Traps to Avoid When Buying Windows 7
If you are thinking of buying Windows 7, then I want to help you clarify
Microsoft's mind boggling array of rules and options. Your best hope
of success is to focus on the rules for your country and your edition of
Vista or XP. Your nightmare would be buying a Windows 7 upgrade for
Home Premium, which is useless because you currently have the XP
Professional
edition.
Topics for Choosing Your Windows 7 Strategy
When migrating from XP only a clean install of Window 7 possible, you cannot
upgrade in the true sense of the word. The good news is if you already
have XP then you can take advantage of Microsoft's cheaper 'upgrade' offer
rather than buying the full version. What you do is give the Windows 7's
installer proof of a genuine copy of XP. By the way, you did backup
before you trashed your old system - didn't you? The three editions of
Windows 7 that will be on sale next week are Home Premium, Professional and
Ultimate.
In addition to a clean install described above, Vista offers an extra option
for an in-place upgrade to Windows 7. The benefit of an in-place
upgrade is that it preserves the user settings, and relieves you of the
headache of finding the product keys and then re-installing Microsoft Office and other programs.
My friend Mick points out that you could upgrade from XP to Vista, and then
make another in-place upgrade to Windows 7. Guy says this suggestion is another sign of
Mick's madness.
The principle behind tier for tier is like for like; you upgrade XP Home
Premium to Windows 7 Home Premium. Everyone agrees you cannot
downgrade, going from Ultimate to Home Premium is not possible. However, it is claimed
that you can pay the extra and go upmarket from Home Premium to Windows 7
Ultimate. Guy says-double check because it did not work for me.
32 and 64-bit Processors
It is my belief that whichever
edition of Windows 7 you buy, the box will have two DVD's one for 32-bit and
another for 64-bit hardware. You use the same product key for
whichever DVD you choose to install. Talking of hardware, Windows 7 is
the first Microsoft operating system, which does not require a faster
processor or more RAM than its predecessor (Vista).
Plan B is to opt for Windows Anytime Upgrade (WAU). You buy a
product key which unlocks the next edition, for example, you could start off
with Windows Vista Home Premium, upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium, and then
buy a WAU upgrade to Windows 7 Professional. This worked smoothly for
me.
Each Windows 7 edition is now a superset of the lower editions, thus you
don't lose any features if you upgrade from Home Premium to Professional.
This is better and smarter than the Vista where the Professional edition did
not have all the features of Home Premium.
In the European Union there WAS a legal problem when Microsoft wanted to
bundle IE8 with the operating system. Guy is slightly confused,
but Phil E has tipped me off that this is the latest position.
From Microsoft's Site Regarding Windows "E"
We are intent on providing people
with the best possible experience using their PCs with Windows. Building on
that important principle, we will ship the same version of Windows 7 in
Europe as in rest of the world on the worldwide launch date of 22 October,
2009. This version of Windows 7 includes Windows Internet Explorer 8 to help
people get the most from their PCs and the Internet. We will not ship E
editions of Windows 7, which would not have included Internet Explorer.
Customers who pre-order Windows 7 will receive versions of the product that
include Internet Explorer. Customers participating in the Windows Upgrade
Option available with select new PCs running Windows Vista will also receive
versions of Windows 7 that include Internet Explorer. Customers in Europe
will also be able to choose between upgrade and full versions of Windows 7.
- BitLocker is probably the killer reason to buy the Ultimate edition of
Windows 7. If you don't need this feature then Ultimate is costly.
Yet, if you factor-in the price of frustration that you feel because Home
Premium misses out on a feature you read about in the press, then it may not be
as expensive as you first thought.
- What nearly drove me mad was trying to edit the local group policy, and
being unable to find gpedit.msc on a Windows 7 Home Premium computer.
The problem is that gpedit only exists on the Ultimate edition, and maybe on
the Professional.
- Perhaps you have read about Windows 7 providing an XP Mode
setting?
If you think this the salvation for one of your old applications, then you will
be disappointed to discover that XP mode requires a virtualization engine,
which is not available for Windows 7 Home Premium. Please note XP mode
requires Virtual PC, and is therefore different from the Compatibility tab
on a program's property sheet.
- Probably the first thing you realize about the Home Premium edition's
(in-)compatibility is that you cannot join a domain, what is less obvious is
that you may also struggle with offline folders or any type of folder
redirection.
- Another annoying feature for Home editions is that Remote Desktop Service
does not work, thus you cannot remote desktop IN to a Home Premium computer.
You can however, use the client-side software to remote desktop OUT to a
machine with Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate, which does have the Remote
Desktop Service.
- Do you need to switch between languages? If so, the Ultimate edition
is the only version to enable you to flick between say English and French.
- Well that's enough examples of where Home Premium comes up short; let us not
get lost in the detail. My point is not that the Ultimate edition is
great value; but that if you pay the extra then you can rest reassured that
every Windows 7 feature that you read about will work on your computer.
Summary for Choosing Your Windows 7 Strategy
In these
upgrade battles my advice is, 'Tell me the rules, and I will play your
game'. Your best bet is
to do your own
research for your situation. Hopefully, you now have the right questions to ask starting
with, 'Will this Windows 7 package, that I am about to buy, upgrade my
present edition of Vista or XP?'
 Guy
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Windows 8 Features:
• Windows 8 New Features •
Windows 8 Metro UI •
Windows 8 Tips •
Windows 8 FAQ • Ezines
•
SLA Monitor •
Network Performance Monitor (NPM) •
Windows 8 Home •
E 128 Win Update
• E 174 Win 8 Traps •
E 168 UAC •
E 163 Update •
E 152 Closet •
E 139 End Msoft
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