Window 7 Installing and Upgrading

Installing and upgrading Windows 7

People and organizations keep on upgrading to the latest operating system for a fast working environment. Microsoft has reached one more milestone in the range of its previous operating systems. Yes, this new milestone is Windows 7. Windows 7 is a client operating system. Windows 7 offers innovative technologies that improve performance, reliability, security, and compatibility. Windows 7 also offers new capabilities that help organizations to improve user productivity, enhance security, and reduce operating costs. With the increasing use of Internet, people want to have faster and secure access to the data. Windows 7 includes many tools to manage the information. Windows 7 is well equipped with firewall, users accounts and data encryption security methods. In addition, Windows 7 provides you with better booting options as well as better system recovery options. Installation of Windows 7 is a simple process that can be done either by booting from a DVD-ROM, USB storage device or by running Setup.exe. Upgrading to Windows 7 from its earlier version is possible without losing the user data and applications, which were present on the earlier operating system. You can upgrade your Windows 7 from one edition to another without doing all installation procedure. This intra edition upgrade is cheaper than purchasing a new brand operating system.

Windows 7 Editions

Windows 7 operating system is available in six different editions. Different editions provide different usage scenarios. Cheaper editions of Windows 7 provide lesser number of features than expensive one. For example if you want to purchase a PC for your home, then you can prefer Home Basic edition of Windows 7. You can decide which editions of Windows 7 should be purchased to meet the needs of your organization or home.

The six editions of Windows 7

Windows 7 Starter

Home Basic

Home Premium

Professional

Enterprise

Ultimate

Windows 7 Starter

Starter edition of Windows 7 supports less number of features. It supports x32 bit architecture and supports maximum of one physical processor. This edition does not provide several features such as Windows Aero user interface, DVD play back, Windows Media Center and Internet connection sharing. Advanced features such as Encrypting File system (EFS), AppLocker Direct Access, Remote Desktop, Bit Locker and Branch Cache are also not available in Windows 7 starter edition. Starter does not support x64 bit architecture. You cannot connect a computer running on Windows 7 starter edition to a domain network.

Windows 7 Home Basic

Home Basic supports x64 architecture and supports a maximum of 8GB RAM and the X86 version of Home Basic Windows 7 supports 4GB RAM. Like Windows 7 Starter, Home Basic edition also includes maximum of one physical processor. You cannot make your computer a member of domain using Home Basic edition.

Icon Home Basic edition of Windows 7 also does not provide several features such as Windows Aero user interface, DVD play back, Windows Media Center, Internet connection sharing, Encrypting File system (EFS), AppLocker, Direct Access, Remote Desktop, and Branch Cache.

Home Basic editions of Windows 7 are available only in emerging markets such as Brazil, China, India, Pakistan, and more. It is not available in developed countries such as Western and Central Europe, Saudi Arabia, North America etc.

Windows 7 Home Premium

Unlike Starter and Home Basic edition, Home Premium edition includes Windows Aero user interface, DVD play back, Windows Media Center, Internet connection sharing, touch screen controls and IIS web server. It does not support enterprise features such as Encrypting File System (EFS), AppLocker, Direct Access, Remote access, Bit Locker and Branch Cache. The x64 version of Home Premium supports 16GB RAM. It supports maximum of two physical processors. You cannot make your computer a member of domain using Windows 7 Home Premium.

Windows 7 Professional

It offers all the features that are available in Windows Home Premium. In addition to that it supports EFS and Remote Desktop features as well. Windows 7 Professional edition does not support enterprise features such as AppLocker, Direct Access, Bit Locker and Branch Cache. Like Home Premium edition, Professional edition of Windows 7 supports up to two physical processors. You can make Windows 7 Home Premium a member of a domain.

Windows 7 Enterprise

It support all the features that are available in all other editions and in addition to that it provides all the enterprise features such as EFS, remote desktop, Bit Locker, Branch Cache and Boot from VHD. Enterprise edition of Windows 7 is available only to Microsoft's volume licensing customers. A volume license will provide a single key that may be used multiple times up to the quantity ordered. Example: If you purchase 5 Volume licenses you will receive one key that can be used on 5 different computers.

Windows 7 Ultimate

Windows 7 Ultimate edition also provides all the features available in the Enterprise editions. Ultimate edition is available from retailers or on new computers installed by manufacturer. You can upgrade Home Premium and Professional edition to Ultimate using Windows anytime upgrade

Note:

Windows anytime upgrade is a method provided by Microsoft to upgrade an edition of Windows 7 or Vista to other edition of same operating system.

Minimum Hardware requirement to install Windows 7 starter and Windows 7 Home Basic editions are given below:

1GHz 32bit (x86) or 64 bit(x64) processor

512 MB of system memory

16 GB free space in hard disk drive for 32 bit processor 20GB free space in hard disk drive for 64 bit processor.

A Graphic Adapter which supports Direct X9 graphics and 32MB of graphic memory.

Minimum hardware requirement for Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate editions of Windows 7 are following.

1GHz 32bit(x86) or 64 bit (x64) processor.

1GB of system memory

A 40 GB hard disk drive with at least 15 GB of free space

A graphic Adapter which supports Direct X9 graphics, has a Windows display driver model driver, Pixel Shader 2.0 hardware, and 32 bits per pixel and a minimum of 128 MB graphics memory