Downgrade from 10 to 8.1 to 7?

[Weston]

I have a beautiful new desktop. It came with 8.1, and never having used 8 or 8.1, I decided to just wait for 10, which I did, and installed it.

I immediately became aware of the privacy issues, the mere idea of which enrages me---WHY? WHY can't people simply mind their own business?

My desktop has been sitting idle since I installed Windows 10; I've read about things to do to opt out of this or that, but I don't think the problem will go away. Here's my question:

Is it a poor idea to consider uninstalling Windows 10 in favor of installing Windows 7, which has never been on the new computer? I don't know how uninstalls work: if I uninstalled Windows 10, would my computer revert to Windows 8.1, or what?

If I uninstall Windows 10, will its tentacles still be clinging to its various stake-outs on my desktop -- will it ever be truly gone??? How will I know?

 

[Dave Atkin]

Hello,

If you want to downgrade to Windows 7 then you will have to perform a clean installation. You will also have to purchase a Windows 7 licence in order to do it legally.

Personally I wouldn't go back to Windows 7. There are a number of guides online on how to change the privacy settings to make it feel more 'comfortable' to use.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
A lot of the telemetry sending stuff was sent to win-8-8.1 and 7 so you have to review updates before downloading and installing them which ever version you decide on,
http://www.sevenforums.com/general-...windows-10-upgrade-updates-windows-7-8-a.html

8.1 with start8 installed really isn't too bad
Of course 7 rules
But I would probably attempt to get your original install back so you can at the least be back to square 1 and wait a while for M$ to sort out the 10 os since it's only been released for a short time there is a possibility the policies will soften.

Once you get your original 8.1 back you can buy a new ssd/ hdd and install win-7 home premium or pro on it and have both.
No telling if the new machine has or had a system restore to factory state partition or not you might use it if it did.