Upgrading to Windows 7 - Your questions answered!

I’m getting a lot of questions from readers about upgrading to Windows 7. Here are your top questions answered.
#1: What are the system requirements for Windows 7?
The Windows 7 system requirements are very similar to those of Windows Vista, and users running Vista shouldn’t have much problems upgrading to Windows 7.
Here are the base system requirements for Windows 7:

• 1GHz or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) CPU
• 1GB RAM for 32-bit OS, 2GB RAM  for 64-bit OS
• 16GB hard disk free space for 32-bit OS, 20 GB for 64-bit OS
• DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

Users may want to add one of more of the following:

• Internet access - duh!
• Depending on screen resolution, video playback may need more RAM and more powerful graphics processing unit (GPU)
• To use Windows Media Center functionality you will benefit from a TV tuner
• To use HomeGroup you will need a network and PCs running Windows 7
• DVD/CD burning requires a compatible optical drive
• Music and sound will require audio output 
• Windows Touch and Tablet PCs require specific hardware
• Windows XP Mode requires an additional 1 GB of RAM, an additional 15 GB of available hard disk space, and a processor capable of hardware virtualization with Intel VT or AMD-V turned on
• BitLocker requires Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 1.2
• BitLocker To Go requires a USB flash drive

#2: How easy/difficult is upgrading to Windows 7?
How easy or difficult it is to upgrade to Windows 7 depends on what operating system you are starting from.

• If you are planning of buying a new PC with Windows 7 pre-loaded then all of your of your hardware issues are sorted right from the start as far as your PC goes. When it comes to hooking up your existing hardware then you might run into issues where something is incompatible (if it worked with Vista, chances are good that it’ll work with Windows 7), or you’ll have to go searching for a driver. As far as software goes, again you might be OK or you might find yourself needing to seek out updates or even buy new software.
• If you are upgrading to Windows 7 from Vista then when it comes to hardware you should, on the whole be OK (again, you might need new drivers). Software compatibility should also be very good (be wary of installing programs such as antivirus unless they have been updated … security software is usually the most problematic when changing operating systems).
• If you are upgrading to Windows 7 from XP, then beware. Here be tigers! If your PC passes the basic system requirements then you should be OK to run Windows 7, but as far as compatibility of other hardware and software goes, you could find the process to be a smooth one, or you could find it impossible. Also, you’ll want to read #3.

If you are planning on upgrading any Windows-based machine to Windows 7 I suggest that you download and install the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor from Microsoft. This handy bit of software will scan your PC and generate a report for you of any compatibility issues that you are likely to encounter.
#3: Is it true that you can’t upgrade directly to Windows 7 from XP?
Unfortunately, yes, it is. If you are a Windows XP user and you want to move to Windows 7 you can’t carry out what Microsoft calls an “in-place upgrade” where you install Windows 7 over the top of your existing OS and get to keep your applications, setting and data. Instead, you have to do what is known as a “clean install” which basically means you are starting from scratch and installing a totally fresh, clean OS.
As annoying as it might be to have to carry out a clean install, it’s always the route I recommend. It’s always best to back up your data, do a clean install, reinstall all your applications and then copy your data back over onto any system when upgrading your operating system. This method offers the best possible start for your new OS experience.
#4: Which edition of Windows 7 do I need?
My blanket advice to people asking me this question is this - If you have to ask the question, then go with the Home Premium edition of Windows 7. This OS is the cheapest consumer edition of Windows 7 and includes everything that the average user will need.
To find out what the different editions have to offer, check out the editions chart over on the Microsoft website.
#5: Should I go for 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows 7?
If your hardware can handle it, there’s almost no reason preventing you from going 64-bit. If in any doubt about your hardware consult the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor from Microsoft.

It's time to bring the EULA madness to an end!

