Upgrading to Windows 7

[darkemeralds]

Has anyone else out there been bamboozled (or forced by circumstances) into buying a computer running Vista, and made the jump to Windows 7?

Vista Home Premium 64 seemed perfectly okay at first. At first. Then there was a BSOD incident, and when I went back to a restore point, Vista stopped accepting any automatic updates. For several months, I've been operating on Service Pack 1, and nothing I do lets me get or install Service Pack 2. I'm starting to have all kinds of ominous little problems. I'm rebooting way more than I should have to.

So, in short, it's time to go to Windows 7. Those bastards at Microsoft. It's $110, minimum, to upgrade from a flawed O/S that they never should have released in the first place, to the O/S it was supposed to be.

So, has anyone done this? Any advice? (Please don't suggest Apple. I just bought this Dell laptop, and my jeans aren't tight enough for Apple anyway.)

Comments

[inalasahl]

(Please don't suggest Apple. I just bought this Dell laptop, and my jeans aren't tight enough for Apple anyway.)
Hey, now, not everyone who has a Mac is a hipster.

Good luck!

[blueraccoon]

*points up* what she said. I wish I could offer advice, but my work PC is still on XP and my home computer runs Tiger. (I need to upgrade that, too.)

I've heard good things about Windows 7, though.

[darkemeralds]

Yeah, my workplace runs XP and wouldn't touch Vista with a barge-pole. We're leapfrogging to W7 in the coming months. I'd never have gone with Vista if my XP laptop hadn't been stolen. I'd have made it last until W7 became a reality.

Oh well. And yes, W7 is getting pretty universally good review.

[darkemeralds]

No, I know that, but their advertising makes me actively seek never to do business with them. I'm way more like the PC guy, and fairly proud of it.

[executrix]

I have been exceedingly, exceedingly un-reassured by Dell's offer to "personalize" a new computer with XP for $120. They have not offered to "personalize" it with Vista, even at a discount, so I suppose they consider 7 less rubbish than Vista but not as good as XP.

[darkemeralds]

It would be hard to beat XP for stability and robustness. The expert-ish people I've talked to (and read in forums online) seem to agree, however, that W7 is way, way, WAY leaner and cleaner than Vista, and already nearly as stable as XP.

The only reason Dell or anyone else sold any computers with Vista installed is that MS gave them no choice.

Upgrade from XP

[thedarkages]

I upgraded from XP, not from Vista, but the upgrade was almost painless. Took 30 minutes. Toshiba provided a single executable that installed all the requisite drivers for the upgrade. I had to restore all my applications and documents, but the OS worked almost perfectly. (Aero wouldn't run until I installed NVIDIA's own video drivers instead of the Toshiba-provided ones).

So: back everything up, but otherwise proceed with confidence.

Re: Upgrade from XP

[darkemeralds]

Thank you, J! That's very reassuring to hear. I need to query Dell a little harder for what they have on offer to help the million or of us who were forced by circumstances to go to Vista in the last few months when we knew W7 was coming but couldn't wait for it.