Free Windows 7 Upgrade

Microsoft is offering Free windows 7 upgrade under the Windows 7 Upgrade Option Program.Under this program, licensed end users of selected Microsoft Windows Vista operating system editions can obtain an Upgrade license (the Upgrade) to the appropriate Windows 7 edition at reduced or no additional cost if the end user meets program qualifications.

Who are eligible for Free upgrade?

All Users who buy PCs pre-installed with the following editions of windows Vista, between June 26, 2009 to January 31, 2010 are eligible for a free Windows 7 upgrade:

• Windows Vista Home Premium (SP1 or SP2) – Eligible for upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium
• Windows Vista Business (SP1 or SP2) – Eligible for upgrade to Windows 7 Professional
• Windows Vista Ultimate (SP1 or SP2) – Eligible for upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate

PCs that are licensed for an eligible Windows Vista edition, which have been down-graded to Windows XP are also eligible for this Program. However, a clean installation of the upgrade media will be required unless you used recovery media to install the original Windows Vista edition pre-installed on the PC, in which case you can directly upgrade to Windows 7.

PC manufacturers may include a Microsoft free upgrade offer Form with computers distributed with qualifying Windows Vista editions, pre-installed on or after June 26, 2009. If your computer was pre-installed with Windows Vista Ultimate, Windows Vista Business, or Windows Vista Home Premium and it was distributed on or after June 26, 2009 but did not include the described Microsoft Offer Form, check with your computer manufacturer to see if your PC is part of the Upgrade Option Program. If so, you should follow the PC manufacturer’s directions for obtaining your Upgrade.

However, it is important to note that Not all PC manufacturers are participating in the Upgrade Option Program and a few participating PC manufacturers have constructed a unique method for receiving and fulfilling Windows 7 Upgrade requests.

It is also important to know the following conditions:

• The last date for qualifying end users to submit Upgrade media redemption orders (Offer forms) is February 28, 2010
• The Final Software Fulfillment Date / Program End Date is April 30, 2010.
• Microsoft will start shipping the upgrade media for qualifying end users’ on or after the Windows 7 General Availability Date – 22 October 2009.
• The upgrade is not available for Vista Home Basic, Vista Home Starter edition, and any Windows XP versions

Different upgrade media will be required by platform (32-bit or 64-bit) and territory-specific versions of Windows Vista. The Windows Vista product can only be upgraded to the associated Windows 7 edition mentioned above. For eg., Windows Vista Home Premium K edition can only be upgraded to Windows 7 Home Premium K edition.

However, for each eligible upgrade path, all available upgrade versions for a qualifying product (e.g., language-specific versions, territory-specific versions, 32-bit or 64-bit platform) will be supported. Upgrade media will be product edition and version-specific and will correspond to the qualifying product edition and version. For eg., a language version of the qualifying Windows Vista product can only be upgraded to the same language version of the Windows 7 upgrade software.

Recommended system requirements for Windows 7 Upgrade:

The following are the recommended system requirements to install Windows 7:

• 1 GHz 32-bit or 64-bit processor
• 1 GB of system memory
• 16 GB of available disk space
• Support for DirectX 9 graphics with 128 MB memory (to enable the Aero theme)
• DVD-R/W Drive
• Internet access

Know more about this program and how to order the upgrade software here.

If you are eligible under this program, enjoy a free Windows 7 upgrade !!!

Free Upgrades from Vista to Windows 7

According to TechARP.com, Microsoft Corporation will offer a program for Windows Vista PC owners who bought their copy of Vista after July 1, 2009 to upgrade their PC’s to Windows 7. The program is similar to the Windows Vista Upgrade program that allowed HP, Dell, Compaq, and other PC-makers to offer a free express upgrade to Vista from Windows XP back in 2006.

There are, of course, some requirements for the upgrades. You must use an eligible upgrade path:

Vista Version	7 Version
Windows Vista Home Premium	Windows 7 Home Premium
Windows Vista Business	Windows 7 Professional
Windows Vista Ultimate	Windows 7 Ultimate

Other Upgrade Requirements:

• You may only upgrade to a version in the same language as your Windows Vista version.
• You may not upgrade from one corresponding Vista version to a non-corresponding Seven version.
• OEM’s must ship only the correct upgrade products, no other upgrade paths besides the eligible paths will be allowed.

how-to-start-or-disable-services-in-windows-7

Have you installed the Windows 7? Are the overhead services running in your background slowing down your system? The rudimentary ideas suggest disabling the unused services in the background to revamp the speed. Now how do you do that in Windows 7. Well I have the hack.And most importantly I am going to share with you just that.

Here's what you need to do in order to Start or Disable a service.

Step 1

Get into the Control Panel. Look for the Administrative Tools icon. Then click on Services.
Alternately, you can open the Start Menu and Type in services.msc in the search line. Then Press Enter.

Step 2

In case you get a prompted click on continue in the UAC prompt. Again, for administrators approval you might have to provide the password.

Step 3

Right click on the service you have to start or disable. Click on Properties.

Now you can either disable or start a service with the steps below.

Step 4

To Disable a service

i) In the properties window click on the stop button. Wait for a few sec till the service stop.
ii) Go to the Startup type and click on the drop down menu. Select Disable.
iii) click on Apply button
iv) Finally click Ok

Step 5

To start a service

i) Get to the Startup type. Click on the drop down menu. Select Automatic or Manual. Click on Apply.
ii) Click on Start button below.
iv) Finally click Ok

In case the Start option is inactive (greyed out), restart the Computer. But before that, change the Startup type to Automatic and click Ok.

You may have to restart the computer to bring the changes into effect.

That's not all, disabling the services implies lowering your system's performance. In case you have disabled a wrong service and lost access to computer. Boot into the safe mode from the Advanced Boot Option and reset the settings.

how-windows-7-outshines-windows-xp-and-vista

We have always been up-to-date with Windows 7. After the disgusting experience with Windows Vista, the whole world has high hopes with the next and what looks to be a very promising version of Windows Operating Systems.

So if these articles weren't enough for you to keep up with, Here is an article by Thom Holwerda of OSnews about the Windows 7 Beta and its detailed discussion.

You can read this too if you wanna know how Windows 7 promises to be better