Windows 7 Ultimate

thecleverone

Hi Everyone

Just thought i'd quickly post a question up here, but please bear in mind that i'm somewhat lacking in technical genes so 'easy speak' would be great! I've just bought Windows 7 Ultimate which arrived this morning. Before i install it, i'm just getting all my files backed up etc.

But when i read the back of the pack (i haven't opened it yet in case i need to return it), it talks solely of WindowsXP e.g. If you are upgrading from Windows xp..... If you run many windows xp applications etc.

My simple question is, i currently run on vista. Will Windows 7 Ultimate work on my PC?

Sorry if it's a really thick question, but i'm just not sure.

Thanks
tco

xsiborg

its not a thick question at all! if your system is able to run vista, then you shouldn't have any major issues running windows 7. you can download an upgrade advisor from here to see which programs you may need to uninstall or which devices will need new drivers but based on my experience I have to say that the installation was painless.

I wont say quick because the upgrade took nearly an hour to complete moving my files during the upgrade, but a fresh install only took half an hour.

just as a sidenote- I installed the beta version on an old pc I had, a dell gx150, about eight years old that had previously been running xp and the only kicker was that my on-board graphics didnt support directx 10 so I didnt get the nice aero effect, but that pc has a 20GB hard drive, pentium III, and 384MB RAM... :eek:

Biggins

The previous poster is correct. You should have no problems.

A FULL install is recommended by most techies to be honest.
Its cleaner and quickers in a lot of ways.
How long it takes to install will be down to the users individual processor speed and the amount of internal memory as well as hard-drive data transfer file speed amid other things.
If an install takes more that 45 minutes to an hour with Win 7 - I'd be shocked.

----

As regards XP (for XP users), Win7 is NOT recommended as a partial upgrade for xp.
In other words: you can install Win 7 FULLY over XP with a complete install.
Microsoft themselves do NOT recommend that you try to just chose the "upgrade" option for installing it, they rather have you choosing a complete fresh full install.
If one has XP installed, during the install process, your hard-drive might be wiped (formatted) completely as to aid a fresh full clean install of Win 7.

Hope that makes sense.

evolutionqy7

well i made a change from vista home premium to W7 on 3 pc's...one cheap netbook and very weak...then my laptop which is moderate and my high end desktop...weirdly the desktop took the longest and the netbook to the smallest amount of time but the amount of time the upgrade takes is the time it takes to copy files and paste them after upgrade...the upgrade it self is quick... i think W7 is brilliant...appart from WMP12 which is giving me a big headache...they basicly removed all the good features of WMP11

CS Hasuki

It is a great OS no doubt. Clean install all the way though!

thxireland

i agree fresh install definitly

evolutionqy7

mm i did update and its fine... i will be chaning to 64 bit on laptop soon cause i got more rams on laptop than 32 can handle so maybe ill see some difference then though other than that it hasnt crashed once and it seemed to increased the speed of the laptop and my desktop 2

limklad

I upgrade from vista to win7. I had 1 issue. The only negative it took along time to install, 4 hours. I need to reinstall the anti-virus software for it to work properly. Rest of the programs worked.

The only time you need a fresh install is when going from 32bit XP/Vista to 64bit win7. As far as I know with XP, it is best to a fresh install and reload the applications you need so you can have a good fresh system.

Run the advisor before thin install to check which programs are compatible with win7.
You will need to backup all your personal and work files before any upgrade and copies of install programs, you want to keep.

Biggins

limklad wrote: »

I upgrade from vista to win7. I had 1 issue. The only negative it took along time to install, 4 hours. I need to reinstall the anti-virus software for it to work properly. Rest of the programs worked.

The only time you need a fresh install is when going from 32bit XP/Vista to 64bit win7. As far as I know with XP, it is best to a fresh install and reload the applications you need so you can have a good fresh system.

Run the advisor before thin install to check which programs are compatible with win7.
You will need to backup all your personal and work files before any upgrade and copies of install programs, you want to keep.

With a Win 7 upgrade pack rather than a full version, it generally takes longer to install.
This is because the new Win 7 has to ferret about the already pre-existing Vista and integrate itself to the older operating system, update the code that it finds and overwrite it.
The combining of the two operating systems to create a newer one sometimes (like all Microsoft products) don't go too well sometimes.
Redundant code from Vista is often left installed and slows down a pc more so than a fresh clean install.

This alone is why many recommend a clean install from scratch besides the more chance of compatibility problems that might have existed with the previous Vista being carried over to the new Win 7.

"The only time you need a fresh install is when going from 32bit XP/Vista to 64bit win7"

I've been in the IT business now 20+ years, thats a new one for me!
There are many reasons why a fresh install is recommended even if your going from 32bit XP/Vista to 32bit Win 7.
Don't take my word for it, check others recommendations on the net for installing Win 7 - most heavy experienced techies will without a shadow of a doubt recommend a fresh clean install.

evolutionqy7

well i agree with the fresh install...its just that first my laptop was a test bunny 2nd i mainly use a Fujitsu Siemens desktop...and they dont have drivers for W7 Ultimate or any other W7 to that matter so was a chance if i used the vista drivers they wouldnt work at all...i think the reason why it takes so long as i noticed was the amount of files that had to be saved while upgrading and then pasted back after the upgrade...i think that stage took the longest...upgrade wasnt that long...but since all is ok with laptop ill go and do a fresh install once i get some time hmm one weird thing only...my memory card reader on desktop stop reading some cards...as FJS customer services said its not compatible with W7 but when i put in a 2GB Fat SD card into it, it worked...8GB Mirco SD Fat32 didnt though it used to before :S

thxireland

i'm sure micro soft will bring out adriver for it eventually could be a few months though it happen to one of my friends with his mother board but now it's fine

ScumLord

Biggins wrote: »

I've been in the IT business now 20+ years, thats a new one for me!
There are many reasons why a fresh install is recommended even if your going from 32bit XP/Vista to 32bit Win 7.
Don't take my word for it, check others recommendations on the net for installing Win 7 - most heavy experienced techies will without a shadow of a doubt recommend a fresh clean install.

If I had to go as far as a reinstall I'd always go for a fresh one, always best to start with a clean slate so you know where you are.