Saturday 3 November 2012

WINDOWS 8 REVIEW SERIES II : HOW TO UPGARDE TO WINDOWS 8


I know most peeps wouldn’t mind getting on the buzz of the new windows 8 OS but most people will only upgrade when they buy a new desktop PC, laptop or even tablet. Following the horror stories of upgrading underspeced Windows XP PCs to the much-maligned Vista, even hardened tech gurus have been fighting shy of 'upgrading' their computer's operating system. After all, a PC can be the third biggest investment you ever make, after your house and car, and the operating system is its blood supply.

But Windows 8 is different. You could make a good case for upgrading a Windows 7 PC at least, for two simple reasons:
·         First, it's the most radical change in Microsoft PC computing since Windows 3.0 made way for Windows 95.
·         And, perhaps the best reason is the system requirements are just the same as they are for Windows 7. Indeed, if your system can run Vista, it will handle Windows 8 with any problem. And, some would argue the upgrade may make your computing experience smoother.
Things can go wrong, however, and upgrading a PC is nothing like trying out Windows 8 on a separate partition of your hard disk. So before you do anything at all, be sure to back up to a separate storage device any files, photos, music and video that you want to keep. It's important also to note the distinction between upgrading to Windows 8 from Vista or Windows 7; and upgrading to Windows 8 from XP:
  • Windows 7 - you can perform an in-place upgrade to Windows 8 or Windows 8 Pro that will allow you to retain all your files, settings and compatible applications
  • Vista -  If you have Vista Service Pack 1 installed, you will be able to keep personal files and system settings, but you'll have to reinstall applications. If you don't have SP1 installed, only personal files will be retained.
  • XP - Upgrading from XP is possible without a clean installation if you have Service Pack 3 installed, but even then, only personal files will be kept.
If you buy a PC or laptop running Windows 7 Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional or Ultimate between June 2nd 2012 and January 31st 2013, you'll qualify for the Windows 8 upgrade offer. This allows you to install Windows 8 Pro on your computer for £14.99. You'll need to visit the link and register your purchase in order to get hold of the necessary code and download link for Windows 8.
You'll need to download around 2GB of data, which you can then install directly on the computer, or create a bootable DVD or USB flash drive. For extra cost, it's also possible to order Windows 8 on DVD. 

Windows 8 upgrade: Getting started
Although in theory the upgrade process should run smoothly, you should still make a backup of any important files you can't afford to lose. The easiest way to do this is to connect an external hard drive and simply copy your documents, music, pictures and videos folders to it. If you keep files in other locations, say Downloads, or on the desktop, be sure to copy these too. 

If you think you might need to restore your computer to Windows 7 at some point, create an image of your entire hard disk using a disk imaging program such as Acronis True Image.
Windows 8 launched on October 26th, and you can buy it directly from Microsoft's website. Alternatively, you can pre-order it from another retailer such as Amazon.
On the same date, the Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant was also launched (which was released as a separate tool to download from Microsoft's website). This will tell you if there's any incompatible hardware or software on your computer that won't work with Windows 8.

TO BE CONTINUED...

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