Any valid legal copy of Windows 7 or Windows 8 that you've previously purchased can still be upgraded to Windows 10. Most end users have upgraded to Windows 10 already over the years, but if you haven't, you've got a few legal options. We'll never know exactly how many people avoided the upgrade for this reason alone, but at the time some readers had indicated they were disgusted by the company's behavior and refused to update. Microsoft's first giant push to convince customers to use Windows 10 was marred by an increasingly heavy hand as the campaign went on, to the point that it was both accused of malware tactics and later admitted to the same.

And despite statements from Microsoft that it would absolutely-no-fooling-really-truly kill the Windows 10 free upgrade offer on December 31, 2017, that offer is still good even in 2021. Unofficially, you can still download an upgrade license for the OS. Officially, you stopped being able to download or upgrade your system to Windows 10 on July 29, 2016. Ever since Microsoft launched Windows 10, it's made the OS officially or unofficially available.

Update to windows 10 free