Windows 7: An Upgrade Story

Microsoft insists that most people don't experience a new operating system until they get a new PC. That's empirically true, but it doesn't mean that there aren't a vast number of people getting ready to attempt their own Windows 7 DIY installation. As someone with a PC just 2 years old that's running Windows Vista Home, I, too, felt the itch.


In PC Labs, I've attempted all manner of wacky tech projects with nary a concern. Doing anything techy in my house is a different story. I have to contend with the computing needs of three other people: my wife, my teenage son, and my daughter. They all use our main computer, a HP Pavilion Elite 9060n, and my wife virtually lives on the system. It's where she does her e-mail, checks Facebook, edits documents, and does online research. My children use it as a homework and entertainment PC. In other words, they all rely on it, and if it's not functioning, someone's gonna pay.


Perhaps, then, you can understand my trepidation about doing anything to the system. I had to commit to upgrading from Windows Vista, which my wife never liked, to Windows 7. I've done other operating system upgrades and they usually improve my system performance and experience in innumerable ways. Even so, Microsoft and most of the experts in PC Labs counseled a full-upgrade. They advised me not to install Windows 7 over Vista. Instead, they, like Microsoft, recommended a fresh install for the best possible experience.

Then there was the 64-bit question to consider.

Since Vista, Windows has shipped with both a 32-and 64-bit option, but when Vista came along, scarcely anyone was installing and using 64-bit OSes and applications. Today, manufacturers are selling consumers computers with 64-bit pre-installed. How could I not upgrade my PC to a 64-bit OS? It certainly had the requisite hardware: a powerful 3-GHz Core 2 Quad CPU and 3 GB of RAM. Plus, if I ever wanted to upgrade the RAM for better performance, I needed an OS that could address the extra memory. I was beginning to commit myself to a 64-bit OS; I didn't consider the implications until I started preparing for the switch.

See, I knew that 64 bit meant new drivers and some application updates, but I didn't realize that I couldn't upgrade from 32 to 64 bit with the original system in situ. This upgrade would be what Microsoft likes to call "Custom" (a euphemism, which I hate, that is used for what is really a Full Reinstall). In the days leading up to my Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit install, I began backing up hundreds of gigabytes of data to an Iomega NAS, with a half-terabyte capacity, which I have in the basement (it's hooked directly into my router). Fortunately, I had already been using it to back up photos and documents. On the other hand, it still took hours to back up my remaining photos and digital videos. I also grabbed desktop settings, gaming files, Internet Explorer Favorites (mostly my wife's and kids' bookmarks), and anything else I thought I'd need to bring the system back to a recognizable state for my family.

I should make it clear that I, too, think the best thing you can do for a Windows-based PC is a system wipe. If you don't, the DLL and Registry gunk overload will slowly but surely eat away at your system performance and stability. For example, my HP has a persistent problem with the Media Center service. It crashes every day and video streaming is hampered. Nothing I've done (including having Microsoft look at the issue) helped solve the problem. The process I was about to go through could help and should be a good, cleansing thing.

I also took inventory of the applications we had installed and would likely use again—this turned out to be a fairly small list. My HP Pavilion arrived with a ton of bloatware (four or five different video-editing and disc-burning apps) that I never used. In the end, I was most concerned with Norton Internet Security, Picasa 3.5, iTunes (which after trying to install 9.0 had stopped working altogether), my Flickr Photo Uploader, Adobe Premiere 7, and Power2Go for basic disc-copying activities. I had the discs for most of these and could download the others I needed.