Could any Tech savvy people help me with a query?

Once a year i do a reinstall of windows. I save anything i want to save on an external, format my hard disk, and reinstall.

I had windows 8.1 on my PC and upgraded to windows 10 when it came out. If i want to reinstall this time, do i install windows 8.1 first, or make a disc of windows 10 from their website? I'm just wondering whether i need a COA, or if my windows 8 one will work now or what's the deal?

Thanks in advance for any help given.

Don't worry, i did it while this sat unanswered. Apparently your COA doesn't change to 10 during the upgrade. Kinda guessed it.

Originally posted by huckleberryhound
Don't worry, i did it while this sat unanswered. Apparently your COA doesn't change to 10 during the upgrade. Kinda guessed it.

What is COA? Change of address?

Originally posted by sonhouse
What is COA? Change of address?

Confirmation of Authenticity.

Originally posted by huckleberryhound
Confirmation of Authenticity.

Oh yeah, that bit. Kind of sucks, eh.

Be advised that W10 mandates mandatory updates. (W8 did not.)

Originally posted by moonbus
Be advised that W10 mandates mandatory updates. (W8 did not.)

Getting more obtrusive year by year. Pretty soon we will be required to submit a DNA sample to get an update to prove COA.

Originally posted by moonbus
Be advised that W10 mandates mandatory updates. (W8 did not.)

I haven't upgraded to 10 since the reinstall. I think i'll leave it as for a while.

Originally posted by sonhouse
Getting more obtrusive year by year. Pretty soon we will be required to submit a DNA sample to get an update to prove COA.

Pretty soon newborns will be fitted with a cranial chip and IPv6 address for life: it will replace the social security number, Obama-care number, tax number, and bank account number, all in one swell foop. "Improved means to an unimproved end," as Thoreau once said.

Originally posted by huckleberryhound
I haven't upgraded to 10 since the reinstall. I think i'll leave it as for a while.

Be advised that the MS-Office package marketed as "Office 365" is subscription-based software. What this means in practice is that you never own it; you have to pay rent, forever (or as long as you wish to continue using it).

Originally posted by moonbus
Be advised that the MS-Office package marketed as "Office 365" is subscription-based software. What this means in practice is that you never own it; you have to pay rent, forever (or as long as you wish to continue using it).

Get a Linux distribution for FREE!, Install Oracle virtual box for FREE!! and you can run multiple operating systems on the one machine (providing you have sufficient Ram and memory on the HDD)

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
Get a Linux distribution for FREE!, Install Oracle virtual box for FREE!! and you can run multiple operating systems on the one machine (providing you have sufficient Ram and memory on the HDD)

I Was thinking of installing a virtual box for installing XP, so i could play old PC games that no longer work on windows 8. Think i need to buy a new hard drive first though.

Originally posted by huckleberryhound
I Was thinking of installing a virtual box for installing XP, so i could play old PC games that no longer work on windows 8. Think i need to buy a new hard drive first though.

Nah it creates a virtual hard drive, you simply assign it some portion of your physical hard drive and it uses it. Try it, its easy peasy.

YouTube

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
Nah it creates a virtual hard drive, you simply assign it some portion of your physical hard drive and it uses it. Try it, its easy peasy.

[youtube]J4R2mDlIEKo[/youtube]

I know, but i only have a 300 GBer.

Originally posted by huckleberryhound
I know, but i only have a 300 GBer.

You do realize that that is orders of magnitude larger and faster than the mainframes which guided the Apollo moonshots ?