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Product details

Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.5 x 5.4 x 1.2 inches; 6.4 ounces
Item model number ‏ : ‎ GFC-00020
Date First Available ‏ : ‎ June 25, 2009
Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ Microsoft Software
ASIN ‏ : ‎ B002DHLUWK

Best Sellers Rank: #1,703 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
- #71 in Operating Systems (Software)

Customer Reviews:
4.0 1,119 ratings

Product Description

Offers a rich dynamic entertainment experience on your PCEasily create a home work and share all of your favorite photos videos and musicSpecify exactly what you want to share from each PC with all the PCs in the Home GroupWatch pause and rewind TV or record it to watch whenever and wherever you wantEasily change backgrounds window colors and sounds to reflect your personal style; can even turn your desktop into a slide show of your favorite photosGet impressive new features such as Web Slices which lets you track information such as auction items sports scores and weather reports without revisiting a siteRight-click the relevant program icon (such as Word) on your taskbar and Jump List will show your most recent frequently used and pinned Word documentsJust open Windows Media Player right-click on what you'd like to hear select Play To and you'll see a list of devices and PCs on which you can play your musicPlatform support: PCLicense type: Version UpgradeRequires 1GHz or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processorRequires 16GB (32-bit) or 20GB (64-bit) hard driveRequires 1GB RAM (32-bit) or 2GB RAM (64-bit)Requires DirectX 9 graphics processor with WDDM 1.0 or later driverRequires DVD/CD drive

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Customer reviews

4 out of 5

1,119 global ratings

How customer reviews and ratings work

Customers say

Customers like the value, boot time, ease of installation, and compatibility of the software. They mention that it's worth the price, the speed improvements are evident in startup, and that the process was very smooth and straightforward. They also like the compatibility. That said, opinions are mixed on condition, stability, quality, and performance.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

260 customers mention229 positive31 negative

Customers find the installation process of the software very easy. They say the process is smooth and straightforward, and the installation is the easiest OS installation so far. They also say that finding and configuring the system is intuitive, and start up and shut down are faster. Customers also mention that the user interface is snappy and good-looking, and that the upgrade to 7 will go very easily.

"...It's provided graphical feedback in a way that makes the OS more intuitive and user-friendly...." Read more

"...its transparency, 3-D effects, color schemes, and usability improvements to Windows Explorer, and I believe Windows 7 continues that trend by..." Read more

"...Also the icons are larger and easier to read. Also noted has been the missing 'run' command...." Read more

"...The installation was fairly easy even though I had to uninstall multiple programs and drivers in both computers before continuing with the..." Read more

231 customers mention194 positive37 negative

Customers like the boot time of the software. They mention that speed improvements are evident in startup, switching users, and importing CD tracks into iTunes. They're also pleased with the load times and the super-fast transfer times when writing to external drives. The upgrade took about 2 hours and was easy to facilitate.

"...Another option is to quickly start the InPrivate browsing mode (which is a whole article in itself)...." Read more

"...seems like a great deal of effort was put forth into making everything slick, polished, and logically consistent, and I've already fallen in love..." Read more

"...Quick starting, quick shutting down, goes to sleep and wakes up without problems. Good response to commands, stable, & reliable...." Read more

"...Performance wise it is slightly faster than Vista and I'm talking 10 to 15 seconds difference for starting the computer, other computers I have the..." Read more

223 customers mention174 positive49 negative

Customers like the compatibility of the software. They mention that it works well, desktop gadgets function better, and gaming on this system works well. They also say that all the software installed works fine and there are no errors or hiccups.

"...All of these niceties simply add up to a more functional and usable desktop...." Read more

"...Hook it up to an HDTV and you have hands-down the greatest way to watch movies, watch and record television, and listen to music in your living room...." Read more

"...Suffice it to say that Aero works wonderfully, QuickSnap is amazing, especially on a larger monitor, and that all of the visual tweaks are nicely..." Read more

"...It's very easy to use and does a good job of putting your accounts back together again, even going from XP to 7...." Read more

84 customers mention67 positive17 negative

Customers like the value of the software. They say it's worth the price, worth every penny, and worth the wait. Some mention that it'll be worth the hassle to avoid re-installation.

"...And this brings me to the reason why this OS IS worth your hard-earned cash. The new Windows Media Center. It is not perfect. But it is DARN close...." Read more

"...Overall, I was happy I made the upgrade. It was cheaper than buying a new computer and even though I had worries about something not working, and..." Read more

"...Bottom Line, It is well worth the upgrade.Just go to win741(dot)com and you can get either home premium or Pro for $29...." Read more

"...It's a good Operating system and worth upgrading to but expect like I did to have some little issues...." Read more

79 customers mention55 positive24 negative

Customers are mixed about the stability of the software. Some mention that it's stable and runs just fine, while others say that it freezes indefinitely, to programs just crashing for no reason at all.

