A lot of people are, quite justifiably, wondering if they should upgrade their present operating system to Windows 7. And if so, is their existing hardware up to the task?
As regular readers will know, when it comes to major new software I’m not an advocate of early adoption. There’s no fame and fortune as a reward for being an explorer and pathfinder in the computer world. Too often about the best you can hope for is that there’s not too much pain involved.
Windows 7 has only been out a short time, so is it still too early to be considering a move in that direction?
Well, all indications are that Windows 7 is a very significant and relatively problem free improvement on its predecessors. So I’d have to say that, whatever your reasons for considering an upgrade, you can almost certainly move to Windows 7 quite safely and without any significant headaches.
The question for most upgraders will be: Will my “old” hardware run Windows 7?
Well, the answer is supposed to be simple…
Just download the free Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor software from Microsoft, install it, run it and find out.
Unfortunately a lot of people (Microsoft says “a few” but that seems to be extremely relative) have found that the Upgrade Advisor runs for a little while and then reports:
“Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor ran into an unexpected error.
Please reinstall Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor and try again.”
And no matter how many uninstalls/reinstalls they do, it never gets any better.
Understandably many of the people encountering that message just assume that if their PC can’t even run the Upgrade Advisor then they’ve got no hope of running Windows 7.
Maybe. Maybe not. Don’t take that error as a guide.
After much feedback from “a few” people, the Microsoft programmers discovered an error in the Upgrade Advisor code.
Apparently the problem relates to checking the BIOS of Win32 systems for Windows 7 compatibility. Of course there would only be “a few” Win32 systems around. Like maybe a few hundred million.
Anyway, the main thing is that the problem has been acknowledged and they are now working to fix it.
So if you ran into this obstacle don’t give up yet.
The original buggy version of the Update Advisor is still available for download here.
As far as I know it will return valid information for non-Win32 systems, so there’s no harm in downloading and trying it now. If you get the above-mentioned error then you’ll just have to wait a while until the new version comes out.
And how will you know when that happens?
I’ve made some inquiries along those lines and, while I didn’t get an absolute guarantee that I would be put on an update notification mailing list, reading between the lines I was given to understand that’s what would happen. So if you find yourself staring at an Upgrade Advisor error message, or if it doesn’t seem to do anything at all, send an e-mail to: wuabeta@microsoft.com. They seem to be a helpful bunch keen to get the problem resolved.
Tell them the exact message you’re getting (ALWAYS give error messages EXACTLY word-for-word), and in reply they’ll probably ask you for some more specific information. If you reply you should receive notification when the revised version of the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor is released.
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I ran the Upgrade advisor and my PC can run W7. There were three big issues I found.
First is that it seems that if you run a small network, you have to upgrade all of them or else the network will have a problem as it cannot handle W7 and XP machines together, it has to run one or the other.
Second, I have some perfectly usable, if elderly bits of kit, printers etc attached to my network, which it indicated may not work with W7.
Third, there were a whole pile of drivers and old software which would not work any more, and as a non techy user, I did not recognise half of the names in the list, so don’t know what won’t work if I upgrade.
Gartner, the business analysts, reckoned that it will cost the average upgrader in sterling around £600 – £1000 to replace the peripherals to work with W7, plus the upgrade. There are IT businesses out there desperate to relieve you of your cash and sell you new ones!
I’m with you, Bill, I’ll wait until I NEED a new PC on the network, and then get one that has it pre-installed – no need to be an MS Bugfinder!
Hi Andrew.
NETWORKING: It’s a bit tricky but definitely not impossible. It’s been well covered by others so I’ll just give you a Google search term: network Windows 7 and Windows XP. Plenty of explanations out there.
DRIVERS: Yes, drivers are going to be a bit of a problem for a lot of people. Part of the problem stems from the fact that at least some, and possibly a lot, of vendors are refusing to provide Windows 7 drivers for what they consider to be “obsolete equipment”. Of course there has to be a realistic cut-off point, but unfortunately some vendors see this as a revenue opportunity. One or two models out of date shouldn’t reasonably be considered obsolete.
Rather than look at an arcane list of drivers that mean nothing to you, look instead at your items of hardware. Make a list of your main hardware peripherals and check the vendor’s websites for the availability of Windows 7 drivers for your model. You may be pleasantly surprised. Many reputable vendors have pages devoted specifically to Windows 7 and how it relates to their products.
My company actually tried Dell’s “Windows 7 Readiness” tester and it gave us some good feedback for what we needed to make the switch. http://www.softwarenewsdaily.com/2010/09/windows-7-boosts-computer-satisfaction-is-your-pc-ready-for-windows-7
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