Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor: Buy a New PC so You Can Have Windows 7
Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor will let you know if you can upgrade your operating system to Windows 7. Upgrade Advisor is useless if you are running Windows 2000 or earlier versions.Your computer is probably so old that Linux will be the only good choice of upgrade for you if you want to have a decent Internet browsing experience. If you are running Windows XP on a 3-year-or-older PC, then you might wanna avoid the question of Windows 7 upgrade altogether. Post-XP Windows versions are so resource consuming that pre-dual-core processors are not going to be able to handle it!
Now lets consider two scenarios: 1) if you’re using Windows XP and run a strong multi-core PC, 2) If you use Vista with a multi-core PC. In these two scenarios, Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor will most probably tell you that you can switch to Windows 7. Why? Because all it does is to check if your system has the minimum requirements or not. If it has, then the Upgrade Advisor will ‘advise you’ to go for an upgrade. The point with this article is to do the analysis that Windows 7 upgrade Advisor will most probably not do for the above scenarios. Let’s now take a look at these scenarios.
Windows XP
If you are in this category, chances are that you 1) didn’t switch to Vista because you couldn’t gain anything from it or 2) that the software you were using weren’t compatible. If you are in the first category, you might forget about Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor because you are going to ask yourself the same question again: what is the real gain with Windows 7? And guess what: the answer is going to be the same than for Vista. Now, if you stick to Windows XP because of software compatibility, then the problem is not really solved. You’ll need Windows XP mode which is a Virtual PC solution that is going to slow you down, especially if you are using a high-end 3D graphic design software. And when it comes to gaming, this Virtual PC patch is not going to do you any good. My advice: Stay with XP.
Windows Vista
I don’t know why you did this move, but you did it: you are using Vista. It’s ok, every body makes mistakes. I have actually made the mistake and I’m really regretting it. What kills me is Vista’s memory cashing management. The idea behind this concept is that unused memory should be avoided at any cost. To make things more ‘efficient’, Vista used a ’super-intelligent’ algorithm that ‘understands’ which application you are going to use (single quotes indicate sarcasm). Everything works just fine until you do something wrong, i.e. using something the algorithm thought you didn’t want to use! All of a sudden, system gets slow because of a lot of dumping on hard-drive.
This problem is ’solved’ in Windows 7 with a brilliant idea: leaving some memory unused in case the algorithm makes mistakes! (of course, Microsoft shows great humility by admitting that it’s algorithm can’t fully read the user’s mind) While this ‘ingenious’ improvement is going to decrease the number of times your system goes into dumping mode, it is not going to completely solve the problem because there will always be some unnecessary cached memory that will have to be freed (and thus dumped on HD) to have it used for something else. Still, my advice is to switch to Windows 7 because you’ll be going for a lesser evil. Of course, you have all the right in the world to curse against Microsoft for taxing you like this.
Conclusion
The point with this article is to question the reflex to automatically upgrade to the next version of Windows. For me, paying for a new version of Windows is like getting a second mortgage on your house every time you paint it. If it’s still the same house with the same foundation and everything, then why do you have to refinance when only new paint is applied? Your reflex will be to pay for the new paint only, right?
What kills me is that with every release of Windows, we need to have an upgrade of the hardware also. Again, with the house analogy, it’s like changing the foundation every time you want to change room color. How many radical novelties that really need stronger computing platform has Windows introduced since Windows XP? None!
The proof of this allegation lies in Linux operating system. You can perform the same tasks that you can do on Windows, only you don’t need a high end PC. How is that possible?