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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