# windows 7



## Maximus152 (17 Feb 2010)

Hi all,
my brother has windows 7 on a new my pc, he has all the back up disc's that come with a new pc. Question, can I use his disc's of windows 7 and put them on my own pc (I have windows xp) as I think windows 7 is much faster. Any info appreciated.


Rgds
Maximus


----------



## PaddyBloggit (17 Feb 2010)

If it's on your pc already why do you need it on your pc again?


----------



## j26 (17 Feb 2010)

'Tis a violation of the licence agreement to do that, so no.

The other more practical difficulty is that the backup disks that came with the pc are OEM (original Equipment Manufacturer) licences, and will probably only load on that computer.

My understanding of the law in Europe is that it only allows an OEM licence to be installed on one computer at a time, so I believe you can buy an OEM licence in places like http://www.newegg.com and install it on your computer.  However, I could be wrong, so check it out before you go down that route.

Edit:  On a side note I've just bought a Windows 7 laptop - very impressed so far, and that's coming from a mac user.


----------



## Maximus152 (17 Feb 2010)

No its not, I have windows xp, he has windows 7.... I want to use his back up disc's to upload windows 7 if that is possible.


----------



## Maximus152 (17 Feb 2010)

J26, thank you kindly! make's sense, just was not sure...well explained.


----------



## mathepac (17 Feb 2010)

j26 said:


> ... Edit:  On a side note I've just bought a Windows 7 laptop - very impressed so far, and that's coming from a mac user.


MS plagiarism is improving, the dock etc look quite good in their re-implementation


----------



## joanmul (18 Feb 2010)

I had windows xp and my son uploaded Windows 7 on to mine, no problem.


----------



## huskerdu (18 Feb 2010)

joanmul said:


> I had windows xp and my son uploaded Windows 7 on to mine, no problem.




You don't make clear where your son got the Windows 7 installation for you.
If you or he bought it for your computer then of course you can install it.

The OP wants to know if they can steal Windows 7, by using someone else's disks. 

I don't know if the back-up disks can be loaded up successfully to another computer, and AAM does not condone stealing, so I doubt if the OP will get a reply explaining how to to it.


----------



## Hobbs256 (18 Feb 2010)

Does Windows 7 not have product activation?


----------



## paddyc (19 Feb 2010)

The OP wants to know "can you" which the answer is more that likely Yes. I'm not going to get into the whole "should you" or is it legal etc etc - I'm just saying its technicaly it should work, however with licencing validation software that MS have it may get detected down the line and stop working.


----------



## addob (19 Feb 2010)

ignoring the stealing part for the moment, if the op and her son have two different makes or models then the drivers could be completely differnet causing conflicts, blue screen etcs!!!!


----------



## nmesisca (19 Feb 2010)

mathepac said:


> MS plagiarism is improving, the dock etc look quite good in their re-implementation



go get an iPad


----------



## mathepac (19 Feb 2010)

nmesisca said:


> go get an iPad


Sorry, I don't understand.


----------



## paddyc (19 Feb 2010)

addob said:


> ignoring the stealing part for the moment, if the op and her son have two different makes or models then the drivers could be completely differnet causing conflicts, blue screen etcs!!!!


 

I have a friend who got a windows7 disk from medion and installed it on a Dell desktop without any problems - the machine hasn't been put online yet to pull down updates and see if any licencing issues come up, my friend hasn't gotten around to it yet.

Windows typically has most drivers or devices will work with generic drivers so doubt there would be any issues there.


----------



## addob (19 Feb 2010)

> I have a friend who got a windows7 disk from medion and installed it on a  Dell desktop without any problems - the machine hasn't been put online  yet to pull down updates and see if any licencing issues come up, my  friend hasn't gotten around to it yet.
> 
> Windows typically has most drivers or devices will work with generic  drivers so doubt there would be any issues there.



this sometimes is correct but the op said their brother has backup disks some manufacturers such as advent or toshiba put specific make and model drivers on their disks


----------



## wanderer (1 Mar 2010)

OP: If you have windows XP already on your own PC & you have a license for it e.g. you have a Windows XP license code sticker at the side of your PC or under your laptop then you can upgrade to Windows 7 by purchasing an UPGRADE license from Microsoft. Currently this is £99.99 for Windows 7 Home edition.

You can install Windows 7 in evauation mode for 1 month (approx) after which you will need to provide a valid product key.

If you are installing and are using someone elses license key then this is not allowed and you are in violation of Microsofts license terms.


----------



## tomvpowell (2 Mar 2010)

Also, make sure your computer can handle windows 7!


----------



## Windows7Guy (4 Mar 2010)

Hello Maximus152.
You can visit the official Microsoft Upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7 site here: windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/help/upgrading-from-windows-xp-to-windows-7
There are some nice videos tutorials and steps to take when migrating from Windows XP to Windows 7. And yes it is true you cannot directly upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7 you can take some steps to ensure a smooth process.
Thanks again and good luck!
John M.
Microsoft Windows Client Support


----------



## Ash (6 Mar 2010)

Not very familiar with the tech side of computers but what's the story about junking Vista off a Celeron powered desktop and replacing it with Windows 7?

Is Windows 7 easier to run than Vista? 

The desktop has always run very slowly.  Not sure if this is a Celeron problem or a Vista problem, a joint problem or what.

If as Wanderer said above, it would cost €99 to UPGRADE to Windows 7, can anyone suggest whether the performance would improve and be worth the money?


----------



## wanderer (9 Mar 2010)

Hi Ash,

Corection in my post above, the upgrade cost is £99 which works out to approx. €112.

In my experience Win7 tends to run much better than Vista. In both instances however i would suggest at least 3GB of RAM (and preferably 4GB).

However you will probably have to weigh up the cost of the new RAM + Win7 upgrade cost as opposed to the cost of a new PC.

The memory configurator on crucial.com/eu will give you an indication of what memory options are available for your PC and the cost.

Why not install a trial version of Win7 to check if it makes an improvement. The setup time compared to XP for example is minimal.


----------



## Maximus152 (13 Mar 2010)

Thanks windows guy and all other posts. I have the picture now.

Maximus


----------



## Guest125 (14 Mar 2010)

I don't think w7 is as big a memory hog as vista was. I have it as a dual boot on a Dell dimension 3000 with 2 gig ram(the maximum allowed by the m/board) and its like lightning. I also tried it on my acer one which had linux originally,512 mb ram 7gb ssd. It ran ok but when I installed an av did updates etc. the ssd was very tight on space which slowed it down eventually.According to its task manager memory never seemed to be an issue,there was always plenty of ram free at any given moment.


----------

