Don't upgrade with windows 7 do a clean install

Windows Easy Transfer does this, along with the basic "backup" (i hate to use that term as it's anything but.....) that Windows setup does if you choose a custom install from within Windows Vista-moving critical file structure to "windows.old"

Windows Easy Transfer takes it a step further by backing up entire user accounts, settings, etc. and most importantly, placing them back in your new W7 install. I plan to use this method with an external hard drive when I upgrade.

 

I think you guys scared the guy off.

 

Now that I can answer.

I have a compaq laptop that I purchased in July, and am waiting for the Windows 7 upgrade to come in the mail shortly. As many know HP/Compaq machines comes with all bloatware and they will not send you the Vista Disc. I was able to downgrade my laptop to XP. So this is why I want to upgrade from XP to 7.

Thank you.

 

So...you'll be clean installing Windows 7 on top of XP...

And how exactly is that, in any shape or form, relevant to this thread?

 

Again you fail to comprehend, I'm doing a clean install of XP and then doing the upgrade to Windows 7.

 

Ok, can someone else please explain to me what the heck TheGOG is trying to do?

So far this is what I have comprehended:

1. Take computer, clean install XP on it. (What does this have to do with anything???)
2a. Upgrade install 7 on top of XP. (This step cannot be done)
or
2b. Clean install 7 on top of XP. (This step can be done, but is irrelevant to this thread)

 

I'm trying Step 1 and 2a.

 

Gary
I know many experts agree with me I do not need your approval
I ignored this thread because of the hostility that I was already getting
I have expertise in the field and you can dispute that if you want but people were posting that I had no experience so I told them I did.

Whats the use of the forum if you cannot speak beliefs and give facts to back up what you say?

there seems to a mentality here that unless you are part of the group here then your posts are a waste.

I thought giving the real life experiences of failed upgrade experiences and the point of view that upgrading can lead to more problems then a clean install was a good topic.

Guess its stupid for me to continue to post.

Gary and others can help the rest since with all my experience I know nothing........................

No its not a cry for attention, I want people to have good experiences with software. It was to inform of the real problem of not doing a clean install.

who cares anyway? Its just the internet and I wanted to give my belief, you clearly give yours.........

Self promotion for what? Computers are a life long serious hobby for me and something I use about 12 hours a day.

So I like helping people, yes we need less of that!


And with that I will now ignore the thread yet again, I said what I wanted to, if people want they can continue to go off topic but that is useless. I should not have to post responses like this, but I hate being accused of crap I'm not about.

 

And what part of "2a. Cannot be done" should I clarify for you?

And DRFP:

You posted something that many of us has issues with. Thus we posted our rebuttals and criticisms. That is how a forum works. If you never want to be criticized for what you post, either be a perfect person, and never ever post anything that could possibly be argued, or don't post at all.

Forums are all about a team effort to find the best answer. If you can't handle the criticism when you get something wrong, then you're in the wrong place.

You go on and on about how much experience you have. I'll go ahead and believe you, and just retort that if you indeed do have so much experience with computers, you should know by now that this is how the internet works.

 

You keep saying WE don't comprehend. But the problem appears to be you don't understand that we are telling you step 2a can not be done. There is no way to upgrade Win7 over Win XP. There is one and only one path from XP to Win7, and that path is a clean install.

Gary

 

Let me ask you, what's the use of forums if there can't be a discussion and rebuttal of views? You seem to want to present your facts and not have anyone comment on them or critique them.

No, the mentality here is that we present ideas the opposing ideas and debate them. The mentality here is not one of digging in your heels when others present a counter viewpoint and being totally dismissive of those other views.

Except that is NOT what you espoused here. You clearly said upgrading should be avoided, period. There was no "can lead to more problems" in any of your presentations it was always WILL lead.

The only thing that is stupid is to run off because some folks didn't agree with your view.

Gary

 

First and foremost I don't mind the critism, 'cause that is part of how we find answers to questions and problems on this forum. But when you keep posting " i don't know what your talking about" and I keep refering and had reposted my original question it gets people like myself fustrated and think u just don't comprehend or are being stuburn.

 

This is why I keep saying you don't comprehend, 'cause i'm doing the exact thing you say in your last sentence. A clean install of XP, and then an upgrade to Windows 7.

 

I plan on just doing an upgrade

I got about 20 games I dont feel like reinstalling

 

I have never UPGRADED with any O.S. I'm a clean person and upgrading windows doesn't seem clean
I always to a clean install.
It's kinda like sweeping a dirty carpet, you can sweep it, but it's not as clean as a brand new carpet would be.

 

Sorry DRFP, but after reading the whole thread, I feel that Lithius is making perfect sense and I have to completely agree with him.

 

This is my first statement minis the articles.

First post so we are clear I did not say 100% do not do an upgrade

I said "A clean install is always best"
I said "Windows 7 is not Vista"
I said you can have problems with doing the upgrade
I backed it up with a couple of articles out of many ( I stopped posting articles because whats the use? the comments were that the articles prove nothing so if I post something to back up my statement its dismissed as I like to post articles.)
I said I had 25 years experience myself to clarify I have real life experience. then one post said I had only installed maybe 10 times in that time.......I went on to post no thousands ( I have installed Windows 7 10 times up to today alone)

So we can discuss but lets be honest there is an attitude here when someone "new" has a idea different the the majority.

I believe whole heartily that enough people will continue to have problems upgrading and will find the need for a clean install.

