Comments on: 7 Tips for a Smooth Upgrade From XP to Windows 7

By: Evan Kline

Evan Kline — Fri, 07 May 2010 13:15:03 +0000

I have to agree with you there. Windows 7 is amazingly lightweight.

By: Ruby Jones

Ruby Jones — Fri, 07 May 2010 06:14:40 +0000

I’m pretty much impressed with the stability of Windows 7. It is better than windows Vista which hogs my memory and cpu.,::

By: Mark

Mark — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 08:43:47 +0000

Im 24, just over half your audience! Some really sound advice here.
A few things to remember though.
The Windows installer will move your previous install into a directory at the root of the disk (Windows.old)
So trying to remember installed programs can be found in the program files & program files (x86) If your going from 64 bit to either 64 bit or 32 bit. Just remeber to reinstall them, They most probably will not work. Just search for the title in your favourite search engine to find what came from where! Your personal files will be in Windows.old/users (Vista) or windows.old/documents and settings (XP and 2000)

Also, there is a free alternative to Acronis called DriveimageXML, It is as easy to use and as quick, I used it recently when a harddisk was sounding its last moments (click of doom)
I have used acronis before to backup my fathers machine and it was suprisingly quick. (it was a 400 gig)
I used DriveimageXML to back up the adforementioned 500 Gig drive (Maxtor, may I add) and was done in a comparable amount of time (two cups of tea!)
Without further ado http://www.runtime.org/driveimage-xml.htm
I hope you find this useful
Its well written and is very stable!
Regards, Mark

By: Bobby

Bobby — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 19:13:12 +0000

I hear you man. I suppose you can always upgrade to Vista and then upgrade to Windows 7… seems a bit expensive though. I did hear that Microsoft offered that to a select group — I don’t know what the criteria are to be a part of the group, however. Apparently, their reasoning is that the upgrade just won’t work smoothly so you are better off doing a clean install for stability’s sake. Either way, upgrading to a better operating system seems more than a reasonable argument for -why- you would upgrade.

As for the email program: I personally always hated the stock email program so I am glad it is gone. I am a cloud email user though, so it works for me. I go out of my way to avoid programs like Live and Thunderbird — and especially Outlook…. I am curious about Office 2010 — especially the cloud aspects of it.

By: Darrell

Darrell — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 18:33:10 +0000

65% of windows users are running XP and yet they decide to not include a way to transfer your mail over to Windows 7?? Why would I buy it then?
Office 2010 does not come out till next year which should include a new outlook and mabey make the transfer easier but its seems just plain stupid to put it out without a mail program.

By: Bobby

Bobby — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 03:54:43 +0000

Heh, I still have the Windows machine I built some 12 years ago. Well… in spirit anyway… none of the parts are the same.

By: Kosmo @ The Casual Observer

Kosmo @ The Casual Observer — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 01:56:41 +0000

Quite true … but the 7 year old machine I use for all blogging activity probably has at least another 3 years of useful life left in it.
Kosmo @ The Casual Observer´s last blog ..The Plight of the Crocodile

By: Bobby

Bobby — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 01:16:56 +0000

Yeah, with a Mac, you pretty much need to save all of your pennies toward the new hardware where you can…

By: Kosmo @ The Casual Observer

Kosmo @ The Casual Observer — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:26:05 +0000

I support things in the MS environment at work, but when I’m at home, I use Macs.

I’m behind on upgrading those machines, too, though. The 7 year old Mac is running 10.3.9 and the 2.5 year old one is running 10.4.11. Seems to make more sense to just put the OS upgrade money toward the purchase of a new Mac at some point

Since I’m a systems guy in the midst of a non-systems office (I telework and report to corporate), I sometimes get asked to fix people’s home PCs. I smile and say “sure”, even though I’d rather gouge my eyes out sometimes

The last machine I fixed was really easy, though. It was a laptop where there cursor was repositioning itself (bouncing across the screen randomly every few minutes). I told the co-worker that I’d first do the automatic updates and then roll up my sleaves and diagnose the problem. Happily, the MS updates seem to have fixed the problem …
Kosmo @ The Casual Observer´s last blog ..A Health Care Plan I Can Believe In

By: Bobby

Bobby — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:40:55 +0000

LOL! DO I sense a Mac fanboy in the house?