Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
Here are some of the web pages that provide upgrade path information for Windows
systems:
From Windows XP to Windows Vista:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Upgrading-from-Windows-XP-
to-Windows-Vista
From Windows XP or Vista to Windows 7:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/products/upgrade
You can also upgrade from one edition of the same version to another. Windows 7 makes
that particularly easy with its Anytime Upgrade feature. Choose Start
Windows Anytime Upgrade, and follow the prompts to upgrade. With Windows Vista, you
have to buy a different edition and install it as if you were installing an upgrade. This isn't
an issue on Macs, because Apple doesn't offer different editions of the Mac OS X.
All Programs
Securing Administrative Rights and Firewall Access
To make system-level changes to the OS (and upgrading certainly qualifi es!), you must
make sure you have administrative rights to the PC. That means making sure the user ID
with which you log in is an administrator. If you need to contact a network administrator
to get the security level on your user ID increased, do so before you get started.
There are two kinds of fi rewalls: hardware-based (used in large companies)
and software-based (built into the OS, as with Windows Firewall, or available as third-
party software). Both types of fi rewalls prevent unauthorized incoming and outgoing
network traffi c as a security measure. If the PC you're upgrading is part of a corporate
network where a hardware fi rewall is in use, check with a network administrator to make
sure there won't be any problems with accessing the Internet during and after the upgrade.
Preventing Data Loss When Installing a New OS
When you do an upgrade install, you get to keep all your data and installed applications.
There's a small risk of data loss with any installation of a different OS, so back up your
important fi les beforehand as a precaution. However, chances are good that everything will
come through just fi ne.
When you do a clean install, however, everything on the hard disk gets wiped away (in
most cases). Before doing a clean install, therefore, you must make very certain that you
have good backups of everything you want to keep.
With a clean install, you can't back up and restore your installed applications the
way you do your data fi les. Applications must be reinstalled after installing the new OS.
That's because an installed application isn't simply copied to the hard drive; it also has
confi guration entries in the system fi les for the OS. When you do a clean install, all those
system fi les are replaced with new clean versions of them that don't include any application
data. That's why it's desirable to do an upgrade install of the OS if possible.
When you're doing a clean install, the Setup program may ask whether you want to
repartition and reformat. As you learned in Chapter 2, “Input and Storage Devices,”
