I have been running Windows XP on my PC and so thought what with support for that stopping that it may be a good time to move onto something a little bit more up to date.
A quick search reveals that Windows 7 Home Premium is what I need but have read conflicting reports about saving money and buying OEM version or paying more for the real thing (whatever that means)

I have little idea about all this stuff, is it a case of put the cd in and follow the instructions or do I need to pay someone who knows what they are doing to do it ?

Advice from the STW computing gurus would be appreciated.
Thank you

Run this first.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows/downloads/upgrade-advisor

It’s a bit melodramatic, but it’ll tell you if there’s anything that’s going to be incompatible.

There’s no practical difference between retail and OEM versions. You don’t get support or a nice box with an OEM version, is all.

Oh yeah,

The retail version will come with 32- and 64-bit discs. The OEM is either or, you have to specify. Though I don’t think offhand there’s anything stopping you from just downloading the other from Digital River if you need it in the future (ie, the key should still work).

Thanks Cougar

I have just run the advisor and it says its all ok apart from a couple of incompatible drivers.

Cougar – Moderator

There’s no practical difference between retail and OEM versions. You don’t get support or a nice box with an OEM version, is all.
that and the OEM version is tied to one machine and significant hardware changes may mean it gets a bit upset…
I went with OEM but it was a decision I had to make as I couldn’t get Pro versions anymore that were not OEM.

Yes, but,

Theoretically at least, it’s tied to the motherboard. Activation will get sniffy if you subsequently install it on a different machine, but then you just ring MS and tell them your motherboard had to be replaced.

Can I ask those of more knowlegde than I…
Would my kids old 3Ghz P4 with 4gig of ram, run Windows 7 ?
Its only used of the internet, watching cbbc iplayer etc…

windows 7 pro. i bought a dell oem one, apparently from a decomissioned machine, off ebay for about 15quid. i checked the sellers feedback and how many he had sold and for how long, for what it was worth. anyhow, fresh install on a new machine and all is good.

The last time I tried to download from Digital River, the ISO’s for 7 were gone.

Takisawa – our work machines run that spec on win 7 and are fine. Just as fine as Xp was.

Ok so I will soon be ready to give it a go, however can someone just check my plan for me.

I’m hoping it goes a bit like this

Back up my system to external HDD just in case it all goes pete tong,
Run Windows easy transfer to transfer files n stuff to external hdd,
Insert Windows 7 disc and follow on screen prompts till done,
Reload my files that I saved previously back onto pc using easy transfer and reload any other programs that I have lost.

Do I need to wipe my hdd before a clean install or does Win 7 wipe it as part of the install process ?

Thanks M

Do you have any paid-for software? If so I would check with whoever supplied it how to go about transferring the license over from your XP install of that software to the future Win7 install.

For the backup of XP, try and make sure that whatever software you are using gives you the option of making a “boot cd/usb” that you can use to boot the computer and restore the backup, as it won’t be as simple as just copying the files back.

No need to properly wipe the hdd (i.e. overwrite all the old data) before install. Win7 should give you the option of formatting the drive before install which I would advise doing, and is enough wiping for a drive you are going to re-use yourself.

If you’re going to do an upgrade, be warned it takes *ages*; don’t panic.

Do you have any paid-for software? If so I would check with whoever supplied it how to go about transferring the license over from your XP install of that software to the future Win7 install.

For the backup of XP, try and make sure that whatever software you are using gives you the option of making a “boot cd/usb” that you can use to boot the computer and restore the backup, as it won’t be as simple as just copying the files back.

No need to properly wipe the hdd (i.e. overwrite all the old data) before install. Win7 should give you the option of formatting the drive before install which I would advise doing, and is enough wiping for a drive you are going to re-use yourself.

Do you have any paid-for software?

Nope 😀

be warned it takes *ages*

I think this is why the price to have it done by someone else is so high, seems silly to pay for them to drink tea and stare at the PC for a couple of hours when I could do that myself 😉