Time is running out for the free Windows 10 upgrade

It’s just two days until July 29th, the last day that you can get the Windows 10 free upgrade from Microsoft. The free offer is currently available to Windows 7 and Windows 8 users. The upgrade process is simple, though a bit time consuming. It can take a few hours for the entire upgrade process. However, if you do the upgrade process through Windows Update you will have the latest version – 1511 10586.494 – which is current until August 2nd when the Anniversary Update is scheduled to arrive.

Your Windows key will be converted to a Windows 10 key through Digital Entitlement. In the future you can either use your Windows 10 key or Windows 7/8 key to reinstall Windows 10. It is strongly recommended to back up any data that you deem important.

If you like you can do a clean install of Windows 10 after the upgrade. You’ll need the Media Creation Tool from Microsoft to create a bootable USB or get an ISO to burn to a DVD. From there you can use either your Windows 7/8 key or use Magical Jellybean Keyfinder to get your new Windows 10 key and use that key. The clean install will go much faster than the upgrade process, so you’ll be up and running with a clean Windows 10 in no time!

Update: Seems you don’t even need to have your Windows 10 key on hand if you did the free upgrade. When you reinstall it will all be taken care of for you. Simply skip the prompts to enter your key. Part of the reason is that everyone has a generic Windows 10 key tied to their hardware. If you took the free upgrade opportunity you were assigned a generic Windows key. This key is related to the previous Windows version you were running. That’s one less thing to worry about when you have to format and reinstall.