Update: Hatch Early Learning has recently announced Windows 10 Support. If your Hatch computer has been upgraded to Windows 10, you can now download instructions for making your Learning Games operational again. (Instructions courtesy of Hatch Early Learning) Click Here to Download Instructions
Our Original Article posted in February of 2016 begins here:
Are you being prompted to upgrade your Hatch computer to Windows 10? If so, you should be aware that Hatch does not support Windows 10 yet on Hatch devices. If you have already upgraded your Hatch computer to Windows 10 then you already know that some or all of the built-in learning software has become unusable.
What to do if you have already upgraded to Windows 10
Hatch does include a restore image partition with their computers but that restore image becomes unusable once the Windows 10 upgrade has completed. At this point the only solution is to box up the Hatch computer and ship it back to Hatch to be re-imaged with Windows 7. Of course this comes at a cost. We have been told the price for Hatch to re-image a computer is under $200. Depending on your budget this might or might not be feasible.
How to prevent upgrading to Windows 10
Obviously this can turn into a huge issue for users of Hatch computers. Your faced with having an inoperable Hatch computer if upgraded to Windows 10, and your also faced with a repair bill to have the computer re-imaged. If you are tired of seeing the constant prompts to upgrade to Windows 10 or if you would like to disable the prompts so your staff does not perform the upgrade, there is a solution for this. You can disable these prompts so that they are not visible. We cover how to do this in an earlier post about How to Disable Windows 10 Upgrade prompts.
Going Forward
As an outsourced provider of Technical Support to Head Start programs we see issues such as this arise first hand and can react to them effectively. We feel the solutions and recommendations outlined here are appropriate given the circumstances. The facts are that Microsoft has released Windows 10 upgrade prompts to all users of Windows 7 and Windows 8 devices, regardless if the computer system is used personally or as a business computer. In some situations such as with Hatch devices, upgrading to Windows 10 does cause irreversible harm. Before you upgrade any computer to Windows 10 we recommend consulting a professional first. And until Hatch upgrades their devices with Windows 10 support, we recommend following our suggestions. And if you have particular questions regarding the Hatch computers in your organization feel free to drop us a line by visiting our Contact Us form. We will be happy to answer your questions as thoroughly as possible.