Upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7

Windows XP does not allow you to perform an in-place upgrade to Windows 7. In fact, if you try to perform an in-place upgrade, you'll see the following error message.

Instead, you'll need to use a built-in utility on the Windows 7 Setup DVD called Windows Easy Transfer to transfer your documents and settings from your XP-based PC to a backup location first. Then, you will perform a clean install of Windows 7 and then use Windows Easy Transfer on the new install to copy over all your settings and data. This process is called a migration.

The downsides to a migration are many but not insurmountable. If you intend to install Windows 7 on the same computer as Windows XP, essentially replacing Windows XP with Windows 7, then you will need to be very careful to backup all of your data first. You will also need to reinstall all of your applications after you finish installing Windows 7. Here is a quick rundown of the steps.

1) Backup all of your data and, preferably, the entire hard drive just in case. (Why? Many applications store data in hidden locations and you may discover after the fact that you've wiped out two years of email or whatever.) You should do this even if you are using the Windows Easy Transfer utility as outlined below.

2) If you are installing Windows 7 on the same PC as Windows XP, consider installing it on a different hard drive or partition so that you can keep your XP install in place. This way, you can dual boot between both Windows XP and 7, copy files between the two environments as needed, and fall back to XP if it doesn't work for some reason.

3) Use the Windows Easy Transfer utility (described below) to backup your XP-based documents and other data.

4) Make sure you have access to the application installers you will need.

5) Install Windows 7 over XP or in a different partition or hard drive. (Or, on a different PC all together, which is preferable.)

6) Use the Windows Easy Transfer utility (described below) to restore your XP-based documents and other data to your new Windows 7-based PC.

7) Reinstall your applications.

OK, let's get started.

Secret: Windows Easy Transfer is a way to bridge the 32-bit/64-bit divide as well. While you cannot perform an in-place upgrade between any 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows, you can use Easy Transfer to move your settings and documents from a 32-bit version of Windows to a 64-bit version (and vice versa).

Backing up your XP-based settings and data

To run Windows Easy Transfer on your XP-based PC, insert the Windows 7 Setup DVD and navigate to D:\support\migwiz (assuming D:\ is your optical drive). Then, run the migsetup.exe application. You'll step through a simple wizard that provides both automatic and manual ways to pick the data you'll back up.

Windows Easy Transfer explains what it can backup.

You can backup from PC-to-PC with an Easy Transfer cable, or use a network share or USB-based storage device.

When you run the wizard, Easy Transfer scans each user account for settings and data.

When it's done, the wizard will tell you how much space the data will consume.

You can globally accept the backup, or dive into the file system to manually choose (or un-choose) data to backup.

The resulting Easy Transfer file requires a password.

Once you've provided the information the wizard needs, your files are backed up.

Backup complete.

Restoring your XP-based settings and data in Windows 7

Once you wiped out Windows XP by clean installing Windows 7 (a straightforward process I will soon document here on the site), you can re-apply your XP-based settings and data. (Alternatively, you can simply apply these settings to another PC running Windows 7.) To do so, run the Windows Easy Transfer wizard on the new Windows 7-based install--this time, it's available via the Start Menu--and step through it, locating your saved Easy Transfer file and re-applying the settings and data to the new system.

After locating the Easy Transfer file, you must unlock it by entering the password.

You can choose which parts of the backup to restore.

Advanced Options lets you map old user accounts and drives to different locations on the target PC if needed.

The items are then transferred over...

... resulting in a bizarre hybrid-look Windows 7.

Reinstalling your applications

Unfortunately, the migration process does not include a seamless way to reinstall your applications. So once your data has been copied over to your new Windows 7 install, you will need to manually reinstall those applications.

Afterwards, you can view the Easy Transfer Reports for information on previously installed applications that you may want to install now in Windows 7.

Final thoughts

Obviously, Microsoft should have provided a way for its largest group of customers--Windows XP users--to upgrade more seamlessly to Windows 7. (And after all, this process was provided in Windows Vista.) On the plus side, a migration does offer a truly clean install of Windows 7, and one that can easily include all of your previous documents and other data. Better still, the migration process can be used by other users to move to Windows 7. For example, even Windows Vista users can use this process to migrate from an old Vista-based machine to a new Windows 7-based PC. And anyone hoping to make the change from a 32-bit version of Windows to a 64-bit version of Windows 7 can use the migration process described here to make it happen. Criticism is cheap. But the Windows 7 migration is a multi-faceted useful technique for getting from one version of Windows to another.

Continue to Part 3: Upgrading from Windows Vista to Windows 7...

