By George Norman
Added on 07 Sep 2009(966 Views)



You may have skipped Windows Vista and soldiered on with XP for the past 8 years or so, but chances are that you will not want to stick with XP after Microsoft rolls out Windows 7. Unlike Vista, reports on the web have it that Windows 7 is a properly good operating system, an OS that will have you put XP behind you. One question comes to mind: how do you know if your current configuration can run Windows 7?

The most basic means of testing whether your computer can support Windows 7 is to look at the operating system’s requirements and compare them to your current configuration. The Windows 7 recommended system requirements are:
Processor: 32-bit or 64-bit 1GHz processor
Memory (RAM): 1GB
Graphics card: DirectX 9.0 capable with WDDM (Windows Display Driver Model) 1.0 driver or better.
Graphics memory: 32MB
HDD space: 16GB for the 32-bit version, 20GB for the 64-bit version.
Other drives: DVD-ROM
Audio: Audio Output

A more in-depth means of testing whether your computer can run Windows 7 is to use a piece of software released by Microsoft called Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor. As Windows Communications Manager on the Windows Client Communications Team, Brandon LeBlanc explained, the software “examines a PC’s processor, memory, storage, and graphics capabilities, identifies known compatibility issues with installed software and devices and finally provides guidance on how to resolve those issues if possible.”

Here’s how to use Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor

Step 1. You will need to download the software (grab it straight from Microsoft here) and you will have to run it. You will also need .NET Framework 2.0 or higher to run Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor. If you do not have it installed on your machine, the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor installer will display a prompt informing you about this. The prompt comes with the option to install .NET Framework 2.0.

Step 2. After the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor installation process is complete, you need to launch the application (this is don automatically when you click Close).

Step 3. Click the Start check button from the bottom right hand corner of the screen.

Step 4. Let the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor do its job. This may take a while.

Step 5. When Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor is done inspecting your computer, it will present you with a detailed report on what is compatible with Windows 7 and what needs to be changed.

Step 6. Click Close to shut down Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor.

Tips and warnings
Before you run Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor, make sure you plugged in any devices you use on a regularly basis (things like external hard drives, scanners, printers, and so on).
Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor is only available in English.
You cannot perform an in-place upgrade from XP to Windows 7. Check out this article for a detailed list on in-place upgrades your can perform.



Don't forget to:

Tags: Microsoft, Windows, Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor

You might also like


Link to this article:



Add comment:
Name(Required)
Email(Required - Never shown)
Website(Optional)
Comment(Required):

Insert the following code:
How To Articles
How To Move an iGoogle Homepage from One Account to Another
The iGoogle homepage features the Google Search box and a bunch of gadgets. Computer users that have set iGoogle as their homepage took the time to customize it; they selected the gadgets they want to see, they selected the...
21 Dec 2009
How To Manage Update Settings in Adobe Reader
Adobe Reader lets you customize the way the software updates itself. Below is a detailed, step-by-step tutorial that will show you how to manage these update options...
21 Dec 2009
How To Disable JavaScript in Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat, while useful software applications, tend to be plagued by security problems. Just this week the California-based company that specializes in creating multimedia and creativity software products announced that...
21 Dec 2009
How To Delete Archived Messages in Yahoo! Messenger
Yahoo! Messenger, the Yahoo! developed instant messaging application, offers three different archiving options: Yes, save all of my...
21 Dec 2009
How To Delete Subtitles Downloaded by BS.Player
One of the things I like about the BS.Player media player is that when you open a video file (like a movie, or a TV show episode) it will automatically search for subtitles; it will locate subtitles in various languages, then...
16 Dec 2009
How To Mark Threads as Unread from Here in Gmail
People that subscribe to a lot of active mailing lists (and don’t have all that much free time on their hands) will attest to the fact that until they get to read an email it already has a ton or replies. When they do...
16 Dec 2009
Recommended Tools
Top Downloads