Vista: Clean Install or Upgrade

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titus12

Will it be better to install Vista over WinXP Home or do a clean Install?
Will Zone Labs have an update ready when Vista goes on sale?

Thank you;
David
 
That's always a judgment call. The prevailing view is that a "Fresh"
install is always purer/faster.... However, Windows Vista does use
a "Fresh" install method no matter what you choose. Vista is .Wim
based. No longer is the OS installed by bits-&-pieces ( singular files )
but installed as an Image - like Ghost or True Image. The upgrade
simply stores your files & programs and overlays them back into the
Vista instance on your machine. The level of success/performance
depends on how well your existing OS is maintained and whether or
not incompatible applications are removed before Vista is installed.
The tradeoff deciding which path to take is more of.
A. ) Don't want to re-setup applications, customize.... (Upgrade)
B.) Don't mind redoing everything ....(Fresh)

EITHER WAY - Image your existing setup before moving to Vista.
Vista is a one-way upgrade, there is NO rollback to the previous OS.
 
Another thing to consider: The Vista Upgrade only installs from Windows, so
anytime you need a complete reinstall of Vista, you must first reinstall XP.
No more 'sticking the XP disc in for verification' before install as before.
So, keep your XP media. If OEM, get a copy of XP from your system
manufacturer if you don't have 'restore' disks with OEM XP on it.

Otherwise, you will be stuck. Your hard drive copy of XP will be gone, with
no way to restore it and Vista won't install by itself.

IMO, your best option is to buy the retail version. It can be installed on
an empty disk.
 
titus12 said:
Will it be better to install Vista over WinXP Home or do a clean
Install?
Click to expand...


Updates have worked very well in recent versions of Windows, since they
replace almost everything.

I'm running Visata Ultimate here now, upgraded from Windows XP Professional,
with no problems at a ll.

Will Zone Labs have an update ready when Vista goes on sale?
Click to expand...


I haven't heard that they will, and since it's now only eight days until the
general release of Vista, my guess is that the answer is no.

But that's just a guess. You'll have to ask Zone Labs that question to be
sure
 
DandyDon said:
Another thing to consider: The Vista Upgrade only installs from
Windows, so anytime you need a complete reinstall of Vista, you must
first reinstall XP. No more 'sticking the XP disc in for
verification' before install as before. So, keep your XP media. If
OEM, get a copy of XP from your system manufacturer if you don't have
'restore' disks with OEM XP on it.
Otherwise, you will be stuck. Your hard drive copy of XP will be
gone, with no way to restore it and Vista won't install by itself.
Click to expand...


Note that whenever you do an upgrade from one version of Windows to another,
even before Vista, you were always required to keep the previous version.
Doing an upgrade ties that previous license to the new one.

IMO, your best option is to buy the retail version. It can be
installed on an empty disk.
Click to expand...


A clarification on the terminology here: what you mean is that "your best
option is to buy the *Full* retail version." The Upgrade version is also a
retail version.
 
DandyDon said:
Another thing to consider: The Vista Upgrade only installs from Windows, so
anytime you need a complete reinstall of Vista, you must first reinstall XP.
No more 'sticking the XP disc in for verification' before install as before.
So, keep your XP media. If OEM, get a copy of XP from your system
manufacturer if you don't have 'restore' disks with OEM XP on it.

Otherwise, you will be stuck. Your hard drive copy of XP will be gone, with
no way to restore it and Vista won't install by itself.

IMO, your best option is to buy the retail version. It can be installed on
an empty disk.
Click to expand...

Just when I was deluding myself into believing MS aren't such a bad
outfit after all (my winxp does run well), you drop this bombshell.
Personally I wouldn't dream of upgrading. If one day I need to purchase
a new machine I suppose it will come with it installed and I'll then
learn what I have that will no longer work.
Dave Cohen
 
Will it be better to install Vista over WinXP Home or do a clean Install?
Will Zone Labs have an update ready when Vista goes on sale?
Click to expand...

You should post to a Vista newsgroup. There are a while series of them.
 
You are confusing Upgrading with a Clean install from an Upgrade
version. Please read the following quote from:

http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/winvista_03.asp

Understanding your installation choices
How you acquire Windows Vista play a large part in any decision about
how you will actually install the operating system. At a high level, you
have the following basic choices:

Clean install. With this method, you boot the PC from the Windows Vista
install DVD, run interactive Setup, format the PC's hard drive, and
install Windows Vista as the only OS. This is probably the rarest way to
get Vista on a PC. You can use a "Full" or "Upgrade" retail version of
Windows Vista to perform a clean install, though you will need
"qualifying media"--typically a Windows XP or 2000 CD that proves you
qualify for the Upgrade version.

Upgrade. Here, you insert the install DVD from a "Full" or "Upgrade"
retail version of Windows Vista while running Windows XP and perform
what's called an in-place upgrade. The Setup process is similar to that
of a clean install, but most of your existing applications and all of
your data files will be available and working properly once the upgrade
is complete. Unfortunately, there are a number of qualifications to the
upgrade process in Windows Vista. First, you can only upgrade certain
versions of Windows XP to certain versions of Windows Vista. Here's a
chart that explains which XP versions can be upgraded:
 
Dave said:
Just when I was deluding myself into believing MS aren't such a bad
outfit after all (my winxp does run well), you drop this bombshell.
Personally I wouldn't dream of upgrading. If one day I need to purchase
a new machine I suppose it will come with it installed and I'll then
learn what I have that will no longer work.
Dave Cohen
Click to expand...

DandyDon is confused about Upgrading an installation VS Clean install of
an Upgrade version.
 
titus12 said:
Will it be better to install Vista over WinXP Home or do a clean Install?
Click to expand...

In any case you may wish to listen to the advice given to you by the
Vista Upgrade Advisor

Will Zone Labs have an update ready when Vista goes on sale?
Click to expand...

Probably.

Roy
 
ok this seemed clear until I saw this
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=930985
Click to expand...

For Vista questions you should post to one of the Vista newsgroups. In
particular the issue you are asking about has been discussed over and over
in microsoft.public.vista.general. I suggest you go there and look through
the messages for the information. There is new terminology for Vista.
Vista installs are of two types, a custom install and an in place upgrade.
And in some cases you can do either one from an upgrade version of Vista, in
other cases only the custom install is allowed.

The installation of Vista, whether it's the custom install or the in place
upgrade, is done differently that in XP. Vista is laid down as an image,
not a file by file copy. So even if the partition is not formatted prior to
the install, the Vista installation is still "clean" because it's an image.

Go to the Vista newsgroup and look through the messages there that discuss
the issue of Vista upgrades extensively. Don't post another question about
it there, it has been answered over and over. Just look through the
messages.

<snip>
 
The time stamp on that is January as opposed to November for Paul's
article. I stand corrected. Thanks for the update.
 
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