I’m very happy with Windows 7 these days. I still have a couple of XP systems in the house, but they will be upgraded soon. XP is a fine operating system, but it is just outdated at this point, and the advantages of Windows 7 are compelling.
First, a couple of cautions.
1) Moving from XP to Windows 7 is not an upgrade, it is a migration. That means that when you install Windows 7, and data on the machine will be wiped out. Microsoft provides a migration utility, Windows Easy Transfer for this, but you may be better off transferring your files yourself. Also remember that all applications will have to be re-installed and re-configured. This couple be a royal pain if you’ve never done it before. Please be careful here, and if you need assistance or have questions on how to get help with something like this, drop me a note or leave a comment.
Note that if you are a Vista user, then you can just upgrade and all of your data and applications will remain intact. I would still back everything up to be sure that nothing is lost, but the upgrade path is pretty quick and easy from Vista to Windows 7.
How do you know if your machine can handle the upgrade? A simple rule of thumb is that if your machine is 5 or more years old, stay with the operating system you have unless you are sure the machine can handle it. Microsoft also provides an “upgrade advisor” here that will tell you if your machine meets the specs for Win 7. At the end of the day, it’s a judgement call. If you are at all unsure, don’t do it, stay with what you have. The last thing you want to do is to migrate then find out your machine runs like paste.
Oh, and here is the Windows Upgrase and Migration page
So here are my reasons for upgrading.
1) Faster boot time, faster recovery from sleeping. If this were the only advantage, I think I’d do it just for this. The difference in boot times from XP to 7 is just staggering. I havent’ put a stop watch to it, but I feel like 7 is probably faster to boot by a least 2 minutes. I will time it and post resuts.
2) Better UI – so many things about the UI that I really like. Hot keys to maximize and dock windows, more intuitve ways to get to applications, hovering over application icons brings up icons of open instances, all of the Aero stuff.
3) Gadgets – Sidebar applications that are really useful – I have a stock ticker, XM radio app, System meter, calendar and clock. All right there, easy to use.
4) Very fast install time – 15 minutes start to finish. Try that with XP!
5) Upgraded standard apps like calculater, paint, wordpad, etc. Not a huge bonus, but nice improvements.
6) Virtual XP mode – you can run older XP applications in a virtual XP environment, side by side with Windows 7 applications.
7) Revamped task and start menus. Pin to task/start menu, jump lists, etc. Very useful features.
8) Improvmentets to User Access Control (UAC). I had this disabled completely in Vista, not so now. Way less intrusive, and actually helpful.
9) Device Stage has pretty pictures ;) Management of your devices is much improved, goofy pictures aside.
10) Managing WiFi connections is much easier. h
