Windows 7 forum: Should I consider upgrading to Windows 7 or 8, since XP support is ending soon?

Short answer: Go for it. I recently did and am glad of it.

Before anything, do your homework. Run the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor and get an idea what you will need to do for the changeover. Windows Easy Transfer makes the process relatively painless, especially if you run the "custom" option and include more than the minimum in the transfer files. Keep notes on the Upgrade Advisor printout - I kept all my notes in a 1/2" three ring binder.

Back up everything: An external hard drive with a complete bootable disc image of your old XP drive (including the Easy Transfer files) can be your lifesaving friend, helping avert a panic if something bombs. If nothing else, it can help avoid an unmitigated disaster by reimaging your computer from the external drive.

Make sure you can find Win7 drivers for all the computer's devices, internal and external. If you can't find drivers for your motherboard and video (for example) it's likely not worth the hair pulling. With hardware more than 4-5 years old, don't be surprised if Win7 drivers don't even exist, in which case it might be wise to stay with XP until you can buy a newer computer.

If you have any hesitations, look around. One excellent source of information is www.theeldergeek.com to plan this kind of upgrade. If you do go to The Elder Geek, don't let the lists of possible problems scare you. Fact is, millions (including me) have already upgraded to Win7 with few problems. You might also consider a book, Windows 7 Annoyances by David Karp, as a useful general resource.

I recently upgraded my desktop from XP Pro sp3 to Win7 Ultimate and the performance improvement is impressive. I was pleasantly surprised to find software for many uses looks and runs much better in Win7 than in XP. My laptop is and will remain an XP machine since it's so old there are no Win7drivers for it; however, it runs well with the Win7 desktop with no networking problems at all.

Microsoft lets you use Win7 and MS Office for up to thirty days as a kind of "trialware" without registering. At the end of the trial period the software then goes "stupid," forcing you to register. This is great, in that it lets you reinstall several times if you aren't sure of a choice or two you made during installation. I installed three times until I got the disc partitions the way I wanted.

A side note: If you or anyone in your household can qualify for a student/staff/faculty discount through a college book store, be sure to take advantage of it. Win7 Ultimate (which I used), Win7 Pro (which I didn't use - see the note about the old laptop above), and Office Pro Plus 2010 all together saved me a lot of money because I qualify for the discount.

Hornet, y'all

Now is a very good time to ask this question.

I'd recommend upgrading to Windows 8 now whilst it's on offer. As long as you have a genuine Windows XP key you can upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for about $40 (or £30).

I upgraded mine just before Christmas from Vista 64-bit to 8 Pro 64-bit as I'm an IT technician so I thought I need to find out how this thing works. At first I was dreading it because I thought oh no I've seen the mess that is Windows 8, and when I first got it I wasn't too impressed with it.

Now I've been using it for a while and got some things on it customised to how I want them it is getting better. One of the first things I did was install StarDock software's Start8 program to put the Start Menu back where it belongs (I really can't understand why Microsoft couldn't have done that for now until people get used to the Start screen - maybe if they had they might not have received as much negativity about it!).

Windows 8 is a lot faster than XP or Vista, my desktop PC is ancient in comparison to modern day PC's (but it still runs and it does what I want it to do so I'm not that bothered), but when I installed 8 the speed suddenly went through the roof in comparison to Vista. It boots in seconds rather than minutes.

So whilst the upgrade offer is on I'd certainly recommend upgrading because it will save you a lot of money rather than waiting, it will get you the latest version of Windows, and get you used to the new Windows Metro interface, which whether you love it or hate it (it's like Marmite!) I think Microsoft are dictating that you must love it and get used to it.

The only one thing I would strongly suggest you don't do when upgrading is, if you have a computer with UEFI on the BIOS - Do not enable it, if you enable it this restricts your choice, and if you change your mind and want to go back to an older OS, or even switch to Linux you'll find that you can't. UEFI boot is mainly on modern motherboards. UEFI is supposed to be used to stop things like rootkits and other nasties installing themselves on the computer, but it does also lock out many other operating systems - such as Linux, rescue CD's, etc...

My non touch screen windows 8 laptop works with no issues . owner for 3 months . works with no issues on any programs so far. comparing to windows XP computer of the windows XP era it is quite fast , but it has alot more power and mem so it should be faster.

touch screen maybe better never, used one with it.

