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Many of you did not upgrade from Windows XP to Windows Vista, but are planning to upgrade to Windows 7. How dare you leave the Microsoft upgrade path? As a punishment, you can't upgrade directly from XP to 7; you have to do what's called a clean install, which means you have to jump through some hoops to keep your old data and programs.

Not to worry, we'll show you a couple ways to deal with the pain of installing Windows 7 on your XP machine. And afterward, Microsoft will forgive you your trespasses. Maybe.

Before you start, do these three things.

1. Run the Windows 7 upgrade adviser. It will let you know if your computer can handle any version of Windows 7.

2. Check the Windows 7 compatibility center. This is different than the upgrade adviser. It will tell you if you need to update your drivers or apps to make them work in 7.

3. Make a copy of your hard drive, just in case things go horribly wrong. I recommend using Macrium Reflect; it's a free download available from Download.com.

OK, now you're ready to upgrade.

Microsoft said on Thursday that it has finished development work on the virtualized version of Windows XP that Windows 7 users can use to run programs that won't work on the newer operating system.

In a statement, Microsoft said that it has finalized the code for the free "XP Mode" and that the software will be made available on October 22, the same day that Microsoft launches Windows 7.

Computer makers will also be able to offer Windows XP Mode with their systems, Microsoft said.

Microsoft said back in April that it would offer the XP Mode. Aimed primarily at small businesses, the virtualization layer is designed to help ease the transition for those still running programs that don't work properly with Windows 7 or Windows Vista.

To use the compatibility layer, users need to be running Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Enterprise, or Windows 7 Ultimate.

The other tricky point is that to use XP mode, consumers also need a machine that has chip level virtualization support and has that feature turned on, something that isn't always easy for consumers to determine.

At its core, XP Mode consists of two things, the Windows Virtual PC engine and a licensed copy of Windows XP Service Pack 3 as a packaged virtual machine, both of which Microsoft will make available for download.

My previous post described how to add information to and otherwise customize Windows' Welcome screen. But maybe you just want to get your PC going without having to log into an account. You can bypass Windows' log-on screen by changing settings in the Windows Registry, as described in a tutorial on the Computer Performance site, but I find it much simpler to use a free Windows-tweaking utility to do the same thing.

The program I used to customize the Windows Welcome screen—TweakNow PowerPack 2009—is the same tool I used to disable the log-on screen on my Vista laptop. Click Windows Secret in the utility's left pane and choose User Accounts. Click "Enable auto log-on," select the account you want to log into automatically, enter the account's password and domain name (if necessary), and click Save. The next time you start the PC, Windows will start and open that account automatically.

Set Windows to start logged into a specific account—without having to enter a password—via this setting in TweakNow PowerPack 2009.

(Credit: TweakNow)

TweakNow PowerPack 2009 works with XP, Vista, and Windows 7, but I tested it only with Vista. I didn't need to download the program to my XP test machine because that system already has Tweak UI, Microsoft's free XP-reconfiguration utility that lacks a Vista version.

To set XP to start a specific account without requiring a log-on, open Tweak UI and click Logon > Autologon in the left pane, check "Log on automatically at system startup" in the right window, enter the account's user name and domain (if necessary), and click the Set Password button.

The free Tweak UI utility makes it easy to start Windows without having to log into an account.

(Credit: Microsoft)

In the Set Autologon Password dialog box, enter the account's password in each of the two text boxes and click OK.

Add the account's password twice and click OK to start Windows without having to log in.

(Credit: Microsoft)

Why bypassing the Windows log-on is dangerous
Setting Windows to open an administrator account automatically is risky, period. Even starting a standard account without requiring a password is dangerous, though less so. There are many very good reasons why Windows accounts are password-protected, and far fewer good reasons for doing without passwords.

That's why I recommend against allowing automatic log-ons in general. But far be it from me to tell you how to use your PC, so if you want to save a few seconds each time you start your system—and you're not worried about somebody doing serious mischief after gaining easy access to your account—it's okay by me.

Creating a custom Windows log-on screen has never been faster or simpler. Two free utilities let you do more than replace the boring Windows default start background with a picture of your pet hamsters, though you can do that, too.

Add system info to Windows' start-up sequence
In a post earlier this month, I described the beta version of the free TweakNow PowerPack 2009 utility that makes it easy to view system information, maintain Windows, and customize the OS' interface. As that post stated, I encountered a couple of rough edges in the beta version I looked at, but that's to be expected in a beta.

One TweakNow feature I took advantage of right away was the program's ability to add a "legal disclaimer" screen to Windows start-up. One practical application of this feature is to add information about the system to the screen's text box, which can make life a lot easier for you or for whoever has to maintain the machine.

