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Microsoft Windows 10 breathes life into older PCs


According to a recent post on ZDNet, penned by internationally published technology author Adrian Kingsley Hughes, older PCs running Windows 10, not only last longer, but run more smoothly than they would with Windows 7, or 8.1.

Old PC running Windows 10

Recently, Hughes had the opportunity to put this theory to the test, on one of his aging computers. The older PC, custom built by Hughes himself, dated back to 2008, a year in which the system was considered high-end. Powered by a 3.0GHz quad-core Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 CPU, on an Asus Maximus Formula mainboard, with 8GB of RAM.

The original operating system installed on Hughes’ rig, was Windows Vista, which was then upgraded to Windows 7. The system, like most higher-end custom built computers, was a designated workhorse, from tasks spanning from gaming, to managing virtual machines, video processing, and everything in between, until a couple of years ago, when the system was ultimately retired.

Much like other older systems, this one was also slated to be taken apart, for a handful of still valuable components, aside from spare screws, masks, drives, and cables. Luckily for this PC, the bell didn’t toll, thanks to Hughes’ idea of bringing the system back to life, by performing a clean install using Microsoft Windows 10.

With virtually nothing to lose, in terms of apps and data, Hughes went ahead and installed Windows 10 on a system that, for better or worse, was already nearly obsolete, with most of its components relying on legacy drivers, as Hughes points out, “...if there was something about the system that Windows 10 didn't like, well, that would be the end of the road...”.

Ultimately, the installation went ahead just fine, and the system seems a lot “snappier”, as Hughes puts it, than it did before, even if some of the credit should be due to performing the simple act of a clean installation, which by itself dusts off a big chunk of anything that potentially contributed to the slowing down of the older system.

With that said, according to Hughes, Windows 10 does seem more responsive than Windows 7 or Windows Vista ever did. Such is the experience from over a dozen Windows 10 installations on systems previously running Windows 7 and Windows Vista.



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