Upgrade Windows 7 on your PC

It is simple to upgrade from Windows XP or Vista to Windows 7. MSN shows you here how to make the switch quickly and what to look out for.

First Step: Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor
“Just put the DVD in and hit install” may work for installing normal programs, but the same does not apply when installing a new operating system. If installed incorrectly, it is possible to lose data and a lot of time. Microsoft knows this of course and has developed a software program called “Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor” that walks you through the most important steps of the installation. The software can be downloaded from this location: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/get/upgrade-advisor.aspx. Don’t worry, it is free!

After a short installation, click the ‘Start Check’ button. The important thing to remember here is to make sure all of your network cables, USB devices and other peripherals are connected to the PC in order for the Upgrade Advisor to install necessary drivers. This way all of your devices will work straight out of the box when Windows 7 installation is completed.

The Upgrade Advisor runs through a checklist of processor, RAM, hard-drive, and external devices to see if your PC is capable of running Windows 7. It also checks if your machine can run the new ‘Windows Aero’ interface.

If all of the performance requirements check out, then you can move on to step 2.

Second Step: Back-up your data
Installing an operating system is a bit like moving house, it is important to take everything with you, so make sure to back-up your personal effects. Make a checklist of all the items and folders on your computer where you keep you data; like My Documents, My Music, My Pictures and so forth. Don’t forget to find all those saved e-mails, favourites, pictures, music and videos too. It is a good idea to back up all of this information once a month just in case your hardware crashes or you inadvertently fall victim to a virus, but it is doubly important to do so before changing operating systems.

The quickest and easiest way to back-up your data is to copy all of it to an external hard-drive or USB stick, however purists may prefer trusting their data to CD or DVD. For those of you still using Windows XP, there is a handy back-up tool fit for just this occasion! To find: Open the Start menu, click on ‘All Programs’, then select ‘Accessories’, The back-up utility can be found hiding in the ‘System Tools’ folder.

If using Vista you have even more choice, with two backup options at your disposal:

Create a complete backup of your system. Visit the Start menu and navigate to ‘All Programs’, ‘Maintenance’. Open the backup software and click on ‘Back-up Computer’ to begin the process. This will create an image of your hard disk but won’t save your user accounts, settings, internet preferences or favourites..

Windows Easy Transfer tool. The Windows Easy Transfer tool essentially backs-up all your important data; user accounts, folders, settings, internet settings and favourites. Open the Start menu and type “easy” in the search box, Windows Easy Transfer should appear in the search results Once started it will suggest that you close all other programs for best results and even offers to close them for you with one helpful button. Follow the prompts and when your PC has rebooted select a destination for the backed-up data.(again, choose from external hard-drive, USB stick, CD or DVD). Once Windows 7 is successfully installed Windows Easy Transfer will return and configure your PC using your saved settings.

Third Step: Make Room
Officially Windows 7 requires 16GB of hard-drive space, but ideally set aside 30GB. With this extra room you can easily install any other desired programs alongside your new operating system.

Advanced tip: Want to create a partition on your hard-drive to install Windows 7 on? Type ‘computer management’ into the search box on the Start menu. Under the storage section, click on ‘Disk Management'. Right-click on the drive that will host Windows 7 (usually your C:/ drive) and select the option to make the hard-drive smaller. This will free up space for you to create an additional partition.

Fourth Step: Update or New Install
Windows 7 can be installed as an update for machines still running Vista. For anyone running Windows XP, it is highly recommended that Windows 7 be installed as a new installation. With Vista, it is very easy. After completing the earlier steps, just insert the Windows 7 DVD and follow the directions in the install wizard program to update your system. For XP users, after completing the preceding steps, boot up your computer from the DVD and the install wizard program guides you through the process. The complete installation takes only around 30 minutes, which is impressively fast when you think about it.

Old and New in Dual Boot Mode
If you are still not sure if you are ready for the upgrade to Windows 7, you can also install it alongside an existing operating system. This way you can make the transition easily and learn to use Windows 7 without having to completely abandon your older and more familiar surroundings. If possible, Windows 7 should be installed on its own hard-drive, or at least in its own partition if your system has only one hard-drive.

