Noob to OS upgrade needs to know what to do.

[Juan handed]

I just ordered 2 new HP laptops,one for me one for my friend's kid.They are shipping with Vista and the free Win7 upgrade.Should have them in 2 weeks.

I have only run XP.Never Vista.

What am I going to have to do when I want to go to Win7 with everything? I'm a noob.

What is the time frame for the free upgrade?

 

[Verbatim47]

Simply pop the disc in and do the upgrade, no big deal Microsoft has streamlined the upgrade process to do a simple upgrade from Windows Vista to Windows 7... You must register the key that you get with the laptops under the upgrade coupon

The upgrade coupon period lasts until January 21st if my memory lasts me.

 

[Juan handed]

So,has Windows7 been formally released? (sorry i have to ask)

When are new units going to come installed with it?

 

[m4rkf0x]

Windows 7 has been released to certain companies and manufacturers, but retail release is October 22. Cant answer when new computers will come with it OEM

 

[Verbatim47]

Soon after October 22nd probably.

 

[Juan handed]

OK,that clears that up for me.
During the upgrade install...is Vista uninstalled,or is it added to and modified to become Win7 ?

Is there a reason to keep 2 OS on my rig,as I see some are doing now? (or 3 if you consider XP).What are the cons of more than one OS installed?

 

[Verbatim47]

The OS is modified and overwritten to be "Windows 7" The only reason that I would see having more than 1 OS installed is for compatibility issues such as a program not working on Windows 7 / Vista and you need to install XP.

 

[Juan handed]

So ,if everything I do and use operates normally on the Win7,there is no reason to do anything?

Does it look like most of the software out there is ready for Windows7?

 

[Verbatim47]

If you have Vista installed then most or all of your programs will already work. Microsoft learned a hard lesson when it came to Vista on compatibility. I have installed Windows 7 on a variety of machines and not once has it crashed, locked up or shown some kind of compatibility "not saying there isn't" But it is a very! stable OS.