Important note to those buying the on-line upgrade to Windows 8!

Windows 8 is a great new operating sytem and with it Microsoft finally seems to be on the fast track again. With the introduction of Windows Phone 8, the new Surface RT and a plethora of new and exciting Windows 8 computer offerings from almost every manufacturer there is finally something solid for the PC user, both personal and professional.

Beware! If you purchase the online Windows 8 Pro upgrade from Microsoft pay VERY close attention to the the recommendations section of the analyzer. There is a radio link to SHOW these recommendations. Make sure that you read these recommendations, as they may make it impossible to use Windows 8 with your current computer hardware. Time marches on, and even if your computer has been running Windows 7 it does not nessesarily mean that it can run Windows 8! This is a problem in that it is very easy for the novice user to skip over these recommendations (you have to click on a radio link to view them) and if you do skip them there is no further warning. The site simply takes you to the purchase screen to buy your copy of Windows 8 Pro, which, if you had read the recommendations, you would know that Windows 8 is NOT going to work on your machine and it may not tell you this until you have gone through an attempted full installation only to find that Windows 8 will not work and your Windows will be returned to it’s pre-update condition. Now this is a waste of time both in the install process and the time that you will have to spend on-line or on the phone trying to get your money back from Microsoft!

These warnings should be BOLD and unavoidable in a properly designed diagnostic tool from someone as advanced as Microsoft, but they aren’t. Pay close attention to the diagnostic program that runs BEFORE you drop $40 on the upgrade!

That being said, Windows 8 is a tremendous operating system (on a computer that has the right hardware) and even if you don’t have touch screen using a mouse and keyboard are just great! It’s exciting stuff from Redmond! I just wish they had taken a bit more time with the diagnostic analyzer.

 

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