Windows 10 Upgrade Assistant

The most straightforward way I can think of to upgrade to Windows 10 from Windows 7 is to use the Windows 10 Upgrade Assistant. You can find it HERE:

Click to download the update assistant. This will lead you to download the Windows 10 upgrade program, without actually doing the upgrade immediately, so you have time to ponder the whole thing. It will take hours to complete, so let it run. At some point you will be asked what type of install, which likely means you will select to KEEP all your programs and files.

Then you will be asked to actually update to Win 10. Hopefully it will work for you. I did have someone who had a problem with the update, so please backup what’s important to you, just in case. It will also take quite a while to complete the upgrade, after which, Win 10 will guide you through some questions. When it completes, you should have a nice clean version of Windows 10, version 1903.

When it’s all done you may or may not have an activated copy of Windows 10. In any case, it will work just fine. If it comes up with a watermark at the bottom right corner, your Windows will still work. (Microsoft suggests you purchase a licence). I had a valid copy but when I swapped out my motherboard it decided it was no longer activated and the automated phone support wouldn’t give me an activation code. That was 2 years ago and it’s still running.