Corrupted Vista registry to clean install of 7

My xps was infected by malware. After supposedly ridding it of the malware, a tech (or maybe the malware) screwed up my registry; so I can't get on line, have no sound etc.

Can I do a clean install now, upgrading to Windows 7 with no problems? Or do I have to first do a clean install of Vista?

Also, how problematic is it to go from 32bit Vista to 64bit 7?

Thanks.

 

You can custom install Windows 7 with no problems.

If you choose the upgrade path, there is no guarantee whether the error will persist as I am unfamiliar with all the registry changes Setup does.

To go from x86 vista to x64 7, you'll have to custom install.

 

You mentioned "86" vista. Do you mean 32? How complicated is a custom install compared to a simple clean install? As you can guess, I'm not that literate.

 

x86 = 32 bit.

A custom install is what Microsoft calls a new installation of Windows.

A clean install generally is understood to be a format of the boot partition and then a new installation of Windows.

Microsoft gives you the option of installing a new copy of Windows without wiping the partition. This is actually easier than a clean install because Microsoft moves all your old files into a folder called Windows.old. The malware will also not transfer over to the new installation. After Setup has installed a new copy of Windows, you can raid the Windows.old folder for all your old data files. Otherwise, a clean install(wipe) is the same as a custom install without a wipe.

I don't advise wiping your partition as it takes too much time. But if you have nothing irreplaceable on the C: partition, then I'd just go ahead and wipe it.

 

Thanks for explaining things. Do I have to worry about registry corruption in the old data files?

 

Nope.