Windows XP to Win 7

[BillyG]

OK, I am planning on upgrading to Win 7 soon, and I currently run XP Home. I have read that you cannot "quick upgrade" from XP to 7, like you can from Vista, and there is some kind of back up tool that has to be used. Has anyone done this upgrade? Is the tool reliable? Am I still going to have to reinstall all my shit? Am I going to lose bookmarks in Firefox?

I have an external HDD, so my important shit (music, pix, smut) is all on there. I do not really want to spent 12 hours reinstalling WoW, and all my programs, editing iTunes tags, etc. Basically, will this back up tool handle all that or do I need to set aside a weekend?

Also, are there going to be any issues going from 32 bit XP to 64 bit Win 7? I am planning on upgrading my video card and adding some more ram (MOBO will accept up to 8GB DDR2) when I do this upgrade. I don't really want to mess with more than a video card and ram. If I have to upgrade my mobo too I want to know ahead of time. I have been out of WoW for 3 weeks and need my fix so I don't want to be out of commission if I don't have to be.

[nerdious dorkus]

Billy check out this. Go Win 7 Pro, for XP mode. Also, XP mode, in Win 7.

Also, a way to file share between XP and Win 7.

You should need at least 4GB RAM. You don't really need a new video card though. You should still be able to play WoW on Win 7 if you're able to in XP. Worst case scenario, you could just dual boot XP and 7.

Any other questions check out, lifehacker.

[BillyG]

Thanks. Just ordered Win 7 and 4GB of DDR2. Know what I'm doing tomorrow.

[BillyG]

Saved shit with the windows transfer tool, and my Firefox booksmarks. Upgrade is almost done, then it's hours of reloading programs! Well, like 10 hours for WoW alone.

[Abraham Smashington]

Godspeed sir.

[BillyG]

Absolute bliss. Everything but Mozilla and iTunes saved during the upgrade. I didn't even need to use the Transfer Tool! WoW booted right up. Steam worked perfect. I had iTunes backed up to my external so I had that up and going in about 5 minutes. Everything about Win 7 is awesome. And doubling the RAM was great too.

[Abraham Smashington]

Nice. I'm hoping to build a new rig soon using Windows 7. I've heard nothing but good things about it.

[B_Metal]

May build a new rig with tax dough IF I get one of the jobs I'm up for. Windows 7 will be a must if word of mouth is true.

[BillyG]

Win 7 is everything you could want and need. It's odd trying to find the most difficult solution possible, just by instinct, only to spend 30 minutes doing it wrong and the answer being simple and obvious, but since it's Windows you didn't expect that.

[Howard]

Except for being able to save and delete files. Their security with this version, defaults really high. Plus their instructions on assigning ownership and then adjusting the settings has much to be desired.