Let's face it upgrading windows is almost always a pain so, here's the factors:

1. Are you having any problems with the systems you are using now?
2. Are these systems older than 3 years?
3. Do you anticipate needing more "power" before 2014?

If any answer is yes, consider upgrading to a new machine instead of the operating system.
You'll get much better value by getting new hardware that includes the operating system.

More important, because your systems are very "mature",
remember to always back up you data to an external drive or the cloud monthly!
You can almost always replace a computer, your pictures, songs, video would be lost forever!

I will offer one more suggestion to go with what I have already said. You might want to consider getting a new system with Windows 8 Pro on it. Windows 8 Pro has downgrade rights to Windows 7 Pro and many manufacturers of business class computers have a quick and easy downgrade option built into thier PCs. That way, you can use Windows 7 now and have an easy upgrade path. You have the confort of using a better known and supported Win7 now while the win8 upgrade (so to speak) is already paid for and you know the system is fully ready to do either windows.

Either way, do yourself a big favor and don't put an operating system on a computer that was never design to run it. That is just common sense.

Several people suggested and I HIGHLY recommend running a compatibility check on your computer(s) to see what your up against. Just for the thrill of it I did a check on my "new 3 month old" Toshiba laptop. I don't know when it was introduced but I bought it new about 3 months ago from Staples! Fairly new model (?) !

That being said, here is my break down of compatibility issues:

A) 41 apps okay ergo they are good to go.

B) 11 oops, they break down as follows:
#1 I "must" install an app to play DVD's in Win 8, I think you can get it from MS for less than $20. (?) Not included in it!
#2 Side bar items AREN'T supported in Win 8, I happen to have 3 that I like/ need
#3 my computer doesn't support "Secure Boot" Yeah Toshiba!!!!!
#4 my existing Perfect Disk program is Not Compatible, will have to purchase an upgraded Perfect Disk about $40
#5 Toshiba's Media Controller Plugin isn't compatible, hopefully just a free download from Toshiba
#6 Toshiba's Recovery Media Creator not compatible hopefully a free download from Toshiba
#7 thru #11 will need to re-install the following programs under Win 8-- Toshiba's Disc Creator, Face Recognition, PC Heath Monitor, and both of my AMD programs for the display ( Catalyst install Manager and Control Center)

Again this is on a new Toshiba laptop that is probably less than a year old model, I've had it about 3 months! Yes I got a upgrade offer from Staples whereby I can upgrade for $19.99 or go to MS till the end of the month for $39.99. I'm presently running Win 7 Home Premium 64 bit OS.

Went to Toshiba and found what I needed to re-install and updated drivers for Win 8. Before anyone gets in my face about "well you always have these problems with any "upgrade"", I was showing them the problems with a less then 1 year old computer model and programs let alone a computer that probably came with XP pre-installed!

For me, I'll stick with Win 7!! Don't like the "Romper Room"/ "Sesame Street" look of Win 8!

To upgrade to Win 7 or 8 is the question. Only you can answer that. RUN the Compatibility Adviser's!!! You might be shocked out of your socks!! Yes $40 (Win 8) sounds pretty good until you find out some or in your case most will probably NOT function in Win 8! I know in Win 7 you have a program compatibility program where hopefully you can get some/ most of your programs to run!

Even if you purchase a "brand new computer" how old are the majority of your programs?? You may end up having to purchase "ALL" new programs to boot, if the ones you use/ need are still available! Win 7, to me, appears to be your best bet by far!!!!

It started out with a need for considerable amounts of new storage. I went to an external eSATA, Sans Digital 4 bay each at 2TB. I now call this item my 'hood ornament' as in, "Lift up the hood ornament and move in a new car". My old machine had worked well for most of a decade with its 32bit XP OS. Nothing on that machine would work with large storage. Not the CPU, not the motherboard, not the OS, not the PCI card that came with the enclosure and (later) not the RAM. It quickly dawned on me that I felt as if I had completely missed a century of technology advances. When you get older, time passes like dog years.

I was done with having to worry so much about back up/recovery while hoping RAID will help out some there.

