Moving from XP to Windows 7? Upgrading's a Yes/No Proposition
Posted 02/06/09 at 04:21:29 PM by Mark Edward Soper
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The Register reports that there's good news and bad news for the many Windows XP users who took a pass on Windows Vista and decided to wait for Windows 7.
- The good news? Windows XP users will be eligible for Windows 7 upgrade pricing.
- The bad news? Windows XP users will need to do a clean install of Windows 7.
El Reg quotes a Microsoft rep thus:
I can confirm that customers will be able to purchase upgrade media and an upgrade license to move from Windows XP to Windows 7 - however, they will need to do a clean installation of Windows 7.
This requires the user to back up their data, install Windows 7, re-install the programs and restore their data. For PCs running Windows Vista customers have the option of an in-place upgrade of Windows 7 keeping their data and programs intact or to perform a clean install of Windows 7.
For those of you in the XP to Windows 7 camp, does the need to do a clean install bother you, or were you planning a clean install anyway? Hit Comment and tell us your thoughts.
I'm not an XP direct to Win7
Submitted by Keith E. Whisman on Tue, 02/17/2009 - 2:51am
I'm not an XP direct to Win7 freak but you should never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever do an upgrade install. You should always do an clean install. What I do is use an old HDD and copy all my important stuff to that drive like my MP3 collection and stuff and then I disconnect the data and power connectors from my backup drive and do a clean install on a freshly deleted partition and repartitioned and formatted HDD. The reason why I disconnect the backup drive is because my backup drive is an old IDE drive and my main computer drives are SATA 2 drives. During the install Windows likes to label the IDE drive as C even though it's not installed to it. And it installs the bootloader onto the IDE drive. I don't know why it does this I've tried everything else. I've tried setting the HDD order in my Bios and everything else and this is the only thing that truely works. After Windows is installed I reconnect my Backup drive and copy and paste everything onto my main computer drives along with all the drivers that I downloaded and stored on the backup drive. Then yet again I disconnect my backup drive so I don't accidently delete anything and I'm not unecessarily running my backup drive. This protects it against viruses and malware and lightning you name it. I also burn everything to DVD and my backup DVD's go into my closet until I absolutely need them. That is if my backup drive quits working on me.
I did an upgrade from Vista 64 to Win7 64 and it wasn't all that stable and great but a clean install really really gives the best Windows7 64bit Beta 1 experience. Don't worry I always backup my stuff so I lost nothing but someone that doesn't backup everything will be sore.
Clean is King!
Submitted by prowe on Mon, 02/16/2009 - 11:22pm
I'm all for a clean install. ONly way to go!!
Submitted by Pepwin7 on Sat, 02/14/2009 - 9:50pm
I have learned the hard way not to be the first to adopt a new OS or upgrades from windows. My Vista Laptop is the worst and DRM is just crapping out window machines. Not to mention rootkits. I am going to keep my XP machine going until I hear better news about this new OS coming around, currently I have a mixed environment with Ubuntu and Linux OS's. Just tired of putting out money for a OS that should be reliable. Everytime I turn around there is a virus for windows and I don't have the problem with Ubuntu or Linux. I don't have money to Keep throwing at Windows anyway. Upgrade and/or fresh install is not a problem, because most people have been dealing with that for years now with Windows.
Submitted by dl1231 on Mon, 02/23/2009 - 12:54am
I feel the same way Pepwin. I`ve been putting alot of money out for OS. I`m keeping My XPmachine also. My friend Lance L. from kentucky is also keeping his XP machine.
i guess in about 6/8 years
Submitted by jihnn on Thu, 02/12/2009 - 6:47pm
software devs will stop making xp compatable products, m$ will quit supporting xp in, hmmmm, maybe 4/5 years.
i guess m$ will have 3 or 4 more os by the time i have to give up my xp.
so all you fanboys runout and buy "7" to keep m$ in cash so they will have the ability to develope an os that actually has a reason to switch to.
some of you may buy a new car just because the one you have needs the windows washed, but i don't
lots of you are saying vista rules or when "7" comes out it is a must have.....
why? once you get past the ...... i own it so it is the best.....or the ,,,,,it's shiny and new....mentality there is not a lot of substance to your arguments to change from xp
sorry guys that's just not the way i roll
Submitted by josephb on Tue, 02/10/2009 - 11:52am
I'm still using WinXP after playing with Vista long enough to realize it sucked. Vista's SP1 helped - a lot. Still, it's just not a compelling upgrade from XP for me. Now that I've played around with Win7 for a month, I'm of the same opinion about it - it's just not a compelling upgrade - yet. To make Win7 really worth the upgrade, I'd like to see a new file system and maybe an overhaul of the registry. Win7 is definitely better than Vista - but that's not really saying much. Win7 better than XP? Definitely not yet!
Vista and 7 will be so much better
Submitted by Zazubovich on Mon, 02/09/2009 - 1:13pm
than XP because they will be appropriate technologies for modern hardware. I manage a number of computers for GIS workstations and some Dells for people to type on mostly, and reinstalling XP below SP3 or repairing the installations when newer, high capacity hard drives are installed is a huge time suck and a drag. When I put the Vista 64 on my home rig, it was as smooth as buttah to just throw the disk in and watch it do its thang with a large hard drive. V64 is a thing of beauty, XP is like Grampa's old pickup-cool for what it is but not ready for commuting.
Submitted by Queenof1 on Sun, 02/08/2009 - 12:45pm
I'm like the poster below - pry xp out of my cold dead hands. However, to keep up with the times I would like to install win 7 on separate partition. Never did get around to installing vista. seems pointless now.
