What Is The Best Windows 10 Pro Update to Upgrade To as of 1-29-21?

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DKW3

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Windows 7 Ultimate user here,

Though my Windows 7 Ultimate Pro 64 bit runs smoothly & I use the best anti virus protection, for reasons of practicality I must resign myself to doing a Windows 10 Pro upgrade before the end of 2021; what is the best Windows 10 Pro OS update with the fewest bugs & security update issues? I last read where the "Fall Creators Update" was THE best, & I downloaded a copy at the time, but this was about 2-3 years ago....
 
Not really sure what you are expecting to hear here when asking for the best update with fewest bugs and security update issues. My advice is, always has been and always will be to download the latest version from Microsoft, or an authorized MS partner distributor. If you don't get the latest, you will need update to it. So I don't see any difference. With over 30 million lines of code, and over 1 Billion W10 systems out there, essentially each and every one being unique, there will always be "issues". But it is important to understand the occurrence and frequency of those issues are vastly and significantly less in numbers and severity than all the hype would have us believe.

Remember, even if 1/10th of 1 percent of the users had problems (and it is no where near that!), that would still be 1,000,000 upset users. And 1,000,000 upset users can make a lot of noise, especially when amplified and repeated over and over again by Microsoft bashers and those in the IT press who simply parrot the same story over and over again.

If want to minimize your risk of being a victim of bugs and update issues, make sure your hardware is compatible with W10 first, install the most current drivers for your hardware and update your installed applications. Then install the most recent version of W10 and LEAVE THE DEFAULT SETTINGS ALONE!

Are you currently paying for extended support for W7 through a volume licensing program? If not, you should have done this W10 upgrade long ago as W7 support ended last year on Jan 14, 2020.
 
1) Make a free backup image:
Imaging with free Macrium - Windows 7 Help Forums


2) Check computer specifications and system requirements:
How to Check Windows 10 Computer System Specs & Requirements - Microsoft


3) Check known issues:
Windows 10, version 20H2 and Windows Server, version 20H2 | Microsoft Docs
Resolved issues in Windows 10, version 20H2 and Windows Server, version 20H2 | Microsoft Docs


4) Check servicing dates:
Serviced versions of Windows 10: Frequently asked questions (microsoft.com)
Search product lifecycle (microsoft.com)
Lifecycle FAQ - Windows - Microsoft Lifecycle | Microsoft Docs


Windows 10 - Test & Try with No Risk, No Install - Windows 7 Help Forums
Upgrade to Windows 10 from Windows 7 for Free
Clean Install Windows 10 Directly without having to Upgrade First
Upgrade to Windows 10
 
Digerati said:
My advice is, always has been and always will be to download the latest version from Microsoft, . . .
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Mine as well. Period, end of sentence.

And if it's the opening weeks of a new Feature Update AND problems are being reported, then just wait until the glitches get ironed out, which tends to happen very quickly these days.

You can't, and shouldn't try, to prevent Windows 10 from updating itself as feature updates are presented. So if you're going to be Doing a Windows 10 Repair Install or Feature Update Using the Windows 10 ISO file, then it only makes sense to upgrade/update using the current production version of the Windows 10 media.
 
Corday said:
Although you say you use the best AV, what was true for Windows 7, isn't for 10. If and when you upgrade, switch to the built in Window Security for AV and Firewall protection.
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I agree. I use Microsoft Defender (formally Windows Defender) and Windows 10 own integrated firewall on all our systems here, systems used by multiple people with a wide variety of experience and "security awareness" and malware has never been a problem. How do I know? Because regardless your primary antimalware solution of choice, you should always have a secondary scanner to double check just in you, the user and ALWAYS weakest link in security, or your primary solution didn't let something slip by. I generally recommend and use Malwarebytes for that and thus far (going back to W7 and Microsoft Security Essentials) it has never found anything other than a couple "wanted" PUPs (potentially "unwanted" programs).
 
It seems that many don't pay any attention to the initial P in PUP.

Potentially means just that. There are many of occasions where the potentially is not translated into actually. There's the odd thing or two I've elected to keep that are PUPs, and I exclude them afterward so I don't get nagged.
 
DKW3 said:
my plan is to upgrade when I swap out my current internal PC HD for a larger SSD.
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Well, if this will be your first SSD based computer, just be prepared to never be happy with hard drives again. I switched to all SSDs when W10 came out and I will never go back to hard drives.

As for upgrading, all I can really say there, in terms of preparation, is repeating what I said above.

Beyond that, we saw here that the newer the hardware, the greater the chances of problem-free installation and compatibility issues with W10 you may encounter.

It is important to understand it is the hardware maker's responsibility (not Microsoft's) to develop and make available the necessary Windows 10 drivers for their hardware to insure compatibility with W10. If the makers of your current hardware, particularly the motherboard and graphics solution, have not made W10 drivers available for that hardware, I would recommend you hold off on this upgrade until your budget allows for a whole new computer build with a new motherboard, CPU, and RAM designed for W10. Otherwise, you risk increased blood pressure and a rapidly receding hairline.
 
While I agree with what @Digerati says, in theory, I have encountered precious few systems that do not upgrade to Windows 10 flawlessly IF they started out life during the Windows 7 era or later. That is, they weren't upgraded to Windows 7, but were initially issued with it.

As to peripherals and things like sound cards, if a driver exists for Windows 8, but not 10, I have yet to have a Windows 8 era driver not work perfectly. I've even used Win7 era drivers on rare occasion. Virtually all of the problems I've encountered are not with the computer itself, but something added to it or attached to it as far as drivers go.

I did have one Dell Inspiron 1720, originally issued with Windows Vista, that would not work gracefully with Windows 10. That was strictly because there was no device driver for the Elan mousepad (and, believe me, I and many others searched) that would allow it to work well with Windows 10. In all other respects the machine was perfectly happy, and could be used with an external mouse plugged in without issue.
 
britechguy said:
IF they started out life during the Windows 7 era or later.
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This is our experience too. That is, the hardware was designed to work with W7 or later typically successfully ran W10 with no issues. This can be a tricky determination, however. Early W7 machines (motherboards) were really designed for Vista or even XP. The manufacturers were still manufacturing them, and so they developed the necessary drivers and stuck a W7 compatible sticker on them. Those early W7 systems very often will not support W10.

I don't recall either, seeing any motherboard designated from the start as W8.x compatible to have problems with W10.
 
About that Dell Inspiron 1720 I worked on a few of those and I got the mouse pad working by using a driver for a similar but later model but one that was certified for Windows 8 and with a few simple tweaks I got it working with Windows 10.
 
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SpareChange said:
About that Dell Inspiron 1720 I worked on a few of those and I got the mouse pad working by using a driver for a similar but later model but one that was certified for Windows 8 and with a few simple tweaks I got it working with Windows 10.
Click to expand...

It would be interesting to have on record which one that was, as I could find absolutely nothing over months of looking.

That being said, this machine went to recycler heaven not all that long ago.
 

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