In a move that will shock precisely none of our longer-term readers, this week I became one of the last people to make the upgrade to Windows 10, days before the support period for Windows 8.1 expired. (Wikipedia: ‘as of January 2023, 2.59% of traditional PCs running Windows are running Windows 8.1’).

Over the past few years, each and every time I’ve written the words ‘Tested on Win 8.1’ at the bottom of a review, I have imagined those reading wondering exactly why anyone was still using this outdated and little-loved incarnation of the Microsoft OS.

In the past, my reluctance to switch to the latest version of Windows has teetered on the edge of perverse eccentricity, although it’s never really been grounded in anything more sinister than a policy of buying mid-range PCs to play slightly old games and running them until they run no more.

For the majority of the 00s, I was stuck with Windows 98, on an old Duron (AMD chipset, discontinued in 2004) that I first got at university. When XP first came on the scene, it had a few niggles with older Win9x games, but in truth the main reason for the holdout was that, after a certain point, upgrading the OS seems fairly pointless unless you’re also going to upgrade the PC, which I couldn’t at that stage afford to do.

Since then, the cycle of remaining conservative with regard to Windows choices has continued; in 2008, when I finally bit the bullet and got a new PC, Windows Vista was the most up-to-date available incarnation, and in receipt of unflattering reviews and feedback from users. So I stuck with XP, until it stopped being supported six years later, and I had to take the plunge by putting Windows 7 on my (by now) slightly wheezing and out-of-date machine.

My current desktop came with Windows 8.1 installed, and I never made the switch to Windows 10 before now, purely because everything seemed to be working fine and I saw no pressing need to upgrade. (Plus, while they may have eventually been ironed out, I’m sure that early adopters of Win10 ran into a few compatibility problems not suffered by other users of 64-bit Windows).

Windows 8 did get bogged down in (unsuccessful) attempts to come into line with mobile operating systems like Android and Apple OS, and even though 8.1 toned it all down a little, there were still times when it felt like I was using a Windows tablet (or phone) on my desktop PC. Hence the introduction of Windows 10 (‘one louder’ than Windows 9?) and the incessant campaign to encourage users to take advantage of a free, but time-limited, upgrade programme (which still works, incidentally).

Of course, this was all so long ago that Win10 is itself due to be replaced fairly shortly, and this PC won’t be able to handle Windows 11. In fact, I fear it’s probably not long for this world: it had a near-death experience recently, after the man fitting some new blinds came downstairs, ashen-faced, to report that he had damaged my ‘games console’ after tripping over a wire and ripping off the front of the case, including a USB port. (He did offer to pay for any damage, but it still works ok, and frankly, I was just glad he hadn’t injured himself).

In the meantime, my laptop will now keep providing regular reminders that it meets the required spec for an upgrade to Windows 11, an upgrade that is as easy and convenient as pressing a button.

These reminders will, however, be ignored until the last possible moment. Old habits die hard!