The buildup to the release of Windows 7 was as big as any Windows operating systems launch the public has seen in a long time from Microsoft.

This sent Microsoft devotees scrambling to get their OS upgrade as soon as it was on the market. However, as with any new OS launch, the big question is should I do the upgrade now or continue with my computer maintenance?

The short answer is “NO”. As with any Microsoft launch, there are a number of problems that have encircled a large percentage of users. So far, the most common problem is known as “the continuous reboot”. This problem has primarily risen from users that are upgrading from Vista to Windows 7 regardless of how much computer maintenance you do to your computer. Unfortunately, there is no single solution that has been able to solve this problem yet.

The potential of windows 7 is huge, and once the bugs have been worked out, it looks to be a great OS for anyone who relies on Microsoft products. Unfortunately, as with any new OS release, there are often more bugs than benefits. Once the inevitable, comprehensive service pack has been released and proven to fix a large majority of the problems, Windows 7 will become a viable option. If you are buying a new computer and Windows 7 is already installed, you should not have a problem, but if you are looking to upgrade, it would be better for you to hold off a little longer.

Instead, Microsoft users need to utilize proper computer maintenance to extend the life of the Operating System.

Here are 5 easy ways to extend the life of your computer and your OS:

1.Let Windows Shut Down Properly

Do not try to get in a hurry and prematurely shut down your computer, it can create long term damage to your hard drive.

2.Backup Everything

Whenever you think you might need to backup your information, you are right. It is always better to backup your information more than you need to than to lose important information.

3.Defrag

Use your scan-disk or defragment your computer at least once a month, ideally once every two weeks.

4.Don’t Choke

Make sure that you keep 400-600 Mb of free space on your hard drive. This prevents windows from choking. When this happens, Windows will automatically dump data to your hard drive or just slow down to less than a crawl.

5.Dirty Viruses

Make sure to use continuous anti-virus software, or at least use a free online virus checker every 2 weeks. This will keep unwanted viruses from covertly hijacking your computer.

Have you upgraded to Windows 7 yet?   What do you think?

Share some helpful computer maintenance tips!

We think this is the easiest, least expensive way to successfully burn the downloaded Vista Recovery Disc image we wrote about yesterday.

Thanks to the freeware burning software, CDBurnerXP, you’ll be able to burn the Recovery disc in a few clicks.

Please consider donating to the developer(s) of CDBurnerXP to assist with further development. It really is a great software and is compatible with both XP and Vista operating systems. Here’s a quick description of the software from the developer:

CDBurnerXP is a free application to burn CDs and DVDs, including Blu-Ray and HD-DVDs. It also includes the feature to burn and create ISOs, as well as a multilanguage interface. Everyone, even companies, can use it for free. It does not include adware or similar malicious components.

First, install the CDBurnerXP software with the default settings and then restart your computer. Once restarted, find the Vista Recovery Disc file (Vista_Recovery_Disc_x86.iso) you downloaded earlier and double-click on it. A CDBurnerXP prompt, similar to the picture below, should appear.

Insert your blank CD-R media and click on burn. You should have a successfully burned recovery disc when complete. Feel free to leave us a comment below if you think we overlooked an important fact in the process.

Image Source: Softpedia and CDBurnerXP

This weekend, one of our clients was shopping for a new personal computer and contacted us, frustrated about having to pay extra for the Vista recovery disc.

Yes, if you weren’t aware, PC manufacturers no longer provide customers a tangible OS recovery disc. Not surprisingly, Geek Squad wanted to charge her $70.00 to create one for her…lame.

This shows a complete disregard to the fact that you’re often paying over a thousand dollars of your hard earned cash. It’s probably not a big deal until you’re actually reading this post for help. We know it can be a frustrating ordeal when you need the original installation disc to repair your computer and you don’t have the disc.

Today, depending on the PC manufacturer, the set of recovery tools is often included on a separate area (partition) of the hard drive that can be accessed during computer startup (i.e. press F2, F12, etc). However, older machines may not have this feature, or you were instructed to create your own disc, which never happened. Either way, the disc is important because it contains computer repair features that can only be found on the disc.

According to NeoSmart, Microsoft has released a downloadable Vista recovery disc for users that don’t have access to the original. However, due to what we assume are bandwidth issues, NeoSmart only offers a torrent of the download, which may stand as a technical barrier to many in the “Do-It-Yourself” crowd. As a result, for those of you who don’t want to learn about torrents, we’ve decided to help out the community by releasing a mirror of the download.

We’ll keep it up as long as our allotted bandwidth can support it being hosted here. Please say thanks if the download helps you out. Need help burning the recovery disc? Please see our Burn Vista Recovery Disc tutorial for instructions on how to use the free burning software, CDBurnerXP, to successfully burn the disc image (iso).