Update to Windows 10….Is it REALLY this Easy?!?!?!?

Now that I’ve gotten through a lot of Windows 8.1 testing, I updated my test system, I updated to Windows 10…and surprisingly enough it was the easiest update I had been through. Now, don’t get me wrong – I did a lot of prep work – but the amount of post work I had to do was related more to setting up the interface for my preferences than fixing things.

So here’s some notes, if you’re an Autodesk product user (or even Bentley, Adobe, etc.). My system is an HP Envy 17" about two years old.

First, I removed all of the older versions of Autodesk products prior to 2016. I didn’t need them since I had already migrated, but I’ve been hearing from others that 2015 still works fine as well. Autodesk hasn’t come out completely (as of this post) and said everything was compatible, but I’ve test driven everything in the Building Design Ultimate and Plant Design Premium suites and they all work. Keep in mind that it’s a good idea to take the folders off the system if you don’t need them, if any remain. Another note – remove all plug-ins, add-ins and extensions prior to uninstalling the main program, as uninstalling some (like the Revit Extensions 2015) would not uninstall after the main program was removed. Make sure you scroll all the way down in the Programs and Features list, since not all of the product names start with “Autodesk”. My bad…

Second, I used Norton to run a performance test on the drive, allowing it to defragment the disk. I thought about using a registry cleaner tool, but decided not to do this, and see if the install had any issues with extraneous registry keys. So far, nothing has happened, so I’ll come back and clean this up later.

Next, I did a disk cleanup using the drive’s Properties tools, cleaning up temp files, system reports, debug logs, etc. to get a clean slate. This is something you should be doing on a regular basis anyway, but definitely do this first. Here’s what the new tool looks like in Windows 10, and it’s pretty much the same as the earlier versions:

After doing the cleanup, I used System Recovery to set a restore point just in case, and named it Pre-Windows 10 so I’d know which one to use.

Last step was to back everything up that system restore didn’t cover, like my files. I use Western Digital’s backup software with the external hard drives as my backup system (look Ma, no tapes). I also use Beyond Compare for folders that aren’t covered with the backup lists, as mans to sync folders.

Before starting the update, make sure you turn off extra apps in your system tray. I turned off the Autodesk App Manager, since it’s one of the biggest burners, along with my cloud service apps. I temporarily suspended real time scanning since I wasn’t going to be hitting the internet after the installer downloaded. Getting the running apps down to a minimum helps the installer to run faster.

Once the installer was finished, all it took was a few preference settings, and the system came back up looking very similar to Windows 8/8.1. My shortcuts were all the same, my taskbar has the same icons. The only thing I messed with so far was the start menu tile settings – but I’m so glad that guy is back as part of the program, I didn’t care about the rest.

One item you need to check for sure – your System Restore settings may get disabled. Go to Settings, and search for System Restore. Run the configuration tool (I accepted the default amount of maximum disk space to use), and then create a restore point. I named this one Windows 10 Initial so I’d know where I started from.

So the good news is – Microsoft appears to have gotten this right…give yourself an Easy button!

Happy upgrades! – db