There's been a lot of press lately about the Windows 10 upgrade notification appearing for users of Windows 7, 8 & 8.1. Since it just appeared for me on my Win 8.1 VM, I wanted to post here so you know what the experience actually looks like. It's insanely easy to reserve and contrary to what the press is writing, it's not something that's in your face and intrusive. Let's check it out.

Please note that this is <strong>ONLY TO RESERVE THE FREE UPGRADE</strong>. The upgrade is available July 29th and this is basically telling Microsoft that you want it. <strong>IT's NOT GOING TO INSTALL IT NOW!</strong> If you want to use Win 10 now, go to <a href="http://insider.windows.com">insider.windows.com</a> and download the ISO.

First, in the notification center, you'll get a little Windows icon:

<a href="http://blog.reybango.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/win10upgrade-1.png"><img src="http://blog.reybango.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/win10upgrade-1.png" alt="win10upgrade-1" width="351" height="196" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3055" /></a> 

Clicking on it pops open a dialog letting you know that you can reserve your free Windows 10 upgrade and lets you scroll to see the benefits (i.e.: marketing speak). <strong>You don't have to scroll. Instead you can go straight to reserving your Win 10 upgrade by clicking the "Reserve your free upgrade" button</strong>:

<a href="http://blog.reybango.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/win10upgrade-2.png"><img src="http://blog.reybango.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/win10upgrade-2.png" alt="win10upgrade-2" width="816" height="531" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3057" /></a>

<a href="http://blog.reybango.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/win10upgrade-3.png"><img src="http://blog.reybango.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/win10upgrade-3.png" alt="win10upgrade-3" width="816" height="531" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3058" /></a>

<a href="http://blog.reybango.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/win10upgrade-4.png"><img src="http://blog.reybango.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/win10upgrade-4.png" alt="win10upgrade-4" width="816" height="531" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3059" /></a>

<a href="http://blog.reybango.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/win10upgrade-5.png"><img src="http://blog.reybango.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/win10upgrade-5.png" alt="win10upgrade-5" width="816" height="531" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3060" /></a>

<a href="http://blog.reybango.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/win10upgrade-6.png"><img src="http://blog.reybango.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/win10upgrade-6.png" alt="win10upgrade-6" width="816" height="531" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3061" /></a>

<a href="http://blog.reybango.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/win10upgrade-7.png"><img src="http://blog.reybango.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/win10upgrade-7.png" alt="win10upgrade-7" width="816" height="530" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3064" /></a>

You also have a small slide out menu that basically gives you all of the same options the you would've scrolled through and also lets you inspect your PC for compatibility:

<a href="http://blog.reybango.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/win10upgrade-8.png"><img src="http://blog.reybango.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/win10upgrade-8.png" alt="win10upgrade-8" width="816" height="531" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3065" /></a>

Once you've clicked on the "Reserve your free upgrade" button, you're basically done and your machine is marked to receive the update. And remember you'll get a notification when it's ready to install:

<a href="http://blog.reybango.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/win10upgrade-9.png"><img src="http://blog.reybango.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/win10upgrade-9.png" alt="win10upgrade-9" width="816" height="531" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3066" /></a>

And if you want to be notified by email when the upgrade is ready, just enter it in and submit which will take you to this screen:

<a href="http://blog.reybango.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/win10upgrade-final.png"><img src="http://blog.reybango.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/win10upgrade-final.png" alt="win10upgrade-final" width="816" height="531" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3067" /></a>

That's it. Here's the <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-10-faq">link to the FAQ</a> that's in that dialog.

No nag or crazy UX. Simple.

