Free Windows 7 Upgrade For Vista Users

Free Windows 7 Upgrade For Vista Users Rating: 5,9/10 9738 votes

If you’re ready to take the leap from Windows Vista to Windows 7 on your computer, the process is fairly simple. When you upgrade your computer from Windows Vista to Windows 7, first make sure you have a Vista service pack and use Windows 7’s Upgrade Advisor, which tells you what software or gadgets won’t run after you install Windows 7. Windows Vista usually fares the Upgrade Advisor’s exam pretty well.

  1. Windows 10 will be free for Windows 8.1 and 7 users. Users will have 12 months after the launch of Windows 10 to upgrade to this new release if their computers and tablets are powered.
  2. Free Windows 7 Upgrade For Vista Users. Free windows 7 upgrade for vista users If you have purchased a qualifying Dell PC with Windows Vista ®, you may now be eligible for a free upgrade to Windows 7.
  3. Microsoft is offering Free windows 7 upgrade under the Windows 7 Upgrade Option Program.Under this program, licensed end users of selected Microsoft Windows Vista operating system editions can obtain an Upgrade license (the Upgrade) to the appropriate Windows 7 edition at reduced or no additional cost if the end user meets program qualifications.

1To find out what version of Vista you’re running, click the Start button, type winver into the Search box, and press Enter.

When the About Windows box appears, the words Service Pack 1 or Service Pack 2 should be listed on the box’s second line.

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2If no service pack is listed, then grab it through Windows Update by clicking the Start menu, choosing All Programs, and clicking Windows Update.

Keep downloading all the updates marked “Important” until Microsoft slips you a copy of Service Pack 1.

3Visit Microsoft’s Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor Web site and click the Download the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor button.

In Microsoft’s traditional sleight of hand, your click fetches a more complicated Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor page.

4On the second Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor page, click the Download button.

When asked whether you want to Run or Save the file, Choose Save. This step saves the file on your Desktop or in your Downloads folder.

5When the download completes, install the program by double-clicking the downloaded program’s name, Windows7UpgradeAdvisorSetup.

Click through the approval screen, if you see one.

6Click I Accept the License Terms, and click the Install button.

When the program finishes installing, click the Close button.

7Launch the program by clicking the Start button and choosing Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor.

If not on the Start menu’s first page, it’s in the All Programs area. If asked, click Yes to allow the program to make changes to your computer.

8When the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor program appears, plug all the equipment you want to use with Windows 7 into your computer’s USB or FireWire ports, turn on everything plugged into your computer, and then click the Start Check button.

The program begins examining your computer, its software, and all the parts you’ve plugged into your computer. After a bit of brow furrowing, the program displays its findings.

9Read Windows Advisor’s results, which explain which parts need updated drivers or must be replaced.

You can print the report and take it with you to the store while you shop for updated parts and software.

10Insert the Windows 7 DVD into your DVD drive and click Run Setup, if necessary.

You may also need to click one of Vista’s permission screens before Windows 7 begins examining your computer.

11When the installation program finally comes up for air, click Install Now.

Windows 7 begins installing temporary files.

12Choose Go Online to Get the Latest Updates for Installation (Recommended).

This step tells Windows 7 to visit Microsoft’s Web site and download the latest updates — drivers, patches, and assorted fixes for your particular computer — that help make your installation run as smoothly as possible. (Your computer must remain connected to the Internet for the downloads, of course.)

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13Scour Microsoft’s 44-page License Agreement, select the I Accept the License Terms check box, and click Next.

Okay, you don’t actually have to scour it. Skimming works, too.

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14Choose Upgrade, read the consequences, and click Next.

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Free Windows 7 Upgrade For Vista Users

Choosing Upgrade preserves your Windows Vista computer’s old files, settings, and programs.

15Read the Compatibility Report, if offered, and then click Next.

The upgrade, a process that could take several hours, begins.

16In the Type Your Windows Product Key dialog box, type your product key and click Next.

The product key usually lives on a little sticker affixed to the CD’s packaging.

17Choose Use Recommended Settings.

This selection allows Windows to visit the Internet to update itself with security patches, warn you of suspicious Web sites, check for troubleshooting information, and send technical information to Microsoft to fine-tune Windows’ performance.

18Confirm the time and date settings, and then click Next.

Windows 7 usually guesses these correctly.

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19If you’re connected to a network, choose your computer’s location.

Windows 7 gives you options: Home, Work, or Public. After rummaging around inside your computer for a few more minutes, Windows 7 appears on the screen, leaving you at the logon screen.

20Log on and run Windows Update.

This step downloads any security patches and updated drivers issued by Microsoft.

I read your article about Windows 10 updates and that most PCs with Vista should be tossed in the trash bin. I really don’t want to do that. I bought my computer with a disability settlement, and I simply don’t have the money for upgrades. It is an HP Model m8530f with an AMD Phenom 9550 quad-core processor and 5GB of memory. I use it for writing, blogging, internet access, simple games, nothing intense. But I do need to do something because there is only one web browser I can use effectively, and some websites have begun to shun us unfortunate Vista folks. Please tell me how to do this. I am not stupid or illiterate, just a little on the broke side, and a bit (OK, a lot) of a procrastinator. Jeanne

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Microsoft launched Windows Vista in January 2007 and stopped supporting it in April last year. Any PCs still running Vista are therefore likely to be eight to 10 years old, and showing their age. In particular, hard drives are increasingly prone to fail after about five years, or 50,000 hours use, so it’s important to keep good backups.