"...Other than that, it's been rock-solid, with absolutely no crashes...." Read more

"...Good response to commands, stable, & reliable. Some have noted the missing quick launch bar...." Read more

"...Apparently the driver crashed and needed to be restarted. The good news is that Windows fixed the problem without having to reboot...." Read more

"...If you want a stable, fast, visually appealing and advances OS, W7 will not disappoint...." Read more

80 customers mention51 positive29 negative

Customers are mixed about the performance of the software. Some mention that it's a huge improvement over Vista, with enhanced functionality and a logical pattern of operation. However, others say that they have lost some capability and have experienced problems with the Activation Code that comes with it.

"...This has significantly reduced the clutter. As you call up more instances of a particular applicaiton, Win7 automatically groups them...." Read more

"...of Windows 7 on a new formatted hard drive, the Activation Code that comes with it won't work...." Read more

"...was put forth into making everything slick, polished, and logically consistent, and I've already fallen in love with many of the additional..." Read more

"Win 7 has been a joy to use. It's taken some time to find where everything is, but mostly features are in intuitive places...." Read more

76 customers mention49 positive27 negative

Customers are mixed about the quality of the software. Some mention that it's a great operating system, and the best version of Windows yet. They say it'll come up showing an error, and has good backwards software compatibility. However, others say that there are frequent errors and crashes with their own Windows Live.

"...you launch it, the quick launch icon turns into a task bar button, very slick. Also the icons are larger and easier to read...." Read more

"...I have a USB TV Tuner and a Media Center Remote. The integration with Windows 7 is AWESOME...." Read more

"...of Samsung Media Studio 5 (for my MP3 player) causes Windows Media Player to fail to launch when I try to open a media file, but again, that's not a..." Read more

"...look and feel of the OS is slick and quick and lots and LOTS of well thought out goodies have been included...." Read more

55 customers mention34 positive21 negative

Customers are mixed about the condition of the software. Some mention it's a very good product, flawless, and a first-quality product, while others say that the upgrade can't happen and is a nightmare.

"...The best thing is that you still have your Win XP hard drive in perfect condition, usable, and able to be put back in the PC at any time should you..." Read more

"...The silliest part of the upgrade scheme is that you CANNOT do a downgrade 'upgrade.'..." Read more

"...Bottom line: Painless install of a very good operating system that does not require anything near a high end computer to run well." Read more

"...it was done, and all my programs were backed up and put back in perfect working condition, no errors, not one hiccup, not one issue!..." Read more

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I Love Tech 888

Finally, I can upgrade from XP!!!!

Reviewed in the United States on October 22, 2009

Verified Purchase

I'm typing this from an official Windows 7 Home Premium release (not RC), which is something that I'm truly enjoying. I've been running the RTM version since it was released, so I've gotten very familiar with the new OS. There are so many things to like about the OS. The new Aero interface is very appealing and definitely a step up from Vista. However, I'm moving from XP, so the difference there is substantial. It's definitely taking some time to get used to where things have moved to.

First of all, as I mentioned already the Aero interface is really fantastic. It's provided graphical feedback in a way that makes the OS more intuitive and user-friendly. The first thing that really impressed me was how the taskbar has transformed into this super informative interface. For instance, all applications are now displayed by their icon, instead of their name. This has significantly reduced the clutter. As you call up more instances of a particular applicaiton, Win7 automatically groups them. When you hover above the icons, miniature snapshots of the applications show up allowing you to easily see and select the window that you're most interested in. There are so many more features of this that are very difficult to list all here. Rigt clicking on an icon, shows additional options for that particular application. A perfect example is when you click on the IE logo, it displays the most popular links at the top, allowing you to quickly go to a website. Another option is to quickly start the InPrivate browsing mode (which is a whole article in itself).

The next interesting thing, which is going to be familiar to Vista users, is the use of desktop gadgets. It's important to note that there are several third party applications that do the same thing, such as Google and Yahoo. The desktop gadgets allow you to run mini-applications on the desktop, such as a calendar, clock, or the weather. I like this functionality, but quite frankly I haven't come to rely on them for anything. I could probably disable them and not miss much. However, it does make the desktop look more interesting and interactive. I'm sure I'll find that magic gadget that will provide some great use.

All the standard applications that come with Windows have all been updated. I'm not quite sure how different they are from Vista, but many are completely different from XP. Two big examples are Paint and Wordpad. Microsoft has applied the ribbon treatment to both of these applications. I'm a big user of Office, so this was a pleasant surprise. Personally, I think it's a huge enhancement from the much dated toolbars and drop-down menus.

