Scared to death to upgrade...

brarig219 · 10 Nov 2009

I'm sitting here with a copy of Windows 7 that was mailed to me because I qualified for a free upgrade (I bought a new Dell PC running Vista in July), and I don't want to put it in the computer.

My computer runs perfectly right now. I have a very "If it's not broke, don't fix it" mindset, and after reading all the screwy things that can happen while performing an upgrade, I don't know if I should install Windows 7.

Vista is also telling me upgrade and get Service Pack 2. I have read all the ways that has messed up computers as well. I don't know if I should install SP2 and THEN try to upgrade to Windows 7, or what....

Any advice?

ignatzatsonic · 10 Nov 2009

This is a Windows 7 forum, so any advice you get is likely to tilt toward "go for Windows 7".

I understand your situation. If you are having no significant issues on Vista, there is no compelling reason to move.

But don't overestimate the issues. The people who are having no issues with Windows 7 aren't posting on these forums and there are millions of them.

Personally, I would go ahead, bypassing Vista Service Pack 2.

richc46 · 10 Nov 2009

Brarig, listen to me. I cannot promise that if you install 7, you will have no problems, but I can tell you what happened to me.

3 weeks ago, I was just like you. I had Vista for a year and I liked it no problems. But I wanted more, I wanted 7. I bought the DVD, but was afraid to install it. But, I studied, asked questions and most of all watched a you tube instruction on how to do it. My advice to you. Watch the you tube. It feels good when you are on screen one and you know already what is coming on two. Make a copy of your OS. There are free appl for this Acronis is good.

Now go for it. If you have used upgrade advisor and you have made a copy of your OS, you should be ok. You will like 7. If everythign goes wrong, just replace your Vista with the copy that you made.

Bottom line, I promise I will be here for you and know that all the others will try their best to help you too.

You wil like 7

pparks1 · 10 Nov 2009

I'd suggest downloading the trial of Acronis True Backup 2010 and backing up your existing system to a USB drive. Then, if your upgrade doesn't work as hoped, you can always put your Vista image back on the machine.

wallyinnc · 10 Nov 2009

Just to add my $0.02: usually when people think of upgrading is because they have a lot of personal data that they haven't backed up so they don't want to clean install.
My only advice is: back it up (whether you are going to migrate or not). But 7 is great

brj · 10 Nov 2009

hi,

i've installed windows 7 on three notebooks (2 vista, 1 xp). because i could not upgrade i did a clean install in an empty partition. the installation worked without problems on all notebooks. thanks to dual boot i could switch between vista and windows 7. after running 7 for a week i deleted the vista partition.
so dont't be afraid, backup and just do it.

jakob

Fantail · 18 Jan 2010

Some more jazz on your system specs might be interesting to compile - ok make up an answer.
How much system ram do you have, your processor info and are you running Vista x32 considering 7 x64?