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Upgrade questions. Not finding answers

cmendla

6:56 pm on Mar 25, 2014 (gmt 0)

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I think the XP end of life is going to be more of a pain than I thought.. I support a number of XP machines for clients. Many of them don't want to purchase new machines but want to upgrade.

I've been searching around and can't seem to find a clear source for an upgrade package for windows xp to 7 32/64. I am online with a major supplier now and they just told me that you can get win 7 as a downgrade IF you buy 5 licenses.

I really believe it would be more cost efficient for people to purchase a new machine. However, i'm not sure how many will do that given the current economy.

Questions:

1. How bad do you think the XP EOL will be? I was someone who ended up with a lot of rice and pasta dinners after Y2K fizzled (but I don't regret being ready)

2. Does anyone know if you can purchase a single win xp to win 7 32 or 64 license?

3. My PERCEPTION is that older machines might run better on Windows 7 vice 8. However, I'm not sure that is really true. I'd appreciate any opinions.

thanks

chris

mack

4:58 pm on Mar 26, 2014 (gmt 0)

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A lot of XP machines will be capable of running Windows 7. It all comes down to the specification of the target machine. I have seen Windows 7 running on an AMD Athlon 3000+ with only 1.5 Gig of ran. It wasn't fast, but it was certainly usable.

There are two issues you need to overcome. The first will be software compatability. Will all your clients software run on Windows 7.

The 2nd is training. The step between XP and 7 is not great, but it may take a while to get users to carry out tasks in the correct way, if they have been used to doing things differently.

I would ditch the opgrade options to be honest, and work towards clean installs of Win 7 then migrade tools, docs and software over.

Mack.

bill

8:08 am on Mar 28, 2014 (gmt 0)

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I agree with mack about the upgrades. Migrating from XP always caused huge issues in my experience. A clean install of the new OS would be preferable if you decide to go that route.

1. How bad do you think the XP EOL will be?

You can handle it I'd think. It's not as bad as the tech press makes it out to be if you take some simple precautions.

Get rid of Flash, Java and install another browser other than IE, and make that the default. (Consider getting rid of Office as well.)

Get a good 3rd party AV/Malware package that will continue support of XP.

Don't run as Administrator!

tangor

7:00 pm on Mar 28, 2014 (gmt 0)

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Ask your clients how critical are their internet facing systems. For those I'd suggest at least Win7. All other XP systems run behind a non-internet firewall and will continue to operate fine for years to come... just will not get any new updates after EOL.

bill is on target with taking precautions with XP after EOL. I fully intended to keep two XP laptops and three XP machines online with no desire to upgrade to Win7 (hardware capability issues). These machines have been locked down with strong AV and user-access protections.

Some retail computer outlets still have single license OEM Win7 install disks, reasonably priced. Multiple license disks can be found as well... however, not all XP machines can accommodate the Win7 specs, so check MS site for the test tool to determine if the hardware is up to task.

engine

7:18 pm on Mar 28, 2014 (gmt 0)

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I'm wrestling with this myself. I have several machines that work just fine on XP.

It's the security issues that bother me most, and that might drive me to invest in all the new software. The UI is n't a problem because i'm used to XP through to 8.1, but for many the switch can be painful. I know how painful; my friends are expecting me to provide the free support.

There's some good tips above for locking down the XP machine, too.