The sleep and hibernate modes are finally flawless (or at least for me). I haven't changed the default behaviors for either, so for my laptop when I close the lid it goes to sleep. When the computer is on and idle for a set period of time, it will also go to sleep. Finally, when the computer has been sleeping for some time it will automatically hibernate. Lifting the laptop lid when in sleep mode will automatically wake it up. When I press on the function key, it will also wake it up. In order to come out of hibernation, I just press the power button and it will come up. All (again, for me) of these features have worked 100% of the time, which is previously unheard of.

As mentioned previously, there's so much to mention here. But there's one thing that I have completely come to rely on. Coming from XP, it's been difficult to find things quickly. The best feature for me has been the search box within the 'start' menu. I've been able to find everything that I have been unable to find by hunting around. You can type in anything (calculator, notepad, manage computer, etc...) and it will pop up a list of things that it thinks you're looking for. From there, you just pick from the list. Excellent feature!!!

My experience has been mostly favorable, but I have had some issues. The first issue was with the display driver for my Thinkpad laptop. Apparently the driver crashed and needed to be restarted. The good news is that Windows fixed the problem without having to reboot. Occasionaly, the screen will flicker, but I'll get no message as to why. One other gripes are the difficulty in finding certain things. That's just going to take time (and patience) before I get used to things. The next thing that is taking some time to get used to is in how Explorer has changed. Since the default setting turns off the menus, changing certain view settings is a bit of a pain. I'm trying to figure it out without turning on the classic menus. Finally, I'm kinda frustrated that I wasn't able to directly upgrade my old XP computer to Win7. Apparently it sticks all your old XP stuff in a folder some where so that you can still get to it. You have to upgrade to the business or ultimate version to have better XP compatibility.

Overall, I'm very pleased with the new OS. I definitely think this is what Vista should have been!! It's too bad that it took Microsoft so long to figure that out. While I would recommend all XP and Vista users to upgrade, you may want to run the advisor tool that Microsoft has to make sure that all of your hardware and software are going to be compatible. Of course, you could always buy a new state of the art PC from Amazon and get Win7 pre-loaded.

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Erich Kohl

Way to go, Microsoft -- this could be a hit!

Reviewed in the United States on November 13, 2009

Verified Purchase

I'm happy to say that I am -- for the most part -- very pleased with this upgrade so far. I came from Vista 32-bit, and I have now officially entered the 64-bit era by installing Windows 7 x64. For quite a few months I read about people's experiences with the betas and release candidates, and was excited about the good news I kept hearing. I decided to just be patient and put in for my pre-order like most people did, which meant waiting for the October 22nd release date.

Let's go through this topic by topic...

INSTALLATION: It was easy, almost too easy. For some reason I was half expecting to wait more than an hour to get this on my machine, but instead I was up and running in roughly 25 minutes or so (I performed a clean install, not an upgrade). And on top of that, all of my primary devices were recognized (see the end of my review for complete system specs). The Windows Easy Transfer utility was an enormous help in getting my user identity and files into my new configuration.

USER INTERFACE: Personally I thought Vista was very handsome, what with its transparency, 3-D effects, color schemes, and usability improvements to Windows Explorer, and I believe Windows 7 continues that trend by looking just as sexy -- if not more -- while at the same time adding its own valuable features and enhancements. It just seems like a great deal of effort was put forth into making everything slick, polished, and logically consistent, and I've already fallen in love with many of the additional improvements, such as the revamped and more versatile taskbar, jump lists, and customizable themes. I haven't yet become accustomed to some features like Aero Shake, but hey, those things are there if I need them. But the clean, "keep it simple" approach, the attention to detail, and even minimalism in certain areas is certainly appreciated. And sure, some people might scoff at the shiny facade and dismiss certain parts of it as being "bells and whistles," but honestly, isn't it actually USEFUL to have the ability to see full-screen previews of running applications, or to be able to hide all of your open windows and take a quick glance at what's underneath? All of these niceties simply add up to a more functional and usable desktop.

PERFORMANCE: I think it's actually better than Vista. Overall the system feels more responsive and, well, "snappier" (especially with regards to video performance). Gaming is as smooth as could be. No complaints as far as startup, shutdown, and resuming from sleep mode are concerned.

STABILITY: Very good, but I'll give 7 an A- here. I got just ONE blue screen of death so far, and that was during the installation of a particular piece of software (I forget what it was to be honest -- maybe a browser plug-in). Other than that, it's been rock-solid, with absolutely no crashes. I've even gone through some software development debugging sessions in which the program I was working on was repeatedly throwing up on me, and Windows 7 recovered gracefully every time.

