Winextra » Upgrading

Upgrading time for me

Steven — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 20:15:45 +0000

I’ve been using my current machine for the better part of four years (thanks Dan) but it was definitely getting a little long in the tooth. So now that I’ve managed to get a few extra bucks put together I figured it was time for a bit of an upgrade.

This is what I picked up today:

1 – Gigabyte S-series motherboard
2 – AMD Athlon II Multi-Core Processor
3 – 4GB Corsair DDR2 800MHz RAM
4 – LG Super Multi-Write DVD burner

At some point tonight I’ll get down to the fun business of getting the new parts swapped into my existing case.

Upgrading time for me is a post from: winextra
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Upgrading to Windows 7 from XP – a help guide

Steven — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 01:26:41 +0000

Upgrading to Windows 7 from Vista is pretty well drop dead simple but when it comes to upgrading from XP it isn’t so simple apparently. Given the number of people who are still running XP though Microsoft figured it might be a wise idea to offer a helping hand.

In the dedicated XP upgrade page they have put together a complete tutorial to help so if you are using XP and want to know what you will be up against when it comes to upgrading to Windows 7 you might want to bookmark this page.

Introduction
Because Windows XP can’t use the Upgrade installation option to install Windows 7, you’ll need to use the Custom option instead.
The Custom option is more complex, and it can sometimes take a couple of hours to complete. We created this five-step tutorial to help guide you through the entire process each step of the way.

Upgrading to Windows 7 from XP – a help guide is a post from: winextra
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Windows 7 RC & Beta a sneaky way to sell Win7 Ultimate

Steven — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 20:45:44 +0000

I’ve been thinking about this for a while now but Ed Bott’s post today about Windows 7 customers paying for Microsoft’s wallet gouging Ultimate version of Vista only furthered a simmering anger I have with Microsoft at the moment. In his post Ed notes

With Windows 7, Microsoft is trying to do a complete U-turn on its messaging for the Ultimate edition, downplaying its importance in the lineup. The advanced feature set has been redistributed more reasonably, making Windows 7 Home Premium a perfectly good choice for most consumers and Windows 7 Professional a worthwhile substitute for Vista Ultimate (the only thing it’s missing is BitLocker and language packs). If you paid top dollar for Vista Ultimate because it was your only option, Microsoft says you can probably choose a less expensive Windows 7 edition.

There’s only one problem with this, every beta and Release Candidate for Windows 7 has been of the Ultimate variety and at this point there is no way you will be able to go the upgrade route from the RC to the final retail version unless you buy the Ultimate version. Which means you are only left with two alternatives

crossing your fingers and exporting all your settings using the Windows 7 Easy Transfer and then doing a complete fresh install of your Home Premium or Professional version. Then hope that you’ll be able to import everything back okay.
Buy Windows 7 Ultimate and have an easy go of upgrading.

I’m sorry but that sucks and an underhanded way to increase the sales of a version of Windows 7 that I would say 90% of the consumers who have been using the Release Candidate don’t need. Ya I know all about the “dangers of being a beta tester” but really how hard would it be to be able to let people downgrade rather than appearing like a greedy prick by forcing us into this kind of decision.

Stupid move Microsoft.

Windows 7 RC & Beta a sneaky way to sell Win7 Ultimate is a post from: winextra
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Ed Bott brings you the best Win7 Upgrading FAQ

Steven — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 00:21:15 +0000

When it comes to Windows operating system and upgrading through to the newest versions of it Ed Bott has your back. This time around he has The Ultimate Windows 7 Upgrade FAQ for you to bookmark just incase you need it when you go to install that new copy of Windows 7.

I’m currently running the Windows 7 Ultimate Release Candidate. What are my upgrade options?
From a licensing point of view, your installed copy of Windows is irrelevant. What matters is the sticker on the side of the PC. If you have a Certificate of Authenticity for Windows XP or Windows Vista on that computer (or a certificate of authenticity from a retail copy of Windows that has been assigned to that machine), you qualify for an upgrade license to any edition of Windows 7.
As for the installation itself, you are subject to the following technical limitations:
An upgrade installation is blocked on the RC build (7100). To perform an in-place upgrade, you must modify an installation file using the technique described here.
Because you are running Ultimate edition, your only option for an in-place upgrade is to install Windows 7 Ultimate edition.
You cannot change from Windows 7 x86 (32-bit) to x64 (64-bit) or vice versa. If you’ve been testing the 32-bit version and you want to go 64-bit, you’ll need to do a custom install.

Get the rest of this helpful post over on his blog.

Ed Bott brings you the best Win7 Upgrading FAQ is a post from: winextra
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Windows 7 On Track For Late 2009