Suppose you need to find out what type of memory your PC uses, what type of processor it runs, its current version of Windows, or even the toll-free support number of its vendor. It's not always easy to find all this information, which resides in various locations on your system. Utilities such as TweakNow can help you collect this type of data, but you'll still find yourself clicking around their various nooks and crannies to unearth what you need.

You could create an image containing this information and make it your Windows Desktop, but adding system information to a screen that appears early in the Windows start-up sequence not only saves you time rummaging around Windows settings, it also lets you get the info off a machine without having to fully load Windows. This is a capability a lot of IT staffers will likely appreciate, but anyone who maintains multiple PCs could find it a time-saver.

The system information I needed was available in various other TweakNow screens, but it was much easier for me to copy the main System Information screen, paste the data into the text box in the TweakNow Legal Notice dialog (click Windows Secret > User Accounts > Miscellaneous), and edit it there. I added the toll-free support number of the PC's vendor, just in case.

Add system information to the Windows log-on screen via the free TweakNow PowerPack 2009 utility.

(Credit: TweakNow)

Place text in a custom welcome-screen image
If you're one of the many people who simply want Windows to load quickly, you won't be happy having to click through yet another screen before you can start your workday. Stardocks offers two free programs that let you create your own welcome screen, complete with any text you want ready access to.

LogonStudio Vista and LogonStudio XP can replace the default welcome/log-on screen with a more visually exciting image from a free online library, or you can create your own welcome image.

Stardock's LogonStudio Vista makes replacing the default Windows welcome screen as easy as 1-2-3.

(Credit: Stardock)

To test the program, I opened an image in Paint, added a text box containing information about the system, and then loaded the image using LogonStudio's Create and Upload options.

Place a text box holding system information into your custom welcome screen via Stardocks' free LogonStudio utility.

(Credit: Dennis O'Reilly)

Frankly, I was more pleased with the presentation of the information in TweakNow's "Legal Disclaimer" screen than in LogonStudio's custom welcome screen. But if you want to avoid an extra start-up click and don't mind taking the time to create a custom welcome screen, it doesn't get much easier than using LogonStudio.

Sometimes it seems like you need to be a software engineer to understand how to keep Windows running smoothly. That's why I appreciate free utilities that collect various Windows settings and make the OS easier to customize.

Last May, I described two utilities that improve Vista's performance: Stardock's $20 Tweak Vista and Iolo Technologies' $40 System Mechanic. A week earlier, I wrote about two other Vista tweaking tools: the free Ultimate Windows Tweaker from Microsoft MVP Anand Khanse and WareSoft Software's $30 Vista Smoker Pro.

All four of these programs have their pluses and minuses, but I clearly preferred the two most expensive options. I'm still looking for a free Windows tweaking tool with the best features of the fee-based apps. I thought I found it in TweakNow PowerPack 2009, but despite some very nice touches, a couple of important features failed when I tested the beta of version 1.6.1.

Dozens of Windows tools at your fingertips
Among TweakNow PowerPack's many tools are disk and Registry cleaners, a memory optimizer, startup manager, uninstaller, and personal-information eraser. The program also makes all your system information easy to find, including your processor model and cache types and sizes, network settings, and Windows configuration.

TweakNow PowerPack 2009's Registry Cleaner provides information about the Registry entries it proposes to delete.

(Credit: Tweak Now)

If you're concerned about security (who isn't?), you'll find plenty of TweakNow options to your liking. For instance, you can set Windows to shut down after a set period and limit users' access to context-menu items, Control Panel applets, and Windows Explorer's Folder Options. You can also reduce the amount of time Windows waits before shutting down an unresponsive service or application, add or remove items from the Start menu and submenus, and insert a legal notice in the Welcome screen.

When you enable TweakNow PowerPack's RAM Optimizer, an icon is added to the taskbar's notification area (near the clock) that shows the percentage of memory currently in use. Hover over the icon to view your system's free RAM and the percentage of CPU cycles in use.

TweakNow PowerPack's RAM Optimizer shows the percentage of memory in use via a taskbar icon.

(Credit: Tweak Now)

Mixed up UAC tweaker and an uninstaller that doesn't
There are plenty of features to like in TweakNow PowerPack—I haven't even mentioned the program's ability to brand IE's Title Bar—but ultimately the utility failed in two important areas.

First, my repeated attempts to uninstall a virtualization program came up empty. After running the TweakNow uninstaller, the program prompted me to restart to complete the process. The shutdown took several minutes, but when my test machine restarted, the virtualization program was still in place. I eventually uninstalled the program using the free Revo Uninstaller utility I described in a post last week.

