Tag: upgrade

Vista to Windows 7 Upgrades Program

May 27, 2009 by Jason

With the Release Candidate Build 7100 development milestone available for download since May 5th, 2009, and Windows 7 making its way toward RTM, Microsoft is also planning to debut the Tech Guarantee Program, now labeled Microsoft’s ‘Windows 7 Upgrade Option Program’ associated with the operating system. The Redmond company offered a similar program for Windows Vista, and it is now planning to do the same for Windows 7, starting June 26th, 2009. The marketing initiative is designed to offer free upgrades from Windows Vista to Windows 7 for customers who will not wait for the next iteration of the Windows client.

Microsoft has failed to offer any details related to its Technical Guarantee Program for Windows 7, but TechARP revealed that the Windows 7 Upgrade Option Program was planned for debut by the end of next month. PC manufacturer Acer has already begun promoting the initiative in Australia, by offering marketing materials advertising the debut of the program. “Beginning June 26, 2009, customers who purchase a qualifying ACER Vista-based PC will receive a comparable version of Windows 7 when available,” reads the message of a slip included with new purchased Acer computers. Read More»

Vista to Windows 7

February 19, 2009 by Jason

An issue originally associated with Windows Vista upgrades has come back to haunt Windows 7, as the operating system was released in Beta stage to the general public at the start of January 2009. According to Microsoft’s Nanda Lella, upgrading from Windows Vista to Windows 7 Beta Build 7000 is a process that will kill more than just the Ultimate Extras additions, if in fact the end users run the high-end edition of Windows XP’s successor. Lella revealed that the Vista to Windows 7 Beta upgrade would cause the RSS feeds associated with Internet Explorer to no longer update.

This is by no means a new issue. In fact, approximately a couple of years back, Vista users were running into the same issue. The context however, was a tad different. At that time IE feeds were killed by Vista to Vista upgrades. “Our investigations show that these tend to occur after upgrades from one pre-release build of Windows Vista to another version. If you’re encountering this issue, first make sure that the feed URL is still valid by manually updating the feed (press F5 while viewing the feed in IE7),” explained Walter vonKoch, Microsoft program manager. Read More»

From XP SP3 and VistaSP1/SP2 to Windows 7

February 13, 2009 by Jason

With the advent of Windows 7, users are bound to upgrade from Windows XP and even Windows Vista to the next iteration of the Windows client. For some, even XP’s SP3 or Vista’s SP1 and SP2 will not be sufficient an incentive to keep them away from Windows 7. However, in order to ensure a smooth transition, preparation is key for both home users and corporate customers. Of course, as market segments go, home users will have an easy task awaiting them, while companies will go through complex and painful evaluation processes lasting as much as a year and a half. Still, planning ahead is the right way to go, when preparing to upgrade from Vista, XP and previous releases of Windows to Windows 7.

As with Windows Vista, the biggest issues concern hardware support and software compatibility. Microsoft is promising that by making Windows 7 version 6.1 the vast majority of hardware products and software solutions currently tailored to Vista will continue to work seamlessly with its successor. At the same time, the Redmond company is engaging hardware and software developers to get their device drivers and applications ready for Windows 7 in due time. Read More»

Windows 7 will support all Vista-certified drivers

January 15, 2009 by Jason

While building Windows 7, Microsoft is attempting to resolve scenarios that managed to successfully handicap Windows Vista in terms of compatibility. In this context, in order not to break devices that currently work with its precursor, Windows 7 will come to the table, from the get-go, with support for all Vista-certified drivers.

Compatibility with devices designed for Vista ensures that users will have a seamless upgrade/migration experience. Grant George, the VP of Test for the Windows Experience, revealed that Microsoft had full compatibility with Vista-certified drivers for Windows 7 as a primary goal.

“Drivers for basic functionality are in-box (by in-box we mean available as part of the installation of Windows). This includes drivers for mainstream storage, network, input, and display devices, so the OS can be installed and user can get online where, if needed, additional drivers can be acquired from Windows Update. Drivers update and/or install with minimal end user effort. When drivers are upgraded, there aren’t problems with the new drivers. Drivers are reliable,” George explained. Read More»

Windows 7 Upgrade Program

December 24, 2008 by Jason

Even with Windows 7 Beta 1 just around the corner, Microsoft is by no means focused exclusively on Build 6.1.7000.0.081212-1400, the unconfirmed version number of the first beta for the operating system. In fact, not only is the company reportedly moving onward with the Win7 development in the Release Candidate branch with Build 7004 (also unconfirmed), but, in accordance with the multi-faceted Windows business, the software giant is aligning its strategy with that of original equipment manufactures.

