I upgraded all my computers to Windows 7 this week. My recommendation is to do a clean install and put on the 64-bit version (you should receive discs for both 32 and 64-bit versions). A clean install means that your existing installing is not upgraded, and the disc is erased before installing. Back up all your files before doing a clean install. A clean install ensures that legacy applications, spyware, settings and configuration are gone and Windows 7 can perform at it’s best.
If you bought an upgrade version of Windows 7, you can still do a clean install. At the end of installation when you enter your license key, Windows 7 will most likely not accept it. This is because the install is expecting a previous installation of Windows in order to use an “upgrade” type of license. The good news is that there are two workarounds. All are documented on SuperSite for Windows, but I’ll summarize the basic techniques here. For full instructions check out his detailed sites. Microsoft has gone on record that these are legal means of installing, given that you satisfy the license requirements (read: you own a previous version of XP or Vista).
1) Modify the registry key, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Setup/OOBE/MediaBootInstall, to “0″. Reboot and run the command “slmgr /rearm” from an Administrator command prompt.
2) Complete a clean install of Windows 7, skip the license step, and then do another clean install of Windows 7. The second install will accept an upgrade license key.
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