Windows XP to Windows 7

[Pink]

Hi,
i wanted to know if my pc will run better with win7 installed?
i saw somewhere that win7 uses resources better than xp or something, so i wanted to know if with my current hardware, my pc will run better, the same, or worse with win7.

my specs are:

AMD athlon 64 x2 5600+
2gigs of ram, asus m2n4-sli mobo
radeon 4670 hd

so, what now, will it run better ot worse?

also, i wanted to know if i upgrade Xp to vista with the inplace installation, and then from vista to win7 with an inplace installation, will all of my software run fine, or some of it will get uninstalled or just bugged?

Thanks

 

[CAMusing]

First, you have to determine compatibility.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/compatibility/windows-7/en-us/default.aspx

 

[travis061986]

I actually loaded windows 7 on a old dell.. About 4 years old. This computer was meant for XP. It actually worked very well. Speed was almost doubled since all of my resources were not tied up...

 

[kristain]

If you want to upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7, you must take backup of files or use a migration tool such as Windows 7 Easy Transfer. All applications must be reinstalled for XP users making the upgrade to Windows 7.

 

[ThorMMVI]

I went from Windows XP to Windows 7 on one of my PCs. I noticed that my internet connection speed really slowed down. I found some patches that actually increased my speed a little, but not up to the full 5 Mbps that I get on my XP machine. Also, some windows media network thingy was maxing out my processor. I disabled it. All in all, W7 is OK, but at this point, I don't think I'll migrate the others over quite yet.

 

[compdata]

It would help to know if there is something that you think is particularly slow on your old computer as some things are faster and some are about the same. I probably would not install it as an upgrade and just wait for your next computer build. That said if you have a copy of Win 7 sitting around I would probably install it - i just wouldn't go buy a copy.

Couple examples:
1) Win 7 is definitely better for SLI/Crossfire
2) Win 7 will use more RAM, but also does a much beter job of using RAM as cache to pre-load commonly used applications (which decreases their launch time).
3) UI is definitely more resource and processor intensive as it is doing a lot more in terms of pretty looks and transparencies, etc. . In all I like it a lot more then XP's look. You can also disable most of this if you really want.

If you do decide to upgrade definitely do a clean install if possible - you will need to use the easy file transfer utility to move files and settings though:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/features/windows-easy-transfer

 

[Pink]

Thanks guys,
but if i decide to upgrade to win7, i have to reinstall EVERYTHING? i mean, i have been using xp for a really long time, i don't even have the installation for most of the stuff i have installed.
isnt there another way? such as the Xp-Vista-Win7 method?

Thanks

 

[Pink]

Plus, im really not ready to buy an external hard drive just to migrate windows, no way...

 

[Archean]

I am unsure that would be easy either; if it would work at all; probably will take lots of time.

Please also have a look at this article.

Also you do not need an external HDD to back up; if you have large enough HDD; just create another partition and move all your data on it, before proceeding to install windows on the primary partition.

 

[compdata]

You can try to do the upgrade from xp to vista and then upgrade from vista to win7 if you have a copy of both Vista and Win 7 available. Many programs will probably work fine, however some will not because of the OS differences. From a compatibility and performance route it is always better to do a clean install. It is worth at least doing an inventory of what disks you still have and what ones you are missing. I tried doing that on one machine i was maintaining but had boot record access issues on the Vista install and was forced to do a full clean install.

Here are some benchmarks i had found on this prior: http://blog.tune-up.com/windows-ins...mance-check-upgrade-install-vs-clean-install/

 

[compdata]

Again i would ask the question - do you have a copy of Vista and Win 7? or are you considering buying them? If you are going to have to buy then i would just recommend buying a new entry level system for the same cost that will come with Win 7 pre-installed on it.

 

[Pink]

oh i have 3 hard drives. one is an 80 gb drive with 2 partitions (one of them is the windows partition)

one is 300 gb which is where i have my most important stuff and the other is 500 gb which is empty cos i just bought it.

so can anyone give me an explanation of how do i do this, or how to use easy transfer (i trust microsoft tech support as much as i trust the taliban)

Thanks guys, you been a really really really big help!

 

[Pink]

Compdata, i have a vista cd that came with my laptop, and im getting a win7 cd anyway, because i plan to upgrade in a while

another question: if my most important stuff isnt on my Windows partition, when i install Win7, wouldnt the stuff on my other hard drive get corrupted? i mean, when i do a format and Reinstall xp, the registry gets erased and so most of my programs (from my unrelated drive) tells me that they have a problem, etc etc

this is what im really worried about, i have almost nothing installed on my windows partition

 

[compdata]

oh i have 3 hard drives. one is an 80 gb drive with 2 partitions (one of them is the windows partition)

one is 300 gb which is where i have my most important stuff and the other is 500 gb which is empty cos i just bought it.

so can anyone give me an explanation of how do i do this, or how to use easy transfer (i trust microsoft tech support as much as i trust the taliban)

Thanks guys, you been a really really really big help!

Note - This tool is only necessary if you are doing a clean install (not upgrade installs). That said it isn't a bad idea to back up settings anyway. Just run the utility and follow directions for putting the generated file on one of your other drives. It is pretty self explanatory.

 

[compdata]

Compdata, i have a vista cd that came with my laptop, and im getting a win7 cd anyway, because i plan to upgrade in a while

another question: if my most important stuff isnt on my Windows partition, when i install Win7, wouldnt the stuff on my other hard drive get corrupted? i mean, when i do a format and Reinstall xp, the registry gets erased and so most of my programs (from my unrelated drive) tells me that they have a problem, etc etc

this is what im really worried about, i have almost nothing installed on my windows partition

If you do a clean install this will happen. The file transfer utility is only for files and OS settings, not for registry or programs. Just to be clear - stuff on your other hard drive won't be corrupted - just may not work if files it depended on were wiped out. If you want to upgrade why don't you try the upgrade install method first as it sounds like you really don't want to do a clean install. You won't get the same level of the performance this way, but it gives you a better chance of preserving your programs. Make sure you run the compatibility wizard (someone else linked it earlier) first as that should tell you what programs will or won't work under win 7

 

[Pink]

but my other programs will run even if the registry is modified? that's what im most worried about as my windows partition has nothing that i Cant erase, its all windows and a bunch of pictures that i can just move to my other drives.

 

[Pink]

OHH and another questions:
if i install Windows 7 on a virtual machine, can i run programs from the virtual win7 such as games, etc.? and will it run at full speed (i never used a vmware)

 

[compdata]

1) Your programs will not run if the registry is erased. Doing a clean install will erase your registry, doing an upgrade will not.
2) Virtual machines have only basic hardware emulation for video cards so running games or hardware accelerated video in a virtual machine is NOT advised and will almost certainly not work well at all. Other programs should work fine in most cases, but 2 Gb of RAM is really not enough to run XP and Win 7 in a Virtual machine either and will cause major slow down becuase it is going to be paging memory out to your harddrive.