Won't mind at all...been
Submitted by Antilogic81 on Sun, 02/08/2009 - 1:48am
Won't mind at all...been needing to give the hard drive a good old format...been seeing problems come up that I cant' fix with chkdsk or defrag. So this will be push for me to back up my stuff that I've been waiting for.
Windows 7 : the savior?
Submitted by aluCard1462 on Sat, 02/07/2009 - 12:34am
...why is windows 7 gonna be soo much better than vista...oh, and obviously a clean intall.
It's not. 7 is only somewhat
Submitted by Taz0 on Sat, 02/07/2009 - 6:55am
It's not. 7 is only somewhat better than Vista. And since Vista is also only somewhat better than XP, it'll make 7 substantially better than XP, which seems like an important point Microsoft is trying to make.
Clean install is the way to go......
Submitted by ghot on Fri, 02/06/2009 - 9:24pm
...but I'm going to stick with XP Pro till they pry it from my cold dead hands. I'm not one of those afraid to move to a new OS....I just don't see the point. I have Vista and the Win 7 beta...and as far as I can see they both are just XP Pro with new clothes and way too high of a price.
Change for the better is GOOD.....change for the sake of change, is foolish and expensive.
IF they do manage to pry XP Pro out of my cold dead hands, I will NOT be one of the idiots that buy into the upgrade BS.....thats just stupid. Every 1/2 way experienced computer user knows......if you don't have a FULL copy of an OS, there will be trouble and regrets, down the road.
Take efficiency, and edit out all the intelligence and what you have left is a post-XP Microsoft operating system :)
Amen To That
Submitted by ethanbowenwon on Sat, 02/07/2009 - 6:17am
I agree one hundren percent with you my friend. i also agree that they have not made any changes, but changed the appearance of the os. So yes, I am not going to WASTE money on those upgrades. I am staying with XP as long as I can.,Amen..Amen..
no problem for me.. but not the noobs
Submitted by FRAGaLOT on Fri, 02/06/2009 - 8:36pm
I don't see why anyone would have a serious problem doing a clean install anyway. Most of us here have been installing windows on PCs since Windows 3.11.. so why would this be a big deal to us?
It's only going to be a problem to end users who have basic knowladge of using computers. It would be nice if the Windows 7 installer had it's own backup function before it wipes the boot drive clean and installs windows 7, rather than relying on end users to back up thier stuff. But that's really hard to do for non-microsoft apps.
But with MS saying we should do clean installs sounds like they are being lazy.
Submitted by Tbone on Fri, 02/06/2009 - 7:23pm
Clean install is a must. I would do the same if I upgraded to Vista but, with all the games I play it would be dumb to use an OS that barely runs games and when it does they run slower than XP. I would like to see 7 have an edition for gamers as it does for Professional and Home editions.
Submitted by festiva_man on Fri, 02/06/2009 - 6:55pm
Give me a free version of win 7 as i relunctantly upgraded to Vista 6 months ago. I enjoy vista but man i miss xp. Last time i buy into Direct x anything.
Submitted by Lord Omega on Fri, 02/06/2009 - 5:11pm
Once it comes, I am going to it :D
Submitted by Stockislander on Fri, 02/06/2009 - 4:49pm
Kinda dumb question to ask MaxPC readers!
There are still people who
Submitted by dankers on Fri, 02/06/2009 - 4:28pm
There are still people who are using Win98, they had the same complaints about XP as they did about Vista.
Clean Install
Submitted by jcollins on Fri, 02/06/2009 - 3:50pm
Yep, clean install is a must. Otherwise it's like not bathing for a month, then putting on a new suit. Sure you look snazzy, but man do you stink...
Definitely agree. A fresh
Submitted by MAXPCreader07 on Fri, 02/06/2009 - 6:05pm
Definitely agree. A fresh installs is always the best way to go.
I predict. . .
Submitted by uncleck on Fri, 02/06/2009 - 4:00pm
Well put! I'm still laughing.
And I predict that not one comment will advocate upgrading rather than a clean install. This is Maximum PC, after all.
Submitted by jcollins on Fri, 02/06/2009 - 4:29pm
I predict that anyone who advocates upgrading vs a clean install has a VCR that is still blinking 12:00. Also that they didn't read the comments before posting... :)
Submitted by musicman172001 on Fri, 02/06/2009 - 3:45pm
I'd never do an upgrade anyways. It's much cleaner and less buggy with a fresh install. I tend to keep my files on a separate partition anyways, so re-installing programs doesn't take more than a few hours. I can deal with that.
Submitted by xunknownx on Fri, 02/06/2009 - 3:26pm
there should be no reason why someone shouldnt do a clean install anyways
Submitted by skhills on Fri, 02/06/2009 - 2:50pm
For me, if you're going to upgrade from XP to 7, why wouldn't you want to do a clean install? It's better than carrying over all the junk that has accumulated on your system during your 3 years of staunch aversion to Vista.
Submitted by N25PHILLY on Fri, 02/06/2009 - 2:47pm
always do a clean install. Not doing so is just asking for problems.
Submitted by rjzdanis on Fri, 02/06/2009 - 2:44pm
It's a non-issue. A clean install of any OS every couple of years or so is probably a good thing for most PCs. By the time 7 is widely available, most XP users will be due or overdue for one anyway.
Submitted by emepror on Fri, 02/06/2009 - 2:37pm
how much of a discount i wonder?
Submitted by lostcause64 on Fri, 02/06/2009 - 2:26pm
I wouldn't have any issue doing the clean install. I prefer to do that anyhow when dealing with an OS, especially because my various programs might not be compatible with the new OS.
John
Try to be smarter than the object you're working with! It will make things easier, and might just save your life...
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