Windows 7 Tip: Upgrade, Bad! Fresh Install, Good!

Just a quick tip for all of you out there about installing Windows 7 on existing machines with older versions of Windows. Don’t do it. I have found that I run into compatability problems and anomalyous behavior doing an upgrade. I just got my new quad processor Lenovo IdeaCentre K230 desktop and was having problems with windows resizing after sleep and games not playing. I took a chance and blew away the system and installed Windows 7 fresh. No problems since.

I just wanted to pass this tip along to my readers in the hopes it will save you some serious grief. Windows 7 is such a huge improvement, don’t cheat yourself of the benefits by doing an upgrade. I realize upgrades should work, but in over 20 years of working with desktop systems, my experience has been that it rarely goes well.

So, to repeat: Back up. Blow up. Install Fresh. Be happy!