Of course, moving to Windows 10 as an operating system on an existing computer is only part of the puzzle. Even if you upgrade the operating system to Windows 10, the legacy software that you wish to run may not be able to be run under Windows 10 on your existing hardware, otherwise known as “being compatible.” If your legacy software is not compatible, you will be required to upgrade to a more recent version of your legacy software that will run with Windows 10. There may also be a cascading effect here as newer software versions of legacy applications may not run with older computers, as their hardware requirements have grown. This necessitates a hardware upgrade as well. In some cases, there may not be upgrades even available. Here is a quick run through of some of the more common applications found on lawyers’ computers and whether they are compatible with Windows 10:

PCLaw
Versions 16 and 15.5 are supported under Windows 10, provided that you download and install .NET Framework 3.5 before proceeding with the installation of these versions. There is limited support for version 13. Version 12 is not supported at all.

ESILAW
Esilaw 360 is fully compatible with Windows 10. If you have ESILAW and wish to move to ESILAW 360, you must first upgrade to version 2015.1.2, provided you are upgrading from version 2007.1 or higher. If you are using an earlier version, you will need to contact ESILAW support.

Primafact
Primafact 5 will run under Windows 10, 8.1, 8 and 7 operating systems, but it is not optimized for “touch-screen” gestures in Windows 8.1 and 8. Existing users using versions prior to 4.5 must upgrade to version 4.5 before upgrading to version 5.

Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Reader
Adobe Acrobat XI and DC are the only two versions that are compatible with Windows 10. Adobe recommends that if you are using the Adobe Reader, you upgrade to the free version of Adobe Reader DC.

Microsoft Word, Outlook, Excel, OneNote
Office 365 (Version 16), Office 2019 (Version 16), Office 2016 (Version 16), Office 2013 (Version 15) and Office 2010 (Version 14) are compatible with Windows 10. Office 2007 (Version 12) is no longer part of mainstream support but Microsoft says it will continue to run. Versions older than Office 2007 may not work.

WordPerfect
Corel WordPerfect X9 is compatible with Windows 10. There are reported difficulties with earlier versions under Windows 10. I would look at upgrading to WP X9 if you are moving to Windows 10. A big issue with WordPerfect users is maintaining all the customization you may have made to WordPerfect when moving to X9. To help make the transition, Corel developed the Corel® Migration Manager, which can be used to transfer customization from WordPerfect 6.1, 7, 8, 9 or WordPerfect Office 2002 to WordPerfect 10.

This is just a start. All of your existing software and hardware will have to be examined for compatibility under Windows 10. Happy upgrading!