Windows 7 - Upgrading Vs New Install re-visited

Hi all

I Do agree in general that you should do a NEW install rather than an Upgrade WHERE POSSIBLE.

Operative words are WHERE POSSIBLE.

However having applied SP2 (note SP2 not SP1) to a machine with VISTA Ultimate x-64 installed and THEN done an upgrade to Windows 7 I found that quite a few programs I'd had trouble with worked JUST fine after the Windows 7 upgrade.

It looks like VISTA SP2 addresses a whole slew of "compatability mode" stuff -- possible also related to the new "VISTA SP2 compatability mode" when installing a program directly in SP2 compatability mode.

I don't recommend doing a VISTA ===> Windows 7 upgrade but VISTA SP2 ==> Windows 7 changes the equation a bit.

Don't bother with Upgrade unless you've installed VISTA SP2.

I still have to have XP for some applications -- but that's another issue.

Cheers
jimbo