Windows 7 Upgrade Questions

[physichull]

I've already found out a fair bit from the forums about the Windows 7 upgrade disk, but I have a few additional questions before I make the leap.

Currently running: Vista Home Basic 64bit.

I was looking to get the Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade disk.

• Q1: From what I have been reading, I can upgrade to W7 without losing all my files and programs etc. Is it really as easy as that and does it require me to reinstall graphics card drivers or anything like that afterwards?
• Q2: Once it is installed, I assume that it is a fully functioning W7 machine, not still a W Vista machine that is running W7 in proxy?
• Q3: Say I have a catastrophic event that requires a fresh install of the OS, would I have to install Vista again first and then run the upgrade as before, or, can I just run the W7 upgrade disk from fresh so long as I still have the Vista product key?

Thanks in advance, any help on any of these questions is greatly appreciated.

 

[4T5]

It's really early for me mate so bare with me but at least you'll get an answer.

When you upgrade it will Automatically put your old files safe & rename them windows old. So everything is available to copy over.
Yes to once it's installed it's a full fat W7.
Yes you can use the upgrade disc in the future without re-installing Vista.

I switched from Vista Ultimate ages ago, There hasn't been an OS that instals as easy as W7.

 

[physichull]

It's really early for me mate so bare with me but at least you'll get an answer.

When you upgrade it will Automatically put your old files safe & rename them windows old. So everything is available to copy over.

Ah, so there is a bit of leg work to do after installing the upgrade in moving everything back or will it appear "as before"?

Another query that has arisen, I have run the microsoft W7 upgrade Advisor and it listed a load of programs that may not work, some I can l live with and have uninstalled them (very old games like AOE3 and Cod2)as these programs were never used, but it is telling me that the following programs are not compatible:

ATI Catalyst Install Manager and CCC.
iTunes
Steam

iTunes I can uninstall if needed, but the other two are a little unnerving.

I am unsure as to why it lists Steam. My only guess is that I have moved my Steam folder to another drive (additional drive that is not where the Vista install is located) and that it has noticed that. But I am not sure if Steam will be ok after the upgrade.

 

[Destination]

Steam works fine after, hilarious on the Apple rubbish.
Good that its on a different drive, means if anything doesn't work just run steam.exe and it'll find all your installs if you point it to the same directory.

 

[physichull]

Steam works fine after, hilarious on the Apple rubbish.
Good that its on a different drive, means if anything doesn't work just run steam.exe and it'll find all your installs if you point it to the same directory.

Aces. I think the upgrade method is the way to go. Thank you for your help. Going to do a data backup today though!