T-Minus One Month and Counting

A month from today, Microsoft’s newest best thing (Windows 7) will hit the streets and attempt to do what Windows Vista was supposed to do. Early signs look great, but as you may know if you can remember the last few Microsoft roll-outs, we will see. Here are a few things to check on before you try to upgrade from your current O.S.

1. Check the manufacturer websites for all of your devices for Windows 7 drivers (printers, scanners, cameras, etc). Older hardware might not be supported. If so, you’re S.O.L.

2. Make sure your computer’s specifications (RAM, Processor, Hard drive space, video card) are better than what Microsoft considers it’s “Recommeded System Requirements”.

3. Back up your data. If you are upgrading from Vista, you may be able to just upgrade over the top of your existing install. If you’re on XP or older, you probably won’t be able to. In any case, back up your important files just in case. Better safe than sorry.

4. Make sure all of the software you use is Windows 7 compatible. If you were running them all on Vista, you should be ok. If you were running them on XP, you might want to check just to be sure.

If you follow these 4 steps, you should be able to get through your upgrade without too much hastle. You should still schedule yourself a free day to do it just in case, though.

Is Windows 7 for Me?

Windows 7 is scheduled for release on October 22nd, 2009, but the real question is, “Should I upgrade?” We’ve been testing Microsoft’s new baby in house here for about 4 months now, put it through several stress and compatibility tests, and have come up with several of our own opinions. We won’t bother giving you a full review about it, though. Read on the find out what we think.

The new “Home Groups” networking feature works great and is easy to set up if your computers are all running Windows 7… but if not, sharing files can become a serious headache. Stability is key. Even the latest Beta versions of Windows 7 were nice and solid. Much more so than other operating systems in the past. Then again, it should be, since 7 is built upon Vista’s core. On the performance end, Windows 7 seems to be zippier and start-ups/shut-downs are much quicker. Like Vista, the GUI will benefit from a fast video card, so those people with gaming computers will have a better experience navigating through the O.S. User Access Control (UAC) is customizable in Windows 7. So if you don’t like Windows asking you for permission for every little thing.. all the time… every day, than you’ll be happier here. It’s still not perfect, but at least it’s tolerable. There are some other really cool features in the new O.S. like movable desktop widgets, a decent backup scheduler, automatic defragging (Vista had this too), and some other neat stuff. As far as looks go, Vista users may be a little disappointed by the interface. It looks more like a service pack update than a whole new O.S. Why so many versions again? There should only be two, in our opinion.. A business version and a home version.. And why even bother with 32-bit support? All of the CPUs being sold anymore are 64-bit chips. The jump has to be made some time, and it might as well be now. Actually, it should have done with Vista. Microsoft has always been a little slow to drop legacy features, but the Windows 7 roll-out is a perfect time for this change.

So, should you upgrade? If you’re still running XP, keep in mind that when Windows 7 hits the streets, then you will be 2 operating systems behind the curve. At some point, Microsoft will have to stop supporting it, and you’ll cease to get security updates. That could be really bad. If you’re running Vista, it could be a different story, however. Is 7 better? In a word, Yes. But since Vista has come out, service packs and updates have fixed a lot of the issues the consumers had with it. Hardware is much faster than it was 2 years ago as well. In addition, the new O.S. doesn’t look all that different than Vista. What do we think? If you’re still running XP, Windows 7 will be a nice upgrade if your computer sports decent hardware. If you’re running Vista though, the cost might not be worth it for you unless you get some sort of rebate for a discounted upgrade. If you’re planning on buying a new PC sometime before Windows 7 comes out, make sure it includes a free upgrade voucher for 7.