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Question

Unwanted update needs to go

Aug 30, 2016 11:40AM PDT

My mother got a "new" computer with Windows 7 on it and adjusted to the change fairly well. Several weeks later, she told me that Windows 10 sudenly appeared and she was not happy about it. I'm aware of the Old Computer file that existed after the update, but when I found out she had been hijacked (that's what it is when somethng is dumped on you without permission) by Microsoft, the file was gone along with the corresponding recovery. Is there anyway to restore Windows 7 to her computer, and are the files she lost still on the hard drive somewhere? She's pretty computer savvy for a 93 year old, but I wish she had complained to me earlier.

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Here we are decades later
Aug 30, 2016 11:48AM PDT

And folk have yet to figure out the files on a PC are not safe. No matter how many times folk lose files, they have yet to figure this basic thing out.

"We only lose what we don't backup."

And now with smart phones I'm seeing more loss and more folk blaming the makers.

OK, about finding those files. I like to search with the command line. It's all of one command which has been around for over 3 decades. If it's on the drive, you usually can find it.

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Answer
As to restore.
Aug 30, 2016 12:09PM PDT

That's the other topic about PCs. To restore it, we turn to backups and factory restore systems.

You left out the make and model so I can't check if it had a factory restore method documented.

This is what's killing Windows PCs today. Folk are not going to accept these are computers that need backup and restore procedures. Folk today want to "use" the PC but without having to deal with Windows.

In such cases, I have to give the nod to other than Windows systems. Chrome books for example are all in the cloud and while we have another debate about how to backup, the OS really doesn't change much.

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Answer
Classic shell
Aug 30, 2016 8:03PM PDT

Give classic shell a shot that might get the gui back close enough to w7 that mom can live with it.

Next step up is to spin in the backup that mom makes.

Next step up is to spin in the restore media that mom made.

Next step up is to look for a restore partition.

Next step up is to contact the maker and buy restore media.