Windows 7 Upgrade & Virtual XP Support Advisor

When people listen about the upcoming Operating System i.e. Windows 7 from Microsoft. Their first question is whether this OS will support their machine or not? They have a lot of question about driver support and many related to this.

But the answer in simple words is, if your Machine can run Windows Vista, it can run Windows 7. As shown on the Microsoft E7 blog, Windows XP users are required to do a clean install of the Windows 7 RC as well as the final product. Only PCs with Windows Vista can be upgraded to Windows 7.

But why not check out full compatibility issues on own for your peace of before installing new you can just and run the simple tool Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor Beta. Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor examines a machine’s processor, memory, storage, and graphics capabilities, identifies known compatibility issues with installed software and devices and finally provides guidance on how to resolve those issues if possible.

But Before you run the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor beta, be sure to plug in any USB devices or other devices such as printers, external hard drives, or scanners that are regularly used with the PC you're evaluating.

Download it from here: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=150737

You can run this tool on Windows Vista; Windows XP Service Pack 2.

Further, If you're curious whether your processor will support XP Mode in Windows 7 or not, SecurAble is a simple freeware application you can use to find out.

SecurAble is a tiny app from Steve Gibson of the SpinRite fame. When you run the standalone app, it returns information about three features on modern processors: Maximum Bit Length (32-bit or 64-bit), Hardware D.E.P (provides protection against malicious code), and Hardware Virtualization (optimized processor instructions for virtual machines).

If you get a big green Yes in the third slot, your processor supports Hardware Virtualization. If you meet the other requirements—1Ghz processor, 1.25GB of RAM, and 15GB of disk space per Windows virtualization—it's all system go. SecurAble is freeware.

Download it from here: http://www.grc.com/securable.htm

You can also see an article : How many Intel CPUs will fail the XP Mode test in Windows 7? for more details !

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