Installing Windows 7 - Useful Resources

Over the weekend I reformatted my hard drive and installed Windows 7. Here’s the articles I found the most helpful.

Before Reformatting make sure you backup: How to use Microsoft Easy Transfer to copy settings, files, etc to an external drive and then restore to your reformatted drive (highly recommended)

There's no need to spend extra on the full version. You can still do a clean install from the upgrade software: How to do a clean install with upgrade disc

If you have a .edu email address you can get Windows 7 for $30, but it's a weird download file. To create a bootable DVD, you'll need to follow these instructions: Make an installation DVD from the $30 student version Becaues it's a hassle, I'd recommend spending the extra few dollars and get the DVD along with the download.

What applications come with Windows 7, and what you need to download from Microsoft for free

Make sure to download Microsoft Security Essentials, the new free anti-virus software

Download all your free-software at once with a single click. http://ninite.com/ (highly recommended)

I’m trying out freeoffice.org (seems ok so far) and Thunderbird (Firefox’s email client), thus eliminating the need for Microsoft Office.

One hiccup: to convert my outlook .pst to Thunderbird, I had to install the trial version of Office (also available from ninite.com) then went into Thunderbird and said “Import”. Then I uninstalled Office.

Get DVD ripper for free this month only

Things you can do in Windows 7

Top 10 Booster apps (I liked the Hulu desktop app, as well as the ninite.com suggestion)

More detail on Windows 7 tips

Get a bunch of additional Microsoft desktop themes

Have fun!