Windows 7: I need advice whether or not to do a fresh install of windows

My parents have a computer with Windows 7 ult. 64 bit that my friend had installed and The only issue that happens is it will occasionally shut down randomly and come up with an error message saying it experienced a BSOD. My father has been calling me lately saying that it's doing it more frequently and it's really annoying, and I can say that my Dell laptop has done it occasionally in the past on occasion. Now I have discovered i can get a copy of XP pro 64bit through my school for free which I might install on it if i cant get the random "BSOD's" to stop. Ill get the error code next time it happens to post here, but in the mean time I was wondering if there would be an easy transition in the installation process from windows 7 to windows xp. The machine has a pentium e6500, 4gigs of ddr2, radeon hd 4850 and two independent drives, and I would imagine it would be pretty quick because XP is older. as far as installing is concerned, I figure i would just have to boot to the disc or flash drive and tell it to install on the C drive, but would it create a windows.old folder with all of the stuff? or is there an option to do a repair install with a windows 7 disc?

You'll have to do a clean install to go from 7 to XP. Backup what needs to be saved to external media before you do anything. I'd also make sure you can find drivers for XP 64 for all hardware, including printers etc, before you install XP 64. I think you'll find that XP 64 isn't that widely supported, so drivers could be an issue. You can't use 32 bit drivers on a 64 bit OS. If Windows 7 was obtained via bit torrent there is a good chance its a pirated version, or its been modified in a bad way. That may be why it blue screens. Does it have a Windows COA sticker on it? If so what version of windows is it for and can you read the product code that is printed on it. Don't post the code here, I just want to know if its readable. If it is you can use that code to install Windows legally, if you can find the correct install media. I can post links to official Microsoft Windows 7 ISO images, not sure if I have any for vista.

I can also get windows 7 pro through my school from dreamspark as well, so would if i downloaded windows 7 pro and went to install it on the machine with Windows 7 ultimate, would that do a fresh install as well? or would it essentially downgrade it to the professional version of 7?

I'd go the Windows 7 Pro, myself.

As Alphanumeric says, drivers etc for XP64 may be very difficult to find.

You won't be able to 'upgrade' Pro over Ultimate, but you can do a parallel
installation, which will save a 'windows.old' folder in your c: drive.

But DO back all your files up first.

Okay. One thing though; is it possible to actually fix the source of a BSOD without a fresh install? Would a repair install be able to correct it? I'm waiting on it to BSOD again so I can get the error code and maybe someone on here will be able to help

Yes, a fresh install will wipe away all issues and you'll have no more if you follow these steps to get a perfect Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 then stick only with the tools and methods which work best for Windows 7 based on thousands we've helped with here. The steps are the same for retail.

It was not wise to involve your parents in criminal activity since pirating software is a crime. This will not only make up for it but end up with them having one of the better installs around.

Just to be sure you have the cleanest slate and clear the boot sector of illegal activation cracks, when you boot into the installer start by pressing Shift + F10 at the first installer screen to open a Command Line, then run Diskpart Clean Command. Then close the Command Box, click Install Now, follow the illustrated steps in Clean Install Windows 7 to create and format your partitions, install Windows 7 to the first large partition (not counting the small boot partition created by installer).

Pay close attention to the Reinstall tutorial for how drivers are handled in Windows 7 as it is different than XP. The closer you follow those steps the more perfect your install will be - and stay.

It's been my experience that BSOD are usually driver related. Also one BSOD usually leads to another, leads to another. What I mean is, they don't usually go away on their own and become more prevent. I highly recommend a clean install with install media you can trust. Try to find the latest drivers for hardware that Windows 7 doesn't have a driver for. Use the manufacturers driver where possible. When I say manufacturer I mean try the PC manufacturer first. If you can't find a driver there, then try Nvidia, RealTek, or who ever actually made part.

Heres another thought; would an upgrade from windows 7 to windows 8 get rid of any problems? Because I can also get a genuine copy of windows 8 pro through Dreamspark and I'm assuming it would basically be overwriting windows 7 I.e getting rid of any issues created in windows 7

If you are trying to get rid of a problem, a Clean Install is the way to do it. Upgrading does not replace all of the files. It is quite possible you will still have the problem after the upgrade. Do yourself a favor and do a Clean Install.

try to check things first what is happening with the system. go to the event viewer of your computer. if you cannot boot normally, then boot in safemode. Check all the system error, you can find lead to what is causing your BSOD. Then,check your device manager for the drivers, see drivers with yellow exclamation mark, try to reinstall its driver. To optimize and clean corrupt files, use freeware CCleaner (I'm not promoting ccleaner, its just that its very useful on cleaning the system and registry). This troubleshooting might avoid you do the clean install and save all the effort reinstalling all the application you have..