[bustermoves]

got that pleasent little note from microsoft,didnt pass genuine validation,but am so cofoozed at what to buy.home,profesional,ultimate...32 bit 64 bit,full or upgrade?what i would like to do is wipe the disk,and do a clean install.have looked at a couple of tools to wipe the disk,but not to sure how they work.also have considered just buying another hard drive.ahhh,what to do!!!!any suggestions???

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I'm actually not very familiar with a lot of the differences between home/ultimate/etc. I always just get the more professional ones because they seem to have the fewest limitations on them - designed for a power user. If you just use your computer as an everyday computer like most people, the home edition would likely be fine for you, and cheapest.

32-bit vs 64-bit: The first thing you need to check is if your system is capable of running at 64-bit. I'm pretty certain all of the i3, i5 & i7 CPU's are capable (But i'm not 100%, you should still check), and most of the Core2's as well. A few of the older Pentium's, like my Pentium D 945 can also run 64-bit. The safest bet is to find out what you have, and search to see if it's compatible.

But should you get a 64-bit Operating System if you're able to run it? A lot of 'power user' type PC users opt for 64-bit, because generally it is faster, especially with programs optimized for it (Which we are seeing more and more of now). But for just your normal PC user, 32-bit is probably still the best choice. Most programs are 32-bit at default, and if they have a 64-bit version, you'll have to go out of your way to select THAT one. 32-bit programs still run on 64-bit Systems, but with no performance gain, and some say even slightly slower. One thing that can also be an issue is if you have older peripherals (mouse, keyboard, printer, etc). Some of these will not have 64-bit drivers available (But again, we're seeing more and more of these around).

If you're not a computer enthusiast, 32-bit is probably the much simpler choice.

Finally, full program or upgrade?

As you said, you would like to do a clean install, so the full version is really your best bet (Unless you want to go to the trouble of installing an older 'full' Operating System and upgrading that, which I would avoid if possible. Personally I feel it always results in a more sluggish machine.) I suggest getting a full retail edition.

You said you'd looked into programs that can wipe your drive, but they aren't necessary. If you put in your Windows 7 install disc and boot from it (set your boot sequence in your BIOS so that it attempts to boot from the dvd drive before the hard drive), you will be able to do all of that sort of stuff. Create/delete partitions. Extend/shrink them (I think), and format them.

I hope that answers some problems, and I didn't get anything wrong It's been a while since I thought about this stuff.

-Seltox

[Seltox]

I'm actually not very familiar with a lot of the differences between home/ultimate/etc. I always just get the more professional ones because they seem to have the fewest limitations on them - designed for a power user. If you just use your computer as an everyday computer like most people, the home edition would likely be fine for you, and cheapest.

32-bit vs 64-bit: The first thing you need to check is if your system is capable of running at 64-bit. I'm pretty certain all of the i3, i5 & i7 CPU's are capable (But i'm not 100%, you should still check), and most of the Core2's as well. A few of the older Pentium's, like my Pentium D 945 can also run 64-bit. The safest bet is to find out what you have, and search to see if it's compatible.

But should you get a 64-bit Operating System if you're able to run it? A lot of 'power user' type PC users opt for 64-bit, because generally it is faster, especially with programs optimized for it (Which we are seeing more and more of now). But for just your normal PC user, 32-bit is probably still the best choice. Most programs are 32-bit at default, and if they have a 64-bit version, you'll have to go out of your way to select THAT one. 32-bit programs still run on 64-bit Systems, but with no performance gain, and some say even slightly slower. One thing that can also be an issue is if you have older peripherals (mouse, keyboard, printer, etc). Some of these will not have 64-bit drivers available (But again, we're seeing more and more of these around).

If you're not a computer enthusiast, 32-bit is probably the much simpler choice.

Finally, full program or upgrade?

As you said, you would like to do a clean install, so the full version is really your best bet (Unless you want to go to the trouble of installing an older 'full' Operating System and upgrading that, which I would avoid if possible. Personally I feel it always results in a more sluggish machine.) I suggest getting a full retail edition.

You said you'd looked into programs that can wipe your drive, but they aren't necessary. If you put in your Windows 7 install disc and boot from it (set your boot sequence in your BIOS so that it attempts to boot from the dvd drive before the hard drive), you will be able to do all of that sort of stuff. Create/delete partitions. Extend/shrink them (I think), and format them.

I hope that answers some problems, and I didn't get anything wrong It's been a while since I thought about this stuff.

-Seltox

[bustermoves]

its getting clearer.talked to my brother last night,he said that 7 more ore less puts all the xp files into there own file,thats accessable thru 7.i think i can get by,with just the upgrade,have to do a little more research on that.i have an amd phenom processor and plenty of ram,so i do belive ill go 64 bit.thanks for your input

[bustermoves]

well,my upgrade to7 pro is complete.the biggest problem i had was just getting it to start installing.after an hour or so,decided to look at the bios,changed it to boot from cd rom 1st.,then it finally decided to install.guess i spent about 9 hours or so installing and reloading programs.so far so good.anyone know of a firewall that works with 64 bit 7,other than windows firewall.