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Many thanks for all the valuable responses. I had trouble logging in because all the posts were piled up behind the door, blocking access
To help me to make up my mind, I made notes on the relevant posts (omitting any questions). My notes follow.
One of the problems with terse notes is that abruptness can sometimes lead to unintentional offence. In these cases, I apologize in advance.
My conclusion is that I'll stick with W7. I used to use an Ubuntu partition for disk imaging and management when I had XP, so I might try that again in readiness for W7 losing its support.
And of course Ubuntu is open source. Based on some of the comments in this thread, that seems to be exactly the opposite of MS's attempts to take over people's laptops by stealth (and by stealing) :shock:
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OP
fireberd: zero probs with W10. With good advice.
ThrashZone: Everyone should try W10. With good advice.
AddRAM: Try W10. With good advice.
remm: W10 is non-private. Ads. Will stick with 7. I don't have privileges to access your late link :-(
Lance1: Try W10. Offensive invasion of privacy.
Lance1: Link gives examples of aggressive downloading of the upgrade.
whs: Has tried W10. No intention of deploying.
maxseven: Wants to try W10, but recommends staying with W7.
Lance1: Link to MS tool to create ISO.
whs: Need a license, even for VM.
paul1149: Likes W8.1. No intention of upgrading. Will move to other OS.
AddRAM: Try before buy. W10 is not safe. Even 6 months would not be a long enough trial period.
whs: Tried W8.1 and W10 - doesn't like. I wonder what they're using?
maxseven: Doesn't like W8 or W10. (has W7 - see earlier)
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