Should I switch from Windows 7 to 10 on my 10 year old notebook? Do you think that he copes with Win10? Not that my laptop is slowing down and I should have stayed with Win7. I don't care about security. I haven't used anti-virus programs for years and have never had viruses or trojans or anything like that.
System:
i5 - 520m
4Gb memory
Full HD
Nvidia GT 330m
So I had 16GB of RAM and there Win 10 had brought a significant improvement. About 30% faster everything and even less hard disk space (at least at the beginning:-)) Nevertheless, I would not recommend it to you, because 4GB Ram are gone with Win10 like nothing… Then it can be, your system slows down.
Normally does not cause any problems, can only recommend it
You shouldn't forget that your system itself always received security updates. They do not exist anymore… It can't be assumed that virus protection, which has never existed, would be the reason for the existing security.
In any case, unfortunately, one has to say that devices that used to run well with win10, after the complete update to the latest version, are more likely to cause resource problems.
Could you swap the hdd if you happen to have one and then pop it on Win10 to test it.
Check in advance during installation whether the hardware is supported.
The 4GB RAM is sufficient for normal use.
With the original Win7 key, you can install and activate Windows 10.
It is best to install from the stick and delete the entire hard drive.
Back up data beforehand!
If you turn off all the desktop effects in Windows 10, it would work. You should also do it because at some point new web browser versions will no longer run under Windows 7.
Another option would be to install a Linux distribution. For example Linux Mint in the xfce edition. It runs even faster than Windows 7 on 10 years or older devices. Here is the download: https://linuxmint.com/...php?id=278 I recommend a full installation. Then the latest Firefox, LibreOffice, multimedia components and tools will also be installed.
Linux Mint is based on the current stable long-term support version of Ubuntu and is 100% compatible with it.
After downloading the Linux Mint xfce ISO, simply write it on an empty formatted stick with Rufus https://rufus.ie/ and then boot the stick. The installer immediately sets up the WLAN and offers the option to delete the hard drive / SSD completely.
I have a license for Word. Can I install such a program there? Do I have to format everything first and then reload it? What about drivers?
Word is not available for Linux, but only for Windows.
With Linux Mint, the hardware is automatically recognized during installation and the corresponding kernel modules (this is like drivers) are loaded automatically, you don't have to worry about it yourself. Under Linux Mint there's Libreoffice as an office package. Microsoft Office documents can also read this. Libreoffice also includes a PDF export function.
The Linux Mint Installer does the formatting automatically. To do this, select "Erase hard drive and install Linux Mint" during installation.
And this is how you install programs on Linux Mint. There's application management there. It is like an app store and is operated as such. There you can find e.g. Spotify, VLC media player, Google Earth, Minecraft, GIMP image editing, Libreoffice and much more.
In addition, you do not have to update each program individually as with Windows, but that is done by a central update manager. The whole thing can also be automated so that it runs in the background.
