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Know if You're Ready for Windows 7? Now You Can

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4:00 AM - May 8, 2009 by Tuan Nguyen

Windows 7 is all the rage recently, and rightly so. The soon to be released operating system is considered to be what Windows Vista should have been.

However, Microsoft admittedly has done a lot of listening as of late, paying a good deal of attention to users across the board. One of the biggest concerns for Windows 7 isn't whether or not it'll solve Vista's problems, but also whether or not it'll run on existing systems efficiently. Chances are that if you bought or built a computer within the last five years, you'll be ready. If you're running Vista right now, you'll be ready.

If you're not sure though, fear not; Microsoft has released its Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor. The small utility can be download and run to check your hardware, drivers and installed software for compatibility. The utility will also check attached devices, so make sure you connect things like printers, scanners, and other accessories you regularly use.

According to the Windows Experience Blog:

Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor examines a PC’s processor, memory, storage, and graphics capabilities, identifies known compatibility issues with installed software and devices and finally provides guidance on how to resolve those issues if possible. Please also note: as previously stated on the E7 blog, Windows XP users are required to do a clean install of the Windows 7 RC as well as the final product. Only PCs with Windows Vista can be upgraded to Windows 7.

Source : Tom's Hardware US

Talkback
Add your comment
kyeana 05/08/2009 10:28 AM
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Good. They seem to be covering all their bases

outacontrolpimp 05/08/2009 10:50 AM
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tuannguyen :
Windows 7 is all the rage recently, and rightly so. The soon to be released operating system is considered to be what Windows Vista should have been.Know if You're Ready for Windows 7? Now You Can : Read more



This is really annoying

Luscious 05/08/2009 11:51 AM
Show
randomizer 05/08/2009 12:26 PM
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outacontrolpimp :
This is really annoying


It's being worked on.

cyb34 05/08/2009 12:28 PM
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Old hardware is old. New software is new.
Fixed.

bin1127 05/08/2009 12:46 PM
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who would have only a 1.2 ghz processor but 2.75 Gb of ram?

the guy with the 1.2 processor probably only has a 100 Gb harddrive as well. forget aero.

Tedders 05/08/2009 2:14 PM
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Luscious :
Windows 7 may work with older hardware, but Flash 10 certainly won't. I hate Adobe.


Why wouldn't it work? It works fine for me.

krazyderek 05/08/2009 2:39 PM
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i just hope they fixed the "network printer" option for adding a printer in vista which randomly stops working one day and requires users to add a network printer using the local method...

cyber_smity 05/08/2009 3:14 PM
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I'm a user that more interested in security than the user experience, and therefore before upgrading to the Windows 7 RC I've been watching forums and posts regarding bugs and security holes. Isn't that the purpose of a RC, to get the feedback from all the users on bugs and flaws? So far the following worries me:
http://www.pretentiousname.com/mis [...] list2.html
Is there a place we can all go to monitor user feedback and bug reports on Windows 7? Or do we have to keep searching them out?

mtyermom 05/08/2009 3:32 PM
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krazyderek :
i just hope they fixed the "network printer" option for adding a printer in vista which randomly stops working one day and requires users to add a network printer using the local method...



I have a Brother network printer that has been working flawlessly between 2 computers one running Win 7 x64 and the other running Win 7 x86 (32-bit). It worked flawlessly through all the beta builds I ran, and it is working flawlessly with the RC.

Anonymous 05/08/2009 4:29 PM
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I installed Windows 7 RC 7100 64-bit yesterday and found it installs easily and runs very well on my two-year-old PC. Odd that my Audigy 2 card is not supported, nor does Creative plan to release W7 drivers for it. Audigy Vista drivers will not install on W7.
Media Center is a very nice app, though without a working audio card it won't allow for watching TV on my TV tuner card. The Leadtek tuner card Vista drivers do work on W7.

bourgeoisdude 05/08/2009 4:39 PM
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Quote :Odd that my Audigy 2 card is not supported, nor does Creative plan to release W7 drivers for it. Audigy Vista drivers will not install on W7.


They should. Go to the properties of the driver install .exe file and make it run in Windows Vista compatibility mode. In my experience almost every device that works under Vista will work under Windows 7 as the driver architecture hasn't changes significantly.

However, be sure to use the Vista drivers and not the XP ones. Trying to install XP drivers on Windows 7 can sometimes lead to serious BSOD issues as the architecture between XP and Vista/7 has changed quite a bit.

talys 05/08/2009 4:49 PM
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* Looks wistfully at his Microsoft Fingerprint Reader *

I wish they'd write a damned 64 bit driver for it!

jrnyfan 05/08/2009 5:14 PM
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outacontrolpimp :
This is really annoying




Yeah...so annoying to have to read the first post that is all of two lines long.

