GearWERKZ TechBlog

Flash backwards to the summer of 2009. There were some who were not enamored of the advance buzz they were hearing about the upgrade schema from Windows Vista/XP to Windows 7. I will not get into all the various ways to achieve an upgrade here. Mostly because there are so many that I would likely confuse myself. I have been able to do the upgrades with no problem, but articulating those methods to other people on how to do it makes me dizzy. Suffice it to say that there are two main ways to do it. One upgrades your system in place and so all of your icons and folder structures and so forth reappear in roughly the same place you left them. And, by and large, you supposedly do not need to worry about backing up all of your files. The second is destructive, completely (for the most part) overwriting everything on your Operating System Hard Drive and doing a complete write-in of the Windows 7 OS. This is what is called in tech circles a "fresh install". In some cases, this latter method is the only way to upgrade to Windows 7. When people heard this last year, there was a lot of moaning and groaning. Now, 3 months since its release to retail chains, the complaints are not so much.

Follow up:

There are a few reasons why. Mostly it is because Windows 7 works as advertised. And that is making most people happy. Or at least Windows XP happy, which is shinier than Windows Vista happy, which does not really exist. Secondly, it is because most of these complaints did not matter. They were things that should be done anyway.

In terms of the first method of upgrading, the upgrade in place. The one that supposedly leaves your files unmolested. Anyone who goes into this process without backing up their most critical files is rolling the dice. Who knows when your PC is going to get zapped by a power surge while you are doing your install, or any other calamity that might interrupt a very delicate process. Oh, by the way, these files should be backed up anyway. Ok. I will not be a hypocrite and say that I back things up every day. But I backup with a degree of frequency that makes me certain that all of my important things will be saved in the event of an electrical calamity (not to say a physical one that effects my whole apartment) within a reasonably safe time-lateness of the file versions.

In terms of the destructive type of upgrade, the same holds true. I was amazed that even IT professionals talked about this being painful because it required a user to back up all of their data and reinstall apps. OK. I understand that this may be a pain if we are talking about a corporate roll-out of the OS. This conversation is limited to the average home user. The files should be backed up already. And re-installing apps? I know I cannot claim that any of my systems is always up-to-date with the most recent version of every single app that I run. A fresh install is a chance to baseline the system with the most up-to-date stuff that should have been on the previous install but I was too lazy to configure.

To me, the fresh install is like that feeling you have when you drive your car away from the shop having just had your oil changed, tires rotated, and brakes done. Everything feels clean and smooth. Doing a fresh install is something that should probably be done once a year. Especially if the PC is a dedicated everyday PC that a single user employs. This is true even if you are just going back to the same old OS. A year of use and of installing new apps and upgrading new apps and all of the things that we do to a PC in the course of use can take its toll on a single installation. Cleaning up the plumbing with a fresh install will make most PCs that most users complain about as performing slowly seem like the first day they took it out of the box.

The FUD that was strewn about on the interwebs about the need to do a fresh install for some PC upgrades to Windows 7 were mostly hype. I have personally never bothered with an upgrade in place. Fresh installs are the one sure way to blow away any of the nits and bugs specific to its configuration existing in the last install. It also ensures that, if I have to troubleshoot the PC, theoretically any possible causes are only associated with what has been done with and on the PC since the recent install.

A lot of these thoughts are occurring as I prep my 5th PC for the migration to Windows 7. Every one of those PCs to date have been done with a clean install. This last workstation, the Acer Aspire Timeline 4810T, will erradicate Windows Vista from my home network. Incidentally, it also eliminates the one LINUX client I had running. Vista will be a footnote in OS history, probably not faring better in our memories than WindowsME. My foray into LINUX will be a footnote in my own personal history. I've dabbled with the OS off and on for 2 years. I am now pretty set in the projects I am working on consistently, and LINUX is just not the best platform for a lot of those multi-media oriented functions.

I'll be quite happy to start my time over with the Acer. Quite happy that my data is backed up, safe and secure, and quite happy that any kinks that were in my system will be flushed clean. Not to say that there will not be new ones. But, hey that is half the fun of doing the upgrade in the first place, right?
- Vr/Zeuxidamas..>>