You might be wondering where have you been Andre? Well, a combination of no Internet and being busy with other projects kind of held me back from celebrating the General Availability of Windows 7 on October 22, 2009 world wide. Windows 7 has been well received, from the numerous positive reviews and demos I have seen on television, everybody is looking forward to Windows 7, whether they are upgrading from a previous version of Windows or purchasing it preloaded on a new PC. Just to provide a recap of some of the events this week, I want to link you to some tutorial and guides along with a 70 page review of the new Windows 7 from yours truly and fellow colleagues I have collaborated with:

Notebooks.com Since I started contributing to the Microsoft Clubhouse, I had the privilege of seeing some of my early Windows 7 articles republished on microsoft.com. Since then other sites have become interested in my writing giving me further opportunities to have my articles reach an even wider readership. Notebooks.com is such a site, since early October, 14 of my favorite guides and tutorials have been published on the site, here are 6 of them:

A Look at the Windows 7 Editions: If you’re trying to figure out which version of Windows 7 is right for you this is a great place to start. This guide covers everything from editions and versions to pricing and upgrade paths.

How to Install Windows 7: This guide walks you through the installation process highlighting important steps and providing pictures to guide you through installing Windows 7.

How to Upgrade to Windows 7: If you aren’t installing from scratch then this guide is for you. It contains a walkthrough of an “in-place” upgrade and information about how to fix compatibility issues.

How to Upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7: Upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7 brings many improvements but it’s not as easy as an upgrade from Vista. This guide will provide you with tips to make it easier.

Using Windows Easy Transfer in Windows 7: Windows Easy Transfer makes moving your files and settings from an old computer to a new one easy. This guide walks you through how to use Windows Easy Transfer to get your files to your windows 7 computer.

How to backup your installation of Windows 7: Introduces you to some of the enhanced features of Backup and Restore in Windows 7 along tools for securing your installation of Windows 7.

You can check out the additional 8 articles HERE

ActiveWin.com Is another one of my favorite sites that I have been contributing to for a good while, and with the release of Windows 7, I and fellow ActiveWin.com contributors Byron Hinson and Fernando Javier Hualpa put together a 70 page review of Windows 7 detailing our experiences with the new Microsoft blockbuster, covering topics such as user experience, performance, entertainment, gaming, security, networking, developer and a whole lot more. You can check out that review HERE

In addition to the review, we updated our Windows 7 Frequently Asked Questions page with numerous questions and answers related to Windows 7 such as Homegroups, Upgrading, Activation, Migration and other topics of interest. You can check that out HERE

Microsoft's PressPass website provides links from popular websites and news organizations that have also reviewed Windows 7, you can check them out HERE

Now that Windows 7 has been released, I will continue to share my experiences with you about this exceptional upgrade. Its almost 1 year since the first public pre-release version of Windows 7 was released and to see it blossom into a product based on feedback from us the consumers and seeing the promised benefits come to fruition further strengthens my love for the Windows PC. Major Congratulations to the folks on the Windows Team and at Microsoft!

Related:

Windows 7 has finally RTMed! - A Look back over the past 10 months

When I first got access to the Windows 7 preview back in October 2008, the first form factor I installed it on was a laptop. Since then I have tried it on a few desktops and workstations, but I am particularly impressed by the benefits that users of portable computers such as Netbooks, Notebooks, desktop replacements can get by running Windows 7. Out of the box, the first thing I noticed was the improved performance of Windows 7 running on my laptop. Prior to this I was running Windows Vista Ultimate x64, Windows 7 x64 in comparison is a snap, boot time, log in, sleep, resume from sleep, hibernate, resume from hibernate all see enhancements when running Windows 7, its 'fast"! I can't emphasize that enough. The Windows Team went back to the fundamentals and worked on some key areas of the operating system to achieve these welcome improvements.

