This is the full version of Windows 7, so chances are you’re looking at it because you are building a new computer and plan on putting this on it. If you’re wanting to upgrade your old XP or Vista computer and start from scratch, it’s not like the old days where you could only format by using a full version. Save yourself some money and purchase the upgrade version: it will still offer you the ability to do a “clean” install and jettison the old Windows baggage.
I HIGHLY recommend you stop by Microsoft’s website and look the different versions over to confirm you have the right one. If you’re running a computer old enough that you’re upgrading from Windows 98 or Windows 2000, I don’t recommend it: your performance will drop and you’ll see compatibility problems, some of which may be major. If this is the case, stop by the Microsoft site, grab their “Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor”, and run it first.
That said, Windows 7 Home Premium is probably the best bet for the average home user. Unlike XP Home, which made basic things like networking a pain, or Vista Home, which really seemed to only be missing some eye candy, 7 Home Premium truly is aimed at the everyday consumer. What you are missing when you pass on the Pro and Ultimate versions of 7 are:
Pro gives you:
1) complex networking made simpler (for example, connecting to AD domains and/or interacting with your workplace/corporate networks)
2) “XP Mode” – which runs a program within a virtual version of XP. All versions of Windows 7 still have the ability to use “XP Compatibility Mode”, which fools your programs into thinking they’re running in XP, but the “XP Mode” feature of 7 Pro and Ultimate is an honest-to-god XP shell that runs within Windows 7. Your hardware will also need to support “Virtualization Technology” in order to take advantage of this, otherwise this feature won’t work.
3) Automated backup (which can be done using free tools if you’d rather save the money).
Ultimate also adds:
4) “BitLocker” Hardware-level encryption (your hardware will need to have a “Trusted Platform Module (TPM)” to support this or it won’t work)
5) Native multi-language support: which means you switch from one language to another on the fly and need to make things easier on yourself than they were when you used the Language Bar in XP or Vista
If you’re a typical home user, chances are you’ll be perfectly happy with Windows 7 Home Premium. If you’re an avid gamer who often has to rig that favorite game *just so* in order to get it to run, you might consider Windows 7 Pro to ease your headaches. Ditto if for some reason you have a lot of older “barely XP compatible” programs that you think might be completely unable to function in just “XP Compatibility Mode”–again, this is where the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor, downloadable from Microsoft, can help you out (more on this in a moment). You might also consider checking user forums for the program to see if anyone else has an answer.
I’m running Windows 7 Home on what was a risky upgrade: a Dell Inspiron 8200 that I’ve hacked to the Dell Precision D50 BIOS (to get an nVidia Quadro4 500 GoGL to work). I realize that’s a mouthful, and it did take some tinkering to get it upgraded properly. Between this machine’s 7 Home Premium, and the Pro and Ultimate versions I have on other machines, I’ve been very happy with Home Premium: thus far my XP programs run smoothly without having to fiddle with them, and I think I’ve actually picked up a bit of a performance gain from it.
If you’re putting this on a new computer that you want to use to replace an older computer, you will be happy to know that you can migrate all your old stuff from one machine to another. Search Microsoft for “Windows Easy Transfer”: this program will let you migrate just the user accounts and settings to the new machine very simply. If you want to take it a step further–for example, you have a lot of programs on the old machine you don’t want to have to sit down and reinstall one by one on the new machine–you can migrate all of them for $19.95 using Laplink PC Mover: Amazon and the Laplink website are currently offering a special version that is just designed to migrate one computer to Windows 7 one time. Read the documentation very carefully and keep a copy of it handy as I’ve no room to go into detail on that here.
So what are some of the things Microsoft doesn’t tell you in the description above?
Windows 7 isn’t just “fixed Vista”: it’s a full overhaul of Windows based on a ton of feedback collected directly from Beta and RC 1 users (of which I was one–I let them have an earful and I think they actually listened)
Windows 7 does things drastically different from XP in that, like Vista, it does a lot of the eye candy in a smoother way. XP and earlier used to send graphics work through your processor before it’d get to your video card…now, it bypasses the processor and goes straight to the video, clearing up what was a pretty substantial bottleneck. This system was imperfect (to say the least!) in Vista, but it’s been improved here, particularly in the area of being compatible with older games
Windows 7 is trying to slowly “trim the fat” we normally have to put up with by making itself more compatible with other devices. Where you typically have to install a new device by running the manufacturer’s setup disc, installing a bunch of junk and tray icons, and etc., Microsoft is making native support more common in 7. My sound card, for example, used to need about 5 or 6 “helper” programs that would drain my performance and occasionally annoy me. Now it’s just using the drivers that came with the installation of 7.
Now, if you *are* upgrading, here are some very important things you need to know:
1) There are two types of upgrade: “in-place” (where a Vista machine upgrades to 7 and you get to keep all your programs) and “clean” (where you lose all your old programs and settings).
2) Anyone going from XP to 7 will have to go “clean”.
3) Anyone going from a different Vista to 7 (for example, Vista Home up to 7 Pro, or Vista Ultimate down to 7 Home) will also have to go “clean”.
If you have to do 2) or 3), all is not lost–I’ll explain in a moment.
Before you even buy a 7 upgrade for your machine, stop by Microsoft’s website for two things:
a) download and run the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor, as mentioned above. Run it with every device connected to the machine that you’ll ever want to use in 7. It’ll thoroughly examine your machine for any roadblocks and give you good advice about upgrading. Even very new machines will have one or two programs that need some checking.
b) Go to the Windows 7 Compatibility Center and double-check anything that came up negative in the Upgrade Advisor (or didn’t show up at all). This site lists detailed compatibility info on a LOT of different devices and even lets you select between 32-bit and 64-bit.
Anything critical to the operation of the machine, like a video card or sound card driver, I’d recommend double-checking with the manufacturer’s website to be sure. This almost burned me on the Dell I mentioned above–the video driver was approved in the Upgrade Advisor but failed the Compatibility Center check. Going to the manufacturer’s website let me get my hands on a driver that I could apply after the install.
c) Last, make a backup on another hard drive. There’s a free tool called Macrium Reflect that can do this for you.
Do you have to do a “clean” install, but just want to carry over your user accounts and settings? Microsoft’s Windows Easy Transfer (also mentioned above) is already insatlled on a Vista machine (and XP users can download it from Microsoft). Easy Transfer will export your accounts and settings and let you import them back again. It’s very easy to use and does a good job of putting your accounts back together again, even going from XP to 7.
Do you have to do the “clean” install, and you don’t want to reinstall all your programs? Use the Laplink PC Mover Windows 7 Upgrade Edition to upgrade. Each purchase of this special edition will do one machine one time. Read the documentation in detail: the steps are rahter easy, but they’re also rather important to get right the first time.
The most important thing to doing a “clean” install and keeping your programs and settings is that in the Upgrade setup you choose “Custom”. Windows will take all of your major files and place them in a folder called “Windows.old”. PC Mover and the Easy Transfer program will use this folder to reconstruct your system from, so this is VERY important.
New Operating Systems are always a bumpy road: your journey might not be as easy as others. However, compared to previous Windows releases, Windows 7 is a substantial improvement, and I’m pleased to say that I haven’t been burned by 7 like I was with Vista (and Windows Me–agh, the horror, the horror). If you just want to get yourself onto the 7 platform and don’t need a lot of customization, Windows 7 Home is a great place to start.
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Tags: Windows 7 Home Premium