Better to do a clean install for W7 - or just upgrade Vista?

S

scorpionleather

In so many past Windows operating systems I learned to do a clean install
for best performance; to get rid of the remnants of the old OS that can
stick behind slowing down the shiny new OS.

Is Windows 7 different? i.e. can I do a direct upgrade from Vista and will
this be as "clean" performance-wise, as if I were to wipe out my drive
entirely (other than keeping my apps and registry settings, of course)?

I am looking forward to W7 but I dread having to re-install everything to
extract the max possible performance of a newly released version of Windows.
 
M

Mike Brannigan

scorpionleather said:
In so many past Windows operating systems I learned to do a clean install
for best performance; to get rid of the remnants of the old OS that can
stick behind slowing down the shiny new OS.

Is Windows 7 different? i.e. can I do a direct upgrade from Vista and
will this be as "clean" performance-wise, as if I were to wipe out my
drive entirely (other than keeping my apps and registry settings, of
course)?

I am looking forward to W7 but I dread having to re-install everything to
extract the max possible performance of a newly released version of
Windows.

This is a VISTA newsgroup, please repost to the Windows 7 support forums
Microsoft has created.

For future reference the support newsgroups for the Windows 7 Beta are
offered under the TechNet forums at
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/category/w7itpro/
 
S

scorpionleather

....hold your horses Mike, I searched for the Widows 7 newsgroup in the list
of newsgroups on msnews.microsoft.com and nothing is showing up with the
name Seven or number 7. Maybe it is so new that your servers have not
propagated this newsgroup yet. Until the W7 newsgroup appears in your
servers, you'll see a lot of people asking W7 questions in the Vista group.
 
B

BigJim

What I do is to purchase a separate drive and install it that way.
That way you keep your old OS. Just unplug the old drive and connect the new
one and load the OS.

BTW there are forums for windows seven but no groups.
 
M

Mike Brannigan

scorpionleather said:
...hold your horses Mike, I searched for the Widows 7 newsgroup in the
list of newsgroups on msnews.microsoft.com and nothing is showing up with
the name Seven or number 7. Maybe it is so new that your servers have not
propagated this newsgroup yet. Until the W7 newsgroup appears in your
servers, you'll see a lot of people asking W7 questions in the Vista
group.

It is NOT a newsgroup - it is a web based forum hosted by TechNet team as
part of the communities. Hence the link I provided was a web access page not
a nttp newsgroup.
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/category/w7itpro/
That is the correct place for all Windows 7 questions and discussion, not
here, whcih is a Windows Vista discussion/peer to peer support newsgroup.
 
R

Rick Rogers

Microsoft has not created any Win7 newsgroups, they are sticking to the
technet forums that Mike has listed. Why? I don't know, but that's where
they want Win7 users going for assistance at this time.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com
 
R

ray

In so many past Windows operating systems I learned to do a clean
install for best performance; to get rid of the remnants of the old OS
that can stick behind slowing down the shiny new OS.

Is Windows 7 different? i.e. can I do a direct upgrade from Vista and
will this be as "clean" performance-wise, as if I were to wipe out my
drive entirely (other than keeping my apps and registry settings, of
course)?

I am looking forward to W7 but I dread having to re-install everything
to extract the max possible performance of a newly released version of
Windows.

In your shoes, I would wait until it is released and folks start
reporting their experiences. Now, it would simply be conjecture.
 
B

+Bob+

What I do is to purchase a separate drive and install it that way.
That way you keep your old OS. Just unplug the old drive and connect the new
one and load the OS.

BTW there are forums for windows seven but no groups.

Agreed - either new drive or clean install. Otherwise when it sucks
you will not be able to make a clear determination why. Of course,
right now the answer will be "it sucks because it's beta ware", so do
another clean install later on the formal release to confirm it still
sucks.
 
L

Larc

On Thu, 29 Jan 2009 00:27:15 -0800, "scorpionleather"

| In so many past Windows operating systems I learned to do a clean install
| for best performance; to get rid of the remnants of the old OS that can
| stick behind slowing down the shiny new OS.
|
| Is Windows 7 different? i.e. can I do a direct upgrade from Vista and will
| this be as "clean" performance-wise, as if I were to wipe out my drive
| entirely (other than keeping my apps and registry settings, of course)?
|
| I am looking forward to W7 but I dread having to re-install everything to
| extract the max possible performance of a newly released version of Windows.

I suspect a clean install will always be better to get rid of any unseen
problems that could be lurking. You'd want to clean a house before moving all
new furniture in. The same thing applies to an OS drive, IMHO.

That said, Win 7 will install over Vista SP2. But it will even install over XP
in a way. I started my W7 Beta installation from within XP. Even though none
of the programs was retained, my overall non-program folder setup was. Folders
I had set up up on the C drive labeled Edit, Install, Icons, etc., were still
there complete with their contents after 7 installation on that drive.

Larc
 
L

Larc

| On Thu, 29 Jan 2009 00:27:15 -0800, "scorpionleather"
|
| | In so many past Windows operating systems I learned to do a clean install
| | for best performance; to get rid of the remnants of the old OS that can
| | stick behind slowing down the shiny new OS.
| |
| | Is Windows 7 different? i.e. can I do a direct upgrade from Vista and will
| | this be as "clean" performance-wise, as if I were to wipe out my drive
| | entirely (other than keeping my apps and registry settings, of course)?
| |
| | I am looking forward to W7 but I dread having to re-install everything to
| | extract the max possible performance of a newly released version of Windows.
|
| I suspect a clean install will always be better to get rid of any unseen
| problems that could be lurking. You'd want to clean a house before moving all
| new furniture in. The same thing applies to an OS drive, IMHO.
|
| That said, Win 7 will install over Vista SP2.

Oops! Typo. Make that Vista SP1. :blush:

Larc
 

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