After a lot of reading from techies that Windows 7 was the next XP in being liked, I decided a clean install (and NOT an upgrade) was the best and safest (I got a great deal on Windows 7 Home Premium from Walmart, so shop around)
Next, I decided I would install Windows 7 in a separate partition, so I created a new partition, amazingly simple with a M$ product
The install went like clockwork, and now I have both Vista and Windows 7 to choose from—which on restart or reboot automatically allows me to pick—NO heavy programming, Windows simply knows to do this
Next, to reinstall most of my programs I used Ninite
I didn’t mind reinstalling Office 2007, because, frankly, it was getting lazy and worn with all my experiencing in practicing for my MCAS tests and trying out stuff I see in blogs
The difficult part I am finding is getting all my data moved over or around to use with programs now in Windows 7, so this suggestion if you are planning on making the move, consider data location for your favorite programs
For example, M$ uses some strange file extensions and largely hidden (Outlook and Money), so a lot of digging is involved
I know looking back I could be doing this better, but I am too far along to try something different
I am less and less rebooting into Vista, so when I find I no longer go into Vista, I plan on deleting Vista and my data on C drive
Bottom line: Windows 7 is definitely an XP replacement
It reboots fast, and I mean fast contrasted to Vista, which you will quickly learn to dislike with Windows 7 available
And so far not one crash or lockup/lockdown!
Should you switch? Yea -- M$ got it right