How I wish my life could be so unfettered as to warrant complaining about something so trivial.

Grims 05/08/2009 5:35 PM
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There have been custom made drivers made for windows 7, just google audigy 2 windows 7 drivers.

hellwig 05/08/2009 6:43 PM
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Article :
Chances are that if you bought or built a computer within the last five years, you'll be ready.



Uh, NO! If the Vista Capable vs. Vista Ready debacle showed us anything, its that most of Intel's chipsets leading up to the Vista release aren't going to work. Unless you don't mind a Windows Experience score of 1 because you can't find drivers for your Intel GPU (and thus no hardware acceleration whatsoever), then I guess Win7 will work fine.

Otherwise, even a P4 2.6GHz w/ 512MB ram and 14GB hdd (primary partition) was enough to intall and run Win7 RC.

eagles453809 05/08/2009 6:47 PM
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talys...i think it is kind of funny that microsoft hasnt made 64-bit drivers for the fingerprint reader...kinda funny considering they make the OS....go MS

DXRick 05/08/2009 7:29 PM
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Why would you want to upgrade an old PC to Win 7? I am still using XP on my P4 3.0 system (and X800XT video card). All the drivers for the older hardware (like the Audigy 2 card and HP Officejet) work great, and I can't play newer DX 10 games anyway.

I will use Vista, and then Win 7, when I build my next one.

starryman 05/08/2009 8:02 PM
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I'll wait for WinGoogleApple 8. Theoretical PR announcement in 2012, "Because all 3 companies don't know how to innovate without terrorizing the competition with unfair business practices, they have decided to merge without FTC approval. Next year WinGoogleApple plans buy Bermuda and Yugoslavia."

kami3k 05/08/2009 8:30 PM
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Grims :
There have been custom made drivers made for windows 7, just google audigy 2 windows 7 drivers.



I tried those yet still my microphone on my sound card won't work. Dam Creative and their crap driver support.

ProDigit80 05/08/2009 8:56 PM
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My Athlon XP 2600+ system is from 2002. I'm sure without aero and themes installed an 800Mhz cpu, win7 will work as well.
1Ghz is just a marker. You'll probably notice a decline in speed below machines equipped with DDR2 RAM, especially when they only support less than 768MB of RAM. Many processors starting from 1Ghz had faster ram. I guess that the RAM factor is more important here than the CPU factor.

when running 7 on a single core @ 1,6Ghz (in a virtual environment)it's still pretty snappy.

Ahslan 05/09/2009 2:50 AM
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hellwig :
Uh, NO! If the Vista Capable vs. Vista Ready debacle showed us anything, its that most of Intel's chipsets leading up to the Vista release aren't going to work. Unless you don't mind a Windows Experience score of 1 because you can't find drivers for your Intel GPU (and thus no hardware acceleration whatsoever), then I guess Win7 will work fine.Otherwise, even a P4 2.6GHz w/ 512MB ram and 14GB hdd (primary partition) was enough to intall and run Win7 RC.



You are exactly right...I effing hate how Intel never released a vista driver for my 855gme chipset...which means I cant rotate my tablet screen when using windows 7...if I only was able to get hold of a copy of windows xp tablet edition...

anamaniac 05/09/2009 4:17 AM
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Win7 runs fine on just about any hardware setup.

kingnoobe 05/11/2009 2:02 PM
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So true anamaniac.. This is the best upgrade I've done since WIN ME. It breathed new life into my dieing amd 3200/ati 3850/2gb ram.. While it's still close to dead, it has helped.

Dax Corrin 05/13/2009 8:46 PM
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I just over-wrote my Vista Ultimate 64 partition with the Win7 64 RC. It's much snappier than the Vista and runs everything that Vista did and I was able to upgrade seamlessly without losing any of my Vista settings or programs. Happy so far. Next is the XP VM to see how it works.

nh484000 07/21/2009 1:35 AM
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Quote :who would have only a 1.2 ghz processor but 2.75 Gb of ram?

the guy with the 1.2 processor probably only has a 100 Gb harddrive as well. forget aero.


every hear of a HTPC or something where you don't need alot of processing power.

I also have a netbook with 1.6 atom (o/c able to 2ghz) with 2 gigs of ram.

And about the 100 gig harddrive. I have a Q6600 with 8 gigs of ram o/c on water to 4.0 ghz with a 37 gig harddrive and it works just fine...

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