Battery Life and Power Management

It’s a fact that more people are using laptops, not mainly for mobility reasons, but for personality and style. They want to carry it with them wherever they go and be able to use it without having to be an expert in power conservation or play find the power socket. Windows 7 features exceptional Power Management enhancements that include increasing the idle time for the processor, automatically dimming the display, and more efficient playback of DVDs. There are also better information tools to keep you up to date about the state of your battery life when on the go. The Windows Team worked to increase the efficiency of battery life in laptops by reducing the amount of background activities by supporting the trigger-starting of services, when you are doing a task that requires a particular service, Windows 7 will provide that service on demand.

Adaptive Display Brightness automatically reduces display brightness after a certain period of inactivity similar to cell phones. Less power is required to watch a DVD because Windows 7 requires less processing power which leads to a more efficient way to spinning the disk, this leads to benefits such as watching a full length movie on a single battery charge. In Vista, Wake on LAN could only be done over a wired network connection, in 7, you can now Wake on Wireless LAN which provides the same capabilities over a wireless network connection. For IT environments, this minimizes power costs for such systems for scenarios like maintenance and applying patches.

Today, mobile PCs send energy to parts of the computer when they are not being used, such as sending power to the network adapter when you don’t have an Ethernet cable plugged-in. Windows 7 automatically turns off power to the network adapter when the cable is disconnected and restores power when the cable is connected. Making users aware of the battery life status is key improvement in Windows 7 for a better; the Battery Life Notification Area applet provides prominent, timely information to ensure that you can use your notebook in tight situations where there is no power. A new utility called Power Config detects problems across devices, policies, firmware, system settings, applications, and other common areas where settings can reduce power efficiency delivering that information to you in an easy to understand report.

Getting the mouse out of Windows - 7 Tips and Features.

1. Conserve Energy Automatically.

Conserving energy is very important these days and its something we need to be conscious about. One of the ways I have found to efficiently preserve battery life in Windows 7 is to control the actual Windows 7 experience. Sometimes I might have a power outage, but I want to use my laptop until electricity is restored, task like listening to music and tweeting are some of the things I will do to occupy the time.

What I did was have Windows 7's Power Options set to Power Saver when there is a power outage. This allows me to get more juice and be able to use my laptop for longer periods. This is not only great for Power Outages of course, but when you are somewhere that you cannot get access to a power socket, it comes in very handy. So when a power outage occurs, Windows 7 automatically does things like change the Windows 7 theme from Aero Glass to Aero Standard. Its a lovely feature and shows the intelligence built into the system.

Here is a geeky tip my friend Kristan M. Kenney told me about, PowerCfg.exe. This lets you get a report of how energy is being used so you can fine tune and configure your laptop to use less power.

Click Start, type: CMD

From the search results, right click CMD and click Run as Administrator

At the command prompt type the following:
 powercfg.exe /energy /output "%USERPROFILE%\Desktop\Energy Report.html"

A 1 minute scan will be ran across your system and a report will then be generated, check your Desktop, it will be stored in an HTML file. As you can see, I had a few errors.

Windows 7 will display an analysis of the report with recommendations for what corrective measures you can take.

2. Quicker Access to Networks

Windows 7 makes viewing and connecting to all of your networks simple and consistent with the new View Available Networks floating dialog in the Notification Area. You’ll always have one-click access to available networks, regardless of whether those networks are based on Wi-Fi, Mobile Broadband, Dial-up, or your corporate VPN.

3. Improved Support for External Displays.

If you have a mobile PC, you may want to connect it to an external display—for example, to watch a movie at home or give a presentation at work. Windows 7 makes it easier to connect to external displays because all of the common display-related features are consolidated in one place, under Display in Control Panel. And with Windows 7, you can press the Windows key + P to toggle between your laptop screen and an external display.

4. Mobility Center

What Mobility Center does is provide a one stop location to configure all settings related to laptops. Instead of hunting down through various menus and applets, Windows provides this one applet that makes it convenient and centralized for you to adjust all appropriate settings when on the go.

• Brightness: Move the slide to temporarily adjust the brightness of your display.
• Volume: Use the slider to adjust the speaker volume of your laptop, or select the mute check box.
• Battery Status: View how much charge remains on your batter or select a power plan from the list.
• Wireless Network: View the status of your wireless network connection or turn your wireless adapter on or off.
• Screen Rotation: If you are using Windows 7 on a Tablet computer, you can use this to change the orientation of the on the fly from either landscape or portrait or vice versa.
• External Display: Connect an additional monitor to your laptop, or customize the display settings.
• Sync Center: View the status of an in-progress file sync, start a new sync, set up a sync partnerships, or change your settings in the Sync Center.