So I decided to enjoy a complete upgrade to Windows 8 with a clean new machine that included mostly read only SSD as a boot drive (and a twin spare that is mirrored so that if it fails I have instant replay); a motherboard that has a 225 page user guide; a large internal HD to feed my 'hood ornament' ; Intel I7 Sandy/Ivy Bridge; a new Video card (wow! with a 27" no touch flat screen) -- so much landscape! It is definitely a lot snappier than my old war horse. Between Craig List, Ebay a computer hardware show, and a few nerds, it wasn't a lot of trauma.

The RAID enclosure was responsible for more teeth gnashing than was W8.

I haven't had a significant problem with W8, other than finding out where a lot of the things I use were now located. If I were to have a touch screen on a desktop, I'd probably stand up to get a full body work out instead of just the shoulders. There is one thing to move a finger on a 4" screen. Its another to almost have to paint a wall. Besides, the finger prints show.

This helped as a place to start (and others like it out there).

http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/gadgetbox/8-worst-windows-8-annoyances-how-fix-them-962136

My larger data requirements drove my need to use W8. I toyed with the idea of W7 for a few minutes, but since I was about to be sheep dipped I might as well get a proper bath. And I have Obuntu too. Going to definitely be some quality time spent with my new desk full of manuals.

I'm hoping to stave off becoming technologically irrelevant before senility sets in.

So looking forward to the next two or so years of updates and patches.

Microsoft Extended support for Windows XP is scheduled to end on May 14 2014. So does this mean that you need to start thinking about upgrading your computers to a newer operating system? I guess the first question is whether or not Windows XP is still doing everything that you need it to do? In my case, I have several Windows XP computers that work perfectly fine and since I use them for very specific applications and they are working just fine, I will keep them as is. So in this case, the old adage of "Don't fix-it if it ain't broke" applies.

However, if you have specific needs that are no longer being serviced by Windows XP then by all means, upgrade. Personally, I am not a big fan of Windows 8 and yes, you can fix or get around some of its shortcomings with 3rd party apps like Start8 or Classic Shell. It is not that I have found any glaring problems or bugs with Windows 8, actually it runs very well, boots up fast and from what I can tell so far, seems to be a very stable operating system. I just do not like the user interface for regular Mouse and Keyboard computing. I really don't see it being accepted very well in the business environment at all, but time will tell. This is probably why Microsoft offers a Windows 7 downgrade for the Professional version of Windows 8 only?

Putting personal likes and dislikes aside, there are some important issues that you need to address before attempting an upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 8.

1.First, if you are going to do it, now is the time, because the $39 upgrade deal from Microsoft ends at the end of this Month (January, 2013). This is a great deal!

2. Many Windows XP machines are not compatible with Windows 7 or 8 and Laptops tend to be lacking drivers more than desktops. Use the upgrade advisors from Microsoft to determine if your computer can actually be upgraded. Even if you get the ok from Microsoft, I would recommend doing a quick Google search to see if there are any know problems upgrading your specific model. Perform a search such as "Problems upgrading Dell XXXXXX from XP to Windows 7". Since Windows 8 is still pretty new, you may not find any results for Windows 8 as yet and since Windows 7 and 8 are very similar, if you find problems upgrading for XP to 7 then the same problems will most likely occur upgrading to 8 too.

3. If you do find that your computer is compatible, keep in mind that the newer operating system may not run very well if you have less than 2GB of ram or a single core processor under 2.6Ghz. Upgrading a really old computer can be just a waste of time and money.

4. Keep in mind that there is no DIRECT method of upgraded from Windows XP to Windows 7 or 8 without backing up your data and performing a fresh install. This means that you will have to reinstall all your software, printers and any other hardware that you have. The same is true if you plan to upgrade from any 32bit version of Windows Vista or Windows 7 to a 64 bit version of Windows 8.

5. Even if your computer is compatible with the upgrade, you may have software and other hardware that is not compatible. People often find that their old printer or scanner may not be compatible with the new operating system. Other old hardware like a Palm Pilot or a label printer may also be a problem. If you have some old favorite software, that too can be a problem. It is best to go online and check for Drivers and Updates to these items to make sure they are compatible with the new operating system. Look closely because in some cases, I have run into issues where someone may have an old all-in-one printer and they may find drivers for printing only and you may lose the ability to scan or fax from the computer.