In this context, as early as December 10, 2008, even before the Windows 7 Beta 1 Build 6.1.7000.0.081212-1400 was reportedly signed-off internally, Microsoft approached OEM partners in an attempt to gather feedback for a Windows 7 Upgrade Program.

The giant manufacturer is planning a remake of the Windows Vista Express Upgrade Program, but this time with Windows 7, according to MyDrivers. The project does not have an official name, the Redmond company referring to the initiative as the Windows 7 Upgrade Program. Read More»

9 Tips Make Your Computer Run Faster

November 18, 2008 by Jason

A few months ago, my PC took over 10 minutes to start up. Now it just takes about a minute. Want to know how I did it? Here’s how:

1. Upgrade Your RAM

Yeah, the most obvious tip but people hardly upgrade it. RAM these days is very cheap, especially if you buy it through Amazon or eBay. When I checked Amazon, the price of 1 GB RAM was around $20-$30.

2. Get Rid of Unneeded Software

Most PCs come shipped with unneeded software. Uninstall all of them. I’m sure there are better alternatives to those software. For example, my PC came shipped from hp with lots of bloatware such as HP Image Zone, Norton AntiVirus 2004, Record Now! CD & DVD Burning software etc. I uninstalled all of them and replaced them with better software like Picasa and Nero.

3. Keep Only One Browser

This is part of the getting rid of unneeded applications but I decided to separate it because so many people have 3, or even 4 browsers installed on their computer. I used to do this; I used to have Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, and Safari. Now I only have Mozilla Firefox. Yes, I even removed Internet Explorer! Read More»

Black Screen of Death for XP SP3 and Vista SP1

August 08, 2008 by Jason

Microsoft has warned end users that performing Windows XP Service Pack 3 and Windows Vista Service Pack 1 upgrades from copies of XP SP2 and Vista RTM, respectively, that have Onekey Recovery 5.0 installed will cause the operating systems to display a black screen following reboot. According to the Redmond company, the issue is generated by an incompatibility between the two service pack releases and Saming OneKey recovery software driver Safnt.sys.

This means that deploying SP1 on top of Vista RTM, or SP3 on top of XP SP2, with Onekey Recovery 5.0 also installed, will result in a black screen of death. Microsoft revealed that this scenario would happen whether the service pack upgrade is performed from Windows Update or through any other method. “This issue occurs when the computer contains Onekey recovery software that is earlier than version 5.1. If the computer uses the Onekey recovery software version 5.1 or later versions, this issue does not occur,” the company revealed, explaining that “Windows Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP2 are incompatible with Onekey Recovery 5.0.” Read More»

XP Service Pack 3 Goes Live

May 05, 2008 by Jason

Like busses you wait ages for a Windows Service Pack, then two come along at once. Hard on the heels of Vista SP1, which mostly went without a hitch, we can now look forward to XP Service Pack 3, the last for the operating system, which is now heading towards retirement, probably next year.

If you were around when MS unleashed SP2 you are forgiven for a brief shudder of trepidation, but I think this one should go quite smoothly. Unlike XP SP2, which re-wrote a lot of the operating system’s code, this one focuses on rolling up all previous security updates since the release of SP2, and a reported 1074 fixes and upgrades. Most of them are anonymous behind the scenes things that you’ll be happier not knowing about (because they are mostly deathly dull
), but there are a few interesting bits and bobs. Read More»

iPhone Dual Boot

March 17, 2008 by Jason

How would you like to have two iPhones in one? NerveGas of iPhone Dev Team reveals that the team has been using dual-booting to jailbreak the iPhone for months. The team has decided to release the hack enabling iPhone users to boot multiple versions of the iPhone software/OS “from” the handset.

This should present iPhone users with quite an advantage once the 2.0 firmware is out, meaning they’ll be able to have a bootable jailbroken software version, as well as a non-jailbroken software version available at the same time on their device. Partition-making is involved: Read More»

5 Steps To Take Before Upgrading Your Windows Vista Computer To SP1

March 15, 2008 by Jason

The long awaited, highly anticipated Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) will finally be available by Microsoft. For many, SP1 is the promise land for fixing those annoying performance, compatibility and slow file copy problems that have plague Vista since it’s release.

Only time will tell.

Regardless of what happens, pre-cautions should be taken to ensure a successful upgrade to Vista SP1.

Below are five steps you should follow BEFORE installing SP1, that should help with achieving a successful upgrade and ensure no data is lost. Read More»