Upgrading to Windows 7

crystalbrite

If i upgrade my Acer laptop for windows vista 32 bit to windows 7 64 bit will i lose all the acer programs that were already installed in the laptop when i got it or will they be still there after windows 7 is installed?

Alanstrainor

You will lose everything, however, you can reinstall all the applications you need when you upgrade. In fact, win7 will most likely automatically download and install all the drivers you need.
Just make sure you backup all your photos/music/videos etc, before doing anything.

crystalbrite

Ya i've already backed up my photos, movies and music.

I'm just worried about the programs that were already installed on my laptop when i got it because i got no installation cds with my laptop when i bought it.

like acer bio protection, acer empowering technology, acer crystal eye webcam and acer gridvista which are some.

Alanstrainor

Go onto the acer site, i'm sure you can download them all from there. In fact; just google them, most are freely available to download. You could just download them now, and put them on a cd/usb stick and then install them after installing windows 7, or you can wait until you install windows 7 and do it then.

dazzday

TBH the only acer program you need is the launch manager. The rest are not needed at all for the running of your laptop and many unnecessary.

E-powering and e-recovery (burn recovery discs after fresh install) are quite nice but i wouldnt bother with the rest, seriously take up system resources and slow down the laptop.

crystalbrite

Ok i've a big problem

I forgot to make enough room on my C drive so when i did the custom install it only got half way through installing and shut off instead of restarting. It says its meant to restart several times during installation but instead of restarting it shut off the 1st time.

When i turned it back on it said i couldn't do a custom install to my C drive because it needs 8Gb more of space.

I tried to restart the computer and run it using vista so i could go in and delete stuff off the C drive but it not working. The screen is all grey and its say theres an error, trys to fix it and fails. So all i can do then is click finish which shuts down the computer.

I cant format the C drive can i because since its a windows 7 upgrade it needs the license from vista and whatever. So is there anyway i can pick and choose what i want to delete from the C drive from start up?

Alanstrainor

crystalbrite wrote: »

Ok i've a big problem

I forgot to make enough room on my C drive so when i did the custom install it only got half way through installing and shut off instead of restarting. It says its meant to restart several times during installation but instead of restarting it shut off the 1st time.

When i turned it back on it said i couldn't do a custom install to my C drive because it needs 8Gb more of space.

I tried to restart the computer and run it using vista so i could go in and delete stuff off the C drive but it not working. The screen is all grey and its say theres an error, trys to fix it and fails. So all i can do then is click finish which shuts down the computer.

I cant format the C drive can i because since its a windows 7 upgrade it needs the license from vista and whatever. So is there anyway i can pick and choose what i want to delete from the C drive from start up?

Format the drive and continue. The install will still recognise the windows files on the hard drive, so long as you use the windows 7 disk to do the format.

crystalbrite

Thanks a lot, it worked

I've one more question though,

When i go to system properties it says;
Installed memory (RAM): 4.00 GB (2.99 GB usable)

How come its not able to use the full 4 GB and is there anyway of changing it?

And i've definitely installed windows 7 64 bit because underneath it it says;
System type: 64-bit Operating System

FruitLover

It's possible your graphics card is taking up part of your system memory (it's common for laptop graphics cards to share system memory), although I don't know whether Windows would detect this or not.

crystalbrite

I have an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3400 Series, that is a dedicated graphics card isnt it?

I think it has either 256 or 512mb of memory but i cant remember. When i used directX Diagnostic tool, in the display section for the device it says Approx. Total Memory is 1529 MB.

When i opened up resource monitor it says that there is 1030 MB reserved for hardware. Is there a need for that much memory for hardware and is there anyway of changing it?

Thanks

evolutionqy7

did you install the 32 or 64 on the laptop...i had this when i had 32 bit on changed to 64 and it started using the full ram as if i remember right 32 doesn't support more than 3gb ram

crystalbrite

No its not.

In system Properties it says;

Installed memory (RAM): 4.00 GB (2.99 GB usable)
System type: 64-bit Operating System