In-Place Upgrade: From Windows 7 to Windows 8

From Windows 7 to Windows 8: The in-place upgrade

In Windows 7, insert the Windows 8 Upgrade media--typically a DVD or USB media key with the installation files--and click through Auto Run to launch the Setup application. After a brief Windows 8 splash screen, Setup begins.

First, choose whether to get any install updates via Windows Update.

Next, enter your 25-digit Product Key. This is required, unlike with Windows 7, though it's unclear if that will be the case in the final version of the product. If you forgot to copy the Product Key that Microsoft provides, you can copy and paste this: It's DNJXJ-7XBW8-2378T-X22TX-BKG7J.

Next, agree to the End User License Agreement, or EULA.

Next, you'll be asked what you'd like to keep. Since you're running Setup from Windows 7, the available choices include "Windows settings, personal files, and more," "just personal files," and "Nothing."

This part of Setup is comprised of technologies that were previously available in the separate Windows Easy Transfer utility. Choose the first if you want to retain (compatible) applications, your personal documents and other data files, and most customizations, and perform what I call an in-place upgrade. Choose the last option if you want to wipe the whole thing out and perform what is essentially a clean install.

Next, Setup will check your system to see whether you need to do anything before proceeding. (Some applications, especially Microsoft Security Essentials, may need to be uninstalled before you can proceed.) If not, Setup will communicate that it's ready to install and verify which things you wanted to keep.

Next, Setup upgrades Windows 7 to Windows 8.

There will be a couple of reboots during which Setup prepares the system, updates the Registry, configures device drivers, applies user settings, and so on.

When this process is complete, Setup will boot into the Out of Box Experience (OOBE), where you make your final system configurations.

First, personalize the Start screen with a color scheme.

Then, choose Express or Custom settings. I've already thoroughly documented the various settings that are applied with the Express choice in other articles in this series, but the short version is that most users should simply choose Express. (I do.)

Then, logon to your previous, Windows 7-based user account.

Here, Setup will allow you to change this logon to an existing (or new) Microsoft ID. I recommend doing so, but if you'd rather not, you can retain your previous local account by clicking "Don't want to sign in with a Microsoft account?"

 

Supply the password for your Microsoft account.

Enter (or, more likely, confirm) your security verification info, which includes your mobile phone number and an alternate email address.

Then, Setup creates your account, finalizes your settings, prepares Windows, and logs you onto to your upgraded, Windows 8-based PC. Congrats, you're done.

How to Shut down, Restart, or Sleep Windows 8

To shut down Windows 8 or perform the other power-related functions, you can use one of the following methods:

Keyboard: Type CTRL + ALT + DEL at any time and then tap the Power button in the lower-right corner of the screen to access Sleep, Shut down, and Start options. Or, type WINKEY + I to display the Settings pane and then tap the Power button from there.

Mouse: Activate the Charms bar by moving the mouse cursor to the lower-right or upper-right corner of the screen and then move the cursor along the right edge of the screen towards the middle of the ridge edge. Click Settings and then Power.

Touch: Activate the Charms bar by swiping in from the right edge of the screen. Click Settings and then Power.

Hardware button: Tap the Start key button or the power button on a Windows device to activate Sleep. Or, on a traditional PC, tap the machine's power button to activate Shut Down. (Be careful: This will happen immediately and without warning, regardless of which applications are running.)

(That last bit about the hardware button assumes you're using the default power scheme, Balanced, and that you have not customized what happens when the power button is pressed.)

Customizing what happens when you press hardware button(s)

You can of course customize what happens when you press a power button. This can be very useful, especially if the PC's or device's power button is in easy reach.

To change what happens when the power button on your PC or device is pressed, launch the Power control panel. (There are many ways to access this control panel. I recommend Start Screen Search or the power user menu that appears when you right-click on the new Start tip thumbnail.) From this interface, click the link on the left titled "Choose what the power buttons do" or "Choose what the power button does."

In the resulting interface, you can choose what happens when the Power (and possibly Sleep) button does when pressed. Available choices include Do nothing, Sleep, Hibernate, and Shut down. Portable devices will further allow different actions based on whether the device is plugged in or on battery power.

You might be able to similarly customize other related actions. For example, on a typical portable computer, you will see an option titled "Choose what closing the lid does."

Making these options more accessible in Windows 8

You may not be thrilled with the placement of the lock/sign out and power options in Windows 8, and maybe configuring a power button to do your bidding isn't cutting it either. Short of using a silly utility to return the old-school Start menu to Windows 8, is there some way you can surface these commands in a more elegant and usable fashion?

Of course there is.

