Microsoft has announced the official date of release for their new operating system, Windows 10. It should be available on July 29th of this year, and will be free for those who wish to upgrade from their existing installations of Windows 7, 8 or 8.1. But the free upgrade offer will only last for one year.
A new update for existing Windows users has already been released which will help make this transition easier. Windows update KB3035583 adds a Migration folder to your Windows directory, and adds two hidden folders in \Windows\system32\GWX titled "Download" and "DownloadSwap". The main purpose of this update is to give users a new app called Get Windows 10. You will see a new icon in your taskbar that looks like this:
Click on the icon, then click on Reserve your free upgrade. You'll need to provide an email address if you want confirmation of this reserved upgrade. There is no obligation to actually do the upgrade to Windows 10, and you can cancel at any time.
Thanks to our administrators Sean and Dee for providing information used in this story.
You can read more at the Microsoft site.
