The Happy Tale of a Windows 7 Installation Pt. 1

If you haven’t heard (chuckle, chuckle), Microsoft Windows 7 was released for public sale last week. Ok, so the fact is you ALL know it came out…. I mean how could you have missed it? Besides seeing a massive amount of articles at every “tech” site on the Internet, and even the main-stream press making a big deal about it, Apple Computer even immediately started running new versions of their cute PC versus Mac ads that made fun of Microsoft’s long history of mediocre Windows releases [You can see it on YouTube Here - I'm not a Mac fan, but this video is pretty funny].

I mentioned in another article that I’m a certified Windows pessimist, meaning that “I’ll believe all the hype about Windows when I see it for myself”. But even so, as a computer instructor and a geek, I was actually pretty excited for October 22nd (the release date) to come, and to grab a copy to try for myself. So, on the day of the release I grabbed a copy and decided to install it as a Vista upgrade on my notebook computer.

The rest of this blog and a sequel blog will relate my experiences and a few (maybe) helpful suggestions.

First, does your computer have the horsepower? (probably)

• 1 GHz CPU
• 1 GB RAM
• 16 GB available hard drive space
• Windows 7 doesn’t take quite the resources that Vista does, but in all honesty, you’re going to have more fun with it if your computer has at least a 2GHz CPU and 4GB of RAM. (NOTE: the most RAM that the 32bit versions of Windows can see is about 4GB, so any more than that is a waste. 64bit versions, however, can handle higher amounts of RAM.)

Next, what are the easiest ways to get Windows 7 on my computer?

• The easiest way (of course) is to just purchase a new PC with Windows 7 installed. That’s a non-brainer.
• If you have a computer running Vista, upgrading from Vista is the 2nd easiest way, since you can directly upgrade and still have all your documents and programs in place, without having to reinstall anything. NOTE: If you decide to upgrade, make sure your purchase the Windows 7 version that matches the Vista version you have (32bit versus 64bit) and the edition you have (Vista Home, Ultimate, Business versus Windows 7 Home, Pro, Ultimate).
• If you have a computer running Windows XP, life is tougher. You can’t do a direct upgrade from XP, meaning that you’ll need to backup all your documents, wipe out your hard drive, and then reinstall Windows 7 and all your software from scratch. This is something geeks do on a fairly regular basis to improve the performance of their computers, but is not the typical thing a home user will do. I’ve seen more than one tech writer say, ” the easiest way to upgrade an XP computer is to just purchase a new, inexpensive computer with Windows 7 installed”

Do I really need Windows 7?

• No, probably not. In all honesty, there is nothing so earth shattering in Windows 7 that you should drop everything you are doing and run to the store to get a copy. BUT, having said that, Windows 7 will probably go down in Windows history as one of the best versions Microsoft has released. One tech writer put it this way…. “Windows 7 is to Vista what Windows XP was to Windows ME”. In other words, Windows 7 is what Vista should have been, and will probably turn out to be just as reliable and tough-working as Windows XP was.
• Even if you don’t NEED Windows 7, it does have some pretty cool features that you might WANT.

Where can I get Windows 7? (and what I personally did)

• Just about everywhere. Microsoft has a lock on the pricing (Home Premium Upgrade – $199.99, Professional Upgrade – $199.99, Ultimate Upgrade – $219.99), but different stores such as Office Depot, Staples, Best Buy, etc. all have “extras” that they are throwing in or discounting to sweeten the deals. For example, one store was offering a $40 discount on Adobe Photoshop Elements 8.0 if you purchased a copy of Windows 7.
• If you’ve purchased a new computer since July, you are probably eligible for a free Windows 7 upgrade. You’ll want to check your manufacturer to be sure. Sue (my wife) purchased a new HP notebook computer in August, and we registered for an upgrade copy that will be arriving mid-November.
• Now, I’m not one who likes to pay retail for Windows, and I can often get my Windows copies at a discount through my organizations site license agreements. BUT this time around, I HAD to have a copy of Windows 7 the day it came out. So in my searchings, I discovered that Microsoft is giving STEEP discounts to college students…  both the Home and Pro Windows 7 upgrades are just $29.95. All you need to have is a college email address. [To see this offer, visit Microsoft here, or the special site Microsoft has setup here.] Since I teach at a local college, I happen to have a college email address and was able to use it to purchase a copy of Windows 7 with no problem. (Do you happen to know any college people?)

Finally, before you take the big plunge, you should check your current computer setup using the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor [which you can download here]. This program checks your hardware and software for any compatibility issues, and gives you a heads-up. Microsoft even includes it as part of the Windows 7 setup, as the first thing it runs when you start the installation.

Now that I’ve set the stage, it’s time to relate my actual upgrade experience…. and that’s what I’ll be doing in Part 2 of this blog. And in Part 3 I’ll take you though what I think are the coolest new features. Stay tuned….

Tagged as: Microsoft, Windows 7, Windows 7 upgrade, Windows update, Windows Updates, Windows Vista