The key is to make a shortcut to the relevant command and then make that shortcut visible where you want it: On the taskbar, the Windows desktop, or even on the Start screen. And doing so is simple enough because, as any power user or IT pro can tell you, Windows has long support a command line utility, shutdown, that offers all of these options.

To see this command, open a command line window by typing WINKEY + R (for "Run") to display the Run box. Then type cmd and hit Enter. In the command line window that appears, type the following to display all of the options associate with the shutdown command:

shutdown /?

You should see something similar to this:

Given this information, you might consider using the following commands to accomplish the relevant, lock/sign out and power-related options...

Shut down immediately (with no warning)

shutdown.exe /s /t 0

Restart immediately (with no warning)

shutdown.exe /r /t 0

Sign out

shutdown.exe /l     <- That's a lowercase "L", not a one.

Armed with this information, you can make a shortcut to any one of these commands. To do so, right-click on the desktop and choose New and then Shortcut from the menu that appears. In the Create Shortcut wizard, paste one of the above commands into the text box. (I'll use shut down in this case.) Then tap Next.

In the next page of the wizard, give the shortcut a name, something like Shut down, and then click Finish.

The resulting shortcut has a plain icon, so right-click it and choose Properties. In the Properties window that appears, click the Change Icon button and then click OK in the warning dialog that appears. In the next window, select an appropriate icon.

Click OK and then OK again to close out the windows. Your new shortcut now has a useful new icon. Repeat these steps for each shortcut you wish to create and then move them somewhere easy to find. (I put them in a folder I created, C:\Program Files\Shutdown.)

Now you can place them where you want them. I recommend choosing a spot between the following:

Taskbar. You can drag the shortcuts, one by one, to the Windows taskbar for quick access. Note, however, that this can be dangerous since these shortcuts act immediately with no warning. So if you tap the Shut down button by mistake, your PC will shut down immediately whether you want it to or not.

Taskbar, in a new toolbar. Alternatively, you can create a new taskbar toolbar that points to the folder that contains the shortcuts and then position that toolbar on the right side of the taskbar where you may be less likely to click one inadvertently. Remember that you can unlock the taskbar and choose various toolbar options to make it look the way you want. A few possible configurations are shown below.

There are other configurations, but you get the idea. To get started, right-click the taskbar and choose Toolbars then New toolbar from the menu that appears.

Start screen. To place tiles for these options on the Start screen, right-click each in turn and choose Pin to Start from the menu that appears.

Then, navigate to the Start screen and position the tile(s) where you'd like them. Optionally group them and give the name a group.

Desktop. Finally, you can do it the old-fashioned way: Simple copy the shortcuts to the desktop and access them from there.

Download Free Windows 8 e-book from Microsoft

Everyone knows about Microsoft's new OS "Windows 8" which comes with many new features, enhancements and UI updates. It comes with a brand new Start Screen which has replaced the good old Start Menu. It comes with Office 2013 style Ribbon UI in Windows Explorer. It comes with new hot corner feature which helps you in accessing system tools quickly and easily by moving the mouse cursor to screen corners.

There are so many new features in Windows 8 and its possible that you might have missed a few of them. Today we are going to share a free e-book released by Microsoft which will help you in learning all new features of Windows 8.

"Introducing Windows 8: An Overview for IT Professionals" is a free Windows 8 e-book from Microsoft press which provides detailed tutorials and instructions to find and use new features present in Windows 8.

Following are some areas covered by this e-book:

• Hardware requirements
• Windows 8 editions or SKUs
• Using Start Screen and Metro apps
• Using Metro UI and hot corners
• New features of Windows Explorer (which is now known as File Explorer)
• New features of Task Manager
• Customizing and configuring Windows 8
• Client Hyper-V
• Windows PowerShell 3.0
• Networking enhancements
• Windows To Go feature
• Deploying Windows 8
• Group Policy and Security in Windows 8
• Developing Metro apps for Windows 8
• Windows 8 recovery (Refresh or Reset PC)
• Using Internet Explorer 10

Above are only a few selected points which we noticed while checking the e-book. There are many other useful points given in this e-book which will definitely help you in using and tweaking Windows 8.

The e-book also tells you why should you use Windows 8 and why is it better than Windows 7 or other previous Windows OS? You'll also learn many keyboard shortcuts and methods to use the new Start Screen and other Metro UI features on a touch enabled device such as Tablet like a professional.

The e-book also contains information about new Windows Server 2012 so if you are using the Server edition, you should also give a try to this e-book.

You can download this free e-book using following link:

Download Free Windows 8 e-book from Microsoft

Also check out:

Download Free Windows 8 and Windows RT Product Guide

Speed comparison between Win 7 & Win 8

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After Microsoft has already owned success of users using windows 7. Now Microsoft will be releasing Windows 8 which is much more interesting.