So I said "Clean install always Best" and I stand by that belief, I stand by that upgrading can and has proven to cause problems per the trouble shooting I have already done for others.
Upgrading causes you to have a large useless folder windows.old ( can be 7 to 8 GB in size)
Upgrading can leave part of vista dll's that may cause problems
Upgrading can make some programs and drivers useless since they may not be compatible with Win 7.

Not all programs are Windows 7 compatible that were vista compatible too, this will be due to drivers for certain programs as well as other factors, 2 programs I had were not compatible, one due to a virtual driver ( it was in vista ) and another was due to some known conflict with IE 8.

So I'm willing to debate as long as people are willing to stop insulting me and picking for no reason.

I posted something in error once to you, I told you pM and posted it was misunderstood and a mistake, I deleted my posts too, so I expected you to pick on me if I stuck around NBR.

I still think its a mistake to come back after giving my advice out and the reaction was as such posted.

 

I would check the compatibility of the Games with 7 I thought there were some that will not work with 7 ( about 90% of the programs and drivers that work with Vista do work with 7 so its a good bet your fine)

 

OH and by the way. After reading TheGOG's posts many many times over, I finally understand what he is trying to do.

Basically, he wants to do a clean install of XP over Vista, so that he can get rid of all the bloatware that comes with Vista. After that he plans to upgrade to win7 as he does not want all the bloatware, and thereby he can also post his results on how his upgrade to win7 went by.

How this is related to this thread is that he probably wants to prove that upgrading to win7 works just fine. He doesn't want to clean install from XP to win7 or from Vista to win7 because then he would not be able to prove his point.

I HOPE that IS what he is trying to do.

To TheGOG: It is completely impossible for you to upgrade from XP to Win7. If u really do want to upgrade to win7 without any bloatware, what you should be doing is do a clean install of Vista over your Vista with all the bloatware, and then do an upgrade to win7.

 

Anything new to report in this thread?

Nope.


Carry on gentlemen.

 

Thats fine But what is making perfectly sense?

That Upgrading is best?

Can you upgrade? yes you can.
Is it the best? No and in some cases you will have known problems with some systems, that can lead to invalid Keys and endless reboots.

So, I will not provide further articles since thats useless its who ever argues better, facts have no meaning.

I just read that Windows.Old can take up 7 to 8 gb of space, uh thats the size of Windows 7 install, if Most of Vista is not being replaced then why the large windows.old folder?

To simply say service packs are the same as Upgrading vista to Windows 7, show me a service pack that is 2.3gb for a windows OS, and deny that in the past some service packs did make problems for systems ( again I can find the articles but whats the use)

I'm logically trying to explain my statement but get side tracked by others ( not you) picking on me.

SO again why should I pay attention any longer?

 

What's your point?

I made some valid points, came back but probably should not.

there is clearly an attitude here this proves it.

carry on I guess.

Maybe the Mods should just lock this before too much off topic and fighting happens, with this I see it happening.........as I said I'm stupid to want to post logic and debate.

 

drfp,

Respectfully, what is the title of this thread?

It sets the tone for your post. While you can now cite a post, the title, tone and content, then reaction to others all indicate otherwise.

Now, maybe what you really intended to say is "best", but you did not explictly say that until called on it. Now, it seems like you are trying to back out of what you originally said,

Quite possibly, subtlty was lost.

Here's really where you went wrong.

You started a thread promlting yourself as an expert. I am expert, and these experts are saying what I am saying so so it validates my expertise. I will take you at your word that you want to help people out. Then help people out. There are hundreds of posts here every day from people asking for help and if you are looking for validation as an expert, help them out and people will respond.

Looking at the posters with good reputations I cannot recall any of them actually starting a thread other than when they were asking a question.

I don't know what club you are referring to, but if I am a member, I will gladly welcome you in when you earn it, not when you demad it.

 

Nope, I simply agree with Lithius on the fact that it seems that you are implying that upgrading is dangerous, which it is not. We all agree that clean install is obviously better, but upgrading on the other hand is not dangerous. There might be a chance that your system may be unstable after upgrading as opposed to a clean install, but it is unlikely. You make it sound like it is EXTREMELY likely. That was what Lithius was saying, and I agree with it. That's all.

 

Ok, get this. I am reading your posts word by word, and you continuously say that you are going to upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7. We've told you multiple times that this cannot be done. However, you also throw in that you are going to clean install XP. This has nothing to do with your installation of 7, and we are confused about why you keep bringing it up.

I would like you to point out the part where I said "upgrading is best". To my recollection, I have repeatedly said that I agree with you that a clean install is best. It seems that you still don't understand what we have an issue with and why you are wrong.

The size of Windows.old depends on the number of files you had on your Vista machine. If you had a million gigabytes of documents, then your Windows.old folder is going to be a million gigabytes large. This is a backup of your old files, not of your old operating system, and thus your argument makes no sense.

No one cares if you don't come back to this thread. We have made our point, and you have made yours. This thread has outlived its purpose.

 

My point is that the thread has stated both points and without more data, there is little else to go by except who speaks up.

The thread started out with an argument with only hypothetical situations as evidence. It has ended that way.

Every person's situation is going to be different. So say one way is best for as diverse of a market as the PC market is akin to saying "the US government is the model for the whole world even though 98% of the world lives in different circumstances." While the US government has produced a long standing republic that has brought together millions of people from extreme backgrounds, survived terrible times of duress, and has the backing of many credible historians and Political scientists, it isn't to say everyone else will have the same results.

 

This thread has been closed at the request of the original poster. Feel free to start a new thread on the matter if anyone has questions that still need answering.