Monday, October 19, 2009

Implementing Windows 7

Windows 7 is only three days away now.  So, I thought I would share with you how I plan to implement my upgrade to this new operating system.

If you have read my blog posts, you know I really like this upgrade and am excited about moving my entire computer operation over to it.  It will be like having a brand new computer for me as Windows XP is really showing its age.

Having downloaded and installed the the Release Candidate, I know it works very well on my computer.  If you are not sure if it will work on yours, just download the Windows 7 Upgrade Analysis software and it will analyze your system.

Assuming your computer will handle Windows 7, how should you install it?

First of all, whatever you do will require a clean install…you cannot do an upgrade to XP and you must do a special work-around to upgrade Vista. But, all experts agree that you should always do a clean install anyway…even if you are running Windows 7 Release Candidate like me.

Doing a clean install requires reformatting your hard drive.  So, say goodbye to everything on your computer (of course you will backup your data). 

But there is a better way…repartition your hard drive and set up a dual boot.

I did this when I set up Windows 7 RC…and, I am going to keep this new partition and dual boot setup so I can keep running XP for as long as I need it.  I recommend you also do this.  Get yourself a free disk partitioning utility like Aeseus Partition Manager.  Then, set up a new partition, perhaps calling it “Win7” or something similar. 

Then, when you start to install Win 7, tell it to install on the new partition.  It will automatically set up a dual boot screen so when you turn on your computer, it will ask which operating system you wish to run.

After installing Win 7, I will begin installing some of my most important programs, like Office, Photoshop, Lightroom and several others (I have already made a list). Then before I get started really using Win 7, I will do a disk image of it to one of my external hard drives.  So, if my hard drive dies and I must reinstall, I do it from the backup image, saving myself many hours, perhaps days, of work.

The good news is Windows 7 includes a disk imaging program as part of its Backup program. Itwill also make a bootable DVD or CD so you can boot up and reinstall your operating system.  Make sure you do this (even if you buy a new computer with Windows 7 installed)!!!

For more good information, here is an excellent article from Tech Republic that gives you a realistic approach to upgrading to Windows 7:

http://www.wxpnews.com/9LH8QB/090908-WinXP-to-Win7

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