The second failure was more disturbing. After I changed TweakNow PowerPack's User Account Control setting from the default Medium to Strong, I wasn't able to revert to the Medium setting. (The Strong setting requires that you enter an administrator password whenever you attempt to perform an administrator-only activity, while the Medium setting needs only a single click to continue the process.)

I was able to change the TweakNow UAC setting to Weak, which removes the UAC prompt for most administrator operations. However, each time I reverted to the Medium option, the Strong setting was selected when I restarted the PC and reopened the program. I was ultimately able to get the Medium setting back via Vista's own Security Center applet.

Even with these glitches, I can see myself coming to rely on TweakNow PowerPack for most of my Windows maintenance chores—the program's Registry Cleaner is particularly handy. After all, you can't really expect any beta to be flawless, and there's a good chance the vendor will address the program's shortcomings in future updates.

Microsoft has announced that XP Mode, the Windows 7 add-on that will allow users with the proper hardware to run a virtual version of Windows XP within Windows 7, has entered Release Candidate status.

There are several new features in XP Mode RC. XP Mode programs will now offer users a jumplist of most recently opened files with that program. This brings one of Windows 7's more useful productivity features into play with older programs that wouldn't otherwise have it. So, not only will you be able to directly start your most recently used XP Mode programs from the Windows 7 taskbar, but you'll be able to launch specific files from the Windows 7 taskbar, too. You can now use USB devices in XP Mode without having to make it full-screen, directly from the Windows 7 taskbar.

Drive sharing between XP Mode and Windows 7 can be disabled, and a new tutorial has been created on how to use XP Mode that users will first get access to from the XP Mode installation screen. In the XP Mode beta, users couldn't customize where to store differencing disk files. These relate to the virtualization aspects of running XP in Windows 7.

Microsoft's Brandon LeBlanc recommends in the blog post announcing the XP Mode RC that users install antivirus and anti-malware protections in XP Mode in addition to whatever protective steps users have taken in the native Windows 7 environment. He also cautions that XP Mode is designed for running productivity applications that won't be upgraded to Windows 7, implying that Microsoft doesn't expect the average consumer to get much mileage out of the feature.

Users who are still interested in testing out the Windows 7 RC can still do so through August.

With Windows 7 reaching the near-final stage and due out later this year, lots of folks are trying to get their heads around the next version of the operating system.

I've gotten a lot of questions from readers, mostly centered on key issues such as what Windows 7 has to offer, whether it will work with their existing software, and if they should buy a PC now or wait for Microsoft to offer Windows 7, or at least a free upgrade.

In this post, I will try to tackle some of those issues.

"Will programs that didn't work with Vista but did work with XP work in Windows 7?" (several readers)

Windows 7 is a lot like Windows Vista under the covers. So, in general, programs that run fine in Windows Vista will run fine in Windows 7. That also means that, in most cases, those programs that did not run in Vista also won't run in Windows 7. There are a couple of exceptions. In particular, Microsoft has done some work to "rescue" certain applications that did not run in Vista so that they can indeed run in Windows 7.

Microsoft has also added an "XP Mode" to some versions of Windows 7 that allows programs that won't run natively in Windows 7 to run via an XP virtual machine. XP Mode does require more memory as well as a machine whose processor has hardware support for virtualization, something many older machines and some current machines don't have.

"How does Windows 7 compare with Windows XP?" (Jim Lawrence, technical writer, Glenn Rock, Penn.)

For those used to Windows XP, Windows 7 will be a significant change.

It brings with it both a lot of the good and the bad from Vista--albeit with some improvements--as well as new features of its own. It shares the more modern graphics engine, desktop search, and security architecture that are part of Windows Vista. As part of an anti-malware feature known as User Account Control, XP users will also be asked to verify certain changes to their system. Microsoft has worked to lessen the number of such prompts in Windows 7, but since XP has no similar feature, it may still seem like a lot of intrusion to some.

Windows 7 also brings features of its own, most notably the taskbar at the bottom of the screen that allows quick access not only to frequently used programs, but also one-click and two-click access to commonly used actions within those programs. Windows 7 also adds Internet Explorer 8 and built-in support for multitouch gestures, provided you have a machine with a compatible touch-screen display.

For a nice side-by-side chart comparing Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7, check out this piece from my colleague Seth Rosenblatt.

"Do you have any sense of 'free upgrades' from Vista to Windows 7 for people like us who will purchase just prior to the release?" (David Derr, Reading, Penn.)

Microsoft hasn't made public the details of such a "technology guarantee" program, but it appears all but certain it will do one. It did a similar program with Windows Vista, and given that it has now said Windows 7 will ship this year, to not do so would probably slow sales until its release.

In an interview last week, Senior Vice President Bill Veghte would not offer details but suggested that such programs have proven useful in the past and indicated one is likely for Windows 7. Rumors of the program have been around for a while, with many pegging July as the start for such a program.

