Tutorials

Uninstall Windows 10 if you don’t like it

Got a problem with Windows 10, here's how to go back a version or two!

9 Oct 2015

Windows 10 is available as a free download but, having taken the plunge to upgrade, you may decide you don't like it and want to return to Windows 7 or 8. Thankfully, this is possible because Windows 10 saves your previous OS on your hard drive for a month. However, after this time you may not be able to uninstall Windows 10, so you should decide whether you want to keep it or not as soon as possible.

To uninstall Windows 10, go to the Start menu and select Settings, then Update & security'. Select Recovery in the left-hand panel and, on the right, find Go back to Windows X' (where X is your previous version). Click the Get started' button below and follow the instructions.

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Use System Restore

If Windows isn't working properly, System Restore might be able to solve the problem. This is worth trying before attempting other, more drastic recovery options. Windows regularly saves key system settings to your hard drive as restore points, and System Restore lets you return to one of these previous configurations. It puts many settings back as they were and you can choose a restore point from when the computer was working properly.

In Windows 8.1, press Windows+S; in Windows 10 click in the search box. Type system restore and click Create a restore point' in the search results. Make sure protection for Windows (C:) is turned on, which means that restore points are being created automatically. The Create button lets you save an extra unscheduled restore point and you might want to do this before installing software or making other changes to Windows, so you can easily reverse them if you suffer from any problems.

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To restore Windows, click the System Restore button. Windows 10 suggests a restore point to use and explains why, which is helpful, but all versions of Windows show a list of restore points and you can just select the one you want.

Before committing to a restore point, select it and click Scan for affected programs'. This checks to see which programs, if any, will be affected by reverting to this earlier version of Windows settings. You won't be able to do anything about these changes, but at least you are warned and can reinstall the programs afterwards.