5. Flexible Start Menu Power Options

The Windows 7 Start menu power options are more flexible. Back in Windows Vista, the default was Shutdown, in XP, it was the Turn off Windows dialog that you had to invoke. Users can change the default Power Options button to something you regularly use, such as Sleep or Hibernation. To do this, right click the Taskbar, click Properties > click the Start Menu (tab) > in the Power button action: list box and select the desired option you would like to see every time you click Power Button on the Start menu.

6. Integrated Fingerprint Readers and Logon

Fingerprint scanners are becoming more and more common in standard laptop configurations, and
Windows 7 helps ensure that they work well. It’s easy to set up and begin using a fingerprint reader, and
logging on to Windows using a fingerprint is more reliable across different hardware providers. Fingerprint reader configurations are easy to modify, so you can control how you log on to Windows 7 and manage the fingerprint data stored on your PC. Clubhouse member Tarun Chachra recently did an article about setting up Biometric Devices in Windows 7, a worthy read!

7. Utilize BitLocker to protect your laptop

With Windows Vista, Microsoft introduced us to BitLocker, an encryption technology to protect your personal data and operating system files on the hard disk on which Windows is installed. This is a great feature if your computer is stolen or unauthorized individuals try to access your computer.

To learn more about how to setup BitLocker, check out the following Microsoft TechNet Guide:

BitLocker Drive Encryption Step-by-Step Guide for Windows 7

Windows 7 provides a holistic experience when working with your portable computer. Especially when on the go or in tight situations where you need to conserve battery life. The Windows Teams focus on efficiency is a major highlight for users too. From ease of use, management to security, running Windows 7 on your laptop, Tablet, Notebook, Netbook is a must.

Microsoft today unleashed the Microsoft Answers Windows 7 Forums where users of Windows 7 can get help with a number topics related to the new operating system, whether its Installation, troubleshooting, configuration, networking, security and many others, you name it. You can find a helpful bunch of folks from Microsoft, Microsoft MVP's and Windows Enthusiast sharing their experiences ready and willing to help you:

• Desktop and Personalization
• Gaming
• Hardware and Drivers
• Performance and maintenance
• Install, upgrade and activate
• Programs
• Music and Sound
• Pictures and Video
• Security, privacy and user accounts
• Networking, e-mail and getting online
• Files, folders and search
• System repair and recovery
• Internet Explorer
• Windows Update

In conjunction with the Windows Live Forums, users can get the most out of their technology investments and computing experiences. Not to forget, the Microsoft Clubhouse is also a great resource for users to even get more insight into using Windows Live and Windows 7 together in real world scenarios.

Back in the 90's, I could count on one hand how many people I knew had a computer, or just had access to one. With the fast pace of changes such as Moore's Law and affordability of computers and hardware over the past 10 years, everybody I know has a PC or are upgrading one, buying their second or third computer. With current buying trends comes certain responsibilities. We need to be thinking about how our purchasing decisions are affecting the environment around us in addition to persons living in other countries. If you want to start making a contribution to saving your environment, you can start by changing your buying habits.

The above logos can help guide you in your future buying decisions. Green Computing is a hot topic these days and many consumers are consciously looking into how they can help improve the environment by buying products that are Green certified.

What is Green Computing?

Green computing involves reducing the electricity and environmental waste while using a computer. Computers use and often waste resources such as electricity and paper. The industry has become aware of this problem and is implementing important measures to combat it. Personal computers, displays, and printers should comply with guidelines of the Energy STAR program, which was developed by the United States Department of Energy (DOE) and United States Environment Protection Agency (EPA).

This program encourages manufacturers to create energy efficient devices that require little power when they are not in use. For example, many devices switch to standby or power save mode after a specified number of inactive minutes or hours. Computers and devices that meet ENERGY STAR guidelines display an ENERGY STAR label.

