i never used windows vista and now windows 7 is upon us. what do i want?
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M$4 Answers
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M$
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M$
If it were me, I'd start by asking myself what I expected or needed that Windows XP wasn't providing. Since you don't indicate that you have money to burn, I'm going to assume that you would consider an OS upgrade before buying a new PC. Sometimes a clean reinstall of an OS with just the apps you truly need will meet all your needs.
Many PCs that work great with Windows XP may work sluggishly or not work at all with Vista or Windows 7, so "upgrading" may be chancy. To make matters worse, your applications may not be natively compatible with the new OS, and may not work in the compatibility modes they provide. Most likely to have problems are your anti-virus and anti-malware applications. If they are commercial programs, figure on spending more money.
I'd start by making sure that I could go back to using XP if the "upgrade" was unsatisfactory or a failure. So I'd make sure I had the Windows XP CD or recovery CD for your PC, locate all your application installation CDs or files, and back up all the data files. That's a smart thing to do periodically - even if you aren't trying to upgrade your system. Belarc Advisor will quickly give you an inventory of your hardware and software, including keys and serial numbers for some of your major applications.Windows installation standards.
I don't like doing OS upgrades in place because of the high incidence of installation problems and failures. A clean install is always preferable, because the existing installation may have problems that you've not noticed or have been ignoring. Unless I'm forced to do so, I always use a full installation CD for a new OS- even if I try to do n in-place upgrade.
I'd check the Windows 7 hardware compatibility list (HCL) to see if your computer hardware is supported. If not, I'd check the Vista HCL. In each case I'd compare the minimum required memory and the video chipset to what is listed for each OS. I'd then check to see if all the apps I care about on the PC are compatible with each OS using Microsoft's readiness test application. It will non-destructively check the PC and indicate if there are potential problems with the drivers or applications.
If major problems are identified, your choice is simplified- a new PC and/or new applications will be needed. If a new PC is needed, Windows 7 is a hands-down better choice than Vista.
Assuming that your PC processor, memory and video chipset meet the minimum requirements for Windows 7, even if it isn't on the Win7 HCL, I'd take a chance on Win7, because it has a broader set of drivers and fixes some problem in Vista.
If an in-place upgrade failed, I'd take it as an opportunity to try a better quality installation of the new OS before trying to do a better quality re-installation of the old OS. The biggest problem with the standard way of installing Windows is that everything is installed on one drive, C:. the OS, applications and users data are commingled on one drive partition which makes it more likely that everything will be damaged or lost if Windows is corrupted or the partition is damaged. Putting the user data and applications on a second drive/partition dramatically improves your chances of recovery from an OS or drive problem.
I would use the OS installation routine to create a drive/partition that was no larger than the recommended size for the OS installation, and reserve the remainder of the drive for later. Then I would install the new OS on the newly created and formatted C: drive.
After the OS installation was complete and I'd check that all my hardware worked and looked at the applets, I'd use Windows to create and format the second partition as D:, and move my user profile to D:,
Next I'd see if my antivirus and antimalware applications worked as expected with Windows 7. Once I knew I had a stable, secure OS installation, I'd install the applications that I most frequently use onto the D: drive/partition, seeing if they worked natively with Windows 7 or needed XP compatibility mode. The I'd restore my personal data to my new profile and folders on D:.
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
