Windows 10 News: Free Upgrades, No Passwords and Easier Installation

By Dondi Tiples, Christian Post Contributor Thursday, March 19, 2015

Microsoft has announced that it will be providing free upgrades of its latest upcoming OS, Windows 10, do away with the use of passwords, provide for a faster installation process.

Windows 10, Microsoft's newest iteration in its family of operating systems, will be free for all users for all users during the first year of its launch, around June 2015, even if the existing OS it upgrades is a pirated version.

According to Terry Myerson, Microsoft's OS head, the move to offer free upgrades even for running pirated copies is to "re-engage" users who have been running pirated software from China, and solving the dilemma of the currently 75 percent of PCs in the US that rely on pirated Windows software.

Microsoft also announced it will be abandoning the use of passwords using the usual string of letters, numbers and characters. Instead, it will be introducing Windows Hello, a biometric authentication system which works on eye, face, and fingerprint recognition. This means unlocking a device on Windows 10 will be as simple as gazing at it or touching it.

While Hello hasn't yet been made available in Windows 10 beta, it is expected to be in place in all Windows 10 operating systems by the June launch.

Another major change Windows 10 will be rolling out is a faster and easier installation process, saving users more disk space compared to its predecessors. This will free users from the "refresh" and "reset" route while updates are downloaded to bring a device up to date.

The Windows 10 can install even in a compressed state, and in the case of re-installation, the OS recovers through runtime system files that builds up the whole operating system from previous system files. This means users will also be able to create their own recovery disk without having to reinstall a long list of OS updates.