What can we do with old computers?

You might have an old computer, printer or some other device you are not using anymore. Either its obsolete or just doesn't meet your needs anymore. You can start by not storing obsolete computers and devices in your basement, storage room, attic, warehouse or any other location. Computers, monitors, and other equipment contain toxic materials and potentially dangerous elements including lead, mercury and flame retardants. In a landfill, these material are released into the environment. There are some options available such as refurbishing or recycling the equipment. Just yesterday, I was listening to a call in radio program, a student who just started a Data Operations course at an institution was pleading for some assistance because she doesn't have a computer and wouldn't mind getting a second hand PC just to practice Word Processing, Spreadsheet and Database Management. So, even if that old computer is not useful to you anymore, there might be a student or school who might just need it for basic task.

Local governments are working on methods to make it easy for consumers to recycle their old equipment, but you can also help by altering some habits now, here is a list of ways you can contribute to a healthy, more energy efficient environment:

• Use computers and devices that comply with ENERGY STAR program or recognized Green Computing initiatives. You will often recognize this by a logo featuring a green leaf or similar branding.
• Do not leave the computer and devices running overnight. I admit, this is a bad habit of mine, but I am cutting it out these days.
• Turn off your monitor, printer, and other devices when not in use. In fact, I haven't used my printer at home in months, so you know I did I plugged it out.
• Use paperless methods to communicate - Windows Live services from Microsoft are helping to make this initiative a reality, free electronic email services and programs such as Windows Live Hotmail/Mail, Skydrive, Photos make it easy and convenient to share files with colleagues and memories with family and friends. Check out Clubhouse member Ali's story about how Skydrive saved the day here
• If you must use paper, ensure that old papers are recycled and ensure that the paper you buy is recycled.
• Recycle toner cartridges.
• Recycle old computers and printers.
• Shop online - there are so many online stores and services these days, cut out the unnecessary travel.
• Telecommunication is also a great way to help protect the environment. Windows 7 includes tools such as Remote Desktop that allow you to access files and other resources at the office.
• Download instead of going for the boxed copy. Do you really need to have a physical box or DVD copy? Thick manuals are even more useless, since they become obsolete the moment you pull the box. Online resources and help forums are all the manuals you will need and they always have the latest information "a live person". Especially with today's enormous external hard disk on the cheap, just buy one and store your digital downloads on them for backup purposes. Millions of packaging world wide are simply thrown away each year, don't add anymore to if you can.

If you are going to donate a used machine, don't just leave it on the doorstep somewhere. A little planning will ensure that the machine goes to a good cause. Before you give it away, make sure you've removed your personal data - letters, financial information etc. onto your new computer using migration tools such as LapLink or Windows Easy Transfer or backup your data to DVDs/external hard disk.

If you plan to keep the software you were using before, you should remove it from the computer you are giving away. When you are ready to give the computer away, call the school, church or organization first. Some will be unable to use the model you're offering even if it works well. Some groups, however, welcome computers of any age and in almost any condition, but you should still call them before donating. Here are list of organizations you can donate your computer to and give it new life and purpose.

California

Donate a Computer to Computer Recycling Center
CompuMentor Home Page

Connecticut

National Cristina Foundation

Additional resources:

Computer disposal, donation, and recycle information
HP Environment: Product recycling
eCycling | Common Wastes & Materials | US EPA
- Where Can I Donate or Recycle My Old Computer and Other Electronic

Computer recycling - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Home : ENERGY STAR
The Electronics Recycling Superguide

Windows 7 helps too

Windows 7 extends battery life for your mobile PC, helping you be productive longer while still getting great performance. Power-saving enhancements include increasing the idle time for the processor, automatically dimming the display, and more power-efficient playback for DVDs. With Windows 7, you’re also kept better-informed about battery status.

Get Idle and Stay Idle Longer. An idle processor reduces battery life. Windows 7 reduces background activities and supports the trigger-starting of system services, so your computer’s processor can be in an idle state more often.

