Upgrading XP to 7?

[Jaymz9350]

Reload your xp. do a format and do a reload.
If you got the win7 route you will need a full version of win7. the upgrade version of win7 needs vista to upgrade.

You can upgrade XP to 7, you just can't do an in place upgrade, it has to do a fresh install. And I would recommend getting the OEM version anyways.

well i think the virus protection im getting now is Norton but im not positive, its the industrial(?) version for buisnesses and crap. i dont wanna change to 7 just because i have viruses id just like to have 7. but i guess ill just get the xp fixed for now and then get vista later. and i dont really care if i loose all my stuff on it

I wouldn't recommend going with Vista at this point, go with 7 when you get the chance.

 

[r1hatman]

I upgraded from XP to 7 with no issues, I never had vista. Just reformatted cause I didn't want it, it sux. If your going to go to all that trouble to reload XP, just put your stuff on a flash drive and get a copy of 7 and reformat your hard drive and get rid of all the junk viruses on it! Norton isn't that great either.

 

[mp3deviant721]

And why are you going to download Win7 from ThePirateBay? That stuff on there is illegal and yes some of it works. Some of it is just more viruses that you don't need more of. Or just put one of hundreds of flavors of Linux on your laptop. That should solve your virus problems. Plus Linux is free and upgrades are free. But if you decide to keep Windows you will want to look into anti-virus programs. I am with AllanD on this one, get AVG Free. That program is awesome. And run Google Chrome for your browser. Its fast, free, and secure. I used to be a hardcore Firefox user, but gave Chrome a chance and was hooked. I haven't looked back since. I also highly recommend Defraggler for disk defragmentation. That program is also another program that I use and love it.

 

[Bondo]

PirateBay is where we got that damn Systemguard2000 virus from on our other computer.

Im not going back there for anything.

 

[mp3deviant721]

PirateBay is where we got that damn Systemguard2000 virus from on our other computer.

Im not going back there for anything.

Exactly. If you don't want viruses, avoid stuff like that like the plague.

 

[cdawall]

Loading a new OS isn't necissarily going to aaffect a virus problem.

Might I suggest you go online, go to "cnet downloads"

Then click on "Most popular" which will be AVG.

Download the sample version and do the full install.

Once that is done run a full scan and it should get rid of your problem.

a new OS won't affect a virus problem.

a New OS won't help a badly "fragmented" drive.

a new OS won't help a drive that is too near it's total capacity.

There are two defragging programs I like and either is better than the built in defragger
(which I'm almost willing to bet money you don't know how to find

Defraggler and "Smart Degfragger"

Both are available on cnet

Another one to get is one called "cc cleaner" that'll clean out your outdated registry files and all those pesky internet files that windows never gets rid of
(every picture you've ever seen on your computer is saved in those temp files!)

all that crap slows you down.

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A good chunk of this incorrect to start off installing windows 7 onto a previously windows xp system will always cure a virus issue this is because you cannot simply use the upgrade function like xp to vista or vista to windows 7 you are required to do a format and install. This will also fix the fragmentation issues on the system as a full format erases the tables etc. This will give the user a fragmentation free drive. With the new install cc cleaner will not e needed personally I find programs like that as a waste of time and bandwidth half of the thing cc cleaner does is built into the windows command "msconfig" you are correct that if a drive is full an os upgrade won't help but I am confused what it has to do with anything posted in here...

Now as for the I have avg and never got a virus that's like saying I have never been in a car accident so I don't need insurance. You get what you pay for avg, avast and the other free antivirus programs do prevent some virus's they are however not very good and miss more than they catch good pay for antivirus programs are kaspersky, nod32, and trend micro pro. I personally use none of those I instead have no av protection since I know how to avoid them. Ie don't open bogus emails don't click popups and use care when downloading. The last virus I had ran under the name of mcaffee and that was even paid for :/

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

A good chunk of this incorrect to start off installing windows 7 onto a previously windows xp system will always cure a virus issue this is because you cannot simply use the upgrade function like xp to vista or vista to windows 7 you are required to do a format and install. This will also fix the fragmentation issues on the system as a full format erases the tables etc. This will give the user a fragmentation free drive. With the new install cc cleaner will not e needed personally I find programs like that as a waste of time and bandwidth half of the thing cc cleaner does is built into the windows command "msconfig" you are correct that if a drive is full an os upgrade won't help but I am confused what it has to do with anything posted in here...

Now as for the I have avg and never got a virus that's like saying I have never been in a car accident so I don't need insurance. You get what you pay for avg, avast and the other free antivirus programs do prevent some virus's they are however not very good and miss more than they catch good pay for antivirus programs are kaspersky, nod32, and trend micro pro. I personally use none of those I instead have no av protection since I know how to avoid them. Ie don't open bogus emails don't click popups and use care when downloading. The last virus I had ran under the name of mcaffee and that was even paid for :/

For those not computer savvy C[rap]Cleaner is a godsend. Keeps my 'puter running quick. I liked AVG but it got bloated/slower, then I went to avast. It seemed to work quicker. Now my ISP provides my av ,free, which is [I think] kapersky. Last I checked, about 2 yrs ago, kapersky was rated lower than both free av's, by a couple %. Agree on McAfee/Norton.
Richard

 

[Ranger Kip]

Avoid Vista, get 7, if you have vista and want an upgrade, but have no $$, get XP, they call it a downgrade only because vista looks like 7, and XP doesn't

 

[cdawall]

For those not computer savvy C[rap]Cleaner is a godsend. Keeps my 'puter running quick. I liked AVG but it got bloated/slower, then I went to avast. It seemed to work quicker. Now my ISP provides my av ,free, which is [I think] kapersky. Last I checked, about 2 yrs ago, kapersky was rated lower than both free av's, by a couple %. Agree on McAfee/Norton.
Richard

Kaspersky is rated highest as of last time I checked which was 8 months ago.

