WINDOWS 7

Any issues with upgrading a box from Vista to Win 7? My wife is badgering for the upgrade, and my high-school age nephews tell me I’m retro for not having upgraded already.

Ive been running a beta copy of Windows 7 for about 5 months [on another PC], and its a really cool OS, with a lot of advantages over Vista – alas, it still has quite a few issues with compatibility though [with some programs]. Im sure they will sort all that out soon enough though, then I will be switching over on my main PC as well.

jumping right into win7 from win xp..i like it
love that search option within the start
refused to go thru the vista trip
dunno about compatibility just yet, coming tonite
so for now…thumbs up on win7

Dan-
I’ve personally thought that Vista was a very good OS.
As a techie who had to install and service it though,I found the biggest problem was the end users ability to navigate it.
Friendliness and usability were the major issues for Vista as well as the need to have a very powerful computer to run it properly.
Windows 7 has this intuitive usability and backwards compatability that Vista never had.
Out of the box & has 44 running processes in the background,Vista had 76 and XP 36.
I have been running the full version of 7 Ultimate now for over a month and love it,
However at this time as it installed on an old Compaq used solely on the Internet I can’t tell you if I am going to run into problems with external hardware devices.
All software I have downloaded and installed has worked without any problems.Though some upgrades were needed.

I should point out though…....................that for the last ten years I have ALWAYS advised clients to never upgrade any Windows until the first service pack is released and to always wait 3 to 6 months before upgrading.(I will still tell and do tell clients to wait another three months before installing Win 7 if the environment in which it is going to be installed is “mission critical”

But on the whole I am very impressed with the ease of use.(I think Microsoft has finally got it RIGHT !)

If you want to upgrade from XP to Win 7 then you’ll need another PC with a shared drive on your network or a flash drive (eg: USB stick – 4gig or larger) or an external hard drive.
RUBBISH !

Dell just sent me my replacement Drive along with the Windows 7 Upgrade , they owed me cause my old 320 gig developed bad sectors. So tomorrow I will be reinstalling Vista and then upgrading to windows 7.

I’‘ll let you know how it goes and what i think!

Thanks Russell for beating me to the punch and linking everyone to the upgrade matrix. Alas the one shown above that MS has produced is a wonderful piece of needless complexity which in itself which is a shame. Ed Bott on ZD net has produced a simplified version of the chart by taking into account that if you want to change between 32 and 64 bit versions then you have to do a fresh install rather than an in place upgrade.

The fresh install isn’t as draconian as it sounds since the data on the old drive is preserved for access, and the Easy Transfer tool is available – the drudge work is in reinstalling the applications.

Also note the best way of checking how well things will go is to use the Windows 7 upgrade advisor and start from the results it gives – generally most of the problems it finds are minor but it is comprehensive.

Ok back to the original concept.

Been using WIn7 since RC1 at my work environment. The biggest problem in a corporate situation has been getting the headspace around the new management tools that need to be used – something that isn’t really a problem in a SOHO setting.

At home I installed over XP using a fresh HDD soon after launch with professional 64bit edition. Speed is OK on 2GB (the experience would suck somewhat on less than 1GB) and overall things seem good. It’s better than Vista in speed. It shows it’s origins as a rewrite to Vista – which even though much maligned wasn’t the horrible ogre some made it out to be.

Bugs on installation were a TV tuner card and a not-recognised-during-install printer. Sort of expected the former since the tuner card was a bit old.

Good things – has power shell included, divx codec included, good backup and restore software in the professional version, media centre much improved, UAC still around to help stop mishaps, homegroup, great hardware support

Bad things – searching out of the box is still a bit sucky, charging lots for ultimate is a bit rich since it only has bitlocker on top, explorer navigation and profile folders are a bit all over the place, bad pricing in AU$

Overall not a bad piece of work.

Julie, Norton’s 2010 AV works ok – you could always use MS’s own free AV (Microsoft Security Essential) or other free products. I tend to avoid third party firewall products – MS’s own is perfectly fine.

