This is a question, and it is also a whinge. I am in the process of upgrading a Windows 10 desktop for general use. This includes transferring some programmes and installing some printers, all of which work perfectly well under Win 7.

My whinge is the need for forced upgrades. Of course Microsoft defenders will insist that the Internet will break if any ‘outdated’ software is allowed on it, and upgrading is necessary and GOOD, and what is the problem with having something that is current?

The problem is that I, and I imagine others, use certain programmes in very specific ways. I don’t need or want all the fancy added-value crap that every update comes burdened with. I don’t want to have to relearn how my favourite software works, if it still works at all. I don’t want new whiz-bang features. I like what I’ve got, I like the way it works, and I don’t care if it is 20 years old! If I need something better, I will get something better. I don’t want it being forced on me through an update.

But my old stuff won’t work anymore. That is my whinge. Actually, I am pretty good at getting it to work anyway. With the right settings, and the necessary tweaks, and certain hacks found on-line by smarter people than me who ran into the same problems, with a lot of fiddling and hassle, I usually can get it to work pretty much like it did before. So why can’t Microsoft?

Yeah, the apologists will argue that Microsoft does support its products for a period of time, but then it expects you to move on. My problem with that argument is basically this: I have a programme or utility (or ‘app’, if you insist) that I use for a certain purpose. It does exactly what I want, the way I want. But then an OS upgrade comes along and my favourite software doesn’t work anymore, or it does random bizarre things. Maybe I can find something new that will do the same job. But maybe I can’t. Maybe there isn’t anything that will do the same job, at least not in the same way. So why should I have to pay to buy something new that won’t do what I want, when I already have something old that works just the way I want it? I have a hard time understanding the logic of that.

Worse is the case with my printers, which is what my question is about. I have two of them which work perfectly well under Windows 7. One is a Canon. There is noting at all wrong with these printers. They print like they are supposed to and the quality is excellent. But they are 32-bit and Windows 10 won’t let me install them. It doesn’t give me any help at all. It just says it can’t install 32-bit drivers on a 64-bit system. End of story. Nor can I find anything on-line that might make this possible. No updated drivers, nothing, nada, zip. Why should this be?

I almost never need to print anything. Probably not more than once a year on average. But occasionally I do, and I need to have a printer available for those occasions. According to Microsoft (and the printer manufacturers), I have to go out and spend my limited money on a new machine just to print once a year so my good-functioning old one can go into a landfill. Is this planned obsolescence or what?

Anyway, that is my question: Is there any way to get around this? I have a workaround and it is a really dumb one. I am just keeping my Win 7 system in reserve so I can use it for printing. If I run into any more issues like this, I may just go back to it altogether. At least it works.