Users who have been faithful to Microsoft for a long time will remember how poorly Windows XP was received on its initial release. Those transitioning from Windows 98 found that a lot of their software and hardware was not 100% compatible with the new operating system. It ran much more slowly and used much more memory; users had absolutely no reason to migrate. However, with the release of Service Pack 2, XP finally became a much more secure and reliable operating system. Much in the same way, Vista was initially unable to exceed users’ expectations for increased performance. Just like its predecessor, it ran slowly and took up a vast amount of system resources during simple background processes.
Though it was considered a general disappointment at the time in comparison with XP, Vista made critical changes in operating system structure essential to supporting modern hardware standards. It introduced new driver architecture designed to move core functionality from the kernel (where any instability could bring down the whole system) to user space; a necessary development. Microsoft’s introduction of a standard 64-bit operating system was more than just a display of competition against Apple; it paved the way for new file allocation tables and lessened restrictions on available memory. Once vendors fixed their driver flaws and Microsoft squashed some underlying bugs, Vista morphed into an entirely workable operating system.
Windows 7 iso, its successor, is finally capable of taking advantage of the progress made by hardware and software vendors who supported Vista over the years. In many past cases where users once went out of their way to downgrade their computer’s operating system from Vista to XP, there is now newfound excitement in installing Windows 7. Most notably on netbooks and with a clean installation, the speed of this new operating system is surprising. Additionally, you can also upgrade your existing Windows installation; however, there is less reason to do so as performance gains are not as noticeable in this configuration.
Although it is possible to upgrade any Windows operating system to 7, the only ‘true’ upgrade is performed on Vista; in this scenario, all the users’ applications and files are kept in place with no extra work or application reinstallation required. However, when upgrading Windows XP, all files stored on disk are moved to a separate folder, so although applications will need reinstallation, personal data will still be accessible. Windows 7 has been incredibly well received and is generally thought of as being the operating system that Vista should have been. It has several new visual features that make us shocked we’ve ever lived without. It introduces several media libraries and exclusive Homegroup networking, so organizing and sharing music/pictures/video across family computers just got more accessible than ever.
There has never been a better time to make the switch to Windows 7. For one, speed is a major selling point on the new operating system. It’s faster than both Windows XP and Vista, and it’s a lot more stable. It has a vast amount of driver support right out of the box and is 100% compatible with any hardware that is compatible with Vista. However, the most critical benefit of Windows 7 is that of security. As far as that goes, Windows XP is an old operating system. It’s quite unlikely that Microsoft is going to spend any more time patching up and securing a deprecated operating system rather than focusing their efforts on bullet-proofing their new one.
Simply put, just by using Windows 7, one is taking a proactive step in staying protected from viruses and malicious internet threats. Even Apple users will also have a much safer, familiar, and enjoyable Windows experience on their Mac when using Bootcamp, Parallels, or VMware Fusion. The visual and accessibility features of Windows 7 alone may not be strong enough to compel an Apple user to switch to PC, but it doesn’t matter when both are available on the same platform. In general, anyone who has any reason at all to use Windows would benefit from this installation.