"I have a licensed copy of Office 2003. Will I be able to install it on the Windows 7 machine?" (Haim Snyder, Petah Tikva, Israel)

Microsoft says "yes" on that one. Office 2003 should run fine on Windows 7.

If Windows 7 is installed on a Netbook will Windows Aero (its fancy graphics) work?

Microsoft says that, "if you have Windows 7 installed on a Netbook, Aero will work with any version except for Starter."

Since 2002 when Microsoft introduced Windows XP, its signature operating system has proved to have more stamina than anybody would have originally thought. Despite missteps in Vista, that OS still managed to introduce useful new features, and set the stage for Windows 7.

This chart provides a rundown of some of the major features introduced in each Windows iteration, as well as a quick look at the minimum hardware requirements for XP, Vista, and 7. Keep in mind that Windows 7 is still in its testing phase, though it's not expected that other major features will debut before it's released during the coming holiday season. You can download the Windows 7 release candidate from CNET Download.com.

As others have noted, Windows 7 does one thing similar to Windows XP: It doesn't require a major hardware upgrade. In fact, it can run on less powerful machines than Vista. By making 7 as accessible as possible for existing computers, Microsoft looks to be angling to regain lost market share and confidence by giving users a operating system they don't have to struggle with. Until Windows 7 makes its public debut, though, this is little more than informed speculation.

If it were up to me, I'd never defragment my PC's drives. I'm one of those people who prefers to have Windows' maintenance operations done in the background, without my direct intervention.

So it comes as no surprise that I'm a big fan of Vista's automatic-defrag setting. But I also know better than to put all my faith in Microsoft's ability to keep my system healthy. Last year, I started using Auslogics' free Disk Defrag utility, which works with Windows 2000 and up.

If you prefer to use Windows' defragger, you can open it by pressing the Windows key (or Ctrl-Esc), pressing R (in XP), typing defrag in Vista or dfrg.msc in XP, and pressing Enter. The interface of Vista's Disk Defragmenter is nonexistent; the utility is clearly designed for behind-the-scenes operation. Your only options are to set the defrag schedule, select the volumes to defrag, and run the defragger.

Vista's Disk Defragmenter utility is a no-frills affair.

(Credit: Microsoft)

XP's version of the Disk Defragmenter isn't much more functional, although it does give you a little more graphical feedback about the state of your drives.

You get more control over your disk defrags by running Windows' defragger utility from a command prompt and entering command switches that modify its actions. Start by opening a command-prompt window. One way is by pressing the Windows key (or Ctrl-Esc), pressing R (in XP), typing cmd, and pressing Enter. Or click Start > All Programs > Accessories, right-click Command Prompt, and select Run as administrator.

At the command prompt, type defrag ? to see a list of available command switches. In both XP and Vista, you can add -a to the "defrag" command to analyze the drive only, -f to force a defrag with less than 15 percent free space, -b to defrag only boot files, and -v to show a "verbose" report of the defrag.

Vista adds a couple of other switches: -i defrags even when the PC isn't idle, -c works on all drives, and -w processes chunks of files smaller than 64MB; without this switch, Vista's defragger ignores all file fragments smaller than 64MB.

Type defrag ? at a command prompt and press Enter to see a list of available command switches.

(Credit: Microsoft)

For example, to defrag all your Vista volumes regardless of fragment size and when there's less than 15 percent free space, enter this line at the command prompt and then press Enter:

defrag -c -w -f

The utility will display a report on the selected volumes prior to beginning the defragmentation.

Windows defrag utility will show a report on the selected volumes prior to defragmenting the drives.

(Credit: Microsoft)

Unfortunately, defrags run from a command prompt aren't any faster than those conducted via the graphical interface. That's the biggest advantage of specialty defrag programs such as Auslogics' Disk Defrag, which is much speedier than the defragger in Windows.

The fact is, Vista's automated defrags were doing a great job of keeping my disk space nice and compact. I didn't notice much of a performance improvement after I manually defragged my Vista PC, but the defrag did wonders for my ancient XP box, which I admit I had neglected to defrag for many months.

The other day, I was talking to a guy who wanted a PC but didn't want Vista. He asked me how long he would have to wait for new PCs running Windows 7. When I told him that such systems were still several months away, he indicated that he'd buy a machine from a company that let you "downgrade" Vista to XP.

I didn't say anything, but part of me thought he was crazy. I'll take Vista over XP any day of the week. Not having to run a disk-defrag utility is only one of the reasons why. (Yes, I know you can automate disk defrags in XP via Scheduled Tasks, as Microsoft explains in this Knowledge Base article, but doing so is too much hassle for the average Windows user.)