Source: http://events.ie.msn.com/Windows-7

Windows 7 Professional $29.99 for students

Windows 7 Home Premium for $29.99. Turns out that they are offering Windows 7 Professional for the same price on theUltimateSteal website! This deal can save students $170 US off the newsstand price. Upon purchase, you will be required to provide your .edu email address as proof that you are a student at a qualified institution. If you are not from the US, select your localization from the menu in the top right corner. If you do not see Windows 7 listed, click on Additional Products in the sidebar.

Windows 7 Professional $29.99 for students

Unlike the Win741 program, there weren’t any specific details provided as to when this deal would expire. The offer is only available in some countries and prices do vary within the different countries, but are still substantially cheaper than the newsstand price.

Some colleges and universities offer complimentary MSDNAA (Microsoft Developer Network Academic Alliance) accounts to their students, which will allow you to download Windows 7 for free. You can check here to see if your school is enrolled in the MSDNAA program.

Click here to purchase Windows 7 Professional for $29.99 from theUltimateSteal website

Recovery Tips for Windows 7

Windows 7 is still in its baby-steps beta phase, with what is assumed to be the first release candidate having made its mark in the land of torrents just last week. However, what happens when you encounter a problem with software that hasn’t been tried and tested yet in the field by those on the front lines testing the beta? You do the only logical thing – retreat and recover.
In this regard Windows 7 offers a bevy of recovering options – for this article, we’ll be analyzing the two most practical ones:

System Recovery
If there’s one thing newer versions of Windows have incorporated astoundingly well, it is the ability to system restore to just about any point in the past. Now, so long as the problem you’ve been having is relatively recent, you’ll be able to be back in business in no time.

Just follow these steps to getting your system back to the way it’s supposed to be running:

1. Go to Start → Programs → Accessories → System Tools → System Restore
2. As a new feature in Windows 7, your computer analyzes the best point in the past to go to, in order to solve any issues you’re having – just be patient, it’ll take a second.
3. After the system restore tool has looked into your restore points, it’ll suggest the best one to return to → if you know that point is compromised, select the option to “see more restore points”, if the point is good however, initiate the system restore.
4. This next step can take a few minutes, so you might want to work on something else – your computer is rebuilding itself back to what it used to be before things went horribly wrong.
5. Assuming the restore went well, you should boot back up to find your desktop waiting for you and working well.
6. If the restore didn’t go well, you’ll want to go to our second featured way to restore Windows 7. Ultimately, for those users who aren’t too familiar with computers, this method is user friendly and tends to work in about 75-80% of all cases. However, when you tinker with computers as much as I do (and I bet many of you do), this option simply isn’t enough, which is why you should try…

Making a Boot-Up CD (or USB Drive)
Diagnostically speaking, a boot CD or USB drive is the most valuable tool in your current arsenal for tackling your problem. Even more importantly, the boot CD also includes several tools that can fix and repair hard drives and networks – most important to helping you resolve the problem after you’ve diagnosed it.

There are two essential boot CDs you need to resolve any problem:

- The Ubuntu Boot CD
- Ultimate Boot CD for Windows

The tools on the disk include everything necessary to run from the CD and continue your diagnosis of the computer’s problems. The pros are quite simple – it’s extremely simple to make, resolves practically any software related problem and works off a network as well.
If you’re hard-pressed for time, go for the System Restore before you make the LiveCD or the Boot CD. This will ensure that if the problem is easily fixable, it’ll get done quickly.

Precautionary steps before installing avast! Free Antivirus software

Why upgrade to Windows 7 from your XP or Vista OS?

Microsoft’s newest operating system, Windows 7, has made computing simple and easy by incorporating better ways to find and manage files. The Snap, Peek and Shake features give the operating system a new approach to juggle all the open programs. Microsoft has a more focused approach in designing Windows 7, an incremental upgrade to the Windows line.

Microsoft Vista/XP Operating System doesn’t facilitate backup to files and folders. On these systems, it also becomes complicated while synching multiple devices and individual folders to Vista or XP PCs on your network. Vista lacks in Windows Meeting space, and it has no common whiteboard and built-in VoIP features. It has a huge User Account Control problem. Windows 7 has cruised through all the menaces of Vista/XP and tried to overcome them. Microsoft has made Windows 7 UAC easier and quicker to use and make system changes.

