Computer Upgrade

After the oh-so-easy upgrade to Windows 7 that I did on my small laptop a few months ago, I was anticipating no problems doing the same on my big one. We took it in to have a bigger hard drive and some more memory installed on Tuesday, and my Windows 7 disc duly arrived the next day, and boy have I had some problems...

First of all, I was informed that my copy of Windows 7 was not genuine, and was pirated. This I found hard to believe, having got it from Staples!! I tried re-entering the activation code without the shift lock on, and the letters appeared as capitals even so, and this time it was recognised, so that was obviously what I was doing wrong there.

When it arrived, the box was broken and the 32-bit disc was floating around loose (it would be that one, as it was the one I was wanting to use! - not that it was in 32 bits, you understand, but was for a 32-bit processor rather than the 64-bit one lol!). I bunged it in, hoping it hadn't been damaged...

It installed just fine, apart from said activation problem. I've spent a couple of days reinstalling all my programs and transferring all my files back from the external hard drive, and this afternoon have had major problems with booting - sometimes it was OK and went like a dream, and other times, I've had to go through the "Startup Repair" wizard. According to one forum, you may have to use this wizard 3 times before the problem is fixed - apparently it's something to do with the MBR (Master Boot Record) having got corrupted.

As I write this, it's going through the process of "repairing disk errors" and informs me it might take over an hour to complete. This is as far as the process has ever got, so it's progress! Hopefully before I finally go to bed (it's now 2.15 a.m.) I will be able to boot it properly. If not, I've found some invaluable advice on various websites, the best being "Seven Forums" which is full of great stuff about Win7, and I don't feel too fazed about having a go at fixing it tomorrow.

I'm feeling quite chuffed really because years ago, this sort of thing would have sent me into a flat spin and making panicking phone calls to my computer chap in Plymouth, but I know I've got everything properly backed up, and there are several more options to explore before I hit the panic button.

Perhaps I should enlist Beatrice's support. After all, she is our resident Computer Queen! (see my blog posts here.)

When it is running properly, it seems to be a dream. I was keeping an eye on how full the hard drive was, recently - if it's over 75 percent full it can affect performance, and it was nudging 80, but now I've got everything back, it's registering at only 13 percent full! I've got an extra 1 GB of RAM installed too. As I said to Kevin at the computer shop, "in this life you can never be too rich, too thin, or have too much memory!!"