Here’s win7 and win8 comparison that users has compared because there were much rumours that Microsoft has revealed. This is only the testing of speed in different sectors such as booting speed, shutdown speed, rendering file video.

Lets see who’ll win, Windows 7 OR Windows 8.

Devices for testing the comparison of Windows7 and Windows8

Windows 7 Ultimate (64-bit)
Toshiba Portege R835-P88 laptop

2.5GHz Core i5-2450M chip, 6GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive, and an Intel HD Graphics 3000 integrated graphics processor.

Windows 8 (64 bit)
Toshiba Portege R835-P88 laptop

2.5GHz Core i5-2450M chip, 6GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive, and an Intel HD Graphics 3000 integrated graphics processor.

Speed Tests: Windows 8 Vs. Windows 7

From above table, we have seen that which operation system is faster amount Windows 8 and Windows 7. So judges here decided that Windows 8 is much faster than Windows 7.

Windows 7: Installing and Using Windows XP Mode

Windows XP Mode on Windows 7 (Professional, Ultimate, and Enterprise versions) simplifies running applications on Windows XP by utilizing a virtual environment. While you can run the guest OS in the Virtual PC window and execute your applications from there, you can also run them from the Windows 7 Start Menu (or Desktop). XP Mode is great for running older applications and for testing new ones that you aren’t ready to put on your Windows 7 system.

1. Make sure that your system will run Windows XP Mode.

2. Download the Windows Virtual PC Beta for Windows 7 and the Windows XP Mode Beta. Use the drop-downs to select the Windows 7 type and language.

3. After both files have downloaded, install the Virtual PC Beta. The installation will require a reboot, so make sure to save and close any open applications.

4. After you have rebooted your system, install the Windows XP Mode Beta. After you accept the license terms on this install, you will need to specify a password for Virtual Windows XP. Remember the password, you will need it later.

5. Upon completion of the installation, you will see a small box on your screen that says Setting up Virtual Windows XP for first use. This will run for a few minutes.

6. You will now see a window that asks for your credentials. Input the password you used earlier in step 4.

7. Virtual Windows XP will open. Install the desired applications as you normally would. You will find that your host PC’s drives are located in the Other section of My Computer.

You can run applications that you install on the Virtual XP from the Virtual PC window.

A cooler and easier way to run these apps is from Windows 7 itself.

Close the Virtual Windows XP window by clicking the X in the upper right corner of the window. Now go to the Start Menu on your Windows 7 machine.

Click on All Programs and scroll down to Windows Virtual PC. Click on it.

Click on Virtual Windows XP Applications. You will see the applications that you installed on your Virtual XP.

You can open the application from here or copy the shortcut to anywhere on your Windows 7 system and execute the app from there.

Note: The Virtual PC window must be closed in order to run the Virtual XP Applications from Windows 7.

Free AntiSpyware Software from Microsoft

Microsoft is now in the spyware market. You can download Microsoft’s free anti Spyware software. Enjoy!

Microsoft and spyware–the two just seem to go together.

Well, now they really do. Microsoft has now released their anti-spyware package. It is in beta, but it’s free.

Give it a try!

Here is the direct download link:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/8/1/5/815d2d60-49b5-44dc-ae35-fca2f2c6f0cc/MicrosoftAntiSpywareInstall.exe

The official download site asks you to validate your installation of windows; however, you can click continue and refuse to validate if you wish.

URL:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=321CD7A2-6A57-4C57-A8BD-DBF62EDA9671&displaylang=en

Windows 8: Pin and Elevate Command Prompt

With the new user-friendly Metro interface of Windows 8, power users will still need to know how to find the all powerful command prompt in order to execute those terminal commands.

Many of the tutorials here on tech-recipes and a lot of administrative work still requires access to the terminal. However, with the release of Windows 8, finding and using the Command Prompt has become more difficult.

Quickest Way to Command Prompt

1. Winkey + R opens the Run box in the traditional desktop.
2. Type cmd and click the OK button to open.

Pin Command Prompt

1. Pull up the Search Charm
2. Search for Command Prompt
3. Right-click on the icon
4. Select Pin to Start or Pin to Taskbar

Elevated Command Prompt

1. Right-click on the icon from the Search Charm or Start menu
2. Select Run as administrator
3. The terminal will open in the desktop titled Administrator: Command Prompt

This article assumes that you are using a keyboard and mouse since you likely performing administrative tasks. Touch navigation maneuvers can be reviewed in a prior article.

This tutorial references the most recent version of Windows 8. If you have additional information you would like to add or update, please let us know in the comments below.