Adaptive Display Brightness. The display on a typical mobile PC consumes more battery power than any other part of the computer. Windows 7 automatically reduces display brightness after a period of inactivity, much like cell phones do today. And Windows 7 intelligently adapts to your activity. For example, if the screen dims after 30 seconds and you immediately move the mouse to brighten
the display, Windows 7 will wait 60 seconds before dimming the display again.

Power-saving DVD Playback. Your PC will use less power when playing a DVD. Windows 7 requires less processing power than previous versions of Windows and is more efficient when it spins the disc, so you’re more likely to get through a full movie with a single battery charge.

Wake on Wireless LAN. Having your computer go into Sleep state when idle is a good way to conserve power, and Wake on LAN provides a way to “wake up” a computer that’s in Sleep state over the network when you need to access it remotely. However, in Windows Vista, waking up a computer that’s in Sleep state could only be done over a wired network connection. Wake on Wireless LAN in Windows 7 provides the same capabilities over a wireless network connection.

For example, if you have a PC in your kitchen that’s wirelessly connected to your home network and want to view a photo on that system from your laptop in the bedroom, the computer in the kitchen can be in Sleep state and wake-up to allow you to see the photo. Similarly, in an enterprise environment, IT administrators can wake up wirelessly connected computers to apply software updates or perform other maintenance. In this way, IT administrators can minimize power costs for wirelessly connected systems.

Smart Network Power. Today, your mobile PC sends energy to parts of your computer when they’re not being used—such as sending power to the network adapter when you don’t have an Ethernet cable plugged-in. Windows 7 automatically turns off power to the network adapter (subject to adapters and drivers supporting this feature) when the cable is disconnected and restores power when the cable is connected. IT professionals can take advantage of this feature to reduce power costs.

Battery Life Notification. Windows 7 provides more prominent, timely, and accurate battery life notifications, helping you remain aware of power consumption and remaining battery life.

Power Efficiency Diagnostics. In Windows 7, the PowerCfg utility is updated to detect problems across devices, policies, firmware, system settings, applications, and other common areas where settings can reduce power efficiency. The information is provided in an easy to understand report. Although this feature is designed primarily for developers and system integrators, it can also be useful to tech-savvy users.

Performance improvements start under-the-hood. Windows 7 is designed to reduce background activity
and adds support for trigger-starting of system services, starting them only when they’re needed instead of ahead of-time. For example, the Windows Bluetooth service is only started when a Bluetooth device is connected. This means that Windows 7 runs fewer services by default than Windows Vista while offering increased functionality.

A couple key areas where you’ll notice improved performance in Windows 7 include the following:

• Startup and Shutdown. Windows 7 is ready when  you are. It’s designed to start, hibernate, and shut down faster than Windows Vista, although individual user experiences will vary based on specific hardware and software configurations.

• Resume from Standby. When resuming from Standby, Windows 7 is designed to reconnect to your wireless network faster than Windows Vista, so your PC will be ready to use in seconds. You’ll spend even less time waiting for your computer to be ready if you use the Sleep mode.

All of these improvements from Windows 7, to the types of computers and components we purchase can affect our environment for the better, cleaner air, cleaner water and a better life!

Resources
I’m a PC, running Windows 7 & I’m Green!
Sorry Kermit, But It Can Be Easy Being Green
Configuring Windows Home Server For Energy Savings
Sharing jokes and funny pictures is a lot more Earth-Friendly than it used to be.

This October Microsoft will release Windows 7 world-wide, the successor to Windows Vista and Windows XP (again), a major upgrade that promises to further improve the user experience on different PC form factors such as the popular Netbook. For the past couple of weeks I along with members of the ActiveWin.com Team spent some time testing the Windows 7 (RTM) Release to Manufacturing build, which is the final build that will be available in stores and new PC’s around the world (that goes for Intel Macs too).

