Back files up onto an external drive, burn it to a disc, format, install windows, download windows updates, reinstall programs. It's not that big of a deal. Most of it is automated and just a matter of clicking "next." And Windows 7 is well optimized, unlike Vista. Your PC might actually be faster.
Sadly I don't have a external HDD so I would have to go without backup if it happened. I did watch my mate upgrade from Vista to Win7 last year and all he did was install, let it run it's course then it was installed.
he uses xp not vista... I LOVED my xplite sp2.5 (it's an update I found that had all the patches from sp3 except for the very last one which just added something bad I forget what it was). 7 doesn't help much unless you have a solid state drive. For xplite (a free download as long as you have your official xp disk... I just used my upgrade disk), have all the drivers ready that you want to install and burn a silent install (totally automated) boot disk your about ready to go soon as it's all done! For REAL ease you can look for silent install versions of all your programs. Use FOXpdf, not the INCREDIBLY bloated Acrobat reader... it's like A HUNDRED TIMES bigger!! bad thing is you gotta fit it all into a single cd (not sure if a dvd would work... not sure why I didn't try one :/). Oh and use the recommended settings... unless you wanna spend 3 days finding the one that would work like I did. If you mess up you'll end up with no direct x or networking capabilities or something... stick to the recommended settings. In the end you get nearly 20 second start up times and a sleek, clean install! Awesome stuff! I Wish they had a slim version of Win7... but you can't get much better than how it is so... it might not be worth it.
Yes I know. Most people I've talked to about upgrading to 7 are afraid it will be bloated and slow like Vista, which is why they're hesitant about upgrading. It's not at all. It's fast like XP. He even said he was afraid his PC would slow down. If you have a decent video card it might actually run faster since 7 uses hardware acceleration. Also, I have no idea what the hell you're talking about with the rest of that. You're making something really simple seem really complicated. Just run Windows update. It's better than the one in XP, and it should find all of the necessary drivers. @Phisix Run these and post what it says. Then we'll know if you can upgrade. http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/ Edit: wait, did you go with this PC? Saw this on the old forum. That will never run 7. Too little memory and too crappy of a video card.