Source