In the end, I guess I would say that if your older computer meets the technical requirements, I would probably recommend going with Windows 7 rather than Windows 8. However, I would strongly suggest that you take a look at some new computers first and compare the cost to upgrading especially if you will end up having to upgrade your memory and/ or video card to satisfy the requirements. Also if your computer is more than 3 years old and the hard drive has never been replaced then it is very likely that following the extra stress placed on the hard drive during the upgrade you may find that the drive will need to replaced within a short period of time. So you might want to factor this into your total cost.

Dana
Wayland Computer

One of my older computers was getting bog down with viruses and too many applications so I decided to wipe it clean and start anew. So I tested the Windows 8 preview. I liked the interface and speed but there were a couple of problems, mainly lack of drivers for many devices. For instance, there were no drivers to support the Intel Graphic Chipset which meant that videos ran very slowly because it was not using acceleration. When the preview expired I wanted to upgrade to the release version of Windows 8 but the lack of drivers was even more severe: there was no support for my wireless card which meant no Internet connection.

Ultimately, I reinstalled Windows XP and it works beautifully. I didn't even try Windows 7 because I have it in another computer and I like it well enough but it requires much more memory and a better CPU to work smoothly.

To summarize:
- Windows 8 in an old computer may run into compatibility issues.
- Windows 7 requires more memory and CPU.
- Windows XP is very robust, mature OS that will serve you well for many years to come.

If you want to try them by all means go ahead. If you don't need to, then waiting is better, after all there will be new and better Operating Systems in the future by the time you need to change.

your advice will take him through many forums to learn what you just said. Otherwise it is good advice if he wants to keep his old stuff and still have a modern operating system. Plus he won't have to worry about not getting updates to the applications(or XP if he wants the whole thing in VM). That would be one way to run XP and applications forever.

You also leave him the impression that any distro will work on any old PC; and that doesn't work for me. Linux Mint is a good choice, though; I'm pretty sure it will run splendidly on older equipment.

One other thing here - His old XP PC may not have a CPU that supports virtualization. The the whole thing is off in that case, if he has favorite MS programs that he must run.

There is no upgrade path from XP to Windows 8.
Here is one matrix of options: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_8_editions

If you have older XP hardware do not waste your time trying to upgrade. It will be a very unsatisfying experience.

I bought A $550 laptop with 4Gb 500GB disk, touch screen, Wi-Fi, 10 point touch (like Surface).

This box outperforms all of the XP systems I have.
Save to old XP for file and print servers or for door stops.

If I upgrade an XP system to Pro it will cost $139+ and require adding memory. It will still be less storage and slower than my $550 laptop.

Hardware is the cheapest it has ever been. Buy now.

I wouldn't waste my time and money upgrading old xp computers to Windows 7 or 8 since they are probably older and slower cpu's and small memory sizes.
However I always tell people, if your present computer is doing what you want it to do then why upgrade or buy a new one.
You can't buy a new one now that's loaded with anything but Windows 8 so the only way to get Windows 7 on one probably will be to buy Windows 7 CD's and install it back over the Windows 8.
I've tried Windows 8 and I don't like it. I use a backup program called Acronis True Backup so I reloaded an image of Windows 7 in about 5 minutes and threw the Windows 8 CD's up in my cabinet to collect dust.
I don't why all the forums have ways to make Windows 8 look like Windows 7, why?

Your XP OS should be fine if all is working well. I however happen to really like Windows 7. I HATED Vista, and my exposure to Windows 8 hasn't been pleasant. At least 7 gave us back the file manager and easy acess to other tools that Vista hid from us. I still use XP and XP 64 on some of my machines and I'm happy with it.
If you really want to shake things up, switch to Mepis (Linux). I was surprised to find how easy to use this os is, and it doesn't have ANY of the MS problems. No crashes, no "error reports", no viruses!
Just my .02.

I cannot understand why so many people have a problem using Windows 8. Just because the usual start menu is gone and a few changes have been made and that is expected, people seem to have a problem with that and then the people that don't have Windows 8 believe them. What I ask from these people, Do you want the same operating system year after year? Then you would have something to complain about. If you find it too hard to use Windows 8 ask a child to help you.

Microsoft offers upgrade to WIN 8 Pro till 1/31/2013 for very reasonable price.. What can Win 7 do that 8 can'y ?