SOFTWARE COMPATIBILITY: Pretty high marks, but not perfect. I think some of it has to do with my transition to 64-bit anyways, like the fact that I'm having trouble with a specific component in Visual Basic 5 (I use it to support a piece of software I designed for work). No big deal, though -- I'm going to circumvent it by using my copy of Windows XP in Sun's VirtualBox to run it, so problem solved. Another issue I had was the fact that the installation of Samsung Media Studio 5 (for my MP3 player) causes Windows Media Player to fail to launch when I try to open a media file, but again, that's not a show-stopper because I can manipulate that device directly in the OS anyways without that application. And don't laugh, but it looks like I might have to give up Publisher 95. Heh heh ... yeah, I've been using that program for years now to do miscellaneous desktop publishing, but guess what? Its installer is 16-bit. So again, that's a 64-bit lack of support for 16-bit issue, not really a problem with Windows 7 per se. Plus I guess I could still run it in my virtual XP machine if I wanted to. Other than those snags I just mentioned, the majority of my applications and games run just fine -- and thank goodness Cakewalk Music Creator still works with my MIDI and audio interface devices.

WINDOWS LIVE ESSENTIALS: I guess it was a smart move on behalf of MS. A little less bloat for people who would rather choose alternatives to those programs, but still available as a free download. Personally I feel that Microsoft has been blessed with a lot of talented people who are really experts at design -- the basic necessities such as Live Mail and Calendar (and all of the other apps) are wonderful in my opinion.

OTHING THINGS I LIKE: The Devices section in the Control Panel is now much better, and ejecting USB devices is quicker and easier. User switching works flawlessly. I'm a big fan of the "ribbon," which is the new user interface mechanism and visual style that is incorporated into the built-in tools such as Paint and WordPad -- I find it to be very fresh and innovative. I'm looking forward to upgrading from Office XP to Office 2010! (Even Calculator is better!)

BUGS OR QUIRKS: The link for opening the backup applet is broken, but not when it is launched via the new Action Center. Also, unlike in Vista, Mozilla Firefox seems to have developed this strange problem of occasionally reporting that it can't find the server when I try to connect to certain websites that are listed in the results of a Google search -- but when I click the browser's "back" button, the site will then appear (and usually sites load properly when they are opened via the Bookmarks menu or through other search engines). Internet Explorer 8 doesn't exhibit this behavior at all, and the problem has started to bother me so much that I finally decided to install Google Chrome as my default browser (I tried resetting my router, and it didn't seem to have any effect).

In summary, I think Microsoft did the right thing by listening to its users and trying to correct Vista's shortcomings, whether real or just perceived. I can't say this is a revolution; it's more like evolution (boy, how many times has THAT been said about a software product?). But to me it's a step in the right direction, and if things stay the course, Windows could have a bright future.

SYSTEM SPECS: Gigabyte 3D Aurora 570 case | Corsair TX750W PSU | EVGA nForce 780i MOBO | Intel Core 2 Quad (Yorkfield Q9300) @ 3.0 GHz | Tuniq Tower 120 CPU cooler | 4 GB Kingston DDR2 800 | HannsG HG281DPB 28" LCD | HIS ATI Radeon 5870 | Western Digital Caviar SE16 500 GB SATA | Samsung DVD+/-RW (SATA) | LG Blu-ray drive (SATA) | Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 4 | MOTU FastLane USB MIDI interface | E-MU 0404 USB audio interface | Yamaha YST-M15 speakers | HP Photosmart 8150 printer | HP Scanjet 4070 scanner | D-Link DIR-628 router | Microsoft Natural Keyboard & Optical Mouse | Logitech RumblePad 2 | Windows 7 Home Premium x64

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JontyB

Its an amazing price, and appears to be the genuine article ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 8, 2015

Verified Purchase

This is just the job for tired Vista users. Its an amazing price, and appears to be the genuine article as I am receiving all the Windows 7 updates. It arrived the the genuine windows packaging and with two disks for 32 or 64 bit machines. Providing you are performing a like-for-like upgrade e.g. 'Home Premium' to 'Home Premium', then it upgrades and transfers all your programs, files and settings automatically. Everything worked first time even my wifi printer. My only manual input was to download the Windows 7 Service Pack.
It really makes a difference in performance when compared to the poor and interrupted experience from Vista.

Shalamako

Up grade Windows Vista to Windows 7

Reviewed in Canada on March 11, 2013

Verified Purchase

Ce produit à vraiment répondu a mes attentes. D'installation facile avec les instructions claires et détaillées, ce fut un charme à installer...
J'ai installé une version anglaise à partir du programme Vista français sans aucune difficulté.

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Dan

Three Stars

Reviewed in Canada on May 19, 2018

Verified Purchase

Very good

M. Martland

Windows 7 upgrade

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 3, 2016

Verified Purchase

Upgraded Vista to Windows 7 on a 5 year old Dell. Outer box looked a bit worn but key code worked and Windows 10 installed automatically afterwards. All compatible programs and data still in place. Ideal!

Maggie Mae

Sent it back

Reviewed in Canada on April 10, 2014

Verified Purchase

I had to send this back as it wasn't the item that I needed. Still on the look out for what I do need though.

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