Vista was a pretty good operating system, at least after Microsoft released the Service Pack 1 update, but very few people still use it. Microsoft has since launched Windows 7, 8, 8.1 and several versions of Windows 10. It’s no longer worth software providers and websites spending money testing and adapting their code to make sure it works with Vista, so you’re likely to face increasing problems using it online.

You are also at a greater risk from malware. Microsoft no longer provides Vista security patches, and has stopped updating Microsoft Security Essentials. You should therefore install antivirus software that still supports Vista, though I’m not sure which still do, apart from Malwarebytes and Comodo. Whatever you have already installed should be OK as long as the supplier keeps updating the virus signatures.

You will also run into more problems with browsers. I assume that the one browser you can use effectively is Firefox. The bad news is that Firefox will stop supporting Windows XP and Vista in June. Mozilla says: “For planning purposes, enterprises using Firefox should consider May 2018 as the support end date for Windows XP and Vista.” You have only a few weeks left.

Hardware matters

The good news is that your 2008-vintage desktop PC looks powerful enough to run Windows 7 or a flavour of Linux. Indeed, according to HP’s spec sheet, you could upgrade your m8530f to use a faster but hotter processor and up to 8GB of memory. I assume you could also upgrade the Nvidia GeForce 9300 GS currently installed, and probably swap your fast 750GB hard drive for a faster SSD. You could even upgrade the 350W power supply to a 550W version.

If your HP m8530f continues to work correctly, you don’t need any of these upgrades. The point is that if it fails, you should be able to replace or upgrade faulty parts without junking the whole machine. This may not even cost very much. People often break up PCs like this and sell the working parts on eBay for “spares or repair”.

The 2.2GHz Phenom X4 9550 has a PassMark benchmark score of 2542, which still qualifies as “mid range”. It’s only about a third of the speed of a current 3.6GHz Intel Core i3-8100 (PassMark 8078), but it’s still faster than the 1.1GHz quad-core Pentium N4200 (PassMark 2022) used in budget laptops like the Asus VivoBook Max.

Windows upgrades

The bad news is that I don’t think your HP m8530f will run Windows 10. HP says it hasn’t tested products that were bought before August 2013, and it hasn’t written any Windows 10 drivers for them. Windows 10 might still run with the drivers Microsoft supplies, but you’d have to try this yourself, and my web searches didn’t find anybody who’d written it up.

Microsoft doesn’t support an upgrade from Vista to Windows 10. Trying it would involve doing a “clean installation” that deletes your current software and applications. I can’t recommend that unless there’s a good chance of Windows 10 working.

However, you could upgrade to Windows 7. The first and most obvious drawback is that you would have to buy a Windows 7 Upgrade or the full Windows 7 software. (For your purposes, they’re the same thing.) You might be able to pick up a cheap copy locally or from eBay, but it can be hard to identify a reputable seller.

The second and less obvious drawback is that Windows 7 will only be supported until 14 January 2020. However, most businesses still use Windows 7, and I expect that most browser and anti-virus software suppliers will continue to support it after Microsoft support ends. This happened before, with Windows XP.

Note: I don’t recommend upgrading from Vista to Windows 8.1 – which will be supported until January 23 – because that also requires a clean installation.

The Linux option

GNU/Linux is well known for prolonging the life of hardware that is no longer a viable platform for Windows, and it supports all today’s major PC browsers. There are, of course, some drawbacks. The main problem is that Linux doesn’t run Windows software natively, and it doesn’t run programs such as Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom, Apple iTunes, Intuit’s QuickBooks and most major games.

You can run some Windows software on Linux using Wine (originally from Wine Is Not an Emulator), but you may have to give up or replace some programs that are important to you.

The other problem is learning to use Linux. This is not as easy as its fans often claim, especially when something goes wrong. Of course, you would have to relearn some things whether you switched to Windows 10, MacOS or Linux, but Linux has the steepest learning curve.

Fortunately, you don’t have to commit to Linux to try it. You can use your PC to create a “Live CD” (or DVD or USB thumbdrive) that will run Linux without disturbing Vista. There are hundreds of options, but you might try Linux Mint – my usual recommendation for newbies – or Ubuntu Mate or Ubuntu Gnome.

Linux runs relatively slowly from a DVD so use a fast USB thumbdrive if you can. You can create one with a free utility, LinuxLive USB Creator.

If the experiment goes well, you can install Linux alongside Vista in a dual-boot configuration, so that you can load either at will. Lots of websites have step-by-step instructions. Read a few related to the version of Linux you decide to install.

You might also consider installing Ubuntu 18.04, codenamed Bionic Beaver, which is due to be released today. With this version, Ubuntu has returned to the standard Gnome 3 desktop instead of Unity.

Linux tends to change rapidly, but the LTS (Long Term Support) versions – such as Mint 18.3 and Ubuntu 18.04 – are supported for up to five years. After a decade of Vista, you may appreciate the stability.

Have you got a question? Email it to Ask.Jack@theguardian.com

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