 

[mjonesjr]

Kaspersky is the best rated anti-virus program for Windows 7 with AVG and Norton closely behind.

CA was rated the worst for Windows 7.

Microsoft has came up with their own anti-virus program, Security Essentials, that is free. I am running it currently on my home PC with Windows 7 Ultimate and it works good. http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/

 

[cdawall]

Kaspersky is the best rated anti-virus program for Windows 7 with AVG and Norton closely behind.

CA was rated the worst for Windows 7.

Microsoft has came up with their own anti-virus program, Security Essentials, that is free. I am running it currently on my home PC with Windows 7 Ultimate and it works good. http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/

That's avg pro not avg free that is being rated though.

 

[mjonesjr]

The free version of AVG is the same software as the Pro version, just scaled back a bit.

 

[cdawall]

The free version of AVG is the same software as the Pro version, just scaled back a bit.

The scanners within them are not the same were I used to work I have used all of the different av programs.

 

[Peregrine]

Well, I've never had a computer virus and all I've ever used is AVG
(the free version) for Anti-Virus backed up by BOTH Ad-Aware
and "Spybot - Search & Destroy" to deal with "Malware" & "advertising trackers"

I wonder why anyone would say anything bad about AVG unless they are pushing something else....

I can say a few bad things about AVG myself, but it's more situational. Upgraded my sister's system to xp from 2000 and of course that version of AVG wouldn't run on the XP system. The xp version would not upgrade because it kept wanting to run the 2000 version to uninstall which would not run because of the version incompatibility. Other similar problems have cropped up. So there is my bias.

Spybot has some issues with protecting you from cookies, including some you want to use and can be a pain, but I still kinda like it.

As for my preference for an AV program, Microsoft Security Essentials. It's free, fairly fast, fairly lightweight in resources and the current installation footprint for me is 14mb.

As someone stated earlier, just upgrading your OS and software is not going to fix underlying problems. THink of it as spraying a nice paint job over rusty metal. It might look nice, but the problem is still going to be there eating away at the core until it's fixed.

What I would suggest with my 30 odd years as a programmer is:

1) Backup all your personal information. Get yourself a 4gb usb thumb drive and copy your assorted stuff there. A thumb drive is generally cheap and works well to backup your personal information. With an 80gb drive, usually a user only uses about 5-10% of the space for "irreplaceable" files. So 1 or 2 of those 4gb thumb drives should cover you. Check Staples or one of the various office supply stores weekly ads o find a good price.

2) Once you've backed up all your files, make SURE you've backed them up.

3) Using a system restore disc, do the system restore to wipe your machine back to factory condition.

4) Now, from the estimation of your machine, you will get *best* performance from windows xp. However, windows 7 will be a nice upgrade if you can score yourself a copy, either through school or other means. Do not go for a pirated version. I've used them on occasion when I was younger and less able to get the latest and greatest and the hassle and risks of someone planting a rootkit or virus into the pirated version is getting greater all the time and really not worth it if you can at all help it. Stick with legit.

5) The first thing you need to do after restoring is to go into the control panel and then add/remove programs and look through the list of pre-installed applications and making sure that it is not something you use (or is required for functionality such as audio software, trackpad software, ect) uninstall everything you do not use.

6) Once you've done that, your machine should be working faster than you've ever seen it run. Now, if you go the Windows 7 route, it's fairly self-explainatory to install and you will be at a good point to pick yourself up an external backup drive and make a backup so if you need to do this in the future, you're at a good starting point.

7) Install your AV program of choice. Plenty of free options such as Microsoft Sercurity Essentials, AVG, CLAM, and others. You can also pick up a copy of Norton Antivirus for fairly cheap from the office supply chains.

8) Once you've installed the anti-virus and any assorted updates needed by the operating system, you are ready to copy your files from the thumb drive back to your main machine and resume your computing life.

At least, that is my take on the best course of action.

 

[AllanD]

The other thing is that installing a new OS is preetty much going to rrash whet you've already got...

I've received computers that someone retired because of "virus problems"
when all that was wrong is they had NEVER
1)Defragged the HDD
2)Cleaned out the old registry files
3)run "Disc cleanup" (This is native)
4)cleaned out the old "system restore" files

I just did all that to my "new" notebook computer
and got the boot drive from 41gb down to 22gb.

19gb of "junk"

a drive that is 75% empty space that had 80% file fragmentation it was a real mess....


Not, any more.

I've come to believe that a 2year old computer is like a car with 200,000 miles on it
but if it were a car all the oil drain oil all the bad parts and old tires along with the wrappers from every meal eaten in the car is still in the back seat...

a little interaction with a garbage pail makes a huge difference.

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