Why is it that every time I install a bit of software that I end up having to trawl through, or ignore, pages upon pages of seemingly meaningless legal gobbledygook collectively knows as the End User Licensing Agreement, or EULA?
Seriously, does software need to come with an elaborate “Licensing Agreement” in the first place? OK, maybe it does, but does that agreement need to be more than a few paragraphs long? A page at most? I’m pretty sure that if you can’t condense everything important down into a few hundred words, then something’s seriously wrong. The current EULA for Windows Vista SP1 jabbers on meaninglessly for a page on “Validation,” two pages on “Internet-based services,” and half a page on MPEG-4 and VC-1 standards.
Who cases? I know I don’t!
I’ve bought things, sold things, conducted business deals and even out my life on the line (or other people’s lives on the line) based on far fewer legal words that I have to endure when installing software. I can’t think of a single aspect of my life that’s as dominated by meaningless legalese as installing software.

Note: OK, some of you are bound to point out other jargon and legalese-ladened areas of life, such as finance, tax and insurance. OK, I accept that, but these areas are usually quite self-contained, and it’s actually worth paying for professional advice. Am I expected to consult a lawyer each time I install a piece of software? Give me a break …

The truth is that the EULA isn’t meant to be read by the end user. In fact, companies make it deliberately difficult for users to know what they are agreeing to. Take a look at this EULA for Microsoft’s Windows Media Center, as uncovered by PC Pro’s Jon Honeyball:

Here you have the EULA spread over an insane 69 pages. Honeyball describes this as “entrapment,” and I have to agree with him. Imagine if you were sent a legal document through the mail, but that document was shredded into tens of pieces. Would you read it? Would you agree to it? Would you feel it was fair? This is just one of hundreds of dirty tricks aimed at getting you to hit “I agree” without knowing what you are really agreeing to.
It’s time to bring the EULA madness to an end!

• If it can’t be said in a few sentences, it doesn’t need saying!
• If it can’t be said in plain speak, it doesn’t need saying!
• If it can’t be said without hyperlinking to more jargon and legalese,  it doesn’t need saying!
• If the EULA can’t be presented in such a way as to make it easy for the end user to read, it doesn’t need saying!

think about twice more!

Ballmer on Vista blow

Mr Ballmer said: “We got some uneven reception when [Vista] first launched in large part because we made some design decisions to improve security at the expense of compatibility. I don’t think from a word-of-mouth perspective we ever recovered from that.”

Turning bad news into good though, Ballmer now believes that there’s “pent up demand” for new gear:

“I’d be hopeful that we see a bit more rapid pick-up - particularly people who are upgrading the software without touching the hardware - than maybe we have in years past.”

MS Security Essentials test

According to recent tests conducted by AV-Test.org aiming to measure the performance of Microsoft’s Security Essentials, the freeware application achieved 98% detection rate for 545k malware samples including viruses, bots, trojan horses, backdoors and Internet worms, also achieving 90.95% detection rate for 14,222 adware/spyware samples it was tested against.
However, AV-Test.org didn’t find any effective “dynamic detection” features (HIPS/behavior blocking) in place, and therefore samples with malicious behavior were not detected due to the application’s reliance on malware signatures only.

Testing MS’s Security Essentials is one thing, benchmarking it against other market propositions is entirely another. What both of these practices have in common, is the potential to leave the end user with a false feeling of security (Does free antivirus offer a false feeling of security?) by ignoring the fact that antivirus software is only a part of their defense in-depth security strategy (Secunia: popular security suites failing to block exploits; Secunia: Average insecure program per PC rate remains high).
Naturally, the final release for Microsoft’s Security Essentials is already sparking debate on its performance characteristics when benchmarked against commercial products offered by competing vendors. For instance, Symantec, dismissed the application as a “a stripped down version of the OneCare product Microsoft pulled from retail shelves“ in July, and most recently commented that it offers “reduced defenses” :

“From a security perspective, this Microsoft tool offers reduced defenses at a critical point in the battle against cybercrime. Unique malware and social engineering tricks fly under the radar of traditional signature-based technology alone—which is what is employed by free security tools such as Microsoft’s”

And whereas different comparative reviews (Norton Antivirus 2009 Versus Microsoft Security Essentials: A Comparative Anti-Malware test; Anti-Virus Comparative August 2009) show different results, protecting from known threats only, in times when cybercriminals are efficiently tricking signatures based malware scanners (Modern banker malware undermines two-factor authentication), can cause more harm than good by attempting to simply build awareness on Internet security threats by offering a freeware antivirus scanner to millions of end users.