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Upgrading your personal copy of Windows to Windows 7

If you have Windows XP or Vista on your own personal computer, and you are a member of Staff or a Student with a University of Chichester email address, you can buy an upgrade version of Windows 7 Professional Edition at a heavily discounted price (currently £34.08 inc. VAT subject to change) which will be licensed to you for life. See section 1.

Alternatively permanent staff can upgrade from any older version of Microsoft Windows to Windows 7 Enterprise Edition without charge under the University’s Campus Agreement, with a copy borrowed from the Service Desks.
NB. this offer does not include hourly paid staff, contractors, associate staff, visitors or temporary staff.
Note that if you leave your employment at the University of Chichester, Microsoft’s conditions require that you uninstall the upgrade.
See section 2.
 
For those not eligible for the upgrade you will need to buy the full version of Windows 7, which usually retails from £90 for the Home Edition at most locally based stores like PC World or Staples. However Ebuyer currently has some cheaper online options.
 
Before upgrading your personal PC should make sure it is capable of running Windows 7, and you have a backup of all your important files. See section 3.
 
There is also a tool which scans your current PC and informs you if your software and devices will work on Windows 7. See section 4.
 
 
1. BUYING AN UPGRADE VERSION OF WINDOWS 7
 
If you have Windows XP or Vista on your own personal computer, and you are a member of Staff or a Student with a University of Chichester email address, you can buy an upgrade version of Windows 7 Professional Edition at a heavily discounted price (currently £34.08 inc. VAT subject to change) which will be licensed to you for life.
 
You cannot upgrade from earlier versions such as Windows 95, 98, 2000 or Millennium, therefore you would have to buy a full version of Windows 7 from a normal retailer.
 
To buy the upgrade version, you will need to visit Pugh's website from HERE.
Then follow the Windows 7 Professional Upgrade link.
 
You must add one of the following two products to your basket:
 
  • 32bit FE/HE Student SELECT
  • 64bit FE/HE Student SELECT
(Please see section 3 if you are unsure which one to choose).
 
You can also add Office Professional Plus 2010 to your basket for £47.52 inc. VAT (subject to change).
 
NB. only one copy of Windows or Office can be purchased per staff/student.
 
When you advance to the checkout, you will firstly need to register an account with Pugh with your University email address.
 
Once the transaction is complete, the Windows 7 DVD will be sent to you. It will have a product key on the back (no box included).
 
 
2. LOANING A WINDOWS 7 UPGRADE DVD FROM IT SERVICES
 
Permanent staff can upgrade from any older version of Microsoft Windows to Windows 7 Enterprise Edition (as well install Office Professional Plus 2010) without charge under the University’s Campus Agreement.
NB. this offer does not include hourly paid staff, contractors, associate staff, visitors or temporary staff.
 
To do this, you need to visit the IT Service Desks in the Chichester LRC or the Portacabins on the Bognor Campus, and agree to Microsoft’s conditions to then borrow the necessary disks.
 
Note that if you leave your employment at the University of Chichester, Microsoft’s conditions require that you uninstall the upgrade.
 
This copy of Windows 7 is an upgrade version, so we can only provide you with the installation DVD if you can prove you have purchased a previous version of Microsoft Windows. Therefore will need to see your Windows product key, which can be found:
 
  • On the back of the installation CD/DVD case
  • In the accompanying Windows booklet
  • On the base unit itself
Staff will also have to sign an agreement that they are responsible for their own upgrade. IT Services cannot provide troubleshooting support or be responsible for data loss. Therefore in all cases, we advise you firstly backup all your important files to a storage device.
 
 
3. UPGRADE HELP AND CONSIDERATIONS
 
Microsoft has an upgrade FAQ which you may find helpful, and can be read HERE.
 
Before upgrading to Windows 7 you should firstly find out if your existing copy of Windows is 32bit or 64bit (the most common version is 32bit). You can do this by going to the Control Panel and opening System. If you see a reference to 64bit then you have 64bit Windows. If you don’t see a reference to 64bit then you have 32bit Windows.
 
You should also download and run the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor before upgrading, which will let you know which of your software and devices will work with Windows 7 (see section 4).
 
To run Windows 7, Microsoft advise that your computer meets the following minimum requirements:
  32-bit Windows 7 64-bit Windows 7
Processor (CPU) 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster
Memory (RAM) 1 gigabyte (GB) 2 gigabytes (GB)
Free Hard Disk Space 16 GB available 20 GB available
Graphics Device DirectX 9 with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver DirectX 9 with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver
 
There are also two types of Windows installation:
 
  1. Custom Installation:
    This will NOT preserve your files, settings, and programs.
    If you plan to do a custom installation of Windows 7, be sure to back up your files and other information first. You'll also need to manually reinstall your programs.
  2. Upgrade Installation:
    This will preserve all your files, settings, and programs. However you should always have backups of important files, before undertaking a Windows upgrade.
 
If you are upgrading from Windows XP or previous versions of Windows then you will have to do a Custom Installation.
 
If you are upgrading from Windows Vista then you may have the option to do an Upgrade Installation (unless you a moving from 32bit to 64bit Windows, or visa-versa).
 
 
4. USING THE WINDOWS 7 UPGRADE ADVISOR TOOL
 
Some of your software and devices you currently use on previous versions of Windows may not work on Windows 7 e.g. graphics card, sound card etc.
Therefore we strongly recommend you firstly use a tool from Microsoft’s called Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor which detects all your devices and installed software and informs you which ones will not work on Windows 7. You can download the tool from HERE.
 
Some software will only work on 32bit Windows, and some only on 64bit Windows, so this tool should help by identifying which is compatible with the 32 and 64bit versions of Windows 7.
 
The tool will also inform you if an Upgrade Installation is available to you, or if you must do a Custom Installation.

GOLF