Because the review is 26 pages long, I won't be able to post everything here, but I want to give you a snippet. Here is the final comments from the review:

This review was just the tip of the ice berg, Windows 7 is a major release that innovates and performs. As noted throughout this review, Microsoft went back to the basics of what made Windows great in the first place; the operating systems focus on performance has paid off. End users will appreciate significant improvements in areas such as boot time, resume from sleep/hibernation and faster connection to networks. Windows 7 also focuses deeply on mobility, products like the Netbook form factor, which has become highly popular with consumers over the past couple of years. Windows 7 users can appreciate improvements in battery life while also being able to experience the web in a more seamless way through Windows 7’s out of box support for technologies such as 3G and simplified access and setup of Networks.

 

Should you upgrade? Most certainly, there is no on the fence, if’s or buts about it. This is a major upgrade both Windows XP and Vista users will certainly see benefits from. Vista was of course a hard sell because of the major architectural changes it introduced, Windows 7 reaps the benefits. The investments both businesses and consumers have made in it over the past three years has come forward. In my final comments of ActiveWin’s Windows Vista review, I recommended potential customers move to Windows Vista on new PC’s. Of course with Windows 7 it’s also a great way to upgrade, but existing systems can definitely benefit from Windows 7 with just an upgrade. Running the OS on an AMD Sempron 1.6 GHz machine, 512 MBs the performance is just exceptional, I see Windows 7 breathing new life into many old systems as far back as 2003 (with a few upgrades of course). Windows 7 has the edge here; this is something I can’t see Apple’s Mac OS X Snow Leopard doing because of the architectural changes.

 

With fundamental improvements to how you navigate and interact with your devices and applications, Windows 7 provides an experience that’s cohesive and forward thinking. It makes application switching intuitive while also enhancing the general user experience of working with your programs in a more convenient way. The Taskbar has come a long way since the days of ‘it works just like switching channels’. Users expect a rich experience and the compelling aesthetics such as interactive thumbnail previews and enhanced search functionality will bring a major boost to productivity. Subtle changes to Search and customization themselves make Windows 7 a joy to work with on a daily basis. Businesses will appreciate the new experiences when accessing resources and staying connected to corporate networks in more simplified ways. When combined with the free Windows Live Essentials, Windows 7 shines further, and proves that Microsoft is focusing on delivering real innovation and value to consumers.

Users today have an overwhelming amount of information stored on their PCs and various devices to contend with, keeping it all organized and accessible can be a chore. Windows 7 takes the complexity out of such scenarios and I think it’s the gem of this release a lot of users will discover they could never do without.

Read the entire review here

ActiveWin.com:

Microsoft Windows Internet Explorer 8 - Review
Microsoft Windows Live Essentials - Review
ActiveWin: Windows 7 FAQ/Quick Guide
Microsoft Windows 7 RC Build 7100 Preview
Microsoft Windows 7 Beta Build 7000 Preview
Microsoft Windows 7 Pre-beta M3 Build 6801 Preview

Related:

Microsoft Windows Vista RTM - Review
Microsoft Windows XP Professional - Review
Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition - Review
Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional Edition - Review
Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition - Review

Microsoft:

Windows 7 Team Blog
Engineering Windows 7
Microsoft Answers Windows 7 Forums
Windows 7 home
Windows Live Team Blog

An interesting blog entry by Chris Hernandez who works in the Windows deployment team, I came across reading Computer World today talks about what users can expect upgrading from Windows Vista SP1 to Windows 7. What's causing a lot of buzz is the mention of some upgrades taking up to 20 hours to complete. Yep, 20 hours! Now, don't be astonished, because you have take into account some variables here such as your data set (personal data: music, pictures, videos, application library) and your system configuration.

One of the main goals with Windows 7 in general has been to be better than Vista. As part of the Windows Upgrade team we have tracked Windows 7 upgrade performance using Vista as our baseline comparison.

The upgrade performance tests used the metric of total upgrade time to gauge how Windows 7 upgrade performed against Vista upgrade. The tests were designed to measure total upgrade time simulating different user profiles (with different data set sizes, number of programs installed and settings) against different hardware profiles.

