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Question:
I own a laptop with Windows Vista and a desktop PC with
Windows XP, and I'm considering changing both to Windows
7. Is there an online "how to" site for making
these operating-system changes? I understand the Vista
change should be fairly easy and the XP change will be
quite complicated, so I'd like a site where I could read
about the procedures and print them out.
Answer:
The conversion from Windows XP to Windows 7 isn't easy
because XP and Windows 7 are too different. Instead of a
simple upgrade, you'll need to do either a clean (wipe
out everything and start over from scratch) or custom
(wipe out some things) installation of Windows 7. For
details about converting to Windows 7 from XP, see
tinyurl.com/yfth7a9.
To avoid
losing your data during the Windows 7 installation, be
sure to back it up to an external hard drive or flash
drive.
Microsoft
offers a free program called Windows Easy Transfer that
can help transfer your XP or Vista files and settings to
an external drive. See: tinyurl.com/n2zoz6.
Programs
cannot be backed up and will have to be reinstalled.
The
upgrade from Windows Vista to Windows 7 is complicated
by the fact that certain versions of Vista can be simply
upgraded only to certain versions of Windows 7. For a
list of which Vista versions can be easily upgraded to
which Windows 7 versions, see the
Wall Street Journal's
chart at tinyurl.com/kn8t9k.
But if
you're willing to go to more trouble, you can install
any version of Windows 7.
Microsoft
says that "if your current edition of Windows Vista
can't be upgraded to the edition of Windows 7 that you
want to use, you can still install Windows 7 by using
the custom installation option instead." But
because the custom installation doesn't preserve your
files, programs, or settings, you'll have to back up
your data and reinstall your programs as you would with
the XP to Windows 7 switchover. For details on custom
installation: tinyurl.com/yk6flpw.
———
Q: I had
a trial subscription to a PC clean-up utility called
Dell PC Tune Up that I got from
Dell
with my new computer and service subscription. The trial
expired, and I haven't found anything nearly as good
that's free. Do you know of any free clean-up software
that works to purge or shred files and perform other
clean-up operations that enhance PC performance?
A: I
searched at www.download.com
for "PC clean up" found several free utility
programs, including
Glary Utilities
, CCleaner and Wise Registry Cleaner.
I haven't
used these programs myself, so I can't vouch for them.
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