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Anyone done this?
I'm running Vista at the moment with two user accounts, me and my wife and there is also a public section where we store all music and photos etc.
I want to upgrade to Windows 7 and get rid of the user accoiunts so that we just have one that we both use (seemed a good idea at the time to have two accounts but now seems pointless)
We've got iTunes with 12Gb of music and also a full version of Office 2007 that we don't have installation disks for (I got this downloaded for about £40 when I was a student).
So, does it sound easy to do?
Has anyone done an upgrade with similar issues?
I "think" a Windows in-place upgrade will maintain user data, but not programs (so you'll lose Office 2007). In place upgrades can be a bit of a faff, I'd bite the bullet and do a fresh install personally.
I upgraded, it worked fine. As for getting rid of accounts, you'll have to do that seperately. I did the upgrade rather than a fresh install, and all my programs were fine. No other problems either except for the laptop slowing to an unusable crawl after a few minutes when unplugged. I found out that this is due to a new feature in Windows 7 where it slows the CPU down to keep it cool instead of turning on the fan, to save power. A good feature but you have to tweak it; either turn it off, or have it attached to the power saver profile and then up the minimum processor state so it doesn't slow down so much you can't use it.. also lower the max processor state so it doesn't get too hot in the first place...
Did you know that you can get a home version of Office with 3 licenses for about £70?
Windows 7 in-place upgrade should keep all existing user accounts and all compatible applications.
Office 2007, iTunes, etc should still be there along with both user accounts after the upgrade.
Note I've used the word SHOULD. Upgrades usually run smoothly, but obviously there's a lot going on and nasty things can happen.
When I did it it took a couple of hours so I just left the system running and when I came back all was well.
If you do want to consolidate user accounts, I think the best bet is to do the upgrade and then create a new account. Move all relevant files from the old accounts to the new one, then use the new one and forget about the old ones, possibly delete the old ones after a few months (that way if you forget to copy anything over you can go back and get it).
Woody, thats sort of the idea that I was thinking:(
So what do I do with my iTunes, copy all the files to a few DVDs beforehand?
Edit: but now I think the upgrade may be worth a shot - I thought it might be best to consolodate all accounts before the upgrade - I'm the 'administrator' on there so is it as simple as saving all the wifes docs and public docs in my section and then just wiping them?
It is as simple as that, BUT there's usually something that gets forgotten and only discovered when you're trying to do something a month down the line...
Web browser bookmarks, IM contacts, off-line email files etc...
EDIT: Also, it's best not to use an Administrator account by default. I do use one, but my wife doesn't. That means I can stop all the warnings from popping up all the time on my account, but I can leave them in place for her, so that she has to double-check before doing things.
cheers guys, will have a look later
Yeah I'd do a full wipe and install.
It's a hassle. But it's also a good chance to clear out all the cruft.
Upgrades typically don't run as quickly as clean installs.
Did it an upgrade on Tuesday to this PC, its working fine does take a while though and mine was a recent install of vista
Actually just remembered - I did two upgrades, and both worked flawlessly.
As for merging accounts, it's worth noting that default browser choices, email account settings, windows messenger ids, yahoo IDs, office initials for change tracking, and a ton of other things are all stored under your account. Which is why me and my Mrs have different accounts.