I suspect on my brother's MSWin7 machine I might do a clean install (on a different HDD) and make a system image of a base installation without any apps, then install the MSWin10 upgrade while it's still free and then make another system image of that. That way he's got the free upgrade already, but won't actually have to run it. Or perhaps clone the regular install to a new disk and build the upgrade on top of that. Then just switch back to the MSWin7 disk and continue on with what's already working.
As for his 8.1 machine at the cabin, it might be worthwhile just taking the upgrade on that (yeah, image MSWin8.1 first anyway). But that would mean driving up to the Catskills one or two times and spending the day doing the upgrade. Really, I just need him to switch over to LinuxMint instead.
Probably do the same for the in-laws 8.1 system; let the imaging run one day and then the upgrade the next (at least can go swimming while I'm waiting for the horribly show process to run).
Would be nice if I would be able to download the upgrade package ahead of time on my brother's Fios connection, but MS are incapable of providing such useful options.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
