Upgrading to Windows 7? It could be trickier than you think. Windows 7 doesn't support upgrading from XP, for instance, or moving up an edition (Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 Professional, say), or upgrading from Vista 32-bit to Windows 7 64-bit. In these, and many other upgrade scenarios, you're forced to do a clean install, then reinstall all your applications and restore their various settings.
Try Laplink PCmover Windows 7 Upgrade Assistant, though, and it's a very different story. The program strips away Microsoft's annoying restrictions, making it far easier to upgrade from any version of Windows XP or Vista to the Windows 7 edition of your choice. XP to Vista upgrades, edition changes, 32 to 64-bit upgrades and more will be no problem at all.
Just launch the Upgrade Assistant and it'll go to work, scanning your system and letting you know which applications and settings it can migrate. Choose whatever you need to transfer and it'll copy those files to an archive (or "moving van" in Laplink-speak). Then carry out a custom install of Windows 7, reinstall Laplink PCmover Windows 7 Upgrade Assistant and it'll restore the applications and settings that you'd selected.
The migration process has one or two small limitations. Some copy-protected programs may need to be reinstalled or reactivated before they'll work, for instance. And other software and drivers on your system may not be compatible with Windows 7, of course, forcing you to locate suitable upgrades. Still, most programs will transfer with no problems at all, no tedious manual copying of files, no need to dig out your old CDs and serial numbers - Laplink PCmover Windows 7 Upgrade Assistant will take care of all the hard work, saving you potentially hours of tedious hassle.
Review by Mike Williams.
