Or six or eight months if that's your pleasure. If you decide not to upgrade, you should just be able to ignore the optional updates from Microsoft and stay with Windows 10 until it's no longer supported, which gives you until 2025 or so to consider what comes next.Įven when that optional update appears, you can ignore it for a month or two. You can delay the upgrade until a time of your choosing, or you can choose not to upgrade at all. For suggestions on third-party software that can accomplish this job with ease, see ZDNet's guide to the 'Best Windows and Mac backup software.' When do you want to upgrade?Īlthough it will be possible to install Windows 11 on supported hardware as early as October 5, 2021, you have options beyond that date. You can use the venerable Windows 7 Backup program, which is still available in Windows 10 and Windows 11. Of course, the best backup is a system image, which lets you restore your current configuration in the event of problems. In most cases, all you lose with a failed upgrade is some time. These days, Windows feature updates use an image-based installer that allows the Setup program to easily roll back any changes if it encounters a problem along the way. The worst-case scenario in any major change to your operating system, of course, is the possibility that the upgrade will fail catastrophically, leaving your machine in an unusable state.įortunately, in the modern Windows era, that possibility is extremely unlikely. Or, to put it another way: What can go wrong?

Instead, the unique circumstances of the Windows 11 launch, most notably its strict minimum hardware requirements, raise a handful of new questions that anyone contemplating this upgrade needs to answer before proceeding with the update. Windows 11 is an upcoming release of Microsoft's flagship operating system and the successor to Windows 10.

Should i upgrade to windows 11