By Debra Littlejohn Shinder, MVP (
Windows 7 hasn’t even been released yet, but the buzz around it indicates that many individuals are chompin’ at the bit to upgrade as soon as it hits the market.
Despite this enthusiasm, however, much has been made of a recent survey by Dimensional Research. According to the survey, 84% of 1,100 IT professionals surveyed said they don’t plan to upgrade to Windows 7 in the next year, 16% do intend to upgrade in the next 12 months, and 42% expect to upgrade within 12 to 24 months. In addition, 43% said the current economic downturn is one of the reasons they will delay upgrading to Windows 7. That would seem to indicate that improvement in the economy over the next year might change the upgrade numbers. It’s also possible that this month’s discontinuation of mainstream support for Windows XP, which most of the companies are currently using on the desktop, may influence some to upgrade more quickly than they might otherwise.
Sooner or later, it’s likely that most home users and businesses will be upgrading from their current operating system to Windows 7. In this article, we’ll address 10 things you should keep in mind when you begin planning an upgrade to Windows 7.
Do I need to buy new hardware? |
Many people equate upgrading the operating system to the need to buy a new computer or, at the very least, add RAM and perhaps a bigger hard drive to their present systems. That’s because traditionally, each new version of Windows has needed more disk space and memory than its predecessor. Will you need to buy new hardware if you want to use Windows 7? That depends. Microsoft’s recommended hardware specifications for Windows 7 Release Candidate include a 1 GHz processor, at least 1 GB of RAM, DirectX 9.0 support, 16 GB of free disk space, and 128 MB of graphics memory (for Aero). Those requirements are pretty much the same as the published system specs for Vista Home Premium/Business/ Rule of thumb: If your computer is powerful enough to run |
Can I upgrade directly from XP? |
Many folks who are still running Windows XP want to know whether they can upgrade to Windows 7 without losing all their preferences and settings. The answer is, well, sort of. Microsoft is not providing a direct upgrade path from Windows XP to Windows 7. An in-place upgrade is available only if you’re running Vista SP1 or later. If you’re running XP, even if your hardware is sufficient, you’ll have to do a clean installation of Windows 7. However, you can use the Microsoft Deployment Tool 2010, which includes the User State Migration Tool, to transfer your user settings for the desktop and applications to the new Windows 7 installation. This article offers more details. |
Can I do a |
If you’re running Windows Vista, note that you must install SP1 or SP2 before you can do an in-place upgrade to Windows 7. If you try to upgrade a Vista computer that doesn’t have a service pack installed, you'll get a message informing you that “to upgrade to Windows 7, the computer needs to be running |
Can I upgrade from Windows 7 beta to final release? |
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Many people are currently running either the public beta of Windows 7 (build 7000) that was released in January or one of the subsequent builds that has been leaked to various peer-to-peer sites since then. Many of them are wondering whether they’ll be able to do an in-place upgrade to the RC and/or final release. Microsoft has recommended that beta testers go back to Microsoft asks that you do this only if you “absolutely require” it. It’s likely that you’ll have a much more stable OS if you do a clean installation. |
Will there be driver compatibility issues? |
A big complaint about Windows Vista was driver incompatibility. Too many people upgraded their OS from XP to Now that |
Will there be application compatibility issues? |
As with drivers, most applications that run on Windows Vista will run on Windows 7. You may need to enable Compatibility Mode on some applications, as described above. Interestingly, some applications that ran on XP and would not run on |
What if I have apps that won’t run on Windows 7, even in Compatibility Mode? |
There may be some XP applications that you can’t get to run on Windows 7, even using Compatibility Mode. In the past, that might have been considered a reason not to upgrade. However, you may still be able to enjoy all the benefits of Windows 7 without giving up your favorite apps, thanks to a new compatibility feature called XP Mode. XPM is a host-based virtualization solution that will reportedly be made available at no cost to users of Windows 7 Professional, XPM includes a fully licensed copy of XP that runs in a virtual machine on your Windows 7 computer. This differs from just installing XP on Virtual PC or VMware. The virtualized applications appear like local applications on the Windows 7 desktop because they're published to the Win 7 host operating system. With XPM, you will be able to run any XP application on Windows 7. For more information about XPM, see Paul Thurrott’s blog post on the issue. |
Should I wait for Windows 7 release to buy a new computer? |
Some individual computer users may be wondering if they should wait until Windows 7 is released to buy a new computer, to ensure that the system will work with the new OS. An advantage of waiting is that after Windows 7 is released, you’ll be able to buy a computer that has it preinstalled, so you won’t need to upgrade. However, if you need a new system now, there is no need to suffer with an outdated, slow, or defective system. A |
Which edition of Windows 7 should I choose? |
A big complaint about Windows 7 will also have both Home Basic and Home Premium editions. The equivalent of Vista Business edition will revert to the Professional moniker. As far as we can tell, A major change is that each successive Windows 7 edition will include all features of the lower cost ones. Many Vista Business and Most people will find that either Home Premium or Pro will fit their needs. If you need BitLocker or the ability to boot from a VHD, you’ll want |
What are the main reasons to upgrade to Windows 7? |
Why upgrade to Windows 7 rather than stay with Windows XP or Windows 7 also provides the improved graphical user interface (Aero) you get with If you’re using Vista, some of the new features and functionality you’ll get with Windows 7 include a more streamlined GUI with a more functional taskbar that features Jump Lists; new and more sophisticated versions of Paint, Wordpad, and Calculator; easier windows management with snap-to docking; elimination of the sidebar (while maintaining support for gadgets); and new built-in troubleshooting tools. While Windows 7 still focuses on security, User Account Control (UAC) is far less in your face and more user-configurable than in For administrators, Windows 7 offers new tools such as PowerShell v2, improved Group Policy, and VHD image management and deployment. |
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