Monday, January 25, 2010

Debating the upgrade

Windows 7.

I bought my laptop in July last year and I am eligible for the free upgrade from Vista to Windows 7. I bought it at Best Buy so Geek Squad will do it for me.

But I’m getting mixed info on whether they will reinstall my programs & my settings. I’ve been told “oh no, that’s all on you.” and “if you bring a back up drive we will” and “oh all your stuff probably should be just fine.”

I so don’t want to have to reinstall all my stuff. Apart from PSPX2, all my software was downloaded, the licenses sent to me via email. Lightroom, CS2, tweetdeck, window live writer, picasa, cooliris, audible, flickr & smugmug uploaders…drivers so I can see my RAW .nef photos thumbnails & .psd thumbnails. Firefox and it’s add ons.  My email! OMG all the issues I had with my email programs & importing. Not too mention all the backing up I’ll have to do of photos, scrap stuff, documents, recipes, music, fonts and audiobooks.

And that is just the stuff I can remember.

So. Has anyone done it yet? Had their computer upgraded to Win 7? How did it go? Did Geek Squad do it? Any hits or suggestions?

I think I am going to take it in on either Thursday or next Tuesday. If you don’t see me for awhile you know why

6 comments:

Chantal Miller said...

My PC is so old, xp is its second O/S. So I am getting a new one in the next month. I am doing all my research. Now but I am looking forward to W7

humel said...

Haven't done it so can't help you there, sorry - but I wanted to wish you luck! x

ptooie said...

We are thinking about upgrading the desktop from XP to 7. We would do it ourselves, if we do, and would have faith in the portable hard drive for backups. The computer we bought my MIL for Christmas came with 7 installed, and we liked it, so when we decided to splurge on a netbook for ourselves I got one that technically isn't a netbook but a teeny bit larger so it could have 7 Home Premium. We like it alot.
With only a few 'power words' I was able to import my Firefox profile (bookmarks, toolbar, the works) from the desktop to the netbook. I vote go for it but make sure you back up everything yourself- don't trust the Geeks to back it up. (this is how I deal with calling helpdesk at work too because their answer is always "let's reimage it!")

SciFi Dad said...

Disclaimer: none of this is first hand knowledge regarding Windows 7.

With any Windows upgrade, a reformat and fresh install is always superior to an in-place upgrade. What that means is that someone (you or Geek Squad) will have to reinstall all your software. Some of it shouldn't be too difficult (Firefox, for example). However, any customization or add-ons will have to be reinstalled manually.

As for licensing, most vendors should have some sort of mechanism for an OS install. I'd email them to find out.

Bottom line: if you go the easier in-place route, you're likely going to end up with a dog of a system that is buggy, prone to crashes, and will end up being so slow that you'll choose to reformat and reinstall yourself. I would strongly recommend the fresh install method, even if it means some effort on your end to rebuild the box. Just make sure that Geek Squad will back up all data for you first (or do it yourself to an external drive before you bring it in).

Good luck.

The Four Week Vegan said...

Fingers-crossed for you. I have no clue how it all works.

Lena said...

I haven't messed with the upgrade so I can't help. I'm not bothering because I may be buying a new laptop this year and it will undoubtedly come with it. Good luck though!