Windows 7 has been comprehensively redesigned for its users to have a smarter look, easy to understand applications and friendly user interface. It includes a slew of new desktop backgrounds, wallpapers, and slide show applications that display rotating pictures on your desktop. Windows 7 is designed to run speed-sapping background services and gives you the freedom to use them whenever you want. It takes less memory and can boost your computer’s overall performance. It is also designed to search external hard drives, networked PCs and libraries. You can also narrow down your search by date, file type and other useful categories.

You can connect two or more computers running on Windows 7. HomeGroup application makes it easier for you to automatically start sharing your music, picture, video, and documents with other people in the same network. Windows 7 is equally concerned about your privacy as you are. It gives you an option to protect your HomeGroup by password and keeps your computer under your control. It has a feature of “read only,” wherein others can look at your document but cannot moderate it.

Unable to Find Inbox Repair Tool in Windows 7

Microsoft Inbox Repair Tool (Scanpst.exe) is a .pst file repair utility. The tool can fix PST corruption related issues, mostly when the file header is affected. It performs item-wise recovery, but can delete the damaged data, what it finds unable to understand. If you use Windows 7 run computer system, the chances are that you may fail to find the tool in an attempt of repairing a corrupted PST. The causes could be that you don't search it at the correct location or the file is not visible because of its hidden attribute.

For instance, consider a condition when you PST gets damaged for reasons, like unexpected shutdown, virus attack, network sharing, version upgrade or application bugs. The file is stored on a Windows 7 system. As suggested, you try to run Scanpst tool, but fail to locate it.

Cause

The most probable reasons for this behavior are:
1.You are not looking at the default location of Inbox Repair Tool (Scanpst.exe)
2.The Scanpst.exe file has been moved from its original location
3.The Scanpst.exe is a hidden file by default. The above behavior can occur if you don't enable the view of hidden files and folders.

Solution

You should try these fixes to resolve the issue:
1.You should search for Scanpst.exe file at the correct default location, which is
2.C:usersusernameAppDataLocalMicrosoftOutlook
3.If the file has been moved, you need to run tool from there
4.You need to enable the view of hidden files and folders before searching for the tool.

For this, click Start | Start Search and right-click the Control Folders. Type 'Run as administrator' and double-click the Folder Options. Next, click on View tab and select Show hidden files and folders option under Hidden files and folders. Click Ok to save the settings.

Run Inbox Repair Tool (Scanpst.exe) and check if the tool works for repairing the corrupted PST. If not, you need more powerful solutions for fixing the corruption. The third-party repair utilities for PST have high-end scanning methods and graphically-rich interface to allow for complete and easy file repair.

Windows 7 Password Recovery

Need Windows 7 Password Recovery options so you can recover your Windows 7 password? If you need to get your Windows 7 password recovered, then I will help you to do this.

I will help you to do this by giving you the best Windows 7 password recovery options. This way, you'll be able to recover your Windows 7 password on the easiest, fastest and safest way.

2 Windows 7 Password Recovery Options To Recover Your Windows 7 Password

There aren't many Windows 7 password recovery options. In fact, there are only 2. The first option is that you start re-installing your Windows 7 system to get your password recovered. While this sounds good, and while many people are recommending this option, I don't.

You see, when you are re-installing your Windows 7 system, it will take lots of your time because you need to uninstall, re-install windows 7 and then you'll need to install all your old programs.

Also, there's a chance that your personal files will get deleted too. Therefore, for these reasons I highly recommend you to go for option 2.

Using A Windows 7 Password Recovery Program To Automatically Recover Your Windows 7 Password

In my opinion, the best way to recover your Windows 7 password is by using a Windows 7 Password Recovery program. This way, you'll be able to automatically recover a Windows 7 password.

The program is called Password Resetter, and It will automatically start resetting your password so you can log back into Windows 7.

This is how it works:

1 – At first, Password Resetter will automatically create your bootable USB or CD. It will then start copying your Wndows 7 files over to the bootable USB or CD.
2 – After that, Password Resetter will start locating your system user.
3 – Once located, it will automatically start resetting your password.
4 – Once completed, you simply restart your computer and you'll be able to login to Windows 7 without using a password.

So, in order to recover your Windows 7 password, you can do 2 things. You either do this by re-installing Windows 7 which takes quite some time and you take the risk of losing your personal files. Or, you use a software program that will automatically start resetting your password.