The goal was to determine whether an upgrade from Vista SP1 -> Windows 7 was within a 5% threshold faster than an upgrade from Vista SP1 -> Vista SP1. The reason we choose to use a Vista SP1 -> Vista SP1 upgrade instead of Windows XP -> Vista as our baseline was for the following:

• Windows XP is a vastly different operating system compared to Vista and an upgrade from Windows XP -> Vista would not be a good comparison with Vista -> Windows 7
• Windows XP did not support 64-bit upgrades and we wanted to track 64-bit upgrade performance as well as 32-bit upgrades for Windows 7
• Vista SP1 -> Vista SP1 is a valid upgrade path that exercises all upgrade code (this upgrade is commonly used by Product Support Services for a repair scenario)

Read the entire article here

My upgrade experience from Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 64 bit to Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit, is in line with some of the results Chris produced. Considering that I have a large library of software installed (108 applications), in addition to a large data set that is around 60 GBs I wasn't surprised by the 4 hours it took to upgrade to Windows 7. What surprised me most was how successful and smooth the procedure was, everything works except for VMWare and iTunes Bonjour (need to upgrade to version 9 to see if it has been fixed), I have also managed to work around some hardware compatibility issues by using Windows Virtual PC with XP Mode:

The Windows Team has made installing Windows a bit more informative, detailing the various steps of what happens during an upgrade. What’s also interesting is the ‘Copying Windows installation files to your computer (27 of 2772 MB copied) indication. Its the first time I am seeing this and I find it a welcome change that actually keeps the user in the know about what is going on. During the upgrade, which took several hours on my system (nearly 4 hours to be exact), you will see a lot of details about Files, Settings and Programs being transferred with numbers ranging in the hundreds of thousands. It might seem like the upgrade will take a very long time, but do not worry, Windows 7 will quickly jump over hundred’s of thousand files at various points during the install.

Upgrading is a complex and timely process. I do not recommend doing this in the middle of a project or on a week day. The weekend is recommended, you can also leave Windows 7 to handle the upgrade while you go take a walk, watch a movie or some other activity while the upgrade do its thing.

I concluded:

I have heard a lot about upgrading to newer versions of Windows and the potential for problems with persons most times recommending a clean install instead. Windows 7 is an exception in this case and I can see that the Windows Team has done some significant work to ensure that the transition from Windows Vista SP1 is a smooth one. Of course, there will always be potential hiccups, but with careful planning and a small amount of patience, upgrading to Windows 7 can be as smooth as its intended to be. I definitely give Windows 7 a thumbs up in this regard!

Users planning to upgrade from Windows Vista SP1 or later to Windows 7 can have a smooth experience by planning well.

• If you are not sure an application or hardware device you are using now is compatible with Windows 7, check the software or hardware developers website for patches, updated drivers or to simply find out about Windows 7 support for the particular product. If you are unable to find information on the website, try contacting the developer by telephone. If you unable to get any information that way, its best you look into investing in a alternative solution from another vendor.
• Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor - provided by Microsoft, the Upgrade Advisor can help you evaluate your systems configuration to find out what works and what does not if you decide to move to Windows 7. The utility also makes appropriate recommendations where editions of Windows 7 are concerned along with what you might need to upgrade.
• Get Religion: Backup, Backup, Backup!

  I can't say this enough, if it can go wrong, it will. Upgrading is a very complex process and there are often cases of failed upgrades from older versions of Windows. Causes can include, power outage during installation, hardware or application conflict. This is why you should “always back up”, it’s better to be inconvenienced than having to start all over from scratch.

• If you are upgrading/clean install, disable any external or USB based devices you might have attached to the computer. Also, disable any Security software before launching setup and ensure that you meet the minimum system requirements for Windows 7.
  - 1 GHz processor (32-bit or 64-bit)
  - 1 GB of system memory (2 GBs for 64 bit)
  - 16 GBs of disk space – Windows 7 uses approximately 10.5 GBs of disk space.
  - DirectX 9 graphics with 128 MB of memory

Following these basic instructions can have a positive impact on your upgrade experience.

Resources:

Windows 7 Upgrade Performance
UPDATED: Upgrading: Starting the Move to Windows 7 RTM
My Software Library and Windows 7 - Compatibility Experiences
Upgrading to...ur Migrating to Windows 7 from Windows XP
Windows Easy Transfer: Starting the Move to Windows 7 Release Candidate