Other software products are all pretty good – if in doubt you should think about Windows 7 Professional which has specific compatibility mode using virtual technology called Windows XP mode

Avoiding issues with software.
No 1:NEVER install beta versions of anything.(unless you have a lot of patience)
No2:-I agree with John:-if you are using Windows stick to Microsoft software wherever possible.Third party software should only be used where essential.Adobe/Illustrator/Photoshop and other well know names that have a CORPORATE presence generally work without issues on Windows.
No-3: As John has pointed out running software in Windows XP mode,for me so far has worked well (Photoshop 5,7 and CS2)
The Anti-Virus software that had a problem was Checkpoints Zone Alarm.But then I have had issues with it since Checkpoint took over Zone Alarm.
I currently have AVG installed and it is working fine.
As I pointed out before Windows 7 IS Vista heavily modified.Anything that runs on Vista should run on Win 7.
Win 7 is a major improvement and a MAJOR SYSTEM CHANGE,
Prepare for it before installing.
i am using Windows 7 to do this.
Win XP kept crashing/freezing and locking up on this system.Windows 7 removed all problems with this old box natively.
The hard drive on this box is 11 years old and runs as new under Win 7,(I’m impressed).
There are a lot of other aspects of Win 7 I am impressed with,but no doubt each users experience will be slightly different.

For those of you more technically literate:
I test all major system change software FIRST in a virtual environment using these packages;
VIRTUAL PC (used to be Connectix) now owned by Microsoft and free for download.(Use this to run Windows 7 on your computer in a VIRTUAL environment without impacting on anything now installed)
VMWares VMware Workstation here “http://store.vmware.com”
Parallels Parrallels Workstation here “http://www.parallels.com/landingpage”
Mac OS or Windows? Parallels Desktop® 5 for Mac lets you seamlessly run Windows and Mac OS X side-by-side, drag-and-drop your files between operating systems, and run Windows software on your Apple computer without rebooting.

Virtual Operating Systems are very easy to set up and use.If you can install a OS from the setup Disc (Boot off it and install)
Then you can very easily set up and run Virtual OS.
These Virtual OS’es have been around for at least 11 years that I know of (and have been using)
This is where I have previously referred to running all Versions of Windows,Linux and Mac on my main Server?computer at home.
I can switch between OS’es without rebooting on the fly.
It is where I test everything before installing anything on a clients computer.
Virtual OS’es can be used like any computer and have the added advantage,of when things go pear shaped,you just delete the computer and open another one.(something I used to do when my Virus testing when pear shaped)

The simple rule with computers,is if it’s working well and you can maintain your work flow and productivity without upgrading,then DON’T.
Upgrading for the sake of upgrading is pointless.
But if your system becomes trashed from normal use.THEN is good a time as any to upgrade to the next best thing.
As much as I am impressed so far by Win 7 ULTIMATE,my main workstation will remain as is.Where it’s now been for 5 years without upgrades or change.BECAUSE it works and works well.
When it fallsover,then I will upgrade it.

Julie:-
BETA versions of anything are incomplete software packages released by lazy developers and programmers.
They are put on the market for two reasons
1) Finished product looking for input from end users
2) un-finished product released onto market for end users to test for bugs.(this is the one that can screw your system up badly)
While the Windows 7 beta version worked very well,it wasn’t free of bugs and was also an incomplete package.Issues and Features on Beta versions don.t always transfer to Full retail versions.Unless you have an old system for testing or run a virtual OS Beta installing Beta versions is great way to have a really buggy system.
3) Even when a Beta version runs well and bug free,it doesn’t mean that it won’t cause conflict with other software or drivers.These two areas are where most conflict occurs with new OS’es,(and where the less informed tend to immediately bag Microsoft when things go pear shaped).

Avoid Beats and let someone else do the unpaid work and repairs.

The other night I installed the new Hardrive from Dell and now sat there looking at this Blank HD.

I bought the Windows 7 upgrade and was supposed to put Vista on first and then UPGRADE it to Windowds 7.0

But me being lazy ? Smart After I paid $100 less for the Upgrade as apposed the Full Version of Windows 7, I tried a Custom Install of Windows 7

it worked up til I put in the Serial # and then it told me INVALID Serial #???

I called MicroSoft and they told me my Serial # was ok?? They put me thru to TECH support the guy fixed it over the net.

Then I asked him , ” So next time I need to install Vista first and then Windows 7 right??”

He said ” Nope your activated now and the Serial # is registered in your name, so next time when you format the hardrive just install the Windows 7 upgrade”

So now I saved my self time and $100 !!!!

Lol

So far everyhitng is working faster and fine!

MicroSoft doesn’t give you an Email program anymore and thier Windows Live crap Email program sucks!!!

So I downloaded FireFox’s companion program ThunderBird, which is a free Email program!! Works like a charm and I like it!!!

Randy